Chapter 1: The Gospel Truth

The bell rang indicating that the school day was finally over. Waverly Earp hurried out of her English class to get to her locker before the hallways became too crowded. She traded out the books she didn't need to take home for the ones she did and closed her locker. On her way out of the building, Waverly waved to Chrissy and Rosita and found Wynonna waiting for her at the bottom of the steps talking to Doc.

"Hey," Waverly said approaching the two.

"Waverly," Doc smiled, tipping an imaginary hat that sat atop his head.

"You ready?" Wynonna smiled and draped her arm along her sister's shoulders.

Waverly nodded and the two said their goodbyes to Doc before heading towards Wynonna's truck. They walked in silence for a few minutes and Wynonna could tell that Waverly was abnormally happy about something, she just didn't know what.

"What's got you in such a good mood?" Wynonna asked.

Waverly's smile only widened. "The school play," was all she said. "We've picked the school play. Well, picked it."

"Well? What is it?" Wynonna pressed.

"Hercules," Waverly grinned at her sister as they reached the blue and white pickup truck.

"Hercules," Wynonna said as she got into her car. "You had the chance to pick the show this shitty high school puts on every year, and you chose Hercules."

"What's so bad about that?" Waverly huffed as she slid into the passenger seat.

"We used to watch that movie all the god damn time when we were younger. That's what's so bad about it," Wynonna looked at her sister and placed a hand on her knee. "You know I love you, baby girl, but I think I'll be sitting this one out. No auditioning for me."

"What? Wynonna, come on! You used to run around the house quoting the film verbatim. You'd sing all of the songs, dance all of the moves," Waverly looked at her sister. "Cry when Herc sacrifices himself to save Meg," she wiggled her eyebrows at Wynonna, smirking.

Wynonna grunted and turned the key in the ignition, starting the car. "Fuck off, Waves," she said with a hint of laughter to her voice.

"I'm sure Doc would love to see you up on that stage," Waverly grinned and caught Wynonna's eye in the mirror.

"And I'm sure Tucker would love to see you up there," Wynonna fired back.

"What was that insult for? I mention your kinda-sorta boyfriend and you come back with my personal stalker," Waverly crossed her arms.

"It's what you get for making Bobo agree to do this stupid play," Wynonna said as she pulled out of the school parking lot, honking at her friends as she passed them by.

Waverly caught the eye of Nicole Haught and smiled at her, to which the redhead responded with an eye roll. Waverly bit her lower lip and shrugged. "Well he told me to choose. I thought you'd appreciate it. Guess I was wrong, huh?"

"You know it's not because that movie annoys me, right?" Wynonna continued as she felt the younger Earp's eyes on her. "It's because of a certain someone whom I choose to not mention for fear of her coming to murder me in my sleep."

"Willa isn't going to murder you. Maybe me, but not you. She loves you," Waverly kept her eyes on her sister as she spoke.

"It doesn't matter anymore," Wynonna shrugged. "She made her choice and left with daddy. Thank God for Gus, am I right?" She laughed but Waverly could tell how forced it was.

"Wynonna, I chose to do Hercules because of . Because of the good memories of us – you and me – that movie made when we were younger. Willa wasn't even in the back of my mind when I pitched the idea to Bobo."

Wynonna stayed quiet for a moment before speaking again. "Okay, I'll make you a deal," she pulled into the driveway of the Homestead and faced her sister after shutting the engine off. "I'll come to auditions, but I'll sit in the audience, by you and Bobo. And if I suddenly really feel inspired, I'll get up there and audition. But only because I don't want to make you upset, you know, since you practically picked this because of me."

"You'd do that for me?" Waverly asked, a smile creeping onto her face.

"Yes," Wynonna groaned overdramatically. "But don't tell Nicole I'm getting soft. She'll kick my ass."

"I don't think you have to worry about that," Waverly said as she got out of the car. "I don't think she likes me very much."

"What?" Wynonna threw her arm around her sister. "Waverly, Haught Shot likes everyone. Except for Tucker. And Champ."

"And me," Waverly muttered walking into the house.

"Why do you suddenly care so much about if she likes you or not?" Wynonna threw her bag on the kitchen table creating a loud bang which caused Waverly to wince. "I thought you despised her?"

"I despise that she's a basketball player," Waverly shrugged and opened the fridge. "Those girls are nothing but a bunch of ignorant assholes," she grabbed a bottle of water and stood up straight.

"Hey, those are two of my best friends you're talking about," Wynonna kicked her feet up on the table. "And yet I agree with you."

"Right," Waverly nodded, "well I'm going to head upstairs. I need to finish my paper for Juan Carlo's class and then start getting things organized for auditions next week."

"Alright while you have fun with that," Wynonna stood up, "I'm going to go head over to the café to meet up with Dolls and Eliza."

"Don't be out too late," Waverly called over her shoulder. "Gus might actually kill you this time."

Basketball practice went as usual. Nicole was instructed by their coach to lead the team in various workouts and team exercises to prepare them for their game next week. She had them run laps, practice shooting three-pointers, and practice communicating with each other when passing the ball. Practice ended as it always does with the team being divided in half and playing a scrimmage game against each other. When Coach announced that practice was over the girls grabbed their things and headed straight for the showers.

"You sure you can't come tonight, Red?" Eliza asked as she stepped out of the locker room shower, towel wrapped tightly around her.

"Yeah," Nicole nodded, pulling her shoes on. "My mom wants me home before it gets dark and I'm not in the mood to piss her off. Plus practice really wiped me out today."

"And that's all you're doing tonight?"

, Nicole wanted to say.

"Well that and homework," Nicole shrugged. "It'll be boring, but I'm in need for a relaxing night."

Eliza let her eyes linger on Nicole for a moment before she nodded and got dressed.

"Alright well just know that you will be missed tonight. Game night is always a bust without you."

"You just want me there because you think it's hilarious when Wynonna yells at me for being too competitive," Nicole shakes her head and smiles.

"Not true," Eliza defended herself. "Not true at all," the blonde sat on the bench next to Nicole and smiled at her. "Practice kicked my ass today. I think Coach is really starting to let you take control of the team. Keep that up and she might try to recruit you to take her place after graduation."

"I guess we'll see about that," Nicole laughed.

Eliza made her way out and Nicole was left alone in the locker room. She grabbed her phone to check the time and sighed when she saw that she was going to be early. Very early. Nicole grabbed her bag and slung it over her shoulder, slowly making her way towards the auditorium. She entered the building from the back, setting her things down near the control panel for the lights and sound. Being a tech geek was something very few people knew about Nicole, and she was glad for the amount of alone time that gave her. She's always loved the theatre, but she can't act, and basketball took up so much of her time that she couldn't audition even if she wanted to.

So instead she joined the crew. She was more useful working behind the scenes than in front of the curtains, and the work that went into learning the controls and ques for every show took less time than learning a script and auditioning. Nicole walked over to the control panel that held levers and buttons which controlled various lights and speakers. She checked the time again and thought that doing a test run before people started showing up would be best, in case something was broken or went wrong.

Nicole went to sit her phone down on the side of the panel, and knocked over a bottle of water that had been sitting on it. She didn't know who had left it there, but she knew that whoever it was is an idiot for leaving an uncapped bottle of water next to electrical equipment. Nicole groaned and rubbed her face as the control panel began to spark and smoke. The lights in the auditorium shut off and Nicole sighed heavily.

"God dammit!" Nicole grumbled. "Stupid sophomores." Nicole was feeling around for her phone when she heard the scream.

She didn't know if it was a cry of help or of frustration, but Nicole wasn't going to wait around and find out. She grabbed her phone and rushed out from behind the curtains.

"Hello?" She called. "Anyone there? Is everything alright?"

"Nicole?" The voice was followed by a light appearing at the other end of the stage. "Is that you?"

Nicole squinted to see who it was, and frowned as the person got closer. "Oh," Nicole said flatly. "It's you."

Waverly placed her hand on her hip and raised an eyebrow at the redhead. "Glad to see I'm stuck in here with you too," she replied just as flatly.