THIRTEEN – Hence, The Difference Between…

"Nearly."

"Nearly?!" Chad spat out his chilli cheese fries in complete shock as his best friend told him about the previous evening. Troy leaned back as small clumps of half-chewed fries splattered over the lunch table and he reckoned the head lunch lady would not be too thrilled when she saw the mess that she would inevitably have to clean up. She'd be even more pissed if she knew the cause was her 'favourite' student, Chad Danforth. Chad wiped his mouth quickly, and didn't seem fazed by the truly revolting act he had just committed. "Dude, how the hell do you guys start to get it on and then don't finish?"

An intriguing question, he knew. But Troy looked back at his own plate of plain fries with ketchup and suddenly didn't feel like eating after Chad's food had reappeared.

Chad snapped his fingers over and over again to regain Troy's attention. His mind was now focused at the conversation in hand whereas five minutes earlier, it had been totally devoted to his chilli cheese fries. "Dude!" Chad lightly shoved his friend and brought him slowly back to Planet Earth. "Are you alive? What happened last night?"

"I…" Troy suddenly blushed lightly. "I don't wanna talk about it, man."

Chad slowly leaned back in his seat and rubbed his chin in contemplation. "It's not something… weird… is it?" He tried to choose his words carefully, but all he achieved was a confused expression from Troy who seriously did not understand what he was getting at. "Like…" Chad really didn't want to continue, but somehow his mouth was just moving on its own with the words just spilling out. "…a guy thing…?" Troy raised his eyebrows as he could see Chad trying to think of the right words…and being totally unsuccessful in the process. "You know… the kind of problem that only a Dude could say to another Dude but actually won't say to another Dude because it'll totally deflect your manly ego and you'll lose all self-respect. You know that kind of problem."

Troy suddenly realised where his friend was leading to and he quickly shook his head and nearly choked on his fries. "Oh god, no! Nothing like that, I swear. That's never been a problem with Gabi, trust me."

"Please don't go into details."

"You asked!"

"I never asked for details." Chad had started to eat his chilli cheese fries again, grateful that the awkward moment had been safely diverted. "So, what happened then? Did Gabriella suddenly realise you're not quite as buff and macho as I am and that she'd rather drool over a real man?"

Troy lightly punched his friend's bicep. "No. It was actually going perfect."

"Until…?" Chad waved his hand around in small circles, urging him to continue. Troy opened his mouth to speak, but was stopped by the sound of Taylor and Kelsi calling over to them both from the cafeteria entrance. Troy closed his eyes with a dreaded sigh. It was going to be a long day.

"Troy, Troy, Troy, Troy, Troy…" Taylor was practically squealing as they took their seats at the table and Chad exaggerated hurt as Taylor sat beside Troy instead. She didn't notice – her face was beaming and her big, scary smile was plastered on her face as she made herself comfortable and began to pinch one of Troy's cheeks. "You little romantic devil, you." She pinched harder than anticipated and Troy tried to bat her hand away.

"Ow! Ow! Romantic what?"

Taylor patted his red cheek, making it sting more as she patted it for longer than necessary. "We've just seen Gabriella and may I say, Basketball Boy, you've put one seriously large smile on that girl's face after last night's events!"

Chad leaned over the table, his face confused. "What are you talking about, Tay? Nothing happened."

Oh God… Troy buried his face in his hands and prayed for the ground to swallow him whole. Kelsi's eyes was darting among all three of them as Taylor leaned over the table to get closer to Chad; trapping an embarrassed Troy between them.

"Yes, it did." Taylor argued. "Gabs has just told me everything."

Chad pointed to himself and Troy. "We've been talking and he said nothing happened. They got interrupted."

"Interrupted?"

"Okay!" Troy spoke up. "Enough. Seriously. No further, please. I'm sure the whole school doesn't wish to know!"

Chad looked at him. "Well, actually, I'm sure they do."

"Whatever." Troy brushed off his comment. "Tay, what do you mean you've been talking to Gabriella?"

The big scary smile came back on Taylor's face and she lightly shoved Troy's arm. "Come on, Bolton; we know that you told her you love her! Don't even dare deny it, you hopeless romantic!" Troy leaned backwards as Taylor's arm reached out so she could pinch his cheek again.

Chad grasped a tight hold onto his friend's arm. "You told her you love her? You didn't tell me that, Dude! You just told me you were about to have sex!"

"You were about to have sex?" Taylor grasped Troy's other arm and he squinted as both their fingers dug into his skin. "Gabs just said that you guys said 'I love you'. She never said that!"

"Hence the difference between males and females." Kelsi added in amusement.

Taylor ignored Kelsi and gripped Troy's arm tighter, making him gasp in pain and try to shove her away. "Why didn't you go all the way? Is it a guy thing?"

"No!" Troy exclaimed as he finally managed to free his arms and rest them on his lap, under the table – away from their sights. "Why is everyone assuming that? Seriously, you're gonna start these embarrassing rumours around the school and that is totally bad for my ego."

Chad hastily finished his plate of chilli cheese fries and as he licked his fingers clean, his eyes darted to Troy's plate which was still covered in delicious fries…smothered with thick tomato ketchup. His mind was circling; wondering whether he should ask more about the previous evening or ask if Troy was going to finish those fries…

Taylor made the decision for him. "So…what happened?"

All three had leaned in closer to Troy without even realising it. Troy knew now he was in a very deep hole and the only way to get out of it was to tell them what he really did not want them to know. He knew that as soon as he uttered the words of pure humiliation, that his friends would start laughing hysterically and then spread the word around the Wildcats basketball team and then eventually, the entire school would know. He wasn't too sure that Gabriella would be too happy about that but now he couldn't help it. He was trapped in a hole. A very deep hole.

"Look…I'm sure there's this huge conspiracy going on around me and Gabi and you guys are the main cause of it. Always interrupting us at the worst times… I swear you're all ganging up and plotting against us! It was all going perfect until her bedroom door swung open and I was certain it was going to be you!" Troy's eyes darted to Chad, who sat up and tried to look innocent.

"It was her Mom wasn't it?" Kelsi muffled a chuckle and Chad blinked slowly as the corners of his mouth turned up into a wide smirk.

"Seriously…Dude… Her Mom saw you?" Troy didn't answer and Chad looked over at Taylor as though he'd heard the best news in the world. Taylor, meanwhile, was trying to hold back her laughter for Troy's benefit. "Dude… that's so wrong. On so many levels."

"You think?" Troy answered, exasperated – his face clearly showing how much he was blushing. "I'm never going to Gabi's place again – I don't think I could face her Mom ever again…"

"What did she say?"

Troy shrugged his shoulders. "I haven't spoken to Gabi yet… She just told us to get dressed, told me to leave and she wanted Gabi downstairs. I don't know what she said to her. And I'm not quite sure I want to know…"

Taylor finally let out the laughter she had been trying so hard to keep in. "No wonder Gabs didn't say anything! I'd be mortified if my parents caught me and Chad."

"But they wouldn't be that bothered, Babe." Chad grinned. "If anything they'd congratulate you on selecting a fine piece of man candy to feast upon!"

"Dude, you're dreaming." Troy rolled his eyes as Taylor got up and walked around the table, taking the spare seat next to her boyfriend.

"Babe, get a reality check." She patted his fuzzy head before reaching for her school bag and pulling out her packed lunch for the day. Chad shot Taylor a shocked look, but instantly dismissed it as the smirk on her face told him she was joking. Troy laughed at the couple; knowing Taylor was the perfect girl for Chad. She knew exactly how to respond to him and how to deal with his wonderfully strange sense of humour. Troy finally felt as though he had some help in that department. He'd been the only person up until Taylor who saw and understood every side of Chad. As Chad started snivelling around Taylor's sandwich, Troy chewed another handful of fries and looked up.

"Is Gabi not coming to lunch?"

"She said she'd meet us a bit later on." Taylor replied as she attempted to bat Chad's hungry fingers away from her turkey sandwich. "She's gone to the theatre."

Troy raised an eyebrow. "Why?"

"She and Ryan wanted to speak to Darbus about something. Sharpay's completely taken over the Fall Ball arrangements and now she wants to take over the musical. She's not all that thrilled with Ryan's ideas even though he allowed her one duet with you."

Troy did a double take. "A duet…with me?"

Taylor looked up and sighed in defeat as Chad cheekily took a large bite of her sandwich. "Yeah… Hasn't Gabs told you?" Troy shook his head slowly. "Oh. Well, we all signed up for this gig yesterday… Ryan and Kelsi are directing and you and Gabriella are the leads. Sharpay wasn't happy at all. But to keep her quiet, Ryan said she could sing one song with you and have a supporting role. But then this morning Ryan told us that she'd blown her top when she found out you and Gabs were going to be singing 'You Are The Music in Me'. In fact, she's that mad that Ryan and Gabs went straight to the theatre to talk to Darbus about it."

Troy held his hands up in defence. "Okay; firstly, I'm not singing."

Chad squirmed in his seat and Taylor spoke up. "I know, no-one wants to sing with the Ice Queen but it's the way to keep her-"

"No. Taylor, I'm not signing up for the musical. I can't believe Ryan's been making plans for me when he doesn't even know if I've agreed to anything!"

"No, no." Taylor stopped him. "He just assumed…well, we all did. We all assumed that you and Gabs would be taking part. You guys always have the lead and after the Star Dazzle talent show, we thought-"

"I got roped into singing in that as well." Troy sighed. "And that was Sharpay's doing. And it may have worked to my advantage in the end but this year I'm concentrating on my basketball and studies, okay? I'm not taking part in the musical." He turned to Chad. "And you… you said you weren't going to sign up!"

"Hey!" Chad backed down in his seat. "Evans has some really cool ideas for us all!"

"And after all that grief you gave me when you found out I'd auditioned for the first one…"

"A man can change." Chad shrugged nonchalantly. "It's going to be a blast – the only downside is Sharpay but apart from that it's going to be amazing. You really should reconsider."

Troy sighed and pushed his fries away, which Chad happily helped himself to. "I'm really getting stressed out with school lately, you know that. And my Dad is constantly on my back about it. If I join, I'll just be making things worse for myself."

"Won't be the same without you." Kelsi sighed as she scribbled out some notes on her pad.

Before Troy could respond, he felt Gabriella's arms latch around his neck from behind and her lips come into contact with his cheek. He turned his head slightly to see her and his smile faded softly when he saw Ryan standing right behind her.

"Hey, guys!" He called out a little too enthusiastically. He and Chad banged knuckles as he took a seat beside Kelsi. "We've just spoke to Darbus…"

"Oh, well we'd love to hear all about it." Chad cleared his throat as Gabriella reached over Troy's shoulder to take a couple of fries from Chad's plate. "But I think we should really discuss events that happened last night…" He started to smirk again as Gabriella stopped chewing briefly and glared at him.

"Hilarious, Chad." She scoffed and rolled her eyes before gesturing to Troy. She leaned down so she could whisper in his ear. "Roof?" Troy smiled his response and went to stand up.

"Hey, wait a minute!" Chad called as Troy grasped Gabriella's hand and they began to walk away from the table. "We want details!"

"Sorry, man." Troy shrugged. "Places to go, people to see…" Gabriella tugged on his hand and they made their way up the stairs, ignoring the annoyed looks on their friend's faces.

"I'll get it out of him." Chad declared as he started to eye up Ryan's packed lunch.