The clock was ticking in the background; at least she thought that was the clock. Subconsciously, she knew she'd heard a clock. She felt someone breathing on her, which scared her a little bit but then she remembered the smell. It smelled like a mixture of sensual lavender candles and the boyish smell of Axe cologne. His mom always had lavender candles lit throughout the house, and even though lavender wasn't her favorite smell, she found it comforting. She allowed her eyes to flutter open. It took her a minute to refocus what was surrounding her. She could feel the breathing continue, up, down, up down. It was calming. She allowed her eyes to focus on the boy whose chest her head was so precariously placed upon. She smiled at the sight of his less than serene sleeping face and she laughed a little. Then she looked around the room for anything slightly resembling the time. Her eyes came across his alarm clock. The time read 12:45 am.

Kelsi shot up. "Oh my gosh! I'm so dead!" she jumped off of the boy and off of his bed and out from under the covers. "My mom is going to kill me!" she said loudly, not caring if she woke the boy. She frantically searched for her books and her bag. She couldn't find her shoes though. "Where are my shoes?" she said.

The boy stirred and his eyes fluttered open. He was awoken by the sound of a familiarly sweet voice. He looked around and spotted the owner of that sweet voice he longed to hear every night before he went to sleep. He sat up and rubbed his eyes sleepily. "Uh, Kels, what's wrong?" he asked her, sort of worried.

She whipped around to see him staring at her. "I can't find my shoes!" she told him. "And if I can't find my shoes, then I can't go home!"

His brow furrowed. "Why do you want to go home?" he asked, a little upset with the fact that she was leaving.

"Because I'm a dead girl walking considering the time!" she yelled a little. She continued to look for her shoes, which she then remembered she'd left downstairs by the door. "I know where they are!" she exclaimed as she gathered up her stuff, and her jacket.

The boy hopped out of his bed in his not so large room and fixed his socks which were half off. "Let me walk you home seeing how it's almost one in the morning and there are creepers out there," he informed her. As she nodded, he ushered her out of the room and grabbed a hoodie for warmth on his way out behind her.

Once they had reached the living room, which was where the front door was located, Kelsi slipped on her shoes. She waited for the boy to do the same. She watched him unlace his shoes and put them on before retying them. "He must be the only boy in the world that actually unlaces his shoes before putting them on," she thought to herself, "and I must be the only girl in the world that finds that utterly adorable."

He broke her thoughts. "Let me just write my mom a note, so if she wakes up she doesn't worry," he told her. "I'll just take a sec."

Kelsi nodded. "No problem. I understand," she responded. Kelsi pulled out her cell phone afraid of the number of missed calls it would show. It took her a few seconds, but she finally gained the courage to look. Surprisingly, there were none. "Weird!" she said aloud.

"What's weird?" her male companion asked as he placed the note on the front table and slipped on his red East High School hoodie.

"My mom didn't even call once and I figured she'd be freaking out by now. My curfew is twelve on Friday's but only because I usually study with you, and she's going to be so mad. She was the last time I broke curfew! She nearly grounded me for a week!" she informed him as he opened the front door and allowed her out first.

He nodded. "Yeah, I used to break curfew sometimes, and sometimes when I go out with my friends I do still. My mom gets so upset! She starts yelling and she's all like, 'BLAH BLAH, your exactly like your brother, BLAH BLAH, do you know how much he's put me through, BLAH BLAH, I don't want to have to worry about you, BLAH BLAH, you're my baby and I won't have you out past curfew unattended!' You know Terri!" he said, doing his best voice impersonation of his mother when it came the time to mock her scolding.

Kelsi laughed. "You're completely ridiculous, you know that right?" she asked. Normally, she'd never have said anything like that to anyone of his prestigious status, but since they were so close now, she had no fear of saying anything to him at all. Well maybe not anything.

"I know, I know. You're pretty ridiculous yourself though," he teased back. However, Kelsi had no time to respond to their friendly banter because they'd heard someone calling their names from behind them. They both instantly recognized the voice.

"JASON, JASON! Kelsi!" the woman was yelling after them. Jason smiled down at Kelsi. "My mom is actually ridiculous." They both turned around and allowed his mother to catch up with them. Jason's mother was dressed in a pair of plaid pajama pants that most likely used to be Jason's at one point and a Uof A t-shirt that Jason's brother had most likely gotten for her. She had a pair of flannel socks on and her blue and green bathrobe. She did looked pretty ridiculous standing out on the sidewalk at one in the morning.

"Hey mom, what's up?" he asked her.

"Where are you two going?" she asked a little frantically, most likely because she was trying to catch her breath.

"I was walking Kelsi home because in case you haven't noticed it's like the early AM." Jason told her.

"I left you a note in your room, Jase," she said a little annoyed. "I called Denine at 11 and told her you two were fast asleep. She said Kelse could stay the night," Theresa Cross informed the two seventeen year olds.

"Man, I freaked out for nothing!" Kelsi said angrily. "I feel stupid now!"

Jason laughed at her. "You are stupid! I told you that you didn't have to leave, but no, you don't listen to me because I don't have a G.P.A higher than a 3.5!" he teased.

"Jason Owen Cross! You mean to tell me you were going to keep poor Kelsi under my roof without my permission or her mother's permission?" she scolded whilst glaring at him.

He shook his head and stood up straight before saluting her. "NO MA'AM!" he said formally.

Kelsi chuckled at the mother and son. She'd always loved Jason's mother, almost as much as she loved her own mother and Jason felt the same way towards her mother. Kelsi and Jason started their friendship in the middle of the tenth grade and it only progressed from there. They were assigned seats next to each other in Biology and Kelsi offered to help Jason with his work so he wouldn't flunk out during basketball season with science being his worst subject. Of course he'd agreed to that.

Soon, they found themselves hanging out every weekend at least once. One night he'd spend with Kelsi, studying and the other night he'd go out with his boys. Most Sundays he spent studying or hanging out with Kelsi too. There was never anything more than a friendship, and now in the beginning of their senior year, Kelsi and Jason had a friendship that was stronger than most and it had just recently become public.

Nobody knew Jason and Kelsi were friends up until the summer before their senior year. Of course with the arrival of Gabriella during their junior year, the status quo gradually dispersed, but they'd never felt the need to go public with their unconventional friendship. By this time, their mothers were the best of friends and Jason's older brother would tease the two of them, even though there was clearly nothing else going on. Kelsi was being noticed by way more people than just Taylor and Jason. Taylor had been her only friend before Jason, even though the two of them never saw each other out of school. However, by their senior year, Kelsi had more than Taylor and Jason. She had Taylor, Jason, Gabriella, Ryan, Martha, Zeke, Troy, Chad and kind of Sharpay. They were an unstoppable group, the ten of them.

Whereas Kelsi was grateful for the friends she'd made, she was even more grateful for the extended family she now had. Being Jason's best friend had it benefits. His mother and her mother had become fast friends, and of course that only made Kelsi closer to his family and Jason closer to her and her mom. Both Jason and Kelsi lived with their mothers, and the both had older brothers. Jason's older brother, Justin, was a lot like him, only a bit less clueless. He'd taken a liking to Kelsi quickly and he enjoyed when her and her mom came over for dinner, which was often. Justin was attending U of A. He too, played basketball in high school and he was on the team with Troy when the boys were sophomores. However, he knew that basketball was only a high school dream, no matter how good he was, and Justin was very good. He was captain his senior year, and Troy, Jason, Chad and Zeke all looked up to him. All four boys were equally as good as he was though. Kelsi was super close with Jason's mom Terri as well. She truly was Kelsi's second mother. Terri adored Kelsi and treated her as if she was the daughter she'd never had, which in theory is what she was.

Kelsi wasn't the only girl in Terri's life though. Justin had an amazing girlfriend who resided from Oklahoma. Jillian Glenn was the love of Justin's young life and she was around the Cross house just as much as Kelsi was. They'd become fast friends because they were polar opposites. Jillian was taller than Kelsi and had a more womanly frame than Kelsi did, but she was nowhere near fat. Jillian was outgoing and spunky and she laughed at everything. She was smart and funny and kind, and most of all, she was the most naturally pretty person Kelsi had ever come into contact with. Even prettier than Sharpay, Gabriella and Taylor. Kelsi considered Jillian her best friend, well besides Jason, and believe it or not, she had a budding friendship with Taylor too. Of course that was due to the fact that Gabriella was completely glued to Troy's side for the majority of her waking hours.

Kelsi was super happy for Troy and Gabriella even though they were way to into each other to carry out healthy friendships with the rest of the group. Kelsi found herself, and Jason hanging out mostly with Zeke, Chad and Taylor and Martha. Ryan would sometimes hang out with them, but it was rare considering he was always with Sharpay, who was too busy to hang out with them. This usually made Zeke pretty bummed, but it never lasted long.

Ever since Kelsi could remember, Zeke was crushing on Sharpay. She'd never really returned the feelings, but she knew Martha did. It was a huge secret between the girls that Martha had a crush on Zeke, but they all still found ways to push the two on each other. Well, Taylor and Gabriella did. Sharpay was oblivious to who Martha even was and Kelsi was too shy and inexperienced for that. They never tried to push Jason and Kelsi together though, maybe because they didn't think the two were compatible and Kelsi knew they weren't. They were opposites, clearly, and neither one of them were experienced in the field of dating. Plus, both of them had suffered some serious tragedies in their lives and they weren't ready to come out about that.

As the three of them made their way back to the Cross residence, they laughed and joked about the night's events. When they were finally there, Jason retrieved some pajama bottoms and a Wildcats t-shirt to sleep in. "Thanks Jase," she smiled at him and retreated to the bathroom.

While Kelsi was in the bathroom, Terri came down to talk to her youngest son. "If your brother comes home, you tell him I need to talk to him in the morning. I hate it when he stays out this late, especially since he'll be 21 soon," Terri said. "Oh if you guys watch another movie in your room, don't turn it up too loud. Love you honey, good night. Tell Kelse goodnight for me!" she said be for going back to bed.

Jason nodded and went to the kitchen in his one story, ranch style house. He looked around for some popcorn, and after a few minutes he found some. "Yes, the buttery kind!" he whisper-exclaimed. Just as he said that, he'd heard footsteps. He looked up and saw that it was Kelsi. "Finally! I thought you flushed yourself down the toilet!" he joked.

She rolled her eyes and laughed at his attempt at a joke. "You're too much Jason Cross," she said shaking her head. She walked over and hopped up onto his counter. "So, we're having Extreme Butter tonight then?" she asked as if this was a regular ordeal.

Jason nodded. "Mhm. It's going to be delicious, and I know you like kettle corn, but I can't find that and it's like two in the morning and I just wanna watch a movie and go to sleep. I have to meet the guys for basketball at eleven tomorrow, and I mean, that's tough," he complained.

Kelsi shook her head again. "Just make the popcorn Cross, and then we can make our way to your bedroom and watch a movie," she said. "And while we're on the subject of movies, I think I have a musical for you to watch!" she said excitedly.

Jason put in the popcorn and smiled at her. "What musical will it be tonight, Miss Neilson?" he asked her as he pressed all of the buttons to make the microwave work.

"It's called The Sound of Music, and I can't believe I haven't picked this one for you to watch already! I've made you watch every other musical I own, and then I was just going through my room the other day and BOOM! It popped out outta no where! It was like God was trying to tell me that I needed to show you this musical!" she exclaimed excitedly.

Jason laughed at his best friend. "Well, I can't wait to watch it then. Is it long?" he asked her as he took the popcorn out of the microwave and tossed it from hand to hand due to the fact that it was extremely hot.

She shook her head. "I mean, if you count three hours as long, well, then yeah. It's long!" she told him.

His eyes widened. "Three hours!? Are you kidding me? I'll never get to go to sleep!" he said exasperated. He got out a bowl from a bottom cupboard and opened the bag of popcorn and dumped it in there.

"No. I lied. It's as long as a regular movie, and it only came out like less than a year ago. So it's relatively recent, and there is a young girl in there who isn't eighty presently!" she told him.

"Well good! I hate when the girls are hot, but they're like eighty now. That's a downer!" he said sadly.

Kelsi hopped off the counter and went and got two Sprites out of Jason's fridge. "So lets get too it then! We have a movie to watch!" she said as she lead the way upstairs to Jason's room to fetch her movie.

The next day, Troy, Chad and Zeke were all awaiting the arrival of a certain dark-haired boy who just so happened to be late for their game of two on two. They were sitting around making random baskets at the Riverside Basketball court. The court they'd all grown up to love. Troy looked around. "Man, where the hell is Jason?" he asked impatiently.

"He'll be here dude, chill. He's probably just helping his mom out," Zeke said calmly before making a layup.

"Yeah dude. I mean, think about what time a year this is. What does October mean for Jason?" Chad asked expecting Troy to know the answer.

"I know, I know. Gabriella is going to start getting all depressed too. October blows man. Jason's down, Gabs is down, which makes the rest of us upset," Troy explained to himself more than to the other two boys he was with.

"Besides, last night was his night to chill with Kelsi. They probably stayed up late and watched musicals or studied or something way more productive than playing videos games and watching mindless TV." Zeke explained.

"Yeah, but still, I hate that he's late. I want to get some practice in today. We could do it tonight but Chad," he said looking over at his best friend, "has a birthday party to attend!" Troy finished as he passed Chad the ball.

Chad rolled his eyes. "It's not my fault it's Taylor's dad's birthday. Major doesn't like me at all anyway, and I think me NOT showing up at his birthday party would make him a little more hateful towards me. I'm just tryin' to get the man to like me, alright?" Chad told his two friends.

Zeke laughed. "I'm glad I don't have a girlfriend problem. Troy's girlfriend is going to be sad for like a month, and Taylor's dad hates you Chad. Man, it would suck to have a girlfriend."

Chad chucked the ball at him. "You're just pissed that Sharpay still hasn't agreed to go out on an official date with you. By the time you finally get her to say yes, we'll already all be married and have kids of our own. Except you of course."

Troy laughed hysterically. "Yeah, I mean come on dude. Why would you want to go out with Sharpay when Martha is so clearly into you, and your brilliant cooking?" Troy asked as he got passed the ball.

Zeke gave him a confusing look. "I thought Martha was into Jason?" he asked.

"Nah dude, last I heard she was into you. Her crush on Jason stopped when everyone realized how close Kelse and Jason were. I mean, it was clear they want each other." Chad told him.

Zeke nodded. "I know! They might as well just get together and call it a day because come on. They sleep over at each others houses and their moms are okay with that. They can't just sleep."

"Seriously. I know if my mom let Gabs sleep over I wouldn't just be sleeping next to her!" he said, smirking a little. "Jason is a hell of a lot stronger than I am."

Chad nodded. "Yeah, but he and Kelsi aren't dating. So, I mean, why would they even want to mess around. I feel bad for them cause we're all always trying to force them to admit that they like each other, when maybe that's not even the case at all. Their families are best friends, and I mean, their moms are inseparable now, it's just like maybe we should just leave them alone."

Troy and Zeke just stared at him. "Are you serious?" they asked in unison.

Chad nodded. "Taylor and I talk about it all the time. They're our best friends, and if they aren't into each other, we shouldn't force them to try to be. Let them be best friends. Why fix what isn't broken?" he asked two of his best friends.

Zeke nodded. "That's understandable. Maybe we should tell Martha that," he suggested.

Troy shook his head. "Nah, she's over Jason. She wants her some Zeke lovin!" he teased his tallest friend.

"Oh Ezekial, oh Zeke! Your cooking makes me so, so, so, oh Mr. Baylor!" Chad mocked his friend in a girly voice.

Zeke chucked the ball at him and it barely missed his face. "Hey! Watch the hair!" he said making sure his hair was still functioning as it should be.

While Zeke and Troy were laughing at Chad's hair infatuation, Jason came running up. "Sorry guys! Kelse and I woke up late!" he said.

Troy and Zeke were getting ready to make fun of him, but they refrained, remembering what Chad had told him earlier. "Cool dude. Let's get playin' then!" Troy said.

"We'll play Z and J against me and Hoops?" Chad asked his friends. They all nodded simultaneously and started their game.

Kelsi usually was with Gabriella, Martha and Taylor on Saturday nights, when the boys were usually out, but tonight was Mr. McKessie's birthday, and she was invited. So, all of the girls were attending, and so was Chad. Kelsi didn't want to stay that long since she knew she'd be pushed off on Gabriella. A few hours after they got there, Kelsi made up some lie so that she could go home. Jason kept texting her and asking her to drop by when she was done. She reluctantly went over to his house and saw her mom's car parked out front. She got a little excited because she loved when here mom and Terri were together.

She walked up to his front door and thought about knocking but she knew that Terri would yell at her if she did. Kelsi laughed at the memory in her head. "Don't knock anymore Kelse, you might as well be family!" So, Kelsi just walked in. She instantly saw her mom and Terri sitting at the kitchen table. "Hi Mom, hi Terri," she greeted them.

"Hey baby! How was the party? Come sit with us!" her mother said, beckoning her to come over. Kelsi sat across from her mother, and next to Terri, who was at the head of the table.

"The party was boring. There was a lot of military people there and was kind of grumpy because Taylor kept making Chad do all sorts of slave-like thing for him, so that maybe her dad will like him. Therefore, I got pushed off on Gabriella," when she said this, Terri made a slight face, "which, you both know how I feel about that, and then I made up the excuse that I had to be home early, and here I am," she finished.

"How'd you know I was here?" her mother asked her, trying to take the subject off of Gabriella and the party.

"Well, I didn't know you were here. Jase texted me, and practically begged me to come over, so I did," she explained. Just as she did, he and Zeke walked down the stairs. "Speak of the devil…"

Jason and Zeke walked over to the three females. "Hello ladies!" Jason said. Kelsi rolled her eyes. "What are you guys doing?" he asked.

"We're discussing Mr. McKessie's party, if you must know," Terri informed him.

Both boys looked over at Kelsi. "Oh, how was it Kelse?" Jason asked her.

Kelsi shrugged. "You know how it was. You texted me the whole time Jason!" she said, a little annoyed.

Zeke let out a burst of laughter. "I knew you were texting her! You can't get one by me dude, I'm not an idiot!" he exclaimed. Terri, Kelsi and Denine, Kelsi's mom all laughed.

Jason hit Zeke playfully. "Shut up dude. And it's not like you weren't texting Martha Cox either!" he mocked his friend.

"Awe, Zeke, you like Martha?" Denine asked her daughter's friend.

"It's not even like that. We're just friends," he told her. "Besides, I have my eyes set on the most perfect girl that has ever walked on this planet!" he told her, dreamily.

Kelsi cleared her throat. "Excuse me?" she said, smirking. Jason, Terri and Denine smiled.

"Besides Mrs. Cross of course!" he said, sucking up to his best friend's mother. Everyone laughed. The boys eventually sat down. Zeke next to Denine, and Jason next to Kelsi respectively.

A few minutes later, Justin and his girlfriend, Jillian walked through the front door. "Hey guys!" he said, greeting his family considering the fact that every person there, he considered his family by all means necessary.

"Hey honey! Come in a sit down with us!" his mom called back to him. The couple did as they were told. Since there was only one seat left at their table though, Jillian was forced to sit on Justin's lap, not that either of them minded though. "So what did you two do today?" she asked her elder son, and his personable girlfriend.

"We went hiking! It was a blast, and I cannot wait to go again, because we saw these cute little snakes and lizards and all kinds of birds and there were so many rocks, and they were the coolest rocks," Jillian rambled. "OH and it was so funny, cause we were resting and I saw this brown paper bag and I opened it to see what was in there, because you know how nosey I am, and then BOOM! There was a crap load of pot in there!" she finished, laughing uncontrollably.

The whole room filled with laughter. "What did you do with it Jil?" Denine asked, still laughing.

"The park ranger made me turn it in! It was mad, because I'm like finders keepers! I would have sold it. Put my life on the line to deal!" she laughed, and everyone laughed with her. "Yeah, so I was mad and we left, and then we went to Narabi's South African Cuisine," she finished.

Zeke nearly jumped out of his chair. "You did?! How was it? Was it the best place ever? I've been begging my family to go there since it opened, but they always say we don't have the time and that the girls wouldn't like it!" he said, exasperated.

"It was actually not as good as I thought it would be. I mean, I'm a little partial to the Nigerian Grill, but it wasn't that good. However, the atmosphere of the place was to die for, and the fact that I didn't have to pay for it was even more delightful!" she told him, before turning around and kissing her boyfriend's cheek.

"Well, I still want to go there. I've been to every restaurant within a twenty mile radius with the exception of that one, and it makes me super upset! If I want to be in the food business, I need to know how everything tastes and what kind of cuisine I want to try and what not…" he said, basically planning out his future.

"Well maybe sometime next week, we can go on a lunch date!" she said. Normally, Justin would get jealous of Jillian having a lunch date with someone other than him. However, Jillian was a culinary genius, much like Zeke, and he knew absolutely nothing would ever happen between the two of them. Zeke was like his brother. He'd known the kid since he was at least three.

The seven people in the Cross household were probably the closest people in the world. They were each others family. Zeke loved his own family, and his parents loved him every much too. They were always around and they were very religious, and traditional, but they had three little girls to take care of, and since Zeke was the only boy in the house besides his dad, he usually liked to spend most of his time at Jason's house. Plus, Terri and Zeke's mom, Beverly were roommates in college at U of A, so Zeke had known the Cross family his entire life, and he knew every single thing about them.

Jillian was the latest addition to their unconventional, but tight knit family. She and Justin started dating their second semester in college, at U of A. Jillian wasn't exactly close with her own mother, so she took advantage of the love and kindness Denine and Terri showed her. She'd also befriended Kelsi as soon as she met her. The two girls were practically sisters now, since it had been nearly two and a half years.

However, even though Jillian was the latest addition, she'd only joined the family a few months after the Neilson clan and the Cross clan came together. Kelsi and Jason were forced to sit next to each other in their sophomore bio class due to assigned seating, and the two of them instantly clicked. Kelsi was good a bio and made good grades, and Jason was completely lost and his grades reflected it. Kelsi offered to tutor him, and they'd been best friends ever since. They usually spent Friday nights together, but they called it family time, or study night, so their friends wouldn't get suspicious.

They tried to keep their friendship secret from their friends, or lack there of in Kelsi's case. Kelsi thought it would be best for her and for Jason if his basketball buddies never found out. Their plan proved to work all the way up until the summer between junior and senior year. At the end of the summer, Zeke started getting the hint and eventually spilled the beans to Chad and Troy. Of course nobody was angry or upset, because the status quo had already been broken, but Kelsi and Jason got a hard time from their friends about liking each other, which they didn't, or at least they didn't admit.

Truthfully, Jason was in love with Kelsi. He had been for a really long time, but he knew she didn't feel the same way. In fact, once, their junior year, they'd kissed. They were in Jason's room, studying for an English exam, and they were arguing about the subject matter. Well, Kelsi was arguing, which was annoying Jason. She said on sneer remark to him, and instead of saying something he didn't mean back to her, he kissed her instead. In return, she just stared at him, and things for awkward for a couple of days after, until they both decided that even though they both enjoyed the kiss, they were better off as friends. Well, Kelsi decided that. Jason, was heartbroken, but he figured that losing Kelsi was worse then not being her boyfriend. So they remained the best of friends.

However, Jason and Kelsi failed to date other people. In fact, neither of them had really had any significant others. Jason had gone on dates, but he'd never asked any of the girls out again. Kelsi had gone on two dates with one guy, but when she figured out that he was a creep, she stayed away from him.

A few days later, Kelsi approached Jason in homeroom. He was just getting prepared for his morning nap in Darbus's class when she tapped him on the shoulder. "Jason Owen! Drama Class is no time for sleeping!" she laughed. He sat up and looked at her. She hopped up on his desk. "So, I have a favor to ask you," she said.

His forehead wrinkled. "Go on," he said swiftly, trying to sound intelligent.

"Well, you know what time of the year it is. It's a pretty complicated time for both of us, for obvious reasons that I don't want to mention right now, but you don't know that Kris can't come down for this weekend," she explained. "So, my mom and I are going to visit him in Austin, and I really want you to come with us," she finished. "Well, you and Terri."

Jason smiled at the girl in front of him. She was gorgeous when she was unsure of an answer. He leaned in a little bit and put his large hand on her small one. "Of course I'll come, what are friends for?" he asked.

She threw her arms around his neck. "Jason Cross, you are the best friend I've ever had in my entire life!" she said, although not loudly. But, Gabriella did smile over at them, witnessing the entire interaction. She knew why they were going, everyone did. She was glad they'd been able to find friendship in one another.

Even if that was all they had was friendship, Jason was okay with that. He just wanted to be close to Kelsi, and be there for her when she needed him, like she did now. Now, when she started seriously dating, that would be an issue, but he didn't see that happening any time soon. Not while she was still focused primarily on her music, and her family, which Jason took pride in being apart of.

The only thing Jason feared was losing his mother, or losing his Kelsi. He confided in her his deepest secrets with the exception of one, and he really did consider her the best thing that's ever happened to him. He knew that he'd lose her eventually though, because he knew there was no way in hell they weren't accepting her into Julliard, but there was still a little part of him that didn't want her to go.

Okay, so this chapter was mainly Jelsi, but that doesn't mean they all will be. In fact my next chapter will either being Troyella or Chaylor. Zekepay won't officially appear for a while, but don't worry. In fact, thinks will be happening with Zeke that Zekepay fans won't like for a while, but I'm pretty sure that they'll be happy in the end, but I don't know. So we'll see! Please keep reading. My next chapter will be mainly focused on Troyella I think, but it might be a mix of Chaylor and Troyella.

Also, I realize that there is a lot of descriptive background pieces in my writing so far. I only put that in there because I feel that it's necessary for the reader's further understanding. Let me know if you need any clarification. Denine, Terri, Jillian and Justin are all major characters. But, there are people from Troy, Gabriella, Taylor, Chad, Zeke, Sharpay and Ryan's families that become major characters too, and college roommates or friends and what not. They're usually there for added drama or for an important friendship or what not. There is always a reason.

So please continue reading, and please, please, please review! I know that it's long. Please let me know what kind of chapters you prefer! I try not to make them too long! Thanks for reading! Please review! I like all kinds of criticisms! Also, if you need a beta, feel free to look me up in the Beta section, or just PM me! Thank you so much!

-Katie. =]