High School Musical (Harry x Taylor Lautner)

The guy you met on vacation

Over the next Dre days, Harry and Taylor became more and more depressed. Harry thought Taylor dumped him. Taylor thought that Harry had dumped him. And, even though their friends tried to cheer them up, nothing worked.

One day, during PE class, Justin, Liam and Kellan and some other students were goofing around on the outside basketball court. They were passing a hall in a circle, fast and slick, just like the Harlem Globetrotters. Laughing, they waved at Taylor, inviting him to join them.

But Taylor ignored them, and headed over the track for a jog instead, moving steadily away from his friends.

——————
That evening, Taylor shot baskets alone in his backyard. He missed a few baskets and slammed the ball down in frustration. His father watched from an upstairs window, worried. He knew something was wrong. He also knew it wasn't the right time to find out what it was.

At the Styles house, Harry was sitting by his bedroom window. He was surrounded by his books, but he wasn't reading. Instead, he was gazing out the window at the stars and trying not to cry.

His mother opened the door, holding a portable phone. Anne held it out to Harry, indirecting the call was for him.

Harry just shook his head.

The next day, Harry and Taylor happened to pass each other in the cafeteria. They glanced at each other, then away . . . then defused the awkward moment by moving on without saying a word.

Justin and Selena saw the exchange from opposite ends of the room. They looked at each other and nodded. They'd seen enough. They could see the effect of what they'd done and they knew they'd screwed up, big time.

Now they had to try to fix it . . .

—————
Taylor was sitting by himself in the rooftop garden, glumly eating a sandwich. The door opened and Justin, Liam, and Kellan appeared.

"We just had another team meeting, Taylor," Justin said.

"Wonderful," Taylor answered. He tried to keep the bitterness out of his voice.

Justin swallowed hard. "We had a meeting about how we haven't been acting like a team. Us, not you. The singing thing—"

"I don't want to talk about it," Taylor said shortly.

"We just want you to know that we're going to be there cheering for you," Justin finished.

Taylor looked up, surprised. "Huh?"

Liam nodded furiously. "Yeah. Cap, if singing is something you want to do, we should be boosting you up, not tearing you down."

"Win or lose, we're teammates," Justin added. "That's what we're about. Even if you turn out to be the worst singer in the world—"

"—which we don't know, because we haven't heard you sing," Kellan pointed out.

Taylor sighed. It was great to finally have the support of his buddies, but it didn't mean anything anymore. "And you're not going to hear me sing guys, because Harry won't talk to me, and I don't know why."

Justin and the boys exchanged glances. "We do." Justin finally said.

Liam pulled a bag of cookies from the backpack and offered them to Taylor. "Baked these fresh today. Want to try some before we tell you to rest?"

Inside the chemistry lab, Harry was surrounded by Selena and the Scholastic Club.

"We're worse than jerks," Selena was saying earnestly. "Because we're mean jerks. We thought Taylor Lautner and the singing thing was killing our chances to have you on the Scholastic Decathlon team."