Chapter 19: Teamwork Made the Dream Work
Welcome to another monthly installment of 'Starburst'. We are at the final segment of Season 1 Episode 6 'What Team', and let's just say we'll be seeing more of the Senior Gang interactions here.
Disclaimer: I do not own 'High School Musical: The Musical: The Series' or Ten from "Weightless". Ten, Vernon, Joshua and Jeonghan belong to my friend @zealous_light. I only own my original characters. Enjoy the chapter.
It took all night, some pizza break in between and coffee sponsored from the school's vending machine and the Smith Family Cafe. But the Wildcats had managed to pull off their plan to save Miss Jenn from getting fired.
"Frickin' Finally!" Cress let out a cheer after they've finished their midterms in time for the school board open meeting. There was another house until the meeting, so the group of Senior Theater Kids were lounging outside the school.
"So are we ever gonna meet this secret guest?" Marisol Martinez asked, resting her head on Amelia's shoulder.
EJ had mentioned to them last night (strictly a talk among the Seniors) that his dad pulled some strings to get some esteemed member of the school board to appear for the meeting.
"That's why it's called 'Secret Guest' for a reason, cariño." Amelia Palmer chided affectionately.
"Ooh I'm guessing…Ten from NCT?" Cress jokingly elbowed Ten's arm.
"We are not committing identity theft, Cressida." EJ rolled his eyes.
"You're right, this Ten is way better looking." Sean Seabury nodded his head, Marissa and Marina nodded along in agreement.
Cress choked back a laugh when she remembered Sean, Marissa and Marina all had admitted to crushing on Ten at some point of time.
"Nah, I'm pretty sure Seventeen would have better luck convincing our principal not to fire Miss Jenn." Ten retorted playfully.
"Glad to see Cress in a more sober state now." Marina Martinez commented.
"Ah c'mon, I wasn't that out of it last night!" Cress grumbled, taking a sip of water.
"You drank MY Americano, Cress." Ten pointed out, not so subtly elbowing EJ in the arm.
"I did manage to finish 90% of the props!" Cress exclaimed, "and made the signboards for the meeting."
"Yeah but have you also forgotten what else you did last night?!" Ten pulled Cress close by the shoulders.
— — — — — —
Earlier that morning…
— — — — — —
"How the heck did I even get tied up?!" Ricky Bowen opened his eyes, and found himself tied up. He was immensely confused by how this happened. All he did was take an hour nap! For some reason, he was also sprinkled in sage leaves.
"Oh great spirits above, please accept this rod—I mean sacrifice in exchange for better grades for this week's midterms!" Cress called out to the ceiling, somehow believing this would help her grades.
"You do realize his GPA is 1.8 right?" Ten interjected.
"Yes, but add that with my 2.8, it'd make a 3.6." In her caffeinated-high delirious state, Cress waved a hand dismissively.
EJ did a half-shrug because he can't exactly argue with that logic.
"Should we do something?" Ashlyn looked at Ten with concern in her eyes.
"Are you kidding me? Do you remember the time Yuta and Johnny tried to stop Cress from drinking a can of latte last year? She whacked them both into Caswell's pool with a pool noodle like they were baseballs!" Ten rubbed the bridge of his nose, groaning at the memory. "The best we can do is just wait it out."
Cress sat at the very back and between her two best friends. The school board open hearing is about to begin.
"For the best." Cress whispered, her hands intertwined with Ten and EJ.
"Miss Jenn, it may not surprise you to learn that we've heard earfuls of your unorthodox style ever since you got to East High." Principal Gutierrez began, "Personally, I have always chalked it up as the well-known fact that people in dramatic arts are insane."
Cress had a smug grin at that particular remark, she was raised by the most chaotic family she ever knew and is proud of it.
Miss Jenn hesitantly leaned towards the microphone, "Thank you."
"But now, we have news that your resume is exaggerated. Your teaching credential is from some obscure online university, and even your official name might be some version of a stage name." Principal Gutierrez "What do you say to this charge?
"I have always done my best by these kids." Miss Jenn answered.
"Just answer the question."
"Excuse me? Can I say something?" A tall man stood up all of a sudden.
'Hold up, whose parent is that?' Cress's attention shifted to the parent.
"I'm sorry. We're not opening up the floor to parents on this–" Principal Gutierrez stated, attempting to prevent any further speech.
"Let him speak." Another woman whom Ten recognized as one of Nini's moms interjected.
"With all due respect, Davie. Don't be such a buzzkill." Cress's mother Olive called out.
"Madam Kormos, please don't call me that in front of the school board." Principal Gutierrez withheld a sigh, shifting his attention back to the standing parent, "Go ahead, Mr Bowen."
Cress did a double take at that remark.
"What do you mean that strapping lumberjack procreated the rodent?!" Cress whisper-yelled in silent horror.
"How do you get from THAT–," She gestured to Mike Bowen and then gestured to Ricky Bowen who's sitting a few rows away, "–to THAT?"
"Cress, pay attention. It's our cue soon." Ten whispered, elbowing his friend.
"I'm a little late to this party, but I got to say that the real crime here would be booting off a teacher who's making a positive impact." Mike Bowen began his speech, "I've never seen my kid this invested in anything, and I don't think that's something we should punish, your Honor."
"Mr Bowen, I appreciate the sentiment, but I think we can all agree that theater isn't unique in this regard. It doesn't have some special fairy dust that can't be filled by another extracurricular–"
"Not yet, Ma." A woman pulled Olive's hand away from taking out a rotten produce from the woman's purse.
Before Principal Gutierrez could complete his sentence, he was interrupted by the group of Theater Kids' humming.
One song and dance routine later, the Wildcats managed to save Miss Jenn from getting fired when one of the special school board guests had asked to buy tickets for the show. Surprisingly, it's none other than Kaycee Stroh, the actress of Marta Cox herself.
"Jennifer?" Miss Jenn spotted a woman with dyed pink hair walking over, she was tall with an androgynous figure.
"Hi, do I know you?" Miss Jenn felt confused, this woman seemed familiar but it's not ringing any bells.
"Calix Kormos. From high school. I worked as a stagehand back in the theater production." Calix reminded her former classmate, offering a handshake.
"Calix, it's good to see you…wait, your last name is Kormos?"
"Yeah my little sister Cress is your student." Calix nodded, gesturing to the Afro Greek teenager currently lifting EJ up and bench-pressing the 6'2" teenager as a celebratory moment.
"'Lix, I wasn't aware that you knew Miss Jenn." Mr Mazarra commented.
"Benji." Calix gave Mr Mazarra a curt nod, which is the closest they have to smiling at each other as a greeting.
"Benji?" Miss Jenn mouthed in confusion. Did her high school classmate and colleague know each other?
"Lix…" The teacher started slowly retreating, realizing the wild look in Calix's hazel eyes.
"GET YO ASS BACK HERE!!" Calix started rolling up her leather jacket sleeves.
"Oh Fluorine Uranium Chlorine Krypton…" Mr Mazarra murmured under his breath, slowly backing to the door.
The trio watched the color fade away from Mr Mazarra's face as Calix started charging in his direction. The Wildcats had never seen Mr Mazarra run away so fast before. "How does your sister know Mr Mazarra?" EJ asked out loud.
"Went on a blind date a couple of years ago, they stayed friends though." Cress shrugged like it was old news.
"How are you just so calm about this manner?" Ten wondered.
"Because us Kormos are excellent at maintaining friendships with our exes." Cress grinned.
"Or running away from them." EJ retorted, Cress immediately flipped the bird in his direction.
— — — — — —
Later…
— — — — — —
The group of Seniors and the Lakeshore students were celebrating at Crown Burger, a Greek fast food restaurant they'd frequent after each midterms.
"You were right, these are amazing!" Jeonghan exclaimed in glee, taking a bite of the signature crown burger.
"Told ya, it's my family's favorite eating spot." Cress grinned.
"This chicken gyro is fantastic!" Joshua hummed in agreement.
After a couple of minutes of chatting…
"Mike Bowen is hot." Cress commented.
"CRESSIDA, NO!!" EJ and Ten visibly paled and covered their short friend's mouth.
"No, no, she's got a point.'' Marissa Martinez agreed.
"The guy is fit for his age." even EJ's water polo co-captain Anthony agreed.
"I hope I have glorious facial hair like that someday…" Sean Seabury nodded his head, scratching his chin.
"You'll get there, buddy. I know a bunch of great shaving cream and shavers you can use…" Anthony assured his friend.
"Mike Bowen? The man's a 20 out of 10. His son, Ricky Bowen? He's a 3. Like a low sodium wannabe Tom Holland's kinda 3. Like a 'put him in a dark room and he might almost look like a 9' kinda 3." Cress popped an onion ring into her mouth, savoring the taste.
"Wow you really hate that Ricky guy…" Anthony laughed, shaking his head.
"He is the pain of my existence." Cress snarled, almost squeezing the soda lid off.
"I still can't get over the fact you think his dad's attractive…" EJ still had this grossed out look on his face.
"You shouldn't really judge Cress, Eej. I mean, you had a crush on Ten's mom when we were 10." Joshua pointed out.
"Duuude." Their East High classmates started laughing.
"She was and still is pretty." EJ replied with a tiny shrug, he'd already moved on from that childhood crush after realizing his chances are nil.
"ฉันไม่จำเป็นต้องจำมัน! (I do not need to remember it!)" Ten recoiled at the memory, having the displeasure of overhearing EJ had a puppy crush on his own mother.
"Hey I have great taste in crushes!" EJ exclaimed defensively.
"Our sister Tatiana?" The triplets reminded.
"Ok fine that wasn't my best relationship…" EJ groaned, remembering the time he dated a Senior when he was a Sophomore.
"Marisol last year?" Sean chimed in.
"Cressida when we were 15?" Ten deadpanned.
"Can you blame him? She's adorable!" Jeonghan grinned, earning an 'aww' from Cress.
They caught a glimpse of two silhouettes running by the diner.
"Is that Zale again?" Ten grimace, taking a guess. At this point, it is not uncommon to have Zale running around the city with his former dormmates tailing behind him. In fact, that was how Zale himself won 5th place in the SLC Marathon last year.
"Nah, can't be. I mean we're here." Vernon shook his head.
"COME BACK HERE, YOU VLAKA (IDIOT)!" Calix roared, following behind the Robotics teacher on her motorbike.
And that is all for this month's update, I hope that you've enjoyed reading about the Senior Gang's interactions (both Wildcats and Lakeshore). On that sidenote, next month would be the double birthday chapter for EJ and Jeonghan.
Chapter Talk: -
(1.) I like writing more scenes with the Senior Gang (the Golden Trio, the Martinez Triplets, Amelia, Anthony, Sean, the Lakeshore Trio). They're all the same grade/age, so it makes sense for them to have their hangout scenes. Plus they'd have stories to tell when sharing their past misadventures that occasionally includes more of the Lakeshore students (like Johnny and Yuta).
(2.) Drugs don't make her high, alcohol don't make her drunk. But apparently one tiny cup of Americano is enough to make Cress this hyperactive.
(3.) The Kormos clan are very friendly folks, and I like how I have accidentally written a bromance between Benjamin Mazarra and Calix Kormos. Don't worry, Benji and Lix are only ever platonic soulmates the same way EJ and Ten see themselves. Calix and Miss Jenn are also North High alumni who somewhat knew each other back in the day.
(4.) Cress thinks Mike Bowen is a very handsome guy; a stark difference from his son. Then again she doesn't like Ricky to begin with so she'd find Ricky's parents to be better looking. Some of the Senior Gang even collectively agreed Mike look great in his 40s.
(5.) I did some research on Greek restaurants and eating areas in SLC, Crown Burger popped up. And it would definitely be one of the Kormos clan's favorite eating areas.
(6.) Everyone has that one cursed/questionable childhood crush. Ten had the displeasure of knowing 2 cases: -
i.) His cousin Tern crushing on his best friend EJ when the two boys were 14
ii.) His best friend EJ finding Mama Leechaipornkul attractive
Thank you so much for reading, feel free to leave a comment and let me know your thoughts. Until next time and have an awesome day.