In the HSM series, Jason Cross is part of Troy and Gabriella’s homeroom class. He is also on the East High basketball team and is very close friends with Troy and Chad. He is the jokester of his peers and always seems confused and out-of-the-loop. Throughout his
junior and senior years, we see Jason mature a little bit. However, he never looses his fun, care free personality.
In HSM 1, we meet Jason as the kid that falls asleep in class and the kid who asks random questions. We laugh at him and his silliness. He becomes more serious however when he and his teammates find out Troy is trying out for the school’s winter musical. Jason and the rest of the East High basketball team think that Troy should be devoting all of his time and energy into their upcoming championship game, and not singing with some girl. They come up with aplan to stop him from singing which backfires and drives Troy away from them. In the end, Jason and the rest of his peers learn an important lesson that friends should let each other be whoever they want to be. They should enc
ourage, not deter, each other from trying new things and being the best person they can be.Â
In the summer before Jason’s senior year, he gets a job working with a lot of his East High friends at Sharpay’s parents’ country club. He is assigned to be a waiter along with Troy. When Troy starts getting a lot of attention from Sharpay’s parents and the University of Albuquerque basketball team, Jason and some of his other teammates start feeling left behind. Troy seems to be forgetting them and all of their plans for the summer because he has this awesome opportunity. In the end, Jason and
his friends are able to help Troy set his priorities straight and finish out the summer having a great time.
In their senior year, Jason and the rest of his East High classmates are signed up (against their will) for the musical. At first everyone is very hesitant to participate, but in the end they all agree to make it one of their last memories together in high school. Jason has lots of laughs with his friends as they are practicing for the musical, even though he is way outside of his comfort range. At the end of the musical, all of the seniors step forward with their diplomas. None seem as happy as Jason to be graduating.

preparing to “take over” the team. However, Troy and Chad want Jimmie to earn this.
Troy’s plan works and Rocket Man wins the championship game for the Wildcats! This boosts Jimmie’s confidence and makes him think more about his roll on the team once Troy has gone to college.
Sharpay (Gabriella’s understudy). He is not very good, but he enjoys himself while he is preforming. Eventually, Troy and Gabriella come in the save the day.
High School Musical 1 became very popular in the United States and reached number 1 on America’s charts in 2006. High School Musical 1 was written by Peter Barsocchini and directed by Kenny Ortega. It stars Zac Efron, Vanessa Hudgens, Lucas Grabeel, Ashley Tisdale, Corbin Bleu, and Monique Coleman.
teammates aren’t thrilled with his new hobby. Troy’s best friend (Corbin Bleu) and Gabriella’s best friend (Monique Coleman) come up with a plan to make sure can’t be in the musical. Unfortunately, this ruins all of their friendships and they must work together to make things right.
until he meets Gabriella. She opens him up and shows us a different side of him. Chad Danforth is the funny sidekick. He always makes us laugh and seems fun to be around. Taylor McKessie is also very smart and is the president of the academic decathlon. She is a very good friend to Gabriella. Sharpay Evens is bossy and rich. She feels like she runs the school and isn’t very friendly to many people. Ryan Evens is Sharpay’s brother he is always following her around and at times seems very clueless to what’s going on.
because Sharpay has always been very involved in the drama club. Ms. Darbus is tricked by Sharpay to change the day of the call back to the day of the basketball championship and the academic decathlon. Despite this, Troy and Gabriella able to make it to the call back and nail their song.
one that introduced him to theatre and because of this I think Ms. Darbus is very important in the development of Troy throughout the HSM movies.
the basketball team at East High and is very popular on campus. He is always surrounded by his team and others who just like to follow him around. Troy is playing basketball pretty much whenever he can. However, in HSM 1, one girl changes all that…
Sparks fly immediately and when Troy returns to East High after break, he is pleasantly surprised to see Gabriella in his homeroom. Troy doesn’t want to tell anyone about his singing. He is known as the “basketball kid” and he doesn’t know what people will think of him if they finds out he sings. Although Troy tries to keep his singing a secret, he and Gabriella unintentionally try out for their school’s musical and get a call back. His friends think that Gabriella is distracting Troy from the championship basketball game that is coming up. Troy and Gabriella’s friends break them up so Troy can focus on basketball. Their plan backfires and Troy is depressed because Gabriella won’t talk to him. Troy realizes how much he likes Gabriella and he’s able to convince her to sing in the callbacks. He realizes that if he enjoys singing, he should pursue it, no matter what people think of him.
pumped for the rest of the year. Things don’t go as planned when Kelsey signs everyone up for the school’s musical. Gabriella convinces everyone that this is their last chance to do something fun together. Troy and the rest of his friends end up being a part of “Senior Year”. The musical goes a little haywire when Gabriella leaves for an early college program. Troy doesn’t know what to do. He’s so proud of Gabriella, but wants to spend his last weeks at East High with her. Troy is able to bring her back for prom, the musical, and graduation. Through all this, Troy has some difficult decisions to make about college. In the end, he chooses to turn away from his old dreams to follow his new ones.