CHAPTER 2 – Too Much Information
"What do you guys think about our new classmate Michelle?" Taylor asked, setting her tray of food on the table and sitting down in-between Gabriella and Chad.
"She seems kinda nice. I got no problem with her," Chad said, taking a bite off his sandwich.
"Yeah, Tay. She seems okay to me, but I can't shake this feeling that I have seen her somewhere before," Gabriella said, playing with her greens.
"I know! That's exactly what I thought of when I saw her! I just can't remember where or when," Taylor said.
"Well, whoever she is, she's is not listed in my book. I have never seen her before," Sharpay said, getting into the conversation.
"What do you mean?" Kelsi asked.
"She's wearing Dolce and Gabbana for a shirt and Calvin Klein for jeans, and she's even wearing a Gucci wristwatch! Where did this girl get that expensive of clothes?"
"Don't you have those brands of clothes in your closet too?" Taylor asked.
"Yeah, but she's got the limited edition clothes! I mean, I don't even have those! Those things cost a fortune! How in the world did she get those? And let's not forget her Jimmy Choo shoes that were in his Spring Collection! That one's very rare!"
"Now we clearly see that Sharpay is just jealous of her clothes and shoes," Kelsi said.
"I am not!"
"No need to deny it, Shar. Everyone knows how true that is," Ryan said while chewing his food.
"Ryan, you're supposed to be helping me out here."
The group laughed. Sharpay pouted at Ryan's apathy over the subject matter. Zeke tried to console Sharpay by offering her some brownies that he had baked that morning. Ryan just grabbed the brownies away from Zeke when Sharpay said she didn't want to eat it.
"What about you, Troy? You've been awfully quiet about this matter," Gaby suddenly said, looking at his boyfriend who was busy eating his lunch.
"Huh? Well, you guys didn't technically ask for my opinion so I thought I'd just keep quiet about it. But if you ask me, she seems fine with me. Normal just like most of us. I don't think I'd have any trouble with her," Troy said, still busying himself with his lunch.
"See, Shar? Even Troy agrees with us," Taylor said.
"Of course he'd agree with you. As long as Gaby says she's okay with it, Troy would say that too. Plus, I did not say that she's bad. I just said something is fishy about her. Where did she say she was from?" Sharpay asked. (AN: The movie! Haha!)
"Los Angeles, California. She studied in Los Angeles High School - no questions with that. Wonder why she moved," Ryan said.
"Maybe she got kicked out of her school," Chad side-commented.
"Maybe, she's running away from a crime," Jason said, joking.
"Okay, break it up, you guys. Let's not think about that too much, okay? As long as she's new here, might as well get to know her. Just like what Ms. Darbus had said, let's make her feel welcome. Besides, as long as she's not bothering us, let's just not let the matter of her transfer here stress us. Hey, it's a new year and our last year at East High. Let's make the most out of it, okay?" Troy said, ending the discussion about Michelle.
"Ooohhh, Captain's getting into his leader form again," Chad teased.
"Drop it, Chad," Troy said, laughing at his buddy.
Kelsi suddenly spotted a familiar face walk into the cafeteria, holding a tray of food. She whispered to Martha and Martha looked up to where Kelsi had said she spotted her. Martha told the group and all of them carefully looked to where she had pointed.
Michelle was standing a few feet away from Troy and his friends' table, holding her tray of food. She looked around for any empty chair that she could sit it. In her eyes, it seemed that everyone was not caring about her presence. Although some have already acknowledge her being there, they still did not invite her to sit anywhere near them. Michelle sighed and walked away. She left the cafeteria and decided to eat somewhere else.
Gabriella, at that moment, wanted to run after her and invite her into their table. She knew how Michelle felt because she had that feeling for the past five years of her life. But somehow, she was not able to pluck the courage to stand up. She didn't know why. Maybe it was because she was still wondering about who Michelle really was and where she saw her. She just didn't know.
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Troy was walking through the hallway of East High. He had just dropped off Gabriella to her English Literature class with Ms. Darbus. He was going to his locker to get his Math book. It was after lunch and he was off to his Math class. He walked towards his locker and swiftly opening it after getting the combination right. He grabbed his Math book and immediately closed the door of his locker. He turned around and was about to go straight for the Math room when he spotted Michelle looking around as if trying to find something. Troy glanced at the clock on the wall beside one of the rooms and to his book. He sighed and walked over to where Michelle was.
"Hi," he said. "Is there something I can help you with?"
"Oh, I was just looking for my next class. It's about to start and I'm afraid I'm kinda lost around this school," she answered, showing him the paper of what seemed to be the schedule of her classes.
"Let me see, your next class is," Troy began, looking at the paper she was holding. "Math. That's also my class."
"Really?" she asked. "Can you tell me where the room is?"
"Better yet, why don't you just come along with me? I'm about to go there anyway."
"Are you sure? I don't want to impose."
"Hey, it's no problem. We both have the same class anyway. Besides, Ms. Darbus did say to make you feel welcome. And this is my gesture. Come on, before the bell rings."
"Thanks, uhm, what…?"
"It's Troy, Troy Bolton."
"Yes, thanks, Troy. By the way, I'm Michelle. Well, I think you already know that," she said while they continued to walk through the hallway.
"I don't think I paid that much attention," Troy joked, making the two of them laugh a little. "Seriously, nice to meet you, Michelle."
"You can call me Mitch. My friends back at Los Angeles used to call me that."
"Well, Mitch is it then. Oh, here we are. So, just pick out any chair you'd want to sit in. Well, it was nice to meet you again, Mitch. I'll see you around and in class too," Troy said, smiling at her and entering the room and walking where Chad, Zeke and Jason were goofing off.
Michelle smiled at the retreating back of Troy and entered the room. She looked around and saw that everyone was busy amongst themselves. She sighed and walked towards the chair nearest the door. She scanned it over and decided that it was unoccupied. She set her books on the table and placed her bag on the chair. She sat down and stared on the blackboard. She didn't know what to do. I feel so stupid right about now.
"Okay class, sit down now," the teacher said as she entered the room, making everyone quiet down and sit down on their seats. "I'd like to tackle down Algebra today with rational equations as our first topic. To start off, a rational equation is an equation that contains at least one rational…"
Troy didn't know how long the teacher had been discussing what rational equations were. He was not paying much attention to whatever it was that she had said or was still saying. His thoughts were filled with Gabriella and about the auditions for the winter musicale. He didn't know if she'd want to try out and he wanted to ask her I she did. I should ask myself if I'd still continue with this singing.
"Okay, now, who will come up here to show their solution on this problem?" Troy heard the teacher ask. "What about you, Mr. Bolton?"
Troy immediately looked up, shocked after hearing his name being called by the teacher. He looked at her and then around the class as if asking for anyone to help him get out of this. Uh, what problem? Man, I was not paying attention.
"Well, Mister. Bolton?" the teacher asked.
"Uhm, well, Miss Hamilton, you see, I…uhm, what I…" Troy said, staggering at his words.
"Come on now, Mister. Bolton. Let's see what our Wildcat captain can do besides singing and jump shots."
"But I…"
"Come now."
Troy stood up from his seat and walked towards the board. He took the chalk that the teacher was handing him and walked closer to the board. He stared at the equation written down on it and gulped. What were we discussing again? Rational what? How the heck am I supposed to solve this?
"Miss Hamilton, may I also give my solution?" Troy suddenly heard a familiar voice ask.
"Why, of course. Go up there and help Mister. Bolton. Two minds are better than one after all," the teacher said.
Troy was now standing beside Michelle. She smiled at him and took the chalk on the teacher's table. She started to write on the board a very complicated equation that Troy and the rest of the class had no idea about. She whispered something to him and he immediately wrote, what she had said, on the board. Troy had no clue whatever it was he was writing. Whatever this is, I just hope this is right.
"Okay, now, why don't you two explain what you have done?" the teacher said after seeing them finish off their work.
Troy gulped and felt himself starting to sweat. Explain?! I don't even know what the heck this topic is all about!
"Yes, Miss," he heard Michelle say.
Troy looked beside him and saw Michelle giving him a small smile before signaling him to go over by the blackboard. He walked and stopped just beside the written solution on the board. He stood there and wondered how he was to survive it now.
"As you can see, the given problem is this (insert problem here)"
Michelle began. "The common denominator here will be x(x – 2). I can solve this equation by multiplying through on both sides of the equation by this denominator:
10
+ 4(x – 2) 5(x)
10 + 4x – 8 5x
4x
+ 2 5x
2 x
Or I can solve by converting to the common denominator and then solving the numerators:
10
+ (4x – 8) 5x
10 + 4x – 8 5x
4x
+ 2 5x
2 x
Either way, the answer is:
x2."
"Well, very good work, you two. I now know that you indeed have paid attention to my lecture. You may take your seats now," the teacher said, very impressed at their work. "And welcome to East High, Miss Richards. I have heard so much about you from the principal and my fellow teachers. Uh, yes, you over there. Is it Jason? Yes, what is it?"
"What have you heard about her, Miss Hamilton?" Jason asked, making the class groan out in annoyance.
"Well, since you have asked. Miss Richards here was a scholar student at her previous school in Los Angeles. She was the brightest of the brightest; garnering numerous recognitions and awards for most of her stay in LAHS. She was nominated valedictorian until she moved to Albuquerque, making her nomination void. She is also a gifted figure skater - competing and winning in different competitions around the country. A straight- A student and a well-behaved one too. What more can you ask for?"
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"I'd say what more I could ask for: another championship trophy this year!" Chad said, sort of answering their Math teacher's side-question a while ago.
"I don't think that's what the teacher meant by that question, Chad," Troy said.
"Whatever. Look, I don't really care whatever statistics or record hold that girl is has on her transcript. My mind's all buckled up for this year's championship game."
"Yeah, me too. But anyway, that's besides the point. Mitch totally saved my life out there! I thought I was going to go dead when the teacher suddenly called my name."
"You were obviously sweating badly in front," Zeke commented, making all four of them laugh.
"I know! Good thing she saved me from that demise. I owe her one."
"Wait, let's go back in track a few second, okay? Did you just call her 'Mitch'?" Chad suddenly asked.
"Yeah, why? What's the problem with that?"
"Since when did you start calling new kids their pet names?"
"Come one, that's low, Chad. I just happened to have talked to her on the way to class and she told me to call her by that name since her friends used to call her that. It's nothing!"
"Okay, let me rephrase that: Since when did you start becoming her friend?"
"What's wrong with being her friend?"
"Three freaky genius friends are already enough for us, Troy. Don't add one more."
"First of all, Gaby is not a freaky genius girl, neither is Taylor and Martha; they're just really smart and hard-working. And Taylor is seriously going to hear about this. Second, she is definitely not freaky. She's just like us, Chad! She's normal. Last, let's not go into dumb and dumber mode again, dude. We all know she's not so bad."
"I understand your reasoning, but I'm still not convinced about this Michelle girl. But I give up on trying to argue with you. It's your call anyway, Captain."
"Okay, you gotta stop getting into that basketball player mode. I'm the son of Jack Bolton and I was given a name by my parents. It's called Troy, understand?"
The four of them laughed out loud and continued on to their respective classes. Troy smiled all the way to his class. It was almost end of the day and Gabriella promised that she would watch a movie with him that afternoon at his house. He just couldn't wait.