Disclaimer: I don't own High School Musical, any of the characters, or any of their songs. I'm not even entirely certain about this storyline...
Also, this time the song is from HSM3, which, by implcation, I... yes, you guessed it, don't own.
Chapter Five: Game Day
The shrill sound of the whistle, harsh above the sounds of cheers and yells, brought Gabriella out of her reverie with an almost tangible bump. The game had started, and she was quietly excited, though a little apprehensive. She wasn't the only wildcat supporter here: a small contingent of die-hard fans and hangers-on clustered together at the bottom of the home team bleachers, mainly parents, a few teachers, a couple of dispirited-looking cheerleaders, and the coach. He was a big man; not tall, but incredibly muscular. It was only too obvious that he didn't care for this sport: he spent the whole time yelling abuse at his whole team, and muttering about how his beloved football team would do a better job.
Gabriella would be the first to admit that she didn't know much about basketball. It had never seemed that important before, perhaps slightly more attractive to her than football or baseball, but irrelevant to her world of academia. Now, though, she watched with interest, and gained the impression that things were not going as expected. There were expressions of surprise and anger on the faces on the bleachers opposite, and amazement on her own. On the court everything was a confused blur, but her impression was that the red uniformed wildcats seemed to have the ball more often. A lot of times, when one of the West High Knights, kitted in their dark blue jerseys and shorts, were dribbling the ball down the court, there would be a red flash, and suddenly the whole game switched directions, the wildcats swarming in a bewildering pattern that almost always led to the ball dropping through the Knights' basket.
She tried to keep her eyes on Troy, but it was difficult: he was quick, not just while travelling, but he ducked and dived with a speed that was hard to follow, obviously for the opposing team as much as for her. And, she noticed, he wasn't greedy with the ball. His shots at the basket hit without fail, always finding the little bit of extra air to keep them out of the grasp of the struggling Knights, and always with pinpoint accuracy, but more often he would pass the ball on, sometimes with a quick chest-pass, sometimes with a bounce pass designed to slip through an opposing player's guard, allowing a team mate to take a shot from what he judged to be a more desirable angle.
The scoreboard was impressive: by half-time, the wildcats were leading 53-21, and the murmurs going round the gym were excited and puzzled at the same time. She smiled, thinking back to earlier that day.
***
That morning, free period.
"Hey! I thought you weren't coming." Troy's expression of relief was genuine, and he seemed happy to see her too.
Gabriella laughed, and they made their way into the auditorium together, sitting right at the back and listening to the girl currently singing her audition. She had a nice voice, but it lacked power, and she was obviously nervous. Ms Darbus praised her, and recommended that she take a supporting role for this musical, for which the girl in question seemed quite grateful.
"Sorry, I got caught up with an experiment: it wouldn't work, so I had to leave Taylor to it," she whispered, her eyes not leaving the stage, where an over-dressed sophomore with bad skin was stumbling his way through the song.
Troy frowned. "Didn't she mind you leaving for this? Chad nearly had a fit when I told him I couldn't make the team work-out."
Gabriella turned to look at him. "Yeah, she was a little frustrated, but we can't always do what our friends want us to, Troy. Sometimes we've just got to be who we are."
He was silent for a while, and unsmiling. Eventually he sighed, his blue eyes staring at an empty point in the air. "I guess you're right. I just... wish I knew who I really am. I mean, I used to know. You know, before." His eyes dropped, and Gabriella grabbed his hand, knowing that he was thinking about his parents, and wanting to comfort him. He gave her a quick, grateful smile, before his face turned pensive again.
"Before, I always knew I wanted to play basketball. It was the most important thing in my life. But, after everything... it changed me, you know?" He paused. "I'm not that guy anymore. The game is still important to me, and I still love it, but so are other things. I mean, music, books, my friends, Tash, they're all so important, and I think they're more important than basketball. But, people keep, I don't know, pushing me into this pigeon-whole. I'm Troy Bolton, the basketball guy. The loser."
"Hey, don't talk like that. Remember what I said yesterday?" She smiled suddenly, and Troy was once again caught by how beautiful that smile seemed. He smiled back, unable to help himself.
"Screw them."
"Damn right," she answered, and planted a quick kiss on his cheek, just as Ms Darbus called out their names.
There was silence in the auditorium, and when they got up onto the stage, Gabriella caught sight of Sharpay and Ryan standing in the wings, having finished their audition shortly before. While Ryan looked quietly pleased, Sharpay seemed stunned, and Gabriella wasn't certain whether her friend was reacting to her auditioning, or her auditioning with Troy.
Troy's nervous expression had changed to one of shock after the unprecedented if purely platonic kiss, but once Kelsi started playing the music, he came back to himself, and focused his attention on Gabriella.
"Can you imagine what would happen
If we could have any dream?
I'd wish the moment was ours to own it,
And that it would never leave."
Down in the auditorium, Ms Darbus leaned forward, suddenly paying attention to what was happening on the stage. She had assumed when she read the names on the sheet that Bolton was just after some extra credit, or that the new girl, Miss Montez, had cajoled him into doing it because she didn't want to do the audition on her own. Never had the teacher ever imagined that the quietist boy in her homeroom class had such a wonderful voice. Turning a purely technical ear on it for a moment, she judged that Bolton probably had a smaller range than Ryan Evans, whom she had always relied on before, but he had a very different voice: it had a soothing, slightly husky quality to it, not better or worse than Ryan's clear and unadulterated tenor, but just as valuable. She turned her head, peering at the new girl. She knew that Sharpay had been trying to get Montez to audition, but didn't know what to expect.
"Then I would thank that star
That made our wish come true.
'Cause he knows that
Where you are
Is where I should be too."
Eleanor Darbus leaned back again, folding her arms as she looked at the two young people on the stage. Well, well, well, a double surprise. Again, Miss Montez offered something different from Miss Evans. Both seemed to be unschooled, but Gabriella's voice again had a softer, more expressive tone than Sharpay's, and one that was just as pleasant to listen to. She realised that she was holding her breath, waiting to hear the two sing together. That would be the true test.
"Right here, right now,
I'm looking at you,
And my Heart loves the view,
'Cos you mean everything.
Right here, I promise you somehow
That tomorrow can wait
For some other day
To be,
But right now there's you and me."
Ms Darbus smiled thinly. Now, that was what she wanted. Her biggest, though never uttered, problem with Sharpay and Ryan having leading roles was that the chemistry was always all wrong. It was never something easily describable, but the bottom line was that the leading couple were almost always supposed to be romantically linked, and as good as they were at acting, the Evans twins were brother and sister, and it showed. These two, though... there was something very, very real about their communication, something immediate and fresh. If she had to guess, Darbus would say that they were quite newly together, or perhaps not together yet. The feelings were obvious to her, though, who had witnessed the maturing of countless teenagers into young adults. This was something very special, and it was being played out in front of her to Kelsi's wonderful music.
"If this was forever,
What could be better?
We already proved it works.
But in two-thousand one hundred
Twenty-three hours, a bend in the universe
Is gonna make everything
In our whole world change,
And you know that where we are
Will never be the same,
"Right here, right now,
I'm looking at you,
And my heart loves the view,
'Cause you mean everything.
Right here, promise you somehow
Tomorrow can wait
For some other day
To be,
But right now there's you and me."
The couple were singing their hearts out, seemingly oblivious that anyone was watching them, but instinctively moving all the time to present the best spectacle to the as yet phantom audience. The way they danced was so natural: it wasn't like Ryan's carefully choreographed movements, but more spontaneous, as if they were coming up with them on the spot. They would hold each other, swing each other by the hand, separate for short periods, only to come back together as if magnetically drawn.
"Oh we know it's coming,
And it's coming fast.
There's always you and me.
So let's make ev'ry second last,
Make it last.
"Right here, right now,
Yeah, I'm looking at you
And my heart loves the view
'Cause you mean everything.
Right here I promise you somehow
That tomorrow can wait
For some other day
To be,
But right now there's you and me,
You and me,
You and me.
You and me,
But right now there's you and me."
As the song wound down to its calmer, more contemplative close, Troy reached out for Gabriella's hand, and they stared into each other's eyes as they held the last note, and for a while afterwards, unaware of the wild applause from the backstage crew and those watching from the front. Eventually, though, they were jerked out of their thoughts as Ms Darbus strode onto the stage, a galleon under full sail.
"Marvellous, quite marvellous. You most certainly have a call-back. Kelsi, will you be a dear and go through the other duet with them?"
Kelsi nodded enthusiastically, a massive grin spread over her small face, and rushed over to them with Ryan following close behind as Ms Darbus went to discuss a few ideas with the lighting engineer.
"Gabby, that was so good! I'm so glad you finally caved to Sharpay. Maybe this time I won't have to deal with all her pre-show stress," Ryan enthused, pulling her into a swift, brotherly hug. He then turned to Troy. "And... wow, man, that was awesome. Where have you been hiding yourself all this time?"
Troy smiled back, but Gabriella could tell it was forced. "Oh, just took a while to work up the courage."
Gabriella draped her arm around Troy's waist, offering a little support, and was glad to feel his snake around her shoulder, almost like an instinctive gesture. She looked around, looking for someone, but couldn't see them. "Hey, Ry, where's Sharpay?"
Ryan's smile faded a miniscule amount.
"Er, I think she had to meet up with Taylor. She was here, though, she was really impressed."
Gabriella frowned, but brightened up when Kelsi started talking about rehearsals and practices. Troy wasn't smiling. He was looking absently into the distance, wondering if he'd be able to give the musical the commitment it needed. Well, he'd just have to do really well at school, too, and then there was the match tonight...
He sighed, and turned back to the others.
"Listen, I've got to go. Class starts in a few minutes, you know."
Gabriella gasped, looking at her own watch. "I had no idea I was so late! Troy, I'll see you later," she called as she dashed out, hoping she would be in time for physics. Troy watched her leave, and then slouched off the stage, his mind definitely elsewhere.
***
Troy leaned back on his locker, blocking out the chatter going on around him and focusing all his attention on the tape he was winding round his fingers: a collision had bent them back a bit, and they were starting to bruise.
So many thoughts were whirling through his head. The game, the team, Gabriella, the audition, his foster-parents, his sister... he took a sip of water and sat down, trying to find somewhere calm. Nevertheless, his mind was taken back to the conversation he'd had with Chad and the others just before the match.
***
"Troy, dude, what's happening man?"
Troy looked up from his bench, and a small smile broke through the pensive face he had worn since the audition. Zeke, Jason and Chad had been his best friends since grade school, and even though things had changed a lot in the last two years, they had stuck with him. On the other hand, he had realised this conversation was coming. The truth was going to be difficult for them to understand.
"What do you mean?" he hedged, hoping to gain some time.
"You know what we mean, Troy." Troy grimaced internally. There was a time when Jason never used his actual name. He had always been T-man or Hoops or some weird variation or hybrid of the two. It showed how much things had changed. "You haven't missed practice since... well, ever." Jason was a great friend, but he had a slight habit of not thinking through to the end of the sentence before saying it. Zeke took over.
"And now, the day after that inspiring little pep-talk you gave yesterday, you're mysteriously absent?"
"We think we have a right to know what's going on," Chad stated firmly. Troy sighed, knowing there was no way out of this one, and hoping they were as good friends as he thought.
"Guys, I think the first thing I have to tell you will be the most difficult, so I'm just going to shoot. Basketball is not the most important thing in my life."
There was silence for a moment. Chad and Jason both opened their mouths, silently gaping at their friend, and Troy almost laughed at their expressions. Almost. Zeke, though, nodded thoughtfully.
"I know what you mean, man. I mean, I love it, and I love playing with you guys, but I don't want it to be the only thing I'm about."
Troy nodded decisively. "That's exactly it. So, now I'm going to tell you my big secret. The thing that is the most important to me is music. I love singing it, I love playing it, I love writing it, listening to it, I just love it. And I need you to understand that I love basketball, and that there's nowhere I'd rather be right now, but that sometimes, other things are going to take priority."
Jason was nodding slowly, but Chad still looked confused, and Troy sighed, waiting for his best friend to speak. "But, you've never said anything. Last I knew, it was your dream to go to U of A and be a Redhawk. It was mine too, still is."
"And that's cool, man. Really, I hope you're the next big star in the game, but people change, Chad, and I have. I guess it's not really that surprising."
The other three nodded slowly: this was a lot to take in, and it was going to have to happen slowly. Finally Jason spoke up.
"So, today you were..."
Troy took a deep breath. "Today I was auditioning for the spring musical, with the new girl, Gabriella. She's got a fantastic voice, and we did really well. We have a call back, so we have a shot at being the leads in the musical."
There was silence again, and Troy was worried, but eventually Chad's frown turned into a genuine smile. "Well, congratulations, man. It's good to be doing what you like. I'm sure we'll be seeing you on Broadway any day now."
The four boys laughed and left the locker room, ready to start the game, when a thought struck him and a sly smile spread across his face. "So, Zeke, what's your big secret?"
***
The ball skittered round the rim of the basket, before dropping decisively through it, the bell for the end of the game accompanied by loud roars from the Wildcat supporters. 72-63. The Knights had come back strongly in the second half, obviously overcoming the shock at having a real challenge from a team with such a bad reputation, but it hadn't been enough. Tonight, the Wildcats had been on fire, and the elation shared by the team and their supporters was amazing. Troy felt a little sad at first, watching his teammates embraced and congratulated by friends and family while he stood alone, but then a small, brunette missile was hurtling straight for a spot somewhere between his eyes, and it was all he could do to catch her, spinning her around purely as a method of reducing her momentum so she didn't send them both hurtling into the opposite wall.
"You were incredible!" Gabriella's eyes were alight with excitement, her cheeks flushed, and her hair falling randomly around her face like rain tracks on a window. Troy thought she had never looked more beautiful, and hugged her tightly for a moment, before breaking the embrace and taking her over to join the celebrations with the team. The whole time, though, he never let go of her, his arm secure around her slim waist, unwilling to part company from her. She seemed to agree, pressing herself to his side as she was included in the en-masse hugs shared by the team.
She finally let go only when Troy left for the showers, and as soon as he emerged from the locker room, changed and with wet hair but just as exhilarated as before, she grabbed his hand straight away, and held on as they walked home, talking non-stop about the match. Troy realised that he felt like he could face anything right now: the school, the team, Steve and Shirley... maybe even Tash.
Right now, he felt invincible.
AN: I don't usually do these, but I felt like it, so there.
In case anyone's wondering, I don't update when I get a certain number of reviews. Reviews are great, and I appreciate them, but I write for the joy of writing, and I'll update when I have something to update. Charging readers reviews for more updates just feels like... prostituting myself, somehow. And that's an image I never want to enter my mind again.
So, yes: review if you feel like it, don't if you don't, keep on keeping on, and above all my man, rock on.
(Anyone who can tell me what at least part of that is from, you'll get nothing. Well, maybe a mention if I'm feeling generous.)