A/N: Thanks for the reviews! Sorry for the late upload, have been swamped with coursework for my big exams in May :( ... So have been busy with that.
On with Chapter 7...
Disclaimer: No. Before you ask, I own nothing. Though I do wish to be Cornique's publicist... All the juicy details! Isn't Cornique just the cutest? *Squeals* lol :)
***
It was now Saturday. The gang of girls were hanging at the mall, as Sharpay had dragged them there as soon as Aleesha had woken them up. Kelsi, Gabriella and Taylor were all tired, after staying up until 3AM the previous night, yet Sharpay was hyper; it was obvious shopping made her feel alive.
"Right, who wants to go Urban Outfitters?" Sharpay said, pointing at the shop across from them.
All the other girls groaned.
"Can't we just go to JC Penneys? I haven't got that much money today," Taylor sighed.
Sharpay's eyes almost bulged out of her head. "JC Penneys?! God Taylor, this mall offers you Urban Outfitters or H&M, and you suggest JC Penneys?!"
Taylor opened her mouth to retaliate, but was quickly cut off by Gabriella, who didn't want to cause any tension between the two. "Guys, look!"
Everyone snapped their heads toward where Gabriella was pointing. There, crowded around the wall of the food court, were a bunch of girls, and the occasional boy. Most of the girls were recognised as West High cheerleaders, but there were a few East High girls there.
"Let's go have a look," Kelsi thought aloud, walking towards the large group.
They got over, and realised they were all crowding around a poster which read:
"ALBURQUERQUE SPRING FORMAL, ALL GIRLS AND BOYS WELCOME!"
Upon reading more, the four girls discovered it was a fancy dress party, and you had to dress as your favourite Disney character. A huge smile spread across their faces, as they started to chat excitedly about what they would go as.
"Oh, Claire, look who it is," A snide voice interrupted their chain of thoughts.
They all turned to see Kayla Symmons and her best friend Claire Townsend, both dressed rather inappropriately, with smug grins on their faces.
"Yeah, it's the East High princesses," Claire replied, both girls laughing at the un-funny comment.
"And it's Tweedle Dumb, and Tweedle Dee," Sharpay replied, wrinkling up her nose in disgust.
"Shut up, Blondie," Kayla replied, "I see you've seen the poster. I'm going to be going as Cinderella," She flipped her long blonde hair back.
Taylor held back her laughter, but Sharpay couldn't. She burst out laughing, which wiped the smug grin off Kayla's face.
"And, just who's going to be your prince charming?" Sharpay scoffed, raising an eyebrow.
Suddenly, Taylor couldn't hold her laughter in anymore. She erupted into infectious giggles, which set Kelsi and Gabriella off. Kayla shot a dirty look her way, which simply made Taylor laughs some more.
"Well, I hear Chad's single now. And, he seems into me, don't you think Taylor?" Kayla said, her smug, triumphant smile instantly find its way back onto her heavily make-up covered face.
Taylor stopped laughing, and the smile that was once there was replaced by an icy glare headed Kayla's way. Her head was flooded with the events of the past few days; the party that started it all, the fight, the sleepover... She turned away, not wanting to cry in front of Kayla.
"Ohh, did i hit a sore spot?" Kayla cooed in a patronizing voice, Claire cackling beside her.
Both girls laughed and walked off, linking arms.
Immediately, the other girls rushed over to Taylor.
"Are you okay?" Gabriella said, while rubbing her back soothingly.
"I'm fine, guys, honestly," Taylor said, wiping the tears out of her eyes, "Can we just go shopping now?" She finished the sentence with a forced smile.
The other girls nodded, and regained chatting excitedly about the formal.
Taylor however, dropped back, Kayla Symmons' words ringing non-stop in her head.
"And he seems into me, don't you think Taylor?"
***
Chad sighed, as he leant against the window of the sports store. He had been there for at least 15 minutes, Troy had wanted a new basketball, but then Jason and Zeke had been distracted by the new Lakers basketball line, and Ryan had dragged Troy over to the Baseball section. What Chad really wanted was something to eat. He looked longingly at the food court, and that's when the large crowd of people caught his eye.
"Guys?" He asked. None of them turned around. "GUYS?"
His shouting brought the attention of the whole shop, including Zeke, Troy, Jason and Ryan. They walked over, confusion spread over their faces. Chad silently pointed to the ever growing crowd, and, as he predicted, the boy's mouths dropped.
"What is that?" Troy asked, dumbstruck.
"I would say its a frenzy," Ryan said, while the others nodded dumbly.
Chad rolled his eyes. "Do you guys wanna go check it out?"
The other guys followed Chad out of the sports shop, and towards the side of the food court. The poster caught their eye, and, as they pushed their ways through the crowd, they got to see and read it properly.
"Albuquerque spring formal," Ryan said.
"Dress up as your favourite Disney character," Jason continued.
"All boys and girls welcome," Zeke finished.
"Disney characters? That's gay," Chad scoffed, earning a glare from several girls around him.
Troy shook his head. "I don't know, dude. It seems fun. I'm sure the girls will be up for it,"
"Speaking of girls," Jason said, gesturing towards the nearest shop, where the girls were trying to persuade Kelsi to buy some high-heeled shoes. And, by the look on her face, it was clear she was having none of it.
Chad stopped in his tracks when he saw Taylor. She was laughing a lot, leaning on Gabriella for support, and clutching her side. It was the first genuine smile he'd seen her with in a while, and it made his breath catch in his throat. She looked amazing. She was wearing black skinny jeans, a yellow baby-doll top and yellow wedge heels, with a gold bow in her loose curls. She looked perfect.
"Chad, you coming?"
He snapped his head around as he heard Ryan's voice, and saw that the boys were nearing the shops entrance. He followed them in, hoping upon hope that Taylor wouldn't run as fast as she could when she saw him. It was true; Taylor hadn't even acknowledged Chad since their kiss the day before.
"Yo, yo, yo!" Jason catcalled, catching the attention of the girls, as they turned and squealed, running up to their respective boyfriends. Ryan broke the awkwardness by giving Taylor a hug, and Chad nodded at her, which she choose to ignore.
Whoa, Taylor thought, Chad is looking like his normal fly self.
She felt the smile creep onto her face discreetly as she continued to stare at him. He was wearing a grey Nike air tracksuit set, with perfect white and navy blue Nike Jordan's on his feet. His normally crazy afro of curls were tied back, in the way Taylor always begged him to wear as she thought he looked really sexy. Diamond studs were in both of his ears, and a white-gold chain hung around his neck. Taylor bit her lip to stop herself from flinging at him.
At the same time, Chad had to restrain himself from making a repeat of yesterday on the baseball diamond. Up close, she looked even more stunning. The top seemed tighter it hugged the curves he loved so much. It was low cut as well; but not as low cut to make her look like a slut. She wore nothing but mascara and lip-gloss, and gold hoops. Her top was accentuated by a gold chain with the letter "T", which Chad knew was the last thing Taylor's dad had given her before he died.
"Did you hear about the dance?" Sharpay's annoyingly high-pitched voice shook both estranged teenagers from their fantasies.
"Yeah," Zeke nodded, "What you thinking about dressing up as?"
Sharpay shrugged, as did Gabriella, who was getting expectant looks from Troy.
"I'm thinking of Tinkerbell," Kelsi replied quietly.
Ryan burst out laughing. "That means you'll be going as Peter Pan, my friend," He spluttered pointing at Jason, whose face dropped.
"I'm not wearing tights!" He exclaimed, turning to Kelsi, as the group laughed.
Soon, an argument erupted over costumes.
Taylor noticed Chad standing by himself at the shoes section, unaware of the chaos unfolding around him. She smiled to herself; it was unlike Chad to keep out of arguments. He was normally straight in there, jumping to conclusions and ganging up on others. She walked up to him. He didn't even sense she was there.
"Never thought high-heels were your thing, Chad," She whispered in his ear, from behind.
Chad tensed up; he could feel Taylor's breath on his neck. The minty smell of her chewing gum filled his senses, and made the hairs on the back of his neck stand up.
"Mhmm...I'm kinda drawn to those black ones," He joked back, pointing out the first pair of heels that caught his eye. She giggled, and he turned round to face her, at this point also noticing the argument going on with the rest of the gang.
"What's going on with them?"
"Oh, you know, Jason's being slow, Sharpay's being annoying, and Troy and Gabby are being too caught up in one another to notice," Taylor replied, curling a piece of her shiny dark hair around her finger.
"Just like normal, then?" Chad replied, a playful grin on his face. He also noticed the hair twirling; a flirtatious move on Taylor's part.
"Yeah," Taylor smiled, "Good times,"
She then noticed the way Chad was smiling at her, and realised she was sub-consciously flirting with him. As quick as she had noticed it, she dropped her hand, her face coming across in a blush.
Chad shook his head. "So, you are going to this dance thing, then?"
Taylor shrugged. "Probably. I mean, Sharpay will probably drag me there,"
Chad laughed. "Yeah, she can get a bit psycho, can't she?"
"A bit?" Taylor laughed back, "You should see her when she's excited,"
Chad smiled and sat down on the floor, leaning up against the shop window for balance. "But, Disney characters? Seems a bit gay, right?"
Taylor giggled and sat down beside him, making Chad once again tense up. "For you, i suppose. Mr lunkhead basketball guy,"
Chad pretended to be offended. "Lunkhead? Is that what you think of me?"
Taylor cocked an eyebrow. "There are a lot of things i think of you as at the moment. Lunkhead is just one of them,"
Chad shook his head again. Damn, Taylor loved playing with his head.
"Tay, can i ask you something?"
Taylor smiled warmly. It was the first time he'd called her "Tay" since their little break-up and it felt so good, so familiar. She looked up at him. "Yeah?"
"Do you wanna be my date to the dance?" He said it quickly, as if on impulse. But she'd caught all of it.
Her first instinct, her head, was telling her to say yes, and then kiss him right there and then, like she'd been dying to do since he walked in.
Her second instinct, her heart, was telling her the wounds of his cheating still hadn't healed, and they needed to take things slow. It seemed for a moment that both her instincts were warring; giving her the pro's and con's of each option. Finally, she settled on a decision.
"Chad, I'm sorry, but that's moving a little too fast," She replied, not wanting to meet his eyes.
She saw the glimmer of hope in his eyes disappear, and without it came sadness.
"It's okay, I was kinda expecting that no," He said, shrugging.
"I can promise you one thing, though," Taylor said, looking back over at him.
"What?" He said, confusion written all over his face.
"I'll promise you a dance," She said, smiling slightly at Chad, who had a wide grin on his face.
"Okay, I'll keep you to that promise," Chad said, shaking her hand as she giggled.
The spark that ran through their bodies as their hands connected was indescribable. Needless to say, they both held hands for a while longer as Taylor laid her head on Chad's shoulder, completely disregarding her heart's protests.
"Wow," Chad whispered, even though Taylor heard. She didn't mind, because at that moment, she was feeling pretty wow too.
***
A/N: WHOOOP! Finished! After 3 days struggling of writing it i finished!
Wasn't actually gonna finish it there, but still, seemed ok-ish... :s
Review!
-EmilyGrace //3
