High School Musical 2 Will Probably Be Good Since Zac Efron Looks Like A Hot Bounce Now

As if it wasn't bad enough I had to endure the humiliation of buying Paris Hilton's CD last summer at Target (all in the name of research for the banterview!)...now, as I tried to buy T-shirts there over the weekend, what should I find cruelly staring me from the checkout line? The special High School Musical 2 edition of People magazine! This was one of those "crossroads of your life" moments -- do I buy it and feel the disapproving glare of judgement from Norma, the 40-something cashier, or turn away and act as if the publication had never been displayed in my eyesight?

In the end, I did what any normal, rational shopper would do: grabbed two copies (collector's item, y'all!), and threw Newsweek on top of them, while pretending to take a call on my cell phone during the entire transaction.

So, after thoroughly reading from cover to cover (in the parking lot), here's the scoop (click the photos to make them larger):

Within a year and a half, Zac Efron has gone from scruffy, cute kid to inappropriately boffable.

Ashley Tisdale clearly recognizes this, and is up for taking a ride.

But despite, as MoogaBoo put it, how "big his guns look" now...

...Drew Seeley, 25, who did all the singing for Zac, 19, in the first movie, is way hotter. Ashley Tisdale is clearly up for taking a ride.

While Drew was filling in as "Troy" on the HSM tour this past winter, Zac was off shooting Hairspray and letting co-star Vanessa Hudgens see his naked guns.

Meanwhile, according to his profile in the mag, Lucas Grabeel claims to have a "girlfriend," but "he won't give the details."

We all know that nothing gets a chick into the sack faster than jazz hands.

At any rate, High School Musical 2 airs on the Disney Channel Friday, August 17.

Get your popcorn ready...and don't forget the cheese.