Tatum McKay always loathed the first day of school.

Unlike most students who were excited to reunite with their friends on their first day, Tatum could only think about the pointless syllabuses and dreadful icebreakers that they had to do in every class period. Tatum never could come up what to say for an interesting fact about herself or her hidden talents. Not to mention, in almost every class, it seemed like the name of Maisie McKay was always brought up in conversation whether it was from a previous teacher of hers or one of the underclassmen who she mentored when she was a senior. Don't get Tatum wrong, she loved her older sister to death and she was proud of all of her achievements, but there were times where she often grew tired of just being 'Maisie's little sister'. For once in her life, she wanted to be seen, heard, and recognized as herself, Tatum McKay. However, she knew as long as she was in this city, school, and under her parents' roof, nothing would ever change for her. Maisie would still be the favorite child and Tatum would forever continue to live on as the family's disappointment.

Even though her parents never openly admitted to her being a disappointment, Tatum already knew regardless. It seemed like whatever Tatum did, no matter how hard she tried, was still never enough for her parents.  Sure, it stung a lot, but over time, Tatum came to face the fact that nobody was perfect, not even Maisie. And with this newfound realization, Tatum decided that she was not going to dwell on her past mistakes, but to pursue her passions instead. 

"T, this is absolutely amazing." Graham gawked causing Tatum to stop her inner monologue. His bright blue eyes skimmed once more over the newly finished song as his smile widened across his lips. Tatum couldn't help but giggle underneath her breath. The song that he was reading was her new favorite so far and she had just finished it two nights ago. It also perfectly encapsulated her life at the moment and she'd bet if she shared it with more then a lot of other people could relate to it as well. "This is a masterpiece. I don't know how to even describe it, but your talent needs to be shared with the world, T." 

The blonde snorted before she shook her head. "You're just saying it, because you have to. We both know that you and Liam are obligated to like my songs." 

"Oh whatever, T. If you showed your songs to anyone else except for Liam and I, I'm positive that they will love it and will say the same thing as I do. Plus, what do you have to lose?" Graham did bring up a good point because she honestly had nothing else to lose. However, it seemed like her deep rooted fear of failure said otherwise. "Just think about it, T. All I'm saying is you have an absolute gift."

Tatum rolled her eyes exaggeratedly before she licked her lips out of nervous habit. Graham only nudged her slightly and gave her a reassuring smile. With that, the two continue to walk towards to school in comfortable silence. Graham started to read some of her unfinished songs while Tatum only took in her surroundings. In the matter of minutes, the pair of best friends found themselves at the double doors of East High. Graham then gave Tatum her notebook which she slid into her backpack. "Junior year," Graham announced nervously as he wiped the palms of his hands on his jeans. 

The blonde knew that Graham was always afraid of growing up. Hell, she was to. She didn't know what she wanted to be, what she wanted to major in, or what college she even wanted to go and she knew that Graham didn't have any of the answers either. "Hey, we have two more years so we gotta make the best out of it," Tatum attempted to reassure as she gently grabbed his hand in hers. 

"Only if it's with you," Graham replied inaudibly, nodding to himself. Before Tatum could ask what he had just said, Liam catapulted himself between the two causing them to drop hands. Both Tatum and Graham exchanged glances before Liam threw his arms around their shoulders and pulled them inside the crowded halls of East High. As the three of them strode down the halls to their lockers, Tatum began to space off as Liam droned on about his excitements on the first day. Honestly, Tatum could've skipped and not miss anything, but her parents didn't let her. 

"Tay," Liam's voice drawled out. "Were you even listening to a word I said?"

Tatum snapped herself out of her trance and shook her head in reply. "Of course. Typical Tay," Liam sighed heavily, clicking his tongue in disappointment. 

As the three of them reached Tatum's locker, the blonde twisted her lock and pulled the latch swiftly. She opened it with ease and piled all her books in her locker except for her songbook. Tatum was like the girl from the Disney TV show Austin and Ally. She didn't like to leave her songbook anywhere and she didn't like anyone touching it, the exceptions only being Graham and Liam. As Tatum spun on her heel, she extended her songbook to Liam. His eyebrows flew up in excitement. "Is this a new song?" he asked, gesturing to the book. 

"No, it's the divorce papers," Tatum retorted. "Yes, Liam. It's a new song that I just finished." 

Liam rolled his eyes at his best friend's sarcasm before he shook his head. He then eagerly took the book out of the blonde's hands and flipped to the page that had its corner creased in. After a minute of reading over the song, his jaw dropped as a cheeky grin twisted on his lips. "Tay, this might be my new favorite song of yours," Liam commented, flipping to other pages of the book like Graham did. Tatum couldn't help but bounce in excitement. 

Before the three of them could say anything else, Principal Gutierrez's voice boomed over the PA system. Tatum glanced up at the speaker on the ceiling and so did many other students. "Good morning, students. Please make your way to the gym for our annual back-to-school kickoff." 

Tatum groaned loudly as she threw her head back. She hated the annual back-to-school kickoff which was only a fancy word that Principal Gutierez used for assembly. Nothing special or out of the ordinary happened. The only thing that they would do was go over the rules and welcome the new teachers. Personally, Tatum thought it was a waste time, but it was better than being stuck in a classroom. With that, the blonde and her friends began making their way to the gymnasium until they heard an argument going down in one of the hallways. Tatum glanced over to see Ricky Bown, Nini Salazar-Roberts, Big Red, and Kourtney Greene.

Tatum raised her eyebrows in interest. Sure, Tatum rarely spoke to them, but by their faces, the four of them were pretty invested in the argument. The blonde shook her head and continued walking to the gymnasium. As they arrived at the double doors, she could hear the cheers of hundreds of students. Graham opened the door. Right as Tatum was about to walk through the door, Liam hurried in front of her and walked in first. Tatum stopped in her steps before she narrowed at her eyes at Liam. She only shook her head and walked in behind him. Principal Gutierrez was already speaking. 

"I am also pleased to announce that this year, seniors will be allowed to wear baseball hats on Fridays," the principal spoke which caused a few people to cheer. Tatum only furrowed her eyebrows. Why would be someone cheering for that? The three of them finally made it to their seats in the middle of the bleachers. "And now for the special introduction. This year, East High, has a new drama teacher with an announcement that she swore in writing, would not cost too much money." 

Tatum couldn't help but chuckle. Everyone knew that Principal Gutierrez was a cheapskate and didn't like spending any money unless it had to deal with sports. As he announced the new drama teacher, a short blonde with a beaming smile stepped forward as the crowd went wild. "Please hold your applause." the blonde spoke which caused the feedback in the mic. Students grimaced at the sound.

As the new drama teacher cleared her throat, the mic went back to normal. "My name is Miss Jenn and when I heard that the high school where High School Musical was shot had never staged a production of High School Musical, the musical, I was shocked as an actress, inspired as a director," she paused momentarily for dramatic effect. "Triggered as a millennial."

"Oh millenials," Tatum groaned causing both Liam and Graham to chuckle softly.

Miss Jenn then continued, "Auditions are tomorow after school. This show could change your lives and I'm saying this as a background dancer from the original movie. Third from the left, back row, red headband, and those are my real teeth. So... And, oh! Meet your student choreographer, Carlos. You know him as captain of the color guard. I know him as an unpaid rising star, but seriously I have no budget."

With that, the bell dismissed the students into their first class period.

━━☆

As the bell rang, Tatum was the first one to dart out of the classroom and into the hallways. It was finally lunch time, her favorite part of the day. It was the time where she could finally destress and unwind from the chaos that ensued in all of her periods. Plus, she was tired of hearing Maisie's name over and over. Yes, Maisie was a great person, but she didn't need to hear it every class period. As Tatum reached her locker and was grabbing her lunch bag, she realized something, Liam never gave her songbook back. Muttering a chain of profanities underneath her breath, she shoved her locker door closed without her lunch. She spun on her heel and was about to find Graham and Liam. However, they were already right in front of her. Both of them had worried looks written across their faces. 

Sighing heavily, she rubbed her temples. "You lost it," she assumed out loud. 

"I'm so sorry, Tay." Liam apologized profusely. "I was reading more of your songs during math class because I was bored and when the bell rang, I kinda forgot to grab it. And when I checked again next period, it was gone." 

The blonde inhaled sharply, "It's probably is in the lost and found or something, but that was the last time I'll be giving you my notebook, Liam."

"I deserve it," Liam accepted quietly as his eyes fell to the ground. Tatum sighed softly before she pulled the tall blonde in for a hug in which Graham quickly joined them after the two shared a moment. With that, the three of them headed for the cafeteria to eat their lunch. As they chomped down on their food, Tatum couldn't help but feel eyes on her the entire time. Her eyes wandered around the cafeteria until they spotted EJ Caswell's hazel eyes on hers. 

EJ Caswell, co captain of the water polo team, was Tatum's first love. However, she wasn't his. Like most girls, she didn't see the signs of his past relationships. They never lasted for some reason, but Tatum didn't listen. She still fell in love with him anyway, flaws and all. She even said the three forbidden words first. She was lovestruck and he only wanted to fill the loneliness in his life. They were a perfect fit until EJ had to go to theatre summer camp. EJ thought it would be best if they broke up before he went. Yes, Tatum was mad and hurt, but she knew that he would still have a place in her heart forever. 

The two quickly glanced away after they realized that they made uncomfortable eye contact. Tatum chastised her heart for skipping a beat while EJ nervously twiddled with his fingers as he debated what to do. During third period, he had stumbled across a black notebook on his desk and his curiosity got the better of him. So, he opened it up and instead of seeing random doodles like most people had in their notebooks, he saw all kinds of songs written in the book. All of them were beatifully written and had major potential. 

He then realized it was his ex's, Tatum McKay's handwriting. Honestly, EJ had no idea that Tatum wrote songs until today. However, he was glad he stumbled across it. The co captain knew talent when he saw it and Tatum was filled with talent that was hidden to the world. EJ knew that Tatum McKay needed to be seen and heard as herself, not as Maisie's little sister. 

So after school, he was going to show the new theatre teacher, Miss Jenn, the notebook. 

━━☆

AUTHOR NOTES.

aHHH i love writing this book already. we can all agree that ej deserves more screentime in hsmtmts. but, i cannot wait to dig deeper into ej and tatum's story. thank you for all your support atm, keep it up! its making me want to write more frequently. so don't forget to vote and comment. i love hearing your comments in the book!!!