disclaimer: I own none of the songs in the previous chapter and none anything else in here. No movies, no celebrities, no lines from movies by celebrities. I own nothing. Wahahaha!

a/n: I'M GOING TO REGIONALS! Haha. The press conference judges put me in fifth place, so in about a month, I'll be gone for a week (the horror!). Don't worry; I'll be around long enough to post a few more chapters. My vacation was absolutely fantastic, thank you for asking. And now on to chapter the thirteenth!

"Remind me again why we're watching a romantic comedy." Chad spoke from the doorway of Troy's house, where they had all decided to meet up to watch a movie.

"Girl's choice," Troy replied, closing the door after Chad came in. "And it can't possibly be that bad. Angie said Will Smith recommended it."

"Will Smith is in it," Sharpay laughed, seated comfortably on the carpeted floor. "Surprise, surprise."

Ryan, Kelsi, Angie, Taylor, Zeke and Gabriella were also in the living room, which, fortunately, was big enough to fit all of them. Angie tossed the DVD case to Troy, who caught it and slid the disc into the space on the front of the player then pressed a few buttons. Just as the movie began, he turned off the lights.

"Basic principles..."

- - - - -

"Or, she could say..."

"I'm Sarah Milas; I run the gossip column for the city newspaper."

Two thick vertical lines appeared in the corner of the screen, freezing Hitch momentarily. The lights came back on.

"There's someone at the door," Troy explained, getting up.

"What time is it?" Taylor mumbled, already half asleep.

"Nine-thirty," Sharpay answered in surprise. "Are you tired already?"

"It's the death effect from being around Chad," she smirked. "He kills you with his presence, little by little, until you're completely lost and without a soul."

"Hey," he punched her shoulder lightly. "I asked for two dollars, I never said I wanted to steal your soul."

"Chad's stealing my soul," Taylor announced. "And on a completely unrelated note...someone wake up Kelsi."

All of them looked over to where Kelsi was sitting. Her glasses were in her hand and her eyes were shut. They could tell from the position she was in that her breaths were slow and deep.

"I have ice water," Chad volunteered.

"Don't even think about it," Taylor warned him.

"Hey Ryan," Sharpay called her brother from across the room. "Kiss her."

He shot her a bewildered look. "How is that supposed to help?"

"Don't you remember the fairy tale?" She asked him. "Sleeping beauty gets poisoned by a needle – "

"Or in this case, Chad's presence," Taylor interrupted.

"The prince defeats Maleficent or whatever that enormous dragon's name is, and he kisses her, and she wakes up, and, you know – "

"They live happily ever after," Zeke finished for her.

"Just thought you guys should know," a voice came from the left that startled them all. "I'm still awake."

"Oh, she's good," Angie commented, laughing. "I can catch her lying but I can't catch her pretending to sleep. Imagine that."

"What's taking Troy so long?" Gabi asked as Kelsi straightened up and put her glasses back on. "I'm going to check on him." Without waiting for any reply, she got up and made her way to the door in the other room.

"If you ask me," Angie muttered, "Gabsy's grown a bit too attached to Troy. Seriously, he leaves for five minutes to answer the door and the way she gets, you'd think he was going out to war in Vietnam alone." Before she could continue, her cell phone rang. She took it out of her purse, excused herself and answered it.

"Hello? Oh, hi Pierre...Yeah, I wondered about that...August? That far? Damn, I thought...What?! Do you have me on speakerphone again? You are an evil little rock star, you know that? Yes, of course. You're welcome. Hah. Yeah right...Okay, I'll see you there. Bye." Angie hung up, shaking her head slowly. "You know, the guys of Simple Plan are really insane when it comes to concert dates. Half a year! Can you imagine?"

"So you're into rock music too?" Sharpay asked.

Angie nodded, putting her phone back into her purse. "Yeah, although I always forget what My Chemical Romance's name is. My Chemical Romance, My Biological Romance, My Romantic Chemistry, My Roman Chemical, whatever."

"...that was so completely weird. We're in New Mexico. And they were asking for directions the Statue of Liberty – in New York?" They looked up. Troy and Gabi came back into the living room.

"The guy at the door wanted directions," he told the group, sitting back down. "To the Statue of Liberty. Must've misread the map that said 'New Mexico' and thought it said 'New York'." He pressed a button on the remote and the movie resumed.

- - - - -

"Basic principles...There are none."

The movie ended and the credits began to roll by the screen. Looking around, Kelsi saw that Sharpay was humming along with the background music ("Now that we've got love what are we gonna do with it?"), Ryan was checking his phone, Angie was squinting at the names of the cast members, Troy was reading the back of the DVD case, Gabi was looking over his shoulder and Zeke was laughing at Chad, who Taylor was kicking in her sleep.

"Will someone wake her up?" Chad hissed as Taylor kicked him again.

"Hey, for all you know, she could already be awake," Zeke laughed.

Sharpay tossed her hair back. "Maybe she just enjoys kicking you."

"Taylor?" Angie whispered, lightly tapping her shoulder. "Taylor...Wake up, Taylor...Tay...Come on, Taylor...Taaaaayloooor...TAYLOR, GET UP!"

Taylor jumped up, breathing hard. "Are you trying to give me a heart attack?"

Angie pointed across from her. "Chad made me do it."

"You were kicking me!" Chad protested.

"Should I punch you next?" She asked, rolling her eyes at him.

Troy took the disc out of the player and back into the case. "What now?"

"We go home before midnight," Sharpay replied. "Unless you plan on taking us all out to breakfast at this hour."

"I'm gone," Taylor said, smoothing out her hair and putting her shoes back on.

Chad stood up as well. "In that case, so am I."

- - - - -

"Hey there."

Kelsi, who was sitting on the porch, looked back. Angie stood in the doorway with her arms crossed.

"What are you doing?" The composer asked, moving over so Angie could sit down.

"Oh, nothing, I always go outside at two in the morning for no particular reason."

Kelsi smiled. "I'm just...thinking."

"About what?"

"Moving. I mean, I really like Ryan, and I'm not sure whether moving will help me think about him less or just...just make me miss him more."

Angie sighed, putting an arm around her cousin. "Now, I'm no expert at these things, but in any relationship, breathing room is necessary. Two minutes or two decades, five feet or five hundred miles, one city or one world apart – everyone needs time to themselves. So think about it," she tossed her hair back and took a deep breath. "Would you be away from him for a hundred years if you were sure he'd still be there when you're back?"

"For him?" Kelsi looked at her cousin with a slightly dreamy expression. "Sure. Yeah. Anything."

a/n: Yes, I know it took a while. But at least it's long, right? Expect big things in the next chapter. Many revelations (no, not about Ryan and Kelsi, that's waiting until later on), many points of minor conflict, many witty one-liners, many newsworthy moments and, of course, many references to celebrities. You got that...? I got the base! Haha! - - - Nina