"Hey, you busy?" EJ asked as he crept into the hallway, finding Nova leaning on the lockers with her eyes shut, "Wow, are you okay?"

"Just tired." she said, standing up straight, "What do you want?"

EJ hesitated but dropped his backpack and swung his arms a moment, "I'm sorry, for getting a new girlfriend so quickly. It was pretty much a jerk move and if I had known it would have bothered you, I wouldn't have made it official with Nini so quickly."

"Why would it not bother me?" Nova asked with a faint sound of disbelief.

"Cmon, Nova. The whole time we were together all we ever did was act a certain way for other people, not for us. Your parents expected you to date someone like me and were less hard on you when you were. The whole school was just waiting for us to get together." EJ listed on as Nova stayed silent, which was surprising, "We weren't real. You know that just as much as I did. I didn't think it would actually bother you if I got with someone else, all things considered."

Nova didn't say anything, soaking in his words and trying to figure out what to say. EJ panicked slightly, "Or I was wrong and you completely hate me right now?"

"I do hate you." Nova nodded her head, "But you're right. We got together because that's what everyone else wanted. You took control and finally got with someone you actually wanted to be with, makes sense."

"Right, I knew you thought that way." EJ smiled with a nod of his head, "So can we just stop fighting? We don't have to act the way everyone expects us to after a break up. We can be friends and have a good time."

Nova opened her mouth, "I'm not-"

But she stopped, he gave her a eyebrow raise, "You're not what?"

Nova shook her head, "Nothing, don't worry about it."

EJ felt like the progress he was making snapped in half when she grabbed her bag from the floor, "Whats that suppose to mean?"

"It means i'll stay out of your way and back off." Nova shrugged, pulling her bag around her shoulder, "That's what you want, isn't it? For me to stop acting like our break up truly bothers me since it definitely, in no way possible, does?"

While her tone was serious, he could tell something was off, "Nova, I didn't mean-"

"I've gotta go run lines with Seb." she cut him off quickly, heading down the hall, "Unless you think that means nothing to me either and you'd rather me act a certain way about that too?"

EJ gave a guilty express but said nothing as she walked away.

"Cheater? I am not a cheater." EJ said in disbelief as Nova looked at him in disbelief. The pizza was sat infront of them for a while now, neither of them bothering to stop their bickering to touch it, "I've never been with any other girls the whole time we were together."

"I didn't call you a cheater. I called you a potential cheater." Nova defended herself as he gave a dumb look, "What? You really expect me to think you wouldn't cheat on me with any other girl? You never miss the opportunity to flirt with anyone, it's getting old."

"I'm not flirting, i'm being a nice person. Something you once were too." he went back at her. Nova gave a look as he sighed, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean that."

"No, you clearly did so why don't you go ahead and get everything off your chest right now." she encouraged with a nod of her head, "Go on, i'm listening."

"Your lack of trust with me is getting old. If you didn't like the way I talked to other people, you could have told me that before. I'm sorry if I made you feel insecure about us, that wasn't my goal." EJ spoke as he gave her a knowing look, "But you throwing this huge fit everytime other girls are involved is kinda crazy. If you can't trust me then we don't need to be together."

"So you think i'm crazy." Nova confirmed with a nod of her head, "That's real sweet, EJ. Thank you for thinking i'm crazy because I constantly feel like i'm not good enough for you and that's why you flirt with girls at the mall and send hearts to all the thirsty girls in your DMs, no matter if they're so called fans or not."

"Nova, I didn't mean it like th-" he began before she stood up, "Don't leave, we can talk about this."

"No, that's okay." Nova commented, staring back his way with watery eyes, "You're a liar and I think your idea of a break up is in order from now on."

"Nova." EJ called, grabbing her arm. Nova turned around quickly, grabbing the bottom of the pizza plate and throwing the pepperoni in his face.

"You aren't dancing?" Nova asked Gina as she nodded toward the students that began dancing.

"Saving my energy." Gina forced a smile, "For Taylor."

"Taylor was way less annoying then Gabriella, and shes got that cute yellow umbrella." Nova said with a faint grin, elbowing her as Gina laughed and nodded.

Nini and Ricky tried to get the dance moves Carlos had down, both failing miserably and off que completely. Nova cringed, "If two left feet was a person, it would be that guy."

"I'm sorry." Ricky apologized as the music came to a stop when he began failing miserably.

"What is he doing?" Nini asked as she looked toward Carlos.

"The silent treatment, respect." Nova muttered.

"Why are you talking to him? I'm right here." Ricky said to her with a odd look.

"Cause you're not here." Nini said with a annoyed expression, "At least not for the right reasons."

"Whats that suppose to mean?" Ricky asked her defensively.

"Exactly what I said, Ricky. You hate musicals. You're only doing this so we'll be in each other's grills." Nini said in disbelief as Ricky stared down as her. Nova cleared her throat and stood up.

"Hey, if it makes you feel any better, a relationship where you both enjoy theater isn't that great either." she said as Nini looked her way, Nova gave a nod of her head to confirm her statement.

"Jesus, are you serious right now, Nova?" EJ asked in disbelief from across the room.

"Back to the dance, please." Carlos begged, lightly leading them to the correct positions.

"Now you're rubbing some weird cologne on your neck." Nini added in as she headed back to her position, Ricky close behind.

"Hey, you love Throb." Ricky defended himself.

"Ah, how familiar does this all feel?" Nova spoke out loud, getting a eye roll from EJ again.

"And wasting everyone's time by making fun of something the rest of us take seriously!" Nini snapped at Ricky quickly with a point of her finger.

"Okay, that's a five! On a break, people! Everybody out! Get out." Carlos said quickly as he waved each and every one of them out of the small room quickly.

"Better bring some popcorn next time." Nova giggled, giving Ricky a sarcastic wave over her shoulder.

•

kylie speaks

ej got a pizza to
the face. in my opinion,
i think they're both in the
wrong. obviously, nova
should have voiced her
concerns ahead of times
but at the same time, ej
making her feel like she
wasn't good enough should
have been clear from the
beginning.

also, i have two songs that
have NOTHING to do with
high school musical that i
am wanting nova to sing
at some point in this book!
very excited for you guys to
see what they are! x