I've re-edited now so hopefully all spelling mistakes have been fixed and this humble little one-shot may be just that much better now.

"It was a joke, a prank, really we didn't mean any harm." Gabriella pleaded with Principal Matsui while he sat stone faced behind his desk. Troy sat next to her arms crossed, obviously not happy. Chad and Taylor stood, there not being any chairs left, both looking as nervous as Gabriella felt.

"We swear Mr. Principal, sir. We were just joking around and then it all got out of hand." Taylor seemed about to cry, her perfect record would be ruined for sure. It would be tough to get into Stanford with vandalism on her permanent-oh god, she thought, her permanent-record.

"Do you really expect me to believe that four teenagers, unaided mind you, could do something like what we found, to a room?" Matsui asked sweeping his arm as if they were still in the art room. His turned a deep red just thinking about it.

"Principal Matsui, no one helped us. We swiped some paint and-" Chad tried.

"If you don't admit the truth then I'll call the cops and you may be expelled." Matsui threatened. Taylor and Gabriela gasped throwing their hands to their mouth. The tears threatening to spill over Taylor's eyes glistened and fell. Chad winced and Troy stood up.

"Call 'em. I want a lawyer first though. And you have no proof it was us anyway." He said this calmly, looking to his friends for support, even as his principal stood as well. Slamming his hand on the desk Matsui lost his calm exterior.

"You four were found in the room one of you holding a paint can and another trying to climb out of a window! You are undeniably guilty and I will not stand for these lies you are telling me. All of you are suspended until one of you wants to tell the truth!" He wheezed, gasping to replenish the breath that he had wasted yelling at the teens. Two were crying too hysterically to hear him while the other two looked coolly disinterested.

"Why did you do it?" He asked finally confusion plain in his eyes.

"We told you, it was all an accident that got way out of hand." Chad answered closing his eyes and massaging his temples.

" No, we did it to prove a point. It's just that we went about it in the wrong way." Gabriella whispered, repent heavy in her voice.


It was hot. Too hot for May, Gabriella decided. Her legs stuck to the metal chair she occupied, giving her the unpleasant (to say the least) feeling one gets when it's much too hot out. Leaning her cheek on the palm of her hand she sighed mixing too many paint colors together, the result being a decidedly ugly brown.

"No Ms. Montez. We are painting a spring floral pattern. Not something your dog made in the yard." Ms. Carlson the art teacher swept by replacing Gabriella's pallet with a clean one. Gabriella made a face at Troy, who sat across from her, and started over. Green grass, blue sky, running water, that wasn't how it looked outside. She could plainly see out the window that every plant was dead from the lack of rain they had received lately.

"What's with the teachers here?" she asked, "They're all freaks."

"You get used to it." Taylor answered rolling her eyes.

"They're worse this year than last. I heard they're better next year though." Chad assured every one, slopping red paint onto the sky of his 'spring masterpiece'. He continued to redden his sky when a shadow eclipsed his paper.

"What ever are you doing with that mess?" His teacher asked arms crossed.

"Well this green…thing, is a hill and the sun, this blob of yellow over here, is setting so the sky is getting red. And the splotches of pink and blue are from when Taylor flicked her paint brush at me so Gabriella said to turn them into flowers." He explained pointing in turn to each illustration.

"And why then don't they look like flowers?" She asked raising her eye brows.

"Because flowers are gay!" Chad exploded as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. The other guys in the class room nodded while the girls laughed or continued working.

"Mmm-hmmm, well Chad I'm sure the principal would love to hear why you don't paint flowers. Go tell him, please." Mrs. Carlson said dripping sarcasm, tapping her foot until the basketball player shoved his chair under the table and slung his back pack over his shoulder. As he exited the room Troy, Gabriella and Taylor leaned toward the middle of the table, each pretending to reach for a paint bottle.

"What is up with her?" Taylor asked curling her lip. She grabbed a yellow paint can then put it back and grabbed a blue one. Unfortunately Troy grabbed the same one and when they each pulled in opposite directions the lid, not fully closed, popped off and paint erupted into the air.

The bell chose the same moment to ring and the three, two of them slightly blue, scurried out of the room. Laughing the lone clean one attempted to avoid the other two especially as one tried to hug her.

On the bus they rendezvoused with Chad and had a few laughs at Ms. Carlson's expense.

"Wouldn't it be funny if some one painted her class room walls bright red?" Gabriella gasped out. Suddenly silenced, they looked at each other eye's wide.

"We could do that." Troy whispered.


"You're sure she isn't here? Maybe we should just leave." Taylor strayed behind the group as they stood in front of the door to their loathsome art room. It looked bigger and darker now as the school was technically closed.

"Excuse me, I don't know how good of an idea this is, but I did not hide in a bathroom for two hours so we could leave." Gabriella put her hands on her hips stubbornly. She tried the door handle but as expected it was locked. Troy inched past her extracting his fathers key from his pocket.

Of course it fit perfectly - after all what school isn't too cheap to get separate locks for every door - and soon the four piled through the opening. The girls went through cabinets searching for large paint brushes while the boys grabbed every color paint bottle they could find.

"There's not enough paint to cover the walls." Chad established, holding up the two bottles he had found and motioning towards the three Troy had. Taylor stood empty handed while Gabriella displayed her lone paint brush.

"Same here."

"Well we could just do…this." Troy opened the lid and squirted the 'electric' blue paint at the wall. It slid down creating a mess of blue lines soon joined by a red line from Chad. Taylor shot a stream at Troy and then Chad and soon all hell broke loose.

Not a wall wasn't stained and the floor was unbelievably slippery, when they ran out of their paint supply. It was a good thing they had agreed to wear old clothes because some times a stain decides to stay somewhere and there's nothing any one can do to remove it. Troy's clothes, it seemed were out to prove this point.

"Wait a minute, before we go…" Taylor scraped together as much paint as she could and grabbed the forgotten paint brush. Slowly she printed as neatly in the largest clean spot she could find - which happened to be the chalkboard.

WE, THE PAINTBRUSH REVOLUTION
HEREBY GARUNTEE TO
LET TEACHER'S KNOW WHEN
THEY HAVE BEEN MISGUIDED AND
UNFAIR
TO ALL STUDENTS
THAT IS OUR PLEDGE

The last bit she under lined sloppily, as if proving the point right then and there. The others cheered squeezing the last bit of paint out of each can. While they were smiling and laughing at each other the door handle rattled.

Turning to each other they stared wide eyed. Quickly Troy pointed to the window and motioned for Taylor, who was closest, to get out. She opened the glass escape at the same time Principal Matsui walked in. Astounded his mouth hung open and his hands flew to his heart.

"What…" He was unable to form a complete sentence and instead pointed angrily to his office, his face turning several shades of red. Shamefaced they filed out and Chad muttered,

"We were so close, if we had just left sooner…"


"Fine if you won't tell me maybe you'll tell a judge." Matsui shook his head, he had thought these were good students, "I'll be calling your parents of course." he reminded them as they all filed once again out of a room.

"We really were so close…" Chad muttered as they walked along a bike path that led somewhere, it did have to lead somewhere afterall didn't it? Even if that somewhere was a bit of a mystery at the moment.

"I suppose, but the only way to keep this from out parent's would be to cut the principal's phone line." Gabriella sighed.

Startled, Troy looked at Gabriella. It was possible…

"Should we?" He asked point blank. Troy had never been one for innuendo's or the like and he'd never liked people who used them.

"But we'd get in even more trouble…" Taylor sighed, and the group continued walking.

Would they sever the phone line? Maybe, but maybe not. Who could say what the future held. But one thing was certain, while the means might not be as extravagant next time, there would be a next time. When the four, or even just one of them, faced a tough teacher, that teacher would learn.

You didn't mess with the paint brush revolution, because if you did. Well, your class room might just get trashed.

Wow. That's all I have to say, I really enjoyed writing that. If you enjoyed reading it please please please let me know. What's an author if no one tells her when her story's are good or bad?