Chapter Text
If you would've told Ricky Bowen that he'd be ditching sixth period English to go shoot some hoops at the empty vast East High gym he would've asked for a hit of whatever it was you were smoking because that would never happen. However, as he has now come to learn the universe loves to laugh at him at every chance it gets because he needs to get the part of Troy and this might be one of the best ways to go about it. Why he needs the part so badly? Well, Nini of course.
Yes, his dad had explained that his mom wasn't coming back, at least for a while, because they were separating and he also happened to stumble on that stupid post of EJ and Nini on Instagram around the same time. So what? The curly-haired teen wondered as he tossed the basketball back and forth in his hands.
So what if he actually wanted to take control of his already spiraling life and Ricky decided joining the school play of all things was the way to go about it. The ball slips from his fingers and he reaches to grab it, his movements stuttering with his thoughts. Dammit. Ricky takes a breath, regaining his balance. If joining this play means proving to his parents that relationships take work and commitment then he'll show them that. And I'll get Nini back too, his mind adds with a newfound determination as he reaches for the brown ball again.
Although he's pretty sure Red was kidding when he told him he should play basketball to get into character the curly-haired junior figures he needs to do everything he can to get this part. After all, it's not all just acting, dancing, and singing. Except that's exactly what it is, His mind sings mockingly. Ricky resists the urge to roll his eyes at his pessimism and aims for the shot.
He misses. He runs to grab the ball and try again.
He misses again. And again. The junior misses every shot and Ricky finds it incredibly difficult to not call it a day and throw the cursed ball to the wall. It's not who he is. He sighs, frustration building by the minute. I knew this was a bad idea.
Admittedly Ricky is not a basketball player, but if he knows one thing for sure he knows the ball is supposed to actually go in the basket. The slow disappointment then settles but is interrupted by a voice that confirms his suspicions. "You know the ball is actually supposed to go into the basket."
Ricky abruptly turns to find a girl's narrowed eyes fixed on him. High bun, combat boots, mini skirt and all. It's almost like she's waiting for his response but for some reason he finds it a bit hard to speak, he finds himself a bit slack-jawed that he was caught. Ricky looks at the door curiously, as if sensing his thoughts she follows his gaze to the back door. "I'm pretty sure no one else is coming."
"Only pretty sure?" He replies, sizing her up.
"Well I'm new here so I don't think I'm the best person to ask but I think I'm all you've got." She says approaching the three-point line.
"You're new here?" Ricky asks.
"That's what I said. I'm a sophomore."
"Sorry we just don't really get a lot of new people, tourists sometimes yeah. The school being East High and everything but not a lot of people here to stay."
"Oh believe me I'm not here to stay." Gina sardonically replies and Ricky thinks he hears an underlying bitterness there. It's a little hard to tell, her being a stranger and all.
"Oh" Ricky's gaze grows curious but he's hesitant to ask the question he really wants to because it's now that she chooses to look down toward her black combat boots, while she plays with her hands. He clears his throat and moves to dribble the ball he'd forgotten was in his possession and aims for the basket. He misses and lets out a loud groan of frustration.
"You're pretty bad at this." The curly-haired girl notes, walking closer to him.
"What exactly are you doing here?" Ricky readily turns to ask and resists the urge to cross his arms in defense, at the stranger coming for his very poor basketball skills. Who is this girl? she comes in the middle of the sixth period with her leather jacket, combat boots, and cute high bun telling him everything he's doing wrong and it's like he's supposed to fall in line.
"I'm not really a fan of the whole guided tour experience so I always opt for the one I give myself." The brunette girl responds with a shrug.
"In the middle of class?" Ricky presses, sure he's not one to talk given the current circumstance and he knows that but he's sort of found himself in a standoff with the pretty sophomore and he can't back down now. He squints at her in suspicion.
"I'm sorry is there normally a P.E. class here that only consists of you or...?" Gina rhetorically asks, her hands moving along with the question. It's her turn to squint at him now, with an eyebrow raise challenging him for good measure.
She decides that she's probably earned a bit of his respect because Ricky huffs a small laugh in response. The curly-haired boy dribbles the ball back and forth a bit with his hands before he fixes her another look and asks, "What do you know about basketball?"
"My dad used to play basketball with me and my older brother...I still remember some of the tips he gave us before he bailed." Gina replies, her eyes now on the basketball.
Ricky's left a bit stunned at her response but before he can respond to her with another one of his intelligent oh, she snatches the ball from the junior, dribbles a bit, and aims for the hoop. It makes it in. Ricky's seconds away from being slack-jawed by not just her words but her skill, he figures he looks like it because his attention is drawn away from the basket to her trying to stifle probably the most adorable giggle he's ever heard.
Her eyes shine a bit and it's hard not to notice. Ricky only notices he's been staring when she motions to grab for the ball so he tries to move quicker in efforts to try and make a move himself. A move to get the ball in the hoop, His mind reminds him, focus Bowen.
The curly-haired girl scoffs when he gets to the ball first and positions himself for another shot. "Wrong" She coughs into her leather jacket. It deters him from his focus enough that the ball slips from his hand and this time Ricky hears her laugh come in full effect, echoing in the gymnasium, bouncing around his mind.
Ricky breathes out again, refocusing his mind on the task at hand. "Okay mysterious girl that's better than me at basketball teach me your ways." His arms are out open wide, stretching out as if reaching for something only she can give him. "Please?" Puppies would kill for those eyes, the curly-haired sophomore girl thinks to herself. She feels the resolve in her breaking, her arms are moving on their own accord taking off her jacket, moving to settle it on the bleacher further to the left of her.
"Just get the ball" Gina practically commands, breaking their gaze as she walks toward the bleachers. Ricky grins and she's glad he can't see how pathetically flushed that made her. He's back on the two point-line and fiddles with the ball in his hands a bit, nervous before he aims to make the shot.
"Your arms are not where they should be." She's close to him now, behind his left shoulder he sort of feels her hesitate to place her hand on his arm. Motioning the correct placement, her hand guides his arm close to his chest then outstretched. "They're close then they extend and you follow through." Her hand is still on his arm so he turns to face her. Big mistake.
Her dark brown eyes are fixed on his profile and she's close enough he can smell the scent of her perfume or shampoo, lilac, and strawberries. "Something tells me you're probably not so good at that." Gina breathily states, her hand leaving him and taking a step back from whatever that moment was.
"What?" Ricky asks, shaking his head.
"Following through" It started out as a joke, yet she feels the words grow weaker as she says it because of the weight she feels behind it. Her intuition has never led her astray so when she says it although she first meant it as a joke, apart of her believes it but another is willing to let a stranger prove her wrong.
He clears his throat, willing his eyes to stray from the weight of her gaze. The weight of the truth he's found in them, showing him a mirror to the willingness he thinks he's found to commit to Nini when all he wants is for things to be the same again. So maybe this stranger's right. Maybe he is having trouble right now following through but so is everyone else in his life, I gotta do whatever it is I gotta do to get things back to normal. "It's probably my form" Ricky stutters, looking back at her.
"Yeah." She nearly whispers, its heavy for a few moments because they both know she wasn't talking entirely about basketball and the topic of conversation is something that can be hard for friends to talk about let alone strangers. So naturally, Gina takes advantage of his stillness, and steals the ball from him, takes a few steps back to hit the three-point line. She spins right, her arms extending for the shot. The sound of the ball in the net is followed by her fake screams and cheers from the nonexistent crowd she makes with her hands surrounding her mouth, emphasizing the sound. "You see that? that's how you shoot a basketball."
"Show off." Ricky shakes his head and fights the smile growing on his face at the sophomore still running around the court lowly cheering. "Alright give me that ball."
"Now why should I do that when you still haven't made a single shot?"
"So you can eat your words when I do," Ricky replies jokingly.
"Yeah well you would need the ball to do that," Gina says teasingly, confidently tossing the ball between her hands.
Ricky's brow arches in response and then he looks away nonchalantly, cool as a cucumber. She doesn't buy it for a second, so a smirk appears on her lips and a laugh makes its way past them when he runs toward her. He makes several attempts to get the ball but despite her being a few inches shorter he underestimates her quickness.
As his last resort, his hands find their way to her waist, and she yelps in surprise and drops the ball when he spins her around. For those brief fives seconds she's in the air she can't help but release a laugh, it's been a while since she's had fun with someone like this. Their laughs meld together before their eyes meet and when they do her breath hitches and his lips part.
This time it's him that breaks away, his hands leave her sides and go straight for the ball. Ricky huffs a small tired smile before he turns to attempt his shot. The operative word being attempt. He can tell by her face he's made progress because the ball actually touches the rim a couple of times.
"You know it might help to take a deep breath before you try."
Ricky takes a deep breath, aims and follows through and he thinks he needs to get his eyes checked when he thinks he sees the ball go into the basket. The cheers he hears coming from the girl a few feet beside him, her smile that makes the lights he thought would get too bright in here even brighter, he hopes that's all real.
"You saw that go into the basket to right?" The junior slowly asks pointing to the hoop.
"Yes, dummy!" She laughs and it's giddy and bright, shaking her head at his shock.
"fucking finally!" Ricky breathes, his hands on his knees in relief.
"I know! Try again it takes practice, you won't get it every time." She insists and he straightens eager to try it again now that he's made a shot.
She's right, of course, she is, Ricky thinks fighting the urge to playfully roll his eyes, he doesn't get it every time but he's actually getting the ball in the hoop, making shots, and progress.
"I'm not a complete failure" the junior happily hums to himself, fighting the urge to break out in a happy dance he never does.
"Why was this whole thing important to you anyway? Trying out for the basketball team?" The curly-haired brunette skeptically asks him.
"Would that be so hard to believe?"
"You don't strike me as the jock type." She insists walking back toward the bleachers to get her things, if she read the time on her watch correctly fifth period would be over soon and reality would settle. She would most likely never find this boy in this enormous school of high school students again. It was fun while it lasted, Gina thinks to herself. She's never been able to call anywhere home, this wasn't exactly a new feeling. So what if Gina only ever gets to take control of her life, so prone to change, by being guarded. It was better than being hurt worse when she left.
"Well no offense but I don't think you would know because you don't even know my name," Ricky says, taking a step towards her and she avoids his eyes, the ball going back and forth in his hands.
"I know you sucked at shooting hoops before you met me and I personally think that's beautiful." Ricky laughs, looking away from her before he decides to do something stupid like ask if she could be his friend like they were in first grade (it worked out with Red but clearly not everyone is like him).
Ricky holds out his hand to shake hers, Gina eyes it then looks back up at him while gripping her bag, "My names Ri-" The pair springs apart at the abrupt sound of the world ending, or more accurately the sound of gym class probably starting, the gym buzzer blares to life and their panicked eyes widen.
Ricky rushes to get his belongings on the bleachers and just as he's about to make a run for it he turns back to her, Gina takes the opportunity to try and introduce herself as quickly as she can before they're caught. "I'm G-"
"Lost no doubt" The teens both turn at the new voice practically booming in the gymnasium, they're greeted by an arrogant smirk and a pair of crossed arms, holding the buzzer in one hand. Mr. Mazzara approaches them, "and would you look at that you Mr. Bowen are not where you're supposed to be. Color me surprised." Ricky rolls his eyes at his remark, man that guy can be an asshole.
Gina looks between the two of them and her eyes narrow at the older man's tone. Asshole.
"So this isn't sixth-period English with Ms. Garcia? Huh, I thought the bleachers seemed a bit out of place but I didn't question it. I'm a go with the flow kinda person." Ricky shrugs and Gina has to look anywhere but his face to stifle a laugh. Mr. Mazzara fixes his glare on to her and she tries to pass it off as a cough none of them believe.
"You and your friend are going to be detention kind of people if you both don't make your way to class."
"You got it, Mazzara," Ricky says with a small salute, he turns to walk to the set of double doors until he's stopped.
"It's Mr. Mazzara to you, you know I think this has warranted a personal escort to class. Let's go Mr. Bowen." Ricky groans and when he walks off further with Mr. Mazzara on his tail this time he fixes his doe brown eyes on her and winks. It does not make Gina want to giggle like a schoolgirl or fiddle with her hair. It doesn't, her mind insists as she fights a smile.
Bowen so that's his last name, Gina catalogs in her mind as she looks to his retreating figure. "I suggest you get to class too young lady." Mr. Mazzara's retreating figure states. The curly-haired sophomore rolls her eyes and makes her way to the other set of double doors on the other side of the gym. The presence of red and white color her vision but she doesn't see Ricky look back to her making her way out on the other side of the gym.
Gina turns and sees the mop of brown curls at the other set of double doors, for some reason when she leaves the gym she feels lighter than she did before. She looks down at her worn combat boots and genuinely smiles for the billionth time that day.
Gina Porter is not the type of person that is easily intrigued. But having the cute curly-haired boy that was so astonishingly bad at basketball practically blow everyone away at the high school musical: the musical audition really drew her in. Miss Jenn had announced his name for everyone in the room to hear and her ears perked up, as if of their own volition, when she'd said the last name, Bowen. As if Ricky bursting into the theater late into the audition wasn't enough of an identifying factor.
Ricky. The name fits him somehow, like everything he's ever said and did around her made sense now and it all came together when she hears him sing. Then at the thought of being able to talk to him again, be near him again in rehearsal or anywhere, that light feeling comes back.
The promise in his voice is so strong, he's so talented and she isn't the only one to notice either. Her competition looks so enamored and she doesn't think it's 100% with his singing. He's meeting Nini's gaze and oh,
Ricky's still singing and it's not for the audition but for her. He was learning how to play basketball that day for this musical, Gina's eyes bounce back and forth between the pair when it hits her, it was for her. She thinks it's oddly fitting she finds her self next to Natalie Bagley on the sidelines watching it unfold before her.
One thing leads to another and before she knows it she's in the crowd of buzzing teenagers in the hallway waiting for the cast list to be posted and this time she notices she's not the one on the sidelines. Ricky is standing near the wall facing away from her, practically motionless while Nini storms off in the opposite direction.
Gina doesn't want to talk to him. Liar, her brain sings and she huffs out a frustrated sigh. The sophomore crosses her arms as if it'll calm the rest of the body that practically urges her forward, to speak to him. Her hand reaches to touch his shoulder before her brain can get the chance to catch up to her and now he's turned all too quickly, his eyes now on her.
"Oh hey...I skipped sixth period with you." Ricky's eyes narrow but there's recognition in his eyes and a small smile growing on his face despite catching him in a moment of frustration. It looks like it distracts him a bit from whatever was troubling him before.
"Yeah Hi," Gina states somewhat softly, she tucks a stray curl behind her ear. He's not a stranger any more at least to her but he still doesn't know who she is and it makes her unsure. Distant from the usual confident Gina she's used to. "I just wanted to know how you were doing, you looked kind of out of it for a second."
"Yeah I'm fine just stuff going on you know, I'm nervous about the auditions I guess." Ricky scratches the back of his head and shifts his weight from one foot to the other like at any given moment he would be rendered unsteady. Gina's not sure if she would catch him if he were to fall and the thought oddly unsettles her and puts her at ease all the same.
"I guess you're counting your lucky stars you didn't have to do anything basketball-related for this at least not yet." Gina jokes trying to catch his eyes. It works because an unsuspecting chuckle leaves his lips now fixed in an adorable grin, he's got that soft look in his eyes.
"I'am actually but something tells me if this whole play works out I'd have a totally supportive basketball coach that is surprisingly easy to carry." Gina huffs out a surprised laugh at the reference of their first meeting.
"There will be no carrying anyone if I were to help you again, let's be clear about that" This time Ricky laughs bright and vibrant, it's a sound Gina wouldn't mind hearing more often.
"Okay deal as long as I can finally know your name because I can't believe I still don't." Ricky incredulously says, his ridiculously easy to read doe brown eyes riddled with curiosity.
"I'm Gina. Gina Porter"
"I'm Ricky." I know, Gina responds in her head, she wants to say it in real-time but something stops her. Ricky holds out his hand, "It's nice to meet you."
The two teens finally shake hands and a sort of electric current flows from them both, it stuns Ricky's breathing pattern for a moment. It doesn't shock Gina instead the feeling settles somewhere deep within her and warmth grows. I know, her mind repeats. Maybe apart of her has known Ricky all her life and that's why she can't help but respond this way. Regardless Gina still knows a lot of things. Like the fact that Ricky was trying to learn how to play basketball because he wanted to audition for this play, the fact that he was singing to Nini during the audition, the fact that she would be leaving no doubt in four months or less. However long her mother needed to be there for.
His hand is still in hers and her eyes can't leave his. I know, it's like parts of him are awakened now after being dormant for so long and it's hard to look or think about anything else.
The student's shuffling around now that the cast list was finally posted end up shifting their attention. "It's nice to meet you." The curly-haired sophomore gently replies, the air electric, she lets go and makes her way to the rest of the anxious students. She can't help but look back at him, breathing out blinking more times she knew possible. Gina returns her gaze to the paper and it's more confirmation of her role in all this than anything else, than any feeling.
Gabriella Montez- Nini Salzar Roberts
Troy Bolton- Ricky Bowen
Taylor Mckessie- Gina Porter
Gina knows.