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

Episode 8: Tutors and ¡Arrriba!

"Hey, Martha! Guess what!" Jason exclaimed the next day when they met together for their tutoring session in Mrs. Michaels' classroom. "I got a 92 on my Precalculus test!"

Martha gasped. "Jason, that's fantastic! You've come so far!" She resisted the urge to give him a hug. She knew Jason's reputation as a flirt, and she didn't want to unintentionally lead him on.

Jason took a seat at the desk next to where Martha was already sitting. "I can't thank you enough for this, Martha. Now Coach Mason will have no reason to not accept me for spring baseball!"

Martha's smile faltered infinitesimally. "So, do you think your grades are good enough for us to stop tutoring?"

Jason sobered too. "Well, uh, I mean . . . we could keep going. If you wanted."

"If you feel you still need my help," Martha said cautiously, "then I'd be happy to continue."

Jason laughed softly. "I'm definitely feeling something."

Martha blushed and looked down at the textbooks she had spread out on the desk. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Jason leaning closer. On a whim, she blurted out, "What do you think about a dance club?"

Jason blinked at her blankly.

"Me starting one, I mean," Martha continued, feeling more foolish with every word that came out of her mouth. "I noticed that East High has a lot of dancers, but there isn't really a place for them to . . . convene." Her voice trailed off when Jason's eyes caught hers.

When Jason spoke, his voice was barely a whisper of breath across her cheeks. "What does 'convene' mean?"

"It means . . . come together." Martha swallowed.

They leaned even closer, until they were only a hair's-breadth apart. Just when Martha felt like she was about to die of the suspense, there came a commotion from outside the room. Martha and Jason jumped apart as Zeke, Chad, and Troy entered the room, apparently in the midst of some kind of debate.

"Bro, I thought we settled this last week," Chad said in a loud voice. "LeBron beats Jordan, hands down."

"Dude," Troy said, gesturing wildly, "Jordan won, like, a billion more championships than LeBron ever did! He's a legend!"

"But LeBron's still playing," Zeke argued. "He's still got the ability to change the game."

"Yo, Jason." Chad beckoned with his omnipresent basketball. "Let's go."

"Jason, who's better: LeBron or Jordan?" Zeke asked.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, it's 'who's more influential' not 'who's better,'" Troy protested as Jason rose out of his desk to follow his teammates. "If the question is 'who's better' then I change my answer."

"Oh, no," Chad said with a smile. "You've picked your side."

Right before Jason exited the room after his teammates, he turned back to Martha. "You could, y'know, come to some of my baseball games. If you wanted."

Martha broke into an ear-to-ear grin. "Okay."

*

"Why do I have to learn another language?" Troy asked as Gabriella dragged him toward the classroom where the Language Club met during free period.

"Because it will broaden your horizons," Gabriella replied in her best Darbus impression.

"Okay, that was scarily good."

"You think so?" Suddenly Gabriella stopped dead in her tracks. "Oh, no."

"What is it?" Troy followed her gaze to a poster on the wall. "Oh."