Chapter 2
Taylor and Chad spent Saturday together.
They went to the movies and saw 'License to Wed', it had been Taylor's turn to choose much to Chad's annoyance although he did enjoy the movie, not that he would admit it. They had ice cream at a local ice cream parlour, and they had dinner at a local restaurant. All the while waiting for that all important phone call from Troy about their possible summer jobs.
It wasn't until Sunday afternoon that they, well Chad, finally heard from Troy.
Chad was sitting on the couch with his parents playing 'Monopoly' when his phone rang.
"Don't even think about stealing my money Dad I know exactly how much is there," Chad said before he got up to answer his phone in another room.
"Hey man," Chad answered.
"WE HAVE SUMMER JOBS!" Troy shouted down the phone.
"Seriously?!" Chad asked in shock.
Chad had hoped that they would get the jobs but he was starting to doubt that they were getting the jobs when he hadn't heard from Troy by lunchtime today. It was 4pm, it was great but it didn't give them much time to prepare.
"Yeah man. Mr Fulton just called me and said that we have all been approved by the board to start working at 'Lava Springs' tomorrow morning," Troy explained.
"That's amazing man. Have you told the others?" Chad asked.
"Not yet, I'm going to call Gabriella then everyone else," Troy said.
"I'll tell Taylor," Chad smiled.
"No problem man, we have to be at the club by 10:30am to work out the paperwork and everything before we can start working," Troy informed.
"Alright I'll pass on the message," Chad smiled.
"See you tomorrow," the two boys said at the same time.
Chad called Taylor to let her know that they were no longer looking for jobs tomorrow instead they were going to work.
"Really?" Taylor asked excitedly.
"We're spending tomorrow working babe, not looking for jobs," Chad informed.
"This is amazing Chad. Tell me the details," Taylor told him.
Chad chuckled, "only you would be excited at the prospect of having to work."
"Well I could use the money, unlike you and Zeke my parents aren't going to match whatever I make," Taylor explained.
"Fair enough Tay. So Troy says we have to be there by 10:30am, so I'll get my Dad to take us. His boss made him use his annual leave that he's accumulated over the years so he's home for the next month. We'll pick you up at 10am," Chad responded.
"Awesome, I'll see you then. Bye," Taylor smiled.
"I'll see you tomorrow babe," Chad said before hanging up, a smile on his face.
Only Taylor would be excited about starting a summer job, he was excited to work at a country club but only because it would be a great place for he and Taylor to enjoy dates.
At 10am on Monday morning Chad knocked on Taylor's front door, Hailey answered.
"Hey Chad, Tay said you were coming to pick her up for your first day of work," Hailey smiled.
"Hey, yeah, is she ready?" Chad asked.
"Tay your boyfriend is here!" Hailey called into the house.
A few moments later Taylor appeared.
"Ready to go?" Chad asked.
"Ready as I can be," Taylor smiled.
They arrived at the country club at 10:20am meeting their friends out the front.
The boys were all led to the pool area by Mr Fulton. Taylor, Kelsi, and Martha headed in a different direction to the boys to the pool area after being informed by a female employee about the club's dress code.
Gabriella had arrived earlier at Mr Fulton's request to take over from the current lifeguard.
The wildcats all smiled when they saw her standing by her post. They all knew that Gabriella would make a great lifeguard.
Their smiles were wiped from their faces when they spotted Sharpay as she fell into the pool.
Without hesitation they all rushed over to see if she was okay, of course Gabriella immediately jumped into the pool to help Sharpay.
The boys were standing by the pool where Sharpay fell in. Taylor, Martha, and Kelsi were stood on the other side of the pool watching on, trying hard not to laugh at the spectacle that Sharpay was making of herself.
As Sharpay swam away and called Mr Fulton to his office the girls joined the boys, all except Gabriella who was already working, and headed to the kitchen where they would be given their job assignments.
"Well that was one way to start our summer," Martha laughed.
Taylor shook her head trying not to laugh, "I don't know what's better Sharpay falling into the pool or knowing that Mr Fulton has to deal with the Sharpay that we all know and hate."
"The second part is definitely the best part of this whole deal," Kelsi laughed.
They were all waiting for Mr Fulton to tell them their job descriptions.
"Why was she here anyway?" Martha questioned.
Kelsi sighed, "her parents own the place."
"What did you say Kels?" Chad asked.
"Sharpay and Ryan's parents own Lava Springs country club. That's why I'm here, Sharpay told me that their pianist was moving and hired me on the last day of school," Kelsi explained.
"Here are your uniforms, you are expected to wear them at all times. That means when you arrive you must be in uniform, when you leave you must not be in uniform. You represent the country club when you're wearing your uniforms. If you leave wearing your uniforms you are expected to change before going anywhere else other than your homes. If you are caught wearing your uniforms outside of this facility other than your car and home you will face immediate termination of your job. Is that clear?" A male employee informed them as he lay their uniforms, with name badges, on the table in the break room.
They all agreed to the rule as the man left.
After each grabbing their own uniforms they all went to the staff change rooms and got changed ready to hear what they would be doing. Although they had already begun to guess what jobs they had based on their uniforms. Zeke in particular was like a kid on sugar, he was excited about the prospects of working with the country club's head chef.
Taylor watched Chad, Troy, and Zeke talking and out of the corner of her eye she noticed Mr Fulton walking towards them. Taylor grabbed Martha and Kelsi's arms and pointed to their direction. The girls tried their hardest not to laugh as they watched the boys jump at Mr Fulton's unexpected appearance.
They overheard the boys assignments and quietly waited for their own.
Taylor knew that Chad wouldn't be happy having to be a waiter, or a caddy. Neither of those jobs were on his possible jobs list. He hated waiting on other people, other than herself of course. He also hated golf, he couldn't play it and he found it boring.
This was going to be an interesting summer.
Mr Fulton came over to Taylor next.
"Miss McKessie, I am told you're efficient," Mr Fulton said.
Taylor smiled, "well."
"Prove it. You'll handle member activities. Keep them insight at all times," Mr Fulton informed her as he handed Taylor a clipboard which listed her daily schedule.
"Kelsi, ah huh, piano. Lunch time and cocktail hour that means smooth music not new music. Kapeesh," Mr Fulton said.
Kelsi and Taylor looked at Mr Fulton and glared at his back, he had been so nice to them when they had first arrived and now he was barking out orders.
Chad had recovered from his shock over his job assignment and he walked over to Mr Fulton to query his job description.
"Mr Fulton your excellency sir, um, would it be okay if we draw straws to see who has to wait on Sharpay?" Chad asked.
"Please. None of you will be waiting on Sharpay," Mr Fulton informed him.
Chad sighed in relief, "oh yeah snap."
"You will be serving Miss Evans," Mr Fulton explained.
"Who's that?" Jason asked.
Taylor thought she might throw her clipboard at Jason for making a fool of himself in front of their boss on their first day of work.
"Always address our guests as Mr, Mrs or Miss," Mr Fulton told them.
Taylor walked over to Chad at that point.
"Do we have to?" Taylor whispered.
"I don't know," Chad whispered back.
It was bad enough that they had to deal with the devil that is Sharpay Evans at school, now they were going to have to deal with her everyday and call her 'Miss'. They had been excited to have summer jobs but now Taylor and Chad were looking forward to summer being over so that they could leave.
"Let's practice shall we?" Mr Fulton suggested, he turned to Jason, "Miss Evans would you care for a lemonade?"
Jason looked at him cluelessly, "actually I'm not Miss Evans, I'm Jason."
Taylor and Chad both face palmed at his cluelessness. Only Jason could respond that way and be completely serious, having no idea that he was making himself look ridiculous.
Then as if things couldn't get worse Gabriella walked in asking about lunch.
Chad and Troy tried to stop her but her mouth reacted quicker than her body.
"Miss Montez, it would seem that your lunch break does not start for 3.5 minutes. I do hope no members drowned in your absence," Mr Fulton said fiercely.
Taylor tried to hide her shock at Mr Fulton's words, covering her mouth to keep from arguing in defence of Gabriella. Chad looked shocked at Mr Fulton's words as well but he didn't have as much success hiding it. Taylor and Chad looked at one another their shock mirrored in their eyes.
"Henceforth, do clock in and out on time. Three infractions of any kind and your employment is terminated, kapeesh?" Mr Fulton said, his last words pointed to the girls.
Taylor tried to stay composed but couldn't hide the shock at his words as she, Martha, Gabriella, and Kelsi nodded their heads in understanding.
"Chop, chop, chop," Mr Fulton concluded as he left the kitchen.
Taylor thought that she might actually scream at Troy, it was his fault that they were in this mess. Chad had the same thought, Troy was the one that got them in this mess, Troy was the one who could get them out of it.
So much for the best summer ever, Taylor and Chad both thought.
"Okay that man officially scares me," Martha said, looking terrified.
Taylor, Kelsi, and Gabriella nodded their heads in agreement, "yeah."
Chad walked up to Troy his annoyance clear on his face, "suddenly I'm beginning to miss detention with Ms Darbus, how sick is that?"
Troy tried to look as though the situation wasn't as bad as it seemed.
"Come on, we got a hoop out back, two free meals a day, and we only have to wear these stupid outfits on duty," Troy tried to convince, "all for one and one for all. Alright, this is our summer, now what team?"
"Wildcats," Gabriella, Martha, and a few others responded.
"What team?" Troy yelled again.
"Wildcats," a few other people joined in.
Chad still wasn't convinced and neither was Taylor.
"Come on. How did we get from the top of the world to the bottom of the heap?" Chad sung.
Taylor came to stand beside Troy, "I don't recall you mentioning the boss is such a creep!"
Taylor walked away as Zeke put an arm around Chad and Troy's shoulders, "we still have the ingredients to make this summer sweet."
Chad rolled his eyes, pinched Zeke's ear and walked away, "what's wrong with you?" Chad asked Zeke angrily.
Martha took Chad's place, "well I got rags instead of riches."
"And all these dirty dishes," Jason said as he joined the group.
"Just wish I had three wishes," Taylor, Chad, Zeke, Martha, Jason, and Kelsi sang.
"Okay guys break it up," Gabriella sang as she forced her way to the centre of the group where Troy was, his positive energy still present.
"We've got to work, work, to work this out. We'll make things right the sun will shine. If we work, work, there'll be no doubt we can still save the summer if we work this out," Troy sang and began to dance.
Martha started to get into Troy's dance before Chad pulled her away.
"Wait," Chad said to Martha before turning on Troy, "dude what have you got us into?"
"Come on we can totally turned this thing around," Troy tried to convince.
Chad stood on the centre table, "I'd rather face a seven footer straight up in the post."
"Yeah," Taylor and Martha pushed a table with a toaster over to them, "that sure beats hangin' here and burning someone's toast," Taylor and Martha sang.
"I needed Benjamins, but this ain't worth the stress," Jason sang in Troy's face.
Troy was starting to lose confidence in himself and his ability to bring his friends around to the positives that this job could hold for all of them. He's face was downcast and uncertain.
"Maybe there's a better way to fix this greasy mess," Kelsi and Zeke suggested as Kelsi held up a greasy rag.
That was the push that Troy needed to get himself out of his uncertainty.
"We're a champion team," Troy sang, Kelsi, Zeke, Gabriella, and a reluctant Chad leaned closer to Troy as he continued to sing, "a well-oiled machine, and we've faced tougher problems than this," Troy's foot swung out to trip Chad up and make him listen, it only annoyed Chad more, "I know it's a grind," Troy grabbed Chad's shoulder, determined to get him on side, Chad just shrugged him off, "but I'm sure we can find a way to have fun while we get this job done. We've got to work, work to work this out," Troy sang and danced. Chad started to try the moves then rolled his eyes and moved out of the way, pushing Troy back as he went.
Gabriella, Kelsi, Zeke, Martha, and some of the other wildcats were now dancing at full swing.
"We'll make things right the sun will shine. If we work, work there'll be no doubt. If we all come together we can work things out. If we work this out!" Troy and Gabriella sang.
"Let's work it," Troy said.
By this point all of the wildcats, including Taylor and Chad were enjoying the song and dance. It wasn't something that they usually enjoyed but Gabriella and Troy were managing to turn the two around.
The wildcats were using pots, pans, spoons, cutlery, and other kitchen equipment, including the glassware to add a rhythm and beat to their singing.
Taylor and Chad decided that maybe they could work it out, if they all worked together. Maybe they could still save their summer.
Chad and Martha were putting a few hip hop moves into their routine. Chad realised that it was actually a good way for him to release the annoyance and frustration that he felt over the situation.
"Tell me what you want," Troy sang, bringing an end to the instrumental beat.
"Tell me what you need," Gabriella continued.
"A little bit of sugar," Zeke suggested.
"A little bit of butter," Martha added.
"It's the perfect recipe!" Kelsi sang.
"Pay day!" The wildcats half yelled, half sung.
"It'll taste so sweet," Jason decided.
"Pay Day!" The wildcats half yelled, half sung.
"Good enough to eat," Zeke agreed.
"Gonna make some motion pictures," Jason moved across the now formed group using his hands to make a camera.
"Hit the mall with all my sisters," Martha smiled, other girls walking behind her.
"Get tickets to the Knicks and Sixers," Zeke grinned as he mock threw a basketball into a non-existent basket.
"Kick it with the music mixers," Kelsi pretended to be a DJ.
"Buy a ride that suits my style," Chad sang as he sat atop a mobile table.
"Lounge around the pool a while," Taylor suggested as she sat on the same table behind Chad.
Chad took Taylor's hand and together they jumped off the cart and joined their friends.
"Make a date with my favourite girl," Troy sang.
"We've got it made!" Troy and Gabriella half sang, half yelled.
"We've got to work, work o work this out. We'll make things right, the sun will shine. If we work, work there'll be no doubt. We can still save the summer. If we work this out! Work This! Gotta Work This! We can work this out!" The wildcats sang.
"So can we work this out?" Troy asked Chad.
Chad grinned, "yeah we can work it out."
They all quickly moved into position around the kitchen as they heard Mr Fulton coming their way, "I'll send the waiters right in."
Taylor was sat on the table that Chad was leaning against, she tried to hide her dislike of Mr Fulton and decided to give the man a chance. They had all given Ryan a chance before and he proved that he might be related to Sharpay but he's nothing like her. Maybe Mr Fulton was just another victim of Sharpay's manipulation.
Mr Fulton walked into the kitchen, Chad and Troy grabbed their notepads and trays leaving the kitchen with smiles plastered on their faces.
After they left Mr Fulton ordered Taylor to go to the front desk lobby and get the children in the kids club ready to do some activities.
Gabriella was then ordered to return to the pool.
Taylor and Gabriella walked very quickly out of the kitchen.
"I don't know if I can deal with this all summer," Taylor sighed.
"It'll work out Tay, it has to. I can't handle another dull summer," Gabriella agreed.
"I'm sure the guys have got plans to make it work," Taylor decided.
"Let's make a promise that we'll make this summer great, no matter what," Gabriella suggested.
Taylor smiled, "deal."
At exactly 5pm Taylor was relieved to be able to hand the ten children back to their parents. She had had a very long day and was grateful for it to be over. All Taylor wanted was for Chad to take her to dinner and have this day end.
As if reading her mind Chad appeared behind Taylor wrapping his arms around her waist.
The parents, of the children that Taylor had looked after, smiled at the cuteness of the moment.
Taylor smiled as she spun around in Chad's arms to look him in the eyes.
Both of their eyes expressed their exhaustion from the day.
"I look forward to seeing you all tomorrow," Taylor smiled to the guests as Chad released her, taking her hand.
"Thank you Miss Taylor," the kids chorused.
Taylor smiled sweetly at them, "you are welcome kids. I'll see you tomorrow."
Chad took that as his queue to get Taylor out of there.
The couple walked through the halls in silence as they made their way to the kitchen to clock out. Neither of them wanted to get caught complaining about their jobs on the first day, they knew that Sharpay would have eyes and ears everywhere to get them kicked out as soon as possible. They were very aware that Sharpay had only intended to have Troy and Kelsi hired, not the entire junior class.
After clocking out Taylor and Chad headed to the front of the country club to wait for Chad's Dad, he was dropping them off at their favourite restaurant in town so that they could have dinner.
"So how was your day?" Chad asked once they were safely seated in a booth at the back of the restaurant away from prying eyes and ears.
"Full on. It definitely made me realise that I probably don't want to have a big family," Taylor stated.
Chad chuckled, "you wanted a big family?"
"Well yeah, my Dad came from a big family. It had been something that Hailey and I both wanted, we grew up having our aunts, uncles, and cousins around all the time. It was nice. Today after being on my own with ten children I realised that I couldn't handle that much responsibility," Taylor explained.
Chad smiled smally in understanding, "yeah I get that. I might have spent a fair amount of time around some children today too and come to the same conclusion."
Taylor looked at him in surprise, "what do you mean?"
"I was forced to clean up after a group of kids who decided to make the restaurant their home. They had thrown food scraps everywhere. Jason and I spent two hours cleaning it all up. Mr Fulton kicked the family out when he realised that the parents didn't care about what their children had done," Chad explained, "it was a long day."
"I know that we promised to make it work but I don't know how much more of this I can take," Taylor said.
"I never promised anything or anyone," Chad quickly defended.
Taylor sighed, "I promised Gabi cause she was scared that her first summer in one place would be a disaster."
"Well I guess I promised her then too," Chad smiled, "I wouldn't be a good boyfriend if I let you go through this nightmare alone."
Taylor smiled in response, "you're amazing you know that."
Chad took Taylor's hand and kissed it, "you're more amazing than me."
In that moment Taylor knew that as difficult as the summer was going to be it would all be worth it with Chad by her side.
A/N: Lyrics from: lyrics/h/high_school_musical_2/work_this_