Hamilton High School Musical AU

Chapter 12

NEXT DAY - CAFETERIA

Alex and John crossed paths on their way to their seats, but neither of the them said anything to the other. Peggy noticed, and made a motion for John to come and sit. Alex tried to say something, but John walked off and sat at a different table before he could get anything out. Peggy also noticed that.

"Alex! Hey," Laff called out.

"Hey, Alex!" Another Wildcat shouted. Alex saw Laff but didn't say hi. Instead, he left the cafeteria. John stole a glance at him as he left, but caught himself and quickly looked back down at his food. Peggy and Laff looked at each other from across the cafeteria, a silent agreement that they needed to talk.

SCIENCE CLUB ROOF

Alex sat miserably by himself, as Laff, Herc, and Burr arrived.

"Hey, um... We just had another team meeting," Laff told him.

"Oh... wonderful," he deadpanned, looking up at them, but quickly looking back down at his feet.

"We had a team meeting about how we haven't been acting like a team. I mean us, not you. Look, about the singing thing..."Laff started, but was cut off by Alex.

"Look, dude, I don't even wanna talk about it," Alex sadly smiled at his fellow teammates.

"We just want you to know that we're gonna be there. OK, cheering for you," Laff told him.

"Huh?" Alex furrowed his brows together.

"Yeah, if singing is something you wanna do, we should be boosting you up, not tearing you down," Herc added.

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

"Which we don't know because we haven't actually heard you sing," Burr said.

"And you're not gonna hear me sing, guys. Because John won't even talk to me... and I don't know why," Alex told them.

"We do," Laff said. Herc reached into his lunch bag and took out two items which looked like sugar cookies.

"I baked these fresh today. You'll probably want to try one before we tell you the rest," Herc explained. 

SCIENCE CLASSROOM

"John, we were jerks. No, we were worse than jerks because we were mean jerks. We thought Alex and the whole singing thing was killing our chances of having you on the scholastic decathlon team," Peggy told him.

"I heard what he had to say. I'm on your team now. Done," John coolly replied.

"No, not done. We knew that Laff could get Alex to say things to make you want to forget about the callbacks. We planned it, and we're embarassed and sorry," Peggy apologized.

"No one forced Alex to say anything. And you know what? It's OK. We should be preparing for the decathlon now, so it's time to move on," John said.

"No, it's not OK. The decathlon is whatever, but how you feel about us, and even more, Alex - that's what really matters," Peggy said becoming slightly frustrated by John's stubbornness. John simply turned around and continued what he was writing on the chalkboard.

"We tried," Peggy whispered to her fellow teammates.