Chapter Two: The First Day of School

Early the next morning, Jason trudged into the kitchen, half-heartedly dragging his school bag behind him, yawning and rubbing his sleepy eyes. He dropped into his usual seat at the kitchen table, leaning his head against his hand as his mother, Sandra, set his breakfast in front of him. Smiling weakly, he closed his eyes for a moment.

"Wake up, Jason," Sandra said teasingly, hitting his head lightly with the newspaper. He laughed, opening his eyes once more and picked up his fork. She smiled at her son before taking a seat across from him, taking a sip from her own mug of coffee.

"Your sister called by the way."

"She did?" Jason asked excitedly. "What did she say?"

"Oh, she just wanted to wish you good luck. She knows how nervous you get on the first day of school." He just rolled his eyes and resumed eating his breakfast. Sandra, finding nothing else to do, went to get ready for work. "Oh, and Zeke called, sweetie!" she called from the front room. Jason was confused; he couldn't think of a reason why he would be calling. "He wanted to know what time you were picking him up and the boys for school."

"But I thought I – never mind. I'll just call him," he muttered to himself. Digging his cell phone out of his bag, he speed-dialed Zeke, waiting a while for the baker to actually pick up. It finally did, a few seconds later. "Zeke–"

"Hold on, I'll bring in Troy and Chad," Zeke said immediately. Jason pouted to himself, before shaking his head. Taylor was right. Any day now and they would turn into girls.

There was a click and then, Chad's voice was heard. "I'm telling you, Troy. That girl is crazy," he said vehemently.

"Who's crazy?" Jason asked.

"J! Oh, just Danielle Sinclair. Didn't you date her for like, a week last year?"

"I think so, yeah." He thought about it. "And yeah, she was a bit crazy." He laughed. "Why? What did she do?"

"It's not what she did. It's what she tried to do. And dude, you do not want to know."

Jason laughed, rolling his eyes, but then remember why he was calling in the first place. "Zeke, Troy then Chad. I'm leaving in ten minutes. You guys better be ready."

"We will. Don't worry," Zeke quickly assured over Chad's sound of protest.

The boys' reception to the new school year had been, as it had since junior year, filled with loud cheering and excitement. The seniors, juniors and sophomores of East High had no doubt that they would bring home the trophy once more once basketball season started. More importantly, the school knew that the East High Wildcats would conquer over the West High Knights again, rivals since before the current student body had been born.

It had taken them a little over five minutes to get away from the crowd and to their lockers, Troy and Zeke going down one hallway, while Jason and Chad went down another.

Jason was absentmindedly sticking up various notes onto the locker door, and putting in some empty notebooks onto the shelf, nodding and saying "uhuh" at the appropriate times as Chad talked to him about something. He stuck a picture of their little group onto the metal door and another of him with his siblings, and he just stood there for a moment, gazing at the faces in the pictures. As his eyes lingered on Kelsi's smile, he heard her laugh, and he turned his head to find her at the end of the hall laughing and talking with Gabriella, Taylor and Martha, and surprisingly, Sharpay. He smiled faintly to himself as he watched her, flushing slightly, remembering what happened yesterday.

"J, are you even listening?"

"Uhuh."

Chad looked at him suspiciously. "Of course you are. Who are you looking at anyway?" He put himself in Jason's line of sight, observing every face until realization dawned on him. He looked at the younger boy, punching his shoulder lightly. Jason, red-faced, started rearranging the contents of his locker once more. "Please don't tell me you haven't made your move on her?" The boy remained silent, merely grunting in reply. "Jase, dude, come on. It's been eight months! It's obvious that you like her, and it's obvious that she likes you too.

"Really?"

"Yeah, really. Remember how you two were around each other during summer?"

Further down the hall, Kelsi laughed once more, before breaking off from the group with Sharpay to turn a corner to her locker, vanishing from Jason's sight. He sighed and turned back to face Chad. The Wildcats co-captain had a sly grin on his face. "What?" Jason scowled at him.

"Dude, just ask her out. It's not that hard."

"You know, maybe for you it isn't, but it's actually harder for some of us." He slammed his locker door shut, and slung his bag over his shoulder.

"What's harder for some of us?"

Jason turned around to find Troy and Zeke standing there. Inside, he groaned. If Chad's teasing was bad, with Troy and Zeke backing him up, it was worse. But then again, it was always worse when it was three against one. He mentally prepared himself for the worst, as Chad informed them of his 'problem'.

"But it's been eight months. Surely something must have happened by now," Troy said, reminding him of the fact that it had been eight months once more. He rolled his eyes.

"Don't you think I don't know it's been eight months. Jeez, you guys." He stuffed a hand into his pocket. "If you guys really must know, I hung out with her a couple of times over the summer. And I ran into her yesterday. Well, she ran into me. Literally," he muttered.

"Oh so you have been making a move on her," Chad teased.

"We just… talked, okay?" Jason protested.

"Okay," Zeke said, nodding. "But, you know, if you don't hurry, someone else might ask her out."

"You don't really think–"

"Hey, Kelsi's a pretty girl. It won't be long before someone else comes along and sweeps her off her feet."

"Yeah, someone more good-looking," Chad joked.

"Funnier, even."

Jason rolled his eyes.

"Oh, and someone who doesn't always ask Ms Darbus how her summers or holidays were at the start and end of every semester," Troy added as an afterthought.

"Oh ha ha ha. Funny."

The group of four continued walking towards their homeroom, which, incidentally, they had with Ms Darbus, again, for the fourth year running since they started at East High.

Jason couldn't help but admit, as he vaguely listened to Troy and Chad arguing about one thing or another, that he was scared he might lose his chance with Kelsi if he waited any longer. He didn't exactly have a solid reason why he hadn't asked her out yet. He hadn't really gone out with anyone ever since Troy and Gabriella'sTwinkle Towne audition. Ever since Kelsi, without warning walked into his life, making a large impact without meaning to. He was just… shy. And scared, because he hadn't liked anyone as much as he liked Kelsi, ever since his girlfriend since eighth grade dumped him during sophomore year in favour of some guy on the football team.

"It's alright, Jase. She was a psycho bitch anyway," Chad had remarked when he finally told them about two weeks later.

Ever since then, he had been dating casually, mostly with cheerleaders, or at least, with people within their social group.

And now that Kelsi had walked into his picture…

"Oh, look who it is, Jason. It's Kelsi. Hey Kelsi!" Chad yelled before Jason dived at him, trying to shut him up that ended up with them in a mock wrestling match.

"Would you shut up?" Jason hissed. Turning quickly to her, he raised a hand in greeting before pushing Chad out of sight, barely grabbing onto the front of Troy's and Zeke's shirts. "What are you doing?"

"Come on, I thought you guys were talking," Chad asked, rolling his eyes.

"We were. We are. We–" he stopped himself, confused with what he was trying to say.

"Well, since you guys are talking, why don't you go and talk to her? I mean, she was just standing there, all alone–"

"Sharpay's with her!"

"–so why don't you… walk her to homeroom? Come on, guys. Let's give our dear young friend a little push."

In desperation, Jason grabbed onto the lockers as two pairs of hands started pulling on his shirt. He could already feel the heat and colour rushing to his cheeks and his heart start to race at what his so-called best friends were trying to do. The surrounding juniors, sophomores and seniors whispered and pointed to an otherwise oblivious quartet, and freshmen were looking on in confusion, wondering if this was normal; by lunch, everyone would be wondering why number twenty-three of the Wildcats, Jason Cross, was forcibly being dragged somewhere by his best friends, fellow seniors and team mates Chad Danforth and Zeke Baylor while the final quarter of their group, and school's hero and star player, Troy Bolton kept watch on something. After a few more seconds, Jason's grip on the locker he had been desperately holding onto loosened and he was being dragged away.

"Guys, come on, we're seventeen – almost eighteen, perfectly mature guys. Why are you doing this? What are we – in middle school?"

"We're only helping you, man."

"We're doing what's best for you."

"Oh and dragging me down the hallway to see a girl I barely knew existed until last term – hey!" Jason was suddenly pushed and fell back against the locker beside Kelsi to whom he smiled sheepishly at. "Hey, Kelsi," he said breathlessly as he righted himself. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw them peering around the corner at them. Rolling his eyes and smiling in greeting at Sharpay, he focused his attention back on the much shorter pretty girl next to him.

"What do you think they're talking about?"

"What are you guys doing?"

The three crouching boys straightened up as Gabriella and Taylor watched them. Troy's gaze immediately focused on his girlfriend and he smiled before going over to her, kissing her softly.

"Hey. I missed you."

"I missed you too," Gabriella answered softly. "So what were you guys doing?"

"Oh, you know, just – spying on Jason."

Gabriella and Taylor exchanged looks of disbelief, with the former asking silently if this was normal behaviour. Taylor shrugged. "Why?" she asked.

"Did you know he hasn't asked her out yet?"

"Asked who out yet?"

Chad threw her a look. "Kelsi! He's liked her for only eight months and still hasn't done a single thing about it. But they're talking, so that's good. Better than noth – hey look! He's carrying her books, and it looks like he's walking her to class."

The girls laughed.

"And here I thought girls were the only ones who cared about this sort of thing," Gabriella teased.

"Agreed." They laughed once more.

Chad scowled.

"Tell me you're not at least a little excited about those two finally getting together?"

"Chad."

"What?"

"We are excited. And happy for Kelsi. She kept talking about how much she likes him whenever I asked her about him. But you know, just because he's walking her to class, doesn't mean they're going to get together just straight off," Gabriella said.

"I know it's kind of weird, but I can see them lasting. She's the first girl he's really liked since that psycho bitch dumped him in tenth grade–"

"Jason!" Troy called out.

Three heads turned to look at the doorway, where the dark-haired teen was slowly walking in with a dazed look on his face. It was evident that they had been talking about him at their silence. He dropped into his seat behind Taylor, still with the blank-shocked-happy look on his face.

"Well?" Chad demanded.

"Just for the record, I hate you all," Jason said. "And for another, thanks." He shot the three boys a look. "But it's not like I couldn't have done it on my own."

"Of course not. Now tell us what happened."

Jason opened his mouth to tell them off but at that exact moment Ms Darbus walked into the classroom and went straight to welcoming them back and informing them of activities and sign up sheets and whatever else she always announced every morning. He slumped back into his seat, letting his mind drift off back to what had happened fifteen minutes ago.

"Hey, Kelsi," Jason said breathlessly. He stood properly next to her, smiling awkwardly at Sharpay.

"I'll see you during Drama, okay, Kelsi?" Sharpay asked. If he had listened closely, he would have caught the slight sly tone in her voice. If he had noticed, he would have seen the smirk the Ice Princess gave to the brunette. Kelsi just nodded as the blonde walked past her.

"So, um, who do you have for homeroom this year?" Jason asked.Stupid. Way to go, Cross, he thought to himself.

"Reeds," she said, grimacing. "I swear he has something against me ever since I accidentally said that even Einstein would fall asleep during his lectures."

"Probably not the smartest thing to say," Jason agreed. He had Reeds for Biology during sophomore year. "But then, his lessons are pretty boring."

"Who've you got?"

"Who else?" Jason said as Kelsi closed her locker door shut, clutching several books and a couple of papers to her chest. She nodded in understanding. He smiled faintly to himself. "Um, here, I'll carry your books for you," he offered, holding out his hand.

"Oh, no, I couldn't ask–" she started saying.

"Please, I insist," he said.

"But you'll be late and you know how Darbus is–"

Her cheeks, he noticed, were a light shade of pink. Under her hat, he noticed her eyes looking at everywhere and anything but at him. A sense of delight filled him; he was making her nervous. That meant something, right?

"The bell doesn't ring for another ten minutes. It's no problem."

"But why would you–"

"We're friends, aren't we?" Even though I wish we could be more

He watched her think about it, before finally relenting. She rolled her eyes at him and smiled before finally handing over her books and papers to him, their hands brushing lightly. His cheeks became warmer and his heart thudded in his chest as they started walking towards Kelsi's homeroom.

"Thank you, Jason," she said when they were halfway there.

"No problem." It was silent once more, but it was nowhere near awkward. He kept stealing glances at her, smiling every time he caught her eye. She had done something to her hair, he noticed. Her once straight hair was now in waves and hung loosely around her shoulders.

When they finally reached the Biology classroom, they stood in front of the doorway in silence, unsure of what to say. Jason rubbed the back of his neck nervously as Kelsi just stood there, lips pursed together, her eyes looking around.

"Well, I better go," she said, laughing awkwardly.

"Yeah," he nodded. She turned around but he stopped her. "Hey Kels. I was wondering if–"He took a deep breath. Get a grip, Cross. "I was wondering if you wanted to hang out this afternoon?" he blurted out. He blushed. "That is, assuming you have nothing better to do or something."

"I'd love to," she said, grinning at him.

"Great!" he said, a little too excitedly. "Um, I'll see out front at three-fifteen?" She nodded, and he nodded back, smiling. "I'll see you then," he said softly. He turned around and bumped right into Mr Reeds. "Good morning, Mr Reeds," he muttered awkwardly.

"Mr Cross," he said shortly. "Ms Nielson, into the classroom, now. And you, Mr Cross, better be off to your homeroom."

"Leaving," he mumbled. Inwardly, he smiled, as he remembered soft touches and shy smiles, making his way hurriedly to Ms Darbus's classroom.

A/N: So that's the second chapter. It's still kind of slow. And it's kind of long. Tell me what you think! Including whether or not the post is too long.