Ryan took Gabriella's hand.

Gabriella took Troy's.

Troy grasped Taylor's hand, who was also taking the hand of Chad.

Chad wrapped his fingers round Sharpay's palm, and with her other hand, held Ryan's other hand.

The six teenagers looked around at each other, smiling. The odd squeeze of a hand, a nudge of an elbow, a wink, a loving smile. Chad looked at the TV in the corner of the room, and alerted the rest of the group to the impending countdown.

"Ten!" The group all shouted simultaneously, excitement bubbling inside of all of them.

"Nine!" Chad wrinkled his nose, looking at Taylor.

"Eight!" Troy brought his hand up to touch Gabriella on the nose, her hand still in his.

"Seven!" Sharpay briefly cuddled to Ryan, placing her head on his shoulder.

"Six!" The group all took in a breath, as they prepared for a Wildcat tradition.

"Five!" All six squeezed hands, and jumped as they shouted the word.

"Four!" Another jump, their counting increasing in excitement.

"Three!"

"Two!"

"One!" All took three or so steps forward, to engage in the annual new year's group hug. They squeezed each other tightly, before pulling away slightly, breaking hands only to wrap their arms around each other.

"You guys…" Troy sighed. "This time next year, we will all be college kids. Gone our separate ways. But you know what I say? Once a Wildcat, always a Wildcat. So I say, from now on, the six of us get together every single new year's eve. Uphold this tradition. No matter where we are, no matter who we become, no matter what we do. We meet every year. Where should we say? The East High forecourt?"

Mumbles of agreement came from Troy's companions, before his girlfriend initiated a round of applause and a few cheers.

"Yeah! Every single year. No exceptions." Chad grinned. "Let's shake on it."

"Spit shake?" Troy laughed, provoking disgusted disagreement from the girls, and Ryan.

"No need for that." Gabriella frowned. She put her hand, palm down in the middle of the circle. Ryan placed his on hers, followed by Troy, Chad and Taylor. Everybody looking at her, Sharpay shrugged and put her hand in. Everybody piled their other hand in, and flew their hands simultaneously in the air.

"It's a done deal." Ryan smiled.

----------

Ten years later

Chad felt a bit silly. It was half eleven, and nobody else had yet turned up. It was a particularly cold night, the icy, biting wind threatening to penetrate Chad's old East High hoodie.

He buried his face in the neck of his hoodie, trying to direct his warm breath onto his frozen nose. He pulled the sides of the hood up to cover his ears, and he hunched his shoulders.

He spotted a figure in the distance, seemingly a male, also hunched, and walking quickly in the cold. Chad pleaded to himself for it to be Ryan or Troy. Even just the company would make him feel less cold, as he figured the weather wasn't helping his state of mind, as he drew closer to bolting to somewhere warm.

He suddenly felt ever so slightly warmer, as he noticed the figure coming towards him. As the unknown figure came closer, Chad recognised him.

"Troy!" Chad ecstatically said, with a slight relieved sigh. "You came."

"Of course I did." Troy said, simply. "We made a pact, man."

"It's so freezing, I would have killed all five of you if nobody turned up." Chad shivered. "Any idea if anyone else is coming?"

"I think they will. I mean, they have the past nine years." Troy thought for a minute. "Although… I thought I read in Jessie's pop magazine that Sharpay had a show in London today."

"I'll kill her." Chad sighed. "Jessie's your niece, right? How old is she now?"

"Nearly seven! Remember when she was born? Man, witnessing Laura in labour was too much."

A faint, but audible tip-tapping came from somewhere to the boys' left. It wasn't so much tip-tap, but a random, subsequence tip-tip tap tip tap-tap. From round the corner of the building, two big coats scurried round and towards them, a familiar looking woman huddled inside each of the coats.

"You guys came!" Troy grinned at his own and Chad's high school sweethearts, standing in front of him.

"Tay." Chad exhaled, as if he'd been holding his breath to see her. "How's it going?" He asked, taking her in a tight embrace, shivering as he felt himself thawing slightly from the heat of her body.

"Hi Troy." Gabriella smiled, before scrunching up her nose. The two of them also hugged, both couples staying wrapped around each other, for the warmth if nothing else.

"So we're just waiting on the Evans', huh?!" Taylor rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, Troy says Sharpay had a concert in London tonight. So how she'd even make it if she wanted to…"

"London's seven hours ahead." Taylor told Chad. "So if her concert started at 8pm, that was 1pm for us. She'd be able to make it. Whether or not she'd want to…"

Taylor's sentence was drowned out by the sound of a car pulling up. And at ten to midnight, Ryan jumped out of the car and ran towards the group.

"Sorry." He sighed. "We were delayed!"

"We?" Taylor asked, looking over at the car, as she saw Sharpay emerge.

When Sharpay had joined the other five, they all smiled. A few of them, however, grew concerned and slightly afraid when a huge, red, middle-aged man approached the group. Sharpay laughed a little when she saw their expressions.

"This is Mark. He's my security."

Chad rolled his eyes as the other girls laughed, breathing in relief. Troy looked at his watch, which, in preparation for tonight, he'd made sure was exact to Mountain Standard Time.

"Four minutes guys." He shook his head at Sharpay. "You really cut it fine this year."

"I'm here aren't I?" Sharpay blinked.

"That's all that matters." Chad quickly interrupted. "How'd the concert go?"

"Awesome!" Sharpay grinned. "My show is great, my team is awesome. Particularly choreography." She glanced with a grin at Ryan.

Troy looked at his watch again, and grabbed hands of the two nearest people, who just happened to be Sharpay and Gabriella. Everybody linked hands, sharing glances, all of them observing how much each of them had changed in the past year. A few of them noticing how much some of them had changed over the years. Most of them tended not to see each other, bar this hour or so that they would meet up for at new year.

"Six!" Troy yelled, to alert everyone to the beginning of the tradition.

"Five!" They all jumped on the spot. "Four! Three! Two!"

"One!" They all came together, arms wrapped round each other. They had all grown apart, and didn't really know each other anymore. But somehow, it felt like these people knew them better than any other.

As they opened the circle back up slightly, Troy started his speech.

"Ten years ago," He started, smiling whilst reminiscing, "We made a pact. To meet up every new year, in this spot, no matter what. And here we are. All six of us have come, every single year. Sharpay and Ryan, hurrying back from a concert in London! Gabriella and Taylor, hurrying from the lab, no doubt? Chad, a rising star in baseball. And me…" Troy sighed. "Teaching drama to kids in my old middle school.

"Remember high school?! The things that mattered to us! Gabriella suffered from stage fright. Sharpay and Ryan were afraid we were gonna join the drama club and take over, or something. And Chad and Taylor… don't get me started on the mischief you guys caused."

Some embarrassed laughter emerged from almost everyone.

"And the things that worry us now." Troy's joy had dropped from his face. "I'm worried my wife will leave me if I don't give her a baby."

Gabriella rubbed soothing circles on his back, and lay her cheek on his arm.

"I'm worried." Gabriella piped up. "My Mom has been ill. I don't know what I'll do, if…" She cut herself off, choked with tears threatening to fall.

"I'm worried, too." Chad nodded. "That I'll get thrown off the team when they finally find out… That I'm gay."

A couple of gasps came from the circle, Chad stayed looking at the ground, nodding slightly.

"I'm worried about something." Taylor continued the trend. "My boyfriend. I think he's cheating." A tear fell.

"I'm terrified." Sharpay whimpered. "The more famous I get… the more I'm worried that I'll attract the attention of a psycho. I'm terrified of getting hurt or something… just for doing what I love."

Mark, Sharpay's security guard, placed his hand gently on her shoulder, causing her to smile gratefully, glad for the reassurance of protection.

"I'm worried…" Ryan shrugged. "In fact… I think it's bordering on an obsession. I'm worried about something happening to me. Accidents happen, right, it's a part of life. But if I injure myself in any way… it could end my career. And the worst thing is the fear is crippling me, anyway."

The six made no attempt to console each other. Well, at least not verbally. Troy and Gabriella were huddling in each other's arms, as were Chad and Taylor. Sharpay had her arm linked in Mark's, and at the end of her other arm, her hand was entwined with her brother's.

The other five now absorbed Troy's message. Their high school problems seemed so minor compared to their adult lives. Some of them had never shared these particular fears with anyone - and so were glad to get it off their chests.

"I won't depress you all next year." Troy weakly smiled.

"How about next year, we all meet here, at 8pm. And we go for a meal." Ryan suggested.

"Sounds good." Chad nodded, smiling, as the rest of the group murmured an agreement.

"I'll email you all the day before to remind you." Ryan laughed.

The group, once they'd got over the distress of sharing their concerns, all felt some kind of relief, serenity, or contentedness.

"I love you guys." Taylor smiled.

Thats it! Thanks for reading this fic guys. I hope you liked this little extra chapter. It was very nearly the beginning bit only, until I got the idea of showing them meeting up too. Happy new year. x