The next morning the drama club all had a morning rehearsal before school started. This day Ophelia wore a ripped graphic tee shirt with the band AC/DC on it (another one of her favorite rock bands) and the shirt was tied into a not on the bottom off to the side, ripped blue jeans, a floral printed maxi shirt, and for her shoes she wore cheetah print gold and black colored slip on sneakers. She wore a double row choker necklace, her hair was curly, and she went with makeup to match her outfit.

"Hi." Miss Jenn greets. "Thank you all for coming to rehearsal in the morning. I know it's a crazy day with the career fair and all, but given all your behavior last week, I believe we are lucky to be rehearsing at all. For future reference, singing and dancing, good. Breaking and entering, bad."

"Miss Jenn, we didn't break anything." Seb explained.

Miss Jenn stares at him with annoyance. "Would you like me to be the first?"

Seb shakes his head, looking nervous. "I'm good."

Carlos raises a hand. "Okay. I'm just going to say it. Zack Roy stole our Beast mask. Why are you not freaking out?"

Yeah, it turns out that Zack Roy, the drama teacher of North High, stole the Beast mask. "Because winners don't freak out, Carlos." Miss Jenn answers. "They rise. When they go low, we sing high." She then belted a high note that made everyone jump. 

Fallon, who had her head rested on EJ's shoulder and had her eyes closed this whole time, quickly lifts her head up and opens her eyes, glancing around with surprise. "I'm awake!" Some of her friends chuckled at her and she sheepishly smiled, blushing lightly with embarrassment, not noticing the fond look EJ sent her.

"Okay, let's rehearse." Miss Jenn glances at EJ with a smile. "EJ, remember where you are emotionally. Belle has just rebuked your marriage proposal and LeFou is rallying the guys to boost you back up. Let's hit it."

Everyone separated and got where they needed to be. The dancers got into their places while everyone else who wasn't a part of the scene sat on the risers. 

"Don't forget to start on your left foot at the top of the chorus." Gina reminded EJ.

EJ smiles and nods. "Thank you. Anything else?"

"Don't fall and break anything." Fallon called out to him as she took a seat on the risers between Ophelia and Luca, grinning at EJ.

EJ smiles at her with amusement, chuckling lightly. "Thanks, Lonnie. You dance people have all the best tips."

Gina chuckles along with Fallon and she goes to sit on the risers while EJ went to where he was needed for this song. "Go get 'em, Biggie." Ashlyn cheered for her boyfriend.

"Thanks!" Big Red smiles. "All good!"

"I wasn't saying you weren't." Ashlyn comments. "Just know that I am loyally rooting for you, okay?"

Big Red outstretches his arms with a small smile on his face, responding with, "Oui, oui." Ophelia grimaced. She knew that things were slightly tense with Ashlyn and Big Red and Ashlyn was always trying to reassure Big Red she wouldn't leave him for Antoine.

"Big Red, whenever you're ready." Miss Jenn said to the red-haired boy. She glanced at Seb, who stood by the piano where a laptop was set up and plugged into the speakers. Seb smiled and nodded, pressing play on the song before he joined the others on the risers. Everyone cheered loudly before the start of the song.

"Gosh, it disturbs me to see you, Gaston," Big Red moves from the chest he was sitting on to stand by it with his arms crossed. Ophelia knew right away he was the perfect choice to be LeFou. "Looking so down in the dumps." The chest opens revealing a dancer had been in it. "Every guy here'd love to be you, Gaston," As the dancer got out of the chest, Big Red went over to the bar set where the other dancers were at. "Even when taking your lumps." He hit the three boy's head with a wooden spoon he picked up. 

He sets the spoon down, moving to sit on a table. "There's no man in town as admired as you." A dancer slides Big Red to the end of the table where another dancer sat at. "You're everyone's favorite guy." The dancer sitting at the end of the table picks Big Red up and spins him around. The dancer then puts him down and Big Red rushes over to grab a hand mirror from a small chest. "Everyone's awed and inspired by you." He then stands by EJ, putting the hand mirror in front of EJ's face. "And it's not very hard to see why."

Furrowing his eyebrows, EJ pushed the hand mirror away from him, shaking his head. Big Red handed off the hand mirror to a dancer who put it away. "No one's," Big Red then lines up with some of the dancers and they join him on dancing. Everyone cheers loudly for the boys. "Slick as Gaston. No one's quick as Gaston."

Big Red and the dancers break away from each other and Big Red stands behind EJ, putting his hands on EJ's shoulders. "No one's neck is as incredibly thick as Gaston." EJ pushes him off his shoulders and another dancer catches Big Red, dragging him over to the table. "For there's no man in town half as manly."

"Perfect, a pure paragon." Big Red walks over to where three dancers sat at the bar set and he turns each boy around when he sang the three names. "You can ask any Tom, Dick, or Stanley. And they'll tell you whose team they'd prefer to be on." 

The three dancers set their prop mugs on the set bar and moved to the floor to do a dance. Meanwhile, Big Red jumps on the bar set and EJ got up to stand behind the table. Everyone cheers loudly once again. The dancers stand up and Big Red gets up to go by EJ, who sits at the table now with two other dancers standing by him. "No one's been like Gaston." The three dancers who were at the bar set pushed the chair and chest out of the way so they would have more room to dance. "A kingpin like Gaston."

Big Red touches EJ's chin as the dancers gathers around the table. "No one's got a swell cleft in his chin like Gaston." 

EJ stands up, bringing his arms up and flexes to show his muscles. He smirks. "As a specimen, yes, I'm intimidating."

"Yeah, go EJ!" Fallon cheered loudly and EJ smiled widely at her.

The dancers and Big Red all clink their prop mugs they now had together while EJ goes over to the bar set. "My what a guy that Gaston."

EJ begins to juggle some eggs he got from the bar set, now standing in the open area between the bar set and the table. "When I was a lad, I'd eat four dozen eggs every morning to help me get large." He throws the three egg up and three dancers goes by, catching the egg in their mug. "And now that I'm grown I eat five dozen eggs," EJ walks over to the bar set, grabbing a mug. "So I'm roughly the size of a barge." Across the room, Big Red threw an egg into the mug EJ had and everyone cheered loudly.

"No one shoots like Gaston." Big Red and the dancers move the table towards the middle of the room. "Make those beauts like Gaston." Big Red gets under the table as a dancer grabs a mop. "Then goes tromping around wearing boots like Gaston." Big Red grabbed the end of the mop, letting the dancer drag him, and then he stood up. 

EJ steps up onto the table, holding onto an antler and a mug. He then kneels, outstretching his arms. "I use antlers in all of my decorating." Big Red got under the table as the dancers gathered around the table. 

"Say it again." Four dancers turn the table around while they all sing. "Gaston." EJ clinked his mug with all of the dancers and Big Red before the dancers and Big Red fell to the floor at the end of the song.

The bomb shelter erupted into loud applause and cheers for Big Red, EJ, and the dancers. The loudest ones in the room were definitely Ashlyn and Fallon. "Yeah, go EJ!" Fallon cheers loudly with a proud smile on her face. "You killed it!" EJ blushed slightly but smiled brightly at her, happy to know she thought he did good during the performance. 

As Big Red and the dancers get up, EJ gets off the table after he set the props down on the table. "Dancers, glorious. Big Red, hilarious. And, EJ," EJ looks at Miss Jenn nervously, anxiously waiting for her response when she dramatically paused. Miss Jenn smiles at him. "Victorious."

A wide smiles forms on EJ's face and he looks relieved about what Miss Jenn said while everyone cheers for him, Big Red, and the dancers again. "Nice emotional connection to the material." Carlos commented, standing up.

Gina stands up as well, opening her empty notebook with a grin on her face. "I've got no notes."

Mr. Mazzara, who had walked in a few moments ago, then makes himself known to the drama club. "And as much as I hate to break that connection, I'm afraid I'm the bearer of some hard news. We just got a call from the disciplinary board of an organization I'm not sure really exists." He looks at a note card he was holding behind his back. "'Effective immediately, this production will shut down rehearsal for one week," Some students gasp as they all stand up out of shock, all looking shocked and confused while they start to murmur with each other. "As punishment for trespassing by the order of the...Monkeys'."

"It's pronounced the Menkies." Miss Jenn spoke.

"Oh." Mr. Mazzara nods. "For the record, your competition has been punished as well. North High is benched for the week. North High is benched for the week."

"Okay." Ashlyn furrows her eyebrows, shaking her head. "Feels generous."

"Miss Jenn, what are we gonna do?" Carlos inquires with a worried expression on his face. "We can't lose a whole week when we haven't even started blocking the second act yet."

"We're..." Miss Jenn's voice trails off as she figures out what to say. "We are going to keep our head down and chins up."

Ophelia glance back at Seb, noticing he was trying to do what Miss Jenn said and she smiles softly. Seb was so cute. "I don't...I don't think that's physically possible." Seb commented.

"It's an impression, Sebastian." Miss Jenn said to him, glancing at Mr. Mazzara with a nervous smile just before the bell rang.

****

Ophelia and Eric were currently walking down the hallway and while she had her arm around his waist he had his arm around her shoulders. "I can't believe you guys are benched for the whole week." Eric frowns. "That's awful." 

Ophelia nods in agreement, and sighs. "I know. We're gonna miss a whole week of practice 'cause of this whole mess." 

"Well, I know it sucks, but at least we get to hang out more before I leave." Eric smiles at her, trying to help her think of the positive. 

Ophelia smiles excitedly, knowing he was right about that, but then her smile falls when she remembered something. "But don't you have football practice?"

Eric shakes his head. "No. I had to quit football since I'll be leaving soon." Ophelia could tell by the sadness in his voice that he didn't like quitting football. Eric was just as passionate about football as Ophelia was about photography. 

"I'm sorry, E. I know how much you love football." Ophelia smiles sympathetically at him. "But hey, maybe you can try out for football in London." She tilts her head, furrowing her eyebrows. "Although in London their football is soccer." She smiles at him. "But you're also good at soccer so that could work."

Eric chuckles lightly, appreciating his girlfriend for trying to cheer him up. He leans forward to kiss the top of her head, causing her smile to widen. "Yeah, maybe."

****

"So do you guys have any guesses on the guest speaker?" EJ questioned.

"No clue." Fallon responds from her place beside EJ and in front of Carlos in the front row. She had her head rested on her hand and her elbow resting on her desk. "But if that person doesn't hurry up and get here now I'm gonna fall asleep out of boredom." EJ looked at her with an amused smile and chuckled lightly.

"Unless it's Alan Menken himself coming to apologize for what just happened to us, I'm not here." Carlos responded.

"Ooh," Seb grins. "I would die if it was, like, Greta Gerwig." 

Carlos glances at the blonde-haired boy with furrowed eyebrows. "You know you're not picking the person, right?" 

"Whoever it is, I'm sure they'll remind us to," EJ said and then Fallon joins him on saying, "'Seize the day and then let it go'."

"Yeah," Fallon rolls her eyes. "Each year it's the same thing. So glad this is the last year I have to listen to that lecture." She looks at EJ with furrowed eyebrows. "Do you know what that means? After three years of hearing, it I still don't know what it means."

"You and me both." EJ laughs. "I was hoping that you knew." 

"Of course I don't know." Fallon chuckles. A small yawn escapes her lips. "Okay, wake me up when that person comes in. Goodnight." She moved her arm to lay it on the table and went to lay her head on the table. Before her head to come in contact with the table EJ reached his hand out so her head would be laying on his hand and not the hard table. 

-ˏˋ EJ smiles widely at the camera. "Yeah. I mean, Fallon and I have been pretty close friends for a while now, but I don't know. For some reason, it recently feels like something changed between us. He shakes his head and chuckles. "But we're just friends. Best friends." He pauses for a moment, looking at the camera man with curiously. "Why? Did she say something?" When he heard footsteps, he glances behind him to see Fallon walking into the classroom. Fallon sheepishly smiles and blushes out of embarassment. "Sorry! I'm leaving now!" She quickly left the classroom and EJ chuckled, glancing back at the camera with a wide smile. ˎˊ-

"Oh. Class, class." Mrs. Day, the teacher, got everyone's attention and the classroom grew quiet.

EJ gently moves his hand holding Fallon's head up to get her attention. She lifts her head up, opening one eye at him. He chuckles quietly and gestures to their teacher to silently tell her the speaker was here. Fallon nodded, yawning a bit. She sits up straighter and opens both eyes, smiling thankfully at him for keeping her head up. Even though he didn't have to do that, she did appreciate him doing that. And you bet one hundred percent that she blushed after she realized she was laying on EJ's hand, she was just glad he couldn't see her blush at the time. EJ nodded back at her, smiling slightly as he turned to face the front.

"I am thrilled to present one of East High's most generous benefactors," EJ leans back in his seat, crossing his arms as he rolls his eyes upon seeing who the speaker is. "Mr. Cash Caswell, with tips on success in life." Mrs. Day introduced the man who just walked in.

Looking at the man in front of the room, Fallon's eyes widened. She had never met either of EJ's parents before, but from what she has heard from him it seemed like they were nice people beside the fact that he didn't really have the best relationship with his dad. 

"Surprise." Mr. Caswell smiled at everyone as the whole class (beside Fallon and EJ) clapped for him. When the applause stopped, Mr. Caswell thanks Mrs. Day. "Thank you, Mrs. Day."

"Anytime." Mrs. Day responded, walking over to sit on the side of her desk.

"Students. It's an honor. Success is all about legacies. The ones that we inherit. And the ones that we build." Mr. Caswell smiles at his son. "I'm lucky to have a son that carries the Caswell name with pride. In fact, I wasn't going to do this today, but," He clears his throat, gesturing for EJ to get up there with him. "Come on up here, Eej."

EJ looks at him with surprise as the class claps for him. EJ glances back at Fallon, who reassuringly smiles at him, and that helped settled some nerves that appeared as he hesitantly stood up to go stand by his dad. Mr. Caswell gets out a Duke sweatshirt out of his messenger bag. "My father gave me this when I got into Duke." He turns to his son with teary eyes and a proud smile. "Now it's yours."

EJ chuckles, looking at his dad with disbelief. Taking the sweatshirt from his dad, he furrows his eyebrows. "Wait, what?"

"Congratulations, EJ." Mrs. Day complimented and everyone cheered for EJ.

Fallon didn't cheer along with everyone else because she was too concerned for EJ. He didn't look happy about this, and when she noticed his dad whisper something to him his whole mood changed entirely. He almost looked like he was in disbelief or maybe even disappointed. He forced a smile as he looked at everyone, walking back to sit down.

"Now, how many of you are familiar with the phrase, 'seize the day?'" Mr. Caswell questioned.

Fallon leans forward, tapping EJ's shoulder to get his attention, and he glances over his shoulder at her. "Are you okay?" She whispered to him. 

"I'm fine, Lonnie." EJ reassured her quietly and he smiled but it didn't meet his eyes. He turned to face the front before Fallon could keep questioning him. Fallon leaned back in her seat with a frown, worried about EJ. She knew that something was wrong with him and she was determined to figure it out. 

A/N okay but ej did incredible during gaston! & ej got some muscles wow he's so fine. very upset they didnt show the real performance in the play. also i just imagined the scene where EJ catches Fallon's head so her head doesnt hit the table like that one scene from gmw when they're in science class & maya goes to take a nap cause she's bored & lucas puts his hand out so her head is on his hand & doesnt hit the table, i just think that was cute to put & it showed that ej cares about fallon !!