Cardinal Directions
by Samurai-Nashie
Disclaimer: Insert appropriate disclaimer here.
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chapter one is the moon
"whether with a thousand players or a lonely cast of one…"
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"I really care about you..."
No one quite knew what changed between them that summer.
After the events at the country club, everyone else would have assumed that things may have gotten back to normal. After all, Troy and Gabriella had gotten back together, Chad and Troy were back on speaking terms, Sharpay may or may not have learned her lesson, and Ryan…was still Ryan. Taylor would have something along the lines of "I told ya so" but in the perfection of that night, decided not to.
It had been perfection.
And then…something happened.
Everyone asked Kelsi and Jason and Zeke and Martha what had happened after the talent show that night. But they always admitted they didn't know. Kelsi would shake her head, and say, "Me and Jason went back to help clean up," and Zeke would say that he still had questions to ask the baker and Martha would admit that she wanted to go back and talk to the other Wildcats.
So there was no one left underneath the starry sky that night except those six.
When asked about it later, Gabriella would smile, a soft look coming into her warm brown eyes, and she would mysteriously say, "Things changed." And there was so much unspoken in her words that no questions were answered, and they would leave her be, with that melancholy smile on her face.
And when they asked Ryan and Sharpay, the twins would share amused smiles and say simultaneously, "We take the fifth!" And since Sharpay was Sharpay and Ryan was Ryan, no one really dared to ask them further than that.
The same would happen when they asked Chad or Taylor. Chad would give his usual trademark grin and say, "Sometimes, you just don't know people, right?" and Taylor would quickly shush him, and whisk him off, and the question would still be left in their air.
But it was Troy's reply that always had them wandering. They would ask him what had happened that night under the stars, and he would stop in the middle of whatever he was doing, cross his arms, and look thoughtfully towards the ground. Then, after a moment of contemplative silence, he would lift his head, and with sincerity in his blue eyes, he would say, "I don't know."
When school started back that fall, everyone noticed the difference between the six of them. How Gabriella's innocent smoldering looks, and Troy's husky laugh, and Sharpay's flouncy pout were suddenly directed elsewhere. How Taylor's amused eyebrow quirks, and Chad's wide grins, and Ryan's shy smile were received by more than one person.
It was a brief touch of the hand, a careless whisper, a passing wink, a knowing smile…but the student body noticed it.
And it wasn't long before the rumors started.
Not that they ever noticed.
Gabriella would giggle and say, "It's a secret!"
Ryan would smirk, and murmur, "Well, what do you expect?"
And Sharpay would frown and throw her hair over her shoulder. "Amateurs," she murmured, before linking her arm through his and pulling him down the hallway.
Taylor would pause thoughtfully, and Chad would chuck her gently under the chin.
And Troy would watch them all, that same look in his eyes - a look of disbelief, wonder…and something else entirely. But by the time anyone glanced back at him, he had already thrown around an arm around his shoulder, while in his hand he held hers.
No one would know for a long time what had happened that night, but when they found out, East High would never quite be the same.
"I think we may have fallen in love..."
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Author's Note (18 Aug 07): This fanfic does not take into account "All for One" (which seemed like an unnecessary add-on to an otherwise perfect ending).The lyrical quote at the beginning of the chapter is taken from "Every Story is a Love Story" from the musical Aida.
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North is the direction used to determine all the others. And while they may have thought it was Troy, Ryan was surprisingly the one that put all the events into motion.