a/n: drum roll trumpet confetti On to chapter eight!

"You know..."

"I think..."

Both Ryan and Kelsi spoke at once. Ryan laughed lightly. "Go ahead."

"I'm just not sure," Kelsi began, "whether Taylor really hates Chad or she's madly in love with him and has a weird way of showing it."

"Didn't they go to the afterparty together?"

"Yeah, we never heard how that went."

Ryan stopped, taken aback. "But weren't you there?"

"I was invited, but, you know, fear decided to come around and kick my – "

"Hey, that's new," Ryan interrupted, gesturing toward a large garden set just outside the building.

The composer laughed in spite of herself. "It's the most natural thing within half a mile of this place."

He tilted his head slightly and began walking down the wide path. "What about natural beauty?"

"What, the clothing department model's?" Kelsi scoffed slightly from his left.

"No...Yours." Ryan replied without thinking.

"Oh," Kelsi started wringing her hands, looking pointedly away. "Thank you..."

"It's just..." he ran a hand through his hair absently. "Usually, when a girl looks really good, it's because someone talented did her make-up. And, I barely ever see you wear make-up. You're just...beautiful. Naturally."

"Thanks...a lot," she added. "Hey – you know what I've always wondered about?"

"What?"

"The moon."

He gave Kelsi a quizzical look. "What about it?"

"It's a completely perfect sphere. And – it's always like that. Always that exact same shape, always looks the same, always in exact proportion. Then you have people and their insane culture, always trying to be perfect, trying to look like super models or whatever. They try so hard. And the moon is just sort of perfect in its own way. Perfect without trying. You don't get much of that down here."

I can think of one other thing that's perfect without trying, Ryan told himself, at the same time wishing he could tell her. You.

"That's deep," he thought aloud, brushing past an overgrown plant.

Kelsi nodded slowly when suddenly something else came to her mind. "Wait – weren't you at the afterparty?"

He shrugged. "Sharpay was there, I wasn't..." his voice trailed off.

"But it's not too bad, being left out, is it?"

"I could live with it."

They stopped at a fork in the path. Ryan stepped to the right and offered her his hand. "You want to be left out together?"

"That made absolutely no sense," Kelsi laughed, taking his hand, "but I'd love to."

a/n: That "perfect without trying" part came to me a long time ago – and now I can finally use it! Whoo! I will now do my happy dance. - - - Kat