how you get the girl

HOW  YOU  GET  THE  GIRL . . .
𝒇𝒂𝒌𝒆 𝒅𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈   ───   𝒉𝒔𝒎𝒕𝒎𝒕𝒔

❝ . . . falling in love with a damn fantasy,
that's so me . . . ❞

(   𝘚𝘠𝘕𝘖𝘗𝘚𝘐𝘚  )
❝ . . . but i've been living . . . ❞

FOR IZZY CORTEZ, believing in love is easy. it's keeping it that's the challenging part. however, despite everything that's been thrown her way, she still believes in happily ever after. she's read the books and watched the movies and she knows how romance and love is supposed to work. the meet-cute, the romantic gesture, the big love confession. and izzy got that all.

her freshman year when she was still a bright-eyed and bushy-tailed fourteen year old, she got her heart stolen by sophomore ej caswell. they met in chemistry class, courtesy of a seating chart (the meet-cute), he had asked her to homecoming with a bouquet of beautiful flowers (the romantic gesture), and months later at their spring formal, he had told her he loved her while they slow danced to a taylor swift song (the love confession). and for two years, izzy had everything she could wish for and more, her life was like a romcom come to life. and then came the summer before her junior year.

when izzy received a break-up voicemail from ej over the summer, she thought it was a joke. a douchey joke that ej had pulled to get back at her for not coming to one of his water polo games or something like that. but when she arrived at school on the first day and saw him with his arm around nini salazar-roberts, she realized that it was not a joke at all, ej had really broken up with her. so, she did what any sane ex-girlfriend would do when trying to get her ex-boyfriend back. she auditioned for high school musical.

she knew that ej had always had a passion for musical theatre and he had been trying to get her to try out with him for the past two years they had been dating, but she had always refused. until now. izzy knew she wouldn't get a big part, she probably wouldn't even get a part at all, but she didn't care, all she cared about was getting a chance to talk to ej (who had been avoiding her like the plague since they got back to school) and now she had three and a half months worth of chances. she had a plan to get him back and she knew it was going to work as long as she could convince ricky bowen to team up with her.

ricky bowen had been dating nini up until the summer when they had split right before nini went to theatre camp where she got to know ej, and although izzy didn't know ricky all that well, she could spot a bitter ex anywhere (she saw one everytime she looked in the mirror), so she knew it wouldn't take much to convince him to help her. the plan was simple, pretend to date for a few months, make ej and nini jealous, then break up just in time to get them back. izzy knew that ej would eventually get jealous enough to break up with nini, and she didn't feel too guilty because nini would have ricky to go back to. every couple had their ups and downs, every romcom had the moment where everything falls apart before it falls back together again, and this was her and ej's.

she should've known better than to think it would be that simple. she of all people, the lover of romcoms, should've known that it is never that simple when people try to fake their feelings. she of all people should've known that it doesn't take much for the fake feelings to become real. and yet, she still went ahead with it.

and somewhere along the journey when she taught ricky bowen HOW TO GET THE GIRL, he managed to win the heart of the wrong one.

( 𝘊𝘈𝘚𝘛𝘐𝘕𝘎 𝘊𝘈𝘓𝘓  )
❝ . . . life in fiction . . . ❞

𝘛𝘏𝘌 𝘓𝘌𝘈𝘋𝘚

─── IZZIE CORTEZ ───
( 𝒋𝒆𝒏𝒏𝒂 𝒐𝒓𝒕𝒆𝒈𝒂 )
16    .    the hopeless romantic    .    pisces

𝒚𝒐𝒖'𝒓𝒆 𝒂 𝒍𝒊𝒕𝒕𝒍𝒆 𝒎𝒖𝒄𝒉 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒎𝒆 . . .

. . . 𝒚𝒐𝒖'𝒓𝒆 𝒂 𝒍𝒊𝒂𝒃𝒊𝒍𝒊𝒕𝒚

─── RICKY BOWEN ───
( 𝒋𝒐𝒔𝒉𝒖𝒂 𝒃𝒂𝒔𝒔𝒆𝒕𝒕 )
17    .    the partner in crime    .    leo

𝒇𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒐𝒓 𝒇𝒍𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕, 𝒊'𝒅 𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒍𝒊𝒆 . . .

. . . 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒕𝒆𝒍𝒍 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒊'𝒎 𝒊𝒏 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒚𝒐𝒖

𝘛𝘏𝘌 𝘜𝘕𝘋𝘌𝘙𝘚𝘛𝘜𝘋𝘐𝘌𝘚

─── EJ CASWELL && NINI SALAZAR-ROBERTS ───
( 𝒎𝒂𝒕𝒕 𝒄𝒐𝒓𝒏𝒆𝒕𝒕 && 𝒐𝒍𝒊𝒗𝒊𝒂 𝒓𝒐𝒅𝒓𝒊𝒈𝒐 )

𝘛𝘏𝘌 𝘚𝘜𝘗𝘗𝘖𝘙𝘛𝘐𝘕𝘎 𝘊𝘈𝘚𝘛

𝒂𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒏𝒂 𝒈𝒓𝒆𝒆𝒏𝒃𝒍𝒂𝒕𝒕 as camila cortez
𝒆𝒗𝒂 𝒍𝒐𝒏𝒈𝒐𝒓𝒊𝒂 as elena cortez
𝒔𝒂𝒗𝒂𝒏𝒏𝒂𝒉 𝒍𝒆𝒆 𝒎𝒂𝒚 as cara bright
𝒔𝒐𝒇𝒊𝒂 𝒘𝒚𝒍𝒊𝒆 as gina porter
𝒋𝒐𝒆 𝒔𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒇𝒊𝒏𝒊 as sebastian matthew-smith
𝒍𝒂𝒓𝒓𝒚 𝒔𝒂𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒊𝒏 as big red
𝒋𝒖𝒍𝒊𝒂 𝒍𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒓 as ashlyn caswell

author's note!

we're trying out a new format for a new fandom! hello, and welcome to how you get the girl! this fic has lived in my heart for many months, but i think it's finally ready to be published!! i am very excited because i'm a sucker for the fake dating trope, and i'm also obsessed with izzy, my oc, and can't wait for us all to go on this journey with her!

i have never written for the hsmtmts fandom before, so i am very nervous, but also very excited, and i hope you all are too! the soundtrack, graphics, and chapter one should all be posted soon after this chapter is!

i hope you all enjoy and thank you so much for reading!

- maya 💗