4. The call-back
In the hall, we heard Sharpay yell. "It seems like she is furious," Troy told me. I nodded.
In the cafeteria, Sharpay was yelling for quiet as I walked through. Everyone was looking at me, and I didn't like it. "Why is everybody staring at you?" I asked.
"Not me, you."
"Because of the call-backs? I can't have people staring at me. I can't." Suddenly, the hall burst into song.
"No! No, no, no
Stick to the stuff you know
If you want to be cool
Follow one simple rule
Don't mess with the flow
No, no
Stick to the status quo"
Sharpay was coming down the stairs.
"No, no, no
Stick to the stuff you know"
Taylor was guiding me through the canteen, but everyone was dancing.
"It is better by far to keep things as they are
Don't mess with the flow
No, no"
I was beginning to panic now, hurrying.
"Stick to the status
Stick to the Status
Stick to the Status Quo."
I slipped on some milk and my food went flying… straight onto Sharpay's top. She screamed.
"I'm so sorry," I said as I tried to help her clean her top up. Taylor pulled me away as Troy ran in.
"What is going on here?" Miss Darbus asked, furious.
"Look at this!" Sharpay yelled. "That Sky girl just dumped her lunch on me! On purpose! It's all part of their plan to ruin our musical. And Troy and his basketball robots are obviously behind it. Why do you think he auditioned? After all the hard work you've put into this show. It just doesn't seem right." She walked off, upset. It seemed that she was wishing that she was not friendly with me.
"Is Sharpay really, really mad at me?" I asked Taylor. "I said I was sorry."
"Look, no one has beaten out Sharpay for a musical since kindergarten."
"Kindergarten?"
"It's a bit like primary school. Sorry, I forget that you come from England. You're fitting in that well."
"I wasn't trying to beat anyone out. We didn't even audition, we were just singing."
"You won't convince Sharpay of that. I'm telling you, if that girl could play both Romeo and Juliet, her own brother would be aced out of a job."
"I told you, it just happened, but I liked it. A lot. Did you ever feel like there's a whole different person inside of you just looking for a way to come out?"
"Not really, no." Suddenly, the bell rang for the end of lunch. "Let's go."
As I opened my locker, something fell out. I bent down, picked it up and opened it. It said:
Meet me at the garden above the school.
Troy Bolton
I smiled and put the note back in my locker, making my way to the garden.
Once I got there, Troy was waiting for me. "Wow!" I cried. "It's like a jungle up here."
"Yeah, just like that cafeteria," Troy said.
"Well, I just humiliated myself into the next century."
"No, come on," Troy said.
"So, is this your private hideout?"
"Yeah, thanks to the science club. Which means that my buddies don't know it exists."
You pretty much have the school wired, don't you, Troy? Seems to me like everyone on campus wants to be your friend."
"Unless we lose."
"Well, I'm sure it's tricky being the coach's son."
"Makes me practise a little harder, I guess. I don't know what he'll say about the singing."
"You're worried?"
"My parent's friends are always saying, 'Your son's the Basketball guy' 'You must be so proud'. Sometimes I don't want to be the Basketball guy. I just wanna be a guy. You know?"
"I saw the way you treated Kelsi at the audition yesterday. Do your friends know that guy?"
"To them, I'm the playmaker dude."
"They don't know enough about you, Troy." I sat down. "At my other school I was the freaky math and science girl. It's cool coming here and being… anyone I wanna be. When I was singing with you I just felt like… a girl."
"You even look like one, too." He came and sat beside me.
"I don't feel like the Trickster's child. I never want to be. Do you remember in school how you'd meet a kid and you know nothing about them, then, ten seconds later, you play like you're best friends because you didn't have to be anything but yourself."
"Yeah."
"Singing with you felt like that."
"Well, uh… I never thought about singing. That's for sure. Till you."
"So you really wanna do the call-backs?"
"Hey, just call me freaky call-back boy."
I smiled. "You're a cool guy, Troy. But, not for the reasons your friends think. And thanks for showing me your top-secret hiding place. Like primary school, or as you'd call it, Kindergarten." The bell rang. We got up and ran down the stairs.
Later, I went into the girls' toilets to practise.
"Creating space between us…" I heard Sharpay come in. I stopped singing and hid behind the wall, where there was a space for cleaning materials. I came out, relieved that I wasn't found.
I began to practise with Kelsi and help out in the Drama club along with Troy.
I found him in the gym later on after school. "Wow. So this is your real stage."
"Yeah, I guess you could call it that. Or just a smelly gym." He passed the ball to me and I threw it at the hoop. It went straight through. "Whoa! Don't tell me you're good at hoops, too."
"You know, I once scored 42 points at a league championship game."
"No way."
"Mm-hm. And the same day, I invented the space shuttle and microwave popcorn."
"Microwave popcorn. Ha-ha. Funny."
"I've been rehearsing with Kelsi," I said once Troy scored a hoop.
"Me too. And, by the way, I missed practise. So if I get kicked off the team it'll be on your conscience."
"Hey, I wasn't the one that told you…"
"Sky, chill." I grabbed the ball off him.
"Hey, that's travelling. No, that's really bad travelling." Troy said as he ran after me as I tried to run out of the room. Of course, he was faster them me and grabbed me round the waist as the coach came in.
"Miss! I'm sorry, this is a closed practise."
"Dad, practise is over," Troy said.
"Not till the last player leaves," he replied. "Team rule."
"Oh, I'm sorry, sir." I said.
"Dad, this is Sky Smith."
"Ah, your detention buddy."
"I'll see you later, Troy." I handed the ball back to him. "Nice meeting you, Coach Bolton."
"You as well, Miss Smith." I ran out of the gym.
Once I got home, I decided to go to my room to practise my singing.