Chapter started: March 18, 2010.
Chapter finished: August 6, 2010.
Author's Note: Well, guys here's a new one and as soon as I'm done writing this one (and possibly the multiple versions of this one) I will post the one I wrote before this one, Kay? Well, I'm just warning you all know, this one is gonna be a hard one for me to pick a title, song chorus and all that jazz for it, but especially starting it and all of the song stuff I put into it. Well, I'm gonna go and see what I can come up with and feel like trying, wish me luck and please tell me how it turns out by reading and reviewing chapter five. Love you guys! XOXO
-Jess.
=You'll Always Find Your Way Back Home=
-Chapter 5: Teenager –
Give me a break
I'm just a teenager
I like puttin' things off till later
Just hangin' out
Havin' fun
Give me a break
I'm just a teenager
- Jordan Pruitt, "Teenager"
"Okay, everyone, Ryan, the show's on," Kelsi told the group of East High School students, who all had applied for a summer job at the Lava Springs Country Club the summer between Junior and Senior year.
"Where's the music?" Ryan asked the girl, who shared the same passion for wearing hats as he did. He smiled as a thank you to her, before asking, "Where's Troy?"
The boy in question entered the Lava Springs' kitchen were all the junior staff members were getting ready to do the Country Club's yearly summer talent show, "Talked to Sharpay, everything's cool."
"Hey, speaking of my sister, she wants you to learn a new song," Ryan told Troy as he handed him the sheet of music.
Troy read the title of the sheet of music before giving a disbelieving chuckle and saying unbelievingly, "'Everyday', I can't learn a new song!"
"Kelsi will help you with it," Ryan told him with a smile.
"Come on!" The music composer said as she grabbed the basketball captain's arm and led him out of the kitchen and into the room that contained the black piano.
(Albuquerque, New Mexico – East High School)
"Hey, Hoops Man, you okay?" Kelsi asked Troy as they all sat in the gym during their lunch period like always.
"Huh? Yeah, I'm fine, what's up?" Troy asked the girl with a soft smile as he rubbed the back of his neck.
"Why don't you tell us," Jason suggested.
"Huh?" Troy asked confused, raising one eyebrow.
"You seemed like you weren't with us for a while, Man. Care to share what's on your mind?" Chad asked his best friend.
"Nah, it's nothing, don't worry about it guys," Troy told them and seeing them still giving him knowing looks, he gave them a 'you-know-what-or-who-I-was-thinking-about' look back. Knowing that trick worked seeing as they all nodded their heads in realization, he asked them, "So, who knows anything about the assembly that is supposed to be happening today after lunch?"
All the gym teacher got in reply was 'no-s' and a comment from Zeke, "You know something? The only two people, who actually know what it is about is Ms. D and Mr. Matsui."
"Now that you mention it, Man, I do realize that," Chad told him and they all shook their heads in agreement before letting their minds wonder.
They were soon brought out of la-la land by Mr. Matsui's voice coming through the speakers around the high school, "Attention, please. When the bell to end the lunch period rings, I would like the student body to go to their fifth period class and your fifth period teacher then they will bring you down to the theater after they are called for the assembly. Also, while at the assembly, remember that everything that you do and say reflects us Wildcats so, please try to be kind, considerate, and respectful. I would also ask that you will be inviting to our guests. That is all. Thank you, Wildcats."
"Yeah, something is definitely up, you can tell by the sound of his voice," Taylor commented causing them all to nod their heads again.
"Yeah, well we all better wrap this up and get to our classrooms and wait for our students and phone calls," Troy told them as he got up and stretched before saying, "I'll see you all in there."
"See ya," the group said as they all moved to walk out of the gym, all except for Chad, who was the assistant gym teacher, which sometimes made people wonder why Coach Bolton really need an assistant teacher anyways.
"So, you still haven't stopped thinking about Gab-," Chad started to say to his best friend, but was cut off when he got the 'don't-even-say-her-name-or-else' look that the head basketball coach gave him. "Sorry, Dude."
"I know, Man," Troy told him as he ran a hand through his chestnut locks before saying, trailing off "It's still really hard to…"
"Do you think it will ever get easier for you?" Chad asked him as they stood up and watched their class file into the gym and take seats on the bleachers, knowing that they weren't allowed to change because of the assembly.
"I really don't think so," Troy admitted to his best friend before he called on a student, who had their hand raised, "Yes, Mr. Cooley?"
"Coach B, do you know what the assembly is about?" "Mr. Cooley" asked the head coach, voicing the question that was on the minds of many around the school.
"No, I really have no idea and neither does Coach Danforth, if we knew, we would most likely tell you…or maybe not, depends," Troy told his class and smiled as some of them laughed.
"But what I will tell as will Coach Bolton, is that please do keep in mind what Mr. Matsui said about representing East High and our namesake because if not then we so aren't worthy of the being called East High Wildcats, now are we?" Chad asked them.
"NO!" The group shouted back.
"Good, then you won't let us down will you?" Coach Bolton asked them.
"NO!" The group yelled back as Chad jogged over to Taylor.
"Let's go guys," Chad told the group after Taylor got done telling him that she was sent by Mr. Matsui to get them and together the whole class along with Ms. McKessie's class and Ms. McKessie all walked towards the auditorium and or theater.
"….alright, now during this assembly I want you all to remember what I said during the previous announcement I made not too long ago and I know for a fact that your teachers reminded you so, please do keep that in mind, as well as that we have a good reputation here at East and I will not tolerate anyone ruining that so, with that being said teachers' eyes will be everywhere as will mine," Mr. Matsui said as he finished up his speech before saying, "Now, please give a warm round of applause for East High's Drama and English teacher, Ms. Darbus, who is gonna introduce…our guests."
"Thank you, Mr. Matsui," Ms. Darbus thanked him before she continued with her speech, "Now as you all know our annual Spring musicale is right around the corner, but I also know that none of you are aware at how bad this year's spring cast does not know anything to do with it and this is very unacceptable in the art of the theater.
Now, I'm sure you've all heard me talk about the best two musicales East High and the people of Albuquerque have ever watched, and those plays were 'Twinkle Towne' and 'Senior Year'. You also know that parts of the casts to the two musicales are right here, in this very front row. So, with that I would also like to remind you that Coach Bolton, who was the leading male in both of them, was also a basketball and golf player, who had managed to keep up with them, the musicales, and his grades."
Troy looked and heard Ms. Darbus as she said this and as she mentioned how he kept his grades up, he thought, Well, I only kept them up because of her.
"And when the 'Senior Year' play was being put on, along with Coach Bolton, Coach Danforth, Ms. Nielsen, Mr. Cross, Mr. Baylor, Mr. Evans, Ms. Cox, and Ms. McKessie, all were in their senior year here at East High so, on top of passing tests, keeping grades up, tutoring, studying, sports, other extra-curricular activities, making decisions about going or not going to college, and graduation, they all managed to put on the show while keeping up their grades, keeping up with their sports, and remembering their lines.
The rest of the student body, might not know this because no one really talks about it, but there was also two other ladies that did both 'Twinkle Towne' and 'Senior Year', one of those girls happened to graduate top of her class, have a 4.0 GPA, a 2400 on her SATs – which meant she didn't miss a question, getting her the perfect score –, managed to be the valedictorian, and go on to a great college and even graduate early from that college. The other lady was also the drama club co-president with Mr. Evans, and she also graduated in the Top 10 in her class and went on to a great college and also graduate early from it, and no matter how different the two were, they still had one thing in common: their love and dedication for the theater and the musicales that were produced.
Now, the whole point of this whole assembly is not only to prove to the drama club members that you can succeed in following your dreams and fulfilling them as long as you have courage, dedication, and love for it. This assembly is also a motivator for you students and the only way to do that was well…how about I just let them tell you or you can see for yourself. Do you all want to meet some blasts from the pasts?"
"YEAH!" The student body yelled as did some teachers, while all of the Wildcat Puzzle sat quietly in their front row, center stage, chairs and held their breaths, hoping and praying that the two they had in mind, were who Ms. Darbus was talking about.
Ms. Darbus smiled and walked off stage as the curtains closed and the lights went off in the theater, except for the stage lights and the lights that were around the edge of the stage so no one fell off of it. With a smile on her face, she took a CD out of its case, and popped it into the stereo and walked off the stage and sat down in her seat beside Troy with a proud, yet secretive smile playing on her lips.
"Ms. D is it…" Troy started to ask.
"You'll just have to wait and find out for yourself Mr. Bolton," Ms. Darbus told him before giving him a look that said 'be quiet and watch the show'.
/I like stayin' up all night
I think it's my right sleepin' till noon
I love watching scary movies
I could stay shopping all day
Gettin' my way
Tryin' on shoes
Don't tell me what I should be doin'/
"No, way, it couldn't be!" Troy heard Zeke said as almost everybody in the theater recognized the voice and the person it belonged to causing everyone to stand up and cheer loudly.
And out she walked in a pair of red Christian Louboutin Eventa Mary Jane's that had a three inch heel to them, a pair of red and grey knee high socks that fell just an inch below her knees, a red and black and white plaid mini skirt, and a white tank top with her blonde hair straightened except for her bangs which were swept to the side with a little flare out to the ends of each strand. The owner of the voice also had a tanned and toned body with soft pink glitter lip gloss on, smokey eye-shadow on, and diamond jewelry topping it off.
As the blonde brought the jeweled microphone up to her mouth and began to sing and as the crowd went wild, Zeke couldn't help but think: She looks even more beautiful than I remember, if that's even possible.
And as Zeke was thinking this, Ryan was thinking how the person he longed to see in person was standing on that very high school stage singing with her whole heart like she did many years ago.
/Give me a break
I'm just a teenager
I like putting things off till later
Just hangin' out
Takin' my time
Give me a break
I'm just a teenager
I'm automatically attracted to danger
I can't help myself
Can be no one else
I'm just a teenager
I dread making my bed
I wish I could get out of cleanin' my room
Cause I hate keeping my friends waiting
Fast cars
Playin' it by heart
Googling stars
And searching for tunes
Does anyone here get what I'm saying?/
"YEAH!" The crowd yelled to the singer, who flashed them a smile before she continued to sing and dance:
/Give me a break
I'm just a teenager
I like puttin' things off till later
Just hangin' out
Havin' fun
Takin' my time
Give me a break
I'm automatically attracted to danger
I can't help myself
Can be no one else
I'm just a teenager/
Everyone continued to cheer and then quieted down a little more as a ring could be heard and they all quietly listened as the singer answered after making a phone with her thumb and second finger, "Hello, this is Sharpay."
"Hey, what's up?" Came a voice that the Wildcat Puzzle and some others knew really well.
"You'll never guess who called my yesterday."
"Who?"
"You know that guy that's taking me to homecoming?" Sharpay asked into her "phone".
"Yeah," they heard the other voice reply.
"He was like, 'you took my breath away when I saw you'," they heard Sharpay say before the other girl giggled before Sharpay continued, "He called me sweetie too!"
"Aww," they heard the other voice coo.
"I don't know if I like him though," they heard Sharpay say before she hung up and everyone then went even wilder as another female walked on stage and began to sing and dance.
/I want more minutes on my cell phone
I wanna credit card of my own
I want the keys to a Mercedes-Benz
Yeah
I wanna wear what I wanna wear
I wanna copy when I think it's fair
I wanna chill at the mall with my friends
Does anyone here get what I'm saying?/
And there she was, the girl that Troy hadn't stopped dreaming about since he first saw her in a ski lodge in Colorado during his Junior Year Winter Break. Taking in all of her starlet glory, he started with her feet and made his way up. On her feet sat a simple pair of black soft satin high heels that had what looked to be a 4 1/3 inch heel to them, adding height to her; her legs and the bottom half of her body was clothed with a simple pair of white denim straight leg jeans, and he definitely loved the way they hugged every curve of the bottom portion of her body; over the upper portion of her body sat a rich Caribbean blue thick strap satin top and a belt that sat on top of it, resting on her hips; around her neck sat a sterling silver 'Baby G' necklace; a pair of diamond drop earrings sat in her ears and they also matched her diamond bangle and white leather banded Chanel (CC) diamond encrusted watch; her makeup was kept simple with light lip gloss and smokey eye makeup; and topping off her whole outfit was her beautiful dark brown locks that were in their natural wavy style, but they were parted on the right side of her head and as her wavy bangs fell on and around her face, the rest of her hair was brought to the left side in a bun that was kept pinned to her head, letting gentle waves fall out of the bun; and to him she was simply one phrase, the phrase that he would always use for her: a simply breathtaking Greek Goddess, his Aphrodite – the Greek Goddess of Love.
He watched as the brunette beauty took the next verse, before she finished it up with her stage cohort:
/Just hangin' out
Havin' fun
Takin' my time
I can't help myself
Can be no one else
I'm just a teenager
Give me a break I'm just a teenager
I like putting things off till later (till later)
Just hangin' out
Havin' fun
Takin' my time
Give me a break I'm just a teenager
I'm automatically attracted to danger
I can't help myself
Can be no one else
I'm just a teenager
Give me a break I'm just a teenager/
"Ladies and Gents, Ms. Gabriella Montez," the blonde said as she introduced her best friend, who smiled, waved and bowed.
"Ladies and Gents, Ms. Sharpay Evans," the brunette said, introducing her blonde temporarily straightened haired best friend, who strutted forward with a little bit of attitude, a smirk, and a wink before she joined her best friend and together they each wrapped an arm around each other's waists.
"WE LOVE YOU SHARPAY, GABRIELLA!" Most of the male population screamed at the two starlets who giggled and flashed them an 'I love you' sign language sign.
"Well, then I guess I sure don't need to introduce my two favorite girls, do I?" Ms. Darbus asked as she walked back on stage and hugged the two girls as they both took a side to stand by before the teacher continued to talk, "As some of you might not be aware of, Ms. Evans and Ms. Montez here, walked, talked, and performed at this very school with these eight teachers right down in front of me. These two are also here not only to give a pep talk to the drama club at practice later, but to also give back to East High School," Ms. Darbus told them before she turned to the two girls and asked, "Would you like to tell them or should I?"
"Tell us what?" Some of the kids said.
"We'll tell them Ms. D, thanks," the two girls said together and then hugged their favorite teacher.
"Well, well, well, I can't even remember the last time I walked and performed on this very stage or at this very school, how about you Brie-Ella?" Sharpay asked her best friend.
"Well, I don't know about you, but I clearly remember, for me it was the last night of the Senior Year musicale," Gabriella replied to her best friend as they both moved to sit on stools that were brought out by two janitors for them to sit on which they did, arms still looped together.
"Now that think about it, it was the same for me too," Sharpay replied to her before they asked together, "So, how's everyone today?" They both giggled as they got different replies from many of the audience members, before Sharpay said, "Well, what Ms. Darbus gave us the honor of doing is…"
"telling you guys that…" Gabriella added onto to it before they said together, "we will be performing concerts here in Albuquerque!" Getting a bunch of happy exclamations from the crowd, they continued to talk to them before Mr. Matsui had to close it up so; the students could go to their lockers before heading home for the weekend.
"….as you can tell from my story and Sharpay's story is that we've both been where you're at, especially the seniors. We know the hardships that come with senior year, especially when you're doing extracurricular activities," Gabriella said to the drama club after Sharpay got done telling her story about how she managed in high school. Seeing a student raise their hand, Gabriella pointed at the person and said, "Yes?"
"Hi, Gabriella, Sharpay, I'm Julie and I just want to say right off the bat, that I love you both, you're my role models," Julie told them before she asked, "I was wondering Ms. Montez, how you managed in high school especially when you were on the Scholastic Decathlon team, the Yearbook staff, in the school productions, applying for colleges, and everything else you did?"
"How I managed my time or how I kept everything separate while finding time for friends, family and um, a boy-," Gabriella asked her, starting to say 'boyfriend' at the end, when she noticed her ex-boyfriend back in the very back row, not participating in the drama practice at all with the rest of her ex-friends so, with a smile and a sisterly squeeze of the hand from Sharpay she said, "I mean while finding time for friends, family, and applying for college?"
"Yeah," Julie replied to her.
"Well, I always had to tell myself to calm down and…I guess I just really used my conscience and the people around me to help out with it," Gabriella told her, quickly glancing towards her ex-boyfriend who was a major part in helping her in her last year of high school before asking, "Do you mind if I suggest something to you guys?"
"No," the group replied back, and to Ms. Darbus' and the Wildcat Puzzle's surprise they watched as the group took notes and listened intently to the two starlets.
"I suggest maybe making a time table for yourself, like sit down and say 'Okay, I'm gonna do this from this time to this time…like you could study from like 3:30 to 4:00, you know what I'm saying?" Gabriella replied.
"Yeah, thanks Ms. M," they all replied back.
"Well, you guys are very welcome," Gabriella told them with a smile and a soft giggle.
"Brie-Ella, we need to go to the hotel and check in with the managers," Sharpay quietly reminded her best friend and together they bid goodbye to the teenagers and Ms. Darbus before walking off stage after gathering up their stuff.
The Wildcat Puzzle as well as everyone else watched as they both put on their sunglasses – Sharpay's a pair of Jimmy Choo's 'Sky S' sunglasses and Gabriella's a pair of aviator sunglasses from Ray Ban – and grabbed their totes before looping arms and walking off the stage, down the stairs, up the aisle, and out of the theater.
And right there and then, the Wildcat Puzzle knew that they wanted their girls back into their lives.
TO BE CONTINUED...
Well, here's this one. I hope you guys liked it, but this by far is not my favorite chapter of this story so far. I hope that you guys didn't get too bummed from this chapter and I'm also hoping that the next chapter will be better, but I guess we will see. XOXO
-Jessica.
Trivia: Who opened for the HSM Cast on the HSM Concert Tour?
Jordan Pruitt
The Cheetah Girls
Selena Gomez
Miley Cryus
The Jonas Brothers
Justin Bieber
Author's Note (August 06, 2010): Well, I totally forgot that I had this chapter to look over and post so, I'm hoping that I'm not too, too late and you guys are still waiting for me to update so you can continue to read. By the way, I can't believe I'm at twenty reviews with only four chapters. Please keep 'em coming, I love all of the feedback, it truly makes my day – no lie! Well, I'm gonna go post this for you all. Please R&R!
I wanna see that Hawaiian wedding,
I wanna see that blissful 'Honeymoon' phase,
I wanna see her bearing their child,
I wanna see that sweet little angel with its father's eyes and mother's features,
I Want To See Them Have It All
But... I guess I will have to wait...
~Z&V~