Sorry for the long update guys. Schools keeping me nice and busy, so my updates have been really slow. I try my best on the weekends, but oh well. Here's the next chapter :)
Answer to Mini Contest:
You'll have to read the chapter to find out. If you don't understand it, it's in the trivia ;)
Brandon walked into room 1116 and sighed at the arrangement of things. Déjà vu hit him as he remembered looking at the exact same rows of desks in the exact same placements. Darbus's desk was set up the same way with her freaky drama masks hung up on the walls and her silver tin bucket placed on a pedestal in the middle as if to say "No cell phones or you'll regret it!" Yup. Darbus didn't change a bit over the summer.
Brandon walked over to Troy, who was sitting in the exact same spot he sat in last year chatting with Gabriella who now sat beside him instead of in the back. Brandon, who sat two rows over from Troy, now relocated himself to be on his left where Zeke was last year and sat down, saying "Well this is original, huh?"
Troy and Gabriella turned their attention to him while nodding, Troy replying "Yeah I guess Darbus couldn't wait to put us through another year of hell, so she's torturing us again only with higher expectations for us this time."
Gabriella spoke up "Wait a minute, even though or schedules were messed up, didn't Chad have the same homeroom as us too?"
Brandon nodded "Yeah we all had the same homerooms and English classes. So that means that..." They all looked at each other with amused looks among their faces, all coming to the same conclusion.
"Oh God, here we go..." Brandon spoke up, sitting back in his seat with a grin.
Gabriella giggled "This ought to be interesting when he finds out."
Suddenly, 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!" he screamed, running in front of Troy's desk and sitting down in the desk.
"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.
"Let the games begin..." Brandon muttered to himself, sighing.
Ms. Darbus let out a happy sigh as she called out in her loud voice "Ahh, welcome, welcome, welcome to the last year of your high school career! As you all probably know, my name is Ms. Allison Darbus and I specialize in the glorious theoretical arts and drama."
"How could we forget..." Chad mumbled to himself under his breath, thinking that she couldn't hear him.
Ms. Darbus's eyes flicked over to Chad and grinned to herself. Slowly walking over to him, she continued with her rant "Oh, I see many familiar faces from my classes last year. One face in particular," she stopped in front of Chad's desk "Mr. Danforth."
"Uh huh?"
Darbus gave a false smile of happiness and said "I sure do hope that we have grown a little more mature over the three wondrous summer months that you had, am I correct?"
"...sure..."
"Good," Walking back up to the front of the room, Darbus scanned the area for a pair that she had been particularly curious about over the summer. She smiled broadly when she finally spotted them "Mr. Montez and Mr. Bolton!"
Troy and Brandon's heads shot up from their turtle like state and both said at the same time "Huh?"
"I see you both are seated within five feet of each other and not tearing the other's head off. I'm assuming that you two are still brotherly?"
They nodded as though they were speaking to a slow person. "Uh huh..."
Darbus averted her attention to another couple on her mind "Mr. Montez, I wonder if you were still together with Ms. Johnson or if you ran back to Ms. Hartzler."
Brandon was hesitant to answer, for he didn't think that sharing his love life with his psychotic drama teacher was a very smart decision to make. However he finally sighed "S-still with Isabelle..."
Darbus let out a breath of relief "Thank God. Moving on, now I know that some of you aren't too thrilled that I'm your teacher for another year-"
Failing in biting his tongue to keep himself from saying anything, Chad muttered "That's an understatement..."
Darbus shot a glare in Chad's direction and growled "I thought you said you grew up Danforth."
Chad rolled his eyes, but replied "Sorry..."
Darbus continued to sigh "Anyways, I just wanted to hope that all of you had a very nice summer, as I did. Now before I let you tell me about your summer I just wanted to tell about my new expectations for you this year. I know I let you get away with a few things last year, but that completely stops this year. First and foremost, I want to say that..."
The room erupted into many bored sighs and groans from the impatient teenagers who already couldn't wait until the end of the year where Darbus would completely be out of their lives forever.
As the oldish woman ranted on and on about the new rules of her class, Chad closed his eyes and whimpered to himself "Please God, what did I do to deserve this punishment? Is this some kind of sick joke or a way of you sending the devil to take my soul-"
"DANFORTH!!" Darbus shouted above his self audience speech. He watched in horror as she stormed up to his desk and towered over him with her short frame, letting him know who was in charge. "Did you not hear a word that just came out of my mouth?!"
He gulped "Y-yes..."
"Well then please repeat it!" She barked, knowing what was to come from him.
Clearing his throat and searching his brain for an excuse to get out of this, Chad stuttered "W-would that really be necessary, I mean, come on. We've already wasted enough class time with the greeting and t-the fact that this is senior year, the last of our schooling-"
Using the ruler she grabbed from her desk, Darbus slammed it down on his desk to cut off his nervous rant and seethed "Let's get one thing straight Danforth!"
"Y-yes ma'am..."
The white haired lady continued "I've learned a few things over these three months and let me tell you I've listened and learned carefully! I've had teachings from the most military-like professors and let me tell you their hard attitude is about to sink in if you don't shut up and let me teach my lesson! Do you understand me?!"
Chad sat there with his eyes wide and his throat dry. It wasn't until now that he realized how scary Darbus was up close and that queasy feeling she gave you in the pit of your stomach, which he hadn't felt since Sharpay and Gabriella got kidnapped. But then again, he couldn't feel the anger radiating off of Brick's body or see his nostrils flaring in fury. He just nodded slowly like a little kid afraid of a bully at school.
Letting out an annoyed sigh, Darbus continued "Very well. Now," Turning back to the whole class, who was just as scared as Chad "I might as well tell you why I'm here in the first place. Apparently, my teaching skills aren't suitable enough for eleventh grade, so they transferred me to twelve grade, which is why my expectations are higher this year. For instance, your appearance. I know that it is still in the midst of summer and the ladies like to wear the little short shorts and mini skirts that display too much skin, so in order to wear those, they must reach your fingertips. You must stand straight up and place your hands at your sides. If the fabric doesn't reach your fingertips, they are too short. I know that this was a school rule in middle school, but they apparently cut it from the Code of Conduct since they think you are responsible enough. One more thing. Men, if you would like to grow facial hair, the length limit is one inch."
This rule led to many protests from most of the guys in the room who had grown facial hair over the summer, including Chad who had worked hard to not shave off the go-t on his face. He was planning to grow it a little bit longer, (Hmm...) maybe an inch and a half but he could just toss that plan in the trash. Darbus was a dictator.
She stopped all the commotion with a stiff hand and continued "Gentlemen, I know you're disappointed, but I cannot speak to someone while they have unnecessary facial hair hanging off of their face. I wouldn't call it a phobia of mine, but I do detest it very much. If I think that your hair is longer than the limit, I will get a ruler and measure it on the spot. If it's too long, I will hand you a pair of scissors and you will cut it into the trash can until it is one inch or shorter."
Chad crossed his arms and sat back in his seat, pouting. It was only five minutes into the new school year and he was already waiting for the dismissal bell to ring or for someone to fire this drama queen for someone else who was way more fair.
Darbus interrupted his thoughts with "Mr. Danforth, if you have a problem with it, I suggest you consult someone who cares. Please don't pout like some little middle schooler. Oh, and for a positive, the hair really works for you. It makes your lips stand out. And I see that you've tamed that mess you call hair."
"I see you've grown some fuzz too..." he said behind his breath, fortunate that she didn't hear him due to her continuous rambling.
"Now then, I hope that everyone has gotten their correct schedules for this year. The school office is terribly sorry about the whole mix up, but now they hope that you can advance from class to class without a problem."
To everyone's relief, the bell for first period rang as soon as her sentence ended.
Darbus finished off with "Good luck with your first day students! Have fun learning!" Before Chad walked out, she grabbed his arm and warned "But not too much fun..." Chad just gave her a frightened look and shook her off of him, speeding out of the door before he allowed himself to retort.
When he got outside, he found that Troy, Brandon, and Gabriella had already beat him there, having not been stopped by the witch on their way out.
"Dude," Chad started "I think Darbus met with some dealer during the summer 'cause that lady seems crazier than she was last year!"
Brandon nodded with the same look "And she's flaunting the whole 'I'll be the first person you'll see every day until the end of the school year' Yeah, like that makes us feel better."
Gabriella shrugged "I don't think it'll be that bad guys. I mean come on. She taught us so much last year and I think we should give her just a little bit of credit."
Chad rolled his eyes "For what? Dragging us into a year of dramatic hell?"
Gabriella scoffed "Remember that project she made us do last year? You wrote yours on Taylor and she reconsidered going out with you. You two would probably still be awkward if she didn't make you do that."
Chad readied himself to retort, but found that she was right. He had just barely passed drama last year and that project being assigned was the only thing that could save him from repeating the grade. Darbus knew exactly what she was doing. It would let all four of them express themselves without letting their targets knowing exactly what was going on. For a psychopath, she was pretty smart.
Chad huffed "I'd love to stay and chat about the devil in human form, but I gotta go. Don't wanna be late for science on my first day. See you guys at lunch."
Gabriella rolled her eyes "Whatever Chad. Goodbye." As he walked away from them, she couldn't help but shout after him "You know I'm right!"
"Whatever!" he yelled back, walking quicker around the corner.
"Typical Chad," Brandon shook his head "Oh, he's right! We gotta get going! The bell's gonna ring in less than a minute! See you guys!" He gave his friends one last wave before darting down the hallway to his advanced algebra class. Brandon might have been just an average student, but when it came to math, he was like a modern Einstein.
Troy nodded "Well I guess that just leaves us. We better get to music before Darbus tears our heads off." He grabbed Gabriella by the wrist and led the way down to the auditorium where their music class was being held for the day. Hopefully they would get there before Darbus did.
--
Troy and Gabriella entered the large room about thirty seconds later and let out the breaths that they were holding when the found that they had beat Darbus, but only barely. The bell rang just seconds after they had entered and as soon as it did, the rounded woman came trotting into the area.
"Students! Welcome to your last year of high school musical education! I intend to make this the best music class you have ever had, as long as you all cooperate and follow directions."
Troy and Gabriella snuck down the aisle while Darbus had her eyes closed and took their seats beside Kelsi, who obviously had the same class as they did. She smiled at them and whispered "Hey guys."
"What's up Kelsi?" Troy smiled back.
Darbus continued "We will be doing many projects in this class and listening to many musical legends that have inspired me over the years. And I will be trying something new this year. Since I received many complaints last year about the music I had you all study and sing, I will be taking requests on songs and artists. I must warn you though that we will not be doing any rap or heavy metal. Nothing like...Britney Spears or Jay-Z or whatever you teenagers like to listen to these days. Any objections."
Silence.
"Good. Now to start us off this year and to warm us up a little, I want you all to think back to your summer and try to pick out your summer theme song. It can be a love song for you and your spouse or it can be a, dare I say it, party song about your wild side. I must say that the song must be appropriate and cannot contain any swear words or sexual content. And to assist you in your singing, we have the lovely Ms. Kelsi Neilson on piano. We well look up the sheet music on my laptop here," she pointed to the laptop on the piano beside her "And Kelsi will play the music while you sing it. Just take a few minutes to think of a song."
Troy closed his eyes and thought back to his summer. Sure, he had tons and tons of fun with Brandon, Gabriella, and the rest of the gang, but he couldn't really think of any good songs that he wanted to sing in front of the entire class. Then his mind drifted to the Brick situation. He could still hear Gabriella's desperate cries on the bridge and he could still taste the dried blood on lips when he kissed her during their walk. Then he remembered the promise that he and Brandon had made to her. We'll always be there for you...
He grinned.
"Any volunteers before I start choosing myself? You may also sing with someone if you want." Darbus finally spoke up after a few moments of silence.
Perfect... Troy raised his hand while Gabriella and Kelsi just stared at him. Troy wanted to sing? In front of everyone?
Darbus ushered him to the stage with "Very well Mr. Bolton. Would you like to sing with someone?"
Troy nodded and turned to Gabriella. Without him even saying anything, Gabriella shook her head "Hell no!"
"Come on Gabby!" Troy pleaded, giving her a puppy dog pout that he knew she couldn't resist. She finally sighed and whispered "Fine..."
Troy smiled and got up with Kelsi and Gabriella behind him. He dragged Gabriella to the stage by her arm, feeling her start to tremble with nervousness. She had never sung in front of an audience before, except for Troy and Brandon, by herself. She knew that it was a bad idea to let them hear her voice.
Once Kelsi sat down at the piano, she nodded at Darbus who said "What song will you two be performing for us today?" Gabriella looked at Troy with worried eyes, wanting to find out the answer to that question herself. She hoped it wasn't anything that was too low key. She was absolutely horrible at those.
Troy grinned mischievously "It's a surprise. All I can tell you is that we don't need to look up the sheet music because Kelsi already knows it."
"I do?"
Troy nodded "Yeah, remember the song I showed you last month?" Gabriella gulped. Oh THAT song...
Kelsi gasped in recognition "Oh okay, now I know what you're talking about. Just let me know when you're ready."
Troy nodded and looked at his girlfriend, giving her a look that said "Are you ready?"
Gabriella hesitantly nodded, which didn't go unnoticed by Troy. He took her hand in his and gave it a reassuring squeeze, letting her know that he was right beside her. She smiled at him lightly.
Troy nodded at Kelsi, who placed her thin fingers on the keys and started to play the notes that she had memorized a month ago.
Troy took a deep breath and started to sing:
"Despite the lies that you're making
Your love is mine for the taking
My love is just waiting
To turn your tears to roses"
Kelsi began to hit the keys a little harder to represent the guitars that started playing right about now in the original song.
"Despite the lies that you're making
Your love is mine for the taking
My love is just waiting
To turn your tears to roses"
Troy nudged Gabriella in the side as a signal to start singing with him. She inhaled deeply and began to sing:
"I will be the one that's gonna hold you
I will be the one that you run to
My love is a burning, consuming fire"
They looked deeply into each other's eyes as they continued.
No, you'll never be alone
When darkness comes
I'll light the night with stars
Hear my whispers in the dark
No, you'll never be alone
When darkness comes
You know I'm never far
Hear my whispers in the dark
Whispers in the dark
Gabriella continued on her own
You feel so lonely and ragged
Troy continued by his self
You lay here broken and naked
Their voices blended together once again
My love is just waiting
To clothe you in crimson roses
Troy
I will be the one that's gonna find you
I will be the one that's gonna guide you
My love is a burning, consuming fire
No, you'll never be alone
When darkness comes
I'll light the night with stars
Hear my whispers in the dark
No, you'll never be alone
When darkness comes
You know I'm never far
Hear my whispers in the dark
Whispers in the dark
Whispers in the dark
Whispers in the dark
The two didn't even hear the thunderous applause that had erupted from the audience before them. They just continued staring at each other, the love and happiness evident in their shining eyes. Troy leaned down and softly planted his lips to Gabriella's cheek, having her blush in response while her smile just grew larger. When Troy retreated, he mouthed "I'm so proud of you."
But of course, all good moments had to come to an end. Ms. Darbus rushed over towards them and congratulated "Brava you two! May I ask what that song was?"
Troy answered "It's called 'Whispers in the Dark' by Skillet. I came across it last month and I guess it just fit me and Gabby's situation. I was hanging out with Kelsi a few days later and as soon as she heard it, she looked up the sheet music to it. Guess her time wasn't wasted." Kelsi blushed at this comment.
Ms. Darbus smiled and replied "Well it was beautiful. You may be seated."
Troy nodded and, taking Gabriella's hand in his, started walking back to their seats. Gabriella stopped short, looking at her boyfriend with admiration. "What's wrong?" Troy asked in confusion.
Gabriella leaned in and closed the gap in between them. "Thanks for dragging me up there. That was amazing."
Troy shrugged "Hey. Amazing things are only created by amazing people."
--
...Brandon in 9th Period...
Brandon walked into the gymnasium, his heart thumping against his chest wildly. It was finally ninth, or free, period and Brandon's first dance practice of the school year. He didn't know why he was so nervous. He and the team had been practicing together the whole summer and pretty much had their routine down perfectly for the dance next week, so why did he feel like throwing up all of the sudden?
"No wait a second..." he thought to himself "That's not nervousness. The last time that I felt this was when I was going to Lava Springs a few days ago. Before Sharpay got kidnapped..."
He shook off those horrifying feelings and opened his closed eyes, trying not to let his jaw drop. He smiled as his eyes landed on all of the dancers Brandon had come to know as his friends, all stretching and chatting with their teammates about the exciting year ahead for them. Half the class was stretching and warming up while the others, who had already done so, were leaning against the walls or sitting on the hardwood floor talking and laughing with their friends. Brandon took a deep breath. This would definitely be one of the best days ever.
He walked over to the middle of the room where Michael stood talking to Drew and Todd (Remember those two? They helped Brandon beat up Troy back in chapter 13 of GFN)
Brandon spoke up "Hey guys!"
The three boys looked over at their captain and smiled widely "DJ Danger!" they all cried in unison, taking their turns in giving Brandon one-armed hugs. "You ready for an awesome year?" Michael asked.
Brandon beamed "Hell yeah! When am I never?"
Todd spoke up "I know it's months off, but I'm already ready to kick some ass at the nationals." Michael and Drew rolled their eyes at his randomness.
Brandon stopped him with a chuckle "Whoa, slow down there Toddmyster. We don't even know if we're gonna be able to compete. We've still gotta win against West in two months."
Todd squinted his eyes, showing that he was even ready for that. "There's no way in hell they're beating us again. They just got lucky last year, but now that you're captain this year we're a shoe in!"
"Hey!" Michael glared at him, offended since he was the captain of the team last year. "I take offense to that!"
"Sorry dude..."
Brandon rolled his eyes with a friendly smile "Guys, just calm down. It doesn't matter who the captain of this team is, as long as we all stick together and try our best, we're gonna be fine." The three boys smiled at him.
"Definitely," Drew nodded "Anyways, you got the music list?"
Brandon reached into his gym bag for the list that contained his ideas for their routine songs and searched around everywhere, not finding anything. He frowned. He could've sworn he put it in there this morning before he left the house.
After finding nothing, he sighed "Crap, I must've left it in homeroom this morning. Mike, get everyone ready for a freestyle session. I'll be right back." Michael nodded as he watched Brandon's retreating figure run out of the room back to Darbus's class. He grinned to himself. The memory of Brandon letting him date his ex still hadn't sunk in yet. Brandon truly was his best friend.
--
Brandon rushed into the room after a minute of running through the hallways. He had even checked his locker, number 705, to see if he had left it there without knowing. He ran over to his desk and checked everywhere around his desk, groaning as he found nothing.
"What are you looking for?" Brandon looked up to find Troy's curious face staring at him. Brandon shrugged "I thought I left the dance track list in here, but I can't find it. I must've left it at home. This is just great..."
Troy seemed to be thinking for a few seconds before it finally dawned on him. "You mean this?" He looked around in his folder before pulling out a folded piece of paper. Brandon took it from his hands, opened it, and let out the breath he didn't know he was holding. "Thanks man. What were you doing with it?"
Troy rolled his eyes playfully "You gave it to me, remember? In fifth period you asked me what I thought of it."
Brandon gasped in recognition "Oh yeah. Mr. Hudson thought we were passing notes and I forgot all about trying to get it back trying to..."
"Come up with a lie." Troy joined him in finishing his sentence, smiling.
Brandon laughed "See, this is why we're best friends."
"Don't have to tell me twice."
They shared one more laugh before Brandon sighed "Well I might as well get back to the gym. Lots of people waiting on me."
Troy started "Okay see you lat-"
Just then, the lights in the room flickered for a few seconds. Troy and Brandon looked up at them with confusion written all over their faces.
"What the..." Brandon muttered, seeing Gabriella walk up to them with the same look.
"What's happening?" she asked, worry evident in her voice.
Troy was about to answer until the room finally fell into complete 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 brown eyes could be seen behind their closed ones. How did he even sneak in?
"Shit, not now..." Brandon whispered, feeling around in the darkness until he felt Gabriella's hand. He grabbed it, but was surprised that she bombed into his arms immediately.
Darbus continued blindly "Please do not panic. That will only make things worse. Just wait patiently until the technician arrives and fixes it. Just stay calm."
"How can we stay calm when our stalker is in the building?" Troy whispered to Brandon and Gabriella, his voice annoyed.
Brandon shook his head and stroked his sister's hair "Like she said. Just stay calm and wait for something to happen..."
2 minutes later, Troy, Brandon, and Gabriella found themselves on the group up against the wall when the lights finally came back to life. Deep breaths of relief could be heard throughout the room as the terrified students rose from the ground, a few of them opening the blinds to let in the sunlight just in case it happened again.
"Thank God." Gabriella cried, crashing onto Troy's chest.
"No, thank you Brick for finally leaving." Brandon whispered, hoping that no one except Troy and Gabriella could hear him.
Troy shook his head "It doesn't matter. The lights are back on. Let's just hope it doesn't happen again."
Gabriella stood up and started back for her desk when someone on Troy's caught her eye. She gasped and her eyes widened. "T-Troy..." she stammered.
"Yeah?" Troy asked, coming up behind her.
"Look." She pointed to the face of his desk with a trembling finger. Troy followed it and froze.
Another black envelope.
"How the hell?" He angrily grabbed the note from the desk and tore it open, opening it slowly.
"What does it say?" Brandon asked, creeping up behind him timidly.
Troy shook his head and put the note back down. He quietly quoted "You couldn't see me, but I could definitely see you. You'll find me doing a lot of that lately..."
Dun dun dun! Lol, dramatic and funny enough for you? I had lots of fun writing the Chad/Darbus scene. Hopefully we can get more of those two in later :)
REVIEW!! Thnx :)
Rachel :)
No chapter sneak, sorry. It's late and I have to go to bed :(
Trivia:
- The song is called Whispers in the Dark by Skillet, which you might have guessed from reading the chapter
- Brandon's locker number is number 705 from the Jonas song 7:05