High School Musical Romance Challenge

Theme Four: Running

Title: Last Minute Plans

Summary: When inspiration hit Ryan wasn't the type to ignore it. Takes place the night before the talent show in HSM2.

He was running.

The sky was dark. The glow from the moon penetrated through the clouds, illuminating the ground in haphazard patterns of white light.

Ryan Evans slowed to a stop at the end of his street, breathing deeply to try and calm his racing heart. He glanced backwards quickly to check for any sign he had been followed; nothing. With a deep sigh Ryan adjusted his hat on top of his head, glanced back once more, and disappeared in a jog around the corner.

God, Kels, I hope you're awake.

---

It wasn't that Kelsi was a particularly light sleeper. In fact, she usually slept so soundly that she could even sleep through her alarm clock on occasion.

However, Kelsi would've had to have been a rock in order to miss the noise coming from outside her window.

"Kelsi! Kelsi, Kelsi, Kelsi! Kels! Come on, wake up!" There was an insistent banging on her window to accompany the familiar voice and Kelsi couldn't help but roll from one side to the other to stare bleakly at the window. It didn't surprise her in the least that Ryan was staring at her expectantly through the glass, perched on the roof that extended from the outside of her room.

With a groan Kelsi pushed herself to her feet and trudged to the window, pushing it open and quickly standing back so Ryan could get in. He grinned at her good-naturedly as he shut the window again for her before plopping on her bed with a sigh.

"Don't you ever visit at normal times?" Kelsi mumbled as she sat behind him, rubbing her hand over her eyes sleepily. "You know, like at three in the afternoon rather than three in the morning?"

"Nope." Ryan snatched a hat that was hanging off a bedpost and quickly replaced his own with it. "I got inspiration--you know, for Everyday?"

Kelsi stared at him blankly for a second before stating slowly, "Ryan, the talent show is tomorrow. And--we can't even preform in it, remember? Your sister's made it impossible."

Ryan scoffed lightly. "No, she hasn't. She only thinks she has. Look," he glanced at her, flicking a piece of her bangs out of her eyes, "we can still do this. I didn't run all the way here at three o'clock in the morning for cynicism."

Kelsi quirked an eyebrow. "You ran here? Don't you have a car?"

He raised his eyebrows back at her. "What, and risk waking Sharpay up with the noise from the engine? No, thanks. That would ruin everything."

Kelsi frowned slightly in confusion, her voice questioning, "Everything?"

"Can you make it so that Everyday opens up with just two people singing?" The grin reappeared on his face. "And maybe, I don't know, make it within the vocal ranges of, say... Troy and Gabriella?"

Kelsi gaped at him for only a split second before scrambling to her feet and rushing over to her desk. "Oh my God." Papers were splayed out in front of her in an instant, a pencil in her hand. "Oh my God." She turned back to him, the grin on her face matching his own. "Ryan, you're a genius! I swear I could kiss you right now."

Ryan laughed as he made his way beside her, pulling up an extra chair as he did. "No time for fish faces now, Kels. We have a song to fix, and only a few hours to do it." He cast her a sidelong glance, his gaze softening, "... Though I wouldn't mind taking a rain check for it to redeem at another time."

Kelsi shot him a shocked glance, her face tinting a slight pink before she cleared her throat and turned back to the music. "Come on, Wildcat, time to get cracking." She cast him one more glance, the faintest of smiles on her lips. "Like you said, we only have a few hours."

I'm back with this (ancient) challenge. :) Missed me? It's been over a year, yeesh. Bad me.

Seriously, though, Ryan and Kelsi totally gave me the vibe that they planned that entire thing out in more than fifteen minutes. I'm sure they had more steps, too, in order get Troy away from Sharpay's grasp to sing with Gabriella, but he did that on his own so they didn't have to. ;)

Reviews are loved!

-WS