Turn look, look out and see.
Do you see me? Cause I think I see you.
I've been some other place.
The wind that I chase, it all just leads back to you.
Oh how I'm still, so still it's sobering, but still I ran.
Run To You--The Rocket Summer
"This is the second day in a row that you have been up and ready before me," Gabriella groans into her pillow while rolling over and sitting up.
Sharpay rolls her eyes, but grabs her purse in response. She isn't going to let Gabriella Montez and Troy Bolton effect her anymore, and if that meant ignoring them completely, then she will do it.
Gabriella's eye follow the pink blob around their room as she collects her things, and even though Gabriella didn't expect a nice reply to her question, she still thought based on the previous day, that Sharpay would at least acknowledge her.
"Is everything okay Sharpay?" Gabriella asks softly.
The daggers thrown by Sharpay almost blinded Gabriella. It is like a fire erupted in the blondes eyes. "Don't talk to me Montez." Sharpay heads for the door, but right before she fully steps out of the room, she turns back to Gabriella, "And it's Evans to you."
The air is silent around the six teens. Kelsi looks around at all five boys, and notices for once in what seems like forever Jason and Ryan were actually not glaring at each other; but ignoring one another as the glaring seemed to be passed down to Zeke and Chad.
Kelsi feels Jason's rough finger tips stroke hers under the table as she has her left hand resting on top of her thigh. She shares a smile with him before looking up and seeing that Troy is still sitting in between Chad and Zeke.
"So…we have a soccer scrimmage coming up in a week and a half."
"Are you excited?" Jason asks as Ryan bites his tongue from saying she's nervous. He knows her like his favorite dance number, and even though Kelsi won't admit it right now in front of everyone else, she's nervous.
"Um…not quite."
"Since there's no basketball that Saturday morning, are we all gonna catch the early bus ride?" Troy asks even though he knows that he is going no matter what.
"That's a given," Jason says automatically, and then realizes how strong he's coming on, and clears his throat, "Um…you know, yeah. I was thinking about it."
Ryan and Jason's eyes meet over the table, and although no words are exchanged, Ryan is the first to break the stare as his face doesn't change from the content look it has.
"Is Tay going?" Chad can't help but ask as he knows deep down that if she's going, which makes sense since her best friend is the captain, then he will probably go too.
Zeke doesn't say anything as he silently picks up his tray and leaves the table; soon followed by leaving the Dining Hall.
"That's my cue," Jason excuses himself, but not before lightly brushing his lips against Kelsi's cheek. Ryan turns his head as if he found something more interesting over by the Dining Hall workers.
"Em and I were probably gonna go into town that Saturday," he catches Kelsi's eye. "You know, because it'll probably be the only last good Saturday that we can make it together."
"Em?" Kelsi questions.
Ryan shrugs casually, "You know? Emma? It's a nickname…just like we call you Kels?"
Kelsi nods her head a little too quickly to make it seem like she fully feels comfortable. "Right. I TOTALLY understand. Excuse me, I just have…to leave."
After Kelsi retreats from the Dining Hall, Ryan looks at Chad and Troy who are the only two left. "She does understand, right?"
The two boys look at each other before shrugging at Ryan. "Have NO idea man."
"NOT a clue."
Gabriella groggily makes her way up the stairs while balancing her backpack on her shoulder, carrying two small boxes of cereal, two bowls, spoons, and two small cartons of milk.
She rolls her eyes as she tries to hold it all in one hand while knocking on her best friend's door, but she can't, so she does the next best thing. She kicks the door, and hears nothing.
"Come on Tay! Open the door. I have breakfast," Gabriella says in a singing tone.
Gabriella can hear footsteps now, and manages to put on a small smile. Taylor finally opens the door, and looks at Gabriella with her own small smile.
"Well this seems to be reversed," she comments with slight amusement.
Gabriella rolls her eyes and thrusts the milk and bowls into Taylor's hands while walking into her room without permission. "Make fun all you want, but we already know that I'm not a morning person."
"Well then what are you doing here?" Taylor asks even though it's quite obvious.
"You have to eat breakfast, and if you don't want to face Chad and Zeke in the Dining Hall then someone has to take care of you. Even if that means that I have to get up earlier than usual."
Taylor sighs while taking a seat cross legged on the edge of her bed; opposite of Gabriella who's already made her spot at the head of the bed and is pouring the cereal.
"Thank you."
The two girls get their breakfasts put together, and start eating in a silence. Gabriella knows all about Taylor's relationship with Chad and Zeke as they put away some time aside from sports, schoolwork, other people to just hang out on Saturday night as it seemed like half the school was gone on the Spanish fieldtrip.
"You know Tay, you can't stay in here forever."
Taylor continues to eat her cereal nonchalantly; although on the inside, her mind is going crazy about what she should and could do about the whole Chad situation.
"…I know," she admits.
Gabriella sighs while putting her empty bowl down. "The gang was all getting breakfast--everyone but Sharpay," Gabriella adds before Taylor cuts in.
"That's kind of weird."
Gabriella looks at her confused. "How is that weird? Sharpay never eats with us."
"No, it's weird that you just mentioned the Ice Princess as a part of our group."
Gabriella's face shows confusion as her mind replays what she just said, and even though a part of her finds it odd that she did just mention Sharpay like she is a part of their group, she doesn't show it as she's there to talk to Taylor about the triangle she worked her way into, not about Sharpay.
Gabriella's small shoulders go up and down in a shrug, "It doesn't matter. What DOES matter however, is that Chad told Troy who told me that you are going to swear off guys?"
Taylor rolls her eyes. Of course, leave it to Chad to tell his best friend who had this HUGE crush on her best friend, to tell Gabriella everything so that Taylor has no way of getting out of being cornered about it!
"Maybe you being friends with Troy is a bad idea?" Taylor mutters before sighing heavily and looking up at her friend; knowing she isn't going to get around this. "Well let's go over the facts, shall we? 1) I screwed Zeke over. I cheated on him, but yet I still love him? How the hell does that work? 2) You saw Chad in the library Monday night. He's really upset at me. 3) I have no idea what I'm gonna do. I can't face either one of them."
Gabriella senses Taylor's distress over the whole situation. "Okay, let's just take this one step at a time. You still love Zeke?"
Taylor looks up sheepishly, "Maybe love is a stronger word than what I'm feeling, but…I still care for him, enough that I can't just jump into something right away."
"Okay, now number two. Chad's upset? Why does that--" Gabriella stops mid sentence and excitement fills her eyes. She knows that Taylor has to have some physical attraction to him since she did sleep with him, but this is different. She cares about his feelings after three years of her denying that Chad liked her more than a friend. "You like him!"
"Yes," Taylor doesn't even bother hesitating. "So that's where number one and number two of my problems collide. I am forced to avoid Chad because I don't want to parade around school with him as my new boyfriend, and rub it in Zeke's face."
"Who said you have to parade around school with him? Can't it just be normal that a person who gets out of a relationship, hangs out with another person, presumably of the opposite sex, alone?"
Taylor looks at her with a deadpanned face. "Gabi, that may work for you since you're the person who doesn't have to deal with their ex, and how they feel about things, but I'm the one who broke up with him. We play two different people in the situation you just spoke of."
A silence is taking over as both girls forget about Taylor's third problem, and stay concentrated on the topic at hand.
"But if you break up with someone, then you're done. No strings left. You shouldn't have to worry about them," Gabriella states in a haze.
"You do remember Jason and last year, right? I know that last year was fucked up, but you do remember how you were after the break up, don't you?"
Gabriella picks at the comforter she's sitting on. "…Yeah. I guess."
"It's not easy moving on from someone sometimes. Even if you're the one who breaks up with them."
Gabriella's eyes go wide as she stares down at the blanket. The moods Sharpay has been in. First she was sad and bawling her eyes out, then after Gabriella talked to her she was getting into the swing of things again, next she actually was talking to her--maybe not in the best tone, but she was still talking to her the previous day--, and now Sharpay is blocking her out. Sharpay's blocking her out after there was a chance that she might've seen Troy picking her up for the movie. It all makes sense now.
"You're right Tay. You're absolutely right." Gabriella leaps off the bed in a hurry. She has just enough time to stop over at the drama building before heading over to her own class. "I have to go. I'll talk to you later, and don't forget to sort things out with Chad," Gabriella calls over her shoulder to a disturbed looking Taylor.
Taylor sits on her bed and watches her bedroom door close. She finds Gabriella leaving her very strange.
Gabriella had never been backstage before. She's seen the school's musicals that they produce, but she's never actually been backstage before, and since Sharpay wasn't in her drama classroom, the only other room Gabriella could think of was her dressing room.
Gabriella looks down the narrow hallway and spots the closest door that has Sharpay's name all over it; figuratively speaking. It's bright, hot pink; unlike the other doors.
Gabriella knocks on the door, and waits for an answer.
"Emma, I really don't want to talk and listen to you gush about my brother!" Sharpay's voice echoes through, and if Gabriella isn't so set on talking to her, she would've stopped and processed that Emma had taken more than a liking to Ryan.
Gabriella opens the door. "Good, because I don't want to talk about your brother either."
Sharpay spins around, and if looks could kill, Gabriella would've been dead the moment she shut the door behind herself.
"What the hell are you doing on my turf Montez?" Sharpay hisses venomously.
Gabriella doesn't back down, and looks Sharpay in the eye. "I'm not after Troy, Sharpay."
Sharpay doesn't bat an eye lash; although she is very surprised that Gabriella has come there to her dressing room to tell her that. Some people would consider that suicide.
"I never said you were," Sharpay counters back.
"You didn't need too. It's written all over your face, and actions, and words. But you don't need to worry. I'm not after Troy." She says with a bit more reluctance.
Sharpay lets out a small laugh to lighten the conversation for her own benefit. "Oh Montez, you make me laugh. I'm not worried. I never was."
Gabriella bites her tongue. Her mind is telling her to just cut the crap with Sharpay and go back to how things were before: fighting and making snide comments to each other whenever they had the chance. But her better judgment and heart are telling her to try to forfeit and become no so much as friends, but mere acquaintances instead of enemies. Now that she's seen that Sharpay is just as much human as anyone else, she can put aside her own conflicts with the blonde and try to make nice.
"Whatever Sharpay. I just wanted to let you know…just in case you thought that." Gabriella looks around casually, and smiles as her back is turned towards the confused blonde. This dressing room really did reflect Sharpay in all her pink and glittery glory. "You know…I'm not that big of a bitch that you make me out to be." Gabriella turns back to the blonde now after seeing how much make up she does keep in her dressing room. "I didn't have some plot behind your back to get Troy to break up with you."
Sharpay sees the sincerity in her eyes, but she doesn't want to believe it because if she does, then that's three years that she's been wrong.
"Like I said before, I never told you that you were after Troy."
Gabriella bites her tongue in annoyance, and shakes her head a little before heading towards the door. "Whatever Sharpay. Believe what you want, but if you were to believe anything, then at least try to believe me."
Right before Gabriella can twist the doorknob to leave, Sharpay shuts her eyes and mentally puts down a barrier. "Gabriella…"
"Hmm?" Gabriella keeps her back to the blonde as she waits anxiously for whatever's to come.
"…If he were to ask you out…what would you say?" Her voice is soft, quiet, and so much different than her powerful and demanding tone that Gabriella wouldn't even recognize that it came from Sharpay's mouth if they weren't the only two in the room.
Gabriella blinks back the perfect picture of Troy in her head. She blinks back the knowledge that he's already confessed his love to her. She blinks back the feeling of getting butterflies in her stomach whenever she's around Troy now…as a friend.
"He wouldn't ask."
"If he did?"
"I'm not looking for love." I'm not looking for love because that someone who we're talking about already loves me.
Taylor looks around the quad and knows that he's supposed to be around someplace seeing as he should be heading over to the baseball stadium for two hours.
She doesn't think about it as her legs lunge forward to catch up with the afro clad boy that's about thirty feet away, and walking at a casual pace.
"Hey," Taylor greets while falling into step with him.
Chad looks at her, and keeps his excitement at a certain level that she can't even tell that he's happy. "…hey."
Taylor looks Chad over. He's wearing his white practice baseball pants, practice dark red jersey, his hair is tied back, and capped off with a red baseball hat.
"So you have baseball practice." It's a statement as she knows that he does.
Chad nods his head slowly, "…Yeah. Then it's straight to basketball practice."
"Oh." Taylor's tone dropped in disappointment.
"You sound upset," he says casually while looking forward in a cool manner.
"No…why would I be upset? It's not like I was planning anything…or something," she stammers.
Chad holds in his smile at how cute she's sounding. "Tay, I might've been upset with you on Monday night, but that doesn't mean that I still don't know when you're upset. Now tell me what's up."
Taylor sighs. "I was just wondering if you wanted to talk after practice? But since you have double practices then I'll just forget about it."
"Why?"
"Well because you probably have homework and need to sleep, and need to eat no doubt," Taylor lists off answers as if she's just counting her fingers.
"That's all true, but…" Chad's taking a risk; going off gut's instincts. "I might need help on homework. And what better help could I get if not from our grade's smartest girl?"
Taylor feels her stomach tighten at the little appreciative comment he's made.
"Okay. Yeah, I can help you. But don't think that you have to ask me for help because you feel sorry for me. It's not like I don't have other things to do besides talk and help you tonight. I could be practicing tennis if I really wanted too."
Chad passes her a sideways smile, "Truth is…I missed talking to you."
Gabriella walks out of the guidance counselors office with surprisingly a small smile. They went through the same procedure as last time. They talked about her school life, friends, her mom, and her dreams. Gabriella doesn't know what's different, but the smile could have something to do with the blued eyed boy waiting in the lounge for her; reading the newspaper with a serious face on.
"Troy?" Gabriella questions in a whisper since she knows the receptionist at the desk likes to keep things quiet.
He looks up startled for a second before his mind registers that Gabriella is calling for him. He carelessly puts the newspaper down and stands up; already with her body fitting leather jacket in hand.
"Hey…here um…I found this on the coat rack." He holds out her jacket and she slips into it. He has a slight blush on his cheeks as she offers him a small smile. Friends are allowed to get each others coats.
"Thanks. Not that I don't mind you being here, but…what are you doing here?" She asks.
"I was just out running, and I got bored so I saw you come here, and I decided to just wait it out."
"You waited an hour?!" Gabriella asks incredulously as they step outside.
"Well…yeah." He's not going to mention that the other reason he was there was because he made another appointment to see Miss. Patrick later that week.
Gabriella debates whether to say something, but knows she has too. There's two ways she can go about it. 1) say something so bluntly that he might get offended, or 2) say something with emphasis on a word, and hopes he gets the meaning. She likes the later of the two.
"Well, thanks. That was real FRIENDLY."
Troy looks away from her as they continue walking. "Yup. Just call me Mr. Friend."
If you weren't Troy who thinks he did a good job with his cheerful tone, or Gabriella who wants to believe that Troy has gotten over her so quickly; then you can hear the longing and bitterness mixed into that one sentence.
After being shut down by Sharpay on Tuesday night, the least likely person Zeke expected to see in the cooking room after school was that very said blonde. He hasn't been able to take his mind off the kiss they shared over the counter. So when he walked into the room and saw her sitting at the counter while looking down at her nails in a fascinating way, his heart sped up.
He clears his throat to let her know that he's in there, and her head shoots up so quickly that he's surprised that she doesn't have whiplash.
"What are you doing here?" He asks and then realizes those might not be the best of words, but he's hurt by Taylor and now Sharpay, and he's done with the rejections.
Sharpay's eyes narrow. "What's with the tone?"
"I don't know? Maybe it's the fact that you're here after what happened yesterday night."
Sharpay pinches the bridge of her nose and looks away from him. Sharpay has never really had to hold in her emotions before, but there's something about Zeke that looks all too good and innocent, and that's keeping her from snapping back.
"I seriously thought that we could move on from that. I guess not," she looks up at him, "Maybe I should just go."
Zeke takes half a second to contemplate the situation. "No!" He says quickly before clearing his throat. "I um… mean…stay. This just isn't my kitchen, and obviously something is on your mind."
"Not something. More like someone."
"I have time before basketball."
Gabriella wasn't planning this. She wasn't drawing up blueprints on how to approach this minor problem. She isn't even certain that this conversation has to happen, but yet she still feels entitled to have it or else it might become awkward in the future.
"Hey Zeke. Don't you have basketball to get to?" Gabriella asks as she walks over to him.
He looks around and his eyes stay on the drama building a little longer than necessary. "…Yeah. I'm just waiting for someone."
Gabriella nods her head right as a certain drama obsessed blonde walks out of the building. Sharpay looks up and suppresses the surprise she feels at seeing Gabriella and Zeke standing next to each other. Instead of budding her way into their weird looking conversation, she stays on the top of the five steps and waits; even though she can hear their conversation perfectly from her spot still.
Gabriella doesn't say anything as she chooses to ignore Sharpay, and instead continues talking to Zeke.
"You know…just because you and Tay broke up…" she sees that he tenses up just at the mention of Taylor's name., "um…doesn't mean that we still can't be friends, right? Because we were friends a long time before you two dated, and I just don't want our whole group of friends to get messed up because of this."
Zeke contains his snort of laughter, "If you haven't noticed, by now almost everything is messed up between all of us."
Gabriella looks down. "I wouldn't say everyone, but…I just wanted to let you know that I still count you as my friend. My friendship with you shouldn't be effected just because Taylor messed up."
"I understand…and…and I know where you're coming from. It's good to kind of talk about this."
Gabriella smiles brightly now as the worst part is over. "Good. Great even, and I'm glad we got this over with. You're a good guy Zeke, and you're still one of my good friends."
"Ditto, but right now I'm gonna be late for basketball, so--"
"Oh! Yeah. Okay. I'll just let you go then." Gabriella starts walking away, and calls over her shoulder, "Bye you guys!" Plural. She at least acknowledged Sharpay's presence.
Sharpay now takes this as her time to approach Zeke as she clutches her pink purse closer to herself. "She's just all about friendship today." Sharpay says it in neither a nice or mean tone.
Zeke looks at her confused for a moment. "What?"
Sharpay plays it off casually. "Nothing, just…she came by my dressing room today and we had a talk about…Troy."
"And?" Zeke presses as they start walking on the path that leads to the girls' dorm and then from there Zeke will walk to the basketball courts.
"And," Sharpay blows out a breath of air. "And she says that she's not after Troy now, but…I have this feeling."
Zeke shrugs, "If Gabi says she's not, then I'd trust her. I mean, what does she get out of it if she lies to you?"
"Troy," Sharpay whispers.
Zeke looks at her carefully, "You told me earlier that you are over him. Why does it matter if Gabriella does happen to date him?"
"Correction: I said I am GETTING over him. And it matters because she's my roommate and that also means that she will have lied to me."
"And you've never lied to her before?"
Sharpay lets out a huff. "Well maybe I just don't want them to date."
Zeke holds up two hands in a surrendering position. "Whoa…I didn't mean anything by it. I'm just saying that eventually Troy's gonna date again. You're eventually gonna date too, and Troy's not gonna interfere in your business."
"Thanks Dr. Phil. I didn't ask for your opinion. Don't you have basketball or something now?" Sharpay snaps.
Zeke sighs, "Yeah. Well…just give Gabi a chance. She's not one for lying."
"I'll get right on that," Sharpay says sarcastically. As Zeke turns around Sharpay glances over at the far away soccer field that had various color blobs playing a pick-up game.
Maybe Zeke's idea isn't so bad? But what do they have in common? It's not like Gabriella and her can be best friends and bond over boyfriends. That would be just too weird.
Author's Note--So I know that this chapter has quite a lot of Sharpay in it, and not a lot of Jelsi, or Troyella, but there's only like maybe one-three chapters left of this story, and then I start the sequel, and I need certain characters to be at a certain point. And this was the only way I could think of.
So on to other things. I was thinking the other day about the funerals of Gabriella's family members, and how in Junior year everyone was already with different people, and some were even in fully fledged relationships before the school year started. I'm also regretting not starting from Junior year as I am thinking of flashbacks, and I'm like saying to myself, "Why didn't I do this?" or "I wish I could write this in." But I can't since it wouldn't fit at all with these new relationships forming. But there is something I can do about the funerals chapter that I have written since probably before this story even started. I have no way of fitting it in through flashbacks since it's too long and I don't want to cut anything out, and I don't feel like chopping it up and giving it to you guys bit by bit in different chapters, so I was considering putting it as it's own chapter in this story?
I want to know what you guys think of it. If I do it, I can guarantee you that there's hardly any Troyella in it considering it's taking place right after Troy and her got into the fight, and there's quite a lot of Jason considering it takes place after their break up and a two month avoidence period. But it also lets you in on how some of the parents are too, so what do you think? You interested in me posting it within this story as it's own chapter?
