High School Musical [H.S.]

Gotta Get Out

Harry waited anxiously in the hall outside of Mr. Clifford's homeroom, hanging back as his friends went to their next classes.

Finally, Becca came out, and he walked toward her, hardly able to breathe.

When Becca saw him, her eyes widened in disbelief.

She said, "I don't–"

"–believe it," Harry finished again. "But how . . ."

"My mom's company transferred her here to LA," Becca explained. She shook her head in disbelief. "I can't believe you live here. I looked for you in the lodge on New Year's Day, but—"

"We had to leave first thing," Harry said, still whispering.

Becca looked puzzled. "Why are you whispering?"

He looked a little embarrassed. "Oh, well, my friends know I went snowboarding, but I didn't tell them about the . . . singing . . . thing."

"Too much for them to handle?" Becca asked knowingly.

"It was . . . cool," Harry said quickly. He didn't want her getting the idea that he hadn't liked their singing debut! "But, my friends–that's not what I do. That was like a . . . different person."

They had reached the lobby, where activity sign-up sheets were posted. Harry pointed at the sheet for the winter musical auditions.

"Now that you've met Mr. Clifford, I'll bet you can't wait to sign up for that," he said, grinning.

Becca laughed. "I won't be signing up for anything for a while," she said. "I just want to get to know the school," she glanced at him shyly. "But if you signed up, I'd consider coming to the show."

Harry shook his head. He couldn't even imagine the reaction he'd get if he signed up for the high school musical! "That's completely impossible," he said.

From behind him, Luke's voice said sweetly. "What's impossible, Harry? I wouldn't think 'impossible' is even in your vocabulary." As they turned to look at Luke, he gestured toward Becca. "So nice of you to show our new classmate around."

He raised one eyebrow as he saw Becca looking at the musical sign-up sheet. Very deliberatively, Luke stepped in front of Becca and signed his name with a flourish.

In fact, Becca noticed, Luke's signature took up the entire sign-up sheet.

But Luke looked at her, the picture of innocence, and said, "Oh . . . were you going to sign-up, too? My brother and I have been in all the school's productions, and we really welcome newcomers." He smiled, ever so sweetly, then added. "There are a lot of supporting roles in this show. I'm sure we could find something for you."

"No, no," Becca said hastily. "I was just looking over the bulletin board. Lots of going on at this school. Wow." I'm babbling, she thought. I have to stop it! Now! She pointed to Luke's huge signature. "Nice penmanship." She added weakly, before hurrying away to her next class.

Now that Luke had been left alone with Harry, he decided to seize the opportunity. "So, Harry," he said coyly. "I missed you during vacation. What'd you do?"

He shrugged. "Practiced basketball. Snowboarding. More basketball."

Luke nodded cheerfully and, using all of his dramatic training to sound as if he really cared, asked, "When's the big game?"

"Two weeks," Harry sounded resolute, determined. Two weeks we're either champions–or we're not, he thought.

"You're so dedicated," Luke said, batting his eyelashes just a bit. After a moment, he added. "Just like me. I hope you'll come watch me in the musical? Promise?"

Just like Luke to bring the conversation back to himself, Harry thought wryly. But he smiled and nodded as he walked away.
—————————————————————————
A few hours later, Harry and the basketball team had gathered in the gym for practice. Harry and Louis challenged each other by running a pressure drill, while the other boys ran a weave drill.

"Hey, you know that school-musical thing?" Harry asked as he tried to get around Louis. "Is it true you get extra credit just for auditioning?"

"Who cares?" Louis asked as he blocked Harry.

Harry raised one eyebrow and tried to scoot around Louis from the other side. "It's good to get extra credit . . . for college and all," he said, trying to sound casual.

Louis laughed and shook his head. "Do you think LaBron James and Shaquille O'Neal ever auditioned for their school musical?" He asked mockingly.

"Maybe . . ." Harry said hesitantly.

"Harry, the music in those shows isn't hip-hop or rock or anything essential to the culture." Louis explained patiently. "It's like . . . show music. Costumes, markup." He shuddered. "Frightening."

Harry shrugged, still trying to sound like it was no big deal. "I thought it might be a good laugh. Luke is kind of cute, too."

Now Louis looked at him with total disbelief. "So is a mountain lion, but you don't pet them."

Harry nodded, and gave up for the moment. Time to take charge of this practice, he thought. Time to focus. The championship game, he reminded himself sternly, is only weeks away.

He turned to his team. "All right, let's kick it in, run the shuffle drill," he yelled.

The team quickly took their positions and began bouncing basketball and weaving around one another with ease developed through hours of practice.

The balls began to bounce and the players began to move across the floor with a rhythmic, percussion movement. And Harry began to call the practice drills.

Harry:

Even when the sky is falling down
Even when the Earth is crumbling around my feet
Even when we try to say goodbye
And you can cut the tension with a knife in here

The Wildcats had developed a team motto, and now Harry shouted it out to get his boys pumped up.

Harry:

Cause I know what will happen
If we get through this

All:

If the earth ends up crumbling to its knees, then, baby
We just gotta get out, we just gotta get out
And if the skyscrapers, tumble down and crash around baby
We just gotta get out, we just gotta get out

The team members smiled and moved from faster, smoother, better, Harry was a great captain, and he could motivate them like no one else!

Harry grabbed a ball and joined the drills, dribbling left around one player and right around another, still calling out drills.

Niall:

Cause I feel so damn lost
And it comes with the cost of being alone
Everything is falling down, we're suffering
Helpless thoughts and out we sing, prayers go to the sky

All:

And if the earth ends up crumbling down to its knees then baby
We just gotta get out, we just gotta get out
Gotta get, gotta get, gotta get out
And if the skyscrapers, tumble down and crash around baby
We just gotta get out, we just gotta get out

Niall:

And if we fall It's not your fault
Shadows covering our selfish foes
And as our love Can go out on a high note

Harry:

Even when the sky is falling down
Even when the earth is crumbling 'round my feet, around my feet

All:

And if the earth ends up crumbling down to its knees then baby
We just gotta get out, we just gotta get out
Gotta get, gotta get, gotta get out
And if the skyscrapers, tumble down and crash around baby
We just gotta get out, we just gotta get out

When practice ended, everyone took deep breaths, smiling at how great they felt and how great they had looked. The Wildcats were definitely good to go for the championship!