THE SOMEDAY TRILOGY: THIS MOMENT
Author's Notes –
I want to thank a few people who helped me with plotting out this chapter.
Melissa, thank you sooooo much for letting me badger you with questions about the NCAA and the recruitment process and college visits. This thanks will just generally apply to... to so many little things that I'll be including along the way as well as to things that I've already included. I really appreciate you being so open and lovely and cool with me harassing you about stuff :)
Thanks Molly for the basketball related packet of information which I think will actually come in more use in like, months from now, but in case I forget to thank you at that point, here's a thanks now. :-P
Thanks Melanie for providing a perspective of Sacramento and for letting me book you in for potential future information grabbing sessions.
And last but certainly not least thanks so, so, so much to Aly who so kindly offered to give me information I required about her alma mater, Butler University, and for giving me information about Indianapolis and the area.
Oh yeah, Audrey is pretty cool too. ;)
A note to anyone who follows college basketball
Throughout my explanations of the recruitment process these guys are going through, I am not going to be referring to any actual coaches or players from the teams. I am not writing real life fanfiction and I would not want to write and presume to know the personalities of these men. This also gives me more room to move in describing the current demographics of the team – such as how many players are retiring etc. Ultimately you need to give me some rope here because yes I strive for realism but this is HSM fanfiction and in order to make it realistic I actually need to kind of shape particular elements of these prospective teams. I go roughly by the rankings, I'm not going to depict UCLA as being a terrible team or suggest that some team who is at the bottom of the ladder is actually really brilliant. But when it comes to team recruitment strategies and the turn over and the consequent needs that a team may potentially have for Troy/Chad – all of that stuff will be modified.
Chapter 36
Fire burn all our uncertainties
Water wash away impurities
Contradictions and predictions abound
Yes I believe that we can turn it around
My life I've been waiting for this moment
All life I've been waiting for this moment, to come
Fear Factory 'Millennium'
After bidding his mother a somewhat tearful farewell at the airport that morning, Troy and Jack Bolton had disembarked from the Albuquerque airport bright and early Friday morning. It was only a short flight to Denver, where they had an hour layover before their flight to Indianapolis. It was about a two and a half hour flight but after factoring in the time difference, they were due to land just before 3pm.
They'd bought food in the layover at Denver. On the flight to Indiana, Troy's iPod had been turned up as soon as they were signalled that electronic equipment was permitted. He'd fallen asleep for a little while but a bout of turbulence had jerked him awake and Troy was now feeling a little antsy. He peered out the window, only able to see blue skies and white fluffy clouds. He sat up in his seat, peering around the cabin. He shuffled through the belongings in the seat pocket in front of him.
"Troy?" Jack asked, glancing up from the Sports Illustrated magazine he was scouring.
"How much longer?" Troy asked, his tone border lining upon a whine.
Jack glanced at his watch. "About a half hour. They'll start preparing for landing soon, I imagine."
Troy let out an irritated sigh. A half hour wasn't that long really. In a game of basketball it went by as fast as you could click your fingers. But while cooped up on an aircraft whilst awaiting one of the most important weekends of his life, a half hour seemed like forever.
"Why don't you read over some of your study notes for midterms next week?" Jack suggested.
Troy rolled his eyes. "Yeah. That's gonna happen."
He was filled with this mixture of nervous and excited energy. He wasn't completely in the dark about what to expect. When he'd gone for his unofficial visit to New Mexico State, it had still been an official recruiting weekend. However there was something different about this weekend at Butler. It was his first official visit, a school from interstate was interested enough in him to pay for him to fly over and scope out the situation. He'd never been to Indiana, he didn't know a lot about Butler, and he had forty eight hours to decide whether this was a contender for being the school. He'd been rather blasé about it, indicating that he wasn't highly interested in Butler. But as it came closer and closer to actual decision time, every option was a valid option that should be taken seriously and given reasonable thought.
As Jack predicted it wasn't long before the flight attendants turned on the seatbelt sign and began to prepare the cabin for landing. Troy packed away his belongings into the small backpack he had beneath the seat in front of him, his cell phone ready in his pocket to be turned back on. He began to peer out the window, watching as they began to gradually descend. The flight path took them in a circle over the city.
"Hey dad, that must be the new football stadium," Troy said, nudging his father.
Jack leaned over and peered out. "Must be."
Troy's foot was jiggling impatiently as they came into land. He stood up immediately after the seatbelt sign was turned off, practically pushing his father into the aisle. They'd both only brought carry on luggage, Jack pulling down his small suitcase from the overhead locker and handing Troy his bag. The moment they emerged from the corridor into the terminal Troy flipped open his phone to turn it back on, waiting impatiently for it to load. He allowed his father to navigate the way to the baggage claim area, the designated meeting spot with the Butler representative.
"I just have to make a quick call."
Jack rolled his eyes. "Miss Gabriella already?" he asked, his tone a little condescending.
"I just want to call her before she goes back to class," Troy said defensively, speed dialling his girlfriend and glancing at his watch, confirming that they'd landed on time. She was expecting his call, he'd told her he'd call if he landed on time.
It was lunch time at East High and Gabriella, Kelsi, Jason and Zeke were sitting together in the cafeteria. With Chad being absent, Taylor had found herself without much of a reason to be in the cafeteria and so she and Martha had decided to study in the library. Gabriella had her cell phone out sitting on the table and was glancing at the time anxiously.
"Gabriella, he won't have even landed yet," Jason pointed out.
"He should land in a few minutes," she said. "He texted me and told me that his flight was taking off on time and I checked online and they've gained a little bit of air time."
"He'll call you. He might wait til after school. He'll be busy like, getting off the plane and meeting whoever is picking them up," Zeke said.
"She just misses him," Kelsi said teasingly.
Gabriella rolled her eyes. "Shut up. I saw him less than a day ago, I'm not that bad. I just like to know when people have landed."
"She misses him," Zeke said, nodding and agreeing with Kelsi.
Gabriella reached over and slapped Zeke's arm playfully; he laughed at her reaction and flinched. "You're pretty strong for such a tiny chick."
And then Zeke was saved by Gabriella's ring tone. "Ooh! You're lucky!" she exclaimed, snatching up her phone. She didn't need to look at the caller ID, the ring tone telling her it was Troy.
"Hey!" Gabriella exclaimed. She didn't say anything to her friends, just made her way out of the noisy cafeteria.
"So I literally just landed, my dad is giving me dirty looks for calling you already."
Gabriella giggled, reaching the corridor. "Well I appreciate you calling. You could have just texted, though."
"Nah it's cool, I might not get to call you until later on."
She found the closest empty classroom to duck inside of. "How was your flight?"
"Okay. It felt really long, I had cabin fever."
"So what happens now? You meet this person from Butler?"
"Yeah, I gather they're bringing like a van because there's other people they're picking up from the airport."
"Are you feeling nervous?"
There was dead air for a moment. "Yeah... a bit. It's not too bad."
They'd discussed his nerves the day before, Troy telling her that he was feeling okay but suspected that the next day it might hit him. Gabriella knew that it perhaps wasn't the greatest idea to push him to talk about it while he was walking through the airport, his father at his side, minutes away from meeting other players and a Butler representative.
"Just be yourself Troy. This isn't about you selling yourself. They've paid you to come out. They want you to pick them. All you have to do is be you and enjoy the weekend and have some fun." Gabriella paused before adding cautiously, "But not too much fun, not tomorrow night."
Troy's chuckle came over the phone. "Thanks Gabriella. Anyway I should go so we can go find this guy."
"Call me tonight, whenever you get the chance is fine. I'm not doing anything."
"I will."
"Love you."
"Love you too."
No sooner than Troy had hung up his cell, feeling a little better for having just heard her voice, Jack gestured toward where a man wearing jeans and a navy and white Butler polo shirt was holding a sign that read 'BOLTON, MCMASTER, SMYTHERS.' Troy took a deep breath and lead the way, shoving his cell phone into his pocket and readjusting the strap of his bag to pull it up a little higher.
"Hi, I'm..." Troy began to say, extending his hand.
"Troy Bolton!" the tall, brunette haired Butler rep said brightly, and took Troy's hand to shake it with enthusiasm.
"How did you know?" Troy said, raised eyebrows.
"Well, I've seen your photo. But your jacket was the first thing that gave it away," he said with a grin.
Troy glanced down at his red and white East High track jacket that he was wearing over a white v neck t-shirt.
"Oh, right. And this is my dad," Troy said, gesturing toward Jack.
"Jack Bolton," Jack said, the men exchanging handshakes.
"I'm Michael O'Brien, I'm on the coaching staff and work as a liaison with the recruiting team. Jeremy Smythers and his parents have already landed, they flew in from New York about twenty minutes ago and they're just at the gift shop. And Anthony McMaster and his mom came on your flight actually, the Denver – Indianapolis leg anyway, so they..."
"Are right here," a voice said from the side.
A very tall, scruffy blonde haired guy had responded, a woman who one could presume to be his mother just behind. "Anthony McMaster. Tony," he said, holding out his hand.
Introductions were exchanged between the Denver based centre, his mother and the Bolton father and son duo. A minute later Jeremy Smythers and his parents returned from the souvenir store where they had been killing time whilst waiting for the Denver flight to land. More introductions were exchanged, Troy learning that Jeremy was a forward from Massachusetts.
The greetings were cautiously friendly, a little wary. None of them wanted to be too forward about their intentions and backgrounds, they were all wanting to appear interested enough in Butler to command Michael O'Brien's attention and fuel his belief that they were a legitimate pick to be given a decent offer. And they all were in the position of wanting to suss out one another, check out the competition. Troy was familiar with the vibe from his weekend at New Mexico State. Troy was particularly interested in obtaining any information that Jeremy might have about Boston University and the stage they were at with their recruiting process.
The players and their parents were led to a white van, luggage being piled into the storage area beneath. From the first impression and the drive into the city, it was evident why Michael O'Brien was in this position as a liaison. He was friendly and engaging, almost with tour guide like qualities. In the brief period of the twenty minute drive, he managed to not only charm the parents, sell Indianapolis as a city worthy of being made home and encourage discussion among the group; but to also efficiently outline the agenda for the afternoon. There were eight potential recruits attending the weekends session. Three had already flown in and been picked up about two hours prior. The other two were locals who were attending on an unofficial visit status – but nevertheless being given the same sort of VIP treatment, minus the all expenses paid portion of the weekend.
The plan was for the entire group to go straight to Butler for a group introduction and meet and greet with the coaching staff and team. The parents were then being taken into the city to the hotel where they were being put up, while all the boys would be allocated to the dorm rooms they were being invited to share.
Beyond that, the agenda was being left to be outlined specifically in the first meet and greet and information session, however Troy had already been told that they'd have a campus tour, attend a lecture, and attend a training session - all in all, it was a packed afternoon, evening and weekend that lay ahead.
Standing on the balcony of their two bedroom park view suite at the Trump International Hotel and Tower in New York City – Ryan Evans felt extremely satisfied in his surroundings. He loved the luxuriousness of the suite, he loved the smell, he loved the fine detailing of the furnishings.
There was no doubt that Vance Evans was a wealthy man. Ryan didn't really know the particulars of the monetary situation or the intricacies of his father's business. But he knew that his family was very well off – after all, his father enjoyed arriving at a casual game of golf in a helicopter just to make an entrance. Ryan wasn't someone who had allowed his upbringing to cause him to become judgemental or snobby. When he'd been living at his parents' house, his favourite room was the basement which they'd converted into a dance studio. He preferred to retrieve his own snacks, to tidy his room himself, he didn't take advantage of the housekeeper or cook.
But on this particular occasion, the best thing was that this particular hotel was smack bang in the middle of New York City, just a few minutes in a cab from the Lincoln Center, home of The Juilliard School. Ever since he'd first visited New York City as a boy, Ryan had been in love. The honking cabs, the giant pretzel stands, the incessant traffic jams, the subway, the bright lights of Times Square, the theatre culture – everything that was quintessentially New York.
He was there for his sister, and despite Sharpay's seemingly genuine concern that he may not have come, ultimately, Ryan was never going to turn down a weekend away in New York City.
"Duckie?" Derby Evans called out.
Ryan took one final breath of the smoggy fresh air and turned around to enter the apartment. "Yeah mom?"
Derby gestured to the sofa bed which Ryan had already pulled out and began to set up. "Are you sure that you're okay on this sofa bed?"
"Definitely, it's more than fine," Ryan assured her. "Sit on it, it's totally comfortable. Besides, Sharpay will want her privacy to rehearse tonight."
Derby had taken the master bedroom, of course, and Ryan had immediately gestured for his sister to take up residence in the guest room with the queen bed. The living room was completely separate from the kitchen, and it wasn't as though they would be sleeping in. The sofa bed was likely more luxurious than many people's beds at home. And Ryan was partial to the view.
"Are you sure? You can share with me, that is, if sharing with your mother doesn't bother you."
"I appreciate the offer and it doesn't bother me, but I'm fine here, I promise."
She nodded. "Just promise me you'll come crawl in next to me if it does turn out to be uncomfortable, okay?"
Ryan laughed. "Promise."
"Excellent." She beamed happily at her son. "I'm glad you came sweetheart, I think this weekend is going to be a lot of fun. And of course it's important that you're here for your sister and her audition tomorrow."
"Like I told her, there's nowhere else I'd rather be," Ryan said, very seriously.
"Wonderful," Derby said warmly, squeezing her son's arm affectionately. "Okay, can you go and find out if your sister is almost ready? We should leave for our reservation in about twenty minutes."
Ryan exited the living room and moved toward the bedrooms. Sharpay's room had the door open a crack, and Ryan knocked politely.
"Shar?"
"Yeah?" her somewhat distracted voice returned.
He pushed the door open and found Sharpay sitting in the plush chair in the corner of the room, some pages in her lap which Ryan could only presume to be a script or song lyrics.
"You almost ready to go out for dinner?" he asked.
Sharpay bit her lip. "Maybe I'll just stay here and order room service."
Ryan sighed, not surprised that she was making such a claim but nonetheless concerned by it. "Shar, you know this stuff like the back of your hand. You should come out with us, you can't just stay in here and stress yourself out."
"The smog may not be good for my vocal cords," Sharpay said weakly.
Ryan snorted. "If that is the case then I don't know why you'd even want to attend Juilliard." He snatched the script from her lap.
"Hey!" Sharpay exclaimed, reaching out to attempt to yank it away from him. Ryan held it as far away from her as possible.
"Get ready," he said firmly. "We're going for dinner. If you feel the need to come back here afterwards and keep rehearsing that is fine, but you have to come out for dinner. Mom got these reservations just for you, remember?"
Sharpay sighed and stood up. "Fine. But I'm just going to the restaurant and then straight back here, don't try to drag me around the city with you two."
She began to gather things to put into her clutch purse.
"Shar?" Ryan said softly, touching his twins' arm gently. "You're ready for this. You couldn't be more ready. It's up to fate now, if it's meant to be, then it'll be."
Troy hadn't paid much attention to the scenery as they drove in the minivan from the airport toward the university. His dad nudged him and pointed out the window at the football stadium they'd seen from the air but Troy's care factor was pretty low. Behind him he could hear the mothers of the two other potential recruits in a gush fest about their sons and their achievements. Despite reservations about Jack cramping his partying style, Troy could at least rely upon his father to not be a complete embarrassment, not in this field. He knew the recruiting process, he knew that a bit of discretion was important, and so Jack was focused more so upon making conversation with Michael who was up front in the van with the driver; the men engaged in an animated discussion about the college ball competition.
Finally they arrived at the university, the van navigating through private university roads as Troy gazed out the window. They could see students fraternising around the place, even the January Indianapolis chill not preventing them from sneaking out for a cigarette between classes. The van pulled up outside one of the buildings and the group was instructed to leave their luggage in the van and come straight through.
They were brought into a conference room with a large round table. There were already players seated at the table, and in chairs just behind their sons a scattering of parents were gathered. Troy tugged at his East High jacket, eyes flicking around the room. Jack gestured for him to go over to the other side of the room where there was a seat available. Troy recognised some of the guys, one he'd played against the year before when he'd been on the New Mexico state team at the south western regional finals, some of them he'd seen on the Hoops basketball website. There was an information packet on the table in front of him, the room fairly quiet as most of the guys were glancing through the paperwork. Troy exchanged a brief nod greeting the guy sitting in the seat beside him before also choosing to flip open the paperwork.
Before he could get further than, 'Dear Potential Bulldog' with the letter on the first page, the coaching team came into the room, all the potential recruits snapping to attention, sitting up a little straighter.
"Welcome potential Bulldogs."
Troy didn't even realise he'd been holding onto his breath, and exhaled slowly. It shouldn't be so nerve wracking, talking about basketball, playing basketball. And yet it was. He'd tried to tell himself that there was no pressure, but he felt it regardless and the nerves had arrived with the pressure. He had just under 48 hours to soak in as much information as he possibly could, to be that metaphorical sponge, to obtain enough knowledge to allow him to decide whether Butler University, Indianapolis, Indiana, was somewhere that he could see himself spending four years of his life.
No pressure at all.
It was the first night in a good few weeks that Elena and Gabriella Montez were both at home for dinner, at a regular hour, to have a home cooked meal with just the two of them. Ryan had been staying with them for three and a half weeks, prior to that they'd been away with the Bolton's in Colorado and before that with family for Christmas. Somehow it felt quiet without chaos around them. Elena had marinated some chicken breasts with a honey soy garlic combination, while Gabriella had assisted with tossing a salad and peeling some potatoes to boil and mash. They'd sat down at the kitchen table, a Michael Buble CD playing in the background as they proceeded to eat and talk.
"Well, this is nice," Elena said, glancing over at Gabriella who was slicing into her chicken breast. "Just you and I, it rarely seems to happen these days."
"It is nice," Gabriella agreed. "Although I suppose you'll have to get used to the idea that I won't be here in about six months time."
"This is true," Elena said with a nod, a bittersweet smile crossing her face. She was completely proud of her daughter and her accomplishments; ecstatic that Gabriella was going to have so many opportunities to choose from; and knew that regardless of which she selected a bright future would lie ahead.
However there was that part of Elena that just wanted her little girl to remain her little girl, to never grow up. She swallowed, not wanting to even think about the prospect, choosing to change the topic of conversation. "I would've thought you and Taylor might have made plans for this weekend, even if it was just to study together, with the boys being away."
Without even knowing it, she'd selected a conversation topic that Gabriella had been avoiding with her mother all week. The younger Montez winced. "Um... I'm studying with Kelsi, and I think Jason and Zeke are going to come along."
"I thought you took more classes with Taylor?" Elena said, furrowing her brow. Practically it would make more sense that if Gabriella wanted study partners, that Taylor would be the one. They might not be in the same classes for all their subjects, but they had a decent number in common and the same material would be covered.
"I do."
Gabriella wasn't relenting, but neither was Elena. She wasn't about to harass her daughter, but she sensed that she was holding back and one eyebrow being raised was enough to tell Gabriella that one way or another, her mother was going to drag the story out of her and so she might as well save time and be forthcoming now.
"Taylor and I had a fight earlier in the week. We're not really talking at the moment," Gabriella said, feeling a little saying it. 'Not talking' with someone seemed so childish, she'd been witness to other girls getting into fights and proceeding to 'not talk' to each other and she'd always thought it to be ridiculous.
"When did you have this fight?"
"Um, on Monday," Gabriella said, hesitating.
"And it's Friday and you're still not talking?" Elena said, eyebrows raising in surprise.
"Pretty much."
"I see."
Gabriella stabbed a cherry tomato somewhat violently, shoving the small fruit into her mouth to buy time to respond appropriately. She chewed, swallowed and then sighed. "It's not a big deal mom, people get into fights and the world keeps turning."
"What was it about?"
Gabriella shrugged, answering casually with, "Me not doing the decathlon. Spending time with Troy instead of her."
"Well... you do spend a lot of time with Troy," Elena said tactfully.
Gabriella sighed impatiently. "I know that, but he's my boyfriend, what does she expect? And it's not like she doesn't spend lots of time with Chad, and I don't begrudge her for that."
"But does she spend time with Chad because you give her no other option?"
"All she ever wants to do is stuff for school. Maybe if she just wanted to go shopping or watch some movies it would be different."
"Maybe she thinks that because you're so busy, the best way to be able to spend time with you is doing something productive, like school related things," Elena theorised.
Gabriella pursed her lips and pouted a little. "You're my mother, you should be on my side."
"I'm not on anyone's side here sweetheart, I'm offering a different perspective," Elena said objectively.
"And I was going to ask you about something but now I think you're just gonna say no," Gabriella grumbled, half talking to herself and half to her mother.
"What were you planning to ask me?"
"Well... I was going to ask you whether there might be any possibility of me going to California one weekend to visit Stanford," Gabriella said hopefully.
"Stanford?" Elena repeated.
"Yes. In Palo Alto?" Gabriella supplied teasingly. "The college?"
Elena rolled her eyes. "Very funny. I uh... correct me if I am wrong, but I was under the impression that you actually are rather decided about your college choice?"
"Not officially. I've said for a while that MIT and Stanford were my top two picks," Gabriella said defensively. "And for all I know, I'm leaning toward MIT because I went on a visit there most recently. I think it is only fair that I go look at Stanford again to make sure I make the correct judgement."
Elena chewed slowly on a bite of chicken, processing her daughter's words.
"I don't suppose your inclination to give more thought to Stanford has anything to do with this sudden Berkeley development with Troy's college search?"
"Troy doesn't know anything for sure about Berkeley yet, he hasn't even been out there," Gabriella pointed out.
"But he is going out there in about three weeks time, from what I hear."
"Well yeah, he called the guy who was at the championship game and they're in the process of setting up the details..." she was a little confused and interrupted herself mid sentence to enquire, "How did you know that?"
As soon as Gabriella had asked the question she knew that the answer was obvious and her query had been redundant.
"Lucille might have mentioned it."
"Right. Of course she did."
"I'm not judging you sweetheart, I think I'm rightfully entitled to be concerned. I've been so incredibly proud of the way that you've been able to ensure that your college search is about your needs and desires."
"And it still is, mom, I swear. I'm not..." Gabriella exhaled, and said firmly, "I'm going to make this decision for me. It doesn't matter whether Troy decides to play at Butler or UConn or U of A or Berkeley. But I still think that it is only right that I am completely sure about my decision, and right now I'm not. It's not because Troy suddenly has an offer in the San Francisco Bay area, because I've been thinking one of either these two colleges since a long time before he had this offer."
Elena studied her daughter carefully, her words and tone seemingly completely genuine.
"Okay," she said simply. "You come up with a couple of different options for when would be best for you, and I'll arrange it."
"Really?" Gabriella's tone was a little surprised.
"Really. I think you are right with your logic of wanting to be sure. Just... as long as that truly is your logic."
"It is. Really truly," Gabriella said vehemently. She stood up and moved around the dining table to throw her arms around her mother in a tight hug. "Thanks mom."
"You're welcome."
Gabriella moved back around the table and began to gather items from their finished meal to take into the kitchen.
"Gabi?" Gabriella looked up. "I think you should talk to Taylor."
Gabriella let out an exasperated sigh. "But mom..."
"Listen to me, mija. I know you haven't told me the full story here but I can suspect it is about what Troy brought up at dinner last Saturday, that you hadn't actually talked to Taylor about it?"
Gabriella hesitated, and then nodded shamefully, her head hanging a little. "Yes. That's part of it."
"She has the right to be upset about that, as your friend, yes you should have spoken about it with her earlier. You've spoken about it with me a few weeks ago, I imagine you'd been thinking about it before then, am I right?"
Once again there was a hesitation, then a nod. "I'd been thinking about it, and then with everything that happened with Ryan, it just confirmed it all for me."
"I don't know what you argument has been about in detail, I know that when girls fight all sorts of issues get surfaced and that things are said that perhaps you do mean but they are said in an unnecessarily harsh manner. But I do know that you're a little bit at fault here, if only because you didn't talk to her about the issue earlier and that she has the right to be upset about that. You should talk to her."
Elena Montez was many things, she was a passionate woman, she loved baking, she was very proud of her heritage, she loved her family.
She was also a wise woman and, nine times out of ten, she was right.
This was one of those times.
Gabriella pouted a little, but she didn't have a comeback, she didn't protest.
"She just really hurt me," Gabriella admitted. "She said horrible things... I would've just been able to talk it out but then she said horrible things and I said horrible things and... and now we haven't talked since then. And it's horrible."
"Do you really want the current situation to keep going?"
Gabriella pouted a little, before conceding, "Not really."
"Then it's up to you to change things."
Taylor was in a good mood. She was one of the few people in the universe and beyond who actually didn't mind studying. In a way she was glad that the events of the week gone by meant she wasn't having a study weekend with Gabriella. When they were going over their coursework, Taylor could see the boredom in Gabriella's eyes. Whenever they'd studied together in the past, Taylor knew it was more or less an obligation to Gabriella, she was doing Taylor a favour by helping her revise. Martha may not have wanted to spend all weekend studying but at least she felt the need to and so was amiable to Taylor's suggestion to sleep over on Saturday night and spend the day time of Saturday and Sunday studying and have Saturday evening dedicated to chick flicks and popcorn.
Martha was due to arrive around lunch time – she'd had a family obligation in the morning – and so Taylor had woken up bright and early to do some revision for calculus, since Martha took trigonometry instead, and around 11am had taken a break to head out and purchase some much needed supplies for the weekend. Study food supplies from the grocery store – not too junky, instead purchasing crackers, cheese, carrots, celery and dip – and then decided to head to the bakery to grab some fresh jam donuts which Taylor declared to be the best jam donuts in the world, Krispey Kreme included.
And to Taylor's utmost surprise, when she entered the bakery, she found Zeke serving behind the counter.
"What are you doing here?" she asked, her brow furrowed. She wasn't annoyed, just surprised.
"I work here as of last week," Zeke told her proudly. "Best bakery in town."
"Why haven't you told anyone?" Taylor asked.
Zeke shrugged. "Dunno. Hasn't really come up."
"That would be your job, to bring it up," she pointed out. She kneeled over, peering through the glass window at the delicious treats on display for purchase.
He sighed. "Okay. I guess... a part of me didn't want the guys to know."
Taylor's confusion was compounded further with this explanation. "I don't understand. They're cool with the whole baking thing. If anything they leech off you for it."
"Yeah, that's as a hobby. As a profession? That's a bit different."
"And meanwhile all Chad and Troy know that they want to do with their lives is toss around large orange spheres. As least you have prospects for the future that expand beyond the next four years." She paused. "Don't tell Chad I said that."
Zeke laughed and mimed zipping his mouth shut and throwing away the key.
"So what brings you here?"
"Jam donuts are calling. Martha and I are studying this weekend for midterms and we will need brain sustenance."
"There's a fresh lot about to come out of the oven, if you can hang around for about five minutes," Zeke offered.
Taylor glanced at her watch. "I can do that. Has it been busy?"
He shook his head. "You're my first customer in like, a half hour."
"Yeah it was pretty quiet in the grocery store."
"Have you heard from Chad?"
Taylor nodded. "We talked on the phone last night. He was all high after training with the team. He said the city is pretty standard, they took them on a city tour as well as a campus tour. But he seemed really excited about everything with the team... he went on about it but I didn't understand most of what he was saying. I do remember him saying that they're going to Arcos Arena today after seeing the Sacramento State home game and that he was complaining that the Kings didn't have a home game this weekend."
Zeke laughed. "Sounds good though. I always thought Chad would hang around New Mexico, to be honest. All he's ever talked about is U of A, suddenly that changed."
"Because Troy started looking outside of U of A maybe?" Taylor supplied.
"Maybe. Maybe we all started talking about going away so he took it seriously. Back when they talked about U of A, Jason wasn't talking about film school in California."
"What about you Zeke? What are your plans? You hardly ever talk about them," Taylor said.
He sighed. "Yeah... there's this culinary college I'm hoping to get into. But... I don't know. If I don't get in... I'm not liking the idea of any of my back up schools. I'm kinda just hoping for the best and I'll deal with it once I know."
She nodded, completely understanding his sentiment. "I get that. Completely."
Their conversation was interrupted by a customer coming in, Taylor moved over to sit on the waiting chair while Zeke retrieved a birthday cake that had been pre-ordered for the gentlemen and rang up the purchase.
"So you're studying with Martha?" Zeke asked, after the customer had left. "At your place?"
She nodded and rose to her feet again. "Yes. You know, you're welcome to come after work if you want some study help."
Zeke hesitated, before answering a little awkwardly, "Um, I'm going to Gabriella's."
Taylor's face clouded over, but she forced a smile. "Oh, okay then. That's cool."
"It's only because Kelsi is going and of course Jason wants to be with her; and me and JC have classes together. Besides, he studies more on my level – studying to pass, you know?"
"Can't say it's a concept I comprehend, but yeah, I know what you mean," Taylor said wryly.
An oven began to buzz out back and Zeke excused himself to go check on the goods that were baking. He returned a few minutes later with a tray of freshly baked donuts.
"How many?" he asked. "I'll do you a good deal."
"How good of a deal?"
"I'll do it at staff rate... so half off."
"Oooh. Umm... a dozen," Taylor answered decidedly.
Zeke began to place the sugary treats into a white takeaway box. "Keep the lid open for a bit, yeah? They need to cool off and you don't want them getting all condensated and yucky."
"Condensated? Is this an official baking term?" she asked teasingly, handing over cash to Zeke.
"It is in my world."
Taylor picked up the box off the counter. "Well if you change your mind about studying, you have my number."
"I do," he said with a smile, and then hesitated before saying, "Tay?"
"Yeah?"
"Just... for the record... I kinda don't blame you for being mad at Gabriella."
"You... come again?" Taylor said, a little incredulously.
"She shoulda talked to you about the decathlon thing. There's no doubting that. And I know that she's been all googly eyed about Troy because it's the same with him, probably worse. And I know it can be annoying. So yeah, in your situation, I woulda been pissed and I probably would have said something."
"Thank you. I've been uh... kinda feeling like other than Martha, no one gets where I'm coming from. I mean Chad says he does but... I'm not sure."
"I can tell you that Troy gets where you're coming from, he even told Gabriella that she was a little wrong. And Chad does get it. And JC... well he probably doesn't get either of your positions, he just goes along with everything. Even when Kelsi went off at you, it was because of everything that's happened since the original fight."
Taylor sighed. "Maybe."
"But you know what? Gabriella isn't evil. She didn't mean to screw up. Everyone screws up some time or another."
Taylor rolled her eyes. "We've just had a perfectly nice conversation, and you wanna ruin it by telling me what to do?"
Zeke held his palms up defensively. "I did no such thing just.... making a point."
Gabriella was lying stomach down on her bed, propped up by her left elbow with her lower legs bent and in the air. A small smile had filled her delicate features as her right hand was cradling her cell phone by her ear.
"... And these guys are really really good, babe, I mean I know you don't know much about basketball but seriously, it was fucking incredible. The coaching staff are awesome too. And their gym makes U of A look like a piece of crap."
"Sounds like it's going a lot better than you expected," Gabriella commented.
He'd called her the previous evening to reveal the details about his campus tour, the lecture he'd attended, the training session and the dorm situation. They'd talked for approximately a half hour, most of it Troy gushing and Gabriella listening.
"It is... except this afternoon is when I get my one on one with the coaches. The only real problem with Butler is that I don't think I'd get to start, well, I know I wouldn't get to start. They have a few really awesome freshmen lined up to take over from the retiring players. And the hush hush word is that Simpson is gonna put his name up for the NBA draft."
"Are you realistically going to find any school where you'll get lots of game time in freshman year?" Gabriella asked.
Troy sighed. "Not sure. Maybe not... I'm happy to just go with the flow but dad is being annoying and keeps pressuring me into making a decision sooner, to decide this weekend if Butler is yay or nay."
"He's frustrating you, I take it?"
"I dunno. It could be worse. Mom could be here and she'd be like, gushing to all the other moms that are around."
Gabriella laughed, being able to envisage Lucille doing exactly that. "It's your decision Troy. Don't forget that. At the end of the day, you're the one who'll be at this school for four years. Not your father."
"Yeah... It's also really fucking cold here. Don't know if I could handle it."
Gabriella rolled her eyes. "Troy, you'd get used to the cold. You're probably not wearing the right clothes to handle it. What are you wearing now?"
"Jeans, and I'm wearing three layers on top! A t-shirt, and a button up, and a sweat shirt." Troy changed the topic. "So how are you? Did I even ask that?"
"I'm fine. Kelsi and Zeke and Jason are here."
"They are? Am I keeping you from studying?"
"It's okay. I'm kind of tutoring them in math, but Kelsi has it all under control. So you have your meeting with the coach, and then the party tonight?"
"Yeah... I have a few hours spare in between, we're doing some more training, like an unofficial scrimmage. But the party should be good."
Troy was keeping his tone aloof but Gabriella knew he was looking forward to it. "Don't forget you have to face your dad in the morning," she reminded him.
"He knows what we do on these visits, he's not stupid. He's been through the recruitment process himself, sure like twenty years ago, but I bet not much has changed."
"So, can I expect a phone call later tonight?" Gabriella asked coyly, blushing a little as she asked the question and recalled back to the last phone call she'd received from an inebriated Troy at a college party.
She could hear his breath hitch over the phone. "Maybe. And you'll be at home this time. Kelsi isn't staying over, is she?"
"No, she and Jason are going to the movies tonight and we're all going over to Jason's to study tomorrow. So I'm home tonight."
"And Ryan is in New York?"
"And my mom is home," Gabriella reminded him pointedly, her cheeks flushing at the insinuation he was making.
"Mmm you can be quiet."
"Troy!"
"Well you're the one who put the idea in my head. I'm just saying, if I call you later on..."
"I'm going to hang up the phone now," Gabriella warned.
"That's okay I have to go anyway. And you should go study."
"Yes sir."
"Ooh submissive. Kinky."
"Troy!"
"It's your fault! I wasn't vocalising my thoughts about sex at all until you brought up that phone call!"
Troy's face was filled with a lazy smile as he flipped his phone shut. He'd enjoyed the last 24 hours immensely but it also had been an intense whirlwind of thought provoking information that was almost too much to take. Talking to Gabriella was therapeutic – not only did it calm him, hearing her voice; but being able to just talk and vent about the things which they'd been doing was highly beneficial. She didn't try to push him toward making a particular decision, she just listened and commented where she felt she could. His father had been bombarding him with further thoughts, listing team statistics and drawing comparisons to Troy's other prospective colleges. Troy knew he was only trying to be useful and that his intentions were good, but ultimately all Jack was succeeding in doing was placing further pressure upon his son.
Ultimately Troy wasn't going to be bound to anything. It wasn't uncommon practice to make a few different verbal agreements with schools, nothing was set in stone until the NLI signing period at the end of April and May. He didn't have to make any definite decisions this weekend. And Troy's approach was to make sure he had an understanding of all his options and to then make the decision. Jack seemed to be anxious for him to make a decision as soon as possible.
A knock came at the dormitory door and Troy stood up from the makeshift cot that was squished into the room and peered through the peephole to see his father. Troy opened the door.
"You ready? Your meeting is soon," Jack reminded him.
"Yeah I know, I've got a bit of time. I was just on the phone. Give me a minute."
"How is Gabriella?" Jack asked with a teasing smirk.
"She's great," Troy shot back, and gathered his coat and satchel to take with him, taking care to lock the dorm room behind him.
"Now Troy, when you go into this meeting, you need to be careful about what you say. It's really important that you..."
Jack's words of advice fell upon deaf ears, Troy in fact choosing to block his father out. He nodded and said 'okay' at appropriate points, but other than that, Troy wasn't really taking this on board.
Gabriella was completely right about one thing. It was his decision, a decision he needed to make on his own.
A decision that could potentially be the most important of his life thus far.
AN2 –
Yes. More of me rambling. I have a bit of a promotional duty.
The Inaugural High School Musical Fanfiction Awards have arrived! :D
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