Disclaimer: Don't own. Don't bother asking.


02.

Jake Ryan - Mr. Popular Actor; Jake groaned at the thought of his popularity as he walked into the halls of East High. Usually, he'd enjoy the fawning of his fans ... but she got him thinking - really thinking about being normal. What would it be like to be normal? How would it be like to be normal? His mind wandered those questions as he took a seat in the back of the classroom while Mrs. Darbus introduced him to the class- not that he didn't enjoy the attention; he just wanted to think. His thoughts were, however, interrupted - "Hi, I'm Sharpay Evans. Welcome to East High."

"Hi," Jake quickly replied.

"So, I hear you're a famous movie star. Maybe you would like to check our drama club. I'm president of it," Sharpay revealed.

"I'm a president too," Ryan chirped up from a nearby seat.

"Yeah...sounds great. Maybe sometime," Jake quickly replied again. "Great, more acting references," Jake thought to himself. As Sharpay blabbed more and more about the drama club, Jake tried his best to smile and nod, without really paying attention.

Ryan watched as Sharpay mindlessly droned on and on about the drama club to Mr. Jake Ryan. While Sharpay focused on droning on and on about it, Ryan noticed something in Jake. No, it wasn't something that a normal person would notice - not at all. It was something that you could notice if you were a good actor; Jake was a good actor, because it took Ryan a total of four and half minutes to discover he was seriously not paying any attention to Sharpay's drabble. A smirk tugged at Ryan's lips; maybe he and the superstar aren't that much different.

"Psst," He whispered, trying to not voice over Sharpay's voice, "You're not paying any attention to her, huh?"

Jake blinked a few times before thinking - 'Finally, someone with common sense.'

"Hey, what are you two whispering about?" Sharpay angrily asked.

"Oh, um, Ryan was just telling how big a fan he was of 'Zombie High' weren't you, Ryan?" Jake said, glancing quickly at Ryan.

"Uh...yeah, I was just asking him for his autograph," Ryan quickly added.

"Uh…okay. So, anyways, would you like to come see us rehearse after school," Sharpay asked.

"Uh... yeah. Sure. Why not." Jake answered and faked smiled, hoping that it would shut Sharpay up; after all, he was getting tired of hearing about acting.

"Great!" Sharpay clasped her hands together and beamed. "So we have rehearsals from --" Before another word could be spoke, the bell rang. Jake sighed in relief as he thought cliché like, 'Saved by the bell.'

Jake looked at his schedule - Physical Education. 'Great,' he thought to himself, 'I get to run around with a bunch sweaty guys in the same tacky outfit, what else could be better than this?' He shook his head at his thoughts; he can't think that way anymore. He has to learn how to be normal. Normal guys like to sweat. Normal guys like the tacky outfits. Normal guys ...

"Hey, you're new right?" Jake turned around to come face to face with East High's most talked about athlete - Troy Bolton, "I'm Troy."

"Hi, Troy. I'm Jake Ryan, nice to meet you," Jake answered in the friendliest tone he could offer at the moment.

"Pleasure's all mine, so have you gotten familiar with our school, I could show you around later," Troy offered.

'Great, being showed around by a guy...wait, or is that normal?' Jake wondered in his head. "Um, thanks, but I'm sure I can manage," Jake answered.

"Okay, so do you play any sports?" Troy asked. Jake looked at Troy like he was crazy. Did he really expect a celebrity like him to run around in the same tacky uniform as other boys and get as sweaty as them?

"Of course I d – "Jake stopped. Normal boys play sports don't they? And she wants him to try being a normal boy. "Of course I do." Jake restated with the most convincing smile he could put on - despite how he really felt.

"Really? Cool. What sport do you play?"

Sport? What sports were there? Jake began to list some of the sports he saw on television: Baseball; Nope, can't hit the ball for crap. Soccer; Great, more running. Definitely no. Football - Could there be anything more disturbing? Tackling and sweating, so no. Swimming - Share the pool with commoners? No, thank you. Basketball - Some sweating, some running. This could work. Jake nodded at his mental list and quickly said – "I totally own at basketball. When that rock is my hands, you don't know what I could do with it."

He smirked at this; his acting really did improve from the last time he checked. One problem, he didn't notice the glow in Troy's eyes. "Dude, you have to try out for basketball with us."