Of course, he's not at home when you arrive with way more shopping bags you're willing to carry on your own, no matter how many trips it'll take. That Kelsi girl gave her word on nobody arriving before the party's official starting time, which has been agreed to be an hour after the play is over, but you fear she'll be wrong on it, especially as minutes seem to hurry as if they were seconds instead. So you are kind of prepared, yet still annoyed, when you hear a car park in the curb while you are gloomily glaring at your trunk.

Yet despite how dark your mood is, it suddenly changes when somebody politely says hello before asking if he could take the bags you are carrying. You smile and thank him, this well-behaved new boy you have never really paid attention to before, and Ryan Evans grins back with a bashful smile that makes you like him more. He helps you unload the car and then helps you fix things because, in his own words, I've been declared this party's official overseer. He doesn't say Sharpay sent him to check everything was perfect - he doesn't need to. Yet you are thankful anyway, because there's stuff missing and you have done a couple things wrong. But he doesn't say it directly, and instead helps you fix the mess and makes a couple calls before announcing all is covered.

It is then when the first guests show up, with Chad, Troy and Gabriella parking immediately after them, and you mumble that of course your son wouldn't arrive until everything has been take care of. By your side Ryan chuckles, and says yeah, that's Chad, before Troy's girlfriend tries to kill him by constriction while chiding him for disappearing. Troy rolls his eyes at it, and yes, he indeed looks a little jealous. But he acts like a gentleman and waits patiently until he's allowed to give the other boy a manly hug, declaring in an honest voice how great an actor Ryan is.

His words shouldn't surprise you but they do. Not because you didn't expect them to be so freely given, but because you thought they would have been delivered right after the play. However, it doesn't takes a genius to realize that, for Ryan to arrive at your home at the time he did, already showered (you did notice earlier that his hair was still wet) and primly dressed, he should have had to leave the school almost as soon as the curtains closed. You don't get a chance to ask, though, as his classmates surround him like ants do with spilled honey. And as earlier, he looks thrilled yet a little uncomfortable at their attention.

It is Sharpay Evans who saves him. It is weird, you think, how you would have probably thought differently before, how you'd have called her petty and selfish even if only in your mind. But despite her words sounding quite rude (yeah yeah, we all know he was amazing, now shoo!), you now are aware of her brother's adoring gaze - both because she just spared him a slow by-asphyxiation death, and for her veiled praise. You are even able to notice her soft grin before she turns around to occupy her place as hearth of the party.

You talk to Ryan a few times during the evening, as he is frequently helping things go smoothly. You want to continuously tell him how much of a good actor you think he is (you do it once, the first time you two are back in the kitchen), yet you still are a mother and talking about Sharpay is what you need to do. You later discover that not going overboard with the worshiping was the right thing to do, as he lives for the stage while she lives for the praise - and these are, he says, his sister's actual words. He has always been happy to let her take most of the spotlight, as long as he's allowed to do what he loves.

You hear a lot about Sharpay from those short exchanges, but you take all with a grain of salt because Ryan's love for her sister is nothing but obvious. You think at first that he's at almost the same level of adoration where Zeke stands; but a couple deadpan comments from the young actor make you realize that, while Zeke idealizes a girl that doesn't exist, Ryan is well aware of his sister's faults. Still, he seems to be almost painfully indulgent and accepting of them, so you decide that, in the end, he is up to par with the other boy's blindness.