Author's Note: Hey! Eeeek I am very exited to write this chapter but I'm going to keep my mouth closed for once! So I hope you all enjoy the chapter and review please! Also I just wanted to point out in my summary it has details about the play, which is coming up. Just making sure you all know that's it's not going to like disappear completely in the story. So now on with the story!
Summary: After the call backs, Troy and Gabriella's relationship begins to blossom. But Sharpay wants Troy, and the part of Minnie. Will Troy and Gabriella be able to pull through? Or will Sharpay succeed?
Soaring, Flying
Chapter 16
Gabriella was all packed up and ready to go on that early Monday morning. She had spent the weekend thinking about what to do with Derek. Truth be told, when she told Abigail that she knew exactly what to do about Derek, she had no clue. But she wasn't going to let that ruin her trip. It was 5:50 A.M. and she was D.C. bound.
—
Mrs. Montez's car was parked outside East High.
"Now you sure you have everything Gabi?" her mother asked frantically.
"Mom, I'll be fine," Gabriella said comfortingly. She put her hand over her mother's and gave her a warm smile. "Don't worry," Gabriella said softly.
Mrs. Montez pulled her daughter in for one last hug. "You have fun now," she whispered in her ear. Mrs. Montez gave her a soft peck on the cheek as they both gently pulled away.
"Love you mommy," Gabriella said in a little two year old's voice as she stepped out of the car with her luggage in hand. She slammed the door shut as her mom blew her a kiss and watched her daughter walk into the dark school.
—
Once Gabriella stepped inside the overwhelming gymnasium, she was greeted with teachers practically throwing papers, pamphlets and anything else they could possibly give to every kid who walked through the door.
Thankfully, she spotted her little group of friends, huddled around in the middle of the gym. She quickly grabbed her things and hurried towards them.
"Hey guys!" She cried giving Taylor a friendly hug of excitement.
"What no hug for me?" Chad whined sarcastically, giving Gabriella a playful hug.
The gang went on talking non-stop. Chad's arm was around Taylor almost the entire time; things must have sorted themselves out between the two.
"Hey man," Troy waked over to them, surprising Chad from behind.
"Hey Troy," everyone greeted him.
Gabriella's eyes circled around the room. A large commotion was coming from the entrance of the gym.
"What going on over there?" piped up Abigail looking over to see what was wrong.
"Let's go see!" Chad said taking Taylor by the hand and racing away, the rest following.
Surprise, surprise. Sharpay stood in the middle of the doorway, all dolled up with the rest of them in sweats. With her, she had at least five pieces of fluffy pink luggage. They all couldn't help but laugh, even Troy.
"Troy hun, tell them I can have these bags on the plane," Sharpay whined.
"Uh..." Troy said backing away slowly.
Sharpay rolled her eyes and went on bickering with the teachers.
—
After at least an hour of waiting anxiously, the buses finally arrived to take them to the airport.
Quickly, the gang grabbed their belongings as all the rest of the kids made a dash for the door.
After much squeezing and squishing Gabriella and Troy were the only ones who made it out of the crowd. The two walked out to wait for the rest of their friends by the awaiting buses piling luggage into the compartment below the bus.
"So what's the deal with Sharpay? Not to be rude or anything, but didn't she fail Mr. O'Falley's test?" Gabriella asked as kindly as possible.
"Well her mom was up at the school and I guess it went off from there," Troy grumbled.
Gabriella looked out into the pinkish glow coming from the tops of the hills, made by the rising sun.
"Wow, that's beautiful," Gabriella said softly, looking out into the distance.
"Yes, you are," Troy whispered, realizing what he had just, said he quickly corrected himself. "I mean that is," Thankfully she didn't hear him the first time. Troy gave a relieved sigh.
Suddenly, the beautiful sigh was ruined by a mad rush of their classmates running toward the buses behind them.
"Let's get outta here," Troy said nervously, grabbing Gabriella's hand and racing inside the nearest bus.
Once they got inside the bus they breathed heavily. Gabriella and Troy's hands still interlocked together.
Quickly, they realized it and pulled their hands away as they both blushed.
The crowd of kids soon entered the buses, people's things were being thrown everywhere, there was yelling and screaming, and then the bus driver had enough.
"Everyone in a seat now!" she screamed.
Gabriella and Troy quickly sat down in the nearest two seats.
Gabriella turned herself around to face the back of the bus to see what happened to Taylor and the rest of her friends.
Way in the back she spotted Taylor cuddled up with Chad. Her smile was bright and beautiful as she leaned her head against Chad's shoulder.
Gabriella sighed and looked around in search of Abigail. She spotted her opposite Taylor's seat, being bored to tears with Zeke tell her about all the elements of basketball. Her chin rested on the palm of her hand as she blew some stray hairs from her bangs up in the air and looked helplessly at Gabriella. Gabriella shrugged her shoulders and sat back down.
Then a thought crossed her mind, 'where was Derek?' She looked out the window to find Derek banging and pleading on the bus doors for them to open. When they finally did Derek scurried inside giving Troy a dirty look as he walked by. Gabriella quickly turned her head away. She couldn't even stand to look at him right now.
—
Slowly the bus started up. A few kids cheered and screeched with excitement. The rest just beamed with happiness. Gabriella and Troy still hadn't said a word to each other since they got on the bus. Finally Troy's voice broke out.
"Ah, I can't believe the play is in just ten days," Troy said.
"Yeah, right when we get back from Washington. It came and went so fast," Gabriella said, her head filling with memories. "I've been doing a lot of one-on-one rehearsing with Kelsi. Have you?" Gabriella asked him.
"Yes, and if I must say so myself I am an amazing singer," Troy said sarcastically.
Gabriella smirked. But something was hidden beneath that smile, and Troy knew it.
"Gabriella? Are you okay?" Troy asked softly leaning into her.
"Yeah, fine," Gabriella said quietly.
Troy raised an eyebrow up at her.
"Ok now tell me the truth," he replied softly.
"Well it's like this-" Gabriella started.
"Ahem," But of course, Sharpay stood behind her. Her arms were folded over her chest and her foot was tapping angrily. "Gabriella be a dear and go sit with your boyfriend so I can sit with mine," Sharpay scowled.
"Sharpay don't-" Troy said, defending Gabriella.
"No Troy it's ok," Gabriella said softly as she got up and walked down the aisle.
"Sharpay you have no right to talk to her like that," Troy said angrily once Gabriella had left.
"Well excuse me for trying to protect my boyfriend!" Sharpay sneered.
"Protect me?! Protect me from what?" Troy said his voice growing louder.
"Don't you see Troy," Sharpay's tone began to soften. "She's still in love with you," Sharpay said slyly.
'Well maybe I'm still in love with her too.' Troy thought to himself. The words stung him in the heart, knowing that this was truly the way he felt towards Gabriella. He slid back in his seat and leaned his head against the cool window, feeling all of his emotions being balled up into one and being tossed around in his stomach.
Sharpay sat down with a smile of satisfaction on her face.
—
Gabriella walked past all of her screaming classmates as she walked towards the back of the bus. She stared in disgust at everyone throwing food and other items across the aisles.
The bus made a sudden sharp turn. Gabriella swerved and fell on top of Derek.
"Hey watch it! I'm eating here!" Derek said angrily, removing his pretzels which Gabriella had evidently squashed.
"Sorry," she grumbled, brushing herself off and sitting down.
Derek went on eating his chips as they spilt all over himself and Gabriella. She looked down in disgust and glared at him. Halfway through the ride, Gabriella felt herself growing tired. She slowly let her head rest against Derek's shoulder. He gently patted the top of her head and let his own lean softly against hers.
—
Troy was still in his unusual silence. Sharpay was fiddling with her Sidekick, without a care in the world. He leaned his head against the window looking at the reflections of his classmates seated peacefully in the early morning. His eyes darted towards Gabriella and Derek. He sighed heavily and looked down at his feet unhappily. Maybe it was time for him to finally face the truth. He was still in love with Gabriella.
He probably never stopped, it was just that Sharpay took control of his life and all things around it. And now, another thing crossed his mind, Sharpay. He didn't want to hurt her on what was supposed to be a fun trip. So he decided that he would not break up with her until they returned. He knew it was a terrible thing to do to her, stay with someone that you didn't really love. He wondered if Sharpay really loved him back. But he didn't want to think about that right now. The only thing on his mind was Gabriella.
He needed to tell Gabriella in some secretive way that Sharpay wouldn't find out. His nerves took over, scrambling with 'what if's'. But besides Sharpay there was only one thing standing in his way: Derek. Either way, he wasn't going to tell her. And even if she rejected him, he wouldn't care. Just as long as she knew.
—
The ride took longer than expected. Gabriella gently lifted her head from Derek's broad, basketball shoulders. As soon as she got up from her position, Derek's body sprawled out over her's. His faint snoring grew louder. She sighed and leaned back in her seat, having Derek lay over her like a pile of bricks. She re-situated herself and leaned back in her seat.
A few minutes later she realized that she shouldn't let the guy who forgot their anniversary lay on-top of her. She reached over and began to wake him.
"Derek, Derek wake up," She said shaking him.
"I didn't steal the fruit, no matter what he tells you!" he cried out. The bus became silent. "Oh, it was just a...dream," he said, uncomfortably lifting himself from his sleeping position.
"Derek, we need to talk," Gabriella emphasized.
"Okay, what about?" Derek asked.
"Do you know what the other day was?" she asked him.
"Um...pizza day in the cafeteria?" he asked shrugging his shoulders.
"No Derek, it was our one-month anniversary, that you said we should celebrate when we started this relationship," she said angrily.
"Oh man, that was last week! Gabriella, I'm sorry, I didn't mean- I mean- I'm just really sorry," He said quietly.
"Derek, what happened to us? Lately you've been all about...you," she said. She knew it was mean and she almost regretted saying it, but it was the truth.
"Oh, Ashley has Snickers! Be right back," he said happily getting up and heading towards Ashley.
Gabriella rolled her eyes and took over Derek's window seat. She too leaned her head against the refreshingly cold window and stared off into the distance of her other classmates looking out at the country sky.
She saw Troy up at the front of the bus through the little opening between the window and her seat. She called his name softly hoping that Sharpay or Derek wouldn't hear her.
"Troy, psst, Troy!" She called out softly.
His head quickly whipped around to see her at the other end of the bus. He gave her a happy wave mouthing the words. 'I really need to talk to you,' But before he had a chance to say anything the bus halted to a stop. They had finally reached the airport.
—
The kids flooded off the bus and actually waited where they were supposed to.
"Okay everyone we are getting on the plane in at least two hours, so make yourselves comfortable in the waiting area until we are ready. And please behave," Mr. O'Falley whined as everyone raced into the airport.
Yet the kids still took over the entire waiting room within a second. The people waiting patiently for their planes to board gave them dirty looks as they all raced to find seats. As Gabriella walked past all of her running and screeching classmates, she spotted Ryan following behind Sharpay on his crutches. All of Sharpay's belongings and his were draped over his back. Sharpay however walked up ahead only carrying her measly purse.
Suddenly, Ryan lost his balance and tumbled to the floor. Sharpay quickly jerked around and shrugged her shoulders, and walked on. Gabriella rolled her eyes and quickly ran over to help him.
"Ryan, are you okay?" Gabriella asked, bending down to help him collect his things.
"Yeah, just great," he grumbled as Gabriella stood up. She extended a hand to help him up and handed him his crutches.
"If you don't mind me asking, why do you let Sharpay walk all over you?" Gabriella asked as her classmates swooped by them.
"Well, I don't know. But I think it's time I change that," Ryan replied with a smile.
Gabriella nodded in approval and smiled back as they both parted, going their separate ways.
—
Gabriella, Kelsi and Abigail had been waiting in the waiting room for hours. They ran out of things to do a while ago, so they resorted to the last thing they could think of.
"You got any sixes?" Kelsi groaned, with her chin rested against the palm of her hand.
"Go fish," Abigail moaned tossing her playing cards to the side. Kelsi did the same.
"When are we going to board this plane?" Abigail whined with a heavy sigh.
"I don't know!" Kelsi shot back impatiently.
"Will you two quit whining," Gabriella mumbled rolling her eyes and turning the other way.
Her eyes drifted to Derek flirting with the customer service girl. Gabriella sighed at the perfect-looking blonde with the model type body. Even in a flight attendant outfit, she looked beautiful.
'Am I losing him too?' She thought to herself. Then it occurred to her; maybe it wasn't the guy, maybe it was her.
—
The airport waiting room was freezing cold. Gabriella was too cranky to talk to anybody, and she hadn't gotten much sleep the past night. She let her eyes gently close as she huddled herself together for warmth. Slowly, she fell asleep.
Troy was not having a very pleasant morning either. He was too busy being Sharpay's flunky to have any real exitment. Except if you count the occasional outbursts of fights between Sharpay and Ryan. Then that would be about it. He was sick of her and her princess attitude. Then finally, he got a break.
"Troy, you can go take my things and find us a seat, while I wait here for information on my baggage problem. Okay sweetie," she said blowing him a kiss and turning back around.
Troy picked up some of her things unhappily and hurried to find a seat. Finally he found one away from everyone else. He'd passed Gabriella on the walk over to his spot. Noticing her chilliness, gave him a bright idea.
He looked around to see if anyone was watching him as he tore out a blank sheet of paper. He whipped out a pen and quickly began to write.
—
Upon finishing his little note, he folded it in half and stuck it in his coat pocket. He nonchalantly got up from his seat and walked over inconspicuously to Gabriella's.
Once more he looked around to make sure no one was looking at him, Most importantly he looked for Kelsi and Abigail who would be nearby. They would definitely notice him.
Thankfully, they were banging ferociously on a vending machine, hoping their Pop-tart (that they had just paid a good dollar for) would come out of its socket.
He quickly looked both ways once more and tore off his coat, placing it over Gabriella's petite little body. The warmth of the coat soothed Gabriella's insides as her face loosened up and gently smiled.
Troy smiled back at her and left before Sharpay noticed he was gone.
—
Gabriella slowly awakened from her deep sleep. She looked awkwardly at the denim jacket that served as a blanket, covering her body. She looked around at the busy airport. Her eyes struck to Derek, who was without his jacket.
'Maybe he does care after all,' she thought to herself.
She smiled happily as she waved her hand up in the air, signaling for him to come over to her. He paced himself down the long aisles of students. Finally reaching her, he sat down in the empty seat next to her and heaved a heavy sigh.
Gabriella leaned over and gave him a gentle kiss on the cheek.
"Wow, what was that for?" He asked as he gently rubbed his cheek going into a daze.
"I think you know," Gabriella said, twinkling her eyes.
"Um...I don't know, but I would like to know," Derek replied nervously.
"The jacket," she said waiting for him to fill in the blanks.
"Jacket...?" he asked, not knowing what in the world she was talking about.
"Didn't you put your jacket around me when I was sleeping?" Gabriella asked, her tone growing softer.
"No! Why would I do something like that?" he sneered, taking a huge bite out of his Ring Ding.
At first, Gabriella thought he was just kidding, but then it came upon her that he was really serious.
Derek turned around and gave a flirty wave to the customer service girl, who winked back. Gabriella also turned the opposite way and folded her arms against her chest.
She'd given Derek a second chance, but he blew it. She thought he had changed but guessed she was wrong. A hot tear rolled down her cheek.
It was times like this when she wanted...Troy. She put her past behind her and let it out. She still loved him. She'd never met anyone like him before. Someone who let her feel free and happy. But now, the blame was on her part. She could have just forgiven him in the first place, but she knew that wouldn't do much good either. She just wanted Troy to be happy. And now she could see that he was happy with Sharpay. Although it was beyond her why he would be, but that was his choice and now she just had to accept it.
Gabriella scrunched up in her seat unhappily, looking out into the distance.
'If Derek didn't put the jacket on me, then who did?' She thought to herself.
Before she could figure out who did it, Taylor came rushing towards her.
"Gabriella! We're about to get on a plane to Washington, D.C.! What's wrong?" Taylor asked, sounding concerned.
"I think, I might, what I mean is..." Gabriella stuttered.
Taylor raised an eyebrow.
"I think I made a mistake," Gabriella's voice softly came out as she sighed.
"About what?" Taylor asked curiously.
"About Troy."
—
"Flight 29 to Washington D.C., Now Boarding!" called out the customer service girl Derek was continuously flirting with.
She blew a kiss goodbye to him as Derek pretended to catch it.
Gabriella rolled her eyes and kept moving with the flow of kids entering the boarding gate.
Everyone raced through the terminal excitedly. They heard the loud sound of the airplane readying to take off. Finally the navy blue colored terminal opened up to a perfectly white plane. They all hurried to find good seats on the large plane.
They had the entire plane completely to themselves. They assumed the plane company didn't was the risk of complaints against them and the school. Gabriella slid into a window seat as Abigail followed taking the seat next to her.
"This is my first plane trip you know," Abigail said, making conversation.
"Really? Well I might want to warn you..." Before Gabriella had time to finish, one of the flight attendants came on to the loud speaker.
"Welcome East High Wildcats!" The brunette's gentle voice boomed throughout the airplane. All of the guy's eyes were drawn to her beautiful flowing hair. Like the customer service girl, she was tall, lean and gorgeous.
"Is it just me, or do all of the airport staff look like they should be on America's Next Top Model?" Gabriella asked quietly, leaning herself into Abigail so nobody could hear.
Abigail shrugged and let her eyes scour the talkative airplane.
"Thank you for choosing Delta Airlines, I hope you have a safe and pleasant flight. You may order from our, as we like to call it 'Rolling Restaurant'," she cooed.
Gabriella rolled her eyes.
"My name is Aria and if you need anything just push the little button above your seat. We will be preparing to take off in a matter of minutes so please fasten your seatbelts," she spoke into the intercom as she walked down the aisle. Derek started checking her out. No surprise there. She gave him a dirty look and hurried down the aisle.
Gabriella smirked. 'Serves him right,' she thought as she looked out the window.
Gradually, the airplane started becoming overwhelmed with chattering.
Gabriella sighed at her current situation. She leaned back in her seat and looked down the aisles. Behind her sat Sharpay and Troy; her body stiffened as she jolted back to her position, breathing heavily.
"Hey, are you okay?" Abigail asked, concerned.
"Yeah, fine," she replied, nodding at her friend, getting control of her breath.
"Well, glad to know that I'm not the only one getting nervous here," she said with a chuckle.
Suddenly the plane traveled down the runway.
Abigail's eyes jolted out of her head. She grasped the arms of the seat tightly. Her breathing got heavier and her chest was puffed out.
Gabriella leaned over and buckled her friend's seat belt and gave her an uneasy smile.
The plane's engines grew louder, and louder until Gabriella couldn't even hear herself breathing.
The plane began to lift up into the air. Abigail began to hyperventilate pulling out a paper bag from her back pocket. She breathed into it as the bag puffed up and down.
"Abigail?" Gabriella said uneasily.
No answer.
"Abigail?" She asked even louder. "Help?!" She cried out.
"What's wrong?" Troy asked poking his head in between the two seats.
"I don't know," Gabriella replied nervously.
"Ok, Abigail now breathe in' ok," Troy said patting her on the shoulder.
She nodded, the bag flopping up and down as she moved her head. She began to calm herself down.
Gabriella smiled sweetly up at Troy he smiled back and returned to his seat.
The plane slowly lifted off their ground, and their journey began.
—
The early morning quickly turned into night. Gabriella leaned her head against the cool airplane window. She looked out into the orange, setting sun. A tear gently rolled down her cheek as she watched Sharpay's head gently resting on Troy's shoulder She missed him so much.
Troy was watching the same sunset fall behind the mid-western mountains they were hovering above, sharing the same emotions that Gabriella was feeling. He tried to remove Sharpay's heavy, sleeping head. But, she wouldn't budge. He sighed unhappily and got comfortable.
—
12:00 A.M. read the time on a nearby digital clock on the plane. She let her eyes slowly close. She quickly fell back asleep.
Abigail sat very bored as she looked at the person's head in front of her as she daydreamed. Taylor crept up behind her. She tapped her on the shoulder and whispered quietly:
"We need to talk."
—
Taylor brought Abigail to where Chad, Kelsi and herself were seated.
"What's going on?" Abigail asked softly.
"Ok, now Gabriella and Troy still have feelings for each other, you know that right?" Taylor said.
Everyone nodded.
"Ok Troy told Chad he still liked Gabriella, and Gabriella told me she still liked Troy," Taylor said again.
"Now we need to use this trip to help bring them closer together until they both realize that they still have feelings for each other," Kelsi piped up.
"And if we don't do it now, they'll go to college and miss their perfect moment," Chad added.
"So are we in?" Taylor asked putting her hand in the middle of them. Everyone else did the same as their perfect plan began to unfold.
—
Everyone on the plane was fast asleep. Gabriella looked out into the glowing sky. It was another amazing day, without him. She seemed desperate, she knew. And she also knew she shouldn't even think about being interested in another guy while she was with Derek, even though Derek did it every five minutes.
They would be arriving in a little while. She looked back at Troy sleeping calmly. She smiled warmly and looked away. Despite how much she thought she liked Derek, she knew in her heart who she was supposed to be with.
—
About and hour later, the plane was falling from the sky and heading towards the Washington D.C. national airport. Abigail was calm this time. No panic attacks.
Finally everyone started collecting their things and departing off the plane. Gabriella exited the terminal and looked around curiously. Taylor grabbed her friend as they both ran off giggling.
Author's Note: Hey guys! Sorry this update took so long!! You can check out my little notes to you guys on my fanfic profile. Please Review!