A/N: Hi there, everyone :) Once again, an idea popped into my head and wouldn't leave me alone until I put pen to paper - figuratively speaking. As the title already implies, this story is based on a song ("Mary's Song (Oh My My My)" by Taylor Swift), so I'm pretty sure you guys can already guess where this might be headed - roughly at least. So, I guess we'll have to wait and see where this is actually going to be headed. All I can say is that I'm very excited for it and I hope you guys are too. So, without further ado, here comes the prologue. Feel free to leave a review and let me know what you think :)

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the High School Musical: The Musical: The Series characters.

Gina's Song

Prologue

Love is …

Love is friendship that has caught fire. (Ann Landers)

Well yeah, it can be. But that's not always the case, is it? And not for every kind of love. The fifteen-year-old girl sitting in front of her laptop, paper and pen at the ready in front of her, sighed and continued her search. Love is …

Love isn't something you find. Love is something that finds you. (Loretta Young)

A very sweet thought. Probably true but not very specific. The girl shook her head and returned to the web page she had landed on. At least we're getting closer, she thought.

Life is the flower for which love is the honey. (Victor Hugo)

Alrighty, now we're diving into the poetry section. Her head shaking in silent laughter, the girl clicked onto the next hit.

True love is like ghosts, which everyone talks about and few have seen. (Francois de La Rochefoucauld)

Amen, Monsieur! I'm with you 100%! the girl thought. Sadly, that's probably not what Mrs. Matthews had had in mind when giving them their assignment.

Unable are the loved to die, for love is immortality. (Emily Dickinson)

God, this is hopeless. The girl groaned and buried her head in her hands. Why is this so difficult? It hadn't seemed like it back at school when Mrs. Matthews had given them their homework. Well, okay, maybe the simple sentence of What is love? written on the blackboard in neat, slightly cursive handwriting, had not been the easiest of assignments the teenager had ever laid eyes on, but probably neither her nor her fellow students had expected it to be quite so hard.

After all, when trying to define a certain term, what is the most logical thing to do? A Google search, exactly. But somehow, this was proving to be a rather fruitless endeavor. And, in retrospect, the girl couldn't quite figure out how she had been this disillusioned about the task in the beginning. Of course, love was an abstract concept, not to be easily defined in a single sentence.

Okay, the girl thought, change of plans. Time to gather together everything she had found. Maybe then an epiphany would hit. Love is …

… friendship that has caught fire

… something that finds you

… honey for flower (= life)

… a ghost-like thing

… immortality

Okay, the girl thought nodding her head a bit more contently, this is … something at least. But still, it did not feel like she had reached her goal. Of course, she could simply expand her search and add on to the list of what other people thought love might be compared to. But who says that just because Ann Landers, Loretta Young, Victor Hugo, Francois de La Rochefoucauld and Emily Dickinson thought that this was what love is, everyone else would simply agree? No, that couldn't be it.

Okay, the girl sighed, on to plan C. Maybe, before coming to a general and more objective conclusion as to what love was, she should first sort out her own thoughts on the topic and then go from there. That might work. And it should be rather easy, right?

Yeah, definitely easier said than done. Because she was still a fifteen-year-old teenager. What did she know about love?

Well, one thing for certain: love was a strange thing. It came in so many different forms, shapes and sizes.

It could sneak up on you, developing slowly and steadily form a warm affection to an all-encompassing feeling of adoration and devotion. Or it could come completely out of the blue, hitting you over the head and making you question how you had not realized it was there sooner.

It could be the feeling you had for a childhood toy, a family heirloom or a special place. It could be the feeling you had for the members of your family: for parents, siblings, pets and such. It could be a feeling shared between close friends that are almost like family – or, in some cases, even closer than real family.

And then there was this other kind of love. In many cases the most unexpected, most confusing or even most terrifying kind of love. The kind of love between two people – regardless of their individual form, shape and size, regardless of their age, race or gender – that binds them together in a unique way. The kind of love that didn't have to make sense or be logical, but rather the kind of love that just … was.

The girl had been scribbling furiously, trying to get all her thoughts down on paper. She looked them over once more and was actually quite pleased with what she had come up with. She could definitely expand on the part about love for family and friends – she had a lot of experience in those departments.

As for the other kind of love … that would be a bit harder to accomplish. After all, she was only fifteen years old. Sure, she had had her fair share of crushes – on both real people as well as on fictional characters – already, who hadn't? And yeah, there might have been that one time where she had fancied herself in love with this guy, Brandon, she had met in drama class. However, that had been a rather short-lived endeavor that had ended very quickly once she'd found out that Brandon (a) already had a girlfriend and (b) was actually not the knight in shining armor in real life that he had been supposed to play on stage.

Really, what was Mrs. Matthews thinking? Asking a bunch of hormonal teenagers to tackle such a private, emotional and multi-layered task. How were they supposed to know about love when most of them hadn't been so fortunate as to experience it yet – at least not in all its different capacities?

And then, the long-awaited epiphany hit the girl. Oh no, calm down, she hadn't suddenly come up with the perfect explanation for what love actually was. But she knew exactly who to ask about it. The person who knew the answer to absolutely everything.

"Grandma!" the girl called out. Yeah, as luck would have it, she was spending today – and the whole week – at her grandparents' house because her parents were both away on a business trip.

"Yes, sweetie?" her grandmother's melodic voice called back, coming from the kitchen where she was currently baking her world-famous cupcakes.

"Could you come in here for a sec?" the girl asked, gesturing around the living room where she was sitting at the big table doing her homework. "I could really use your help with one of my assignments."

"Of course, Bailey. I'm just putting the cupcakes in the oven and then I'll be right out." The sound of the oven being opened, then shut and a timer being set were the next things the teenager could hear, followed by the pitter-patter of footsteps approaching the kitchen door. Next thing she knew, her grandmother was entering the living room. Her grandmother was a tall woman with light brown skin and curly, dark hair that already had a few streaks of grey in them. However, she was still moving with the grace of a dancer despite her age. "Okay, sweets, now I know it's been a few years …"

"… decades," Bailey interjected cheekily, making her grandmother roll her eyes good-naturedly.

"Fine, decades," the older woman laughed, her eyes sparkling with amusement. "Hey, you asked for help, so no mocking the elderly."

Bailey burst out laughing. "I would never!" she exclaimed, feigning being insulted. "Especially since I'm pretty sure that there is no person your age who the description elderly fits less than you, Grandma."

"Why, thank you, dear." Her grandma stopped in her tracks and curtsied, thereby completing the look of the elegant dancer that she was pulling off, along with the rather fitting outfit she was already wearing for her class later: black skirt and tights as well as a dark red top underneath a black bolero jacket. The only thing that didn't fit the ensemble were the dark red fuzzy socks she had on her feat because of the cold weather. "Can't have the kids thinking I don't got it anymore."

"I wouldn't worry about that," Bailey said earnestly. "I don't really see any of your students thinking that the great Gina Caswell is any less in form then back when you were a professional dancer on Broadway. And even if they did, I don't think anyone's got the courage to say so."

Gina laughed, she knew very well that she had a reputation amongst her students of being a very strict and ambitious teacher. That was just who she was. And it didn't mean that her students liked or respected her any less than her fellow teachers. "I'll take it." The older woman finally reached her granddaughter and placed her hand on the girl's shoulder for a moment. "You still okay with helping out later?"

One of the instructors at the Salt Lake School of Dance had recently gotten injured and was unable to teach their classes. For the most part, Gina had been able to distribute the work between herself and her other instructors, but for tonight's class no one had been able to fill in. It was a beginner's class for kids and Gina herself was teaching one of her more advanced classes at the exact same time. Well, and since Bailey Caswell was Gina Caswell's granddaughter and had undoubtedly inherited her love, passion and talent for the performing arts, she had gladly volunteered to help out – having taught a few summer school dance classes before as well as being co-choreographer of her school's musical production.

"Sure thing, Grandma."

"Have I told you lately that you're my favorite grandkid," Gina gushed while placing a kiss on the top of the girl's head before finally settling in the chair beside her.

"Bet you tell that to all your grandchildren," Bailey replied cheekily.

"But I only mean it with you," Gina played along. For a moment, a comfortable silence spread between the duo.

Yeah, it had only been a teasing comment. Of course, Gina loved all her grandchildren equally, just like she had loved both her children equally. But it was also true that no one could dispute that there was a special bond between Bailey and Gina – between Bailey and both of her grandparents, actually.

After all, Bailey had been the first grandchild Gina and her husband EJ had been able to call their own. And with Bailey's parents working long hours and having to travel a lot, Bailey had been a frequent guest at her grandparents' house ever since she had been a baby. From slumber parties and birthday parties, over camping adventures and amusement park trips to dances recitals and Halloween parties, those three had done pretty much everything together. Just like they had done with their children, EJ and Gina loved spending time with their granddaughter and Bailey enjoyed every second of it.

There was an assortment of the Dance School's Halloween party pictures decorating both her room at home as well her room here at her grandparents' house that showed Bailey along with her grandparents in a variety of matching costumes: from the very first picture of EJ dressed as Flynn Ryder, Gina dressed as Rapunzel and baby Bailey dressed as a very cute Pascal to the last picture of EJ dressed as Geralt of Rivia, Gina dressed as Yennefer and Bailey dressed as Ciri.

"So, what did you want my help with, sweetie?" Gina suddenly asked, tearing Bailey out of her musings.

"Right yeah," she said while sorting her thoughts. "Okay, so I'm working on this assignment for school and it's … well, not really difficult but still … I'm kind of struggling with it because the topic is not really something I know too much about yet. And that's why I wanted to ask for your help." Bailey looked at her grandma and Gina nodded at her encouragingly. "Okay, um … so, here goes … You love Grandpa, right?"

Gina chuckled. "Of course, darling," she said slowly, not quite knowing where this was going. "Why do you ask?"

Bailey looked down at her lap for a moment, clearly not sure how to proceed. The older woman knew better then to push, opting to just put a comforting arm around the girl's shoulder and patiently wait for her to continue talking while absentmindedly combing through the girl's curls that were so similar to her own.

Eventually, it seemed like Bailey had managed to sort out her thoughts. She looked up at her grandmother with wide, blueish-grey eyes and took a deep breath. "You see, we're supposed to find out what love is," she finally revealed. "And, I mean I know what love is, what it's supposed to be. And of course, I love you and Grandpa and Mom and Dad and our whole family and my friends, that part I think I got. But … I've never loved someone, you know? The big kind of love, as of being in love with someone."

Gina nodded slowly. "Yeah, I think I got you," she said.

"And that's why I wanted to talk to you about it," Bailey continued her explanation. "Because I know you love Grandpa. And Dad always told me how Great-Grandpa Cash and Great-Grandpa James used to tell him and Aunt Emma about how they'd seen you and Grandpa getting together from miles away."

Gina burst out laughing. "Um, yeah … about that."

"Oh, I know," Bailey immediately jumped in. "Great-Grandma Terri and Great-Grandma Amelia then always said that those two knew nothing."

"Yeah, that's more like it," Gina agreed, her eyes shining from amusement.

"And I just wonder," Bailey finished passionately. "How do you know? How do you see it? What does it feel like? Just …" she paused and, once again, looked up at her grandmother with wide eyes. "Grandma, what is love?"

Gina laughed nervously. "Bailey-honey, those are a lot of questions," she said. "And you're right about this, love is not something that can just be summarized in one sentence. It's a lot more and it's probably gonna take a bit to explain it all. Once I figure out where to start anyways."

Bailey chuckled. "I've got time," she said simply, patiently looking at her grandmother.

"Yeah, me too," Gina agreed, smiling fondly at the girl. "We'll just have to keep an eye and ear on the cupcakes."

"I think we can handle that," Bailey said.

Without saying another word, the two women stood up and headed over to the couch to be able to sit more comfortably than on the chairs. Bailey sat down on one end, pulling her legs up in front of her, placing her arms around them and setting her head down on top of her knees, her curious gaze trained firmly on the older woman. Gina sat down on the armchair right beside Bailey, leaning back comfortably and letting her feet rest on the stool in front of her.

"Okay, sweets, what exactly do you want to know?" Gina asked. "Where do you want me to start?"

Bailey thought about that for a moment. "Did you always love Grandpa?" she finally asked. Meeting her grandmother's confused gaze, she decided to elaborate. "You know, like in the movies? Where the heroine meets her hero and immediately falls head-over-heels in love with him?"

Gina chuckled. "Well, it was not quite like in the movies," she said honestly. "You know, your grandfather and I knew each other ever since we were little kids. Me and your Great-Aunt Ashlyn were next-door neighbors and your Grandpa spent a lot of time at his cousin's house."

"His parents travelled a lot too, right?" Bailey asked. "Like mine do."

"They did," Gina nodded. "Liam definitely got that from the Caswell side of the family."

"Okay, so it makes sense that you two didn't fall in love right from the moment you met, that you were friends first," Bailey agreed. "But when was the first time you realized that there was something … different about Grandpa? Like different from just any friend."

Gina took her time with answering that particular question, she had a few decades of memories to go through, after all. But finally, she remembered a certain incident from long ago and suddenly it all fell into place. A warm and loving smile spread across her face, something Bailey immediately saw. The younger girl clapped her hands together excitedly and waited – somewhat impatiently – for her grandmother to go on.

"Okay, there was this one time …" Gina started before closing her eyes for a moment, lost in the memory. "I was … I think I was about seven years old which would have made your grandpa nine years old …"

She said, "I was seven and you were nine"

I looked at you like the stars that shined

In the sky, the pretty lights

And our daddies used to joke about the two of us

Growing up and falling in love

And our mamas smiled and rolled their eyes

And said, "Oh my, my, my"

Take me back to the house in the backyard tree

Said you'd beat me up, you were bigger than me

You never did, you never did

Take me back when our world was one block wide

I dared you to kiss me and ran when you tried

Just two kids, you and I

Oh my, my, my, my

I was sixteen when suddenly

I wasn't that little girl you used to see

But your eyes still shined like pretty lights

And our daddies used to joke about the two of us

They never believed we'd really fall in love

And our mamas smiled and rolled their eyes

And said, "Oh my, my, my"

Take me back to the creek beds we turned up

2 a.m. riding in your truck and all I need is you next to me

Take me back to the time we had our very first fight

The slamming of doors instead of kissing goodnight

You stayed outside till the morning light

Oh my, my, my, my

A few years had gone and come around

We were sitting at our favorite spot in town

And you looked at me, got down on one knee

Take me back to the time when we walked down the aisle

Our whole town came and our mamas cried

You said, "I do", and I did too

Take me home where we met so many years before

We'll rock our babies on that very front porch

After all this time, you and I

And I'll be eighty-seven; you'll be eighty-nine

I'll still look at you like the stars that shine

In the sky, oh my, my, my

(Mary's Song (Oh My My My) by Taylor Swift)