Yay! Quick update! And it's not as long as the last few chapters, thank God. So I bet you can guess what happens this chapter from reading the title of it...
One more thing guys. I've noticed in some of your reviews, for this story and GFN, that some of you think that Brandon is eventually going to "come out of the closet". I'm not one to give spoilers (even though this isn't even considered one) but Brandon isn't and won't ever be gay. I know in GFN how I made he and Troy sing to each other and hug and stuff, but that doesn't mean that either of them are gay. I know how that makes them seem homo and I'm sorry that I made you think like that, but Brandon and Troy are both stick straight, always will be. And later in the story I've already planned something that will prove that to you. Plus, I got most of those reviews after Brandon got together with Isabelle, which should've been a dead giveaway that he wasn't gay. So, yeah. Just wanted to clear that up. I'll try to write out their friendship a little more carefully from now on, and if I write something that makes you think of the "g" word, you can tell me if you want. I just don't want anymore reviews saying "OMG are they gay or something?!" or "Haha I think Brandon's gay, am I right???" Nope, you're wrong. Besides, if they were gay, don't you think they would've gotten together by now?
Answer to Mini Contest:
Take A Breath
Chapter 7 – Back at East High
Gabriella shot out of her bed with a start, breathing hard after seeing his brown eyes for the second night in a row. She sighed and held her head in her hands, trying to hold in her tears. Brandon and Troy had been thrown into the Lava Springs pool with their hands and legs tied, forcing them to drown. She shook her head. These nightmares had to stop.
Suddenly, she heard screaming coming from the living room downstairs. They sounded desperate and panic ridden, thrashing around the room like they were trapped and scared of something terribly. The person sounded male. Gabriella gasped. Brandon had fallen asleep in the living room that night.
She threw the covers off of her and dashed over to her door, tearing it open and running down the stairs, almost tripping over Brandon's shoes. She looked over to the couch in the living room to find that she was right. Brandon was hyperventilating.
She made a mad dash over to her twin brother and shouted "Brandon!" She ran over to him and started shaking his slippery shoulders violently, nearly screaming "Brandon, snap out of it!"
Brandon looked like he was trying to say something, but all that came out were short gasps for air, like he couldn't breathe. His eyes widened and his mouth remained open, heaving for oxygen as he gripped the pillow beneath him, his chest tightening forcefully. He tried inhaling again, only to be met with nothing more than a sore throat.
"BRANDON!!!" Gabriella screamed at the top of her lungs, running in front of him and grabbing his face in between her hands, shaking his head to try and help him breathe. She saw his eyes darken. His breath was stuck in his throat like glue.
"Brandon, breathe!" Gabriella tried again, a tear sliding down her cheek. She removed her brother's bangs from his eyes and found that they were closing, most likely from losing consciousness.
"Brandon, no!"
Splash.
Gabriella shrieked and jumped back from the couch, her body shivering from the sudden rush of ice water being forced onto her body. She looked up and gave a sigh of relief to find Brandon coughing violently, his breath finally returning to his lungs.
"What the-" Gabriella started, but was cut off with Troy's electric blue eyes locking with hers. In his hand he held an empty pitcher of ice water.
"Troy?" Gabriella gasped, surprised that she didn't hear him coming in.
"What happened?" Troy asked, his voice low and full of fear. He had a nightmare too. That had to be the only reason he was here.
"B-Brandon was having a nightmare and started h-hyperventilating. I tried to snap him out of it but h-he wouldn't until you came along." Gabriella answered quietly, looking at the floor. "Thanks..."
"No problem," Troy set the bucket down and shuffled over to his girlfriend, putting an arm around her and whispering "Have another one?"
"Yeah..."
"Don't worry, we'll talk about it in a few minutes." He kissed her forehead and sped over to his best friend, who had fallen onto the floor and was now holding his stomach with one hand and his neck with another, the sweat still rolling off of his forehead, back, and chest. He was heaving his heart out and, eyes wide behind his hair, blinked quickly to try and regain his vision, having lost it during his panic attack. He took a few more deep breaths before finally mumbling "T-thanks..."
"You okay man?" Troy reviewed carefully, helping Brandon to a sitting position against the soaked couch.
"I-I think so. Still trying to c-catch my breath though..." Brandon nodded, still breathing hard.
"What happened?" Troy asked, confused. He and Brandon usually had the same dreams and reacted the same way. Troy had a nightmare and just woke up sweating, like normal, with no breathing problems.
Brandon sighed "I-I don't really know. When I was drowning, it just felt so real. I guess I was so afraid of dying and thought it was actually happening."
"Are you sure you didn't just choke on your spit?" Troy asked, rolling over every possibility and trying to find a logical explanation.
Brandon shook his head "My mouth was dry, that couldn't be it. I think I was just scared."
"Wait, didn't something like this happen before?" Gabriella asked, coming over to the two boys.
"What do you mean?" Troy asked.
Gabriella explained "That night when you and Brandon had the dream of the other getting shot, me and Brandon had our nightmares at different times. I had mine first and went to sleep in his room. He woke up from his and said that his chest hurt really badly." She looked over at Brandon and watched him recall the memory.
"Oh yeah," he remembered "It felt like getting shot in the arm again, only in my chest."
Troy observed "But how is that even possible? And why is it only happening to you?"
Brandon shrugged "I don't know. I'm the one who broke up with Samantha, so I'm getting the worst punishment. You broke Wolf's plans, so that's probably why you're getting them too, only not as harsh."
"What about me?" Gabriella asked, confused. She had no part in the death of Samantha or Wolf's plan to kill Brandon.
"You're my girlfriend and Brandon's sister," Troy answered "You heard Sharpay explain what Brick said. When someone close to us gets hurt, we get hurt."
"He's right," Brandon turned to his sister "It's like a chain. One thing leads to another."
"So what do we do?" Gabriella asked, leaning into Troy's shoulder as they sat on the floor.
Troy sighed and shrugged "I guess we just wait it out and see what happens. This can't really go on much longer, especially with school starting in less than a week."
Gabriella copied his sigh and closed her eyes "I'm scared guys..."
Brandon wrapped an arm around her and kissed her temple, whispering "Usually I'd say 'don't be', but I can't. Everybody's scared. We just have to stick together and fight this, okay?"
Gabriella smiled at him and said "Yeah. I love you guys."
Troy leaned down and planted a soft kiss on her lips, replying "We love you too."
--
Troy groaned as his eyes fluttered open, the light from the morning sun blinding him slightly. He flipped onto his other side, expecting to feel his girlfriend's warm body next to him but felt nothing. He sat up abruptly and looked down at the empty spot next to him, confused. Where was she?
He heard someone clear their throat behind him. Troy turned his head to see Brandon and Gabriella standing beside each other, an annoyed look upon their faces.
"What's going on?" Troy asked, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes.
Brandon held out a white envelope with printed letters on the front, addressed to Troy. The brunette took a look at the return address. East High School.
"Bad news..." Gabriella said, showing him her and Brandon's letters which were already opened.
Troy took the letter from Brandon's hand and ripped it open, unfolding the paper inside. After reading the first few lines, he groaned "Are you kidding me?! We don't get our schedules until the first day?!"
Brandon shook his head "They got a new grading system and it messed up everyone's schedules. The ones that they sent us last week are apparently wrong, so we still don't know what teachers or classes we have."
Troy let the letter float to the ground as he threw his hands up in the air, complaining "This is just great. I was getting all hyped up over having evil Mrs. Brown as my Algebra 3 teacher for nothing."
"Mrs. Brown is nothing compared to what I had," Gabriella shook her head "I knew that my schedule was wrong as soon as it said I had Ms. Darbus for drama again."
Brandon said "Of course yours was wrong. The only way she'd be teaching that class was if she got transferred to the 12th grade."
Gabriella shrugged "It could happen."
Troy shuddered at the thought of spending the last year of his high school career with the witch he called his drama teacher. "Please don't jinx it Gabby. It's like being in a house fire and saying things couldn't get any worse."
With a chuckle, Brandon rolled his eyes and replied "Don't worry. Darbus wouldn't even want to transfer. Not if there's a chance of having Chad in her class again."
Troy laughed "Yeah, she couldn't stand him, could she?"
Gabriella smiled "I heard her say she'd rather be stuck in an elevator with Jason than to teach Chad again."
The group laughed for a little bit before Brandon spoke up "Don't worry guys. We got rid of Darbus last year. There's no way in hell she's coming back into our lives this year..."
--
Troy, Brandon, Gabriella, Chad, Taylor, Sharpay, Ryan, Zeke, Jason, and Kelsi stood on the street, just footsteps away from the curb that would lead to the sidewalk and eventually, the stairs that would take them to a new chapter in their lives.
"Wow," Gabriella said, shaking her head slowly. "12th grade..."
"I can still remember when we first walked into this place as freshmen. How scared we were…" Brandon added.
"Is it weird that I'm scared right now?" Jason asked uneasily.
Troy shook his head "No Jase. This is it. Our last year of school, can you believe it?"
Taylor corrected him "Don't forget the four years of collage that we'll hopefully go through." Troy just shrugged, letting her know that she was right.
Sharpay took a deep breath and let it out in a strong sigh, saying "Well, we should get going. The bell for homeroom rings in five minutes and I don't wanna have detention on my last first day."
The 10 of them all linked arms, taking deep nervous breaths of anticipation. Starting with their left foot, they all stepped forward towards the front doors, growing more and more excited with each step they took.
As they got closer to the building, the gang noticed a crowd start to gather around them, full of eager people that were happy to see the technical stars of East High back with them.
When the 10 friends reached the front doors of the school, they disconnected their arms and smiled, looking into the school that was already flooded with students. The band was playing inside as well, banging the drums and smashing the cymbals in celebration of the new year being born. Suddenly, all noise stopped as the band looked at the line of students in front of the door. Troy and Brandon smiled at them knowingly. The band nodded and returned the grin.
"Three..." Gabriella started.
"...Two..." Brandon added.
Troy grinned "One."
Ten feet stepped into the building as the band slammed on the drums, starting the music back up again. Cheers came from within the school, filling the teens' ears with encouragement for they just realized that this was the first high school year that Troy and Brandon had walked in together.
"Hello, senior year!!!" Chad screamed, pumping his fists in the air. Loud yells followed suit.
"Hello, fun!" Sharpay yelled.
"Hello, the rest of our lives!" Brandon shouted after her, projecting his voice to the end of the hallway.
Troy and Gabriella smiled at him. This was going to be the best year ever.
--
After finishing the pre-school day celebrating, the gang walked to the senior hallway at the end of the school to collect their schedules and locker numbers. That was one flaw of the new year. They had to walk a mile to get to their homeroom in Five minutes.
After Gabriella and Brandon got their schedules and locker numbers, they waited for Troy to get his so that they could check their classes together.
Brandon growled "Agh, what's taking him so long? I wanna read my schedule already!"
Gabriella rolled her eyes "Don't worry, Brandon, there's a long line and he had to get in the back. He should be here soon since he was only a few spots behind us."
Just as his sister had predicted, Brandon saw Troy waltz up to them, looking around the school in wonder. The sight of senior year obviously still hadn't sunk into him yet.
"Wow," Troy smiled, looking around the bright building. "It's like we never left..."
"It's still amazing," Brandon shook his head "Anyways, who do you have for homeroom?"
"Uhh, room 1116. You?"
"Same! Who's the teacher?"
Troy and Brandon looked down at the spot beside the room number and gasped. They looked at each other with wide eyes and screamed "NOOO!!"
"What?" Gabriella asked, having just ended a conversation with a girl beside her and not opening her schedule with the boys. "Who is it?"
"It's not possible!" Troy gasped, looking at the paper in his hand as though it were an F on his S.A.T's.
"It's gotta be a mistake!" Brandon shook his head and blinked quickly like it was going to make the printed name go away.
"Who is it?" Gabriella repeated, looking at Brandon's schedule with a curious eye. As soon as her gaze landed on those 6 dreaded letters, she let out a high pitched shriek of "WHAT THE HELL?!?!"
HR – Homeroom Grade 12 – Marking Periods 1,2,3,4 – Room 1116 – Darbus, A
"Gabby, are you in our homeroom too?" Brandon frantically asked his sister.
Gabriella almost tore the paper in two trying to open it in a split second to find out her fate. The letter dropped from her hands as she whispered "Darbus..."
Troy stuttered "B-but how is that even possible?! Unless she got transferred she's still teaching 11th grade!"
Brandon gave him a sympathetic look. "Unless she got transferred..."
Troy closed his eyes and sighed. "This isn't happening..."
"We're dead..." Gabriella said flatly, letting her head fall back against the lockers.
Brandon sighed "Hey, maybe it won't be that bad. I mean, at least we know what gets on her nerves and what doesn't. We know what it takes to get her to shut up and what it takes to get her out of the classroom for long periods of time."
Troy argued "Yeah, but she also knows what pisses us off and what our strengths are. She can use that against us if we make her mad."
Brandon looked as though he was about to retort, but closed his mouth, knowing that his best friend was right.
Gabriella took a deep breath and said "So much for senior year being the best ever..."
Troy smiled lightly and took her into his arms "Don't worry. When Darbus gives a lecture about the theater and Shakespeare, we'll just text each other and drown her out."
Gabriella giggled "Yeah, just like Amy tried to do last year, but got caught." Brandon laughed at the memory of his ex getting her phone snatched out of her hands and thrown into the silver bucket on Darbus's desk.
Troy looked down the hall and pointed to someone. "Speaking of Amy..."
Brandon and Gabriella turned around and grinned as the black haired beauty waltzed down the hall with her friends, chatting and laughing. Her hair had grown longer, surprisingly, and was now down to the top of her rear end. She had only grown about half of an inch over the summer, meaning that she was still only about 5'6". She probably only gained a pound or two, so she was still relatively skinny and in shape. What really surprised Brandon was the fact that she had the East High class ring on her ring finger.
Amy looked in his direction and smiled widely, happy to see one of her best friends. She said goodbye to her girlfriends and bolted over to Brandon, wrapping her arms around his neck and feeling him spin her around.
"Brandon Montez, I'm so happy to see you!" Amy shrieked in his ear, getting down off of him.
Brandon laughed "Me too, Amy. How was your summer?"
Amy shrugged "Ehh, nothing special. Went to Florida, Ohio, Maryland, and Six Flags, but that's pretty much it. What about you? You've been working out, haven't you?"
Brandon rolled his eyes and shrugged as well "Well, you know me. Always hitting up the gym. Mine was pretty good. Hung out with these crazy people the whole time." He pointed to Troy and Gabriella, who smiled and waved.
Amy nodded "Good to see you two are still friends. I was wondering weather something else came up that made you go at each other's throats again."
Troy shook his head "Nope. We're still brothers forever."
Brandon turned back to Amy and said "So I see ring on your finger. Who's the lucky guy?"
Amy blushed and touched the M shaped necklace that hung off of her neck. "Well..."
"Hey, babe," a voice came behind the black haired teen. Amy lowered her gaze to the floor as a blonde wrapped his hands around her waist, kissing her cheek. "You ready for-"
Amy cleared her throat and pointed to Brandon, still not making eye contact with him. The blonde looked up and froze, his eyes widening. "Oh, crap..."
"Michael?" Brandon said in disbelief, raising an eyebrow and crossing his arms across his chest.
Michael was now blushing furiously as he ripped his hands from his obvious girlfriend and crossed them, mumbling "Hey man..."
Brandon gave a surprising smile with his eyes still wide, exclaiming "Whoa, wait a minute! When did this happen and why wasn't I informed?"
Amy cleared her throat again in nervousness while she replied "Uhh...t-two months ago. W-we didn't wanna tell you because we thought you'd be mad at Michael..."
Brandon sighed and rolled his eyes. "Guys, look. I don't know if you know this, but the phrase 'ex-girlfriend' means I'm not dating you anymore. I don't really care who you date, even if it's one of my best friends. Now, if I was in love with you and you were dating him, I'd be pretty steamed, but right now, I could care less. I'm happy for you guys, okay?"
Michael's green eyes lit up "Really?"
Brandon shrugged "Yeah, I mean come on. Dude, you haven't dated in forever. 2 years to be exact. Why wouldn't I want you to get together with someone?"
Michael smiled warmly at him. He interlaced he and Amy's hands and said "Thanks man. That really means a lot to me."
Brandon patted him on the shoulder with "No problem man. Just take care of her."
Amy leaned into her boyfriend while he said "I will. Oh and one more thing."
"Shoot."
"How could you not love this woman?" Amy just giggled and rolled her eyes.
Brandon answered "I don't know. I mean sure, I had feelings for her, but I just never really..."
"Felt like you do when you're with Isabelle?" Amy finished for him.
Brandon's eyes softened at the sound of his girlfriend's name. "Yeah, exactly..."
Michael asked "Oh yeah, how are things between you two?"
Brandon smiled widely "Amazingly great. We were talking on the phone last night for about three hours and there were no awkward silences between us."
Amy looked up at Michael with love in her eyes and softly said "Kinda reminds me of someone I know..." Michael couldn't resist the urge to lean down and plant a sweet kiss on her lips.
Brandon waved his arms "Okay, okay you two! No PDA, break it up!"
Michael blushed. "Sorry, man. You know how soft those lips are."
Brandon shrugged, remembering the last time he kissed her almost nine months ago, the day before the dance that brought Isabelle into his life. Sure, her lips were soft and sweet, but they were nothing compared to the thunder that erupted in his heart when he locked lips with Isabelle.
Brandon felt a tap on his shoulder behind him. Troy told him "Two minutes until homeroom."
Brandon nodded "I'll be right there." He turned back to his two friends and dismissed himself "Well I'll see you guys later. Good luck with the first day and your relationship."
Michael and Amy waved at him and walked off in the other direction, embracing each other lovingly. Brandon watched them turn the corner, noting how good they were together and how he didn't notice it sooner. He had introduced Michael and Amy when they first told each other that they liked each other in 5th grade. It was at recess and Michael just stared at Amy, his eyes sparkling. Brandon just brushed it off and any other incidents that had occurred over the years, which had been very many and thought nothing of it. He mentally kicked himself. How could I be so stupid?
Sighing, he turned on his heel and slowly stalked off to his new homeroom, his stomach churning the whole way. Allison Darbus, the first teacher he would see everyday...
This would be a very interesting year...
Just to let you know, this chapter will be continued next chapter. But if I added what I'm planning, it would be wayy too long...
REVIEW!! Thnx :)
Rachel :)
I'm planning to write a new oneshot/songfic, but I don't know which song to use. Please take my new poll on my profile! Thanks :)
Mini Contest:
See if you can guess what Brandon's locker number will be. Clue: it's obviously gonna be Jonas related...
Sneak at Next Chapter:
- Troy, Brandon, and Gabriella aren't the only one's who have Darbus as a homeroom teacher...
Troy and Brandon's heads snapped towards the door of the room as it flew open, revealing a mountain of hair and a very frantic looking Chad.
"Call the paramedics! I think I'm gonna die!"
"You too?" Troy asked, raising an eyebrow.
"God, I hope not! Otherwise we're all-"
"WELCOME BACK STUDENTS!!" A sudden, familiar voice entered the room along with a flamboyant curtain of colors.
"Dead..." Chad finished his sentence, sinking down into his chair.
- Another threat scares the gang
Troy was about to answer until the room finally fell into darkness.
"What just happened?!" Gabriella shrieked.
The sound of a phone being lifted and then put back down again filled the room as Ms. Darbus announced "Ladies and gentlemen, it seems we have a power failure, most likely from someone sneaking in and cutting them off."
"Oh God no, not here..." Troy, Brandon, and Gabriella all thought to themselves as a certain pair of green eyes could be seen behind their closed eyes...
Trivia:
- If you want to picture Amy, just picture Amy Lee (lead singer of Evanescence) only a little younger
- If you want to picture Michael, picture Jesse McCartney in his spikey hair stage (Remember me saying in the chapter Michael had blonde hair and green eyes?)
- Next chapter was supposed to be the end of this chapter, but it would obviously be too long
- Everyone's homeroom is room 1116 because that's my homeroom at my school :)
- The situation with everyone's messed up schedules actually happened to my school. We got our schedules mailed to us about 2 weeks before school started, but then got a call from the school that said that they were messed up because of the new grading program on all the computers :( I just changed it up a little bit and made Troy, Brandon, and Gabriella get letters instead of a call
REVIEW!! Thnx :)
Rachel :)