The First Rehearsal

Gabriella was fuming as she stormed down the school corridor; she was so tired having spent almost all night with Sharpay or begging Miss Darbus to take back the decision of casting her and Troy as the leads in the musical, it was a match made in hell! Miss Darbus had disagreed.

"I'm sorry, Gabriella." Miss Darbus had sighed for the 15th time, "there are no other options, and you need some sort of punishment for what you and Troy did. I'll see you at rehearsals straight after school tomorrow." With that she had walked out of the hospital leaving Gabriella hopelessly confused. She didn't sing, well she did, in her room in private but that was for no one else but her…

"Hey, Gabriella!" Taylor bounded over to her friend, passing her a book to hold as she tied her shoe. "What do you wanna do after school? Catch a film? I heard Spiderman 3 is really good!"

"I'm sorry, Tay." Gabriella groaned, "I'd love to but I've got rehearsals."

"What for?"

"Twinkle town." When Gabriella noticed her friend's bemused expression, she explained, "Miss Darbus cast Troy and I in the leads! As punishment for hurting Sharpay's ankle."

"What about Ryan?" Taylor asked, standing up and taking back the textbook from Gabriella.

"Oh," Gabriella rolled her eyes, "Sharpay said he's too distraught about her accident and he just couldn't perform without her." Taylor laughed, that sounded just like Sharpay.

"It does seem strange." Taylor mused, "that she would cast two people as romantic leads, who hate each other and also who she's never heard sing."

"What can I say?" Gabriella sighed defeatedly, slamming her locker shut, "the woman's mad." Taylor nodded in agreement and they went to their first class of the day.

"Dude, the musical?? That's harsh." Chad winced as Troy told the story of yesterday.

"Yeah, as punishment for breaking Sharpay's ankle, Gabriella and I both have-

"Hold on." Chad interrupted, holding his hand up, "Gabriella's in the musical as well??"

"Well yeah." Troy nodded, "Ryan dropped out as well, so there were two parts that needed replacing. And since it was both our fault…Chad why are you looking like that?" Troy stopped and looked at his curly haired friend whose face was covered with glee.

"Nothing." Chad laughed, "it's just, with you two working in such close quarters as romantic leads, I bet you something will happen in the first week."

"Don't be daft!" Troy scolded his friend, "we won't even get through the first rehearsal, neither of us can act, dance or sing! It's a match made in hell!"

The final bell of the day rang and Gabriella was dreading what was about to befall her, slowly she made her way to the auditorium, and saw Troy Bolton leaning against the wall just outside the door. He nodded at her, "Montez."

"Bolton." She replied without even looking at him. She walked towards the door and was startled when he opened it for her.

"Don't look so surprised, Montez. I'm not always the monster you make me out to be." He winked as her followed her through the door.

"Aaah, my stars." Miss Darbus smiled. "Okay, I was thinking we should try out the duet first, just to make sure you can both actually hold a tune."

"Wouldn't count on it." Troy muttered.

"Come on you two." She clapped her hands, beckoning the teenagers onto the stage. They both reluctantly walked up, "This is Kelsi, she composed the show, Kelsi shall we try the duet from the second act?"

Kelsi nodded and found the correct sheet of music, she played the first few bars of the song and turned to Troy and Gabriella who were stood at least two metres away from each other, their arms folded.

"Come closer you two, we won't be able to hear you sing!" Miss Darbus smiled.

"That's probably a good thing, Miss Darbus." Gabriella said meekly.

Troy laughed appreciatively at her comment, "Couldn't have said it better myself." They smiled but immediately dropped their gaze when their eyes met. They both moved towards the piano, "Okay, Troy you sing first." Kelsi instructed, Troy laid his hand on the piano, looking over Gabriella's shoulder at the music.

Troy: We're soaring, flying, there's not a star in heaven that we can reach.

He cleared his throat, embarrassed; he could feel everyone's eyes on him

Gabriella: If we trying, so we're breaking free. Troy looked over at her, as soon as he heard her sing, he was taken aback at how beautiful her voice sounded, she seemed like a completely different person, he looked away sharply when she met his gaze.

Troy: You know the world can see us, in a way that's different than who we are.

Gabriella: Creating space between us 'til we're separate hearts.

The pair carried on singing, not seeing Miss Darbus and Kelsi sharing looks of absolute astonishment, who'd have though the basketball player and the scholastic decathlon competitor would have such brilliant voices? Miss Darbus gave Kelsi an enthusiastic thumbs up and continued to watch the pair who were now already into the second verse, singing as if it was the most natural thing in the world.

Troy: Can you feel it building, like a wave the ocean just can't control?

Gabriella: Connected by a feeling ooh, in our very souls. She finally looked at Troy, they had both been taken aback by the other's talent, she blushed when she looked at him, what was coming over her, she thought desperately, she couldn't like Troy Bolton could she? Her thoughts were interrupted when the song ended.

"Bravo!!" Miss Darbus said excitedly. "That was brilliant, I must admit I was half expecting you both to be tone deaf, but let's just say, this is the one time I don't mind being proved wrong!" She laughed at her own joke, while Troy and Gabriella tried to laugh with her, not at her. Gabriella stepped forwards.

"Miss Darbus, once again I am truly sorry for what happened with Sharpay and I think I speak for Troy as well when I say I wish we could take back our actions that day. But I really don't have the time to participate in the musical."

Troy saw where she was going and jumped on the band wagon, "Yeah, and with basketball and everything it's gonna be tough to fit it all in-

"No!" Miss Darbus shrieked "I'm sorry but you two are perfect for the roles! You can sing, you can act…I hope, you certainly have enough chemistry to pull this off…"

Troy and Gabriella looked at each other at the word 'chemistry' is that what you call it? Whatever 'it' was between them. If this is chemistry, Gabriella thought, then we're in the middle of a very dangerous reaction. She could not fall for Troy she was everything he hated about people her age. He was arrogant, expected everything to be done for him, and thought he should be admired just because he can play a sport. "No, my word's final, you're cast and that's it, you can't go back on your word, this is theatre!" She flounced off, I don't ever remember giving my word, Troy thought bitterly. He and Gabriella watched Miss Darbus leave the hall and was astounded when she turned on him.

"God, Troy. You had to make things worse didn't you! You had to push her." Gabriella was so irritated, mostly at the circumstance, but she had to take her anger out on someone.

"Me??" Troy replied incredulously, "what did I do? If memory serves it was YOU who first said you wanted to drop out."

"Yeah, but for a just cause." Gabriella folded her arms and pouted, Troy couldn't help but notice this made her look very sweet, something he would never let her know. "I need time to focus on the scholastic decathlon! It's very important, it takes a lot of hard work."

"Yeah, so does basketball! We have a championship coming up in case you hadn't noticed." Troy said exasperatedly.

Gabriella snorted, "You aren't seriously comparing flinging balls around, to actually learning something??"

"Okay, firstly, the flinging balls comment…. there are so many things I could say about that, and secondly, yes, it is as important maybe not to you, but it is to me!"

"Exactly my point, Troy!" She moved closer to him, intensifying their heated argument, "we may go to the same school but we're from two different worlds, maybe it should just stay that way."

"Fine!" Troy retorted, his face inches away from hers'.

"Fine!" Gabriella huffed, her face softened when she saw how close she was to him, if she leaned forwards anymore they could be kissing, but she wouldn't dream of doing that, well if she did dream of doing that it would be a nightmare. However the nightmare was becoming increasingly appealing as her eyes, as if acting of their own accord, drifted down to his lips, which looked so soft despite the fact that at this moment in time they were in a frown.

Damn it Troy, why do you let her get to you? Troy was thinking desperately, you could have any of the cheerleaders, easy, no hassle, but no, you keep coming back to her. He saw her looking at his lips and knew he same thoughts were crossing her mind, why not if they both want the same thing, maybe all their arguments were just built up sexual tension...or maybe they really did just hate each other's guts, only one way to find out. He leaned in-

"Hey, guys! How's the rehearsal going?"

Oooh, who interrupted them! Tune in next time to find out! Now you've read it, and hopefully liked it. Please review, take a guess at who interrupted them, or just give some constructive advice. Thanks to everyone who's reviewed already, it means so much :D

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