Hi! -waves- This is my oneshot for the Fireplace Writing Challenge #3, The Butterfly Effect. If you wanna know more, visit The Fireplace, which is the first forum under "General Forums." Anyways, the changed event is that, when Ms. Darbus walks out, Kelsi doesn't fall. It seems small, but just you wait.

Anyways, read on!

Disclaimer: I do not own High School Musical

It was simple, really. It was just a fall. Most people would be glad if it didn't happen to them. But for Troy Bolton and Gabriella Montez, it was probably the most important fall of their lives.

x

Ms. Darbus had just let Troy and Gabriella know that they were too late to auditon, and had left in a flourish.

Troy and Gabriella stood, Gabriella looking slightly heartbroken, Troy looking regretful.

Kelsi looked on at Troy and Gabriella, biting her lip. The pair seemed to fit together, and somehow, Kelsi knew that they could sing. Sing well, to be more specific.

Gabriella was the shy new girl, but looking at the look on her face, she had really wanted to audition, but was afraid of doing it in front of all the other auditionees.

Troy. Who in East High hadn't heard of Troy? He was captain of the basketball team, he was dead popular. But the look on his face when Ms. Darbus left the room…he was really hoping to sing with Gabriella.

Kelsi tried to say something, but somehow, the words wouldn't come out. She opened her mouth to say something, anything at all, but the second she did, Troy and Gabriella started to walk out. Kelsi sighed. Walking on, she made her way to her locker, and went to her next class.

x

All through her next class, Kelsi couldn't concentrate. While her social studies teacher droned on and on about some depressing war, Kelsi was thinking about her show. Her only hope of keeping her show the way she had written it had been Troy and Gabriella. But now, the only people Ms. Darbus would pick were Sharpay and Ryan Evans. Ryan was decent, in her opinion, actually, he was rather cute.

Sharpay, on the other hand, was not. She would completely change everything about the show. She would want more lines, more stage time, more solos. She would completely change the lyrics of the songs, because they were "not appropriate for her talent." She would change the tunes, the rhythms, the pace, the chords. Sure, she could sing and act. But if her show was going to be anything like Sharpay and Ryan's audition, then she would be well off just handing the script over to the drama queen.

She wished, she hoped that somehow, maybe, by a miracle, Sharpay and Ryan wouldn't get the parts.

Maybe she could talk to Ms. Darbus about letting Troy and Gabriella audition still. She could just imagine it. "Hey Ms. Darbus, I know Troy and Gabriella were late to the audition, but I think they'll be really good. Can you still let them audition?"

The drama teacher would laugh, then walk off.

Someone poked Kelsi in the back. It was Sharpay. Kelsi's heart soared. Maybe she was going to tell her that she wanted to concentrate more on schoolwork, and wouldn't do the callbacks! Then, a pile of papers got passed toward her. Sighing, Kelsi added her own homework to the pile, then passed it to the person sitting in front of her.

x

Troy was in the gym, shooting free throws. Or to be more specific, he was trying to shoot free throws. Usually, he got almost every single one he tried to throw into the basket. If he missed more than three, it would be an off day for him.

Today, he would be lucky if he made three.

There was only one person on his mind today, and that person was named Gabriella Montez. He held the basketball, held the ball at the perfect angle, and threw off course, all because of the one girl on his mind.

He would never forget her. He barely knew her, but he knew that she was something special to him.

Then, a rather glorious thought came to him. Maybe he could ask her out. But he was a basketball player. And basketball players, at least at East High, only dated cheerleaders. And even though he was captain of the basketball team, he hated that. He didn't want to date a cheerleader who didn't mean anything to him. He wanted to date Gabriella. But, he knew that that wouldn't happen.

Sighing, he tried to make a basket.

He missed.

x

Gabriella was sitting at home, doing (or trying to do) her AP chemistry homework. Usually, she whipped through it a half hour.

Today, she had started at 4:30. It was 5:58 right now.

She couldn't stop thinking about him. Troy Bolton. On the outside, he was a star basketball player. On the inside, he was a closet singer.

For the last one and a half hours, he had been basically, the only thing she had been thinking about. Looking down at her sheet, she realized that she had completed only a half of the ten questions she was supposed to be researching.

Gabriella groaned, and walked over to the computer. Instead of typing Ti in the search engine, like the worksheet told her to, she started to type Tb.

"Stupid Troy Bolton," she muttered to herself. He would never like her. And even if he did, he was a jock. He wouldn't go out with a nerd like herself.

Sighing, she went back to her worksheet. That was at 6:02.

She finished at 7:21.

x

Kelsi woke up the next day, and came to school early to check the call board. Why she had, she had no clue. There were only two people who were going to get the lead parts, and completely change the show she had worked so hard to perfect.

Going over to the drama corner, she looked at the callboard. Callbacks for Twinkle Town. (For the lead roles Arnold and Minnie) Sharpay Evans and Ryan Evans, it read.

Kelsi closed her eyes and sighed. This cannot be happening. There was no way Ryan and Sharpay wouldn't get the parts. Suddenly, she felt faint. Why, she had no clue. She had eaten protein for breakfast, hadn't she? But her head was spinning, and holding her backpack in her arms, she fainted, and fell, lying on the floor.

x

"Kelsi?"

"Is she awake?"

"What happened?"

"I don't know, I think she just fainted and fell."

"Or she fell and fainted."

"It doesn't matter. We just need to get her to the nurse."

At that, Kelsi opened her eyes. The nurse? She hated going to the doctors, nurses, or anything that involved the medical field. She opened her eyes, and looked at the people standing above her.

"Troy? Gabriella? What are you doing together?"

Troy and Gabriella looked at each other. "Kelsi, we've been together ever since the callbacks. Anyways, are you okay?" They looked concerned.

The callbacks? And then it came rushing back to her. She had fallen during the callbacks, Troy and Gabriella had come rushing to help her. They had sung her song the way it was meant to be sung, and they had gotten a callback, and eventually the parts. The status quo had been broken.

"I'm fine," she mumbled. "I don't need to go to the nurse, but a glass of water would be nice."

As she got up, she remembered the dream. Had her falling been so important? If she hadn't fallen, would none of this have happened? Would she not have these important people in her life? She shuddered at the very thought. As Gabriella handed her a glass of water, she told Kelsi, "You must have been somewhat conscious, and having a bad dream or something. You were shaking the whole time."

"No, it wasn't a dream," Kelsi replied. "It was a nightmare."

Yep, that was so not my best work. It seemed too short. It's probably the most angstiest thing I've written.

Anyways, please review!

-Susmita B-) :D