Troy helped Chad with his English assignment during free period, lunch, and even after school on Monday and Tuesday. They stayed motivated by playing basketball at Troy's house when Chad would finish a chapter or a paragraph. Come free period on Wednesday, with almost five pages of essay, Chad was nearly done. Troy continuously slid a thin copy of "The Chatcher In The Rye" across the library table at which the two boys sat, while his friend typed furiously away on his laptop.
"But I don't understand why the guy would get a whore and then just talk to her." The bushy haired boy stated, lightly moving his hands in front of him for emphasis. His fellow eleventh grader chuckled.
"It was a different time, I guess, man. I mean, he just wanted somebody to talk to." Crinkles formed in Troy's shirt as he shrugged his shoulders.
"Then he should have gotten a counselor." Chad replied with a roll of his eyes. Counselor.
'Shit, that's right!' Troy jumped up at his realization and started to rush out of the room.
"Hey man, where're you goin'?" Chad questioned, no longer typing.
"Counselor's office!" Troy shouted over his shoulder. "You keep typing, I'll see you after school!"
"Alright man, whatever you say." Chad replied, earning a strict 'shh!' from the librarian, Mrs. Falstaff, and returned to his work.
—
Troy walked briskly to the Counselor's office, and on his way noticed Sharpay walking towards him, wiggling her fingers as a wave. He practically swollowed vomit.
"Hi, Troy! Where are you headed in such a hurry?" Her voice like artificial sweetener.
"Oh, you know, Counselor's office. Gotta set up college stuff." The brunette replied while rubbing the back of his neck.
"I already had my appointment with her. I'll be going to University of Albuquerque. If I don't get into Juliard. Which I know I'll definitely get into Juliard. They save the best for the best, you know." stated nonchalantly by the blonde.
"That's great. Uh...I gotta go!" He replied, and jogged past his admirer. Sharpay scowled when he didn't even try to return her enthusiastic 'Toodles!'.
The door creeked as Troy let himself into the office of the counselor, Ms. Meeker. He did his best to keep his composure.
"Oh, Troy, you did decide to show up after all. How nice of you, take a seat." She gestured to a large cushioned chair in front of her desk, her long red hair shifting slightly as she did so. The athlete smiled awkwardly and sat down. This was Ms. Meeker's first year as a counselor at East High, and Troy was usually much better at making first impressions.
"So, your father is the basketball coach here at East High?" She asked, even though everyone already knew so.
"Yes, ma'am. He's a great coach. I'm always on the team... I mean, not because he's my dad, but because he pushes me to do my best everytime. He's even going to help me get a scholarship for U of A next year." Troy fiddled with his thumbs as the young woman wrote something down in her notepad.
"University of Albuquerque, huh? You know, Troy, I see kids like you every year go to college for sports and somewhere down the line they end up with a bad leg or arm and their career is done just like that. Now, I'm not saying you shouldn't try to get that scholarship. I just want you to know that there are more options than that. I printed out a list of other schools that might have programmes you're interested in."
Troy quickly skimmed the list. 'Anthropology, Computer Science, Forestry, Linguistics, Theatre...' Were just a few. Most of the universities were scattered all around the country. Troy was taken aback and rubbed his neck nervously.
"Um...Ms. Meeker, no offense, but I'm not interested in any of this stuff. A-and some of these schools are all the way in New York, California. I don't see myself leaving New Mexico for anything, and basketball is really my thing. " He had a lot more to say, but felt that his counselor knew what else was on his mind.
"I know change can be scary," She started "but you'll be surprised at how happy you'll be when you start to make choices for yourself. Eleventh grade is a year of experimentation for many students. You don't have to make your final decision now, just promise me you'll think a little bit more about that list. And don't forget, Troy, you can come into my office at any time if you ever want to talk about anything. " She gave Troy a sympathetic smile.
"Yeah...okay. Thanks, Ms. Meeker." The brunette boy shot around in his seat when he heard a knock on the door.
"Ah, yes. My last student appointment for the day." The red haired woman said happily with a smile. "Well, Troy, have a good day. Good luck at tryouts tomorrow. And when you leave, tell my other student that he can come in." She bid him farewell as the boy sat up from the chair, folding the list to put in his pocket.
"Thanks, you, too." Troy waved goodbye as he pushed open the door. He faced the door to shut it quietly and said to the other student " Ms. Meeker says you can go in now."
"Hey, Troy. Thanks." A familiar tenor voice responded. Troy turned around to see Ryan, wearing a sharp green outfit. The crooked, light green hat really brought out his eyes. Troy caught himself staring, a light blush creeped over his face. He wasn't religious or anything, but he prayed to all the gods he knew of as hard as he could that Ryan couldn't notice.
"Ryan, hey! Fancy meeting you here." The taller boy tried to contain his smile as he lifted his right hand in greeting. Ryan didn't miss a beat, and gave him an oddly sincere look.
"We could start anew here." The blond boy took a step towards the brunette. Deep blue pools met those of light blue. Troy felt his heart stop, he flicked his tongue out to wet his lower lip. 'Wait, what?'
"...It's from a musical." Ryan said suddenly. Oh, of course it was. He let out a light chuckle. "Anyway, Troy, Ms. Meeker is waiting. It was nice seeing you." A half smile broke across the blond's face as he pulled the door to the small office open.
"Yeah! I'll see you around. Bye. " Replied the athlete, shoving his hands into his jean pockets. He did his best at hiding a tempting smile as he exited into the main hallway.
—
Troy walked calmly to the library for the end of free period, saying hi to friends he passed on the way. He sat down at Chad's table while a whrring of a printer could be heard. His friend grinned at his achievement and placed a stack of papers, two centimeters thick, on the table.
"Woah, Chad! How many pages is that?" Troy asked, not hiding the surprise in his voice, which almost cracked.
"Eight and a half, my friend." He replied, beaming. Troy lightly chuckled
"Eight's always been your lucky number." Troy gave his best friend a pat on the back. The smile never left Chad's face, even as he put his laptop in his book bag. A loud ring filled the quiet library, signaling to the students that school was done for the day.
"Oh, hey man, I gotta drop this off in English. But I'll meet you at your locker asap, alright?" The curly haired boy said as he hurriedly got the rest if his things together in a jumble. The brunette had never seen his friend act this way over school work before.
"Sure, right on, man. See you later." Replied Troy, astounded. The two boys exchanged waves as the tall ambitious boy left the library quickly. The remaining athlete tried to hold back a laugh as his friend got scolded for running.
The young Bolton walked leisurely to his locker, through the bustle of students eager to leave the stuffy building. He effortlessly dialed his locker combination and the door opened with a click. He gathered up a folder and a couple of heavy text books for homework to do that night. A loud chorus of locker-door-slams filled the hallway, Troys included. As he was slipping his now heavy book bag on, he caught sight of Chad running again, this time towards him. As Chad got closer he began talking as fast as he was moving.
"Okay, so Mr. Dambinski said that he's giving me a seventy-five for handing it in late, but other than that it's perfect. That's a C and still passing, so I can still participate in tryouts tomorrow! " Chad said lividly. He and Troy did their special handshake as a mini celebration.
"Man, that's awesome! Great job, Chad. We should totally play some hoops at my place and stuff to celebrate. And get pizza. My dad'll be real happy to hear the news. But first..." Troy paused for a moment and took the opportunity to steal Chad's basketball. "Race you to the bus!" Troy said deviously, dribbling down the hallway.
"Oh come on!" Chad pretended to be upset, and boisterously chased after Troy. Why did everyone always have to take his ball?
"Last one to the bus buys the pizza!" Troy shouted playfully over his shoulder. The two boys chased each other to the bus, while taking turns stealing the ball.
—
"Hey, boys! You two look mighty energetic." Mrs. Bolton greeted the duo with a pleasant look on her face. "You guys hungry?"
"Hey, mom. Chad turned his English assignment in, so he can go to team tryouts tomorrow. I was thinking we could order a pizza." Stated a bit sheepishly by Troy, who had ultimately lost the race to the bus by tripping. Chad smirked. The older woman glanced suspiciously at the both of them.
"That's great, Chad, congratulations! Jack will be happy to hear the news. Does pepperoni sound good?" Lucille asked, tilting her head with her eyebrows raised.
"It sounds excellent." Troy and Chad replied in unison, before rushing to the backyard to play basketball.
The two boys played basketball for hours, even after they had pizza. Mr. Bolton returned from work just in time to have pizza with the boys and his wife.
"Wow, awesome job, Chad. That's my Troy, always being a team player and helping out. Even off the court. I'm proud of both of you." Mr. Bolton said between bites of pizza. Troy blushed and shrugged it off.
"No, dad, I didn't really do anything. I mean, it's what anyone else would do." The young brunette said bashfully. Chad patted his shoulder.
"Hey man, you so did. I totally owe you one." Troy's friend replied, finishing his fourth slice of pizza. Chatter continued throughout the meal, jokes and laughs being had frequently.
The couple of young athletes didn't stop playing their game until well after it got dark. Chad claimed he won, although Troy insisted they weren't keeping points.
"Boys, it's getting late, and, it's a school night." Mrs. Bolton said standing in the doorway to the back yard. "It's dark out, Chad would you like a ride home?"
"It's fine, Mrs. Bolton, I can walk. Thanks for the pizza." Chad replied, while taking his ball back from Troy. Troy and Chad bumped fists. "Hey, thanks man, see you tomorrow."
"Yeah, no problem, dude, any time. You know that." Troy said with a smile. Mrs. Bolton was joined at the doorway by her husband.
"See you at tryouts tomorrow, Mr. Bolton" said Chad to the older man, while lightly throwing his ball in the air and catching it.
"Awesome, Chad, I know you'll impress me. Better give it your all tomorrow, okay?" The father asked, pointing at the young man. He was almost as hard on Chad with basketball as he was with his own son.
"Sure thing. Alright, see you all later." And with one final wave the bushy haired boy left the property. Mrs. Bolton headed inside, closing the door behind her.
"You know son, I'm real proud of you. That was a great thing you did for Chad, and for the team. I love a team player, and so do colleges." Troy's father said, placing a strong hand on the boy's shoulder. Troy was sick of his dad linking everything to college and basketball.
"Jeeze, dad, not everything has to be about college, or basketball! Can't I just sometimes be a good guy- just because? You know, at first I thought I was helping Chad out to get him on the team, but then I realized that we're not just team mates, we're friends. And that's what friends do. I would have done that for any of my friends, and I'd like to think that they would do that for me, too. Okay?" Halfway through his speach he shrugged his father's hand off. His hands were balled into fists. He didn't wait for his dad to reply, and frankly he didn't care if he wouldn't make the team for getting angry.
"See you at tryouts tomorrow." He mumbled, pushing past his dad, going inside.
—
The next morning Troy didn't see his father. He woke up early enough to get some extra ball practice in and finish breakfast in time for the bus. Chad saved his usual spot for him. Other than being a bit tired from staying up to do homework, it was turning out to be a good day for the tan boy.
Everyone was buzzing around like usual. Sharpay and Ryan Evans were wearing matching outfits like usual, and Troy and his jock friends were getting hyped up for tryouts during homeroom. The bell rang and students made their way to their first actual class. Troy had English with Chad and a handful of other students in his homeroom.
When Troy took his seat in English, he noticed something that was very unusual. Kelsi, who was normally very quiet and kept to herself, was out of her desk and talking with their teacher, Mr. Dambinski. Once she was dismissed, Troy saw how panicked she looked. Shortly after the bell rang, the lean teacher cleared his throat so as to signal that the students should be seated. The bearded man walked briskly until he reached the centre of the whiteboard in the front of the room.
"I hope all of you have turned in your summer reading assignments. They were due last class, and points get taken off for every that they are late. Today is the last day you will be able to receive a passing grade on this assignment." He looked at Chad, amusingly, continuing his spiel.
"Today in class, you will be paired up to talk about 'The Catcher In The Rye'. You and your partner will then create a poster including main ideas, characterization, etcetera. Next class you will be expected to present your poster to the class with your partner. " Quiet chatter quickly broke out throughout the room about who wanted to pair with whom. Chad and Troy glanced at each other excitedly. Mr. Dambinski took a deep breath.
"Your partners have already been decided for you." he said triumphantly. The class groaned with disappointment. The teacher began to walk around the room, placing a piece of paper on each desk. "Right now I am handing out the guideline and poster requirements. You should find the name of your partner on the top lefthand corner of your paper. Please read through the guideline silently and then meet up with your partner. You have the rest of the class to work on the poster and discuss the book. You can find poster board next to my desk. Since this is a big project, you are all expected to work on it outside of class." By the end of his elocution, Mr. Dambinski was back at his desk.
Troy looked down at his paper, his eyes searching rapidly for the name of his partner. 'Ryan Evans' it said. Troy turned around to face Chad, silently wondering who his friend was partnered up with. 'Sharpay' Chad mouthed with a look of disgust. Troy stifled a laugh and pretended to gag. After reading over the guideline twice, Troy searched for Ryan from his desk. He spotted him almost immediately, by his purple fedora. The Drama King noticed and gave him a nod to invite him over. The brunette grabbed his guideline, a pencil, and a notebook and headed over to Ryan's desk. Troy lifted the desk in front of Ryan's with ease and turned it so that they were facing each other. Troy took pride in being able to lift the entire desk without making it screech against the ground.
"So, um..." Troy stated awkwardly, breaking the silence. He skimmed over the guideline once more.
"How about I focus on plot and characterization, and you focus on vocabulary and main events that happened in the book, okay?" Ryan suggested. Troy lit up up at the idea. Together they wrote rough drafts of their assigned parts, going over it with one another. Ryan eventually offered to go up and grab a piece of poster board.
"Yeah, sure. I'm ready if you are. ...For the poster, I mean." Troy responded rubbing the back of his neck, trying to hide a blush that dusted his face. Ryan smiled and walked graciously to the front of the room, Troy turned around in his seat to look at his partner and was met with a sight. The posters were just low enough so that Ryan had to bend over ever so slightly to grab a poster board.
'Damn.' Thought Troy, as he witnessed the curves and creases changing in the denim as Ryan bent down. Troy turned around quickly as the blond made his way back to his desk. Troy pretended to look over his notes as the red of his face deepend.
"Are you okay, Troy" Ryan asked with a concerned look. Troy shifted is his seat and faked a cough.
"Oh, um, yeah. Yeah, I'm okay. I just, uh...like your hat." Replied Troy, while helping Ryan fix the large poster board onto their combined desks.
"Oh, well thank you." At the mention of his hat, Ryan touched it to make sure it was crooked. The couple was able to get halfway through their assignment by the time the bell rang. They decided to meet up in the library after school the next day to work on it; in the meantime Troy would keep it in his locker. One by one, students rolled up their posters and fastened them with elastics and paperclips. The doorway quickly overflowed with students due to the long paper tubes, resulting in them leaving one at a time.
Sharpay was just about to leave as she heard her name being called by her English teacher.
"We need to talk."
—
"What do you mean I have detention?!" Sharpay asked, completely shocked. The clicking of her high heels rang through the room as she stomped her feet.
"I mean exactly that. You have detention. All next week." Mr. Dambinski stated with a stern look towards his student.
"W-why?" the blonde girl could barely keep her mouth closed.
"Well, according to Ms. Neilson, you made her do your work for you. I read over both her essay, and the one that you claim to have done, and they are strikingly similar. I also kept an eye on you during class today. You made Chad do all the work." Mr. Dambinski said through the brim of his glasses.
"Well...well I always make everyone do my work. Why would I have to lift a finger?" huffed Sharpay.
"Exactly. And if you do it again, I won't hesitate to inform the principal and your parents." The English teacher began to sort papers.
"But Mr. Dambinski, I can't have detention next week-" she started. Drama club was much more important.
"You most certainly can, and you will. Now no more arguing, or I will call the principal, immediately. You will show up here every day next week after school for detention, and you will write the essay by yourself. Here's a late pass for your next class. You're dismissed. " both people in the room were noticeably frustrated. Sharpay stormed out of the room with a growl. Kelsi would definitely be hearing about this. Mr. Dambinski pinched the bridge of his nose and let out a sigh.
—
Everyone heard the wrath of Sharpay. But nobody experienced it quite like Kelsi or Ryan. The small girl made herself even smaller against the locker. Ryan tried his best to ignore, though he knew he would hear more of it at home.
"And you can bet that none of your songs will make it into any of the musicals! You know, I thought I was being nice. But I guess, I was actually wrong for once. Like they say, if you want something done, do it yourself." Growled Sharpay before she left for her next class. The small composer sunk down to the floor, and was pink in the face. Her eyes began to mist up.
"You know, my sister can be pretty over dramatic sometimes, but I know you did the right thing." Ryan said, offering a comforting smile and helped her up. Kelsi tried to smile back, and slowly shuffled down the hallway, away from the twins. Ryan sighed and ran to catch up with his sister.
"Don't say it, Ryan!" Sharpay interrupted before her brother was able to utter a word.
"Don't say what?" He asked, puzzled.
"You know, that you told me so!" Sharpay rolled her eyes and scoffed.
"...But I did tell you-" Ryan was interrupted yet again with a finger in his face.
"Shh! I said don't say it!" She shrieked quickly.
"Sorry..." Mumbled the boy twin. The two sauntered to their next class, Sharpay having more confidence than she should have, and Ryan looking dejected.
—
"Yeah, man, it's like she didn't even read or anything. She was acting more blonde than usual and I had to do all the work." Chad and Troy were still conversing about English, minutes before tryouts were to start.
"Really? Huh, that's weird. I think I remember hearing something between her and that Kelsi girl in the hallway after class. Maybe that had something to do with it." Troy furrowed his brow, trying his best to remember the incident that happened earlier that day.
"Who knows, dude. Girls are weird." replied Chad with wide eyes. Troy smirked in agreement. Other conversation and horse play was going on until Coach Bolton jogged into to gym, blowing his whistle. All of the boys present straightened up almost instantly. Within seconds they were all in a straight line in front of their hopeful coach-to-be.
"Alright," Coach Bolton shouted "it's great to see so many of you here today." coach yelled enthusiastically "And as you know, there can only be fifteen of you on the team. So what your job today is, to impress me and, show me your all. But most importantly- act and work together as a team." The dusty gym fell into a hushed silence, as the coach took a moment to look over all the boys that had arrived there, on the behalf of their love for the game.
"Now I don't know what you guys think you're doing just standing there, show me some laps. Come on, let's get to it!" He shouted and clapped, bidding the boys to take heed of his words with short bursts of his whistle. He heard a few "Yes, sir" 's before the mass began to jog around the gym.
Jogging was follwed by individual dribbling, shooting baskets, and passing. The group divided into two lines, facing each other and they would attempt to pass the ball down the line to the person opposite of them, as fast as possible. Next to actually being in a game, this was Troy's favourite part. He loved how everyone worked together and acted like a single entity, even to get the simplest of tasks done.
Shortly after passing they were ordered to do stretches, and informed that they would be doing a mock game. Their team would consist of who was in their line during passing. Troy reminded his dad that they really should have done stretches first thing. Mr. Bolton chuckled to confirm that Troy was right, and told him to go join the other guys stretching. Troy ran up to Chad, who was stretching with Jason and Zeke, and started doing Crossover Reverse Lunges.
"So how far did you get into your project with Sharpay, anyway?" Troy asked Chad. This got Zeke's attention.
"You got partnered up with Sharpay? Lucky." Zeke interjected, quickly receiving odd looks from his friends.
"No, Zeke, I'm not lucky. Ice princess expects me to do all the work. And I mean, that's like a crime. I never have to do any work." Chad scoffed. The small group then switched to doing Dynamic Chest Stretches. "And we didn't get very far, by the way. I'm probably going to just bring it to my house and work on it myself. What about you, Troy?" Chad questioned.
"That sucks, man. Me and Ryan actually work really well together. We're about halfway done, we're gonna meet up in the library tomorrow after school to finish it. You can totally join us if you want." Troy said while stretching his arms back and bringing them back in front of him.
"Woah, no thanks man. I don't want to know what you two'd be up to in there." Chad retorted, beginning to do Kneeling Hip Flexors. Zeke and Jason snickered.
"Hey, what's that supposed to mean?" Troy questioned and stopped in mid-stretch. Chad gave him a look as if to say it was obvious. Troy lowered his brow and slightly raised one of his hands as another questioning gesture. All the boys brought attention to the coach yet again from another sharp ring from the whistle. Everyone stopped stretching and got into two small teams. Troy's heart raced as the thrill getting the basketball took over him.
—
Troy was feeling fantastic. Tryouts went well and he was able to make up with his dad about his outburst. He spent the rest of the day just relaxing and doing homework. He couldn't wait for the next day to see who got on the team. The young athlete texted his best friend about who they thought made the cut.
'jeffers made it 4 sure man'
'no way. his throw was off every time. im betting green'
'if any1s throw was off it was yours'
'using numbers while you text isnt cool, chad.'
Troy smirked and tossed his mobile phone to the side of his bed. The text book he was studying from closed with a dull thud. Papers crinkled as he shoved his school things back into his book bag. Troy continued to text Chad between showering and putting his pajamas on.
He didn't remember falling asleep, but as soon as he woke up he was ready for the day. Sportsman energy fueled him as he got dressed quickly and raced downstairs.
"Somebody's excited. " Troy's mother said playfully when he reached the kitchen. She handed him a plate of toast in which the boy eagerly munched on.
"Yeah, mom, today I find out if I made the team!" He happily replied, taking a loud bite of toast.
"Well I'd be surprised if you didn't make the team." She said with a small laugh, looking adoringly at her husband.
"You know, Lucile," Troy's father said from the end of the kitchen table "sometimes I think he knows the team schedule better than I do." He said jokingly, enjoying a hot cup of coffee. Troy smiled between his last bite of toast and got up from the table just as the school bus arrived in front of the Bolton household.
"Oh, gotta run. I'll see you guy's later, bye!" The wildcat said, grabbing his book bbag. He hugged his mother and waved back to his dad before hastily leaving through the front door.
"That kid is something else." Jack muttered before taking another sip of coffee.
Chad and Troy stepped off the bus in a hurry, and met up with Jason and Zeke to check out the list together, witch would be pinned up in the gym. The four boys rushed up the stone steps at the front of the building, pushing past large groups of students. Everyone was a little bit louder than normal; teams for other sports as well as class president were also being announced that day.
"Hi Troy!" Sharpay said loudly, tapping Troys shoulder.
"Uh-huh." Troy paid hardly any attention to his admirer. Instead he shrugged her off and continued to the gym with his friends. Whatever Sharpay had to say could wait. Meanwhile, Sharpay was appalled. She placed her hand over her mouth as she gasped. Her brother was clearly amused.
"Well, like you said, sis," Ryan said, standing close to his twin "he is pretty dedicated." Sharpay groaned in frustration and stormed off, leaving the taller sibling behind.
A huge crowd was forming in the gym, made up of the boys who tried out for the team, and their friends. Troy saw looks of denial and elation, and gossip echoed throughout the large gymnasium.
Troy spotted Bobby Jeffers walking away from the new team list looking extremely discouraged. Troy guessed he didn't make the team this year. 'Well there's one thing I was right about, so far.' He thought. His three friends were able to push through the crowd and see the list before him. They came back with huge smiles and began to push Troy towards the front. 'Well, here goes.' Thought Troy as he took a deep breath.
'You own it, you better never let it go
You only get one shot, do not miss your chance
To blow
This opportunity only comes once in a lifetime'