Summary: Is it possible to have it all or does something get lost along the way? Can Troy live his dream and still keep his girl?
Disclaimer: High School Musical and all of its characters belong to Disney. I just have them on secondment.
A/N: Thanks again to Kristen for proofreading my humble ramblings and for those who have linked my story as a favourite or alert, thanks bunches. More reviews would be nice so I know how you all feel.
Gabriella smiled a sad smile as she switched off the PC. At least he was keeping his promise, was her last thought as she fell asleep in his shirt. It had been a long day.
Dreams come at a Price
Somewhere in the distance a buzzer sounded. Gabriella groaned.
"No, not yet. I was having such a lovely dream about Troy." She thought as she came out of the waves of sleep. She lay in bed, scrunching her eyes against the sunbeams seeping through her curtains. She sighed. She staggered from her bed and weaved her way to the bathroom. Once showered she felt more awake as she came back into her bedroom and began dressing for the day ahead. She logged onto her emails to see if there was word from Troy.
To: gabsalot
From: Wildcat 14
Subject: Re: Missing
Hi Babe,
I feel better now I know you're not going to put your life on hold. I want you to go out and have fun. I wish I were there with you. A pizza sounds good about now. If I see any more muesli I'll throw up. Man! It's like rabbit food YUCK!!
We're just on the outskirts of LA now. We're staying in a hotel close to Cal State uni.
Not seen my tutor yet. He's meeting us at the hotel later today, so I guess I will have stacks of work to catch up with. Not looking forward to that much.
Catch you later Babe.
Troy x
To: wildcat14
From: gabsalot
Subject: Re: Missing
Troy,
Glad you're nearly there. I was having a really hot dream about you but the alarm woke me up. I was just getting to the good bit too lol!
I wish you were here too.
Don't worry you won't have missed too much study.
Well I better go and get my waffle. Want me to mail you one?
Love you so much,
Gabi x
To: wildcat14
From: basketcase
Subject: Hot Mama!
Hey Troy,
You won't believe this new HOT teacher we've got. She's a babe. You don't know what you're missing man! Trust me, she looks just like Claudia Schaeffer. Of course the girls are giving us hell but man it's so worth it. Makes me want to take up cooking lol!
Darbus gave me detention yesterday just for having my basketball in class!! She hates me, I swear!!!
Where are you dude?
Chad
To: wildcat14
From: Jason8
Subject: HOTTIE!
Yo Troy,
How are you bud? Where are you?
Gotta give you the low down on this new teach we've got. She puts Elle McPherson in the shade. No honest, I'm not lying. She is HOT!
Time out
Jason
To: wildcat14
From: Zekeliciouscookies
Subject: What's cooking?
Hi Troy,
How's it rolling?
You are not going to believe my luck. You know how Fisher is up the duff? Well her replacement rocks. She's called Miss Buscombe and her best assets reflect her name. Wow! I'm not saying more except you don't know what you're missing.
Later gator
Zeke
To: wildcat 14
From: dancemaster
Subject: LA
Hi Troy, Ryan here.
Have you reached Hollywood yet? I bet it's buzzing with life unlike here. All is quiet here, well apart from this new teacher that came into our homeroom yesterday. She is fit! Looks like Anastacia, you know that pop singer. She's got the school buzzing, that's for sure lol! Gabs tells me the bus is cool, all mod cons, the works.
CU l8r
Ryan
Los Angeles was buzzing. Troy couldn't believe he was actually here. He pinched himself to make sure. You could tell there was money here, Porsches, BMW's, Mercedes' and even Bentley's lined the streets.
"No pickup trucks around here," he thought. Even a stretched limo passed them on the freeway.
He grabbed his rucksack and stuffed all his toiletries and the odd shirt that was strewn across his bunk into it. He slipped his ipod into his newly acquired Redhawks jacket pocket. He returned to the lounge area and gazed out of the window. The amount of people on the sidewalks was mind-boggling and the shops.
"Gabi and Sharpay would love it here. It's a shoppers paradise," he thought to himself.
"Oh wow! There's the Staples Center. Awesome" He said aloud. The other guys started laughing at his amazement.
Finally the bus pulled up outside a pretty nondescript building. Troy couldn't wait to get outside. He hitched his rucksack onto his left shoulder and snatched up his laptop case in his right hand and climbed down from the bus. The warm breeze tickled his fringe and lifted the hair at the back of his neck. He smiled; it was good to finally be here.
The simple façade hid a sumptuous lobby with marble tiled floors and comfortable looking sofas arranged into groups. A lift was off to the left, beside the reception desk. The Coach went to the reception desk to book them in and get the room keys. A bellboy pushed a trolley holding their entire luggage into the lobby, waiting for the room allocations. The Coach came back and handed out the key passes. Troy was sharing with another newbie, Simon Bergman. Troy didn't care all he wanted was a hot shower and a change of clothes.
The Coach called them all into the lounge area. Some sat down on the sofas, some just stood waiting for his instructions.
"Right team, I've booked a table at the hotel for 7pm. After the journey, I think we all need an early night so no sneaking out to go sight-seeing." He said sternly, glaring at a couple of players that must have done it before. "I need you all fresh and ready to work hard at practice tomorrow. Cal State is letting us use one of their courts which is kind of them considering we are going to whip their sorry asses the day after," he added, laughing.
"See you all at 7." The coach said finishing his pep talk. Troy started chatting with Simon as they made their way to the lift.
The room was big, or seemed to be to Troy, holding two queen-sized beds. A built in wardrobe was to the right as they entered the room with a door opposite it. Troy peeked inside to find an en-suite bathroom. A dressing table-cum-desk was on the opposite wall to the beds with a TV perched on one end with a chair tucked underneath the desk.
Troy dumped his bags on the bed nearest the window and went to the window to look out at the city. He could see the University campus across the rooftops, their flags blowing in the breeze.
"Time to check out the shower." He thought as he opened his suitcase, which had already been placed in the room and took out fresh clothes.
When Troy came back into the room he found Simon flat out on his bed, snoring gently. He shrugged his shoulders, knowing there wouldn't be any conversation for a while. He took his laptop out of the case and plugging it into the socket beneath the desk, fired it up. He logged onto his emails.
"Wow! I'm popular. 5 emails. God Gabi, you are such a tease. Man what I wouldn't give to get a waffle right now." He thought as he fired an email back, describing the hotel and the parts of LA that he'd seen from the bus. He laughed at Chad's message,
"Chad you are such a dork. How many times have you been warned about the ball? Hmm! Yeah right! Claudia Schaeffer. In your dreams Danforth."
He sent a reply before opening up the one from Jason.
"And I'd believe you, Cross. Elle McPherson, my foot." He smirked as he sent an update to Jason, bragging about the Lakers stadium.
"What! Maybe they aren't lying then. Zeke usually says how it is." Troy pondered the development at home, wishing he was back there with his gorgeous girlfriend, eating her Mom's home made brownies, lying on her comfortable bed, holding and kissing her. He missed her giggle, her smile, her beautiful eyes, her luscious dark hair, her oh so kissable lips.
"Trust Evans to only think of the glamour of Hollywood. Man! What would I be interested in that for? Who the hell is Anastacia?"
Chad had learned his lesson. He looked naked without his beloved basketball stuck to his hand. Taylor was teasing him mercilessly. Gabriella was giggling helplessly at the pair. The bell rang as they heard the tap of Ms Darbus' shoes coming down the corridor. Everyone sat upright in their chairs, even the boys looked all eagle-eyed this morning, craning their necks to see if Miss Buscombe would be there again. The girls looked at each other and rolled their eyes.
"Plac…Oh!" Said Ms Darbus, clearly shocked that everyone was sat up and paying attention. She wasn't used to this. Miss Buscombe followed her in. Ms Darbus sat in her chair and Miss Buscombe stood behind the desk and shouted the register this morning. Surprisingly everyone was present. No latecomers, no skippers.
"Really weird," Thought Ms Darbus, "something must be up." She looked around suspiciously. All the boys were staring at Miss Buscombe. Ms Darbus smirked, realising what was going on. The bell rang for the first lesson. All the girls grabbed their bags and made for the door. The boys hung back getting a last look at Miss Buscombe.
The day ran pretty much the same as yesterday for the group. Teasing became the normal at lunchtime. The boys were just so funny, especially as Miss Buscombe was on yard duty. It was surprising how many off them wanted to be outside when usually they would find all kinds of excuses to remain inside. The basketball team were usually practising in the gym but not today. For some strange reason they wanted to use the outside court, even with the wind blowing dirt and grit around.
After dinner, Gabriella went to her room to complete her history assignment that was due in the next day. She was eager to get it finished so she could have some computer time. She couldn't wait to send a message to Troy, to let him know how her day had been and what they'd found out. Maybe she wouldn't tell and just let him get a surprise. She knew the guys were going to play with his head. They were discussing what to do while they were waiting for the school bus to pick up Zeke, Jason, Martha and Kelsi. She really didn't want to spoil their fun.
To: wildcat14
From: gabsalot
Subject: LA
Hi babe,
So you've arrived. I wish I were there too so I could check out those shops and the museums. I was reading up and LA has some great museums and not just about film.
Has your tutor arrived yet? I think I know who it is.
Love you
Gabi x
To: wildcat14
From: Jason8
Subject: Lakers
You lucky bugger! I am so jealous. I want to go to the Staples Center and the Dodgers Stadium. Are you going to play them?
Have you seen your tute yet? The guys were talking and we're guessing….
Oops got to go, Mom's calling
Jason
To: wildcat14
From: Zekeliciouscookies
Subject: Miss Buscombe
Yeah dude, she is tasty, believe me and I'm going to be up close and personal too. How cool is that? And no, you don't need to copy in Sharpay to any of our mails thank you. She's cool about it and teasing me rotten so I am suffering already, believe me.
Have you met your teacher yet? We have a theory it could be….
To: wildcat14
From: basketcase
Subject: Ha! Ha!
Thanks for your sympathy Troy. I thought you were my best buddy? Careful dude, payback can be a bitch and if I was to tell you what I know. No I don't think I will….
Have fun. Ha! Ha! Ha!
Chad
Hope you enjoy this chapter. I enjoyed writing it. Guessed who his tutor is yet?