Another fairly long Chappie! Hope you like!
Disclaimer: . . . you know, all this disclaiming is so distressing . . . (lol)
Taylor rested her head on Chad's shoulder, and gazed into his peaceful face. He lay on the duvet of her bed, and Taylor lay under the duvet, next to him.
"Woah, you are tired," Taylor murmured, ran a hand through his hair. She was too happy to sleep. She was comfortable like this. They had talked for ages before Chad finally fell asleep, and Taylor checked her parents.
Taylor closed her eyes, feeling safe, and she didn't know she'd fallen asleep until five hours later, when she woke up.
"Chad, you'd better wake up! You're gonna have to leave soon, or my parents will find you! You have to hide or something!" panicked Taylor.
"You wake. You leave. No hide." said Chad groggily, and Taylor giggled.
"Oh yeah; I forgot that you're cranky in the morning." She said, knowing it would set him off. He sat up abruptly.
"What is it with you people? I don't – get – cranky! It was one time, and it was early!"
"Chad, it was eight thirty (8:30) then. Right now it's about quarter past five. (05:15)"
"What?" said Chad in dismay. Taylor couldn't stop giggling, but she shut up pretty quick when she heard footsteps.
Chad leapt up, reacting to the sound faster than Taylor, and locked the door.
"Taylor? Are you okay?" asked Mr McKessie groggily, trying to open the door. Obviously, it was locked.
"Yep, I'm fine!" Taylor said, stuttering a bit though shock.
"Sound more tired!" Chad mouthed to her, so she gave a loud, fake yawn.
"I'm going downstairs to get a glass of water, then I'm going back to bed." Taylor told her father through the locked door.
"Okay, night honey." said her Dad. Taylor waited until the footsteps were gone, then she ran o the door and unlocked it.
"We'll go downstairs together, and I'll come back up on my own." She whispered to him, so she did just that.
It was actually thrilling, like they were just waiting to be caught, but knew they wouldn't be.
"See you tomorrow." She said, giving Chad a parting kiss, and he left through the back door, grinning like an idiot.
…HSM…
"Chad! Chad, quickly!" Troy yelled to him as soon as he came through the school doors. "Oh s £#$" panicked Troy. "Quickly!"
"What the hell is going on?" said Chad, bewildered holding his beloved basketball.
"Some little weasel stole the camera! He snatched it out of my hand when I was at my locker . . ." Troy said. "Sharpay is going to be humiliated if we don't get it back!"
"Not to mention how angry she'll be if she finds out it was us!" Chad said, also starting to panic.
"We do we start looking?" said Troy, relying on Chad as usual.
"You think for a change!" was the grumpy reply. "No, wait." Chad thought hard. "If I stole a camera . . . the first thing I'd do is get the pictures developed."
"I already did, and the kid took those too. Then what?" urged Troy.
"Those are really embarrassing pictures of Sharpay," said Chad slowly, thinking outside the box. "I guess I'd probably photocopy them for the whole school to see."
"The only photocopiers are in the teacher's lounge." Troy affirmed.
"Then we'd better get moving. We have to get it back before the homeroom bell goes!" Chad said, and they broke into a run down the empty hallway.
…HSM…
"I should have known." Troy fumed, and Ace's head snapped up, holding the camera.
The boy who had stolen Troy's camera was with him, both standing by the photocopier.
"Sorry Bolton, was this yours?" Ace said, feigning surprise.
"You knew it was his. I bet you asked the kid to steal it!" growled Chad. "As for you," he added to the kid, "Scat!"
The boy bolted.
"I don't know what you're talking about." sniffed Ace, retrieving the photo's.
They had only gotten four photo's developed; Sharpay without make-up, Sharpay kissing the posters, Sharpay jamming crazily to rock music, Sharpay dropping the stereo.
"Give them to me." Troy demanded, stepping forward.
"Why? Is she your secret love Bolton?" sneered Ace, and that pissed Chad off.
He lobbed the ball right at Ace's head, and it bounced off and hit something else, which hit something else . . . the chain reaction was disastrous.
"Oh crap." said Chad. Ace slumped to the floor, dizzy because his head throbbed.
"Don't worry about that. Just get what we came for." said Troy, determined.
He snatched the photo's from Ace while he was still dazed, Chad retrieved his basketball, and then they got the hell outta there!
"Hey Troy, guess what?" Chad grinned, remembering. "Last night . . ."
…HSM…
Lunch break. Everyone was hanging out in the cafeteria, sitting at one table.
Troy, Chad and Taylor, who were exchanging secret smiles, Gabriella, Zeke and Jason.
Then there was Sharpay who was only there because Zeke was, Ryan who was there for Sharpay was, and Kelsi who had nothing else to do.
"Wow. Now I get where the Wildcat thing came from," came a voice, and everyone on the table turned round to see Scarlet.
"Hey!" said Chat and Troy in unison. Scarlet kissed Troy and Chad's cheek with a smile.
(A.N. She loves kissing cheeks, doesn't she?)
"You guys are really popular here, huh? I saw your faces on a poster on the way here!"
"Yup, we're pretty famous!" joked Troy. "Long story, don't ask."
"Hey, aren't you the acrobat we saw at the Maxmilian Maize Circus?" frowned Zeke.
"Yep!" said Scarlet cheerfully, her red hair shimmering against the light. "I saw you guys there. Did you like my act?" Everyone nodded, mesmerised.
"Is your hair naturally red?" asked Chad in interest, "I mean, your eyebrows are brown."
"Funny you should ask," said Scarlet, he eyebrows wide. "My hair is naturally brown, like Sean's." she stopped, then went on;
"I dyed my hair red to match my name, and kept it red. Sean dyed his red to match mine at first, but then let it grow back to brown with the tips red. Weird."
"Oh," chorused everyone in realisation. Scarlet burst out laughing.
"You're all jokers," she giggled. "I'd better go before your headmaster catches me!"
"Good point! He won't be happy." said Chad.
"No, he will!" grinned Scarlet. "He knows my Dad, so I'm safe!" everyone giggled. "Bye everyone!"
"Bye!" everyone chorused.
"I'll see you two tomorrow," she added, almost flirtatiously to Troy and Chad.
"Huh?" said Gabriella confused. "What did she mean? Troy?"
"Er . . . long story, tell you later." said Troy quickly.
Gabriella frowned, but let it slide, as everyone left the table apart from Taylor and Gabriella. Sharpay was about to go, then lingered.
"You'd better watch your boyfriends. They're about to get snapped up by a charming crocodile with red hair." She smirked, but not unkindly.
"How many times do we have to tell you? They're just friends." Gabriella said impatiently. "Right Taylor?"
Taylor hesitated. "Uh . . ."
She hadn't told Gabriella about Chad's midnight visit yet. Gabriella stared at her best friend, shocked that she even had to think about it.
"Taylor?" she said uncertainly.
"Chad's won her heart," said Sharpay triumphantly. "The battle's over. Now, Troy just has to -"
"Oh, stop it," Gabriella snapped. "When did you become the Love Fairy?"
"When I met Zeke." Sharpay said proudly, and flounced off. The girls stared after her.
"She must love him loads." said Taylor in surprise, but mainly amazement.
"Do you love Chad?" asked Gabriella suddenly.
"I . . . huh?" said Taylor, caught off-guard.
"I mean, I love Troy like a brother, but I want to know, seriously. Just curious." said Gabriella.
"How could you ask . . . ?" Taylor stuttered. "I mean, just because I've known Chad for quite a long time -"
"Taylor," interrupted Gabriella. "It's a simple question, and it has a simple answer. Be honest."
Taylor was silent for quite a long time. Just say no, pleaded Gabriella silently. Things had been fine, the four of them as friends. It had been for so long, and Gabriella didn't want anything to change.
If Taylor said no, it would reassure her that everything would stay normal . . .
"I don't know," said Taylor slowly, at last Gabriella almost crumbled.
"Guys, have you heard?!" shouted Kelsi to them, as she sprinted across the cafeteria.
"What?" chorused Taylor and Gabriella, and Kelsi recited breathlessly;
"Ace was taking pictures of Sharpay, and he was gonna expose them to the whole school, but Troy and Chad stopped them. This morning. Everyone's making out lime they're heroes, and Sharpay doesn't know yet."
"How do you know this?" said Gabriella.
"Ace made some little kid be his side-kick, only he wanted out. He wasn't bothered about keeping it secret." shrugged Kelsi.
"He better find a place to hide then," giggled Taylor. "Ace won't be happy, will he?"
"No, but who cares?" said Gabriella, and the three girls giggled together.
…HSM…
"I'm gonna jump." said Troy, determined.
"You're gonna commit suicide, you mean." said Chad crossly. "Don't be a fool."
"This is what being a Daredevil is all about!" said Troy incredulously.
"I've never heard such bull! This is getting to your head, Troy!"
"Chad, I don't care what you say."
"Fine by me. Give me a shout when you realise that I'm right." He paused.
"Or at least leave me note so I know what kind of flowers you want at your funeral."
Chad left the room.
What's Troy gonna do? Will he jump? Jump from where? Why?
Maybe he's just nuts, like me (lol) Please leave a review to let me know what you thought!
Star x x x