High School Musical Romance Challenge

Theme One: Friends

Chapter Title: It's a Date

Summary: Kelsi recieves a call.

A shrill cry sliced through the air of Kelsi Nielson's bedroom like a knife, startling the teenaged girl out of her slumber.

Muzzily, the young composer reached for the ringing phone, groping around her bedside table until her hand found the accursed object. Sleepily, she raised the phone to the ear, speaking into it grumpily.

"What the hell?"

The voice on the other end caught her by surprise, "Whoa. Not a morning person, are you?"

Her eyes widened slightly as she responded, "I'm a morning person... not a two-in-the-morning person," she muttered darkly, "Now, please tell me what possessed Ryan Evans – of all people – to call me this lovely morning?"

"Drop the sarcasm, Kelsi, please," Ryan's voice begged slightly, "I just need to ask you something."

Kelsi sighed, feeling her resolve against Ryan melting away (it seemed to be doing that a lot lately, Kelsi noted), "All right, Ryan. You've got my attention. What's wrong?"

"Well... you know – ah, cripes, this is harder than I thought it would be."

"Just say it, Ryan. I don't bite – plus, even if I did, I couldn't get you over the phone." She heard Ryan laugh slightly, and she felt her lips curving upwards into a smile despite herself.

"Right, right. Well... you know the Shamrock Dance next weekend?"

Kelsi could have sworn her heart skipped a beat. "Ryan..." she started, slightly hesitantly, "are you... are you asking me to the dance?"

"No! No, no, no, no!" His voice sounded embarrassed and panicked. Kelsi's shoulders slumped, and she frowned, "I could never ask you to do that for me. You may not know this, but you're my best friend – well, you and Sharpay, of course."

The composer brightened slightly at that. He considered her his friend? A best friend, no less? She smiled, though her face held a look of confusion, "Oh... right. Then why...?"

"I, er, I... I don't have anything to wear, okay? You know my wardrobe is a bit..." He trailed off.

"Whacked?" Kelsi offered, grinning lightly. It was true, though. Ryan's wardrobe was odd, normally consisting of tight pants, usually a solid, slightly strange color and a thin, decoratively designed or solid shirt with a matching hat literallytopping off the eccentric style.

Ryan huffed indigently, even though Kelsi knew he was grinning on the other end, "I think Chad's having a negative effect on you. Stop talking to him. But, yeah... besides that, you hit the nail on the head."

Kelsi's lips quirked with amusement, "So you called me to ask to borrow one of my dresses?"

"Yes – no, wait. No! That's not even funny, Kels."

"Then why are you calling me?" More confusion, "Shouldn't you call Troy or Chad? Or even Zeke?"

Ryan laughed nervously, "Aha, yeah... see, I would, but they'd laugh at me. I considered calling Gabriella, but she'd probably advise me to check catalog books and order one – I haven't told her I'm dyslexic, you know. I really should. If I called Taylor, she'd probably kill me for calling her at two AM, and Sharpay would kill my back - again - if I asked her to help me find one by buying a whole lot of clotheswe bothdon't need, so-" he took a sudden breath, having not broken his trail of words since he started, "I thought, 'Hey! Kelsi's a girl! She can help me!' And, in the end, I ended up calling you and was wondering if you'd maybe go to the mall with me tomorrow to help me find something...?" Ryan's voice was edged with uncertainty by the end. Kelsi couldn't help but let out a meek sigh, her face gaining a faint pink blush despite the innocence of the request (hey, she simply decided a date with a friend was still a date).

"Count me in," Kelsi responded, an audible sigh of relief coming from the other end, "It's a date."

"Thank you, Kelsi!"

"Hey," Kelsi started, smiling to herself, "What are friends for?"

And she hung up.

Halfway across town, the dial tone rang in Ryan Evans' ear. Silently, he hung the phone up, his deep blue eyes darting to the barely visible black suit hidden in the back of his closet.

"Yeah," he muttered distantly, running a hand through his blond hair, "friends."

Hope you enjoyed it. Just hope I get inspiration for another soon. ;) Oh, and about the title... I had trouble coming up with it, but I thought of"What I've Been Looking For." So, my brain went, "I wasn't sure what I've been looking for, but now I've seen you." Haha, I'm so clever! Yeah...

Oh, and my school might be preforming High School Musical next spring for out musical! Or Aida... either way, I'm happy! Aida's good too. The gods love Nubia... -hums-