#those two with the high level production of hsm 3. it would have been so fucking cool

[hauntedorpheum]

Every halloween i remember Haunted High School Musical and think about what could have been

[retvenkos]

“would it be terribly cheesy if i said ‘it was always you’?”

requested by @biqherosix STRAP IN, FOLKS, BECAUSE TODAY WE ARE TAKING A LOOK AT WHAT IT WOULD BE LIKE FOR EJ CASWELL TO HAVE A CRUSH ON A NORTH HIGH STUDENT...

so first of all, you and ej knew each other long before you ran into each other in high school. because, you see, you went to junior high together, and in those days, both you and ej were on dance company 

(you can pry dance company! ej from my cold, dead fingers)

you were arguably the better dancer, and seventh grade ej really wanted to prove himself. a baby competition sprouted between the two of you, but it was nothing big.

you both liked to show off in order to taunt the other, and you both got a kick out of trying to one up each other.

but at the same time, you were teammates. you did everything together.

so the bond between you and ej was strong. it was a competition, yes, but it was friendly competition and you both actually hyped each other a lot. 

plus, dance company does a lot of things as a group, so it was unavoidable. you were going to end up liking each other at some point. luckily, it happened sooner rather than later, and the two of you built up a nice rapport with one another - a closeness forged in friendly competition and last minute studying parties.

but all that changed when you went to north high and ej went to east high

now, since north high is completely fictional, i get to create the dynamic between the schools, so listen up everyone!

north high clearly has the better arts department, and they also have the better tennis and softball team.

east high has the better stem department as well as a better swim team and any other swim related sports.

west high has the better sport teams overall - basketball, football, volleyball, etc.

(that's why we never see any uber jocks at east high—)

now, clearly you have your boundary school, but people get on special permit all the time, and when you say you’re going to north high ej is like ???? but why ???

“they have a better arts department, ej, you know that!”

“well, yeah, but east high is the best. we always said we were going to be wildcats!”

“ej.... they’re actually leopards.”

it wasn’t a super emotional goodbye. you promised to stay in touch, and it wasn’t like it was hard. you still saw each other around the mall, you still followed each other on instagram and what not but.... time just got between you.

you slowly stop texting, you see each other less, when you see each other in public you do that thing where you give a smile but then don’t go over to say hi, because you’re wrapped up in other people. it’s not pointed things, you just... stop talking.

and you still like each others photos on instagram but you’re just... there. 

all of that changes, however, when carlos asks you to help him choreograph hsm.

at the time, the rivalry between schools wasn’t big, it was just a low simmer, and the reason carlos approached you was because once upon a time, you, ej, and him had all been in dance company together for one (1) year (it all comes full cIRCLE) and for one of your performances, you had done something hsm related.

carlos wanted to know if you remembered the routine and could help him come up with something slightly more advanced.

and while you and carlos hadn’t really kept up with one another, he jokingly brought up a time where he did something for you, and how you always said you’d pay him back one day and maybe now it was time to cash it in??

you decided why not? you’ve done a lot of stuff for north high’s dance company, but you’ve never helped out in a musical before (and as you can imagine, north high is very competitive in their arts)

so you joined the hsm cast as co-choreographer.

now, because you had your own north high dance company stuff to deal with, you end up missing a lot of rehearsals. you mostly brainstorm with carlos and add tweaks to the choreo. carlos is the one to really ~teach~ things.

which means that while you are present for ~the drama~ that was ej-nini-ricky, you actually miss a lot of it. you feel the tension, but exactly why it’s Like That is beyond you.

you tried to ask carlos once but he said he wasn’t going to get into that, thank you.

and honestly, you have competitions to keep up with, so you’re not fixated on it. you’re just hoping that they’re not still pissed at each other on opening night, when ej has to strap ricky in for “getcha head in the game”

and while you’ve chatted with ej a couple of times, you haven’t had much time to catch up.

you actually bond a lot with gina, who is on the same level as you in terms of dance. you end up talking and mention how ej was once on dance company, and that rocks her world because ej???

and that’s when you show her all of the old videos you archived on your instagram from your junior high days. carlos, ej, and you all in dance company. they’re precious.

and when ej’s friendships are strained and he doesn’t have anyone to turn to, he sees you and gina laughing and crowding over your phone, and he comes to say hi.

and thus, the friendship begins again.

it is, of course, slow going because so much time has come between you, and gina and carlos (the two you hang with the most) are not on great terms with ej, but you guys grow really close all over again. ej is glad to have another senior to talk to about college, and you’re glad you have an old friend to talk to because it’s easy to feel out of place in this school that isn’t yours.

and on opening night, you know ej gifts you something - maybe it’s a jacket or beanie with the wildcats emblem on it.

“it’s kinda stupid, but we always said we were going to be wildcats together, and we did it.”

“huh, i guess we did.”

and for some reason, you chest is really warm, and you can feel the heat sneak up to your cheeks.

“this is really sweet, ej.”

“well, you know me.”

“yeah, i guess i do.”

and then it’s his cue to get ready to go on stage.

“oh! and there should be another surprise coming, don’t hate me for not telling you!”

and you’re ??? but it turns out to be gina.

you all clearly go to denny's afterward to celebrate, and if ej feels his heart seize in his chest everytime you laugh or steal one of gina’s fries, it’s not an unfamiliar feeling. because really, it had always been like that, with you. you never cease to amaze him.

and once you’re on the east high theatre group chat, you never get taken off of it, so you know everything that’s going on with your theatre buddies, after hsm has finished.

and this is where a conflict of interest really comes in...

because, you see, once hsm is a hit, some of the theatre kids at north high think you’re a traitor. you gave east high their secrets, and now east high is an actual contender. uncool, (y/n).

so you kind of get iced out by a lot of north high kids. like i said. competition there is  s t e e p  and you’ve been accused of fraternizing with the enemy..

but when zach roy shows up and he hears about the drama surrounding one (y/n) (l/n), he gets an idea... so he approaches you one day after dance company practice...

“he asked you to do wHAT?”

you’re texting ej, carlos, and gina in a group chat

“he asked me to co-choreograph their show.”

“are you going to do it?” - carlos

“of course they are! do you think opportunities like this just fall out of the sky?” - gina

“i don’t know, though, i feel like he’s working some angle with me. there’s something about him that doesn’t feel genuine.”

“it’s those piercing blue eyes.” - carlos

“i have piercing blue eyes!”

“and you’ve never done anything underhanded?” - gina

“we did that together!”

“what should i do?”

“accept, clearly!” - gina

“i’d be careful, if i were you. miss jenn doesn’t trust him for a reason.” - carlos

“it’s up to you, (y/n). you’ll do great, and it’s a great opportunity.”

“but?”

and everyone can feel the pause - the conflict where ej doesn’t know what to say.

“but nothing! this is a HUGE opportunity! he’s dancer extraordinaire derek hough zach roy! i’d be the villain of your eventual documentary if i were to try to hold you back.”

“okay... i think i’ll do it. you know how competitive things are, here. this could really give me a boost.”

“hell yeah, (y/n)!” - gina

“spy on their production for us?” - carlos

“anything for you <3″

i imagine you clash a lot with lily, but you actually become really good friends with howie and antoine. but that’s beside the point.

and while things are on good terms at first, your bond with your wildcats stays strong, and you’re carving out a place in north high rehearsals, lily is quick to find out that you’re on the east high group chat.

and because this is hsmtmts, i get to have some fun with this premise.

lily gets some kind of tech nerd on her side, and she gets him to make it so that somehow, the text that you get from the theatre group also send to her phone, for maximum stalking of the competition. that’s how she always gets one step ahead of east high.

and as north high seemingly continues to have insider info on east high, someone suspects there’s a leak.... which leads to you. who else has access to north high? so they send a fake text and wait to see if north high takes the bait.

they do. so now east high thinks it’s you.

but at this same time, you keep noticing that suspiciously, whenever you get a text from east high theatre department, lily’s phone goes off to. literally at the same moment, you’re doing your own test to see if somehow she hacked your phone.

(you had your suspicions because lily is actually terribly bad at hiding her hand and constantly makes remarks that make you Think™.)

you confirm lily to have hacked your phone, and so you go old school and show up to east high, hoping to tell them what happened and find some fix (since east high is the mother of all tech schools in this universe.)

but when you walk into the auditorium, the cast is being really passive aggressive toward you? and you’re so confused? what happened?

of course, ricky is the only to confront you because these days, it seems like he’s always one (1) moment away from blowing up.

and you explain that you were played just as much as they were - it was never your intention to betray them. east high is your family.

“oh, yeah? i’ve never known an east high leopard to go to north high.”

and so now we’re in shambles! we’re divided! 

you leave, upset, and ej catches you in the hall. he tries to explain that ricky’s been on one, recently, that none of his anger was really meant for you, and that he believes you - truly. he knows you’re the last person to ever betray them. you’re not like that. that’s more him than it is you.

and you just give him the world’s biggest  h u g .

now you’re probably wondering why i insisted on this particular plot line, but let me tell you - ej never really understood completely what a complete breach of trust it was for him to steak nini’s phone and violate her privacy like that. now he can see how deeply it affects you - how it can really ruin people in ways you never intend. it’s about the learning curve.

anyway, it takes you a while to build up trust with east high again, but you say “hey, why don’t you guys continue to send false leads to this group chat? make another for yourselves, and continue to spread misinformation to me.

ej is like... do you really want to sabotage your own show? but you tell him something along the lines of “our show is still going to have superior choreography, lily is just going to waste her time doing pointless side missions. it has nothing to do with the quality of my work.”

and ej loves this competitive and devious side of you so much. but he’s also deathly terrified of telling you how much he cares about you, because he always manages to screw things up.

and gina finds hilariously endearing because of all people to be self conscious... ej caswell? the ej caswell? she would be his hype woman if she wasn’t so busy finding this all too Good to be true.

eventually, lily will find out, but when she confronts you and threatens to tell the cast that you’re the reason they’re so behind in their production, you tell her that to do that, she’d have to confess to stealing your phone, hacking into it, and using it to spy on you which breaks like 23 different school rules. but sure! tell everyone! you’d love to see how the principal reacts when you film it and show it to them on monday.

(this is getting really long, let me see if i can wrap it up, quick)

clearly, ej is an Idiot when he’s in love, and even though he’s deathly afraid of telling you his feelings, that doesn’t stop him from expressing them.

both of you are in your respective musicals, and your rehearsal schedules align really nicely, so a lot of the time, ej will drive up to north high afterward so he can give you a ride home. (you don’t have a car, okay?) you guys always stop to get fast food or a drink at starbucks or something, and you have little “dates” where ej parks the car and the two of you eat in his car, just chatting about your day.

or on weekends, you and ej go and drive up to the state college that ej was admitted to, and you walk around campus, trying to envision him there. and if you’re also going to a school nearby, you do the same for you. (bonus points if you’re going to the same college, so you walk around and pick out the places where you’ll chill together.)

and if these little excursions of yours are the highlight of your week, and all you want to do is hold ej’s hand forever, singing in the car with the windows down and driving into the sunset... well, you just hope that ej wants the same.

and since ej is in av club, and he’s really trying to dig in and figure out what his story is, he’s always got a camera of some kind out, and some of his best work, he swears, are pictures and videos of you.

anyway, at some point, you confess to ej that you have a crush on him (howie probably pushed you to do it because he was tired of seeing you pine).

it’s a weekend and the two of you are procrastinating on your respective school assignments (study sessions being interrupted with senioritis? sounds about right) so instead you’re just sitting on the floor, staring at the ceiling, talking about whatever. and i think it just slips out, and when you realize what you’ve said, you’re vvv embarrassed, and you don’t even want to look at see how ej reacts, but he calls your name and you turn to him, a deadly mixture of dread and hope rooted in your stomach and shaking you to your core, but ej is smiling and in his eyes is something brighter than the sun, and when he tells you he’s feels the same, it’s like that dread in your stomach blooms into pure joy and when he tells you he’s had a crush on you since you were eighth graders and you were a better dancer than him, you can’t help but laugh until all of that warmth in your stomach has escaped into the air and hangs around the two of you like low hanging stars - so close, you can reach out and touch them.

anyway, cue lots of sneaking around north high - not because it’s a secret but because it’s fun hiding in the back of the auditorium and sneaking into the empty dance room.

cue cheering for each other at the menkies and congratulating each other when east high gets best musical, and north high gets best choreography (amongst others).

cue going to denny’s to celebrate and laughing until your sides hurt, stealing each other’s fries, and holding hands under the table.

(also... ej 100% would kiss your fingers when your hands are intertwined and that’s truly a blessing)

cue going to pool parties together for no other reason than i want all of the east high kids to do an impromptu rendition of “all for one” and ej gets to hit ricky with one of those blow up beach balls “for revenge” on the basketball moment in season 1.

plus, a pool party would do wonders for destressing, don’t lie.

AND FLUFF ENSUES.

taglist: @maybanksslut, @theletterhart, @brokenandheadoverheels, @neelia-thedaughtherof-athena @kitsdeadwife, @amortensie // add yourself to the taglist here!

[deborahdeshoftim5779]

The Marvel of Trelsi (Intro)

I can’t stay away from these two; they will have me smiling in my grave. Having been heavily critical of the writing for the High School Musical series, I must temper my own acidic tongue (typing fingers) to celebrate what I call “The Marvel of Trelsi”. As I am currently writing Trelsi fic (which WILL be finished sometime this century), and trying to get at least 1500 words a day, I need to write as much meta as possible to flesh out my ideas and headcanons for this pairing. 

What to say? That I love Trelsi is an understatement. That I will keep repeating this is a given. And despite all of my sarcasm, opprobrium and inveterate anger towards the writers of the HSM franchise, who ruined my viewing experience by sinking the RMS Troy Bolton whilst claiming the ship could not sink, the creation of Trelsi is to their credit. It is gloriously ironic that the show set out to demonstrate that the main couple epitomised the ideal of love and a solid relationship, but ended up demonstrating this between the protagonist and an allegedly minor character instead. As I have said before, Troy and Kelsi grow from strength to strength throughout the movie series, whilst Troy and a certain other lady go careening down a mountainside in blizzard conditions. So, I must give full credit to the screenwriters for creating this ship and thus fostering an enduring love for two of the most likeable characters I have ever seen onscreen. 

In reality, no introduction to Trelsi is needed. Or at least none that supersedes the beautiful screenshot I have at the top, reposted for the pure joy of it. Interestingly, when I use the word “Trelsi”, I am actually referring to their canonical friendship FIRST, before referring to a potential romantic ship. Apart from being easier to write, I like to adhere very closely to canon and build my ideas from that basis before branching into my own headcanons. I have an intense dislike for OOC and all the horrors that spring from that Pandora’s Box. This friendship comes as a result of Troy taking an interest in Kelsi’s music and resurrecting her self-esteem after she has been bossed around by Sharpay Evans during the first movie. The two become friends very quickly and prove to work as a great team during the production and execution of two major musicals in Junior and Senior Year. 

You will notice, of course, that I exclude Gabriella from this description-- not because she wasn’t present for the beginning of the Trelsi timeline, but because she had no hand in its development. I am currently planning several Trelsi fics, one of which includes a significant rewrite of the canonical timeline without Gabriella, and most of the major events would have happened either in a different way or with no change whatsoever were she not there. I notice that many fandom writers will often describe Kelsi as being friends with Troy and Gabriella. This intrigues me, as it implies that she is friends with them on an equal basis. Call me picky, but appears to be untrue. I cannot think of any scene between Kelsi and Gabriella that comes anywhere near the Trelsi bond. What do I mean by the Trelsi bond? I mean primarily the unspoken understanding between them that makes the two so effortlessly comfortable around each other. Case in point: the lovely, LOVELY hug in HSM III seems obvious, but I draw the viewer’s attention back to HSM I, when Troy tries out “What I’ve Been Looking For”. Isn’t it interesting that Kelsi only has to nod at him to start singing the song, but guides Gabriella through the first line before letting her sing the rest? Troy, who is notably MORE nervous about performing, has never tried this song before and seemed a little surprised when Kelsi asked whether he wanted to hear “how the duet’s supposed to sound?”

Yes, I know, this is MINOR. But it intrigues me. We will discuss this in more detail during the next instalment. 

I have LOADS of notes in my Google Drive on Trelsi, because it was and still is incredibly important for me to understand WHY I shipped them, the potential and realistic avenues for this ship and how to portray their dynamic. I’m going to try and condense those notes in my next couple of posts when I explore their beautiful, but cruelly limited scenes together. Unlike the average shipper, I tend to think-- overly much, from the length of my Tumblr posts-- on ships and dynamics. In the beginning, I wanted to ship Troyella. It seemed natural to me, as they were stamped across the screen. Turns out I could only ship one half of Troyella; that is, Troy Bolton, who is so such a sympathetic hero. He has flaws. He struggles*. He has a journey. He grows (when the screenwriters allow him to!). We see this. Gabriella? I got nothing. Believe me, I tried. That’s why I was pinning my hopes on HSM III to deliver. This did not happen, and that prompted a 13 (see my archive for April/May!) post series on my fury with this movie and the dreadful implications for Troy Bolton, the art of writing and human decency. 

So, throughout this series, I will examine Trelsi with my usual fine-tooth comb, as viewed through the scenes in the movies as well as my headcanons and musings. Of course, I do not pretend to be impartial. I have a very unfavourable view of Troyella, as one may already have gathered; however, whilst being scathing towards this “relationship”, I have and will continue to provide evidence for my opinions here. I will frequently compare the Troyella dynamic with the Trelsi dynamic. Please do not be surprised to find that Trelsi wins 11 times out of 10. I am not bound by the Trade Descriptions Act or any other regulatory equivalent, so I can say whatever the hell I like. 

The particular themes and questions I want to explore alongisde my scene analysis are:

1- Who IS Troy Bolton?

2- Who IS Kelsi Nielsen?

3- What makes the Trelsi friendship and dynamic so friggin’s special? Why does it make me want to weep and write poetry?

4- Friendship, Romance or Both? What’s their dynamic? What would attract the both of them? What are their flaws? How would these flaws work together?

5- Why is Trelsi a superior potential romantic ship to Troyella? (Oh, I’m going to have a field day with THAT one!) Why is Trelsi so poorly appreciated as a potential romantic ship?

I may add some more questions later on. I am definitely open to prompts and questions from anyone reading this. My posts are long, partially because I think too deeply about things, partially because I have a daily word count to smash, partially because I am depressed by the lack of all things Trelsi and mostly because HSM, despite infuriating me, GAVE ME TRELSI SO I’M HERE FOREVER! :D Anyway, I hope this will be fun. One thing I’d like to see more of in the HSM fandom is a willingness to at least consider other ships that aren’t called TroyHELLa. I’m not asking for conversion to Trelsi. (Although that would be nice. One, I’m pretty lonely out here. Two, these two have a healthy dynamic!). But it would be good if more fans actually detached Troy from Gabriella’s umbilical cord and viewed him firstly as a man and a hero protagonist, and secondly with potential other characters either platonically or romantically. For a series that is supposed to represent being YOURself, you would think fans would take that on board, huh? 

Try it? You might like it. 

TO BE CONTINUED.

(*FOOTNOTE- I have no time for people who claim that Troy Bolton is a privileged brat. Unless you can give me the name of a privileged brat who treats everyone equally, is kind, generous, thoughtful, mature, hard-working, gets ALL his friends jobs for the summer and makes friends with kids who would be considered “uncool”, always has a kind word for everyone, always appreciates other people’s achievements and is always on hand to help his friends, then please do be quiet. With a father who is a public school teacher and who struggles to pay high tuition fees, I think any such argument is dead in the water. Claims that Troy was a “jerk” in HSM II are entirely unfounded-- please refer to my Questions for HSM II Part I and Part II for further information. Claims that Gabriella was right to pursue her own future are fine, without the odious implication that Troy stood in her way. This is completely false. Rather, it is Gabriella who stood in Troy’s way of achieving a much-needed scholarship back in HSM II. Claims that being a popular basketball player make you a jerk are rendered absurd by the very obvious social pressure that accompanies such a level of fame, and which deeply affect Troy in every movie. This is thoroughly nonsensical. Claims that Gabriella is a privileged brat are, of course, founded in fact).