High School Musical [H.S.]

The guy you met on vacation

Over the next few days, Becca and Harry became more and more depressed. Becca thought Harry had dumped her. Harry thought that Becca had dumped him. And, even though their friends tried to cheer them up, nothing worked.

One day, during PE class, Louis, Zayn, and Liam and some other students were goofing around on the outside basketball court. They were passing a ball in a circle, fast and slick, just like the Harlem Globetrotters. Laughing, they waved at Harry, inviting him to join them.

But Harry ignored them, and headed over the track for a jog instead, moving steadily away from his friends.
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That evening, Harry shot baskets alone in his backyard. He missed a few baskets and slammed the ball down in frustration. His father watched from a upstairs window, worried. He knew something was wrong. He also knew it wasn't the right time to find out what it was.

At the Irwin house, Becca was sitting by her bedroom window. She was surrounded by her books, but she wasn't reading. Instead, she was gazing out the window at the stars and trying not to cry.

Her mother opened the door, holding a portable phone. Anne held it out to Becca, indicating the call was for her.

Becca just shook her head.

The next day, Becca and Harry happened to pass each other in the cafeteria. They glanced at each other, then away . . . then defused the awkward moment by moving on without saying a word.

Louis and Ariana saw the exchange from opposite ends of the room. They looked at each other and nodded. They'd seen enough. They could see the effect of what they'd done and they knew that they'd screwed up, big time.

Now they had to try to fix it . . .
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Harry was sitting by himself in the rooftop garden, glumly eating a sandwich. The door opened and Louis, Zayn, and Liam appeared.

"We just had a team meeting, Harry," Louis said.

"Wonderful," Harry answered. He tried to keep the bitterness out of his voice.

Louis swallowed hard. "We had a meeting about how we haven't been acting like a team. Us, not you. The singing thing."

"i don't want to talk about it," Harry said shortly.

"We just want you to know that we're going to be there cheering for you," Louis finished.

Harry looked up, surprised. "Huh?"

Niall nodded furiously. "Yeah. Cap, if singing is something you want to do, we should be boosting you up, not tearing you down."

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

"—which we don't know because we never heard you sing," Zayn pointed out.

Harry sighed. It was great to finally have the support of his buddies, but it didn't mean anything anymore. "And you're not going to hear me sing guys, because Becca won't even talk to me, and I don't know why."

Louis and the boys exchanged glances. "We do." Louis finally said.

Niall pulled out a bag of cookies from the backpack and offered them to Harry. "Baked these fresh today. Want to try one before we tell you the rest?"

Inside the chemistry lab, Becca was surrounded by Ariana and the Scholastic Club.

"We're worse than jerks," Ariana was saying earnestly. "Because we're mean jerks. We thought Harry Payne and the singing thing was killing our chances to have you on the Scholastic Decathlon team."

"Why talk about it?" Becca said curtly. "I heard what he had to say. I'm on your team now. Done."

"No," Ariana sighed. "Not done." She hesitated then admitted. "Louis knew he could get Harry to say things that would make you want to forget about the callbacks. We planned it. And we're embarrassed and sorry."