A/N: And here's chapter eleven. This is opening night, and the after party. It touched on that M rating here again, but nothing too explicit, as per usual, just enough I think. Now there's just the final wrap up left. One more chapter coming soon. Let me know what you think! Enjoy! R&R! Thanks! ~Mac

Disclaimer: I don't own HSM or Spring Awakening and its related songs, script and characters.

Chapter Eleven

Gabriella peeked through the gap in the curtains and watched as the auditorium started to fill up. Her mother was already seated in the front row, a few seats down from the Boltons. The rest of the cast's families were peppered around the first few rows, but they could hardly account for how many people were there. When tickets went on sale, opening night had sold out at a speed typical for an arena concert and it wasn't just students, or their families, or alumni. It was the postal worker that delievered to her neighborhood, who recognized her name from the top bill of the posters that hung all over town. It was the checkout girl at the grocery store that smiled a little wider at her now that her face had been plastered on the same posters. It was enough people to sell out every show on the schedule, because, apparently, an East High dramatic performance was a much bigger deal than any other high school musical out there.

Even after she saw the sold out signs go up, Gabriella hadn't grasped just how large of an audience she would have. There was no point in getting worked up about it, they were all there and she had a show to put on for them. So, she backed away from the curtain and took a deep breath. She bounced slightly on her toes and tried to shake the jitters out by her fingertips. She closed her eyes and tried to whisper reassurances to herself.

When she opened her eyes again, Troy was in front of her, in full costume. He had on so many layers for his first scene, that Gabriella almost felt naked in the costume undergarments she opened the show in.

"You're going to be amazing," Troy said. "You killed in the dress rehearsal, and this is no different."

"The roar of the crowd on the other side of that curtain says it is very different," Gabriella said, pointing over his shoulder to where the packed to capacity auditorium waited.

"Forget about them. They don't matter," Troy said. "The only thing that matters is you and me, Chad and Sharpay, and the others. Because tonight, we are not Gabriella and Troy, we are Wendla and Melchior, and we are going to tell their story in the way that only we can, by letting them come to life on that stage."

Gabriella smiled slightly, "That was better than Darbus's pep talk earlier."

"Well, it was tailored just for you," Troy replied.

"Places everyone!" Darbus called out, rushing by with her clipboard and sending everyone into action. "Places for Act One, Scene One. Curtain in two minutes!"

Gabriella's stomach rolled over as her breath caught in her chest. Panic filtered through her until Troy took her hand in his. The gesture grounded her and she met his eyes. He breathed in and out slowly, one time after another, until she matched her breathing rhythm with his and felt her body relax and her dizziness recede.

Troy squeezed her hand, "Are you ready?"

Her voice was a little shaky, but Gabriella nodded, "Yes."

"Then, break a leg," Troy released her hand and gestured her toward center stage.

"Don't say that right before I climb up onto rickety prop furniture," Gabriella joked.

Troy winked at her and backed away into the wings.

Gabriella took another deep breath on her own, letting her hands rise and fall with it. Then, she took the last steps to center stage where the prop chair already waited. She climbed up to stand on the chair and got into her first posed position. She could vaguely hear Darbus calling out last minute directions in the background before the lights in the auditorium dimmed to black. The main curtain was pulled open and the music started to swell.

The spotlight fell on Gabriella and she stared out at the audience as if they were her mirror reflection. Her hands started to move and everything else fell away as she started to sing.

"Mama who bore me..."

0o0

"I'll never let them go..." Troy sang.

Gabriella had just made her last exit, as the ethereal spirit of Wendla, before the coda, and she stayed in the wings to watch the last few lines of Troy's performance. She had one hand to her chest as she felt as much as heard his final verse.

"You watch me, just watch me. I'm calling. I'm calling—" Troy breathed in to carry the last line. "And one day all will know..."

Cheers from the audience rose up as the lights faded to black. Gabriella barely had the chance to catch her breath, as her heart skipped at the depth of his performance, when suddenly Troy was there with her. Before she could say a word, he was wildly gathering her into his arms and kissing her with barely restrained hunger. His face was wet from tears shed during the scene and she could taste the salt of them as she kissed him back just as greedily, fisting one hand in his shirt and the other in his hair. They were, without a doubt, riding high off a spectacular performance that they had felt all the way down to their bones.

When they broke apart, Gabriella gasped out, "You are brilliant."

Troy shook his head. "No, you, you are brilliant, Gabriella Montez."

There was still one more scene, one more song, but this was it. They had survived. They had triumphed. And Gabriella could feel it like fireworks going off behind her eyelids, like fire spreading through her veins, like stardust coating her skin in radiance. She didn't want that feeling to end.

0o0

Sharpay and Ryan had the honor of hosting the cast party at their house. After being showered with praise and flowers and hugs, Gabriella had her mother drop her off at the party. She sent her mother home with assurances that she was going to stay the night at Sharpay's. She didn't mention that the twins' parents had cleared out for the night, or that most of the cast would also be staying as well. There was far more than just the cast there when she arrived and, before she moved here, she wouldn't have dared step inside a party this wild. Although she was more comfortable with it now, she was still slightly nervous about walking through that door. But she was still so hyped up from how well their first performance had gone that she really wanted to celebrate in style, so she ventured inside despite her reservations.

It honestly wasn't as bad as Gabriella expected. Sure, there were certainly people already at various levels of inebriation, but nothing too extreme. It was mostly looser inhibitions, laughter and smiles—and maybe a few select couples making out in corners of the room, looking as if they might be on the way toward something else. As she weaved through the room, she looked for anyone she might actually want to talk to. She eventually caught sight of Troy across the crowd. He was talking to Chad and a few other guys from the Basketball team, so she didn't feel confident enough to go straight up to him yet. It was a similar situation with Sharpay, only the blonde had a mixed bag of admirers—girls that wanted details about the experience and guys that had other things on their mind than the musical. Gabriella didn't want to get in the middle of that either, so she found a place to sit in one corner of the room, and waited. She didn't know what to do with her hands. She needed a distraction, so that her eyes wouldn't keep wandering over to Troy. He seemed as animated as her, but he already had a way to express it. She didn't want to sit around waiting for him to notice her and she sort of got her wish, in the form of Ryan flouncing down onto the couch next to her and pushing a plastic cup into her hands.

"You looked like you needed a drink," Ryan said. He tapped the rim of his own cup to the one on the cup she now held in a gesture of cheers. "So I came to your rescue."

Ryan's cheeks were flushed pink and he smelled vaguely of beer, which was the surprising thing in Gabriella's opinion. For some reason, she expected his taste to be a little more sophisticated. But it was a party after all, a real vice-fueled high school party, not a wine and cheese platter affair. People were going to take what they could get, whatever it was as long as there was a lot of it.

"Thanks," Gabriella said. She took a sip off of her cup. It burned all the way down, but it wasn't the worst thing she had ever tasted. She was just glad it wasn't beer.

"Can I tell you something?" Ryan asked after taking a large gulp off his drink.

"Sure," Gabriella said and took another, more substantial, sip of her drink.

"You are the greatest thing our stage has ever seen," Ryan said, meeting her eyes directly. His serious expression broke into a grin. "Just don't tell my sister I said so."

Gabriella warmed, from the compliment or the alcohol, probably both. "Thank you."

"I wish I could see it from the audience," Ryan said. "Watching from the wings does not do your performance justice, because I'm always waiting on my next cue. If I had no distractions, I know I could get lost in it. You and Troy were so spectacular."

"I'm just glad I didn't forget any lines, or trip, or something disastrous," Gabriella said.

"The way you embodied the role, no one would have noticed," Ryan said.

"I think people would have noticed if I took a nosedive off of the stage," Gabriella said.

"They may have noticed, but they might have thought it was all part of the show: Wendla Bergman Takes Flight in East High's Innovative Interpretation of the Broadway Masterpiece," Ryan waved his hand as if announcing a headline. "Besides, you didn't take a nosedive. You were perfection."

"But—"

"You know, you fish for compliments so innocently that it's adorable. You hooked me, just like that," Ryan replied and snapped his fingers. "Sharpay would be jealous. Well, more so than she already is."

"I wasn't—"

"Yet here you are with all of them piled at your feet."

"Hmm," Gabriella said. "I see your point."

"Great. So few people ever do," Ryan said. "I need another. And you, our rising star, need to finish that one and get another. Then, maybe we can find a couple boys to join us on the dance floor."

Gabriella breathed in and took the hand Ryan offered to pull her to her feet. She threw caution to the wind , tilted her head, and downed the rest of her cup in one shot. Ryan whooped for her as she swallowed and caught her breath. She grinned and let her excitement fill her.

"Let's go," Gabriella said.

Ryan led her to where drinks were being made and got her a second cup of whatever she had drank before. They did end up convincing a couple boys to dance with them, but when hers got handsy and wouldn't take a hint, she left the dance floor. She ran into Kelsi while trying to get a fresh drink and ended up talking to her in lieu of getting a refill. Through all of this, every few seconds, she would seek out Troy in the crowd. It was strange not having his eyes on her, a little unsettling actually. Now she was the one staring at him, unable to look away for more than a couple minutes at a time. Whatever the reason for the change, he hadn't so much as looked in her direction since he kissed her like a man possessed in the auditorium. Sure, the kiss could be explained away by residual emotion left over from the intensity of the scenes they had just finished, but Gabriella still had so much adrenaline coursing through her that she felt desperate to find an outlet for it, lest it build up until she exploded from it.

Glancing up yet again, Gabriella found that Troy was no longer where she saw him last. Before she could keep looking for him, she heard his voice right at her ear.

"Want to get out of here?"

Gabriella twisted her head to look up at Troy over her shoulder. She could say something about how he had ignored her all night, but the look in his eyes matched the feeling bubbling in her chest, so she didn't say anything of the sort.

"Yeah," Gabriella nodded.

Troy took her hand and led her out of the party without saying a word to anyone else. If anyone noticed them leaving, they didn't show it, too absorbed in their own festivities. He kept a strong hold on her, with their fingers laced together, as he guided her out of the house, down the driveway and then the short way to his house next door.

As soon as he had her inside, he turned around and pressed her back into his front door. He kissed her like he had several times before, but somehow it still felt new. She held onto him, wherever she could get her hands on him. She was already dizzy with anticipation before his lips found hers, and now she was drowning in it. Pulling away from the kiss, Troy grabbed both of Gabriella's hands to start leading her further into the house. He navigated his way backwards, his eyes on hers the whole time, and every couple of feet he would drag her closer by their joined hands so he could kiss her quickly. When he got her to his room, he pressed her back into his door once again and this time took his time kissing her. His hands stayed planted on her hips, not moving an inch in either direction. As good as it felt to have him memorizing her lips, it was too slow for the way her pulse was already racing.

Her fingers found the first button on his shirt and popped it loose. She was three buttons down before he broke the kiss to meet her eyes. She smirked at him and undid his forth button. His hands started to stroke up and down her sides as he waited for her to finish what she was doing. Once she had his shirt all the way open and started to push it off his shoulders, he let it fall to the floor. She didn't get much of a chance to admire what she had revealed, because he used his hold on her waist to turn her around. Her hands and cheek came to rest against the door as one of his hands slid from her hip to press, palm flat and fingers spread, gently over her stomach and the other swept her hair over one shoulder out of his way. He leaned forward and placed a soft kiss to the back of her neck. She sighed as the hand on her stomach pressed her back flush against him. He smiled against her skin as he peppered more kisses along her neck and across to her bare shoulder. Then, with his free hand, he reached for the zipper on her dress, ready to free her of that single piece of clothing.

Troy rocked their bodies in time with the descent of her zipper and she could feel their breathing pick up, almost in sync with each other. Gabriella braced herself with one hand on the door and dropped her other hand to her belly to cover his. She didn't know if she wanted to urge his hand higher or lower, or either, or neither, but she didn't get to make a decision because he finished unzipping her dress and pulled away to help her shed it completely. When her dress had joined his shirt on the floor, he pulled her back to him, this time face to face.

After that, they were a mess of teeth and tongues and lips. Hands and fingers sought out bare skin, leaving fire in their wake. Gabriella made quick work of Troy's belt and then his pants. The rest was discarded in a similar manner. Soon enough, they were both nestled into the blankets on his bed.

Troy didn't need to be as gentle this time, or take it slow,, but he did anyway. He used every second to his advantage, drawing them out until Gabriella was pleading for completion. Her voice was raspy from barely untapped pleasure and her name echoed in her ears with his voice just as rough and strained. They were both right there, on the edge of euphoric liberation, and they tumbled over together. If their performance on stage was perfection, then this was unparalleled. This was remarkable, rare satisfaction.

There was still so much that this could be, but if this was it, if this was the last time, then Gabriella could accept that.