Ryan's pacing was so incessant that it was making her own feet hurt. She physically blocked his path with her body. He went to move around her, barely seeing her, but she grabbed his black leather jacket. "Ryan, you've got to calm down."
"I can't!" He threw his hands up in the air. "How can we have a party with no band?"
"It's a reunion. People will mingle!" Gabriella tried to placate him, but the look on his face told her that she had said the wrong thing.
He repeated her words under his breath before running a hand through his gelled spikes of hair. "This is a disaster." Ryan was very frustrated, but also very hard to take seriously dressed as Billy Idol. He pulled out his phone again and Gabriella took it.
"I'll call the band and get an update. A flat tire is fixable. I'm sure they are working on it," she was relieved when she saw Sharpay walking their direction. Gabriella shoved Ryan into her rainbow arms and called the number.
As Gabriella waited for someone to pick up, she looked around the room. Ryan had managed to turn the ballroom of the Lava Spring Country Club into a time machine back to the eighties. Movie posters were on one wall, including all of John Hughes' best, and there were lifesize cardboard cutouts of many iconic performers from the decade. Ryan was posing beside the cardboard Billy Idol as Sharpay took a picture. She was hard to miss. Sharpay had piled her blonde hair into a poofy ponytail with a blue bow to match the blue mini dress with rainbow sleeves that she was wearing. When Gabriella saw her, she had to explain her character as Rainbow Brite, a children's television character, and Gabriella vaguely remembered it.
When the band finally answered, they assured her that they were putting on the spare and should be there within the hour. On her way to tell Ryan she was interrupted by Chad and Taylor. Or, more accurately, two Michael Jacksons. Chad was rocking the red leather, dark complexion, and bright eyes of a young MJ. Taylor was the version of the superstar that Gabriella was familiar with. She was wearing foundation several shades lighter than her natural skin tone, her hair was in greasy curls, her brows were drawn high and angular, plus her expression was moody and a little pinched. Gabriella couldn't help but laugh.
Ryan and Sharpay came over to see what was so funny. They also got a good kick out of it and Ryan gave them both high fives. Gabriella told him about the band's update. "Until the band gets here, we've gotta get these two to the photobooth!" Ryan ushed the Jackson Two to the station.
"Have you seen Troy?" Gabriella shook her head. "I couldn't convince him to dress as George Michael, but he promised that he would try to fit the theme."
Gabriella giggled at the mental image Sharpay's words evoked. Now that she thought about it, they did look a little similar, especially with some stubble. When she was figuring out what to wear, she couldn't choose any one person. Instead, she went for an iconic aerobic style with a cream leotard and black leggings, complete with pink leg warmers and half her hair up in a pink scrunchie.
Gabriella assured Sharpay that she was easy for anyone to find with her rainbow costume. Sharpay went to go look for Troy anyway. Just as Gabriella headed to the refreshment table, Ryan was at her elbow. He was bursting with stress and nervous energy. She knew without asking him that the band had called with another update, and that it wasn't good.
"Who lets the spare tire dry rot? You have to get those things replaced sometimes! At least check them! Did they even take driver's ed?" Ryan was venting, saying so many sentences in quick succession that it was hard to keep up. "What are we going to do?"
"A radio?" Gabriella suggested. Ryan shook his head. "Call another band?" The gelled spikes in his hair were not affected by his vehement no.
"A one woman show?" Sharpay suggested, appearing from behind Gabriella with Troy in tow. Ryan, Gabriella, and Troy all vetoed that idea at the same time. Sharpay stuck out her bottom lip in a pout.
"Wait, maybe Sharpay can sing!" Ryan was speaking excitedly. "I have an idea." He grabbed Gabriella's hand and pulled her with him out of the ballroom.
Ryan led the way to a storage closet behind the stage. It was filled with props and costumes, including the bright white piano she remembered from a summer a long time ago. He started pulling boxes off of a shelf. One was filled with pink and gold Star Dazzle awards. Another contained brightly colored wigs. The next must have been what he was looking for. He smiled brightly and handed her two microphones on long cords. He grabbed a large silver machine and started walking back the way they came.
Before long, the stage in the ballroom was rearranged. Ryan ran an extension cord and hooked up the karaoke machine front and center. It was an older model, so all of the songs would be throwbacks, but that fit with the theme of the reunion anyway. It had a small screen that would display the lyrics and cords that were compatible with the speakers meant for the band. Gabriella plugged in the microphones, and it was showtime.
Troy felt a hand on his shoulder and turned around. Jason was smiling widely. "Great minds think alike, huh?" He gestured to his red puffer vest.
Troy laughed. They both wore multiple layers in the style of Marty McFly. "Maybe so! But I see Jennifer picked the right Marty."
Martha, clad in floral pants and a white shirt, laughed beside Jason and did a little curtsey. The trio quickly began talking about the movie series their characters were from. Unanimously, the first movie was voted as the best. Zeke and his wife joined the conversation, their arrival signaled by the swishing fabric of brightly colored parachute pants.
Troy had to admit that Ryan's theme was a hit. Watching everyone arrive was an event itself, and provided easy conversation starters. All of these conversations came to a screeching halt with the high pitched feedback from a microphone. Troy turned around to see Ryan looking uncharacteristically nervous on stage. "Welcome to Fast Times at East High! It's great to see everyone again. We've had a change in the program, and tonight's entertainment has been upgraded to wildat karaoke!" Ryan kept talking, powering through the mix of groans and cheers at the announcement. "It is with a rebel yell that I introduce our first singer, Miss Sharpay Evans!"
Sharpay marched onto the stage and took the microphone from her brother with a flourish. A familiar beat began to play and Sharpay put her vocal talents on display. Within a few lines, the entire female audience was singing along to "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun". Gabriella, Taylor, Martha, and Kelsi were some of the loudest singers, creating some strange version of a girl mosh pit by the stage.
"Yep, this is it. This is definitely why I wanted to come to the reunion." Chad had his arms crossed over his chest. Zeke and Troy both gave him quizzical looks. "I wanted to hear Sharpay sing one more time! Right, Zeke?" Chad elbowed Zeke in the ribs. All three laughed. Zeke tried to defend himself, reminding the guys that it had been over a ten years since his crush on Sharpay.
"I don't know, man. You baked her cookies. Sounds like it was pretty serious," Troy teased, but he was already laughing before he was done talking.
Sharpay finished her song and asked the crowd who wanted a turn. No one volunteered. "I don't think I'm the focus of her attention now," Zeke said. A smug grin spread across his face as he looked at the stage.
"What?" Troy's question was answered all too quickly. He heard his name called loudly, and turned to see Sharpay pointing at him from the stage. She curled her fingers, beckoning him on stage for a turn. Troy turned around quickly, ready to hurry in the opposite direction. Chad and Zeke blocked his path. They put their hands on his shoulders to turn him around and then pushed on his back, shoving him towards the stage.
There was no way out but through, and misery loves company. Troy walked towards the stage, but snagged Gabriella along the way. She also tried to escape, but Taylor and Kelsi did the same thing that his friends had done to him. As they ascended the stairs, Gabriella tried again to get out of it.
Troy reached for her hand so she couldn't run back down the steps. "You're the reason any of these people know that I can sing."
She sighed dramatically, but was smiling. "You're still using that excuse?"
He smiled charmingly. "You are the music in me, remember?"
His blue eyes sparkled as her cheeks turned pink. Gabriella became too aware of her hand in his and let go, reaching for a microphone. Troy scrolled through the menu on the machine to find a song. He found his selection quickly.
He stood back and the music started. "Now I've had the time of my life," he sang the first line with as deep of a singing voice as he could muster. The microphone picked up Gabriella's giggle. Troy kept up the deep tone as he sang, pointing at her with "and I owe it all to you."
"Cause I've had the time of my life, and I owe it all to you," he slipped back into his normal singing voice as they sang together. Gabriella took the next verse. Troy watched as she gained more confidence with every line, slowly turning into the confident performer that she summoned from somewhere inside herself. Back at a ski lodge on New Year's Eve, he had seen it happen for the first time. During their audition of "Breaking Free" she did the same thing, blossoming with the song. It was just as mesmerizing a decade later. He was almost too distracted watching her to join in for the chorus.
Troy sang, incorporating some dance moves that he remembered from the iconic scene with Patrick Swayze. He twirled Gabriella, taking care to avoid getting tangled in the microphone cords. As usual, singing with her felt as carefree and fun as kindergarten, even when the lyrics to the song made them both blush pink with shared memories.
He pulled her close at the end of the twirl. Singing the last "and I owe it all to you" the song came to a close. The cheering of their classmates brought distance between them, and they parted to give dramatic bows.
Martha, Taylor, Kelsi, and Zeke's wife came onto the stage quickly, taking their microphones and jumping into the next decade with the song "Wannabe".
"I hope the punch is spiked," Troy said, following Gabriella to the refreshment table.
"It only seems fair. We're all adults!" Troy passed her a cup. The punch did indeed have some rum in it, and it slid down her throat comfortingly. Ryan was going to need to make more to keep the karaoke going. "That was fun," Gabriella said genuinely.
"It was. It's been a long time, but somehow it didn't feel like it." Troy knew why it happened that way, but did not say it out loud. It had never been difficult for them to sing together. Some things just happen naturally.
Gabriella nodded, understanding the feeling. She asked when the last time he had sang on a stage, and it was the same as hers. Their senior year had been their last performances. Gabriella's studies left little room for activities, and what time she did have she used to bolster her resume with volunteering or internships.
"I stayed around the theater scene, but more behind the curtain. It wasn't the same outside of East High." Troy rubbed his chin like he was pondering a philosophical question. "Probably because they didn't have Ms. Darbus."
She laughed, remembering the theater teacher fondly. "That must be it. Take one person out of the equation, and," Gabriella made a raspberry sound with her mouth, "it just isn't the same."
AN: Thank you for your continued readership. As you probably noticed, the 80s hold a very special place in my heart, so I had to rein in some of the references, but it's all in good fun. Leave a review with your thoughts about what may happen next or maybe your favorite 80s idol/song/movie for me to use next chapter.