Just for a Moment

96 | Status Quo

I posted another one-shot on Friday if you haven't seen it yet. The plot's a favorite of mine.

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They were continuing with the filming of episode nine, which was mostly just the musical scenes. Once everyone had complimented the male Sharpay, they headed inside East High and to the gym. They were going over Status Quo right now, which was mainly Sofia, Matt, Joe, and Olivia. Sofia was nervous for her little trust fall; Matt was hoping he wouldn't drop his basketball; Andrés and Joe had to make sure they didn't fail their helicopter (as Joshua had dubbed it); and Olivia had to ensure she wouldn't fall asleep during all of it.

Everyone was a little nervous as they were running through it since Tim had told them that they were going to have a live audience soon while filming for real reactions, which was probably going to make everything that much more challenging. It was obviously meant to resemble a true high school musical production setting, but they weren't told far enough in advance to prepare themselves for this.

Right now, it was similar to a rehearsal as they were going to be filming themselves to capture all the dancing; then, filming the real high school students would come later.

They had the music playing through speakers in the background first to rehearse the dancing portion. Everything has gone fairly smooth so far, all of them terrified each time of something going wrong.

Sofia's simple little stunt was to lean back from a cafeteria table and trust the others to catch her and then flip her over; it wasn't that she didn't trust them, but more on the lines of she was afraid of falling over anyway.

The music began with Matt standing on one of the tables with a basketball in hand. The others began to circle around the tables and dance in sync with each other. It was a little strange that they were doing Status Quo first, but that was the only option with what was happening later in the episode.

Everything was smooth sailing. Sofia waited for her cue to join in the number; when the instrumental part of the song began, she grabbed the lunch tray and jumped on the table with a proud smile on her face. This dance alone took weeks to rehearse, and she felt overjoyed to be able to finally execute it.

After successfully falling back and not failing, everything continued as planned almost perfectly. The trays were only dropped a few times.

Eventually, they came to the part everyone was most excited about. Joe and Andrés walked to the top of the false stairs, awaiting their turn. Sofia dropped into a split, and he shouted "Everybody, quiet!" while slamming his hands on the railing. Everyone looked up at him as he moved toward the stairs.

This is not what I want
This is not what I planned
And I just gotta say
I do not understand

Joe and Andrés met in the middle, center stage.

Something is really
Something's not right
Really wrong
And we gotta things back where they belong

Andrés had Joe's hand and caught his ankle in the other, successfully spinning him around as Joe held the note of his final line. Off to the side, everyone else was amazed, loving how this looked outside of a rehearsal room.

The others joined back in, singing their lines; Joe and Andrés then spun off stage while the rest finished out the number.

At the second to last line, Olivia, Joe, Andrés, and Sofia began walking back onto the floor, meeting in the middle with Olivia dumping the contents of her lunch try onto Joe. He caught the prop food between two fingers, and they all stood there for a while before the four exited.

Once that was over, the tables were cleared, so the guys could practice Get'cha Head in the Game. Well, there was another step first.

"Ok, Josh, you ready for this?" Tim asked.

"Yup, mhm." Joshua was excited since he's never flown before. When Tim asked him if they could put him in a harness for the spotlight moment in the song, he was all for it.

He went off to the side where a harness was waiting for him. Joshua was in his Troy Bolton jersey for this practice just because Tim wanted to make sure everything (but the cables of course) was hidden. After going over every strap and clasp, he stepped to the middle, preparing for the first test run of this. He could see the rest of the cast watching off to the side at one of the cafeteria tables.

"This is going to look so cool," Larry said.

"This has got to be the funniest thing we've done so far," Sofia said. "We're making Troy Bolton fly."

"Well, when you put it like that," Julia chuckled.

Tim gave Joshua a basketball as well. "Move your arms and legs around a little too," he instructed. "I don't know if that will be included while actually filming, but it will give us a good idea of how much you can move while ascending."

"Got it," he answered, tossing the ball between his hands.

After double-checking that everything was set up correctly, the rehearsal began. "Ready?" Tim called.

"Yup," Joshua responded.

"Ok, let's do this then!" Slowly, the stagehands started pulling on the ropes, lifting Joshua into the air.

"The theater looks great from up here!" he shouted.

"Josh, didn't you play Peter Pan at one point!?" Matt called.

"Yes, why?!"

"Just asking!"

Everyone continued to stare. Eventually, he made it to the correct height of where a basketball goal would be.

"Tim, have you ever done this before?" Dara asked.

"Uh, no. Why?"

"You haven't?!" Frankie shrieked.

"Haven't what!?" Joshua yelled.

"Nothing!" Sofia answered.

"I personally have never," Tim said. "But it's not like I was the one who set it up. Professionals did."

"Tim!?" Joshua hollered. "How much longer do I need to stay up here?!"

"Just long enough for the scene to play through!"

"Don't you think there should be something underneath him if something bad happens?" Olivia wondered.

"The only thing with that is that there won't be anything during the episode," Tim explained. "I figured recreating the scene as close as possible was the best option."

"Yes, but," Olivia countered, "what if-?"

She didn't get to finish her thought as a loud snap echoed through the auditorium. Everyone looked up to see Joshua flipped forward and linked to the ropes on only one side now. "JOSH!!!" everyone cried.

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The following video is what I used for behind the scenes inspiration: