"This town looks dumb." Ryan groused from the back seat of his parents' minivan, his blue eyes raking over the perfectly-trimmed lawns and nearly identical houses.
"Ryan, I know you're angry we're moving to a new place at the beginning of your last year in school, but that's no reason to act childish." His mother reprimanded, but her tone was soft; she understood that it was hard for him to be uprooted and lose all of his friends.
"It looks painfully dull. I'm merely making an educated opinion and hypothesizing that this will be as miserable as I infer." He smarted, smirking at the look of confusion that crossed over his mother's face.
"Ryan, stop using big words to make your mom feel dumb." His father interfered, but he could hear the muffled laugh in his tone. Ryan was incredibly intelligent for an eighteen-year-old and participated in several higher placement classes that made his simpler parents proud. Honestly though, he probably got his smarts from his uncle, looking between the two. He sighed; debates with his uncle would be yet ANOTHER thing he was going to miss.
"You're here!" His mom chirped and Ryan winced as he looked over the high school, much larger than the one in Georgia, and the students making their way inside. "Have a good day at school sweetie!" She leaned into the back seat and placed a purposefully obnoxious kiss to his cheek despite his attempts to squirm away.
"Mom! Please!" He grunted, shimmying over to the door. He smiled on his way out, turning back to mumble a quick 'I love you' before hoisting his backpack over his shoulder and strolling casually towards the glass doors that marked the entrance to Austin's finest high school.
"Hi!" He was bombarded upon entering by a lanky boy with wild golden-brown hair and an awkwardly large nose. The boy grinned to reveal perfectly white teeth, his hazel eyes shining excitedly. "I'm Gavin!" His British accent was thick and surprised Ryan.
"Um, hi. I'm-"
"Ryan! Ryan Haywood! I know all about you because I'm in charge of showing you around! C'mon!" He waved his hand energetically and Ryan cocked an eyebrow, fighting back a scowl as he followed.
"That over there is the office. You'll love Principal Hullam, he's so great! Then we have Vice Principal Burns, he's top! Through here is the cafeteria. Ooh, let's stop for breakfast!" He squealed, tugging Ryan's farmer-tanned arm into the open area before he could utter a word of objection.
The cafeteria was scattered with small tables, each sitting around six to eight kids, and it seemed like there were at least three hundred students in there, filling the eating area with talk that blurred into one loud, annoying noise. Ryan sighed aloud, dropping his backpack to the table Gavin had led him to. Four other boys sat there, each looking to be a senior as well. The first had sunken grey eyes and dark hair, looking incredibly tired. The boy beside him seemed cheery with a ginger beard surprisingly full for someone in high school. Then sat two others, one with curly auburn locks and another with thick glasses and black hair, laughing over something they'd done.
"What's wrong, Ryan?" Gavin leaned towards him and Ryan scooted away, pursing his lips.
"I'm just not too thrilled to be here." He retorted, crossing his arms.
"Aww, Ryan. Yknow, I'm sure you'll fit right in and find plenty of friends!" Ryan opened his mouth to snap back but stopped as he heard building music around him and looked around for the source; were students allowed to play music that loud during school here? He started as all of the students suddenly began to stand, turning towards him all at once, and the thought of a cult meeting ran through his mind.
Gavin caught his attention as he began to sing, gesturing towards the new student.
"I know it's hard, being new.
High school is tough, but I'm here for you.
I'll be your friend if you let me.
You'll be okay, just wait and see!"
The music got louder and the others joined in, dancing around him in perfect choreography.
"What the fuck!" Ryan yelled, his blue eyes wide in panic. "Is this some sort of weird welcome thing?" Everyone ignored him, still singing around his chair.
"Its a struggle we face,
Feeling so out of place,
We're just trying to find who we are!"
Ryan wanted to laugh, or maybe scream, or wake up from whatever weird dream he was having, as Gavin walked towards him on beat, singing by himself once again.
"But stick with me, my new friend,
And I bet you and I could go far." He smiled warmly and Ryan shifted away slowly, tensing his body.
"I don't know what the fuck is going on, but I'm really concerned." The music picked up again and he was being pulled out of his chair by several kids as he flailed to stop them. He was in the center as they all twirled and danced around him, singing in unison. "How long did you all rehearse this?!" He yelled over the music, looking for an escape route and failing to find one.
"Its a struggle we face,
Feeling so out of place,
We're just trying to find who we are!" The kids sang the chorus again and the music suddenly became quiet as Gavin once again solo'd, holding out a hand that Ryan refused to grab.
"But stick with me, dear Ryan, and I bet you and I could go far."
It was silent for several moments before the students returned to their seats, chatting and laughing again as if nothing had happened. Gavin plopped down, happily digging into his little box of cereal.
"I... What was that?" Ryan asked, for once at a complete loss for words.
"What was what, Ryan?"
"THE WHOLE SINGING AND DANCING THING!" He exclaimed, pounding a fist against the table.
"Woah big guy, just calm down." The lazy-looking boy interjected, voice cracking, and Ryan let out an exasperated sigh, looking around the table with pleading eyes for some sort of verification that he wasn't crazy. When none came he groaned, mumbling something about the town already making him bonkers.
"Ryan, let me introduce you to my friends! This is Geoff, he's like the leader." He pointed at the lazy one, moving on next to the bearded boy. "That's Jack. He's the mother hen."
"Hey!"
"C'mon, it's totally true." The curly-haired boy teased, scrunching up his freckled face.
"That's Michael. He gets angry easily. And, last but not least, there's Ray! He's kind of a douche, but a good guy. His haircut is rubbish though."
Ray leaned over the table in mock-seriousness, pretending to whisper to Ryan. "Friendly word of advice: never fall asleep during a haircut." He patted his head sadly and the others snickered.
"We run a video game club! Maybe you could join?" Gavin suggested, elbowing Ryan lightly, and the latter only nodded weakly; okay so maybe he'd just imagined the whole High School Musical moment. They seemed normal, and hallucinations happen when you're a stressed-out insomniac, right? He watched carefully for any sign of spontaneous singing, even humming, but none came for the rest of the breakfast period. He learned a few things about the boys though, like Ray's love for the word 'superfluous', or Jack's obsession with cats that was apparently shared with Michael's girlfriend, Lindsay, who was absent due to sickness.
Afterwards, Gavin showed him the rest of the school, leading him first through the gym, then the art wing, theater (Ryan was particularly interested in that), academic wing, and even the teacher's lounge, before showing him where his first block was. Subsequently, he shared his Physics class with Gavin and the Jack kid.
As Mr. Sorola entered, Ryan finally relaxed. He was good at school, he knew his work, this was definitely normal; no weird music or people, just numbers and science.
That is, until a girl came in late, crying over getting dumped by her boyfriend. A few people rushed over to comfort her, and that's when Ryan heard the music again, only a more somber tune. He braced himself against his chair, looking around wildly.
"Oh no, oh no no no no!" He screeched just as a blonde girl began to sing.
"Love is a fickle friend of mine,
It's kept me up at night.
But look around and I'm sure you'll find,
Things have a way of turning out right!"
"Are you going to do something about this?" Ryan called to the teacher, but Mr. Sorola was keeping still with his eyes on the small group as if entranced, as were many of the other students. "HELLO?!"
"I've got to be fucking dreaming!" Ryan stood, prodding Gavin as the British boy sang along to a slow chorus. "GAVIN! What the fuck kind of school is this?" The other student didn't even look over at Ryan, as if he didn't realize he was there. For a brief, maddening moment, he thought of throwing a desk to draw attention but decided against it, falling limply into his seat and letting his sandy-blond head fall onto his table with a soft thud.
When the song ended (with the girl in higher spirits), everyone returned to their seats and Mr. Sorola began teaching normally.
"Gavin... What the fuck was that?" Ryan's tone was defeated as he turned to the Brit.
"Poor Barbara got dumped by her boyfriend, I think."
"Not that! The... God dammit, you are literally no help. Jack!" He hissed at the other boy and he turned to face Ryan with a friendly smile. "What just happened there?"
"Well, I think his name was Brandon and-"
"No! God how are you both so useless!" He yelled angrily, catching the attention of the teacher.
"Mr. Haywood! Maybe you'd like to tell us how this equation is solved?" He asked, pointing towards the board.
Ryan's face reddened in annoyance as he skimmed over the simple problem. "The variable is eliminated through process of factoring leaving the impossible sequence of the square root of negative one. Since an imaginary number is the only conclusion, there is no possible way to properly draw a feasible solution and the equation itself is determined unfit for the laws of both math and physics." He prattled out almost mechanically and smirked when Mr. Sorola blinked confusedly before hastily confirming Ryan's answer.
His smile was quickly replaced with a grimace, however, when he looked over to see Gavin beaming at him. "You're really smart, Ryan."
"Yeah, well, don't go fucking singing about it."
"I don't understand, Ryan. Is that some sort of joke from your old school?" Gavin cocked his head to the side, giving Ryan an (albeit cute) innocently confused look.
"Fucking-" Ryan took a deep breath, pinching the base of his nose with his thumb and forefinger. "I... I don't even know anymore." Surely this was some sort of prank, he decided, and his frustration would only fuel their ridiculous hoax more, so he calmly smiled back at Gavin instead before turning to begin working on their classwork.
He finished long before anyone else and glanced over to see Gavin chewing on his lower lip, staring at the paper with a look of hopeless desperation in his hazel eyes. Ryan held back a laugh, tapping the scrawny boy's shoulder once. Gavin jolted, turning to him with the same face. "D'you need help?" Ryan offered, tapping his pencil against his own completed work idly. Gavin nodded fervently, letting out a relieved breath as Ryan scooted closer.
"Okay, so I see you're stuck on number seven. We have to use Coulomb's Law for this one." He stated and Gavin turned to him panickedly.
"I never understood that one." He groaned and Ryan couldn't help but take pity on him.
"It's okay, it took me a long time to get it, too." He lied and Gavin heaved his shoulders. "Let's see, you've got the first equation right. Now, if Fe is in N, r is in m, and q's are in Coulombs, then what?" He asked, leading Gavin through the steps. Gavin blinked once before scrawling down another formula. "See, you've messed up here. You square the r variable and put it on the bottom of the fraction."
"Oh!" Gavin looked as if he had just realized something spectacular and Ryan couldn't help but chuckle at his genuine joy when he scribbled down the correct equation, flying through the steps with ease then. "Thanks, Ryan! I always get stuck on translating that one part." He knocked their shoulders together lightly and Ryan shifted his desk back to its usual place, staring aimlessly around the room and avoiding eye contact with Gavin until the bell rang.
If Ryan had thought the whole 'bursting into random song' thing would stop with Gavin (the supposed mastermind of the intricate prank) not around, he was sorely wrong. He endured two more songs without the Brit present, including one about how everyone is unique in their own special way. He stomped to his father's car after school, refusing to wait when Gavin called for him, and immediately confronted his parents upon returning home.
"How was your first day, sweetie?" His mom asked and Ryan could have screamed.
Instead, he calmly inquired to them. "Did either of you notice anything.. weird about your day?"
"Not at all! Everyone here seems so charming." She smiled happily and Ryan winced.
"No singing or anything?"
"That's a really weird question."
"What's really weird is that the students in my school were bursting into song randomly all day!" He threw his hands up at his father, highly exasperated.
"Aww what a lovely show of school spirit." His mother sighed happily. "I knew we'd made a good choice in schooling."
"What-no! Not school songs. Just... songs! Like, songs they'd made up and had choreography and everything! It was like I was living in a High School Musical movie. Look, I took a video!" He pulled out his phone to show the recording he'd taken in third block. The kids were all singing loudly, dancing in perfect sync.
"That's impressive." His father remarked, his mother humming her agreement.
"It's not... You're not supposed to do that in school!"
"Relax, dear. I think it's lovely." Ryan let out an annoyed roar before retreating to his room, staying there for the rest of the night and puzzling over what exactly was going on at his new school.