Tabitha didn't sleep that well. She has been worried about the auditions that happened after school. Once she got to the auditorium she grabbed a number from a side table.

She stood off to the side of the stage, watching a group of kids dance to the music that played. Her eyes grew wide, wondering how they were so talented. She knew she didn't have the talent nor the coordination to dance like that. Once they were done, Miss Jenn told everyone to pair up with someone they didn't know.

She did try to convince Maeve to try out for the play with her which failed. Maeve wasn't a fan of participating in plays or musicals. And while she says that, Tabitha knew she secretly loved them. Tabitha nervously bit her lower lip, her eyes scanning around the room in hopes of finding someone familiar. She then noticed Nini Salazar-Roberts, standing besides EJ Caswell. She wasn't that surprised to see EJ wearing the same jersey Troy Bolton wore in the movie.

"Hi, I'm Ashlyn."

She turns around, surprised that someone was talking to her. She smiles at the red-haired girl that stood in front of her. "Oh, um, hi. I'm Tabitha." She chuckles nervously. "If you can't tell I'm not really good with talking to people I don't know."

Ashlyn chuckles lightly and nods. "Yeah, but it's alright. I can already tell we're gonna be good friends." She smiled and Tabitha smiled back at her.

- ˏˋ"The only friend I've ever had is Maeve." Tabitha speaks, standing in the hallway by the auditorium. "And don't get me wrong, I love her. She's like a sister to me. But it would be great to have some other friends. I just have to get over my shyness...Shouldn't be that hard, right?"ˎˊ-

"Do you wanna be partners?" Ashlyn asked her.

Tabitha immediately nods with a relieved look on her face. "Yes, please. I don't know anyone else here and this is the most I talked to someone I don't know, so you should feel lucky."

"Also I should warn you, I have no dancing experience whatsoever." Tabitha informed her as they moved onto the stage where the others pairs already were at. 

Ashlyn shakes her head with a small smile on her face. "Not a problem. I can teach you."

"So who are you trying out for?" Tabitha asked, tilting her head to the side in curiosity.

"Ms. Darbus." Ashlyn shrugs her shoulders. "So, do you have a specific part you're trying out for?" Ashlyn questioned.

"Nope." Tabitha shakes her head. "I honestly kind of want to work backstage. I've always heard it's fun. I'm not for sure if I need to audition for that though. I have stage fright. And I know if I get any part even if it's small, I'll embarrass myself and run off stage." Tabitha added and Ashlyn nodded in realization.

"Well, I'm sure you're gonna do great no matter what you do. And if you do audition for a part, just close your eyes and try to picture yourself alone in the auditorium." Ashlyn suggested, somewhat calming Tabitha's nerves.

"Thank you, I'll try that." Tabitha's lips curved upwards into a smile.

"Okay, and we're back." Miss Jenn got everyone's attention.

After dancing for a few minutes, everyone stood in a line as Miss Jenn and Carlos gave them scripts of the person they thought they could read for audition. The two eventually got to Tabitha and Miss Jenn looked her up and down, thinking of who she could read for.

"You're giving me artistic vibes." Miss Jenn commented.

Tabitha looks at her with surprise and her lips form into a small smile. "Oh. R-Really?"

Smiling at her, Miss Jenn nods. "How would you feel about being the scenic designer? Help us out designing the sets."

Tabitha's face brightens at hearing that and a wide smile tugs on her lips. "I would love to."

-ˏˋ"If you couldn't tell by now, music isn't my only passion. I love art very much, it has always been a special place in my heart and I think that's because my mom is an artist. She has paintings around the house and they're really good." Tabitha explains, standing in the hallway by the auditorium like the last time she spoke. "I've always wanted to be that talented ever since she showed me how to paint when I was little. I have some drawings and paintings that I think are kinda good, my mom is the only one I'll let see them and she says they're amazing. But I've always been too shy to show my work to anyone else beside my mom. So maybe this show will help me be more open with my art work and it will be a way to show people that I'm talented without having to show my face."ˎˊ-

Miss Jenn smiles at her. "Great. For now you can just watch everyone else audition, but after auditions I would like for you to stay a little bit later so we can figure out a date when we can get started on thinking of ideas for the sets."

Tabitha nods and grins. "That's fine with me. Thank you so much."

Miss Jenn then moved on to the next person. She didn't mean to be nosy, but they were right next to her and she couldn't help but be curious. She overheard the girl next to her, Gina, who was auditioning for Gabriella and Tabitha couldn't help but roll her eyes at how Gina was sort of showing off how she didn't need a script.

The next person was EJ, and Tabitha wasn't surprised when he was given a Troy script. He happened to look over at her, his eyes grew wide as if he wasn't expecting her there, but then he smiled at her and sent her a small wave. Tabitha looked around her, making sure she was the one he was waving at and then looked back at EJ with a smile, waving back at him.

She didn't fail to notice the confused look Nini had on her face when she saw this interaction and looked at EJ for an explanation. Tabitha didn't blame her. She would be confused to if she saw her boyfriend smiling and waving at some random girl she didn't know.

Before she knew it, people started auditioning. Tabitha was beyond relieved that she didn't have to get up in front of everyone and that she would be doing something she loved. She sat on the floor next to Ashlyn, watching as EJ auditioned with singing 'The Start of Something New' from the first High School Musical movie.

Tabitha had to admit she was surprised that he could sing, she didn't think he could. And she hated that she got butterflies in her stomach when he looked at her with a small smile on his face during one part of the song.

"Well, excuse me, Armie Hammer just called. He wants his jawline back." Miss Jenn chuckles. "Okay, we're moving on to the Gabriellas."

Gina was up next, also deciding to sing a part of the song 'The Start of Something New' and Tabitha honestly thought she sounded amazing.

"Is she new?" Tabitha whispered to Ashlyn when she realized she didn't recognize seeing her around before.

Ashlyn nods, whispering back to her, "Yeah, she's a sophomore transfer student."

Tabitha stares at her with wide eyes, not believing that Gina was only a sophomore with talent like she has. "She's a sophomore?"

Soon enough it was Nini's turn. EJ sat down where the rest of the students were sitting on the stage and it made her wonder why he chose to sit besides her of all people. Then heavy footsteps were heard in the auditorium and everyone turned to the doors, seeing Ricky Bowen running down the aisle to the stage carrying a guitar case.

In Tabitha's opinion, she thought it was a classic Troy Bolton move. It made her wonder if Ricky was trying out for Troy which made her confused because Ricky didn't seem like the type to try out for plays, let alone musicals.

"Am I late? Am I too late?"

"We're all set on Troys. We're low on Chads." Miss Jenn smiles and then gestures at Nini. "You can read after the Gabriellas."

"I only studied the Troy scenes in the movie." Ricky said as he got onto the stage.

"Troy would have arrived on time." Carlos told him.

"He didn't in first movie." Tabitha spoke up, quietly giggling with Ashlyn after Carlos sent an annoyed look her way.

Miss Jenn sighs, looking at Carlos. "Let me do the talking." She turns to Nini. "Okay, Nini, let's try this again."

EJ cheered for Nini which distracted Miss Jenn while she was holding her coffee cup which spilled over the lighting controls in front of her. Tabitha looked around as the lights start flickering on and off until they shut off completely.

"Nobody panic!" Miss Jenn exclaims. She looks back at Nini, saying that they should wait for her to audition until the lights come back on. "I don't want this to throw you."

Nini shakes her head. "I'm not thrown." Taking a deep breath, she then started singing the beginning part of the song 'The Start of Something New' and Seb was quick to join her with the piano part of the song.

Tabitha looks over whenever she saw a light shine on Nini and a small smile tugs on her lips when she saw it was Ricky, holding his phone up with the flashlight mode on. After seeing what Ricky did, EJ was quick to get up, getting his own phone out and turning his flashlight mode on. He stood on the the other side of Ricky, shining the light from his phone on Nini.

When she finished the song, the lights came back on. "Okay, well, I only needed 32 bars, but I appreciate your commitment." Miss Jenn tells her while the boys turned their flashlight off on their phone and EJ went to sit back down. She turns to Ricky. "You, late boy. Let's do the Chad sides."

Nini sat down on the other side of EJ and she watched as Ricky walked to the middle of the stage, taking the paper that Carlos handed him when he walked by.

"Hey, there. I'm Ricky Bowen." Ricky introduces himself. "I'm a junior. And, uh...Here it goes." He looks at the paper in his hand and starts reading off some of the lines. "'What kind of spell has this elevated IQ
temptress-girl cast that suddenly makes you wanna be in a musical?'"

Tabitha bites her lower lip as awkward silence filled the auditorium when he stopped reading off the lines. She could tell that Ricky seemed nervous and she didn't blame him. She was nervous for her audition too.

Ricky then crumbles up the paper, shaking his head, now saying something he came up with on his own, looking directly at Nini. "I don't know. Maybe it's the way Gabriella always had your back. And maybe you can't stop beating yourself up for totally blowing it with her."

"And look, Troy. Even if you've never said the L-word to Gabriella, 'cause that's like not even a word that your own parents say to each other anymore...that doesn't mean that you don't." Ricky continued. Tabitha was quick to realize that Ricky was talking about Nini and himself. She frowned at hearing the part about his parents. She understood what that was like.  

"Maybe it just means that you were waiting for the right time say it. So that everyone could hear it." Ricky gestures to everyone in the auditorium. "So that she could."

Tabitha looks over at Nini, wondering how she took this and noticed it looked like she was holding back tears. "Okay, kiddo, time to sing." Miss Jenn said to Ricky and Ricky asked if it was okay if he could sing a song he wrote while his friend, Big Red, gave his guitar to him. 

Miss Jenn shares a look with Carlos and then nods, looking back at Ricky. "Sure."

Ricky then sings a song that Tabitha recognizes Nini had sang to him confessing her love for him on a Instagram post and now he was doing the same, but on a stage in front of people and her boyfriend. Tabitha looked over at Nini and EJ, noticing that EJ had took his arm off of Nini and was now glaring at Ricky. 

He happened to look over at her and she sent him a small smile, to try and cheer him up. His eyes softened at the smile, but he still looked upset. Even though she didn't cheer him up all the way, she still called it a success. She quickly looked away from him when the song ended and was quick to join in everyone clapping. 

A/N tabitha & ashlyn are gonna become besties if you couldn't tell by now :)