Year 17: Presents

Kelsi sat in her sitting room, wrapping presents and writing out cards in between looking nervously at her musical score. She had finished the latest draft of her musical, and had handed it into Miss Darbus to look at that morning, who said she'd read it that night, and get back to her in the morning. The last year of rewrites and scene edits had been hard on her, especially since she still wasn't speaking to her muse for the whole show. Ryan hadn't spoken to her like a friend all year, and his sole role in the school now was to follow Sharpay around. To make matters worse, when the previous seniors were leaving, they announced Sharpay and Ryan were to be the new presidents of the drama club. She looked over at a plastic bag that hung on her bedroom door. A hat she had bought for Ryan, on the off chance that they would be speaking to eachother by now. Wiping a tear away from her eye, Kelsi carried on wrapping the present for one of her relatives.

At around the same time, Ryan was lying back on his bed, wracking his brain for something to get Kelsi. He wanted to try and be friends with her, but he didn't even know where to begin apologising to her. He couldn't just buy her another hat and pretend that everything was okay. Kelsi was a sensitive girl, especially about her music, and he had taken advantage of that. As he lay on his bed, Sharpay marched in.
"Darbus just called me!" She said, grinning.
"Good for you. Have you never heard of privacy?"
"No. Anyway, she wanted to tell me that she had the script for the winter musical, and of course, as presidents of the drama club, she wanted us to look it over, so she's giving it to us tomorrow."
"And?"
"And this gives us all Christmas to practise for the auditions! Not that we need to practise, we're guaranteed to get the parts...."
"Yeah....What script did she pick, anyway?" He asked, curiously. Sharpay rolled her eyes.
"As if you don't know. Twinkle Towne by Kelsi!"

At school the next day, Ryan caught Kelsi at her locker. All of the drama club's lockers were bunched together, first Sharpay's double locker, then Ryan's, and then Kelsi's. As she saw him approach, she tried to twist her combination in even quicker to get away.
"Um....hey."
"What?" She snapped, stuffing her music sheets into her locker, and pulling out some text books.
"I um...don't know if you've heard about the show..."
"I don't care. I seriously don't care." She replied, trying not to look at him. Just as she went to hurry away, Ryan put his hands on her shoulder.
"Kelsi, look at me. It's me, Ryan. I thought we were best friends..."
"That was a year ago, Ryan. A year is a long time." Tears were threatening to stream down her cheeks, but she bravely looked at him. "We aren't best friends anymore. You sold your soul to Sharpay, she's clearly your best friend now. But don't worry, I know I'm not the only person you're going to step on on your way to the top." She slammed her locker shut and quickly ran in the direction of the music room. Ryan hit his head on his locker a few times and headed towards home room. Somewhere between then and the next day, he had an idea on the perfect thing to get Kelsi for christmas.

The next day, Kelsi got into school early. She wanted to go to her locker without getting disturbed by Ryan, and she wanted to talk to Miss Darbus about her availability to rehearse with the auditionees before the auditions and callbacks in the new year. Although she was happy that her composition had been picked for the spring musical, her happiness was tainted when she remembered that Ryan would finally play the role she wrote for him, even though she didn't want him to anymore. Getting into homeroom at last, on her normal seat she found a dark red rose. Attached to it was a note;

A dark red rose stands for unconscious beauty. Because you don't have to try at all to be the girl of my dreams.

Kelsi held onto the rose, and closed her eyes. She knew there was only one person that could've sent that, but she forced herself to avoid looking at Ryan when he came in the classroom. He had used her, and that was unforgiveable. At the first chance she got, she put the rose in her locker, only to find another one caught in the door. This time, a lavender rose.

A lavender rose stands for enchantment. Because you are so enchanting to me.

Kelsi put the two roses together, and put them in her locker, trying to pretend she hadn't seen it. Meanwhile, Ryan rushed to their next class, Biology, and placed a red rose on her usual seat. He looked down at the note he had stuck to it.

A red rose stands for love and respect. Because I love and respect every single piece of music you've wrote.

Ryan sat in his normal seat on the other side of the room as the class filtered in, Kelsi at the back of them all. She looked down at the rose before quickly picking it up, and placing it in her bag. Ryan hoped that she would look over at him, but all he got was a quick glance before she turned her head away again, pretending to get on with the work that the teacher had set them. Next, Kelsi had a free period, and as usual, she would be spending it in the music room, changing some of the scenes in the second half around, and altering the key of one of the songs. On the piano stool, she smiled faintly as she found yet another rose. This time, a yellow one.

A yellow rose stands for friendship. Because you are the most important friend I've ever had.

She had just finished looking at it, when Sharpay and Ryan rushed into the music room.
"Kelsi, the song for the auditions next year? I need it." Spat Sharpay, holding her hand out expectantly.
"I only have the one copy at the moment. And anyway, it wouldn't be fair if you got the piece before anyone else did..."
"Kelsi, Kelsi, Kelsi...Me and Ryan are the presidents of the drama club, and as it stands, we can get the choice of musical changed at the flick of a hand. Now hand it over."
"But--"
"I'll photocopy it and bring it back." Said Ryan, without even thinking, and cursing himself after saying it. He knew that wasn't why Kelsi wanted them to have the piece.
"...Fine. Just take it." She said, grabbing her satchel, and leaving the piece of music on the piano. Sharpay shrugged innocently, and picked it up.
"Ugh, this is so slow." She tutted, passing the sheet to Ryan. "Get this photocopied, and we'll give it to our rehearsal pianist to speed it up, okay?"
"But, Kelsi imagined the piece slo--"
"Just do it Ryan! I'm going to go and find Troy." Announced Sharpay, storming out of the room. Ryan sighed when he saw that Kelsi had left the yellow rose on top of the piano.

As Kelsi sat down for lunch, she found another rose.

A thornless rose means love at first sight. Because I think that from when I first saw you, I loved you.

She put it in her bag just as Ryan got to the table.
"...You left this in the music room." He said, passing her the yellow rose. Kelsi shrugged in thanks. "...I never got to congratulate you for getting your musical fixed."
"I just wrote it. Congratulations on inevitably getting the part, I'm sure you and Sharpay will do wonderfully." She said, sarcastically. She looked down at her lunch. "...Suddenly I'm not hungry." She said, heading to her locker to take out the books for her afternoon lessons. Sure enough, another rose was hanging from her locker.

A pink rose means please believe me. Because I need you to believe how sorry I am for what happened.

Kelsi shook her head at herself, angry that she was starting to fall for everything he was saying. He was still an Evans, and all the Evans twins cared about were themselves. As far as she was concerned, Ryan was no different to Sharpay. The first lesson of the afternoon, Kelsi sat in front of Sharpay and Ryan, and rolled her eyes at Sharpay's whining.
"Troy told me he's going away SKIING for christmas! That means he won't be around over christmas!"
"Well hey, it's his decision what he does, maybe he just wanted to spend some time away with his family..."
"But that's not the point! What if he meets some airheaded....snowbunny!" She cried. Chad and Troy were in the corner of the room laughing at her, and Ryan sighed annoyed, comforting her the best way he knew how. However, the second he saw Kelsi get out of her seat, he placed another rose on her chair. She looked down at it as she returned to her seat.

A white rose means innocence. Because I think your innocence is one of the things I love the most about you.

As the end of the day neared, Kelsi took a final trip to her locker, and sure enough, there was a final rose sticking out of her locker.

A blue rose means mystery. Because I don't know what's on your mind anymore, and it's killing me not knowing if you still feel the same.

When Kelsi got to school the next day, she found there were no more roses. Sharpay continued to pick at Kelsi and her confidence, and Ryan let her, purely because by now, he wasn't sure how to stand up to Sharpay.

The next present Kelsi received was on Christmas Day. There was a knock at the door, but when Kelsi answered it, all there was, lying on the floor sprinked with rose leaves, was a hat. There was a card on top of it.

Kelsi--
Rose leaves mean hope. Hope that one day you will forgive me for anything I do that will hurt you. And hope that you know I don't mean any of it. Love, Ryan.

Kelsi remembered that, yet still kept her distance. The distance helped her through the auditions, when Ryan rudely told her that she was not needed for their audition as they had got someone to do another arrangement. Through the callbacks, when she gave the part she had written especially for Ryan away to Troy. Troy did meet someone over christmas, who fit the female lead perfectly. The girl and Troy soon fell in love, and Kelsi just wished it could be her and Ryan.

(AN: Trust me, I haven't liked doing this non-fluffy Ryelsis, but as VirgIsMyBird said, for the year that takes place before HSM1, they had to drift apart. But no fear, as the next one takes place in senior year, and we all know what that means....;) )