Chapter Text
"Alright settle down, my young thespians." Ms. Darbus claps her hands to get the attention of the seniors standing on the stage. They had formed something reminiscent of a rectangle on the stage awaiting the instructions of Ryan or Ms. Darbus or Kelsi for the next musical number.
"So this part of the play is going to be about prom." Kelsi begins to explain to her fellow classmates at the front area of the stage where the orchestra would be. "Although, the actual event will be a few weeks from now, Ryan and I have some initial melodies and choreography ready for you guys to kind of get an idea on how the number would go."
Kelsi gives a look to one of the drama club members responsible for the sound mixing. At her cue, the first verse and chorus of 'A Night to Remember' starts playing from the CD she handed to him before the start of the rehearsal this afternoon.
The seniors react positively to the initial version of the song. Ryan takes over to teach the choreography on stage, giving his own cue to the sound mixer to pause the CD by pointing in their direction.
"Alright, so before we can start, this is a paired dance number so I'd need everyone to find a dance partner." Ryan announces once the music is off. He claps his hands at the end as his way of giving everyone time to find their partners.
There were some groans heard among the students but making the pairs didn't take too long to finalize. Surprisingly, Sharpay was one of the last to find a partner because she had mistakenly assumed that she would be dancing with her brother. But when she went over to ask him about it, "We're partners, this time right?"
Ryan had said, "oh actually, I was thinking of pairing up with Kelsi for this number since we won't be dancing much since there'd other things we have to focus on for the musical."
Sharpay opens her mouth to answer back but Ryan cuts her off to solidify his decision.
"And hey," he opens his hands with his palms up and shrugs, "you did say I had to get close with Kelsi so we're two birds with one stone, no?"
After hearing this, Sharpay huffs in response before stomping back to the rest of the class. She couldn't go back on her initial goal which was to get the songs Troy and Gabriella received from Kelsi. She was a little lost on who she should ask to be her partner. Troy, the only other option she considered, was obviously going to be paired with Gabriella. So she tried scanning through the group for the next best option.
Zeke was with his friends stationed close to the edge of stage when Kelsi and Ryan told them about the group number they would be working on today. He was a little bummed that he couldn't be with Sharpay this time since he assumed her dance partner was going to be Ryan—as usual. But as their classmates began pairing off, Zeke found himself watching the conversation between Sharpay and Ryan and noticing the subtle distress on her face. Zeke had a gut feeling that he might have made an premature conclusion about Sharpay's partner. So he stepped a little closer to the twins, still being within earshot of his friends but also in the line of sight of the Evans twins.
Zeke wasn't the only one who could see the look of distress on Sharpay's face. Ryan had felt guilty when he told her his plans for the group dance number. He knew his sister didn't really have any "acceptable" options for a partner and decided to help her find one as way of an apology for not telling her days in advance so she could have more time to consider her options.
Ryan took a quick scan through the class and spotted Zeke at the other side of the stage. He knew of Zeke's crush on Sharpay so it wouldn't be a problem on his side. Thinking of Sharpay's side, he could be a potentially acceptable option since Sharpay did enjoy everything Zeke made her during the summer. Perhaps, he would do. In the sense that it seemed like she could tolerate him.
"What do you think of Zeke?" Ryan asks, walking towards Sharpay who had her arms crossed and feeling miffed at her own situation.
Upon hearing her brother's suggestion, Sharpay uncrossed her arms to consider it. In truth, she never considered it because she had totally forgotten about him in that moment. Ryan sees the change in her posture and lack of a response as potential agreement in the choice. So, he quickly calls Zeke over to ensure Zeke hadn't found a partner yet and have him pair up with Sharpay.
"What's up, Ryan?" Zeke asks once he was close enough to the twins. He had been silently hoping for this the whole time and was feeling nervous in case he actually had the wrong idea and Ryan had another reason for calling out to him. He sees Sharpay who had her hands on her hips staring at their class. She didn't seem to have noticed him approach at all which lowered his expectations on what was to come with this conversation.
"Do you have a partner yet?" At Ryan's question, Sharpay finally turns to Zeke. She was nervously waiting for Ryan to speak up because she couldn't bear to ask and worried about the answer. She was pretending to be lost in thought with her hands crossed over chest and avoiding eye contact with Zeke. It hurt her pride—just a little—to need Ryan's help but she had no choice if she was going to have to ask people herself to be partners. And Sharpay could never do that.
Zeke's stomach had flipped when he heard Ryan's question. His gut feeling had been right and he was desperate to hide just how overjoyed he was feeling at this chance. He felt like the luckiest man in the world in that moment. He wanted to shout and raise his arms but forced himself to cough to get his emotions in control.
After a brief pause, Zeke glances at the nonchalant Sharpay and responds in a calm tone. "Nope. I don't have one yet."
Sharpay's shoulders had visibly relaxed when Zeke answered. It must have tensed up when Ryan posed his question. Ryan picks up on it and breaks into a wide smile. "Great. That's perfect."
Ryan stepped closer towards Sharpay and gave her a nudge with his elbow. At this action, Sharpay turns to Ryan to glare at him. She understood the meaning behind it but she was hoping Ryan would continue taking the lead and ask Zeke in her stead. But Ryan wasn't having any of it as he also had to check on his other classmates to ensure everyone had their partners.
Sharpay turns back to Zeke who was watching the exchange happen but confused as to the reason for it, a closed smile, head tilted, and an eyebrow raised. Sharpay gives a small exhale and, in the most disinterested voice she could, she asks Zeke. "So... do you want to be partners?"
Zeke pauses for a beat—not because he was hesitant but because he wanted to relish in the moment a little longer. It felt good having the option of saying no to her. He could never do that, of course. It just felt great being on the receiving end this time.
The pause makes Sharpay begin to feel restless but she held her ground and waited—obviously there was no change that showed in her expression or posture. She didn't have to wait long as she got Zeke's response in the next moment.
"Yeah. Sure." Zeke had managed to remain calm but not completely as his joy seeped through in his wide smile and bright eyes. His expression stunned Sharpay for a moment. It's not like she hadn't been disarmed by Zeke's reactions to her before but they always make her feel like something in her chest was getting squeezed and she didn't really know what to do about it. So, she just did what she has always done. She focused back to their task at hand.
Like a switch flipped, Sharpay goes into what Zeke calls her 'theater club mode.' In that state, she goes on to give him some initial expectations for his performance. Since he was going to be her partner after all, it was imperative that he would need to match her own performance level.
"Alright, since we're partners now, I'll have you know that I always bring my A-game even during rehearsals, so I expect you," she shifts her weight to one leg with a hand on her hip while the other hand points at Zeke for emphasis, "to keep up with me. Got it?"
Zeke looks at her as if he was looking at Coach Bolton and seriously takes in her words. He nods in response and she gives a satisfied smile in return. "Good."
Ryan had finally confirmed that everyone had been paired up and claps his hands once again to get the class's attention. He had returned back to his place at the front and center of the stage with Martha standing beside him.
"Okay. Now that everyone's ready, please go back into center of stage and first separate into 2 sections, one side for the girls and one side for the boys. Make sure there's enough space that you won't be bumping into each other. Martha will be my partner for now so we can demonstrate the choreography properly. The actual position for the number, we'll handle during the next or next next practice depending on how things will go today with learning the moves."
### For reference, its the section 2 minutes into A Night to Remember ###
With that, Ryan proceeds to teach the choreography for the A Night to Remember. They were learning the main chorus where the groups were split with the girls one side and the boys on the other before ultimately mixing into the partnered dance. For Sharpay, it wasn't too complicated since she's had years of experience learning choreography and the steps themselves were easy to remember.
But Zeke, as expected, couldn't keep up. It wasn't so bad at first, just simple actions for a little bit that were directed to the center where Ryan and Kelsi would enter and then switching positions with the girls. At that point, it got seriously difficult.
"Okay. For the boys, we're starting here with the wave—Big Fun! On the—point right, point left. Wipe down, roll the arms, keep those hips moving boys. Then a quick left, point right. A little nod at tonight." Ryan was giving directions as he taught the steps but the movements were too fast for Zeke to properly keep up. "Cross the arms, roll them up, then roll them down. Clap. Swipe your hair. Then step, and step and step."
"Ok. Let's try that again, guys." He was embarrassed by how he kept forgetting the moves just after Ryan would teach them the section and run through it. Zeke couldn't do the moves properly—confused which arm or leg had to move or being too late to the beat. This was unlike their opening song since Now or Never's choreography was just moves with the basketball which he already had in his muscle memory.
While Ryan was running through the steps with be boys, Martha lead the girls' choreography. "Ok gals, we starting here with the wave—Big Fun! On the—Right on the hip, left pointing up, switch hands. Then both hands on the front of your shoulders then on the hips at 'Alright.' Then we move the hips up- down-up. Then we quick point right then reach our hands up and make a wide circle while bring them back down at tonight."
"At let's dance, we cross our hands and step over with the left into a turn with our hands up. Bring them down, we make an X with the right hand then step and step and step. Ok. I'm sure that was a lot to take in so let's review that again."
Sharpay wasn't surprised to see Zeke struggle at the corner of her eye. She found herself straining to keep a serious face, holding back her laughter, whenever Zeke messed up which was basically that whole time. To be fair, Sharpay would admit that Ryan's choreography for the boys' section was definitely more challenging since it needed more coordination overall with quick move changes. It had some variations of the basic locking steps so, to the untrained high schooler, it required more practice to get used to the move and then connecting it to the rest of the sequence.
Of course, Zeke wasn't the only one who didn't know their rights from their lefts anymore. Ryan was also aware that this would happen due to this being their first rehearsal for the song and acknowledged their inexperience. Most of their rehearsal time today was spent on helping the boys and girls with getting the timing of their group moves. So they focused on learning that first section before moving on to a little bit of the actual partner dancing.
When Ryan deemed them ready to start on the partnered section, the class was shuffled back to their partners. He couldn't give them the full chorus of the partnered section to learn yet since he would have to teach them again anyway. But it still would be best to have them at least be introduced to the first line of the chorus of the partnered section.
Zeke found Sharpay near the front and stood at her side, giving her a nervous side-eye as he was little worried about her remark on his progress so far. She doesn't say anything until after Ryan begins the lesson.
"Okay, so the steps at the end of the part I taught you earlier is to get you into a position where the boys are behind the girls. I'll need the boys behind the girls. And the first move this part is pretty simple. Both should have their arms out like this."
Ryan begins his instructions, making himself an example, standing behind Martha and both of them with their arms stretched out at their sides.
When Zeke and Sharpay get into position to mimic Ryan, Sharpay reiterates her reminder as a command. "Make sure you can keep up with me."
Just like before, Zeke nods but adds a hum in response to Sharpay. Ryan continues his instructions and Zeke multi-tasks carefully, following Ryan while ensuring not to bump into Sharpay. The first move was easy enough—just making an arm wave from right to left—giving Zeke a false sense of security that this would go a lot smoother than earlier. As soon as that move was completed, they were expected to switch positions with their partners while dancing multiple times before going into a set of ballroom steps.
It's a dumpster fire of a disaster. Zeke was pretty confident in social dancing related moves because it was something he did at home with family during their celebrations. But Zeke kept offering the wrong hands and moving in the wrong direction bumping into Sharpay or bumping into another classmate. Sharpay was amused at his clumsy attempts during the separate boys and girls section and now, she felt like she was going to snap any minute if Zeke was going to keep messing up the steps. She was baffled that it was only the first four 8-count sequence — merely 3 lines — of the chorus and yet Zeke clearly couldn't keep up when she told him to do so, twice.
Before she could say anything about it, Zeke would already be apologizing about the mistake and Sharpay's frustration would subside a little bit until he made the same mistake again. With the remaining time left for rehearsal, Ryan and Martha were going around the stage assisting the pairs to ensure all the hand placements and feet positions of the partners were in the right spot and also in rhythm.
Sharpay already knew both her and her partner's steps so she was trying to teach Zeke herself, correcting his form and having him copy her as she did his steps perfectly. He was extremely grateful that she was helping him out since was fully expecting her to just rag on him for not getting the steps. He guessed that it was just in her nature to do a quality check with everyone she danced with so they would be to her standards, nothing more and nothing less.
Their progress was slow as Zeke was only able to correctly do the first 8 counts of the partnered section when rehearsal was over.
"Alright, that's a wrap for today's rehearsal." Ms. Darbus says from her seat in the audience interrupting the session. "Before I dismiss you all, Mr. Evans and Ms. Nielson, do you have any announcements?"
"Thank you guys for coming. Please continue to practice before the next rehearsal. You can come to me during free period if you need help with the steps. I also have a recording of the choreography with Martha that you guys can borrow in groups to learn together. See you guys in class." Ryan says with a smile.
"No further announcements from me Ms. Darbus." Kelsi adds to give the floor back to Ms. Darbus to dismiss them.
"Alright. You may be dismissed." Ms. Darbus announces as the class moves to the wings to make their way to pick up their bags and heads towards the exits.
As the students were dispersing, Sharpay, without glancing in his direction, held her arm out in front of Zeke, blocking his path. "Stay."
Zeke saw his friends look in his direction, waiting for him to join them so they could leave together. He gives them a look telling them to go on without him since Sharpay had wanted him to stay. The team gives Zeke doubtful glances when they go ahead to which he responds with an innocent shrug.
Sharpay was going to give her comments and notes for improvement for Zeke's performance when she held out her arm on impulse in front of Zeke to stop him before he left her side. But her mind suddenly blanked out as soon as he turned to her. So she just tried to say anything in the hopes that what she wanted to say would come back to her.
"You need more practice." He was rocking back and forth on his heels and toes and staring at the stage floor when she spoke up. Zeke looks up to her before responding back with a laugh. "Yeah, I clearly didn't do great this time around. But thanks for helping me out. I didn't think you would do that to be honest."
Sharpay had taken two steps forward to approach Zeke with a stunned face as if he just said she had cursed her own family. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"Oh, its just-" Zeke kicks the floor of the stage and looks back down. Her piercing eyes were too intimidating for him to face right now. "I just thought you would be chewing me out the whole time during actual rehearsal."
Sharpay is almost offended at the explanation flipping her hair over her shoulder and walking ahead of him towards backstage in powerful strides. She thinks about Zeke's response. She would have done exactly that if Zeke accidentally hurt her during the rehearsal. But all he did was hold the wrong hand and bump their shoulders so she had the common sense not to make a big deal out of it. She didn't want to waste time when there wasn't much time left for them to master the steps.
"You know." Sharpay pauses once they've entered into the wings. She turns to Zeke who was following behind her at a fearful distance. "If you're really worried about me going "crazy" on you, I'll help you practice whenever we have free time. That way, you can keep up with me during class rehearsals."
Zeke blinks. He didn't expect the suggestion as he was trying to find a way to ask her for help himself. So Sharpay bringing it up first was an even better outcome.
He shakes his head to bring himself out of his thoughts. Before he can stop himself, Zeke moves closer and firmly holds the sides of her shoulders as he would with his friends to express his gratitude. "I would love that. Thank you Sharpay."
Sharpay freezes up in his grip for a moment. What was that? She prevents her brain from processing the contact, overrides it with her need to have Zeke doing well as her partner, and immediately unfreezes to respond back. "Good. Send Tiara your schedule so we can work something out."
Zeke noticed her confused wide eyes and promptly lets go just as she starts speaking about Tiara. He mutters an apology under his breath and just nods in response. Tiara suddenly appears with a notepad and pen ready for Zeke to write his number down. He does what he is instructed to do and then Sharpay quickly leaves after that. He doesn't follow after her this time and waves goodbye at her retreating figure. He, then, crosses back over the stage to the other wing to grab his bag before heading to his locker.