Kelsey would be lying if she said she hadn't been the slightest bit relieved upon hearing about the Chad/Taylor break up.

Not just because she was sick of the longing looks Ryan would give Chad and vise versa, but also because the thought of the adorable, chocolate-skinned brainiac known as Taylor, being single, wasn't completely terrible.

So here she was, hidden behind a corner in East High, approximately two hours after school had ended.

It wasn't completely abnormal for Kels to be seen at school after-hours, but this was different from the afternoons she spent helping her favorite teachers for extra credit. Tonight, Kelsey was on a mission.

The rest of the Wild Cats wouldn't have to go any longer watching Chad and Ryan pine after each other with out doing anything about it, not if she had anything to say about it.

It was a bit of a bizarre plan, something that resembled one of Sharpay's schemes. But this was different, this was for good. Not selfish reasons.

Kelsey then thought about Taylor again and smiled.

Okay, maybe partially selfish reasons.

Kelsey wasn't given enough time to dwell on it, as she was snapped out of her thoughts from a loud, lonely sound of sneakers being dragged against the shiny tiled floors of East High.

  Quickly, the small girl jumped up from her hiding spot, straightened (A/N: LMAO ME TOO) her outfit, and casually set herself up against one of the lockers that lined a main hall of East High, the one that Chad would no doubt be walking down to exit the school through the car garage, to hitch a ride with one of the engineer kids.

Saying that Kelsey did her research was an understatement.

Eventually, the Afro-headed wild cat came into view, looking mildly flustered and completely consumed in his own world, so much so that it took until Kelsey cleared her throat for him to notice her.

He furrowed his eyebrows and started walking down to where the lone piano player was, looking unnatural in her trying-to-be-casual-and-cool position.

'This is it.'
Kelsey thought to herself,
'No going back now.'

The girl gulped, she had put a lot of effort into this plan, and had a lot riding on it. She tried to remind herself that it was for not only her friends, but herself.

"Kelsey?" Chad inquired, and she confirmed with a small nod, which was followed by a forced smile.

"H-hey Chad." She squeaked, then cleared her throat. It was game time.

"You ok? What're you doing in the dark, Kels?" Chas chuckled, clearly confused and unsure.

  "I'm good!" The shorter brunette assured, "I was just waiting for you to come out, to- uh- y'know... talk."

Now it was Chad's turn to be nervous. He had a feeling he knew where this was going.

    "Oh- uh, ok." The boy hesitated before sitting against the lockers Kelsey was standing next to, the girl following suit. "What about, exactly?" Chad specified once they were settled.

"Well, you know, the break up.." Kelsey stated, but hesitated when seeing Chad's face full of regret. "O-or just life in general! That's cool, too." She assured quickly, earning a small smile from her companion.

   "But over all I just wanted to catch up." She decided finally with a sure nod. This wasn't what she planned to say, but it would do.

Chad nodded, "Yeah, we haven't had a whole lot of time to just talk about things not involving the play I guess." He laughed, and Kelsey smiled.

She had been really excited when Ryan announced that's they would be auditioning for Antonio and Bassanio, and even more so when they actually got the parts. Not only because they were much more sufferable to work with than Sharpay, but no one who actually knew the play could deny that Antonio and Bassanio's relationship was blurring the line between 'friendship' and 'something more'.

"It feels nice talking without Sharpay breathing down our necks." Kelsey observed, and Chad chuckled,

"Yeah. Of course she just had to play the part of Portia." Kelsey grinned,

"Well of course." She nudged Chad with her elbow, "Sure you aren't regretting playing her love interest yet, Bassanio?" She wiggles her eyebrows, and Chad shuddered.

"Well it's not ideal, but the show must go on, right?" She grinned again, and they both laid their heads backs in silent thought.

  "I don't know how you deal with her." Chad spoke up, turning back to the brunette.

"I mean, I know she's kinda the queen of this school, but you really don't need to put up with half the crap you do. You could refuse to work with her - or for her for that matter, and no one would blame you, seeing how mean she is to you."

    Kelsey gave a weak smile and a shrug. "Yeah, maybe. It's not that big of a deal though."

Chad turned his body toward the girl to get a better view of her, his eyes serious. "Why do you put up with her though?"

Kelsey gulped. She knew this would happen, and she was ready. She had been bottling up herself thoughts for so long - well to everyone but Ryan, but he knew more about her than anyone -, and she didn't want her friends to do the same. So she was willing to do just about anything to help. Even out herself.

When Kelsey didn't answer, Chad put two and two together. "You like her, don't you?"

The girl's attention immediately snapped back to the boy, muttering, "liked. Past tense." She looked down at her hands, pulling the sleeves of her red conductor-esq jacket over her hands, and nodded again, "But yeah. I totally fell for her back in freshmen year."

Chad smiled kindly, returning to his original position. He couldn't help but feel a lot more at ease with the girl now that she'd shared something like that with him.

"Makes sense. I mean, when you're that young and someone like that comes and takes charge, seemingly having their whole life together- can't really blame you for falling for her."

Kelsey smiled as he added, "Or keeping it a secret- I mean, it's definitely not something you need to keep a secret, uh- obviously!" Chad chuckled awkwardly, "But-"

"But, it makes sense to keep things in. Out of fear." Kelsey interjected, and Chad smiled in agreement. "Yeah! Totally! I mean, there's these things expected of us. And these people we're expected to date... like, Jason, for example." Chad offered, knowing that a large chunk of their year had been spent gossiping about Kelsey's supposed romance with the fellow wild cat.

"Or..." He continued, but trailed off. "Or Taylor?" Kelsey offered, happy that her plan was going off without a hitch so far.

  Chad swallowed and shrugged.

Kelsey sighed, turning to him just as he'd done to her. "It's not good to keep those things bottled up though, Chad."

He looked up at her and grinned weakly, "Hey, you're one to talk." She returned the small smile, taking a deep breath before choking out, "I'll tell you what, you work on opening up, and I will too. After all, we've got a whole group of friends - a whole 'team', if you will - to back us up."

A/N: WHOO. DONE. Sorry it took a while, I've been struggling with my mental health lately,  but it's up! What do you guys think of Kelsey's plan? I honestly think Kelsey is so underrated. She's my favorite lil piano-playing lesbian. As for her little Taylor crush, do you guys think it should be returned, or no?

Bye ya Gays🏳️‍🌈