𝐰𝐡𝐲 𝐝𝐨𝐧'𝐭 𝐰𝐞 𝐢𝐦𝐚𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬

high school musical- j.a

not inspired by anything in particular

Jack Avery scared the shit out of everybody.

His professors, his parents and, of course, everybody at his high school.
And he liked it that way. Of course, he wasn't a bully or anything. He just preferred being alone. Scaring people was fun.
It was almost cliché, the way people parted in the hallways as he walked down them.
His high school plan was set: breeze through school because his teachers and fellow students were absolutely terrified of him, and graduate happily.
Until that one unexpected flaw had popped up out of no where.
That was actually how she appeared.
On the first day of ninth grade, there was a rumor of a new kid at school.
New kids were a big deal in their tiny town.
So the halls buzzed with anticipation of this anticipated new kid.
But there was none.

Until a full month into the school year, when everyone had forgotten and moved on to more rumors, she showed up.
The halls immediately went back to buzzing as people took notice of an unfamiliar face.
She didn't say where she was from, and when people asked, she just smiled and told them she was from no where in particular.
(Y/n) quickly soared to the height of the high school hierarchy. Her light-hearted sarcasm, beautiful eyes and perfect smile sent her to the popular crowd.
Everyone had fallen in love.
Including Jack Avery.

The first few weeks, Jack mostly ignored the talk about her, which was easy, because who was about to come up to him for gossip?
But when he actually saw her, they were a little harder to ignore.
The rumors did her no beauty no justice.
Her bright eyes settled on his.

Jack gulped. He was done for.

They lingered there for a second, before she turned and walked away.
Jack watched her leave wondering , What just happened?

He tried to push away that feeling, that feeling of excitement and nervousness like he was opening presents. Because he knew chasing that feeling would lead to pain.
She didn't like him. They were polar opposites! She couldn't like him.

She liked him. But unlike Jack, (Y/n) was not one to push away her feelings. No, she fully embraced them. So when she made up her mind about Jack Avery, it would not change.
And she didn't want it to. No matter what her friends told her, she knew the rumors she constantly heard weren't true. Who would even believe that he had stolen a tuba?
(Y/n) wouldn't push away her feelings, but she couldn't just let them sit there. She had to do something about it.

So she introduced herself.

Jack had been sitting alone at lunch as usual, listening to music and doodling on a piece of paper, when (Y/n) basically crashed onto the bench across.

Startled, his head snapped up.
(Y/n) smirked and stuck out her hand, "(Y/n). You're Jack, right?"
"Yeah, did you want something?"
(Y/n) pursed her lips. "No, just wanted to talk."
Jack's eyes narrowed.
"No one just 'wants to talk'. What's your deal, stranger?"
"Hey, I'm not a stranger. (Y/n), remember?"
"Right, right. So, again, what do you want?"
"To talk!"

Jack ended the conversation because he was both annoyed at the girl for coming up to his table, and at himself for not being able to even talk to this girl.

He half-smiled.
"Bye," he simply stated.
"Wait, you're going?" She seemed confused.
"See you around?" She tried again.
Jack shrugged. "Probably. Maybe not."
He left and (Y/n) sighed in frustration, watching him walk away. 
But this had only further made up her mind.

She would crack Jack Avery

Over the next 3 years of high school, (Y/n) had jumped at every chance to get closer to Jack.
She volunteered to partner with him in projects, she sat with him in silence for about 5 minutes before he would get up and leave.

Jack wasn't sure how to feel about the attention. He got weird looks when she was with him. Usually looks of envy or disbelief.
But then he would look at her, and see her looking at him with complete adoration.

And for a second, just that second, he would allow himself to believe she might actually like him.

But then he shook off the thought.

Soon, Jack was finding his walls sneaking lower and lower around (Y/n). He wasn't very surprised, this was bound to happen.
But he was scared. He wasn't ready to trust her, because he was so used to sticking with the familiar, constant things in his life.
But it was too late to rebuild those walls that had crumbled so quietly, almost naturally.

One warm day, (Y/n) was walking Jack home, a job she had taken upon herself in the middle of that year. They were walking in silence, as they did most days. Jack had his earphones plugged in.
(Y/n) didn't attempt to talk to him, they just walked.
And Jack appreciated that they didn't have to make awkward small talk, they could just enjoy each other's company.
(Y/n) watched his phone, wondering what music he listened to when they walked like this. She could hear a slight tune seep out, but not enough to give anything away.She assumed it was something to fit his outwards appearance. Maybe some metal?
He didn't seem like a country music type of guy.
(Y/n) was sure there was something else to this boy, something under the dark exterior he had put up. There was some softer, dorkier aspect under that armor somewhere, and (Y/n) was desperately searching for tiny cracks through which she might glimpse his real mind.
She stared at the phone, hoping he would get some notification so the screen would light up and reveal what the music was.
Jack shot a side-glance at (Y/n) and found himself a bit lost as to what she was doing with him.
He snapped back to attention a little too quickly when she caught him staring. He turned forward, only to be taken by surprise by a rock in his path. He tripped forward and his headphones jerked out. (Y/n) chuckled a bit and then froze into a permanent smile. Jack froze as well, because now music was blasting from his phone.
(Y/n) hadn't heard High School Musical in a while.
But now the familiar songs blared out of Jack's phone and Jack turned red and scrambled to turn it off.
(Y/n) was quicker though, and snatched it right from him.
Her jaw dropped as she skipped song after song and went through tens of Disney soundtracks, pop queen songs, the complete opposite of what she'd expected.
She looked back up at Jack, who was standing there, cheeks red in embarrassment.
"Ohmygod," she finally got out.
"Holy shit, this is it. I did it. I cracked you!" She exclaimed.
Jack's horror changed to confusion.
"What?"
"I knew you weren't as mean as you act. You know, this is one of the longest conversations we've ever had." She smiled. "I knew there was another dorky guy somewhere in there, I could sense it."
Jack smiled at this, and sighed. "Well if you're right and my life is totally fake- "That's not what I said!-"then why wouldn't I have been friendly with you?"
(Y/n) sighed as if it was obvious.
"Your image, duh?" She shrugged.
Jack laughed a bit and (Y/n)'s heart dropped about 3 stories.
He bowed and as he came up his hair flipped every which way.
"Wonderful job, (Y/n), you have decided my mysterious life, I'll have to kill you now." He tried to hold in his laughter.
(Y/n) folded her arms and rolled her eyes.
"Tone down the sarcasm, would you? You know I'm not wrong."
"You know what, maybe you're not." Jack's laughter slowly left his voice.
His eyes met (Y/n)'s and he sighed.
"But there's really no stopping this now, is there?"
She shrugged. "At least now someone knows about your unhealthy obsession with D-coms."
They began to walk again.
"D-coms were great okay? That shit was- is my life."
(Y/n)'s laugh rang out through the air, and
Jack held onto the sound as
long as he could, thinking that maybe, just possibly, slightly possibly, she liked him.

tHiS a TrAsH bOoK