Disclaimer: I don't own anything but the plot, enjoy! I was told that the story was moving very quick, but don't you worry, there are many things I have in my mind for the couples.
"Taylor, I don't know if I can do this," Gabriella whispered in Taylor's ear sadly.
"No. You are going to do this. Guys stay here, Gabriella and I need to talk," Taylor told the group, grabbing Gabriella's hand and dragging her out of the theatre.
"Taylor, I can't do this," Gabriella told her.
"Yes you can. This is important, to you, to me, and importantly, to Kelsi," Taylor told her.
"But what about Victoria?" Gabriella asked.
"What about Victoria?" Taylor questioned in return.
"I mean, look at her, she's gorgeous. The guys were so captivated by her. I'm not as pretty ask she is, we both know it," Gabriella sighed.
"Ok, first of all, she's fake. Second of all, you are gorgeous, who cares the only person you need to worry about is Troy," Taylor told her.
"But that's exactly it, Troy was staring at her. I don't think it'll be worth it for me to compete with her for him. He was so fixated on her it made me sick inside," Gabriella confessed.
"Gabs, I love you. The guys adore you. Troy loves you, even though you won't admit or accept the fact that he does. But you have to have faith in yourself, I know I do, and so does Kelsi," Taylor reassured her with a smile.
"But Taylor, you wedding is in two weeks. I feel guilty that you're always helping me and I haven't even gotten a chance to help you with the wedding," Gabriella told her.
"Hey, I'm getting my fairy tale wedding with my prince charming, or whatever he is. You deserve to be happy too, and you've helped enough by accepting to be my maid of honor, so don't worry about it," Taylor reassured her again.
"What would I do without you?" Gabriella asked with a smile.
"You'd be lost, come here," Taylor told her, opening her arms offering her a hug.
While the girls were hugging Chad walked out to get them, "Hey girls, mushy time's over. Come on, they're gonna start," He told them grabbing Taylor's hand and leading them inside. When they entered the theatre they walked towards their seat and Gabriella decided to sit on the aisle seat rather than next to Troy.
"Alright people! We are going to begin with the supporting roles!" Ethan shouted getting everyone's attention. People began getting up and heading towards the stage where they got themselves in single file lines. With everyone walking up towards the stage there were only nine people left, excluding the group, Ethan and Victoria.
Since there were so many people auditioning, Ethan decided to take a break around noon announcing, "Alright people, let's take an hour! Be back by 1, I want to be done by 3!" He announced.
"God, that was excruciating," Taylor groaned.
"Yeah, like watching a bad episode of I American Idol /I ," Chad added.
"Oh, come on guys. I give them credit for even trying," Kelsi stated.
"Yeah, I guess. So, where do you guys want to go eat?" Taylor asked.
"Well we only have an hour and I'm craving Italian food," Chad stated.
"You crave anything that would stay still long enough to be eaten," Taylor commented sarcastically, making everyone laugh.
"Anything will do right about now. I am so hungry," Gabriella said, clutching her stomach.
"Ok, lets go, there's an Italian restaurant down the street," Troy suggested waving everyone towards the back door.
"Oh Troyyyyy!" Victoria cried as the group started making their way towards the door. "What are you doing for lunch?" She asked sweetly, while Taylor rolled her eyes and groaned, as she made her way up to him. "Is there something wrong?" She asked Taylor.
"Yeah, an annoying pest who won't leave us alone," Taylor mumbled looking away from her.
"Come again?" Victoria asked snottily.
"Oh, nothing, please go on," Taylor answered.
"Well then, Troy would you like to have lunch with me?" Victoria asked, latching herself onto Troy's arm. Kelsi and Taylor stared at her disgustedly, not believing the audacity of her attitude as Troy was stuttering his hesitation.
"Well, I hope you both enjoy your lunch. Come on guys, we don't have too much time left," Gabriella stated, looking at Troy sadly, turning around walking out the door with Taylor right behind her.
"Wait, Gabriella!" Troy shouted, stepping towards her distancing figure, but was pulled back by Victoria.
Kelsi looked at Troy disappointedly, shaking her head, walking through the door. Chad and Jason both gave Troy a sympathetic look and said, "Later man," walking out the door after their respective girlfriends.
Troy exhaled exasperatedly at the situation. He was brought back by Victoria's voice saying, "Come on Troy, I know this great restaurant, you're gonna love it," She told him. He gave her a nervous smile, letting himself be dragged by her.
"God she irritates me!" Taylor screamed once they were outside.
"Yeah, it's getting annoying. She reminds me of Sharpay," Kelsi commented.
"She makes Sharpay look like a teddy bear. And Sharpay was not blatantly throwing herself at Troy. Don't forget, we became friends with her," Taylor explained.
"That's true, I know. But I was just saying, she reminded me of Sharpay before we were friends with her that's all," Kelsi explained. She turned around to see Gabriella who was trudging along, not looking up from the ground; she walked back towards her, "Come on sweetie," She said, giving her a hug and smile. Gabriella returned it with a small grin.
Chad and Jason, seeing this huddled with one another. Chad whispered to Jason, "Dude, we have to do something about this."
"Yeah, but what can we do?" Jason asked, hopeless.
"Well, I know that Taylor and Kelsi are up to something, I don't know what exactly. But I'm going to find out what it is," Chad told him with much determination and Jason nodded in agreement.
When they arrived at the restaurant, they only had forty minutes left, so they decided to order to go since they weren't even half way through the supporting roles audition yet. Chad and Taylor got Fettuccini Alfredo, Jason and Kelsi ordered Shrimp Scampi, and Gabriella got lasagna. When they got their order fifteen minutes later, they quickly and quietly made their way back towards the theatre.
Once they got to the theatre, everybody else was also making their way in. Not looking where she was walking Gabriella walked into another person, falling on the ground. Looking up she saw that he was about 6'2, with chocolate colored hair and bright blue eyes. He quickly kneeled down and helped her up, "I'm so sorry, are you alright?" He asked, smiling at her.
"O-oh, I'm ok, I'm sorry about that. I wasn't paying attention to where I was going," Gabriella apologized.
"It's alright, I wasn't paying attention either. I'm Owen, by the way, nice to meet you," He introduced himself.
"I'm Gabriella, nice to meet you too," She replied with a smile.
"Gabriella! Come on!" Taylor called, beckoning her to her seat.
"Oh, my friend's calling. Would you like to sit with us? We just got lunch to go, I'm sure they'd love to meet you," Gabriella invited him, gesturing towards the group.
"To go, it's the way to go in this business. Sure, I'd like to meet them," Owen replied, showing her his own bag.
As they walked down the aisle they talked about their hobbies and what they like to do. When they reached the group Troy was sitting with Victoria, looking at Gabriella who was smiling at Owen, stunned. Taylor, Kelsi, Chad and Jason looked at each other and realized that things just got even more difficult. Taylor made a mental note to make a phone call. Once she finished her lunch she excused herself to the bathroom. Once she was out of hearing distance she brought out her cell phone and dialed a number.
"Hello?" The recipient greeted.
"Sharpay? We need your help," Taylor said, her voice filled with urgency and distress.