Chapter Eight

"You said what?"

Chad winced at the pitch Taylor's voice hit, instantly regretting telling her anything about his conversation with Ryan. "I didn't say anything," he hedged, "I only implied."

"Oh, you only implied. Well that just changes everything," Taylor snapped. She put her hands on her head and let out an angry sigh. "What am I going to do with you?"

"Dance?" Chad suggested hopefully.

Taylor looked up at him, disbelief stamped across her features. "Here I am, risking my future as the first female president of color in an attempt to get you back together with a boy who I'm not sure deserves you and you go and imply to that same boy that we are hooking up. Have I missed anything?"

"Um." Chad bit his lower lip. "No, you pretty much covered it all."

Taylor threw up her hands. "You just want to be miserable, don't you?"

"Look, this isn't that big of a deal. So let's just turn on the music and forget that I said anything." Chad crossed over to the boom box and bent down to push the power button.

"Don't play coy with me," Taylor snapped.

Chad turned up the volume. "What?" he called over the syncopated beat.

"Chad!" Taylor put her hands on her hips and glared at him.

"I can't hear you."

Taylor stomped over and shut off the music. "I'm being serious here, you know."

"You shouldn't be. Not when we are about to be singing about bopping to the top." Chad made a face. "Kelsi seems all right when you look at her. A little off, yeah, but basically normal. But the stuff she writes," he shook his head.

"Composes."

"What?"

Taylor sighed. "Kelsi composes. And, yes, she's a bit weak. But it's still light years ahead of anything you or I could do."

"Dude. I'm singing 'I'm going to 'bop, bop, bop to the top.' That's not exactly Shakespeare."

"Well look at you, referencing Shakespeare like you've actually read him," Taylor snarked.

Chad scowled at her. "I've read Shakespeare. I'm not a complete idiot, you know."

"Could have fooled me." Taylor shot him a look that should have peeled his skin off. "What with you making a mire of your life."

"I haven't made a mire of my life, whatever that means."

"Oh really?" Taylor narrowed her eyes. "Tell me what, exactly, you have done then? Because last I looked you weren't talking to your best friend, your boyfriend dumped you, and your brilliant plan to get him back involves dancing the salsa with the girl he thinks you're dating."

Chad blinked. "Damn. When you put it like that."

Taylor plopped down onto the floor and crossed her legs. "Like I said, a mire. So how do we fix it?"

"I dunno." Chad slid down the wall and wrapped his arms around his legs, resting his chin on his knees. "Give up?"

"Bite your tongue." Taylor tapped her chin. "Well, I can tell you what we won't do. We won't let Ryan go on thinking what he's thinking."

"Tay," Chad began but she cut him off with an upheld hand.

"We are doing this my way," she said, "because your way just makes things ten times worse than they already were."

Chad let out a long sigh. "I hate it when you are right."

Taylor didn't bother to answer. Instead, she pulled out her phone and dialed. Chad watched as she fluffed her hair in the mirror while waiting for whoever she had called to answer.

"Hey, Gabby, it's me, Taylor." She paused and then said, "Yeah, I know. And, believe me, I already tore him a new one over it." Another pause. "Of course it's not true! Girl, I thought you knew me." Taylor laughed. "Well, be that as it may, I'm not that sort of a person. Anyway, I wanted to ask you to do me a favor. I know how tight you are with Ryan and I can't exactly call him and explain, not with all that other drama going down, so could you do it for me?" She studied her reflection in the mirror while she waited for an answer. "Exactly. Chad is losing his mind without him and I know Ryan's just as bad."

"I am not losing my mind," Chad interjected.

"I know, I know, but we can at least try," Taylor said, completely ignoring Chad's comment. She smiled widely in response to whatever Gabby had said. "So that's all set then. Great. I knew I could count on you." One more long pause and then, "I love you too, sweetie. And I'll see you tomorrow. At four, right?" A head nod. "Great. Talk to you later. Okay. Bye."

Taylor snapped the phone shut and then turned towards Chad. "You owe me big, buster." She walked over to her bag and put the phone back inside of it. Then she marched over to the boom box and turned it back on.

"Aren't you going to tell me what's going on?" Chad shouted to be heard over the music.

"And risk you messing it up? No way." Taylor moved to the middle of the floor and then settled into her opening stance.

Chad sighed again, but walked over to her and waited for the start of their song.

Ryan looked up from his desk when he heard a knock on his door. "Come in," he said, thinking it was his mother. Instead, Gabby walked into the room.

"Hey ya," she greeted him. She walked over to the couch and settled herself on it. "Hope you don't mind. I knew you would be home and I thought I would just drop by."

"I didn't hear the bell." Ryan pushed back his chair and moved over to the couch.

"Your mother was leaving as I was coming up the walk. She held the door open for me and we had a short talk. She's pretty cool, you know."

"Yeah." Ryan beamed. "My mom's the best. So what did you talk about?"

Gabby gave him a weak smile. "She's worried about you."

"What?"

"She said that you haven't been yourself since 'that nice Danforth boy' stopped coming around."

Ryan blinked. "Did you just do air quotes?" he asked.

"Yes. Is there something wrong with that?"

"No. I guess not."

Gabby patted the cushion next to her. "I promised her I would talk to you about it. Which is sort of odd, since I promised Taylor I would do the same thing."

"Taylor?" Ryan felt as if his stomach had been coated with ice. "Why would she want you to talk to me about anything?"

Gabby gave him a stern look. "Because she thinks that you think that she's hooking up with Chad and she doesn't want your friendship to suffer because of a misconception on your part."

"A misconception on my part? Chad all but said that they were an item." Ryan crossed his arms over his chest defensively. "Not that I would have a problem with that."

"Oh really?" Gabby crossed her arms over her chest too. "Then why have your been dodging Taylor's calls?"

Ryan winced. "I haven't been in the mood to talk, is all."

"Tell that to someone who didn't spend an hour and a half with you on the phone last night."

"Okay, fine, so maybe I'm a little upset at the fact that someone who claims to be my friend ran right out and snagged my ex for herself." Ryan knew he sounded bitter, but he didn't care. His feelings were perfectly justified.

"Except that she didn't." Gabby leaned forward and put her hand on Ryan's arm. "I swear, she didn't."

"Then why did Chad say that they were?"

Gabby made a face. "Well, from what you told me, he didn't actually say anything other than that Taylor liked musicals and that he wanted to help her be in one, which is total crap. The only thing Tay has a burning desire to get into is an Ivy League school. Now, it could be possible that someone convinced her that adding a musical element to her portfolio would increase her chances of getting accepted by Cornell or something, but I'm guessing she's probably just doing Chad a favor."

"And that favor would be what? Making me jealous?"

"Oh, yes, that must be it." Gabby rolled her eyes. "Chad is obviously still interested in you. I would bet that this whole musical thing is just a chance for Chad to spend more time with you in hopes that something will happen to make you forget what a colossal moron he was."

"Not very likely," Ryan said with a sick sense of satisfaction.

"I never said it was a good plan." Gabby leaned back on the couch. "Chad did come up with it, after all."

Ryan frowned. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Just that Chad never thinks things through. It's his biggest failing." Gabby shrugged. "He really should have been taught to look before he leaps."

"He is sort of spur of the moment," Ryan acknowledged reluctantly.

"Sort of?" Gabby snorted. "Make that completely. Chad's a total loose canon."

Ryan lifted his eyebrows. "Don't you think you are going a little too far there?"

"Not at all." Gabby shook her head. "Just look at his relationship with you. He decided to up and become best buds with you because Troy was spending all his time with Sharpay. Then he hooked up with you because you're hot and he's bi or something. He kept your relationship a secret because you asked him too, but, when push came to shove, he made fun of you instead of telling everyone that you where his boyfriend. He didn't understand why you got upset about him being a tool. And, instead of, I don't know, telling you that he was a fool and throwing himself on your mercy, he hatched some lame brain scheme to get back together with you. In the middle of which, he sort of implied that he and Taylor were an item. All of which leads me to conclude that Chad doesn't put much thought into his actions. He just does them and hopes for the best."

"He's not a bad guy."

Gabby gave him a look. "I never said that he was. Only that he had a flaw in his character. And who doesn't? My flaw is that I am too forgiving and always give people a second, third and even a forth chance. Taylor's is that she's too giving. Sharpay puts herself before everyone else and you are overly suspicious."

"I am not overly suspicious." Ryan glared at her.

"Yes you are. It's nothing to get worked up over, though. I'd been just as suspicious of people's motives if Sharpay were my sister."

"I am not."

"You never give anyone the benefit of the doubt. You always look for hidden motives. Remember when I first brought you a batch of my mom's brownies? You instantly asked me what I wanted and refused to eat one until I promised you that they didn't come with a catch."

Ryan flushed. "You brought me brownies for no reason."

"Yes, exactly."

"Nobody ever just brings me things. There is always a reason. Usually something to do with my sister."

Gabby smiled as if she had proved her point. "But I did. Because you are my friend and I wanted to share."

"Well, you're the only one."

The smile left Gabby's face. "No, I'm not."

"Name someone else then," Ryan challenged.

"Chad."

Ryan glared at her. "Whose side are you on here, anyway?"

"It's not about sides, because I am clearly on yours. Like I said, he was a total jerk and I think you did the right thing by leaving him. But he didn't expect anything from you. I mean, he wasn't dating you because you had a lot of money or great connections. He was dating you because he honestly liked who you are as a person."

"Not enough to tell his friends about us," Ryan pointed out.

"Which is why I said you did the right thing. No one should be with someone who is too embarrassed to make their relationship public. Which is why I personally don't think that the two of you should get back together. You deserve better and so does Chad."

"Wait, what?"

Gabby sighed. "You might hate me for saying this, but you didn't want anyone to know about the two of you and that makes you just as much of a jerk as Chad was."

"That's harsh," Ryan said softly.

"But true." Gabby patted the seat next to her again. "Sit down, sweetie."

Ryan complied. "So what you are saying is that, while I wasn't bad mouthing Chad to all my friends, I still wasn't being all that I could be in the relationship because I wasn't willing to let everyone know that we were together."

"Pretty much."

"Way to pull the punches." Ryan rested his head on her shoulder.

Gabby slipped her arm over his shoulder. "I'm just calling it the way I see it."

"But you don't think I should get back with him?"

"No." Gabby shook her head. "Chad's a great guy and all, but I don't think it have would work out even if Troy hadn't tricked him into trashing you."

Ryan pulled back and frowned. "Why do you think that?"

"You were too different. I mean, think about it. He is a jock. You're into theater. He's all about going out and having fun and doing whatever pops into his mind. You're--"

"If you say boring I will never talk to you again," Ryan cut in.

Gabby gave him an exasperated look. "I was going to say that you are more of a homebody. You like to kick back and watch movies, real low key things. And you aren't very spur of the moment."

"Gee, thanks," Ryan said sarcastically.

"What? That's the same way I am."

"You just make me sound so, I don't know, dull." Ryan picked at the piping on the arm of the couch. "It's like Chad is this fabulous, bright ball of energy and I'm this mopey black cloud that rains on everyone's parade."

"I so did not say that."

"You might as well have." Ryan sucked on his bottom lip.

Gabby shifted so that she was facing him. "All I am saying is that you two are completely opposite. Eventually one or the other would have gotten bored and ended things."

Ryan huffed. "Well I think that you are wrong."

"Whatever. It's not like it matters. You and Chad are over and that's that."

"Yeah," Ryan said softly, "that's that."