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Chapter 3: Good Day

You're looking for something you can't find

If you give it up you'll lose your mind

There's always something in your way

What can you say

You're gonna have a good day

- "Good Day" The Click Five

Chad sighed as he tucked in his light blue button down shirt. He hadn't talked to Zeke or Jason really; he just down played it and said they just looked like friends that nothing had happened at all. He also said that she looked very worried, maybe they've known each other for a while and none of them knew?

Chad hated lying to his friends, but he had yet to figure out how he was going to face Troy with the newly found information that he knew what he did that night. He gave himself a once over in the mirror before grabbing his keys and wallet. Taylor had invited him over for dinner to meet her three best friends. He was nervous, apparently two were her roommates and the other lived with her boyfriend of three years. Kelsi, Miley and Gabriella. He had no last names, but he was assured that everyone would get along.

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Gabriella looked at herself in the mirror. She felt both violated and giddy at the same time after ditching her friends to meet Troy the night before. When she'd talked to Taylor she made up some bullshit about a close family friend being sick and he didn't know what to do and he called her since he knew that she worked with doctors and was the head of science and research at The New York Times. What a load! She thought to herself.

She couldn't believe she let herself be fooled, she absently wondered how many girlfriends he actually had. He was the media darling. The stud of the sports world. Ugh, but at the same time her body ached for him, and she shook involuntarily whenever she thought of him. And he was all she had thought about since storming out of Pete's Bar the night before. And she'd only spent a total of two hours with him. And that was on the conservative side. How can I like someone so suddenly? It took me a few months to determine if I liked Ryan. She sighed again.

She cursed herself, she needed to get her mind out of the gutter, she was meeting her best friend's boyfriend. Chad? She had no last name and no details. Taylor could sure be mysterious when she wanted to be. She glanced at herself in the mirror and added a touch of lip-gloss before grabbing her purse and going downstairs to hail a cab.

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Taylor bustled about the apartment making sure everything was perfect. Chad had never been over and she'd never been to his place. They'd been dating about three weeks. Sure he knew where she lived from picking her up, but he'd never been inside and never met her friends, she couldn't wait for him to meet Gabs. She stopped and stood in the middle of the living room, looking around. She nodded to herself everything looked good. Just then Kelsi came out. A few short minutes later and Miley had joined them from her own bedroom.

"Everything looks great Tay." Miley said, giving her nervous girlfriend a hug. The buzzer rang.

Kelsi looked over to Taylor, she looked slightly panicked. Giggling, she walked over and answered it, "Yes?"

"Kelly, it's Brie, can I come up or is Taylor going into cardiac arrest, in which case I'll just wait for the ambulance down here to take Dr. McKessie to the hospital." Gabriella smother the giggle that wanted to erupt and the image of Taylor strapped to a gurney headed to the hospital.

"Haha Gabs, just get you dainty ass up here before I go down there and kick it." Taylor said, now standing next to Kelsi. She grinned as she rang the door open. Gabriella let herself into the apartment and went straight to the kitchen, grabbing a wine glass and pouring herself a glass.

"Please help yourself." Miley laughed with an eye roll.

"You're just lucky that I'm not going after your hard stuff." Gabi muttered

"Stressed?" Miley asked, "I'm sure Ryan can fix it." She smirked, not noticing Gabriella's frown. Kelsi looked at Gabriella and held back a sigh; she'd fallen for Ryan and cursed herself for introducing him to her friend. But she'd never really shown interest in him, she wasn't one to act on her emotions.

The girls sat down and began to talk about their days at work until the buzzer rang again. Taylor took a deep breath and answered it, "Yes?"

"Hey baby it's me." Chad responded, as he fidgeted with his car keys. He knew he should've taken a cab, but he thought the music would have relaxed his nerves, boy was he wrong.

"Come on up." Taylor said.

When she'd buzzed him in Kelsi laughed, "Baby?" she smirked at Taylor who was blushing, causing Miley, Kelsi, and Gabriella to erupt in laughter. They got eerily quiet when there was a knock at the door.

Taylor turned to look at her friends who all nodded their approval before she opened the door. Chad smiled at his girlfriend and gave her a quick peck on the lips before following her into the spacious apartment. He stopped short. "What the fuck is she doing here?" he whispered.

"What?" the four girls chorused. He mentally cursed himself, he didn't realize that actually came out, he thought it stayed in his head.

Blushing furiously he mumbled, "Nothing." Taylor laughed, figuring he was kidding, Miley, Kelsi, and Gabriella, on the other hand, looked at each other skeptically.

"Well, girls this is my boyfriend Chad Danforth." Taylor motioned to Chad. Gabriella paled and leaned against the sofa she was standing next to for support, Danforth…Knicks…Troy Bolton…

"This is Gabriella Montez," Taylor motioned to the girl with long ebony curls, The whore with Troy, Chad thought, keeping it in his head this time.

"Kelsi Neilson." She was referring to a quiet looking girl with short light brown curls and glasses.

"And finally Miley Sanders." A girl with long straight brown hair and big brown eyes.

"Nice to meet you ladies." He said, looking Gabriella up and down, trying to assess her now that he had a better view of her.

Gabriella did her best to calm her nerves when she realized she recognized him, Wasn't he at that bar that Troy had me meet him at… Aloud she decided to test her luck, "Were you in Manhattan the other night?"

Not thinking Chad nodded his head, "Yeah, at Pete's Bar." His eyes got as wide as saucers, he couldn't believe he said that, then his face returned to normal, he wondered how this would pan out.

Taylor arched her eyebrows, That was the place Gabriella met Troy.

"I was there." Gabriella said, testing the waters with Chad. "Met an old friend out there."

"Really who?" Miley asked, Chad smiled, Perfect.

"Someone I knew from when I lived in Virginia." She answered easily, knowing that Miley and Kelsi wouldn't ask anymore questions and Taylor would keep quiet.

Chad frowned, "I remember seeing you there, you two were seated in the back corner." He replied, Troy's never even been to Virginia, the Knicks were his first move out of New Mexico. We all went to U of A, interesting, he thought to himself.

Gabriella studied his face cautiously, she knew she needed to get him alone and have a nice one-on-one with him. Should be easy enough, she shrugged her shoulders. It was a known fact among the girls that she and Taylor were best friends and Miley and Kelsi were best friends. "Okay, as the best friend," she paused dramatically, getting laughs from the three girls, "I get one-on-one time with the boyfriend to grill him." She smirked at Taylor's face. "Don't worry, I won't bite…this time at least." She grabbed his wrist and led him out to the balcony.

Once they were outside she challenged him to a face off, "You know I just lied through my teeth back there. I've heard about you. You're Bolton's best friend. You know damn well that Troy never lived in Virginia, or if he did I never met him." She took a deep breath, "You also know that I was there with him." Looking him in the eyes she smirked saying, "And I'm guessing he has no idea you were there because you were supposed to be with the guys that night. But instead, you followed Troy."

Chad arched an eyebrow, "How did you know our plans?" he asked

"I'm Ryan Evans's girlfriend." She said, with a wave of her hand.

Chad frowned, Were they cheating on the Evans' twins? Sharpay may not be nice all the time, but Ryan's really cool, he thought. "That's why your name sounds familiar." He commented dryly, "Zeke and Jason told me you're all Ryan talked about." A little white lie couldn't hurt while trying to find the truth.

"Okay Chad," She glared at him, "you listen and you listen good. You tell your little friend that I already told Taylor that when I met with him, against my better judgment I might add, and that I lied to Taylor and told her he asked me to meet me because he needed advice about a sick relative." Chad's face turned to one of confusion, "But you can tell Mr. Basketball Superstar that I love my boyfriend and have no intention of cheating on him, if he wants to dump Sharpay that's between him and her. Leave me out of it. And also tell him that I'm willing to forget the fact that he hit on me before I stormed out." She took a few calming breaths before looking back at a shocked Chad. Smiling she continued, "Now onto my business as best friend…"

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XOXO

MAS