Disclaimer: I don't own anything, yadyada
A/N: Ok, 2nd Chapter, i hope you guys like it and thanks for the great reviews. There's a bit of Theatre etiquette in this one that might be a bit confusing but i explain it down at the bottom. Enjoy!
Gabriella stood in front of the make up mirror in the girls dressing room backstage. She was wearing a knee length jean skirt and a red button up blouse. Her hair was in a tight bun and she had black heels on. It was the same thing she had worn for the first four performances. There were thirty minutes until the curtains would go up. She still had a little case of the nerves but was more excited then nervous. She took a deep breath and started warming up her vocal chords, singing the scale.
There was a knock and a yell at the door. "Penis!" It was Troy's voice.
Gabriella rolled her eyes. "I really wish you didn't do that every time you walk in here."
Troy grinned and stuck his head in the door before strutting in. He was wearing a very tasteful black and white suit. "I have to, it's tradition. I wouldn't want to walk in on any unsuspecting girls in their underwear… then again…"
Gabriella gasped and threw a shirt at him. "You are awful!"
He just smiled bashfully.
Gabriella giggled. "Now get out, I need to finish changing."
"OK, but hurry up, Ms. Darbus wants us in the green room, and no one wants to keep her waiting."
Gabriella nodded and Troy backed out of the room, leaving her alone. She sighed and realized she had just passed up the perfect chance to talk to Troy. Jeez, getting her nerve up to do this was going to be harder than she thought. Gabriella tried to clear her head by shaking it. She had to focus now. With one last inhale she headed out the door.
Gabriella entered the room on the right as Ms. Darbus started to speak. She stood in between Troy and Kelsi.
"Alright, this is our last performance, you all have done a good job at keeping the energy level high so far so keep it up. Remember your dance steps everyone please!" Ms. Darbus glanced at a couple of the less coordinated students. "Above all, relax, focus and have fun."
Troy smirked. Before he had met Ms. Darbus he hadn't thought that the stereo typical Theatre teacher really existed. She had proved him wrong, he could tell that she was about to throw a crazy line at them.
"After all," Ms. Darbus took an overly dramatic pose. "We are the elite, we are the future, we are actors!" She said with an equally over dramatic voice.
And there it was.
Troy had never gotten used to the typical actor brats that littered this room, even if he was one now. Acting was fun, but it wasn't the world, but try telling that to some of the people in here. Especially Charpay. She stood opposite him, and though she wasn't the monster she had been (finally losing had made her more down to earth) but she was still full of herself. Troy could see her becoming exactly like Ms. Darbus in a few years.
"Everybody join hands." They all simultaneously linked together. Troy's stomach did a flip flop as he and Gabriella laced fingers. "Kelsi, this is the last night and you are the writer so please do the honors."
Kelsi smiled, obviously very proud of her self but still a bit shy and off key. "Ok. It's really great how more awesome this turned out to be for me than I thought it would. All of you have done so great and lets just do it once more so we can party and then sleep, for about week." That got a few laughs and a lot of nods.
"Very good Kelsi. Alright, you know the drill, find a quiet place to get yourself together before curtain opens, we have ten minutes." She clapped, sending them like trained show animals to unlink and file out of the room.
"Troy…. Troy!"
Troy turned sideways to face Gabriella. "Hmm?"
"You can let go now."
He looked down. They were still holding hands. "Oh, sorry." He let go.
Gabriella took a deep breath and smiled nervously. "This is it." She said as they walked out of the room. It was dark backstage. "The last time."
"I know, can you believe it?"
Gabriella shook her head. "I'll see you on stage. Good luck." She sqeezed his hand then leaned up and kissed him on the cheek.
Troy stood stunned as she walked away. Had she just kissed him?
Gabriella sat down in a chair at the very back of the stage where it was almost pitch black. Had she just kissed Troy? She hadn't even been thinking about it, it just seemed like the natural thing to do.
Troy walked along the back of the stage, searching for Gabriella. Now was as good a time as any to tell her, especially since his courage was up from that kiss. The spot still tingled when he thought about it. He had been trying all day to tell her but things kept getting in the way. Like his nerves. And Kelsi pulling Gabriella away to run through a song one last time. Troy trotted to the farthest corner of the stage.
"Gabbi?" He heard someone jump.
There was a pause.
"Troy?"
It was Gabriella's voice came in a whisper.
"Yeah." his own voice was croaky. He cleared his throat. "Gab, uh, there's something I've been meaning to tell you, I mean ask you, I mean..."
"Now? We're about to go on." Gabriella's voice came from the dark.
"Yeah." Troy said as his eyes started to get accustomed to the dark and he could make out feminine figure. He stepped closer, this was so much easier since he couldn't see her. "Look, we're really close and-"
"Troy? Gabriella?" Ryan's voice whispered from behind Troy.
Of course.
"The curtains are about to open, you need to get out there Gab." Ryan sounded like he was about to pee his pants with excitement.
"Oh!" She stood up and followed Ryan towards the set. "Sorry Troy, tell me later ok?"
"Yeah, sure." And Troy was left alone in the dark.
The curtains fell on the last scene of the play. Everyone had hit there cues and no one had fallen over in their dance routines. Gabriella laughed and hugged Troy who was standing next to her, they were both holding microphones.
"Off!" someone yelled from back stage.
Troy and Gabriella scrambled off stage and the curtain flung open for the curtain call. They both rushed back out on and took a bow to loud clapping from the audience. The rest of the cast followed suit and they all bowed together. The curtain closed for a final time.
Gabriella hugged Troy again and he spun her around, both of them were laughing, hyped up on the excitement of being on stage. "We did it!" Troy said letting her down.
"I know! You were great Mr. Dancing Feet."
"Dancing Feet?"
"Yeah, you can really move!"
Troy shrugged. "Just call me superstar." They both laughed.
Zeke came out to congratulate Charpay on her supporting roll with a brownie. She hug and kissed him before taking a bite out of the brownie.
Kelsi ran out, wearing a black top hat and caring sheet music. "I think we really hit it tonight! I still can't believe that was all my music."
"Hey, just call yourself the playmaker." Troy quipped, referring back to their old tie between basketball and play writers.
Kelsi smile brightly and lightly pushed her glasses up.
"Come on guys, get changed. We need to take the set down." Charlie the stage manager walked on stage, interrupting the festivities.
"There's never any time for anything here." Gabriella said, and everybody departed in different directions.
A few minutes later Gabriella knocked on the boys dressing room door. She was now wearing a long, flowing blue shirt and a white collar shirt with dangling silver earrings and her hair pulled into a half ponytail. "Troy?" She heard a grunt from inside the room and the sound of someone tripping.
"Troy are you OK?" She creaked the door open.
"Fine. You have to keep tradition Gabriella, I could still be changing."
"Troy come on." She said archly and opened the door a little more.
"Say it."
Gabriella groaned. "Fine, vagina." she mumbled and entered the room. Troy was the only one in there. "I wanted to tell you that I'm leaving and to wish us luck at the Decathlon."
Troy smiled, which he seemed to do a lot around Gabriella, and shrugged. "You don't need it."
"Maybe." There was a pause, then Gabriella spoke awkwardly. "Uh, before the show, you said you wanted to tell me something…"
Troy opened his mouth but nothing came out. He didn't know if he had the courage now.
"Look." Gabriella interrupted. "I've got to go. But tell me at the party ok? I, I'm interested in what you have to say."
Troy gulped. "Sure." In a way he was relieved, at least now he had more time to think about what he was going to say. "I'll walk you to the car."
Upon exiting the changing room, the stage looked unrecognizable. The set that had been a house and a school only a half an hour ago was now a demolition sight.
"Wow. I can't believe they took it down so fast." Gabriella remarked on their way to the other side of the theatre.
Troy nodded. That was a lot of memories coming down. The two walked in silence the rest of the way to the parking lot where Mrs. Montez waited in her green Toyota.
"Well, I'll see you in a couple of hours." Gabriella turned to face Troy.
"Alright. Try not to show up too fast. Remember what I said about singing."
Gabriella smiled softly. Troy was always joking around. She loved it. They both stood there for a moment unsure of what to do.
Gabriella shifted uncomfortably.
Troy opened his mouth, leaning forward as if to say something but decided not to.
"well, bye." Gabriella turned around and walked to her mom's car, her brown curls swinging behind her.
"Bye." Tray said softly, but she had already slammed the door and the car was pulling away.
Troy paced back and forth holding a cup of punch. He brushed off his jeans and black t-shirt for the thousandth time even though there was nothing on them. His t-shirt had big Hollywood sunglasses on them. Ms. Darbus had designed the shirt herself and had given one to everybody. Troy had been a little frightened to say no.
He had been at the cast party for maybe forty-five minutes. The party was in the basement of Charpay's house who had generously offer to host it. More than likely to show off the huge, expensive mansion she called a house. The light's were slightly dimmed and music was blaring. Everyone was eating, dancing, or playing pool. Everyone besides Troy, and Charpay that is. She was running around trying to make sure nothing was broken. Troy looked towards the stairs again, which he had constantly done since he got there.
Troy was getting more nervous by the second. Gabriella would be there soon and he was having second thoughts. Which was dumb, because she felt the same way…right? What if he had read into something that wasn't there. Then Gabriella would be uncomfortable and their relationship would go down the toilet.
When had it gotten so damn hot?
"Don't touch that!"
Charpay's shrill voice brought him back to reality. Troy had to dodge her as she rampaged across the room, clearly on the war path of some unfortunate soul. His sight fell again to the stairs. This time there was a certain doe eyed latina girl walking down them. She spotted him, smiled and walked lightly over, it was almost as if she was floating. Troy's stomach dropped. All the muscles in his legs froze. He couldn't move. Maybe he wouldn't risk it. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad just being friends.
Ohhh, suspense! Yes, awkward teen love. The penis, vagina thing is a theatre tradition. Soif a girl walks into the boys dressing room they have to yell vagina so everyone knows a girl is coming in. Vice versa for guys. It's just fun so i figured i would add it.
And have you noticed that Zac Efron does have dancing feet? i don't know, he just looks like he's made for it. He's sooo hot!
