ok chad and taylor r now my fav couple from ham. mainly bc they're the only black ppl couple in the movies. i feel like they don't get enough love in the fandom—just a couple of serious fics dedicated to them. idk if this will be a whole "thing" with me but i just wish there was more abt them. anyways this is what i've been thinking abt for a long time, hope y'all enjoy.

The bell rang for 4th period and many students filed out of their classrooms, some quickly and some calmly. Taylor was amongst the calm, the senior keeping a steady pace to the library for her free period. She already finished all her work for her other classes and would just be scrolling through college guides or reading.

The year was almost over. Everyone was cleaning out their lockers, accepting admissions offers, and packing their lives to head into the unknown that was college. Taylor had already been accepted into 7 universities, she had even shocked herself by the amount. But, honestly, she didn't expect anything less.

She worked hard. Joined all the academic extracurriculars she could, made sure her work teachers exceeded expectations, and volunteered at everything she could to make her applications look their best. She earned this.

And now she's going to Yale. All of those years of being the school nerd, of being made fun of for her dedication, paid off. In the end, she made it out. And no one could take that away from her.

No bullies. No family. No friends. No boyfriends.

No one.

Sometimes, when she was alone and stuck in her head, she still thought about him. The voice in the back of her mind kept asking what was he going to do after high school (though it was probably the thing he's been doing all four years of high school)? Where was he going to go? How was he doing?

But she couldn't think like that anymore. He ended it. He broke up with her. There was no him to think about.

As she rounded the corner, she saw him walking down with the rest of the basketball team, clearly fresh out of their in-school practice. She couldn't keep her eyes from gravitating towards him. He was laughing along with Troy and Zeke, a basketball tucked under his arm as he gave Zeke a slap at the back of his head.

He looked good. Happy.

Before he could potentially meet her eyes, Taylor booked it for the library doors. She walked until she found her favorite corner with the beanbag chairs and opened her laptop to scroll through Yale's campus online.

A few minutes later, I figure plop down in the beanbag chair next to her and sighed. "Hi."

Taylor looked to see Gabriella with her head leaned against the wall and her eyes closed.

"Hey," Taylor started, "Everything okay?"

Gabriella sighed once again. "Yeah, it's just…college is no joke."

"You're telling me. We haven't even started yet and we're already stressed."

"Everything costs so much money," Gabriella pulled out a piece of paper with bullet points listed on it. "This is a list of all the books that I have to get. Do you see how expensive they are?"

Taylor almost winced at the prices.

"Yeah, but try looking for an apartment. All of these buildings are trying to wring me dry," Taylor turned her computer to face her friend. Gabriella let out a whistle at the many zeros after the first number.

"Sheesh, why is this so hard? Between this and prom, I don't think I'll have money to actually go to college."

Taylor snorted and turned her eyes back to her laptop.

"Well, I guess I dodged a bullet with prom, then."

"What do you mean you 'dodged a bullet?' Tay, you're going, right?"

Taylor stopped what she was doing and lifted her head to see Gabriella better. "...No?"

"Why not?" Gabriella frowned. "We've been talking about going to prom since the beginning of the year."

"I've just got a lot on my plate, Gabi. I don't have time for prom and, honestly, I just don't want to go anymore."

Taylor went back to focus on her computer screen, keeping her eyes on a photo of a very well-decorated bulletin board.

"Is this about Chad?"

Taylor froze but didn't make a move to meet Gabriella's eyes. Her silence told Gabriella all she needed.

"Look, Tay—,"

"Gabriella, don't." Taylor shut her eyes and shook her head.

"It still hurts. I get it. But don't shut yourself out of everything because of him."

"I'm not—," Gabriella gave her a look before she could finish her sentence. Taylor just sighed and lifted her gaze towards the ceiling. "Look, it's not that I'm not going because of him, alright? I've just changed my mind."

Gabriella still looked concerned.

"Plus, it's too late for me to even find a dress. Really, Gabi, I'm okay?"

Gabriella still didn't look convinced but she didn't push. And if Taylor was being honest, she wasn't convinced either.

Chad was a sore topic. One moment everything was fine, great even. The next, he's on her front porch with his head down, telling her he needs space, and she's slamming the door in his face with tears in her eyes.

They hadn't talked since.

She had blocked him on social media and deleted his number. Even though she knew it by heart.

He avoided her eyes when they walked past each other in the halls at school and when the group hung out together he made sure the two of them were never alone together.

None of their friends talked about it or voiced their concerns, even though they all saw the change. Well, except for Gabriella. She's as kind-hearted as can be, trying hard to find out what went wrong. But both Chad and Taylor were as stubborn as the other. Taylor more so.

There was a time when he tried to reach out. It was an unknown caller ID. Unknown to her phone but known to her. She had been too busy going through the possible scenarios of how picking it up would end before her phone stopped ringing on the sixth ring.

After that, he was dead silent. No attempt was made again.

She still loved him. She knew that. But he hurt her. And she still didn't know why.

The bullshit reason he gave that day was never enough to quell the pain and anger inside of her. Pain for breaking her heart so quickly and carelessly. Anger for making her cry over him in the first place.

Taylor remembered the advice her sister once told her freshman year: Never give a man the power to make you cry.

She didn't listen. She should have listened.

Now it's too late and the damage is done. She's going on with her life and he's going on with his. This is how it should be.

"Okay, I understand that it's not about Chad but could you at least go for me? It won't be the same without you there."

"Gabi…"

"Come on, Tay, it's our last high school dance and I want to spend it with my friends. That includes you."

Taylor gave Gabriella a pained look before she sighed and gave in. She didn't outwardly say it but Gabi knew it was a yes.

"I don't even have a dress."

Gabriella squealed earning her a disapproving look from the librarian. "That's okay! We'll find one. C'mon, let's go before the halls get crowded."

Right after Gabriella said that, the bell rang, dismissing people from their classes.

"How did you know the bell was going to ring?" Taylor asked, a little shocked and impressed.

Gabriella just winked, standing up and throwing her bag over her shoulder. "Call it my superpower."

"Hey, man, can I talk to you for a sec?"

Troy came up behind Chad during lunch with his hands in his pockets and a kind smile placed on his face. But Chad could see a worried glint in his eye.

"Uh, yeah. Sure," Chad muttered.

Things hadn't been the same since he and Taylor broke up. He was smiling as much as he used to but it didn't look as genuine. He would laugh at jokes but his heart wouldn't be in it. And basketball practice was in session, his head wasn't in the game.

Troy hadn't brought up the break-up since the day it happened. Chad had come over to his house red-eyed with a basketball in his hands and asked if they could play a round or two. He had been so shaken up about it that he couldn't make a single basket and the boys ended up sitting side by side on the curb until, eventually, Chad caved and broke down.

He told Troy that he had broken up with Taylor and that was it. No why. No how. Just that it was done and he wasn't okay. Troy didn't have time to ask for details as he was comforting his friend but it still bothered as to why they broke up.

They were so good together. Taylor balanced out Chad's ego and Chad got Taylor to let loose and live outside of her chemistry books. Ending things really put a damper on Chad's personality. He wasn't acting like himself. But he didn't want anyone to worry about him. He was trying so hard to make everyone around him believe he was okay but Troy knew. In a way, they all knew.

They need to talk things out. They need to figure out what went wrong.

Troy led the two just outside of the cafeteria before stopping beside the doorway.

"Alright, dude, what's up?"

Troy ran a hand through his hair. "You."

"...What?"

"Your head's not in the game, Danforth."

Chad's eyebrows crinkled together. "What do you mean?"

Troy sighed and looked to find a clock to check how long they have until the next period. "Dude, ever since…" He knew Chad was a little sensitive about the topic but there was really no other way around it. "Ever since you and Taylor broke up, you've just been off. You don't like to talk about it, I know, but I can tell you're hurting, man."

Chad kept his gaze on the floor and didn't say anything.

"You loved her. You love her. You both love each other. So, what happened?"

"I don't want to talk about it, Troy," Chad rubbed his eyes tiredly.

"Well, you got to. Because I want my best friend to be happy again," Troy gave Chad a light push at his shoulder, coaxing a smile out of his friend.

"I'm just...I don't know. I miss—"

Chad was cut off by the bell for 5th period and students left the cafeteria quickly, most of them heading home for the free period or just to skip. Seniority granted them the luxury of not having to care much about attendance.

Troy rolled his eyes at the interruption and was about to attempt to coax out the rest of Chad's sentence, but thought better of it, knowing that his stubborn teammate wouldn't continue after being so vulnerable already. Instead, he threw an arm over Chad's shoulders and led him towards the glass doors. "Hey, you want to come to my house to shoot some hoops? We can stop by and pick up our suits along the way."

Chad looked at him, confused. "Suits for what?"

"Uh, for prom?"

When Chad stayed silent, Troy cast a questioning glance over at the man next to him.

"You're going, right?"

After he and Taylor broke up, Chad returned his suit two days later. He wasn't going to a dance filled with emotionally amorous and hormonal teenagers if Taylor wasn't there by his side.

"Nah. I'm just gonna watch some movies. Maybe play some ball."

"You can't be serious," Troy deadpanned, "This is the last dance of our high school lives. You can't not go."

"Um, I'm pretty sure I can."

"Dude, c'mon. Is this because of Taylor?"

Chad rolled his eyes and shrugged Troy's arm off his shoulders as they walked through the double doors. "No, it's not. I just don't want to go anymore."

Troy gave him a disbelieving look but didn't say anything more about it.

"Let's go before the rest of the team catches up to us," Troy said, walking faster to make it into the parking lot.

"Troy!"

Troy turned around to see Gabriella walking towards him just as he and Chad were about to get into his car.

"Hey, babe," Troy waved her over but the motion stopped in mid-air when he saw a begrudging Taylor behind his girlfriend. "Oh, shit."

Chad's head startled up. "What?"

When he saw Troy staring, eyes wide, he turned his head to find the source. Surely enough, his eyes grew wide too.

"Dude. Why is she coming over here?" Chad asked, panicked.

Troy shrugged helplessly, opening and closing his mouth like a fish.

The girls walked up casually, oblivious to Chad's presence. Just as they approached the car, Taylor stopped dead in her tracks and met eyes with Chad. Gabriella stopped with Taylor to find out what happened, only to whip her head around and see a familiar head of curly hair.

"Uh, Tay, maybe we should get a ride from Kelsey instead," Gabriella suggested as she grabbed Taylor by the arm and quickly dragged her away in the opposite direction.

Gabriella turned around as they walked to motion for Troy to call her before continuing towards the other end of the parking lot.

"We should get going," Troy muttered, quickly hopping into the car and starting the engine.

"I didn't know he was going to be there. I'm sorry."

"Gabriella, like I said before, it's not a big deal."

Taylor walked into the boutique and started for the gown in the back.

"I know but—"

"But nothing. It's fine. I'm fine. Stop worrying about me so much, girl."

"Okay…" Gabriella said reluctantly, pulling at dresses to see the designs better.

"Oh, I like this one," Gabriella pulled a shin-level yellow dress off of the rack and placed it in front of Taylor to imagine her in it.

"I don't know, I think I should go shorter. Long feels too formal to me."

"Since when is something 'too formal' for you?"

Taylor grinned and rolled her eyes. "Since I didn't want to go in the first place."

Gabriella stuck her tongue out at her and grabbed another dress from the rack.

"How about this one?

"Hm," Taylor gave it a once over before smiling, "I like it. Let me go try it on."

Taylor and Gabriella went into the fitting room section, Gabriella grabbing a couple of shirts to try on while she was there.

Once Taylor had successfully maneuvered herself into the dress, she stepped out in front of the fitting room and in front of the mirror. Gabriella joined her at her side to look with her.

"Taylor, you look beautiful."

The dress had a purple bodice with a sweetheart neckline and a sheer, white built-in top that covered the rest of the skin the bodice didn't touch. There were three pieces of fabric that met at the line of her bosom and led up to a bow at the start of her neck. There was a black belt wrapped around her, cinching her waist nicely. The underskirt was solid purple with a sheer dotted purple skirt put on top of it. A white, gray, and black plaid piece of fabric with a rounded triangle cut in the side was placed above it.

Taylor didn't even think she'd be considering prom dresses after the breakup. She had the money saved up for the dress but never got around to buying one. Looking at herself now? Well, maybe she should've gone shopping sooner.

Taylor twisted to look at different angles of the dress. "Wow," was all she said.

"Scratch that. You look gorgeous. Just wait until we walk in with all the girls. It's going to be amazing."

"Yeah."

Taylor stared at herself with an inquisitive gaze, a crinkle in place between her brows.

"Tay?"

The girl slightly in front let out a heavy sigh.

"Gabi...I don't know about this. About going, I mean. What if he's there? I know I said I would be okay but…"

"Hey. You don't have to go if you're not up for it. And you don't have to be okay all the time. No one expects you to be okay all the time. All I want is for you to have fun." Gabriella paused before continuing. "You've been burying yourself in school ever since you and Chad broke up. You're stressed, Tay. You need to let loose."

Taylor stared at herself in the mirror and silent played with the hem of the dress.

Gabriella put a hand on her shoulder to grab her attention through the mirror. "Don't think about Chad. Do this for you."

Taylor placed her on Gabriella's and gave her a watery smile.

"Okay."

Do it for you.

He broke up with her. He didn't get to dictate how she spent her life after he left it. She needed to think about herself. She needed to do this for her own enjoyment.

She's getting the damn dress. She's going to the damn prom. And she damn well was going to have the best time if it was the last thing she did in the hell they called high school.

This is for her.

Fuck Chad.

This is long. Some of the plot may have gotten away from me but ive been typing since 4 pm and it is now almost 3 in the morning. Im not going the proofread right now but ill probably go back later to revise and stuff. Tell me what you guys think and call me out on any mistakes! Comments give me motivation lol