Hello again!

Thank you for reading my story so far (but I can't tell if people have if there aren't any reviews:( ) and I hope you've been liking it so far.

If you haven't liked it, leave a review (wink wink) and tell me what you'd like to see more of. Enjoy!

WARNING; um . . . this chapter ended up being way longer than intended, but I didn't want to split it into two chapters. My apologies!

Disclaimer: Sigh. If only I did own it . . .

Recap

"We need to talk," she demanded.

"Sorry, can't, need to . . ." 'Get away' Kelsi thought again. ". . . go . . . somewhere . . ."

Kelsi walked quickly away, glad that Sharpay didn't follow. When Kelsi got to the door that led out of the school, Sharpay shouted down the empty hallway,

"You had time for Troy though, didn't you?"

Mrs Darbus had been working hard all week, and to make things more difficult, she had a show to work on. But no matter how busy she was, she would always make time to rehearse the show with her 'Superstars', she called them.

One of the things about this middle-aged lady was that she only really appreciated the ones who had talent and flaunted it. This meant that she spent her time putting those individuals in the spotlight, instead of working with those who had no confidence and couldn't 'flaunt it' as much.

If she tried it, she would have had many great actors instead of a couple. A couple meaning two. Two meaning the Evans children, (or the more confident of the two anyway. Cough Sharpay, cough cough.) And everyone knows what they mean /she means . . . business.

"Why are you sitting around?" Ms Darbus said irritably to the teenagers, who were lolling about. Some jumped up at the sight of her, and tried to look as if they were doing something important.

"We haven't got a pianst." Mumbled one of them, fiddling with her nails. Her nickname was Candi, and she had short, bright pink and black hair, giving people the impression that she was girly and soft. If she ever heard anyone say that about her, she'd punch their face in. Candi loved pink, she loved black, and she loved drama, but she was a punky sort of girl. She didn't care what people thought of her and stood up to Ms Darbus, even when the drama teacher was in a bad mood.

"Of course not, you fool! Why would we need a pianst when we haven't got a piano?" said Ms Darbus, strolling up to the stage.

"You said not to practice without her!" Candi exclaimed. 'Jeez, what a dope,' she thought.

"Without wh-" Answering her own question, Ms Darbus scanned the room and realised who was missing. Becoming seriously stressed, she did something so unexpected, everybody jumped out of their skin, and Sharpay gave a little scream herself. "

Where-is-Kelsi-Nielsen!" Mrs Darbus screamed, tugging on her shawl so hard it almost ripped in two.

HSM HSM HSM HSM HSM

Kelsi flopped down on her bed, back in the place where the stories started. She was becoming attached to this hobby; every time she took out the notebook, she got excited, and new ideas would pop up straight away. She even skipped drama rehearsal because of it! 'There was no point anyway, there's no piano. What would I be doing?' She would write for ages before even thinking about taking a break.

'Maybe I should take a break from this,' she wondered anxiously. Then, laughing at herself, she thought 'Nah!' and whipped out the book. Writing a bold header 'Zeke's Cupid Catastrophe' she got quickly scribbling;

Zeke had problems with love and he knew it. What he didn't know was what he could do about it. A good rep always helped, but what he would have liked more was somebody that liked him for who he was.

It wasn't like he'd never asked anyone out, or vice versa; it was just what happened after that. Our brave soldier's tale begins just after another disaster . . .

"It was a really great night, Zeke," smiled a girl called Melody, who was wearing his jacket because she had gotten 'cold'. They were walking out of a restaurant called Pia's Pizzas.

"It's just as well we went there." Zeke said to her. "In that other place we were gonna go to, there was this bimbo, really ugly and a horrible attitude too. No point in going to a place with bad service." Melody frowned, but Zeke didn't notice.

"What did this bimbo looks like?" "Oh," Zeke looked surprised that she asked. Why would she care? "Blonde, tall, uh, brown eyes as well, I think, like you. She was really miserable. Bad service." Zeke said again, shaking his head, and Melody stopped short.

"The service is as bad as you make out, actually; I've been there. And I believe that 'bimbo' you're talking about is my sister."

Zeke suddenly felt quite embarrassed, and scratching his head, he said, "Well, you can't deny she is a bit miserable."

"Not everybody has a jolly face when thy work you know. From what you're saying, she wasn't even rude to you. She could have been in a bad mood that dayor something! And dissing her off behind her back . . ."

Zeke sighed in frustration as Melody rambled on. He was just glad he hadn't seen anyone he knew while she was shouting at him the the middle of the street at night. Before he knew what was happening, she shook Zeke's jacket off her shoulders.

"I'm sorry, but for me, family comes before everything else. You wouldn't even know that about me, would you?" She handed his jacket back. "I won't let you talk about my sister that way." And with that, she walked off, leaving Zeke in complete and utter confusion.

'Jeez, girls can be so touchy,' he thought miserably, as he found some restaurant and bar place. He went and ordered his drink, and then sat down at a table that had two seats. He flung his jacket over the back of his chair and sat down.

Gazing out of the window, he lost himself in his thoughts. Thinking about what had just happened and why it always happened to him. Suddenly, he got the feeling he wasn't alone. He looked at who sat in the seat opposite him.

"Hiya stranger!" Came a familiar male voice, face grinning, brown hair ruffled, blue eyes sparkling.

"Oh my . . . I don't believe it. You're Troy Bolton!" Zeke gasped. "East High's most reputable basketball Captain and major heat-throb! But you went away 'cause your Dad moved house, what are you doing here?"

"Zeke, why are you acting like I'm a worldwide famous celebrity? We were good friends and you're acting like you've never met me!" Troy raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah, I just wanted everyone else to stare."

The boys looked around, and sniggering, they found that many people were doing so. "How come you're back?" Zeke asked, still chuckling a little.

"Came back to greet a few old friends, you know. I was gonna visit East High on Monday morning. My dad wanted to get a drink before we went to the hotel, but it looks like he knows the barman."

Zeke looked over Troy's shoulder and saw Mr Bolton, catching a joke with the barman, and laughing a lot louder than necessary.

"How's the baking going?" Troy said, taking his jacket off.

"Pretty good actually; the other day, I experimented and made this chocolate and vanilla cake. I let it set, then made it really hot and had it with cold ice-cream. I'm telling you, it's a mega combination!" Zeke laughed, but his heart wasn't in it. He was still brooding over Melody.

"So, Mr Baylor. Why are you so down? Wassup buddy?" Troy asked, with a kind face.

"Urgh, don't ask." Zeke groaned, "Girl troubles."

"Ohhhh, I gets'ya." Winked Troy. "Loud n clear. Want a bit of advice?"

"Coming from you, that would be welcome." Zeke sat up a little straighter and took a sip of his drink.

"Never let the opposite sex tread over you. You have to be the strong one, even if you don't believe it. Make them believe it. That way, even if you do break up, you'll still have that strong feeling and won't beat yourself up about it."

There was a brief silence as Troy looked expectantly at Zeke for an answer. Zeke gazed at him, then said simply,

"That advice was useless to me."

"How come?"

"I've tried that already. I'm too weak. I give up."

"I know what it is now!" Troy said suddenly. "It's self-esteem. We need to build up you're self-esteem."

Without warning, there was a knock at Kelsi's bedroom door.

'Probably Mum' she thought. "Just a minute!" She called.

"Uh . . . okay, where do I start?" Zeke puzzled.

"Leave it to your Personal Cupid." Troy grinned and leaned back in his chair.

That was the beginning of many things to come!

Kelsi decided to stop there, so she wouldn't be in the middle of a paragraph or something if she had to stop again.

"Yeah?" she called to the door, and her mum came in.

"Hiya honey, what'cha doin'?" Mrs Nielsen asked. "Still being over dramatic about the piano thing? You've been awfully quiet."

"I'm fine. I'm not really worried about it so much now, I keep occupied with my new hobby." Kelsi said absent-mindedly. Mrs Nielsen looked at her in surprise. Eying the open notebook, she said shrewdly,

"Does it have anything to do with wrting?"

"Maaaay-beeee . . ." Kelsi said in a mysterious voice, before laughing.

"Well, I'm glad you feel better. Come down for dinner now."

"Oh pleeeeease! Five more minutes!" Mrs Nielsen raised an eyebrow and Kelsi knew there wasn't even any point in asking. HSM

HSM HSM HSM HSM

At school the next day, the Secret thing had had time to get around the school, and people found it interesting that Sharpay told Kelsi a secret. Kelsi was oblivious to this though. All she wanted to do was finish Zeke's mini story, then write another one. At that very moment one about Taylor was already forming in her head.

At her lunch break, she didn't want to go to the gym again, so she went to the auditorium. She sat in the corner at the back so no-one would see her. She looked up. Candi was on stage, reciting her complicated speech, reminding Kelsi how she admired her long lasting memory. Kelsi quickly whipped out her book and continued the story;

Troy Bolton had written a list of things they had to do over the weekend, before Monday came.

"Right. We have to buy new clothes, go paint-balling and ice-skating, get a haircut, go to a party, and get the numbers of at least five girls before the weekends out."

"We?" Zeke raised his head hopefully. They were going to Troy's hotel room because Mrs Baylor said it was okay, and Zeke had stared and the floor the whole way so far.

"Well . . . you . . . mainly . . . apart from the bit when we get the girls mobile number's!" He grinned. (A.N. Americans say cell instead of mobile don't they? Or do they?)

"Troy, how is all this gonna help me? I don't think this is such a great idea." Zeke was starting to worry, and he felt like Troy didn't really understand what he was saying as he opened the hotel door with a silver key.

"Chill! Like I said, let your personal cupid handle everything! This is just the beginning!" Troy exclaimed as he flopped down on the bed.

Kelsi stopped and looked back through the notebook pages. This was possibly the longest story she had ever written so far, and she had even finished. The thing was, she was losing interest in it now, but she didn't want to leave it unfinished.

'I need to wrap this up,' She thought anxiously, looking up towards the stage again to see Sharpay doing some dance that made her look like a duck. Giggling a little, Kelsi hurriedly scribbled in three stars to show a change of scene, then wrote;

Over the course of the weekend, Troy and Zeke managed to do the things on the list and more. Zeke managed to get the numbers of two girls at the swimming pool on Saturday, girls called Suzy and Ally. Troy got three.

Zeke got another number when they went to the arcade, of a girl called Chelsea and Troy got another three, so Troy had passed the goal. Some of the girls asked if he was going to the party, and remembering what Troy said, he said yes. They smiled back 'great, I'll be your date then!' Zeke said ok and shrugged.

On Sunday, they did the 'make-over', and Zeke had to admit that the change of appearance made him feel really fresh, like a new person, ready to start over.

At the clothes shop, Zeke got one more number, of a girl called Rea, making four, and decided not to keep track of how many Troy had, because he knew that Troy had more than his, so that was all he needed to know really. He also met a girl called Taylor, but forgot about getting her number, he was too busy getting to know her.

Then, Sunday afternoon, they went back to his hotel room, only to find out that Troy was going back to his new house. "What?" Troy said, taken aback. "Why?"

"Your mother," Mr Bolton said shortly, hurriedly packing.

"Oh no," worried Troy, swapping meaningful looks with Zeke. "What's happened?"

"Nothing life threatening I hope, but I think we should go back. I'll explain on the way." Mr Bolton grabbed his things and rushed out the door, leaving the two boys in the spacious room with Troy's luggage.

"Well, sorry buddy." Troy shook his head in disappointment. "Sorry I couldn't stay longer to help you out, but look, let me give you the address for the party. Say 'I'm on Troy Bolton's Basketball Buddy Guest List' and they'll let you in." Flinging the paper at Zeke, he also ran out.

"Good luck Mr Baylor!"

"Stop calling me that!" Zeke yelled down the corridor.

So on Sunday night, Zeke went to the address on his own, and stated what Troy had said. He thought he looked pretty good, which was an understatement, because he looked hot and didn't even know it.

Inside and outside, it looked like a really cool house, holding a really cool party, with really cool people . . . that he knew.

"Hey Zeke!" waved Chad. "You didn't say you were coming!"

"Hey Zeke!" cooed Chelsea flirtatiously. "Glad you could come." "

Oh look! That's my date, Zeke." Said Suzy excitedly to a girl called Sharpay, who eyed him.

"What the hell?" Chelsea gave Suzy a look like she was crazy. "He's my date!"

"I always knew Chelsea was a wack job," Suzy said loudly to Sharpay. "Always creating make-believe fantasies."

"Who creating the fantasy, bitch?" Chelsea stepped right up to Suzy, as if they were getting ready to fight, as well as some other girls who claimed Zeke said the same thing to them. The people who were crowding round to watch thought a fight was going to happen.

Zeke had to act fast, because eventually they would find out that he'd said yes to them all. Then he'd he in for it. 'Wait . . .' Zeke thought 'I only said yes to Chelsea and Rea as well by accident . . . where did those other girls come from?'

"I only came because TROY BOLTON advised me too," He said loudly to Chad, emphasising Troy's name. All action stooped.

"You talked to Troy?" Chad looked at Zeke with awe.

"Oh yeah, over the weekend. He was giving me advice about stuff you know?" Zeke continued, aware that everyone including the girls themselves, had forgot about the soon-to-be fight.

"Awesome dude, did he mention me?"

"Are you guys, like, best friends?"

"Is he gonna come to visit the rest of us soon?"

"Yeah, like, now!" and Troy emerged from the door behind Zeke and wrapped an arm round Zeke shoulder's. There was a lot of cheering and whooping, and the party mood really got going.

"But . . . I thought-"

"Yeah, I know, Dad said I could say behind if I wanted, I have to stay with the Montez's." Troy winked at Zeke because he knew they were both thinking of Gabriella Montez.

"How's it going?"

"You mean the party?" said Zeke "It was almost a disater for me!" and explained what had happened.

"Oh . . . yeah, oops." Troy said sheepishly. "Sorry, I thought you needed a date!"

"No you didn't. You thought I needed five dates. I can at least get a date on my own you know!" Zeke turned on his heel and left, sighing when he heard Troy say 'I sorta got carried away . . . uh, sorry?'

Zeke headed home, leaving Troy having a lot of fun at the party. He felt a bit dejected, because Troy was supposed to help him understand how to act around girls, and by trusting him, it turned into a catastrophe. Troy got the complete wrong end of the stick, and Zeke wound up where he started with abunch of random mobile numbers that he wasn't ever gonna use.

Thinking all this, he kept heading home.

When he was only a block away, he bumped into the girl he met at the arcade. "Oh, hey! Taylor isn't it?"

"Uh huh. And you're the guy who almost became Basketball captain." She smiled. Before he could ask how she knew, she said "I go to East High too. I'm in the Scholastic Decathlon team."

They talked for ages, and it wasn't until about fourty-five minutes later that they figured they should get home. They parted, but not before Zeke asked her if she wanted to go out for a pizza or something. She said she'd love to.

Kelsi's brain was becoming frazzled. 'The hell with it,' she thought. 'I'll just write anything.'

Next day at school, they became an item and lived happily ever after. The End.

Kelsi flinging her pen away, she leaned back and closed her eyes in bliss. It only goes to show how much she wanted to finish it, because she never wrote 'The End' at the end of her stories. She rubbed her aching hand and opened her eyes to see a shadow move across he notebook. Whipping her head up, she saw a figure standing over her.

"Glad you could join us at last, Miss Nielsen."

"Oh . . . uh," Kelsi gulped and sat up straighter. "Hello Ms Darbus."

I really hope that was easy to take in, because it took AGES to write! I'm not bored of the story though, not yet! Lol.

Well, Zeke went first, so next I'll probably do Taylor . . . unless I can find something good for someone else! Next chapter should be up soon. Thanks for reading!

Mzdarkstar x x x