Troy and Gabriella woke up the next morning smiling. Before they had gone to bed the night before, they had talked more about their future and how wonderful it seemed at the time.
"Good morning, sweetheart," Troy greeted, allowing his fingers to push a piece of Gabriella's hair out of her face.
"Good morning, Wildcat," Gabriella returned with a smile and a slight giggle.
"How did you sleep? It sure was an uncomfortably hot night last night."
"Pretty good. As you can see, I kind of threw the covers off of me in my sleep and moved away from you." Gabriella giggled again. "It was a bit hot for snuggling."
"That's okay. I actually don't think I would have been comfy snuggling last night, anyway. Like you said, it was too hot for it."
Gabriella slid out of bed and got an outfit to wear to school that day. "I'm gonna go have a shower. See you soon."
"Alright. I'll wait in here for my turn."
At school, Troy and Gabriella briefly kissed one another before separating to sit in their seats in homeroom.
"Hey, what's up?" Chad asked Troy as he walked up to him. "I saw you kissing Gabriella a second ago. You know you could get in trouble for doing that in homeroom. Ms. Darbus hates pretty much everything."
"Well, she hates when people speak poorly of her," a voice spoke.
Chad turned around to see Ms. Darbus. "Um.....I didn't say 'Ms. Darbus,' I said, 'Missed the darn bus.'"
"Nice try. You have just gotten yourself in detention. Be promptly back in this room at quarter after two today. You will stay until three-thirty," Ms. Darbus told Chad.
Chad didn't say anything; he just slowly headed toward his seat and sat down in it.
"'Missed the darn bus?'" Taylor questioned Chad at lunch.
"It was the first thing I thought of that sounded a little like Ms. Darbus," Chad defended himself.
"And you think I'm weird," Troy put in as he rolled his eyes.
"Well you are! I mean, seriously! No one spends more time with their girlfriend than you! And then you complain about me interrupting? You live with her! You get to see her all day and night!"
"I'm not living with her for long; after graduation and everything, she's leaving to go to California. I won't get to see her until the college year starts. And then, I might only get to spend time with her every other weekend."
"I'm gonna miss you," Gabriella said softly as she laid her cheek on Troy's shoulder and wrapped her arms loosely around his neck. "Promise me that you'll call me every day? And that you'll answer or, if you're not available, call back if I call you?"
"Promise," Troy agreed, pressing a gentle kiss onto the top of Gabriella's head.
"Aw, I wish Chad was this sweet," Taylor commented.
"I'm sorry Taylor," Gabriella began, "But I doubt Chad's gonna change from who he is."
"I know; but I can wish, can't I?"
That afternoon, Troy and Gabriella were lying lazily on Troy's bed. It was way too hot to do anything outside-or inside for that matter. All they felt like doing was lying around.
"Oh, at four-thirty I have to go get my nails done for the musical. I really hope Sharpay didn't make this big plan for me to get a weird color."
"Every time you mention getting your nails done, you always get worried about Sharpay setting something up," Troy observed.
"Well, it sounds like something she would do."
"Are you getting your toes done, too, or just your fingers?"
"I don't even know."
Troy leaned over and placed a kiss on Gabriella's cheek. "I'm sure everything will be fine," he assured her. "And even if it isn't-I'll still you love you."
"Thanks," Gabriella smiled.
"I'm still surprised that I actually got to say how I felt about you yesterday," Troy commented. "I was getting so nervous that something would ruin the moment, but then everything was alright."
"I was happy that you said it, and to tell you the truth, I was getting pretty sick of holding my feelings in, too." Gabriella reached over to brush a sweaty piece of hair out of Troy's eyes. "Do you have a fan in here or anything?"
"Unfortunately, no," Troy replied.
"Maybe you can come with me to Lava Springs and wait while I get my nails done," Gabriella suggested. "I'm sure there's air conditioning in there."
"Yeah, I'm sure," Troy echoed. "Only the best for Sharpay Evans and her family."
Gabriella giggled. "Of course. Do you really think Sharpay would settle for a low-class cooling item such as a-a-a fan?" At the end of her words, she let out a false over-dramatized gasp, much like one that Sharpay would make if she happened to be horrified by something.
Troy laughed at his girlfriend's actions. "You're silly, but that was a very nice Sharpay imitation."
"Thank you," Gabriella spoke playfully.
Troy and Gabriella arrived at Lava Springs nail salon exactly on time.
"Hi," greeted a woman with blonde hair-the same shade as Sharpay's-and icy blue eyes. "If you're here for a manicure, go sit down in the salon area." She then gave Troy a weird glare. "Why are you here? We don't do young men. Or any men."
"The girl I'm with is my girlfriend," Troy explained, "I'm just gonna wait here while she gets her nails done."
"Oh, okay. Just don't be loud." The woman then walked with Gabriella over to one of the manicure tables and pulled up a chair for herself. Taking a glance at Gabriella's small fingers, which had short nails at the tip of them, she shook her head. "Short nails....not a good base for polish. Well, I'll see what I can do. By the way, my name's Julianne."
"I'm Gabriella."
"Okay, Brielle," Julianne spoke in a bored tone. "What color would you like your nails done in?"
"My name is Gabriella," Gabriella corrected politely. "And could I please see the color choices?"
"I think Brielle is prettier, so I'm gonna call you Brielle."
Gabriella let out a soft sigh. This was going to be a long manicure. She just hoped a pedicure didn't need to be done, too. How would she bear it?
Julianne grabbed a box full of nail polish and handed it to Gabriella. "Look through this. I'll get the other nail tools ready."
While Julianne was off getting what she needed, Gabriella dug through the nail polish container, searching for an appealing color. She found a cotton candy blue with just an ever so slight touch of shimmer to it. She took it out of the box and placed it on the top of the table.
"This one?" Julianne checked, referring to the nail polish Gabriella had selected, as she walked back over to her holding a bin full of water, nail clippers, and a cuticle pusher.
Gabriella nodded. "Yeah."
"Okay. Let me put the other colors back then." Julianne grabbed the nail polish box and put it away. "Now, soak your hands in this water. It'll make your nails softer so I can trim them more easily."
Gabriella did as she was asked. Her fingers, unexpectedly, met warmth.
"That should be good," Julianne told Gabriella after about five minutes.
Gabriella took her hands out of the water and dried them with the towel that was hanging from a hook on the side of the table.
"Now, let me see your fingers."
Gabriella held out both her hands and patiently waited as Julianne clipped her nails until they were all of even length and sat still as the cuticle pusher dug some pieces of dirt out from under her nails.
"Now I need to push your cuticles back."
Gabriella was quiet as Julianne shoved the cuticle pusher into her cuticles and forced them back until they were right up against her skin.
"Now let me do a base coat," Julianne spoke, grabbing a bottle of clear nail polish and opening it. She then applied it to all of Gabriella's nails. "Wait five minutes for it to dry," she commanded when she was finished.
Half an hour later, Gabriella's fingernails were all painted and dry.
"Let me do your toes now," Julianne said, moving the manicure table away and pushing a large bin of water toward Gabriella. "Soak your feet."
Gabriella slipped her flip-flops off and put her feet into the warm water.
"Take them out," Julianne told her client after a few minutes had passed.
Gabriella did as she was asked and dried her feet.
Julianne bent down and took a look at Gabriella's toenails. "They seriously need to be trimmed. Oh, I hate pedicures. Girls just don't take care of their feet today and they're unbearable to look at, let alone touch."
Gabriella held in a frustrated groan. Julianne was really getting on her nerves.
That night as Gabriella and Troy were lying under the covers in bed, Gabriella remarked, "The nail salon wasn't the best place in the world."
"I think Sharpay gave you the worst possible manicurist," Troy spoke.
"Probably. I'm sure I'm too low-class for the friendly ones. Well, I'm sure to Sharpay, Julianne is friendly. Sharpay's not much better than she is."
"You're right," Troy murmured, kissing Gabriella's forehead. "So, are you excited to go to prom tomorrow night? I know I am."
"Most definitely!" Gabriella exclaimed. "I've never been to a prom before. I'm so excited to see how it goes!"
"So am I," Troy whispered, hugging his girlfriend.
Gabriella wriggled out of Troy's embrace, stood up, and began jumping on the bed.
"What are you doing?" Troy questioned, amused.
"I'm so excited! I have to get my energy out," Gabriella replied. As the words finished coming out of her mouth, she allowed herself to flop down into a sitting position.
"Well, I'm tired, so can you please try to get some rest?"
"Sure." Gabriella go back underneath the covers and snuggled up to Troy, burying her face in his chest and wrapping her arms around his waist. "Good night, Wildcat."
"Good night. Sweet dreams," Troy returned.
Just then, Gabriella began to squirm around again.
"Sweetheart, you need to settle yourself. If you don't, you won't have any energy left for prom tomorrow. And if that happens, I'll be stuck dancing by myself."
Gabriella forced her eyes shut. "Okay. I'll try my best," she promised.
"Thank you."
