AN: Hi everyone! This is my new story and I'm so excited for it, I hope you all like it. I have to saw a really, really big thank you to Katie (DramaticStarlet) for being my inspiration, my beta and my best friend.
I also want to say that I'm trying to make this story as real as possible, so there will some chapters with out a lot of drama, because honestly, life is like that. And sometimes characters will have flaws, and not every situation will always be perfectly resolved. But life is life and I like it that way.
Enjoy!
Disclaimer: Not mine.Not even a little bit.
The summer sun shone through my balcony doors, illuminating the mess my bedroom had become in the last week. Clothes and books littered the floor and my backpack, now unneeded for the next two and half months, rested against my wall, it's contents spilling into piles of binders and pencils. Sharpay's voice rang over my cell phone as she counted off the many, many items she was bringing to her month long vacation in East Hampton.
"Uh, Sharpay, I don't know if you're really going to need twelve swimsuits, you're only going to be in East Hampton for a month." I switched my pink Razr cell phone to my left ear and pulled open my shirt drawer, ruffling past a light pink t-shirt to pull out a blue camisole, which I threw into a growing pile of clothes on my bed.
"Gabs," her voice was amused; I could almost see her smirk as she examined her manicured nails. "Of course I need twelve swimsuits, but that's beside the point. Should I bring my red cowboy boots and my turquoise ones, or are the turquoise ones too West Coast for New York?"
My forehead wrinkled in confusion as I searched my bottom drawer for my jean shorts, which, of course, I remember I had thrown into the laundry hamper last night.
"I'm not really sure Sharpay, I mean, not everyone in New York has the same fashion taste, so you would probably be fine to bring them."
"But Gabby, you lived in New York! Don't you remember what everyone wore?"
"Yeah, Winnie the Pooh t-shirts and Velcro sneakers. Shar, I was five!" I laughed and switched the phone back to my right ear.
"Fine, fine, fine," she laughed. "So," her voice was cheery. "Are you packing too?"
I frowned and looked at the messy pile of clothes in front of me. "Um, yeah. Well, trying at least. Ironically, I've never been good at packing."
The next morning, and rather early in my opinion, I was leaving for the Danforth's lake house at Red Valley Lake with Troy, Chad, Taylor, Zeke and Jason. It took us three weeks to convince our parents to let us go on a trip together, but after assuring them that both Chad's parents would be there all four days (and that we wouldn't do anything stupid, which was probably a complete lie) they agreed and the trip was planned. Kelsi was already at Julliard for a musical program so Taylor and I were sticking it out as the only girls on the trip.
"Trust me, I can totally relate to that. A couple years ago, my dad started putting size restriction on the suitcases I use, because according to him, I always bring too much stuff."
I flopped onto the edge of my bed, accidentally sitting on a navy blue bra. "Hmm," I laughed. "I wonder why he thinks that."
"Very funny, Babs," Sharpay laughed, using the nickname she had invented for me months before that had somehow quickly caught on. "But listen, I gotta go now, my mom is calling me for dinner."
"Okay. Oh wait, I guess I won't talk to you until you're in New York."
"Yeah," she realized. "I can't believe we won't see each other for a month." She sounded sad. "I'll miss you, hun."
"I'll miss you too, Shar," I smiled. "Say hello to New York for me."
Tucking a curl behind my ear, I leaned forward to ring the doorbell of the Bolton house. Stuck in a packing rut I told my mom I had left my iPod at Troy's house and quickly left my room. It wasn't a total lie, I had indeed left my iPod in his kitchen yesterday, we had been cleaning all the whipped cream off of it (it was a sundae making experience gone way wrong), although I suppose he could just bring it me the next morning. Either way, it was an excuse to get out of my house where my clothes pile and empty suitcase were sitting there, mocking my inability to pack.
"Gabiella!" I looked down as the front door of the Bolton house swung open to see six year-old Chase Bolton standing in the foyer. Dressed in a blue and yellow striped polo and little jean shorts, he had on a red cape around his neck and only one shoe. His short brown hair was lighter than Troy's but his eyes were the same shade of blue. He had an adorable face and a bridge of freckles across his nose.
"Hi Chase. Is your brother here?"
Chase took a deep breath and suddenly yelled, "Aleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeec!"
"No, no, no honey!" I waved my arms and bent down to his level. "I mean your other brother."
"Oh." Chase paused then opened his small mouth again. "Trooooooooooooooooooy!"
Suddenly, Troy came walking into the foyer with both hands over his ears. "What?" He snapped, then seeing me in the doorway he grinned, "Gabby!"
"Hi! You're impossible to reach, did you know that?"
Troy smiled and leaned in to kiss me as a bunch of giggles came from a small, laughing boy. Pulling back, Troy goofily shot his youngest brother a dirty look and the six year old took off running into the kitchen.
"So what's up?" He asked. "Here, come on in."
We walked into the Spanish style kitchen, where thirteen year old Alec, miniature Troy with a rounder face and shaggier hair, was sitting at the table on a laptop and little Chase was playing with the letter magnets on the refrigerator. So far he had spelled 'FKSJWEL'.
"I left my iPod here, I called you to let you know I was coming over but your cell went right to voice mail and your house phone was busy."
"Yeah, well, someone," Troy glared over at Alec, "was on the phone for half an hour with a girl. And someone else may have accidentally not charged their cell phone yet." He smirked, it was one of his bad habits to let his phone run out of battery then leave it sitting in his room uncharged for about three days.
"Shocking." I teased him.
"Yeah, well…Want to go on the porch?"
I nodded and Troy opened the kitchen's sliding glass doors leading us to the porch overlooking the back yard. We sat down on a brown wicker sofa and he pulled me close with his strong arm.
"So are you excited about tomorrow?"
"Of course, "I responded. "This trip is going to be amazing. It'll be fun being there with you."
Although I couldn't see him I knew he was smiling, because he was silent for a second before kissing the top of my head and asking, "So it's worth the seven AM departure?"
"Ugh, "I groaned. "Don't remind me."
AN: So the Wildcats are heading out for the summer! I'd love to hear any ideas you all have, I want to write what you want to read so let me know! And also, I use traditional pairs except for Jason & Kelsi, I'll most likely do Ryan & Kelsi or write my own partners for them. I hope you liked this, you can expect the second chapter soon because surprisingly, I've actually started it already.
Love you all!
Sparks
xoxoxo
