AN: This chapter is for the totally amazing Catt001/Blue Eyed Dragon Girl. She made some fantastic banners for this story (as if making the trailer that inspired the story wasn't awesome enough) which inspired me to get my butt in gear and write! So I hope you all enjoy.
Men and Monsters
Chapter 8
Kelsi stepped awkwardly out of the tree in her front yard. She hated traveling through trees and was still not convinced it was entirely possible, despite having done it several times, but it was the fastest way to get from Briarwood to Albuquerque. She stumbled into the yard as the magic faded, landing on her hands and knees in the grass, her backpack hitting her in the head.
"Kelsi?" Ryan asked.
Kelsi leapt back, falling on her butt and clutching her heart. "Jeez! Why do you keep doing that?" she demanded.
"Where did you --?" he looked from her to the tree. "Are you sneaking out?"
Kelsi craned her head back to see that her window on the second floor was slightly ajar. "Yes," she said, deciding that was a simpler explanation, "I'm sneaking out."
"Are you grounded or something? I've been waiting out here for at least half an hour."
"Oh, sorry," she said, climbing to her feet. "My parents must be … out."
"You don't know?" Ryan asked, smiling teasingly.
"What's with the third degree?" Kelsi demanded angrily, fully aware that she had absolutely no reason to be mad at him. She should have chosen a tree in the park to come back on. But she was so eager to get home -- and she certainly hadn't expected Ryan Evans to be waiting on her front lawn.
"Sorry," he said. "I just wanted to see if you were going to work on Faust today."
She bit her lip. She hadn't meant to snap at him, but she'd been so flustered. "No, that's okay. I'd love to work on it." She hurried up the front steps and paused when she didn't hear his footsteps behind her. "Are you coming?"
"Aren't you in trouble?"
"Oh. Well, my parents don't mind you coming over. Especially if it's for school."
Ryan frowned. Somehow, that wasn't as flattering as it should have been.
#
Taylor and Gabriella sat in the Montez living room, idly flipping through magazines which neither was particularly interested in.
"What is it now?" Gabriella asked when Taylor sighed.
"Nothing," Taylor said.
"Tay, I know you. You're dying to ask more questions."
"All right, fine," Taylor said, putting her magazine aside. "Why haven't you told your mom yet? This is the kind of thing that would be good for her to know."
"I don't know. I mean … my mom's always been so straightforward. As far as she's concerned my life plan has always been top two percent of my high school class, Stanford, law school, job at a big law firm. There's no wiggle room."
"Gabby, that's your plan too."
"It was my plan, but now I'm not so sure."
"Why not? Because of this? This is easy. You just have to schedule your life around the full moon. Which, in case you missed fifth grade science, is a completely predictable occurrence."
"But --"
"No buts. You can't just run off to Sharpay's every month without giving your mom an explanation. And what about midterms?"
"What about them?" Gabriella asked long-sufferingly.
"There's a full moon that week, your mom will never let you stay over then if she doesn't know."
"How did you know that?"
"I looked it up on my blackberry while you were making lunch earlier."
"Well, I can't tell her. She'll think I'm crazy. And even if I could prove it to her somehow, she'd go crazy."
"You don't know that. Your mom's a pretty tough cookie. I bet she could take it. Promise me you'll at least try."
Gabriella sighed and nodded.
"Before Thanksgiving."
"Taylor! Halloween is only a couple weeks away!"
"I know, but if I give you until Christmas or New Year's then the whole midterm problem goes away. Thanksgiving. I mean it."
The lock on the front door clicked open and both girls looked up to see Mrs. Montez coming in.
"Ah, Taylor, I didn't know you were coming over today."
"Where have you been, Mommy?" Gabriella asked, hurrying over to help her mother with grocery bags.
"Well, after church I got dragged to a movie by Lindsay Babbit. It wasn't so bad but it completely threw off my day. What have you girls been doing?"
"Reading," Taylor said, following the two into the kitchen.
"Homework?" Mrs. Montez asked.
"Finished it yesterday," Gabriella said, stacking boxes of graham crackers in the pantry. "Now we're just whiling away the weekend."
Mrs. Montez frowned as she put the milk away. "You mean you have no other work that needs doing? No college applications, essays, extra credit?"
"Nope," Taylor said. "We finished the applications over summer and I've already mapped out our homework time for the next month, with wiggle room for unforeseen assignments."
"What about the play?"
"What play?" Gabriella asked.
"The one at school. Are you going to try out?"
Gabriella and Taylor exchanged a look. "I don't know," Gabriella said, hurrying to put pasta away. A week ago she would have said yes without a second thought, but now the thought of performing in a play about demons and a man's slow decent into evil hit a bit too close to home.
"You should seriously consider it. Those extracurricular activities look very good on college applications."
"I'll think about it, Mommy, I promise."
#
"I know it's supposed to be a slow, dramatic number," Ryan sighed. "I'm just saying it could be fast and even more dramatic." He was sitting in a recliner in Kelsi's living room, while she sat at the piano fiddling with the score for Faust.
"But he's singing in the street in the middle of the night," Kelsi pointed out. "It's a quiet time."
"Yes, but his mind isn't quiet. The song is all about his internal struggle, which is anything but quiet. And this is a high school production. I think you can get away with changing it. Especially since Ms. D's nephew wrote it."
Kelsi rolled her eyes. "Exactly! I don't want to compromise someone else's vision just like you and --" She pulled back, clutching the edge of the seat.
Ryan hung his head. They both knew she was thinking of what he and Sharpay had tried to do to Tinsel Town. "How about we ask Ms. D on Monday? The final decision is hers anyway."
Kelsi nodded quickly. "Have you heard the finale yet?" she asked a bit too brightly.
He shook his head and she turned to the piano, eagerly searching for the piece. He smiled as her hands moved over the keys, bringing the song to life.
The girls were crazy, he decided. The guys he could understand, the wildcats had always had some weird big brother complex where Kelsi was concerned, but the girls' worries were totally out of left field. And anyway, it wasn't like he and Kelsi even spent that much time together. Even now, when they should have been devoting so much time to the show, they'd been having trouble finding time to work together. And that reminded him of their last conversation.
"So, who's Toby?" he asked.
It was a testament to Kelsi's skill that her fingers never faltered and the song went on uninterrupted for several bars.
"It's just that I heard you say his name," Ryan added, "on Saturday."
"Oh, yeah," she said finally, slowly, "… he's a friend."
"Like … a boyfriend?"
Now Kelsi's fingers did fail her and she swung around on the seat to face Ryan. "No!" she cried, her eyes wide with an emotion Ryan recognized easily: fear. "Oh, God! If his fiancée thought --" She wagged a finger at him. "Don't you ever say anything like that ever again."
"Sorry!" Ryan said, holding up his hands. "So who is he?"
Kelsi sighed. "He's my cousins' boss and he owns a record store. We've always gotten along really well, even though he sort of babies me."
"Don't your cousins live in California?"
The phone rang then and he asked, "Do you want me to -- ?" but Kelsi was already racing from the room. He heard another ring and then the click of the answering machine. As Mr. Nielson's recorded voice echoed down the hall Kelsi walked slowly back into the living room.
"Two rings," she said, collapsing onto the couch. "Who sets the machine for two rings?"
"Your dad apparently," Ryan said, smiling at the picture she made. One leg was on the couch while the other hung uselessly over the side. Her arms were crossed petulantly over her chest and she was pouting at him over the rim of her glasses.
The automated message ended and Mrs. Nielson's voice called, "Hi, honey! I hope you're home. Remember your father and I are going to see that play at U of A tonight -- let's hope it's better than the last one -- so we won't be home until around midnight. You can call some of your friends to come over if you want so you're not alone, but remember that it's a school night. Bed by ten. Love you, sweets."
"So," Ryan said, "looks like you're not grounded anymore."
"Yeah," Kelsi said slowly, avoiding his gaze.
"You should call the girls. I'm sure they'd love to come over and --"
"Ryan," Kelsi said, sitting up, "we still have a lot of work to do. Ms. D is not gonna be happy if we come to school tomorrow with nothing done."
Ryan smiled and whipped out his cell phone. "Pizza's on me?"
"Sounds good."
#
"Knock, knock," Derby said brightly, stepping into her daughter's doorway.
"Mom!" Sharpay said, sitting up in bed and sliding her laptop to the side.
Derby smiled and took a seat on the edge of the bed. "How's it going, love?"
"Fine," Sharpay said with a shrug.
Derby gave her an incredulous look. "I know you, Shar, I know when you're acting. Something's up."
"It's nothing."
Derby's smile returned. "I know it's something." She cocked her head to the side. "Does this have anything to do with Zeke?"
Sharpay's eyes widened and she gaped at Derby. "No! And how do you even know his name?"
"I'm not blind, you know. Did you think I wouldn't notice that all of your desserts had frosting hearts or hearts made of powdered sugar or syrup hearts --"
Sharpay shoved her lightly. "The staff just knows I like girly things."
"Love isn't a girly thing. So how is Zeke?"
"I don't know," Sharpay said, falling back on her pillows.
Derby patted her daughter's knee, knowing Sharpay's moods well enough to tell that the conversation was ending. "Well, just remember," she said, standing, "you can always come to me. I'm more than happy to discuss school or musicals or wardrobes or boys --"
Sharpay tossed a pillow at her for the last one.
"I'm always here for you," Derby said, catching the pillow. She replaced it on the bed and bent down to kiss Sharpay's forehead. "You are my favorite daughter, after all," she whispered and glided to the door. When she was only a few feet away she paused. "Oh! Do you know where your is? His phone keeps going straight to voice mail and it's almost curfew."
"I'm sure he'll be home in time."
"All right. Night, honey," Derby said with a smile and closed the door.
Sharpay sighed and looked to her laptop. She would have to wait until morning. Now she had a brother to find. She snapped her fingers over her head and dissolved into a flurry of pink sparks.
#
"You're falling asleep," Ryan said.
"Am not," Kelsi muttered.
Ryan fought the urge to chuckle. They were working at the piano and Kelsi had taken to leaning on his shoulder. At first he'd been surprised and more than happy to let her continue, but her breathing was slowing and he didn't need his powers to figure out that she was exhausted.
"Long weekend?" he asked.
She hummed her affirmation, nestling closer. After a moment's hesitation he carefully dislodged his arm from under her and wrapped it around her shoulders.
"You were busy," he said.
She nodded.
"With Toby."
"And my cousins."
"The ones in California?" he asked slowly, remembering the look on her face when he'd asked earlier.
"Mm-hmm, Briarwood."
He stiffened but she didn't seem to notice. "Briarwood?" he whispered. He had the sudden urge to run far, far away, but at the same time he wanted to hold Kelsi tightly and never let go. What were the odds of his best friend being related to people in that city? And they had to be rangers. It explained how she could have gone from Albuquerque to there and back in a single weekend. He wanted to scream. It wasn't fair! Why could Gabriella have friendship and he couldn't? The answer came before he'd even finished the question. He was a child of evil and betrayal, the universe was probably just looking for ways to screw him over.
A faint scraping sound behind him drew him from his thoughts. His hand on the now sleeping Kelsi's shoulder tightened protectively and he half-turned.
"Aw, you two are so sweet," Sharpay cooed, smiling at him from the doorway.
"What are you doing here?" he asked.
"It's almost curfew. You're going to be late."
Ryan sighed and looked around. Sheet music was everywhere and the coffee table was littered with the remnants of their pizza.
"I should clean up," he said but didn't move. He looked at Sharpay warily. "How long have you been here?"
She frowned at him. "What, do you think I was spying on the two of you? I have better things to do, you know. Now hurry up. I'd rather not get in trouble."
Satisfied, Ryan carefully lifted Kelsi up, one hand behind her shoulders and one under her knees. He walked her to the couch and, with a flick of his hand, sent the papers into a pile on the coffee table. He set her down carefully and began cleaning up the clutter while Sharpay amused herself by looking at the photographs around the room.
"Are you done yet?" Sharpay asked.
"One second," Ryan said and quickly scrawled a note on the top of Kelsi's music folder. "Ready. Let's go."
Sharpay nodded and they both disappeared.
#
Chad was sitting on Taylor's front step when she came home that night.
"What are you doing here?" she asked, fighting to hide her smile.
"Your house is closer to the Evans' than mine is," he said with a shrug.
"By what? Three blocks? You could have been home hours ago." She sat on the step beside him and nodded to the flickering street lights. "Now you'll have to walk in the dark."
"I wanted to know what happened last night."
"Aw, you're such a good boyfriend," she teased.
"I'm serious, Tay," he said, scooting away from her so he could look her in the eye. "It's not like you to ignore a text. What happened?"
"Boi found me and Sharpay insisted I stay the night."
Chad raised an eyebrow.
"That's what happened! We spent the night watching movies and talking about the new musical."
"I can buy that you spent the night talking about a musical you don't care about, but I cannot believe that Sharpay 'insisted' you spend one more second in her presence than was strictly necessary."
Taylor stood in a huff. "Fine, believe whatever you want. I'm going inside."
Chad grabbed her wrist but she refused to look down at him, keeping her gaze fixed on the porch light.
"Something is wrong, Taylor. I can feel it. And if that wasn't enough you accused Ryan of hurting Kelsi this morning."
"I didn't --"
"If you don't tell me what's up I'll go to her. And if she doesn't tell, I'll be giving Evans a black eye on Monday. So unless you want to listen to your new best friend complain about how I ruined the autumn musical, you're gonna tell me."
Taylor sighed and met his eyes. "You can be really annoyingly smart when you want to be, you know that?"
"It's why you love me," he said with a smirk.
She sat down beside him and sighed. "You're never going to believe this."
"Try me."
"Okay, you know how we always say that Sharpay is some sort of monster?"
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