AN: Thanks, as per usual, those of you who reviewed. You're the greatest.

The chapter title is from the musical Singin' in the Rain.

Title: Forget Yesterday
Rating: T
Author: MadiWillow
Summary: The kids at East High are all seniors now, and looking forward to spending every day as if it were their last together.
Genre: Humor/Drama
Chapter: All I Do Is Dream Of You

"Troy. Is your grandmother ever going to move out?" Chad asked in a disgruntled tone one Saturday night.

Troy scowled. "No. Turns out Morris wants to live here to get to know his step-family for a while."

"... is that a joke?"

"I wish." He sighed. "It's not like we ever see him. They didn't take a honeymoon, you see, so..."

"Ew."

"SLUMBER PARTY TONIGHT!" exclaimed Sharpay suddenly. "I'm so excited!"

Gabriella and Taylor exchanged annoyed looks. "Sharpay, we've had sleepovers before."

"Yeah, but today is going to be different."

"Why?"

"Because I'm gonna give you spa treatments. Gabriella, when you were on the birth control, you kinda broke out a lot. I know you haven't used it in a while, but, well," she laughed condescendingly, "it's still there. And you, Taylor, have always had a skin problem."

The two girls glared at their blonde friend. "You're not so perfect either, Sharpay," Taylor shot back. "I see a zit on your forehead."

Sharpay clapped a hand to her forehead. "I get the occasional blemish! Whereas you always have acne."

Taylor looked like she wanted to beat Sharpay up, so Gabriella cut in and asked Troy, Chad, and Ryan, who were also in the den, "What are you guys gonna do tonight?"

"Celebrate that you girls are gone," said Chad. He gasped unexpectedly and looked around at all his friends. "Oh, my God. I just realized... we're like a married couple."

"... what?"

"Think about it!" said Chad. "We're always together, and the girls tell us what to do. And when they leave, we get drunk and enjoy the time without them. That's what married couples do. Or at least, what my dad does when my mom goes out."

There was a slight pause. "He's right," breathed Sharpay. "We are like a really deformed, polygamist married couple."

"Polygamy is when one person has multiple spouses," Gabriella corrected her.

Sharpay narrowed her eyes at her. "Well, this is a different form of polygamy, then." She smiled pleasantly at the boys. "Well, bye husbands! Your wives will be back in the morning."

She dragged Gabriella and Taylor after her, talking a mile a minute about all the fun they were going to have that night.

A few minutes after they left, Troy asked, "Hey, where are Zeke and Jason?"

"Zeke is probably with some girl," said Chad. "And Jason... I don't know. He went to the bathroom during lunch today and never came back."

As if their words summoned them, the door opened, and Jason and Zeke walked in. The two sat down and Jason asked, "What are we watching?"

"Jason, where'd you go today?" asked Ryan.

Jason scowled. "I got suspended."

"No way. Why?" asked Chad.

"Indecent exposure."

"I didn't know you knew what such words meant," said Troy. "But what'd you do? Streak?"

Jason looked pissed. "I peed in a dumpster."

They all blinked at him.

There was a long silence.

"Why the hell did you pee in a dumpster?" asked Chad slowly.

"Well... I really had to go to the bathroom."

"There's a bathroom right outside the fucking cafeteria!" Troy exclaimed.

"I went out the wrong door and ended up outside."

There was another pause.

"We've been going to this school for three and a half years," said Troy, "and you're still getting lost?"

"You know what... shut up," Jason retorted lamely. "But anyway, the principal, of all people, caught me. I'm suspended on Monday."

"Don't you want to know where I was?" asked Zeke loudly.

"Screwing?" asked Chad innocently.

Zeke laughed. "Oh, but it was so much more than that."

"Well, you can either tell us or not, we're not that interested," said Troy.

Zeke frowned. "Fine." He grinned again. "I did it with two girls!"

"Really? I could've sworn you'd done it with more than that by now," said Ryan thoughtfully.

Zeke rolled his eyes. "No, I mean I did it with two girls at the same time!"

"What!?" all the guys exclaimed in unison.

Smiling triumphantly, Zeke said, "Oh yeah. And it was hot."

"Where did you do it?"

"The school bathroom."

"That is hot," said Jason. "Yeah, I did it in the bathroom before."

Chad gave him a look. "No you haven't."

"Have so!"

"Jason, aren't you a virgin?" said Troy.

Jason turned red. "No!"

"You so are."

"Who would have thought that Ryan wouldn't be a virgin and Jason would?" mused Chad.

"Hey, you know what... shut up."

"Sharpay, I don't like neon pink."

"So?"

"Well, they're my toenails."

"Oh, Gabriella, you don't know anything about beauty."

"I kinda think I do."

"Well, I say you don't!"

Gabriella sighed but didn't press the matter. She was wearing a too-big East High shirt and a sweats that were rolled up to her knees. She was sitting against Sharpay's bed and the latter was painting her toes, concentrating deeply. Taylor's toes were already painted: neon green.

"You really think this looks good?" asked Taylor apprehensively.

"Of course I do!" Sharpay answered in annoyance. "Bright colors are in right now."

"Bright colors, sure... but blinding colors?"

"Same thing."

Gabriella and Taylor exchanged looks with raised eyebrows. "What color are you painting your toes, Sharpay?"

Sharpay held up a bottle containing very bright blue polish. "This one is my favorite."

"Who's gonna paint them for you?"

Sharpay looked at them like they were crazy. "I'm painting my own! You don't think I'd let you two do it, would you?"

"Sharpay," sighed Taylor. "You sure do insult your friends a lot. Aren't you ever worried that we'll ditch you?"

"No."

"Maybe we will," challenged Gabriella.

Sharpay looked at her disdainfully. "I know you won't." She shook the bottle of pink polish and started to apply a second coat. "Besides, it shows you like someone when you insult them."

Taylor and Gabriella glanced at each other with confused expressions. "What makes you say that?"

The blonde looked at them as if her words were facts. "My mom always criticized me. It was a way of helping me better myself."

"Sharpay," Gabriella began, "do you see us going around insulting each other all the time? I mean, we put up with you doing it because you always do. But we don't make fun of each other all the time."

"Sure you do."

"Maybe a few times as a joke."

Sharpay frowned. "Do we have to talk about this? I don't feel like starring in a Lifetime movie."

"Yeah, we do," said Gabriella. "Why isn't your brother like that?"

"Ryan was always perfect." Sharpay shrugged. "My parents loved Ryan. But I was always the one who had to have better hair, better skin, better teeth. Ryan was the favorite."

"And yet you boss him around," laughed Taylor.

"Because Ryan always felt bad, so he let me control him at school."

"Awww!" said Gabriella and Taylor in unison. "That's so cute... in a really weird, twisted way," Gabriella continued.

"I guess so," mused Sharpay. "I never really thought of it being cute. I thought of it as him owing me."

"Is your mom home?" Taylor asked.

"No."

"She's a bitch."

"Taylor!" gasped Gabriella.

"No offense."

Sharpay laughed. "No, it's true. She did make my life suck when I was younger. I was always unhappy."

"That's so sad," said Gabriella dejectedly.

Sharpay wrinkled her nose. "Please. I hate sap."

"But it's true!" Gabriella said dramatically. "This could so be a movie. Girl's parents are always chiding her, girl's brother feels guilty, girl insults everyone, girl is unhappy."

"Does this story have a happy ending?" Taylor asked skeptically. "It sounds like a downer."

"Of course it does. It becomes happy when girl tries to break up a couple but ends up becoming friends with couple and company. She lives happily ever after!"

Sharpay rolled her eyes. "You forgot that part where girl's boyfriend cheated on her and becomes a man whore. Chad texted me and said he did it with two girls at once. Isn't that gross!?"

"We can leave the cheating out of the screenplay," said Gabriella casually before exclaiming, "Two girls!? And Chad texted you?"

Sharpay nodded.

Gabriella smirked. "That's so cute, Chad texted you."

"Why is that cute?" asked Sharpay, nonplussed.

"Yeah, why?" Taylor questioned, equally puzzled.

Gabriella shrugged indifferently. "No reason."

Later that night, when Sharpay had finally deemed Taylor and Gabriella beautiful enough to meet society's standards (at two a.m.), they'd all gone to sleep. Sharpay didn't want them to sleep on her bed, so Gabriella and Taylor ended up on the floor. But luckily for them, Sharpay's floor was more comfortable than most floors.

Gabriella woke up suddenly in the middle of the night, not knowing why. She sat up and rubbed her eyes, yawning. She was exhausted, yet annoyed that she'd been awoken. She picked up her cell phone that was next to her, but it was off. It hadn't been a text.

She heard a noise and froze, straining her ears in the darkness to try and distinguish the source. It was coming from Sharpay's bed.

"If she has a guy in there..." mumbled Gabriella under her breath as she walked on her knees to the edge of the blonde's bed. Sharpay was, in fact, alone in her bed, but she was talking to herself. Gabriella was quite awake by this point, so she leaned forward interestedly. She'd never heard Sharpay talk in her sleep before.

For a few moments, Gabriella couldn't make out any of her words. It was just a bunch of mumbles and groans. She grew bored and was about to lay back down and attempt to sleep, but then she heard a name she recognized.

"Chad."

Gabriella gasped loudly, and clapped a hand to her mouth. Had she just heard – no. That wasn't possible. She'd clearly been --

"Chad..."

She squealed behind her hand. She wasn't hearing things. Not only did it make her feel better to know that she wasn't going crazy, it also made her wonder: what the fuck?

"Chad," murmured Sharpay again. She turned over and buried her face in her pillow; she seemed to be silenced. Her breathing was normal and it appeared whatever she had been dreaming before had ended.

Gabriella's face was split into a giddy, childish smile. She felt wide awake now and couldn't sleep. Sharpay dreaming about Chad? Well, she couldn't say she was entirely surprised...

"Hello, boys, your first wife is home," announced Gabriella upon entry into Troy's den. She blinked when she saw only Chad was in there. "I mean boy. Where's everyone else?"

"Jason's parents found out about his suspension – long story," he added, in response to Gabriella's questioning look. "Zeke is on a date – or, to be more specific, an orgy. Lila and Morris went out to breakfast with Becca and Jack, and they dragged Troy along. Ryan's at home. Where are the girls?"

"Taylor's sisters are in town, and Sharpay's still sleeping." Gabriella sat down. "She must've had a big night," she said pointedly.

"Weren't you there?" Chad reminded her.

"Yeah, but in... her dreams, she had a big night," she said lamely.

Chad nodded, still looking at Gabriella strangely. "Okay."

They sat in a comfortable silence for a few minutes, focusing on the television.

Gabriella, at last, said, "Can I ask you a question?"

Chad blinked. "Um, I guess. But I'm not really good at this sensitive stuff..."

"It's okay." Gabriella brought her legs up onto the couch and sat cross-legged, turning to face Chad, who was sitting in the armchair. "What do you think of Sharpay?"

"What?" asked Chad quickly. "What do I think of her? What do you mean by that?"

"Exactly how it sounds," Gabriella said, amused. "I just want to know."

"She's, um, a nice girl," stammered Chad.

Gabriella laughed. "She's nice? No, she's not. We both know that. What do you really think of her?"

Chad narrowed his eyes suspiciously. "Is this one of those weird things where girls try to get other people to say bad stuff about their friends just so they can tell them about it?"

"No. I'm not gonna go tell anyone what you tell me," Gabriella told him. "I'm just curious. You and Sharpay seem to argue less lately."

"I guess we've... matured?"

Gabriella looked at him expectantly. "Try again."'

"Is there a certain answer you're looking for!?" exclaimed Chad. "Because you're telling me what I think is wrong."

"Because that's not what you really think."

"How do you know?"

"Because I'm not an idiot!"

"How --"

"Chad," she interrupted. "I just want to know. Look, I know that being friends with Sharpay is a touchy subject with you, for some reason, but I don't know why you're getting defensive about it."

"I am not defensive."

"You so are."

"Not!"

She raised an eyebrow, and he scowled.

Gabriella sighed melodramatically. "Okay, fine. It's just, we talked about you last night, and I --"

"Sharpay talked about me?" he interjected.

She smirked knowingly and he blushed.

"I said we talked about you. I could've meant Taylor and I."

"Gabriella --"

"You so like her."

Chad's eyes widened to the size of dinner plates. "WHAT!?"

"Whoa, calm down."

"Gabriella, I do not like Sharpay. I would never like her. Never."

"Okay," Gabriella said unconvincingly.

"I'm serious!"

"I said okay!"

"You don't sound like you believe me."

She eyed him. "If it really isn't true, why do you care so much?"

"I just don't want you to get the wrong idea."

"Why do you care what I think?"

"I don't."

"Sounds like you do."

"You know what, Gabriella... I don't care what you think."

"Good."

"Really."

"I believe you."

"You don't sound like you do."

"Why do you care?"

"... I don't."

"Okay."

"Good."

AN: I'm trying to evenly split my time between the Chad/Sharpay and Troy/Gabriella relationship.

UP NEXT:

Valentines Day. One of the girls feels left out.