Chapter 1 - Late Again
Taylor strummed her fingers on the desk in front of her as she heard the warning bell emit from the hallway, and her Biology teacher began taking role call. Gabriella was late yet again, and it was starting to worry Taylor. In the year that Gabriella had been to the school, she hadn't once got to school late, or taken a day off sick. However, for the past week or so, it was a miracle to see Gabriella in school at all, let alone coming in late. Taylor fiddled with the pencil in her hand, doodling on the page in front of her.
"Gabriella?" The teacher paused, waiting for an answer. "Gabriella Montez?" There was clear surprise in her voice at Gabriella not being there, and she quickly turned her attention to Taylor. "Miss McKessie, do you have any idea where Gabriella could be?"
"She said she wasn't feeling well, she's not sure if she's coming in." Taylor muttered, looking back down at her notebook almost immediately. She hated lying, and yet, for the third day in a row, she lied about Gabriella's whereabouts. If she was honest, she didn't have any idea what was going on, or where Gabriella was. She had called her the night before to arrange the next scholastic meeting, as they were joint captains, but when she spoke to Gabriella she sounded distracted, and kept giggling. She didn't think it was anything at the time, but the more she thought about it, the more she was sure there was another person there at the time.
As the lesson began, but Taylor's mind wasn't on work. What if there was another person in the house? It was probably just a friend from one of her other school's, right? She was probably staying over for the week, which was why Gabriella was acting so different, and why she wasn't at school. Taylor shook her head. She wouldn't miss school just to catch up with her old friends, and there's no reason she wouldn't have mentioned it to Taylor. What if there were problems at home? What if her mom was sick or something? Whenever Taylor tried to ask Gabriella what was going on, she'd just change the subject, and get irritated with Taylor when she brought it up again.. Was someone hurting her? Taylor rubbed her temple to relieve some tension, and looked around for Chad. Though the two were only friends, of course, Chad always served to be a good person to vent all her stress out on. When she didn't see him she sighed, remembering he had told her the day before that he and Troy were having a basketball session in the gym, in preparations for the playoffs.
As soon as the lesson finished, Taylor packed up her bag, and pushed her way past the drama club member, the jocks and the cheerleaders to get out of class. Heading to her locker to put some books away, she saw a stranger at Gabriella's locker, or who she assumed was a stranger. Though she looked like Gabriella, she had a lot more makeup on than the gentle touch Gabriella normally applied, and her skirt was shorter than she had ever seen Gabriella in. When the girl spotted Taylor, however, she waved, and Taylor realised that it was indeed her best friend.
"Missed me?" She giggled, and Taylor rolled her eyes.
"Where were you!" Snapped Taylor, opening her locker. "I said that you might be in, as I didn't want you getting in trouble. I think I deserve an explanation."
"Sorry, my alarm clock didn't go off, jeez." Shrugged Gabriella, opening her own locker to get some text books out. Taylor stood in the way, and shook her head.
"You said that on Tuesday."
"Well, I'm saying it again today." Said Gabriella, glaring hurt at Taylor for a second, trying for the sympathy vote. "So how was first period? Did I miss any interesting gossip?" Taylor sighed. The Gabriella she knew was never interested in gossip so instantly recognised her avoidance tactics.
"Oh please, I'm not your own personal Gossip Girl. And anyway, that won't work on me. It might be the way you change the subject with Troy, but not me. So what's really going on?"
"Speaking of Troy." Taylor rolled her eyes as Gabriella yet again changed the subject. "Have you seen him today?"
"No…I think him and Chad have been in extra basketball practise. The playoffs are coming up soon, and--" Gabriella eye's lit up.
"Let's go and see them!" She grinned, and before Taylor could protest, she had grabbed her best friend's arm, and pulled her towards the gym.
"Chad, your ball!" Shouted Troy, throwing the ball in his best friends direction, who promptly missed.
"Sorry dude, my mind was elsewhere." Said Chad, putting the ball down as the pair went over to the water cooler to grab a drink. They had been practising for nearly an hour.
"I'm sure. And how is Planet Taylor today?" Asked Troy, punching him on the arm playfully. Chad laughed.
"It's a great place, man. Don't pretend you're not the same about Gabriella."
"Ah but difference is, I'm actually dating her." He winked. "You need to see her outside school, she looks...amazing. She's got all these new outfits and well...they're hot." Laughed Chad.
"Hey better be careful she's not trying to impress anyone else." Joked Chad, but Troy shook his head.
"Come on man, you know she's not like that. I'm sure Taylor would dress to impress you if you weren't too chicken to ask her out."
"I'm not chicken! I just don't want anything to ruin our friendship. I mean...things are cool the way they are at the moment."
"True. But you don't get any as just friends." Laughed Troy, and Chad blushed. "Hey it's fine, I'm not either, me and Gabriella said we were gonna wait until until she's ready, and dressing like that, I'm pretty sure she--"
"Boys, get back on the court! And quit talking about your damn girlfriend like that." Hollared Coach. Troy blushed this time, not knowing his father could hear them talking, and out of embaressment, continued playing.
Taylor had been planning on doing homework in this free period, so pulled Gabriella to a stop.
"Gabs, I really need to go to the library in my free, I have an essay I need to start on."
"You can start on it later, or after school. Please! I just really want to see the guys playing." Pouted Gabriella. Taylor sighed, and shrugged. "Yay! Thanks Taylor!"
"Whatever..." Muttered Taylor, as Gabriella pulled her along the hallway. Suddenly, Taylor found her arm collide with someone's face, and a screech emitted from the victim.
"Get off me!" Said Sharpay, spinning round to face Gabriella and Taylor. "Watch where you're going, you nearly completely ruined my makeup!" Taylor felt Gabriella shrink next to her, and shook her head.
"Sorry your highness." Taylor responded sarcastically.
"Oh Taylor, I love your outfit, where did you get it, the charity bin?" Spat Sharpay back. "And Gabriella, I think you're missing the rest of your skirt--"
"Why you--" Began Taylor, but Gabriella pulled her back.
"Shar, let's just leave it, okay? They're not worth it." Taylor looked over to see Ryan standing behind Sharpay with Kelsi, the pair of them looking at the drama folding in front of them uneasily. "Come on, Kelsi's gonna help us run through our rehearsal piece..."
"Ugh, whatever. Just get out of my hair." She said to Taylor again, before storming past. Ryan smiled a weak apology back as he and Kelsi left too, and the pair watched them go.
"I swear, I'm going to kill Sharpay one day..." Muttered Taylor. "Why does Kelsi even put up with being around her? Aren't her and Ryan dating or something, how do they cope with Sharpay being around them? Talk about killing the mood."
"I'm sure they're not dating, I don't even think Ryan likes her like that." Taylor was confused at why Gabriella said this. She never even spoke to Ryan since Lava Springs, how would she know if they were dating. Taylor opened her month to mention that, but Gabriella interrupted her. "Oh forget about her, come on we're missing seeing the practise!" Said Gabriella, suspiciously changing the subject again.
When Taylor and Gabriella got to the gym, they could see that practise was still going on at a speedy pace, so silently took seats in the bleachers at the side of the gym. Chad spotted them out of the corner of his eye, and in reaching up a hand to wave at them, managed to miss the ball. An ear-piercing whistle blew.~
"Focus, Chad!" Barked Mr Bolton.
"But Coach, our ladies are here." Laughed Chad, motioning to Taylor and Gabriella. Taylor blushed a little at being referred to as 'his' lady.
"This is a closed practise."Said Jack Bolton, looking up at them.
"I promise we'll be as good as gold?" Smiled Gabriella, innocently. Jack laughed and nodded.
"Just don't distract my boys again!" He called, and they continued practise. Meanwhile, Taylor turned to face Gabriella. She figured now was a better time than any to ask her what was going on with her.
"Look, are you sure there isn't anything you want to talk to me about?"
"I'm sure." Said Gabriella, sharply. "Wow, Troy is looking amazing today. I love him when he's all sweaty like that." Taylor rolled her eyes.
"Yes, I'm sure that's lovely imagery I want of my friend, thanks." She said sarcastically. "But really Gabi, you missing classes...It's not you. We're in our senior year, you need to do the classwork..." Gabriella laughed.
"Taylor come on, we're way ahead of everyone else in our class. It's not that big a deal."
"Not that big a deal?! Gabi--"
"Shh. Watching practise." Grinned Gabriella, putting a finger to her lips. She leant forward, and focused all her attention on the court. Taylor sighed again, and looked over at Gabriella, trying to work out what had caused such a dramatic change in Gabriella's attitude. She was sounding more like a Valley Girl than the brainiac she loved being. Taylor took a deep breath before speaking again.
"So when I called you last night...Was everything alright?"
"Yeah of course it was, why?" Asked Gabriella. Taylor shrugged.
"Oh it's nothing...You just didn't sound like yourself. And you were giggling." Gabriella raised an eyebrow.
"Are you saying I can't have a sense of humour when I'm watching Comedy Central?" She asked, amused, and Taylor smiled.
"No just...it's nothing, don't worry. Just me being paranoid." She said, trying to convince herself of that. "I'm just worried about you, that's all. You're not yourself."
"I'm just growing up." Was the only explanation Gabriella would offer, and the two sat in silence after that. After another ten minutes, Coach Bolton blew a whistle, signifying the end of practise. "Great! Think they'll be out soon?" Taylor laughed. The more Gabriella hung around the team, the more like a cheerleader she was becoming. That was probably the only reasoning behind the changes.
"Sure, Queen Peppy." Taylor teased, but both of them knew she couldn't hide the smile on her face that came from thinking about Chad.
"Let's go then!" Said Gabriella, standing up.
"Honey, they'll probably take a shower now! They know where we are, they can come and see us."
"But what's the fun in that!" Argued Gabriella. She let out a cheeky wink, and ran towards the locker room. Taylor shook her head and followed her. 'She's not really going to go in there, right?'
