Vanessa and Kelsi walked back into the cafeteria, with a sign of achievement. They joined the short queue remaining to collect food as the bell rang. "Doesn't matter," Kelsi said hopefully to Vanessa. "I'll give you something from my bag to eat," she added. Vanessa nodded. She was extra hungry.
The students went pouring out of the cafeteria. Vanessa saw Troy dawdling back to Ms. Darbus' class. They'd be visited by Lucida Peters, from the Singing Institute of America, Vanessa remembered. Kelsi and Vanessa made it back to the classroom last, as they had no energy with the lack of food. Kelsi raised her hand as Ms. Darbus marched into the classroom. "Yes Kelsi?" Ms. Darbus asked and pointed over the heads at her.
"Ms. Darbus, Vanessa and I had to run an errant for Coach Bolton and we didn't get time to eat, if we don't eat now, then we won't have any energy to sing our best," Kelsi whined then smiled at Vanessa when Ms. Darbus turned away to collect something from her desk.
"Have you got anything from your bag?" Ms. Darbus asked with a 'Late Pass' in her hand.
"Yes Ms. Darbus," Kelsi answered.
"Then take this and go to the cafeteria to eat, when you come back, we'll probably already be in the hall ready for the workshop," Ms. Darbus instructed and handed over two 'Late Passes' to Vanessa and Kelsi. They ran out of the room with the 'Late Passes' in their hands. Kelsi ran over to her locker and grabbed the two sandwiches and two milk shakes in a pack and they ran to the cafeteria. Just as they were about to push the doors open leading to the cafeteria, through the windows in the doors they spotted Cindy and her group of friends.
"Duck!" Kelsi whispered. They both ducked down as they saw Cindy and her group of friends disappear near the front entrance. They must have used the feeling-sick-need-to-go-to-the-toilet excuse to go to the Balcony Table, just as Kelsi and Vanessa overheard. Kelsi and Vanessa sat at the table directly under the balcony, the only table in the cafeteria the people at the Balcony Table couldn't see.
They ate in silence, listening to their conversation. The lunch lady walked over to Vanessa and Kelsi with a broom in her hand. "What are ya doin' here?" she asked. Kelsi swallowed the bite of her sandwich and showed her the 'Late Pass.' "OK, you eat then!" the lunch lady added as she went of to sweep the cafeteria clean. Kelsi and Vanessa swallowed their last bites as they grabbed their late passes and ran to the hall.
They heard singing from inside the hall. They pushed the large heavy doors open and the singing stopped and all eyes turned to the pair. They could hear whispering of their names in the crowd. "Excuse me, please," Ms. Darbus announced. "Please continue," Ms. Darbus added. Ms. Darbus got up from her front seat and walked quickly to Vanessa and Kelsi. "Children, take a seat there and give me your passes," she whispered, took their passes and pointed to two seats next to Troy.
"Hi, is it Lenessa and Nelsi? Today we'll be showing each other our voices and talents, then we'll spread out and get into groups and we'll rotate," Lucida Peters announced into the microphone directing to Vanessa and Kelsi. They smiled at her and stood up.
"It's Vanessa and this is Kelsi," Vanessa shouted so that Lucida could hear from the stage.
"Ok then, we'll start with you then, Vanessa, please come up and sing any song and tell us the piece of song," Lucida announced. "We'll have to go without music or if someone knows the song, then you can ask someone to come and play it," she added.
"Kelsi, please," Vanessa whispered into Kelsi's ear.
Kelsi stood and they walked to the stage. "I heard this song on the recording of the school's CD and I'm going to sing it," Vanessa announced to the whole of the Year 10 – 11's. Vanessa began to sing 'When there was you and me.' She directed her eyes to Troy, who seemed to be swaying, then stopping to think, then began swaying again. Before long, the song concluded and Lucida Peters made an announcement.
"Fantastic song from Vanessa, she will be in Group 1 vocals, raise your hand if you object?" Lucida announced.
"Me! Me!" Sharpay screamed, dragging Ryan up too.
"I think not," Lucida announced.
The rest of the whole grades sang and were separated into the 5 groups of vocals except one. It all boiled down to Sharpay. She sang Bop to the Top and Lucida was just standing there, waiting for her to finish. "You know, Lucida, I should really be put into Group 1 vocals," Sharpay bragged when she had sung the last note, there was actually no-one there to see her sing the last note because they had all been seperated into groups.
"I think I'm going to upgrade Ryan to Group 1 vocals and swap you with Group 2, that's my final decision," Lucida announced. "Object?" she added. No one raised their hand because no-one except for Ms. Darbus was in the crowd, and even Ms. Darbus seemed happy with that decision.
"Uh! People here just can't appreciate my brilliance!" Sharpay snapped and walked off into Group 2.
All five groups were separated into different rooms. Vanessa peered around the room and saw Troy. Vanessa rolled her eyes, another day in his misery. Group 1 were singing with Lucida Peters, she began by randomly pairing everyone up with a boy/girl. Vanessa got paired up with Ryan. Troy was paired up with Taylor. When it came to performance time, both pairs didn't sound as good as it would have been if it was paired differently…
Vanessa and Taylor thought it was too short when Lucida Peters announced that that was the end of the session. What happened to rotating as she had told Vanessa and Kelsi when they walked in? "Excuse me Lucida, why didn't we have a longer session?" Taylor asked.
"I'm sorry Taylor, I have to move quick smart to some other school," Lucida replied as she quickly grabbed her belongings and jogged out the door.
"That was her only excuse?" Vanessa whispered in Taylor's ear.
"Yep! I can't believe it," Taylor whispered back.
Students from around the hallway returned back to class, Taylor, Vanessa, Troy and Ryan didn't have to move anywhere because they were already in Ms. Darbus' class. "Sit down class and pack up your belongings, it's been a long day and we should be quick about this," Ms. Darbus announced. The class packed up and left the classroom.
'Two days down, three to go,' Vanessa/Gabriella thought.