Inspired

Kelsi slowly traced her fingers over the keys on the piano, making a soft sound of random notes stream into the silent auditorium. She knew she should write on one of the new songs Darbus required for the newest play, but she didn't want to. All she could think about was him, his perfect girlfriend, and their fan club.

To think she was the one who made it all happen for them. She was the one who wrote Twinkle Town, the play that made them stars at East High. She was the one who wrote Breaking Free, the song everyone around campus sang during the week of premiere. Even Ryan and Sharpay jumped on the Troyella train, and befriended them, while admiring their version of the play.

She loved their version of it too. But she hated the fact that they were so perfect. She remembered Breaking Free as the song that everyone loved, the popular song. But the song that meant the most to her, was not that one. It was another one, all because she had been inspired by him, and his amazing blue eyes.

She loved him. It was weird, and she couldn't even explain why she did, but she loved him. Even though they never spoke before, and he was just the basketball guy, she loved him. But now when he was into theatre, and they spoke often about play, and even about other stuff, she loved him even more. He was perfect, and every time they spoke, all she could think about was placing her lips on top of his, and never pull back again. It was corny, but she couldn't help it. Troy Bolton was just amazing.

She checked her watch, and let out a deep sigh. It was 6:12pm, she should probably be getting home. But she didn't want to go home to her yelling parents, and her little room, when she could sit in the peace and quiet, in the empty school and just be herself, while playing her favourite songs.

She slowly turned a page in her notebook to look at the lyrics she wrote some time before winter break. Not that she didn't have every word mesmerized in her brain, but she felt the comfort of her own handwriting, as it was neatly scribbled across the page. It was the original words, and by the bottom of the page she had written his name, in small letters, with little red, doodled hearts around it.

She played the first note, and let the sound of the melody stream through the auditorium, without the words. She was so comforted by everything. This was her true home, and playing piano was her true passion. She just needed one person for everything to be perfect. The chances of that happening were very low though. Him and his girlfriend were happy. And his girlfriend was the sweetest person in the world, and Kelsi loved her like a sister. She just couldn't help but want him, and love him too…

She wished she wasn't Kelsi. She wished she wasn't just the quiet composer, who no one really noticed. She wanted to be outgoing and stunning like Sharpay. She wanted to be smart and beautiful like Gabriella. She wanted to be a great dancer, and just herself, like Martha, and she wanted to say her opinion and hold on to it like Taylor. She wanted to be the girl Troy Bolton could fall in love with, and not the girl who everyone walked all over.

She stopped playing for a second to wipe a lone tear off her face. Quickly after she started playing again, the slow song, simply because it was so comforting. She sang along, letting her voice fit with the melody, in a way that only the writer could be able to do it. She wasn't the greatest singer, but she was able to do it.

She was broken out of her trance like state, by the sound of a door smacking. She turned her head slightly to the side, to see who had come in through the backdoor, and was surprised to find the object of her affections standing right there, a confused look on his face.

She gulped and shot him a small smile, blushing like crazy.

"I'm sorry…" he mumbled, taking a few steps closer to her, "I didn't mean to interrupt you. I forgot my script in the dressing room, and I had to rehearse my lines, you know… Mrs. Darbus is weird like that."

Kelsi just nodded, speechless. It happened at times that she still didn't know what to say to him. Like the first time she spoke to both him and Gabriella after the auditions, where she'd dropped all her papers, and he'd stumbled to help her.

Troy offered her another smile and turned to leave, going for his dressing room. She just watched him, still not speaking. When he was out of sight, she turned to her notebook, and hammered her head onto the keys of the piano, letting it rest there.

Freak!, she told herself, when he's speaking to you, you need to answer, don't just nod. He'll never like you if you keep being weird like that!

"Are you okay?"

She turned around to find him right behind her, with his script in his hands. How had she not heard him coming? Was she that absorbed in her little freak-world? Was she that weird… was she a freak?

"Uhm yeah," Kelsi said, swallowing loudly, too loudly, "I'm… I'm okay, yeah. I'm fine."

"Okay," Troy chuckled, obviously because her, "What are you still doing here?" he questioned, as he took a seat next to her on the piano bench, shortly throwing a glance at her notebook, before looking at her again.

"I was just…" Kelsi stumbled to close her notebook before he noticed his name surrounded by hearts in the bottom, "I was going over some songs, and uh… working on a new one. Nothing special, I didn't feel like going home."

"Okay…" Troy nodded, sounding amused, "But you were playing What I've Been Looking For when I interrupted you. I recognized it."

"Really?"

"Yeah," Troy said, brushing his fingers across the piano, "I dunno why everybody likes Breaking Free so much, What I've Been Looking For was always my favourite."

"Mine too." Kelsi quickly told him, glad they were agreeing on something, "I don't know why, but… there's something about it. When I wrote it I was… inspired."

"It's great." Troy told her, looking down at his hands, "I have a question to ask you, actually, about one of my lines in the new script, if it's okay?"

"It's always okay." Kelsi said, smiling like an idiot, "Just shoot."

Troy smiled too, and flipped through the script, quickly turning the pages. He ended somewhere around the middle, and placed his finger at one of his lines, "It's this one. It says here that I say 'How could she do this to me?'… and yada, yada, yada. The rest doesn't matter, it's the how could she do this to me that I don't understand?"

"What don't you get?" Kelsi questioned, arching her eyebrows slightly, hiding them beneath her hat.

"Why does he say that to his friend?" Troy asked, "I mean… he's not dating the girl, he's just a guy, no one special. And just because she's got a new boyfriend, why does he feel like that? He doesn't even like her, they don't even speak to each other until later in the play."

"Don't you see you're mistaken, Troy?" Kelsi said, shooting him a cute smile, "He's hopelessly in love with her."

"How?" Troy asked, "He never leads that on."

"It's because you're portraying your character all wrong, then." Kelsi told him, and flipped towards the first page of the script, "I told Mrs. Darbus to make it more clear to you, but she was convinced you'd get it eventually." She paused, "He likes her, he's just never told her. He's watching her from afar, longing in his eyes, wishing he could be the popular guy, the perfect guy, so she'd go out with him." She pointed a place out in the script, "Look here, it clearly says, that even though she's at a restaurant eating dinner with her new boyfriend, he's right outside the window."

"Yeah, I don't get why that is." Troy said, confessing, "I always found that a little weird."

"It's supposed to make the audience realize that… he likes her. But that he can't touch her, that he believes he can't have her." she paused, emphasizing the last words, "So. He. Watches. From. Afar."

"Oh…" Troy said, as if everything just occurred to him, "I think I get it now! I really think I do!" he paused and closed the script, then looked at her again, "You're a genius, Kelsi. Your music is amazing and the scripts you write are so deep. How do you do it?"

"I get inspired." Kelsi said, for the second time the night putting pressure on 'inspired'.

Troy nodded for a second, before asking a question he was dieing to ask, "By what?"

"Different stuff…" Kelsi said, shrugging, "My life. Things around me. People I meet or see. My life."

"That was 'my life' twice."

"I guess it just inspires me."

"How?" Troy asked, looking through her glasses and deeply into her eyes, as if he was trying to read her. To get to know her better, to get to her soul.

"Stuff…" Kelsi whispered, softly playing What I've Been Looking For at the piano again, while she spoke.

"'Stuff'?" Troy questioned, trying to get her to look at him, but her face was focused on her closed notebook, while she played. He just watched her, taking in her soft features, and her small lips, as she mouthed the words along with the melody. Her short hair fell on her shoulders, as her fingers moved over the keys, ever so delicately.

As she started the song all over again, she made a little jump, to hear his voice sing the part she'd written especially for him, because she got inspired.

"It's hard to believe
That I couldn't see
You were always there beside me."

She stopped for a second, to take in his smiling face. Their eyes locked for two seconds, before she smiled slightly too, and started playing again, singing the next part of the song.

"Thought I was alone
With no one to hold."

Troy joined in, and they sung the rest of the song in perfect harmony. Kelsi almost felt as if they were meant to sing together, sitting by a piano on a late afternoon, in a dark auditorium. It was perfect. In her eyes, anyway.

"But you were always right beside me
This feeling's like no other
I want you to know.

I've never had someone that knows me like you do
The way you do
And I've never had someone as good for me as you
No one like you
So lonely before I finally found
What I've been looking for."

Troy smiled, and breathed out, resting his hands in his lap, "You sing well, Kelsi. And that song just never gets old. How did you write it?"

"I was just… thinking." Kelsi told him, arching her eyebrow slightly, "You know… about how I feel, I guess you could say."

"Oh…" Troy's face fell, "I'd like to feel that way about someone."

"What about Gabriella?" Kelsi questioned, her head quickly shooting to the side, where it came face to face with Troy's sad features.

"She's not my girlfriend anymore, we're just friends." Troy told her, "She's dating Ryan, in case you haven't noticed."

"Oh yeah," Kelsi said, blushing for not realizing that obvious fact before. Ryan and Gabriella had been together constantly these last couple of weeks, and Sharpay had been sitting with Kelsi alone, and occasionally Troy. It was a wonder Kelsi never noticed. She had probably been distracted by the cute boy in front of her, who actually… didn't seem sad at all.

"But I better get home." Troy said, pushing the piano bench slightly back, which caused Kelsi to fall forward, steadying herself against the piano, her hand brushing against her black notebook, which caused it to land on the floor with a smack, "Sorry," Troy quickly gulped.

"It's fine," Kelsi said, not even bending down to pick it up, "I'll see you tomorrow, Troy."

"Yeah," he nodded, and then he turned to leave.

Kelsi turned around again, still not picking up her notebook. She was too absorbed in what had just occurred between her and Troy. She didn't get to be alone with her thoughts very long, because the sound of his voice broke her out of her trance, yet again.

"Who is he?"

She whipped around on the piano bench, startled, and looked him in the eye, confused, "Who?"

"The guy who inspired you?" Troy asked, and he sounded somewhat angry, "You know? Because you kept hinting it."

"He's…" Kelsi trailed off, looking deeply into his eyes, "He's a guy… A guy. That I know. Just a guy."

Troy paused, and looked at her again. He looked hurt and sad, all of a sudden. And she didn't get why, but he did. He swallowed hard and let out a deep sigh, "Okay…" he turned to leave, but then stopped in his tracks and turned back to her again, "No, I can't leave, I need to know who he is! What? Do you have a boyfriend I don't know of?"

"No." Kelsi said, shrugging her shoulders, "Why is this so important for you, Troy?"

"Because it just is!" Troy argued, now stepping closer to her again.

"Why?" Kelsi asked, now getting worked up too. She couldn't very well tell him who it was, when he was the reason she wrote that song, and the entire play.

"Because I like you!" Troy blurted out, before he even got a chance to think about his actions. When he did, his face fell, and he watched as Kelsi became pale. He cursed himself, and quickly kneeled down in front of her, to be on eyelevel with her, "I like you, okay? I'm just… jealous that you have another guy. Don't think much of it."

"You like me?" Kelsi asked, locking eyes with him.

"Yeah, I do."

"Oh…" she couldn't quite comprehend that idea, but even though she was shocked, her inside was bubbling with happy feelings, and she just wanted to scream of joy, or even cry because of happiness.

"I'm just gonna go." Troy mumbled, standing up again.

"No." Kelsi quickly said, standing up to grab his wrist and make her point clear, "You were the one. You inspired me to write What I've Been Looking For, and the new play… that was my feelings towards your relationship with Gabriella."

This time it was Troy's turn to be speechless. All he let out was an "Oh," too, before he breathed quickly. Kelsi's grip loosened around his wrist, and he moved his hands to her face, stroking her cheek lightly, "Really?"

"Troy, I've liked you forever." Kelsi muttered, blushing slightly because of the close contact, and the fact that she admitting to feelings she had been keeping to herself forever.

"Wow…" Troy said, chuckling slightly, "I can't say the same, but I've liked you since Twinkle Town."

Kelsi smiled, her small, red lips curling. He stroked her cheek once more, before slowly leaning down, planting a kiss on her. Their first kiss. She stiffened for a second, but then moved her hands to his neck, enjoying the feeling she got in the pit of her stomach. It was slow at first, but soon turned passionate and quite heated, and they broke it off.

"You're beautiful…" Troy told her.

Kelsi turned a dark shade of red, and Troy leaned down again, capturing her in yet another kiss. She backed backwards, and sat down on the piano bench, Troy following in suit, their lips still locked.

On the ground was the black notebook, where it had fallen, opened up, on one written page. By the bottom of that page, was Troy Bolton's name written, surrounded by red hearts.

Oh then. I just realized that this was like, written straight without any breaks, but oh well. I hope it didn't get too boring. I figured I had to write this one-shot now, just because of the song and all… Ah, anyway, this was my first Trelsi. Maybe it will be my last, or maybe I'll write more in the future, I dunno, but I enjoyed writing it.

Now's the time for you guys to tell me your opinions. Was it totally awful? Should I stay away from Trelsis or just simply Kelsi centred fics? I hope I wasn't too horrible on this, but I'm looking forward to hearing your opinions. I hope you'll leave me a review, please.

I don't own High School Musical, I wish I did, but that's… unlikely, lol. I just borrowed the characters, I'll put them back now.

And OMG, I just saw HSM2... It's awesomeness! I love it. Not as good as the first one though, but I think it'll grow on me.. Yay!