Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

EJ sighed and leaned back in his chair. He could run the numbers again, but it wasn't going to change anything. He had inherited enough business savvy from his dad that he knew what he was looking at.

And they were in serious trouble.

He'd tried not to panic when the talk of budget cuts started. Though his position as a well-regarded math teacher was secure, EJ's real passions were the clubs he ran, the a capella group and the film club. Both of which fell under the arts funding line item that the school board had just cut by 70%. A capella might be ok, especially since Ashlyn was always willing to work with Lucy, the club’s president, to do their arrangements for their new rep. But the film club needed to reup subscriptions to their editing services AND replace some equipment. And there wasn't enough room in this budget for even that, let alone financing the kids' projects for the semester.

He needed to fundraise, and fast. 

EJ sighed again and picked up his phone. He scrolled through his contacts and hovered over a number for a few minutes. 

Cash Caswell.

And he couldn't make himself hit the call button.

He knew it was stupid to hesitate when his dad could write one check and fund the whole arts program for the year, not just his clubs. And shit, he probably would. A tax write off and a chance to look good, PLUS the ability to stick it to EJ in the process that he'd made such a poor career choice he needed to be bailed out financially? That would be the icing on the cake.

But it was more than EJ could stomach, even for his kids.

And he LOVED his kids. Even after he changed his major to education in college, he didn't expect to love it the way that he did. But when he got into the classroom to student teach his junior year, when he realized that he could help kids who hated something really understand it for the first time, he was hooked. Sure, the pay was shit and the hours could be insane. But the relationships he got to build with the kids made it worth it.

And even that couldn't push him to try and make shaky amends with his dad again.

He'd tried. Extended an invite to his college graduation, which Cash missed but sent a decently large check. But there had been no follow up, no asking about his life. Just a payment to assuage whatever guilt Cash might still have on his conscience about discarding his only son. EJ used it to pay off his student loans. And there had been enough left over for a down payment on a two bedroom condo when he moved to San Ysidro after he graduated.

So as far as EJ was concerned, they were square. Cash had paid one lump sum for blowing up EJ's life and now EJ was free of any sort of obligation to be the person Cash wanted him to be.

He couldn't put himself in that debt again.

So he locked his screen and combed through the numbers one more time. It barely registered that he stayed so late the sun sank into an early October night out his window, his work only aided by the light thrown from the screen on his laptop.There HAD to be a way. Sierra was working on a script that EJ had promised her a chance to direct his semester. And Jake needed to have film club on his college applications, he'd been stressed about them for months. And without the film club, there would be no one to help produce highlight reels for athletics or the video of the fall play.

But it just wasn't going to work.

So EJ did what he usually did when he hit a wall. He called Ashlyn.

"Eeeeeeeej!" She cried as she picked up the phone. "You HAVE to come to LA this weekend! Gadget and I miss you!" He could practically smell the liquor on her breath through the phone. 

"It's 9pm on a Wednesday, Ash. Why are you trashed?"

Ashlyn giggled. "Sorry, industry thingie tonight."

Ashlyn had moved to California before EJ did, for music school at UCLA. After she graduated last spring, she found a steady stream of freelance gigs, scoring movies and writing songs for other singers. And Maddox had skipped college entirely, constantly booked and busy as an AD/PA. So there was almost always some kind of industry event going on, even on a school night. Even though it was only a 'school night' for EJ.

"Sorry, I'll call back tomorrow," he sighs. "Not like I can do much til then, anyway.”

He pictured Ashlyn sitting up a little straighter and trying to pull herself together on the other end of the phone. “Eej, what’s wrong?”

“We just got the final budgets for the school year, and… it’s bad.”

“So they really cut your funding?”

“To the bone, basically,” EJ confirmed. “There’s not even enough for the basics, let alone anything new.”

“That’s so unfair!” Ashlyn cried. “The arts are so important to kids.”

“I know,” EJ nodded. “I wouldn’t be who I am today without them. But if it doesn’t have an immediate impact on state test scores, the school board doesn’t care.”

“So what are you going to do?”

“I’ve gotta try and find some way to come up with the money on our own,” EJ sighed. “Got any brilliant ideas?”

“I’m guessing you already considered the obvious one…”

“I’m not calling my dad, Ash.”

“Just saying, the man is literally MADE of money. It’s his NAME, for Christ sake.”

“And I’m just not ready to go there,” EJ said quietly.

“I get it,” she said. “What if we did some kind of event?”

“Like what?”

“I don’t know, like, what if you turned the fall a cappella showcase you do into a benefit? Have the film club kids make a documentary to go with it.”

EJ’s heart seized up a bit at the word documentary . “I don’t have a great track record with the whole ‘look behind the scenes’ genre,” he reminded her. 

But Ash was off and running. “And we could help the kids do Zoom interviews with a bunch of people I know working in the industry now, have them talk about what their school arts programs meant to them. Between Maddox and I, we can probably call in a favor from some decently high profile names.”

“Ok, that’s actually a really good idea,” EJ agreed. “Who are you thinking we should ask?”

“I mean, again, the answer to this is sort of obvious…”

EJ’s heart sank a bit. “Nini and Gina.”

“We both know they’d say amazing things about their high school drama club.”

“I just didn’t realize that this would involve multiple of my exes from high school,” EJ groaned.

“They’re the ones who made it big, maybe you just have good taste in exes. And the fact that you have a personal connection might actually make the school board sit up and notice.”

A personal connection. That was one way to describe having someone break your heart, he guessed.

“I’m only doing this because it’s for my kids,” EJ said. “I don’t want to look like some pathetic hanger on from back in the day.”

“Neither of them would ever think of you that way. So… you’ll talk to them?”

“I can reach out to Nini, I still have her email. But I don’t even know if I have working contact info for Gina anymore after the Reddit leak.” A couple years ago, some fan had managed to get ahold of Gina’s personal contact info and posted it online. So she’d had to change all her numbers and stuff. EJ had no idea how to reach out to her. “I could go through her management, I guess?”

“Oh, I have her private number. She gave it to me when I ran into her at the Emmys after party last month, wanted to catch up. We’ve texted a little, but haven’t been able to make plans, it’s been so busy!"

EJ couldn’t help but feel a tiny bit resentful in that moment, that so many of the people he’d known in high school had gone on to these high profile careers and glamorous events. He’d thought about going into filmmaking himself at one point, but when he and his dad fell out, he needed a more practical path with a guaranteed job after he finished putting himself through school, working up to four jobs at a time to make it happen. He loved teaching, but there would always be a bit of a dream deferred kind of feeling for him as he watched his former classmates succeed. 

“Do you mind giving her a call, then?” EJ asked. “Because she probably won’t pick up a random number.”

“You don’t think she imported her contacts?”

EJ didn’t know how to say he wasn’t sure that he would merit taking up a spot in Gina’s phone.

“Who knows? She probably doesn’t even handle that stuff on her own anymore. She’s too famous for that.”

“Maybe you’re right. Ok, I’ll call her tomorrow.”

“Thanks, Ash. The kids will be excited to have a new project. Oh, and speaking of new…”

“Yes, I started the arrangement you asked for. Tell Lucy I’ll Zoom with her Friday,” Ashlyn promised. 

“Thanks, cuz. You’re the best.”

“Tell me something I don’t know. I’ll let you know what Gina says and brainstorm a list with Gadget. We’ve got what, a month to pull this off?”

“A little more. The showcase is always the first week in December, after Thanksgiving.”

“Good deal. Love you, Eej.”

“Love you too, Ash. Good night.”

EJ hung up and rubbed the heels of his hands against his tired eyes. He HAD to make this work. Even if it meant embarrassing himself a little by having the kids question his relationship with Nini and Gina.

They both dumped me back in high school was going to be fun to explain.

He opened his email, intending to start a message to Nini, but his brain was too exhausted to make much sense. So he packed up his laptop and headed out to his car.

He’d bought this car when he first started teaching here. He’d been able to stretch the black SUV that his dad had bought him and didn’t demand back all the way through college, but when the import started needing pricey repairs, he’d traded it in for this jeep and he’d learned how to change the oil himself. It wasn’t much to look at, not a high end trim at all. But it fit all the gear he needed to haul for film club, and he could leave the soft top on almost all year to take it up the mountain trails and feel a little bit like he was home in Utah for an afternoon. 

And it was all his, bought with his own hard work. So he’d take it over his fancy old one anyway. 

By some accident of fate, when he turned the car on, Nini’s new single was playing on the radio. He smiled, deciding it was a sign, the universe telling him that Ash’s plan was going to pan out, and he was going to be able to save his film club. 

He hoped. 

Chapter Text

Gina looked down at the magazine cover on the table in front of her, and for once, it wasn’t because it featured a picture of her.

Quinn’s face, stoic as ever, graced the cover of the next month’s edition of Vanity Fair. She looked like the serious, substantive film maker that she always wanted to be.

Too bad the interview inside the magazine was about to ruin Gina’s life.

“Go ahead,” her agent Michael said, gesturing for her to open it up. “Read what she has to say.”

“Do I have to? The headline is bad enough.”

Quinn Robbins Takes On Hollywood, One Diva at a Time the cover screamed.

And Gina knew just what diva the article would be referring to… her.

“What I don’t understand is why she’s doing this NOW,” Gina said. “We stopped working together years ago.”

“She’s got a new project coming out that’s looking like Oscar bait," Michael reasoned. "And you know what they say about striking while the iron is hot…”

Did he really need to make an iron reference right now? "So she’s going after me because of the rumors from the Iron Heart set.”

“They’re not just rumors, honey,” her publicist Mandy chimed in. “There’s cell phone video of you demanding that Mack be fired before you stormed off set.”

“But that video lacks context,” Gina argued. 

“The context was that you broke up and couldn’t find a way to work together, so you pitched a fit,” Michael deadpanned.

Gina gave a frustrated huff. “It’s more complicated than that.”

“And the hordes online aren’t going to care,” Mandy said, shaking her head. “I thought we were going to beat the allegations from DeuxMoi, at least, but someone’s going to sell that clip in a heartbeat once this interview starts making the rounds.” Mandy gestured back to the magazine for Gina to open it up and take a look.

She quickly scanned the first few paragraphs, which were the boilerplate profile piece stuff. Quinn’s background, her resume, and her ambitions for the future. But about a third of the way through, Gina saw her name pop up for the first time.

Robbins has a talent for finding talent, and is widely credited with plucking Hollywood A-lister Gina Porter from thin air while filming her ill-conceived fourth installment of the ‘High School Musical’ franchise on location in Salt Lake City. The pair went on to have a prolific partnership, with Porter appearing in four additional films in the next three years with Robbins at the helm. But things seemed to sour for the golden duo when Porter gave an interview disparaging the writers on a limited series project for Netflix that Porter had finessed into a co-production credit alongside Robbins. 

“I shouldn’t have been surprised,” Robbins said, shaking her head. “From the very first film we did together, Gina was demanding. She pressed us to rearrange the shooting schedule on HSM4 to accommodate her high school musical, as if that was a reasonable request for someone who didn’t even have their SAG card. And then she strong armed me into moving production on 'Romeo and Juliet' to her hometown, costing the studio thousands and putting a lot of good, hard working crew members in New Zealand out of work at the very last minute. I was willing to put up with it, because let’s face it, she’s basically a once in a generation talent. But when she went after my writers who’d poured their blood, sweat and tears into creating something from nothing, I knew I couldn’t work with her anymore. I’d reached my limit with her diva demands. It just felt like the worst of the women in Hollywood stereotypes that I was continuing to prop up. And I learned a valuable lesson about knowing my own worth as a woman behind the camera, not being blinded by my devotion to promoting the female actors in front of it."

“She’s trying to spin our falling out as some like, female empowerment thing?” Gina asked, incredulous. “How does cutting down another woman in the industry help the feminist cause?”

“I mean, that’s our angle for sure,” Mandy nodded.” Not directly, obviously,” she added quickly. "The less we comment, the better. But we can definitely try to amplify any social media reaction to look like girl-on-girl crime, that she’s jealous of your success.”

“That’s not going to play well when Quinn’s being buzzed about for an Oscar nom and Gina just walked off a Marvel set,” Michael pointed out. 

Gina threw herself back against the chair with a sigh. “This was what Quinn LIKED about me when I was coming up, my confidence. She wanted me to be MORE assertive, not less! And now she’s going to use that against me?”

“So… it’s all true, then?” Mandy asked hesitantly. “Like, you really forced her to change shooting schedules and locations?” Gina knew Mandy didn’t have to ask about Quinn’s comments about the interview she gave where she criticized the writers on the show. Everyone had read it, and any time there was half a bad word about Gina in the press, it got thrown around. 

Gina sighed. “It’s being misrepresented here, there were circumstances that…”

Mandy cut her off. “But you can’t deny it happened.”

Gina pursed her lips. “No, I can’t.”

Michael and Mandy exchanged worried looks. They had only been her management for the past eighteen months, after Gina had overhauled her team in the wake of losing out on a role in an Amazon Prime show that snagged the actor who did get cast an Emmy nomination. So they didn’t have the complete backstory about how Gina had gotten where she is. And now she was staring down this article from a woman who seemed determined to make her look bad.

But there was a small voice in the back of head, insisting that she’d made herself look bad with the choices that she’d made.

And it was hard to argue with that, with the benefit of hindsight.

“I’m getting canceled, aren’t I?” Gina asked miserably.

“If it was JUST the Iron Heart fiasco, I’d say no. If it was JUST the interview, I still might say no,” Mandy said. “Taken all together? I think we’re in for a rough few months. This is going to scare off pretty much any project that you’re under consideration for, and I’m anticipating you getting quietly dropped by at least a few of your brand partners who aren’t going to want your sponcon posts getting spammed with vitriol.”

"How long do we have?" Michael asked. 

"Two days, maybe," Mandy said flatly. "I got that copy from a friend at Conde Nast who was kind enough to give me a heads up, but if I could get, so can others."

"So what do I do?" Gina cried.

"My advice?" Mandy asked.

"Isn't that what I pay you for?" Gina snapped. Lashing out at her team wasn't going to help, but she felt like her back was against the wall.

"I think you should lay low for a while. Go dark on social media, definitely turn off the comments. And maybe get out of LA for a bit. Do you have somewhere private you can get away to?

Gina nearly laughed. In addition to her house in the Hills, she had a penthouse in Soho and a ski chalet in Aspen. But they were all selected with visibility in mind, at a time when cultivating her image as the new 'It Girl' was a key part of her management team's strategy. It had worked, and she shot to the top of the A list in short order. But it also meant paparazzi photographers knew the location of all three. The second this interview leaked, she wouldn't be able to get within a hundred yards of any of them without her picture getting taken. 

"I can figure something out," she nodded. A luxury get away to a remote tropical island sounded pretty good right now.

"Nothing extravagant, though," Mandy warned, as if she could read Gina's thoughts. "It will look flippant if you're off somewhere glamorous while Quinn is talking shit about your work ethic."

So much for that plan. As Gina mulled over whether she could stomach going to visit her mom while all this was going on, her phone lit up with a call she wasn't expecting. Ashlyn was calling her. 

They'd texted back and forth since they had both turned up at the same Emmy party a couple weeks ago, but hadn't been able to find a chance to really catch up. And there was no way Gina would have time now, managing what was about to become a full blown PR crisis.

Gina quickly declined the call to send Ash to her voicemail. But before she could tune back into Mandy and Michael debating the merits of Miami vs. Montana, the screen lit up again. Ash was being persistent.

As her old contact photo of Ash from high school filled the screen, a thought occurred to Gina. Ash had stepped in and saved her once before when she needed a place to stay. Maybe this was some kind of sign.

"I need the room," she said, and Mandy and Michael immediately exited, murmuring quietly between them, though Gina did pick up on the words "redemption arc" being uttered as they shuffled out the glass door.

Gina picked up the call. "Ashlyn, hi! Sorry, I was in a meeting. What's up?"

"Yeah, sorry to call kinda out of the blue, but I promised him I'd talk to you today."

Him? Who was Ashlyn calling about?

"What's going on?"

"Listen, I'm just going to say it… EJ needs a favor."

EJ, oh God. They hadn't spoken in years. She didn't even follow him on socials anymore, after her burner account was broadcast all over Reddit. 

But she couldn't help it, a girlish part of her still reacted to hearing her first boyfriend's name.

"Is he ok?" Gina asked immediately.

"HE'S fine. The funding for his arts programs? Not so much."

"So he's looking for money?" Interesting how the tables had turned. When they dated back in high school, EJ was loaded and Gina was intimidated. Now it looked like they were in the opposite place. 

"No, not exactly. He needs some help with a project to raise the money they need to keep going."

"What kind of help?"

"Do you wanna have dinner this weekend and I can fill you in?"

"Oh, Ash, I would, but I… I actually need to get out of LA for a while. It's… kind of a long story. But I really can't be seen out and about in town."

"Oh, well… what if we went down to San Diego, then? And you can talk to EJ about it yourself."

She'd forgotten EJ was just a few hours down the freeway. A pang of guilt that he was that close and she'd never even considered reaching out to him throbbed a bit painfully in her chest, but she pushed it aside. Ashlyn was swooping in now with an offer that might help her weather a storm. Just like she had back in high school. And Gina was going to take it.

"That sounds great, actually. Do, uh… do you mind driving? There's some photographers who know my car, I'd rather not…"

"No problem," Ash assured her. "Just DM me where you want me to pick you up and we'll head down early Saturday morning."

"Perfect. Thanks, Ash," she said, her voice almost catching in her throat. Once again, her sister saved the day.

She hung up, and motioned for Michael and Mandy to come back in. "Ok, that was actually perfect timing. I just got invited to San Diego for the weekend, we can regroup after that. A… friend from high school is down there, not anyone famous," she assured them. "Michael, can someone find me an appropriately humble yet private AirBnB for Saturday night?"

"Already on it," he assured her, tapping away at his iPhone.

Gina took one last look at the magazine cover, and Quinn's stern visage staring up at her. It was like she was looking straight at Gina, telling her You finally got what was coming to you. 

And with one last angry but defeated sigh as she slid on her oversized, overpriced designer sunglasses, she headed out to go pack.

Chapter Text

By the time the bell rang on Friday afternoon, announcing the arrival of the weekend, EJ was exhausted. He'd been up late the last two nights, putting together a plan for the fundraiser that Ash had dreamed up.  He had turned in the proposal to the principal that morning, and had gotten the approval signature by lunch. So now he just had to pitch it to the kids. He'd invited the presidents and treasurers of both clubs to meet him after school to discuss it.

As he arranged copies of the proposal on desks at the front of the room, he heard a knock on his door. Standing in the doorway was Alexis, a guidance counselor who'd started the same time EJ did. She was the coach of the dance team, and was clearly interested in being more than just colleagues with EJ.

What was it with him and dancers? Gina, Val…

Unfortunately for her, EJ wasn't really interested in a relationship. He gave literally everything he had to his job, he didn’t have the bandwidth for a girlfriend, too. And he’d learned a long time ago that overextending himself was a great way to implode a relationship. So he kept his dating life incredibly casual, when he dated at all. He and Lex had hooked up once, almost a year ago, after a big group of the younger teachers had gone out for drinks to celebrate surviving midterms, which were sometimes just as rough on the teachers as the students. He'd been straightforward with her, that he wasn't really looking for anything serious. To her credit, Alexis didn’t try to make it more than what it was, either. But she routinely stopped by his classroom to flirt and reinforce her interest in, at the very least, a repeat performance. But EJ kept his distance, not wanting to complicate things with someone he worked with. 

“Hey, Eej, I saw the budget email come out, I’m so sorry.”

“Thanks,” he sighed. “I guess I was being a little delulu there for a minute, thinking it wouldn't actually hit that hard, but I’m working with nothing over here.”

“That sucks. Makes me glad that the dance team falls under the athletics budget.”

EJ felt a slight sting to jealousy. Athletics had actually gotten a budget INCREASE this year, by about eleven percent. As a former three season athlete, he certainly wasn’t one to downplay the importance of sports for a lot of students. But the discrepancy between that and what had happened to the arts budget was infuriating.

“Well, the kids are coming by to start to make a plan, so I guess I’ll see you Monday?”

“There’s a bunch of us going out tonight if you want to come along…” she said, trailing off with a slight singsong.

“Thanks, Lex, but this week has been a killer. And my cousin is coming to visit tomorrow, so I should go home and crash.”

“Let me know if you change your mind,” she said, before turning and walking away. 

And ok, EJ checked out her ass. He might not be into the idea of a relationship, but he was human. Friday was jeans day for teachers, and the pair that Alexis wore molded nicely to her curves.

Unfortunately, as he was watching her walk away, Sierra, a junior and the film club treasurer, popped her head into the classroom.

“Ooooh, Mr. Caswell, are you and Miss Larkin a thing?”

EJ cleared his throat and looked away. “Not that it’s any of your business, Sierra, but no. Miss Larkin and I are just colleagues, and friends. That’s it.” 

"Marina said she keeps a picture of the two of you on her desk,” Jake commented as he walked into the classroom and collapsed into one of the desks in the front row. “It’s, like, a group shot, I guess, but your arm is around her.”

“And why exactly was your girlfriend snooping in her coach’s office?” EJ asked the senior pointedly.

Jake shrugged. “Being over-invested in our teacher’s love lives is kind of our thing.”

EJ opened his mouth to protest, but quickly shut it again. After all, he’d given Mr. Mazzarra so much shit about him and Miss Jenn back in the day, he really didn’t have a leg to stand on. 

“Anyway, are Lucy and Olivia coming? I haven’t been able to check the group chat,” EJ said, pulling out his phone.

“Sorry, sorry, we’re here!” Lucy cried as she came skidding into the room. “My Zoom with Ashlyn ran over, we got really into talking about the harmony blends and completely lost track of time.”

“Oh my God, you are SUCH a DORK!” Olivia cried as she slipped her hand into Lucy’s. “What am I even doing with you?”

“You love me,” Lucy countered.

“Unfortunately true,” Olivia agreed, scrunching her nose before leaning in and kissing her girlfriend.

“No PDA in my classroom, ladies,” EJ admonished.

“That’s homophobic,” Sierra said immediately.

“Nah, he gives Mari and me shit, too,” Jake said with a smile. “He’s just bitter he’s single.”

“But he’s not, he’s dating Miss Larkin,” Sierra stated as if it were a fact. Lucy and Olivia's heads instantly whipped around to look at him, unsure how they missed that piece of gossip.

“I am NOT dating Miss Larkin,” EJ groaned. “And can we please actually get to the reason that we’re here so I can get out of here and forget about you gremlins for the weekend?”

“You could NEVER forget us, Mr. Caswell,” Lucy said with a smile as she slid into one of the desks, which Olivia perched on top of.

Despite his aggravation, EJ smiled back. It was true, he was always thinking about his kids. 

“Ok, are we ready, then?” EJ asked, picking his own copy of the fundraiser proposal off of his desk.

“What’s the big secret, anyway?” Jake asked, flipping through the pages.

“Well, I need to start with some bad news.” EJ looked directly at Jake, waiting for the worry to bloom to the surface on his face. Jake was a lot like EJ had been back in high school, looking composed and cool on the outside but secretly fighting a battle with anxiety. EJ had recognized the telltale signs last year, and worked with Alexis to talk to his parents to get him some help. He was doing much better now, but EJ knew this might send him into a tailspin.

“The budget came in,” EJ continued. “And our funding has been cut.”

“By how much?” Lucy asked, alarmed.

“The specifics don’t really…”

“How much?” Sierra cut in.

EJ sighed. “By more than half.”

All the kids started talking at once. 

“They can’t…”

“How is that fair when the football team…”

“But what about my script, I spent all summer…"

"Mr. Caswell, I…"

"Hey, hey, hey!" EJ cried over them, trying to get them to calm down. "I know, it's not fair and it sucks. But we're going to figure it out. I already started working on a plan."

He glanced back over at Jake, whose breathing had gone a little shallow, but he was otherwise masking it pretty well. Hopefully getting to the solution would help before he really started to skid.

"So, here's the deal. We have the a cappella showcase the first weekend in December," he said, nodding at Lucy and Olivia. "We're going to turn it into a benefit concert, to raise money for all the arts programs."

"But we don't own the rights, you said we can't charge admission," Olivia pointed out. She and EJ had already gone round about this last spring for their end of year showcase.

EJ shook his head. "We won't be. It will strictly be donations, completely voluntary."

"So what's the incentive for people to actually donate?" Sierra asked skeptically.

"Check out the second page of the packet. We'll also be premiering a brand new documentary on the importance of arts education, and hit them with a direct appeal at the end. Play on the heartstrings and all that."

"A guilt trip, I like it," Sierra said, immediately scribbling some notes in the margins of EJ's proposal. "We should have kids from all the arts programs walk around with buckets and sad faces."

EJ laughed. "Not a bad idea, Sierra."

"And a QR code in the program!" Olivia said. "Gotta be able to take Venmo."

"Oooh, what if the highest overall donor gets to choose a song for us to perform in the spring show? Like a prize!" Lucy exclaimed.

"Love that," EJ agreed. "And we haven't even gotten to the best part yet."

"What's that?" 

"I couldn't put this in the proposal, because I don't have the details yet, but Ashlyn is going to help us set up interviews with some of her industry contacts about their experience with high school arts programs. With that angle, we can probably get it picked up on the local news, maybe even go viral."

The three girls immediately started chattering excitedly, wondering who Ashlyn would be able to connect them with. EJ didn't say anything about Nini or Gina yet. Nini hadn’t responded to his email, but she was currently on tour in South America so he didn’t expect an answer until sometime next week. And Ash said she’d fill him in on the details about her conversion with Gina when she arrived in San Diego tomorrow. He was honestly still feeling some kind of way about having them involved in this, but he was trying to keep his shit together about it for the kids.

Clearly though, something in his face had changed, because Jake was regarding him critically, and EJ knew he needed to get his own anxiety in check before he set off Jake even further.

"So, yeah, that’s the plan. Ashlyn is coming down tomorrow and she and I will hopefully have more details for you on Monday. Lucy, she said she’d stick around through Tuesday to come to a cappella rehearsal and hear stuff live to see if you guys need to tweak any of the arrangements.”

Lucy sat up straighter. “Then I better text everyone and let them know they need to be on point.” She grabbed her phone and started tapping furiously while Olivia rolled her eyes affectionately.

“Seriously, SUCH a dork.”

“Sierra, I need you to start researching statistics on the importance of arts programs for academic achievement. Jake, can you draft some potential interview questions? Olivia, you’re on graphic design.”

Nods and murmurs of “Got it,” came from the group. 

“Ok, then get the heck out of here and enjoy your weekend. I’ll see you on Monday.”

They gathered up their things and headed for the classroom door, but Jake lingered behind the others. “Something on your mind, Jake?” EJ asked.

“Do you really think… I mean, is this going to actually work?” Jake blurted out. “Or are we totally screwed?”

EJ sighed. He couldn’t bring himself to lie to Jake. “I don’t know, honestly. But I’m not going down without a fight, and neither should you.”

Jake exhaled, a long, drawn out breath that EJ knew Alexis had taught him. “Ok. See you Monday, Mr. Caswell.”

“Bye, Jake.”

As he packed up his own stuff, he checked his phone. There was a text from Alexis. 

At Achiote if u end up wanting to join

For a moment, EJ was tempted, remembering how good Lex’s ass had looked in those jeans. And after a long week, maybe he deserved to blow off a little steam. She’d seemed to get that he wasn’t looking to get coupled up, and she was obviously still interested. 

And for a reason he’d never be able to explain, an image of Gina flashed in his mind. Specifically, a photo he’d seen of her online from the press tour for her last movie, some Netflix rom com that got absolutely panned by the critics AND the fans of the book it was based on, somehow both too much and not enough at the same time.

She’d looked beautiful. And miserable.

And whatever emotion was stirred up in him at that mental image, it meant he had no business going out tonight.

Thx for the invite but I’m good

C U Mon

Chapter Text

Gina waited by the front door to buzz Ashlyn through the gate to her house. Gina had texted her late last night, asking her to please come as early as she could, after a text from Mandy to the whole team that at least two other publicists had gotten their hands on the Quinn interview, and it was bound to hit the internet by Saturday. Gina hoped she was already well on her way out of LA when that happened. 

To Gina’s relief, Ashlyn arrived just after seven, and she quickly let her in. Ash pulled her white Chrystler around to the front of the house, and Gina hopped in, tossing her overnight bag into the backseat and pulling her baseball cap down a little further as she buckled her seatbelt.

“Hey Gina!” Ashlyn said brightly. "Ready to get going?" 

"Yes please," Gina said with a slight sigh. Ashlyn gave her some side eye, but said nothing as they started towards the entrance to the 101 to head down the coast to San Diego.

"Do you wanna pick up a coffee for the ride?" Ashlyn asked.

"Oh, let me get it," Gina insisted. "As long as you don't mind ducking in to grab it?"

"No problem," Ash assured her.

"Iced white mocha?" Gina asked automatically. It has been Ashlyn's go-to order when they were in high school.

"Oh, God," Ashlyn laughed. "I don't think I've had one of those in about three years."

Gina felt an embarrassed blush creep up her neck. How stupid could she be, to just assume Ashlyn hadn't changed at all since high school, that the memory she was stuck at in Gina's brain was still somehow who she was?"

But if Ashlyn sensed her discomfort, she didn't call attention to it. "You know what, why not? They're still delicious, right? Just add an extra shot to the venti for me."

"You got it," Gina said, relieved, as she tapped the order into the app. "Ok, all set.  Pick up is under George."

"George?" Ashlyn asked curiously.

"I try to fly under the radar, and sometimes if it's not my name, it takes a little longer for people to put two and two together and I can usually get in and out before they realize it's me."

"Woah, that's kind of intense."

Gina shrugged. "Cost of fame, I guess. But it should be ready when we get there."

Gina was quiet for the next several minutes as Ashlyn filled the space talking about a project she was scoring with a director Gina had worked with a couple projects ago, stopping only to hop out and grab their coffees. When Ash started talking about another prospective gig with a Disney Plus show, Gina couldn't help it, she visibly winced.

"Ooh, sorry… " Ash stammered. "That one hit a nerve."

"Oh, no, you're good," Gina assured her. "It's just that if you're looking to land work with Disney, I may not be the best person to be seen with, considering…"

"So… the rumors are true, then?" Ash ventured cautiously.

Gina nodded, staring down at her hands, glad that Ash was driving and she didn't have to look at her. "It's more complicated than the blind on Deux Moi made it seem, but…"

The damning paragraph had shown up about three weeks ago on the celeb gossip IG account.

Sent via form submission

Pseudonym, please: RiriUhOh

Email: [email protected]

This MCU limited series is on ice at D+ after the female lead walked off the set in a blaze of fury last week. Screamed at the director she wouldn't continue to work with the ‘child star in search of a comeback’ co-star she's collaborated with before. Big change from them hooking up loudly in his trailer the week before… Unclear what the future of the project is. Producers considering writing her out and CGI into the final ep.

"Well, what really happened, then?" Ashlyn asked. “You know, with you and Mack?”

Gina was quietly shocked that Ashlyn was on her side. She was so used to being on the defensive with anyone who wasn't on her payroll, she had kind of forgotten that Ashlyn had always been that kind of friend.

"When I got cast as Riri for the Iron Heart series, Mack reached out to my agent, begged him to get him in to read. He's been struggling getting in the room the last couple years, and knew we had always had great chemistry. I agreed to bring him in, and he got the role. One thing led to another, and I decided to finally shoot my shot with my childhood crush. We started hooking up just after we started filming. Mack kept pressing me to take it public, but I wasn't ready after the debacle with Colton."

After she had ended things with Ricky, Gina had a string of short lived relationships with whoever she let her old agent set her up with, all in service of her image. One eventually stuck, and she fell hard for a rookie point guard for the Clippers, who then very publicly cheated on her after nine months together, getting a baller groupie in Orlando pregnant. That was a turning point for Gina, when she wanted to be less "Hollywood It Girl" and more just a person whose job happened to be acting, but she was already too far into the game.

Ashlyn was nodding sympathetically, so she'd obviously seen some of the wall to wall click bait about Gina and Colton's breakup. "So how did it go south so fast?"

"Remember how back when we were shooting HSM4 Mack faked a relationship with Dani for press?"

"Yeah…" Ashlyn said slowly.

"Well, turns out that fake PR relationships were still his thing… he just didn't bother to tell me that he was faking it."

"What?!?" Ashlyn burst out.

Gina nodded miserably. "I overheard him on speaker phone with a paparazzo in the makeup trailer. He was going to try and get himself papped leaving my place the next morning. When the photog commented about how I didn't date much anymore so these pics would go for big bucks, Mack told him that I was 'bad in bed but good for business', so he had to fake it long enough to get his name back out there."

Ashlyn seemed stunned. "Gina, I'm so sorry, that's awful."

"I mean, I was devastated. And it was even worse that he just ran his mouth about it in front of the crew like that. It was like everyone knew it was fake but me."

"So what happened?" 

"I confronted the showrunner, asked if he knew Mack was using me for press. When he got all evasive, I knew. Totally freaked out, said I couldn't work with Mack anymore and if he wanted to show a shred of loyalty, he'd fire him. He refused, saying we only had three days of shooting left anyway, couldn't I just be a professional about it, shit like this happens all the time. I refused and walked off. Found out last week I'm not being renewed, but Mack is. I'm pretty sure they're killing me off in the finale."

"But you're the title character," Ashlyn said, incredulous.

"Last I heard, season 2 will be all about Mack's character searching for someone to take Riri's place as Iron Heart and heal the wounds of losing me," she said sarcastically. 

"So he gets away with it," Ash said angrily. And it definitely did Gina's heart some good to see Ash immediately taking up for her.

Too bad it did absolutely nothing to change the situation. 

"Yeah, I guess. He's way cheaper and streaming is always in budget trouble, so when I blew up, it gave them all the justification they needed to sell season one with my name but not keep me. And right now, I'm just waiting for the cell phone videos of my tirade to hit the internet."

"So that's why you needed to get out of town for a bit?" Ashlyn asked.

Gina just couldn't tell her about the Quinn interview yet, she was still processing it herself. "Definitely a big part of it," she settled on, not the whole truth but close enough to it.

"I hope it doesn't look, I don't know, opportunistic or anything, for me to reach out for EJ. You know we wouldn't ask if it wasn't a dire situation."

"You said they lost their funding?" Gina asked, grateful for the shift in topic.

"Most of it," Ashlyn confirmed. "So now we've got two months to try and pull something together to get them through the second half of the year."

"So where do I come in?" Gina wondered.

"I'll let EJ fill you in on the details, but I think his students are hoping to interview you and use it for a documentary."

"EJ agreed to a documentary?" Gina said skeptically, remembering how the last one had basically imploded his life.

"Yeah, I know, but it's for his kids. He'd do anything for them. Me too, honestly. They're literally the best."

Gina was unsurprised to hear about the Caswells going out of their way for these kids. After all, they'd both found ways to go out of their way for her back in the day. The plane ticket, the invite to stay for the semester… the Caswells changed her life.

And she was just really starting to realize how different things would have been without them.

She shook off the haze of nostalgia, though, when she realized that maybe this wasn't just a chance to do a favor for the Caswells. Maybe this would be the thing to help repair her image in the wake of Quinn's interview. 

Gina pulled out her phone and texted Michael and Mandy.

Might be in SD for a little longer than expected

Can u extend my AirBnB and have a rental car dropped off?

What's the plan?

U said I needed a redemption arc

I might have found it

Will txt later w/ details

She slid her phone away and turned back to Ashlyn. 

"So how's Maddox doing?" she asked as they continued down the coast.

Chapter Text

EJ wiped down the counter again, knowing it was already spotless but not sure what else to do with the nervous energy that he was brimming with at the moment. 

Ashlyn had texted that they were probably arriving sometime around 9:30, and EJ had been up since 5. The high school started early and he followed pretty much the same morning routine whether it was a school day or the weekend. He’d already been to the gym and obsessively tidied his place again when he got home. 

EJ wasn’t exactly sure how to prepare for having a full blown Hollywood starlet over. On one hand, this was Gina, the girl he used to make laugh so hard she’d snort. On the other, she was Gina Porter, who got paid $14 million for her last movie. It was hard to tell where she’d fall on the spectrum of expectations.

He glanced around his townhouse. It wasn’t much, but it was more than enough space for just him, and was only about a ten minute drive to work. He was as big of a neat freak as ever, and everything in the living room and kitchen were in perfect order. He was normally proud of his place, but this morning it just felt unimpressive.

He still wasn’t sure why he was trying to impress her, though. Especially when there was obviously no way he could play in her league, not after being disowned and making it on a teacher’s salary. 

EJ sighed and peered into the oven for the thousandth time He was a terrible cook, but he’d thought ahead and ordered some crustless quiche things from the market that he was heating up, along with a fruit salad bowl. The one thing he did have covered was the coffee. He’d splurged on a fancy machine for his house, holding onto the one bit of everyday luxury he’d enjoyed in his former life by making iced almond milk lattes in the mornings after his workouts.

Even though he was expecting it, he still jumped when the bell rang.  He went to go over and let them in, but Ashlyn beat him to it, using her key and bounding up the stairs to meet him in the living room.

“Morning, Eej! Please tell me there’s coffee. I need that and the bathroom stat.” And she took off down the hall, leaving EJ alone.

Well, not alone. Because coming up the stairs was none other than Gina Porter.

And goddammit, she was still the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen. 

Even now, dressed in yoga leggings and a baseball cap, not a stitch of makeup that he could see, she was still stunning. And all of a sudden, he was seventeen again, unable to tear his eyes away from her, even as he was sure that she would break his heart.

He’d gotten that part right, at least.

He swallowed, knowing he had to say something. “Gina, hi… thanks for coming.”

“It’s been a while,” she said, pausing for a beat. “It’s good to see you.”

“You too,” he agreed. “Though I guess I feel like I ‘see you’ all the time. Some days it feels like you’re on the cover of every magazine in the checkout lane at the supermarket.”

“Gotta promote those projects,” she said a bit lightly, but she looked uncomfortable. Before he could say anything to make it worse, Ashlyn came bounding back down the hall. “Eej, I was serious about the coffee. I had one on the way down, but there’s no way that’s enough caffeine for all the work we need to get done today.”

“Don’t worry, I’ve got the Breville fired up and ready,” he assured her. “Gina, can I get you a coffee?”

“Sure,” she said, and the three of them walked into his small kitchen. 

“Have a seat,” EJ said, gesturing towards the island. “Breakfast should be just about ready.”

“You cooked?” Ashlyn asked skeptically. Gina couldn’t seem to help it, and let out a giggle that she quickly tried to mask with her hand. EJ shot her a small smirk, letting her know he heard it.

“For your information, Ashlyn… I did not,” he said with a grin. “These are from Sprouts, I just heated them up.”

“Oh thank God,” Ashlyn said dramatically. “We don’t have time for food poisoning this weekend.”

“Still not much good in the kitchen?” Gina teased him lightly. EJ flashed back to when they were in high school and he tried to ‘help’ her make cupcakes for his graduation party. All he’d done was make a mess, but they had ended up making out with chocolate-stained kisses against his parents’ kitchen counter. 

“Yeah, not at all,” he confirmed, turning his back to them to pull the eggs out of the oven and conceal the slight flush that rose to his cheeks at the long-ago memory of the feel of her lips on his. 

“There’s fruit salad and regular salad, too,” he said as he set the dish on the counter and turned to pull those out of the fridge. “Ash, can you grab plates?”

As he got to work making lattes, EJ watched Ashlyn load up her plate while Gina divided one of the egg bites in half, skipped the fruit and filled most of her plate with greens and the slightest drizzle of the homemade dressing he’d set down next to the bowl, one the few things he actually could make.

She noticed him looking at her plate. “I had a green smoothie this morning,” she said by way of explanation, but EJ just gave a slight shrug. She didn’t owe him any information about her eating habits.

He set down two almond milk iced lattes before making his own plate. As he and Ashlyn ate and Gina fairly just picked at her plate, Gina asked “So explain what the plan is?”

EJ sighed. “Well, let me back up and explain what happened first. I teach math at San Ysidro High School. We’re one of the poorest parts of the San Diego Unified district, literally right on the border with Mexico. So we rely a LOT more on the city for funding than some of the schools further north that have parents who can pay their way when it comes to extra-curricular stuff.” Gina nodded. “I’m the director of the a cappella group and the advisor for the film club, have been since I started there right out of college. Funding has always been tight, but this year we heard that because test scores at San Ysidro were lower than state average, they’re pulling money from the arts programs to fund more test prep resources.”

“That’s stupid. Arts are like, half the reason some kids even COME to school,” Gina said.

“No kidding,” EJ nodded. “But it doesn’t seem to matter to the school board. And while other schools can absorb these cuts by asking parents to pay, I can’t. One of my kiddos, Sierra, almost had to drop out of film club last spring to get a job to put food on the table for her family. We managed to figure out how to get her paid to shoot footage for athletics, she’s too good at it to not use those skills. But that’s the kind of situation I’m working with.”

“How bad are the budget cuts?”

“Down 70% from last year,” EJ said glumly, stabbing a chunk of egg and putting it in his mouth while Gina’s jaw dropped open. 

“So how much do you need to raise?”

“Ideally? About $25,000,” EJ said matter-of-factly. “But frankly, I can make it work with $15k and donating back my stipend. Less if I actually take up coaching the swim team like they keep begging and put that back in, too.”

Gina fell silent, and EJ was uncomfortable. She lived in a world where budgets are talked about with six zeros on the end, and here he was, fretting about a few thousand here and there. He had a feeling that if he just asked her, she’d write a check that instant for the full $25k he needed and walk back out of his life.

And both his stubborn pride and the inappropriate hope that this project would keep her in his kitchen a little while longer wouldn’t let him do it. 

“So to get to that number, Ash had a brilliant idea. I do a showcase with my a cappella group twice a year, once in December and once in May. We’re going to turn this year’s concert into a fundraising event by also debuting a documentary on the importance of arts education that the film club will make. We’re going to use the a cappella group to record the soundtrack, we have the equipment at school already to make that happen.”

“And I’m pretty sure I can engineer it,” Ashlyn put in. 

“In addition to giving, like, facts about how important the arts are to academic achievement, we’re also going to have the kids tell their stories and what these programs mean to them. But then it was Ash’s brilliant idea to see if we could recruit some famous… er, high profile people to talk about the impact of the arts on their life,” EJ said, a little embarrassed to sound like a fanboy. 

“We want to help the kids do interviews, over Zoom or whatever,” Ashlyn said. “But if you’re here in person, maybe we can shoot you at the school!”

“I reached out to Nini, too,” EJ said quickly, not wanting Gina to read anything into the reasons why she’d been on the list. “Might as well take advantage of knowing so many absurdly talented people, right?”

Gina smiled, but she looked a little far away, as if the wheels in her head were turning.

“So… what do you think, Gi?” Ashlyn asked expectantly. “Will you do an interview with the kids?"

Gina nodded. “Of course. In fact… I think I can do more than just be interviewed."

“What do you mean?” EJ asked cautiously. 

“I’ve been learning a lot more about the behind the camera over the last couple years. Before everything with…” she stopped short. EJ wondered what that was about, but she pressed on. “I’ve been working towards launching a production company. So I've had a hand in pretty much everything involved in a shoot, front and back end. Maybe I could stick around for a bit, actually work with the kids on it."

EJ’s eyes widened in shock. Not that Gina was looking to have her own production company. She was Gina Porter, she could do anything. But that she was immediately willing to throw her lot in with his kids and use her clout for them…

It was the Gina he remembered, and the one he thought he’d lost a long time ago.

“Seriously? That would be… wow,” was all EJ could get out. 

“And they keep creative control,” she assured him. “I know how hard it is to make something when your heart is not in it, this will be all them.”

EJ was incredibly curious about what she meant by that, but it didn’t seem like the time or place to ask. "Gina, it's an incredibly generous offer, but are you sure that you've got the time for this?" EJ asked skeptically. 

“I'm... between projects right now," Gina said, seeming a bit evasive. "So this is actually perfect timing. When can I meet the kids so we can get started?”

“Uh, not til Monday, most of them will be working all weekend,” EJ explained.

“Right,” Gina said, as if she was just remembering what regular people’s schedules were like. "Let me confirm to my agent that I'm going to be in town for a while, then," she said, abandoning her only half finished plate to pick up her iPhone. "Maybe they can help, too, convince some of the other people they rep to appear. We can set up a meeting with them after we talk to the kids on Monday."

“Uh, sure, that… that sounds great,” EJ sort of stammered. "Thank you." He wasn’t sure why he was surprised, Gina was always a go-getter, willing to do what she needed to in order to make things happen.

He guessed maybe his surprise was that she was willing to do it for him. 

Chapter Text

Later that afternoon, Ashlyn dropped Gina off at her AirBnB down at Imperial Beach. Her team knew that Gina liked to be by the ocean whenever possible, and this place was less than half a block to the beach. It was small, but with just her, she didn’t really need more space. And it was probably more inconspicuous to stay somewhere that didn’t ‘match’ her Hollywood reputation.

She’d set up a call with Mandy and Michel for 3pm, so she had a few minutes to hop in the shower and change. She pulled out her laptop as she flopped down on the bed. She read through some email casting notices that Michael had forwarded, but there wasn’t much there that she was actually interested in. It felt like she kept getting offered the same part over and over, a sassy, independent young woman who falls in love and it changes everything for her. 

For someone who’d all but given up on the notion of love, let alone one that could be life changing, it was hard to swallow.

That was the reason she’d taken the Iron Heart project in the first place, to do something totally different. It was her first foray back into a limited series since the project with Quinn that blew up their partnership, and doing an action-oriented comic book thing was a totally different experience. But now that she’d blown it there, the likelihood of her getting offered something outside her lane was incredibly low.

The likelihood of her getting offered much was pretty low, honestly, at least for the next few months.

She stretched dramatically, tiredness finally settling over her like a net she couldn’t quite escape. She hadn’t been sleeping well at all since Thursday, anxious about Quinn’s article coming out and what might happen next. Now that she was alone, she was struggling to stay awake as she waited for the call with her team. 

She logged into the Zoom call, immediately annoyed at how poor the lighting was and how her video feed looked. Some would call it vanity, for her, it was a professional necessity to look good on camera. She made a mental note to order a ring light as the others joined the call.

“Gina, how’s San Diego?” Michael asked.

“The light in here is terrible,” Gina grumbled, fixated on her box on the screen. “But it’s cute and close to the beach. Tell your assistant thank you.” Gina had long ago stopped trying to remember the names of her agent’s assistants. They came and went absurdly quickly.

“So what’s this about looking for some kind of redemption arc down there? You’re not thinking of checking yourself into some kind of rehab, are you?” Michael asked.

“Ooh, that might work. Intensive therapy for anger issues, maybe? Or treatment for exhaustion,” Mandy said.

“I’m not checking myself into rehab,” Gina said, rolling her eyes. “I got a call from a friend from high school, and they need help raising money for their school arts programs down here.”

“Oh, so photo op at the school Monday handing over a check? Mandy, do we need a stylist for this?”

“Absolutely not,” Mandy said instantly. “You can’t look like you’re trolling for good press right now, it’ll come off as insincere.”

“I know that,” Gina said, annoyed as always at the inability to let her finish a thought. “The kids in the film club are actually doing a documentary about the importance of arts education. I agreed to help them work on it.”

“You’re a filmmaker now?” Mandy said incredulously. She’d been the person on the team who was the least supportive of Gina’s producer dreams, insisting that it would be seen as a vanity project no matter how much work Gina was willing to put in.

“No, I’m just going to pitch in with production, that’s all. They also want to interview people who work in the arts talking about their own experience in high school programs, so I’ll be on camera, too. In fact, I’m hoping that you’ll reach out to some others you rep, too, to have them agree to be interviewed.”

“You can’t reach out yourself?” Michael asked. 

“She might be a little radioactive right now,” Mandy said bluntly as she scrolled on her phone. “It looks like an excerpt from Quinn’s interview just went up on TMZ.”

Gina felt a knot form in the pit of her stomach. “So it’s happening.”

Mandy nodded grimly. “The whole paragraph about you is out.”

Gina instinctively reached for her phone, and Mandy shouted “Don’t!”

“What do you mean?” Gina asked.

“I cut off your social media access,” Michael said. “Logged everything out everywhere and changed your passwords.”

Gina was fuming. “Are you serious, Michael?!”

“Sorry not sorry, kiddo. Nothing good is going to come from you scrolling through all of it."

“You say that like I can’t still google all that shit.”

“You can, but I hope you won’t,” Mandy said. “It’s going to get bad before it gets better as more outlets pick it up. And it’s our job to manage it while you just… get through it.”

Gina sighed heavily. “Fine. But there’s no way I can go around asking for favors right now, then.”

“I’ll get an intern on it, if you can send me the info for what you need,” Michael assured her. 

“Thanks, Michael,” Gina said.

“How long do you plan to be down there working on this?” Mandy asked. 

“They want to premiere it at their winter concert the first week of December, so close to two months?”

“By then, this might had died down enough to not have this look like a blatant image repair move.” Mandy said, scrolling through her calendar. “I might be able to leverage this…” she muttered. 

Gina felt a little bit of guilt churn up in her stomach, that she was using these kids for her own sort of selfish reasons. She pushed it aside, rationalizing they needed her as much as she needed them, so a little bit of quid pro quo was fine.

She could still pull out a little bit of Gina 1.0 when necessary. 

“I’ll tell everyone here to keep it on the low for now,” Gina agreed. “And then maybe I can do an interview about it when we’re done, get the kids some additional exposure and raise some more money.”

“Just make sure you’ve left your own fat check, or you’re going to be called a hypocrite AND a clout chaser,’ Michael warned. 

Gina sighed. “I don’t know that he’s going to be comfortable taking my money.”

“He?” Mandy said, sitting up a bit straighter. “This friend from high school is a guy?”

“I’m allowed to have male friends,” Gina said defensively, though she also knew the reason for Mandy’s reaction. The second this got out, there would be rumors about her and EJ, she was sure. Which meant the documentary would be yanked back out, which meant…

This was all looking more complicated by the minute. But she was halfway in, she wasn’t about to pull out now. 

“His name is EJ Caswell, and he’s actually an ex-boyfriend,” she admitted. “He’s the guy I was dating the summer of the Frozen documentary.”

Mandy groaned. “Really, that damn thing again? It’s already being referenced in comments on the Quinn interview. But not that guy, the other one?”

“Ricky, my… other ex,” Gina cringed. She knew some shit would get dragged up for her spending time with the Caswells, but she’d sort of forgotten the rest of the internet had access to a lot of that, too. The drawback to her particular path to fame, she guessed. 

“Well, just make sure that you proceed with caution while you’re down there, because the second people know you’re spending time with him, the rumors are going to fly.”

“Yeah, got it,” Gina said curtly. “Anything else?”

“I’ll have both rentals extended through Christmas, just in case,” Michael said, tapping on his phone. “And your car should be dropped off by Monday. Let’s plan to touch base mid-week when we see just how badly this Quinn interview is going down. And keep checking your email in case any interesting offers come in.”

“But STAY OFF YOUR SOCIALS!!” Mandy reminded her, and Gina nodded. 

“I’ll try.”

“And get some sleep, honey, you look terrible,” Mandy said sympathetically.

“It’s the lighting in here!” Gina argued. But she knew Mandy was right, she was far from her best at the moment.

“Talk soon!” Michael said and ended the call. 

Wearily, Gina tossed her laptop to the side and curled up in bed. Unable to fight the exhaustion any longer, she dropped off to sleep despite the mid-afternoon sun streaming through the window.

When she awoke, it was much later. The sky had grown fairly dark, and her stomach was growling. She picked up her phone and realized it was past eight, and she’d been asleep for more than three hours. She immediately swiped to DoorDash and ordered sushi for dinner, complete with contactless drop off, before opening her messaging app. 

There were a flurry of texts on her screen from various people asking how she was doing after the story leaked. As much as she wanted to believe they were all from people who were genuinely concerned about her, the sad truth was at least a handful of them just wanted to be a “close source” to repeat what she said to People or US Weekly.

She weeded through the messages, swiping off the ones that she knew were sketchy and skipping over the ones that might be able to be trusted for now. Nestled in between the flood of faux concern, there was a message from a contact that hadn’t appeared in years. 

EJ, still with the same number as he’d had in high school, still living there in her contacts.

Hey, it’s EJ

So he didn’t think she’d still have it saved. 

Ash gave me this number, hope you don’t mind

Didn’t know if you wanted to come back for dinner tonight

He’d sent them a couple hours ago, so she'd obviously missed the window. She couldn't help but wonder, though, what the intention of his invite was. He hadn’t mentioned a girlfriend and it was obvious he lived alone. The last Gina knew, he was still with Val, so something seemed to have shifted, but she didn’t ask and he didn’t offer. She hoped for his sake that there wasn’t a girlfriend involved if rumors did start to swirl, but it seemed doubtful that he would be single.

Because he was even hotter at 25 than he’d been at 18. 

She’d tried hard not to notice, the sexy stubble that covered his chin and the tanned, taut arms that passed her the latte he’d expertly made her that morning. He was wearing his hair a little longer again these days, and it wasn’t stiffly styled that morning, but soft and falling across his forehead, a bit shaggy in his still beautiful green eyes.

She shook her head slightly, trying to dislodge the image of those eyes from her mind, as she typed a reply.

Hey, sorry

Ended up taking a nap

She sort of assumed he would have moved on with his night by then, it was Saturday, after all. To her surprise, she went on Read and the typing bubble popped up.

No worries

Ash and I are just watching a movie

She's staying w me for the weekend

Not exactly an invitation, but not shutting her down, either. But she couldn’t make the leap and ask him to come pick her up. 

Thx for the invite, but I just ordered in, think I'm in for the night

But maybe we can get together tomorrow?

You know, to plan or wtv

Sounds good

Text me the address, I’ll pick you up after I go to the gym

Ok

Good night

Night

Gina couldn’t help it, she flashed back to years ago, when she’d fall asleep smiling with her phone still in her hand after EJ had texted her goodnight. He did it even before they were officially together, and it had given her a sort of butterflies in her stomach, kicking her feet feeling to think she was the last thing on his mind before he went to sleep.

And some part of her wondered if she ever was his last thought, even now. 

Chapter Text

EJ pulled into the parking lot of the small condo complex on Imperial Beach. The buildings were all painted a combination of muted tan and copper red, with brightly colored doors delineating which unit was which. He looked for the bright yellow one that Gina had indicated was hers. He found the one he was looking for and pressed the bell on the Ring camera, waiting for her to come down.

She must have been waiting for him to arrive, because seconds later she was at the bottom of the stairs. Her curls were swept up into a ponytail on the top of her head, and it almost took EJ’s breath away, how much she still looked like the girl who asked him to be her first kiss in the parking lot outside the pizza place. Before yesterday, the only way he’d seen her for years had been in glamorous photo shoots or glossy publicity appearances, usually with long, straightened hair. She looked gorgeous in all of them, of course. But it wasn’t the Gina he remembered. This was, undone and relaxed and absolutely perfect. 

He swallowed the lump in his throat to greet her. “Hey, good morning,” he half-stammered, willing himself to get a handle on whatever nostalgia-induced stutter his brain was making that morning.

She slid on a pair of oversized sunglasses. “Hey,” she returned with a slight smile. “Ready to get to work?”

“Absolutely,” he nodded, and they walked in silence back to his car.

When they got to his place, EJ let Gina in. There was a note on the table from Ashlyn.

Ran out to grab breakfast. Gi, hope you still like acai bowls!

“I really should duck in the shower before she gets back,” EJ said, half apologetic.

“Oh, go ahead,” Gina said. “I’ll just…” she trailed off.

“Make yourself at home,” EJ said, sweeping his arm out across the living space. “There’s cold brew in the fridge if you don’t want to wait for Ash to get back with coffee.”

He glanced over his shoulder as he padded up the stairs, and saw her perched uncomfortably on the edge of his sofa, scrolling through her phone. There was a time when they were most comfortable, most themselves, around each other than anyone else. Why did this all feel so forced and awkward?

EJ tried to put it out of his mind as he took a quick shower, though he would be lying if he said that there wasn’t a stray thought about being naked with Gina in the next room. Hey, it had been a while, ok? Nothing good was going to come from indulging that line of thought, though. 

He toweled off quickly and got dressed in a typical Saturday outfit, joggers and a t-shirt. When he came back downstairs, Gina and Ashlyn were laughing about something in the kitchen.

Great, so the awkwardness was clearly a him problem, because Gina seemed to be getting on just fine with Ashlyn. 

“Morning, Ash,” he greeted her as he came into the kitchen and grabbed the paper bag with his breakfast sandwich and pulled the last cup from the carrier on the counter. 

“Black iced coffee?” Gina asked as he took a long sip. “What happened to the toasted hazelnut nonsense you used to order?”

“I grew up,” EJ said flatly. A lot had changed since high school, and his coffee order was the least of it. Gina looked away, seemingly embarrassed. He didn’t know where his sourness about this was coming from, but he had to get his attitude in check. Gina was here to do him a favor. 

“Anyway,” he said, trying to shift the topic. “Did you get a chance to connect with your agent?”

Gina nodded. “His assistant is going to send a list of clients that we can have them reach out to, figured we can show the kids tomorrow and they can decide who they’re most interested in talking to.”

“And Gina and I were talking while you were in the shower, and we’re going to see if Jamie can help with the music production. I’m ok at the technical side, but I’m really more of a writer. Jamie’s a legit producer, the end product will be so much better.”

“I don’t think we can afford Jamie Porter…” EJ said uncomfortably.

But Gina just waved her hand. “I can pay for the studio time, and Jamie loves this kind of stuff. He actually sits on the board for an organization in LA that builds recording studios in after school programs for kids from poor neighborhoods. This is right up his alley.”

“If you’re sure…” he said, a little hesitant. He felt some kind of way about taking Gina’s help with this, but he knew his kids would literally die at the thought of being produced by Jamie Porter. And if anything helped him get over himself, it was helping his kids. 

Gina just gave him a small smile. “Of course. Jamie DOES still owe you, after all.”

Though they'd talked a bit about other random high school memories, that was the first time either of them had made even an oblique reference to their ill-fated foray into romance. It still stung, all these years later, to think that they almost fell apart before they could even get started.

But then again, maybe he should have let Jamie Porter save him the trouble. 

For what he was sure wouldn’t be the last time, he swallowed down the lingering bitterness he had never quite been able to shed about how things had gone down for them. He’d told Ricky a long time ago that he’d made his peace with it, and on some level, he had. But he’d never stopped regretting that summer and the mistakes he’d made. 

“Do you think we can talk to Jamie today, show him the arrangements and get his input?” Ashlyn asked excitedly.

“Let me text him,” Gina said.

After getting in touch with Jamie and setting up a time to connect further with him that evening, they dug into working on the music itself so Ashlyn could talk with him about what they might need. EJ had a lot more experience with a cappella specifically, having directed this group for three years after spending four years singing a cappella in college, and was a solid enough musician in his own right. But Ashlyn was clearly on another level with what she could do as a composer, and it showed in their work together, when she could hear the harmonies in a way EJ couldn’t. It meant they worked well together, a much better marriage of their abilities than his first attempt at songwriting with “A Billion Sorrys.” As they tinkered with the arrangements around the keyboard against the wall in EJ’s living room, he couldn’t help but feel Gina’s eyes on him each time he sang through one of the harmony lines, keeping his own gaze firmly fixed on the sheet music Ash had pulled up on her tablet.

Ashlyn flicked through the charts, she stopped on one. “I know we scrapped this one last year, Eej, but I really think it’s perfect for the theme we’re going for, and Lucy’s voice has matured enough to be able to handle it, I think. It was always perfect for Ben,” she said, referencing EJ’s star baritone… well, his only baritone, honestly, but thankfully, he was also really talented. 

Up on the screen was “City of Stars” from La La Land . Lucy had begged to try it last year, but the low range was just out of reach for her, and Ashlyn thought adjusting the key up would take too much warmth out of Ben’s part, so they had dropped it. But she was right, it was a great fit for the documentary. 

“We can give it a try, I guess,” he nodded. “Did we finish the arranging last year?” 

“Not the bridge,” Ashlyn said, shaking her head. “Can we play through the full thing with the regular piano accompaniment, and I can start to hear the harmonies under it?”

“You singing the women’s part?” he asked.

“Oh, I’d actually rather just listen to get it down… Gi, can you take it? It should sit pretty well in your range,” Ashlyn asked. 

EJ swallowed. Singing a love song with his ex wasn’t on his agenda for today. 

But Gina looked game. “Sure, can you just bang out the melody for me a couple times so I can get it in my ear?”

EJ’s heart rate picked up listening to Ashlyn and Gina sing through her line. He’d almost forgotten how beautiful Gina’s voice was, warm and rich. Her triple threat days were largely behind her, focusing on film acting for the last several years. But he was immediately transported back to the auditorium at East High listening to her sing.

“Ok, got it,” she said after they’d run it three times. She turned to EJ. “Ready to try it?”

He swallowed and nodded, while Ashlyn began picking out the familiar bass line with her left hand. “City of stars…” he began, willing himself to keep his eyes on the screen and off of Gina as he sang through his verse, especially when he reached the line “I felt it from the first embrace I shared with you.”

Gina picked up the melody after him, equally focused on the sheet music. But he was certain he wasn’t imagining it, she glanced his way for just a moment, when she sang the line “It’s love.”

They reached the bridge, singing the first lines in unison as EJ’s heart near seized up at the line “A voice that says I’ll be here.” Because that was all he had wanted back then, to be there for Gina, and she ran away the second he made a mistake and let her down, even when he'd been there for her for months. Because she didn’t care if he did, she didn’t want him to be the one who was there for her. He willed his voice to stay steady as he split off into the harmony line at “I don’t care if I know/ Just where I will go.” Shit, it cut even deeper hearing her sing those words. Uncertainty about his future was the thing that broke them down, when she couldn't just wait a damn minute for him while his life was falling apart. 

EJ should have known better than anyone how much a fucking movie musical could stir up, but singing those words, standing next to the girl he’d been in love with, the one who’d broken his heart, was far more than he felt prepared to take on a random Sunday afternoon. 

As Gina finished up the last line, “You never shined so brightly” still hanging in the air, EJ said “Be right back,” and escaped down the hall to the bathroom. He leaned on the counter for a moment to steady himself.

This was stupid. He and Gina had dated for just months years ago. He’d been in a more than three year relationship since then, for Christssake. Why was he acting like she was the long lost love of his life? They had hardly been anything. And he’d gotten over it a long time ago. 

And even as he tried to sell himself on that story, he knew he was lying. But he still hadn’t figured out just why. 

Chapter Text

After a really productive Zoom call with Jamie, Gina flopped back onto EJ’s couch with a sigh. She hadn’t expected they’d be working so much that day, but it was actually exhilarating to throw herself into something like this. Music had once been such an important part of who she was as a performer, and now it was just a line on her resume that never got used. Maybe this would inspire her to think more about producing and starring in a movie musical, once she could get back to work.

Even if singing a love song with EJ left her feeling oddly bereft, for reasons she couldn't explain. She'd shoved it aside to get on with the work, and she ended up having one of the best times she'd had in a while.

And it kept her distracted from combing through headlines on the internet to see how the Quinn interview was going down.

Jamie had asked her how she was doing on the call, his ‘big brother’ occasionally coming out. Both Ashlyn and EJ looked at her quizzically, but she’d waved them off, not wanting to waste time with Jamie to explain. Clearly they weren’t into following celeb gossip online, which, frankly, made them the perfect pair to spend the day with.

Evening was already starting to settle in when they wrapped up the call with Jamie. “It’s getting late,” Ashlyn commented. “Should we order dinner?”

Gina glanced at her phone. “Just after 7 is late?”

“It is when this dude has to be up at 5am,” she said, jerking her thumb in EJ’s direction.

“Oof, I forgot how early high school starts,” Gina said sympathetically.

Ashlyn shrugged. “If he didn’t feel the compulsive need to work out every morning, he’d get more sleep.”

“Sleep?” EJ scoffed. “Who needs sleep?”

Gina softly asked “Still don’t sleep much then?”

It was a risk, an intimacy to reveal that she remembered those conversations from years ago, when EJ admitted that he slept like crap, too unable to turn off the slightly anxious hum that ran through him pretty much all of the time. Gina had been surprised, initially, to hear about how anxious EJ really was. Maybe because for years, she assumed she was the only one who papered over her nerves with a brash overconfidence. It was one of the things she never realized they would have in common.

They were a lot alike back then. And she hadn’t really appreciated how rare that would turn out to be. 

He looked at her, something in his expression that she couldn’t quite decipher. “No, not really,” he finally said, matching her soft volume and streak of hesitance.  Maybe he was feeling just as mixed up after their impromptu duet.

Whatever was going on between them, though, was broken, when Ashlyn plopped her phone in Gina's hand. "Scroll through the options on DoorDash, let me know what looks good."

"Oh, don't plan around me," she said quickly. "I'll probably order the most boring salad from anywhere."

"You haven't eaten much since you got here," EJ observed. He said it casually enough, but there was something in his tone, maybe concern or maybe judgment. Gina couldn't be sure.

She debated what to say for a moment, before she decided to just be honest. "It's part of the job to look a certain way," she said with a sigh. "And that means watching what I eat, almost obsessively. I'm always worried that an extra ten pounds could stand between me and a role."

"You've got to be kidding," EJ said, the disbelief evident. She felt a bit of indignance rise, how he just didn't get it, the pressure that women in the industry were under. But he immediately followed it up with "You'd still be just as talented and gorgeous at any weight."

The shock must have been apparent on her face, because he quickly looked away. "I mean, it's just a fact," he half mumbled. 

Ashlyn was glancing between the two of them nervously, unsure what to make of the moment. "So, is Mexican out then, or…?"

Gina looked at EJ, and then back at the phone in her hand. And she decided fuck it, she was taking a couple months off anyway, she could always get back into shape. "I don't know, what's the best place for tacos around here?"

When she looked back up, EJ had a small smile on his face, but just said "We're a mile from the border, they're all good."

"Aaand… margaritas?" Ashlyn asked hopefully.

"I have to work tomorrow, Ash," EJ groaned.

But Ashlyn ignored him as she breezed past him and into the kitchen. "Where are you hiding the good tequila?"

"Teacher's salary, Ash, the cheap Cuervo in the freezer is as good as it gets," he said with a laugh as Ashlyn swung the door open and brandished the bottle.

"Gi, you in?" she asked.

Gina remembered the last time she'd had tequila. She went to a brand influencer party for El Tosoro, and had sampled their highest end spirit that went for over $500 a bottle. 

And the frost coated bottle in the hand of her smiling friend looked about a thousand times more appealing. 

"Let's do it."

EJ offered to go pick up, along with the ingredients Gina requested for what she promised Ash would be "the best skinny margarita of her life." While he was gone, Ashlyn regaled her with stories about the kids she'd be meeting tomorrow. Gina's sides hurt from laughing so hard as Ash recounted the absolute chaos before the winter showcase the year before when a bunch of the kids tried to swap solos at the last minute.

"I thought EJ was literally going to tear his hair out by the fourth one," Ashlyn hooted. "If he yelled 'but the balance!!!' one more time, I was going to lose it laughing at him, which definitely would have made it worse."

"Oh God, that's giving serious HSM vibes," Gina laughed.

"I know, right? Two Taylors, two Troys, two Chads… it's a miracle Miss Jenn didn't quit right then! But EJ feels the same way about these kids that she did about us. Loves ‘em, even when they drive him insane."

"They do sound like they have big Wildcat energy," Gina agreed.

EJ returned at that point, so Gina got to work mixing drinks while Ash unpacked the goods and they settled down to eat.

"Oh my God," Gina mumbled around a mouth full of chorizo and fresh corn tortilla. "These are the best tacos I've ever eaten in my LIFE."

"Right?" EJ said with a smile. "The family of one of my students owns this place, and they moved here from Mexico maybe ten years ago? So it’s the real deal. It's my favorite spot.”

"I can see why you love San Diego so much, perfect weather and amazing food," Gina said. She picked up her margarita and took a swig, deciding she had enough liquid courage at that point to have a real conversation with EJ. "What brought you out here, anyway? Long way from Utah."

He immediately cast an uncomfortable glance at Ashlyn before he said "Oh, uh… Val, actually."

Gina's stomach sank, for reasons she didn't understand. Shouldn’t he have mentioned his girlfriend before now? But regardless, what was this reaction about. If EJ and Val were still together, she should be happy, right? That he'd found something to last.

"Ironic, I know,” he continued. “You know, since we broke up before I even made it out here, but… I guess things don't always go according to plan."

Oh, well… that answered that, then. But she must have still had a confused look on her face, because EJ seemed compelled to explain.

"Val's from just north of the city, and moved back home when she finished school. She was a year ahead of me, and she was going to work for a year to save up some money before she started her PhD at SDSU. I found out about this program that would pay for your master's in teaching if you worked at an underprivileged school, so I applied for San Ysidro, and made plans to join her here after graduation. Well, not long after I found out I got this job, she got into her absolute dream school for her PhD."

"Where was that?" Gina asked before taking another long sip of her drink.

"Oxford, like in the UK," EJ said with a bit of a sigh. "She applied on a whim, really. Didn't think she stood a chance. But once she was in, she couldn't turn it down."

"How come you didn't go with her?" Gina asked before she could think the better of it.

"We looked into it, but it would have been damn near impossible for me to get a visa that would allow me to work enough to make a living. And I don't exactly have my fall back money anymore," he said, a little ruefully. Gina's stomach twisted, knowing that she was a part of the reason that shit went down like it did for EJ and his dad, and wishing like hell she wasn't. 

EJ stared down into his drink as he kept talking. "We thought we might be able to make it work. I mean, we'd been long distance most of our relationship anyway." Gina felt another turn in her stomach, that she wasn't willing to give any kind of distance a shot when EJ clearly could be successful in that kind of arrangement. "But, I mean, California is eight hours behind the UK. I'd be leaving for work when she'd be getting home, and when I got home, it would be the middle of the night where she was. That alone felt like too much. So we agreed to split up before it got too hard. It sucked, like, REALLY sucked. But it was definitely for the best. And she's engaged to a guy she met over there now, so… it all worked out how it was supposed to, I guess."

Despite his words, his face looked pained. Gina wanted to reach over and put her hand on his, say she understood some of what he had gone through. But she hadn't had enough tequila to convince herself that was a good idea. “So why did you still come out here anyway?” Gina said, and she practically winced at how blunt it sounded coming out of her mouth.

But if EJ was offended, he didn’t make a big deal out of it, just giving a slight shrug. “I already had the job lined up, and it’s not like there was much of anything keeping me in Utah. Ash was already at UCLA, and Gadget was based out of here, too. So it just kinda made sense to pick up and come west. And it’s been good, really,” he said. “Finished my grad degree this past summer, and I love the kids I’m working with. So I guess it worked out for me, too.”

Gina gave him a smile and a nod as she sipped her drink, but something inside her was screaming. SHE’D been out here all that time, too. He’d been three hours away all this time, and hadn’t so much as shot her a text to say Hey, I live here now.

How had they grown so far apart? This person who was everything to her, she’d let become a stranger.

And she was genuinely surprised at how much that hurt. 

EJ picked up his own glass and drained it, and a fatigue seemed to settle into his face, maybe from dredging up the past like that. “I hate to be that guy, but I do really need to think about getting to bed. I have some grading to do in the morning that I didn’t get to, so I need to get up even earlier if I’m going to fit everything in.”

“I can drive Gina back,” Ashlyn assured him. “You ok if we stay up and chat a bit longer?”

“Be my guest,” EJ nodded. “I’ll be upstairs if you need me.”

“Night, Eej,” Ash said, and he squeezed her shoulder as he brushed past her.

“Night,” Gina echoed.

“Good night,” he said, not meeting either of their gaze as he made his way to the stairs.

But as Gina and Ashlyn picked up their glasses to move to the living room, Gina swore she saw him turn, just for a moment, to give one more glance her way before he finished climbing the stairs, his bedroom door swinging shut with a soft thud. 

Chapter Text

By 2pm, EJ’s head was pounding.

He knew drinking last night was a bad idea, but he’d still dragged himself out of bed to the gym anyway. He wasn’t exactly hungover, but he didn’t drink much water during the day to avoid having to use the bathroom when he didn’t really have the time to do so, and the dehydration headache had set in.

After the last bell rang, he ran to the teacher’s lounge to fill his Hydroflask before his meeting with Ash, Gina and his kids. While there, he ran into Alexis.

“Missed you on Friday,” she commented as EJ gulped down a bit of water to refill.

“Maybe next time,” EJ said evasively. Alexis looked great that day, but EJ really only noted it in passing, somehow even less interested in anything outside of work happening with Alexis than he’d been just a couple days before. 

“You figure out a plan with the kids for fundraising?”

“I think so,” he said, not really wanting to share a lot of the details just yet, or give away Gina’s presence in San Diego. “I’ll see you at faculty meeting tomorrow?”

Alexis nodded, seeming a little deflated at how quickly EJ had rushed out of the conversation, but EJ just didn’t have the space to care. He ducked out of the lounge and headed back to his classroom, and was stopped on the way by his vice principal.

“Mr. Caswell!” Connie Masters called out to him. “Glad I caught you.”

“What can I do for you, Mrs. Masters?” EJ asked. 

“Did you see the memo that was sent out earlier today?” 

“I saw it in my email, but I didn’t get a chance to read through it yet.”

“You really need to stay on top of communications,” she chided.

I don’t have time to use the damn bathroom during the day, but you want me to read a three page memo? EJ thought, but swallowed it down. She was his boss, after all. “Sorry about that. I’ll get right on it after my leadership meeting with my kids.”

“Make sure you do,” she said, a bit ominously. But he didn’t have time to dwell, because his phone pinged, with a text from Ashlyn letting them know that she and Gina were waiting at the office.

He hustled to meet them and bring them down to his classroom. As he walked in, the secretary was asking them for ID, and EJ panicked. He hadn’t warned Gina that she’d need to reveal her identity in order to be signed in. 

“Oh, it’s ok, Shelly,” he cut in. “They’re with me.”

“Everyone is supposed to get signed in,” Shelly argued, her hands on her hips. 

“Only during the school day, and the final bell rang…” he consulted the clock on the wall. “Eleven minutes ago.”

“They won’t go wandering around the building?” Shelly pressed. 

“Nope, they’ll be with me the whole time,” he assured her. 

Shelly said nothing, but waved them out of the office. 

Gina kept her sunglasses on as they navigated down the hallway. “Thanks,” she half-mumbled to EJ. 

“Sorry I didn’t warn you,” he said, a little embarrassed. “I know you’re trying to stay a little incognito.”

“Something like that,” she agreed. She seemed more agitated about it then EJ would have expected, but he brushed it off. When they made their way into his classroom, she finally slipped off her sunglasses and hat. 

“Have a seat, “ he said to Ashlyn and Gina, motioning towards the chairs at his desk, his own teacher's one, and the student chair that he kept there to help one on one. “The kids should  be here any minute.” He leaned against the desk himself, and once again felt Gina’s eyes on him, and was determined not to turn around. Something about what was living in the air between them had him feeling unsettled, and he couldn’t afford to make things weird with his kids.  

As usual, Sierra was the first to bounce in, more concerned about being on time than the others who were already coming down with a case of senioritis. “Mr. Caswell, we just met on Friday, why did we need to…”

She stopped short when she caught sight of who was sitting at the desk. “You’re… that’s…”

EJ nodded. ‘It’s who you think it is,” he confirmed.

And Sierra did what any self-respecting fangirl would do when encountering a major celebrity.

She screamed.

“Ahhhhhh!!!!” The piercing cry reverberated off of EJ’s smartboard and floated out the open windows. Gina quickly pulled her hat back on and Ashlyn aggressively shushed her as a couple people were peering towards his windows curiously from the courtyard outside, and EJ rushed to the doorway to intercept anyone who was trying to peek in from the hallway to see what the hell was going on.

“Sorry, big spider running up the wall,” he said to the group that was gathering outside his room. “Going to shut the door so we can find it and kill it.”

“You should set it free!!!” one of the students, who EJ vaguely remembered from his study hall last year an a militant vegan, shouted, but he swiftly slammed it shut.

Sierra had clapped her palm over her mouth, and began mumbling around her hand. “Sorry, Mr. C. But that’s Gina Porter,” she said, using her other hand to point behind the desk.

“I know that, Sierra. But we’re trying to keep a low profile here, so you can’t go around screaming because there’s someone famous in my classroom.”

“But what’s she DOING here?” Sierra asked. 

“First of all, we can stop talking about her like she’s not here,” EJ said, his annoyance on Gina’s behalf growing a bit. “Secondly, we can talk about it when everyone else gets here.”

There was a loud knock, and EJ went over to let the others in. Olivia was glancing around nervously, clinging to Lucy’s hand. "Jace said there's a spider? I fucking HATE spiders!"

"Language, please, Olivia," EJ said, already exasperated. He noticed Gina and Ashlyn giggling out of the corner of his eye. Yes, away from school he swore like a fucking sailor, so he appreciated the irony. But it wasn't going to help his classroom authority to have them reacting like that. "And no, there's no spider. Just…"

"An actual celebrity," Sierra said, gesturing wildly at Gina behind the desk.

"But that's Gina Porter," Lucy said bluntly, before registering what she said. "Wait, is that actually GINA PORTER?"

"The very same," Gina said cautiously, removing her hat again. "HI, guys."

"Are we being punked?" Olivia asked, spinning around, EJ assumed to look for a camera crew capturing their reactions.

"Nope, this is actually pretty on the DL," Gina said.."I'm here to help with your documentary and winter concert."

"But why?" Lucy asked, while Jake nudged her sharply.

"Does it matter why?" he muttered.

"It does if she'd just using us to get un-cancelled," Sierra said, pulling up something on her phone. "The internet is saying all kinds of shit about you."

EJ looked at Gina, his surprise written all over his face. He would be the first to admit he didn't keep up with celebrity gossip, especially about her. Ash fed him bits of info over the years, but he'd mostly kept his distance from third hand news about Gina.

She met his eye for the briefest of moments before glancing away. "I'm not," she assured them. "I'm here to be behind the scenes, maybe be one of your interviews, but really, I'm here because of EJ."

He couldn't help it, his heart still leapt at the thought of being something to her. Not because she was Gina Porter, movie star. But because she was just Gina, the girl he wanted to love him. 

Wait, HAD wanted to love him… right?

"Oh really, EJ?" Jake said pointedly, swiveling his head to look at him.

"Oh, sorry… Mr. Caswell," Gina corrected, and EJ thought her cheeks went slightly pink.

"I still don't get it," Sierra said. "Did you win a bet? Is this some kind if adult make a wish thing? Are you sick?"

"He doesn't look sick," Olivia put in. 

"My brother said he's at the gym every morning when he goes," Lucy said. "He wouldn't do that if he was dying, right?"

"I'm not dying!" EJ cried. "Other than dying to knock all your heads together. Ms. Porter and I have known each other for years, we went to high school together."

They all started talking at once. 

"So you've been friends with a celebrity and never told us?"

"Wait a minute, so you're saying…"

"Ashlyn, why did YOU never tell us…"

"Guys!" EJ shouted, and they all quieted down, chastened. "Can we please focus? We actually have a job to do here. Why don't you all introduce yourselves to Ms. Porter so we can get started?"

"Oh, God, can you please stop calling me that?" Gina put in, pulling a face. "Ms. Porter is my mom."

EJ understood her discomfort. It took a full semester of student teaching to get used to being called Mr. Caswell, to shake the instinct to look over his shoulder and see if his father had walked in the room. 

But the way this was going was doing nothing to help his headache.

"Ok, fine, Gina," he acquiesced. "Jake, you wanna start us off?"

The kids went around and told Gina a little bit about their role in their clubs and in the project. EJ noticed she was scribbling down notes as they talked, undoubtedly trying to figure out this little clique fit together. When Lucy was talking animatedly about the three other clubs she was in, Gina cast a glance at EJ. “So she’s your Ashlyn?” she asked with a sparkle in her eye. 

Ashlyn laughed. “And dating the Maddox,” she said, nodding towards Olivia. “And Jake is definitely the EJ of the group.”

Gina giggled a bit herself, keeping her eyes on EJ’s. “And Sierra is obviously Carlos. But who’s your Gina?”

EJ reacted before he could think. “There’s only ever been one Gina Porter.”

As soon as the words were out of his mouth, he regretted them. Not because of the slight flush that passed over Gina’s cheeks. He’d give anything to see her react like that to everything he said. But because of the look he could feel Jake giving him, even without glancing his way.

God, was it this bad for Mazzarra when he’d give him shit about Miss Jenn? He probably owed his former mentor an apology. 

“No Ricky, either,” Ashlyn noted dryly. “These kids are usually all on time.” And shit, if anything could have soured the moment between him and Gina, it was the mention of that particular name.

And the flustered way EJ looked away from her clearly wasn’t lost on Jake, either.

He tried to salvage things by turning back to the task at hand. “So Gina, can you tell the kids a bit about your role in all this?”

“When Ashlyn originally reached out to me, she asked if I wanted to be interviewed. And I do, I can’t wait to tell you all about how my high school drama program, and the people in it, changed my life,” she said, with a warm smile at Ashlyn. “But I think I can do a lot more than just be interviewed. My agent is going to help us contact some people on his list, and there are some BIG names here,” she said, opening the file on her phone. “And I’m willing to help however you need behind the scenes, too. Bring a little bit of Hollywood magic to it,” she said with a smirk. “On one condition, though… no one can know that I’m working with you, ok? I don’t want who I am being a bigger deal than the amazing work you’re going to do.”

The kids nodded solemnly, and EJ felt his heart constrict. Gina had known these kids for five minutes and she was already on their team. 

“Tell them the other thing!” Ashlyn said excitedly, actually poking Gina.

Gina turned to Olivia and Lucy. “And since this is obviously happening at the a cappella showcase, we need you to be the soundtrack. So we talked to my brother last night, and he’s agreed to produce an EP of you, that we can also use for the backing!”

“You might want to mention who your brother is…” Ashlyn said.

“Oh, his name is Jamie… Jamie Porter,” Gina clarified. 

And now it was Lucy’s turn to shriek.

“Ahhhhh! Jamie Porter, like, THE Jamie Porter? He’s got like a shelf full of Grammys! He produces Nina Salazar!”

“Is now the time to mention…” Gina said, looking back at EJ.

“Oh, yeah, right,” EJ said, scrolling through his phone. “Nini… I mean Nina, also agreed to be interviewed. She’s going to come into town in a couple weeks before she goes on the next leg of her tour.”

Lucy looked like she was about to lose it. “I’m sorry, are you talking about Nina SALAZAR? She's coming HERE? What the fu…”

“Language!” EJ cried, exasperated. “And yes, Nini is another friend from high school who’s agreed to help us out.”

“Did you go to, like, the FAME school or something?” Olivia gaped. “How did we not know you know so many famous people?”

“You all know I’m from Salt Lake City,” EJ said, shaking his head. 

“You mention that, but not that you’re friends with a bunch of international superstars,” Sierra said, rolling her eyes. 

“Ashlyn didn't mention it either,” he said defensively, but his red-headed cousin just shrugged. “And I didn’t want you all bugging me to meet them or anything.” He left out the part where up until this past weekend, he wasn’t sure Gina would have come if he’d called. 

“I’m literally going to die,” Lucy said. “We get to record with JAMIE PORTER? And meet NINA SALAZAR? And we’re sitting here with GINA PORTER? What even is my life right now?”

EJ smiled. As much as the circumstances sucked, he really was grateful he was getting to give his kids this kind of experience. They deserved it and more.

And it might just even save their program.

Gina caught his eye and returned his smile, recognizing the look of pride on his face. After a moment, she cleared her throat and looked away. “So should we get to work, then? Here’s the list of people to reach out to…”

EJ pulled up one of the student desks and they started working out the schedule for when they needed to be done shooting by to get the editing done, and Gina went back and forth with Jamie over text to figure out when they could secure some studio time in LA. EJ immediately started working on the district forms he needed to fill out for a club trip up to LA, and Ashlyn played the arrangements she’d worked on so that Lucy and Olivia felt prepared for their rehearsal the next day. Two hours flew by, and all of a sudden, Sierra leapt to her feet. “Shit, I have to go. I need to watch my brothers tonight, Mama picked up an extra shift. 

“I’ll drive you,” Olivia said immediately. “Luce, you coming?”

“Let’s go,” she agreed. “Ashlyn, we’ll see you tomorrow,” she shouted over her shoulder as they made their way into the hall.

“I need to get my grading together, my fifth period calc class had a test today,” EJ said to Gina and Ashlyn. “You wanna go back to my place, we can have dinner and run through this before I have to get those done?”

“Sure thing,” Ashlyn said as she shoved her Mac Book back in her bag. “Cmon, Gi, there actually is a place by EJ’s with great salads if that’s what you want tonight.”

“Sounds good,” she agreed, pulling her hat back on low and slipping on her sunglasses to make their way back to the car.

Only Jake lingered in the room as EJ shuffled his papers and laptop into his messenger bag. “What is it today, Jake?” EJ asked with a sigh.

“Nothing, I just… nothing,” he said, changing his mind about bringing it up.

“You ok?” EJ asked, his brow creasing in concern.

“Yeah, I’m good… how about you?” Jake asked, raising his eyebrow.

“I’m fine, and it’s not your job to worry about me,” EJ assured him.

“Just feels like there’s something…. Never mind. See you tomorrow, Mr. C.”

“And make sure you do the homework!” EJ called after him as he disappeared into the hallway.

Once Jake had left, EJ let his shoulders sag as he let out a sigh. He HAD to get his shit together about this Gina situation. Jake obviously knew that something was up between them, and it was only a matter of time before they found the documentary online, and the whole sordid love triangle tale came out. 

And he really wasn’t ready to examine the past, let alone his current feelings. 

Chapter Text

The rest of the week seemed to fly by as Gina settled into a rhythm down here in San Diego. She spent the mornings combing through scripts and treatments on The Black List, under her anonymous account in the name of her as-yet-to-be-announced production company. She was still searching for the perfect project to launch it, knowing it would set the tone for the kind of thing she’d be working on for years to come. And finding something earnest and heartfelt but still sassy and real was proving harder than she’d thought.

By early afternoon, she had to get ready to head over to the high school to work with the kids. Ash had stayed until Tuesday after school, but then had to get back up to LA, to work and to Maddox. She continued to spend a lot of her free time getting arrangements perfect for their marathon day of recording with Jamie in two weeks, new files landing in their inboxes several times a day. She and Maddox were both considering coming down for the weekend, but hadn’t made any firm plans yet.

It also meant that EJ and Gina were spending more time together without Ash as a buffer. They still weren’t alone alone, always with the kids. And as she watched him work with them, Gina was struck over and over by just how good a teacher EJ was. Endlessly patient, tirelessly dedicated, and just funny enough to keep the kids on his side. It stirred up something in her, seeing the kind of man he'd become. A bit of pride, a bit of nostalgia for the boy he'd been, and the growth they'd gone through together.

A bit of regret, if she was being totally honest.

Thursday night, the six members of the film club were gathered in EJ’s classroom, fine tuning the plan for the four confirmed interviews they had scheduled over the last several days. Gina, of course, and Nini, who would be up in LA and in the studio when the a cappella group went to work with Jamie. But thanks to the connection with Gina’s agent, two more people had signed on, an up and coming actor named Monroe Tejada from Texas who Sierra was going to interview in Spanish, and a hip hop dancer-turned-actor Ashanti Gorman who'd gotten big thanks to America's Got Talent. Gina was impressed that the kids didn’t immediately go for the biggest names on the list, but the ones who they thought might have compelling stories similar to their own to make the best case for why THEIR arts education mattered. 

These kids were something else. 

“Ok, y’all,” Gina said, after running through a mock interview with Jake while the others tweaked lighting and camera positions. “I think we’re there. We'll do a full screen test on Saturday so we can get it all down before we bring in someone else.”

EJ glanced at his phone. “Oh, crap, it’s late. Does anyone need to get out of here?” The kids all shook their heads, they’d been prepared for this to take a while. “Ok, at least let me order pizza and we can eat once we break down.” EJ turned to Gina. “Do you want a salad? I’m not sure this place does gluten free.”

“Oh, uh, yeah, thanks,” she half stammered, not realizing EJ meant to include her with the kids. “But here,” she said, pulling out her wallet and handing over her black card. “Let me get it.”

EJ regarded the credit card she’d pressed into his palm. “Been a minute since I’ve seen one of these,” he commented, and Gina flushed. EJ came from that kind of money, and had given it all up to do this. 

He’d once called her one of the bravest people he knew. But he was his own kind of brave, one Gina knew she’d never be. 

They broke down the lighting rigs while EJ called in their order. He came back in, shaking his head. "Delivery would have been over an hour, so someone's got to go pick it up." 

Gina's eyes grew wide. She knew technically EJ wasn't supposed to leave her unattended at the school, which meant she would have to go into the pizza place, potentially being spotted and blowing up her spot. 

Jake, by far the most perceptive of EJ's students, immediately picked up on her discomfort. "I can go, if you want, Mr. Caswell," he offered. 

"Thanks, Jake, but I'm not sure they'll let you pick up a credit card order with someone else's name on it," EJ said, his implication clear.

That a kid that looked like Jake, in this kind of neighborhood, might be accused of stealing someone's credit card far faster than EJ would. 

Gina felt indignance on his behalf, but knew there was little she could do about it. 

"Hey, guys!" EJ called. Sierra cleared her throat loudly. "Sorry, everyone," he corrected with a slight but loving eye roll as Sierra nodded in satisfaction that he cleaned up his gendered language. "I need to go pick up the pizza, promise none of you will rat me out to Ms. Masters that I left you alone?"

"We're not alone, Gina's here," Ella, the sole other girl in the club, pointed out. 

"I don't think I actually count as a responsible adult," Gina joked. "No one in Hollywood probably should." 

"Either way, our lips are sealed," Sierra assured him, miming zipping her lips shut.

"Then I'll be back in like fifteen minutes. Do NOT break any of our equipment while I'm gone." EJ grabbed his bag off his chair and headed out to the parking lot. 

As soon as the classroom door swung shut, Sierra turned to Gina. “Ok, tea time!” she said gleefully.

“Wh… what?” Gina said, taken aback.

“You, Mr. Caswell… what’s the situation there?” Sierra asked. 

“Sierra!” Jake admonished. “Could you be any less subtle?”

"Oh, like you were subtle asking him about him and Miss Larkin!”

"Wait, who’s Miss Larkin?” Gina asked. She’d been slowly learning the names of a bunch of the other teachers at the high school as the kids chattered about their classes and other activities, but that name wasn’t ringing any bells.

"Guidance counselor,” Jake filled in. 

“And maybe Mr. Caswell’s secret girlfriend,” Sierra supplied. 

Gina couldn’t help it, something in her chest contracted once again at the thought of EJ being with someone else. WHY did she keep reacting that way?

“He says no, and I believe him,” Jake offered.

“Too bad, she’s hot,” another one of the boys, Connor, noted. 

“Can we focus, please?” Sierra asked. “Mr. Caswell will be back soon, and Gina still needs to tell us the deal with the two of them.”

“Oh, I mean…” Gina sort of stammered, unsure how to answer that. “There’s no deal, really. We’re old friends.”

She saw Ella whispering to Connor, who was the most tech savvy of the kids, and was currently tapping away on his laptop. He spun the computer around to face her. “So what’s this all about, then?”

Gina’s heart sank as she saw what was playing on the screen. The Frozen documentary. 

“Where did you find this?” Gina asked, a slight edge of panic in her voice.

“The internet never forgets,” Connor shrugged. “I saw someone talking about it in the comments on a TikTok about the whole interview thing you’ve got going on, and it was easy enough to find pieces of it on YouTube. I put the whole thing together into a playlist for all of us.”

“You shouldn't be surprised we found it, you should probably be surprised it took us this long,” Ella shrugged. Gina figured that was probably true, even though Disney had tried to bury it once they pulled it off of streaming. One place where their cutthroat copyright enforcement had worked in her favor. 

“Have you all seen this?” she asked, and there were nods all around the room. Sierra looked eager, Jake looked regretful, but clearly, they'd all watched it.

“Ok, what I need you to know is that the whole thing was really deceptively edited. It’s not… it’s basically fiction.”

“So you didn’t date Mr. Caswell?” Ella asked.

“No, I did…” she trailed off. The kids exchanged glances at her confirmation that they had history beyond just being friends. 

“So you didn’t date that other guy, then?” Sierra asked. “Ricky whats-his-face? God, he seemed like some kind of asshole, moving in on you with Mr. Caswell right there.”

Gina’s discomfort grew. “No, I dated him, too.” 

“And Mr. Caswell didn’t date the blonde chick?” Noah asked.

“Uh, yeah, he actually did.” Maybe Channing was more perceptive than the rest of them had given him credit for.

"So where exactly was the lie?” Sierra asked.

Gina shifted uncomfortably in her seat. “I mean, there was no cheating going on,” she said, though the twist of guilt in her gut told a slightly different story. She hadn’t cheated, she knew that. But she was less over Ricky than she’d tried to convince herself at the time. And in hindsight, she didn’t feel great about what that meant. “No one got together until after camp was over.”

“But you dumped him at camp? When he was trying to direct the show? And the shit with his dad?” Sierra asked, an edge of protectiveness in her voice. And Gina appreciated her impulse to defend EJ, even if it kinda made her feel like crap.

“Yeah, I did,” she admitted. “It was… complicated.”

She heard Jake scoff slightly next to her, and she snapped her head over to look at him. He met her eye steadily, which she wasn’t anticipating. Gina was used to people capitulating to her explanations, going out of their way to accommodate her. These kids weren’t so easily intimidated, it seemed.

“What?” Gina said to Jake.

“Just seems like it was pretty shitty timing on your part,” he said. “Kinda feels like Mr. C didn’t deserve for it to go down like that.”

Gina’s cheeks heated up. “He didn’t,” she agreed. “But I was sixteen, and I made a mistake. And I did apologize to him later on.”

“After you got with this other dude,” Jake pressed, raising an eyebrow. 

“Yeah, I guess,” she said, still feeling the need to defend herself. “But you’ve got to understand, EJ… Mr. Caswell was my first boyfriend. And I just never get anything right the first time.”

“So what, you used him to be your training wheels boyfriend?” Jake asked. Man, this kid was really coming for her. 

“Respectfully, this is really none of your business,” Gina said, a note of defiance in her tone. 

“Sorry,” Jake said, but his tone wasn’t apologetic in the least. “We just… we care about him.”

“I know you do,” she nodded, some of her discomfort dissipating as she saw his real concern for EJ coming through. “And despite what you might believe based on what you saw there,” she said gesturing towards the screen. “I do, too. I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t.”

Jake held her gaze for a few long moments, before he nodded. “Yeah, ok.” Gina felt like this was some kind of test, and she breathed a sigh of relief that she was pretty sure she’d passed. 

“Does Mr. Caswell know you’ve seen this?” she asked. They all shook their heads, and looked guilty about it. She hesitated for a moment. “Let me tell him?”

“Really?” Sierra asked, surprised. 

“Yeah,” Gina nodded. “He and I still… We should probably talk about this. And you’ve all given me a great opportunity to do it by being NOSY PAINS IN THE ASS!” she said, cracking a smile.

The kids tittered in laughter around her. “Come on,” Sierra argued. “You had to know we were going to be like this.”

Gina’s smile grew wider, more genuine. “Yeah, you all do remind me of our group back then. And even though a LOT has changed since then…”

“Well, yeah, two of you are, like, huge stars now,” Ella said.

“Some things don’t,” she said, as the door to the classroom opened and EJ came back in, balancing several large pizza boxes and a bunch of plastic bags containing bottles of soda and Gina’s salad.

And that smile, all the way up to his green eyes, was something that seemed frozen in time. 

Just like her reaction seemed destined to stay stuck at sixteen, the way her heartbeat sped up, just a little, when those green eyes landed on hers.

“Everything go ok?” he asked.

“All good, Mr. C,” Connor said, quickly snapping shut his laptop to avoid EJ seeing the doc up on the screen.

“Great, let’s eat and get you out of here,” he said. “Because I know two of you have a pre-calc test tomorrow that you need to study for.”

“Oh, hey, about that…” Ella said, pulling her notebook from her bag. “Can you show me how to do the factoring thing again for the homework last night? I still don’t get it.”

As the other kids grabbed slices and sodas and Gina dug into her salad, she kept stealing glances over to EJ. He was patiently walking Ella through the problem set, giving her a high five when she figured it out. She giggled slightly, watching him get so excited for her. He heard her and looked up, locking eyes with a slightly sheepish grin for just a moment before turning his attention back to Ella.

And that didn’t do anything to calm the slightly flustered feel she hadn’t been able to shake since his return. 

Chapter Text

Friday afternoon marked the end of a very long but very productive week. EJ still had a stack of grading about three inches high to get through, but his lesson plans for the next week were set, and they’d made really great progress on the planning for the documentary and winter showcase, so he actually might be able to breathe a little this weekend. 

Like she did most Fridays, Alexis materialized in his door as EJ was shoving things in his bag, eager to get out of there. “Guessing it’s an exercise in futility to ask you to come out with us tonight?” she said, looking even less hopeful than usual.

“Sorry, Lex, I have a friend in town, and they’re not usually up for going out,” he said, keeping it as vague as possible.

“And this friend wouldn’t happen to be the woman who’s helping you with your super secret fundraising project, would it?” she asked pointedly. 

“Uh, yeah, that’s… that’s her,” EJ stuttered. Damnit, the kids had ratted him out. But at least they seemed to have kept Gina's identity under wraps.

“You know, if you started seeing someone, you just had to tell me and I'd back off,” she said, looking a little hurt.

“No, it’s not… it’s not like that, Lex, I swear. It’s an old friend from high school who’s got… a background in production. She’s helping me out with this, that’s all.”

“Well, whatever this is, Mari’s mad at Jake for keeping it all a secret, too,” she pointed out. “They had a huge fight about it at lunch, I spent half her civics class calming her down.”

“Sorry,” EJ mumbled. “I’ll talk to him about it when they come in tomorrow afternoon to shoot."

“I hope this pays off, because it’s already causing drama,” Alexis said, an edge of attitude in her voice. 

EJ felt anger flare in his chest. Easy for Alexis to say, HER budget hadn’t gotten cut. HER students hadn’t gotten the message that their passions didn’t matter. He knew it wasn’t her fault, really, but she just didn’t get it. “I hope it does, too,” he said, grabbing his bag and heading to the door. “Have a good weekend, Lex.”

He got into his car and checked his phone. Ash let him know that she and Gadget were stuck in LA for the weekend but she’d definitely come down the following one to see Nini. And there was a message from Gina.

We need to talk before tomorrow

EJ sighed. What, had Gina decided there was a bunch of stuff she wasn’t comfortable talking about now or something? Why was it that every time he took on something to try and make things right, it blew up in his face?

I’ll be home in about 15

I have a call with my agent at 4

U wanna do dinner tonight at your place?

EJ couldn’t help it, his heart picked up a bit. Since Ash had left Wednesday morning, he and Gina hadn’t really spent any time together away from the school. 

Yeah sure

Sushi?

Gina used to love sushi, he hoped that was still the case and he wasn’t showing how little he knew about her now.

Perfect

I eat pretty much anything, whatever you like is fine

EJ scheduled their order to be dropped off around 7, and stopped on the way home to pick up a couple bottles of wine. He didn’t drink much, as evidenced by the ancient half empty bottle of tequila that had been living in his freezer for months that they’d finally finished the weekend before. He tried to pick something middle of the road, not trying too hard but not looking cheap, either. He was certain Gina was used to something far more expensive than he could get, but a $22 bottle of wine was basically luxury on his budget. 

He got home and started grading, churning through two sets of assignments in fairly short order. He was really worried about his third period class. The 11th grade had mandated state testing later in the year, and based on what he was seeing, there was no way most of them were going to meet proficiency standards, they were probably at least a solid grade level behind. He offered tutoring during study hall every day, but most of his students needed that time to do their homework so they could head to jobs after school. He wasn’t sure how he was going to help them close the gap. 

He was so focused, he was startled by the knock on his door. It was a little after six, so it must be Gina, not dinner. He opened the door to her smiling on the other side. “Hey Eej! Happy Friday!”

“You’re in a good mood,” he commented as he stepped back to let her pass into the living room.

“I had a really good call with my team, they seem to think the PR crisis is going to pass sooner than later. There’s some kind of bigger scandal about to break involving some reality star that they're hoping will push me off the front pages of the gossip sites.”

EJ didn’t know quite what to make of the fact that Gina’s mood seemed buoyed by someone else’s misfortune, or that she might end up going back to LA as soon as this blew over. “Oh, that’s, uh… that’s great.”

“The last thing these kids need is my image issues tainting the awesome thing they're doing. Hopefully by the time we premiere this thing, I don't look like a liability anymore."

Oh, so that was... 

Ok. Maybe he needed to chill. Gina was proving she was here for the right reason. For his kids.

It was for the kids, not him. He needed to keep reminding himself of that. 

“Anyway, can we talk through the plan for tomorrow one more time?” she asked. 

They talked at length about the project all the way through dinner and a glass of wine. EJ had just refilled their glasses and they’d brought them to the living room when he asked “So was that everything you wanted to make sure we talked about tonight?” he asked, wondering if maybe Gina would want to watch a movie or something. 

“Oh, uh… no,” she said, her cheeks turning a bit pink. “Um, so I need to tell you… the kids know about us.”

EJ’s breath caught. “What do you mean, us?”

“You know, our… relationship,” she said with a sigh. “Connor found clips of the documentary online, and managed to piece most of it together. They all know that we used to be a thing.”

EJ swallowed, trying to keep his heart in rhythm. “I mean, that’s basically ancient history…” That’s what he’d been trying to convince himself, after all.

“Not to them,” she snorted. “Especially not Sierra and Jake. I think they were both retroactively mad at me for breaking up with you.”

EJ had to chuckle. “That sounds like them.”

“They’re very protective of you, it’s sorta sweet.”

He gave a soft smile. “They’re good kids.”

“Yeah, they are. But also a little scary? I'm kind of afraid that Sierra may go hunt down Ricky Bowen, she was NOT a fan.”

EJ couldn’t contain his curiosity and decided to just ask the thing he’d wanted to know all week. “What happened there, anyway? Everyone figured you two would be endgame. And he would never talk to me about it.” Truth be told, after checking up on him a couple times, EJ had stopped asking. He'd grown weary of being Ricky's sounding board, and they drifted apart over time, with EJ so busy trying to pay his own way through school. 

Gina sighed, and EJ could tell she was debating how much to say. She had this way of being careful, calculating about how much she let people in that she’d never quite shed. At one point, he was the person she let inside those walls. 

She looked up and met his eyes, their warm brown searching his cool green. And she decided she would let him be that person again.

“Things got hard fast. I mean, sure, I got production for the one movie shifted to Salt Lake. But that really only bought us a few more months. Then I had to do press tours for HSM4 , and then Romeo and Juliet , and then it was the next thing… I ended up relocating to LA by the fall, when he was just starting at City College. I probably should have known then we weren’t going to work, but it wasn’t until the puppy incident that I finally could admit it.”

“The puppy incident?”

Gina sighed and drained her glass. “I need a refill to get into this one.”

EJ took their glasses and topped them off in the kitchen, before returning to the couch and settling back down.

And if he was several inches closer than he’d been before, well… it was what it was.

“So Ricky came out to see me during his spring break, and it was great. We had such a good time together, it was like things were back to normal, you know? Even though it wasn’t my normal, I put everything on hold to hang out with him for the week. He talked about transferring to school out here, since he didn’t know what he wanted to major in anyway, all that. And he then started joking about maybe just dropping out, being, like, a house husband, and I kinda laughed about it, didn’t think he was serious. But then I finally had to go in for a marathon of chemistry reads with Quinn for our next project, and when I get home, he’s there with a puppy.”

“Like, an actual dog?” EJ said, in a bit of disbelief.

Gina nodded. “He knew I've loved golden retrievers ever since I watched Mark and Spark as a kid. So he’d just… gone and gotten us a dog. Which was sweet, I guess, but he didn’t even ask me. I couldn’t commit to taking care of a dog. As soon as he went back to Utah, I had to leave to go to Atlanta for six weeks and film a three episode arc on a Netflix show. It’s like he didn’t get at all what my life was actually like, that I wasn’t just ever going to be able to settle down and come home to him and a dog and some kind of domestic thing every night.”

“But isn’t that what you wanted? Someone who’d just be there for you, no questions, no maybes?” he asked softly. He couldn’t help it, there was that permanent trace of hurt in his voice, that Gina had wanted something that at that moment in his life, he just couldn’t provide. Not while everything was collapsing around him. 

“I thought so,” she said, equally soft and staring down into her glass. “But when I was staring down that kind of life for real… I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t be with someone who’s only ambition was to be Mr. Gina Porter, you know? I needed him to want more for himself, so I wouldn’t feel endlessly guilty about being so busy, so driven. The thought of him waiting at home for me should have been comforting, but it was just…. Suffocating. We just… we didn’t fit together, in the end.”

EJ couldn’t help it, he reached out and put his hand on hers. “I get it, really. And I’m sorry it didn’t work out. He really did seem to make you happy, at least for a while.”

She met his eye, surprised for a moment, before her lips curved up into a small smile. “Thanks.” He took his hand back, a bit reluctantly. “And hey, I think Nini’s moms still have the dog, so at least he’s living a good life. Less lonely than mine, anyway.”

“So you’re not… I mean, are you seeing anyone now?” he ventured cautiously. It was entirely a friendly thing to ask, given the comment she just made. Right?

But she responded easily. “Definitely not.” She shook her head. “After I ended things with Ricky, my management wanted to re-brand me as a Hollywood It Girl. Kept setting me up with all these guys to cultivate a fun, flirty image, keep my name out there. And it worked. Until Colton. He’s…”

“Everyone knows who Colton Adams is,” EJ broke in gently. He’d been in the NBA for four years now, racking up individual honors but choking down the stretch in the playoffs every year. 

“I thought I’d FINALLY found a guy who got me, you know? Who had the ambition to match mine. He was out there grinding, always trying to be the best.” She gave a mirthless laugh. “Too bad he was also trying to sleep with as many baller groupies as possible. It took him getting one pregnant for me to finally see what was happening, but he’d been cheating in plain sight for months.” 

“That dude sucks,” EJ said emphatically. “I don’t know how anyone could cheat on you, you’re…” He stopped short, just before the word ‘perfect’ could come tumbling out of his mouth. 

If she was curious how he would have finished that sentence, she didn’t show it. “That was my last serious relationship, it’s been a couple years of just bouncing from casual thing to casual thing on Raya.”

“I mean, it’s Tinder over here, but basically same,” EJ said a little ruefully.

“The kids seem to think you’ve got something going with a guidance counselor? Miss Larkin?” Gina asked.

EJ groaned. “Alexis, and no, nothing happening there.” He paused, noting that she seemed to look a little relieved. Which prompted him to add “Anymore, anyway.”

Petty? Probably. But he wasn’t about to have it look like he couldn’t still get it. 

“Oh really?” Gina said teasingly.

“Just a sort of random hook up,” he shrugged. “Honestly, I don’t have the bandwidth for a relationship with how much time work takes up.”

“You’re incredibly dedicated,” she agreed. “The kids really are lucky to have you.”

“I’m lucky to have them,” he said simply. “It’s not the kind of thing I thought I’d be doing back in high school, but they really do give me a sense of purpose, you know?”

Something he couldn’t quite name crossed Gina’s face when he said the word ‘purpose’. “Yeah, I… yeah,” she repeated. Clearly, something he’d said had struck a nerve, but he wasn’t going to push her. He was enjoying talking to her too much to risk her shutting down on him. He could wait, keep hoping they’d find their way back to being as open as they once were with each other.

She swallowed the last of the wine in her glass. “I should think about getting back, I still need to pull a couple outfits for Sierra to choose from for me for the screen test tomorrow.”

“Thank you, again, for doing this,” EJ said sincerely. “It means a lot to them, and… to me.”

Gina smiled, and they held each other's gaze again for several long moments. It kept happening, and EJ felt like they were back on Ash’s couch that night years ago, the night when everything changed. He’d harbored a bit of a crush on her before that, sure. But that was the night he started to believe they might BE something. The night he’d started to give his heart away. 

And maybe had never really gotten it back. 

He blinked first, looking away and gathering up their wine glasses from the coffee table. “I’ll see you around one tomorrow, then?”

She got to her feet as well. “Sounds like a plan.” She seemed to hesitate a moment before heading towards the stairs, as if she was trying to make up her mind about something. And it all made sense as she stepped forward and hugged him. He was momentarily surprised, but eventually reacted and closed his arms around her in return, careful of the wine glasses still in his hands.

And as he held her there, it felt like the world was just a bit more right again. 

She stepped back after a long moment, and EJ immediately felt cold without her close to him. “See you,” she said, and made her way down the stairs and out the door.

“See you,” EJ called after a moment, but the door was already closing. 

Chapter Text

Gina had been on some chaotic sets in her life, but it had nothing on the scene unfolding in front of her at the screen test for her interview.

Everyone had been tense from the moment that they arrived, clearly anxious about getting it ‘right’. Gina had tried to set them at ease, but Sierra and Jake had been sniping at each other all afternoon, neither one happy with the decisions that the other had made. Gina also noticed that Jake kept glancing at his phone and frowning, texting furiously, so whatever he was dealing with wasn't limited to what happened in the room.

They had shot several short snippets and ran them back to check out all the technicals. Gina kept being tempted to say that there were certain corrections that they could make in post, but she actually wasn't 100% certain if they had the tech capacity to be able scrub and dub audio, so she tried to just be encouraging.

But within the last ten minutes, things exploded. Sierra was mad that Jake kept changing the order of the questions. "I wrote them like that for a reason! They build on each other!" she insisted.

"But that's stupid," Jake countered. "It's not like we're going to show Gina's whole twenty minute interview in one block, pieces need to be able to lift out for editing."

"That doesn't mean we can't have a narrative structure. We need to tell a compelling story."

"What we need is footage we can work with in thirty second increments,” he snapped. 

“You’re putting the technical side over the art of it, just like you always do!”

“I’m trying to be practical, which you NEVER ARE!” he shot back.

"I think Jake is right," Connor said, and Miguel, who was running the camera, nodded in agreement.

"Of course you do," Sierra mumbled under her breath, followed by a string of Spanish. Gina didn't know much, but she knew enough to know Sierra had some choice words for her fellow students, which was confirmed by Miguel's reaction. He started shouting at Sierra in Spanish, and Jake jumped in, too. But Gina couldn't tell if he was defending Sierra or arguing with her as she looked on helplessly while EJ rushed in from an adjacent classroom where he was working on some other part of the project with Noah.

"Mi gente, ¡cálmense!" EJ cried. Gina was a bit startled, she didn't realize EJ spoke any Spanish. "Jake, ven conmigo. Sierra, tómate un descanso y volveremos a ello. Miguel, tú también."

Jake followed EJ into the adjoining classroom while Sierra stormed into the hallway with a bang as she slammed the door. Gina made the split second decision to follow her.

Gina found her slumped down against the lockers, her knees tucked up to her chest. Despite the fact that she was wearing $400 jeans, Gina sank down next to her on the floor. "Hey, are you ok?"

"It's always like this," she said, a tremble of tears in her voice. "I'll work SO HARD on something, and the boys just come in and steamroll over me. And Ella's no help. She has a huge crush on Connor to so she just goes along with whatever he says to get him to like her. It's so fucking unfair."

Gina's heart hurt. "I get it," she nodded. "Giving up creative control… or never really having it in the first place… sucks."

"But you're, like, a huge movie star. Doesn't everyone just do what you say?"

Gina snorted out a laugh. "Yeah, I know that's how Quinn's interview made it seem. But honestly? It's a lot less my call than you might think."

"What do you mean?"

Gina sighed. "So a few years ago, I was working on this limited series project, ten hour long episodes."

" The Coven Chronicles , right?" Sierra asked. "The riff on Macbeth , but from the perspective of the youngest witch."

Gina nodded, impressed at Sierra's recall. "It was the biggest thing I'd done to date. And the most time I'd spent with a character, it was like making four or five movies in a row. So of course, I was, like, protective of how she was portrayed. I pushed back on some choices the writers made, and Quinn let me have greater agency as an actor. It was kind of amazing.”

"So wait, then… you won. How does that not prove my point?"

"Because I didn't, actually," Gina shrugged. "When we started doing press, I told a bunch of journalists about how I'd pushed for rewrites, and ad-libbed and redid some of the dialogue myself. I told them I was the only one who really understood her, even said I should have gotten a writing credit.”

"But… wasn't that true?" 

"Not really. Making anything like that takes the talent of tons and tons of people. What I wanted had to matter, but I didn't do it alone, and I made it seem like I did. At the time, I don’t think I really understood the work of the writers as well as I do now, how hard it is to go from a literal blank page to bringing something into existence. I had zero respect for their process. And it didn't exactly win me any friends. When the backlash came, it was bad. I was called clueless, ungrateful, delulu about my own talent… and to be honest, they weren't all wrong. I did feel like I had something to prove, but I did it the exact wrong way, by competing instead of collaborating."

"Do you… do you regret it?" Sierra asked.

"Yes and no," Gina admitted. "I regret what I said, absolutely. I was wrong. And it was petty to talk about it in the media like that. I ended up hurting people who didn't deserve that. But that whole experience did teach me that what I really wanted was to be more than someone who reads lines on a page. I want to own what I do, have more creative control over my projects. I spent three years as Quinn's muse, but the person I needed to inspire was actually me. And I'm still working on it, but I’m getting closer to that goal all the time. And I want to do it WITH people, really build something amazing out of the best parts of all of us, not just me.”

Sierra nodded. “I mean, Connor’s a million times better at the editing software than I am. And Jake’s so much more comfortable in front of the camera, I’m already nervous about interviewing Monroe. We all kinda need to do our thing, you know?”

Gina smiled. “Exactly. And remember, they need you, too. Find your voice, but don’t feel like you need to use it to drown everyone else out.”

“So how do I do that?”

"I think you start by deciding your why," Gina said. "What's important to you about doing it your way? What do you let go, and what do you fight for?"

"I want… I want to actually tell a story," she said slowly. "A real story. I think that’s what will move people, and make them want to support us.”

“So whose story do you want to tell?” Gina asked gently. “Mine, or your own?”

A thoughtful look came to Sierra’s face. “So what you’re saying is…”

“Maybe the best way to tell YOUR story is to find the pieces in each of OUR stories that resonate.”

“So take the best snapshots of each of your interviews…”

“And thread it into the story of THIS program, and why it’s needed.”

“Of course!!” Sierra said, swinging herself up onto her knees and bouncing excitedly. “I can’t believe I didn't see it like that!”

“I mean, I’m kinda a pro at this stuff,” Gina joked, and Sierra laughed. To Gina’s surprise, another couple of gentle laughs joined them from the doorway. EJ and Jake had come out to the hallway, too.

Jake shuffled over in front of them. “I’m sorry about what happened back there, Si-si,” he said. Gina was oddly touched to hear him call her by a nickname she hadn’t heard around the other kids, the casual intimacy of their friendship on display, and that she was considered close enough to be a part of it. 

“Me too, primo,” she said quietly, the easy affection now flowing between them. “I just… I CARE about this. So much. You’re going to go and graduate, and it’s just going to be me here. I NEED this, to keep what we built.”

Gina’s heart broke a little, hearing the plea in Sierra’s tone. That feeling of being left behind. She felt it so viscerally that night with EJ at camp prom, when she was afraid she wouldn't be the priority to him that she so desperately needed to be. 

And she’d let that fear blow the whole thing apart.

Gina swallowed the tears that threatened to catch in her throat. She felt EJ’s eyes on her, almost piercing, but couldn’t make herself face it. 

"I get it," Jake said, running his hand through his hair with a sigh. "This is important to me, too. And I’m not trying to undercut you, I promise. You have great ideas, Si-si, we all just need to figure out how to put all the best ideas together, like Gina said,” Jake said, gesturing towards her. “And I shouldn’t have snapped at you like that. I'm just in a shitty spot right now, and I took it out on you. I'm stressed about this, fighting with Mari…"

"Mari?" Gina asked. 

"Marina, my girlfriend," he explained. "I've been busting my ass working on this all week, but I can't talk to her about it. She's pissed that I'm keeping a secret, even though I've tried to explain it's for a good reason."

Shit, was the universe just going to come for her today? Because it was like there was a blinking neon sign saying Just like you and EJ in every corner.

"You need to tell her," Gina said immediately.

Both Jake and EJ turned to her in surprise. "Are you sure, Gi? You were so adamant no one know you're here…" EJ said, trailing off.

"And I appreciate you taking that seriously, Jake. It proves EJ was right, we can trust you. And since I trust you, and you trust her… then I do, too." She bit her lip, debating continuing. "Keeping secrets can hurt, even if it's for the right reasons," she finally said. "And I don't want you to have to hurt her for my sake."

She couldn't look at EJ, but heard his breathing grow heavier, as if he was trying to keep it together as all of this hit so close to home. Jake noticed, too, casting a concerned glance between the two of them before his gaze came to rest on Gina. "Thanks, I'll talk to her as soon as we're done." He reached a hand out to Sierra. "Can we go talk through this? Make a plan that works for everyone?"

Sierra nodded and grabbed his hand, letting him pull her to her feet. Jake headed back into the classroom first, but Sierra hung back for a moment, turning to EJ. "Is he going to be ok?"

EJ gave her a soft, knowing smile. "You're a good friend, Sierra. But you let me worry about Jake, ok?" 

She gave him a bit of a hesitant nod and went back into the classroom.

"What was that all about?" Gina asked, her concern momentarily overriding how in her own head she was.

"Jake's got some mental health stuff, a pretty serious anxiety disorder. He's super open about it, that's the only reason I feel ok telling you," he said quickly. Gina nodded, certain that EJ wouldn't blow up a kid's spot if they'd shared something in confidence. "He had a real hard time last spring, and this group really rallied around him. Sierra especially, she's like a little sister to him. So whenever he gets stressed, she goes a little Ashlyn on him."

Gina giggled, knowing exactly what EJ meant. "These kids are pretty amazing."

EJ nodded. "Yeah, they are. Speaking of, we should…" he trailed off, gesturing into the classroom.

"Yeah," Gina agreed, but she didn't move. She hesitated for one, two, three long beats, before she finally put it out there. "EJ… we need to talk."

"About?" EJ asked, but by the steadfast way he was avoiding her eyes, he knew full well.

"The… whatever, that's going on between us. Everything this is bringing up for us both. It just feels like there's something… unfinished here."

"You pretty well finished it," EJ scoffed, that bitterness that she suspected was still always there beneath the surface breaking through.

"And that's what we need to talk about."

"Not right now," he said, still not meeting her eye. "The kids are waiting on us."

Gina practically groaned in frustration at EJ's avoidance, but couldn't push the issue. She followed him back in the classroom, and they got back to work.

When they wrapped up about an hour later, they had narrowed down the scope of the questions and had the lighting right. They decided to scrap the footage and try again later in the week before filming Nini the next weekend. EJ busied himself with breaking down the equipment, leaving no time or space for Gina to try and pick up their conversation from the hallway. And he got the perfect out from having to talk about it at all when Miguel requested a ride to the bus stop, and EJ offered to take him straight to work instead.

Gina drove back to her AirBnB, somewhere between angry and sad. Sitting with these kids, seeing EJ with them, was recasting everything in their history through a new lens, and left her feeling like she'd broken something she needed before she even understood it, with no idea how to fix it. And it made her feel foolish, that she thought coming here could somehow absolve her of her past mistakes. Instead, they were haunting her.

She was near tears as she climbed out of her car, ready to take a hot bath and drink a bottle of wine and try and put these confusing emotions behind her. 

But that wasn't meant to be either, because as she tried to unlock her door, she heard a voice call "Gina!"

And when she turned around, she was caught in the familiar blinding light of a paparazzi flash.

She'd been found.

Chapter Text

EJ pulled into his garage, bone tired. He leaned forward and rested his head on the steering wheel. It had been a long, emotional day with the kids, and he was feeling wrung out from handling a bunch of fragile adolescent emotions.

Especially when his own were feeling pretty brittle.

Seeing Gina work with the kids was tough enough, how great she was with them, her warmth and heart on full display. He hadn't even been able to be in the room for the interview, unable to hear Gina talk about high school. He'd hid in the next room instead, and Jake definitely noticed. And then she had to bring up the whole keeping a secret thing? It was officially too much.

His iPhone chimed, and he snatched it up, hoping for some kind of distraction or reprieve from the thoughts in his head. There was a text from Alexis on the screen. 

A bunch of us are heading up to the Gaslamp tonight

U in?

He looked at the message for a long minute, debating it. He knew it wasn’t fair to hook up with Alexis just because he was feeling messed up about Gina. But hell, maybe that’s what he needed to get the thoughts of Gina out of his system. As long as he was upfront with Lex about what the deal was, there was nothing wrong with it, right? Two adults, knowing exactly what they were looking for from each other. Sounded like a good deal to have some clarity, since he had zero fucking clue exactly what Gina wanted from him.

We need to talk. About what? About the fact that she’d broken his heart? That at best, she’d been less than honest about her feelings for Ricky, and at worst, she’d led him on completely and then tried to make the breakup seem like it was HIS fault, that he’d treated her like a maybe? She was NEVER a maybe, and she had to know that. But it was a convenient excuse.

He felt his breathing getting heavier again, the anger and anxiety threatening to overwhelm him again. It was enough to push him into fuck it territory, and he swiped to reply that he was going to join.

But before he could commit, his phone lit up with a call. From Gina.

And he was never going to NOT answer when she called. 

He swiped the screen, putting the phone to his ear. “Hello?”

“EJ, I’m so sorry, I just… I didn’t know who else to call…” She sounded panicked.

“Gina,” he broke in. “You can always call me. What’s going on?”

“They found me, they were at my rental…”

“Wait, who’s they?”

“A photographer. I recognize him, he’s followed me before up in LA. He was outside my condo when I got home, just… waiting for me.”

Anger flared in EJ’s chest, that someone would treat Gina like that, like she was a commodity to be exploited and not a real human being, deserving of privacy to live her life. 

“So wait, are you there now?” he asked. 

“No, I got back in my car and drove away. They can’t follow you on public roads in California. But I can’t go back there. Now that he knows, I’m sure it’s hit the whisper networks.”

“So what do we do?”

“W… we?” Gina asked, her voice trembling. 

“Of course," he said automatically. "If you can't go back to your place, where are you staying tonight?"

"I… I didn't get that far yet. I should probably book a hotel…"

"Or just come here," EJ blurted out before he could think. 

"Really?" Gina asked, just as surprised as he was that he'd offered.

"I've got an extra bedroom," he reasoned. "And I doubt anyone would assume a Hollywood starlet is crashing at some Chula Vista townhouse."

Gina was silent on the other end of the phone for so long, EJ was certain she'd dropped the call. Finally though, she spoke. "As long as you're sure… I kinda hate knowing they might be around when I'm by myself."

EJ had to swallow the lump in his throat, thinking of Gina feeling alone and scared. "I'm sure."

"It'll only be for a night, maybe two, until my team can find me a new place," she promised.

"You can stay as long as you need to," he assured her. Or want to he thought, but couldn't verbalize it, for fear she would reveal she didn't want to at all. "Honestly, I'm not going to be around much this week, anyway. I'm running an SAT math boot camp every night this week for kids taking the test this weekend."

"We’ll see,” was all she’d agree to for now. "I think I'm OK to drive to your place, but I'll also have them get me a new car, just in case." EJ was quietly impressed, and quietly jealous, that Gina could just throw around money and make it happen. He'd taken it for granted when he could do the same, and he knew Gina had worked her ass off for every penny she had. But the bit of resentment bubbled up just the same.

"Why don't you park in the garage for now? I'll move my car to the community parking."

"Eej, I'm not trying to put you out here," she protested.

"It's not like I'm trudging through miles of Utah snow, I think I'll make it," he said dryly.

Gina sighed on the other end of the phone. "Fine. I'm on my way. And thank you, really."

"See you in a bit."

EJ paused for just a moment to pull himself together. What the hell had gotten into him, asking Gina to move in with him like that? Oh God. Not like… move in move in. But even just stay with him temporarily. He had been avoiding her since the blow up in the hallway, and now he'd just invited her to be around all the time. Guess he would never lose the impulse to want to take care of her, even if it felt like it was fucking killing him. With a sigh, he backed out of the garage.

EJ trudged up to his place from the parking lot, leaving the garage door open so Gina could pull her car in. He was just finishing up putting his things away when the door slammed shut and EJ heard Gina's footsteps coming quickly up the stairs. He ducked into the living room and saw her glancing out the window to the street below, making sure she hadn't been followed. He walked up behind her, laying a cautious hand on her shoulder. "Hey, are you ok?"

And in an instant, she turned and buried herself in his chest, her arms going around him. He froze for a moment, before he let instinct take over and closed his arms around her. He held her against his chest, noticing that she was trembling. She was clearly shaken up by that photographer finding her down here. So he pulled her in a little tighter, enough to be able to take in the scent of her hair. And in an instant, he was falling through time. Her hair smelled exactly the same as it did in high school. He had expected that now that she was rich and famous, she would use some kind of expensive, exclusive hair care. But that same scent of coconut oil filled his senses, reminding him of every other time he'd held her close. And he wasn't sure if his response should be to pull away or hang on even longer. 

Eventually, she pulled back, avoiding his eyes and seeming embarrassed. "I'm sorry, I just… it usually doesn't bother me. But I let myself believe I was safe from it here, which was foolish of me."

"It's not foolish to expect people to respect keeping your personal life private," EJ said, but he knew it was futile.

"It's a tradeoff I knew I was making when I signed up for this life," she sighed. "It just gets to be… a lot."

EJ nodded, even though he really didn't get it. But he wanted to try. Not now, though. Right now, she needed some distraction. "Why don't we order dinner? You want tacos again?"

"You really don't cook, do you?" she asked, arching her eyebrow at him. 

"I do, when it's, you know… just me," he said, faltering a bit. "But I mean, I tend to make things that are super simple… eggs, grilled chicken, nothing fancy."

"Or with carbs," she teased lightly. "And you got on me about all the salads."

"Listen, the ONE thing I do for myself is the gym. I'm not going to ruin all that with pasta every night.”

"Let me cook, then,” she offered. "It's the least I can do since you’re letting me stay here. And I actually enjoy it."

"I guess I didn't picture your glam celeb life including a lot of time in the kitchen," he said, gesturing for her to go ahead of him. 

She smiled. "That's exactly why I like it. I spend so much time in lunch meetings or at crafty or events, eating the same boring salad over and over. It's the exact opposite of that. Reminds me that I'm not Gina Porter, Movie Star. I'm… just Gina.”

"You'll always be just Gina to me," he said softly, before he can stop himself.

Her head snapped up, and he immediately backpedaled. "Oh, shit, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to, like, sound like I think that you're not, you know, the best. I just meant…"

"I know what you meant, EJ," she cut in gently. "And it means more than you know."

Another loaded moment, another long glance that neither one could quite figure out what to do with. EJ broke the silence. “We should probably get dinner going, then…”

"Sure," Gina quickly agreed. She pulled open the fridge, surveying its contents. "Ground chicken, a slightly questionable avocado, onion… do you have any peppers?"

"Uh, some chiles," he said, pointing to the bottom drawer. "One of the science teachers, Mrs. Perez, is an avid gardener. She brings me in stuff all the time, even though I almost never know what to do with it."

"It's nice of her to share with all the other teachers."

EJ felt his face flush. "I, uh… think it might just be me. She's in her sixties, and lost her husband a few years back, so I help her out with her car and stuff sometimes. It's her way of saying thank you."

Gina had a bemused smirk on her face. "Thank you, or to flirt with you? Because there's no reason for you to blush over some vegetables in exchange for an oil change."

EJ shrugged. "I'm one of the only guys on staff, it is what it is.”

“And I’m sure that you’re young and hot and fit has nothing to do with it,” Gina said with a laugh. “So there’s Mrs. Perez, and the guidance counselor. Anyone else crushing on the cute math teacher?”

Oh, shit. Alexis. He fished his phone out of his pocket and quickly sent off a text turning down her invite for the night before turning his attention back to Gina. The teasing smile was still on her lips. And damnit, did she really need to call him hot? “I don’t make it a point to ask if my coworkers think I’m cute,” he said, hoping it concealed his reaction well enough. 

“MMhmmm,” Gina said, and EJ desperately wanted to know what that meant, but she’d turned her attention to the cabinets. “You’ve got some rice in here, I could probably figure out some kind of rice bowl. What do you have for spices?”

“Cabinet next to the stove,” EJ said, and she rooted around in there, pulling down his huge container of adobo. “What’s in this?” she asked, surveying the back panel.

“Salt, garlic, pepper, some other stuff,” he said with a shrug. “The kids put it on everything, so I tried it and it’s delicious. Apparently it’s, like, a staple in a lot of Mexican families.”

“Are a lot of your students Mexican?”

EJ nodded. “Or Central American. We’re a border town, so lots of movement back and forth.”

“Is that why you learned Spanish?”

“I mean, I’d taken it in high school, too. But once I knew I’d be coming here, I made it a point to learn. So many kids have parents who have limited English, and I didn't want them to be forced into interpreting all the time. So I took a semester of it in college, and have been doing DuoLingo ever since.”

“It was pretty impressive today,” Gina said. “I had no idea!”

“Yeah, the kids usually don’t either. Someone always gets caught saying something they shouldn’t the first couple weeks of the year, when I just casually start speaking Spanish back to them,” he laughed. 

Gina regarded him thoughtfully. “You really would do pretty much anything for them, huh?”

“I love the kids,” he said immediately. “I don’t always love everything else that comes with the job, but they make it worth dealing with the other bullshit.”

“Like what?” Gina asked curiously. 

“Admin crap, mostly due to state testing. New rules this year,” he said, growing irritated all over again at the stupid memo he’d gotten last week. “Since math is a core subject that the school gets judged on, I need to submit my lesson plans to the vice principal every week to make sure that they ‘conform to state test preparation standards’,” he said, complete with air quotes. “It’s getting more and more micro-managed every year.”

Gina frowned. “That sucks, that you don’t even have control over your own classes.”

“Just the way it’s going, I guess,” he shrugged. “You need me to start chopping stuff?”

As he poorly chopped the vegetables, he regaled her with stories about his students. The awkwardness from earlier seemed to melt a little as they laughed together about the antics of his class of sophomores that would do anything to get out of having to take their weekly quizzes. 

“You can’t be serious,” Gina said with a laugh as she portioned the rice out into the bottom of the bowls so she could spoon the chicken and chile mixture over it before she topped it with the mashed avocado. 

“I didn’t actually let him do it,”  EJ assured her. “But he was willing to drink twelve cartons of chocolate milk just to avoid a quiz on solving for measurements of angles.”

“That’s bold.”

“That’s Mason,” EJ said, pulling a couple bottles of beer from the fridge. “You want one?”

“Sure,” Gina agreed, and he popped the top off both bottles of Tecate, placing one down for her next to her bowl. “I love watching you talk about them, you just light up.” She paused, another laden silence. “I’ve missed seeing you look happy. I remember when it seemed like you were... that maybe I made you... And I don’t… there wasn’t a lot of that, for us, in the end.”

“Gina, you don’t…” he said, even less prepared for this conversation now that she’d be sleeping ten feet down the hall than he had been at school.

“I do, though,” she insisted. “When I look back on that summer now, Eej, I… I missed so much. You were hurting, and I was so wrapped up in myself that I barely even noticed. You sacrificed a lot for all of us… everything, really, in the end. And I’m sorry I took that for granted.”

Hot tears came to his eyes that he tried to blink away. There was a time he would have given anything to hear those words. But now, years later, they just churned up a lot of stuff he thought he put down long ago. “You’ve already apologized,” he said thickly, trying to keep it together.

Gina fidgeted uncomfortably, seeming unsure if he was really letting her off the hook. “Yeah, I guess I…ok,” she sighed. Looked like neither of them knew quite what to say about where they were sitting.

“I’m sorry I’m going to miss your taping on Wednesday,” he offered. “I had to move up the time of sectionals for a cappella for the SAT math thing.”

“Oh, it’s fine,” Gina said quickly. “I promised the kids I’d help with the editing on Thursday, do you want…” she stopped short.

“What?”

“Do you wanna plan to watch the footage of my stuff on Friday after school?”

More than anything. Not at all. Every conflicting emotion swirled in his brain. “Uh, sure, that… that sounds great.” Guess he wasn’t going to be able to avoid this after all. He paused for a moment. “Then does it really make sense for you to find somewhere else the rest of the week if I'm barely going to be home and we're going to hang out Friday anyway? Just… stay here.”

“I’m not putting you out?” she asked.

He shook his head. “Nah, I’ll get you the extra key so you can come and go as you need,” he said, before digging into his dinner. “You wanna watch a movie while we eat?”

He was avoiding it. And he knew that SHE knew he was avoiding it. But she let him do it, anyway, at least for now. “Ok,” she agreed, carrying her bowl and beer bottle to the living room. 

EJ picked up his phone from where he’d placed it down on the counter. There was a single reply from Alexis.

K

He figured he should be prepared for a frosty reception from her on Monday, but he didn't have the bandwidth to care at the moment. He picked up his own bowl and bottle, and headed into the living room. 

Chapter Text

EJ hadn't been kidding about not being around much all week. They'd technically spent Sunday together, but 'together' meant Gina read through screenplays on the couch while EJ worked on mountains of grading and lesson planning at the kitchen counter. She was pretty sure he worked a ten hour day on Sunday, trying to get ahead before a bear of a week started on Monday. She'd gotten groceries delivered and made them dinner again, and they'd made small talk while they ate, carefully avoiding anything about their relationship. After he snapped at her at school and then shut down her attempt to apologize, she couldn't figure out a way forward. So she took her cues from him, and held back, knowing he had a heck of a week to get through.

But the past seemed determined to come knocking, as she reviewed the new list of questions Tuesday evening, and again when she was filming Wednesday with the kids.

Jake was the one doing her interview, and Gina had insisted on a camera position on him, too. She wasn’t sure what they’d end up using in the final cut, but she was determined for the kids to be the stars of their own story. 

Sierra was right, and Jake was great on camera. He had a sort of natural charm about him, a sincere smile and interested brown eyes. It caught Gina off guard more than once, sharing the stage with him, and how much it felt like she was back in the East High studio, recording the morning news with EJ. She had sort of forgotten about her first on-camera experience really being with EJ, and it set off a cascade of nostalgia she wasn’t wholly prepared for, even though she was clearly about to walk down a minefield known as memory lane with Jake. 

They ran a few test shots to make sure that they’d replicated the set up they’d worked hard to perfect on Saturday, and Gina stepped into the adjoining classroom to touch up her makeup. She heard the a cappella group practicing across the hall and smiled at hearing EJ’s voice offering encouraging feedback to his nervous means’ section. 

And when he started to sing himself, Gina felt her heart constrict once again. But she had to shake it off and get ready to be on camera.

“Hey,” Jake’s voice called, looking down at the floor “Do, uh… do you have any makeup that might work for me? Si-si says I’m looking kinda shiny on camera.”

Gina gave a light giggle and nodded. “Come here, I can make something work.”

Jake’s complexion was actually darker than Gina’s by quite a bit, so she rooted around in the bottom of her bag that EJ had retrieved for her from her AirBnB late Sunday. The detail she wouldn't admit it to anyone, though, was that even after he’d gotten all her clothes and other items, she was still sleeping every night in the worn East High t shirt he’d offered her Saturday night. 

She found a translucent setting powder that should work, along with a darker concealer that she usually used as a contour. “Ok if I…” she asked, holding up the concealer. “You’ve got some under eye circles going on, I can cover them up a little.”

“Why not? Just don’t tell my papa. He’s got some old school machismo in him.”

Gina giggled. “Your secret is safe with me.”

As she gently applied the concealer under his eyes, she asked “Those look like tired circles to me, you getting much sleep?”

Jake sighed. “Not really, no. I’m re-taking the SATs this weekend and pretty much freaking out.”

“Didn’t EJ… sorry, Mr. Caswell, tell me that you’re, like, a straight A student?” 

“I get good grades,” he shrugged. “But that’s not going to mean much to colleges coming from a school like this, one that’s pretty much failing by their measures. These tests are, like, my one shot to prove I'm as smart as my grades say that I am and get into UCLA or somewhere good."

That must be the state testing stuff that EJ was talking about the other night. “I'm sure you'll end up where you're supposed to be," she tried to offer encouragingly. "You don't need to go to a certain school to be successful. There's a lot more to life than where you get into college."

But that was exactly the wrong thing to say, as he visibly tensed. “Not for me.” He closed his eyes and sighed. “I’m the second of six kids, and the first one to really have a shot at college. My dad could have, he’s so smart. But instead of being an engineer, he’s a roofer. My older sister dropped out to work at some hotel downtown when my dad got hurt at work and we needed the money. But I’ve been in the gifted programs and stuff since I was little, and my dad has told me over and over ‘mijo, you go to college, you get a good job and make something of yourself with your brain, so you don’t have to deal with a broken body like mine.” I’m the best hope my family has to change our circumstances, you know?” 

“That’s a lot of pressure,” Gina said quietly. “I can see why you and EJ are so close. He… he gets the whole living up to your dad’s expectations thing.”

Jake nodded. “He doesn’t say much about his own situation, obviously. He’s my teacher, there’s, like, a boundary there. But he’s mentioned that he doesn’t really talk to his dad, and then when I saw the documentary… it’s easy to see what he went through, you know?”

“It wasn’t easy for me,” Gina sighed as she carefully pressed on some of the powder to set under his eyes. “I don’t think I really appreciated how bad things got for him back then. I thought I did, we always related to each other on the sky high parental expectations thing. But somewhere along the way, I don’t know…” she trailed off. Jake was regarding her evenly, and she could see the protectiveness he felt for EJ welling up. “Anyway, make sure you get some rest, ok?” You’re not going to test well if you’re exhausted.”

“I’m always exhausted,” he said quietly. “School, work, this stuff… I kinda never know when to quit.”

“Yeah, I get that, too,” Gina said, a half smile playing over her lips. “But we’re going to crush this interview, so there will be one less thing to stress about.”

“I’m sure I’ll find something else,” he mumbled under his breath, but let Gina finish powdering his face. She smiled at him as she finished, one she hoped didn’t look too sad. Jake was such a good kid, he didn’t deserve to feel like he had the weight of the world on his shoulders.

They got back into their marks, and Jake started walking her through the interview. She talked a little bit about what shows she did in high school, and how it taught her to be more of a team player, not to always need the spotlight. She had just told the story about grasping hands with Ashlyn to look at the Beauty and the Beast cast list, the first time she’d really felt like she had a friend she would be happy for no matter the outcome, and that Ashlyn felt the same. And the memory nearly brought tears to her eyes.

“It sounds like the most important part of your experience with high school theater wasn’t the roles you played, but the people.”

A lump formed in Gina’s throat as she nodded. “I had never felt like I belonged anywhere until I landed in that program. For the first time… I had people. And it.. “ She paused, the reality of it crashing over her. “It almost didn’t happen at all.”

“What do you mean?”

“My first semester, my mom and I moved away again. I thought that was it, I’d be moving on just like every other time before. But… but it was different that time. A friend bought me a plane ticket back for opening night of our show. It was the first time someone had come back for me, made me believe that I was missed when I wasn’t there. That night… it changed my whole life. Got me back to Salt Lake, let me keep building those genuine connections for the first time. But it also changed the whole trajectory of my career. Without that plane ticket, I’m not there for camp and the documentary, I’m not there for HSM4. I never meet Quinn, I don’t… nothing is the same for me without that ticket. Without that friend.”

“That’s some butterfly effect shit right there,” Connor noted from behind the camera.

“Cut!” Sierra cried. “Connor, you CAN’T TALK. We have boom mic coverage, not lavs,” she said, pointing to the big overhead mic they’d suspended over their makeshift set.

“Sorry,” he mumbled.

“Gina, do you think you can answer that one again?” Sierra asked. 

“Sure,” she said, straightening up and clearing her throat, hoping her tears had stayed in check well enough not to smudge her eye makeup. 

She’d edited her response on the second take to be less blatantly about EJ. The kids couldn't use it anyway, so she tailored her answer to a more “found family” kind of place. But she’d asked Sierra to email her all the footage. That was the clip that she watched on repeat late Thursday night,  and EJ still wasn't home. It was the last night of his SAT prep bootcamp, and he had promised the kids pizza for making it through. He'd texted Gina that Jake had a bit of a meltdown at the pizza place, and he was sitting with him until his mom got off work and could come with his sister to pick him and his car up, since Jake felt too shaky to drive. By the time she went to bed that night, she’d made up her mind. She had to show this to EJ, and let him decide what it meant to him.

She already knew what it meant to her.

EJ texted her that he was behind on his grading because of boot camp, and was going to stay at school for a few hours to get through it. He encouraged her to order in dinner for her, since he was going to be a while. Around 430, another text appeared.

Need to put in an appearance at a work thing.

I blew them off last weekend and I’m going to get major shit if I don’t at least go for dinner. 

It took everything Gina had not to ask if the person that would give him shit would be Alexis. But she kept it together.

K

Still wanted to show you the footage from Wed if you were up for it

The kids really killed it

Sure

Shouldn’t be too late

Gina ordered in from Door Dash and settled down with her latest binge watch. Though she found that now that she was interested in production, watching TV wasn’t as relaxing as it once was, since she saw all the little quirks and holes and made mental notes about how she’d do it better.

It was after eight when the door finally opened, EJ returning from the night out. “Hey, sorry I’m late,” he said as he was coming up the stairs. He had a tray of drinks in his hand. “I did bring take out margaritas, if that helps.”

Gina giggled. “Ok, that helps. How was it?”

“Fine,” EJ said noncommittally, so Gina decided to put a bit of a finer point on it. 

“Was Alexis there? And is she mad you’re home already?”

EJ fidgeted a bit uncomfortably. “Yes, and, uh… probably yes.” He shrugged. “I told her I’m not interested. But she’s persistent. Though right now, I think she’s mostly trying to prove a point.”

“About what?”

EJ’s eyes widened in alarm. “Uh, nothing, never mind.” He walked towards the kitchen, dropping his bag and shrugging out of his jacket, draping it neatly over the back of one of the stools at the island. He put two of the drinks in the fridge, and grabbed the other two to bring back into the living room. “I got the prickly pear one you thought sounded good last time we ordered from there.”

“Oh, wow, thanks,” Gina said, a bit surprised that he remembered an offhand comment she made about something they didn’t even order. But then again, caring how she was feeling was something that was second nature to EJ when it wasn’t the absolute worst two weeks of his life. And guilt over how she’d handled those two weeks bubbled up yet again. 

“So we ready to watch this thing?” he asked, gesturing towards the TV where Gina had paired her tablet.

“Oh, yeah. I think it came out great.”

They spent over an hour watching the best clips from her interview, taking time between each one to comment on how the kids had picked a great moment to cut in closer, or Jake’s skills as an interviewer. EJ even pointed out a couple moments that he was certain Sierra had engineered, catching a nostalgic look on Gina’s face or a particularly poignant pause, leaving those moments in tact. “That girl knows how to pull on the heartstrings,” he said appreciatively.

Gina took a deep breath, sensing her opening. “Speaking of pulling the heartstrings…” she began. “There’s a clip the kids couldn’t use because the take got ruined but… I thought that you should see it.

The color seemed to drain from EJ’s face, but he swallowed and agreed. “Ok…”

Gina pulled up the clip she’d asked Sierra to send her, the brief snippet of talking about the plane ticket. She tapped the screen to start it, and trained her eyes on EJ while he watched her on the screen. 

It was over quickly, but EJ kept his eyes on the black screen. “Why… why are you showing me that?” he asked, still not looking her way.

“Because I thought you needed to know,” she said quietly. “Deserved to know, really, that I get it now. That… that as much as I tried to rewrite history back then, it was you all along. YOU were the reason I came back, YOU were the reason I stayed. Without you, I’m not… I’m not ME. And I NEVER should have lost sight of that.”

“You don’t owe me anything,” he said quietly, still not looking her way.

“I at least owe you the truth, that I… I don’t get anything right the first time.” She took a chance and put her hand on his cheek, turning his face towards her. “And maybe I didn’t get us right the first time, either. But maybe that just means I need… we need… to try again?” And with the question lingering in the air, she leaned forward, wanting nothing more than to kiss away the last seven years, that her first kiss might be her last, too.

EJ move towards her, slowly, leaning in just as she was. But before their lips could meet, he placed a hand on her shoulder, and pushed back abruptly. He closed his eyes and looked away.

“Gina, I… I’m sorry, I… I can’t.” And he got up from the couch and walked away, closing his bedroom door with a soft thud.

Gina just sat there, unsure what to do now. After what might have been a minute, might have been an hour, she threw away the melted remnants of ice in their cups and headed to bed herself. And as she pulled on the worn East High t shirt of EJ’s, she finally let the tears fall.

Chapter Text

EJ was up before the sun, as usual. He’d slept like absolute crap, anyway, so maybe it was better to just get up and deal with what he’d done.

He had no idea what the fuck had gotten into him last night. Even thinking for a second he could kiss Gina, just pretend that the last seven years never fucking happened. It was SO goddamn tempting, but in the end, he’d come to his senses.

Or completely fucked up. He wasn’t sure which yet.

Because even though he’d stopped himself last night, he still WANTED to kiss her. But he didn't want it to be about the past. And Gina kept trying to drag him back there, talking about the plane ticket and camp and all the shit they’d gone through. He couldn’t go back there, he couldn’t. He needed to know that she wanted him NOW, not some faded edged memory of someone he hadn't been for a very long time.

And until he could make Gina see that, he had absolutely no business getting involved with her again.

But of course, he hadn’t said any of that. He’d just freaked out and pushed her away. Just like he’d done at camp, he couldn’t say how messed up he was really feeling.

And he was likely going to ruin it with her all over again.

He was sure she was pissed and embarrassed that he’d rejected her, and probably wouldn’t be open to listening to his explanation. He’d hurt her, even when he hadn’t meant to. Even when she was here, doing all this for him and his kids. The tables had turned completely from the last time.

And it sucked just as much on the other side of this, he realized. 

He slipped out quietly to go to the gym before he needed to be at the school to meet up with Ashlyn and Nini to film Nini’s interview. Gina was planning on coming, too. Or at least she was, before last night. Now he wasn’t sure exactly what was going to happen. Maybe she’d just run back up the LA, more capable of dealing with the fallout from her PR crisis than this fucked up 'very much requited but didn’t look that way' feelings situation they had going on. 

He decided to text her from the gym parking lot, attempting to convince himself that it gave her the opportunity to save face, avoid the embarrassment she might be feeling.

But it was just as much that he was too chicken shit to face her, himself. 

Heading straight to school from the gym to meet Nini for her interview

LMK if u need a ride there or wtv

He put his phone away, not looking at it again until after his workout and shower. To his surprise, Gina did respond. 

I’ll drive myself

C u there at 11

He went to a coffee shop to kill some time and enter some grades before he had no choice but to drive to school. When he pulled up, he was momentarily surprised to find the parking lot packed with cars. Shit, he’d forgotten all about the SATs running until close to noon. And now he needed to smuggle not just a major movie star, but also a pop princess in without anyone noticing. And it would be one thing if it was just students at his high school who he could follow up with if anything went sideways, but there were kids from all over that came for testing.

He dropped a text in the group chat that they’d been using to organize today.

SATs still wrapping up

Don’t get out of your cars until you txt me and I can get you straight into the studio

Nini arrived first, and EJ hurried out to the parking lot to usher her in. Like Gina usually did, she was wearing sunglasses and a baseball cap. EJ had to smile when he saw her. With her still-slight frame, Nini didn’t look older than any of his students. 

“Hey, let’s get you inside,” he said quickly as she got out of the car, and they made their way through the side door to the studio. Once they were inside, Nini spun around and took off her sunglasses, shooting him a huge grin. “Hey, stranger!” she cried, leaning in to give him a hug, which EJ gladly reciprocated. And while Nini was also his ex-girlfriend, hugging her just felt warm, friendly.

Nothing at all like it had felt to have Gina back in his arms. 

“Thanks again for coming,” he said as he stepped back.

“Are you kidding? I was so mad when I read your email. These kids deserve to have access to arts programs! I never would be where I am without Miss Jenn and everything she did for me.”

“They’re all really excited to meet you,” he said. “Though I think some of the shock factor of having a literal celebrity in the room has worn off a bit with Gina being around for the last couple of weeks.”

“It’s pretty cool that she’s here, that you guys have, you know… moved past everything.” And Nini definitely caught the look on his face when she said that. “Uh, you have moved past everything, right?”

“It’s… complicated,” EJ said, but before he could decide what else to say, his phone buzzed. “Speaking of, the rest of the girls are here. I need to go let them in.”

And with that temporary reprieve from Nini’s questions, he slipped down the hallway and let the other three in. They were all chatting happily, and Gina didn’t have a trace of the melancholy he was worried he’d see on her face.

And that he felt disappointed about that was pretty fucked up. 

When they got back to the classroom, he busied himself with getting equipment unpacked while he let the rest of them get caught up. They ran in similar enough circles, and soon names were flying around that EJ recognized from clickbait headlines online. After a few minutes, Maddox predictably grew bored with the Hollywood chatter and came over to his side. “Need any help?”

“The kids will be in in just a few minutes, a bunch of them are already here for the SATs,” he said, but even as he was talking, Maddox had set to work unpacking a piece of the lighting rig.

“So how’s everything look so far?” she asked as she got the stand set up.

“Gina’s interview went really well, I think the kids are hitting their stride with this."

"They've got a great teacher."

“Thanks, Gadget,” he said with a smile. The door opened and Lucy slipped in. “Luce, what are you doing here? This is film club stuff.”

“I know, but I just finished my SATs and I HAD to come see if Nina Salazar was really here. And she is! Oh my God! Hi! I’m, like, you’re biggest fan!”

Nini gave her a wide smile. “EJ sent me the recording of your spring showcase, I think I’m YOUR biggest fan.”

“You… you’ve heard me sing? Oh my God, shut up. I mean, don’t shut up, I mean… ugh, I sound like an idiot.”

“Yeah, you do,” Olivia noted dryly from the doorway. “Please excuse my girlfriend, total fangirl.” She was doing her best to play it cool, but EJ knew that Olivia was there for exactly the same reason, to catch a glimpse of Nini. 

“Did you tell the whole a cappella group about this?” EJ asked, frustrated. But both girls shook their heads. 

“Nope,” Olivia assured him. “But Sierra told us and we kinda had to.”

“Well, the rest of them will meet me in a couple weeks, anyway,” Nini pointed out. “I cleared my calendar to be in studio with Jamie when you come up.”

“Wait a minute, what?” EJ said as Lucy and Olivia exchanged nervous, excited glances. 

“Yeah, I wanted to help out. Ashlyn sent me the arrangements so I’m getting up to speed, figured I can work with your leads while you two can focus on harmonies, and Jamie and I can put it all together."

“Nini, I don’t know what to say…” EJ said quietly. He kind of couldn’t believe all his old friends were rallying behind this project like this. Turns out they were still a family, all these years later.

“It’s not every day your ex shows up in your inbox, asking for help,” Nini teased. “Gotta make the most of your groveling.”

“Wait, your ex? You dated Nina Salazar, too?!?” Lucy cried.

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Sierra said as she came into the room. “How many famous ex-girlfriends do you have, exactly?”

EJ’s cheeks flamed bright red. “Uh, just the two.”

“Just the two, he says, like THAT’S somehow normal,” Olivia deadpanned. 

Nini was shifting her gaze rapidly between Gina and EJ. “So, wait, they know about…”

“The documentary,” EJ explained with a shrug.

“I thought Disney scrubbed that off the internet forever ago,” Ashlyn said, surprised. 

“Like I told Miss Gina, the internet never forgets,” Jake said, coming into the room with a tired sigh.

EJ took one look at him and knew he needed to check out how he was doing. “Lucy and Olivia, at least make yourselves useful and help Maddox and Sierra get this stuff unpacked before the others get here. Jake, can we talk?” He motioned for him to follow into the adjoining classroom with his head, and Jake trailed behind him. To EJ’s surprise, Gina put a supportive hand on his shoulder as he walked by, leaning in to say something low. He nodded, and she followed him into the room.

“Gina wants to know how I’m doing, too,” Jake said, nodding towards her. “To make sure I’m good to go to shoot this thing.”

“We can arrange the shots differently if you don’t want to be in the frame today,” she explained. “We can do whatever you need."

EJ eyed Gina with a mix of admiration and suspicion. What had she and Jake talked about the other day when he wasn’t there? “How’d the test go?” EJ asked carefully.

“Ok, I think. I had a mini-anxiety attack during the math section, but I think I handled it ok. I finished everything, anyway. Not like the first time when I had to walk out.”

“And you’re feeling ok now?”

He nodded. “I’m tired, but I can do this.”

“Don’t push yourself, if you don’t…” EJ started, but Gina cut him off.

“Then let’s get you ready to go,” she said definitively, and Jake shuffled back into the studio.

“What the hell? He could crack out there,” EJ practically hissed to Gina.

“And if you tell him he can’t do it now, you’re going to undermine his confidence,” she reasoned. “He’s worked hard to manage this, let him try to manage it. And we can keep an eye on him the whole way. I'm sure you know what to look for."

EJ’s breathing got a little heavier, but he had to concede that Gina was probably right. So he gave her a curt nod, and they split up to help get ready, Gina doing makeup while EJ got the tech stuff sorted. 

Gina was right, it turned out, and Jake was absolutely flawless on camera with Nini. He was charming and made her laugh, which was always Nini’s best quality, her effervescent giggle. She was clearly a polished interview subject, and EJ saw Jake's confidence grow throughout the interview as they found an easy groove. It was likely just the boost he needed to stave off a spiral. 

All the kids were on point after their hard work preparing with Gina, and they sailed through in just a couple of hours. EJ was able to just sit back and watch, beaming with pride as his kids worked together so seamlessly. And more than once, he found himself watching Gina watch them, that same reflection of pride on her face. Their eyes met several times, each one looking away quickly when it happened. But then Nini started talking about how high school stayed with her even now, they looked at each other at the exact same moment, and EJ got completely lost in her gaze. He snapped out of it when Sierra called “Cut!” And as he looked over at Sierra, startled at the interruption, she just rolled her eyes as if to say they were all onto him. 

Sierra had the brilliant idea to capture some b-roll footage of Nini playing the piano, so the kids got to work moving the equipment over there. When almost everything had been cleared out, Nini grabbed EJ’s arm and pulled him to the side. 

“Ok, Mr. ‘It’s Complicated’, WHAT is going on with you and Gina?”

“What do you mean?” EJ asked, even though he knew full well what Nini meant.

“Oh come on, the two of you have been casting longing glances at each other across the room all day. I feel like I’m back in the spring of junior year all over again.”

EJ sighed. “I know, I need to get my shit together. The kids definitely noticed, too.”

“So what’s the deal? You’re both obviously into each other again. Still? I don’t even know.”

EJ groaned. “It’s just not that simple anymore.”

“You’re both single,” she pointed out, and EJ shot her a look, wondering how she knew that. “Ashlyn,” Nini explained.

EJ glanced around to make sure they were alone. “Look, Gina’s obviously been thinking a lot about the past because of the interview, and last night she… she tried to kiss me. And I stopped her.”

“Why the hell would you do that?"

“Because I’m scared, ok?” EJ finally burst out. “She broke my heart once, and that was well before she was Gina Porter, movie star, and I was some poor math teacher. There’s NO way this works, and I’m just going to get crushed all over again when this turns out to just be some misguided nostalgia trip for her. Because you’re right, at least when it comes to how I feel. Even though it’s been years… it’s not again, it's still. I don’t think I ever stopped loving her.”

Nini looked at him with a mixture of pity and exasperation. “I’m not the one you need to be saying this to.”

“I know, I just… I need a little time to get my head on straight before I tell her. And work’s been insane and she’s LIVING with me, so it’s not like…”

“I’ll take care of it,” Nini said suddenly. “I’m staying with Ash and Maddox at a house they rented up in the city til they go back up to LA Monday night, I’ll ask Gina if she wants to come hang out for a couple days, catch up. It’ll give you a little breathing room to figure out what you want.”

EJ was silent for a moment. He knew what he wanted, but he had to figure out if he was going to be able to get over his fear to get it. He exhaled slowly. “Are you sure?”

Nini nodded, a smile crossing her face. “I know you, EJ. Your heart is in the right place. Even if you don’t always do the right thing, it’s always for the right reasons. Trust your heart, you’ll figure out the right thing in the end.”

“Thanks, Nini,” he said sincerely. “We should…” he gestured towards the door. 

They crossed the hall, and he watched Nini walk over to Gina and extend the invite for the weekend. Gina glanced up at him for a moment, before nodding to Nini.

Jake came up next to EJ. “You gonna tell her you’re in love with her, or…”

“Save it, Jake,” he said, shaking his head.

“Just saying, Mr. C. You look at her like I look at Mari. Like Papa looks at Mama. And she looks at you the same. It ain’t nothing.”

“I’ll let you know the next time I need advice on my love life from a seventeen year old.”

Jake looked between Gina and EJ. “You need it from someone,” he said, walking away with a smirk on his face.

As they set up to shoot, Gina came over. “Hey, so Nini invited me to stay with her for a couple days, and I figured when will we get another chance like this, you know? So I’m gonna go grab some of my stuff at the house…”

“Sure,” EJ said with a nod.

“I just don’t want you to think I’m like, avoiding you or anything. After last night, I mean, I…”

“It’s ok, Gina,” he broke in. “I get it. Go hang out with the girls, I’ve got a ton of work to do anyway. And when you get back Monday, we’ll… talk.”

“Yeah?” she said, something between hope and fear in her eyes. 

“Yeah,” he said quietly, before turning his attention back to the shoot as Gina slipped out to the parking lot.

Chapter Text

Monday morning arrived before Gina could believe it. She’d spent Saturday night and all day Sunday with the girls, at a private house that they had rented in Point Loma, a significantly more ritzy part of the city than where EJ worked. The home was gorgeous, and Gina was a bit jealous that Nini wasn’t half hiding out, allowed to live in the luxury that Gina had grown somewhat accustomed to over the last few years.

But part of her already missed the cozier feel of EJ’s place, the carpet underfoot rather than the cool tiles.

Gina had initially felt guilty that her presence meant EJ didn’t get a chance to hang out with Nini, too. But he assured her via text he had to get caught up with his lesson planning to turn them into his vice principal on Monday, so that Gina should go and enjoy and he’d find another time to catch up more with Nini when they figured out the recording schedule for the a cappella group. So she tried to set all that aside, and just have fun with old friends.

And she did. They drank wine in the hot tub and laughed like no time had passed. It felt beautiful to Gina, to be able to slip back in time to these people she loved, who knew her as ‘just Gina’, same as EJ did. It was something she genuinely didn’t realize she missed until she had it back. And she vowed to not get so caught up in her work that she lost it again. 

After a fun and relaxing Sunday, Monday morning arrived, and with it, Gina needing to make a decision about what to say to EJ that night. Part of her was tempted to not go back to his place, just get a hotel room and avoid the embarrassment of his rejection, only seeing him at school to finish up this project.

But then she thought back to that look on his face in the school video studio on Saturday, that same kind of longing she’d seen on his face after she’d broken up with him at camp. It had to mean something, right? That he was still looking at her like that? And he did say he wanted them to talk.

She couldn’t quite put down the hope of it all. 

She was lost in thought about it as she sat in the sunshine on the patio with a cup of coffee when Nini made her way out to join her, tea in hand. “Hey, I’m heading out soon to get back up to LA. Are you going over to the school this afternoon?”

Gina shook her head. “They have a faculty meeting today, so no clubs can meet. I think Ashlyn is going to meet up with Lucy at a coffee shop near the school to work on arrangements, but we can’t do anything with the film club today.”

“So you’re just… heading back to EJ’s?” Nini asked. The cautious edge in her tone told Gina that Nini knew more about the situation with her and EJ than she’d previously let on. 

“I think so?” Gina half-sighed. “I’m not really sure where we stand at the moment.”

“Where do you want it to stand?” Nini asked, fiddling with her tea bag. 

Gina closed her eyes, letting the sunshine warm her face. “I… I still have feelings for him,” she confessed. “The way things went down between us, there’s always been some regret there. I kinda shoved it aside when things happened with Ricky, let myself get swept up in something new. But now, looking back on it… there wasn’t a lot of real closure there, I still always cared about him, as something more than just a friend. And digging back into it all now just feels like… I don’t know, like maybe if the timing was different, we would have made it. Because it turns out that connection that we've always had… that hasn't changed." Nini nodded, but said nothing. Gina quickly moved to fill the silence. “But whatever, I don’t even know, like, what he’s thinking. And I burned that bridge to a crisp by getting involved with Ricky right away and confirming his suspicions about us, you know? He can’t want me like that anymore, can he? After I broke his heart?” She heard the plea in her questions, looking for Nini to contradict her, even little, to give her reason to believe she was wrong.

Nini continued to play with the tag on her tea bag for a moment, as if she was debating what to say. “That was a long time ago, you’re both very different people now.”

Gina pulled her knees up to her chest. “I don’t even know if I am. Some days, I feel like I’m 23 going on 40, that I’ve already done enough living for two lifetimes. Other times, it’s like I’m destined to stay stuck at 16. Still loving the limelight, still searching for validation, even when I pretend I’m not. I mean, isn’t that the whole reason I’m hiding out down here? Because I can’t handle people on the internet being mean to me, a grown woman.”

“It’s a lot more complex than that,” Nini offered charitably. “It’s also about your career making it through this.”

“Which is it’s own kind of fucked up, right? Being a celebrity has nothing to do with my ability to do my job as an actor, except it has EVERYTHING to do with it."

“It’s definitely a weird way to live,” Nini agreed. She paused for a moment, before she added “And I know how lonely it can be.”

Tears sprang to Gina’s eyes, desperate to confess just how lonely she was. “It sucks sometimes. And I KNOW how lucky I am, that I’m living out a dream here.”

“That doesn’t mean it’s not hard sometimes,” Nini shrugged. “I get it. Surrounded by people on your payroll, unsure if anyone’s really telling you the truth. Not knowing if people care about YOU, or your money, or fame, or whatever.”

“It’s the one thing I really miss about Ricky sometimes,” Gina admitted. “Having someone in my life who knew me as more than THE Gina Porter. And there’s a million reasons why we didn’t work, in the end. He needed more than I’d ever be able to give, especially living this life. But it doesn’t mean I don’t miss that.”

“So is that the appeal of EJ? That he’s from before?” Nini asked the question gently, but Gina heard the echoes of EJ’s hurt in the question, that once again, maybe he was just some kind of stand-in or second choice.

And that couldn’t be more wrong.

“No,” Gina said, a bit surprised at her own conviction. “It’s… it’s the way he shows up for people. Like he always has. It’s what he did for me, back then. Until the disaster of camp, anyway, and that wasn’t completely his fault but I blamed it on him anyway. To see him do that now with these kids, that he really IS the guy who shows up… it makes me fall in love with him all over again.”

Nini’s eyes grew wide at the word ‘love’, and Gina didn’t even realize why at first. But there was no reason to backtrack or try and conceal the truth. 

“And I know I'm too late. I… I tried to kiss him the other night, and he completely shut me down. And I don't blame him, it's not like I deserve a second chance. But that sixteen year old part of me couldn't help but hope."

Nini put her hand on Gina's, a gesture from a million years ago and another moment when Gina was confused about EJ. "I know it sucks to put yourself out there and get rejected. But I wouldn't give up on him just yet. You should talk to him.”

Gina looked at Nini, narrowing her eyes slightly. “Did he tell you what happened?”

Nini gave a slow, guilty nod. “Sorry, I should have told you I knew. I just…”

“No, it’s fine,” Gina assured her. “But you think that he…”

Nini nodded. “Just talk to him.”

Gina gave a slow exhale, before nodding herself. “Thanks, Neen. You’re still such a solid person.”

“I try,” she smiled, draining her cup of tea. “I need to go pack. But let me know how it goes?”

Gina nodded. “Thanks.”

Once Nini had made her way back inside, Gina sat for a few minutes more, trying to plan out what to say to EJ. And she kept rehearsing it to herself all day, through the ride back down to EJ’s, and while she waited for him to get home after his faculty meeting. A text came in around 4, and she frowned reading the screen.

Need to meet with VP

Will be later than I thought

She sighed and placed the phone next to her on the couch, chewing on her lip and hoping this wasn’t a sign that her second try to get this right was going to go as poorly as the first. 

It was almost six when Gina heard the door to the condo fly open, and EJ banging up the stairs. She was startled at how angry he seemed. When he appeared at the top of the stairs, his face was a veritable storm cloud of rage, a fire burning his green eyes. 

“E… Eej?” she asked tentatively. “What’s wrong?”

“My fucking job is what’s fucking wrong. I can’t even believe this is happening,” he fumed as he threw his bag to the floor in irritation.

And seeing EJ this upset made Gina abandon whatever preconceived notion about what they’d talk about that night completely. He obviously needed someone to talk to about this, and she wanted it to be her. “What’s happening?” Gina asked.

“My vice principal pulled me aside after the faculty meeting, said she’s rejecting all my lesson plans for the rest of the month because they don’t match state testing standards.”

Gina nodded, sympathetic. “I’m sorry, that’s a lot of work to redo.”

But EJ was shaking his head emphatically. “No, you don’t… you don’t get it.”

“Then help me get it,” she said, sincere in her desire to be there for him.

He gave a frustrated sigh as he threw himself down on the couch. “Look, you need to understand my students. SO many of them aren’t performing at grade level. I’ve got kids who are juniors who can’t do sixth grade level math. It’s not their fault,” he said quickly. “It’s not that they're not smart or capable. But a bunch of them have moved around a lot, going back and forth between here and Mexico where they have family. They’ve endured disruption after disruption, being taught in two different languages, landing in a new class every other year and having no fucking clue what’s going on. It’s just SO much harder for them.”

Gina closed her eyes, a visceral anxiety rising in her chest listening to EJ describe his kids’ lives. Even without the language barrier, she felt their story. The moving, the feeling lost at every turn. She instantly flashed back to her embarrassment at Quinn’s disbelief that she had never read Romeo and Juliet , but East High taught it freshman year while the high school she’d been at before that taught it in 10th, so she’d just missed it entirely. “I absolutely get that,” she nodded, and EJ met her eye, his expression softening slightly.

“Yeah, out of anyone, I guess that you do,” he said. And it was like that understanding made him willing to keep going, a little of the anger leaving his voice. “And it’s not like some of these kids are ever going to use this shit. College isn’t an option for them, they need to go to work to support their families. So rather than spend an ENTIRE year on abstract concepts that they don’t give a shit about, every year, I spend a month teaching my juniors what I call ‘real world math’. The shit…’ His voice caught for just a second. “The shit I needed to figure out for myself when my dad cut me off. You know, like what interest rates actually mean, how credit cards work and figuring out how the balances go up even if you make regular payments, that kind of stuff.”

“EJ, that’s an amazing idea."

“I’ve had kids say it’s the reason they stop hating math and don’t give up on it entirely. That’s why I try to do it now, in the fall, keep them engaged.” His face turned stormy again. “But today, my vice principal tells me I can’t fucking teach it, because it’s doesn’t ‘conform with the state curriculum rubric’. The ONE THING I’ve been able to really give these kids to make a difference in their lives doesn’t fucking matter anymore.” He stood up and began pacing back and forth across his living room. “The KIDS don’t fucking matter any more. It’s all about the numbers. First they come for the arts funding, then they try to tell me what my kids need, like they know better than I do. Like I don’t spend my entire fucking LIFE thinking about them, worrying about them, trying to make things just a little bit fucking easier for them. And it’s never enough to actually make a goddamn difference.” He stopped, his head drooping with defeat. It took Gina a moment to realize that EJ’s shoulders weren’t quaking with anger, but with tears.

She felt her chest constrict with tears of her own, and before she could think, she leapt to her feet and took EJ into her arms. He responded in kind, dropping his head onto her shoulder as he closed his arms around her waist. Gina closed her eyes and pulled him into her as tightly as she could, wanting nothing more than to take away his frustration, his pain, even when logically, she knew there was no way she could. But she could show up for him, the way he’d shown up for her. So she just held him.

After a long moment, EJ raised his head, his green eyes rimmed in red. Gina kept her gaze steady on him, not saying a word. And in one swift motion, he crashed his mouth into hers.

Kissing EJ was something she’d done plenty of times before, but not like this. Never like this. This wasn’t an innocent adolescent meeting of their lips, with a breathless giggle lurking just behind. This was a blend of passion and pain, fully grown. And Gina didn’t care if it was a distraction or a mistake. It was the only thing she needed. 

Eventually, EJ pulled back, trying to catch his breath. “Gina, I’m sorry, I…”

“EJ, stop,” she said definitively, staring at him intently. “Don’t stop.” And as their lips met again, it was like the rest of the world fell away.

Chapter Text

EJ stepped back into the bedroom from the shower, the only light coming from his phone propped up beside the bed. It was still dark outside the window, the sun not coming up for another couple hours. But they were meeting the kids at the school at 6 to make the trek up to LA to record with Jamie, so up by 5 it was.

He stopped for a moment, smiling down at Gina’s sleeping form. He hated to wake her, she looked so peaceful when she was asleep, especially when they’d been up so late. And he’d never grow tired of seeing her wrapped in his clothes, his worn t-shirts her favorite thing to wear to bed. He traced a thumb gently over her cheek, recalling the conversation the night before, when he’d finally laid bare his fear.

It had been almost two weeks since they’d kissed, since they’d fallen into bed together. And to EJ, it felt like coming home. The nights they spent wrapped around each other brought him a kind of peace he hadn’t expected, to really feel like at long last, he had her. They’d spent every night talking, sometimes staying up til the wee hours of the morning, going over the last seven years, understanding who they each were now. And last night, it finally felt safe to say it.

“I worry, sometimes,” he’d began, before pausing. “Ok, that’s a lie, I worry ALL the time, but about THIS some of the time.”

Gina had given a soft chuckle before her face grew serious. “You can tell me anything.”

He exhaled softly, ready to test that theory. “I worry that this,” he said, gesturing between them, “isn’t really real. That it’s all a convenient escape from your actual life, that I… that me and the kids are some kind of distraction from what you really want.” The word he left off, but that they very much felt hanging in the air between them, was ‘again’.

Gina closed her eyes and drew in a deep breath, before looking him straight in the eye. “I know what it looked like last time, EJ. And I know how it looks now. But you’re not, you NEVER were some kind of consolation prize. You’re the one I want, I promise. The first time, things just… didn’t work out. The timing was…” She sighed. “And yeah, maybe I would have fought harder if it weren’t for Ricky, maybe I wouldn’t have given into my fears about us so easily.” She reached out and laid her hand on his cheek, which he quickly covered with his own. “But I was afraid because it was real, and I’d never had that before. And that meant it could have hurt me like nothing else, either. But it’s also the reason it’s STILL HERE,” she assured him, before guiding his face to hers and kissing him thoroughly. And in that moment, EJ decided to let the fear go and just be all in on this. 

Back in the dark of the morning, she shifted under his touch, her eyes fluttering open as his thumb slipped down the line of her jaw. “It’s so early,” she said with half a groan.

“I know,” he apologized. “But we need to get going. Recording day."

“Right,” she said, squeezing her eyes shut for a moment. “No going to lie, keeping this a secret all day is going to be HARD.”

EJ nodded. They’d agreed not to say anything about what was happening between them for now, not wanting to take the focus off the kids and what they were trying to accomplish. They only had a few weeks left to pull this off, so Gina and EJ had basically decided to divide and conquer, with Gina taking the lead with the film club while EJ poured all his focus into getting the a cappella group ready for today’s recording session. Spending most of their time with the kids apart had made it fairly easy to contain themselves until they got home. They’d slipped up on Thursday, though, when Gina had called EJ into the room for his opinion on a shot to include as they were editing Sierra’s interview with Monroe, and he’d absentmindedly rested her hand on the small of her back as he leaned in behind her at the monitor. It was JUST enough past the edge of friendly that it earned EJ a look from both Sierra and Jake, but he waved them off, leaving them to exchange a pointed glance themselves. 

EJ leaned down and kissed her. “We’ll just have to make up for it tomorrow. I’m thinking we spend the whole day in bed?” he said with a smirk, tracing his thumb across the hollow of her throat.

“Don’t start something you can’t finish,” she warned, tipping her head back so his fingers could skate down to her collarbone, just below the slightly stretched out neck of his t-shirt. 

He moved over to murmur into her ear. “That hasn’t been a problem.”

They’d had an obvious chemistry when they were younger, constantly finding ways to touch each other, never being close enough. That had matured into a fairly molten connection in the bedroom, and they’d been thoroughly enjoying each other. But right now, they needed to get going. So EJ reluctantly pulled back, extended his hand to pull her up. 

Gina got ready, not without commenting that she needed to select an outfit carefully to conceal the marks that EJ had left on her body with his eager mouth. He responded with nothing more than a shrug. 

They hit the drive through for coffee before they rolled up to the high school with multiple trays of drinks that the kids had texted their overly complicated orders for the night before. The ten members of the a capella group, along with Sierra and Jake who were coming along to film for the documentary, were piling into the fifteen passenger van that EJ had begged to borrow from athletics for the day. They barely all fit with the equipment, but they’d make the best of it.

“Jake, you wanna sit up front so there’s more room for the camera bag?” Gina asked as Jake tried to fold his tall frame into a cramped seat by the window.

“Oh, no, I’m fine. You should ride up front with Mr. Caswell,” Jake said, a bit of a smirk on his lips. And the nudge that Olivia gave him was anything but subtle. Lucy, meanwhile, was locked in on her Airpods, singing under her breath as she frantically flipped through the arrangements on her iPad. 

“Babe, if you sing all the way to LA, I will have no choice but to make Mr. Caswell leave you behind when we stop to use the bathroom.”

“We are NOT STOPPING to use the bathroom!” EJ cried. “It’s only like two and half hours. Pee before we leave.”

“Maybe we should have considered that before I bought them all coffee?” Gina asked with a shrug. EJ just groaned. This was shaping up to be a very long morning. 

They did in fact end up having to stop once, but otherwise made decent time getting into the city. EJ could feel Jake’s eyes on him every time he laughed at something Gina said, but otherwise, they didn’t give anything away on the drive. Lucy’s anxiety was climbing as they drew closer to LA, and Olivia tried several times to get her to chill, afraid her incessant vocalizing would make it so she couldn’t sing when the pressure was on. 

When they piled out of the van, EJ watched as Jake caught Lucy by the elbow and pulled her a bit away from the group. He spoke to her, low and reassuring, while Lucy nodded along. EJ immediately noticed that Jake was coaching Lucy to use one of the breathing strategies he’d learned in therapy, one that he’d told EJ about so that EJ could coach him when he needed it. Lucy broke into a genuine smile before they rejoined the group, Jake’s arm draped across her shoulders. 

They walked into the recording studio lobby, and EJ was immediately intimidated. Gold and platinum records lined the walls, and there was a case with several Grammys next to the receptionist’s desk. Low velvet couches were against the far wall, and EJ could tell that the kids didn’t even consider sitting on them, figuring they were probably more expensive than a month’s rent on their apartments back in San Ysidro. 

A voice EJ would recognize anywhere boomed across the lobby. “There’s my Gigi,” Jamie Porter called, going straight to his sister and wrapping her in a hug. 

“Hey, Jamie,” she said, returning his smile. 

“Now can you please tell me why it takes something like this to actually see my kid sister when we live in the same city?”

“Oh, please,” Gina scoffed. “You’re not even in LA half the time anymore, and I was in Toronto shooting for like, half the year.”

“Look at us, being booked and busy, who woulda thought?” he beamed, before turning to the kids. “Hey, y’all, I’m Jamie.”

“We know,” Olivia said under her breath, and Jamie let out a laugh.

“I think some of y’all met Nini a few weeks ago? She’s upstairs with my engineer and Ashlyn running sound checks so we’ll be ready for y’all. Now, who’s in charge of this operation?”

EJ opened his mouth to point to Lucy, the club president, but when they locked eyes, she shook her head, still not quite ready. Jake picked up on it too, and immediately clapped his hand on EJ’s shoulder. “That’d be this guy, our math teacher, Mr. Caswell.”

“EJ Caswell,” Jamie said, shaking his head. “How the hell are you, man? I haven’t seen you since…”

“Since you tried to ruin my teenage life,” Gina piped in with a laugh. “Somehow convinced this guy I DIDN’T have a massive crush on him.”

Every single head belonging to a teenager snapped towards EJ. “Yeah, I’m not going there,” he said, before turning back to Jamie. “Thank you, again, for your help with all this.”

“You got it, bro. Now, I’ve heard the samples that Ashlyn and Nini have sent, and I gotta say, y’all are TIGHT on the harmonies, and there’s some great lead vocals. I’m impressed. Where are Lucy and Ben? I think I’ve got that right?” Jamie asked, consulting a memo on his phone. “My ‘City of Stars’ leads.” Lucy turned white as a sheet as Olivia shoved her forward, while Ben stepped up with an easy smile on his face. “I think we’re going to lay that track first, y’all up for it?” Ben nodded enthusiastically, while Lucy just closed her eyes, clearly breathing the way Jake had shown her in the parking lot. “Let’s get y’all upstairs, then,” Jamie said, ushering them towards the elevator.

They were greeted warmly by Nini and Ashlyn, and Ashlyn led them through a quick vocal warm up while EJ and Jamie stepped into the booth and ran through the set list they needed to nail that day. They had four tracks to produce in the next ten hours, and EJ was already feeling nervous about it. But then Gina met his eye over Jamie’s shoulder through the glass, and seeing her smile at him, he completely lost the thread of what he and Jamie were talking about.

“I’m sorry, what?” EJ asked, when he realized that Jamie had asked him a question and he hadn’t answered. 

Jamie glanced over his shoulder, realizing instantly why EJ was so flustered. “This again, huh?” he asked quietly, a smirk on his face. 

“It’s… we’re…” EJ half stumbled. Damnit, why did he always end up looking like an idiot in front of Jamie?

“It’s cool, man, no need to DTR to me. But, uh… maybe be a little more careful if you're trying to keep it on the low? Cuz the kids might think that mark on her shoulder is just a bruise, but us grown folks know different."

EJ flushed, and made a mental note to tell Gina to make sure to leave her cardigan on.  Jamie laughed at EJ's obvious discomfort. "Seriously, man, I'm just giving you shit. You both good?"

EJ nodded. “Better than in a long time.”

“Ok then," Jamie said with a smile, and they got back to work.

The kids sorted into the booths, and Jamie laid the backing harmonies first so that Ben and Lucy would have something to sing over while Nini practiced with them in the smaller room. They were also going to try layering it all at once, but Jamie wanted all the parts separate first to give him the most flexibility. 

When they were ready to lay Ben and Lucy's track, the rest of the kids crowded around the board to watch and silently cheer them on. EJ stood at the back of the room so if they looked out over the crowd, they'd see him encouraging them on. But they didn't need it, both settling in against the backing track instantly. EJ let himself just enjoy their performance, and couldn't resist sneaking a look over at Gina. He just watched her for a moment, a soft smile on his face while she looked near tears at how beautiful they sounded. It took EJ a minute to realize he was being watched, Jake training the camera in on him to capture his loving look at Gina. EJ glared at him briefly to cut off his shot, but Jake just snickered before he swung the camera back around to his friends. 

The kids continued to hum along, their endless rehearsal paying off as they laid down each of the tracks, with tons of encouragement from Ashlyn and Nini along with Jamie’s expert technical knowledge. They played back the first two finished tracks right before they broke for lunch around 1pm, and Lucy literally squealed with excitement when they heard the finished version of “City of Stars.” EJ thought his heart might explode, so grateful to all his friends for making this happen. 

They ordered pizza, and while they waited, EJ and the engineer got to work in the smaller booth, resetting it with a single directional mic for the last session that only featured single soloists. As they finished up, Gina slipped in as the engineer stepped out to test the new mic set up.

“Just talked to Jamie, he’s totally thrilled with how this is going. Don’t say anything to the kids yet, but he wants to invite them to sing at the annual fundraiser for the charity he works with, maybe talk to the school about building a studio for your kids.”

EJ smiled, but it was a bit wary. “We’ll see if admin will go along with something like that,” he said dryly. 

“Either way, though, he’s hoping we won’t need to spend the full ten hours in the studio and can actually relax for a little bit at the end of the night.”

“Or get back on the road sooner,” EJ offered. “We still have a three hour drive ahead of us. He glanced at the door, and knowing his back was to the glass in a soundproof booth, he gave Gina a smirk. “And not being able to kiss you all day is basically killing me."

"Don't think I've forgotten that you haven't finished what you started in bed this morning," she teased. 

He grinned. “Well, the sooner we get home, the sooner we can…”

EJ was cut off by Jamie’s voice crackling through the intercom. “Bro, that’s a hot mic!”

EJ froze, realizing the entire room had just heard him. He slowly turned around to survey the damage, and by the twelve sets of wide adolescent eyes staring at him and Gina, they were absolutely busted. Some looked slightly horrified at the notion that their math teacher HAD a sex life, while others, like Jake and Sierra, were clearly loving this turn of events. 

He turned back to Gina, a blank look of shock pasted to his face. “Well, I’m fired.”

Gina, for her part, burst out laughing, before taking two steps towards him. “Guess we should give the people what they want,” she said, and wrapped her arms around his neck, planting a quick but very obviously not platonic kiss on his lips. When EJ turned back, even though they were encased in the soundproof booth and heard nothing, he saw the kids cheering along with Ashlyn and Nini, while Jamie had literally put his hands over his eyes. Gina laced their fingers together and they walked out of the booth.

“Look at that stupid grin. Tu estás muy sometido, mano,” Jake teased him. 

“Lengua!” EJ cried. “Can any of you watch your mouths in EITHER language you speak?”

Sierra and Jake exchanged a glance and shrugged. “Nope.”

EJ shook his head, but Gina laughed beside him, bright and happy. 

“So this is a thing, FINALLY?” Olivia asked.

Gina nodded while EJ tightened his grip on her hand. “For a couple weeks now, we’ve…”

“A couple WEEKS?” Sierra cried. “And you didn’t tell us?”

“Contrary to VERY popular belief, my love life is actually none of your business, Sierra,” EJ admonished.

“Sure, because it’s every day your math teacher is dating a frickin movie star!” she shot back. “Perez Hilton’s gonna know, but we can’t?”

EJ and Gina exchanged glances. They’d been avoiding the topic of whether or not their relationship was a public thing, and EJ was content to keep ignoring it. “We… haven’t figured that part out yet. Right now, we’re just… we’re together, we’re happy, and we HAVE WORK TO DO!” EJ raised his voice. “So can we please finish eating and get back to it?”

As the kids scattered back to their lunches, Gina leaned in and placed a quick kiss on his cheek. “They seem ok with it.”

“Are you kidding? We’re going to have a couple name and an Insta fan account in a couple hours with this crew.

“It’s Portwell,” Lucy called from the side of the room. “Your couple name, I mean. We’ve had it for weeks. The Insta is a good idea, though. On private, obviously. We’re nosy, not stupid.”

“What have I done?” EJ groaned, dropping his head onto Gina’s shoulder while she laughed. 

Chapter Text

The rest of November raced by, the early December concert and premiere date looming large in the distance just past Thanksgiving break. EJ was stressed about losing a week to the vacation, but Gina had seen the pressure getting to both him AND the kids, and she was grateful they’d all get a bit of a reprieve before the final sprint to the finish.

It was the Monday before, and Gina was sitting on the couch in their living room, watching back the edits that Connor had sent them that he’d worked on over the weekend. He was a whiz at the technical side of it, but there was something missing in it. Sierra had already sent a page of notes, and Gina didn’t want to pile on, but the feedback was spot on about how to get more emotion into it. Sierra really was talented at this. She fired off a quick email to her management team, enquiring if they knew of any paid intern gigs over the summer that might be willing to look at a high schooler, before scrolling back to take another look.

Even though the kids were off all week, EJ had professional development seminars up until the holiday, so it was close to 5 when he rolled in. As he came up the stairs, he was on the phone. "It's not the cost, Ash. It's the principle of it all." He paused. "Ok, it's about the cost, too. Last minute tickets are stupid expensive, you know that." He gave Gina an apologetic look and mouthed "Sorry" before resuming his conversation. "I said no three months ago, too. And last month, and last week… it's not happening." Another pause. "Of course I'll still call and talk to them, don't be dramatic. I just… I can't." He nodded along to her reply. "Text me when you land, love you, too." He hung up and dropped down onto the couch next to Gina with a sigh.

"What was that about?" she asked, scooting a bit closer to wrap her hand around the back of his neck and gently play with the hair at the nape of his neck, her favorite way to connect with him physically at the end of a long day. He leaned gratefully into her touch, letting his eyes slip shut as he got lost in the sensation.

"Ash is still trying to convince me to fly to Utah for Thanksgiving since she and Gadget are going there this year."

Gina hadn't realized Ashlyn had even extended an invitation. "And you… you don't want to go?"

"It's not that I don't want to. I miss Uncle Dennis and Aunt Debbie. But they invite my dad to everything, too, and as long as there's a non-zero chance he'll show, I'm not going."

"So you just… never go home for the holidays?" It made her heart hurt, remembering how much EJ used to love Thanksgiving. Just another thing his dad’s rejection had taken from him. 

"Don't see that changing any time soon," he shrugged. 

“Does that mean you spend them all alone?”

"Not always, sometimes Ash and Maddox stay in town and I spend it with them. Sometimes I’m on my own. But don't tell the kids," he added quickly. "Ash went home with Mads for Christmas last year, and when Jake found out I was going to be alone, his mom insisted I come to their house and basically force fed me tamales. It was nice, don't get me wrong, but I hate feeling like an obligation." He turned to face her. "I just realized I never asked about your plans. Are you going back up to LA to see Jamie?"

Gina shook her head. "He's not even in the country, he's in Sweden trying to lure some hot European EDM DJ stateside to work with Nini as a feature. Thinks it'll be good to have some new content between her albums. And Mom already said not to bother, she's coordinating an emergency shelter site and has to serve dinner there." She paused. “I’m never REALLY alone on holidays, but usually, I spend them with people who work for me, and… I don’t know if that’s better or worse. No plans for that this year, though.”

"So I guess it's … just us, then?" he asked a bit cautiously. She broke into a wide smile, all of a sudden excited about spending the holiday together when they’d both been lonely on them before. 

"Time to shop, then," she said, opening a window for Instacart.

"We can just order in from somewhere," he offered, but Gina shook her head.

"It's Thanksgiving, we cook," she said firmly, leaving EJ with little to do but nod.

For the next two days, while EJ worked, Gina cooked. She got her mom to send her some Porter family recipes, and she harassed Ashlyn for EJ’s favorites from home, too. It was silly, but she reveled in the domestic nature of it, hoping that maybe, this would be the start of their traditions together, melding their respective histories into their own version of the holiday. By the time EJ got home Wednesday night, all that was left to do the next day was roast the chicken they’d picked up, too late to get and thaw an actual turkey, and heat up the things she’d already prepared.

Thanksgiving morning, they slept in, at least by EJ’s standards, since the gym was closed. With the prep pretty much done, they spent a good chunk of the day cuddling on the couch, watching the parade with the elaborate pumpkin lattes that EJ had made and trading stories about the kids and the ridiculous questions they’d gotten about their relationship over the last few weeks.

“Sierra wants to know if it’s true that you snore,” Gina teased while EJ groaned. 

“Ash told them that once, and they’ve never let it go.”

“What embarrassing details do they want to know about me?”

“Are you kidding? They think you’re some kind of golden goddess. ‘Mr. Caswell, did you know Gina could dance? We saw a bunch of compilations of her old TikToks, she’s insane!’ It’s like they forget I’ve known you for the better part of a decade, they totally Columbus every detail about you.” He traced a finger across her cheek. “But they don’t even notice the best parts about you.”

“Like what?” Gina asked, surprised.

“Like the way you furrow your brow when you’re watching the playback of anything, making sure every detail is just right. I always want to plant a kiss on the little lines that show up between your eyebrows. Or that you still use the exact same kind of headphones you had in high school, the pink ones. Or that you…”

She cut him off with a kiss. At one point in her life, Gina didn’t feel seen. And while she’d given Ricky credit for seeing her, and he had… so had EJ. Perhaps even more completely, even less reservedly, even more appreciatively, she was realizing now. And she’d spent her whole professional career being perceived, but she’d come to learn that wasn’t the same thing as being seen for who she really was. To have that back felt like a precious gift, and what she was truly grateful for this year.

They ate around 4pm, to have plenty of time for dessert later on, and then EJ slipped upstairs to call Ashlyn. While he did that, Gina pulled out the pies she’d made, including the pumpkin cream one that Ashlyn’s mom always had, and poured the special dessert wine she’d picked out and had delivered with the groceries. When EJ came down, his face looked a little troubled, and his brow creased looking at the table. “What’s that?”

“It’s your Aunt Debbie’s pumpkin cream pie,” she explained. “It’ll be a little different, since it’s a gluten free crust, but I think I did ok.” His look of concern deepened, and Gina felt her stomach sink. She’d wanted to do something nice for EJ, and it clearly wasn’t landing the way she hoped. 

He glanced over at her, and his expression softened. “I’m sorry, it must look… Thank you, really, that you went through all this trouble for me. I just… I don’t always love being reminded of home,” he admitted, staring down at his hands.

Gina came up behind him and wrapped her arms around his waist, hooking her chin over his shoulder. “I get that, I’m sorry, I shouldn't have…”

“No, really, it’s wonderful, thanks. I’m just always a little messed up after talking to my family over the holidays.” He sighed. “Some day, it’ll get easier. Just… not quite there yet.” He turned to place a kiss on her temple. “Come on, let’s have dessert.”

They cut into the pies and carried their plates to the living room. They’d been planning to watch a cheesy Hallmark holiday movie, Gina’s favorite, but at the last minute, she clicked the TV off and turned to face EJ. “You don’t talk about it.”

“Talk about what?” 

“What it was like, when you… when your dad basically disowned you,” she clarified. “Your life changed completely pretty much overnight, and you just… you just figured it out.” She was quiet for a moment. “I can’t imagine being that brave.”

EJ stared down into his glass of wine. “It wasn’t brave, it was… I didn’t really have another choice.”

“You could have gone along with what he wanted from you. Success school, or maybe even taking another shot at Duke, especially when…” She swallowed the lump that came to her throat. “Especially when there wasn’t really anything tying you to Salt Lake anymore.”

“No, I couldn’t,” he said emphatically. “I don’t regret standing up to him, I just regret not doing it sooner. No matter what the consequences have been.” He paused. "Since I'd already lost plenty anyway."

Gina had to blink back her tears, shifting gears a bit. “This definitely isn’t the life I think we all expected to see from EJ Caswell,” she agreed, glancing around the small townhouse.

“Not what I expected, either,” he admitted. “And I love the kids, but it doesn’t mean…” he cut off abruptly, shoving more pie in his mouth. 

“Doesn’t mean what?” Gina asked, setting down her plate and scooting a little closer to him on the couch.

He sighed. “It’s just hard, sometimes, seeing you and Ash and Nini, all of you chasing these big dreams, you know? And I’m just a math teacher.” Gina knew he was a lot more than ‘just’ a math teacher, but she also knew any comment like that would come across as an empty platitude.

“You talked about film school back then,” Gina recalled, remembering all their conversations the spring of his senior year before he decided on a gap year, about what he’d loved about drama club and AV club and how much he’d learned about telling stories. 

“And then when I was working three and four jobs just to put myself through school, I knew I needed something more stable than that, something with a steady paycheck,” he explained. “And teaching’s never going to make me rich, but I should always be able to find a job… even if it comes with all the admin bullshit I hate. At least I get to help the kids find their dreams.”

“At the expense of your own?”

He shrugged. “We all have to make choices, trade-offs. I’m honestly ok with how things turned out.”

Gina tipped her head to the side thoughtfully. “What do you think you’d be doing? If you HAD gone to film school, or whatever. What kind of thing do you think you’d be working on?”

His eyes went wide for a moment, before he shook his head. “It’s stupid…”

“So you DO have a project you’ve thought about!” Gina said triumphantly. “Tell me about it.”

A slight smile came to EJ’s face. “Look, it’s sort of silly. But back when I started and took over the film club, I realized I actually didn’t know anything about scripted content. So I… I took a screenwriting class that fall. Mainly to learn how to use Final Draft before we spent a ton of money on it.”

“EJ, if you tell me you’ve got a feature screenplay that you’ve been sitting on without telling me…” she said, mock threateningly.

“Oh, God, no, nothing like that,” he said quickly. “But I did write a pilot.”

“Like a TV pilot?” she asked, intrigued.

He nodded. “And a rough treatment sketching out the rest of the first season.”

“What’s it about?”

EJ’s cheeks flamed scarlet, which was interesting since he didn’t embarrass particularly easily. “Uh, it’s about… us.”

Gina’s jaw dropped open. “Wait, what?”

“Not US us, really… fictionalized versions of us, updated to be set in a high school today. Since I’m, you know, old and cringe, at least if you ask the kids. It’s about two high school students scheming to steal the leads in their school’s production of High School Musica l, but they eventually fall in love instead.” Her heart skipped a beat, hearing him describe it like that. Proof, to her ears at least, that he had loved her back then, even if he’d never gotten to say so. 

“Can I read it?” she asked immediately, already sold on the concept. 

“Absolutely not,” he said. “I’m sure it’s terrible, especially compared to the stuff you usually get to read from actual professionals.”

“Did you see that stupid romcom I made last year?” she snorted. “Quality has very little to do with what gets produced.”

“Still, I know I can’t play in your league.”

“Let me be the judge of that,” she said. He still looked skeptical, so she pulled out the big guns. “Please?” she asked with an exaggerated fake pout and puppy dog eyes.

He cracked a smile. “Ok, fine.” He grabbed his laptop from the side table and opened the file. “I’m going to go do the dishes, I can’t watch you do this.”

She looked at the title page. High School Musical: The Musical: The Series . “I thought that kind of title was WAY too long?” she teased.

“What can I say? It grew on me.” He got up and went into the kitchen, apparently serious about not watching her read it.

She scrolled down, and was immediately absorbed. By just a few pages in, she could actually hear the dialogue in her head, the character’s voices were so distinct that they leapt off the page. She could immediately tell that EJ spent a lot of time around actual teenagers, because it all read as authentic. She felt her heart sink at the scene between the new drama teacher and the vice principal, talking about the funding for the club being in jeopardy. EJ had apparently been prescient to the future of his own programs. When she reached the final page, she sat in shock for a moment, unable to believe that what she’d read was THAT good. 

And she knew THIS was something her production company had to own.

Gina got up and slowly walked into the kitchen, smiling at EJ’s back for a moment. “EJ…” she said softly, and he turned around. 

“How bad is it?”

“EJ… this is the best thing I’ve read in MONTHS. Are you KIDDING me? This… this NEEDS to get produced. People need to see this.”

EJ shook his head. “You don’t have to do this.”

“Do what?”

“Stroke my ego, make me think that this is anything.”

“I’m not, EJ. You should be developing this out, getting it set to pitch.”

“Right, because I can take a Hollywood pitch meeting between fifth period algebra and a cappella group practice,” he half-snorted. 

Gina looked down, a bit chastened. In her excitement, she’d sort of forgotten that EJ had a million other obligations and couldn’t just drop everything and chase this. “Look, I know the next few weeks are insane and you obviously don’t have any extra bandwidth. But promise me that once the showcase is over, we’ll have a real conversation about this? The potential here, at least.”

EJ cocked his head to the side. “You really think there’s something here? You’re not just being kind?”

Gina shook her head. “You know that’s not my style.” She rested her hand over his. “I've been scouring scripts on Black List for months, and haven't seen anything like this. I believe in this, and in you.” She paused for a beat. “Don’t give up on a dream just yet, ok?”

He was silent for a minute, looking down at their hands, before meeting her eye. “Ok. AFTER the showcase,” he reiterated. 

She nodded. “Speaking of, I think Sierra sent over some new files this morning. Does that girl ever stop?”

“Sounds like someone else I know,” EJ teased. “We’ll have plenty of time tomorrow to go through everything,” he said, pulling her close to him. “Right now, I can think of a few ways I’d like to show my gratitude this Thanksgiving,” he murmured, dipping his head down to kiss her neck. 

A giggle escaped her lips, which quickly became a moan as he latched on to the soft skin of her throat. “Didn’t you learn your lesson about leaving evidence behind?” she admonished him.

“Then let me put my mouth somewhere the marks won’t show,” he breathed, and Gina didn’t need any further encouragement, pulling him over to the stairs back up to their bedroom. 

Chapter Text

EJ had been teaching long enough to know that when a pack of teenagers fell silent, nothing good was happening. 

And that’s exactly what happened when he walked into the room for his leadership meeting the Monday before the winter showcase. He was glued to his phone, waiting for the text from Gina to go let her in the side door like usual, but the silent air was already laden with something heavy when he walked in, and he looked up uneasily.

His eyes skated over each of them. Jake’s face was set in stone, an inscrutable emotion on his face. Sierra looked like she had been crying, and Lucy and Olivia’s hands were wound together so tight that their knuckles were white, but they were looking away from each other.

“Uh, guys, is anyone going to fill me in?” he asked. And when he realized that Sierra hadn’t even bothered to correct his use of ‘guys’ to describe the group, he knew that shit was about to hit the fan.

“Were you ever going to tell us the truth?” Jake spit out, anger overtaking his features.

“The truth about what?”

“That you just let her use us,” Jake snapped. 

“Chill, hermano,” Olivia cautioned. “ We still don’t know if he knew.”

“If I knew what?” EJ said, thoroughly confused. 

“That the only reason Gina is here is to clean up her image after the IronHeart bullshit,” Sierra said, sniffling. “I KNEW she was just trying to get herself uncancelled.”

“Ok, I need you to back up, because I legitimately have no idea what you’re talking about. Any of it.”

“Do you not follow news about Gina online?” Lucy asked, scrolling through her phone. 

“Uh, no, actually,” EJ admitted. “Before we… it was too much. And since she’s been back in my life, I just… haven’t felt the need, I guess?” His stomach dropped, thinking about the text that Gina had sent him earlier that day.

Got an interesting offer from my agent today

We should talk about it

“So you missed this, then,” Lucy said, handing him her iPhone. He expected to see some kind of Deadline announcement for whatever Gina’s new project was, but instead, it was open to TMZ.

Gina Porter’s Secret Image Rehab Project REVEALED!

The article went on to recap the controversies Gina had tried to escape in LA, the IronHeart set meltdown and the Quinn Robbins profile piece. EJ was surprised to read about both of them, just now realizing that Gina hadn’t shared either of these things with him, just that she was tired of the glare of the spotlight in LA.

Now, it was easy to see why. 

As he scanned the rest of the story, his stomach dropped. The article described his kids as ‘poor Mexican immigrant kids, many from undocumented, desperate families’ that Gina was eager to take advantage of. He wasn’t mentioned by name, other than as ‘a high school ex, who probably has spent the last ten years telling people that once upon a time, he dated THE Gina Porter, begged for her help to save their underfunded program from disaster’. He swallowed his anger, determined to finish the story. 

An inside source from Gina’s camp said the plea for assistance came at the best possible moment, with Gina herself describing this as a ‘redemption arc’ and a ‘quid pro quo’ arrangement that she only agreed to in order to restore her now-tarnished public image. We're told there are receipts, screenshots of Gina badmouthing anyone and everything involved. Other than one brief paparazzi sighting in San Diego, she’s kept the project on the low, but now she’s set to explode it all over her socials in hopes that a moment of insincere goodwill towards struggling high schoolers will erase the memories of her diva demands. Time will tell if this is just another misstep by Gina's overinflated ego.

EJ looked up at the kids. “And you believe this crazy gossip site? You KNOW Gina, does this sound like her?”

“We thought we knew her,” Lucy sniffled. “But come on, she told us all about the ‘Wonderstudy’ scheme you two threw back then, clearly she’s got it in her to be a snake.”

EJ shook his head. “The point of telling you that story was how far we’ve both come. Neither of us would…” He was cut off by the classroom phone on his wall ringing. “Hold on, maybe that’s her at the office,” he said, a bit confused as to why she didn’t just come to the side like usual.

But when he picked it up, it wasn’t Shelley the admin on the phone, but Connie, the Vice Principal. “Mr. Caswell, I’m being told that the photographers who keep trying to sneak onto school grounds are due to you and your film club?”

“Wait a minute, what?” EJ gaped.

“Over half a dozen in the last two hours, some are trying to talk to students. I had to call the police, and they’re talking to every car parking thats lingering in the lot. It’s a zoo.”

“My classroom faces the courtyard, I had no idea…”

“Well, while we will do whatever we need to in order to keep our students safe, I trust you’ll… eliminate this distraction?” she said pointedly.

“Of course. I’m so sorry about this, Mrs. Masters, we’ll… figure it out.”

As he hung up, his phone vibrated with a text from Gina that she had arrived. 

“I’m going to get Gina, and we’ll sort this out,” EJ said authoritatively, though it did little to change the air in the room. He practically sprinted to the side door to let her in. 

“What’s with the cops, did something happen?” Gina asked, gesturing to the four cruisers parked along the edge of the gym as he flashed his school ID at them, letting them know he belonged there as he ushered Gina inside. 

“Uh… you did.”

“What?” she asked as they moved down the hallway, the scant few students still walking the halls immediately pointing and whispering at the two of them. 

“There’s a story on TMZ about you being here for the documentary. It went up a couple hours ago, and I guess photographers have been trying to get onto campus since. They had to call the police.”

Gina’s complexion turned to ash behind her sunglasses. “It’s on TMZ?”

“You don’t get, like, Google alerts when this happens?”

She shook her head. “My team manages all of this. In fact, they pretty much kicked me out of my social media accounts when I came down here.”

“Well, the kids are already pissed about this, so…” he said, pushing into the classroom, where they were met with the same stony silence as earlier. 

“She hasn’t seen it,” EJ said quickly, and Lucy passed over her phone, the story still pulled up on the screen.

As Gina’s eyes scanned the story, a look of panic appeared on her face. “How did they… who did they talk to that told them about…” She scrolled up frantically, starting the story over again.

“Wait a minute, so it’s true?” Sierra bristled. “You really said those things about us, that this was some kind of ‘redemption arc’ for you?”

“Don’t forget that we basically owe her, isn’t that what quid pro quo means?” Jake said icily. 

“No, I swear that it isn’t the reason that… this is so out of context…” Gina stammered.

“Seems like that happens a lot with you,” Olivia said. “Isn’t that what your team said about the IronHeart situation, too?” Her voice was dripping with derision, and EJ practically winced at her tone, when it wasn’t even directed at him. 

“And wait…” Lucy cut in. “If it’s taken out of context, that means that you still SAID it.”

Gina sighed and hung her head. “Because I did. I’m not going to lie to you.”

“Picked a pretty fucking convenient time to start caring about telling the truth,” Jake snarled, and EJ didn’t even have it in him to warn him about his language. 

“I never lied,” Gina clarified. “Yes, I did talk to my team about this being a good thing for me to focus on, and that in the end, maybe I’d be able to get some good press from it. But that was NEVER the point of me being here.” She closed her eyes and shook her head. “And once I was here, it’s been the furthest thing from my mind. I’m here for all of YOU, not for me.”

“Except now it’s all ABOUT you,” Sierra burst out, growing teary again. “So yeah, maybe we make a little more money this way, great. But no one’s going to give a shit about all our hard work, it’s going to be the Gina Porter show.” She shook her head. “This was my chance to FINALLY show my parents that I’m good at this, that it’s not some kind of hobby and I can make a career out of it, and now, no one’s even going to care that I was involved.”

“Seriously, I feel awful, I don’t even know where they got the story from…” Gina said, helplessly glancing back at the phone in her hand. “I can’t believe that anyone on my team would start this kind of rumor, and such a small number of people even know I’m here, just you guys and…”

“So you think one of us did it,” Jake said bluntly. “Cuz we’re just a bunch of desperate beggars who can’t be trusted.”

“Jake, let’s not throw around any accusations…” EJ said, stepping forward to try and cool the tensions in the room. 

But Jake wheeled around and stared EJ down. “You know what? This isn’t all Gina’s fault, it’s yours. So desperate to prove up that you’re more than just some fucking math teacher, you had to go ahead and show off, use us AND your famous friends to prove some kind of a point about the kind of man EJ Caswell is, even without his dad.”

“I know you’re pissed, Jake, but I suggest you stop before you say something you can’t take back,” EJ said levelly, even though his voice was shaking ever so slightly. 

“I’m SICK of not talking, I’m SICK of letting everyone else tell me what I’m supposed to feel,” he cried, closing the distance between himself and EJ. “I’m allowed to be mad, ok? I’m not fucking broken because this pisses me off. Them talking about us like this, about our FAMILIES like this, like we’re something LESS THAN just because of money or where we come from.” His chest was heaving now, standing just inches from EJ, as he realized what Jake was really upset about. It wasn't about Gina being dishonest, it was about the way that the idea of her using them made them look.

“Jake, no one’s going to think less of you because of this article,” EJ said quietly, knowing how badly Jake needed to be seen as in control, having it all together.

“They couldn’t. Because they already think we’re nothing,” Jake seethed quietly, before backing off and grabbing his bag, bolting out the door. 

The other three exchanged worried glances between them. “I’m going after him,” Sierra finally said, gathering up her own stuff. “Luce, text Mari about what’s going on? We can both try and find him.” Lucy nodded vacantly, picking up her phone. 

Since the start of Jake’s outburst, Gina had stood as if frozen, tears threatening to fall from her eyes. Once Sierra was gone, she turned to the girls, looking stricken. “I hope you both can…” she began, but Olivia cut her off. 

“No offense, but… not now,” she said, picking up her own bag and motioning for Lucy to follow. Lucy stared at Gina for a long moment, and opened her mouth as if to say something, but thought the better of it, shaking her head as she linked hands with Olivia and the two of them left the room without another word.

Gina turned to EJ. “I’m so sorry, I had no idea that…”

“Did you really say those things?” he asked, his voice barely above a whisper. “Did you really think you were going to use this as some kind of PR stunt?”

She sighed heavily. “When you first reached out to me? Maybe, I don’t know. But since I’ve been here…” He couldn’t bear to let her finish her thought.

“So has all this been fake, too?” he said, gesturing between the two of them. 

Gina looked as if he’d slapped her. “EJ, NONE of this has been fake. Not with the kids, and definitely not with you. I can’t believe you’d think that I…”

“Wouldn’t be the first time you’ve used me,” he said bitterly, that old insecurity about being some kind of stand-in for Ricky rearing its ugly head. 

Gina's face changed, her own anger rushing to the surface. “How dare you throw that back in my face, when I thought we’d already worked through this…” she said, her volume steadily rising. 

She was interrupted by a knock on the classroom door, and Alexis slipped in. “Uh, sorry to interrupt, but you’re gaining a bit of an audience out here…” She gestured back to the glass, where a crowd of curious kids and more than one teacher were milling around the hallway.

“We should get out of here,” EJ said, moving around his desk to shove papers and his computer in his bag.

Alexis approached his desk. “Gina Porter, really?” she said, half under her breath, casting a glance that was half awe, half jealousy back towards Gina.

“Not now, Lex,” EJ said, shaking his head, before going to Gina and placing his hand on her back. “Let’s go.”

Gina didn’t bother to put her sunglasses back on, since everyone in the hallway clearly knew it was her. They ignored the shouts of their names as EJ quickly maneuvered them out to the parking lot. His eyes scanned the parking lot for cars that looked like they were lurking, but he didn’t spot any rogue photographers that would try and follow them home. He dropped Gina at her car in the visitor lot. “I’ll see you at home,” he said, hesitating a moment before he pressed a kiss to her temple, and then turned to get his own car from the faculty lot.

EJ felt like he was looking over his shoulder the entire walk from the community parking lot, making sure the paparazzi hadn’t stalked him back. He breathed a sigh of relief when he got inside, walking up the stairs to see Gina sitting on the couch. She sprang to her feet the minute she saw him. “EJ, if you would just listen to me…"

He held up a hand, stopping her short. “We’ll talk, I just need a minute. I’m going to go take a shower, calm down.” And he turned on his heel before he headed into the bathroom.

EJ stood under the scaling hot spray for more than a few minutes, trying to wash the tension out of his shoulders before he took this whole thing out on Gina. He felt himself relax a bit, though the stress was replaced with sadness, thinking about the things that Jake had said to him before he stormed out of the classroom. For better or worse, this WAS all kind of his fault. And he couldn’t totally write off Jake’s criticisms about EJ’s motives, either. Add that to the list of things he’d need to talk through with Gina.

When he emerged, he was feeling better and worse, all at the same time. But he stepped into the bedroom and threw on a pair of sweats and an old t-shirt to head down. He noticed that the items Gina slept in, usually folded neatly at the bench at the bottom of his bed, were gone. Maybe she’d slipped up to change as well before they settled in to talk this through.

But when he went down to the kitchen, she wasn’t there, or in the living room. He called her name, and got no response. That’s when he noticed the two items sitting on the kitchen counter.

A check, made out for $50,000.

And a note, with just two words.

I’m sorry.

Chapter Text

Thursday morning, Gina sat in the same glassed-in conference room at her agent’s office where she’d been more than two months ago, when Quinn’s interview dropped. Two stacks of paper were in front of her on the table. One, a contract for a new vampire epic that would take her to Bulgaria for nine months. It was intended to be the first in a series of as many as four films, and her first $20million payday. Gina had read the script and it wasn’t great, a ton of CGI fireworks but not a lot of emotional heart. 

The other, an agreement to star in a world premiere musical that was being produced by La Jolla Playhouse in San Diego in the spring, with its sights set on Broadway the following year. It was an adaptation of Cruel Beauty , a YA novel that was a sort of Beauty and the Beast retelling but dark and brooding. She’d had a chance to sing through some of it with the creative team the day before, and the alto range for the role of Nyx fit her voice like a glove. It was a mix of fantasy and modern sensibilities, completely unlike anything Gina had done before, a wild artistic risk that was the most exciting thing she’d been asked to read for in a while. That it harkened back to her own stage history with its connections to Beauty and the Beast certainly didn’t hurt, either. 

It paid $3600 a week.

Which was the main reason why they were on hour two of debate over which role Gina should take. She was leaning heavily towards the musical role, but the amount of money the producers of the vampire movie were dangling in front of her was hard to ignore.

And she wasn’t sure she had much reason to want to be in San Diego anymore.

Gina knew she shouldn’t have just left like that, but she didn’t know what else to do. She needed to come up to LA for these meetings anyway, so she just decided to save them both the trouble and take off. When all else failed, she was safer on the run. EJ had clearly told Ashlyn, who was sending her text after text, trying to get her to talk to her about what the hell happened. For his part, EJ had sent just one.

Guess I should have known better this time

Those words were ringing in Gina's head, the way she'd already ruined their second chance, as she contemplated her next career move. She shifted a bit uncomfortably in the chair, her expensive silk dress and designer shoes that she’d worn to meet with the film’s producers  feeling more like a costume than a real outfit given she’d spent the last two months living in yoga pants and EJ’s t-shirts. 

“Gina, I think you need to be smart about this,” Mandy argued. “This might end up a $100million deal with the back end incentives they’re offering. This sets you up for life.”

Gina chewed her lip, shuffling through the papers again. Mandy was right, obviously. And she could fund her entire production company with this money. But it would mean putting that dream on hold for another five years, doing something her heart wasn’t in just for the payday. She didn’t want to be that kind of actor anymore. 

And it wasn’t just her dream hanging in the balance now. Doing this doomed EJ’s script to oblivion. 

“I don’t know,” Gina said, setting down the movie contract. “It feels like tying myself into something action oriented so soon after IronHeart might not be the best move.”

“Are you kidding?” Michael said. “It’s the perfect timing for it. You need to bounce back, prove that you can handle that kind of environment. It makes it clear that the issues on set were about Mack, not you.”

“Can we leave Mack out of this?” Mandy asked, an edge to her voice that Gina didn’t expect, but she ignored it and moved on.

“I’m sure the fact that you all get paid based on a percentage of my earnings has NOTHING to do with why you’re pushing the project with the higher paycheck,” Gina said dryly.

Mandy and Michael exchanged slightly guilty glances. It was always uncomfortable when Gina pointed out that in the end, she was a commodity that they were selling, often to the highest bidder with little other consideration.

“Of course the money matters, but not just for the reasons you think,” Michael offered. “For better or worse, the size of the paycheck also indicates a studio’s level of confidence in you as a marquee lead, someone who can bring in the crowds. A big budget project like this announces that you’re back, and you’re not going to let a few press setbacks stop THE Gina Porter.”

Gina kept her eyes on the theater contract, running her fingers over the letters of the words ‘Broadway transfer’. She wasn’t so sure she wanted to even be THE Gina Porter anymore. At one point, dancing and singing on the biggest stage in the world had been her dream, one she’d largely abandoned when a path to Hollywood materialized.

But then again, she’d been thinking a lot more about her past, and her shot at second chances, lately.

“I don’t know,” she said finally. “There’s something to be said for doing the unexpected, right? The kids I was working with down in San Diego, they didn’t even realize I was a dancer, isn’t that crazy? For so long, that was who I was. It sounds like it would be fun to reclaim that part of me.”

“Can’t you just take some classes?” Michael scoffed. “Hell, for $20million, we can fly a dance teacher to you in Bulgaria!” 

“That’s completely not the point,” Gina said, exasperated. “The POINT is that I’m not really sure I know who I am as a performer anymore. Spending time thinking about the things I loved doing in high school… It made me realize I don’t know if I love making movies anymore. And maybe I’ll figure out that I do, I don’t know. But some time away from it seems like it could be a good thing for me.”

Mandy pursed her lips. “Look, I didn’t want to say this, but… it’s not like you’ve got forever to do this, Gina.”

“What does that mean?” Gina said, incredulous.

“It means that Hollywood actresses have a shelf life,” Mandy said bluntly. “And if you step away now, they’ll find someone else to take your place just as fast. You want to come back in a couple of years, there’s no guarantee Hollywood won’t just have moved on without you by then.”

Gina’s cheeks flamed with a mixture of anger and embarrassment. “Not for nothing, but isn’t it your job to make sure that that doesn’t happen?”

“Not like you make that an easy task,” Mandy said under her breath.

“Excuse me?” Gina said.

“I’ve been working overtime to keep you in the public eye while you’ve gone on this little hiatus to lay low and lick your wounds,” Mandy shot back at her.

“It was YOUR idea for me to lay low. I believe you said that I was ‘radioactive’ a few weeks ago?”

“Of course you needed to lay low. But it didn’t mean I had to,” she said pointedly. “Who do you think tipped off that paparazzi photographer?”

Gina’s anger took over completely. “Wait a minute, you’re the one who sent someone down to San Diego to try and stalk me and get a picture?”

“Frankly, it would have been better if you’d been a little less careful, too. I’ve seen the documentary, EJ is good looking. We would have gotten a lot more mileage out of ‘mystery hottie’ and exploiting your past connection.”

“I can’t believe you called the paparazzi on me!” Gina fumed. 

“I can’t believe you haven’t realized that I do it all the time,” Mandy half laughed. “You’ve been in this business for almost a decade, do you really not get how it all works?”

“I didn’t realize that someone who works FOR me was also actively trying to get people to invade my privacy!”

“Privacy is the enemy of publicity,” Mandy shrugged. “And in the end, it’s a lot better to be talked about than ignored.”

Gina’s blood ran cold at the next thought. “So are you the one that planted that story with TMZ about the documentary?”

Michael looked at Mandy, stricken. “You told me she knew already.” Mandy didn’t reply, just waved her hand dismissively. 

“I knew what?”

Michael shifted uncomfortably. “Look, when I agreed to have Mandy leak the story, we didn’t know it was going to get spun the way that it did…”

“You didn’t think TMZ would want to make me look bad? They try to make EVERYONE look bad, that’s how they get clicks!” Gina cried. “Plus, it said I was trashing them in text messages?”

“Insta DMs, actually,” Mandy said.

“But I haven’t had access to my Insta for weeks. Michael changed the passwords.”

Mandy shrugged. “They won't know it wasn't you. Makes for a juicer story this way.”

“More like you could blackmail me into going along with it by threatening to release messages I didn’t even send.” Gina huffed in frustration. “And honestly? I don’t even care that they made me look bad, maybe I deserve it. But those KIDS sure as hell didn’t deserve to be talked about like that!”

“Don’t try and act like you care about them NOW,” Mandy scoffed.

“Of course I care about them,” Gina said, tears springing to her eyes. “And thanks to you, I hurt them. And I…” her voice caught. “I hurt the best man I’ve ever known. You’re supposed to be looking out for me, but instead, you just destroyed the best thing I’ve had in a long time over your stupid publicity games.”

“You really ARE naive,” Mandy snorted. “I wish I’d known how incapable you are of separating work and your personal life before I pushed Mack towards you.”

“Before you WHAT?!” Gina raged. 

“Mack’s been a client of mine since his Mark & Spark days,” Mandy said, crossing her arms over her chest. “I’m the one who encouraged him to pursue a PR relationship with you. But when you were too stupid to figure out that’s what it was, you ruined it. I was able to salvage things for him with Disney, but you were a lost cause. So it left me no choice but to go another way, straight through this foolish little documentary project of yours. If you’re not going to make any money, you should at LEAST get a little goodwill, right?”

“I can’t BELIEVE this,” Gina shouted. “I TRUSTED you, both of you!” she said, swinging around to face Michael, not letting him off the hook. “I came to you because you convinced me that you would have my best interests at heart, that you’d take my career to the level my old team couldn’t.”

“You’ve got a contract for twenty mil on the table, mission accomplished, honey,” Mandy said derisively. 

“Money isn’t the only measure of success! It’s probably the one I care least about!”

“Easy for you to say when we got you $14million the last time,” Mandy said, her eyebrows raised defiantly. Michael continued to say nothing, just stirring his straw nervously in his iced coffee.

“If there’s anything the last couple months have taught me, it’s that I can’t even fucking stomach the idea of making one more shitty rom com or bloated budget blockbuster. I need to do work that MATTERS.”

“You want to do something that matters? Go save starving kids in Africa,” Mandy sneered. “You make movies, sweetheart, this entire industry is bullshit.”

“I can tell stories that matter, bring them to life for the people who need them,” she said defiantly. She thought about Jake, about Sierra. About the kids who never see themselves on screen, who needed someone to champion the kinds of things that would allow them and their families to be seen, in a real, impactful way. It made her heart hurt that they thought for a moment that wasn’t what she thought mattered about the work that they were doing together, but she was determined to fix it, convince them of that truth. 

“Oh, are we back on this production company ridiculousness?” Mandy laughed. “You’re 23 years old, what makes you think you have any idea how to do this?”

“I’ve been in this industry since I was 16, and I learned from the best in the business. Quinn was right to call me out in that interview, I was a dumb kid back then. But she taught me a ton, and I’ll always be grateful for that. Especially since it taught me to trust myself, and the people around me. And right now, I can’t trust you worth a damn.”

Gina picked up the contract for the movie franchise and stood up, walking over and dropping it in the trash. She returned to the table, not bothering to sit. She grabbed the pen that had been resting between the two stacks of papers and flipped to the final page of the contract with La Jolla Playhouse, scrawling her name on the line.

She turned to Mandy and Michael. She wasn’t angry any more, but clipped and professional. “You’re fired.” Michael opened his mouth to protest, but quickly snapped it shut again when Gina cast him a withering glance. 

She tucked the papers into her bag. “I’ll deliver this signed contract to La Jolla Playhouse myself. Right now, I need to get back to San Diego.” She had no idea if EJ and the kids would forgive her, or even hear her out, but she had to try. 

And with that, she turned on a three thousand dollar heel and sauntered out of that conference room for the last time. 

Chapter Text

The auditorium was silent when EJ walked in at the end of the day Friday for the dress rehearsal for the event the next night. But it wasn’t the angry, charged silence of Monday, but a sad, heavy silence. 

He got it, he felt the same way.

Seeing Gina gone on Monday threatened to break him, but he had to get his shit together for the kids, so he didn’t allow himself much time to wallow. He did think his heart was going to break when he had to tell the kids that she’d left, though. Sierra had cried, Jake had gotten up and left, and Olivia and Lucy didn’t seem to know what to say. By Thursday, they’d mostly gotten through their initial emotional reactions in order to be able to get stuff ready, and Friday they seemed sad but resigned, disappointed but determined. 

The kids were gathered at the front, so EJ called down “Luce, warm people up, I’m going to try and get the equipment set.” He knew he should give them some kind of rousing speech, get them to rally. But he just wasn’t there yet. So he ducked into the booth to mess with the mic settings, and as he was absorbed in that, the door to the booth opened, and Alexis stepped in.

“Hey, so the big show is tomorrow night… anything I can do to help?” 

“Haven’t you done enough?” EJ asked coldly.

“What are you talking about?”

EJ pulled his phone from his pocket, swiping on the screen a minute until he pulled up an updated version of the TMZ article that had been published that morning, this time with a blurry cell phone photo of Gina and EJ walking down the hall on Monday afternoon before she took off. “You mean to tell me you had nothing to do with this picture?”

Alexis at least had the decency to look chastened. “Do you have any idea how much people were willing to pay for that photo? The cat was already out of the bag, I didn’t tell them anything they didn’t already know.”

“That’s not the POINT, Lex!” EJ cried. “It’s still an awful thing to do to somebody, to invade their privacy like that.”

“Oh please,” she scoffed. “She’s a celebrity, she should know better.”

“What about MY privacy?”

“Funny, you didn’t seem to care about your PRIVACY when you decided to cash in on your famous connections to make money yourself,” Alexis shot back, indignant.

“For the KIDS, Alexis, not for my own gain.”

“And you know how little we make here, are you really going to begrudge me just trying to make a few extra bucks to get by?” she asked, pursing her lips and crossing her arms over her chest.

“If it means doing something shady like that, yeah, I will,” EJ shot back. He took a deep breath. “Look, Lex, I really appreciate everything you’ve done for Jake, so I’m not going to make this a bigger deal than it is. But as far as I’m concerned, we’re done.” And he turned back to the control panel.

He could feel Alexis’s eyes on his back, but after a minute of loaded silence, she left, slamming the door shut on his way. Alexis might have been the closest thing he’d had to a friend at this school, but that had been a betrayal of him, and of Gina.

And he wasn’t sure which one bothered him more. It was foolish, to care so much about how something affected her when she clearly hadn’t given a shit about how her leaving would affect all of them. 

But his heart just couldn’t let it go. 

Once he was confident that the mic array was correct, he came down to the front of the auditorium. “Ok, everyone, we ready to run the whole thing from the top? Remember, it’s going to be the two top songs, then Sierra’s going to introduce the documentary with "City of Stars" immediately following. Once that concludes, Jake will give the appeal for fundraising in both English and Spanish, and then back to the concert for the last seven songs, with Olivia doing one last appeal before the finale with the quick cut projections from the recording session and behind the scenes of the doc without the sound. Any questions before we take it from the top?”

“Yeah, has the school really gotten a thousand phone calls about whether or not Gina’s going to be here?” Sierra asked, chewing on her lip nervously. 

“I don’t know the number, but yes, there’s been a lot. Mrs. Covey has just been telling people that the only known performers are the a cappella group and film clubs, with an offer to email the program with your names.”

“A ton of people are still going to turn up,” Olivia pointed out.

“And be disappointed when it’s just us,” Jake mumbled, still taking it hard. 

“We’ll have reserved seating for each of your families in the first 15 rows,” EJ said, indicating the roped off seats just behind them. “Remember that they NEED the special red tickets that I gave you all for them to be able to come through the back entrance and take those seats. I promised the football coach an autographed copy of Nini’s album in exchange for his team ushering for us, they won’t let anyone else sit there."

“He’s a Nini Salazar fan?” Connor snorted.

“She writes certified bops,” Lucy shrugged. 

“Anyway, if everyone is ok with that plan…” EJ said, before he was interrupted by a familiar voice behind him.

“I think there’s a couple adjustments we need to make.”

He closed his eyes, unable to make himself turn around. A mixture of anger and relief churned up inside him at just the sound of her voice. The sight of her might actually make him break down. 

Instead he looked at the kids. Sierra looked shocked, Olivia had a slow smile spread over her face. The other film club kids were exchanging nervous glances.

And Jake looked impenetrable, his features set in stone. 

The voice behind him continued. “I don’t deserve a single bit of the credit for this.” Footsteps came further down the aisle, and Gina passed him, their shoulders brushing as she did. EJ felt his knees nearly buckle at the slight contact, as if he was in withdrawal from her touch and just the edge of it was enough to remind him of how much he needed it. She approached Miguel who was holding the laptop that they’d hook up to run the movie from the booth, and handed him a flash drive. “So there’s the new version of the documentary. One that eliminates me completely.”

A worried look crossed Sierra’s face. “But it won’t work without your clips, it’ll end up being like, seven minutes shorter, the music won’t work…”

Gina shook her head. “I stayed up all night with an editor I know up in LA recutting the whole thing, and replacing my clips with ones I shot with Jamie yesterday afternoon, using all your original questions.” She glanced at EJ, their eyes meeting for the sparest of seconds before she turned back to the group. “I am so, so sorry about everything that happened with the TMZ article. I found out yesterday that my management team planted the story, and I fired them immediately.” The kids looked stunned as Gina continued. “And that doesn’t even matter. I NEVER should have thought of you as a way to repair my image, even at the beginning. It was selfish, and it was wrong. But being here with you all for the last two months has been the best time I’ve had in a while. It helped me discover who I am as an artist again, and that’s more important than any bit of clout I can claim. So please, use this version. I don’t need any kind of PR boost from this. You’ve all already given me something even more precious.”

“Then why did you leave?” Sierra asked, almost as if the words just tumbled out of her. EJ half held his breath, the only question he’d wanted an answer to for the last four days.

“Because I was scared,” Gina admitted. “You all know my story.” A few kids nodded. “Sometimes, I feel safer when I’m on the run, no attachments, no connections. In some ways, it was the perfect way to prepare me for this kind of life, lurching from project to project, nothing permanent.” She shifted her gaze to look EJ directly in the eye. “But sometimes, you find people who are worth coming back to. I learned that a long time ago, when someone cared enough to show me that by coming back for me. And you’ve all reminded me of that. I just hope I’m not too late to fix this."

EJ’s throat tightened, tears threatening to escape his eyes. All he wanted to do in that moment was take her in his arms, beg her to promise she wouldn’t leave him again. But that felt both unprofessional and a little pathetic in front of the kids. So he just kept staring at her for a long moment, unsure what else to do. 

The tension in the room was broken by Sierra’s voice. “No.”

Gina broke eye contact with EJ to whip around and look at her. “No?”

Sierra shook her head. “I’m sorry, we can’t do that.”

Gina’s face fell, and EJ saw some of the other film club members about to jump in and argue with Sierra. But she held her hand up, asking them to let her continue. “I’ve worked my ass off on this thing, I can’t have your last minute edits compromising my artistic vision.” A smile spread across her face, dropping the mask. “I think we show the original, just as it is.” She turned to her club members. “You with me?”

A chorus of cheers went up from the rest of the group, with Jake as the one lone holdout, standing with his arms crossed over his chest. Sierra gave him a sideways glance and shrugged. “Lo ciento, primo,” she said before she turned to Miguel. “Let’s get this cued up.” EJ had to fight back a watery smile. These kids had such a capacity to bounce back, to forgive, to love.

He should probably take a lesson from them.

“And we need to get to places,” Lucy called, and the kids scattered as the film club headed to the booth and the a cappella group went up the stairs to the stage. Jake stayed in the aisle, unmoved. EJ took a few steps towards him, but Gina stretched out her hand to grab hold of his arm, silently asking him to let her. EJ couldn’t do anything but nod, too distracted from the feel of her hand on his skin. When she broke away to approach Jake, he immediately felt cold for her absence. 

Gina spoke softly, but distinctly. “I know you’re mad at me, Jake, and you have every right to be. So I won’t try and convince you to forgive me. But I AM going to tell you something.” She drew in a deep breath as her eyes darted to EJ for just a moment. “Because you deserve to hear it. Just like EJ did, even though I never said it.”

EJ swallowed, unsure what was going to come next as Gina locked her warm brown eyes on Jake’s near black ones. “Jake, you’re an amazing kid. And not because of your grades, or your test scores, or your talent. Because of how you care about people. And I know living with the kind of anxiety you do it hard. But I hope even as you learn how to manage it so you don’t get stuck in it, you never lose sight of the fact that it comes from your giant heart. And at the end of the day, that’s what matters.” She looked up at EJ. “Even when people don’t appreciate your effort in the moment, I promise, it’s worth it." She shifted her gaze back to Jake. "It… it changes people’s lives.”

Jake’s expression softened a little. “That’s what you think of me?” EJ’s breath caught, hearing the same vulnerability in that same question that he’d asked Gina so long ago.

“It’s what everyone should think of you, because it’s the truth,” she said, offering him a smile. 

He dropped his arms, his shoulders relaxing just a little. “I’m willing to forgive you, on one condition.”

“Anything,” she said, and EJ let out a small laugh.

Both Gina and Jake looked at him curiously. “That’s a dangerous promise to make to a teenager,” EJ said, finally cracking a small smile himself.

“I trust him… I can trust you, right?” Gina said, a look of faux concern on her face.

“My girlfriend Mari is DYING to meet you. She’s a dancer, and she’s the one who showed us all the old TikToks of you dancing from back in the day. Do you think it would be ok if she comes by the end of dress rehearsal?”

Gina smiled. “I would love that. In fact…” she turned to EJ. “We’re probably going to be here pretty late, right? Maybe we can order dinner for everyone and just hang out a bit when we’re done?”

EJ nodded. “I think I have the pizza order memorized at this point,” he said, pulling out his phone to place the order for later.

“Actually…” Gina interrupted tentatively. “I was thinking that taco place? My treat,” she said quickly, turning to Jake. “Can you round up the orders from the kids? Whatever they want, I’m buying.”

“NO BOOZE!” EJ shouted as Jake sprinted up the aisle to the booth. But he only made it about a dozen steps before he turned around. 

“Oh, one more thing…”

“I only agreed to one condition…” Gina joked, before turning sincere. “What do you need, Jake?”

“Work things out with that guy?” he said, pointing to EJ. “I don’t mean to blow up his spot, but he’s been all sad and mopey since you left. Es patético, hermano,” he smirked. EJ watched Gina stifle a giggle, obviously the meaning was clear enough, even across languages. 

“Sal de aquí, hombrecito,” EJ said derisively, waving Jake away. “Y ocúpate de tus propios asuntos!” he called after him as Jake disappeared up the aisle. 

All of a sudden, EJ and Gina were alone… or at least as alone as possible, given the circumstances. She looked at him, apprehension written all over her face. “EJ, I…”

“It’s ok,” he cut her off, before pausing for a moment. “I mean, it’s not OK, but… you’re here now. For the kids,” he added quickly. “That’s really all I can ask for.”

“Yes, I’m here for the kids,” Gina said slowly, steadily. “But I’m also here for you.” She reached out, and tentatively took his hand in hers. EJ fought the urge to lace their fingers together, or better yet, pull her tight to him. His breathing got heavier, and he felt tears prick his eyes.

“I love you, EJ,” she said simply. “I spent the whole ride down rehearsing some big speech, but really, it’s just… I love you.” She closed her eyes. “And I KNOW I hurt you and I don’t deserve another chance. And I won’t blame you if you can’t. But I couldn’t not tell you that I lo…”

She didn’t get to finish, because EJ’s mouth was on hers.

He kissed her with everything he had, to try and tell her without words that he believed her, that he knew she loved him, that he loved her, too. He knew he wouldn’t have the strength to say it, not yet. But he hoped she’d feel it, just the same. 

“Oh my God, get a room!” Olivia’s voice filled the auditorium from the solo mic up on the stage. Startled, EJ jumped back, and Gina did the same. But when he looked back up at her, Gina was smiling, her eyes shining with tears.

“Sorry about that,” EJ called. “Should we get started?” He headed down the aisle to the front to be able to make adjustments to the mic array, and Gina immediately fell in step beside him, threading her arm through his, and with no more time for talking, they kicked off the rehearsal.

For the next hour, EJ and Gina held hands tightly in the front row as they watched and listened to the whole thing come together. EJ actually cried watching the documentary and the performance of “City of Stars” that followed. Jake did stumble a bit in his speech, but EJ knew it was nerves and he’d practice a million times before tomorrow to make it perfect. Otherwise, there were some minor wobbles in some harmonies that he’d fix at call time tomorrow, and the rest went off without a hitch. 

“Ok, everyone, that’s the show!” EJ yelled after the last notes rang out and the video faded to black. They all cheered, and the film club kids came spilling out of the booth. 

Gina’s phone chimed. “Perfect timing, food is here!”

“So’s Mari,” Jake yelled from the back. “We’ll get it!” He pulled Sierra out with him, as the rest of the kids joined the a cappella group on stage.

Gina turned to EJ. “I know we still have a lot we need to talk about,” she said quietly. “I have a couple tricks up my sleeve for tomorrow, surprises for the kids, so I’m going to need to work on that most of the day. But after, can we…”

EJ nodded. “Of course. But let's set it aside, get through tomorrow for the kids."

She hesitated for a moment. “I booked a hotel room for tonight, I don’t want you to think I assumed we would just…”

“Gina,” he cut her off. He reached up and tucked her curls gently behind her ear, letting his hand rest on the curve of her cheek. “Just come home.”

Chapter Text

Gina stood in the wings, relishing the quiet in the theater. It had been a chaotic and crazy day, and at the end of it was this, a silent auditorium, lit with just a ghost light, and EJ perched on the edge of the stage. 

She crossed downstage and sat next to him, covering his hand with hers. “Well, congratulations, Mr. Director, I’d say tonight was a rousing success.”

“I still can’t believe you planned an entire red carpet,” EJ said, shaking his head. “I thought the kids were going to die when there were actual reporters here, taking their pictures.”

“The best was when that woman asked Sierra who she was wearing, and she said ‘I don’t know, I got it at the thrift store!’,” Gina recalled with a laugh. “That’s definitely going viral.”

“Speaking of going viral, what are we up to?” he asked. 

Gina checked the fundraising page that she’d been refreshing like crazy backstage all night. “As of right now, we’re at… $137,000.”

EJ’s jaw dropped. “We’re… WHAT?”

Gina smiled and nodded. “I shared the teaser trailer that Miguel and Connor did with Monroe, Ashanti, Nini and Jamie. We all put that up onTikTok and Insta, with the donation link in the captions. And Connor already got the full version up on YouTube. The donations have been pouring in.” She scrolled down to where donors could leave comments. “Check this one out.”

There was a $5000 donation from Quinn Robbins, with the note Looks like someone else is finding talent now. Congrats, you’re all stars.

“Wow,” EJ said under his breath. “Guess maybe you two could bury the hatchet?”

“Just another minor miracle these kids have worked,” she grinned. “You ready to head to the after party?” In another one of her surprises, she had rented out a restaurant for the kids and their families to celebrate. EJ had insisted they’d be fine with what they usually did, a run to Denny’s where he sat with the parents as far away as possible. But she’d informed him that when he didn’t cash the check she’d left behind, she needed to use the money for SOMETHING, so she’d splurged on an open bar for the adults and a huge buffet plus dessert table for the kids. A few days ago, she wasn’t sure if she’d be able to join them for it, so she was eager to actually go and enjoy, especially since Nini and Jamie had headed over early and they were already blowing up her phone with selfies with the kids. 

EJ looked down at his hands. “I think before we do, we should probably talk,” he said softly. “I mean, how we walk in there, we should just… we should be clear on what we are.”

Gina exhaled nervously, but nodded. She had sort of hoped that the previous night had made her intentions clear, and maybe this part would feel less loaded. Once they got back to EJ’s condo last night, it was like sheer magnetic force took over, and they ended up in bed together without having to say another word. Their connection had always been the easy part.

Having the courage to make it work was always harder.

“I guess I need to know, I mean… what do you want us to be?” she asked cautiously. She was the one who’d walked out on him, after all. He deserved the chance to say that he didn’t want it anymore.

He closed his eyes and sighed. “I know what I want, but that’s not the same thing as knowing I can have it.”

“I’m right here,” Gina reminded him, lacing their fingers together.

“But for how long?” EJ asked. “We fell apart last time over the mere threat of distance and what that did to us.”

“Well…” Gina said slowly. “What if distance wouldn’t be an issue, at least for the next six months or so?”

“Are you taking more time off?” EJ asked. “Does it take a while to, like, secure representation again, even though you’re a huge star?”

“Um, no, I already booked my next gig,” she explained. 

“Sorry, I don’t…”

“It’s here,” she blurted out. “I signed the contract this week, I’m going to be starring in a brand new musical that’s being workshopped and presented at La Jolla Playhouse this spring.”

A look of blank shock appeared on EJ’s face, and Gina’s stomach dropped. Clearly he wasn’t anticipating news like this. “Wait, so you took a job… here in San Diego?”

Gina nodded. “It was the best part I’ve gotten called for in a long time, and after all this, I’m really itching to get back on stage rather than in front of a camera. If everything goes well in this regional run, they’re aiming to have it transfer to Broadway the following year.” She shrugged. “And hey, it worked for Lea Michele, right?”

EJ laughed. “I guess that’s true.” He grew a bit more serious. “So you took this job…”

“I didn’t take it just because of you,” she assured him. “I didn’t even know if you’d be willing to talk to me again, let alone want to be with me, when I signed the contract on Thursday. I just knew that this was all happening for a reason, and… let myself hope.”

EJ was nodding slowly, taking in what she’d said. When he didn’t respond right away, Gina jumped in to fill the uneasy silence she was feeling. “And I know, I’m doing it again, using a job to stall. I’m making a move that really only buys us a few extra months before I have to pick up and move across the country. And your life is here, and so we…”

“Maybe it’s not,” EJ interrupted softly.

“Maybe what’s not?”

“Maybe my life’s not here.” He turned a bit to face her more fully. “I’m resigning from my position at the end of the school year.”

It was Gina’s turn to be shocked. “What? But EJ, you love your job!”

“I love the kids, and I enjoy teaching, most of the time, anyway. But I can’t keep doing this, at least not here. They don’t value the same things I do. Maybe there’s a school out there for me that’s the right fit, who knows? But I can’t keep working my ass off here, knowing that the administration doesn’t have my back the way I need them to.”

Gina nodded somberly. “You deserve better than feeling like you’re trying to push back against the tide all by yourself.”

“And the kids I’m closest with, most of them, anyway, graduate this year. They’re moving on, so it seems like time for me to, too.” He paused. “But Sierra is going to be so mad at me!”

Gina laughed. “Maybe not…”

“Why?” he asked curiously.

“I talked to her parents tonight a little bit. My old management team sucked in a lot of ways, but they did come through on this one. I asked them to look into internship programs that Sierra might be eligible for, and they found something even better. One of the local community colleges has this special program for kids to do their senior year of high school there, and then transfer to film school at USC directly. I’ll obviously write her a stellar letter of recommendation, but I doubt she'll need it after this doc blows up. It’s a perfect fit for her, I really hope her parents go for it.”

“Wow, Gina, that’s… thank you,” he half stammered. 

“She’s earned it,” Gina said firmly. “So that means that you…” She stopped short, not wanting to pressure EJ into something he wasn’t ready to do.

“That I could what?” he asked, not a lot of question in his voice, seemingly knowing what came next, but needing her to say it.

“Come with me to New York,” she said, taking both his hands in hers. “I’ll be there as a home base for at least eighteen months as long as the show’s a hit… and it’s obviously going to be a hit,” she said, that brash bit of Gina 1.0 always lurking beneath the surface. “You could get a job teaching there, or even tutoring. Your SAT prep experience and being a licensed teacher with a master’s would probably make you a hot commodity as a private tutor. And you’d still get to connect with kids, one on one, like you love.”

But instead of being thrilled like she hoped he would be, he looked apprehensive. “It’s not that I don’t want to, Gina, it’s just… wouldn’t I just be tagging along, riding your coattails? You broke up with Ricky because you didn’t want someone to be Mr. Gina Porter.”

“You wouldn’t be,” she assured him. “Because this will also give us a chance to actually work on developing your pilot script into a full series concept, so we can produce it.”

“We?”

Gina nodded. “I still need to get the paperwork drawn up, but I’ve made my decision. The first thing my company produces is going to be High School Musical: The Musical: The Series .” She paused for a moment. “Yeah, we’ve GOT to change that title.”

EJ laughed lightly before his face grew serious. “Gina, I appreciate the vote of confidence, but really…but I can’t help but feel like this is still a little bit about pity for the way things turned out for me.”

“With the size of the check the company is going to write you for the pilot and the rights, it would be a pretty expensive bit of pity,” Gina said with a smile. “I promise you, EJ, this is something. It’s going to BE something. We can only pitch it to Disney since they own the HSM IP, but I think they’ll jump at it. After HSM4 flopped without Zac and Vanessa, they’re still trying to find a way to reboot and leverage it. The idea of it being more than a nostalgia trip but about kids NOW is just the kind of hook they need to revitalize a very lucrative piece of their portfolio.”

EJ’s lips quirked into a smirk. “It’s kinda sexy when you talk business to me,” he joked. 

“Good to know budgets gets you going,” she bantered back, before growing a bit more sober. “EJ, you’re a great teacher, and you touch dozens of kids’ lives every year. With this show? You could touch THOUSANDS of kids’ lives. It’s taking the piece that you do SO well, connecting with and understanding their stories, what matters to them. Reflecting their potential back to them. And we’d get to do it on a massive scale.” 

“I guess I haven’t even let myself dream about something that big,” he said quietly. “I’ve spent the last few years just kinda trying to get by, you know? To actually feel like this might be within my grasp, I… it’s overwhelming.”

Tears came to Gina’s eyes. “I told you not to give up on your dream. We’re going to make this happen.”

“And are… are we going to happen alongside?” he asked.

Gina sighed. “I meant what I said last night, EJ. I love you. And you’re the person I want to build this future with.But I know I probably blew it when I ran away. Maybe I blew it seven years ago, when I couldn’t see that it was always going to be you, no maybe about it."

EJ wouldn't look at her, and Gina knew what was coming. Maybe he’d be her business partner, but he couldn’t trust her with his heart.

But she was surprised when he said softly “I love you, too.”

A rush came over Gina, something that felt suspiciously like hope. But she steadied her breath, tried to calm her heart. Because she knew better than anyone, sometimes love wasn’t enough to keep someone in your life.

He closed his eyes a moment, before looking straight into hers. “I want to believe in this, in us. But I… I don’t know that we’re going to get there on our own.”

“What do you mean?” Gina asked, tipping her head to the side.

“I think we should talk to someone, a therapist or a counselor or whatever. We’ve got a lot of history to wade through, and even if we didn’t, the kind of life you’re talking about, living together, working together, it’s a lot. And even if we do that for the next few years, what comes after that? Your next gig could take you to the other side of the word… it’s going to be hard. And one of the best things these kids have taught me is you don’t have to do hard things alone. And I want to do the work, because Gina, I want to be with you. More than anything. I love you, more than I think I’ve ever loved anyone. And I don't want to ever let that go again."

Gina’s heart was pounding. Everything EJ was saying made sense, but she was Gina Porter. There were never any guarantees that some unscrupulous office worker or other patient wouldn’t sell out her privacy, sell a photo of her in a therapist’s waiting room for more money than she even wanted to think about it being worth. 

But then she met EJ’s green eyes, open and honest. Laying it on the line for her, what he needed.

And she knew she’d do anything for him.

“Ok,” she agreed. “And hey, maybe this is something I talk about, you know? That relationships don’t have to be fairy tales, that therapy isn’t about fixing something that’s broken, but building something strong. If you’re ok with that, obviously.”

“I’m not ashamed of our story,” he said plainly. “And if that helps even a single kid, or adult for that matter, feel ok about talking to someone, maybe our honesty is worth it.”

Gina couldn’t help but say it. “Your father would hate it.”

“And I think I can finally say I don’t care about that anymore. Not when it means I get to hold onto you instead.” He paused, before adding quietly. “What I should have done the first time.”

“I wasn’t ready last time,” Gina confessed. “Not for everything we are. Life gave me real when I was searching for a fairy tale, and I couldn’t handle it. But now, I think I might just be there.”

“So we’re doing this, then?”

Gina didn’t reply, just leaned in and kissed him. And that irrepressible spark that had been there since their Wonderstudy schemes once again fanned into a flame, one that Gina now wouldn’t snuff out in panic, but learn to tend and stoke into something more.

He would always be the thing that would bring her back.

Chapter Text

Four years later…

EJ was sitting at the kitchen counter, tapping away at his laptop. He hadn’t realized they’d need to start production on season two before season one even aired, but his script deadlines said otherwise. The blessing and the curse of getting picked up for a second season during press. 

He looked up when Gina came into the kitchen, holding the mail, including one tell tale magazine shaped bundle. He’d grown used to seeing them arrive, advance proof copies of the magazines that Gina was on the cover of, a few days before they officially went on sale. But this time was different, and he was nervous.

“It’s here, babe… you ready?” she asked with a grin.

“Not even a little bit,” he admitted. “But let’s see it.”

Gina carefully opened the envelope and slid out the glossy magazine inside. It was next month’s issue of Vanity Fair , and for the first time, EJ joined Gina for the cover shoot. And there they were, a black and white image of the two of them filling the frame. Gina looked regal in a strapless evening gown, her arm outstretched behind her and turning back towards him, her face captured in beautiful profile, while EJ was clad in all black, reaching out to clasp her hand. 

Honestly, he barely registered that he was even in the photo, he was so captivated by how gorgeous she was.

“Oh man, this is trouble,” Gina said with a smile as she sat down at the island. “You look so freaking hot in these,” she practically squealed, flipping to the inside pages. “People are going to be BEGGING you to get in front of a camera after this.”

“Yeah, that’s not going to happen,” EJ said quickly. He’d appeared as an extra in exactly one scene in the first season of HSMTMTS, as it was now mostly known, and that was enough for him to confirm that he was better off behind the scenes. “Should we read the article?” he asked nervously. He knew the media team at Disney had signed off on it so it couldn't be too bad, but he hadn’t been able to bring himself to read the copy that was sent over a couple weeks ago.

Gina flipped to the page, and they began to read, EJ wrapping his arm around Gina’s waist as he leaned over her shoulder.

It seems like an impossible task. Take an iconic Disney property, one that’s laid dormant since a terrible attempt to revive it a decade ago, and turn it into something that recaptures the magic of the original.

But Gina Porter has always been a believer in doing the impossible. And her first project after her Tony-nominated turn in the blockbuster Broadway musical Cruel Beauty, as well as the first production under her imprint, Wonderstudy Creative, pulls it off brilliantly. 

The show, a ten-episode teen musical comedy series dubbed, in almost absurdly comedic fashion, High School Musical: The Musical: The Series, introduces a new generation of Wildcats, ones with just as much heart as Troy Bolton and crew. But these aren’t your parents’ Wildcats, trading the cloying nostalgia that hampered the ill-fated HSM4: Homecoming that’s remembered for launching Porter’s career and not much else, for the ‘start of something new’. This trip back to East High is for a decidedly modern audience, with a storyline that weaves together the threat of budget cuts, the perils of social media on adolescent mental health, and good old fashioned petty jealousy that’s been the backbone of high school theater departments since the dawn of time. It’s a surprisingly fresh and winning combination, especially in the hands of this creative team and effortlessly likable ensemble cast, lead by Porter as the headstrong young drama teacher, that’s more diverse in every way than the original films were allowed to be. And Disney execs seem to agree, having greenlit a second season of the show before the first has even premiered.

Porter is the first to give credit to her collaborators for the fresh take on an old property. The series was conceived by her longtime partner, former high school teacher EJ Caswell, who now heads up the writers’ room and even took a spin in the director’s chair for the two part season finale. His time spent with today’s real teens rings through the smart, almost Sorkin-esque dialogue, aided by the inclusion of one of his old students, Sierra Melendez, on the writing staff. Melendez, who's currently splitting her time between the set and her final year of film school as USC, lends authenticity to the entire affair, where characters float seamlessly between English and Spanish, like you’d be likely to hear in the real halls of an Albuquerque high school. And it carries over into the cast, populated with kids who are proudly queer and Latino, and remarkably, mostly high school aged themselves. A fact that gave Caswell a chance to connect with his education roots. “If you can’t find EJ during production,” Melendez notes with a wry affection for her mentor, “he’s probably helping someone in the cast with their math homework.”

It helps that Porter and Caswell’s own history dates back to their teenage years, with the first season plot about scheming understudies loosely based on their real life high school antics. The two even shared a brief but intense romance back in the day, with Caswell claiming the title of being ‘Gina Porter’s first kiss’. That long standing connection is all grown up now, and the chemistry between the pair still simmers, with their onset conferences standing so close that they breathe the same air almost feeling too intimate for the set of a kids’ show.

But ‘intimate’ is the perfect descriptor for their relationship, two people who seem to really understand each other inside and out. It’s also the perfect descriptor for their surprise wedding, held at their new Hollywood Hills home just a month ago, where we also sat down for this interview. 

“When we saw what we had and started to realize that there was a real shot that we'd get to do this for multiple seasons, we decided to manifest it by putting down roots here in LA,” Caswell explained. 

“I sold my place here when we went to New York for me to do Cruel Beauty,” Porter nodded. “And we were almost afraid to settle down, like somehow we would jinx it. But we believed so much in this cast, this crew, that we just knew we could build a life here around these people. And when we found this place,” she says, gesturing around the airy but understated mission style home, “we knew it was a forever kind of thing, all of it. And so we decided instead of just throwing a housewarming party, let’s throw a wedding and seal the deal!"

“It was a total surprise,” pop diva Nina Salazar, a longtime friend of the couple and another connection from their high school days, said. “But it was exactly right for them.”

“We knew if we publicized an engagement, it would be a whole thing,” Porter says, shaking her head. “And we wanted it to be just for us.”

The way that Caswell looks at his wife when she says that, it feels like the whole world is just for them. And as two wildly talented, almost preposterously good looking creatives just getting started on their Hollywood empire, the whole world just might be.

The piece continued on for another four pages, diving a bit into each of their backstories and their journey back together. Sure, it was a piece of studio propaganda for a project Disney had sunk a shitton of money into promoting, but it was also a really nice look at the two of them and the life and project that they’d built together.

And damn, Gina looked fine in those photos.

“When is the online version supposed to hit?” EJ asked as Gina ran her fingers over the glossy pages.

"Have you not looked at your phone?" Gina asked, pulling hers from her bag on the counter. "Judging by the texts I've gotten, about two hours ago."

EJ had been so absorbed in writing he hadn't even noticed his notifications blowing up. He started scrolling through the messages, congrats on the article pouring in from various people involved in the project. He’d see most of them later this week at the red carpet premiere for the series, so he just shot off quick thank yous, until he got to one message he wasn’t expecting, from a number he hadn't used in years, but somehow could never bring himself to delete from his phone.

Well, it seems congratulations are in order, son.

I hope you and your wife are very happy. 

After more than a decade, two lines from his dad.

Gina was laughing at a message on her own phone, and when she looked up to show it to EJ, she froze seeing the look on his face. “Eej? You ok?”

He turned his screen so she could see the messages. She took his hand and gave it a squeeze. “Are you going to reply?”

He shook his head. “Not right now, anyway. Maybe I’ll talk to Dr. MacMillan about it.”

Gina nodded encouragingly. They’d both been in therapy off and on since they’d gotten back together, individual and couples. It had been a huge help as they navigated the explosion of attention on their relationship when Gina’s musical premiered, followed by navigating shooting a whole show together. And Gina had talked about it in interviews for years, becoming an advocate for mental health in ways that neither of them expected but now considered a part of the legacy they wanted to build. In fact, at the premiere, they were announcing the formation of the Born to Brave Foundation, another nod to their East High days, aimed at raising money for mental health supports through the arts for high school kids. 

EJ backed out of the message with his dad and burst out laughing at the next one.

Miro ese chico guapo

Pero lo siento, Gina esta mas sexy

EJ grinned as he shot back another message to Jake.

Cuidado, hombre

Estas hablando de mi esposa

Aun no se como paso eso

“What are you two talking about?” Gina asked. She’d picked up a decent amount of spoken Spanish on set, but still wasn’t great at reading it.

“Jake’s giving me shit about how much hotter you are than me,” he said, rolling his eyes. 

“I always knew I liked that boy,” Gina joked. “How’s he doing, by the way? Haven’t seen him since the wedding. And he doesn't post every detail of his life on TikTok like Luce and Liv."

“Buried in classwork, but hopefully should hear about grad school soon, which will take a lot off his mind.” Jake was in his last semester of his psych degree at UCLA, and was hoping to get into the PhD program at SDSU for the fall. He was also planning to propose to Mari when he did, and asked EJ for help picking out the ring. EJ was grateful their past student/teacher bond had the chance to evolve into a genuine friendship when they moved back to LA last year. 

Gina’s phone lit up with a Facetime call, Sierra’s photo filling the screen. She swiped to answer. “What’s up, Si-Si?”

“Gina, HELP! The assistants sent over dresses for me to try on for the premiere and I legitimately can’t even figure out how to get some of them on!” Sierra’s voice came through in a panicked rush. 

“Hold on, I’m on my way,” Gina laughed, before she hung up and grabbed her bag. “This is serious, I don’t know when I’ll be back.”

“Take your time,” EJ assured her. “I’m just going to sit here and ogle these pictures of my gorgeous wife for a little while longer.”

“If you like how those outfits look, I’ve got a special one just for you tonight,” she practically purred into his ear before placing a sensual kiss on his lips. EJ quickly moved to deepen the kiss, and she ran her hands through his hair as he traced the tip of his tongue along the seam of her lips. But just as things were about to cross the line, Gina pulled back abruptly. "Love you!" she said innocently as she backed away, a bright teasing smile on her face.

“Just kidding, hurry back!” he called as she retreated, laughing, to the garage. 

EJ glanced back down at the cover of the magazine, still feeling completely surreal. But here it was, in literal black and white, a dream come true making something important to him with the most important person in the world to him. It was amazing that they’d just needed to get the timing right this time, and that all this would be the result. 

A second chance, that was all.