Chapter 12: Settle for Me

I can't believe it's 2024 already. This month's been a lot for me so far (my grandma passed earlier this month, I also have Saturday shift tomorrow) but writing always helps relieve my stress. Yes, the chapter title is inspired by Crazy Ex Girlfriend's song "Settle for Me"

Disclaimer: I do not own 'High School Musical: The Musical: The Series' or Ten from "Weightless". Ten and Jeonghan belong to my friend @zealous_light. I only own my original characters. Enjoy the chapter.

Friday (A.K.A. The Day of Homecoming Dance)

Lunch Time

While Cress loves to spend time with her two best friends she decided to have lunch today with a couple of the girls from the theater department.

"Why is Nini flushing her dress in the bathroom?" Lumi Song took a seat next to some of her friends with a bewildered look on her face. Oh what has society become these days?

"Been there, done that. Freshman year. Huxley Bronson. Burnt everything he's ever given me over the bonfire." Cress waved a hand at the news, promptly taking a big bite of her sandwich.

"Everything?" Marina eyed a bracelet Cress was wearing.

"Except fine jewelry." Cress shrugged, fiddling with her bracelet, "He may be a jerk but at least he's got refined taste in accessories."

"I get that the poor girl is 30 shades of pissed at Caswell, but why must she put such a lovely dress to waste?" Marissa Martinez however lamented over the poor dress.

"Case point: setting things on fire is a better way of literally drowning your sorrows." Cress deadpanned.

"Speaking of which, where is EJ?" Amelia Palmer wondered out loud.

"Meeting with the Student Counselors." Cress replied.

"Honestly, I've tried to ask Ten to be my date but he redirected me to Kaden." Kennidee commented, withholding a sad sigh.

She and the rest of the girls (or whoever's marginally attracted to men) stole glances at Ten being asked out by another person.

"Pretty sure Kaden was gonna ask Ten to the dance too." Addie laughed, making light of the situation, "He had me help out with the banner and everything!"

Cress simply laughed in amusement at her friends' conversation.

Ten can be very oblivious when it comes to affections directed towards him, and somehow helps indirectly setting other people up romantically. Or assume the love letters he receives are 'for Cress and/or EJ themselves'.

"About time you and Kade do something together!" Lauryn laughed, wiggling her eyebrows at Kennidee. "Didn't you used to have the biggest crush on him when we were in 6th grade?"

"Don't remind me, Kenni once wrote 'Mr and Mrs Kaden and Kennidee Day' in her diary." Her younger brother Kitt (playing Coach Bolton) snorted.

"You read my diary?!" Kennidee roared at her brother.

"I just thought it was a very sadly written book." Kitt swiftly dodged his sister from smacking his shoulder. "Besides, if you didn't want me to read your diary, you shouldn't have left it out in the middle of the living room!"

"I'm gonna kill you." Kennidee cursed under her breath.

"You've been saying that since I was 3." Kitt countered with a smug grin.

"Kitt, I feel like you and my brother Phyrros would get along like a house on fire." Cress commented, watching the siblings squabble.

Later That Day

Cress walked out of Ancient Greek language class only to find her two friends waiting for her (after finishing their Business Management class) by the corridor.

She saw some girl approaching Ten and asking him out to be her homecoming date. A few short seconds later, the girl walked away sadly.

"My dude, that's the 7th person who's asked you to be their Homecoming date today." Cress commented, watching another dejected sap walk away.

"I thought she was asking Caswell out." Ten responded.

"You were keeping track?" EJ cocked an eyebrow at her remark.

"I keep track of all of your sad love lives." Cress replied, shoving her hands into her jean pockets.

"Not all. You missed out on the dumb things Caswell did when he had a crush on a girl back in 5th grade." Ten chirped in.

"No, no! We do not need to remember that." EJ's face started blushing red in embarrassment.

"I'll need context of that later on." Cress decided.

"Besides, you know me. Social events aren't my thing." Ten shrugged.

"But it's our Senior Year! The last time you went was during 8th grade!" EJ exclaimed, giving Cress a look to help him out.

"Yeah you only have one of 'em in your lifetime!" Cress wasted no time to join in the shenanigans. They already managed to talk Ten into joining the Theater club, why not try roping him into the last Homecoming Dance?

"Besides, this is all such short notice…" Ten was still trying to talk his way out of it, "I mean I don't have the tickets."

"No worries, I RSVP'd for you WEEKS ago." EJ pulled out a ticket from his pocket.

"And I have nothing to wear…" Ten commented.

"Boy, you have a closet full of (Branded) clothes! I've seen your wardrobe, you have nothing to worry about." Cress raised an eyebrow.

"And I uh don't have anyone to go with…" Ten added weakly, knowing he isn't able to talk his way out of it at this point.

"You know I have a couple of friends from summer camp who'd make great homecoming candidates for you, Ten." EJ waved his hand dismissively, pulling out a PDF file on his phone. "I have been waiting for this for YEARS!"

"Not happening, Caswell." Ten turned EJ's idea down.

EJ has the strange habit of trying to set Ten up with a couple of his summer camp friends. So far, Ten's only heard of these two names 'Val' and 'Evan' mentioned by EJ (both girls apparently lived in a suburban town called Wellard, huh what were the odds?)

Also, Caswell literally just broke up with Nini (technically it's the other way around), so him relapsing by eagerly setting Ten up with dates is really not the best coping idea.

"It's also a last minute thing, I'm pretty sure your summer camp friends have other things going on than boarding a last-minute plane to attend homecoming with me." Ten pointed out, hoping to at least reason with EJ.

"Do you prefer Blondes or Brunettes? You can take Ash to the dance too, I'm not judging!" And Caswell's in Matchmaker mode now…Great.

"Caswell, I am NOT going to the dance with your cousin." Ten resisted the urge to smack his book against his best friend's head. "I thought she was going with Cress's brother?"

"So bad news: Phy caught chickenpox from one of his classmates so he had to cancel." Cress informed them, earning sympathetic winces from them.

"Come on, you'll love 'em. Or one of them." EJ exclaimed, noticing Ten scooting further AWAY from him.

"Can I see the pictures?" Cress jokingly asked.

"So any plans for Homecoming, Cressie?" Ten decided to turn the attention back to his Chihuahua sized best friend.

"I was actually gonna ask Mr E to attend homecoming with me, but he's got midterms coming up. Since Ten's blind to flirting and indirectly rejected the last dozen suitors within the last single week, I have to take the reins." Cress spoke out.

"I guess you'll just have to settle for me then," Cress looped her arm around Ten's arm.

"Oh no, poor me…" Ten jokingly moped about taking his friend to homecoming as a date.

Cress has occasionally asked Ten (EJ too when/if he's single) to pose as her 'boyfriend' or 'brother'. Usually it's to scare away anyone who's too stubborn to take a hint that she's just not interested in them. It's also funny to mess with people who see Cress being naturally and physically affectionate with her friends.

"Is it getting serious with you and your mystery friend?" EJ teased. She hasn't shown this much interest in someone in ages.

"Kinda. We just click so well, you know?" Cress exclaimed in a giddy tone. "I'm still miffed he couldn't come, but I'm going to his Homecoming next week as his date."

"He must be your soulmate then." Ten nodded, he was truly happy that his friend was able to find someone for her.

"Definitely!" She beamed brightly. "Anyways, I'll pick you up at 6. So be ready, Tenny!"

"Oh please, by 'picking me up', you meant Zale is driving." Ten held back a tiny smile.

"I'd drive you myself but hey it's not my fault nobody trusted me with driving after I crashed into the garage door!" Cress exclaimed.

"You almost gave me a heart attack, Cress. We were 16!" EJ deadpanned, shuddering at the memory.

"You gave Leon and Louis a fright too." Ten quipped in, remembering his pet cats being surprised by Cress's driving.

Looks like this is gonna be quite a night to remember…

We are finally in the Homecoming episode arc and let's just say I've been waiting for this episode for many reasons. Did you you catch some of the Call Forward bits (Cress with fire; mentions of Val and Evan from Summer Camp)

Chapter Talk:

(1.) We get some callback of the Side Characters noticing weird shenanigans the Main Characters are up to. Lumi was unfortunately in the same bathroom when she saw Nini attempt to flush away a dress, but left before Miss Jenn declared a Girls Night Out.

(2.) Kennidee is a fan-favorite for me in season 4 (hence the ship-tease between her and Kaden since they played Marta/Jason in HSM3). Her dynamic with Kitt (her brother) is gonna be fun to write, they remind me of Tracy and Jones (my two OCs).

(3.) Kaden is bi in my version, with Ten as his Closet Key. Kennidee/Kaden are the Bi Couple that Canon Redlyn could've been but failed to be.

(4.) Another wonderful way to throw in Ten's popularity (by his two best friends). EJ here is very emotionally invested in getting his best friend a great partner. He has a list of potential candidates ready like Ten's going on 'The Bachelor'. Now I don't know how Ten and Val's dynamic will be in 'Weightless', but Starburst! EJ really wants to set them up.

(5.) So instead of attending solo (like Weightless), Ten here is going with his friend Cress to Homecoming. The fact that EJ and Cress were ready to talk him into going to the dance together is hilarious (from EJ with his Candidate List to already saving a ticket for his friend). The next chapter is gonna be…interesting to say the least for Cress and Ten respectively.

Thanks for reading, and feel free to let me know your thoughts on this chapter. Have a wonderful day.