CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Ryan hadn't been quite the same since he first saw Kelsi and Jason together. He hated seeing Jason around at the musical rehearsals and having him hang by Kelsi's locker, which was near Sharpay's, so he always had to bear witness to Jason's repulsive flirting. It soon became evident that Kelsi and Jason weren't going to break up any time soon, and Ryan couldn't understand... He had tried so hard to become friends with Kelsi. He had spent so much effort on trying to talk to her when no one else could be bothered to, and trying to get to know her.

He guessed he had been wrong when he thought she was different and wouldn't go for the basketball type. Ryan sighed. Did she have to go for the dumbest guy on the team? He felt insulted that she would choose Jason over him, but he also wasn't surprised. Of course, all girls wanted the athlete, not the dancer. Maybe he shouldn't have given up baseball when his sister told him to... Maybe then Kelsi would want him, and not that idiot Jason.

This stupor Ryan found himself in did not escape the notice of his sister. "Would you just get over it already?" she demanded. It was nearing the end of the school year, and she didn't want to spend the entire summer with her brother moping around over some girl. "I told you she wasn't worth the trouble. Stop worrying about her—I thought you had gotten over that already."

"Shut up, Shar. You're allowed to fawn over Troy Bolton, and I'm not allowed to even talk to Kelsi. Maybe if I was..."

"You tried talking to her, remember? She wasn't interested then. It's not my fault that she has bad taste. We're going to be at Lava Springs all summer without her, and you need to start realizing that. You can't freak out over this for the next two months. It's not worth it." Ryan groaned. They had been in their kitchen when this conversation broke out.

"Sharpay, you don't understand," he told her. She raised her eyebrows.

"Oh? Well enlighten me then, dear brother," she said sarcastically. Ryan hesitated.

"Kelsi isn't like everyone else. I don't want to get over her. I don't even know exactly what it is about her, but I really like her, Shar, so can you please just lay off? I'm not like you—if you don't get Troy, you have Zeke, who would do anything for you in a heartbeat if you gave him a chance. No one even likes me. Half of the girls in school think I'm gay, anyway. Kelsi actually gets me, and I don't think I'm going to find anyone else who understands me the way she does." Sharpay frowned.

"They do not think you're gay," she said. He sighed. Had she missed the rest of what he said?

"Yeah, they do, not that I like any of them, anyway..." Sharpay sighed.

"If you really like her that much, Ryan, I'm going to help you out—because I love you, and I want you to be happy, not because I like Kelsi or because I think she deserves you." Ryan was confused as to what his sister was planning.

He decided that, before his sister could do any damage, he would talk to Kelsi himself. He found her at lunch one day. She had stopped sitting with the drama club and now sat with her new Wildcat friends, as Jason hung his arm around her shoulders and whispered in her ear... Ryan was unbelievably jealous, and he hated that Jason Cross of all people could make him feel that way. So he caught Kelsi in the line as she got up to buy a drink. "Hey," he said.

"Oh, hi Ryan," she said awkwardly. They hadn't really talked in a while. He had missed hearing her speak to him.

"...Why them, Kelsi?" he asked. She looked confused. "I spent a year and a half trying to reach out to you and to talk to you and to be your friend, and you would hardly give me the time of day. One day I turn around and you're a Wildcat—why?"

"It's complicated," she said. "I wasn't planning on making friends when I moved here, Ryan, I told you that. I didn't want to be close to anyone. Still, I thought you were a really great guy and I always imagined we'd eventually be friends... until you changed my song." Ryan winced. "I know it was probably more of your sister's doing, but Ryan, that crushed me. I don't think you have any idea how much. That song... that song out of all of the ones I've written so far, meant more to me than anything. You took something really important to me and butchered it and stripped the meaning away... Troy and Gabriella were always nice to me, and Troy taught me how to stand up for myself... and they didn't change my song. That's why I gave them a chance."

"I'm sorry," Ryan said. "I tried to get her not to, I swear, but you know Sharpay..." Kelsi nodded slowly.

"Maybe one day things will change," she said. "After everything I've seen happen this year, though, I just... I really don't know if I can ever trust you. You tried to sabotage Troy and Gabriella just so you could get a leading role. The sad thing is, if you didn't try so hard to have a flashy performance, you would've gotten it, hands down. You're the most talented person in the school, Ryan, I'm not going to deny that, but you're not going to get anywhere unless you pull away from your sister enough to make your own decisions once in a while." With that, she turned and walked away. It was strange to Ryan that this had been their longest conversation, and although she had sort of told him off, Ryan only found himself liking her more.

A bittersweet feeling filled him as he watched her walk back over to sit with Jason, and he knew she was right.