We're All In This Together (A High School Musical Fanfiction)

Episode 6: Chemistry and the Roastery

During free period on Tuesday, Zeke was furiously whipping up a blueberry cobbler in the school kitchen. The lunch ladies had seen how agitated he was and had made their excuses soon after he had come in. Zeke was sitting on the counter by the oven, watching his cobbler bake and wallowing in self-pity, when Troy, Chad, and Jason came into the kitchen.

"We thought we'd find you here," Chad said cautiously.

Zeke didn't respond.

Troy peeked into the oven. "Looks good. Creme brulee?"

That got a reaction. Zeke scoffed. "Blueberry cobbler, dude."

"Cobbler. Right." Troy cleared his throat, sharing an uneasy glance with Chad and Jason. Chad shrugged.

Jason sighed and stepped forward. "Zeke, I know part of the reason you're mad at us is because of me." He addressed his next words to Chad and Troy as well. "You might've noticed I haven't been around at lunchtime recently."

Chad and Troy nodded slowly. Chad said, "We noticed."

Jason ran his hands through his hair. Clearly he was debating his next words carefully. "I don't know if you know this, but my grades aren't exactly the best in the world. I . . . last semester was pretty bad. Coach said he'd have to kick me off the team if I didn't get my grades up. So I talked to the counselor, and he assigned me to a tutor."

In that moment everything became clear. "Wait--that's where you've been all this time?" Chad said. "Tutoring?"

Jason nodded. His face was bright red. Clearly he was embarrassed to admit he needed a tutor. Troy patted him on the shoulder. "Jason, it's okay. We all have things we're not good at. I'm always late, for example."

"I hate change," Chad admitted.

"And I," Zeke added as he carefully extracted his blueberry cobbler from the oven, "can never get my blueberry cobblers completely cooked all the way through. Look at this!" He stuck in and pulled out his test stick; it came back covered with blue goo.

Jason laughed, relieved that his teammates had been so understanding. "Thanks, guys. But hey, do me a favor and don't tell any of the other guys on the team about this. I'd never hear the end of it."

"Will do, buddy." Troy put an arm around Jason.

"So, whose your tutor?" Chad asked, hopping up on the counter and reaching out for a taste of the cobbler before Zeke slapped his hands away. "A girl?" Chad wiggled his eyebrows.

Jason smiled and rubbed the back of his neck. The other guys laughed, and Troy punched Jason in the arm good-naturedly amid catcalls from Chad and Zeke. Jason had always been the "Romeo" of the basketball team. He could chat up any girl within a five mile radius.

"She cute?" Chad prompted.

Suddenly, a new voice joined their conversation. "Jason! There you are!"

All of them turned to see . . . Martha. She smiled at them in her usual enthusiastic way. "Hi, guys! Jason, you still want to go over that chemistry we were talking about?"

Zeke elbowed Jason and whispered, "Chemistry?"

"Shut up, man." Jason pushed Zeke's head away before following Martha out of the kitchen. The rest of the guys let out whoops and catcalls until he was out of sight.

As Chad tried to sneak some more cobbler, Troy nudged Zeke. "Hey, dude, Jason mentioned something happened with Sharpay. Is everything okay?"

Zeke exhaled as he cut the cobbler and dished it onto plates. "You know what, man, I'm better off without her. She was too controlling and clingy. I'm better off as a free man."