Gina-E.J. Relationship

## Gina and E.J.

**PORTWELL**

Portwell is the ship name of Gina Porter and Ej Cashwell as given by fans. Gina Porter is a competitive fifteen to sixteen year old sophomore transfer student at East High and EJ Caswell is an seventeen to eighteen year old stereotypical jock who's also a senior at East High.

In terms of relationship growth, EJ and Gina have undergone more of it than perhaps any other couple in the whole show. They served many tropes, from mutual benefits to , friendship to pure love relationship. They went from not being able to stand each other, to being instantly happier in each other’s company. Their relationship really grew in Season 2, but there were several hints to it in the first season as well. They had both come from relationships that had burned them, so they had been much more careful the second time around. They also went through a lot of separate character growth, both of them going from competitive, self centered people, to extremely caring friends.

**Season 1**

**Season 1 episode 1- The Auditions.**

Ej first laid eyes on Gina during the warm up for the audition of High School Musical the musical as he and Nini were impressed by her moves , with both aiming to be cast as leads but got second leads instead and also became the understudy to both Nini and Ricky.

**Season 1 episode 2- The Read.￼￼**

both extremely competitive that it led them to become friends with hidden motives when Gina took Nini's phone after overhearing that Ej telling Ashlyn he wanted it.

With both Ej and Gina being extremely competitive, their relationship became built solely on mutual benefits which was for Gina to take on the role of Gabriella from Nini in the production of High school musical the musical and for Ej to get back together with his then girlfriend Nini. The episode ended with Gina puting Nini's phone in EJ's bag telling him that it's gonna take team work to get what they both want.

**Season 1 episode 3- Wonderstudies.**

The episode is weirdly named after their tandem but shows no interaction between them rather than their individual feuds, Gina with Nini and Ej with Ricky.

**Season 1 episode 4- Blocking.**

The episode started with a public argument between Ej and Nini which led to their break up.

Ej now furious with Gina for throwing him under the bus tells her to stay away from him , whilst Gina told him that if he sticks with her, he's gonna have the role of Troy and the girl and but Ej responded saying Seniors don't follow Sophomores around in East High as he walked of.

Almost towards the end of the episode, Ej ironically visited Gina and asked her what the plan was , she replied saying that he should take her to homecoming and shushed him before he could say anything.

￼

**Season 1 episode 5- Homecoming**,

Gina asked Ej to take her to homecoming as his date inorder to spite Nina into jealousy and gain both outcomes which was for her to leave the show for Gina and for Ej to get the role of Troy and also Nini.

Both attended the homecoming together surprising everyone, Ej still not comfortable with the idea bickered with her as they do smile and pose for the camera.

The term babe which is now a staple name in their relationship came into existence that night which ended quite horribly for Ej who got drink poured on his head by Gina after he confronted her saying the plan was a fail especially when Nini didn't attend.

**Season 1 episode 6- What Team**

The episode began with Ej confronting Gina again, asking her what happened to the plan as he took her to homecoming but she ended up pouring drink on his head.

Gina who's now come to realization that she doesn't want the lead anymore, told him that everything had become complicated. The civil conversation soon developed into angry one when Ej asked her if she now cares about Ricky and Gina replied saying what if she does. The conversation ended with them telling Carlos not now together after he interrupted them.

At the end of the episode, both Ej and Nini looked jealous and confused at Ricky and Gina hugging.

Their relationship took a back seat for episodes 8 and 9 as Gina became involved with Ricky who was still very much in love with Nini and also because Gina left town with her mum.

**Season 1 episode 9- Opening Night.**

Ej was majorly focused on his phone during unbeknownst to everyone that he was bringing Gina back by buying her a plane ticket.

**Season 1 episode 10- Act Two.**

With Ej stepping back as Troy to allow Ricky and Nini to have their big onstage moment together, he joined Gina by the door. "Some wonderstudies we are huh?" he said as he stood close to her and her replying "Hell yeah, we are".

Gina then thanked him for buying her the plane ticket and Ej telling her that it wasn't fair for her to miss it all and that was the first time Gina looked at him with sincerity but he was much focused on the show.

**Season 2**

**Season 2 episode 1- New Year's Eve**

Season 2 started with the drama club doing a musical for their Instagram page which includes the pairing of EJ and Gina.￼ Both of them also had an interaction at Ashlyn's house after Gina asked a clueless Ej if he doesn't know musical they were going to do next.

Both Ej and Gina had less interaction from episode 2 to 4 as Gina was pining over Ricky who was in a relationship with Nini.

Finally coming to the realization that Ricky may not reciprocate her feelings and borderline ignored her love confession at the end of season 1 .

Gina became so hurt and wanted to leave aga.n

**Season 2 episode 5- The Quinceanero**

This was the episode that hinted at Portwell being romantic. Ej was the first and only person then that noticed a change in Gina's earlier dull behavior.

He asked how was doing after he noticed she glowed up during her performance of A Dancer's Heart during Carlo's Quinceanero.

Gina was shocked at first that Ej of all people noticed that she wasn't doing ok and the episode ended with Mr Mazzara asking Ej who was the most interesting interview among all who he recorded but he's attention was solely focused Gina whilst smiling.

**Season 2 episode 6- Yes And,**

Gina partnered up with Ej for a mirroring exercise after she rejected Ricky who was still oblivious to her feelings. She then referred to herself and Ej as team wonderstudy in reference to their season 1 team up name.

During that same episode Miss Jenn asked Ej what he'll want to ask Gaston theoretically and then he replied saying, he'll ask him if he will fall in love again after belle.

Mirroring the question to his own life after his break up with Nini, will he learn to love someone else.

**Season 2 Episode 7- The Field Trip**.

The episode started with both Ej and Gina co-hosting the first East High morning show and Gina saying she is his only friend that agreed to do it.

Gina was on look out when a North High boy started a discussion with her, trying to get her snap.

Gina looked quite uncomfortable, she then heard Ej said "Hey Babe" as he walked to her, Gina went along and hugged him whilst saying 'babe! I'm so glad you are here.

EJ Continued by asking her if they are still on for risotto night, with Gina looking at the North high boy whilsy saying she'll never miss risotto night.

After the North high boy left , they both burst into laughter (the first for Gina throught the season).

She then asked him why he was there and then he replied that he felt bad she was stuck alone on look out with Gina saying that's sort of sweet and Ej continuing in a joking manner " what are fake boyfriends if not sort of sweet and then they both continue giggling.

At the end of the episode, both of them walked out together, with Ej who was a little bit sad that they were not boyfriend and girlfriend anymore and Gina saying just co-anchors as they joked about their morning show.

**Season 2 episode 9- Most Likely To**

The episode began with Gina telling Ej that he should start with his left foot at the top of the chorus and also jokingly telling him not to fall over and EJ replying that dance people have all the best tips.

Gina Cheered through his entire performance and at the end told him she got no notes (meaning it was flawless).

The episode continued with Ej and Gina along with Carlos and Seb and other students in a classroom seated for a talk from Cash Caswell (EJ's Dad) for career week.

Ej said something to Gina which his dad always repeated every year that made her laugh until she snorted a little and then he jokingly told her that no one heard it.

He finally admitted that he and Gina had gotten close after North high when they pretended to be boyfriend and girlfriend and then curiously asked if Gina said anything about him before Gina walked in briefly and then walked out shyly.

Gina then congratulated him after his dad said he made it into duke but Ej wasn't happy about not entering on his own merit.

Towards the end of the episode, Ej went to visit Ashlyn in hopes of talking to her about his feelings but only met Gina because Ashlyn wasn't home.

She helped him through his feelings and then told him about all his incredible traits .

She then told him to close his eyes and asked him what he sees when he thinks about his life.

Ej ended talking about the horrible mistakes he made and then Gina told him what she saw, when he bought her the plane ticket, when he made a birthday tribute that made everybody cry, and him constantly trying to do the right thing but ended up failing in a joking manner.

Ej then pushed a little closer to her and told her she's one of the bravest people he knows and they had lingering glance before Ashlyn entered and interrupted them by asking if Ej still needed to talk but he looked back at Gina and said he's okay now.

At the end of the episode, EJ was shown smiling at Gina who was asleep, covering her with his duke sweater and then turned off the light before he left.

### **Season 2: Episode 9: Spring Break**

When Gina enters the cast zoom meeting, EJ’s face lights up, and it’s clear that he’s watching her the whole time.

When Gina is in the airport, EJ facetimes her. He compliments her, saying that they haven’t built the airport that can contain her, and that she didn’t need luck because she was Gina Porter. After she hangs up, Gina smiles brightly.

Gina says that things have changed between her and EJ, but because of Ricky, she wasn’t sure what was a sign that he liked her.

She can be seen smiling at a picture of EJ with his painted nails.

She takes her denim jacket off, revealing EJ’s Duke hoodie that she cut the hood off of. When she is asked if it’s her boyfriend’s, she answers ‘not that I know of’.

When her flight is canceled, she posts something about taking an Uber home on her Snapchat story. Later, EJ shows up to the airport to pick her up, even though Gina hadn’t asked him to. He greets her by asking her if she’d seen a Duke hoodie anywhere, a nod to the sweatshirt she was wearing. She asks him what he’s doing at the airport, and he tells her that he had to show up for his friend. He then hands her a granola bar, the snack she’d been craving all day. As he walks to his car with her bags, Gina realizes that she may have gotten her sign.

### **Season 2: Episode 10: The Transformation**

At Salt Lake Slices, Gina and EJ can be seen standing very close to each other. When EJ says something about his house being slightly larger than his cousin, Ashlyn’s, Gina nudges him, prompting him to say ‘I’ll shut up now’. The group decides to break into separate sleepovers, boys versus girls. Gina and EJ both look disappointed.

At their respective sleepovers, both of them are teased about their relationship by their friends. Gina shares that she had already misread the signs from Ricky, so she didn’t want to be wrong again. EJ tells his friends that he didn’t have the need to get rejected again, showing that both of them had trauma from past relationships.

When they all meet up again, EJ finally works up the courage to ask Gina out for risotto, a callback to their inside joke from ‘The Field Trip’. At first, Gina is wary, asking him if Ashlyn had made him do it. But he tells her ‘not that I know of’, using the same words she had spoken one episode before. When she realizes that he actually felt the same way she did, she happily accepted.