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Chapter 29: G.N.O. & B.N.O.
The five walked out to the court just as the East and West players were shaking hands.
"So do we all get along now?" Gabriella asked hopefully.
Troy and Chad looked at each other warily for a moment. "It depends." Troy answered.
Everyone let out groans of frustration, "Depends on what exactly?" Sharpay marched straight into Troy's face.
"If Chad is willing to apologize. To Gabriella." All eyes moved to Chad.
They watched as he took a breath, looked at each individual, then finally sighed and nodded. "Yeah, I'm sorry Gabs. It's just, why are you keeping stuff from us? I thought we were like a family or something."
Gabriella looked down guiltily. It was easy to explain to Troy, or Sharpay, or Taylor why she couldn't say everything. Why it was so damn difficult. Explaining it to everyone else should be easy, but it wasn't.
With Troy and Sharpay and Taylor there were late night conversations. A different kind of bond. One she wanted to share, one she wanted to spread around to the whole group, but the truth was that she couldn't have the same exact relationship with everyone.
And if she couldn't tell Sharpay, Taylor, and Troy about something that had haunted her for so many years, then how could she tell people that she wasn't quite as close to. Even if the amount of closeness was a miniscule amount smaller?
"Sometimes saying something aloud makes it to real. And it can be difficult to accept that reality. Gab will tell us her entire life story when she's ready. Just as she will come to know everything about us when we're ready to tell her. We've all got secrets, and sometimes we're just not ready to share. She knows she can tell us anything, and it's our job to be there to listen when she's ready."
Gabriella smiled, "What Tay said." She pointed to Taylor before engulfing the girl in a hug.
"That I can definitely understand." Kelsi smiled. "Group hug?"
"Yes…"
"No…"
The girls looked at the guys who were slowly stepping backwards. "Zekey I want a group hug now." Sharpay had her hands on her hips; her lips pursed in a frown that she knew Zeke would eventually succumb to.
"Don't do it man." Troy warned.
"Yeah dude it's the one way ticket to gay town…" Chad spoke up with a look of fear on his face.
"Chadwick Danforth no it is not." Taylor stepped in front of Sharpay to stare down her boyfriend.
"Well I want a group hug." Gabriella smiled easily.
"Me too." Kelsi agreed.
"Well I'm in." Jason skipped lightly to the girls' sides. "Oh come on, you guys are seriously telling me you don't want to hug a group of hot girls?"
The guys considered the new angle and quickly ambled over to the rest of the group. When they pulled back the five girl simultaneously hit Jason. "What was that for?"
"For the reason for the group hug." Martha explained.
"Well how about this next time you girls need a punching bag, don't use me, use the actual thing." Jason began rubbing his arms slightly.
"You'll be fine tough guy. Now come on, you sweaty boys need to go get changed and take us pretty ladies out to dinner." Sharpay continued, "We'll be waiting right here so hurry along now." She sat down on the bottom bleacher and sent a smile as the rest of the girls joined her.
"Come on the Ice Queen awaits." Ryan slapped the guys' backs and went to sit on the floor in front of the girls.
"Yes we wouldn't want to keep her highness waiting." Chad gave a mock bow in Sharpay's direction.
"You sure as hell don't cause I have no problem with getting even." She glanced lightly in his direction and smirked as he skirted off, the rest of the Wildcats at his heels.
"So where are we going to have them take us to dinner?" Martha asked as she looked down at her chipped nail polish. "I think we need to Lava Springs it this weekend too, my nails are beginning to look like shit."
"No kidding, a weekend to relax sounds good." Taylor sighed as she rested her head against Kelsi's shoulder.
"I think it should be G.N.O. all weekend." Gabriella looked at Sharpay.
Squealing, Sharpay stood up and began pacing back and forth. "Okay, so we'll need two rooms at Lava Springs, lots of junk food, movies…"
"Oooooh!!!" Gabriella jumped up, "I vote for a Ryan Reynolds marathon."
"Oh my God I agree he's so sexy." Taylor closed her eyes for a moment.
"Who's 'so sexy'?" Chad asked coming around the corner, "Me? Cause I know I am."
Taylor rolled her eyes as Kelsi answered, "Ryan Reynolds."
The guys cocked their heads to the side, "Who's that?" Zeke asked.
"Wait is that the guy in National Treasure, cause that's a kick ass movie." Troy nodded as he high-fived Jason.
"No that's Nicholas Cage, Ryan Reynolds was in The Proposal, we just saw it a couple of weeks ago…" Gabriella sighed, "You guys thought the movie was funny then, Chad kept saying," Gabriella deepened her voice like Chad's, "'That shit's hilarious.'"
"It was about the book editor that forced her assistant to marry her so she wouldn't be deported, but they fell in love so she left during the wedding then he came after her and asked her to really marry him so they could date." Martha summed the movie up quickly.
"Oh yeah!" Chad jumped up, "That shit was hilarious, she was like booty dancing with the grandmother. God I love Sandra Bullock she's freaking ridiculous."
"Well at least someone remembers the movie." Kelsi muttered. "Anyhow, I think we should watch Definitely, Maybe."
"Oh and The Nines." Gabriella added.
"Oh Van Wilder, his butt is adorable!" Sharpay squealed.
"I'm sorry, but why are we talking about this?" Zeke asked with a frown.
"We're doing G.N.O. all weekend, no Chad you are not invited, and we're going to have a Ryan Reynolds marathon so we need a movie list, now let's go, I vote we just hit the diner and we should go before it gets too crowded." Sharpay stood up with Gabriella, Taylor, Martha, and Kelsi. When the guys didn't move she snapped her fingers, indicating they should follow.
Pulling into the remaining parking spots at the local Albuquerque Diner, the rather large group made their way loudly through the parking lot, "Do you wanna hit the Harry Potter premiere?" Gabriella asked.
"I dunno, I mean I'm not a huge fan." Taylor commented dryly.
"Dudes it's gonna be Sharpay at midnight, that pretty much means hilarious, I'm in." Kelsi quipped up.
"Hey I'm perfectly normal at midnight." Sharpay tossed a glare at Kelsi as she nodded at Ryan who held the door opened for them.
"Pay, you're not normal during the day, so when you're tired and chugging down caffeine and candy you're fucking ridiculous. It's one of the many things I love about you." Gabriella wrapped an arm around Sharpay who smiled.
"Well I'm in. I'm all for being the source of entertainment." Sharpay grinned.
"Yeah cause then you're the center of attention." Chad elbowed Jason who chuckled in agreement.
Choosing to ignore Chad's comment, Sharpay led the way through the restaurant towards the back two empty tables. Holding up her manicured finger, she motioned to the bus boy that he should pull the tables together, "And wipe them down again please."
They guy, a junior at West High named Scott Scantling rolled his eyes, but did as he was told. Sharpay was high maintenance, how Zeke dealt with her was beyond him. To each his own though.
"Thank you very much Scott." Gabriella muttered the 'thank you' for Sharpay, since, as usual, it was forgotten.
"No problem Gabs." He gave Troy a quick handshake then scurried away to clear away the latest vacated table.
"You know it wouldn't hurt to say 'thank you' when someone does something like that for you." Ryan nudged his sister in the ribs.
"Yes it would. It would kill me utterly and completely." She sighed dramatically, throwing a hand over her forehead and leaning back against Zeke as if she were collapsing.
"Okay save the acting for the stage, I wanna eat." Chad muttered.
"You always want to eat, this is not new news to us Chad." Taylor picked up a menu and handed it to Chad.
"Okay, so come on girls we need to come up with a game plan for this weekend." Sharpay caught everyone's attention after their orders were placed.
"I guess that means we're free this weekend guys, maybe we should go camping or something." Troy suggested.
Chad's eyes lit up, "That sounds like fun, but I've got a better idea."
Ryan, Zeke, and Troy caught Chad's vibe, Jason, however, seemed to miss it, "What is it?"
"We'll explain later." Ryan muttered.
Chad sighed and leaned back, "It'll be the best B.N.O. weekend ever."
"Dude what the fuck is a 'B.N.O.'?" Troy asked.
"Boys Night Out…" Chad answered smoothly.
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Mollie XOXO