Freaky Friday, Part II by kelbebop and phoebenpiper
Chad glanced at the door for what seemed like the zillionth time, wondering when Ryan would arrive.
"Yo, Bolton!"
It took a moment for Chad to realize that it was Troy's voice that had spoken and another moment to realize Troy was talking to him!
"Uh...hey...Danforth," Chad answered with a laugh, feeling silly for calling his friend by his own name. He tugged absently at the hem of Troy's basketball jersey. "What's up, dude?"
"Oh...not much," Troy answered with a crooked grin. "I almost missed the bus 'cause I was doing my hair."
"Oh yeah?" Chad challenged. "Well, it took me HOURS to get this carefully tousled, just-out-of-bed look." Chad fluffed his own curls, giving Troy a teasing grin.
"Your hair looks perfect, Troy -- just like you."
Chad stared blankly at Taylor, who batted her eyelashes as she flashed him a sappy grin.
Troy grabbed her wrist, exclaiming, "Hey, I gave this bracelet to...." Troy trailed off, embarrassed, as he let go of Taylor's wrist. "I mean, g'morning, Gab!"
Taylor nodded. "Morning, Chad," she said pointedly to Troy before turning back to the REAL Chad, her voice sickeningly sweet as she added, "And good morning, Troy."
Finally having caught on, Chad puffed out his chest and lowered his voice as he said, "'Morning, babe."
"'Babe?!'" Troy and Taylor repeated in unison.
Chad shrugged. "Baby doll? Sugar Lips?"
Taylor sighed in mock exasperation, unable to hide a teasing grin. "Troy," she cooed, "Wildcat, you always call me Honey Bear, don't you remember?"
Chad grinned, suddenly hearing Troy's voice in his head calling his girlfriend by this very endearment. "Oh yeah, Honey Bear," he said, placing heavy emphasis on the nickname. "How could I forget? I started calling you that after we took that science class field trip to the honey farm."
Taylor grinned triumphantly. "No, you started calling me Honey Bear after you took me to Build-A-Bear for my birthday last year."
A melodic giggle sounded behind them, and they all turned to see Gabriella taking a seat at Taylor's desk.
"Actually, you're both wrong--"
Troy cut her off before she could explain. "Good morning, TAYLOR," he said pointedly, emphasizing her identity for the day.
"Yes, good morning to you, Chad. I was just about to recall how my best friend Gabriella called me at one a.m. to tell me all about Troy's sweet new pet name for her."
Chad noticed Taylor's face turning red, obviously embarrassed that she couldn't recall the details of that important phone call. His curiosity now piqued, and knowing he would never get the story from the real Taylor, he asked Gabriella eagerly, "So c'mon, Tay, what's the scoop?"
Before Gabriella could answer, the bell rang. The classroom erupted into chaos as the students scrambled for their respective alter-ego's seats.
Chad noticed Kelsi standing awkwardly in the open doorway, looking lost. He helpfully pointed her in the direction of Zeke's desk. Kelsi gave Chad a grateful smile and stepped out of the doorway just in time to avoid being over-run by Ms. Darbus's grand entrance.
"Good morning, my darling doppelgangers," she announced. "I trust you are all looking forward to getting into character so that you may live this unique experience to the fullest."
As Chad rolled his eyes, he realized he WAS 'getting into character' -- he knew Troy found Darbus's speeches as annoying as he did.
Particularly this morning, when he had something much more important on his mind: where on earth were Ryan and Sharpay?
"While today should be a fun experience, it should also be enlightening," Ms. Darbus continued grandly. "Walking a mile in another person's shoes can be a humbling yet enriching opportunity. Yes, Jason? I mean, 'Kim'?"
"I didn't know we had to walk a mile," Jason stated, a confused look on his face. "I thought we just had to go to all their classes."
Everyone in the classroom groaned. Although he was dressed as Kim, the comment was pure Jason.
Ms. Darbus continued unabated. "The mile, Jason, is a metaphorical one, referring to life's great journey. The road not taken--"
The door to the classroom burst open as Sharpay's shrill voice scolded, "I TOLD you not to take that road, that…SHORTCUT! If you'd listened to ME, we would've been here on time! And I don't know why you insisted on driving in the first place!"
"Because it's MY car, RYAN, remember?" Ryan retorted in a dead-on impersonation of his sister.
'And since when has Sharpay EVER listened to Ryan?' Chad thought to himself with a smirk.
"Ryan and Sharpay Evans, please take your seats. I will see you both in detention this afternoon."
Sharpay sighed dramatically and adjusted her pink plaid fedora. "Detention. Great. See what driving the speed limit gets you?"
As the Evans twins bickered all the way to their seats, Chad smiled to himself as he took in their outfits. He'd heard the girls talk about how high heels made their legs look good, but seeing Ryan now, he finally understood what they meant. Chad was actually a bit disturbed at how turned on he was by Ryan's shapely calves!
Almost as disturbed as he was at the sight of Sharpay dressed in Ryan's clothes. He knew the particular shirt she was wearing extremely well, having SLOWLY unbuttoned it one evening in an attempt to drive Ryan crazy. While he'd succeeded at just that, he'd also succeeded in developing his own Pavlovian response to the colorful pattern -- and it wasn't the sort of response he wanted to have when looking at Sharpay! Chad tore his eyes away from her and stared down at his desk, trying to imagine an ice-cold shower.
Ms. Darbus returned to her speech about journeys and roads and life and...actually, Chad wasn't really sure what she was talking about, but her boring tones seemed to soothe his savage beast. He exhaled a sigh of relief and finally looked up once again.
Ryan must've been keeping an eye on his boyfriend, for as soon as Chad lifted his gaze, Ryan immediately waggled his pink polished fingers to get his attention. Batting his mascara'd lashes, Ryan curled his glossed pink lips in a coy smile and cooed, "Morning, Troy."
Since he was supposed to be acting like Troy today, Chad knew the correct response would've been to smile politely and quickly look away. But Chad couldn't help grinning back and holding Ryan's gaze. If homeroom was any indication, this was definitely going to be an interesting day.
END OF PART II
