Take A Chance On Me
Chapter 1
A/N: Prequel to 'One Thing'. High School Musical from Taylor and Chad's point of view. Based on the song of the same name by ABBA.
Taylor McKessie spent her New Year's Eve preparing for the Scholastic Decathlon much to the annoyance of her parents. They were very proud of their daughter they both just wished that she would socialise with their guests, they were throwing a New Years party. Hailey, Taylor's older sister, bragged to their guests about her sister and how smart she was.
Chad Danforth spent New Year's Eve with his parents, who were also throwing a party, and played two on two with his friends who were in attendance. Basketball was their life and they had a lot of practice to do to be ready for the high school basketball championship which was in a little over two weeks from that night. Chad's parents spent the night bragging about how proud they were of their son and his dedication to the sport.
The first day back at school a few days later, after the break, was an interesting one.
Taylor spent the morning before homeroom catching up with her decathlon team while Chad spent the morning before homeroom catching up with his best friend.
Chad was showing off his basketball skills to the cheerleaders while he waited for his best friend Troy Bolton to get off of the school bus which had just pulled up in front of the school.
Troy walked off of the bus and Chad put an arm around his shoulders instantly, "Troy, boy, how you doing man?"
"Hey Chad," Troy smiled, "hey guys, Happy New Year."
"Psh, yeah, it's gonna be a Happy Wildcat New Year man," Chad grinned as he raised his arms to emphasise his enthusiasm, "because in two weeks we're going to the championships with YOU leading us to infinity and beyond."
"WHAT TEAM?" Chad shouted.
"WILDCATS!" Everyone around them responded.
"WHAT TEAM?" Chad shouted again.
"WILDCATS!" Everyone around them responded again.
There were cheers all around them as the team entered the school.
Chad, Troy, Jason Cross, and Zeke Baylor fake shivered as the school 'IT' girl walked between them.
"The ice princess has returned from the North Pole," Zeke joked.
"You know she probably spent the holidays like she always does," Chad began.
"How's that?" Jason asked curiously.
"Shopping for mirrors," Chad finished.
"Oooh," came the response from Troy, Zeke, and Jason.
Everyone around them laughed as well.
"Ugh, behold the zoo animals heralding the new year," Taylor said to her friends as the jocks walked past them, Taylor had been pinning up a poster to promote the Scholastic Decathlon, "how tribal."
The school bell rang and Taylor waved her goodbyes to her friends as she made her own way to homeroom.
Taylor was happy to be back at school, it was where she felt the most comfortable. Her friends were a bit less excited to be back, only because they were nervous about the Decathlon. Taylor understood their concerns, they hadn't exactly been doing well in Decathlon's over the past few years. Taylor was still confident though, she had a feeling that this year would be different, this year Taylor felt confident that they would win.
In homeroom Taylor organised her papers and books for the day while trying not to get hit by the basketball that Chad, Zeke, Troy, and Jason were throwing around. Taylor wished that Ms Darbus would take the ball away from them and get homeroom started. There were bound to be plenty of announcements and Taylor wanted to make sure that she didn't miss anything important and would still make it to her first class in time.
Taylor was relieved when the final bell rang and Ms Darbus took control of the room.
Chad was annoyed when the final bell rang and Ms Darbus took control of the room.
Everyone took their seats and listened as Ms Darbus spoke.
"I trust you all had splendid holidays. Check the sign-up sheets in the lobby for new activities, Mr Bolton, especially our winter musical. We will have singles auditions for our supporting roles and pairs auditions for our two leads," Ms Darbus started.
Chad motioned his thumb in a 'thumbs down' position and blew out air in dissatisfaction at the idea.
"Mr Danforth this is a place of learning not a hockey arena," Ms Darbus said sternly as she stood near Chad's desk, "there is also a finals sign up for next week's Scholastic Decathlon competition. Chem club president Taylor McKessie can answer all of your questions about that."
Taylor raised her hand as Ms Darbus mentioned her to make sure that any interested party knew who she was. It wasn't like Taylor was very popular so she hadn't expected anyone to know who she is.
"Ah the cell phone menace has returned to our crucible of learning," Ms Darbus stated as someone's ringtone sounded throughout the room, "Sharpay, Ryan cell phones and I will see you in detention. We have zero tolerance for cell phones in class so we will get to know each other in detention, cell phone, and welcome to East High Miss Montez. Mr Bolton I see your phone is involved so we will see you in detention as well."
Chad raised his hand and began speaking quickly in defense of his best friend, "uh that's not even a possibility Ms Darbus your honour. See cause we have basketball practice and Troy…."
"Ah that will be fifteen minutes for you too Mr Danforth, count 'em," Ms Darbus snapped.
Taylor turned to her friends with a smirk, "that could be tough for Chad since he probably can't count that high."
Her friends grinned in appreciation.
Ms Darbus however was unimpressed, "Taylor McKessie. Fifteen minutes."
Taylor gasped in shock, that was not what she had expected.
Chad turned around to see her reaction and noticed that she was actually kinda cute when she was surprised.
Taylor was too busy thinking about the consequences of her making fun of Chad that she didn't notice him staring at her.
"Shall the carnage continue?" Ms Darbus said sharply as she slammed the tin of cell phones onto Troy's desk, "holidays are over people, way over. Now any more comments? Questions?"
Jason raised his hand behind Taylor.
"Jason," Ms Darbus sighed.
"So, how were your holidays Ms Darbus?" Jason asked kindly.
Everyone in the room sighed in annoyance and turned to look at Jason.
"What?" Jason asked innocently.
Taylor was relieved when the bell rang for first period, at least there she couldn't get herself in more trouble. Taylor enjoyed her maths and science classes, there were no jocks around to torment.
First period was calculus, Taylor was looking forward to it knowing that she would get to work on the preparations for the Scholastic Decathlon next week.
Taylor was focusing on her work and trying to ignore Sharpay's badgering of the new girl when she heard the new girl criticise the teachers work.
Taylor looked up to see that the new girl might have a point about the calculation being wrong. Taylor quickly grabbed her calculator to check the teacher's work.
Taylor smiled as an idea formed in head, if the new girl could pick that up maybe she would be exactly what the Scholastic Decathlon team needed to take out a win this year.
The rest of the day was uneventful until Taylor went to her locker at the end of the day, before detention.
A sheet of paper fell out of Taylor's locker as she opened the door, picking it up Taylor read what was on it and grinned. This was it, Gabriella Montez wanted to be on the Scholastic Decathlon team and Taylor didn't want to wait another second to tell her that she was on the team. After making sure that her bag and books were secure in her locker Taylor headed to the auditorium where Ms Darbus detention was held.
Chad and Troy were reluctantly helping the drama club with painting and decorating one of the trees that had been set out on the stage to be worked on when Taylor rushed onto the stage to talk to Gabriella.
Chad watched her for a while wondering what she was in such a hurry for. Surely she wasn't actually looking forward to detention, she would be the only person in the world who would look forward to detention if that's why she was in a hurry.
Chad watched Taylor talking excitedly to Gabriella and wondered what could have made her so happy. The girl looked depressed after homeroom and now as if by some miracle she was actually happy being in detention. Chad shook his head, it was stupid to think that he'd ever understand the female mind.
Chad sighed and grabbed his basketball before hiding in the tree, hoping that if Darbus couldn't see him he'd get away with not doing anything for the rest of detention.
Chad thought that he'd get away with it until he heard the auditorium doors slam open and then he heard the voice of Coach Bolton and he knew that he and Troy were done for. If there was anything worse than being on Ms Darbus bad side it was being on the coach's bad side. Chad tried to ignore the sound of coach yelling but he was pulled out from the tree by Troy much to his disappointment.
Taylor rolled her eyes as she watched Chad and Troy leave the auditorium. Of course those two would get out of detention. Everyone in the school knew that the only extra-curricular activity that Principal Matsui cares about is basketball. One word to him from the coach, Troy's Dad, would get the two lunkheads out of detention every single time.
Ms Darbus detention lasted an hour.
After that Taylor walked with Gabriella to the school carpark trying to convince her to join the Decathlon team even though she could tell that Gabriella wasn't really that interested. Taylor would do whatever it took though to make sure that her team would win for a change and Gabriella was the answer that they needed.
"We've never made it past the first round of the Scholastic Decathlon, you could be our answered prayer," Taylor said to Gabriella.
"I'm going to focus on my studies this semester and help my Mum get the new house organised. Maybe next year," Gabriella responded.
"But," Taylor tried to argue but Gabriella interrupted before she could speak.
"What do you know about Troy Bolton?" Gabriella asked desperate to change the subject.
Taylor sighed, what didn't she know would have been an easier question. They used to be friends but that was before basketball, it was also a story for another time.
"Troy?" Taylor asked, "hmm. I would consider myself an expert on that particular sub-species. However unless you speak cheerleader as in," Taylor walked over to the cheerleaders and raised her tone, "oh my gosh, isn't Troy Bolton just the hottie super-bum?"
Taylor and Gabriella quickly got out of the way of the now over-enthusiastic cheerleaders.
"See what I mean?" Taylor asked Gabriella with a big smile.
Gabriella smiled back, "I guess I don't know how to speak cheerleader."
"Which is why we exist in an alternative universe to Troy the basketball boy," Taylor said exasperatedly.
"Have you tried to get to know him?" Gabriella questioned.
"Watch how it works in the cafeteria tomorrow when you have lunch with us. Unless you'd rather sit with the cheerleaders and discuss the importance of firm nailbeds," Taylor said avoiding the question.
"My nailbeds are history," Gabriella said holding up her hands.
Taylor smiled and held up her own hands, "sister!"
They both laughed as they continued walking to the carpark.
Taylor's sister Hailey was waiting for her when they reached the parking lot, "do you want a lift?" Taylor asked Gabriella.
"It's okay I can take the bus," Gabriella offered.
Taylor shook her head, "no way am I letting you take the bus when my sister has a perfectly functioning car. Besides she owes me so she won't mind."
Gabriella smiled, "then I accept."
They walked over to Hailey's car and climbed in.
"Hailey this is Gabriella she's new to the school, Gabriella this is my sister Hailey," Taylor introduced once they had their seatbelts on.
"Nice to meet you, am I taking you to your own home?" Hailey asked.
"Yes please, nice meeting you too," Gabriella said.
Gabriella then told Hailey her address and Hailey programmed it into the GPS.
The car ride was filled with laughter as Taylor recalled the many ridiculous acts that the Evans twins and the basketballers had done throughout the day.
Hailey pulled the car to a stop outside Gabriella's house, "here we are."
"Thanks Hailey for driving me. Taylor thanks for rescuing me from the cheerleaders, I'll see you tomorrow," Gabriella said.
Taylor and Gabriella hugged before Gabriella exited the car and walked up to her front door.
Hailey waited for Gabriella to close the front door behind her before they left.
"So it was a good day then?" Hailey asked Taylor.
"Yeah it was," Taylor smiled, "the only bad thing is that Gabriella is kinda into Troy."
"Well that's not really a surprise is it? I mean other than yourself every girl in that school wants to be with Troy. You can't really expect the new girl to not notice his dreamy eyes," Hailey teased.
Taylor laughed, "yeah I suppose you're right."
Taylor hoped that the next day would go more smoothly than today, she definitely didn't have enough time to worry about detention again.
Chad spent the afternoon after basketball practice playing video games with his Dad and telling him about his day.
"Still haven't spoken to Taylor yet?" Chad's Dad asked.
"No and I have no plans to. We haven't been friends in years Dad," Chad said in annoyance.
Chad wished that he never mentioned Taylor when he recalled the events of the school day. It always ended in a conversation about Taylor.
"I'm just saying, if you spend so much time staring at her and wondering what she's thinking you might wanna be friends again," his Dad said.
"Dad, Taylor and I will never be friends again," Chad said firmly effectively ending the conversation.