crankgameplays imagines

[6] she's my uptown girl (pt. 1)

((based on the song uptown girl by billy joel/covered by glee))

((also a highschool au))

You'd gone to Dreathford Preparatory School for as long as you could remember, uniforms, strict teachers, upper-class air about it all, even complete with your parents' chauffer driving you to and from school. On your way home from school, you'd always pass the public school, Howard High School and you liked to observe the kids there as they left school. Most walked home by themselves or drove their own hand-me-down cars from their families on a budget.

You had asked your chauffer Eddie on multiple occasions about the other kids, but most of the time he dismissed your questions on orders of your parents. Your mother always tried to pair you with other high-class boys from your school but you found them to be arrogant and obnoxious. One day you decided to change this, find a little rebellion.

During seventh period, you quickly pulled out your phone to text Eddie.

'got gymnastics practice today, Alyssa's mom will take me home,' you sent out the carefully crafted lie, practice had in fact, been cancelled for today.

He replied a couple minutes later with, 'have a good time, Y/N'

You felt kinda bad for lying to Eddie, he meant well, but you needed to get away from the suffocating order and control of your mother. Soon enough, the bell rang, and you rushed out of the classroom. The public school dismissed five minutes before yours, and you were desperate to find him. The blue-haired boy that always offered you a wave as you passed him by.

Your skirt fluttered as you ran along the sidewalk between the two schools, and your classmates gave you strange looks, but not nearly as strange as the public schoolers did. They whispered among themselves, wondering what you were doing there. You craned your neck to scan the crowd, getting on your very tiptoes.

Someone tapped your shoulder, and you spun around to see a very tall boy with curly hair and glasses, an eyebrow raised. "Looking for someone...?"

"Y/N," you introduced yourself, politely shaking his hand. "And yes, uhm, a boy with this beautiful aquamarine blue hair, he's usually out here now."

"Oh, do you mean Ethan?" He asked, and you fiddle with the hem of your blouse.

"Maybe? I don't actually know his name." You explained sheepishly.

"He has gymnastics practice right now."

"So he's in the gym?"

"Well yeah, but I'm not sure if you can really go in there while they're practicing."

You chewed on your lip, thinking. "When is the practice over?"

"3:45 I think?" The boy replied, clearly unsure.

"So that's why I don't see him on Tuesdays and Thursdays, my gymnastics practice ends at 4:30."

Your new acquaintance had a faint smile on his face as he looked down at you. "Sounds like you two are compatible."

"What do you mean by that?"

"Nothing! I'm sorry, I didn't mean to offend you."

You rubbed your forehead, you could hear your mom blabbing on about compatibility with those snobs. "No, you're fine."

A horn honked, and the boy turned, apparently recognizing the grey minivan. "That's my mom, I've gotta go. But it was great meeting you, Y/N."

"You too, uh what's your name?"

"Tyler." He jogged away to the car, giving you a wave over his shoulder before climbing in.

You determinedly shouldered your bookbag and walked into the public school. All the stories your mom told you about public school and the kids that go there were like horror stories, but Tyler was very nice, and the campus seemed nicely maintained. Your eyes skimmed over the signs for buildings, and eventually you found the gym. The front doors were locked, but you spotted a side door held open by a chair and decided to try that one.

As you approached it, you could hear the familiar sounds of gymnastics practice. Peering your head in, you could see the equipment laid out nicely, but the room was quite a bit smaller than yours, and the equipment was definitely old and well-used. In fact, it looked like the newly replaced stuff your school got rid of years ago.

The blue-haired boy you were originally looking for was doing a routine on the beam, and you watched him, extremely impressed. There were two boys on your gymnastics team, but they were only there to see girls in leotards. This boy, assumably Ethan, you could tell he had passion for the sport, executing the routine nearly perfectly with a small slip-up at the end. His coach chastised him for it before asking his teammate to go through her routine.

Ethan grabbed a towel to wipe off his sweat, and started walking towards the door you were creeping by. Had he seen you? No, you realized the water jug was right by the doorway, so you ducked behind the wall, out of sight. You listened to the water pour out into his bottle, and he took a few swigs of it.

"Whatcha doing there?" His voice floated to your ears, your breath hitching in your throat. Was he talking to you?

You were paralyzed as he spoke again. "Can I join you out there? Promise I won't bite. Seriously, I'm so scrawny you could 100% beat me up."

"S-sure."

The boy that walked out was definitely the one you'd seen after school everyday, his hair was more stunning up close. "Hey, you're in that limo on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. License plate 'RCHPRTNZ'?"

"I forgot how embarrassing my parents are." You groaned, but still happy he recognized you.

"I've been wondering, what's your name?"

"Y/N." You stuck out a hand for him shake, which he did with an amused smile.

"I'm Ethan." He took another sip of his water.

"It's great to actually talk to you."

"Yeah, you too." Ethan gave you a smile. "Back to my original question, what are you doing creeping on our gymnastics practice?"

"Oh uhm, my gymnastics practice got cancelled so I lied to my chauffeur about my friend's mom taking me home and came here looking for you."

"Ooh, rebellious. Lying to your chauffeur."

You narrowed your eyes at him, trying to determine if he was just poking fun at you or was actually upset at your lifestyle. Deciding that he was nice and actually was just teasing you, like a friend would, you let yourself laugh. "Honestly, it is the most rebellious thing I've done. My mom would kill me for talking to someone from Howard, much less a cute guy."

A pink hue creeped across his neck at your compliment. "Why would your mom kill you?"

"She's been trying to set me up with snobby high-class boys, but they're all jerks. She wants me to marry rich which I think is really freaking stupid."

"Yeah, arranged marriages are a bit out of date." Then he seemed to get an idea, poking his head back in the gym. "Hey uh, Coach? I'm not feeling so well, my stomach is trying digest itself and I feel like I'm gonna explosively vomit."

"More information than I needed Ethan." She sighed, and you silently giggled at his excuse. "Go home, I'll see you on Thursday."

He dashed inside for a moment, and returned with his bookbag slung over one shoulder and gym bag on the other. "What?" Ethan grinned. "You're not the only one who can participate in a little rebellion. Now come on, you're going to have dinner with me and family tonight."

You felt your own stomach do flips at his insistent tone and welcoming smile. "Okay, sounds fun."