Chapter 21
Disclaimer: I do not own High School Musical or any of its characters.
Gabriella's phone rang about half an hour later. Checking the caller ID she saw it was Taylor. She looked up to see Troy had heard and stopped working. "It's Taylor" she told him.
"I'll go and let the two of you talk" he replied immediately and minimized his end of their connection.
"Hi Tay, How are you?" Gabriella greeted.
"How's the honours program?" Taylor asked excitedly. "I can't believe you're already at Stanford. Is it as wonderful as you hoped it would be?"
"The program itself is interesting but they've given us an awful lot of research to do for tomorrow" Gabriella replied.
"And have you made some friends. What's it like living in the dorm?" Taylor asked enthusiastically.
"Very inconvenient in the morning when four of us are trying to get ready with only one bathroom" Gabriella replied dryly.
"Oh Ha Ha! Seriously what's it like?"
"The other's are nice enough though we're all busy studying tonight, there isn't much time for socialising" Gabriella said seriously. "And you can't imagine the mess the bathroom was in this morning" she complained.
"You should be use to mess living with Troy" Taylor said critically.
"Troy's not Chad he picks up after himself" Gabriella declared.
"He's a boy" Taylor scoffed.
"Yes a boy who actually does more housework and cooking than I do most weeks" Gabriella said laughing at her friends shocked look.
"So are you enjoying the classes?" Taylor asked choosing not to say anything more about Troy.
"Yes they're great and the lecturers are fantastic" Gabriella said enthusiastically. "I'm glad I came though I miss Troy and everyone terribly."
"I told you so" Taylor said smiling "This was the right thing to do"
"Yes though it's still not easy to be away" Gabriella replied sighing.
"How many times have you rung Troy today?" Taylor asked.
"Not at all. I spoke to him earlier on Skype" Gabriella said defensively.
"Did I interrupt?" Taylor asked slightly guiltily.
"No I was doing the prep research for tomorrow" Gabriella replied.
"Do you have much more still to do?" Taylor asked
"About another hour I think" Gabriella said tiredly.
"I'll let you get it done and get some sleep then" Taylor said. "I'll call you tomorrow."
"Thanks Taylor. I'll talk to you tomorrow" Gabriella said disconnecting and returning to her research.
Gabriella quickly and efficiently finished her research becoming absorbed in the topic especially now that she had the computer free to look up additional references. It was late by the time she finished.
She got ready for bed and remembering Troy's promise connected to Skype and saw him sleeping. "Troy" she called softly. She noticed his haircut and wondered how she had missed it earlier. It suited him.
"Mmm Gabriella" Troy murmured without waking.
"I love you Troy. Good night" she said.
"Mmm Love you" he said reaching out for her in his sleep.
Gabriella sat there watching him sleep for a few minuted then shut down her computer to try and sleep herself.
Troy rang Gabriella the next morning as she was eating breakfast.
"Good morning" Gabriella answered cheerfully.
"Morning Gabriella, you didn't ring me last night" he said sadly.
"Yes I did Troy I even had a conversation with you but you wouldn't wake up properly so I'm not surprised you don't remember" Gabriella said gently.
"Seriously we talked last night while I was sleeping? What'd I say?"
"Well you told me you love me and you promised to do all the cooking and laundry next year" Gabriella teased.
"Very funny Gabriella!" Troy responded dryly. "Seriously what did I say?"
"I love you"
"I love you too" Troy replied misunderstanding "But what did I say last night in my sleep?"
"That was it you said 'Gabriella I love you'" Gabriella explained laughing.
Troy laughed too, "I love you Gabriella" he said. "Were you up very late? I tried to stay awake"
"I'm sorry Troy. The research took a bit longer than I thought it would. And Taylor rang so I talked to her for a while" Gabriella admitted.
Troy grinned "And what did Miss McKessie have to say?" he asked teasingly.
"She wanted to know all about the honours program and what it was like to live in a college dorm" Gabriella replied.
"I hate to say this Troy, but I've got to finish getting ready."
"Okay I'll talk to you later" Troy said understandingly. "Hope I haven't made you late."
"Talking to your husband? Did he want to know where you'd put his fresh shirts?" Sophia asked teasingly as she came into the kitchen.
Gabriella laughed. "Of course not. He was just missing me" she said.
Troy impressed his teachers that day as he handed in completed homework assignments and gratefully collected the extra work they provided to make up the two days of school he would miss. "You do know that most students wouldn't bother with all this for only a couple of days?" Mrs Williams his math teacher asked at the end of the day.
Troy smiled "you've met my wife" he said. "She'd be really upset with me if I let my grades suffer to go and visit her."
"I thought Jack told me you had meetings with the housing officer and your new coach" Mrs Williams said suspiciously.
"I do ma'am. But I'm staying with Gabriella at Stanford" he said grinning.
"Well enjoy your trip" Mrs Williams said.
"Thank you I've got to go. Ms Darbus will have fits if I'm late to rehearsal. She's already mad I'm missing the next three days" Troy excused himself before hurrying off.
Rehearsals were long and difficult without Gabriella there to sort out the petty arguments and soothe disgruntled feelings. Working with Sharpay was very different to playing opposite Gabriella but Troy persevered knowing that he'd probably never have the opportunity to play lead roles with Gabriella again. It didn't help much that he didn't like or trust Sharpay as a person and acting the part of being her boyfriend was especially difficult and awkward. He enjoyed spending the breaks with Kelsi and Ryan who he'd become much closer friends with since marrying Gabriella. Kelsi had done a wonderful job transposing Gabriella's songs into the right key for Sharpay but the blonde diva was insisting that she jazz up the tempo and turn them into dance numbers. Kelsi stood up for herself and refused backed up by both Troy and Ryan.
Troy had to stop himself from bursting out laughing when Ryan suggested that if Sharpay wasn't enough of a professional to play the part and sing the songs as they had been written he would be glad to take her place and that it would be very easy for him to sing most of the songs in the key Kelsi had already transposed them to for Sharpay and he already knew all of the choreography so the substitution wouldn't cause a lot of extra work for any of them.
Troy expressed his willingness to play opposite Ryan stating that they worked well together in rehearsal when he'd been teaching Troy the dances.
Sharpay was left spluttering but Ms Darbus said that it was a possibility but she didn't think East High was quite ready for casting like that and she would give Sharpay one last chance to learn the role before she replaced her, selecting one of the juniors to understudy the role. "Troy will be away for the next three days so you have until Monday to make a decision Miss Evans. In the meantime I want you both here working on the songs and choreography with Miss Neilson and Mr Evans. I suggest you make a concerted effort to learn them they way they are supposed to be performed. It is the scriptwriter, songwriter and the choreographers place to make changes to a stage production Miss Evans. Something you will need to accept if you hope to make the stage your profession. I'm afraid I've been too lax about that in the past and have done you no favours. For that I apologise."
Ms Darbus then turned to the junior standing in the wings, "Miss Gold you have five days to learn the part otherwise I will have no choice but to give it to Mr Evans and risk the principle's disapproval if Miss Evans does not feel she can take direction like a real actress" she said handing over a copy of the script and a CD of the songs.
"Personally I think I'd rather work with Ryan" Troy whispered to Kelsi and Ryan causing them both to grin.
"And what about the kiss Wildcat?" Kelsi said teasingly.
"It's hard to kiss anyone who's not Gabriella I don't imagine kissing Ryan would be any worse" Troy replied. "I bet MsD would make you write it out anyway if she gave Ryan the part."
"She might not" Ryan warned.
"She would if you asked her too" Troy replied. "She has to be aware it could cause trouble"
In spite of being late for dinner, Troy took the long route home to drive past Alejandro's and was relieved to see signs of occupancy in the house. Evidently Alejandro had not followed Gabriella to California. Maybe he could be trusted a little more than they had so far. Still there were still two and a half weeks before Gabriella arrived home safely.
A/N: Thankyou to Pumpkinking5, Wildcats2016, old voldy's gone moldy, Kiara and 3 for your support.