Title: Summer Getaway
Summary: This was supposed to be his time to just chill and hang out with his friends. But a turn of events landed Troy Bolton at the last place he'd want to be at. Can Gabriella Montez change his views on what Troy thinks will be the summer of his death? AU.
Disclaimer: Not mine. Not ever.
A/N: A story that had been haunting me for a while, and with the nudge my friend gave me, finally started writing it. This is my first HSM story. I made a OneShot before, and all of my other stories are Zac and Vanessa, which you can find in Music in Me (link in profile). So, I hope you guys like it.
Chapter 1: Summertime
Troy watched anxiously at the clock, as it ticked, the hand moving closer and closer to the twelve. He wasn't the only one, everyone in the class was looking at the clock as well, waiting for that hand to get to the top, starting the beginning of summer. He had been through agony having to go through classes after classes of boring teachers teaching him about things that he wont even use in his life when he becomes a pro in the NBA. He knew once the clock strike three, he would be the first one out of there. He would immediately clean out his locker and head out the doors of this high school and start the summer off with his best buds.
The bell rang, interrupting Troy's thoughts of his perfect summer vacation. Once he was hit back on earth, all the students in the class had started to stand up and gather their things. Troy immediately did so as well, fortunately for him, he didn't have much things and all of his gatherings were already set, giving him a perfect opportunity to bolt out faster.
Once he was out of the class, he felt even more relieved, not having that suffocating feeling anymore when he was inside. With a grin on his face, he immediately made his way to his locker in his stud like walk. As he strutted, passerby's gave him all waves of hello's and pleasant greetings. He greeted back with his trademark smile and nod combination. The guys idolize him for it and the girls melted away for it. You could say Troy Bolton was the King of his school. Not only was he the basketball captain, but a resident Hottie as well.
Nearing his locker he was pleased to see one of his best friends already there. "Hey Tay." he greeted the girl with a hug.
"Troy Bolton, always putting on that charm of yours." she rolled her eyes, pulling away from him, then continued to take more of her things out from her locker.
"Well what can I say, I'm a charmer." he smirked, opening his own locker.
"Keep doing that, and these girls are just gonna get the wrong idea." she said sarcastically.
"Well if they didn't know by now, then they'll never know. So shame on them for not paying more close attention."
Taylor rolled her eyes once more, debating whether or not she should venture in a lecture about respecting women or just leave it alone. Even though, knowing full well that the things she'll say to him will just go in one ear and out the other. So she opted for the latter.
"You know, I really don't understand why you must flirt with these girls if you're not even gonna be serious with any of them." Taylor continued.
"It's just in the good ol' Bolton nature. I shouldn't put this good look to waste."
"You're such a man slut."
"Proud of it." he said with a wink and a smirk.
"Why Don't you just settle down with a nice girl. That would do you good."
"Where's the fun in that."
"I honestly don't know what to do with you Troy." Taylor sighed dejectedly, closing her locker and looking at him.
"Tay you know me."
"Yeah, yeah." she rolled her eyes. "You don't have girlfriend, you have girlfriends."
Troy smiled. "Exactly. I mean why make it serious, we're still in high school. I have all my life to find a girl to settle down with. I just want to have fun you know?"
"And how long do you think this 'fun phase' of yours is gonna last?"
"Why the sudden interest in my love life?" he asked, closing his locker.
"I just don't want you to be lonely."
"I'm not lonely." he said, then three girls walked by and he gave them all a grin and a wink. "Hey ladies." the girls giggled giddily then walked away. "See?" Troy said to Taylor with a cocky smile.
"I swear." Taylor muttered. "If you weren't my best friend…"
"You love me."
"I don't know why."
"Oh you love me!" he said in a baby voice, moving closer to her with a hug. "You love me, you love me, you love me."
"Ok, ok!" Taylor giggled and hugged him back.
"Hey, get away from my girl!" The two pulled back and smiled upon seeing their bushy haired friend. "Hey babe." he grinned at Taylor, giving her a hug and a kiss that lasted much longer than Troy's liking.
"Ok guys, PDA much here." Troy said, finally breaking the pair off.
Chad looked at Troy with a mega watt grin. "Hey, what's up man?" the two shared a manly hug. Then he placed an arm around Taylor and the three started to walk down the hallway towards the doors. "So, excited about this summer?"
"Hell yeah." Troy said. "Nothing but basketball, surfing, and babes in bikini's."
"Ugh." Taylor rolled her eyes. "Trust you to be the one to be thinking about half naked girls."
"Just not my girl." Chad joked.
"Dude gross."
"Excuse me." Taylor looked at Troy with a raised brow.
"You know what I mean. you're my best friend. And you're like my sister, it would be gross to see you in a bikini. I mean - " he stopped in frustration then glared at Chad. "You set me up."
"I wasn't the one who walked into it." Chad chuckled, pulling Taylor closer.
Taylor rolled her eyes. "Men."
"You know, we should totally do something different this summer." Chad said. "We've practically been doing the same thing for summer since sixth grade."
"What more could you want to do Chad?" Troy asked. "I mean, sure, we could do with less basketball, since we do that during school anyways. But we hardly ever hit the water specially during winter. And plus, how could you get tired of looking at girls in bikini's?"
"I'm perfectly fine just looking at my babe, thank you very much." he said with a content smile, pulling Taylor closer and pulled her in with a kiss, making Taylor smile.
"Suck up." Troy chuckled.
Taylor rolled her eyes at him. "Well I do agree with Chad, Troy."
"Of course you would." he said sarcastically with an eye roll.
"Seriously, Chad has a point. we've been doing the same thing practically for five summers. I mean, I like hanging out at the beach and all, but I'm already tanned enough as it is."
"Alright fine, let's do something different this summer." Troy said. "You guys got any idea?"
"We could always go camping." Chad suggested. Both Taylor and Troy looked at him with a frown. "I'll take that as a no."
"How bout shopping?" Taylor suggested with a wide grin. The boys replied by giving her a look. "I really need to get friends who are girls." she shook her head. "Well how bout getting a job? We do need money."
"Tay, the point of summer is to get away from hard labor." Troy pointed out. "Besides, this will be our last summer where we'll be able to just relax and lounge around. Next summer we'll be busy packing our things and moving to wherever college we'll go to. So working really wouldn't cut out for me."
Taylor sighed. "Fine. No working. I guess you're just gonna splurge off your daddy's credit card?"
"That's why he has it." Troy smirked. "So? You guys got any other ideas for the summer?" Chad and Taylor looked at each other, but were slumped on anything to say. "Alright! Basketball, surfing and girls in bikini's it is." Troy cheered.
Taylor and Chad both rolled their eyes at him, as they stopped in front of Troy's Mercedes. Once it was unlock, Taylor and Chad hopped into the back seat while Troy took the drivers seat. After buckling up and starting the car, Troy then backed out of the parking lot.
"Let's get out of here." Troy said, already driving down the road. "This place just depresses me. Goodbye Grace Hill High." and with that, Troy drove away from the school.
-
"Hey Gabriella."
Gabriella turned upon hearing the soft voice calling to her. She smiled at her friend stood next to her opening her own locker. "Hey Kels." she greeted. "Oh, do you have the music sheet that Sharpay gave you?"
"Yeah, it's in my bag. I'm revamping it in true Sharpay fashion." Kelsi smirked as she placed all of her belongings in her bag. "You know, I really think this summer will be the best show we'll ever have. All our songs are more louder. And our productions are more bolder."
"Well with those dance steps you and Ryan created, it will definitely be a winner."
Kelsi blushed at the compliment. "Well with you performing, it will definitely be a hit. I can't believe it's gonna be our last show though."
Gabriella looked at her with a sad smile. "Well hey, even if it is our last show, it wont be our last performance. And it's not like we wont see each other again. We're still gonna be together for the fall, the school year, and then next year for summer."
"When we'll be getting ready to separate." Kelsi frowned.
"Don't think of it like that Kels." she said softly, placing a comforting hand on her shoulder. "Just think of it as….the start of something new." then suddenly, and idea clicked in her head. "Hm…start of something new…" she murmured with a look on her face.
"I know that look." Kelsi said in almost alarmed fashion. "You're thinking of something. Preferably a song idea!" she immediately brought out her notepad and pen, awaiting anxiously for Gabriella's reply.
Gabriella started to bob her head up and down softly to an unknown beat. "Start…of something new…" she started singing in a low murmur.
"Gabriella?"
"It feels so right…to be here with you." she continued to murmur and bob her head.
"Gabs? Gabi? GABRIELLA!"
"Huh? What?" Gabriella snapped out of her thought.
"Well?"
"Well what?"
"Well? What's the idea you were thinking about?"
"Oh, nothing." she said dismissively, shutting her locker door.
"Oh come on Gabs. You were in deep thought for a while. And when you're in deep thought, it has to be good."
"It was nothing. Just something I thought of. Not important really."
"Gabs." Kelsi whined.
"Look, you shouldn't worry about it. Just worry about the musical."
"Fine." she sighed deflated. "But next time, you are definitely telling me."
"I promise." Gabriella chuckled. "Come on." she slung her arms around Kelsi's shoulder after Kelsi closed her locker door. "Speaking of the musical, do you know where Shar is?"
"Where else?" Kelsi said with an eye roll.
"Stupid question I know." Gabriella chuckled and she and Kelsi headed down the hallway.
The two stopped and turned to enter a classroom where they saw their best friend, Sharpay Evans, talking to their drama teacher.
"And I was thinking, this time, we have more silk on my outfit, with a lot of glitter! It'll definitely show off my skin tone that way." Sharpay went on to their teacher. "I have sketches if you want a visual." she held up a sketch book where there was a drawing of Sharpay with a pink ensemble.
"Sharpay, as beautiful these are, I don't know if they'll be in our budget."
Sharpay placed the book down and gave her an assuring smile. "Miss Darbus, you may have forgotten, my parents are big donators to our community theater, I'm pretty sure daddy wouldn't mind contributing if it's going to help out our production."
Gabriella and Kelsi shared a look and an eye roll.
"I'm sure he wouldn't Sharpay" Miss Darbus gave her a polite smile. "But let us wait until we're well into starting our production, and then we'll discuss this further more."
Sharpay slumped her shoulder with a pout.
"Hi Miss Darbus." Gabriella and Kelsi greeted the teacher.
"Ah, Kelsi. And Gabriella, my star pupil." Darbus greeted the two. Sharpay scoffed, then pouted back to her desk where her things were. "How is the musical doing?"
"Doing great Miss Darbus." Gabriella said. "We only have one more song to do and we're practically done. Right, Kels?"
"Mh-hm." Kelsi nodded. "And we only need a few more touch ups, then we're good to go."
"Wonderful." Darbus grinned. "And have we chosen a song for the auditions?"
"We're still deciding."
"Well when you have, get back to me."
"Will do Miss Darbus." Gabriella smiled. "Shar you ready?"
"Coming." Sharpay said, her bags already gathered, along with a few rolled up posters in hand. "I'll leave this with you." she said when she passed Darbus, handing her a paper with the sketch she showed her earlier. Miss Darbus took it politely. "Don't worry, that's a copy. It may not be as perfect as the original one, but it still gives off the effect. Tootles." she waved, then stood next to Gabriella and Kelsi, walking out of the classroom.
"Ugh, you are so Darbus's favorite. It's annoying." Sharpay said to Gabriella with an eye roll as she juggled the contents in her hands.
"She likes you as much as she likes me or Kelsi."
"But she likes you the best. Why do you think she always prefers you to be the lead, and the head director?"
"That's not true."
"Sharpay has a point Gabs." Kelsi said. "She may like us, but you're her favorite."
"Guys please." Gabriella rolled her eyes.
"You're just being humble Gabi." Sharpay said. "Anyways, where's my brother? I need help with these."
"Here." Gabriella said and she and Kelsi took a few of the posters in their hands. "What are these for anyways?"
"They're for the café." Sharpay said. "Ads."
Kelsi opened up one of the smaller posters and read. "Friday Open Mic Night?"
"Yeah. Every Friday it's open mic night." Sharpay said cheerfully. "Isn't it a fabulous idea?"
"So every Friday's of you stealing the mic away from all of us? Sounds fun." Gabriella said sarcastically in a teasing way.
"Hey! I resent that!" she feigned offense and pouted.
"Oh come on Shar." Gabriella chuckled. "You know I love you."
Sharpay proceeded to pout as they walked towards the lockers. Soon after, they saw Ryan and Zeke by their lockers.
"Hey ladies." Zeke greeted with a wide smile. "End of school year cookies? I just baked them in Home Ec."
"Ooh!" the girls quickly took as much cookies as they can from Zeke and indulge themselves in the chocolate chip cookies goodness.
"Mmh! Zeke these are perfect." Sharpay said with a smile. "Makes the end of the school year even better."
"Yeah, nothing like Zeke's chocolate chip cookies to finish off the end of the school year. It's just tradition." Gabriella giggled.
"Mh. Ryan, can you hold these for me please." Sharpay asked with a polite smile.
"Shar, as you can see, my hands are also occupied at the moment." Ryan replied, showing the multiple contents in his hands, including more rolled up posters.
Sharpay pouted again, and took another bite of her cookie.
"I'll hold them for you Sharpay." Zeke grinned.
Sharpay smiled at him. "Thanks Zeke." she said with a slight blush, and handed him the posters.
"Why do you need so much posters anyway?" Kelsi asked.
"So we can post them up all over town, duh."
"We're gonna post them out probably tonight, if not, tomorrow." Ryan said. "You know, we should probably get going now, mom wants to see us before we go to the café."
"Fine." Sharpay sighed. "Kelsi, you still need a ride?" Kelsi just nodded.
"How bout you Zeke?" Ryan asked.
"Nah, that's alright. Coach wants us to stay. Says he has to talk to us about something."
"But school's out." Sharpay said. "Why does he want to talk you guys?"
"I don't know." he shrugged. "Probably about what we're gonna be doing for the fundraiser."
"You work so hard." she said with a sympathetic smile.
"I try."
"Can we please go now." Ryan grumbled. "Before I puke." Gabriella just patted him on the back sympathetically.
"Well I better go now." Zeke said, waving to them then walking down the hall.
"Let's go." Sharpay said, and the four walked down the hallways and out the door. "Gabs, we still meeting you at the Coffee House?"
"Mh-hm. I'm probably gonna be a little late because Mrs. Jacobs is working late. So I have to baby-sit Jenna for a bit longer."
"That's fine. Michaels will understand."
"Thanks."
"So see you later."
"Yeah. Bye."
Sharpay, Ryan and Kelsi all went towards Sharpay's pink convertible, while Gabriella went to her car which was parked across from Sharpay. Gabriella got into her silver Toyota Yaris, placing her things on the passenger seat. After buckling up and turning on the engine, she backed out of the parking space, honked goodbye to Sharpay who was still checking her reflection on the mirror, then drove away from the East High parking lot.