"Are you sure about this…"
"Yes"
"Cause we can always go back home if you feel like your not ready for this just yet"
"Troy, I need to do this now or I'm gonna lose my nerve so can we please go in now"
"Sure" he gave Taylor a small smile before getting out of the car and walked around to her side and helped her out.
"You couldn't find a car that was any higher above the ground?" Taylor asked sarcastically as Troy reached in through the door to grab their book bags.
"No, unfortunately not I couldn't" he said back with a small smile as he grabbed her hand and started walking towards the school. The closer they got to the school the more nervous Taylor got, Troy sensing this squeezed her hand and gave her a small smile when she looked over at him "It's gonna be fine don't worry about it, I'm gonna be here for you every step of the way" he said with a grin as they kept on walking.
"That was a lame attempt at a joke"
"Hey, at least I tried" he said shrugging his shoulders. When they reached the front doors of East high Taylor tensed up visibly, every eye was on her as the doors opened and they stepped into the hall "Ignore them, just keep on walking" Taylor nodded and the two made their way down the hall to Troy's locker ignoring all the whispers and stares they were receiving. Troy quickly put away his book bag and grabbed the books he needed before grabbing Taylor's hand again and walked towards Taylor's homeroom with Mr. Harding. They didn't pass Taylor's locker knowing who was probably there waiting for an opportunity to pour salt in the open wounds besides Taylor always had the morning's class's books in her book bag every morning so she was well prepared.
"Troy you can go, you don't have to sit here with me" Taylor said to Troy who didn't seem like he was leaving anytime soon seeing as he was sitting on top of her desk looking through her book bag not seeming to notice all the looks he was receiving. It wasn't very usual for a senior to be seen in the sophomores' classes, they wouldn't even be seen anywhere near the room let alone in it.
"I'm not going anywhere until that bell rings" right at that moment the warning bell rung Troy looked dumbfounded "What are the odds of that happening?"
"One in a million" Taylor said with a fake shocked look on her face.
"Ha ha, you're so funny" he said sarcastically as he jumped of her desk and grabbed his books "I'll see you after homeroom"
"Troy you don't have to meet me after every class"
"But I want to so I'll see you soon" he said and walked out of the room leaving Taylor to feel uncomfortable from all the attention directed on her.
"Good morning class, there's not a lot of announcements today just some information about this years spring musical that our own Kelsi Neilson has composed and some lesson changes" Mr. Harding's eyes fell on Taylor and she saw the sympathy in his eyes meaning he knows what happened last Friday, he made his way over to her and told her in a hushed voice that he was sorry about what happened to her and told her all of the teachers were informed of what had happened and they all understood if she felt like going home and she wouldn't receive any extra work if she decided to go home. She gave him a small smile and politely thanked him.
"This is gonna be one long ass day" she muttered looking around at all the people in the room that were still staring at her.
-----
Troy ran down the hallway seeing as the final bell had rung not even a minute ago, he was sure that Ms. Darbus would give him at least an hour worth of detention. He quickly ran into the room and made as good of an apology as he could wheezing out the words seeing as he was short of breath after all that running.
"That's alright Mr. Bolton, please have a seat" she gestured to his seat in the front row of the class. Chad gave him a small smile as he sat down in front of him. Sharpay looked out raged.
"What! You're not gonna give him a detention"
"No I'm not Ms. Evans" she answered calmly.
"But he was late, he deserves detention!" she yelled at the teacher who looked like she was ready to snap her cap at any moment "Give him his detention"
"Alright that will be one hour of detention for you Ms. Evans!"
"What! But he's the one that was late!"
"You want to make that two hours Ms. Evans?!" Sharpay leaned back in her seat and glared out the window "Didn't think so, now as I was saying before this ruckus, we are holding the auditions for the spring musical this Thursday-" Sharpay leaned over to Troy who didn't even look her way.
"We are so over!" she said in a harsh whisper.
"Like I care" he said back raising his hand as Sharpay sat back in her chair looking as if someone had burned her.
"Yes Mr. Bolton"
"Is it okay if I leave two minutes early?"
"Only this once"
"Thank you Ms. Darbus, can I just ask one more thing?"
"Why not"
"The auditions were on Thursday at free period right?" she gave him a smile which was very unusual she had never smiled at him before in fact she had never been polite to him.
"Yes"
-----
As soon as the bell rang all the students in Taylor's homeroom practically ran out of the room Troy had to squeeze hi way into the room.
"You ready to go?" he asked as he finally reached Taylor and grabbed her hand helping her out of her seat.
"As ready as I'll ever be" Taylor answered taking a deep breath as she waved to Mr. Harding that gave them both a small smile as they left the room and walked down the hall hand in hand to Taylor's locker. Troy told her all about what happened in homeroom.
"I can't believe that you and Ms. Darbus actually had a nice conversation"
"Neither can I but the woman is actually kinda nice when she's not lecturing about the evils of cell phones or the theatre" he finished in a British accent making Taylor laugh but she stopped as soon as she saw her locker. Troy's smile faded as he too took a good look at her locker.
"Hey guys, what are you two up to?" Chad asked as he came up behind the two.
"Chad stay with Taylor" Troy said before he ran down the hallway towards the office.
"Tay, what's happening?" she only pointed at her locker. Chad's jaw dropped.