Disclaimer: I wish that I could say that I own High School Musical...but sadly, I don't. Otherwise, I'd be in a very happy place :)
--
Gabriella was taking notes. She loved doing this – it was like second nature to her. She could always write down information in a clear, organized manner, so her notes were easy to use when she studied for exams. Her teacher was currently waiting for everyone else to finish writing, so Gabriella picked up her pen again and started to scratch at the sheet of paper.
"Psst!" A whisper interrupted her doodling, and Gabriella looked up. Taylor, sitting in the desk beside her, smirked and pointed at her notebook.
Gabriella looked down and saw what she had written:
I love Troy, Troy Bolton loves Gabriella Montez (and vice versa), Troy (drawn in a heart), Gabriella Bolton and a half-finished picture of Troy which, Gabriella thought, did not come close to the real person.
With a start, Gabriella realized that her notebook was in plain view of not only every student surrounding her, but the teacher as well. She turned red and hastily brought the notebook close to her. She kept it like that until the teacher started writing again.
She felt her phone vibrate in her pocket and slipped it out. This teacher, unlike Mrs. Darbus, did not have an obsession with confiscating cell phones, so all Gabriella had to do was keep it in her lap and hidden behind her desk, out of the teacher's view.
You are SO lucky that I saved your neck back there!!
She grimaced and began on a reply to Taylor. She had a funny feeling that she was never going to hear the end of this.
I just spaced out. It could happen to anyone.
A very short time later, her phone buzzed again.
Any particular reason for spacing out?
She thought about telling Taylor that she and Troy had almost kissed...but decided against it. Her friends had lately been dropping hints again about her and Troy getting together, even when Sharpay had promised that they wouldn't. Gabriella's decision was made partially on the base of her annoyance at her friends, and partially because she wanted to keep that moment to herself for a little while longer.
No...It was just me and Troy being us. It was fun hanging out with him up there, but it didn't really go anywhere...at least, not in the way you mean.
As Taylor read this, her eyes grew wide and she hastily messaged Sharpay, Ryan, Jason, Kelsi, Chad and Zeke.
Ryan's plan failed!! Emergency meeting after school?
After the message was read and six affirmative replies were sent, Taylor wasn't the only one who was no longer focused on the lesson.
--
"Okay, guys," Sharpay said seriously. "I've had enough. We've tried everything...and nothing, I repeat, nothing has worked! Jason, you're the only one out of all of us who hasn't come up with a plan. If yours doesn't work...well, I guess we're just going to have to give up."
For once, there was complete silence in the library. Sharpay had held it out until the end, and she had been the main leader of "the Planning Committee," as they had taken to calling themselves. If she was giving up, everyone knew that it was almost over. It was almost time to just close their eyes and hope for the best.
"Do you have a plan, Jason?" asked Kelsi, after a long silence.
Jason took a deep breath. "Yeah, I think I do. It's not much, but...if it works, it's served its purpose. You're all strong, right?"
They all nodded, slightly confused.
"You can block a door if you need to?"
"I've done it plenty of times," Sharpay declared. "It's easily done. But why –"
"You'll see in a minute," said Jason. "What we're going to do is this..."
--
"Troy!"
"Gabriella!"
The two people not involved in the planning were searching the school, looking for each other. Although they were on different sides of the school, both of them were approaching the same classroom.
"Hey, Gabriella," said Kelsi, jogging to keep up with Gabriella, who was running. "Looking for Troy?"
"Yeah," Sharpay cut in, slightly out of breath. "Are you? Cause we might have seen him..."
"He's around here somewhere..." said Taylor. "Right..."
"HERE!" they all yelled, as they pushed Gabriella into an open door.
Gabriella stumbled through the door just as Troy was pushed in through the door on the other side of the classroom. They both whirled around at the same time, just as both doors shut. They ran for the doors and tried to open them, but they wouldn't budge.
"They've locked us in here!" Gabriella cried.
Troy groaned and slumped to the floor. "My friends are going to be the death of me one day."
"Taylor's never pushed me before," Gabriella said softly. "And Kelsi...and I thought that Sharpay was getting better! What did I do? Did I –"
"You didn't do anything wrong," Troy said firmly. "Remember? It's not possible for you to do anything wrong." He smiled at her, and she tentatively smiled back.
"It's not like them to use violence, though," Gabriella mused. "I mean," she said quickly, glancing at Troy, "I'm not the kind of person who freaks out when I get pushed, or anything...it's just –"
"I know what you mean," Troy said reassuringly. "The guys on the team don't generally use violence, either." He looked somewhere to his left, near Gabriella, and grinned suddenly. Wordlessly, he pointed to a point behind her.
Gabriella turned, looking over her right shoulder, and saw a staircase somewhat hidden behind a black curtain. She walked over and pulled the curtain back, revealing that the staircase lead upwards and disappeared into the ceiling. She grinned, too, and a mischievous look came into her eyes.
Troy rose silently from the floor and outstretched his hand. Gabriella took it, and they both climbed up the staircase, trying to make as little noise as possible. Soon, they were out of the room.
--
The rest of the gang waited five minutes before Chad rapped on the door impatiently. "Come on, guys, enough already! You'll have a chance to finish later!"
Hearing Chad's voice from the other side of the room, the girls began to knock on the door, too. But no one answered them.
"Are they ignoring us?" Ryan asked. Zeke, putting a finger to his lips, gently opened the door and saw...no one.
All four of the boys ran into the room and searched it, but they didn't find anyone.
"Taylor! Sharpay! Kelsi!" they called, and the girls rushed into the room. Seeing no one there besides their fellow planners, they stood in the middle of the room in shock.
"Where'd they go?" Sharpay screeched, and proceeded to run around the room, looking under desks and chairs and behind large projects.
"It's no use," Zeke said. "We already looked everywhere."
"Not everywhere." Kelsi waited until she caught everyone's attention, and then pulled back the black curtain that Troy and Gabriella had closed, disclosing the staircase.
Chad groaned. "Jason, out of all the classrooms that you could've picked, why did you have to pick this one?"
"I didn't know about it! Honestly!" Jason cried, looking around at his friends. "I've been in this classroom before...that staircase was always behind the curtain. I don't think anyone knows about it!"
"Well, it explains where Troy and Gabriella got to," Taylor said matter-of-factly. She paused. "Does anyone else feel like following them?"
Noiselessly, the rest of the gang climbed up the staircase – which was several flights long – until they got to a familiar place.
"The rooftop garden!" Sharpay hissed. They could hear voices a floor above them.
"Come on," Kelsi urged. "Let's leave them alone for now."
"Wait," Chad said. "One minute." He crawled up the staircase and peeked at Troy and Gabriella's special place. He saw Troy on one end of the bench, and Gabriella on the other. They were talking, but they weren't close enough for Chad's liking.
When he got back down to the others, he shook his head mournfully. "We failed...again."
It was a sorry looking procession that trudged into the cafeteria when the lunch bell rang.
--
Troy was saying something to Gabriella when he stopped and tilted his head to one side. "Listen," he said. "Did you hear anything?"
Gabriella strained her ears, but she couldn't hear anything out of the ordinary.
"No," she said, smiling at him. "Sorry. What do you think you heard?"
"Chad's footsteps." Gabriella looked at him weirdly.
"You know Chad. He has many talents...grace is not one of them. I've come to know how he walks over the years that I've known him."
Gabriella giggled. "Well," she said, "I wouldn't be surprised. Our friends seem to be everywhere these days." She sighed. "Does it feel like they're –"
"– pressuring us into something?" Troy grinned. "Yes, as a matter of fact, it does."
"You know, the girls were pressuring me about..." she glanced up at Troy quickly, "something...and then Sharpay said that they'd stop a while ago. But they've started it up again." Then she frowned, as she remembered her conversation with Taylor after the recording incident. "Actually...I think that Taylor said that the boys were in on it, too."
"I wouldn't be surprised," Troy said grimly. "The same thing happened to me. Actually..." he paused. "Judging by what they told me...I wouldn't be surprised if the girls were in on it as well."
They looked at each other, and something clicked.
"You don't think it's –"
"—the same plan!" Gabriella gasped. "The same issue they're pressuring us on!" She suddenly remembered everything that Taylor had told her and felt stupid for not believing her. "Taylor told me that she was trying to get us –"
But she stopped there, the unfinished sentence still in her mouth. She couldn't tell Troy about that...he'd find out how she felt about him if she did.
"Get us what?" Troy moved closer to her and took her hand. "Get us what, Gabriella?" he asked softly.
There was nothing that Gabriella could do. She couldn't think of anything to say but the truth.
"Get us...together."
Troy let go of her hand in shock and slid back on the bench. Did she just say what I think she said? His mind was in turmoil, so he didn't stop to think what his actions might to Gabriella.
She looked down after Troy released her hand. "They've been trying to get me to tell you how I feel," she said quietly. "But they didn't realize...this is exactly how I knew you would take it, Troy. They didn't stop to think what would happen if you didn't feel the same way." Now she was fighting back tears. "I have to go."
And before Troy could say a word, she raced down the stairs.
A/N: Haha, I felt like ending it there...but I will have the next chapter up soon! Don't worry! I found it hard to concentrate on this story writing this chapter...but I had a good reason! Check this out:
/profilevideos?userAshleyTisdale83&pr
It has all these videos about HSM 3...and they are AMAZING!!
This one goes to zanessaandashlover and snoopyloverwhohasahighvoice: my 2 latest reviewers!! But, once again, thank you to everybody who has reviewed so far...you should find your name in here somewhere!
I am finishing up this story...there should only be one more chapter or two. But in the meantime...there is a purple button down there...
