I know! I'm so sorry that I posted so late! :( I wanted to post after I finish the chapter I was working on, but I never did get to finish it. However, I didn't think that should translate into a long postponement(?) of the next chapter. Cliffhangers' resolutions are wearisome to wait for.

Thanks to GlitterGirl123, PurpleCupcakes, sunshannieshipperheart, and Mermaid Lover for your reviews! You guys are an awesome bunch!

Enjoy the fifth chapter!

Chapter Five

It was ridiculous, she knew, and maybe a little inane, but she was too resolute and content with the idea that she did not even care about those negatives. It was still uncomfortable, although. Not so much when she promenaded into the hallways earlier that Wednesday morning. She had gotten some stares and a few looks that qualified as 'check-out' gazes from some boys. There were some freshmen girls that came up to her with ecstatic grins, telling her she looked almost exactly like the character she had won over at auditions.

These almost compensated for Cece's horrified glances, Ty's disheartening jokes, and Deuce's strange reaction of running away whenever she asked if she looked like an idiot. Almost.

However, after contemplating about her decision all day before the rehearsal, she decided to stick to her choice.

She ran her fingers through the tresses of her tropical baby blue dress before rearranging the yellow belt that came around her upper waist—a precise replica of Gabriella's summer clothes in the second movie. Then, taking a deep breath, she pushed open the door to the auditorium.

The tune of Start of Something New emanated from the piano and floated about in the wide air. Several production assistants (including Cece and Deuce) roved around at the back of the stage while either painting or putting together several of the props. A little farther up, right under the spotlight, the cast assembled in a semi-circle. A few of them were chattering idly, a number were doing homework, while two or three were engrossed with their phones.

Kathy was nowhere to be seen.

Rocky scanned the herd of teenagers for the directress, stopping short of the stairs to the stage, only to be stunned by the sight of two particular people. "Unbelievable," she muttered to herself as she stared at the Hessenheffer twins, both fully dressed as Sharpay and Ryan. "Just…I'm a dork. I'm officially a dork."

"So," a voice came from behind her, causing her to spin around quickly in surprise, "all I know about you is that you're a dork, and you watch movies that good girls are not supposed to be watching."

She was speechless.

The sandy-haired boy chuckled. The way his blue eyes sparkled took her breath away. "Because Kirstin Dunst sang your song in an, uh, uncivilized teenage movie," he added carefully.

Her mouth hung agape, which she thought could probably explain why her mouth was so dry. "Don't tell my mom," she blurted out the plea before she could ponder over her words. She mentally kicked herself. Of all the words, Raquel Blue, she mentally hissed.

"I'm no snitch. Don't worry," he reassured her with a winning laugh.

Her heart picked up pace, her nerves in a wreck. "Good," she eased back into the conversation with a simple grin that came out lopsided. "Because she would totally ground me."

The boy nodded. "Yeah," he agreed, but not full heartedly. "I can see." He looked at her from head to toe and back, as if examining her. It touched Rocky ill, but she dismissed it as paranoia. "Well, I'll be completely honest," he continued. "I do know more about you. Rocky Blue, right? Sophomore?"

Rocky nodded after a giggle. "Yeah. How'd you know?"

"Auditions. You kinda stuttered the information," he said pragmatically.

An embarrassed laugh bubbled from her. "Oh. Right," she said.

"Ty's also mentioned you before," he continued. "We were lab partners once in Chemistry class. Has he ever mentioned that? I helped him a lot in that one project. Got an easy A, but don't tell him I said that." He winked at her playfully.

She chuckled, her mind on override. "I won't," she assured him. "Stephen. Your secret's safe with me."

"Good." He smiled. Just before an awkward silence settled in between them, he said, "I guess, since I'm the lead role and you got the other, we should be heading to the inner circle."

"The inner circle?" she asked with a glued smile on her lips and wrinkled brows.

"The inner circle," he repeated. "Perry had us form this lame circle for an exercise she wanted us to do. We were about to start without you, but a sophomore came, complaining about her not being admitted into the cast. Good timing for you, too, since Perry's a little unhappy you weren't here."

"But I'm still five minutes early," she protested.

"Directors are unpredictable, young Jedi," the boy told her with a grin.

She laughed.

"A quarter of an hour early would suit you best. May the force be with you."

Rocky rolled her eyes. "Fifteen minutes. Got it," she chortled.

The senior gave her one last smile before departing. She watched him settle down on his seat, captivated by his presence and the memory of how his blue eyes sparkled under the stage lights. The given fantasy of a senior—a popular one at that—falling in love with her as the play goes along and of that kiss between their characters in that one particular scene caused her cheeks to turn into a deep hue of rose.

Noticing how deep she was gazing at the blue-eyed boy, she averted her eyes and proceeded instead towards the group. She aimed to sit away from him, as she had the tendency to stutter insensibly and blush terribly when next to someone she liked. After a quick search, she found an empty spot between Tinka and Cassandra.

"Anyone sitting here?" she asked the two.

Tinka glanced at her then carried on with her conversation with Gunther. Cassandra, on the other hand, lifted her eyes up from her music sheets and grinned amiably. "No, you can sit here," she said.

"Thanks," Rocky breathed out gratefully as she settled down, placing her backpack on the ground.

Cassandra held out a hand to her. "I'm Cassandra," she introduced herself, "but I prefer being called Cassy."

"Rocky." She shook her hand. "Kelsi Nielsen, right?"

She nodded. "Yes!" she replied cheerfully. Then, less enthusiastically she added, "But, only because Miss Perry wanted a good piano player to have the role. I was the only one to audition, but I thought it was for the orchestra." She chuckled. "No wonder there were only four of us that day."

Rocky laughed. "At least you didn't have to deal with singing in front of the crowd," she empathized. "I had to be called twice because I was too nervous."

"Oh. I wouldn't worry much about that," Cassandra assured her. Then, a knowing smile crept across her lips. "Plus, Stephen is a little distracting."

Rocky blushed, but she tried to hide it. She thought of changing the subject but after a while, deemed her silence sufficient for the conversation—mostly because she did not want anyone hearing them to get involved and blow everything out of proportion.

Namely, Gunther and Tinka.

The soft and calculated clacking of heels against the polished stage put everyone in the circle into an attentive mode. With cellphones hidden and conversations stopped, all eyes were on the dark haired directress towering over them. "Well. Now that that drama is settled, we shall move on to our agenda of the day," Kathy said, watching her cast with a renewed verve. She swiveled around and headed for the tall chair sitting at the corner of the stage, meanwhile commenting, "Miss Blue. So glad to see you with us today."

Even the mild screeching from the legs of the chair being dragged across the stage did not take away from the glances shot towards Rocky. "Sorry, Miss Perry," she managed to utter. "I had to wait for Ms. Locke to get extra credit paper—"

"Your affairs are none of my concern, Miss Blue," Kathy sternly but mildly dismissed her. "It was just a comment; nothing more. And you don't have to apologize. You're not very late. Just make sure you come earlier next time." A smirk then crept across her face while she examined the stack of papers in her hand. "Don't you know, Miss Blue? The stars of the show always get haters. Don't give them any ammo."

The comment elicited giggles from the other teenagers, save for the twins and Stephen.

Nonetheless, this unspoken understanding of the crowd that she could not comprehend made Rocky a little bit more uneasy.

"Enough about that," Kathy chimed with a dim smile. "Let's talk about what we all came here for—the play. High School Musical is about…what?" Some hands shoot up in the air. "Mr. Sawyer."

"Nerdy chick falling in love with a baller after they sang karaoke?"

"You sound uncertain, Mr. Sawyer."

Jordan shrugged. "Haven't really seen the entire movie to be honest with you, Miss Perry," he said.

Kathy chuckled, and for a moment Jordan looked nervous. "Anybody else want to try?" she challenged.

Lesser hands rose.

Kathy nodded at Cassandra. "Miss Poe."

"Breaking stereotypes and factions," Cassandra answered scholarly.

"Getting warmer," Kathy acknowledged, "but not hot on the spot. Alright. Let's go through everyone, one by one. Tell me what you think High School Musical is about. Mr. Sawyer, Ms. Poe—you're both out."

The circle laughed, even those at whose expenses it was from.

"Mr. Croft. You begin," Kathy commenced.

"High School," Stephen yawned.

"Love?" Jordan bit her lip.

"Fame," Tyler nodded.

"Not quite, Mr. Reese," Kathy said to him. "Keep it coming. Next."

"Friendship? I don't know," Juliette said.

"Music."

"The glitters," Tinka mused while she marveled at the new purse she purchased to dress her role.

"Troy Bolton and Gabriella Montez," Rocky spouted what came up in her mind.

"Wait," Kathy held her hand up. "Mr. Hessenheffer. Repeat what you said."

"Music…?"

"With more conviction, Mr. Hessenheffer. You might just be right."

"Music."

Kathy snapped her fingers. "Music, everybody," she said. "The story may be a little less impressing, some lyrics borderline common, but it is music that captures everybody's ears and attention."

Gunther gave his sister an excited grin, which Tinka returned.

At one point, Rocky imagined that his eyes met hers, too, in the quickest of seconds, before he turned his attention back to the directress.

Kathy started to hand out the sheets she had in her hand to each of them. "How many times have you had to stop while walking in the mall when you heard Breaking Free playing? What about Get Your Head In The Game? How many times had that made you want to dribble a ball?" She stopped in front of the twins with a smirk. "Had to snap when you listen to What I've Been Looking For?" she asked, which was completely lost on the two people estranged from the said story. Kathy continued down until she finished distributing the papers. Then, she sat back on her seat. "If you have never favored this musical's songs, do beware: your head will be swimming with them for the next three months. We're projected to go live in the middle of January which, if you're a theater veteran like Mr. Croft and Ms. Estrangelo, is unusually longer than the usual practice time. The school decided to give everybody enough time, seeing other students have other extracurricular activities that can hinder their participation academically, most of all, and in the play. As far as I know, this cast is made up of athletes, academic society members, and TV stars, yeah?"

All exchanged quick looks and chuckles, but Rocky's attention was on Stephen. He was smiling a rather amiable smile. Yet, how he isolated himself from the others with his lackadaisical attitude sat ill with her.

Maybe he had a bad day, Rocky reasoned.

"Rehearsals are after school, Monday through Wednesday, until 7:30—maybe earlier if things go smoothly. You have to come in Saturdays as well, from 3 to 7:15. Last three weeks before we're on, we will be here every day, except for Thursdays and Sundays. Am I understood?"

"Yes," Rocky mumbled in agreement with the group.

"Good. Today, we will be rehearsing in the form of a table read," Kathy said. "But, since we do not have any table, we will just stay in this circle and read the scripts in our seat. We will do this every Monday, only for the first two months. We'll pick up a handful of scenes, which we will rehearse with acting and the songs the following days. That should help you keep in mind your lines, and you'll have a mental cue on what to do."

The directress opened up her copy of the script, inspiring others to do the same. Rocky unraveled hers with the same eagerness as the three people on her left. Stephen, she managed to glean from a peek, appeared relieved and impatient to see that they get started.

A soft wrinkle formed within Rocky's features. Deny as she may want, but there was something off about Stephen.

to be continued. . .