Just a random idea I came up with while I was sitting at school in the commuter's lounge. And I was watching Regis&Kelly as I typed all this. And played a game of Family Feud, which I got my butt kicked at by the way. xD I must apologize for not getting a chance to update anything this weekend. I was called into work Saturday and noon and I was supposed to work till midnight but got out early cause I had homework to finish (which wasn't an excuse, I really did get my writing homework done like two hours after I got home, and my feet were killin me. I went six hours without eating that day.). So anyway, I will try and make up for it this week, though I have an Economics exam on Friday so I may not get much updated on Thursday. Anyway, like I was saying, this is an idea that I came up with, it was originally going to be a oneshot but I'm thinking of making it a twoshot instead. We'll know when we reach the end huh? XD Ok so I will shut up now and just get to it.
Disclaimer: Never owned HSM, probably never will.

Chocolate brown eyes shot over to the clock in his room. They were frantic, even as the second hand moved so rapidly around the basketball-shaped timer and the minute hand moved much more slowly. The boy rushed to gather his things together so he could make it out the front door in less than five minutes. Flowers? Check. Chocolates? Check. Super long apology and begging speech all locked up in his head? Check. Hopefully that was everything. Now all he had to do was make a mad dash out of his house….

Car keys! That's what he forgot! The male ran back inside and scurried to pick up his car keys off the credenza and then ran back out to his car. Even as he unlocked the doors and practically threw everything inside, he could still hear his mother calling not to go too far past the speed limit. Hey, even she had to go about five miles an hour in a rush to get to work, but never faster than that. But this boy knew better; he would only go ten miles faster if he had to. And this was a bigger emergency than work.

He had made a terrible mistake and this was his last chance to fix it. If he didn't make things right now then he would lose something more important than some job. What good was having a job if you didn't have someone special to work for anyway? Ok so he didn't necessarily have a job since the last summer, but there was a point to it. He didn't have a job to rush to. He had a person to rush to. And this was his last chance to win her back. Sure he had tried calling her a few times but his friends also claimed that she would need time to cool off before he rushed to talk to her. He gave her that time. No more than a week, because he couldn't take the wait. He was in suspense to know if she would take him back. He had to know what he could do to make everything up to her. But even after all the messages he left her, after all the times he tried talking to her, there were no results. And he felt terrible. He couldn't help but replay the night in and hopefully the one that she would be leaving from.

Graduation. It was one of the most important times in any person's life. And for these particular teenagers, it was only the beginning. They would all be moving on with new chapters to their lives and new beginnings, and it wouldn't even end there. While excited to get out of high school, not all of the teenagers were eager to start college. They didn't want everything to change.

The Evans twins would have to get used to being halfway across the country from each other. One would be remaining at home and the other would be heading to a prestigious performing arts college on the East Coast. And the twins were fairly close; sure they were both different in some cases, and one had finally broken apart from the other finished with merely being her sidekick, but that still wouldn't mean that they wouldn't miss each other. They were family and nothing would ever change that.

Best friends would be torn apart. Troy Bolton and Chad Danforth; Jason Cross and Zeke Baylor; Gabriella Montez and Taylor McKessie. These were pairs who were all so close with each other, whether they grew up together or had clicked from the minute they met. These pairs would be split out throughout America: California, New Mexico, New York, Kentucky, and Connecticut. Long distance friendships and new friendships in college. These were friendships that they didn't want to let go of so easily.

And what of the couples? They had gotten so close since they all started going out. Sharpay and Zeke were going strong, making promises to see each other every break and share a dinner. And no one could resist Zeke's cooking. And he promised to visit Sharpay for any performances she might have had; he loved seeing her sing and act almost as much as he loved baking. Such a different pair but they were still strong together.

Kelsi and Ryan had recently gotten together, though it hadn't been anything serious. And with the two of them going to the same college things could only grow from there. The issue in that, however, would be their schedules. Studying, classes, possibly going abroad, etc. Not to mention different majors. Where would they find all the time?

East High's power couple, their golden pair, the dynamic duo, were lucky enough to be attending college in the same state. Troy Bolton and Gabriella Montez. No one would have ever thought they'd get together. But from the first time they met it was love at first sight. Troy would follow Gabriella to college in California and every weekend they would visit each other and catch up, like their own little break every week. Even though Troy would be pursuing double majors and Gabriella would be working at such a prestigious college, mainly due to academics, they would still find a way around it. They would always go strong.

And then there were the two that seemed even more doubtful to get together than anyone else. They were even more opposite than Troy and Gabriella and had spent most of their childhood insulting each other. But what no one ever knew was that it was all a cover-up for their real feelings. Chad and Taylor have wanted to date since the start of middle school. But due to their opposing personalities and interests, not to mention with such strong clique systems in middle and high school, it would never work. They got together shortly after Troy and Gabriella did and, despite everyone else's thoughts, they remained together and strong for two years. And even though they would be on opposite sides of the country they would make sure to find a way for their relationship to work. They weren't about to lose it all now.

"I can't believe we actually graduated." Chad gasped one night. It wasn't even a week after the graduation ceremony and everyone was at Troy's house to celebrate. Close friends and a few other students from East High were all there, and some had even snuck in drinks. Yes, as in alcohol. Luckily that was all, compared to smoking. Hey, some people were sensitive to the smell of smoke and at least drinks were easier to avoid. But that still wasn't going to stop the major Wildcats from having the night of their lives (second best night after prom, of course).

"Come on Chad, you knew you were going to graduate." Taylor giggled, rubbing him on his back. "It wasn't that hard."

"Nah, I guess not." He smiled and shook his head. He turned to Taylor, his curly bangs brushing against his eyes as he did so. "I had you to help me the whole time."

"How sweet." Taylor couldn't help but gush. "But you know it was mostly you. I was just there to hold your hand."

"Yeah, and you'll be there to hold my hand while we're in college, too." Chad smiled as he took her hand in his.

Her face fell slightly as she looked at her boyfriend seriously. "Chad, you can't say that. Not when we're going to be nearly a whole country apart from each other."

"But we're gonna work something out. Even if it's just by video chat or something." He promised.

"Can we talk about this some other time?" Taylor asked. "Not tonight."

"Ok." He agreed with a nod. "But you know it has to be before August."

"I know." Taylor nodded reluctantly. "But we're supposed to have fun tonight. Can we leave it at that?"

The truth was, she knew they'd have to talk about it. They couldn't put it off forever. But Taylor didn't want to be reminded about it. She wanted to forget how far away she'd be from Chad. And she certainly didn't want it to end with a breakup. If they could just go a little longer without talking about it, then they could still enjoy what little time they had left together.

Chad understood and kissed her on the cheek. "Anything you want, Tay." He promised. "We'll talk about it whenever you're ready before August."

Hey, he didn't want to talk about it either. But what choice did they have? The subject couldn't be avoided for long and Chad just wanted to get it over with before it could get any worse. And the last thing he wanted from it was to dump Taylor. Not the best thing that ever happened to him. Not the most important girl in his life. There was no way he was about to lose it all.

"Hey I'm gonna go get a drink, ok?" he asked. "You want anything?"

"No, I'm good right now." Taylor shook her head.

"Ok." Chad nodded. "Be back in five." He gave her another kiss on the cheek and made his way into the kitchen. He poured himself a cup of soda – yes, he even made sure it was soda before he did anything else – and took a sip from it. He was about to adjourn back into the living room when he ran into one of the cheerleaders, Roxy Hunter. Known to most as a backstabber and a boy-stealer. She had tried her hand at Troy and Zeke, everyone heard, and naturally was unsuccessful. So Chad was the last one she would have a chance at before even going to a community college if she could get in.

"Hey there Chad." She greeted almost seductively.

Chad stopped and turned to the brunette. "Oh hey Roxanne."

"Roxy." Se corrected. Why was she going after a guy who never really remembered her name? Oh yeah; because he was one hot man. And a certain other word that everyone knew Chad was. Come on, you know you're thinking it. But Roxy had her own word for it; she had dubbed the majority of the basketball team 'shmexy'. It just sounded good to her. And Chad, Troy and Zeke were the top three on her 'shmexy' list.

"Right…" Chad nodded slowly. "Look, I've got someone waiting for me in the living room so I should get going…"

"Not before we have a little talk. "Roxy said quickly, pulling him back in. She glanced at his drink. "Coke? That's all you're having? Just a coke?"

"Yeah." Chad shrugged like it was no big deal.

"Well you need something stronger. Soda's weak." Roxy replied.

"No." he shook his head simply. "I don't drink."

"Just one sip." Roxy urged. Man he was being so stubborn.

"Not even a half a sip." Chad replied, becoming annoyed now. "Look my girlfriend is waiting for me. I gotta go back to her."

There had to be another way to get him to stick around. So Roxy did the only thing she could think of. She pulled Chad in for a tight kiss. And when Roxy Hunter kissed, she made sure to not let her man get away until she was ready to get him go. And just as she pulled away from Chad a few minutes later, she managed to spike his drink. How? Let's just say she had her ways. And after that it was only a matter of time before everything was taken upstairs. And into Troy's bedroom!

It was about an hour later that Troy had found out when he stormed downstairs. Before he could go talk to anyone else, he was stopped by a concerned Taylor.

"Troy have you seen Chad anywhere?" she asked him. "He said an hour ago he'd be back in five minutes but I haven't seen him since."

"Yeah, I saw him." Troy grunted. "And you don't wanna know what he'd doing. Actually, you do wanna know. And then you can go and give him a piece of your mind cause I don't want anything to do with him."

"What?" Taylor gasped.

"He's in my room doin it with the same cheerleader who tried breaking me up with Gabriella last March." Troy explained, pointing to the staircase. "He's actually all over that chick."

"I'm sorry Troy, but I can't believe it. Chad would never-" she shook her head.

"Go up there and see for yourself. I'm done with him." Troy insisted before walking away, just as angry as he was before.

Taylor just shook her head with wide eyes. There was no way Chad was cheating on her. He had never done that before. They would never do that to each other. They loved each other. At least, Taylor thought so. Hoping to any God-like force that Troy was wrong, Taylor slowly made her way upstairs to Troy's room. The door was opened only a crack, probably from when Troy had walked in. And she could hear moaning coming from inside. There was no way any of those moans could be coming from Chad…just no way.

But there was a way. As soon as Taylor opened the door to see for herself, her heart cracked inside just before completely crumbling. Chad really was in Troy's room with Roxy and she was watching them going at it right now. Not even wanting to say anything, knowing her voice would crack if she spoke, Taylor just shook her head and let the tears cascade from her eyes before rushing out of Troy's house.

As soon as Chad came to, he found himself laying next to Roxy. But that couldn't be right. He and Taylor had only done it once and ever since then Chad promised that he wouldn't do it with any other girl. But he just did. And the clothes were all over the floor to prove it. Chad dashed out of the room and tried talking to everyone. But Troy completely ignored him. Gabriella looked at him with a sad, disappointed look before leaving. Even Sharpay looked disappointed, and we're talking about one of the girls who hates Chad's guts (and likewise as far as Chad thinks of Sharpay). And that's when it hit Chad. What if Taylor had caught him? What if she thought he did it all intentionally?

The only person who would hear Chad out was Kelsi Neilson. As angry as she was with him, much like everyone else was, she was willing to hear his side of the story and give him the benefit of the doubt – only if he deserved it. And even after hearing his side, Kelsi was still as angry with him as everyone else. But she was willing to give him some advice if he desperately wanted Taylor back. That advice was to give Taylor time to cool off and not try to tackle her with too many confessions at once. After all, Chad would be the last person she'd want to talk to. But Kelsi didn't bother to tell Chad that he broke Taylor's heart with his own carelessness. As soon as Chad would see Taylor's face it would explain it all.

But Chad had tried talking to Taylor. He couldn't go more than a week without even thinking about her. He left her so many messages, he lost count after ten. But she never called back. She didn't even want to look at him. Chad had messed up big time; there was no other way to say it. And Chad swore then that he would do anything he could to make it up to Taylor before she would board that plane for Yale.

So now here he was, making a mad dash into the airport to try and win his lady back. Chad looked pretty tired as well. It didn't help that he was up almost half the night trying to gather all of his thoughts together, including playing the night back in his head over and over again. Why did he ever even go to get a drink? He could have gotten someone else to do it. Then he wouldn't have gotten drunk (even if it was by accident) and cheated on Taylor.

Everything was planned out. He would find her, beg her for her forgiveness, and make sure he had everything to even follow her if he had to. All Chad had to do was find her. And in a mob of an airport where people constantly walked in and out and around that was going to be difficult. Then he heard the announcement over the intercom. It was a flight for Connecticut. Chad listened for no more than five seconds and then rushed even faster to said gate. Taylor had to be there, he knew it.

And she was. She was gathering her belongings, ready to board the plane and make a fresh start. Forget about her heartbroken summer and forget that she was ever in love with someone. She would only be at Yale for schoolwork and nothing else. But Chad couldn't let that happen.

"Taylor!" he finally called. "Tay!"

That seemed to get her attention; she stopped walking and turned to see Chad. There he was, with flowers and chocolates in a heart-shaped box at hand and nothing but depression in his eyes. And now the sadness Taylor held in her own eyes was being replaced with confusion. Yes, there was still that hint of sadness there, but she was confused at what was going on. Why had he come after her? Why was he forcing her to remember everything? What was he trying to do to her?

Chad saw this as his opportunity to go over to her. He breathed heavily from all the running and stopped in front of Taylor. He offered her the flowers first, but she made no movement to accept them or anything.

"I came to catch you, Tay." He said once he caught his breath. "I came to see you."

But Taylor shook her head. Just the sound of his voice made it all come back. She didn't want to remember. She wanted to push him out of her mind forever.

"Don't. Don't take another step to me." She said quietly, knowing if she talked louder her voice would become shaky and she would fall to pieces.

"Tay, I have to apologize. I wanna make it up to you. I wanted to stop you before you left…" he started.

"Don't." she insisted, her voice already cracking. "Just stay away from me, Chad. I don't want anything to do with you anymore."

Chad took a step back and shook his head. He wasn't about to lose her; he came all this way. "Tay…" he whispered.

"No, stop." Taylor repeated. "Don't 'Tay' me, I'm nothing to you. And you know what, you're nothing to me. So just get out of here, alright? I have a plane to catch." She turned on her heel and stormed through the gates, wiping her eyes with her back turned to him.

"Taylor, no…" Chad tried again. "Taylor, please. Just hear me out! Tay I can't lose you again…." The doors were already closing as the last passenger walked through to catch that plane. "Tay I love you!" he called once more, the loudest he could as those doors closed. He breathed heavily once more, but not from all the running this time. Chad didn't care that so many people were just staring at him now. He didn't care that his own eyes were watering up. He didn't care that he was standing alone in an airport after losing his lover. He just wanted her back. He needed to be near her, to make sure she was safe, to be there for her, just to love her. And he was going to find a way around it.

He gathered himself together and wiped his eyes, clutching the flowers even tighter. Chad took a deep breath and walked over to the nearest counter. The lady looked at him with mixed feelings. She had sympathy for him, but Chad didn't look like he wanted it. But she remained professional, to the best of her ability.

"You need to go after her, don't you?" she asked. She had viewed enough lovers and their quarrels before one left to know when something like that was about to happen.

Chad nodded and forced the words out of his mouth. Even if Taylor didn't want him near her, even if she wanted nothing to do with him, he still had something to prove. And even if it meant skipping out on U of A he would do it.

"One ticket for the next flight to Connecticut."

Yup, it's gonna be a two-parter then. Hey if this was supposed to be a sad ending it'd all end here. But obviously it's not so that means there's gotta be a happy ending somewhere up ahead, right? Well just read the second part and you'll see for yourself. 0=)