Thank you to everyone who read, left kudos, or left comments for the last chapter. You're so wonderful. That's why you're getting a Wednesday update. Now for the main event.
Mood music: For this chapter, I suggest listening to Usher's Climax or Is it Just Me by the Backstreet Boys. Unfortunately, both songs are too young to use within the story but were fantastic for me to listen to as I rewrote this chapter. However, Marc is providing an in chapter soundtrack. Should I figure out how to use Apple music to make a playlist for this story?
In my old age, I try not to give in to the desire to bash the canon love interest to make way for my ship. I had to rewrite a lot of this chapter because of my new philosophy. It's not at the levels I prefer now, but it's better than what it was.
As mentioned previously, all the chapter titles for this arc are coming from the song Waiting for the End by Linkin Park.
Chapter 14: This is not what I had planned (Holding onto what I haven't got)
Still afternoon October 10, 2008
Amanda was desperate to meet Taylor McKessie, the woman, her roommate, has been stressing over for the last three weeks. The stories Amanda has heard from Taylor's little brother Jason, Troy, and Ryan have her very intrigued. Who wouldn't want to meet somebody who ran her friend's English paper through a shredder? Or through a mini tantrum when finding out her little brother would be skipping most of junior high.
Amanda was willing to skip her Friday afternoon English class when Chad text messaged her about their extra guest. That was how badly she wanted to meet Taylor. It was not as if they were doing something that Amanda could not get from Nikki later. She was just happy she did not have cheerleading practice today. That was as always mandatory.
For the last five minutes, she watched Chad's soon to be ex-girlfriend yell at her roommate for 'accidentally' taking Taylor's laptop cord out of her bag last night. Troy and Jason were definitely right about the temper. Although in her defense, Amanda did call her previous roommate a fucking bitch multiple times, which is one of the reasons why she's now with Sharpay.
Ryan said that Taylor was beautiful, but objectively Amanda feels like Sharpay is prettier. Amanda would know because she's seeing the woman without makeup, and her hair completely messed up first thing in the morning, and she still looks good. Besides, Amanda did not like girls who straighten their hair. Amanda preferred to show off how proud she was of her African heritage by wearing her hair as natural as possible. This week she was currently wearing braids. So mentally, Amanda took points off for Taylor's current hairstyle.
Of course, at this point, Amanda was half convinced Ryan has a crush on Taylor. She's only heard about Taylor's good points from Ryan, such as the fact Taylor functioned as his scribe in the history class they shared together last year. Amanda would be hard-pressed not to fall for somebody who helped her work through her disability. Although maybe this was some weird sort of rebound thing since Ryan's last crush was currently with his sister. She hasn't been text message friends with Ryan long enough to get involved with that. Ryan can work that mess out on his own. As soon as he realizes that his girlfriend is probably hooking up with her roommate. Amanda doesn't have the heart to point that one out yet either. At least not until she meets Ryan in person.
Ironically enough, Sharpay was probably a nicer person than Taylor. This was saying something, considering Sharpay through Nikki's now-former roommate Maria Gutierrez's makeup in the trash after taking Sharpay's Chanel lipstick from the bathroom. Although unlike Taylor, Sharpay kept the screaming down to a minimum.
"Seriously, why the fuck were you even in my laptop bag last night? How am I supposed to watch the lectures now, Tatiana? It's polite to ask if you can borrow something. This isn't like taking the last pop tart. She hung up on me." Amanda is not surprised Tatiana hung up.
"I'm sure it was an accident," Amanda said to keep Taylor calm, which was her prime objective right now. You don't want to bring an angry person into a breakup conversation.
"No, it wasn't because Tatiana has no boundaries. Last week she used my shower shoes without asking. Three days ago, Tatiana borrowed one of my bras, again without asking. Today she decided to borrow my laptop cord. Of course, this was after she drained the battery on my laptop." Taylor side. Okay, maybe she could see why Taylor cursed out her roommate. Amanda would probably do similar in those circumstances.
"When will you be able to switch rooms?" Amanda asked.
"After Thanksgiving. I'm not sure I'm going to make it. I hate it there. I mean… Why is it also hard?" Taylor placed her head in her hands. Why did Amanda feel that this anger wasn't just over the bad roommate or a dead laptop without a court? Amanda is an expert in stressed-out student tantrums.
"I have to tell you about my first roommate at some point. She was awful. In addition to making fun of my learning disability, she purposely broke one of my textbooks on CD."
"I can see how Sharpay would be an upgrade." Taylor sighed.
"Just take a deep breath and don't stress out about the cord. It will be okay."
"I am barely holding onto a B in that class. I can't miss a lecture." From what Jason told Amanda, that would be bad for Taylor.
"I completely understand. I can't fix a dead laptop or get you a roommate who understands the concept of personal boundaries. I can let you use Sharpay's laptop." Amanda said, pointing to Sharpay's desk.
"Sharpay would be okay with that?" Taylor asked hesitantly.
"I could text her, but I'm sure she would be cool with it. She lets Chad use her computer all the time."
"That does not surprise me."
Taylor sighed again. "I know she's helping out the drama class right now, and that teacher hates cell phones with a fiery passion."
"I've heard."
"Until today, I thought that was the only class Sharpay ever got straight A's in. Apparently, I was wrong."
"A lot of people couldn't believe the girl who couldn't read had a 4.0 either at my school, but here I am in Evans hall."
"How is that related?" Taylor seemed confused.
"This is the honors dorm. No one is allowed to live here in their first year unless they had a GPA of at least 3.5 in high school. No exceptions. Even Blaze, Chad's psychotic oversexed roommate, meets these qualifications. I heard he was valedictorian at his school." Taylor gave her a surprised look.
"If it makes you feel better, Sharpay was doing really bad in chemistry until Chad started tutoring her. He's so smart, but then again, he's already in chemistry 153."
"Are we talking about the same Chad Danforth? Because we never took the same courses together in high school." Taylor asked, confused.
This was when Amanda had to remind herself what Troy told her about Chad's high school persona. That's why she didn't make a snide comment about East high having the funding for multiple AP classes and dual enrollment. Taylor didn't know because Chad didn't want her to know. Chad was an idiotic genius.
"Curly hair, light-skinned, and wears T-shirts that say things like 'my girlfriend can kick your ass, and I'm okay with that.' He's also a little terrified of people seeing who he really is."
"Ryan said something similar earlier." Taylor acknowledged. "However, you forgot to mention basketball obsessed."
"Not really. Chad is on the team, but that's about it. I think he's only on friendly terms with Zach."
"Who is Zach?" He is either Sharpay's real competition or a long lost relative. However, Amanda chose to keep that thought to herself. She knows from Chad that not that many people know he's not straight yet. Marc taught her not to out people who weren't ready.
"The token good teammate on the basketball team. Just let me put Sharpay's password in for you, then you can watch your lecture in peace." Amanda said, taking the computer out of its designer carrying case, who, according to Chad, matches her puppy carrying case perfectly. Only Sharpay would put her laptop back in its case just to leave it on top of her desk.
"You know her password?" Taylor asked, surprised.
"She writes it down on a sticky and then forgets about it," Amanda said as she typed in 4Chad' $mouNtaiNlioN. "Chad yells at her for risking her computer safety like that, but she does it anyway,"
Eventually, Amanda will regret her decision to let Taylor use Sharpay's computer. Along with Chad keeping his baseball gear in their closet.
XXXX
Meanwhile, at East High
"What do you mean I have to take him to class?" Sharpay asked Kim with hands on her hips. "Not that I don't love my pseudo nephew. I thought Ms. Ortega said you could switch periods?"
"Under normal circumstances, I could. Unfortunately, I am supposed to be teaching the lesson today. I can't switch classes for that. Ms. Darbus said it was fine if you took him into the drama classroom. She said something about the students learning how to work with children."
"Well, he does have his mother skills. Is there any chance we can borrow him for the fall production?" Sharpay joked, mostly.
"Only if he has his own dressing room," Kim said, handing Alex to Sharpay once more.
XXXX
Taylor's adventures in the twilight zone continued because this can't be her real life right now. Obviously, she would've known if her boyfriend had a GPA of over 3.5, right? Missing Sharpay's intelligence, she could understand because there only mutual acquaintances before Chad defected to team Sharpay was Ryan. Ryan already confirmed that Sharpay had better grades than him.
But Chad, she would know? A girlfriend should know how smart her boyfriend actually is. Of course, that's when she remembered last year when she forced him to drop out of AP English. She assumed it was a typo and forced him to give her his spot. What if it wasn't? What if he belonged there as much as she did? If that was the case, why didn't he tell her?
Ryan's words earlier about nobody really knowing Chad besides Troy kept echoing in her mind. What did she not know? She didn't know about basketball camp 2006. She had no idea who Jamie was. She can't forget that Chad said "we" when repeating whatever biphobic thing his ex-roommate said. So Taylor should probably add a giant question mark beside her boyfriend's sexual orientation.
Apparently, she had no idea what her boyfriend's GPA was in high school
, either. Taylor couldn't argue that it was lower than 3.5 because she didn't know the number. Come to think of it, she didn't even know Chad's SAT score.
Taylor really should be paying attention to the lecture she's watching. She wants to at least keep a B in this class. Except when Taylor opened the word document to take some notes, she came across Chad and Sharpay's joint English project. It was about their time at East high. Taylor knew she had to read it.
Both Chad and Sharpay were better writers than she thought they would be. Technically it was near perfect. Sharpay's writing also reflected creativity that Taylor didn't have. There she found out that Chad hid the fact that he was super smart and taking AP and college classes the entire time. Also, now Taylor knows who was ranked third in the East High Class of 2008. Chad asked that his name not be included in the list. Since the list came out in June, Taylor wondered who requested that their name not be listed now she knew.
Taylor: So how self-absorbed did I have to be in high school to not realize that Chad was taking college classes for most of last year?
Ryan: So you're beginning to learn the secrets of Chad Danforth.
Taylor: Tatiana decided to borrow my laptop last night for reasons only known to her. She drained the battery and then placed it back in my bag. However, she forgot to put the cord back in. So I arrived in Albuquerque with a dead laptop, making it impossible for me to view the lecture I need to.
Ryan: I hate your roommate.
Taylor: So do I. Anyway, I'm able to watch the lecture now because your sister's roommate Amanda allowed me to use Sharpay's computer. You really need to tell your sister to not write her password down.
Ryan: Chad and I are trying to break her of the habit, but it's going badly.
Taylor: Anyway, because Tatyana also took my notebook from my bag, I went into Word to type up some notes. That's where I found Chad and Sharpay's joint English assignment, where I discovered how oblivious I was.
Ryan: In your defense, Chad's an excellent actor. Nobody pulls off hyper heterosexual moronic jock like Chad Danforth. You saw what he wanted you to see.
Taylor: But you saw the truth, and I didn't.
Ryan: Because he wanted me to see him.
Taylor: That's the problem. Chad should trust me to see the real him in a real relationship, and he doesn't. This can't work that way.
Ryan: That's something you and Chad need to talk about. You are well aware that your relationship is not what you need it to be. You need to tell him that.
Taylor: And will you tell Kelsi that you don't like her spending all her time with Natasha?
Ryan: I promise I will deal with my Kelsi issues when the time is right. But this is about you and Chad, and you know it.
Taylor: I know it's about us. I am even wondering if there should be me and Chad right now. It was just easier to hold on to the last piece of high school normal. Everything such a mess right now; I have no friends, and my grade suck. I don't want to add not having a boyfriend to that list.
Ryan: No one does that well during their first semester. Regardless you shouldn't stay in a relationship that's not working just because you're afraid of being single.
Taylor: I think you should look in the mirror, Mr. kettle. Also, your sister's thriving in college, and so is Chad.
Ryan: Technically, this is not Chad's first semester of college. Sharpay is only doing well in chemistry because she had the good sense to get a tutor. Apparently, you two had a shit chemistry teacher who provided you with no background. You should probably get a tutor as well. I'll even pay for it if that's the problem. It's not a weakness to ask for help.
Taylor: I know. It's just hard to admit that I'm not as good as I thought I was.
Ryan: Did you miss my earlier comments about the lousy chemistry teacher that did not prepare you? That's not your fault.
Taylor: You have a point.
Ryan: However, in the meantime, step away from my sister's computer. Snooping isn't going to help.
Taylor: Fine, I'm exiting out of the Word now.
Ryan: Thank You
Taylor: Although I just found a PowerPoint labeled the best in Chad and Sharpay on your sister's desktop. You know I have to look.
Ryan: Taylor, I'm begging you to not look at that.
Taylor: Now, I have to look.
Ryan: Taylor, don't do this. Please don't do this.
Taylor: Did you know that your sister is fucking my boyfriend? The girlfriend of Chad's roommate just found Sharpay's bra in his bedroom.
Ryan: I don't think they're actually having sex yet.
Taylor: The roommate and his girlfriend say differently. But that doesn't matter because I just saw a PowerPoint with 15 pictures of your sister and my boyfriend making out. Did you know?
Ryan: I told you not to look. Things aren't always what they seem.
Taylor: So your sister is just hooking up with someone who looks exactly like my boyfriend? I'm not stupid, Ryan.
Ryan: I need to send you a picture of Zach.
Taylor: According to Chad's roommate's girlfriend, Chad is always spending the night with your sister. She called Sharpay his girlfriend. Of course, this is after she insulted my taste by insinuating I shop at Walmart.
Ryan: They're not actually together. Chad wanted to end things with you first.
Ryan: BTW, I like the way you dress.
Taylor: Fuck you, Evans
Xxxxx
Ryan: Amanda, why did you let Taylor have access to Sharpay's computer? You know Sharpay has lots of pictures of Chad and her being a perfect couple on her laptop.
Ryan: Taylor is going to look at the PowerPoint that Kim made. Remember, it was part of her effort to get them to see the truth. Now Taylor is going to see it. Do you realize how bad that is going to be?
Amanda: Yes, I realized how bad that is because she just took Chad's baseball bat to Sharpay's laptop.
Amanda: I forgot that was on there. I'm sorry.
Amanda: Good news, it's still in one piece. Sharpay must've got a good laptop. The plasma not so much.
Ryan: Shit!
Ryan: Yet, I shouldn't be surprised. Screenshots of Taylor's last few messages to me.
Ryan: [image one attached]
Ryan: [image two attached]
Amanda: I could understand how she feels. You knew, and you didn't warn her. I'm just thankful that she hasn't gone full waiting to exhale yet. I don't want the dorms to burn down.
Ryan: Has anybody tried to stop her?
Amanda: Ginger did, and she has a black eye now. She got too close to the baseball bat. Ginger is also really sorry for yelling at Blaise In the middle of the common room, waving Sharpay's bra around. As she accused him of sleeping around.
Amanda: This seems strange because they've been trying to convince Chad to have a threesome with them for weeks.
Ryan: That's different.
Amanda: Marc is also equally sorry now for playing Shaggy's It Wasn't Me at the time. Although, not sorry enough to stop offering up a soundtrack to this chaos.
Ryan: Your dorm is nuts.
Amanda: This is why you should not put this many gifted kids together in small quarters. This all happened about 5 minutes before the baseball bat came out. Marc has moved on to his breakup mix, including New Found Glory's version of King of Wishful Thinking and Hit 'em Up Style.
Ryan: That's going to make things worse.
Amanda: I tried to get Marc to play Linkin Park's In Between, which I feel sums up what Chad is feeling, but he is not taking requests right now.
Ryan: That was probably when she was texting me to find out if I knew. I tried to tell her that things weren't what they seemed.
Amanda: Her boyfriend fell in love with someone else; it's precisely what it seems like. It doesn't matter if they had sex or not yet. Emotional infidelity can be worse.
Ryan: I know.
Amanda: She doesn't even know about what happened during the summer of 07. You got off lightly, Evans.
Ryan: I really thought she was his beard.
Amanda: Never tell her that. I've seen Chad and Troy interact, and I can understand where that came from, but you're still an idiot.
Amanda: I've tried to call your sister 3 times, and she's not picking up. Do you have any suggestions?
Ryan: Probably because her phone has been confiscated by Ms. Darbus. Have you tried Kim? If that doesn't work, text Troy and ask for his dad's cell phone number. He is the basketball coach/freshman health teacher at the school and can grab Sharpay in an emergency. I feel like this qualifies.
Amanda: Actually, could you text Troy to text his dad as I call Kim. We can't lose time. Taylor has just moved to Chad's room. We've just lost the big-screen television in the common room Sharpay got for everyone.
Ryan: I'll text Troy.
Ryan: And then look into getting a flight to New Mexico.
Amanda: Don't. Taylor is definitely not ready to see you or anyone else right now.
Ryan: What about a chocolate and liquor apology gift basket?
Amanda: You better send one to me too. Taylor ripped up my comforter.
Ryan: Of course. And a gift card for the comforter. Sorry. We're idiots.
XXXX
Sharpay Evans was not in a good mood. Although she was having fun watching some of the students trying to act with Alex, she could not stop thinking about the girl studying in her dorm room. Tonight was going to be ugly, and she could not help but feel guilty. It was as if what was about to happen was all her fault. So distracted by guilt over Taylor, she forgot to put her cell phone on silent. For the first time in seven weeks of working at EHS, someone called her during class time. Her cell phone was now in the Darbus collection.
As she started to go over the next scene with Jackie, Jimmy, and Alex, Kim and Jason ran on to the stage.
"What are you doing here, Ms. Kim? I assure you your child is fine." The drama teacher said to the two invaders.
"Unfortunately, Sharpay's dorm room is not. Your roommate was trying to call you, but she couldn't get a hold of you." Kim said, looking at Ms. Darbus.
"I'm sure whenever it is can wait until class is over." Just then, Kim passed the phone to Ms. Darbus.
"If only she would channel that aggression into the theater. I think you need to leave now, Ms. Evans. You can make up the time another day." Ms. Darbus said this as she passed back the phone to Kim and then went to get Sharpay's out of the collection. Sharpay quickly opened the screen to see a picture of Taylor slamming a baseball bat into her plasma television. When Sharpay went to grab her bag, she noticed Jason following her.
"What are you doing?" Sharpay asked.
"Remember, Last week, my mom added you to the list of people who could sign me out in an emergency. My sister having a nervous breakdown because she most likely discovered you are sort of dating her boyfriend qualifies as an emergency. Besides, you're going to need me to calm her down."
"Find you can come."
As she was leaving the room, she swore she heard Kim scream. "Where is my kid?"
XXXX
October 10, 2008, 4:15 PM
Amanda knew this day was going to come after spending Labor Day with Chad and Sharpay. It was why she joined Kim's breakup conspiracy group; they were trying to keep this from happening. They failed miserably, as evident by Taylor taking a baseball bat to their room 45 minutes ago. Amanda genuinely hates herself for forgetting the PowerPoint was on the computer. Amanda really did like that television that Taylor crushed.
Now Amanda, Marc, Nikki, and Jason McKessie sat in the common room watching the greatest fight in A of U history. Nikki was live texting Ryan for her since she can't dictate right now. If she didn't tell him everything, he would probably be getting on a flight to New Mexico right now. Marc was playing the Boy is Mind because he believes all of life's significant moments should have a soundtrack.
"It was bad enough that you went after Gabby's man. Now you are going after my idiotic boyfriend like a lost puppy. Now that Troy is at Berkeley, you have to go after his best friend? You're so pathetic." Taylor said in pure hatred as she threw another couch cushion at Sharpay.
"There's Nothing cheap about me. I'm not the one who shops at Walmart." At this remark, Taylor threw a textbook at Sharpay, which took out a lamp instead.
"Is she aware that Chad has a 4.0 average and is technically a sophomore?" Nikki asked Jason as the verbal jabs continued between the girls.
"Chad kept his intelligence a secret in high school," Jason explained as he took pictures of the whole thing.
"Per the text messages that Ryan screenshot at me, she found out right before by reading Chad and Sharpay's English project."
"That should've been a sign right there that this was going nowhere," Nikki remarked, and Amanda agreed.
"Why isn't Sharpay fighting back physically? This is the same girl who knocked a basketball player unconscious." Marc asked as he realized that Sharpay was only defending herself from Taylor's physical attacks.
"Guilt," both Jason and Amanda replied at the same time. They all knew that Sharpay could do some severe damage if she wanted to.
"Maybe we should go get the RA?" Nikki asked from the side. "Ryan said he called their father; he's on his way."
"Only if someone starts bleeding," Amanda replied softly.
"This needs to come out one way or another. At least Sharpay got the baseball bat away from her."
While they were talking, Taylor said something about Chad that Amanda didn't quite get. Regardless it resulted in Sharpay finally slapping Taylor in the face.
"If you want to attack me, go ahead, attack me. I did not survive four years of being the most hated person at East High without developing a thick skin. I don't care if you hate me. Everybody has at one point. Don't you ever say anything that nasty about Chad again." Sharpay said forcefully.
"Nothing you are accusing him of is true. Chad is not talking to Zeke right now because he's suggested that Chad fuck Penelope behind your back. Believe what you want about me. Go ahead and call me every nasty word you can think of. I've been called worse. But Chad did nothing for you to deserve your anger."
"I think I have a right to be mad about the fact you were making out with my boyfriend. I saw pictures, and Ryan confirmed it even if he swears you guys haven't slept together. How many times did my boyfriend shove his tongue down your throat? Or maybe he shoved something else down your throat if locker room rumors are to be believed." Those comments got Taylor another slap.
"What is she talking about?" Jason asked the other three.
"Oral sex," Marc said before he remembered he was talking to a 12-year-old. Or maybe Amanda smacking him upside the head helped.
"There are children present." Amanda admonished.
"My mom's a gynecologist, so I'm aware. Although, I've never heard it referred to like that."
"Considering they don't remember there's a kid here, I don't think you should be mad at Marc," Nikki said, pointing to Taylor and Sharpay fighting.
"If you think I'm going to let you take my boyfriend without a fight, you have another thing coming. I doubt that he loves you." Taylor said as she tried to attack Sharpay again.
"She doesn't know, does she?" Marc said to the other three in a whisper.
"Ryan tried to prime Taylor for this, but obviously he wasn't successful," Amanda said quietly.
"I'd told Chad to break up with my sister over the phone. For a Genius, he is a complete idiot. This is the same person who put my favorite video game in the garbage disposal because I read her diary." Jason explained.
"It is his twisted sense of honor. In Chad's mind, it's wrong to break up with somebody over the phone." Amanda said to the others.
"This is going to be bad," Nikki muttered to herself as Sharpay when off on Taylor's lack of knowledge of her boyfriend.
"Do you know anything about your boyfriend? Do you even know what classes he is taking this semester? Do you know what he wants to be after college? Do you know anything about who he is now? Do you know what type of person he is? You can't love someone you don't know, and you don't know Chad. You don't even know about Jamie."
"Who is Jamie?" Mark whispered to Amanda.
"Chad's ex before Taylor." Amanda purposely did not say boyfriend because outing Chad right now would make things worse. Not that they weren't already bad.
"Like you know the answers to any of those questions? He probably hates you as much as he did in high school. He only wants you because you're here." Taylor's voice was full of venom.
"That's not true, Taylor. You don't know me, and that's my fault. I'm sorry I didn't let you in. But don't be angry at Sharpay because I wasn't honest with you." Chad said, walking into the room and instantly went to Sharpay without even thinking. Incidentally, this was when Marc's phone started playing In Between by Linkin Park. It feels oddly appropriate.
"I'm with you because I want to be, not because you're here," Chad whispered to Sharpay just loud enough that Amanda picked up on it. Fortunately, Taylor was too far away to hear this inconvenient truth.
"I don't think being honest about fucking someone else is going to help right now," Taylor said, pulling out of black bra and throwing it at the two. "I am so done with your bullshit."
"That's another two dollars for the swear jar," quipped Jason from the side.
"I wonder what happened to that bra," Sharpay said, picking up the custom made garment.
"You wouldn't stop asking about it for two days," Chad said under his breath in a barely audible mumble.
"You left it in his room when you were screwing my boyfriend," Taylor said, looking for something else to throw.
"I did not have sex with Chad," Sharpay muttered, not that Taylor was listening to anything at that point.
"This was not how I wanted you to find out," Chad said softly as he ran his hand through his hair.
"That you are cheating on me with Sharpay?" Taylor said as she threw another pillow at Chad and Sharpay.
"No, that he is in love with her. Stop calling her bad words. She is my friend Taylor. Unlike you, she actually cares about someone other than herself and her GPA. You seriously need to grow up. Stop throwing a tantrum every time you don't get your way." Jason said to his sister.
Amanda knew at that moment that all hell was going to break loose when she saw the look of murder in Taylor's eyes as she lunged for the object of her annoyance. Maybe they should have called the RA in earlier.
XXXX
Taylor was furious. Her boyfriend of more than a year was fucking around with Sharpay Evans, and everybody else knew and told her nothing. Even Ryan knew. Worse than Ryan knowing and not telling her it was Jason knew. She could understand Ryan not telling her the truth because Sharpay is his sister. But her own brother should have told her. Instead, he took Sharpay's side. Maybe that's why she almost hit Jason. Before she could, Sharpay grabbed her arm and pulled her back. Taylor had no idea the girl was that strong. She couldn't get away from her, no matter how hard she pulled.
"Let go of me, you ice queen bitch." Taylor said as she fought Sharpay to let her go.
"Not until you calm down. You almost attacked an innocent 12-year-old. You want to fight someone, fight me. Trust me, I will kick your ass. Don't you dare touch, Jason. You are going to stand here and listen." Sharpay said, turning her around to face Chad.
"Why do I need to listen? I don't want to hear you two lie about how you're not fucking each other. I've seen the pictures. I loved you, and this is how you pay me back, you ass." Taylor said, literally spitting at Chad.
"I'm not sleeping with her. You don't believe me, fine. If you don't know me well enough to know I wouldn't do that to you, then you don't know me at all. Taylor, you never knew me beyond my fake high school persona."
"Because you never let me. I found out more about you from reading your joint paper with Sharpay than anything you ever told me. I don't even know who Jamie is."
"My ex-boyfriend." That explains why Chad did not want to room with someone who was biphobic. That also explains why he used "we" when he explained what happened.
"You had an ex-boyfriend? I thought I was your first serious relationship?" Was everything a lie?
"You don't know me, Taylor; you never did. I never gave you that privilege. I'm very sorry about that. I think I was too afraid after Jamie broke my heart. I could never trust you enough to know me. Don't say you love me, Taylor. You did not know me well enough to actually love me."
"But instead, you're letting Sharpay in?" Taylor asked.
"Because she wouldn't let me pretend anymore. She sees me, flaws and all. You never really wanted to get beyond the surface me. I'm so tired of trying to be something else. I cannot do it anymore. I am sorry. I wanted to have a conversation where we talked about all of this, but it's too late. This isn't working anymore between us, and you know it. I'm sorry, but I can't be your boyfriend anymore." She wanted to cry when he said those words, but she wouldn't let him see her tears.
"Amanda can drive you home. Let her go, Sharpay." He said as he physically removed Sharpay away from Taylor.
"Fine. If you touch Jason again, I will hurt you." Sharpay said as Chad wrapped his arms around her. This visual took the last bit of fight out of Taylor. Although the fact that someone was now playing Brandy's Almost Doesn't Count in the background didn't help things.
Before seen them together in the flesh, it was easier to pretend it was just sex. Taylor was not sure if sex was involved. She would like to believe that Ryan was telling her the truth. Chad didn't do casual. Even though everything she knew about him turned out to be a lie, she knew that was still true. Prom was a great example of that.
Whatever was going on with Sharpay was not casual. They knew each other too well. Chad looked at Sharpay as if she were the only thing in the world. He never looked at Taylor like that. She saw that same look in her father's eyes every time he was with her mother. Taylor knew it was the look of true love. She feels so stupid right now.
She couldn't take it. She couldn't believe it. How did it happen? 10 weeks and he was already in love with someone else. More importantly, in 10 weeks, he managed to trust Sharpay so much more than her. Even if Chad didn't want to be publicly known as bisexual, he should have told her about Jamie. Her mind couldn't process this. When she couldn't process things, she ran. She could not face the truth that Chad never loved her.
XXX
Kim was panicking. Her kid was gone because Jimmie and Jackie were too busy watching her tell Sharpay the bad news. She was going to hurt them as soon as she tracked down her toddler. The school was huge. She should seriously consider a tracking device. After 10 minutes of not finding her child, she was starting to panic.
Then she heard her son giggling. Her heart was calming down until she realized the sound was coming from the gymnasium. That was one of the two rooms at the school she had been trying to avoid desperately for the last several weeks. The other was the freshman health classroom. As she walked into the gym, she saw her son playing with the man that probably hated her more than anything. She did not care. She just wanted her baby back.
"Don't ever do that to mommy again. Thank you for finding him. He was supposed to stay with Sharpay in the theater; instead, he ran away as he always does." She really is going to put a tracker on that kid.
"Don't worry. Troy did the same thing when he was Alex's age." Before she had time to figure out exactly how Jack Bolton knew her son's name, he asked the one question she did not want to hear.
"Exactly when were you going to tell me that I was a grandfather?"
To be continued
This is one of the chapters I cut a lot of stuff out of. Although I added a bunch of new things as well. I hope it made it a better chapter.
The last scene happened before the fight on campus, but it worked better to cut to the scene afterward.