Guys I just wanted to say, your reviews are the only thing that made me write this chapter for you so fast. They were so long and some of you truly cared about my computer crashing and I loved your feedback on the last chapter, it totally just put a smile on my face and motivated me to type away at my laptop. I hope you know what reviews can get you! Please don't let this sudden chapter make you think you don't have to review. I ONLY update fast when you all give me a LOT of reviews in less than a day, and they are full of feedback and genuine interest in my work. So thanks to those who did, and keep it up…I might just have chapter 22 out tomorrow...you know what to do (;
Hold on Tight
21. Some Things Will Never Change
Gabriella and Troy entered East High School hand in hand, awaiting the memories that thrust against them upon their arrival. This school had been their second home as young adults and had been a sanctuary when home wasn't the most comfortable place to be after all. It had guided Troy to choose Berkeley and it had pushed Gabriella to her respected occupation of law, they had become successful all because of this one building that held teachers who shared their dreams with them and helped them achieve it all. Troy stared at the immense hall still brightly decorated with posters of the new generation of students currently attending. Gabriella ran her fingers over the glass that held East High's most cherished awards, and smiled at the picture of Troy in his uniform at eighteen years old, the picture taken the day of the championships.
"It's still the same." Troy whispered taking it all in.
Gabriella stood staring at the young troy she first fell in love with and turned to the more mature one that held her heart in his hands. "I've missed this place." She said connecting with Troy's blue orbs; they both could tell they felt the same way.
"Hey guys!" They heard someone yell from nearby. Troy whipped his head around to see Chad pulling Taylor along towards them.
"Hey man." Troy greeted.
"Dude, I just saw Hank Owens!" Chad exclaimed with regale.
Troy chuckled. "I hated that kid, every time he licked his lips around Gabriella I wanted to shoot myself."
"He did not!" Gabriella rebutted, when they were seventeen Hank had asked for some help on his calculus homework, being the person Gabriella is, she nicely guided him to the answer. Seconds after she walked out of her classroom Troy started whining to her about how Hank was trying to steal her away, she laughed till the next century that day.
"Don't tell me you didn't notice Ella!" Troy pouted. Gabriella gave him a pointed look and rubbed his arm.
"So anyway, have you guys seen Miss Darbus?" Gabriella asked with excitement.
"Nah, we were about to go over there when Chad pulled me over here." Taylor said smiling.
"Troy can we go? Please?" Gabriella asked sweetly.
Troy sighed. "She never liked me El, it would probably be better if you and Tay went." He said exchanging glances with Chad.
Gabriella groaned, "But baby, I want to show her we're still together." She said innocently. Troy couldn't deny he was quite flattered she wanted to show their relationship off.
Troy sighed heavily and hugged Gabriella to his side. "Fine, let's go." He succumbed.
Chad groaned as Taylor pulled him along, but not before he quickly whispered in a sing song voice, "Whipped!" in Troy's ear, getting a roll of the eyes in response.
They walked along the hallways and tried to pin point what was different about their forgotten school and smiled as they remembered memories of long ago.
Troy stopped in his tracks as he stood in front of his old biology room having a sudden flash back.
"Troy, stop goofing off! You're going to get us in trouble!" Gabriella said sternly as Troy kissed her cheek yet again.
"Oh who cares? Mr. Crawford doesn't even notice." Troy said leaning against the lab table and watching Gabriella pour boiled water into green ooze, as Troy referred to it as.
"Okay, a little more…" Gabriella said biting her bottom lip and getting eye level with the beaker. Troy smirked at how adorable she looked in her lab goggles, he still couldn't figure out how he scored such a hot and smart girl all in one. Gabriella noticed Troy staring and smiled at him quickly she stood up from her bending position and gave him a pointed glare.
"Are you ever going to help me?" She asked crossing her arms. "I've done the first part now it's your turn." She said giggling and handing him the granulated cylinder.
Troy rolled his eyes and took it from her. "Fine, I can do this, piece of cake" Troy carefully started measuring the now blue ooze in the cylinder and started pouring it into the sodium chloride. He looked to Gabriella as he poured it smoothly and grinned at her. "See, easy as-shit!" He yelled suddenly as he felt the ooze penetrate his jeans.
"Oh my gosh!" Gabriella squealed. She pushed Troy towards the emergency shower and pulled the lever as he stood under it. "Take off your pants!" She yelled.
Troy's eyes widened. "Hell no!" He said sweeping his wet bangs to the side.
"Mr. Bolton, do as Miss Montez says!" Mr. Crawford yelled behind Gabriella.
"What?!" Troy groaned before pulling off his jeans, to be left in his boxers and t-shirt.
Mr. Crawford took the jeans and disposed of them in the sink, he sighed and turned off the shower. Troy gulped loudly as his class stared in awe at the scene in front of them. Every girl in the class scurried over to see what they only had dreamed of, Troy Bolton wet and in his boxers. They giggled to each other and whispered as they stared at him. The guys laughed loudly in the background and pointed at the dumbfounded boy still standing under the shower, soaking from head to toe. Troy quickly looked to Gabriella who had a sympathetic look on her face, she rapidly grabbed the blanket from the emergency kit and wrapped it around Troy.
"May I please take him to the office Mr. Crawford?...So he can call his parents and get some new clothes?" Gabriella asked holding the blanket around Troy tightly as he shivered under her.
"Sure Miss Montez."
Gabriella led Troy out of the classroom and to the office, she sat him down in the waiting area and told the secretary what had happened. Mrs. Mayberry nodded and phoned Mrs. Bolton.
Troy watched as Gabriella went into the administrative bathroom and came out with some paper towels. She kneeled down in between his legs and wiped his face before smiling at his appearance.
"You okay?" She asked quietly.
Troy nodded and stared at his caring girlfriend. "Thanks."
"You're glad I love you." She said giggling.
"I-I love you too baby." He chattered. Gabriella grinned and kissed his nose.
"So…piece of cake huh?" She teased.
End flashback
"Baby, are you coming?" Gabriella asked, pulling him out of his trance.
"Huh? Yeah, yeah." Troy gave one last grin to the biology room before following Gabriella towards their old homeroom. He grabbed Gabriella's hand and pulled her close, she smiled at the gesture and stayed tight to his body. Troy kissed her hair lovingly before they walked into the room that they first reunited after New Years.
"Oh my, is that who I think it might be?!" Miss Darbus exclaimed happily.
"Miss D! Good to see you're still alive." Chad greeted, Taylor's eyes widened and she hit him on the chest roughly. "Oww! What was that for? I was only being polite." Chad whined. Taylor sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose in frustration. Miss Darbus laughed lightly.
"Still trying to tame Mr. Danforth I see." She said smiling at Taylor.
"It will be my second job as soon as we get married." Taylor said smiling up at her fiancé.
"You're getting married? Oh how wondrous." Darbus said clapping her hands together.
"Thank you. It's so good to see you Miss Darbus." Taylor said hugging her lightly. "I've missed you."
"I've missed you all too. Truthfully I only thought the girls would show up tonight…speaking of girls is Miss Montez with you?" Their old drama teacher asked.
Gabriella stepped around Chad to reveal herself and Miss Darbus grinned exuberantly. "Why Gabriella, you've matured so beautifully, as have you Taylor." She said kindly.
Taylor grinned in thanks. "That's very nice of you to say Miss Darbus, I've missed this classroom so much. It's good to be back." Gabriella said sweetly looking around in amazement. Troy grinned at his over ecstatic girlfriend.
"Well it's good to have you back, you were always my best student Miss Montez, but it is rather strange not seeing Mr. Bolton attached at your hip." She said smirking.
Troy grinned and revealed himself as well. Miss Darbus gasped slightly shocked at all the students popping out of nowhere.
"I see things haven't changed that much after all. You two are still together I presume?" She asked eyeing the couple as they stood next to each other and connected hands.
"Some things will never change." Gabriella said grinning up at Troy. He smiled down at her and they got lost in each others eyes.
"Not that again." Miss Darbus said rolling her eyes and smiling at the couple. They broke away from their eye contact and blushed at the remembrance of the people around them.
"Yes Miss D, they still do that gross lovey dovey googley eye thing." Chad confirmed.
Gabriella giggled and buried her face in Troy's chest as he wrapped his arms around her waist and hugged her close. Troy grinned cheekily and placed his head on top of Gabriella's. "What can I say?" Troy asked shrugging. "I love the woman." He said. Gabriella giggled once more and kissed his neck sweetly before pulling away and keeping her fingers on his shirt as they unconsciously played with his collar. He loosely and comfortably kept his arms around her waist and they both looked to Miss Darbus who shook her head at them.
"I'm glad you two are still together, I wish you all the best." Miss Darbus said surprising Troy. "Now why don't you all take your old seats." She gestured towards the desks organized in the classroom in rows.
Gabriella was first to excitedly skip towards her desk in the back and take a seat. She squealed in joy and watched as Taylor, Chad, and Troy took their seats. Troy looked back at Gabriella and grinned boyishly at her like he used to, she giggled and smiled back at him.
This night was getting better and better.
Taylor and Chad walked into the gym with their hands intertwined, Taylor's smile grew widely as she saw all the familiar faces sat at the various tables sprawled around the large room.
"Hey there's Gabriella." Taylor said walking over with Chad to the table that Gabriella was sitting at alone, Troy nowhere in sight. "Hey, where's Troy?" Taylor asked.
"Sitting at a different table." Gabriella sighed sadly.
"What? Why?" Taylor asked in confusion. Troy and Gabriella were never ones to fight a lot over little things, the only reason they had been fighting a lot lately was because of Lucy, and Taylor hoped she had nothing to do with this.
"The stupid person who organized this gave everyone assigned seats! I mean what the heck, this isn't high school anymore, it's a stupid reunion." Gabriella said putting her elbow on the table and placing her head in her hand. Taylor tried not to laugh at her best friends grumpiness, being away from Troy forcefully made Gabriella mad.
"I see." Taylor looked at the name tags on the table and saw her and Chad's name seated next to each other. Well she got lucky.
Gabriella saw Taylor eyeing her name tag. "You and Chad get to sit next to each other, why not me and Troy? Everyone knows we were together. Did no one think we would still be together?" Gabriella sulked.
"Honey, whoever planned this reunion probably didn't think twice." Taylor said, though was stumped about the situation too. Everyone in the school back then knew Troy and Gabriella were an item, why wouldn't they seat them together? Even if there was the chance they wouldn't be a couple anymore isnt the point of reunions to bring past relationships back together?
Taylor sat down between Gabriella and Chad. She smiled lightly at Gabriella.
"Hey guys!" Sharpay said excitedly, taking a seat next to Chad as she read her name tag, Zeke took his seat next to her and nodded at the others in hello.
"Oh yeah, the whole gang is seated here except for Troy…" Gabriella mumbled under her breathe for no one to hear.
"Hey Shar, where have you been?" Taylor asked.
"Our car broke down so we had to wait an hour to have a cab bring us here." Sharpay said sighing. "But its whatever, we're here now." She said positively.
"Is Ryan coming?" Chad asked.
"No, he couldn't make it. He's working on a new show." The blonde said with disappointment and excitement.
"That's cool." Chad replied grinning.
Sharpay looked at a sad Gabriella and frowned. "What's wrong Gabby?" She asked. "Where's Troy?"
Troy took his seat not tearing his eyes from Gabriella who was sulking across the room. He looked as Sharpay and Zeke took their seats at the same table and groaned, everyone except for him…this was stupid. He looked at the guy sitting across the table from him and smiled, he looked really familiar.
"Do I know you?" The man asked.
"Uh, I don't know. I'm Troy Bolton." Troy said trying to recognize the mystery man.
"Stephen Carlisle!" The man replied. "From basketball!"
Troy's eyes widened in realization. Stephen was his team mate at East High, he was pretty good. "Stephen, it's good to see you man, what's good?" Troy said politely.
"Nothing really, I got my degree in architecture and I'm working on my first project, how about you? I went to one of your games, I knew you'd make it." Stephen said.
"Thanks dude, basketball's great. Being a part of the Lakers is a dream come true." Troy said honestly.
Stephen nodded with a grin. A blonde haired woman sat down beside him before kissing him on the cheek. "Oh Troy, this is my wife Caroline."
"It's nice to meet you Caroline." Troy said.
"You too, Troy. So what have you been talking about boys?" Caroline asked with a smile.
"Just work and stuff." Stephen replied.
Caroline nodded. "Did you lock the front door?" She asked Stephen.
"Uh yeah I think so." He said with a shrug.
"What do you mean 'I think so' if our house gets broken into its all your fault." She said giving him a dangerous glare. Troy sat awkwardly across the table and figured he shouldn't be eaves dropping, so he took out his phone and started playing tetris.
"Here's our seat babe." A woman said taking her seat next to Caroline. An unfamiliar man took his seat next to Troy and the woman, leaving the only empty seat between Troy and Stephen. The man nodded at Troy in acknowledgement and Troy nodded back with a small smile. He glanced over at the name tag beside him with no person sitting in the seat. Trisha Barton. That sounded all too familiar.
"Hello East High Wildcats!" A woman with dark brown hair and a bright green dress stood on the stage in the front of the gym. Troy turned to the stage and he furrowed his eyebrows, suddenly his eyes widened in realization. Trisha Barton was a cheerleader who used to be obsessed with him in high school. "I'm Trisha, as some of you know, and I'm proud to say I put this reunion together. I'm so overjoyed that we had such a great turn out, please stay, eat, drink, sleep if you want. We all know some of you used to do that in your classes back then!" Trisha joked. There was a roar of laughter. "Later on some of the teachers want to give some speeches so don't wander off too far. Thanks again." She said lastly, exiting stage right.
Troy glanced over to Gabriella and smiled as there was still an empty seat between her and Zeke. He grabbed his name tag and stood up from the table.
"Going somewhere Troy?" Stephen asked smiling.
"Yeah, I'm going to go sit next to Gabriella. Trisha must have made it so we were separated, because ironically she is seated next to me and I don't think Gabriella would be too happy." Troy said laughing lightly.
"It's great to hear your still with Gabriella, you guys were great together." Stephen said grinning. Troy smiled in agreement, boy did he love Gabriella. "Dude, Trisha was so creepily obsessed with you. I remember when we used to talk about how she was a stalker in the locker rooms." Troy and Stephen laughed together.
"I know right. Well I'll talk to you later man, maybe we could get together sometime and play some basketball with the guys." Troy said gesturing towards Chad and Zeke.
"Definitely, look me up man." Stephen said grinning.
"Will do, again it was nice to meet you Caroline." Troy said smiling a goodbye to the couple who smiled back.
Troy quickly walked over towards Gabriella and looked back at his table as he saw Trisha sit down in her seat and look around in anticipation. He laughed to himself and continued to Gabriella. Some things really do never change. He reached the table with all his friends and he sat down next to Gabriella.
"Troy! What are you doing?" Gabriella asked raising an eyebrow as she saw Troy replace the name tag currently sitting on the table with his own. She grinned at his cleverness, though it wasn't really that hard to figure out.
"Hey baby, I told you nothing could keep us apart." He said coolly. Sharpay and Taylor scoffed at his line and Chad and Zeke smirked.
"I really missed you. Trisha was probably the one who placed you all the way across the room from me. She was so attached to you I wouldn't be surprised if she still felt the same way. The woman probably has a shrine just for you." Gabriella said getting absorbed by her thoughts.
"Babe, it's cool. I'm here now." Troy said kissing her sweetly.
Gabriella smiled. "I'm glad, but what about the guy's seat you just stole, where's he going to sit?" She asked. Gabriella was always selfless.
"Excuse me?" Troy asked one of the waiters working the party. "I found this name tag on the ground, I used to know the guy and I saw him sitting in the seat over there, next to Trisha Barton the one who organized this reunion."
"Yes sir, I'll go put the name tag back. Do you need anything else?" He asked accepting the tag from Troy.
"Thanks, and no I think we're all good." Troy said looking around the table to see if anyone wanted anything. No one spoke up so the waiter left to place the wrong name tag in the wrong place.
"Told you honey, Troy's a beast." Chad told Taylor before leaning over the table to do a knuckle punch with Troy.
Taylor shook her head in amusement.
"You're amazing." Gabriella whispered to Troy. She moved her chair closer to his and placed her hand on Troy's thigh, resting her head on his shoulder.
"I guess you rubbed off on me." Troy said kissing her head.
TEN REVIEWS, kay? Thanks. (: Please tell me what you thought, again it was a long chapter and took up a lot of my time so please write your reviews with detail and give me suggestions or ideas and tell me what you thought of the reunion! Don't just say "loved it can't wait for the next one". That pisses me off, but at least it's something, but still I love reading what you guys think.