Here's the second chapter!!
Keep reviewing, please…
Anyone who has ideas about what should come next, comment on it and I'll pick the idea I like the best!
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
NEW SONG
Gabi and Troy met up their first weekend as seniors with Kelsi. The winter musical was far from even approaching, but she had already started texting them gushing about all her ideas for new songs.
Troy was excited; singing with Gabi was like being on drugs, only it was completely pure. Singing onstage at the talent show had vanquished his thoughts about ending his singing career.
Kelsi led them to her old, battered house piano and dealt out the sheet music with the lyrics. "I can't wait for the next musical. I'm really hoping Darbus picks my compositions again," she squealed.
Gabi smiled at how excited she was. "She has to, Kel. Twinkle Towne was such a success that Principal Matsui gave us a standing ovation, and you know how sporty he is. Always picks Troy's dad above Darbus."
She giggled as Troy covered her mouth and crossed his ankles, trying to look suave. "She didn't say anything," he said, his eyes darting around the room.
Kelsi laughed. "I know that's true, and it's ok. I don't like the drama club very much, and who likes Darbus besides The Sharpay Crew?"
Troy
shrugged. "I think that Jason harbors a burning, secret passion for
her…"
They all started laughing.
"OK, back to business," Kelsi said, abruptly halting their moment of fun. "Listen to this, guys, I really like what I've gotten so far on this song."
Troy and Gabi exchanged I'm-on-tenterhooks looks as they waited for Kelsi to start playing. She shook back her sleeves like some aged, wizened pianist, put on her most aloof expression, and began playing amidst Gabi's giggles and Troy's snorts.
"I've never seen someone like you…
Who could take me by the hand and tell me
You loved me,
Like nothing else in the world –
You loved me.
"And I've never seen someone like you,
Who could make me believe the things you said were…
True... I can't believe it's true.
No, no, no,
"When you smile, it lights up my world
When you laugh it's like the most beautiful song
I've ever heard,
You're my reason, for everything… oh, oh,
And no matter what, you're still my angel…
Gabi and Troy had stopped laughing but were focusing on their papers; Kelsi smiled and stopped singing to let them carry on with the rest of the song.
TROY: "I know it's you when you walk through the door
You're always there for me,
You're always there for me and I love you…
Like nothing else, I love you…"
GABI: "Like I said, nobody like you,
Makes me feel this way,
I don't know exactly I'm supposed to say,
But you're mine, I hope, you're mine,
Forever…"
TROY: "I'm yours, I'm a slave,
Wrapped up in chains,
But I'd caress you and hold you,
And it'd be OK, no matter what my bonds are…
TOGETHER: "It wouldn't matter, no, no, because you'd be there for me,
Together, we'll conquer everything, together, we shall be,
And no matter what comes, we'll take it,
Because we'll be united and one,
So whoever comes between us, they better watch out…
(ECHO, Watch Out…) Because we'll stand them down,
You and me…"
TROY: "I'm thinking now,
And I'm realizing,
I could've said this simply…"
GABI: "Yes, we could've said this simply,
With three words,
TOGETHER: "Three words, yes indeed,
So let's go ahead and say this
Simply…
No matter what or when or how,
Always I shall be there,
And you'll be mine, and I can tell you…
"I love you."
The music stopped, leaving Troy and Gabi gazing into each other's eyes with uncertain but ever present intensity. The song was beautiful, and singing it to each other – Troy could feel his heart pounding against his ribcage so hard he thought it might break out.
"I cannot believe you managed to finish this song so quickly, it's amazing," Gabi said breathlessly, but she was still gazing into Troy's eyes. He felt like the entire room was pulsating, pressing down upon them, forcing them closer to each other although physically, they stayed rooted to the spot…
Kelsi
snapped her fingers. "Hello?" she said loudly. "Anyone home?
Troy? Gabriella?"
They both snapped out of at the same time.
"Amazing," Troy echoed Gabi, and then, collecting his thoughts, he added, "that was spectacular, Kel, good job!"
"Thanks," Kelsi said hesitantly, looking between the pair of them. Troy avoided Gabi's eyes as he looked towards the kitchen.
"How about some Cheese Whip and crackers?" he suggested; Kelsi's mother had set out a bowl of plain saltines and a can of cheese.
"Sure," Gabi said, gazing down at the Oriental carpet. Kelsi's face broken into a knowing smile.
"What?" the two of them asked at the same time, noticing her evil grin.
"Nothing. Why don't you two lovebirds help yourselves, let me go change out of these jeans into…uh… sweatpants," she said. She fled up the stairs before either could protest.
Troy tucked his hands into his back pockets awkwardly. Gabi walked past him almost coldly and headed for the snacks. He followed suit, completely unsure of what he was supposed to do.
"Open up, captain," she giggled when he came into the kitchen, aiming the nozzle of the can at his mouth. He opened wide and she shot a perfect stream of cheese onto his waiting tongue. He closed his mouth and swallowed, suppressing the urge to cheese-whip all of her hair. He was a mature senior, above stupid pranks…
She hit him full in the face with another blast of cold whip. "Ooh, look, whipped cream," she exclaimed with a tiny giggle as he attempted to wipe the processed yellow cream out of his eyes.
"I'm gonna get you, Montez," he shouted, chasing blindly after what he hoped was Gabi. They headed back into the living room and did a double-crash with Kelsi, who had come down in pajama sweats and was promptly bowled over as they dashed towards the dining room.
"Wow,"
she said, observing Troy's dripping cheeks and Gabi, who was
doubled over with laughter. "Why don't you psychos head on out of
here to like, make out or something, and leave me to my peaceful
music?"
Troy picked Gabi up with one arm and swung her legs
over his other, holding her like he was carrying her over the
threshold as a new bride. "As you say, madam," he said, bowing
deeply to Kelsi and almost dropping Gabi, who was still laughing
uncontrollably.
Kelsi snatched the cheese bottle out of Gabi's hands and watched them go. Only when they left did she relax her sternly scolding expression and laugh. Gabi and Troy were hopelessly and completely in love with each other.
It was very cute.
SCIENCE QUEEN QUIBBLE
Troy had been hoping against all hopes that over the weekend, Taylor would cool off towards Leslie and, in turn, so would everyone else. His hopes were dashed when Tay showed up on Monday morning with her game face on. The minute she spotted Troy, she marched over and struck a pose that suggested nothing good.
"Troy," she said loudly, slamming her fist against one of the locker vents.
"Yes?" he asked nervously, closing his locker and slinging his backpack over one shoulder.
"She's a geek!" Taylor exclaimed. Troy could've sworn her hair grew bushier by the second when she was angry.
"And this is a bad thing…?"
"She's a science nerd. A geek! Gabriella Montez, part II! And I could barely stand it when Part I came along! It took me months and months to get over someone smarter than me coming to East High!"
"What?
Wait a second, back up," Troy said, utterly baffled. "What are
you talking about?"
Taylor rolled her eyes in exasperation. "On
Sunday mornings, Gabi and I have private brunches," she said
slowly. "But guess who came yesterday? Little Miss Dorky Witch."
Troy nodded slowly, trying to understand where she was going.
"And she and Gabi engaged in a conversation that I almost didn't understand!" Taylor exclaimed, raising her hands to the heavens as if asking for divine inspiration.
Troy
arched an eyebrow. "But you did understand it?"
"Well,
yes, I did," Tay snapped impatiently, "Obviously!"
"OK,
excuse me," Troy snarled.
"Sorry." She took a deep, calming breath. "I need you to get rid of her!"
"What, you want me to cart her body off to the woods?" Troy folded his arms. "Deal with it! You can make yourself smarter than her, can't you? Just study more?"
"It's inhuman, her intelligence!" Taylor exclaimed. "I can't reach that supernatural point! She's smarter than Gabi and smarter than me… she's-"
"Troy!" it was Gabi, who had sneaked up behind him and was now playing with tufts of his sandy hair. "You look cute today," she said, taking in Troy's unusually classy getup.
"Thanks," Troy said, smiling at her with puppy eyes.
Taylor groaned in disgust. "Can you guys take it somewhere else?" she stalked off, displeased with Gabi's interruption of her "secretive" meeting about Leslie.
"What were you guys talking about?"
"Just stuff," he said vaguely, putting his arms around her waist and giving her a tight squeeze. "Come on, walk with me to class."
"We have two separate classes, Troy," she said, looking up at him shyly. She was wearing some kind of shiny substance on her eyelids, and her lips were shiny and smelled like cherries.
"You smell good," he said stupidly; it was the first thing that came to his head and it slipped out before he could realize how idiotic it sounded.
"Thanks," she giggled a little, kissed his cheek lightly enough so she didn't leave any gloss behind.
"Go get a room," said a gratingly high voice from behind Troy. They both jumped apart and saw Leslie standing there, grinning and showing lipstick-stained teeth.
"You look retarded," she informed Gabi. "Like, a PDA. You know, Princess of Dirty-"
"Leslie!" Gabi said loudly. "Hi!" she threw her arms around the girl and, in the action, muffled her voice.
Leslie pushed her away, frowning. "Hi, Gabriella," she said as if she considered Gabi to be completely crazy.
"See you later, Troy," Gabi said over her shoulder, tossing Troy a look that was clearly meant to say, 'Sorry but I have to'. He watched her go and found himself standing alone, hands in his pockets, feeling very ditched.
Troy was left with the distinct impression that perhaps the Wildcats were not exaggerating with their opinions on Leslie Eagle.
SHARPAY'S EPIPHANY
Sharpay Evans was extremely bored. She loved Ms. Darbus dearly – well, only because she always gave Sharpay the leads – but her droning about how vacations were a waste of time and education could get extremely nap-inducing. With a yawn hidden in her book bag, she stole a furtive look at her traitorous brother, Ryan. Ry had been unforgivably cruel to her at the country club, and he didn't even bring her Evian face spray when she asked him to at drama club. He was becoming one of them, the losers (except for Troy) who constantly tagged at Montez's feet.
Troy and Gabi had orchestrated a seat-switching in order to sit next to each other. The freaky new girl, who apparently was clueless as to what makeup was except for her overdone two-cent lipstick, was sitting two seats behind Gabi. She was casting angry looks at Troy and Gabi's hands, which were joined across the aisle, held low but clutching to each other tightly. Darbus never noticed their cleverly concealed acts of PDA.
Clearly, the tacky newcomer had the hots for Troy just like any other normal high school girl. It must be difficult, liking your best friend's boyfriend, Sharpay mused. Of course, if anyone but Gabi Montez was going to be wrapped in Troy's arms, it would be Sharpay. She was the girl for him, even more of a match than Gabriella. She just needed to make him see sense…
Of course, the Sharpettes were always reporting to her about the locker room gossip in between girls. It was always something against Sharpay, vicious rumors or matter-of-fact statements that they'd heard Troy dissing Sharpay around the school. It was no news flash that he hated her, but only because Gabi had brainwashed him.
Sharpay looked behind her shoulder at Zeke, who was shielding his notebook with one hand so Darbus couldn't see that instead of taking notes on "101 Ways to Make the Best of Your Vacation", he was writing down new recipes for his ridiculous quiches.
He looked up and caught Sharpay's eye. He gave a little grin and wiggled his fingers in the air. She frowned and turned around. The Tiki Warrior Sharpay had not been a very clever use of that costume…
Darbus had stopped talking, which meant that they were free to go. The sharp ringing of the bell brought Sharpay back to earth, and she quickly stuffed her books into her bag and stood up, swinging it over her shoulder with a slight flounce of her hair. She was pretty sure Troy was staring at her, but when she looked back in his direction, he and Gabi were capitalizing on Darbus' momentary distraction by a student's question and were locked in an embrace that seemed doubtful to separate for a while.
She gave a scandalized gasp. "Ms. Darbus!" she said loudly over the student hubbub. Ms. Darbus looked up in surprise and lowered her spectacles, giving Sharpay an once-over. "Yes?"
She looked at Troy and Gabi, but they had managed to separate and were staring down at their notebooks, clearly trying to look innocent. Troy was knocking his knees together… he was so cute…
"Yes, Sharpay, what is it?" Ms. Darbus repeated.
"Oh, I wanted to show you my new songs," she said, and handed Ms. Darbus the small folder that contained most of the ideas she'd penned down over summer vacation at drama camp. Without Ryan, she had been fairly lonely. He was off canoeing with his friends and having fun, but she refused to engage in such lowly activities. She would never divulge to anyone that she'd been lonely, though, that would only make her seem weak – "Lovely, dear," Ms. Darbus said distractedly, shoving the folder back towards Sharpay. "I must go. Cheerio!" she disappeared. Sharpay picked up her folder, clutched it tightly to her chest, and moved on through the crowd trying to exit the classroom.
She discovered Troy and Gabi by Gabi's locker, and stealthily moved towards her own, hiding her face behind the door while observing them through the vinyl slats.
The hallways were fairly quiet, which meant she could steal bits of their conversation.
"I don't know, Troy," Gabi was saying. They were clasping hands together in a knot; Troy was holding her hands to his chest and gazing down at her with sappy eyes. Eyes enchanted, Sharpay thought disgustedly, by a very skilled temptress…
"Please, Gabi," he said.
Those piercing blue irises – Sharpay felt her knees begin to buckle, and she almost collapsed when she felt a hand on her shoulder. With a little shriek, she spun around and met Ryan, who was grinning idiotically.
"Yes, moron?" she asked, annoyed that her fantasy about Troy had been rudely cut off before she could even begin to dream about what it would be like to kiss him.
Ryan
looked a little taken aback. "Sorry, Shar, I just wanted to see how
things are going. Oh, and Dad texted me, he and Mom are going to a
private clientele showing, and Rosa's not in."
Rosa was their
maid, who cooked whenever Mrs. Evans wasn't in. The only reason why
Emma cooked was because she believed in a strictly soy diet to
benefit everyone's inner flux; Rosa was not even sure what an inner
flux was. Whenever she cooked, they had grease-soaked dishes. When
even Rosa was not available, they ordered from Whole Foods.
"OK. I want the pita bread with hummus and a quarter cup of cheddar cheese, grated fine and on a horizontal shredder. Custom make the hummus with no tomatoes or watery jalapenos, just the real stuff if they've got it."
Ryan looked at his Oxfords. "Well, Shar, I was thinking since the 'rents are out-"
"Excuse me?" Sharpay shut her locker so loudly Ryan started in surprise. "The 'rents' – what, are you talking their ghetto speech now?" she slapped him, not strong enough to make him stumble or anything, but to make the skin turn red. He raised a slow hand to his cheek, as if to see if she had really struck him.
"Don't go that way!" she said. She was aware a small crowd was gathering, and decided to amp it up. "Just don't go there, Ryan!" she exclaimed. "I can't bear to watch you become…" she cast a venomous glare towards Gabi and Troy, who were still holding hands but no longer gazing into each other's eyes while Gabi cast her voodoo spell over Troy.
Ryan turned around and walked slowly down the hall. Halfway towards the turnoff into another part of the school, he wheeled around and gave Sharpay the cruelest look he'd ever given her. "Hey, sis!" he called. "See if Zeke's partial to singing with you, cuz I sure as heck am not doing the next musical audition with you. And when there are callbacks – which there will be, I swear – you're going to be having a heckuva face-off."
Sharpay watched her brother go, expecting to feel something – remorse or spite or something – but she simply stood, watching, empty. Once he was gone, she turned around and walked bouncily down the hall. The familiar click-clack of Sharpette heels behind her was reassuring; she continued striding as if nothing was wrong, as if she didn't notice the soft slap of Ryan's soles against the linoleum floor.
She could hear them whispering and muttering about her as she walked past.
"Ice Queen…" "Dragon Girl's finally driven Oliver bonkers…" "If she can't hold onto her brother, does she have anyone at all…?"
"I hear her mother only associates with her because of a contract she made her sign when she was only five…"
Sharpay tried not to listen, but the comments were penetrating her stiffly hair sprayed 'do. Ice Queen? Dragon Girl – those were nicknames the Sharpettes hadn't told her about. All she knew about was the mirror quip and Sourface, a poorly done jab at her screen name, Sweetface.
A girl named Peaches who was a known Sharpay-worshipper jumped into her path, blocking the posse.
Instead of the usual, Hi, Sharpay! Accompanied with a perky wave, Peaches muttered under her breath, "I'd be careful, Shar. Lots of girls are saying you're not worth all the attention you get…"
Sharpay shoved her aside and continued on. She heard a slam as Peaches lost her balance and fell into the lockers, and someone wailed "Bloody nose!" but she refused to look back. Stupid girls, stupid cheerleaders and jealous witches…
When she reached the cafeteria, she looked back, and saw that the Sharpettes were gone, and she had been strutting alone.
Perhaps, Sharpay thought, perhaps she was just a tad too cold. Then again, it was what everyone expected of her…
With a jolt she realized how terrible that sounded. People expected her to be cold. It was her known nature.
With a shudder, she tried to brush it off, but the thought remained in the foreground of her brain, a place in which it was really unwelcome.
