7Disclaimer: Yes, I own the movie. On DVD. :P
One of my oneshots... because Zac Efron was good in this one. ;}
High School Ultimatum
Young MC's Bust a Move was blasting through the gymnasium, the cheerleaders busting some moves of their own before the big game. The big game. Mike O'Donnell's whole future rode on how this day turned out.
He just never imagined the outcome.
Yes, the big high school ultimatum. The part when the senior—that's Mike—sees several separate paths that could lead to very, very different futures. And it was all up to that poor young adult—again, Mike—to choose the best one for himself, he may as well blindfold himself and do eeny-meeny-miney-mo. So many decisions and stress for one person. The scholarships and the colleges… no wonder teens got acne.
But none of that was making its way through his already crowded, teenaged skull. Not yet. Right now, all that mattered to Mike was how to not make a fool of himself in front of the scout and how to not leave this gym without a scholarship.
He inconspicuously wipes sweat from his brow, nervous sweat—the game hasn't even started—and occupies himself with relaying the lyrics to Ned Gold.
He smiles as the music gets its way into his system, and before Mike knows it, he's on the floor dancing with some of the prettiest girls in school. He was dancing his heart out. The bleachers were filled with loyal Warrior fans and the like—maybe the whole student body—but he doesn't care in the least, let alone is embarrassed. He does his MC Hammer imitation and the crowd goes wild. The cheerleaders follow and sync with his every move, ending behind him with a complicated pyramid, and Mike rips off the sweat pants covering his basketball shorts the way he sees actors do it. The crowd goes even wilder.
The coach calls him back and the P.D.A. guy announces the game's beginning in five minutes. Mike laughs and heads back over to Ned once the applause drops down to a loud buzz.
His best friend is laughing with him, "Dude…"
"Man, I had to. I had to."
A blond furl catches his eye.
"Oh man, hey, over there." He points and Ned looks. "Who is that stone-cold fox?" Mike pauses and smiles and Ned hits him playfully, "Oh wait, it's my girlfriend."
Leaving Ned with a small shove, Mike heads over to the girl that outshone the whole cheer squad. The sweet one, the one with the strawberry blond curls and naturally beautiful smile. He'd choose her over all of them any day.
"Oh, hey, there's my girl." He goes in for a hug and whirls her around. She laughs.
"Hey."
"I'm glad you're here, Scar." His smile gets bigger just looking at her; she always was the picture of serenity. His very own angel. "This scout thing has me wicked nervous. I just, just feel like my whole future's riding on this whole game."
She gives a small turn of the neck. "Yeah. Yeah, I—I know how you feel."
Mike's eyebrows rise.
Something's not right. Something was wrong behind that smile.
"Yeah? Is everything—? Everything is cool, right?"
Scarlet blinks. "Oh, yeah. Everything is—is totally copacetic."
Still not sure… "Totally?"
She nods. "Totally."
"O'Donnell!"
Mike bites his tongue. He kisses his girl for good luck before heading for the coach. "I gotta go. See you."
But because he was still worried about her, he turns back and gives her a hoop-kiss. His own brand of romanticism. She always giggled when he did it.
She doesn't giggle this time. She just nods and hugs herself.
Mike bit his tongue again.
The coach could wait for a second…
He walks back to her. "You okay?"
Blushing, Scarlet's gaze avoids his like the plague. "Uh, we can—we can talk about it later."
"Just tell me." He couldn't deal with apprehension during the game. Better to know now.
"No, it's your big night." She smiles and he gets even more worried. "Go enjoy it."
"I can't enjoy it unless you tell me what's going on."
She bites her pink lower lip, and breathes out, "Okay. Um…"
Her voice cracks a bit. He puts a hand on her shoulder, to give her support. Who knew he was the one who was going to need it.
She tells him… oh God, she tells him what every high school guy does not want to hear. Especially when his future was already set. So it couldn't be true, just couldn't. Life wasn't this cruel. But God… what about his scholarship? His family, his basketball? What about his dream?
What about Scarlet?
She was holding back tears, maybe he was too. He doesn't know. He barely remembers where he is. She tells him to go back to the game, and he stumbles back a few paces, praying and hoping that he could just… just reverse time.
But he can't. The cheerleaders are still cheering, the music's still playing. The game's still on. And somewhere, above the bleachers, a man with a clipboard was still handing out college scholarships.
He walks to his spot.
Mike places his head in his hands and he breathes in and out, hoping that he won't pass out during the game. Could he even play?
What was he going to do?
The referee walks in and the crowd goes silent, along with Mike's heartbeat and breathing, and the game's about to begin. The whistle blows. The basketball is thrown up. The game starts.
The coach is yelling something. Mike was rooted to his spot.
When the ball is passed to him, he has to fight to get his feet moving. Then he has to get his arm to dribble the ball.
An opponent blocks him, he doesn't bother to swerve.
"O' Donnell!" The coach yells, "What are you doing?!"
He continues to dribble the ball, and he sees a teammate to his left open and waiting. He sees the coach yelling some more, and the fans blaring for their team. Then he sees the scout for the first time, on the upper bleachers.
His whole future…
He sees Scarlet walking away.
And he knows.
The basketball in his hand felt weightless.
Mike couldn't have her walk away from him. Not now, not ever. If she left him… how would he go on? How would she? And the… the baby?
It broke him. To pieces. But he does it anyway.
The ball hits the ground and he runs. He ignores the boos, the threats, the shouting, the buzzer. He just runs.
And when he sees her in the dark hallway, he knows for a fact that his life would take a sharp turn for the unexpected, for better or for worse. But maybe it was worth it. As long as he was there for her, it'd be okay.
"Scar! Scar, hey," he's breathless, and he keeps running to catch up with her. "Hey, Scarlet. Hey, hey. Hey, what are you doing?"
He blocks her exit, nearly slipping. "Mike?" Oh, God, she looked so sad. He had to do this. "Mike, what are you doing?"
Honestly, he had no idea. He just knew that it was right.
"Look," he begins, breathless and sweaty and a hell of a lot confused for where he was headed. But he did know one thing, at the very least, "you and me, okay? We're in this together."
"What about the game? Your scholarship?" Her lips tremble, her eyes water. Mike wanted nothing more than to just hug her comfort her. "That's your future."
He wastes no time in his reply. And he doesn't care if it was cliché or something out of a… a cheesy movie dialogue. It was true and it was what Scarlet needed to hear from him.
"No. The baby's my future."
"That's crazy—"
"You're my future."
She can't take it. She shakes her head, beautiful blue eyes wet. "No—no. I can't let you throw all this away, I won't let you—"
He bends down and traps her lips with his.
He feels her response, and for a moment, Mike could convince himself that it was going to be okay.
And that day, Mike O'Donnell sealed his fate with a kiss.
Author's Note: Nothing much to say. Uh... Review maybe? Nd thanks for reading. :)