I'm on a roll tonight! Go me :-D Though it is time for me to go to bed... I'm sleepy
Song: Angel Cry (
song list)
Characters: Chad, Kelsi
Relationship: Friendship, Romantic hints
Rating: K
If he hadn’t been avoiding Ms. Darbus, he never would have found her.
He had slipped into the band room to avoid being lectured by Ms. Darbus about bouncing his basketball down the hall and had had to find a quick hiding place so Ms. D wouldn’t find him. That’s when he stumbled upon Kelsi hiding behind the chair racks, tears streaming down her cheeks.
He studied Kelsi from the corner of his eyes as he held his breath in case Ms. Darbus came into the room. Sure he and Kelsi weren’t the best of friends, but they had grown up together and were friends and it worried him that she was upset.
“What’s wrong?” He asked, once he was sure Ms. Darbus had given up on finding him.
“Nothing,” she said, pushing the tears away with her hands. “I’m fine, really.”
“Kelsi, come on, talk to me,” he said, placing his hand on her knee. “What’s wrong?”
“It’s nothing, really, Chad,” she said, trying to keep her tears from falling.
“Is it Jason? Ryan?” He knew it was something with Ryan when Kelsi choked back a sob.
Down from the clouds she fell into my heart
Now I can barely stand whenever we're apart
Such a pretty face but a soul so dark
Girl, he must hurt you something terrible
Chad left the band room with Kelsi refusing to tell him what Ryan had done to her. He felt like going up to the choreographer and snapping both his legs, but Kelsi’s pleas to leave it alone echoed in his mind.
Kelsi and her tears stayed on his mind all day and distracted him from his school work-and basketball. So much so, that Coach Bolton had called him out of practice and told him to run laps since his head wasn’t in the game.
He was outside running on the track when he spotted Kelsi sitting at the top of the bleachers, notebook in hand. He ran up the steps and stopped in front of her.
“How are you?” He asked her.
“I’m fine, Chad,” she whispered.
“Kelsi, come on, please talk to me,” he said sitting down next to her. “At least let me help you feel better.”
“What if I’m not ready to feel better?” She asked, turning her cool blue-green eyes at him. “What if I want to wallow in selfpity.”
“Then let me wallow with you,” he said. “It’s more fun with two people.”
“But then it isn’t wallowing,” she replied.
“Sure it is,” he smiled. “Tell you what, after practice I’ll get a pizza, some ice cream and steal one of my sister’s chickflicks and we’ll wallow together.” He didn’t give her a chance to decline as he ran down the stairs to finish running his laps.
Let me undo all the damage he's done to you
Let me love all the pain away and make it new
Won’t stop till your skies go from grey to blue
‘Cause making you smile, that’s what I got to do
Kelsi almost looked surprised when she opened the front door and let Chad into the house.
“I told you I was coming,” he said as he set the pizza box on the counter.
“I didn’t think you were actually going to show,” she confessed.
“I’m a man of my word,” Chad said. “Besides, I could use a good wallowing myself.”
“Why do you need to wallow?” Kelsi asked him.
“You mean other than for the fact that my best friend chose Gabriella over me?” Chad asked. “Oh and that little fact about having no love life.” Kelsi flinched. “Oh right, sorry. Uh, movie? I brought Saw 5.”
“I thought you were bring over a chickflick,” Kelsi stated as she led him down to the basement.
“Well I figured chickflicks would depress us both,” he shrugged. “And Saw 5 is really awesome.”
“Do you mind if we watch something else?” She asked. “I’m big on horror movies.”
“Sure, totally fine,” he nodded.
By the time the movie ended, Chad was sitting in the recliner watching Kelsi sleep on the couch. He couldn’t help but wonder what Ryan had done that made her cry.
If he did you wrong I apologize
If he did you wrong he's a foolish guy
I swear that I can barely sleep at night
Knowing somebody done made an angel cry
Made an angel cry, oh
Made an angel cry, oh
Made an angel cry, oh
Made an angel cry, oh
He made an angel cry
“He was using me,” Kelsi’s voice was soft and to the point.
“What?” Chad asked.
“Ryan, he was using me,” she repeated. “It was all part of his and Sharpay’s plan to take over the musical.”
“Wow, I thought he’d changed.”
“That makes two of us.”
Chad stood up and went to the couch to sit next to her, wrapping his arm around her.
“I should have known something was up, ya know? He’s a nice guy, but he’s never been that nice to me before.” She shook her head. “They didn’t know I was in the auditorium when they were talking about their plan. He was going to ask me to prom in an attempt to woe me and keep me from giving Troy and Gabriella the couples song I wrote for them.”
“Oh god, Kels, I’m sorry.”
Chad wrapped his arm around her tightly and she laid her head on his shoulder.
How could anybody look into your eyes
And not melt to the ground like a block of ice
Maybe the last guy didn't realize
He was talking to an angel
Driving home a couple hours later, Chad fought the urge to drive to the Evans’ house and give Ryan a piece of his mind. He couldn’t believe that his former friend would do something as terrible as getting involved in one of Sharpay’s schemes.
Arriving home, he went to his room and didn’t bother turning on the lights as he went straight to his bed. He couldn’t wait until after graduation when the Evans twins would be away from them all in New York City.
Closing his eyes, Chad dried to block out the image of Kelsi crying from his head, but failed. Guys like Ryan Evans didn’t deserve the sweet, innocent girls like Kelsi. It was the good guys, the guys like him that deserved girls like her.
Chad sat up in bed when he realized what had just crossed his mind. What did it all mean? Did he like Kelsi more than as just a friend?
Cry
Ooh, he made angel
Cry
Ooh, he made an angel
Cry
Ooh, he made an angel
Cry
He made an angel cry
The next morning, Chad showed up for school having barely slept a wink. He had considered telling his mom he was sick, but he wanted to be there for Kelsi today.
Going to his locker, he greeted his friends then went off to find Kelsi.
“How are you today?” He asked when he found her at her locker.
“A lot better, thank you,” she managed a smile.
“No problem,” he replied. “You wanna do something tonight too?”
“Chad, you don’t have to do this,” she sighed. “I’m not going to do anything stupid or drastic.”
“But I want to hang out with you,” he stated then whispered, “I like you, Kelsi. I like hanging out with you and I even like watching musicals with you.”
“Really?” She asked, blinking her beautiful eyes at him.
“Really,” he nodded. “Now come on, let’s show Ryan Evans that you’re too good to cry over the likes of him.”
“Chad, I don’t know if I’m ready for that,” she sighed.
“We’re a team, remember?” He said. “You and me to the end.”
Kelsi nodded and let him take her hand. She had been so crushed when she’d learn the truth about Ryan’s attention towards her and she knew she should feel a little nervous about Chad’s attention, but she didn’t; she couldn’t. He made her feel safe and wanted.