Foundation

Summary: Things are finally going well for Kelsi and Ryan, but high school is over, and they'll need to confront their pasts and future as they start a new life in New York. (Sequel to "Found")

Disclaimer for all chapters: I own nothing! I do own a few original characters, although some of them will be based off of other actors and things of the like. I also don't own the web rock musical "I Kissed a Vampire" starring Lucas Grabeel and Drew Seeley, but I will be including it in my plot. You'll see more about that later on.

CHAPTER ONE

She had never had the best of luck—that is, until she met Ryan Evans. Kelsi smiled as she glanced at the boy driving. They had just gotten to New York and were on their way to Kelsi's dorm to help her move in. Kelsi was nervous and excited at the same time. She was glad to be living in the city again. She had loved the city atmosphere in Seattle and had missed it in Albuquerque. Still, she was nervous to meet her roommate and to start her classes. What if they didn't think she was good enough? What if her roommate was mean? All she knew about her roommate was that her name was Trisha and she was from Washington D.C.

"You ready?" Ryan asked once he had parked in front of the dorms.

"As ready as I'll ever be," Kelsi laughed. On the bright side, if she didn't like her roommate, she knew she could hide out at Ryan's apartment whenever she wanted. He even gave her a copy of his key. Ryan wasn't really looking forward to living alone, so he was hoping that Kelsi would be spending a lot of time at his place.

When they got to Kelsi's dorm, her roommate was already there, lying on one of the two beds, typing away on her laptop. She definitely wasn't what Kelsi was expecting from a Juilliard student. "You must be Kelsi," she said, jumping up. "I'm Trisha. I'm going to be an actress." Trisha was short with long, obviously-fake black hair extensions and way too much eyeliner. She wore a low-cut top and a short skirt with fishnet stockings and black boots.

"Oh um, yeah, I'm Kelsi..." she said carefully. "I'm a music major... and this is Ryan," Trisha eyed him and it didn't go past Kelsi's notice, "my boyfriend," she added pointedly.

"Oh. Nice to meet you. You go here too?" Trisha asked hopefully. Kelsi hated this girl already.

"Yeah, choreography," Ryan said, not seeming to have noticed her tone. "Come on, Kels, let's get you unpacked and you can come help me get moved in." Kelsi nodded. Ryan helped her unpack her clothes and her music and set up her bed. Trisha went back to chatting with some friends from home on Myspace and looking up at Ryan every so-often. Kelsi didn't like that one bit, but at least she was confident that Ryan wouldn't leave her for some little scene girl.

They got mostly settled in and left to go see Ryan's new apartment. His parents had sent someone ahead to furnish it and stock it with food. They wanted to send him a housekeeper or something to make his food, but Ryan was determined to live out college like anyone else and do things without the help of his wealthy parents.

"What was that all about?" Ryan asked as they walked to his car.

"What was what about?" Kelsi asked, not looking at him.

"You were glaring daggers at that girl the whole time we were in there, dear."

"Well—I don't want her to get any ideas," Kelsi admitted, blushing. Ryan was lost.

"Ideas about what?" he asked cluelessly. Kelsi stared at him dumbfounded.

"You can't tell me you didn't see the way she was looking at you. She was practically undressing you with her eyes."

The look on his face was priceless. "What?! Ew! No, no, no, no, no. I don't even want to think about that..." He shook his head quickly. Kelsi felt relieved. She didn't have anything to worry about from Trisha, at least. Ryan stopped for a moment as they got in the car and smiled. "It's cute that you're protective of me, though," he told his tiny girlfriend. Kelsi blushed deeper, embarrassed. "No, I mean it," Ryan laughed. "I'm glad that you want me for yourself. I know how you feel, but Kels, you're the one I want to be with." Kelsi couldn't help but frown, though, as she thought about the possibilities. If one girl was already after him, who knew how many others would be.

They got to his new apartment, following Ryan's GPS. He had been to New York loads of times over the holidays with his family, so he could navigate pretty decently. Kelsi was glad to find that his apartment wasn't far from her dorm.

He lived on the top floor of a four-story apartment building. As he unlocked the door, someone walked out of the apartment next to his. He was a tall guy with dark hair and a pretty flamboyant fashion taste, almost like Ryan's in high school. Now that they were in New York, Ryan was dressing a bit more conservatively, although always sticking with his signature hats. The guy who walked out looked at them. "You new?" he asked.

"Yeah," Ryan said cheerfully. "Just moving in today. I'm Ryan." He reached over to shake the guy's hand, putting one of his bags down.

"Brandon," the other guy said. "You here for college?" Ryan nodded. "Same. I just moved in last week from Chicago. I'm going to Juilliard, you?"

"Oh, we're both going to Juilliard, too," Ryan smiled. "I'm going for choreography, you?"

"Dance. And who's this cute little thing hiding behind you?" Brandon asked.

"Kelsi," she said shyly. "Music composition."

"My girlfriend," Ryan smiled. "We just got here today from Albuquerque."

"Well we'll have to hang out sometime then," Brandon said. It was becoming more and more apparent that he was gay. "I don't know anyone else around here, so it should be nice to have some friendly kids next door."

"Definitely," Ryan said. What luck that he would have a nice neighbor who was also into dance!

"Well I'm gonna go hit up some McDonald's, but I'll see you guys later. It was nice meeting you."

"You too," Ryan and Kelsi both said. Brandon headed downstairs as they went inside.

"Is it just me, or was that guy gay?" Ryan asked. Kelsi laughed.

"I'm pretty sure he's gay, Ry," she said. "He seems nice though—better than Trisha," she frowned.

"My door's always open if you wanna escape from her, Kels." Kelsi looked around.

"I might take you up on that. They did a good job with this place." The room they had walked into was the living room. There was already a leather L couch and a huge TV with shelves full of DVDs waiting. Along the far wall was a little upright piano. Ryan noticed Kelsi eying it.

"I figured it'd be nice to have, in case you wanted to come over and practice," he explained. Kelsi smiled.

"You're sweet," she said, wrapping her arms around him. There was another room in the corner of that room that Kelsi guessed was supposed to be like an office, but when she went in, she found an empty space with one wall covered with guitars. Kelsi raised her eyebrows.

"My make-shift rehearsal space," Ryan laughed. "It'll have to do for now." He led her out of that room and out past the living room to the kitchen. It had a little table with four chairs, probably for when Sharpay came to visit. It was simple and practical. Past the kitchen down the hall was a bathroom on one side, a closet on the other, and at the end of the little hallway was the master bedroom.

Ryan's room had a bed in the center and a huge closet on the left side. He had a whole wall filled with hats and a laptop sitting ready on his bed, which was covered with blue blankets and pillows. Kelsi had always thought blue suited Ryan pretty well, maybe because of his eyes. "It's very you," Kelsi said.

"Thanks," Ryan laughed. "I picked most of the stuff out myself." There was a little table next to his bed and a desk on the other side. He had a lamp on his desk that was black with a blue lamp shade. He had a black dresser against the wall across from his bed, and on the wall with all of the hats, between the hats was a huge window that let a good amount of sunlight in.

"Do you know what I think a day like today calls for?" Ryan asked.

"What?" Kelsi asked, still looking around as Ryan wrapped his arms around her.

"Curling up on my new couch with some hot tea watching musicals. What do you say?" he smiled.

Kelsi smiled back at him. "Sounds perfect."

A/N: This is going to be pretty different from Found, so excuse me if you don't like it. 3 I hope you do, and sorry for the wait!