High School Musical (Complete)

Chapter Two - My Choice

"What the fuck do you mean, we aren't allowed to be involved?" North roared, his voice loud enough to almost rattle the walls.

"Jesus, North." Luke grumbled, rubbing the side of his head, "I don't particularly want to end up deaf."

"Well he's only making a fucking point, isn't he?" Gabe sniped back, his eyes furious and sparking.

"Enough," I yelled, my voice only cracking because of my nerves. I knew that they would react like this and I understood their concerns but it wasn't exactly going to help me get through this nightmare.

I needed their support, not their fury and especially not their negativity.

"It is what it is and I'd rather not spend the next few hours arguing with you," I pointed at North. "Mr Hendricks is doing this to get a rise out of all of us and I am not going to allow him to succeed."

I turned to the suited young man on my right and lifted a brow, "Are you going to contribute to the conversation, Mr Blackbourne?"

He coughed into his hand and faced me with twinkling grey eyes, "I would indeed, Miss Sorenson." He turned to the boys, "Her assessment is correct. This is a tactic to try and trip us up, he obviously knows that the concert would have a higher degree of success if we were involved." He blithely waved at Victor, "Using Mr Morgan would ensure that the school gained public attention but he has chosen to single out Miss Sorenson. What does that tell you?"

"That he's a dick," Nathan grumbled, his face drawn with unhappiness.

"Besides that?"

"He wants us so focussed on keeping Sang out of trouble that we will miss whatever he wants to achieve while she's either at practice or during the concert itself," Kota suggested, his eyes narrowed behind his glasses.

"Exactly what I was thinking, Mr Lee. So far, we have proved at every turn that Miss Sorenson is more of a priority than anything else whilst dealing with issues inside of the school. He believes that he has found a way around our surveillance."

"I think that he is seriously over-estimating my worth," I snorted, not bothering to interpret any of their looks. I slipped onto the desk behind me and crossed my ankles, "Is he forgetting that there are nine of you?" I peeked at Mr Blackbourne and Dr Green, "Surely he's not stupid enough to expect all of you lose focus because of this."

"Firstly, Pookie, I think that you are under-estimating your worth and I wouldn't be surprised if he hasn't got a few other things planned to keep us on our toes." Sean moved closer to tap a finger against the top of my thigh while he spoke.

I just shook my head, "So what are we going to do?"

"We will just have to sneak into..." Silas stopped when he noticed that I was shaking my head.

"With all of the students involved, there will be nowhere in the room that you won't be noticed," I glanced around, sighing when they made no attempt to disguise how unhappy they all were. "I suggest that you come up with a redline device that I can have on my body so that I can let you know if I need help." I blew out a breath, "All you would need to do is have someone outside."

There was silence for a moment before Luke pulled a face, "That doesn't seem like a very complex security system."

"Why don't I just go in and wire some more cameras?" Victor asked.

"Why don't we just pull Sang out of school for a few months so that she doesn't have to do this at all?" Gabe called, his fingers pulling roughly at the blondes streaks in his hair.

"That's not really an option, Mr Coleman unless we want Hendricks getting in contact with her father," Mr Blackbourne interrupted. He turned to me with his face settled into its perfect lines, "Is there a reason you wish for us to take so little precautions?"

I shrugged, "I believe that if you make it seem as though you're not overly worried about keeping an eye on me, it will throw him off." I glanced away, "It also seems silly to try and accommodate practice considering how busy you all are with other Academy missions."

"Sang..." North started before Mr Blackbourne raised a hand.

"If we give you something to use as an alarm, will you swear to us right now that, at the very first sign of trouble, you will alert whoever it is stationed outside?"

I could tell by the way that the boys all vibrated in their seats that they wanted to start yelling again but in the end I wanted to use this as an opportunity to prove to them that I wasn't weak and that there was no need for them to remain my own personal babysitting service.

"I swear to all that if anything happens, I will use the alarm," I looked each of them in the eye for a long moment, showing them that I was being completely honest.

What I didn't want to share was that singing had once been an important part of my life and I wasn't sure how I was going to cope with having to open myself up like that in front of people who I didn't consider family, people who despised me.

Telling them that would only ensure that they caused more trouble than this situation warranted.

This time, I needed to be strong for myself. I needed to find out if I could put the broken parts of myself back together.