Round #1: Bring Her a Present

Coach Bolton, whose idea was the competition in the first place, had been appointed chief of the team's first meeting. They were all revising their first round results in a small classroom, where they all sat. The coach was noting on the blackboard the mission statement in bold letters: bring her a present. Everyone else was sitting in their desks. Chad was painting doodles in the corner of his notebook. Zeke was eating a chocolate éclair. Jason was –what else- napping. Troy played nervously with his hand on the desk. Finally, Mark was concentrating on his basket ball. The first to stand up and join Mr. Bolton at the board was… Zeke Baylor.

"I knew this would be a difficult task for me, as Sharpay never let's me near her locker. She will scream out something like: "Evaporate, tall person!" or "I'd rather stick pins in my eyes." So, I decided to go there when she would be in drama class and leave my present, the most delicious crème brulee I've ever made, with a note," Zeke started, as his teammates clung to him. "It was a great plan until he showed up…"

"Don't tell me," Chad's face darkened. "Was it…"

"Yep, it was the Ice King himself," Zeke muttered in terror. "He made me froze with that icy glare of his and I couldn't say a word. Then, I thought I heard his voice "What on Earth are you doing near our lockers?" I didn't know what to answer. I stood there, paralyzed. "I… I didn't know it was your locker," I mumbled while his gaze captured my present. "You sure did. I mean this one is all covered with pink glitter and that one with Italian leather." I never felt so stupid in my life… I took my éclairs and left, running."

"Zeke… Zeke!" Mark interrupted. "That's not the right attitude. Why would you be so afraid of Ryan Evans anyway? He's just a pretty boy and you are… significantly taller?" As it was now Mark's time to speak, Zeke returned to his desk while the other boy took a pose on the blackboard.

"Unlike our pal, I decide to confront Ryan Evans directly. I found him in the hallway. "Hello, Ryan!" I told him, "I really enjoyed your theatre performance last week," I added, though of course I did not attend. "Here, these are some roses from a fan for your leading lady, Sharpay. Tell her that I believe she is very… talented." That was it, guys!"

Everyone kept their breath. "It can't have been that easy," Troy observed and the others nodded. "It was clever though, confronting Ryan directly. Now you earned his respect… and you used the right words… wow!"

"Yeah, I'm a born diplomat," Mark smiled. "He asked me why, he said I shouldn't do anything weird with his sister because he loves her more than anything et cetera. I replied that I deeply cared for her too. At last, he gave her the flowers and I don't know how to tell you, people, but she found me during lunch break and blew me a kiss! You saw it Chad, didn't you?"

"I did," the boy with the infamous afro admitted, as he took Mark's standing seat. "Unfortunately, I wasn't as successful as that. I only got a slap from the Ice Princess."

"…a slap? How did that happen?" Jason woke up, surprised.

"I wanted to give her something really precious to me. But then, I wouldn't lose something that precious so I decided to give her my old action figure collection I got from corn flakes packages. It was something I wouldn't miss but I deared the most when I was five. I thought she'd find it cute, but as I handed it in to her, I saw how lousy a present it was. She didn't say a word, she only slapped me."

"Aw, Chad!" Jack Bolton faked a voice as his turn had come. "You guys think that you've got all it takes to flirt with woman. Trust me you don't! Why would you think of something complicated when all they need is a simple thing: diamonds! What I got Sharpay was a pair of earrings forming the letters S and E, her initials, in rhinestones. She really appreciated it."

"Dad, that's not fair. You have the money!" Troy protested.

"Nah, it wasn't as expensive as you'd have thought. Plus, I have the objective difficulty of making her liking me because I'm way older than her. Your advantage is my disadvantage and vice versa. This is why I left it in her physical education locker, the one with the purple glitter with the note: "your secret admirer."

"That was smart," Troy agreed, "and way too suave. But you see, dad, I have the very edge over you because she seems to have a crush on me. I hang out with her and I know perfectly what she wants, which is why I got her that top she said she liked the other day. I bumped into Ryan too, he was muttering something like: "she got an awful lot of presents today, is it our birthday?" but I actually found her in person. I put on my best smile and gave her the present. I had the pleasure of seeing her beam with happiness and…"

"Mr. Fairytale, can you please finish off? You are way too cocky!" Chad remarked, clearly bored.

"The best part of it, she gave me one of these smiles too," Troy concluded triumphantly.

That was the signal for Jason's turn. Usually Jason didn't talk much but he managed to open his eyes, face his audience and start narrating his version.

"I didn't know at all what to get her. It was difficult to choose something for her. Then, I realized she reminded me of someone… distant. It was Cecilia, the Ice Princess, a bedtime story my grandmother used to read to me. It is about a beautiful ice skater who decides to make a dancing show. I totally despised that story then, it was too girly, but Sharpay kind of reminds me of it and makes me see it now… in a new way."

"Very philosophical," Zeke commented sarcastically.

"She said she loved it." Jason returned sincerely. "Even though it was only a child's book she said it was cute!"

"That's it!" Coach Bolton said. "I think everyone has spoken. So let's make our nominations. I'll have to nominate Zeke as he didn't even give the gift and Troy."

"But I did well!" Troy protested.

"That's why!" Jack said. "I'm blowing away the competition"

"Fine, then I'm nominating you and Mark!"

"Troy and Chad" Mark said in return.

"Zeke and Jason," Chad replied to that. "The fairytale story was just ridiculous".

"I'll play fair," that was Jason. "I'm nominating Chad, he was a failure and Zeke."

Zeke bit his lip. "I have the option of making this a tie with Troy but I won't. I nominate Chad and Jason, just because I won't nominate myself."

"So the results are… Zeke with 3 votes and Chad with 4 votes. One of them won't continue the race but who?" Jack Bolton questioned. "You can think of whom, people. We'll meet tomorrow, after practice!"

Everyone left. Chad's steps were heavier than usual. "It's so unfair," he thought. "I tried! Coach should be in my position; after all he didn't even make clear the gift was from him!" With these thoughts, he bumped on Sharpay in the corridor.

"I'm sorry Sharpay," he whispered. "I really like you."

"What?" the girl replied. "Oh everybody does, really!" she added casually.

That didn't work right for Chad. He tried once more "Sorry for now… and before… I just wanted to give you something special but I messed up! I really think you deserve it."

Sharpay froze. "Chad," she said, abandoning her Ice Queen attitude. "I don't know why, but I got many presents today… Your apology though was the best gift I received."

She blew him two kisses in the air, and left. Chad was bedazzled. "Competition or no competition, Mark eat my dust!" he thought and with his stomach as light as a butterfly he rushed in the cafeteria.

Author's Note: It's a Chad VS Zeke first round and I think you get how Chad is my favourite to win between the two, this round at last! My vote goes to him! Stessa was the first to review, so she gets a special mention! I'm glad she likes Chad too. Thank you too doodleswriter357, charmed4eva112 and chris tea xx. I promise there will be a major twist. Still, YOU make this story! The next chapter might be shorter, but there are more surprises to come… Don't forget to vote if you review!!!