A\N: And…I´m back! xD
Only fifteen minutes till the bell rings. Students piled out of the busses and ran to join their friends. Some loners were engulfed in their headphones, others in a good book or magazine. A clique moved its way toward the doors, giggling and gossiping.
A black head popped up from behind a wall, then sneaked in a crouched position along the wall. Rico looked behind him. Kowalski was there. The genius grabbed his stuff and hurried towards him.
The scarred penguin held up his flipper where a wrist watch was attached to it.
"Now that doesn´t even fit!" Skipper muttered from the background. "Penguins don´t wear wristwatches!" "They do now, so shut up!"
"So, my watch is 7:45 *Mowntane Stan´ard time. We synched? (*Mountain Standard Time.) "
"Whatever!" Kowalski waved it off.
"Ten we´r on go mode vor lunch, 12:05!" Rico continued, not noticing the disinterest in his ´partner´.
"Yes Chad we´re a go," Kowalski said, a hint of ridicule in his voice. He waved his flipper in front of the other´s face, getting his attention. "But we´re not Charlie´s Angels, okay?" He handed Rico the laptop.
Rico gave his team mate an irritated look. "I can dream can´t I?"
The only response was an eye roll.
The bell rang and the jock continued sneaking in stealth mode along the walls.
"Shelly?" AT walked up to the ostrich with some papers. "I need your help for something."
"Okay, shoot! Well, not literally."
"I need someone to be my substitute in directing, since I´m going to be with the guys. Could you help out with the brainacs and their scene to make sure everything goes okay?
Shelly grabbed the papers. "I would love to!"
"LUNCH TIME!" Kids yelled, almost running over their teachers to get out of their classrooms. But something wasn´t right. Where were the Wildcats? And the geeks?
That's the same question Skipper asked himself. Well, beside the ´geek´ question. He didn´t really care. The penguin wandered through the gym locker room, looking into the rooms, till he got to his section. The whole team was gathered here, trophies and pictures of past Cats surrounding them.
As soon as he stepped in, Rico held up a picture. "´Spider´ Bill Netrine," Someone whistled in the background. "Class of ´72. He waz the MVP in tha league championship game."
"Sam Needles!" Mort said, jumping up to get himself noticed.
"Mort!" AT called\whispered. "It´s Nedler!"
"Oh, Okay…Sam Needles! He was ´02! Also known as Sammy Slamma, Pajama! Captain of the MVPirates!" The mouse lemur looked proud of himself, but everyone else just face-palmed.
"The ´Thunder Clap´," Leonard said, holding up another picture. Everyone clapped one loud clap. "Had Hadden, ´95. Led the Wildcats to back-to-back city championships. A Legend."
"Yeah," Rico agreed, then turned to face his leader. "Legends one an´ all. But do yu think tat any of thees legends became legends by gedding involved in musikal auditions , dais ´fore the league championships? (Legends one and all. But do you think that any of these legends became legends, by getting involve in musical auditions, days before the league championships?)"
It dawned on Skipper what they were trying to say and he tried hard not to roll his eyes.
"GET YOU HEAD IN THE GAME!" The Wildcats shouted.
"No." Rico answered his question. "Thees Wildcat legends became legends becuz thei never took their eyes off the priz."
"GET YOU HEAD IN THE GAME!"
"Who waz the first sophomore evah to make *starding va´sity (starting varsity)?" The weapon experts asked, raising his voice .
"SKIP-TROY!" The others shouted, wavering between ´Skipper´ and ´Troy´.
"Who voted him team captain tis year?"
"US!"
"An´ who iz gonna get their sorry butts kicked in Friday´z championship game if Troy´z worried about an audition?"
"us."
"Guys come on!" Skipper uncrossed his flippers. "There´s 12 people on this team, not just me!"
"Twelve?" Rico asked, then signaled to Bing to give him another photograph. "Oh no, I think yu´re fogedding about one very important 13th member of our squad." He handed the other the picture.
Skipper turned it over, then frowned. "Ringtail?" The picture showed Julian in the middle of a group of lemur girls.
"What?" Julian asked from beside Marlene.
"Sorry, wrong picture!" Leonard gave him the right picture.
"My dad." Skipper clutched the picture tighter. Julian had stood up from his place and was now peeking over Skipper´s shoulder. "Your father is…MAURICE?" The lemur fell to the floor, laughing and clutching his sides. "Th-that is the, hahaha, most ridiculous thing I have ever heard!"
"No, you idiot! He plays my father!" Skipper growled angrily.
"Hahaha! Maurice is ´playing´ your father? Who is your real father then?"
Mort joined in with giggling. Becuz if the king was laughing, then he should be laughing too.
"JULIAN!" AT yelled, standing up. "Get off the stage right now!"
The King didn´t hear her, he was laughing too loud and asking Skipper and Maurice who the mother was.
The director stood up and grabbed the Katta by the collar. "One more thing like that and I´ll change the lunch course to tuna!" AT threatened. Fortunately for him and all other non-fish-eating animals, Julian shut his muzzle and let her drag him off.
"My dad." The flat-headed penguin repeated, ignoring the snickers.
"Yes Troy. Wildcat basketball champion, class of 1981. Champion, fathar, and now coach. Id´z a winnin tradition like no othah."
"From lowly Neanderthal and Cro-Magnon to early warriors, medieval knights." Kowalski stood behind a laptop, showing Marlene the pictures of the said people. "All leading up to-" One of the flamingoes pressed forward to show Skipper dunking the ball into the net. The otter couldn´t help but smile at the picture.
"-Lunkhead basket ball head."
Marlene chuckled. "You know Skipper will kill you."
Kowalski smiled back sweetly. "Girls´ secret Marlene. Anyway, our culture worshipped the aggressor throughout the age and we end up with spoiled, overpaid bonehead athletes, who contribute little to civilization other than slam dunks and touchdowns. That is the inevitable world of Troy Bolton."
"Skipper will SO kill you!"
"Don´t you dare tell him I said that. Besides, I´m talking about Troy."
"Same guy."
"Girls!" Shelly stood up and waved some papers in the air. "Back to the scene!"
"Right, ahem. But the path of the mind, the path we´re on, ours is the path that brought us to these people:" Kowalski took the remote. "Eleanor Roosevelt, Frida Kahlo, Sandra Day O´Conner, Madame Curie, Jane Goodall, Oprah Winfrey and so many others who the world reveres."
Marlene shifted a bit. "Uh, but what is…? You know, I´ve got Kelsi waiting for me to rehearse."
"Gabriella!" The otter sank back into her chair, looking startled.
"Troy Bolton represent on side of evolution." Kowalski continued. "And our side, the side of education and accomplishment is the future of civilization!" He looked around to his fellow brainacs friends. "This is the side where you belong!" All the others nodded and murmured in agreement.
"Guys," The captain addressed his team. "If you don´t know that I´ll put 110% of my guts into this game for you and my father, then you don´t know me! I never give less than a hundred!"
"But ve jussed thought-(but we just thought)"
"I´ll tell you what I thought!" Skipper interrupted. He held a look of confidence and disappointment. "I thought that you´re my friends! Win together or lose together, we´re an unbreakable team!"
"But…tha girl and ten tha singin…" Rico pressed on.
"Man, I´m for the team! I´ve always had been for the team! She´s just someone I met at some stupid kid´s party! I don´t care about her or the freaky musicale!"
Gabriella´s eyes darted back to the computer screen.
"Look, the singing thing is nothing. Just something to keep my nerves down, I don´t know. It means nothing to me! You´re my guys and this is our team and our victory. Gabriella and everything else, is not important. I don´t care less about any of this nonsense! Look, I forget about her, forget the audition and well get that championship! I won´t let her bother me anymore! Everyone happy now?"
The screen turned blank.
"Behold, lunkhead basketball man." Kowalski sighed.
Marlene didn´t say anything, just stared at the screen. A lonely tear slid down her cheek.
"So, Gabriella, we´d love to have you for the scholastic decathlon."
The other just nodded.
Kowalski shifted awkwardly. "So…did you wanna grab some lunch?"
Marlene shook her head and forced a smile. The genius put a comforting flipper on her shoulder. "We´ll…we´ll be there if you want to come." He patted her shoulder, then followed everyone out.
"WILDCATS!"
"GET YOU HEAD IN THE GAME!"
Everyone cheered and clapped their captain on the back.
Skipper would´ve flown across the stage due to Bada´s back pat, but Phil caught him in time. The other just laughed and cheered along with his friends.
"CUT! Everyone, take a lunch break, then we´ll be right back!" AT told the actors then let Shelly know that they´re going to take a break.
"I didn´t know that the zoo had this big of a theatre!" Lulu exclaimed as she sat down in cafeteria stage room. Phil shrugged and sat next to her, but of course not after asking\signing politely.
"Yes, it is strange indeed." Mason agreed.
"According to mine and Kowalski's calculations, this theatre shouldn´t be here!" Skipper looked at the ceiling paranoid, as if he expected something to drop on them.
"Hey Skipper." Marlene made her way over to the penguin´s table. Rico and Private were having a staring contest. Private was surprisingly good. They kept eating, never taking the eyes off each other nor blinking.
Kowalski was jotting something down, possible scenarios for traps around the theatre.
"Hello, Marlene. What´s up?" Skipper flashed her a smile.
The otter crossed her arms. "I happen to know High School Musical and most of those things you said about me, they weren´t in the script."
"Well, no. But I wanted to add them. I happen to know a lot about team spirits and girlfriends. I also know that neither one of them go along with each other. The lovers are mostly distractions to the men fighting. They should keep their distance." Skipper explained. "Plus, at war, sport or real, guys should never let girls sidetrack them from their work. That´s why I added these lines, I wanted to make that clear."
Marlene stared at him, before clenching her teeth. "So…I´m a distraction?"
Skipper grinned back. "You are a girl, aren´t you?"
The otter gave her a death-with-extra-hot-chili-sauce glare before grabbing his fish and throwing it into his face.
Skipper watched her march off in surprise. "What? Was it something I said?" He got no answer. The rest of the lunch was spent in awkward silence at the penguin´s table.
"Ugh! I can´t believe him!" Marlene paced around, her half-eaten oyster sitting on a table.
"Marlene?" She looked up to see AT standing there. "What are you doing here? Everyone´s out there for lunch."
"I know it´s just…"
"What?"
"It´s Skipper! He acts so stuck up as if he were something better than me! He just told me that girls are nothing but distractions to their boyfriends and that soldiers and athletes should get rid of their girlfriends!"
"…"
"I know right?"
AT stood up. "Seriously? Let´s see if I can-"
Marlene stood up too. "No, it´s okay. I´m just so angry at him." The she looked at the clock and sighed. "I better get everyone back inside."
"Yeah, thanks Marlene." The otter nodded and walked out. After she was gone, AT checked the scene they were on. "Ironic, isn´t it?" She muttered to herself, before joining her crew back in the main theatre room.
Gabriella´s POV:
Gabriella was still enclosed in her own world, when laughter and singing ripped her out of her thoughts. Outside, the jocks and cheerleaders were cheering and singing. "Wildcats in the house! Everybody sing out! Wildcats everywhere, wave you hands up in the air!" And amongst them, was Troy. He was right there along with his friends, who were lifting him up on their shoulders and stuff.
´It's where he belongs.´ Gabriella thought, but couldn´t help feeling the hurt from where Troy´s words had struck her.
´He doesn´t need me. I should be happy for him. He didn´t have to pretend the whole thing though, it would saved everyone a lot of hurt.´
She slowly tore herself away from the window scene.
The enthusiastic "Troy! Troy! Troy! Troy! Troy…" were getting quieter and easier.
The girl inhaled deeply. "It´s funny when you find yourself looking from the outside. I´m standing here but all I want, is to be over there!" She looked wistfully over her shoulder, but then shook those thoughts off and turned away. "Why did I let myself believe, miracles could happen? Cause now I have to pretend that I don´t really care!"
She walked out of the room. No one was in the hallway, but Gabriella drowned out everything around her. The only thing she saw was images of Troy and herself, but they were fading as she passed them. Then they burst into dust.
"I thought you were my fairytale," An image of her and Troy singing next to the piano faded away.
"A dream when I´m not sleeping." His smile graced her before it also exploded, the microscopic particles floating to the ground.
"A wish upon a star, that´s coming true…but everybody else could tell that I confused my feelings with the truth. When there was me and you." Gabriella continued down the hall, footsteps mingling with her singing. Her voice faded away as she stepped out of the hall and held onto the railing in front of her.
For a moment she just stood there, then walked along it, hand trailing over the cold metal.
"I swore I knew the melody that I heard you singing. And when you smiled you made me feel, like I could sing along!" When they had sung by the piano, with Kelsi, Gabriella hardly had to look at the paper. The words had just spilled out, like now.
"But then you went and changed the words. Now my heart is empty." It did feel like there was a huge gap, right in the middle of her chest. That´s where the bullets of Troy´s words had hit her. She just wasn´t important to him. She was a bother to him and the championship.
(´A distraction.´ Marlene couldn´t help but think.)
"I´m only left with used to bes and once-upon-a-song." Even though the music and her own voice was loud enough, in the background of her mind, the mingle of their voices still floated around, haunting her with an echo.
"Now I know you´re not a fairy tale. And dreams were meant for sleeping. And wishes on a star, just don´t come true…"
It did feel like she´s been slapped in the face with reality. Shaking her out of her dream and forcing her to face the truth.
"Cause now, even I can tell that I confused my feelings with the truth." Not just with the truth actually, her whole world and mind was shaken up.
"Because I liked the view when there was me and you… I can´t believe that I could be so blind." She shouldn´t have torn him away from his game, his friends, his team. He was happier with them.
"It´s like you were floating while I was falling and I didn´t mi~…nd."
She held the note, feeling the mixed up emotions swell up and get bigger, before over spilling in her singing. The note came to an end and Gabriella moved on.
"Because I liked the view…ooohhh. I thought you felt it too." She was so sure. So sure of everything. But it was all just an illusion. She had been so naïve and gullible it was her fault. She´d think twice next time.
"When there was me…and you…" Gabriella´s singing came slowly to an end.
3rd person:
"Wow, Marlene that was awesome!" AT said.
Marlene smiled and wiped a few tears. "Sorry, just got into the act too much." She laughed.
"Okay, guys, enough for today!" AT collected papers and costumes from the animals. When she stopped by Skipper, she turned to Marlene. "Hey Marlene, do you want to help me with the theatre stages? We can´t have you sticking around and be a distraction to some certain people." The director looked directly at Skipper when she said that.
The penguin looked startled for a second before glaring at her.
"Sure." The otter agreed.
Skipper rolled his eyes and gathered his team. "Let´s roll." He said through a clenched beak.
A\N: R&R I hope I didn´t mess up any of the characters or their behavior. ;)