Before she knew it, it was the first day of senior year. She couldn't believe that high school was almost over. It seemed to have flown by so fast.

She was currently walking into the school, immediately being greeted by her best friend, Maeve. She put a hand over her heart, staring at the blonde with wide eyes. "Are you trying to give me a heart attack?"

"Are you trying to give me a heart attack?" Maeve repeated her question but in a more dramatic tone.

Tabitha furrows her eyebrows together, shaking her head. She chuckles lightly at her dramatic best friend. "What are you talking about?"

"You almost died yesterday and you were saved by a cute boy! You're literally in a fairy tale." Maeve exclaimed.

Tabitha just shakes her head as she starts walking to her locker with Maeve following her. "My life is far from a fairy tale."

"Yeah, but this could be the start of your fairy tale." Maeve grinned, standing in front of the brunette girl.

Tabitha opens her locker, chuckling at her best friend. "Kinda wish you were right about that."

"Didn't you say that he went to school here?" Maeve questioned, leaning on her side against the lockers with her arms crossed. She smiled when Tabitha nodded.

"That doesn't mean that we will ever interact. He was wearing a letterman jacket which means he's a jock." Tabitha states, getting the books she needed out of her locker. She closes her locker as she turns to the brunette in front of her. "He's way out of my league."

Maeve went to open her mouth but was interrupted by a voice that sounded through the pa system announcing, "Good morning, students. Please make your way to the gym for our annual back-to-school kick-off."

Maeve leans her head back while she groans. "Do we have to?"

A small giggle leaves Tabitha's lips. "Yeah, sadly we do." She closed her locker and linked her arm with Maeve's arm. The two shared a smile before they headed off to the gym.

Tabitha had to admit she tuned out most of what the Principal said. She knew it was something involving the seniors and baseball caps, but she honestly didn't care. She knew Maeve didn't care either since she wasn't even a senior, she was only a junior. She continued reading the book that she held in her lap as the Principal. She only looked up when she heard that they were getting a new theater teacher.

She watched with curiosity while the new teacher got something from behind the podium, revealing it to be a t-shirt launcher. She raised an eyebrow when the t-shirt hit a boy that was sitting at the end of the bleacher she and Maeve sat on. Her interest is earned as the new drama teacher, known as Miss Jenn, told them about how she was shocked as an actress, inspired as a director, and triggered as a millennial when she learned that the school hasn't put on a production of 'High School Musical'.

Tabitha's lips curves upwards, listening to the next words Miss Jenn says, "Auditions are tomorrow after school. This show could change your lives. And I'm saying that as a background dancer from the original movie."

Miss Jenn smiles. "Third from the left, back row, red headband, and those are my real teeth, so..." A boy in a yellow jacket steps up beside her, gaining her attention. "Oh, right. This is your choreographer, Carlos. You know him as the captain of the color guard, I know him as an unpaid rising star."

The bell then rang signaling school to start. "Come on, time for class." Maeve sighed, standing up and Tabitha did the same after she put a bookmark in her book

-ˏˋ Tabitha stood in one of the corridors of the school, smiling at the camera. "I am such a fan of the High School Musical series. Like it's so embarrassing how many times I've watched the three movies." She chuckles. "I can tell you that it's more than ten for all three. Even though I have stage fright I wanna try out for the play. Hopefully, I'll make it on stage and not freak out..." She grows quiet for a moment before shaking her head. "Yeah, no, I'm gonna freak out. There's no doubt about that." She smiles nervously at the camera. "Still gonna try my best, though."ˎˊ-

Tabitha looks up from the book that had her attention when there was a loud thud on the table she was sitting at. She smiled at seeing it was her best friend who sat next to her.

"Math is the worst. Why do I need to find out what x and y is when I have own problems?" Maeve complained.

Tabitha chuckles, tilting her head to the side. "And what are your problems?"

Maeve stares at her with a deadpanned expression. "Have you met my annoying little brother?"

"He's not that bad." Tabitha replied with a chuckle.

"He somehow knows the password to my phone and turned off my alarm clock making me late this morning." Maeve told her, sitting down next to her and pulled her tray to her.

"Okay, I can understand why you don't like him." Tabitha nodded, her gaze wandering around the cafeteria until it landed on a familiar brunette-haired boy dressed in a East High letterman jacket.

EJ looks over from listening to Kourtney telling him and Nini about her summer when he felt eyes on him. A smile tugged on his lips when he locked eyed with Tabitha. Her heart fluttered at the sight of him smiling at her and she couldn't help but smile back at him.

"Who are you you smiling at?" Maeve followed Tabitha's gaze and grins when she realized who the boy was. "Oh! Is that the boy cute boy who saved you yesterday?"

Tabitha blushes out of embarrassment hoping that EJ or anyone else didn't hear Maeve. She quickly looks away from EJ to glare at Maeve. "Shush, Mae! I don't want the whole school to hear you!"

"Why not?" Maeve's lips forms into a pout. Her lips then turn into a grin as she hugs onto Tabitha's arm. "A cute boy just smiled at you! If that happened to me I would brag about it."

"It's obvious that he's already taken." Tabitha's eyes trails back to EJ, noticing the way the brunette-haired girl beside him had her arm wrapped around his. She frowns. "By a much more prettier girl."

She rubs the spot on her arm Maeve just punched, glaring at Maeve again. "Dude! What was that for?"

"For saying that girl is prettier than you." Maeve replies, shaking her head. She looks at her with a smile. "You are extremely beautiful." 

"Thank you." Tabitha smiles at her best friend and playfully elbows Maeve. "And so are you."

Maeve flips her brunette hair over her shoulder dramatically. "Oh, I know." She smirked and the two shared a laugh.

"Mae, eat your own fries." Tabitha pulled her trey closer to herself and more away from Maeve when the blonde stole some of her fries.

"Sharing is caring, though. And I forgot to get fries." Maeve pouted.

"Well, it's your fault for not getting any." Tabitha smiled innocently at her and ate some of her fries.

She happened to look back over at the table EJ and Nini were sitting at, immediately regretting looking over when she saw the two kiss. Out of the corner of her eye she noticed Maeve had stole one of her fries and was now leaning over to get some more. Tabitha slapped her hand away before the girl could get any.

"So close." Maeve muttered as her shoulders slumped, earning a laugh from Tabitha.

The two girls looked over noticing a curly brunette haired boy walking our of the cafeteria with an annoyed look on his face. Tabitha recognized him since they had a couple classes together last year and she has seen him skating around, but the two never talked to each other outside of school.

"I heard that Nini broke up with him." Maeve spoke.

Tabitha turns to face her with wide eyes, realizing why they must've broken up. She nods. "I saw the video Nini posted on Instagram about confessing her love for Ricky in song form. My guess is he didn't say it back to her."

Nodding in agreement, Maeve took a drink from her water bottle. "That would make sense."

"You still coming over tonight, right?" She questioned, raising her eyebrow at the brunette next to her. 

"Yes. I'll be there after I drop my stuff off at my house." Tabitha answered. 

The two of them always had dinner together on their first day of school no matter what year it was. It was their tradition and they've been doing that tradition since middle school.

Maeve smiles. "Great."

****

Tabitha got home a few hours later, not surprised to see neither of her parents home. She noticed a note on the kitchen table from them saying that they would have to stay late at work.

She sighs and walked upstairs to her room, dropping her backpack off and then after locking the door to the house she heads over next door.

A few seconds later after the knocked on the door, it was opened by Maeve's younger brother, Levi. Levi was only ten years old, but that didn't make him less annoying according to Maeve.

"Hi, Tabitha!" Levi waved at her. 

She waves back. "Hey, Levi. Can I come in?"

The young boy nods, stepping to the side to let her in. She smiles a bit and walked inside, ruffling his hair when she walked past him. She chuckled when he whined about her messing up his hair. 

"Levi, is that Tabitha?" She heard Maeve's and Levi's mom ask. 

"Yes, it's me, Mrs. R." Tabitha responded. 

"Hi, dear! Maeve is in her room and dinner will be ready in a few minutes!" She heard Josie Richardson explain to her and it sounded like she was in the kitchen.

"Okay, thank you!" Tabitha walks to Maeve's room, not even noticing that Levi had already went back to his room. She gets to Maeve's room and opens the door, smiling when she heard the sound of a ukulele. "Hi, Mae."

"Hey, Tabi." Maeve looks up, setting her ukulele on her nightstand by her bed. "I was just playing around on it."

"I hope you know you're really good at playing it." Tabitha informed her, sitting on her bed with her legs in a crisscross position. 

Maeve smiles. "Thanks." She tilts her head to the side, looking at Tabitha cautiously. "Are you gonna try out for the play? It is your last year and I think you should."

"I don't think I'm going to." Tabitha shook her head, biting her lower lip nervously.

Maeve sighs, shaking her head. "Don't act like that. You always say that you will try out for the play, but you never do. You're a High School Musical fan. I think you would actually like being involved in this play. And you're crazy talented to not even try out."

Tabitha sends her a small smile. "Yeah, but did you forget the part where I can't even perform in front of people? No matter how many there are, I still freak out." 

"Maybe what you need is to push yourself to do it and get over your fear." Maeve suggests, putting a hand on Tabitha's arm to comfort her. "You deserve to be heard." 

Tabitha stayed silent, staring at the teal colored bed cover which had yellow sunflowers on it. She didn't really know what to say to that, but she was glad to hear Maeve's mom call out that it was time for dinner so she didn't have to come up with something to say.

She was just nervous thinking about performing in front of others on stage so how was she going to audition tomorrow?

A/N tabitha & maeve's friendship is is the best