A/N: Okay, since I got so much positivity with the first part, I'll update tonight. :) I'm trying to think of where to put everything (I've got scenes and conversations in my head already) so this might turn into a fourshot… -love- Desireé
charlieh07- I love that word 'comeuppance.' I think I've read it before, but now I know its official definition. Yay! Anyway, Ms. Darbus will get her dues soon. :)
naley4eva93- I've actually tried my hand at Troypay writing a few times and found I fail miserably at it. My apologies! But this story won't be my usual Chaylor, either…
Part Two, The Punishment
While Ms. Darbus droned on about their servitude for the next four hours (blech), Gabriella thought of synonyms for the word 'delinquent' which the teacher had now used four times. Wrongdoer… Lawbreaker… Vandal… Offender… And her favorite: punk. A giggle escaped her mouth against her will and everyone looked over at her. The broad blond woman standing before them glared. "Something funny, Ms. Montez?" she demanded, tapping her pointed loafer against the ground so a loud echo bounced off the auditorium's walls.
Her face pink, Gabriella shook her head profusely. "No, ma'am," she said quickly, her head rushing with thoughts. She had been at school for two weeks, and already she had been in trouble twice! East High teachers all had sticks up their—
"Good," Ms. Darbus said firmly. She turned back to everyone and continued her rant. Sharpay was picking at her hangnails again. God, she needed a manicure badly. The last one she had was over a month prior, and that simply couldn't remain so for much longer. Her thumb throbbed as she ripped a piece of skin away, and she bit her lip until the pain eased. Beside her, Ryan was drumming a beat on his thigh, his fingers moving up and down, one by one, like soldiers in a line. She tried to think of what tune was playing in his head, until that obnoxious girl Taylor's voice pierced her ears.
"We must paint all these props?" she inquired. Sharpay saw a notebook rested in her lap, and a pen was poised in her fingers. The drama queen sighed. What a goody two shoes.
With a nod, Ms. Darbus walked proudly around a wooden stand that seemed to slightly resemble a Hanukkah dreidel. She ran her fingers along the edge and beamed for a moment. "Every one of these props also has a key taped to the corner—yes, Mr. Danforth?"
Slightly confused, Chad stared for a moment before finally asking, "A key? Like something that unlocks stuff?" Taylor scoffed and rolled her eyes, while Kelsi giggled slightly and Sharpay smirked. Gabriella seemed to be paying attention to Troy.
"No, Mr. Danforth," Ms. Darbus replied impatiently. "A key, as in—yes, Ms. McKessie?"
Lowering her hand, Taylor smiled softly as if waiting for the imaginary applause to die down. "The definition of the type of key you are referring to is 'an explanatory list of symbols used in a map, table, et cetera.'" She waited, perhaps for more thunderous clapping, but nothing came except the smacking of someone's gum.
"Thank you, Ms. McKessie," Ms. Darbus sighed. She turned to the rest of the stage to view the bare items. "Anyway, as I was saying, all these props have a key taped to the corner, with a basic sketch of what should be painted which color. Paint cans have been opened and neatly set up along either wall. Don't mix the paint—if something needs to be blended, retrieve a paper plate from the backroom. Mixing paint in the cans will result in another detention for destruction of school property."
There were a few more eye rolls which the teacher pretended not to see as she checked her time boy's watch again. "Well, I'm off to a meeting. I should return around six forty-five at the latest, and I expect you all to be finishing up," she instructed.
"Wait," Taylor called, and Ms. Darbus turned. The student hesitated slightly. "You aren't—you aren't going to stay here?" Sharpay swatted her arm subtly with a menacing look as if to say Are you crazy, geekwad?
The woman shook her head. "No, unfortunately I can't stay; the meeting is mandatory for all faculty," she explained, before disappearing out the side door which clearly read 'emergency exit.' No alarm went off, but Chad jumped up and brushed off his butt, as if he had just sat on a pile of dust.
"Glad that's over," he muttered. Troy stood up, a little more gracefully, and looked around. Chad blew a bubble with his gum. Taylor frowned. So he was the culprit. "God, I thought she'd never leave."
Her legs dangling off the side of the stage, Kelsi stared sullenly at the ground. Ryan braced himself before crawling over beside her. "You all right?" he asked quietly, hoping his sister wouldn't notice his offer of kindness. To his later dismay, she did.
"Oh, I'm fine," Kelsi half-assured him. He didn't reply, which gave her the indication that he knew something was wrong. "It's just—today's my dad's birthday, and he actually got the day off today from his boss who usually never gives days off to his staff. And we were planning on going out to dinner and everything but… I was late to class, so I was running in the hallway. Mademoiselle Granger saw me and gave me a detention! I explained I couldn't do it today, but she wouldn't push it into next week." There were sniffles and Ryan saw shine on Kelsi's cheeks. He had the urge to hug her, but that probably would have been too awkward.
Across the stage, Taylor was observing the paint cans. Chad knelt down beside her and grinned. "Have we met before?" he asked, his eyes glistening with slight merriment.
"I would think so, we have four class periods together, Danforth," she replied brusquely. When she didn't add anything, Chad pressed further.
"Well, I must have a bad memory. Maybe we can take the time to get to know one another," he said with a sly grin. This was the final straw for Taylor.
"You can maybe get to know yourself a little better, Mr. Danforth," she snapped with a fury he would have never expected from her, "and hope it's in you to change and treat women a little better. I've seen you in the hallways with Annie Maxwell and Lola Thompson, don't think you can add me to your list of 'gotten goodies' like you do with practically every other female at East High!" Her eyes like slits, she stood up and marched away. Chad was hot on her heels.
He leaned into her. "Come on, just one date," he suggested, his body an inch apart from hers.
Dismissing this absurd proposition, Taylor clenched her jaw for a moment before bitterly replying, "Even if I would give you so much as a second glance, Mr. Danforth, I wouldn't have time to date, anyway. There's quite a lot on my plate right now, and useless relationships aren't one of them!"
Slumping over to sit beside Troy, Chad was now brooding. His friend chortled slightly. "Ouch. Burned by a techie. That's rough," the hotshot said with a grin. The slacker sent him a choleric glare before returning to his personal sulking bubble.
"Hey, who's that girl over there?" Troy's voice was a whisper and he tilted his head over at the dark-haired girl, Gabriella. "I haven't seen her around her much, she's new, right?"
"Yeah," Chad replied, "That's Gabriella. She moved here from San Francisco, I think. Her mom's some journalist. What, you into her?"
Color flashed across Troy's face. "No—" he said, his sentence stopping short. "I just—I didn't know her. I thought I'd introduce myself later. It must be hard being the new kid." Chad laughed, doubtful of the other's alibi. Troy rolled his eyes and turned away, using it as an excuse to get a good look at the Gabriella girl. She was quite pretty, with long black hair and soft features. A minute passed and she turned to meet his gaze, before he quickly passed off the stare as an examination of the light switch above her head on the wall. Gabriella felt herself vaguely smile.
"Guys, it's already three-thirty," Taylor announced, although she had the feeling that no one was listening. "We should start painting now, otherwise Ms. Darbus won't be happy."
"Ew," Sharpay groused. "Why not just stick our feet in cement buckets and chuck us into the Hudson river? That death would be much quicker." Ryan smiled softly and Kelsi even forced a grin, despite the fact that no one else was amused. Gabriella's eyes were still glued to Troy, whose glance seemed to be everywhere but Gabriella. Chad was still moping, picking at a piece of lint on the stage.
Defeated, Taylor picked up a paint can and a brush with her face twisted in annoyance. "Fine," she said angrily, "I'll just paint myself. But don't believe for one moment any of you will get credit for it. Some other brainiacs may allow that but I certainly won't."
"We got it, Einstein," Sharpay replied, causing a smile to appear on Chad's face. The drama queen winked at him, before turning away in panic. Did she just wink at a jock? Oh, someone shoot her.
A few minutes passed before Gabriella stood up, searching the vast room for any sign of entertainment. "I'm bored," she announced. Troy finally looked at her and grinned softly; she grinned back.
"Join the club," Ryan moaned, tilting his hat upward so he could see a little better. Kelsi had convinced him she was okay, and wanted to mourn on her own. Though this was slightly offending, he accepted and turned back to the rest of the hoodlums.
There was a pause as Gabriella tried to think of what they could do for the next three and a half hours. "I say we play freeze tag," she said. Sharpay snorted.
"What are we, five?" she jeered, flipping her hair over her shoulder.
Ordinarily, Gabriella would resign and slink back to her spot against the wall, but she was much to anxious now. "Someone woke up on the wrong side of the vanity," she muttered, loud enough for everyone to hear. Troy burst out in a fit of laughter and Sharpay's eyes widened with anger.
"How dare you!" she screeched, shaking a finger at Gabriella. These words, though, were the only ones she could summon. Shock paralyzed your ability to think for a while. Finally, the drama queen concluded, "I'm Sharpay Evans! You're a new girl! You're nobody! How could you possibly speak to me that way?"
A smile threatening to disrupt her serious attitude-y face, Gabriella put her hands on her hips. "Gosh, you must be so much fun at parties," she said with a leer. Chad joined Troy's laughter, both of the boys rolling along the edge of the stage, clutching their sides.
"Ugh, I hate newbies," Sharpay hissed, turning away and taking a spot beside Kelsi, her arms crossed. Gabriella smiled triumphantly and, much to her surprise, had enough courage to sit beside Troy. He looked at her for a moment.
"Hi," was his eventual salutation.
"Hi," she replied. "I'm Gabriella." She smiled.
He smiled back. "I'm Troy."
Now that his best friend had found love, Chad was alone. He glanced around. Taylor was steaming next to the dreidel, painting it brown with a very ineffective brush. Dry chocolate-colored marks streaked the wood, and she was getting more and more irritated by the second. He looked towards the Evans twins and their lackey, Kelsi. Ryan had his arm around the third, and his sister was glaring at the emergency exit, as if willing it to go off and make the afternoon worth the trouble of going home to change outfits and returning to the campus. Chad scooted over to Sharpay so his knees bumped into her calf. "Looks like we're the only ones who aren't in love," he told her.
"I thought you were with that overbearing McKessie girl?"
"It didn't really work out."
"I don't blame her."
"Ouch."
"They don't call me the Ice Queen for nothing."
"Who is they?"
"The general student population."
"The general student population, if I remember correctly, refers to you as drama queen, not ice queen."
"Potato, puh-tah-toe, the same difference." She shrugged and, for the first time during the conversation, looked into his eyes. They were big and glassy, like the kind of marbles she used to arrange neatly across her carpet on rainy days, purely for fun. Fun. That was something Sharpay hadn't had in a long time, and she was an Evans. An Evans had everything.
"So, you want to try it?" His mouth hinted a smile.
She cocked a professionally plucked eyebrow. "Try what?"
"Well, your bro has the piano girl, and Troy's got Gabriella now. Since Taylor and I are pretty much ka-put, you and I are the remaining people without an established relationship."
Smiling, Sharpay looked up at the ceiling. "I don't believe I see any established relationships here."
He leaned into her, his lips brushed against her ear as he said, "Not yet."