Chapter 36: Parties, Raids and Big Announcements

Gabriella reached for the door handle as Troy stopped the car.

Troy yelled, "Stop! Wait!"

Gabriella stared at him, puzzled, as he ran out and around his truck the passenger side. He smiled and opened the door for her.

"You didn't think I'd make you open your own door, did you?" Troy said, mocking shock.

"Heaven forbid." replied Gabriella, with a grin.

Troy took her arm, and stopped to nudge his head in the direction of Gabriella's surfboard, sticking out of his car.

"Just leave it," Gabriella said, "If I'll need it, I'll come get it."

They walked, arm in arm, towards the large house. Music was literally pulsing from the mansion, sending vibrations through the ground nearby. There were a few kids – some whom the couple recognized and some they had never seen before – standing around the front lawn with drinks and food, chatting.

They didn't bother ringing the doorbell, and just walked in, to find a few more kids. But the kids were not what they noticed first.

The Evan's front door opened to welcome guests into a large entranceway, where there hung a large, crystal chandelier that looked like it was worth more money than Gabriella's house. A grand, curved wooden staircase led upstairs. To the left was a huge room where Troy could see an old football game playing on a large plasma screen TV. Almost straight ahead, down a narrow hallway, was the kitchen, where more kids were hanging out.

Gabriella figured that, as the continued to tour the Evans' household, she get used to feeling amazed…and slightly jealous. The kitchen was decked out in rich-coloured wood and granite. The fridge was enormous, and was of stainless steel – like every other priceless appliance in this house. Atop one counter stood a few drinks. They each grabbed one, where they bumped into Zeke.

"Hey, Zeke, what's up?" Troy said, raising his voice slightly so he could be heard over the hum of voices and music.

"I'm a little nervous. I'm telling her tonight." He smiled sheepishly.

"Did you end up making that thing I thought of?"

"Yeah, it turned out really great, actually."

Gabriella looked from Zeke to Troy, back to Zeke.

"Anyone want to tell me what you're talking about?"

Troy looked at Zeke, asking for the OK.

Zeke announced himself, "I'm kind of crushing on Sharpay."

Gabriella looked stunned, but quickly composed herself. "Oh, I see, and you're telling her tonight? Zeke, that's really sweet. And what's this thing Troy came up with?"

Zeke smiled, "Oh, just a small treat to persuade her a little."

She giggled. "Bribery! I like it!"

They all laughed, and Zeke said "Well, the real party's in Sharpay's backyard. I'll see you two around."

It was only then that Gabriella and Troy realized that, even though the music had become louder, the sound was smothered. Troy wrapped an arm around Gabriella's waist and pulled her towards the large, glass patio door leading to the backyard.

Once they exited the house, and saw past the first few people, Gabriella couldn't help but gasp.

The view from Sharpay's house was breathtaking. She had a large pool, with a hot a tub, both crowded with kids in their bathing suits. The vast remaining space of land was decorated with artificially lighted tiki torches and Chinese lanterns to add a soft glow to the darkness. Speakers were hidden in trees, bushes, on the roof and around the pool. There was a DJ on the turn tables near the pool, in a small hut, which was attached to a small bar. And finally, as you looked past the party scene, you could see the shore of a beach, leading right into the ocean. No wonder there were no kids in the house.

Troy shook his head. "Of course, Sharpay lives on the water."

Gabriella smiled and took his hand as a new song bled through the speakers.

"Dance with me?" Gabriella asked, smiling. Troy grinned back.

He followed her obediently until they reached the middle of what the teens had claimed the 'dance floor'. He turned to face her, and gently rested his arms on her hips, swaying to the fast techno beat.

Gabriella rolled her eyes.

She spun around and pressed her back against his chest, pulling his hands around her waist. She weaved her hands around his neck and began winding her hips. She made sure to press her whole body against Troy.

Troy squeezed Gabriella's waist and buried his face into her neck, trying to disguise the change in his breathing. Did Gabriella feel the electricity pulsing through his body? He bit the spot where his mark still remained. He was meanwhile very aware of Gabriella's fingers playing with the hairs on the nape of his neck, her heavy breathing, her flat stomach beneath the surface of her dress…

She turned around, slowly this time, and pressed her lips gently to his. He pushed forward, adding pressure, but she pulled away, hiding a smile.

"I'm thirtsy." She said into his ear.

Troy groaned. "But you just had something to drink!"

"Well, dancing makes my thirsty." She saw his expression, and pouted. "Please?"

He sighed, and walked past her towards the bar. She smiled.

Troy and Gabriella stood by the bar chatting as Gabriella sipped on her drink.

Suddenly, all the kids parted like the seas and the Queen walked right through.

"Gabriella! I have been looking all over for you!" Sharpay yelled, obviously annoyed.

Gabriella simply grinned.

"What is so funny?" Sharpay spat. "It's already, like, 9:30! If you expect us to do this little challenge and then still have enough time for me to re-fix my hair and change, we better do this soon!"

She was turning red, and Troy couldn't help but snicker.

Gabriella kept her cool. "What are you talking about…?"

Sharpay's eyes widened. "UGH! There's a reason why I asked you to bring your board. I'm going to prove to everyone that I actually AM a better surfer than you. That I deserve that trophy that's probably covered in dust somewhere in your closet!"

The click went off, and Gabriella realized what Sharpay was rambling about.

"Oh, right, right. Well, don't you just want to enjoy you're party? I mean, we can do this some other time…alone…and I don't know about my board…"

Sharpay took a deep breath. "Ok, look. We're doing this tonight. I've been waiting for this forever, and I'm already super stressed. The waves are good – I mean, why ELSE wouldn't I have set up anything on the beach? I just want a… second chance. And don't use 'not having a board' as you're excuse. Or a bathing suit, for that matter. You should know by now that I own many different models of suits and boards. Enough to…share." She grimaced at the word, and looked at Gabriella expectantly.

"You know what Sharpay…fine. I'm up for it. But let's do it right before midnight. It'll be the main attraction of your party. Wouldn't that be just fabulous?" Gabriella smiled.

Sharpay thought this over, and a grin slowly began to light up her face.

"I hate to say this…but you are SO right. That way when I beat you," smirk, "all will go down right before the new year! Oh, but maybe we should do it at 11:30, so I can at least do some touching up."

"Fine by me." Gabriella said.

Sharpay hopped up and down, clapping her hands. Then she replaced a hair that had moved out of place, and strutted away.

When she was gone, Troy turned to Gabriella, one eyebrow raised.

"What have you got up your sleeve?"

"I didn't want to steal her thunder."

"So you add more boom?"

Gabriella giggled. "Well, New Year's resolutions, right? Besides, I don't really feel like surfing right now."

Troy smirked. "Ahh, plain laziness, I see now."

Gabriella made a face at him.

Troy smiled and took her hand, "So, what should we do know?"

Gabriella posed in thought. "Well, let's not dance…we'll do that later…why don't we go explore the Evan's house? Raid Sharpay's room?"

Troy looked at her, humor gleaming in his beautiful eyes. "That's mean…"

Gabriella rolled her eyes. "Since when do you care about what Sharpay will think?"

"True. Let's go."

They strolled as casually as possible towards the large staircase by the front door. They made sure Sharpay and Ryan were out of sight, and then commenced climbing the steps. Troy's toe missed the step, and he fell forward. He stopped himself with his hands before he could hurt himself, but he made quite a considerable amount of noise in the process. Gabriella held her breath, and her heart raced when she heard a familiar voice from the head of the stairs.

"Troy? Gabriella? What are you guys doing? You're not really supposed to come upstairs…It's not you guys personally, it's just that we don't want anyone else thinking they can just come up here and, like, do whatever, you know?"

Gabriella looked at Troy, who was frozen. She decided to do the talking.

"Sorry, Ry. I had to use the bathroom, but someone was using the one downstairs and someone said there was one up here, so…"

Ryan looked like he was buying it. "Oh, okay." He looked at Troy, "You…always bring Troy…to the bathroom…with you?"

Gabriella laughed, trying to sound casual. "Oh, no, no. I've just never been over here and your house is so massive that I wanted him to come help me find it, you know, just in case. You have a beautiful home."

Ryan flashed his winning smile. "Thanks, Gab! Well, I'd better be off. I'm supposed to be serving the finger food…" He smiled sheepishly.

Troy and Gabriella laughed, "Right. Ok, well, while you're here, where is the bathroom?"

Ryan turned behind him. "The door there on the left."

Gabriella smiled sweetly. "Thanks!"

They both watched Ryan go down the stairs until he was out of their eye range.

Gabriella laughed. "That was awesome! I don't know why we were so nervous!"

Troy gave Gabriella a quick peck. "Yeah, thanks to your quick mind! OK…let's go!"

Gabriella took a guess that the pink door led to Sharpay's room.

She opened the door, looking behind her one last time before going in.

Gabriella closed the door behind her after Troy snuck in. She breathed out a laugh, and did a quick survey of the room. Her bed was huge, with a metallic pink comforter and sliver and gold pillows. Her windows were laced with curtains that gleamed with rhinestones and sequins. Each wall was painted a different shade of pink and the wooden floor was spotless, covered only partly by a small white shag carpet near her bed. Gabriella's eyes stopped wondering once they hit two small doors on the right of her room.

"The closet." Gabriella whispered. She raced forward, but carefully opened the doors so as to not disturb the place of anything. She stared inside, incredulous. "Sharpay has a walk-in closet! Oh, I've always wanted one. God, it's huge!"

Her heels clicked against the wooden floors beneath her as she walked slowly to the back of the closet, looking around as she went. Sharpay had everything organized: dresses together, pants, shorts, skirts, blouses, tanks, jackets…shoes. She had a whole bookcase for her shoes. Gabriella took a pair of yellow wedges, read the inside, and then frowned.

"Darn you Sharpay, and your big feet." Gabriella startled when she heard someone laugh behind her.

"Maybe you just have abnormally small feet." Troy suggested, wrapping his arms around her waist and kissing her cheek.

Gabriella smiled. "Well, either way, they won't fit."

Troy chuckled. "Ok, so what should we raid next?"

Gabriella turned around to face him in mock shock. "Who said I was done with the closet?"

Troy rolled his eyes, but Gabriella was actually kind of serious, so she began flicking through the different racks of clothes. She saw a couple of familiar things, some things she couldn't see anyone wearing, and some things she wanted to steal. But she didn't…

"Ok! What else?"

The both exited the room, and started searching carefully around Sharpay's room. Gabriella rolled her eyes at a picture of Troy that was on her night table.

They were both satisfied (or unsatisfied, rather, they hadn't found anything scandalous) with their search and were about to explore whatever was behind the other door in Sharpay's room when they heard a shrill voice coming from somewhere too close.

"…Ryan, whatever! But you can't just stop midway to chat! I ended up serving and dropped the stuffed mushrooms all over my new top!"

Troy and Gabriella exchanged terrified glances. It was Sharpay. And they were in Sharpay's room. Snooping.

"The closet?" Troy whispered.

Gabriella shook her head. "There's no where to hide, and we won't be able to safely tell when she's gone." Gabriella looked at the door in front of her. "Let's pray this is any better."

"Well, just go away, Ryan!" Her voice was right outside.

Troy and Gabriella scrambled into the room, which ended up being a bathroom.

"Adjoining bathroom too!" Gabriella hissed under her breath.

Troy smiled, but said "You can be jealous later. There's another door right there, behind the sink, let's see where it goes. If she's got stuff all on her she might come in here. And something tells me she likes that mirror of hers."

"Wait! Wait! Look!" Gabriella grabbed a bottle of cream from the counter and laughed once. "Sharpay uses zit cream!"

Troy rolled his eyes. "Let's go, we're gonna get screwed."

Gabriella giggled as they opened the door, and they both breathed a heavy breath of relief when they found themselves in the hallway, coming out of the door Ryan had pointed out as being the bathroom.

The hurried down the stairs.

"That was fun. We should do that more often." Gabriella said, nonchalantly.

"Ok, whatever you say, Gaby." He took her hand and they went back towards the backyard.

"Gabster! Troy! Where've ya been?" Chad darted forward, his hair bouncing along the way.

"Hey Chad, what's up?"

"Hey guys." Taylor came up right behind Chad. He took her hand. "Oh, wow Gab! I love your dress!"

Gabriella smiled. "Thanks Tay, you look great, too!" She was wearing a soft pink polka dotted, belted mini bubble dress. And her fuchsia shoes were gorgeous. Gabriella wanted them.

The four sat for a while, talking over a few fruity drinks.

"And that's when I said –" Taylor stopped mid-sentence.

"What?" Chad asked. Everyone else waited expectantly.

"Gabriella…" Taylor began, "is that a…hicky?!"

Gabriella blushed and Troy chuckled. Taylor squealed.

"Oooh, what have you two been doing lately?"

Chad groaned.

Taylor giggled. "Oh, come on. I was bound to see it. I'm surprised you didn't cover it up."

"I wasn't allowed." Gabriella said, punching Troy's shoulder. He kissed her quickly on the lips.

Chad smiled. "Aah, showing off, eh man?"

They all laughed.

Suddenly a giant spotlight circled onto a spot near the pool. A smoke machine oozed a cloud around the same spot. Then, Ryan appeared holding a microphone. The DJ stopped the music.

"Ladies and guys! A few months ago, we all knew Gabriella Montez as the surfing queen of California."

Gabriella, Troy, Chad and Taylor stared at Ryan, dumbfounded.

"Now," he continued, "Sharpay Evans is challenging her title once again, to prove she is the ultimate reigning champion. Now, everyone, the main attraction of this year's Evans' New Years Eve Party… THE BATTLE OF THE BOARDS!"

Ryan stepped to the side to reveal Sharpay in a glittering robe. She removed her robe to reveal a one piece, with cut offs around her stomach. Ryan handed her her surfboard and she headed towards the beach, walking by the group of four along the way.

As Sharpay passed Gabriella, she said.

"Go get dressed and meet me on the beach. Good luck."

Hey! Thanks for being so supportive, but I'm getting there! This one was a long one, but I'm sure you all didn't mind that. Last chapter coming up...and I mean it this time, as unfortunate as that is. Thanks for all the reviews, and I love you! Oh, lots of fluffyness in the next chapter. I mean, it is the last chapter, after all.

Love you all!

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