Why I Love You

Chapter 3: The Mother Lode Weirdest Of All Things Weird

Summary: Jason's POV. Work This Out through I Don't Dance. Sorry it took so long, I just got a new computer and the Internet hasn't been up. I hope this is worth the wait though. I'll post really soon to make up for the delay!

I GOT A JOB! I GET TO MAKE MONEY! I CAN AFFORD TO TAKE KELSI OUT INSTEAD OF COOKING A REALLY BAD MEAL THAT SHE PRETENDS TO LIKE!!!! There's one problem: I don't think anyone likes my boss. He was saying something to Kelsi a couple seconds ago and she gave him a look. Wait, he's talking to me!

"Miss Evans, would you care for lemonade?" he asks me. What the hell is a lemonod? And why is he calling me Miss Evans? That's Sharpay, not me!

"Actually, I'm not Miss Evans, I'm Jason," I say, holding out my hand. Everyone makes a face. The same one they made when I told them my suspicions about Troy and Gabriella. Guess they didn't think our boss was an idiot, huh? I sure showed him.

Gabriella is here now but I'm not looking at her. I'm looking at Kelsi. She's got a look on her face, the one she has when she's thinking about music. I walk over to her and take her hat off. She looks at me, smiles, then takes the hat and puts it on my head. She takes her hat back then gestures to Fulton (our boss).

"Three infractions of any kind and your employment is terminated," he's saying. "Chop chop chop!" and he walks out. Three infractions! What's an infraction? I ask Kelsi. "Three mistakes," she explains. Three mistakes! I make three mess-ups in one day, let alone a whole summer! Troy's saying something about looking on the bright side. Whatever. Then Chad cuts in.

"How did we get to the top of the world, to the bottom of heap?"

"I don't recall you mentioning the boss was such a creep," Taylor says. Well, Taylor, he's not that creepy! I think. Okay, well, maybe he is.

"We still have the ingredients to make this summer sweet," Zeke says. Oh, climb a tree Zeke!

"I've got rags instead of riches!" Martha cuts in.

"And all these dirty dishes!" I add.

"Just wish," Kelsi starts.

"I had three wishes!" we all finish. Now Troy's going on about working things out. He's so happy sometimes, it's annoying! I'm going to go up to say something, but Taylor's up there with Martha. Yesterday, Taylor threatened my life so I'm staying away from her. Oh good, they're done talking.

"I need the Benjamins, but this ain't worth the stress," I say.

"Maybe there's a better way to fix this place's mess," Kelsi and Zeke say. I love that my girlfriend and best friends are cool with each other. Troy's talking again, but now Kelsi's listening. Dang it, I have to listen to.

"If we all come together, we can work this out."

"Let's work it!" Now everyone's saying what they want. "It'll be so sweet," I say.

"Gonna make some motion pictures," everyone says what they want.

"So can we work this out?" Troy asks.

"Yeah, I guess," Chad relents.

Later on, I'm cleaning dishes like crazy when I hear Kelsi's song. I go to the backroom to check it out. She's sitting there, playing her song when she looks up and notices me.

"Hey Jason, what's up?" she asks.

"I heard the music. Did you finish it?" I ask her.

"Yeah, thanks to you. Listen," she commands and starts playing. The song is so beautiful. When she's done, she looks at me. "What do you think?" she asks me.

"That was…beautiful," I say, at a loss for words.

"Well I had some good inspiration. The only thing is I need to change the key, but after that it's ready," she says.

"Why would you need to change the key? It's perfect for Troy's range," I say.

"Well…I was thinking someone else could sing it," she says.

"You mean Chad?"

"No."

"Oh! Zeke!"

"No."

"Well then who?" I feel really confused. What other guy was here? She just kept smiling at me. Then it dawned on me. "Oh no! No! NO! I'm not singing in front of a bunch of people Do you know how scary that is? I've got major stage fright. I'm actually a lot better at basketball then I let on I just don't want to be the center of attention. No. I'll sing back up, let Troy sing the main part," I blurt out. She looks crestfallen.

"I guess," she says.

"I'll sing back up! And...if it'll make you happy...I'll...bake some brownies for you," I mumble. She brightens up.

"Okay!" she smiles. I love to see Kelsi smile. I know, me, make brownies? Yeah, well I've been friends with Zeke for a long time. We've all been friends for a long time. I just thought that Zeke could make brownies, cake, and cookies. I didn't think about all that other stuff. Anyways, I learned how to make killer good brownies by watching Zeke. Kelsi loves them; she forces me to make them all the time. Nobody else knows, so don't tell anyone.

I lean in to give her a quick kiss goodbye since she has to play for the ladies luncheon soon but...

"Jason! Lunch rush hour! Come on!" Chad yells, banging on the door.

"Gosh nam you Chad!" Kelsi mutters. I turn around grudgingly then look back at Kelsi. Screw you Chad I think and run over to Kelsi to kiss her. We kiss for a long while and it's wonderful but then...

"JASON! IF YOU DON'T GET YOUR ASS OUT HERE IN 5 SECONDS I'M GOING TO IMPAL YOU WITH YOUR OWN CUTTING KNIFE!" Taylor screams.

"I've gotta go," I say.

"See you later," Kelsi says, laughing.

It's been a couple minutes and now I'm cutting some stuff for Zeke. Just a few seconds ago, Troy and Gabriella rushed in smiling at each other. I think they were sneaking around, making out. I'm going to tell Martha!

"Martha? I think Troy and Gabriella were, you know, sneaking around," I say.

"That's nice Jase. Hey, honey, could you pass me the broccoli?" she asks me. I pass her the broccoli, feeling insulted. I start to hear our song playing from the backroom. I tell Martha and Taylor to come and check it out with me. Troy and Gabriella are singing, staring at each other like no one else exists. We all come in. Chad and Taylor pick up some extra copies and sing, staring at each other like Troy and Gabriella are. Martha and Zeke are sharing a copy. Zeke looks like his usual self – really happy. Martha is a hopeless romantic, so of course she's happy. Kelsi is looking at me and me at her and we're the only ones in the room, staring at each other. It's pure heaven. I wake up when I realize everyone else is clapping for Troy and Gabriella. I start to clap too, but I'm not clapping for them. I'm clapping for the composer of the song.

Troy's been acting really weird lately. He's been running away from us and ditching Gabriella. It's making everyone really mad. Including Kelsi and if she's mad, then I'm furious. He's being a real jerk. Hopefully, Gabriella can talk some sense into him before we shoot some hoops and then have that whole baseball tournament thingy. Kelsi's peeping through the window right now and sees the pair talking. She can tell by Gabriella's stance that she's stressed.

"Go! Get out there, help her!" she says, ushering us outside.

"Alright, let's see if Tiger Woods still has a jump shot," Chad says. The guy in the car says something to Troy. Boy, that guy sure looks familiar.

"Why don't you tell him to come here and mix it up, we'll show him some game!" Zeke exclaims, his normal, chipper self.

"You know, uh...I don't think that's how they roll," Troy says.

"That's not how they roll?" Chad says. When Chad repeats what you say, he's pissed. Right now, he's really pissed.

"No! That's not what I meant, it's just, I think it's a closed practice, sorry." Troy says. That jerk.

"Well, maybe you could get us a video," Chad says. You tell him Chad! The guy in the car beeps at Troy. Man, he looks familiar. I know him! He's got a really cool jacket too.

"You said we were gonna play 2 on 2 after work, before the baseball game," Zeke points out. I know that look. When Zeke ain't smiling, you know all hell is going to break loose.

"I know man, I'm sorry," he says. You sure don't look sorry! Troy runs to the car. That guy and his jacket! Man, this is going to kill me.

"Come on Zeke that was yesterday...when we were all on a team!" Chad shouts. Troy doesn't say anything. "Hey, Bolton, that's my basketball," Chad says. HOLY SHIT! CHAD TOOK HIS BASKETBALL FROM TROY! IT'S A THING BETWEEN THEM TO HAVE ONE OF EACH OTHER'S BASKETBALLS. I'M NOT GONNA CRY, I'M NOT GONNA CRY! I am however, going to look at that guy's awesome jacket!

"Would you guys be mad at me if I asked him to get me one of those cool Red-Hawks jackets?" I ask them. I just have to know! They both give me a dirty look then walk away. I'll take that as a no.

"Come on," Gabriella says, leading me to the door. Then I finally pinpoint that guy's face.

"THAT WAS TIGER WOOODS! TIGER WOODS!" I scream. Everyone gives me that look. I bet you they didn't know that.

We're at the game right now and Ryan's here. Weird. Gabriella invited him and he wants to play. Even weirder. He and Chad compete for pitching and...Ryan wins. Even weirderer...wait is that a word? Never mind, Zeke's pulling me to the dug-out.

Now, Ryan is trying to get Chad to dance. Chad doesn't dance! Unless, of course, Taylor tells him too, in which case, he would. That's beside the point though... we're playing right now and Ryan's team is winning. Now, THAT'S weird...Ryan's at bat now. Chad throws and...Ryan hit it! We're scrambling for it and...Ryan got a run! Mother lode weirdest of all things being weird. Now, they're all fighting about Chad's noncooperation to dance. But...Chad's running, he's gonna get the run, Ryan's gaining and...SAFE! WE WON! BOO-YAH! Ryan looks sad. Chad notices and is saying:

"So what would you have me do if I was going to dance?" he asks. Ryan doesn't say anything but he stands a bit taller. I'm hungry, I want a hot dog...where's Kelsi? I made three runs. I want her to congratulate me. I walk over to the hot dog stand to find Kelsi standing there, with seven loaded hot dogs. I love that girl.

"Why do you have so many? I can only eat three," I ask. She smiles, her eyes shining.

"The other four are for me." Kelsi can eat. That is so hot. We walk over to the table where Taylor and Gabriella are. "Where's Chad and Ryan?" Kelsi asks.

"In the bathroom," Taylor says evilly. Gabriella is laughing her ass off, trying not to choke. "We're going to go get some nachos and hot dogs. Don't drink my soda!" Taylor announces.

"Hey!" Ryan shouts. He's wearing Chad's clothes! Did he mug Chad? No, Chad is with him...wearing Ryan's clothes. Whoa. I take back what I said before. THIS is the mother lode weirdest of all things being weird. They sit down and start eating my hot dogs.

"Hello? That's mines!" I say.

"Taylor and Gabriella are going to go get some more!" Chad says. He starts shaking the ketchup bottle. He loves ketchup. "Alright, so you call that a 'little game'." Chad asks.

"Little...league...world series..." Ryan says. Chad looks at him.

"New Port, Rhode Island..." Chad shakes his head.

"Champs." I gap at them. Chad hits Ryan's head. Taylor and Gabriella walk over with NO food and hug the two guys.

"Hey, nice hat!" Taylor says. Gabriella giggles. Is there something I'm missing here?