I'm Just Dancing

The Plot

Chad POV

Cornering Troy in the library didn't work. I thought for sure telling him about my mom keeping Michael Crawford's picture inside of our refrigerator. He didn't listen to any of it, he isn't acting like himself.

So the boys and I are getting together today to approach Taylor and the scholastic team. If we can get Troy to remember who he is then we can fix all of this, hopefully it will knock some sense into Gabriella as well. I haven't seen that much of her but she seems like a sweet girl, Troy doesn't tend to go for sweet, it's better they both get hurt now and get back on track rather than throw away their futures for some dumb high school fling.

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"So, my watch is 7:45 Mountain Standard time, We synched?" It's really three watches, I couldn't decide which one worked best for this particular mission so I went with all.

"Whatever," she rolls her eyes and I ham it up even more.

"Then we're on go mode for lunch, 12:05," I sweep the area, really making a show of it.

"Yes, Chad, we're a go," she waves her hand in front of my face" but we're not Charlie's Angels, okay?" She doesn't seem very amused, and she shouldn't. What we are doing isn't funny, but it's necessary. Right?

"I can dream, can't I?" she almost cracks a smile and rolls her eyes before walking away.

She's pretty, the type of pretty my parents would appreciate. She's also the kind of smart my parents would appreciate. Maybe if I brought her home they would stop making jokes about me marrying Troy. That's a big maybe.

I can't entertain that thought for too long though, I have to focus on saving Troy. How am I supposed to join a rival team and fight him for most championship rings if he is playing Danny Zuko on Broadway instead?

We set down the last trophy on the table just in time for Troy to walk in the room. He looks shocked, he should, it's clearly an intervention.

"Spider Bill Netrine, class of '72," I hold up bills team photo, "He was the MVP in the league championship game."

"Sam Nedler, class of '02," Zeke joins in, "also known as Sammy Slamma Jamma. Captain, MVP of the league championship team."

"The Thunder Clap," the whole team claps in unison, "Hap Hadden, '95. Led the Wildcats to back-to-back city championships," Jason set the photo back down.

"Legends, one and all," I make eye contact with Troy. He seems upset already, like he doesn't want to be here. "Do you think that any of these Wildcat legends became legends by getting involved in musical auditions days before the league championships?"

"Get your head in the game!" The team barks behind me.

"No," I can see the wheels turning in Troy's head "These Wildcat legends became legends because they never took their eye off the prize,"

"Get your head in the game!" They chant again.

"Who was the first sophomore ever to make starting varsity?" I prompt.

"Troy!" It's like a church call and response.

"Who voted him team captain this year?" I turn away from Troy to look at the rest of the team.

"Us!" Or like soldiers.

"And who is gonna get their butts kicked in Friday's championship game if Troy's worried about an audition?" I need this to get through to him.

"We are," This time they are pitiful and out of synch.

"Guys," There's a small laugh but he is visibly frustrated, "come on, there's twelve people on this team, not just me." A captain isn't just another player, that's his saying, when did he forget it.

"Just 12? Oh, no," I motion for the boys to hand me the last photo, "I think you're forgetting about one very important 13th member of our squad," I hold up Jack Bolton's photo.

"My dad," some of the anger dropped from his voice, replaced by sadness. I want to stop now, to apologize for clearly hurting him, but I can't. He needs to remember why he used to be so devoted to us as a team.

"Yes, Troy. Wildcat basketball champion class of 1981." I push the picture towards him. "Champion, father, and now coach, It's a winning tradition like no other."

"Guys, if you don't know that I'll put 110% of my guts into that game, then you don't know me," I can tell now that he has been listening, his voice is more frantic.

"But we just thought..." He cuts me off.

"I'll tell you what I thought, I thought that you're my friends," I thought you were my friend too. "Win together, lose together, teammates."

"But suddenly the girl... and the singing," I lean onto the table covering the other boys as they set up the laptop and aim the webcam.

"Man, I'm for the team!" He yells it at us, "I've always been for the team, she's just someone I met, alright? The singing thing is nothing, a way to keep my nerves down. It means nothing to me. You're my guys and this is our team, Gabriella is not important." he scans around to make sure we all believe him. The glaze over his eyes betray his energetic voice, he's about to cry. "I'll forget about her, forget the audition and we'll get that championship. Everyone happy now?"

No. Yes? I'm not happy that Troy is so hurt, but I am happy to have him back.

We didn't only plan an ambush though, I place my hand on his shoulder and lead him out to the track field. The impromptu pep rally begins. The band, the cheerleaders, everyone at 100% to cheer Troy up. The team lifts him into the air and he looks like he is actually smiling, remembering exactly why he holds up his rep as the basketball boy.