A/N: Hello all :) Here's another chapter for you all. I hope you enjoy it. I'm sorry I haven't updated sooner, I was really struggling for ideas for this story. If you all have any ideas or suggestions, please let me know. Things like info about Julie's past with the guys, or pairings you wanna see...anything at all.
Also, there's a picture of Julie's awesome glasses in my profile under 'Back Home to Stay'. Like I said, hope you enjoy and please remember to REVIEW, cause that's basically what's keeping me going.
Disclaimer: Obviously, I don't own High School Musical, or its characters. I do, however, own Julie Bolton.
Jules ran up to her room and started getting ready immediately. She grabbed an empty bag and threw it on her bag before grabbing some clothes. After getting out of her bathing suit, Jules found her black jeans and slipped them on before grabbing her blue tank top off her desk chair.
Packing her clothes into her bag, Jules grabbed her pyjamas and toiletry bag and packed them in, grabbed her pillow and put them by her door. The others had left only a little while ago and she was pretty sure that Troy wasn't ready yet. So, to help pass the time faster, Jules decided to send an email to her friends in New York.
She grabbed her glasses from her bedside table and put them on, ignoring the fact that she knew she was going to get some kind of crap about it from Troy later. But she didn't care. They were the damn near coolest glasses she had ever seen. They were black with white music notes on the sides. A gift from her Dad to cheer her up when she found out she needed them.
She sat down at her desk and typed out a few emails to her friends. She decided to send one to her Dad, knowing that he would be checking his emails constantly for a message from her.
When she was done, Jules thought that was more than enough time for Troy to get ready. She pulled her sandy blonde hair into a ponytail, grabbed her favourite jacket and went to hurry Troy.
"Are you ready yet?" She wondered, leaning in his doorway. Troy sighed as he was looking under his bed for something.
"Will you calm down?" he asked. "We'll get there soon." Jules groaned in frustration as she leaned back against the door. Finally, Troy emerged from under his bed holding a scrunched up shirt.
"I knew it was hiding under there." He said, more to himself. Jules rolled her eyes.
"You are such a guy." She said. Troy looked up at her, ready with a comeback when he noticed her glasses.
"Since when do you wear glasses?" he asked. Jules shrugged.
"I got them when I was thirteen." She said. Troy nodded.
"Well, they make you look like a nerd." He said jokingly. Jules scowled at him and threw a pillow at him. Troy managed to duck and seek refuge under his bed. Jules rolled her eyes and checked her watch; 7:15.
"Come on, we gotta go." She said. Troy got up off the floor and finished packing his bag. The two of them grabbed their things and headed downstairs. Lucille was serving up dinner for her and Jack.
"You two heading off then?" she asked. The two teens nodded.
"Yeah, we're going to pick up Gabriella then head over to Ryan and Sharpay's." Troy said.
"Alright, well you two have fun." Lucille said. Jules smiled.
"We will, Aunt Luce." She said. she glanced around the kitchen. "Where's Uncle Jack?"
"I'm sure he's around here somewhere." Lucille said, sending a knowing look to her son. Troy smiled subtly. The two said goodbye and headed out to the truck. After they put their things in the back, they were on their way. They drove a couple of blocks to Gabriella's house.
"I'll be back in a second." He said, getting out of the car. Jules nodded and drummed her fingers on the dashboard while she waited. Pretty soon, Troy and Gabriella came outside. They put her bags in the back and climbed into the truck.
"Hey Jules." Gabriella said as she got into the truck. Jules smiled brightly.
"Hey Gabi. What's crackalacking?" she asked, Gabi could only laugh. Troy sighed.
"Don't worry, you get used to it...eventually." he said. The girls grinned and began a conversation as Troy started the truck.
"I didn't know you wore glasses." said Gabi.
"Yeah. Although, I can see perfectly fine without them, so don't have to wear them much. It's mostly when reading and in school usually." Answered Jules. Gabi nodded in understanding. Jules took her glasses off and put on her trademark black sunglasses.
As soon as they got there, the girls jumped out of the truck and grabbed their bags out of the truck before running up to the front of the house. They rang the doorbell and after a moment, Ryan answered the door.
"Hey Guys." He smiled.
"Hey Ryan." The three said. Ryan opened the door wider and let them in.
"Everyone's upstairs in Sharpay's room." He said. Gabi nodded and took Julie's hand before pulling her away. Jules turned and looked at Ryan before running upstairs with her friend. Ryan sighed to himself before helping Troy with the bags. Troy sent his friend a knowing look.
"What?" Ryan asked. But Troy said nothing. He just grabbed a couple of bags and headed upstairs.
When the girls made it upstairs, they found everyone in Shar's room like Ryan said. Sharpay, Taylor and Kelsi were reading magazines and the guys were lying on their stomaches on the floor, watching what appeared to be an episode of Jackass. Jules put her bag down and changed back into her other glasses. She said a silent hello to the girls before laughing at the guys. They were so into the episode that they didn't even notice the two walk into the room and Jules come lie down beside Chad.
"Oh, is this the one when Bam puts a gator in his parent's house?" she asked. All three guys jumped in fright at her sudden appearance. Jules couldn't help but laugh.
"When the hell did you get here?" Jason asked. Jules shrugged.
"Wouldn't you like to know." She teased. Jason looked at her, completely clueless.
"Umm...yeah, that's why I asked." He said, sounding pretty unsure of the question. The guys rolled their eyes and sighed. Jules snorted a little and got up. Just to be annoying, she decided to sit on Chad's back.
"Comfortable there, four-eyes?" he asked, looking up at her. Jules nodded.
"Quite. And it's MISS four-eyes to you." She said, flicking the end of his nose. Chad groaned in frustration and tried to swat her hand away.
"Where's Troy?" asked Taylor.
"Right here." said Troy as he and Ryan appeared in the doorway. He had a frustrated look on his face because both Jules and Gabriella had gone so fast that they had left all their bags for him to take up the huge flight of stairs.
"I'm not a bellboy you know!" he said sounding annoyed. Everyone just laughed at him. He rolled his eyes and pulled the bags into the far corner of the room.
"So, now that everyone is here, what should we do for dinner?" asked Sharpay. At the mention of food, Chad sat up immediately, throwing Jules off his back and onto the ground with a thud.
"Lousy son of a..." Jules mumbled, rubbing her back. Chad smirked at her before turning his attention back to the others.
"What about pizza?" he suggested. There were mixed replies.
"I really don't think I could stand that much grease tonight." Taylor said.
"Well, why don't we make pizzas?" suggested Ryan. "It's so much nicer and less grease."
"I vote homemade pizza." Jules said, shooting her hand up into the air.
"I vote Jules going to make it." Troy said, mimicking her actions.
"I'll second that!" Chad said, doing the same. Jules looked at her boys in shock.
"Why me?" she asked.
"Bags." Troy said simply.
"Back." Chad said. Jules sighed in frustration. They were doing it as payback. Sighing rather loudly and overdramatically, Jules got up off the floor and headed towards the bedroom door.
"I'll give you a hand." Ryan said, getting up from his place on the bed. Jules smiled weakly and nodded before heading downstairs. The two were silent as they made their way down to the kitchen. When they got there, Ryan got all the ingredients out of the fridge and the cupboard.
Jules stared blankly at the countertop. The silence was killing her. The awkward moment felt like it was eating away at her. It never used to be like this. She never thought it possible to be like this.
"Jules." He said suddenly, pulling her out of her reverie. Jules looked up and noticed that he had everything ready for the pizzas.
"Oh." She said. She pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose and started chopping up ingredients. Ryan sighed quietly to himself. It shouldn't be like this. It had been six long years since they had a proper conversation.
"We really haven't had a chance to catch up since you got here have we?" he said, finally deciding to break the silence. Jules looked up at him and smile weakly.
"No I guess we haven't." She said softly. Once again the silence filled the room as the two made the pizzas for dinner.
"So...I hear things have changed a bit while I was gone." Jules said, breaking the silence. Ryan chuckled and nodded.
"Yeah. We all get along so much better, like we used to when we were little." He said.
"Even Sharpay?" Jules wondered. Ryan smiled and nodded.
"Even Sharpay." He said. "Much less of an ice queen than before, as the basketball team affectionately dubbed her freshman year."
"Sounds like them." Jules said, rolling her eyes. "And what about you?"
"Me?" Ryan wondered. Jules nodded
"Have...have you changed?" she asked. Ran smiled a little.
"I don't think I have. I mean, I still love to dance. Still love hats." He said, tipping his hat a little. Jules smiled.
"It's good to know that you haven't changed after all this time." She said sadly.
"I don't think you have either." He said. Jules looked up at him.
"Really?" she asked. Ryan shook his head.
"Still my amazing and slightly insane best friend." He said. Jules couldn't help but feel a little saddened at that last bit. She simply smiled and finished up decorating the pizzas.
"So...how was New York?" asked Ryan. Jules shrugged as she put the pizzas on a tray and into the oven.
"Very different from New Mexico." She said. "I went to a pretty good school, made some new friends...although nobody could replace you all." Ryan smiled. At least she didn't forget about them.
"Living there only fuelled my love of musicals." Jules said, laughing softly. "I would drag my dad or some of my friends there at least once a month. I saw pretty much everything at least once."
"So I guess you didn't really miss here much?" Ryan wondered softly, sitting up on the countertop. Jules looked up at him.
"Ryan...Of course I did." I missed everything about this place. I mean, it's my home. Everything and everyone I love is here." She said. Ryan smiled weakly.
"Moving to New York was one a great thing for me." Jules said. "But it didn't come without heartache." Ryan looked at her confused.
"What do you mean?" he asked. Jules drew a shaky breath. Ryan could see that something was hurting her. He jumped off the counter and stood beside her. He put his hand on hers reassuringly. Jules looked up at him; tears threatening to fall from her eyes.
"Things have happened." She said cryptically. "Good and bad. And I still feel so guilty." She said.
"About what?" Ryan wondered. Jules shrugged.
"Everything...nothing...what happened here? Not talking to you..." she said. Ryan sighed and tried to calm her down. He took her hand and squeezed it.
"Listen to me...don't get all upset now, I don't think I could stand that." He said. Jules sighed and nodded. Ryan was about to say continue when a voice was heard from upstairs.
"GUYS WHERE ARE THE PIZZAS? CHAD'S GETTING SO HUNGRY THAT HE TRIED TO EAT JASON'S ARM!" screamed Troy.
"I DID NOT!" protested Chad. Julie sighed and moved away from Ryan to get the food out of the oven. She placed it on the counter and was about to serve it up when Ryan stopped her.
"Listen. Tonight, when everyone's asleep, we'll talk. Just the two of us, okay?" he asked Jules said nothing but nodded. The two served the pizzas and carried them upstairs.
"Ok we got Margarita, Hawaiian, Chicken, and Meat lovers. Get 'em while their hot." said Ryan. They all grabbed a piece...except for Chad...he grabbed three!
Jules felt a little better, and was determined to be back to her usual bubbly self and not spoil the rest of the night.