Chapter 23: The Party Doesn't Start Until I Walk In
It's been a few months, and I apologize for not updating as frequently as I'd like. Life and work have been pretty busy for me. On the bright side, this chapter is longer than my standard.
Disclaimer: I do not own High School Musical: The Musical: The Series or my friend's Original Characters. Joshua, Vernon, Ten and Jeonghan belong to my friend zealous_light. I only own my Original Characters. Enjoy.
Thanksgiving Day
Ten had spent his day about the same as his Thanksgiving routine: having dinner with his family and friends at the Yoon household.
The only slight difference this time around is that Cress dropped by for a quick meal before going over to Ashlyn's, and her brother Phyrros is having a sleepover with Jisoo.
Jeonghan had agreed to drop Cress and Ten off at Ashlyn's place for the Thanksgiving Afterparty.
"Ok, on a scale of one to Ten, how do I look?" Cress cheerfully twirled around in her outfit: a beige overall dress with a black blouse and leggings underneath.
"Is he ok?" Jisoo saw her older brother drop down to the floor dramatically.
"I think he's having a moment." Joshua chuckled in amusement at his best friend's antics.
"Or getting an exorcism." Ten quipped in a dry tone.
"예쁘네요! (You are pretty)" Jeonghan feigned a swooned voice, his hands placed over his chest.
"Oh gods, he's rebooted into Korean mode." Joshua was incredibly amused.
"Why you gotta phrase it like he's Buzz Lightyear from Toy Story 3?" Jisoo lamented.
"Isn't that the same yellow dress you wore when Caswell and I first met you?" Ten recalled the familiar dress.
"Yup, good times." Cress smiled at the memories.
"C'mon, you'll be late for Ashlyn's party." Jeonghan called out, his car keys in one hand.
"Yeah good luck Chittaphon, they're your problem now." Jisoo shoved Ten out of the Yoon household door. "Give Ash our regards."
"And remember, Elise," Jeonghan called over his shoulder. "No Boys."
"And yet Tweedledum and Tweedledee are here?" Jisoo pointed out.
Behind her were Phyrros and Mark going through the assortment of glass beads Jisoo had for an Arts & Crafts project. The two guys were fighting over the colored beads.
"Well Phyrros is the safest guy that I approve of you hanging out with. Mark is a close second." Jeonghan rebutted.
"And I'm supervising!" Joshua called out, lounging in the Yoon family kitchen.
"No! I called dibs on the black beads!"
"Phy, no! You already took a handful of 'em!"
The said 'two safest guys Jeonghan entrusted in looking out for Jisoo' were elbowing each other and fighting over the seed beads.
"I'm gonna make a Charmander keychain!" Phyrros declared happily. "Enjoy the party!"
"I'm making a Spiderman keychain!" Mark took the chance to grab some extra black beads from the box while Phyrros was occupied. "You snooze, you lose."
— — — — — — — — — — — —
"Before you two go, I have to tell you that I saw something earlier today." Jeonghan brought up a topic as he pulled up on Ashlyn's family driveway.
"And that is?"
"EJ held some 'confessional' thing on Instagram." Jeonghan mentioned. He took out his phone to show them some of the recordings of EJ's livestream.
Ten didn't really seem surprised since his best friend was kinda an online sensation among their high school peers.
"He mentioned something about all the times he cheated in water polo," said Jeonghan.
"Ex-Frogging-cuse me, he did what?!" If Cress had been driving, she'd have hit the breaks.
"I love Caswell very much, but what on Earth was he thinking?" Ten buried his face in his hands.
"He wasn't." Cress retorted dryly.
"Yes. Apparently that's the truth." Jeonghan sighed, his fingers drumming against the steering wheel, "I guess Caswell really did cheat in a couple of his games."
"If this is his way to somehow right some of his wrongs, at least he's trying." Ten tried to look on the bright side of things, or at least whatever silver lining is left within the horizon.
"This would seriously come back to bite him in the curb." Cress rubbed the temples of her forehead.
"I guess so."
"Thank you so much for the pajeon and fetching me here. EJ will take me home afterwards." Ten unfastened the seatbelt.
"No problem. Just call me if it's anything."
"Will do." Ten nodded along, getting out of the car holding a container of food.
"Don't do anything stupid!" Jeonghan called out.
"I think we already crossed that line when you and Cress met each other." Ten mumbled in response.
"You say that like it's a bad thing." Jeonghan feigned a saddened pout.
"It is." Ten deadpanned as he closed the door behind him.
"Bye, Ψυχή μου (my soul)!" Cress blew him an air kiss.
"See you around, 해바라기 (Sunflower)!" Jeonghan waved at his platonic soulmate, comedically catching the air kisses and keeping them in his pocket.
Ten was surprised to find most of the East High theater kids population at Ashlyn's house. One of the few members who couldn't attend is Kourtney who was visiting her grandmother for the evening.
Many of Ashlyn's previous parties had always been smaller with small companies. Usually the guest list included Phyrros, Jisoo, Mark and occasionally Ten's own cousin Tern when she visited town.
The living room and dining room were decorated, many of the partygoers also bought food and drinks. Ashlyn was passing around polaroid cameras for an 'old-school' style party. The party seemed to be swinging in motion with many of the Wildcats enjoying themselves.
"Hey, everyone. Happy Thanksgiving, hope I'm not late to the party," Ten declared upon his entry, receiving choruses of greetings back. Ashlyn kindly took the platter of food and placed it in the kitchen while Ten joined the rest in the living room.
"Ten, Cress, welcome." Ashlyn went over to greet them.
"I brought Bougatsa and Yiaourtopita!" Cress declared, announcing her arrival. She had two containers of food, each labelled with specific details like for those with Gluten-free diets or have specific food allergies.
"The Queen of Pastries has arrived!" Kaison exclaimed, reaching over to give her a hi-5.
"Damn straight," Cress returned the greeting, before making her way to Ashlyn's dining table.
After dropping off food at Ashlyn's dining room, Ten and Cress wandered around socializing. [Well technically, Cress is doing all the socializing and Ten is observing.]
Andres was showing off his magic tricks to some of his friends. He decided to test out his skills with the baby Wildcat of the bunch…Kitt.
"Pick a card, any card."
"Hey, that's my Pokemon card!" Kitt exclaimed.
"You said any card!"
"Bam! Magic!" Andres reached behind Kitt's ear and pulled out a card.
"Has anyone seen my She-Himbo triplet?!" Marissa did a mental headcount and realized her youngest sister was missing.
"5 bucks says she's gone to make out with Amelia." Sean Seabury raised his hand, making a swift guess.
"Nah, Sol is having a heated debate with Addie about which fictional character is cuter." Marina clarified.
"I'm just saying: Baby Yoda is way cuter than Stitch!" Addie huffed, crossing her arms.
"YOU TAKE THAT BACK!" Marisol unfortunately took that as a personal insult, nearly launching herself at the blonde Junior student. "Stitch is my emotional support Little Blue Feral Gremlin."
"Hey, give my boy BB-8 some recognition too!" Cress decided to join in on the debate. "Plus, BB-8 comes with Poe Dameron!"
Ten gives it a 5 minute break before chaos truly breaks out. Or at least until the Hostess declares it's time to eat.
While everyone was socializing, Big Red and a few other Wildcats spotted some framed pictures around Ashlyn's house.
"Aww, these kids are cute." Big Red pointed at a framed picture of Ashlyn and EJ with three younger kids, particularly taking note of a freckled red haired little boy in the picture.
"I didn't know you had a little brother." Nini mistook the young redheaded boy as Ashlyn's younger sibling.
"Oh thanks, that's actually Wyatt, my younger cousin." Ashlyn beamed fondly at her younger relatives.
"They don't live in Salt Lake City?" Big Red wondered.
"No, they're in Chicago." answered Ashlyn.
"Huh, what are the odds?" Nini murmured, recalling that Ricky's mom has now moved to Chicago.
"Hey Ashlyn, is this supposed to be EJ's dad?" Lumi Song pointed at a dated picture by Ashlyn's fireplace mantel. It was a picture of 3 young men: One looked identical to EJ but slightly older and had a goatee, another had red hair and freckles, and the youngest was a brunette with fair skin.
"That's his grandpa Eric, my grandpa Fredrick, and our great-uncle Gregory." Ashlyn corrected. "Our maternal grandpas are siblings."
"So both your moms are cousins who happened to be married to the Caswell brothers?"
"Yeah, it's a long story." Ashlyn shrugged, this wasn't the first time people have asked about the odds of the Caswell brothers marrying two girls from the Jones family.
"Sometimes, it just runs in the family." Ten nodded along. After all, his dad and uncle were brothers and also married two sisters. The family resemblance is uncanny when most people mistake his cousin Tern as his younger sister.
"So you're saying EJ would grow to be a DILF in 30 years?" Marina Martinez commented.
"Theoretically, yes. It is plausible." Cress did the mental math, having met EJ's maternal grandfather before and was almost convinced that EJ was cloned for a while.
Cash Caswell's genes never stood a chance compared to Penelope Jones' good looks.
"Oh gross, that's my cousin you're talking about." Ashlyn recoiled, sometimes she'd forget that most of the student body worships EJ like a Prince. Even Phyrros had fallen for EJ's charms at some point in their childhood years.
"Well, bless the good genes." Sean commented in an appreciative tone, impressed by the sheer identical resemblance between Grandpa Eric and EJ himself.
Minutes later, EJ joined the party…
Ten noticed EJ handing his phone over to Nini for some sort of video chat before he walked over in their direction.
"Hey, I brought lobster dip and a bottle of grape juice." EJ announced his arrival.
"Aww, you couldn't have brought us booze?" Kaden half joked.
"Yeah no, sorry. Besides, we're all underage and I'm not risking us getting a hangover tomorrow morning." EJ shook his head, "Besides, we're in my cousin's house."
Someone has to be the Responsible Grownup in this household, and it sure isn't EJ.
"He's right, my sisters and I will be charging for the Black Friday sale tomorrow." Marissa muttered in agreement.
"Eej, get your butt here!" Cress ran over and launched herself in his direction.
EJ momentarily let out a high pitched scream when he recognized the signature yellow overall dress she was wearing. He immediately reverted back to his normal self when he remembered he's in front of a crowd (mostly just his cousin Ashlyn, his best friend Ten, and his ex Nini).
"Why do I hear screeching?" Emily Pratt asked out loud, overhearing EJ's high pitched screams.
Nini responded with a 'eh' shrug.
Moments after Nini was done video-chatting with Emily Pratt (and gaining some sense of closure after the Deviled Egg fiasco), EJ's phone was flooded with text messages from his summer camp friends after they'd watched his Insta Confessionals.
"Uh EJ, I think your phone is blowing up with texts." Nini called over her shoulder when a string of text messages started popping up in EJ's phone screen. "Oh look, it's Evan and Jerry from camp."
[ EvanChan1128: ]
EJ, what are you doing?!
WHAT
ARE
YOU
DOING?!
[ J3rryChan1128: ]
EJ, this is your uncle speaking
Answer your mother's calls!
[ EvanChan1128: ]
What do you mean you and Jerry ruined my chances with Crash?!
I didn't even know he had a crush on me that summer
[ J3rryChan1128: ]
Nvm
Ignore your mother's calls
Your mother is angry
I REPEAT
YOUR MOTHER IS ANGRY
AH SHIT SHE'S GETTING CY'S HELP–
A few minutes later, Ten's phone started buzzing. It was an unknown number.
"Hello?"
"Put EJ on the phone." A teenage girl's stern voice called out from the other side of the line.
"Who is this?"
"Oh right, I'm Evan, the one from summer camp. You must be Ten." The girl, Evan, explained.
"Oh, you're the one who played Caswell's mom for one of the camp plays a few years back. Nice to semi-officially meet you, I suppose." Ten recognized the name, before he backtracked at the bigger question.
"Hold on, how did you even get my number?"
"Didn't I say none of that matters right now. Get EJ on the phone." Evan was practically smiling on the outside and a seething rage on the inside.
"Caswell, it's for you." Ten passed the phone over to EJ.
"Wait, how did she get your number?" EJ paused.
"Didn't she say none of that matters right now?" Ten chimed in. He had many questions about who the Chan twins are, but if EJ considers them to be good company it's good enough for Ten.
And so EJ spent the next ten minutes (no pun intended) getting scolded and catching up with his summer camp friends.
"The party may begin!" Carlos announced his arrival in a sing-song voice, in his hands was something that seemed to be a large cardboard box. Seb followed closely behind with a smile on his face.
"Carlos!" Cress squealed, greeting the two guests.
"Okay, you know, it's a potluck and not catering, right?" Ashlyn noted the giant cardboard box set on the coffee table.
"Is that supposed to be pizza?" Cress edged closer to the box.
"This is not pizza," Carlos clarified.
"Thank goodness, those things have too much lactose." Big Red muttered in agreement. A few chuckled along his statement, since they were aware that Big Red's family runs a pizza parlor. But Slices did feature a variety of options including vegan and lactose-free pizzas.
When Carlos flipped open the cover of what Big Red had thought was a pizza box, everyone gasped. It was a beautiful board game, with what looked like to be years of love and craft put into.
"This is something I've been waiting many long years to share with the world," Carlos presented his homemade interactive board game to his peers. "You guys, this is 'High School Musical, the Choosical'!"
"Catchy, I like it!" Cress nodded in approval, promptly taking a seat cross-legged on the floor.
"Okay, so when I was a child, I wanted to go into the movie. But, the movie was on a screen." Carlos began explaining.
"He's not wrong," Seb quipped.
"So, I decided to create the next best thing: An interactive, hyperactive HSM experience that can be played by children and adults, everywhere in the world," Carlos continued before pausing, "As long as they lived in my bedroom."
"Wait, so you've had this for ten years?" Big Red asked in surprise.
"I have never actually played it." Carlos admitted.
"We'll totally play it," Ashlyn said with the excitement evident in her voice.
"Sounds like fun, let's try it!" A bright grin spread across Cress's face, "What are the rules?"
"I'm gonna cry!" Carlos said after giving a sigh, overflowing with joy that he was finally able to share something so dear to him to his new friends, "Okay, so there are two teams. The East High Wildcats and the West High Knights. So, sort yourselves."
"Dibs on Tenny." EJ immediately reached for Ten.
"How dare you." Cress followed suit.
"Hey, I knew him first." EJ argued, clinging onto Ten's left arm.
"Team up?"
"Game." the two have come to an agreement. Sometimes, people tend to underestimate how competitive Cress and EJ are.
Cress did take note of Ashlyn teaming up with Big Red as part of the West High Knights, but she's not gonna say anything to rile up EJ's protective older brother instincts. Besides, it's all just a harmless puppy crush.
Yeah, this evening is off to a great start!
Some of the things are different here than the Original Episode. For starters, EJ appeared at Ashlyn's party before Seblos. The Choosical game night will be its own separate chapter once I realized the original draft was way too long.
Chapter Talk: -
(1.) Cress and Jeonghan have reached the Affectionate stage of their friendship, it's just playful banter, affectionate nicknames in their first languages (My Soul, Sunflower), and matching each other's vibe. Everyone else is kinda unimpressed given their already chaotic gremlin tendencies (especially for their respective friends and family members).
(2.) Out of Jisoo's friends: Mark, Phyrros, and Joshua were the ones Jeonghan trusted the most. Phy is the safest bet for reasons. But Mark is the one who hangs out with Jisoo more out of the rest (they're classmates). Jeonghan probably bribes the trio with cookies to make sure they keep an eye on Jisoo.
(3.) I enjoy the background events between the rest of the Wildcats. It adds a little seasoning to their traits aside from being 'the Side Characters'. And some alternate fandom mentions (The Mandalorian, Star Wars, Lilo & Stitch)
(4.) The Campbell family gets another cameo/mention. So in my version, the Caswell cousins and Campbell siblings are cousins and have a sibling-like bond. Yes, it's a small world. (and a hint of Secrets of Sulphur Springs season 3 reveal without giving away too much information)
(5.) The Chan twins made a cameo, kind of. Most of the Quad (characters from my other fic '#Love Is In The Air' (LIITA) all attended Camp Shallow Lake, and EJ's been trying to matchmake Evan (or Val) with Ten for some time. Jerry jokingly dubs himself as 'EJ's Uncle' after his twin got casted as EJ's 'mom' one time.
(6.) While it's not outright stated, Ricky and Gina had arrived at the party at some point. But Cress, who was not fond of Ricky Bowen, tunes him out of her mind. The whole Rini/Rina love triangle is happening in the background.
And that's all for now, thank you so much for reading. Feel free to let me know your thoughts on this chapter. Have a great day.