IV. The Fall Festival
"Gabriella!" Mrs. Montez shouted from the bottom of the stairs. "Your date is here!" Gabriella walked down the stairs in a knee length spaghetti strap red dress, bright red lip shimmer, and silver flats. Her hair was down, with a silver ribbon as the headband. "Hi Chad" she said sweetly as she met him at the bottom of the stairs. "Hey Gabi" he replied. Chad was wearing his favorite red and white WILDCATS jersey, a pair of black jeans, and his best white Vans. "Bye mom" Gabriella said, giving her mom a quick kiss on the cheek. "I'll be back around 10" Gabriella stepped out onto the patio and shut the door behind her. Chad and Gabriella began walking towards the school when she saw Troy walking on the opposite side of the street with Sharpay. "Walk faster" she whispered to Chad as she sped up. "Hey, wait!" he broke into a jog to try and catch up with her. "Look!" she said, pointing to the two. They were holding hands and swinging their arms back and forth. Chad turned and looked at Troy, just as Troy looked at them. Gabriella saw him looking and quickly grabbed Chad's hand. "Um….okay…." Chad said, slightly startled.
When they arrived at the Festival, they bought their wrist bracelets (that get them onto the rides) and stood in line for the first ride, the Scrambler. Troy and Sharpay got in line behind them. "Okay, who's next?" the bearded ride operator looked up at Gabriella and Chad. "We are!" Chad said excitedly to the operator. "Okay, let me count you off" he replied. The operator pushed Chad onto the hard metal seat of the ride. "That's one" He pushed Gabriella on, "Two…". He then pushed Troy on "Three…" "Sir? Can me and him," Gabriella pointed at Chad, "be the only two on this cart? He," she pointed at Troy, "can get in the next one…please?" she gave the operator a sweet smile. "Naw! It's three to a seat!" He pulled the cold metal safety rail over them and buckled them in. "Then where am I supposed to sit? "Sharpay asked the operator testily. "Next cart" he replied casually. Troy mouthed the word SORRY to Sharpay, who rolled her eyes at him. Gabriella's cart moved and the next cart stopped at the dock. "Get in" the operator said gruffly. "One…" He looked around, waiting for two more people. Zeke stepped into the line and behind him, Felicia Gladsburg. "Two and three" The operator pushed the two into the cart with Sharpay. "Hi Sharpay" Zeke smiled as the safety bar went down and the ride began. "You look….." he looked her up and down, "incredible tonight" Zeke scooted towards her and pulled out two giant Choco Choco Chip cookies from a bag in his pocket. "I made 'em" he said as he put one in his mouth. Sharpay plucked the second one from his hand as if it was disease ridden. "Um…thanks" she rolled her eyes at him and set it down next to her.
Gabriella turned around so she could face Chad. "I really like this ride" she said as it swung them across the apparatus to the other side of the ride. "In my old neighborhood, we had a big thing called The Amazing County Fair, and we had this ride call The Slingshot. It was just like this" Troy rolled his eyes behind her back and looked at his watch as if he was bored. Chad saw Troy and tried to stifle his laughter with his hand. "What are you laughing about?" Gabriella asked him, turning around to face Troy. "He was laughing at me" Troy said matter-of-factly. "Oh really?" she shot Chad a piercing glare. The ride slowed and their cart landed at the dock. "Im hungry Chad lets go eat" Gabriella pulled him off of the ride and stormed over to the food building.
Chad ordered a large meatball sub with extra sauce and he ordered her fries and a shake. "Let's sit over here" she pointed to one of the small metal lunch tables in the corner. Gabriella sat with her back facing the door. Just as they started to eat, Troy and Sharpay came in, ordered their food (Philly cheese steak for Troy and a Diet Dr.Fizz for Sharpay), and sat down next to Chad and Gabriella. "Im having soooooooooooooo much fun Troy" Sharpay said mockingly as she placed her hand on top of Troy's. Troy glanced at Gabriella who looked at the two of them begrudgingly. "Chad," Gabriella said, placing her hand on top of Chad's, "it's such a beautiful night and I am so glad that I came with YOU instead of, I don't know, the star basketball player." Troy raised an eyebrow. "OH NO!" Chad said as he set down his sub. "I just got sauce all over this jersey! I'll be right back" he shot up and ran frantically to the bathroom. Troy knew why Chad did that. He wanted Gabriella and Troy to have some alone time. When Sharpay turned around, Troy knocked her Diet Dr. Fizz over onto her white Capri's. "UGH!" she said, looking down at her pants. "THIS IS THE WORST NIGHT EVER!" She quickly ran into the bathroom. Well, what am I supposed to do now? Gabriella thought, staring at Troy. "We need to talk Gabi" Troy said to her. "Well, I'm not talking in front of all these people. Let's….um…." Gabriella stammered. "Let's take a walk" he finished for her.