Stand, a high school musical fanfic

Disclaimer: I so don't own HSM or the Rascal Flatt's lyrics.

Started: December 17, 2010.

Finished: December 17, 2010.

=Stand=

-By Jessica L. Ayers-

If there's anything about high school that Gabriella didn't like, it was the bitches and their drama, especially drama that was not true. She hated the way the girls would look at her, she hated the way they talked about her, the way they stop and stare at her, judging her by not only who her parents are, what they do, where she lives, what she drives, what she talks about…just anything she does – she hates the bitches who stop walking, stare, and talk about her.

If they wanted to stop walking and stare, do it with some other time with someone else, if they want to talk about her behind her back, she wanted them to come up to her and tell her it to her face for she never knows why people judge her because she really and honestly had no idea what everyone's problems were with her.

So that night she was sitting her room with a cup of hot chocolate, thinking about everything that had happened to her and had caused her to go home early, in tears and upset, feeling different emotions and not even telling her best friends who were more like her adoptive siblings or her boyfriend about what had happened or that she even left school, the only ones who knew why she left was the basketball coach, Jack Bolton, the drama and English teacher, Ms. Darbus, and of course her parents, Greg and Inez Montez.

Her parents were her rocks, the two people she would always go to for advice beside the blonde haired, brown eyed, pink designer velvet track suit clad who was standing in her doorway looking at her best friend. Sharpay Evans, noticed that something was definitely wrong with her best friend, sure she noticed it right away when Gabriella didn't turn up to any of her afternoon classes or lunch, but now she knew for sure, seeing her best friend wrapped in a bright neon-blue, soft Snuggie wrapped around her petite, tanned, and toned body; her beautiful brunette, curly and wavy hair pulled into a messy bun on the top of her head; her stuffed Tigger from the Winnie the Pooh series she's had ever since she was born in 1993 on her lap; and topping it off was not only her smeared makeup, but the cup of hot chocolate that was in her shaking hands with her big and beautiful brown eyes looking wounded as she turned to look at the blonde.

"Oh, Gabriella," Sharpay whispered with her own tears as she dropped her designer handbag and sprinted towards her best friend. Sitting down on the window seat beside Gabriella, she pulled the tearing brunette into her dancer arms and rocked her after the brunette had set her cup down. "Shh, Brie-Ella, shh. I'm here, Sweetie, I'm here."

"Oh, Sharpay," the seventeen year old Filipina whispered between her heavy, gut wrenching sobs as her best friend continued to rock her best friend and unknowingly began texting the rest of their friends and one very important person to come to the Montez household and as quick as the superhero Flash.

"What happened, Brie-Ella?" Sharpay whispered as she continued to rock her, "I mean I was sitting at lunch with the others and we were waiting for you before we dug into Zeke's Crème Brûlée's and then you didn't come for the longest time so we figured you were busy doing something. So we saved the C.B.'s till our next period, which was free, but still no you and we were really starting to worry about you, especially when you didn't show up for the rest of your classes, and in front of the school by our Willow tree."

Gabriella took a deep breath and pulled away from her best friend, who used her manicured fingers to wipe away at Gabriella's tears and give her said smile as the brunette began explaining things to the blonde, while unknowingly her best friends were watching and listening from the doorway. "I was sitting in Science as was Alley and we'll you know Derek right? Well, he was saying all this nasty stuff too us and then he kept touching me and pulling my hair while the teacher was in the back of the room, not paying attention, and so everyone was like 'Gabriella, we'll give you twenty dollars if you punch him out and knock him on his ass' and believe me I wanted too and him dead – and I'm not even a violent person! – but the bell rang.

So then when I went to lunch to wait for you guys, I was pulled to the side by John and his brother, Dustin, who both play basketball with Troy, and he goes 'so did you hear about the rumor that's going around about us?' and I was like 'um, no. What rumor?' and he told me the rumor…"

"What was it?"

"So I take it you didn't hear about it yet? I wonder if the others did…"Gabriella replied before telling her, "The rumor is that not only did I supposedly kiss John but I've supposedly done other stuff with him. And this girl also some nasty stuff about me and everything and Troy only being into me because of my boobs, body, and looks, it just kept getting worse and worse when John showed me the message the nameless girl sent to him – and it's not even his girlfriend! And Sharpay, you've gotta believe me I would never do anything like that with John, John's my friend and that's it. And I'm afraid if Troy finds out then….well, I'm actually fearing the worse will happen between us and I'm freaking out, Sharpay. I've felt every emotion all at once, I've screamed, I've cried, I've done everything to try to vent and it just ain't working. Urgh!" Gabriella screamed at the end of her story, burying her face in her knees while Sharpay flicked her gaze quickly over to the others who had wide open mouths and widened eyes.

"Gabriella Marie Montez, you should have come to me immediately," Sharpay scolded her best friend.

"Or one of us," came a new voice causing Gabriella's head to turn towards her bedroom doorway with her eyes wide as she scanned over each best friend – Taylor McKessie and her boyfriend Chad Danforth, Sharpay's boyfriend Zeke Baylor, Sharpay's twin brother Ryan Evans and his girlfriend Martha Cox, Kelsi Nelsen and her boyfriend Jason Cross – before her eyes instantly grew bigger in shock before putting her head down, knowing that the one person she had just connected eyes with, had to be disappointed in her because she didn't come to him either, and that person was her boyfriend, Troy Bolton.

The gang all looked at each other before quickly moving towards the depressed girl and quickly embracing her and Sharpay into a group hug. Over the top of Gabriella's head, her blue eyed, chestnut colored haired boyfriend gave them all a look asking them if they could give them some privacy while he talked to his emotional girlfriend. One by one, each left the girl and her boyfriend alone, knowing that they needed to talk about the recent events recently heard about before they tell Gabriella how they were gonna help her with no if, and's, or but's from her.

Once everyone was out of the room, Gabriella looked back out the window as the snow gently fell coating everything in a blanket of white, that glittered like diamonds in the moon and sun lights.

"Brie, Baby, we've gotta talk about what we're gonna do about this," Troy whispered softly, "We need to find out who started this asshole of a rumor about my beautiful and intelligent girlfriend."

"So you believe it's not true?" Gabriella's shocked whispered reply came as she turned towards him with wide eyes and a ghost of a smile.

"Of course, I love you and I trust you," the basketball captain informed her, caressing her cheeks while placing a soft kiss on her dry lips. Pulling back, he leaned his forehead on hers and told her with a small smile that matched hers, "Plus that Wednesday you didn't stay after school with just John, but with Zane, Alex, and Brad and I bet you Brad was the one who told this nameless bitch when he saw you too hugging."

"How do you know we were hugging?" Gabriella asked, even though her and John were just hugging and that was all it ever was between them besides the playful banter of pretend flirting when they wanted to pick on the basketball captain.

"If you remember correctly, I picked you up after you were done tutoring the boys, so I could take you home before my practice and I saw John hug you," Troy replied with a slight chuckle as the realization finally came to her and showed on her face.

As the two were embraced in a loving and comfortable hug, the rest of their friends entered the room and took quick pictures with the girls cooing at them before they all embraced the two in another group hug before finally the group all took their chance to tell Gabriella things, starting with Taylor. "Gabriella, firstly, I'm disappointed you didn't come to one of us, Marie. We would have got'cha through the day, Sweetie. We're always here for you, I'm always here for you. I love you, Marie!"

"Gabriella Marie, everyone just jealous of the way you chose to live life – fearless and selfless so, the haters can only the things they can't have and the people they can't be," Ryan informed the girl.

"Look, don't listen to your haters especially a nameless one, okay? Because you are the greatest chick that only comes around once in a life time and you're a one of kind girl. Do I care what those haters think? Hell no, and I'll tell them that and to keep it in their mind that if they mess with you they mess with me and the rest of us," Martha told her best friend with a proud smile and wink.

"Yeah because I'll be here as will the rest of us Sunshine and as long as you pay no mind to those who talk behind your back, then you're always two steps ahead of your haters," Jason told his the seventeen year old girl who smiled her thanks at him and hugged him.

"Twinkle, Twinkle, Shining Star, you're the brightest star in the sky and that's why you have haters because they're jealous of you shining so brightly that your outshining them," Kelsi told her, using a part of a famous nursery line and adding her nickname for the Filipina in it instead of 'little star'.

"Rie, people are going to want you, need you, exceed you, take you, love you, hate you, play you, rate you, save you, and break you but that's what makes you, you. So when you still go on with your head held high, that's what makes me proud to say I'm your friend and I'll protect you till the ends of the Earth," Zeke told the Filipina moving a piece of her hair behind her ears and placing a brotherly kiss on her hand.

"Brie-Ella, you keep it real, and that's a promise. You may be the sweetest person in the world, but you've admitted something I've known and that we both have in common and that is that we're the biggest bitches you'll ever meet in life, but at least we're honest ones that are in charge – the HBIC's! When you walk by, your haters stop and stare and even talk about you, but they should just keep fucking looking, talking, and walking because you shouldn't care because you live your own life and have your own style…you're not trying to please you or anybody else or make someone else smile. So they can either love you or hate you because both ways, you're always on their mind, and you'll be flattered by it.

Who are they to fucking judge you because you've admitted that you're not perfect and you claim that you aren't either so before they start pointing fingers, they need to make sure their own hands are fucking clean. And unless they've fucking lived your life, they can't judge you because they don't know, and they never have and never will know every little thing and detail about you. Okay?" Sharpay told her best friend who smiled and nodded before hugging her tightly.

"First of all, whoever did this I'll kick his ass, if he's a guy and if it's a girl, I'll verbally attack them because nobody messes with my little sister," Chad told her, "Second, you need to be the girl with her middle finger in the air because you don't care what they say. Third, let them judge you because you'll prove them hella wrong. When they try to tell you what to do, tell them the fuck off. If they screw you over, do it to them twice as bad. If they call you crazy, tell them they really have no idea, especially since you're a Wildcat. And when they tell you that you're not worth it, you tell them to watch where you end up and to watch their backs because there's nothing like the Wildcats scorned because if you hurt one of us, you hurt all of us so you instantly have to face all of us. Forth and finally, I love you Little Sister so tell me whose ass I'm kicking and killing for you before I bury them." Chad finished up his speech by pulling her into his arms and placing a brotherly kiss on her forehead as he rubbed her back.

"Wow, who knew you could be deep," Sharpay commented causing them all to burst out laughing, even Chad who first playfully glared at the blonde haired beauty.

"I know right," Chad replied causing them all to laugh harder.

"You just gotta remember to stand, Brie, and that we love you no matter what and we'll always believe you." Troy whispered in her ear as they all began singing Stand by Rascal Flatts to her…

You feel like a candle in a hurricane
Just like a picture with a broken frame
Alone and helpless
Like you've lost your fight
But you'll be alright, you'll be alright

Cause when push comes to shove
You taste what you're made of
You might bend, till you break
Cause it's all you can take
On your knees you look up
Decide you've had enough
You get mad you get strong
Wipe your hands shake it off
Then you Stand, Then you stand
Life's like a novel
With the end ripped out
The edge of a canyon
With only one way down
Take what you're given before its gone
Start holding on, keep holding on

Cause when push comes to shove
You taste what you're made of
You might bend till you break
Cause it's all you can take
On your knees you look up
Decide you've had enough
You get mad, you get strong
Wipe your hands, shake it off
Then you stand, then you stand

Everytime you get up
And get back in the race
One more small piece of you
Starts to fall into place
Oh

"WE LOVE YOU GABRIELLA AND WE HATE YOUR HATERS!" The group told Gabriella as they pulled her into the third group hug that night, and just like that Gabriella knew that her haters didn't matter because the people who matter the most and the opinions that mattered the most where right here in this house – her adoptive siblings, her parents, and most importantly her boyfriend.

~The End~

Well, there you guys have it. This is a story which I first called "Venting" because it was a story I wrote to vent about my problems. Gabriella's experience in this was based on my experience in school today, EXCEPT I don't have a boyfriend or friends like this, and the names of John, Dustin, Derek, Alley, and the nameless bitch, were all involved with my shitty school day today. && I truly did feel every emotion today….so please R&R and make me feel better?

I love you guys.

Happy Holidays,

Jessica.