DISCLAIMER: I do not own High School Musical, the songs, the lyrics, the characters etc. It I did, I would drop out of uni and instead be out rolling in my cash, and in the process of producing many M rated sequels starring a scantily clothed Zac Efron.

----------

HERE WITH YOU

Chapter 36 – Curtain Call

----------

"No, no, we can't have the drink stall so close to the programs!" Miss Darbus's cry rang throughout the foyer. "What if there was some sort of spillage? A lot of money was paid to have these programs printed!"

The drama club volunteer who had just finished painstakingly setting up the drink stall gave Miss Darbus a tight lipped smile.

"Where would you like the stall then?" he asked, gritting his teeth.

"Anywhere but there!" she responded haphazardly, arms thrown in the air, her floaty dress flailing about and jewellery tinkling in unison.

Ryan Evans to the rescue. "How about over here, near the front entrance?" he suggested calmly.

Despite the need to prepare for his role in the show, Ryan Evans – as co-president of the drama club – was running around madly with Miss Darbus, ensuring that every last detail for the opening night had been addressed. Especially when his co-president was still at home preparing her hair and make up – seeing as she wasn't impressed with the change in dressing rooms leaving her with the back corner of a communal area.

"Backstage to Miss Darbus, backstage to Miss Darbus," a muffled, staticy voice sounded through the walkie talkie attached to Miss Darbus's hip.

"Yes Mr Hayes?"

"Just checking if you've seen Troy anywhere Miss Darbus. Shelley said she was meant to start doing his make up ten minutes ago and she can't find him. I thought you might have asked him to do something?"

"Why on earth would I be asking the star of the production to do something?!" Miss Darbus snapped. She whirled around the room, her shrill question directed at anyone within hearing distance. "Where is Mr Bolton? He was required in hair and make up ten minutes ago!"

No one spoke, just shook their heads and glanced at each other curiously.

"I'll find him," Ryan volunteered hastily.

He could only imagine the consequences if Miss Darbus went looking and found him at the gym making jumpshots or something. Although he seriously doubted that even Troy would actually be making jumpshots less than two hours before show time. He began with the auditorium, searching through the rehearsal rooms and backstage area. Ryan was beginning to question whether his first thought of Troy being at the gym was as farfetched as he thought. He knocked at the door to Troy's dressing room for the fifth time, and checked the boys bathroom for the sixth time.

Ryan glanced at his watch, seeing that it was 6:00. An hour and a half until show time. It was about time for him to begin his own hair and make up preparations. At this rate, he'd be looking for Troy right up until when the curtains went up. He furrowed his brow in worry, and headed in the direction of Gabriella's dressing room in a flurry, almost smashing into several people along the way. He pounded on the door urgently.

"Gabriella?!" he called anxiously.

"Come in," Gabriella called.

Ryan creaked open the door. He hadn't been into the room since it had been Sharpay's dressing room. It was amazing how different it now looked. Instead of photos of Sharpay adorning the mirror, Gabriella had outlines of the script, which featured blue coloured highlighter indicating when she needed to change, as well as descriptions of exactly what items encompassed each costume change. Little post it notes like "BTTT - LEFT kick, RIGHT step" also were stuck to the edges of the mirror. Additionally, there were two framed photos sitting on the vanity bench – one of a pair of adults Ryan could only assume to be Gabriella's parents, and one of Troy.

Gabriella was sitting at the vanity with Jasmine standing in front of her. The base of stage make up had been applied, and her hair was in dozens of bobby pins and under a hair net, keeping the wild mass of curls at bay to allow a wig to be applied.

"Have you seen Troy?" Ryan queried.

"Huh? I thought Shelley was meant to be doing his make up?"

"Well, yes, meant to be. He's disappeared off the face of the planet, I can't find him anywhere."

"I'm sure he's not too far away. Surely it can't take that long to do a boys stage make up," Gabriella said calmly.

"Darbus is on a warpath though. Do you know where he could be? I'm meant to find him NOW but I'm also meant to be in hair and make up NOW and I can only be in so many places at once!"

Gabriella sighed, recognising Ryan's panic, and turned to Jasmine. "Do I have time to go look?"

"There isn't much left to do here. I don't want to work on it yet anyway, or it will wear off before the show. Just be back by…" Jasmine glanced at the clock on the wall. "6:30."

----------

Without any hesitation, Gabriella headed straight for the science club rooftop garden. She quietly walked up the stairs, looking over to see Troy standing at the railing, staring out into the scenery.

"Hey you," Gabriella said softly. "What's going on? Everyone is looking for you."

Troy's reply was hoarse, and so low that Gabriella could barely hear him.

"The show is tonight."

Gabriella's eyes widened at the sight of Troy's face as he turned around. He was deathly pale, and sweating.

"Oh my God are you okay?" she exclaimed.

"Okay… that's a relative term, isn't it?" Troy enquired. "I don't think I can do this, Gabriella."

"Why? Do you feel sick? You don't look well," Gabriella said, walking over and pressing the back of her palm to his forehead.

"No… I'm not sick. I mean I feel sick but… not like that. I just had to get out of there. I felt all claustrophobic and panicky and like I couldn't breathe."

"Have my nerves transferred over to you?" Gabriella asked softly.

Troy shrugged, wringing his shaking hands. He sat down on the bench, grasping a hold of the wood plank beneath him, in an attempt to keep himself steady.

"I've been fine. I mean… it wasn't like I was pretending to be calm all week, I actually felt okay. A bit nervous, but it was all good. And then… I was even fine right up until we did the soundcheck today. But then I went and checked out the foyer. And I was looking at the program and there I was…. The little bio of me… have you read it?"

She shook her head. "No, I haven't seen the program."

Troy pulled out the program he had folded up and stuffed into his pocket.

"Troy Bolton is the captain of the East High Wildcats basketball team, and the first player ever to make the varsity team in his sophomore year."

"Umm…. Okay… which is bad because?" Gabriella asked, not understanding.

Troy looked up at Gabriella, who was still standing by the railing.

"Who the fuck are we kidding here? I'm not a performer! You… you have no reason to be nervous," he said, gesturing to Gabriella. He stared at her intently. "When you're up there singing… it's like you were born to be on stage. I know you don't think about it as a long term career type thing but… you captivate the people around you with your talent."

Gabriella blushed. Troy's eyes tore away from hers, staring at his sneakers.

"If I hadn't auditioned with you, there's no way they would have even considered me. Chad said it – I'm a hoops dude. My dad said it – I'm a play maker. I'm… I'm not a singer. I'm not a performer."

"Troy…" Gabriella began to say, but he interrupted her to continue talking.

"And I was there in the foyer and reading that line over and over and over. And I looked around and saw how nice it was all looking and it just HIT me. There's a show tonight, a real show, I'm going to be on stage, dancing, acting, singing, for half of fucking Albuquerque to watch me!"

Troy was now rambling, words running together, and his voice becoming more high pitched as he got himself more worked up

"And… then I was just imagining worst case scenarios and… it just came out of nowhere, suddenly, THAT'S when I decided to get nervous. It's so stupid, I've spent all week trying to comfort your nerves, why did mine choose to wait until two hours before the fucking show to come along?"

Gabriella rushed over, sitting next to him on the bench, and brought her hand up to touch his lips softly with her index finger.

"Ssshhh," she hushed him soothingly, trying to placate him by rubbing his back gently.

The truth was that Gabriella was somewhat at loss for words.

"This is just great, the girl who has been the basket case all week is supposed to sit here and comfort you. Right," she said out loud.

They sat in silence for a minute, Gabriella's hand still gently running over Troy's back as he took a moment to breathe in and out.

Troy cracked a smile, feeling slightly more composed. "I feel so guilty… the show starts in like, less than an hour and a half and here I am, all me me me."

"Why don't we just do it one step at a time?" Gabriella suggested. "Let's go back to the theatre and finish getting hair and make up done. Okay?"

Troy exhaled. "Okay. One step at a time."

----------

Troy was standing in his dressing room, staring in the mirror. Shelley had assured him that when on stage, the make up wasn't noticeable, rather that without make up his face would look all shiny with the bright lights. It probably didn't help that his face was still shiny from the beads of sweat. He was contemplating going and sticking his fingers down his throat, if it would get rid of the feeling of nausea in his stomach, when a knock came at the door.

"Troy?" Gabriella's voice sounded. "Can I come in?"

"Yeah."

The door swung open, and he saw not only Gabriella but Sharpay and Ryan. Troy raised his eyebrows.

"Yes?" he asked dubiously, standing up a little straighter.

"I've asked Sharpay and Ryan to come and help us with our vocal exercises," Gabriella said brightly.

"Vocal exercises? We do vocal exercises?" Troy asked, the confusion on his face evident.

"As of now. Guys, could you quickly show us again, like at that rehearsal you ran? And then you can go back to your preparations."

Sharpay was a little annoyed. She'd been in the middle of her own pre show vocal mantra when Gabriella had appeared asking for her assistance. Still, as co-president of the drama club, she felt obliged to make sure the show wasn't a complete failure. Ryan was more than willing to help if Gabriella thought that she and Troy would benefit from warming up their throats.

Ryan and Sharpay turned to one another, and as they had done many times in the past, proceeded to demonstrate what they had been taught was the optimum method for preparing one's throat, tongue and mouth to sing.

"Brrr, brrr, brrr, brrr… Mah! Mah! Mah! Mah! Eeee… owwww."

Gabriella smiled brightly. "Thanks guys! Okay, we'll work on that now. You're right to go."

Gabriella shooed the pair out of the dressing room.

"Okay, so let's warm up," Gabriella declared.

"Gabriella, I really don't think…"

"Come on, I think it will be good. So on three, one two three."

She began to 'brrr' and Troy, rolling his eyes, went along with it, believing that Gabriella was serious in thinking that the exercise would indeed be useful. The moment that she 'mah'ed at him however, he couldn't help but start laughing. Gabriella continued to 'mah' even without the reply 'mah'. His laughter continued even harder as she 'eeee'ed.

Gabriella stood back smugly as Troy couldn't help but laugh at her. It was exactly what she wanted, him to relax.

"That was fucking hilarious, do that again," he managed to say between snorts.

Gabriella didn't reply, but waited for his laughter to die down.

"Thanks," he said, feeling a little embarrassed about his outburst earlier.

"Anytime, Wildcat. Anyway… I have to go have a wig attached to my head. Can I trust that aren't going to take off and will be ready to go on?"

Troy nodded. "Even if I have to bring along a barf bucket."

----------

Gabriella and Troy stood in the wings, about to make their first entrance. She grasped a hold of his hand, squeezing it tightly.

"You and me, remember?" Gabriella whispered.

Troy nodded. "Like kindergarten."

----------

As the final upbeat song and dance came to a close, the lights shining on the rest of the cast in the background dimmed, leaving only Minnie and Arnold shining in bright spot lights, front and centre.

"Sometimes I feel like this isn't real," Arnold said.

"What isn't real?" Minnie asked.

"This… you and me… being here. Together. I've loved you for so long but I never really thought it possible that we could be together."

"Arnold, anything is possible if you believe enough in it."

"I guess that's it then Minnie. I believed in us."

The light sound of Kelsi's piano began to play, Minnie and Arnold breaking into the final short reprise which ended the show.

This feeling's like no other, I want you to know

That I've never had someone that knows me like you do, the way you do

I've never had someone as good for me as you, no one like you

So lonely before, I finally found what I've been looking for

Minnie and Arnold stood frozen, hands joined, gazing at one another adoringly, as the narrator provided the final voice over.

"This doesn't mark the end. It only marks the beginning. It marks the beginning of a grand love. A love certain to be filled with both triumphs and tribulations. But nevertheless, a love that shall be great and pure. Minnie and Arnold overcame great odds to prove that true love will always prevail."

And in accordance with Miss Darbus's explicit directions prohibiting a rigorous use of tongue, Minnie and Arnold kissed in a tender, passionate yet PG-13 rated manner.

The curtain closed, and the couple separated into opposite wings for the curtain call, watching as members of the chorus bowed in relevant groups, and then the ensemble cast. Troy was second last to saunter casually back on stage from the left. The crowd lifted into a standing ovation as he bowed. Wolf whistles and shrieks alike sounded from various parts of the audience. He then held his arm out to present Gabriella, who entered shyly from the right and curtsied. The applause continued, the shrieks dying down but the wolf whistling becoming louder.

Dark chocolate eyes and sparkling blue orbs gazed with enamour. In that moment as they stood centre stage, they didn't care about the watching eyes. They didn't care about Miss Darbus's words of warning about maintaining a level of appropriateness in the presence of children. Because it wasn't Minnie and Arnold.

It wasn't Minnie gazing adoringly at her Arnold. It wasn't Arnold staring lovingly at his Minnie.

Lips crashed together simultaneously, her arms wrapping around his neck as he ran his tongue along her bottom lip, seeking permission which she quickly granted.

They didn't hear the thunderous applause; they didn't hear the wolf whistles; they didn't notice the curtain pull shut across the stage.

Because all that mattered in that moment was that it was Troy, and it was Gabriella, and that they had one another.

----------

The stars of the show emerged hand in hand after changing back into street clothes and packing up their dressing rooms. They were immediately flanked by awaiting family and friends. Troy was pulled away from Gabriella by his mother, who captured him in a tight hug as she cried hysterically.

"You were so, so wonderful," she gushed and proceeded to kiss her son on one cheek and then the other and then on the forehead.

"Mom, we're in public!" Troy hissed, completely mortified.

Troy felt a warm, strong hand on his shoulder and he turned around to see his father waiting.

"I'm so proud of you son," Jack Bolton said, his own eyes welling a little. "And… I'm sorry for… for everything."

Troy nodded. Jack didn't need to be specific for Troy to understand what he was apologising for.

"Thanks dad."

Troy and Jack exchanged a manly hug, barely touching, hands patting the other one on the back.

Meanwhile Gabriella had been pulled aside by her own mother. The two Montez women shared a long, tight hug, rocking backwards and forwards slightly.

"He would be so, so, so proud of you," Elena murmured into her daughter's ear.

The moment she broke away from her mother, a random hand grabbed Gabriella's arm, and she spun around to see Taylor and Martha.

"Gabriella!" Taylor shrieked, wrapping her friend in an excited hug. "That was the most amazing show I've ever seen in my life!"

"Did you really like it?"

"Yes!" Martha agreed, also giving Gabriella a hug. "You guys were so, so amazing!"

"You really were," a voice said from behind.

Gabriella turned to see Ryan Evans.

"I just wanted to let you know that you and Troy were really amazing tonight," he said genuinely. "Don't ever tell my sister I said this, but I'm glad you guys got these parts. You were the right people to tell the story."

"Thanks Ryan," Gabriella said gratefully.

"I'll see you tomorrow night."

Someone tapped Gabriella on the shoulder, and she spun around to see the boys, Jason, Zeke and Chad.

"Very impressive Gab," Chad declared, hugging her.

"I think you should audition for American Idol!" Jason suggested.

"That might be a bit of an exaggeration," Gabriella said, blushing.

"No, you were awesome!" Zeke said.

"Didn't you think I was awesome?" a familiar male voice came from behind.

The guys turned around to see Troy approaching them with a wide grin.

"You were all right," Chad said aloofly.

Troy rolled his eyes, but the guys nevertheless gave him manly handshakes and hugs.

"Nah man, you rocked," Chad said.

"Even if some of the songs were a bit girly," Zeke said.

"Didn't you like my songs?" Kelsi's voice came from behind.

"Kelsi!" Gabriella squealed, giving her friend a hug.

"You were so amazing Gabriella," Kelsi whispered into her ear.

"Only because you made the show so amazing," Gabriella insisted.

"Yeah, it's all on you," Troy added.

Kelsi hugged Troy. "No, you guys put in so much work. Thank you so much!"

"I really liked your show," Jason said genuinely. "Are you going to write the next one?"

Kelsi shrugged. "I'll see what I can come up with."

The craziness continued for a while longer; with more hugs and congratulations; with photos being taken; with programs being signed. The night was wrapping up – after all, the young stars all had to return the following night, and then the night after that, to do it all over again.

Troy was talking to his father when Lucille came over, having just purchased ten extra programs.

"Okay I just got Gabriella to sign all of these, now I need you to sign each of them," Lucille instructed.

"Mom, have you snapped your cap?" Troy asked incredulously.

"I have to send one to your grandma, and one to your Aunt Faye, and one to…"

Troy tuned out, and was distracted by the pretty brunette making eyes at him across the room. She pointed to the ceiling. He immediately understood the reference, and nodded.

"Hey uh… listen. I might just make my way home in a bit, okay?" Troy said to his parents, who he knew were just about ready to go home.

Lucille and Jack exchanged a glance. Jack pulled his car keys out of his pocket, and held them out to Troy. "We drove here separately so, here."

"Just make sure Gabriella gets home safely," Lucille added.

Troy rolled his eyes, a little embarrassed that they just assumed he was going somewhere with his girlfriend, but nevertheless grateful.

"Thanks."

----------

Troy was surprised when he made it to the garden before Gabriella. He sat down on the bench, and was waiting for almost five minutes. He was beginning to wonder whether he'd been hallucinating earlier when seeing her gesture. Eventually she arrived.

"What took you so long?" Troy asked.

"I ran into Miss Darbus on my way trying to escape. She was gushing. I couldn't exactly say, right thanks see you tomorrow and run away!"

Gabriella sat beside him on the bench. They remained quiet for a while, listening to the sound of the trees rustling in the light breeze, the crickets chirping, a random bird squawking.

"One show down, two to go," Gabriella finally said, breaking the silence.

"You would think it would be a relief, you know? But… All the craziness of the last couple of months is just gonna keep going. I thought that with the musical over it would mean we get to rest. But I now have to really focus on my basketball again… We have another boot camp next weekend. And I have to start training even harder. Dad's putting a lot of pressure on me."

"I think you put pressure on yourself as well," Gabriella observed quietly.

"I know I do."

"I know what you mean though. We have the south western decathlon final coming up," Gabriella said. "You should see my diary. Taylor has already filled in about four decathlon meetings for each week, and the final is like a month away. I hate to see what it will be like the week before. And there's this other math competition that Mr Davis wants me to enter."

"Don't forget school," Troy said wryly. "We have to fit that in. And assignments. And tests."

"We're going to wish it was just musical rehearsals over and over again."

"Yes," Troy said bluntly. "Then at least you'd be there every step of the way."

"I'm still there just… not as physically present all the time."

They fell silent. Troy finally spoke again.

"I don't want the musical to be over."

"You like hanging around with Miss Darbus a lot?" Gabriella asked teasingly. "Or is it Sharpay's presence you find enlightening?"

"Darbus isn't that bad. She's a nutcase, but she's all right. I won't even go near the suggestion of Sharpay's presence being enlightening!" He cracked a smile, but turned very serious. "Being in this musical, it's like it's given me two months of…" he paused, trying to find the right word. "Freedom, I guess. Two months where I had this creative license to be… whoever I wanted to be. But once it's over… that ends, you know?"

"We have to deal with everything else in our lives," Gabriella said quietly.

Troy nodded. "Chad and Jay and Zeke… they keep talking about how I'm gonna have all this free time and it'll go back to how it was. Us guys, chilling out, playing ball and PlayStation. But… I don't WANT it to go back to how it was. I want to dedicate myself to basketball, on a different level, to find out if it is really something I want to pursue in the long term. I want to study and bring up my grades. I'm scared of going back to being who I was. Of being closed minded to everything that's out there, to not thinking that I could achieve anything big."

"You make it sound like being who you were was a bad thing," Gabriella said softly. "The person you are on the inside hasn't changed Troy. I bet you've always had the drive and the dedication, you've always wanted something more for yourself than the average person. You're just finding out the best ways to focus that energy."

"Thanks to you," Troy said, honestly, but shyly. "I kinda feel like I owe you my life. I don't know what I did to deserve you."

"Just being you is all you did. I wish you could see yourself how I see you."

"And how do you see me?" Troy asked flirtatiously.

Gabriella smiled. "Passionate… dedicated… loyal… a perfectionist… genuine…"

"Don't forget sexy," he pointed out, grinning. "You admitted it when I got my hair cut."

"Sexy," Gabriella conceded, with a smile.

"Good kisser," Troy supplied.

Gabriella giggled, but then a serious look came over her face. "Sometimes… I wonder if I'm dreaming. I actually pinch myself because… because I can't believe that you're with me. That we're together. That a person exists who can understand me, let alone be this amazingly brilliant person who I just want to spend every waking moment with. I keep thinking I'm going to wake up and all of this will turn out to be a dream. Because this doesn't happen in the real world, does it? Falling… falling for someone. Like this."

Gabriella was staring at the floor, feeling a bit silly for having revealed herself so openly to him. Troy brought his index finger to her chin, tilting her head up.

"It's real," he said softly, pressing his lips to hers tenderly. "You're not dreaming."

"And what do you see when you look at me, Mr Bolton?" Gabriella asked cheekily.

"I guess it's not about what I see, is it?" Troy said. "I mean… I could tell that that I see a gorgeous, fiery, passionate, brilliant girl with a delectable ass. But it's more about what I feel."

Gabriella blushed. "Okay then… what do you feel?"

"I feel… peace," Troy finally said. "It's like… the world is this scary place. And there's so much that I don't know, that I don't understand. So much pressure, so much happening, almost too much happening. For the first time in so many years… it's like I just know that everything is going to be okay. As long as you're here with me."

"And I am," Gabriella said softly, her breath tickling against his face as she lingered just inches away from his lips.

"You are what?"

"Here with you. Always."

----------

Now who'd have ever thought that we'd both be here tonight

And the world looks so much brighter with you by my side

I know that something has changed

Never felt this way, I know it's for real

This could be the start of something new

It feels so right to be here with you

----------

To all of my readers,

When I embarked upon writing this story, I had no idea that it would explode into being this mega monster that it has become. I was thinking, yeah, ten chapters should do it. And then I just became filled with ideas and inspiration. The words came flowing out in this really really really really really slow pace. It was just…. It was just how it happened. But I think it worked. I hope it worked. Did it work? Bites fingernails

I would like to thank every single person who has ever left a review for this story, who has put this story onto alert or into their favourites list, who have clicked on the title and given it a go. You guys are so amazing, your words of encouragement seriously warm my heart. I've just had so much lovely feedback, I just feel so…. I feel humbled that people were able to appreciate the hours and hours that I have slaved on this thing. I feel touched when people tell me that I've made their day better, when people can look beyond the superficial surface and see that, within a very simple story, I was actually incorporating so many layers.

I don't like naming names, because then I feel like you might think that if I don't single you out that I don't appreciate your efforts and comments and thoughts. However there are a particular group of people who I really hope know who they are, who have just been so amazingly brilliant. People who have just consistently made the effort to give me their support, even if it's just in a few words, just to let me know that they're around and reading. People who, may not have been as consistent, but who nevertheless took the time to think about my work, to analyse it, to give me specific feedback, to tell me what they liked, to tell me what they thought DIDN'T work. People who acknowledged the things which, to the casual reader wouldn't be anything important, but in actual fact I put a whole heap of thought into. People who consider my work worthy of recommendation. People who listen to my ranting and whining and insecurities. It's you guys who inspire me to keep writing. It's you guys who made me go from just writing this one story to all of a sudden having this whole massive verse of stories in my head.

I just wanted to explain what is going to happen with the sequel. If you haven't read my rambling author's notes, you might be thinking "right, so you haven't actually FINISHED the plot here girlie!" Originally, I was going to just keep going with Here With You, including the plot I have in store for Play It My Way. Allowing me to keep the plot all in one place, as well as make my review count for this story look prettier. I would LOVE to break 500 reviews so I could go into that C2 but that isn't a reason to keep going.

But the fact is that they are two different stories. Here With You, perhaps is more about Troy but essentially it's TXG centric. Its purpose is to explore the development of the relationship of Troy and Gabriella, and to bridge the gaps between HSM and HSM2. The narrative flow of Here With You switches from Troy to Gabriella, and on occasion to other characters. On the other hand Play It My Way is a Troy centric tale written in a slightly different style to Here With You. Obviously, Troy's relationship with Gabriella is important to him so it is still TXG BUT this is not the purpose of the plot. There is a different vibe, and will be dealing with some slightly more mature issues which are going to make me very very very very seriously consider rating PIMW M – something I am hesitant of doing because I know it's harder to pick up readers once you rate something M due to it not coming straight up onto the recently updated page.

The other thing about this era, and hence why it becomes Troy centric for PIMW, is that the essence of this time period is that Troy and Gabriella spend very little time together. My take on HSM2, as a result of my perceptions of 'What Time Is It' and the opening scenes; are that Troy and Gabriella have had all of these outside forces preventing them from developing their relationship. 'The pressures off, now my girl's what it's all about… ready for some sunshine, for my heart to take a chance.' Suddenly the concept of being able to go to movies together and downloading music is something that hasn't happened for a while – so I can't have them continually seeing each other throughout this time. I don't WANT to continue to develop their relationship at the same rapid rate. I feel like I've gotten them to a point where they are relatively close to where they are at the beginning of HSM2. Not quite, but close to. Therefore, that is a feature of this time period during Play It My Way. That yes they are still in a strong relationship but it isn't growing, because of the pressure and the external forces and everything that is going on. This is contrary to the purpose of Here With You – to explore the progression. Hence why I'm probably going to write an epilogue to Here With You AFTER I publish all of Play It My Way. Just to wrap up where their relationship is at and provide the lead in to HSM2. Given the switch in the narrative, and the essence of the plot being different, PIMW is a separate story in my eyes, even though it directly continues the plot from Here With You.

Beyond PIMW, my brain has a whole timeline of stories which I would love to complete. I leave to go overseas in less than three weeks, and I'm not talking about going overseas for a few weeks, we're talking about six months or so. I'll probably finish writing and maybe posting PIMW before I go, and that'll be it. I've written bits and pieces of two stories set after post HSM2, one being another massive mofo set senior year (I know this has been done and is still being done by a bunch of authors but I have my reasons) and then another during the first year after high school. And I might be able to get more bits and pieces done whilst abroad but I don't know if I would want to commit to continuing a series whilst backpacking around the world. Not when you guys are going to be so used to me being an updating every few days author. I don't know if the quality of work that I want to attain, if I would be able to achieve sitting in an internet café, writing a chapter every week or so.

It's kind of this really unfortunate timing …. My muse is itching to write, but I've been planning this backpacking trip for years. And the two have just collided. Anyway, so I can't guarantee anything – especially when I'm going off into the world. For all I know I'll meet Zac Efron and we will fall in love and proceed to undertake activities designed for the production of babies and since I'll have him in real life I won't feel the need to write stories about him… I mean… his characters…. Any longer! (Baby V, still love you!)

Anyway.

I really hope that I've created some interest in what is to come from me. I think that many of you who have read HWY from start to finish can agree that on the whole, my writing has improved. Hopefully this growth will continue within my work which is to come. And we will just have to see what happens with my work beyond Play It My Way.

Thank you all once again. If I have somehow captured your attention to make you want to continue to read my work then I would suggest you review this right now (I'm not ashamed to admit that there is a direct correlation between self esteem and the review count) and in the meantime click the 'author alert' button to make sure you know when I update!

With lots of love and kisses and hugs,

Danielle

or as you all know me, Pandora147