So yes, I absolutely LOVE LOVE LOVE the play "Westside Story", and I've been watching/listening to it so much lately I decided to write an East High version of it. And it's summer, so I'm in a camp mood. Summer Musicals really are the most fun; you learn a lot about people and everyone gets really close It's pretty intense, but extremely fun. I've been having fun writing new fanfics incorporating other movies lately…Anyways, enjoy. Remember to R&R!!!!!
Chapter One: Screaming on the Inside
It was the first time I had heard Ryan Evans scream. I'd heard him whisper, talk, sing, and on a rare occasion yell, but never scream. Tears streamed down his face as he screamed at the top of his lung capability, sobbing in between blood-chilling shrieks, curled up in a miserable ball on the gym floor. None of us knew what had happened. A bunch of the guys had been playing a friendly game of basketball, and Chad had become over-enthusiastic. While playing on the defensive, he collided with Ryan and come crashing down onto of him.
Chad had popped right up and offered a hand to Ryan, but was shocked to find him still lying flat on his back, screaming. At first we all thought Ryan was just being himself and over-dramatizing everything, but even the best actor in the world would not be able to produce such life-like sobbing.
"Ryan?" Chad asked timidly. Ryan kept right on screaming, his eyes clamped tight shut. Jason panicked and ran back into the locker rooms.
"COACH BOLTON!" There was really no need to do so; my dad had already started running inside when he heard screams coming from the gym. He knelt down next to Ryan, and tried to get him to calm down. I heard people running out of their classrooms and towards the gym. Quite a crowd was collecting in the doorway of the gym.
"Zeke, call 911," my dad said with a very pale face. "Chad." He popped to attention. "Tell me what happened"
"We were just playing friendly basketball, sir, and I accidentally landed on Ryan"
"Sending all 155 pounds directly onto his chest, I bet," my dad grumbled, sighing. "Ryan, where does it hurt?" Ryan had stopped screaming by now, and was biting his lip, obviously in excruciating pain. I saw blood seeping from his white lip. My stomach turned over; I hated seeing other people's blood. My dad slowly prodded Ryan's chest until he brushed against a lower rib and Ryan yelped loudly, tears springing to his eyes again. "Okay, I guess we found the problem area"
It was a very silent school that watched Ryan get gently lifted onto a stretcher and transported off to the ambulance, my dad going along with him for the ride.
"Where's Sharpay?" Zeke made almost everyone jump.
Where was Sharpay? I combed through the crowd with my eyes and did not find the Ice Queen anywhere. Had she not heard the agonizing screams? Did she not care that her twin had just broken a rib?
I, of course, was elected to go find her and break the news. I found her striking our last play with fellow drama geeks in the auditorium, ordering about terrified freshman while Darbus oversaw the clean up.
"Sharpay!" I bellowed. She, not surprisingly, completely ignored me.
"IF YOU DROP THOSE COSTUMES I WILL SKIN YOU ALIVE!" she hollered at a retreating form, and then turned a glittering smile to me. "How may I help you, Troy?"
"Well, I just thought you should know what happened to Ryan." She wasn't listening. Unconsciously pruning herself, she fixed her crooked shirt and yelled another command at lower classmen.
"Sorry; what about who?"
"Ryan, your twin. He had an accident." That caught her attention.
"AN ACCIDENT?" The entire auditorium was brought to a standstill. "WHAT KIND OF ACCIDENT? WILL HE BE ABLE TO DANCE FOR TRYOUTS???"
"Considering he broke a rib or two, I kind of doubt it," I stated blatantly. She stared.
"He broke a rib?????" I winced. She didn't have to shout to make you feel terrified. "How did this happen??"
"He was playing basketball with some of us guys-"
"Excuse me?"
"I said, he was playing basketball with some of us guys-"
"Excuse me?"
"What do you mean, 'excuse me'?" I snapped, annoyed with her rude interruption.
"My brother does NOT play basketball. Try restating that sentence in a sensible way." How stuck up could a girl get?
"Umm, he actually was playing basketball with us, for fun, and wasn't half-bad. The point is that Chad accidentally landed on him and broke his rib." I spit all this out before she could interrupt me again.
"Mr. Evans has broken a rib?" Way to be late on the draw, Darbus. "Am I safe to assume that he will not be dancing in the tryouts?"
"He won't be able to do very much dancing for several weeks," I pointed out, remembering when my older brother had broken his own a number of years before.
"Then it's safe to say my brother will not be auditioning at all"
Both Darbus and I gawked at her. "You're not going to try out with Ryan at all?" I said, amazed. "But he will still be able to sing, and y'all have been performing together since-"
"I don't care!! I will not have my brother ruining my chances of become the lead! All he's good for is dancing, and since he can not dance, I don't need him." Ouch. Glad Ryan wasn't around to hear that. "Just leave my name on the list and erase Ryan's…I've always wanted to go solo anyways." And with that, Sharpay stormed off, leaving a thunderstruck drama teacher and jock in her wake.
How would Ryan take the news that he was no longer needed for tryouts? It made my brain hurt even considering Ryan up on stage all by himself…and not dancing. It also hurt thinking of Sharpay all by herself. It seemed so impossible. Ryan was the jazz, Sharpay was the crowd-pleaser. Ryan was all talent, Sharpay was all show.
But then, why was I complaining? With the duo split up, Gabriella and I would be guaranteed a definite spot in the summer musical coming up. School would be over in one week, but pretty much all of the drama students would be coming back to summer camp.
As far back as I could remember East High had had summer musicals. For $200, you could go to a sleep-away camp at a college campus and spend seven weeks of your summer working on a musical. This would be the first year for me to go, but then I had only last year become interested in musical theatre. It was the summer before my senior year; I had tried out for the musical with Gabriella when we were sophomores, and we had starred in every musical since. Last summer we worked at the Country Club, but now we were going to try something new; the summer musical.
This year was Westside Story. Much as I would hate to admit it to anyone, I was not at all worried about getting the starring role. I had gotten the parts I wanted in the spring musical, fall musical, winter musical, and the next spring musical. You might say my confidence was fairly boosted.
So I was pretty pumped that Saturday morning, waiting for the buses; 6 o'clock though it was. School was out, and I had an insane, long, fun musical to look forward to. Kelsi had told me earlier in the year that the summer musicals were always the most fun. Gabriella was unbelievably awake and peppy for the early hour, just like me—but the rest of the drama students were still asleep.
I could see the twins approaching, Ryan tugging four rolling suitcases behind him, and what looked like a well-used dance bag slung over one shoulder.
"Pack much, dude?" I laughed, shaking my head at all the luggage.
"No," he gasped for breath. "Three of them are Sharpay's. I brought one and the bag." Big surprise there.
"Need some help there?" I asked, seeing him clutch his chest and set them down for a minute. It was bandaged and wrapped, but still gave him a lot of trouble.
"Oh no, it's fine; I got it." Wincing, he grabbed the suitcases again and deposited them by the large charter bus. Sharpay was already inside sitting with some friends, not bothering to trouble herself with pulling her own junk. I helped shove my own suitcase underneath the bus and climbed on. I saw Ryan sit by some fellow blonde dancer buddy—Wes, I think his name was, and he looked almost like a "Ryan-wanna-be", nice shirts, hats and everything—and I sat down next to Gabriella.
"Excited?"
"Very," she beamed, looking prettier than ever in a white tank top and a skirt made out of ties. "This is going to be so much fun!" I nodded, grinning at her.
"Do you have any idea what song we should try out with?"
"Maybe something from the play this time …like 'Tonight'"
"Umm, the auditions are tomorrow…."
"Have you never seen 'Westside Story'??" I shook my head, feeling very stupid. "A song in that play sung by the two main characters is 'Tonight'. I was saying we should sing that song"
"…Right"
She rolled her eyes. "Honestly, Troy, sometimes I worry about you"
"Oh thanks." I stuck my tongue out at her. She stuck hers back. Good thing our relationship was so grown up.
We arrived at Fine Arts University of Roswell at about four in the afternoon A/E: I completely made up this college campus, so the few colleges I've had camps at I don't remember/know the campuses well enough to give accurate details. So I decided to completely make one up I also wanted a long bus ride, since that's what I always have to put up with, but I have no idea how long it takes to get from Albuquerque to place, so if y'all find a city the accurate distance away, please tell me, haha). By then we had gone through three Pringles cans, five cans of soda, and eight rolls of Mentos, and the entire bus was ready to stretch their legs. Darbus called roll and led us over to the orientation, saying we could get our luggage later. We had to endure a forty minute lecture by the head of the camp and our drama teacher.
Then we were dismissed to go find our assigned rooms in the dorms. The boys had the Oz Dorm, and the girls Sherwood Forest Dorm (all of them were named after Disney places, for some odd reason). I glanced at the piece of paper we had all been given, and looked up at the top where Darbus had scrawled our room numbers. 512. I paid the Dorm R.A. $15 deposit (if I returned the key safely I would get the money back) and rode the elevator up to the top floor.
The room was already unlocked when I reached it. To my great surprise, I saw Ryan Evans straightening the blue and brown sheets stretched neatly over one of the two mattresses. His unzipped red suitcase and beat-up black dance bag (reading Ryan C. T. Evans in big, bright blue, cursive letters) lay on the ground nearby.
"You're my roommate?" I gaped. He glanced up, shrugged, and finished his nurse's corner (a way you can tuck sheets around the bed that I thought only my mother did).
"I guess so." I had hoped to share a room with someone like Kevin, who played lacrosse, but evidently not. He pulled out his pillow (also blue and brown) and fluffed it slightly. Not knowing what else to do, I also unzipped my duffle and dragged out my huge brown sleeping bag. Feeling incredibly stupid, I spread it across the bed and pulled out my moss green pillow.
I glanced down at his dance bag again. Ryan C. T. Evans. My curiosity got the better of me.
"What does C. T. stand for?"
"Christopher Thomas. I have two middle names." Feeling stupider than ever with his short answers, I went into the bathroom to change into something more comfy. When I came back, Ryan had neatly packed away all of his folded clothing in drawers, arranged his books and notepads on his desk, and hung up some nicer shirts. It was ridiculous how neat he was.
Unable to deal with the silence, I wandered back downstairs to try and find Gabriella. Once I found her, I spilled to her my grievances with my roommate.
"Just because he's neat and you're not doesn't mean you need to throw a hissy-fit," she giggled, strolling with me through the campus; dinner wasn't for a good two hours. "You're going to have to make the best of it"
"He's going to drive me crazy," I moaned, running my hands through my hair. "Who'd you get paired with?"
"Sharpay, so count your blessings; you got the better half." I couldn't help but laugh. She was very right about that.
I decided to give Gabriella's suggestion a chance; try to make the best of it. Ryan really wasn't half-bad; actually, he was downright sweet. It shouldn't be too hard getting to know him.
After dinner, everyone retired to the dorm common rooms, and later to their own rooms. Ryan had gone straight to our room, unlike everyone else. I came in to find him sitting cross-legged on his bed in his pajamas, his head bent over something.
"Whatcha lookin' at?" I asked. When he glanced up at me, I blinked in surprise. He was wearing silver-rimmed glasses—and was actually pulling them off very well.
"Just music for the tryouts," he responded, and I was relieved to see him grin. "I have to practice on my own now that Sharpay doesn't want me anymore." I suddenly realized how plastered his grin seemed; like someone had glued it onto his unwilling face.
"What are you doing to sing?"
"That you'll have to wait until tryouts to find out." With that, he tucked away the music in a folder, grabbed a thick book of the side table, and flipped to a page around the middle.
"You…like to read?" I felt like a loser asking him so many questions, but I was curious—he always managed to suprise me.
Ryan chuckled. "Yes; don't you?"
"No, I hate reading," I laughed. "Can't stand the stuff. I gotta admit, I didn't picture you much of a reader"
He shrugged. "Sharpay doesn't like reading either, but now that she isn't here, I am free to read all I want." I shook my head.
"Gabriella's the one to talk to about books; way out of my league." He smiled, and returned to his novel. I recalled how ticked off Gabbi would get at me if I talked to her while she was reading a good book; and Ryan seemed pretty absorbed, so I plugged in my headphones and went into the bathroom to change.
I dared one last peek at the spine of the book. War and Peace. Rolling my eyes heavenward, I closed the bathroom door. Those Evans were so odd.
Tuesday afternoon was auditions. Gabriella and I had practiced "Tonight" so many times that when we stepped onto stage there was no doubt in my mind we would land the roles of Tony and Maria. Even though I am normally not prideful, I couldn't stop grinning when we took our final bow, knowing we had done perfectly.
Sharpay made up for the fact she was alone on stage by all of her glam. My eyes watered when the stage lights hit all of her jewelry dead on. I think the entire audience was blinded.
And then it was Ryan. He looked very empty on stage, all by his lonesome self. It occurred to me I had barely ever seen him walk anywhere by himself. Come to think of it, he had never done anything by himself; singing, dancing, walking, whatever. Instead of his usual nice shirts and pressed pants, he wore dark jeans and black jacket A/E: If any of y'all have seen "Return to Halloweentown", it's the one he wears in the classroom scene when they're writing their papers). He slowly took the mike off the stand and motioned Grayson, who was controlling the sound booth, to start the music. Ryan sang a song very familiar and rather on the old side; but unlike all of the other people, the audience remained dead quiet during the entire song—just listening.
I have often dreamed
Of a far off place
Where a hero's welcome
Would be waiting for me
Where the crowds will cheer
When they see my face
And a voice keeps saying
"This is where I'm meant to be"
I'll be there someday
I can go the distance
I will find my way
If I can be strong
I know ev'ry mile
Will be worth my while
When I go the distance
I'll be right where I belong
Down an unknown road
To embrace my fate
Though the road may wander
It will lead me to you
And a thousand years
Would be worth the wait
It may take a lifetime
But somehow I'll see it through
And I won't look back
I can go the distance
And I'll stay on track
No I won't accept defeat
It's an uphill slope
But I won't lose hope
Till I go the distance
And my journey is complete
But to look beyond the glory is the hardest part
For a hero's strength is measured by his heart
Like a shooting star
I can go the distance
I will search the world
I will face its harms
I don't care how far
I can go the distance
Till I find my hero's welcome
Waiting in your arms...
I will search the world
I will face its harms
Till I find my hero's welcome
Waiting in your arms...
No one spoke. I don't think anyone even breathed. I had had no idea Ryan Evans could sing like that. His voice was so clear, so perfect…so goddamn beautiful. Why on earth did he settle to sing with his sister? She wasn't even half as great a singer as him. I looked back at Sharpay. I saw to some satisfaction that even her eyes were slightly larger than normal; I don't think she knew how good her brother was either.
Ryan just stood there on the stage, breathing deeply and clutching his sore chest; waiting for Darbus's evaluation.
The slight joke that I'm sure pretty much all of you got was that Lucas Grabeel actually did a remix (well, he redid it) of the song "Go the Distance. It is already such a pretty song and Lucas did a fantastic job on it. In case you haven't heard it (you poor deprived child), here's the link:
haven't really decided exactly where this story is going yet, so I need your help! Tips, opinions, advice, w/e, please R&R!