Chapter 55
Disclaimer: I do not own High School Musical or any of its characters.
Troy was upset that he couldn't go to the airport to pick up Gabriella but Ms Darbus had called an extra dress rehearsal that afternoon because the original dress rehearsal had gone so badly at lunchtime.
Desperate he raced to the gym to talk to his father. "Dad Darbus has called an extra last minute rehearsal and she won't let me go and get Gabriella. Can you please pick her up from the airport and explain that I wanted to be there?" Troy begged.
"When does her plane get in?" Jack asked.
"It's due at a quarter to five" Troy answered. "Gabriella called just before she had to turn her phone off for takeoff and they were they were taking off on time. Darbus called the practice after Gabriella turned her phone off. I've sent her a message but she doesn't know I won't be there" Troy worried.
"Calm down Troy I will take good care of our girl. Lucille and I have missed her too you know" Jack said soothingly.
"Tell her I'm really sorry I couldn't pick her up myself. I've been looking forward to seeing her all week" Troy said sadly.
"It'll be okay Troy. Gabriella will understand, she knows how anxious Darbus gets before opening night" Jack tried to reassure his son.
"Thanks Dad" Troy sighed "I better get back before Darbus blows a gasket."
Jack smiled sympathetically at his son then rang Lucille to let her know that he was headed to the airport and grabbed his keys.
Gabriella stepped off the plane and looked around for her husband.
"Gabriella over here" Jack called.
He watched Gabriella's face fall as she realised that Troy wasn't with him and hurried over to grab her carryon. "
"Troy was upset he couldn't be here. Darbus demanded they all stay behind and run through one more rehearsal before tonight" Jack explained as they walked towards the baggage claim.
Gabriella smiled wanly. "I should have known" she said. "I'm looking forward to seeing the show."
"Yes Lucille is too" Jack said refusing to admit he was also looking forward to watching his son perform on stage.
Gabriella smirked seeing through the act. "Troy's been working really hard on it" she said.
"Are you glad to be home?" Jack asked.
"Yes the honours program orientation was a great experience but I've missed everyone so much. I don't even want to think about leaving again" Gabriella said sadly.
"It won't be long before you're going back for college next year" Jack reminded her. "It won't be as bad as you think you'll be able to settle in properly next time."
"And Troy will be with me which will help" Gabriella agreed.
"When Mom told me we'd be in Albuquerque til I graduated it felt like we'd be here forever and it's gone by so fast" Gabriella said sighing.
"College will be like that too. Four years seems like a lifetime now but you'll look back at graduation and wonder where the time went" Jack said.
They collected her suitcases and left the airport, headed towards Albuquerque. "Can we stop by the school so I can say hello to Troy?" Gabriella asked.
"Of course, though I don't know that Darbus will be too happy with you interrupting Troy in her 'chapel of the arts'" Jack said smirking.
"Yes I'm sure you're really worried about that" Gabriella agreed sarcastically.
Jack laughed and agreed. While the relationship he had with the flamboyant drama teacher had improved overall they did still enjoy annoying each other.
They pulled into the school. "I'll be in my office when you're ready to go home. Take all the time you want the mountain off paperwork on my desk isn't getting any smaller" Jack said sighing.
Gabriella laughed. "Well if it was all just coaching and playing Basketball it wouldn't be work" she said cheekily.
"I'll see you later Gabriella" Jack said laughing too. "It's good to have you home" he said giving her a quick hug in spite of the fact that they were in the car park in full view of any students and faculty that happened to be around.
Gabriella walked in to the auditorium just as Troy was about to kiss Sharpay. "Don't screw your face up like that Troy" Ms Darbus scolded him. "It's not that unpleasant I'm sure. Just close your eyes and pretend you're kissing Mrs Bolton."
"Don't pretend too hard" Gabriella called out teasingly.
"Gabi" Troy yelled in delight immediately jumping off the stage and running over to hug and kiss her.
"Yes exactly like that" Ms Darbus interjected loudly after a few minutes as they failed to come up for air.
Troy and Gabriella completely ignored her finally breaking their kiss to tell each other how much they loved and missed them.
"I'm sorry I interrupted rehearsal I just couldn't wait to see you. This has been one of the longest weeks of my life" Gabriella apologised.
"Don't apologise I'm glad you came. I wanted to come to the airport to pick you up. I've missed you so much" Troy replied smiling at his wife.
"Mr Bolton" Ms Darbus said at the top of her voice finally drawing their attention from each other. "It's time to get back to work. Get back on stage and take it from the start of the scene."
Troy gave Gabriella another quick kiss. "Are you going to stay and watch?" he asked eagerly.
"I can stay for a while but Jack is waiting for me. I can't leave him alone with his paperwork for too long. He might do himself a mischief" Gabriella said jokingly.
Troy laughed knowing how much his father hated paperwork and some of the lengths he'd gone to in the past to avoid it.
"Are you sure you want to stay and watch me kiss Sharpay?" Troy asked knowing how much he'd hate seeing Gabriella kiss somebody else even if he knew it was just acting.
Gabriella sighed. "I'm coming to the show tonight Troy. I'll see it then anyway, it'll be better if I see it now and get it over and done with so I can put on a good face in front of your parents" she said.
"Okay. I love you. You know I'd almost rather kiss Darbus than Sharpay" Troy said screwing his face up.
"That would go over real well with Coach" Gabriella laughed. "And remember you can't screw up your face like that on stage."
"The amount of perfume she wears makes me want to sneeze" Troy complained.
Gabriella laughed again. "You better get back to rehearsing before Ms Darbus kicks me out" she said pushing him lightly in the right direction.
Gabriella met up with Sharpay backstage. "Hi Sharpay" she said emotionlessly.
"Hello Gabriella. I hope you're not here to ask for your part back" Sharpay said fiercely.
"Of course not I don't know all the lines or the dances. I came to help you out with the kissing scene"
"And just how do you think you can do that?" Sharpay looked furious. "I know you and Troy are together but he's a lousy kisser Gabriella and you will just have to admit that."
Gabriella frowned at the insult to her husband but decided to let it pass. She didn't exactly want Sharpay to enjoy kissing Troy anyway just to make it a little easier for Troy to kiss her.
"Troy's allergic to your perfume. It makes him want to sneeze" Gabriella said lying diplomatically. "He does the scene by closing his eyes and pretending he's kissing me. I think it would be easier for him to do that if we smelled more alike. If you wash off your perfume and borrow mine I think it will help."
Sharpay looked thoughtful for a moment "do you really think it will help?" she asked sceptically.
"Yes from what I saw this afternoon that's the only weak scene in the whole production" Gabriella said encouragingly.
"This will make Troy look better for the Juilliard judges" Sharpay said cantankerously, "why should I help him?"
"Playing the scene well will make you both look better" Gabriella argued. "And you know Troy's not going to accept the scholarship to Juilliard no matter what they offer him. He can't he's already signed to Berkeley."
"Did he put you up to this?" Sharpay asked suspiciously.
"No he doesn't even know I'm still here. It's just I know how hard for him this scene is and it will be even harder tonight knowing that his parents and I will be in the audience" Gabriella explained her motives.
"I thought that you'd enjoy the fact he can't kiss me without looking like he's sucking a lemon" Sharpay said petulantly.
Gabriella giggled "He did, didn't he" she agreed. "I don't like the fact that he has to kiss you but I know he doesn't enjoy it and if he takes acting seriously I'm sure this won't be the last time. He's got to kiss you whether he likes it or not. Knowing he's struggling with it doesn't actually make it any easier for me" Gabriella explained.
"Okay I'll try it" Sharpay agreed grabbing her gym bag and heading to the gym to shower.
Gabriella smiled and went looking for Troy finding him on the stage running through a dance scene with the boys.
"That looked great" she complimented him as he came off stage.
"It's a lot of fun" Troy said smiling. "I thought you'd gone" he said questioningly.
"I've been talking to Sharpay. I managed to convince her to wash off the perfume" Gabriella told him grinning.
"Wow how'd you do that?" Troy asked amazed.
"I lied" she said blankly making him burst out laughing.
"No seriously how'd you convince her?" he asked as he brought himself back under control.
"I told her you were allergic to her perfume and suggested that you would find it easier to kiss her if she smelled more like me. I'm going to lend her my perfume for the show."
"Thanks Gabriella you're a lifesaver" Troy said hugging her. He lowered his face to hers and began to kiss her passionately.
"Mr Bolton that's not the practice you need we all know you have no difficulties kissing you wife. You need to practice kissing Miss Evans" Ms Darbus said loudly making everyone around laugh uneasily.
Troy pulled a face at the idea. "Actually I was thanking Gabriella for her assistance with that problem. I think it will be much better now" he said.
Very well. Now where is Miss Evans so we can run through the scene again?" Ms Darbus asked.
Troy shrugged "I have no idea" he answered.
"Umm.. she went to have a shower" Gabriella said hesitantly not wanting to upset the already overstressed teacher.
"A shower!" Ms Darbus exclaimed. "What on earth?"
"Well part of the problem was that Sharpay's perfume makes Troy want to sneeze when he gets too close so I convinced her to wash it off" Gabriella explained.
"Hmm I never thought of that. I just thought you were making heavy work of the kiss because you don't get along. I'm sorry Mr Bolton for not trying harder to get to the bottom of the problem" Ms Darbus said upset with herself at having overlooked such an obvious possible problem.
"I should go Jack's waiting for me" Gabriella said to Troy apologetically. She hugged him and he kissed her.
"I'll see you after the show" he said kissing her again.
"I love you" Gabriella said kissing him back then rummaging through her bag. "Give this to Sharpay. Better yet spray a couple of squirts on her yourself so she can't go overboard again" she said handing Troy her bottle of perfume.
Troy laughed "I'll do that" he agreed.
Gabriella left to find Jack and the rest of them returned to rehearsing.
A/N: Thankyou to Pumpkinking5, Wildcats2016, Huge TroyellaFan, and speedsONEandONLY for your support.
