A/N: Hey guys! Sorry I haven't updated in five days! I made this chapter longer and I can only type so much words in one day. So, sorry if you guys were waiting a long time. And thanks for the reviews! You guys are awesome!
azndoll10: Thanks! As for your question about Troy being in love with Gabriella... hm... still not sure if I'm going to make them do that but they are still kinda attracted to each other.
lol925: It's okay. That happened to me too. Thanks! Troy was at Gabi's school because he was looking after the twins. Yeah, I decided to put in drama. I like drama, but not so much that the whole story is sad. Thanks for reviewing!
Vanessa Turner: Thanks! Well, you'll find out soon!
PrettyGirl14: What are you confused about? I can help you!
Okay, that's all the reviews! Thanks for reviewing again! Here's chapter seven! I hope you guys enjoy it!
This Is War
Chapter Seven: Small World
"Chad? Where are you? We're gonna be late for the show!" Taylor shouted through her house with little four-year-old Devon in her arms.
"Daddy! If we're late, Ms. Sharpay is going to be mad!" Little Devon shouted.
"He's right Chad! And you know what it means when Sharpay's mad!" Taylor shouted. Finally, Chad came out from the powder room after fixing his bow tie and brushing his signature curly locks.
"All right, all right, I'm ready. Let's go." Chad said as he reached for the car keys. He checked his watch. "I don't know why you guys keep hollering, we have like an hour to go." Then he takes little Devon in his hands while Taylor gets her purse.
"You ready for your first Broadway show little D?" Chad asked his son sweetly.
"Yup! I can't wait!" Devon answered.
"But there are rules. You can't make noises when you're inside the theatre. It'll ruin the play. You have to sit still in your seat. Okay?"
Devon sighed. "Okay." Chad noticed the sad look on his son's face.
"Hey, don't worry. After the play, you can make as much noise as you want. And I promise I'll get you ice cream."
Suddenly, little Devon's eyes grew wide as he looked at his dad. "Really?"
"If you promise to pay close attention to the play and not make any noise."
"I promise!" Little Devon shouted.
"All right!" Then Chad gave Devon a high-five. Then Taylor got back from their room. "Ready?"
"Ready!" Both Chad and Devon shouted. Taylor took the lead to the car. Chad put a finger to his lips and looked at Devon. Devon pretended to zip his lips and Chad smiled. "That's my boy."
Meanwhile, Gabriella is frantically searching her closet and trying to pull together a semi-formal outfit. She finally gave up after looking for an hour and found absolutely nothing.
"Nothing works!" Gabriella said, exasperated. Then she heard a knock on her bedroom door.
"Gabby? Can I come in?" Lataysha shouted.
"Whatever." Gabby said. Lataysha came in and found Gabriella lying facedown on her bed.
"Girl, what's wrong?" Lataysha asked while she sat next to her friend.
"I have no clue what to wear!" Gabriella shouted.
"Oh. And you're trying to impress… the guy." Lataysha said. She saw Gabriella nod.
"Well, I know the one person who we can turn to." Lataysha said as she took her phone out and started dialing. Then Gabriella perked up.
"Oh no. Knowing Sharpay, she'll probably tell me to wear something extravagant. And when I don't show up in it, she'll kill me."
"So you better make a wise decision. 'Cause she's on the other line right now. Hey Shar! How's it goin'?"
"It's good. I'm already here in the theatre. I'm helping Ryan do his last minute things. So what's up?"
"Oh, Gabriella here needs some help with wardrobe. She doesn't know what to wear."
"Oh, well, what kind of style does she like?"
Lataysha takes the phone from her ear and turns to Gabriella. "What kind of style do you like to wear for tonight?"
"Well, something semi-formal… you know, nothing too crazy and nothing too sim-" Gabriella didn't get to finish her sentence because Lataysha went back to her conversation.
"She said she wants to wear something semi-formal."
"Oh that's easy. Ask her if she has that black dress that I sent her last Christmas."
Lataysha took the phone off of her ear again and turned to Gabriella. "She asked if you still have the black dress that she sent you last Christmas." Gabriella immediately went into her closet and searched for the dress and in minutes she found it. Lataysha went back to her conversation.
"She's got it right here."
"Great. Tell her to wear it with the silver heels. Then tell her to wear the silver headband, the silver chain bracelet, the silver hoop earrings, the silver necklace, and the diamond ring."
"All right… I'll make sure to tell her… All right, bye." Lataysha said before she hung up her phone.
"She said to wear that with the silver heels, headband, chain bracelet, hoop earrings, necklace and the diamond ring." Lataysha said. Gabriella immediately pushed Lataysha out of her room so she could change.
A few moments later, Lataysha heard a voice from inside the room.
"Taysha? Can you come in and help me?" Lataysha rushed inside and saw that Gabriella needed to zip up.
"Can you please zip me up?" Gabriella asked. Lataysha comes and tries to zip up the zipper but fails. "It's stuck!"
"No, no, it can't be stuck! It's only been a year!"
"What size is this thing?" Lataysha asked as she reached for the tag. "A size two? What have you been eating?"
"Great. Now, I lost my ability to fit into a size two. What am I going to do now?" Gabriella asked Lataysha. It looked like she was about to cry.
"Don't you have a corset?" Lataysha asked. Then Gabriella perked up and pushed Lataysha out of the door.
In just a few minutes, Gabriella came out wearing the dress and the heels. "How do I look?" Gabriella asked.
Lataysha whistled. "Girl, if that dude got a look of you, I bet you a hundred bucks that he's gonna faint. But now you gotta put on the finishing touches." Gabriella did as she was told and went back to her room and put the headband, the earrings, the bracelet, and the necklace on.
"Are you ready? Can we go now?" Lataysha asked. Then she looked at her watch. "We have half an hour to go."
"Yeah we can go. Just let me get my purse." As soon as Gabriella got her purse, they were on their way.
"Shar, how do I look?" Ryan asked frantically as he came out of his dressing room.
"Ryan, for the twelfth time, you look great. Now stop asking me before I get a headache!" Sharpay said.
"Okay, okay, gosh. You don't have to shout about it. And I just wanna make sure I look good you know, for… Ms. M."
"You still don't know her name?"
"I didn't have the chance to ask."
"You're hopeless."
"Dad, how much more time do we have?" Roxanne asked as she came out of her dressing room. Ryan checked his watch. "We have about half an hour." He replied. Then Roxanne gave his dad two thumbs up and went back to her dressing room.
"See. Your daughters are relaxed. Why aren't you?" Sharpay asked. Suddenly Leslie walked on stage and came to Ryan. Sharpay just rolled her eyes. Ryan glared at her.
"Ryan." Leslie greeted.
"Leslie." Ryan greeted back.
"Sharpay." Leslie said.
"Leslie." Sharpay said. Then Leslie turned to Ryan. "Look. I worked hard on this play. Don't try to ruin it because if you ruin it, I'm ruined. And if I'm ruined, I ruin you. Got it?" Ryan did not say a word but just continued staring at her. Sharpay stepped in.
"Um… excuse me, Leslie, but I think my brother knows better than to do that. He's too nice to ruin your little play. So, I would back off a little, if you don't want to get stepped on." Sharpay said. Leslie just glared at her and walked into her office.
Sharpay turned to Ryan. "Are you just gonna let her talk to you like that? And you're not gonna do anything about it?" Sharpay asked.
"Hey, like you said, I'm too nice for that. And she's not worth wasting my breath for. I have to prepare for the musical." Ryan said and they walked into his dressing room to add the final adjustments. But what Ryan didn't know was that two pairs of blue eyes were watching him. One belonged to a little girl, and one, to a grown man.
Twenty minutes later, the theatre is three-quarters filled with people. In just a couple of minutes, the show would start and the theatre would be full. Some of the waiting people included Chad, Taylor, Devon, Kelsi, Jason, Zeke, Sharpay, Gabriella, Lataysha, and Troy. Troy sat farthest from Gabriella.
Jason kept rubbing Kelsi's stomach. "How's my baby girl doing? Are you ready for your first Broadway show?" Jason whispered to the baby girl inside Kelsi. Suddenly, he felt a jolt coming from Kelsi's stomach.
"Oh! I guess that was a 'yes'." Kelsi said.
Meanwhile, Gabriella could not sit still. She kept bugging Sharpay and Lataysha.
"Does my hair look okay?" Gabriella asked.
"Yes." Lataysha answered.
"What about my dress?" Gabriella asked again.
"Yes!" Sharpay answered.
"But what about my-"
"Gabriella! If you don't stop asking questions, I will personally make sure that you will not look okay. Got it?" Sharpay asked sternly. Gabriella sighed and nodded.
"By the way, Shar, where's Ryan?" Gabriella asked.
"He's backstage get-" Sharpay didn't get to finish her statement because a voice interrupted.
"Ladies and gentlemen, the show will be starting in two minutes. We will be closing the door in one minute."
One minute? That's just enough time for me to check my hair. Gabriella thought. "Excuse me." She told Sharpay and got up and went to the bathroom.
As the play progressed, Gabriella couldn't help but think. He reminds me of someone. I just can't put my finger on it. Gabriella thought. She started blinking. All of a sudden, a picture of Ryan on stage in high school flashed in her mind repeatedly. She blinked one time and the picture went away. She blinked one more time and started remembering things.
FLASHBACK
Gabriella and Ryan were on stage as Minnie and Arnold. Gabriella checked her watch. Five minutes until the kissing scene.
"Hey Minnie?" She heard Ryan say.
"Yeah?" She answered back.
"Thanks for helping out. I mean without you, it would've been nothing."
"No problem. You know I'm always here for you." Gabriella heard herself say. Ryan didn't say anything back. It was a long and awkward silence. She heard Ms. Darbus shout something softly to Ryan. Ryan obeyed and finally said something.
"Hey Minnie, I've been meaning to ask you something for a long time now."
Gabriella didn't know what to say. She heard pages ruffling behind her. Probably Ms. Darbus messing with the script again. She thought. She decided to play along with Ryan.
"Okay." Gabriella said. It was the only thing that came to her mind.
"Can I do this?" She heard Ryan say. All of a sudden, her lips were connected to his. They weren't supposed to kiss until five more minutes, but she couldn't help but savor every moment. She loved that kiss. It felt magical.
They went on like this for at least a minute. She didn't want to let go. But they had to, for the sake of the play. Gabriella gathered all of her might to say something. "I guess you can." Those were the words that came out of her mouth before Ryan sealed her lips one more time.
END OF FLASHBACK
Gabriella came back to reality when she realized someone was nudging her. She blinked a few times before she realized that the play was over and everybody was standing up and giving it a standing ovation. Sharpay was nudging her to stand up and start clapping. She did as she was told.
When she looked at the stage, she saw that the two main characters were kissing. The curtains closed and the play ended. Everybody was clapping wildly, and some were even cheering. Gabriella couldn't help but smile at the memories that were coming back to her. Just like high school. She thought.
After the musical, Gabriella calmed down a little bit. She's not as bouncy as she was before the show started. Troy suddenly disappeared.
Jason is now rubbing Kelsi's stomach again. "Did you like your first Broadway show baby?" Jason whispered.
"Of course she did. Uncle Ryan's in it." Kelsi said.
"But Ryan's not even related to her so how's he an uncle?" Zeke butted in.
"Well, he's a close friend, so he'll act like an uncle, besides, he's going to be one of her godfathers. And what else should she call him?" Kelsi said.
"Good point." Zeke said.
Meanwhile, Chad and Taylor are talking to their son.
"So how'd you like your first real Broadway play, little D?" Taylor asked.
"I liked it a lot. They did the same thing that you and daddy did last night." Little Devon said.
"What same thing?" Chad asked.
"The thing they did before they closed the curtain thingy." (A/N: He's talking about the kiss, unless you guys didn't catch that) Little Devon replied. Chad looked at Taylor wide-eyed.
"Well, that's what people do to show their love for each other sweetie." Taylor said.
"Yeah, so what you saw last night, means that your mommy and I love each other very much." Chad said.
"Oh, okay." Devon said. Chad picked him up and as he did, he received a kiss on the lips from Devon. "I love you, daddy." Devon said. Then he turned to his mother and kissed her on the lips too. "I love you mommy." (A/N: Aww…)
"Oh, we love you too, honey." Taylor said as she kissed his cheek.
"Very much." Chad added as he kissed his son's cheek.
"Yay! Can we go get ice cream now?" Devon asked sweetly.
"Oh yeah, I forgot! Thanks for reminding me, little D. I promise we'll get ice cream, but not now because mommy and daddy still has to talk to some people. Okay?" Chad said. Devon sighed. "Okay."
Meanwhile, Sharpay is talking to Gabriella.
"So where's the mystery guy?" Sharpay asked.
"I don't know. Do you know where the actors are gonna come out of?" Gabriella asked.
"Oh, they get out through those doors." Sharpay said pointing to two doors and turned to Zeke, Jason and Kelsi. Gabriella turned to Lataysha.
"Hey, Taysha. Can you come with me? I wanna meet Mystery Guy."
"Uh, uh. I don't think so. He's your man. I don't wanna interrupt your moment with him and I'm just gonna feel like a third wheel. You're on your own."
Gabriella sighed and nodded. She understood that she had to do this on her own. So she walked through the crowd and near the doors where Sharpay said that the actors would come out. In a few minutes, the doors opened revealing the actors. But before Gabriella could get a close look, the people in the crowd swarmed in for autographs and photo ops.
Finally, Mystery Guy (as Gabriella calls him) notices Gabriella and waves but was immediately blocked by a fan that asked for his autograph. Gabriella tried to get through the crowd but it was just too crowded. She decided just to wait for the crowd to fade.
In a few minutes, the crowd finally fades and Mystery Guy goes to Gabriella.
"Hey." Mystery Guy a.k.a. Ryan said.
"Hey." Gabriella said back.
"So how'd you like the musical?" Ryan asked.
"It was great. I've never seen a musical this good since… high school." Gabriella said. Since Ryan. She thought. Maybe… "Um… never really got your name." Gabriella said.
"Yeah I know. It's weird that we know each other for about a month now and we still don't know each other's names." Ryan said.
"So, can I have your name?" Gabriella asked.
"Oh, it's on the playbill." Ryan said. Gabriella put her hand to her head. "Oh, I didn't even think of that! And I'm supposed to be a genius!" She said as she took out the playbill from her purse and flipped through the pages and landed on the pages with the actors' names. She skimmed through the names until she found Ryan's character's name and went over to see… Ryan Evans.
"Ryan?" Gabriella said. Suddenly, Leslie comes.
"Ryan!" Leslie shouts, and bumps Gabriella. Leslie looks at Gabriella. "Aren't you Gabriella Montez?" Leslie said. Then the twins come running to them.
Ryan's eyes widened. "Gabriella?" He said as he rubbed his eyes to see if it was her that he was seeing.
"Ms. M, your first name is Gabriella?" Roxanne asked.
"You know each other?" Leslie butts in. Just then, Gabriella realizes who the girl is. "Leslie? Leslie Davis?" Gabriella asked.
"She's our mom!" Rachelle said proudly. "Isn't she pretty?"
"Mom?" Gabriella turned to Leslie with a confused look on her face.
"Yeah, and this is our dad!" Roxanne said as she pointed to Ryan. Ryan was speechless. The girl he never thought he'd see ever again was standing right in front of him.
"Dad?" Gabriella said, again, with a confused look plastered on her face. He's married? Gabriella thought. Suddenly, Gabriella started sprinting for the doors with tears in her eyes.
So did you guys like it? I thought Gabriella was kinda OOC at the beginning of the chapter. But I guess you change when love kicks in, LOL! I really hope you guys liked it! And please drop by and review! Thanks! Oh, and if you guys wanna check out the things Gabriella wore, go to my profile. Sorry if my fashion sense isn't that good, but I try.
And sorry if Chad, Jason, and Zeke's parts were lame. But I promise I'll make them better somehow in the next chapters!