DISCLAIMER: The only character I own is "Lauren." I based her a little on myself. All the other characters do not belong to me.
The first day of school is always very stressful and nervewrecking, and for Lauren Stephans, it was no different. East High was the typical American high school and Lauren was eager and excited to start school there. She got to school early and saw tons of kids scattered around the front of the school, chattering quickly. The bell rang and Lauren checked her schedule and headed to room 101 for homeroom. When she walked in she saw a blonde woman standing at the front of the room, whom she assumed was Ms. Darbus, her homeroom and drama teacher. She handed her admissions paper to her and looked around the room.
The walls were plastered with posters from past school musical productions, including one with a picture of two students, entitled "Twinkle Town." As she looked around at the other students in class she saw that the class was split into groups. She graciously took a seat in the back and sat quietly until Ms. Darbus called the attention of the students. They all sat quietly as Ms. Darbus started speaking.
"Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to East High. We have a new student this year, Miss Lauren Stephans," said Ms. Darbus, pointing towards Lauren, "In addition to that exciting news, I am pleased to announce that this years musicale will be called "Forbidden" and will feature a new score by Kelsi Nielson, who, I may remind you, also composed the music for last year's hit. Auditions begin next week, Monday, during free period. I hope to see you there."
With that, the bell rang and everyone jumped from their seat, getting ready to go to their next classes. Lauren slowly gathered her things when a shadow slowly crept over her. She looked up and saw a very attractive blonde boy standing over her. She stood up to face him and smiled.
He held out his hand, "Lauren Stephans?"
Lauren nodded, "Yes…"
"I'm Ryan Evans," the boy shook her hand, "Nice to meet you."
"Likewise," said Lauren kindly.
"What classes do you have?" asked Ryan, cocking his head to see her schedule.
She handed it to him and he quickly skimmed over it.
"Hm, we have most of our classes together," he smiled widely.
"Oh, cool."
The two of them walked down the hall together and headed for the math room, since they both had Algebra 2 next. When they arrived in class, Lauren sat down and Ryan sat in the desk next to hers. Halfway through the class, Lauren felt something slide under her arm. She looked to see a note. She looked around cautiously to make sure no one was looking and opened it carefully. She read it intently:
Hey, my sister, friends, and I all sit at the table on the balcony for lunch, want to join us?
Lauren smiled and quickly scribbled back "sure!" before tossing the note onto Ryan's desk. Minutes later another note came whizzing in her direction:
Do you sing?
Lauren read it and looked at him. He shrugged and silently urged her to answer. She wrote back:
I've done a bit of singing. Not much though. I was in a few school plays, no big parts though. I saw that you star in most. Very impressive, ;-)
She heard Ryan chuckle as he read the note. When the bell signaled it was lunch time, Ryan and Lauren headed to the cafeteria together. They bought lunch, Ryan showing Lauren the ropes, and then he led her to the lunch table where she saw most of the kids she had seen in homeroom. Most were separated into couples: there was a beautiful blonde girl sitting on the lap of what looked like a jock. One girl reading a chemistry book sat next to a boy with a basketball, while another couple sat cuddled up, paying attention to nothing but themselves. Lastly, there were two more people, but they didn't seem to be involved. The boy sat twirling a basketball on his finger and was reading what looked like sheet music, while the girl was studying her algebra 2 book intently.
They all looked up as they saw Ryan and Lauren approaching. They stopped in front of the table and Ryan put his arm around her, "Guys, this is Lauren."
Everyone waved a friendly "hello" and Ryan proceeded to introduce everyone.
The blonde girl was Ryan's sister, Sharpay, and her boyfriend was Zeke. The girl with the chemistry book was Taylor, who sat with her basketball-playing boyfriend, Chad. The couple huddled up in the corner was Kelsi and Jason, and the girl reading her algebra 2 book was Gabriella. Lastly, Ryan introduced Lauren to Troy, the boy with the sheet music.
Lauren sat next to Troy and couldn't stop staring at him. He was really hot, with gorgeous blue eyes you could drown in. He gave her a friendly smile and then went back to his music. Lauren studied everyone carefully and ate her lunch, excited for the rest of the year.
The next day, Lauren showed up and school and went to her locker to get her books for her morning classes.
"Good morning!" shouted Ryan from behind her, causing Lauren to jump a little.
Lauren and Ryan both laughed and Sharpay walked up to them, "Hey, so Lauren, you interested in musical theatre?"
Lauren shrugged, "Yeah, I guess. I've never really gotten very good parts. But I am taking drama this year so maybe that will help."
Both Ryan and Sharpay nodded in agreement. Lauren glanced over their shoulders and saw Troy and Gabriella talking some ways down the hall.
"What's up with the two of them?" she asked casually nodding at them.
Sharpay sighed, "They were together for a while after the show last year but Gabriella met some guy over the summer and cheated on Troy. I felt so bad. He was so sweet to her…never deserved it, the bitch."
"They are friendly though," said Ryan positively.
Lauren's smile faded as she watched a tall, dark guy come over and whisk Gabriella out of sight, leaving Troy alone. He looked up and caught her gaze, then turned and headed in the other direction.
The bell rang and Sharpay left Ryan and Lauren standing there.
"We'd better get to class," Ryan said.
Lauren agreed and they dashed to English, a class they also shared with Troy. Lauren sat in a desk across the room from him and Ryan sat next to her. Lauren couldn't help but stare at Troy admiringly. She loved the way he looked, everything about him, but she knew she couldn't have him.
She turned her attention back to her English book, but occasionally kept glancing back at him. After class, she and Ryan walked to their next class, which they also had together.
Lauren loved having Ryan with her all the time. He was so sweet and she couldn't help but notice he was pretty good-looking and a very talented singer, she learned. Ryan had also convinced her to audition for the musical the next week and offered to help in anyway possible. He was turning into her best friend and in the time she wasn't thinking about Troy, Ryan was the one on her mind.
During lunch Ryan and Sharpay, as co-presidents of the drama club, had a meeting with Ms. Darbus, so Lauren had to go to the cafeteria on her own. She quickly bought her lunch and headed to the table on the balcony and saw Taylor, Chad, Zeke, Jason, Kelsi, and Troy sitting at the table as usual. Lauren waved hello and sat down quietly next to Troy.
"Hey," he said quietly.
Lauren looked up from her lunch, "Hi."
"So…what you doing here in Albequerque?"
"Um…my parents decided it'd be a good idea to move here. I don't know, random," she giggled.
He laughed, "Yeah…so you and Ryan are getting pretty close…you know, for two days."
Lauren smiled, "Yeah, he's a good guy.'
"You auditioning for the musical?"
"Yeah, actually. Ryan is helping me out."
Troy smiled, " Same with me. If you need any help, let me know."
"Thanks."
Lauren and Troy went back to their lunches and then went their separate ways to class afterwards, where Lauren was relieved to catch up with Ryan in drama. The class went smoothly, with Ryan staying with Lauren the entire time. At the end of class, Ryan would not stop complimenting her on her performance with Louis, another kid in the class. Even Sharpay said she did a good job, as well as Ms. Darbus.
After school Ryan and Lauren met up with Sharpay, Zeke, and Troy to discuss their evening plans. Sharpay and Zeke had plans so Troy, Ryan, and Lauren decided to go see a movie, something that excited Lauren to no end. Ryan drove Lauren home and said he'd come pick her up at six.
Lauren ran up to her room and immediately started getting ready, however, she was unsure of who she was trying to impress…
Ryan or Troy?