East Meets West/Movie Summary

East Meets West Movie Summary

The movie opens with fading clips being shown between the two locations, Eastwood High School and Westwood High School, where areas such as the gym, theater, cafeteria, and hallways are shown. The instrumental of the song "Go With Gravity" is heard in the background. Soon, the clips fade to a final location where we see a red alarm clock reading 7:00 go off. Rachel Gold is then woken up for her sleep in her decorative room. Rachel smiles and as she gets out of bed, the music transitions to the instrumental of "Something About the Sunshine." We see Rachel brushing teeth, picking her school outfit, brushing her hair and then grabbing her load of books with a smile on her face. Rachel hops down the stairs with a major pep in her step and as she turns the corner, the logo East Meets West pans onto the screen in front of the staircase. Then Rachel is seen sliding into her living room and dancing around a bit before her mom calls her to come have breakfast.

The background music stops and Rachel is seen in the kitchen with her parents eating cereal for breakfast and talking with them about her first day at Eastwood High School. We learn that Rachel and her family just moved to town and Rachel is going to be attending a new school, Eastwood. Rachel isn't at all nervous and is just excited to meet new people and increase her journalism skills. The school is heavily known for it's school spirit so Rachel also thinks it'd be nice to try something new. Soon, on the kitchen TV, the news reporters begin to talk about a national junior choir competition for young children that's taking place in the town later that evening. Rachel quickly turns away from the TV when this comes on. Rachel's mom comes over to her and says, "Remember back when that was you." Immediately Rachel frowns with a sigh. Rachel's dad says, "You could've brought your choir to victory. You have such a beautiful voice." Rachel's frown gets harder, turning into an irritated expression, and she looks up at her parents. "Had a beautiful voice, dad. I'm not a singer," she says, "Singing is...it's not practical. Journalism, it is, and you both know that's my calling." Mr. and Mrs. Gold try to argue with her but she protests holding up her composition notebook saying, "This, this will get me into a school like Yale or Harvard or Princeton, with a scholarship even. Choir? Choir won't. And you both know you'll be saying the same when you take a look at that tuition." Rachel's parents laugh a bit and then the three drop the conversation and they continue to talk about Eastwood.

In the next scene, Rachel is saying goodbye to her mom who dropped her off at school and she walks into school. The camera soon switches over to the school hallway which is filled with kids. Suddenly, everyone's heads turn when a group of girls all dressed in red and white uniforms come down the hall: the cheerleaders. Leading the group is an extra fiesty looking head cheerleader with a sassy attitude, Skylar. Skylar is talking to the cheerleaders while she walks about the first football game that night and how everything has to be perfect. But, with their one cheer member, Bianca, off the squad after a major injury, they have to hold mandatory tryouts during school after lunch. The cheerleaders are soon met by a jock, Jess, and his group of friends from the football team, all wearing white and red. Their school mascot is an Eagle so they call themselves the Eastwood Eagles. Rachel walks into the school but doesn't notice anything going on because her eyes are fixated looking down on her schedule. Skylar gives Jess a long kiss on the lips but it's interrupted when Rachel bumps into them accidentally. She apologizes and continues on her way, Skylar giving her a nasty looks as she walks away. The group of jocks and cheerleaders begins to talk about Westwood High, their rival high school, and talk as though they are sure they'll beat them this year. They soon mention the name Ricky Francis, Westwood's star player, and they talk about how he's probably quivering at that moment, scared about the start of the season.

The scene soon switches over to Westwood High where we see a cool and confident guy dressed in blue and white walk down the hallway. The guys revealed to be Ricky Francis and he is accompanied by his football teammates including his best friend Jason. One girl walks with them as well, Deena, who is the athletic department's student manager. The group talks about the upcoming football season and how they are prepared to slay the season. The group is soon joined by a group of cheerleaders dressed in blue, white, and yellow. The irschool mascot is a Warrior so they call themselves the Westwood Warriors. We learn that Ricky suffered a serious leg injury last season during a football game, an injury that was caused by an Eastwood football player. The player had absolutely no mercy for Ricky and obviously meant to hurt him. Because of the injury, Ricky could not attend a major football camp that winter where admission is only by selection, something that could have been a big oppurtunity for Ricky. For this, Ricky absolutely hates Eastwood and is more than determined to take them down. The scene soon switches back to the Eastwood Eagles and then back to the Westwood Warriors, and then back and forth, two parelell events occuring at the same time. Soon, the two groups begin to sing about the start of a new season and how excited they are to win. Meanwhile, Rachel has stopped searching for her locker and is watching the high level of school spirit around her ("Something About the Sunshine").

The first bell rings. Rachel watches the cheerleaders and jocks walk away, obviously the popular kids of the school. She turns around to go to her first class, AP English. She sits down in class and next to her sits a cheerful girl in a cheerleading uniform. Rachel smiles at the girl and introduces herself, telling her her name and that she's new. The girl completely ignores her and then Rachel rolls her eyes, mumbling to herself that she should have saw it coming from a cheerleader. But then the girl turns her head to her, smiling apologetically, and says, "Oh you were talking to me? I'm so sorry, you see I've been writing this story about a new girl in school and I know her so well that I'm starting to hear her in my head." Rachel smiles at the girl, a bit surprised, and says, "Knowing the character in and out is one of the most vital aspects of writing, I applaud you!" The girl introduces herself as Allie. She tells her that she is a cheerleader and not to worry, she's only wearing the uniform because it's tradition to wear the uniform on game days. Allie explains herself to be a girl who loves writing and has so much energy that cheerleading has basically calling her name. Allie explains to Rachel how the school is practically centered around the sports at school and that's all anyone cares about. But in her opinion, there needs to be more focus on the academics, particulary writing. Rachel tells Allie how she wants to try something new and asks her if she can reccomend anything. Allie excitedly tells Rachel about the cheerleading tryouts for a replacement and tells her they're really desparate. Rachel is at first reluctant but thinks it'd be fun so she tells Allie she'll think about it, she just doesn't really want to miss class time on the first day.