Chapter 3

The following morning Taylor decided that she would make the best of the summer, her first with a boyfriend. Mr Fulton and Sharpay weren't going to ruin her summer if she could help it.

With a newfound excitement for what the summer was bound to bring her way, Taylor prepared for her first full day of work at the Lava Springs country club.

As if on queue, as soon as Taylor had put her shoes on, the doorbell rang making Taylor jump a little in surprise.

Chad was stood at the front door to the McKessie household waiting for Taylor when the door opened to reveal Hailey.

"Um hi," Chad said uncertainly.

"Hey Chad, Tay's just grabbing her bag, she shouldn't be too long," Hailey said.

"I thought that you were only here for the weekend?" Chad questioned uncertainly.

"Oh right, yeah I was but then I decided to extend my trip. All of my classes have finished until fall anyway so I figured why not spend some quality time with my family," Hailey explained.

"Ready to go?" Taylor asked as she came up behind her sister.

"Uh yeah," Chad said.

Taylor gave him a quizzical look as she hugged her sister before taking Chad's hand and getting in his Dad's car.

"Are you okay?" Taylor mouthed to Chad as his Dad drove off towards the country club.

"Yeah," Chad mouthed back.

Taylor wasn't convinced.

Chad could tell so he grabbed his phone and texted Taylor, he didn't want his Dad listening in to their conversation.

'Why is your sister still here?' Chad texted.

'She's thinking about leaving college to take classes at U of A to become a teacher. Why is that making you nervous?' Taylor responded.

'I thought that she had left that's all,' Chad responded.

'Do you know something that I don't?' Taylor texted.

'I overheard Zeke mention something about your sister that he heard from his brother, they were at college together,' Chad responded reluctantly.

'What did you hear?' Taylor questioned.

'That she was kicked out for throwing a massive party and that she was locked in a cell for damage to property. Zeke's brother paid her bail under the condition that she come home and sort herself out,' Chad explained.

Taylor looked shocked at the news, she had always admired her sister and to hear that she was kicked out of college was unnerving. The more that Taylor thought about it though, the more that she realised that it wasn't the first time that Hailey had done something so reckless. Her sister does have a criminal record for multiple charges, nothing that had her locked up but enough that their parents can no longer be her lawyers for fear of being charged themselves for constantly getting their daughter off on warnings or the like.

Taylor sighed and texted Chad back when he looked at her worriedly, 'Hailey has been arrested before for similar instances. I just thought that when she decided to be a lawyer herself that she had changed, I guess not. I'm not upset or anything, just disappointed that she felt like she couldn't tell me.'

'She probably just didn't want to let you down,' Chad texted back.

'I know,' Taylor responded.

Chad gently squeezed Taylor's hand to reassure her.

"You two are awfully quiet this morning," John commented, making the couple jump a little.

"Just trying to think positively about what today will bring, in terms of the rest of the summer," Taylor smiled.

"Yeah, yesterday didn't go as planned but thinking positively about how we can turn it all around," Chad added.

"Good to hear. You can't give up after only a small taste. Besides if you can handle working for people who work for Sharpay Evans you can work for anyone in the big world," John reminded them.

"That's very true Mr Danforth," Taylor agreed.

"Taylor how many times do I have to tell you, you can call me John. There's no need for formalities," John smiled.

Taylor laughed softly, "I know it's just a bit more difficult than I thought it would be. My parents raised me to always address an adult as Mr, Mrs or Miss. It's a hard habit to let go of."

"I understand sweety as long as you're aware that it's not going to offend me if you use my first name," John said simply.

Taylor nodded and smiled, "thank you."

Chad let go of Taylor's hand as the car came to a stop out front of the country club, which happened to be situated pretty much in the middle of nowhere.

Chad climbed out and quickly made his way to Taylor's side to open the door for her, she smiled gratefully at him.

"Thanks Dad, see you tonight," Chad said as he retook Taylor's hand and they rushed into the building, heading straight for the kitchen.

They both clocked in and smiled at the clock, they were early. Plenty of time to have a quick breakfast, which Zeke was already serving up for the other wildcats.

Taylor grabbed her clipboard to check out the day's activities that she was in charge of while Chad went to Zeke to get them both some breakfast.

Taylor's clipboard had a timetable of the day's events and below it was a sign up sheet for the Lava Springs talent show. Taylor smiled as she read the information sheet that she would have to give to each person or group that she managed to get to sign up.

Chad came to sit beside her in the employee break room placing a plate of bacon, eggs, and toast in front of her.

"What are you smiling about?" Chad asked as he smiled himself.

Taylor's smile was infectious, at least that was what Chad told his friends when they teased him.

"The employees are allowed to perform in the talent show at the end of the summer," Taylor explained.

They could hear a piano in the dining room and shook their heads good-naturedly.

"I bet you anything that's Kelsi writing a song for Troy and Gabriella to sing in the talent show," Taylor grinned.

Chad chuckled, "I'd be foolish to take that bet, of course that's what she's doing."

After eating their breakfast Chad took their plates over to Jason to be washed. At the same moment Troy and Gabriella arrived, with ten minutes to spare before their shifts began. Taylor was sat in the corner of the break room reading through her day's duties and didn't notice when Troy and Gabriella clocked in, metres away from her.

Chad watched as the couple heard Kelsi's music and disappeared into the dining room before he returned to Taylor.

"Well I guess we're about to find out," Chad smiled.

"Find out what?" Taylor asked distractedly.

"Troy and Gabriella, they literally just arrived, they just went into the dining room. Probably heard Kelsi like we did. Probably going to sing the song that's she writing for them," Chad reminded Taylor.

"Huh? Oh, right, sorry. Yes, yes I'm sure you're right," Taylor quickly tried to cover up that she hadn't been paying much attention.

Chad just shook his head, "so what's got you so intrigued that you can't even pay attention to your boyfriend?"

Taylor smiled sweetly at him, "I was reading the rules and regulations for the talent show."

"And?" Chad asked.

"And, the employees get to be in it if they choose to be," Taylor began before she read the rules, "employees of Lava Springs country club are welcome to participate in the end of summer talent show which will be held in the stage area blah blah blah. Any employee wishing to be a part of the event will require written consent from the Lava Springs board. This consent can be obtained by the employee(s) working their required shifts without complaints, if they are not reported to the board for anything negative, if they are not highlighted by guests in a negative light. Consent can also be obtained by the recommendation of the employee(s) manager. It then goes on to list the names of the manager for each department. However if the employee is required by the board to work on the night of the talent show they will automatically be withdrawn from the event. As always the talent show is of no importance to employee(s) who choose to be apart of the event, your work must come first. If any employee(s) who are signed up to be apart of the event are found to be rehearsing their act during their scheduled work time they will automatically be removed from the talent show. For any queries regarding this information please speak to Mr Fulton in your own time, not during your working hours."

"That's a lot of rules," Zeke said.

When Taylor had started telling Chad the rules and regulations Zeke, Jason, and Martha had come over to listen in.

"Are we going to do it?" Martha questioned.

"If Troy does I'm sure we all can," Chad decided.

"Kelsi already said that she would make it work for all of us to be involved in the number," Taylor smiled.

"Since when?" Jason asked.

"Last night, she was writing a song for Troy and Gabriella and told me that she would make it possible for everyone to be apart of their performance," Taylor explained, "I hadn't realised that she had been talking about the talent show though."

They all listened as they heard the music and their friends singing get louder.

"Let's go check it out," Zeke grinned.

They all headed to the dining room, Taylor still holding the clipboard with the signup sheet secured as the top page. As much as Taylor wasn't a fan of performing, she was excited about being apart of the talent show with her new group of friends. For so long Taylor had been the outcast, the smart girl, the club president for a lot of the clubs at East High. When Gabriella came to East High that all changed. Now she couldn't imagine her life without these amazing people by her side.

Taylor slowly opened the dining room door as Troy and Gabriella kept singing. When they reached a certain point Kelsi waved the wildcats into the room. Taylor smiled at her friends as they all walked in and stood around the piano. Martha and Jason held onto one copy of the lyrics while Taylor held the other and showed Zeke and Chad who stood behind Taylor with an arm secured to her hip. Taylor leaned back into Chad slightly as they sung along with the lyrics. Chad had managed to block Zeke's view of said lyrics and was now looking at the sheet that Martha and Jason were looking at.

Taylor smiled at Chad as she sang the words 'you are the music in me'.

It might have only just entered her thought process but those words definitely apply to her and Chad, from Taylor's perspective at least.

Chad smiled down at Taylor as he also sang those words to her.

Kelsi had done it again, she had written the perfect song for Troy and Gabriella that was relatable to Taylor and Chad as well.

As they sung the last notes Taylor and Martha put the lyrics back down onto the piano.

They all cheered when Troy and Gabriella had finished singing.

"Aw I love that song," Gabriella gushed as she and Troy moved to stand on either side of Kelsi.

"Great job Kels," Troy agreed.

"I've got the talent show sign up sheet right here," Taylor said to Troy as she held out her clipboard, "are you in?"

Troy sighed as he looked at his friends expectant faces, "maybe we can work this out. But only," Troy pulled Chad towards him, "if we're all in this together."

Chad didn't look exactly thrilled about that idea but he saw how excited Taylor was and he couldn't let her down.

The excitement amongst the group was obvious as Kelsi explained how amazing it would be.

"This is going to be fantastic," Kelsi began as Troy filled out the signup sheet for the wildcats, "I'll coordinate rehearsals to coincide with all our schedules. Before work, during lunch, and after work."

Chad looked at Taylor uncertainly, the last thing that he wanted to do on his summer vacation was rehearse for a show. When he looked at Taylor though, just like before, his uncertainty slipped, he could tell that Taylor really wanted to be apart of the show so he would do it, only for Taylor though. If Taylor didn't do the show then neither would he.

Taylor smiled as Troy handed the clipboard back to her with 'The Wildcats' listed on the signup sheet.

"Now we just have to get written approval from the board," Martha sighed.

"We'll get it. As long as we keep our heads down and work we'll be fine. They can't stop us from being apart of the talent show just because Sharpay doesn't like us. After all she hates everyone in this room apart from Troy and we're all here. She obviously doesn't have that much power otherwise something tells me we wouldn't be here right now," Taylor explained.

"Taylor's right as long as we don't go against their crazy rules we'll be able to participate," Zeke smiled.

"What are you talking about? Why do we need consent?" Troy questioned.

"It's in the rules and regulations. The board has to approve employee entrants to be apart of the talent show," Chad explained.

Taylor removed one of the 'rules and regulations' information sheets from her clipboard and handed it to Troy, "you might want to read this."

Troy sighed, "I guess it's not as easy to get into a talent show as it is to get into a school musical."

"It'll be worth it, we can make it work," Gabriella decided determinedly.

"We better start work before Fulton comes and our chances are gone before they've even begun," Jason said.

In agreeance they all left Kelsi in the dining room.

Chad and Troy put on their aprons and headed into the breakfast room which was another room off from the dining room, it was set up for the sole purpose of providing guests with a buffet breakfast. They piled all of the plates, cutlery, and cups that they could into a tub.

Meanwhile Taylor and Gabriella left the kitchen and headed towards the pool, Gabriella was on lifeguard duty and Taylor was in charge of children's activities.

"I'll find you around lunch?" Taylor asked.

Gabriella nodded, "then you can tell me about your date last night," Gabriella winked.

Taylor laughed, "and you can tell me about yours."

"Deal," Gabriella laughed.

The two girls went their separate ways when they spotted a group of kids waiting by a sign in the grass that read 'Kids Club meeting area' underneath that was a list of times that kids could join in. Taylor sighed, it was going to be a long day.

The first group started at 9:30, the second group would join or replace the first at 12:00, the third and final group would join or replace them at 15:00. Taylor would get a lunch break at 1:00 when the kids would be treated to lunch in the kids dining room with Martha and Jason.

It hadn't been easy but Gabriella had managed to convince Mr Fulton to let her have her lunch break at the same time. Turns out after countless listing of reasons all Gabriella had to say was that there wouldn't be any kids near the pool in the timeframe because they would be having lunch at the same time therefore someone with less experience would be able to handle the pool for an hour without a problem.

Taylor walked over to the kids, "hi everyone. Are you ready to have some fun?"

Some of the kids squealed with excitement while others didn't look very convinced. Other kids Taylor recognised from yesterday, they were the most excited. Something that Taylor couldn't understand. All she did with the kids yesterday was talk to them and take them on a tour of the country club. The kids had made what should be an easy experience a difficult one.

"Well first I thought we could play some games," Taylor smiled.

"Can we play twister?" "Can we play jump rope?" "Can we play tennis?" "Can we play basketball?" "Can we play dodgeball?"

Taylor raised her hand to get the kids to stop requesting games, they went silent a lot quicker than Taylor had expected them to.

"Okay. Now I appreciate your suggestions but I have a list of suggestions here. This list does include twister if you all agree," Taylor said.

There were a lot of nods of agreement, although a few of the kids groaned at the idea.

Taylor just smirked, these kids had no idea what they were about to be trying.

"Alright before we do go I need you all to form a line and tell me your name, I don't want any of you wondering off and if you do you can guarantee that you will not be welcome back here, including your families," Taylor said firmly.

It wasn't entirely true but if the kids did wander off they were no longer Taylor's responsibility, according to Mr Fulton they would then become the country club's responsibility. Taylor assumed that that rule had come into play when Sharpay and Ryan were little.

After taking their names Taylor led the kids over to a large blowup version of a twister mat. It was like the bouncy bottom part of a bouncy castle with walls around it.

All of the kids who were originally against playing twister were now completely on board with the idea. Taylor couldn't help but grin, she had managed to make her own life easier by getting all of the kids to agree to do the same thing. The last thing she wanted was to spend the morning listening to the kids arguing over what they wanted to play.

It was 11:55 when Taylor had to pull the kids away from their game of twister to go back to the kids club meeting point. Six more kids joined her group from that point. Three of the kids from the first group were meant to go with their parents but they begged to stay with the group, Taylor had promised that they would return to the twister board after getting the new recruits. With Taylor's assurance that it was okay the parents agreed. The group went from 18 kids to 24 as Taylor added their names to the list.

They headed back to the twister board to the excitement of all 24 children.

At 12:55 Taylor led the kids to the kids dining room where Martha and Jason had just finished setting up for their buffet lunch. All of the kids were excited to eat and listened carefully to Martha as she explained how their lunch hour was going to go. All except one two year old who had been attached to Taylor all morning, she refused to play twister and now she didn't want to let go of Taylor's leg.

"Kailey, hunny, you have to let go. It's lunch time. I'll be back in an hour," Taylor tried to reason.

The toddler still wouldn't let go.

Jason came over and knelt next to Kailey, "do you like chocolate?"

Kailey nodded vigorously.

Jason chuckled, "if you let go of Taylor's leg and behave like a good little girl I'll give you some."

Kailey hesitated but then took Jason's outstretched hand.

Taylor smiled gratefully at Jason before heading towards the kitchen.

Gabriella was sitting in the employee break room with some sandwiches when Taylor walked in.

"What do you want today Tay?" Zeke called across the room.

"Just tomato and lettuce please Zeke," Taylor responded.

"Coming right up," Zeke smiled as he made Taylor's sandwiches.

"How's your morning been?" Gabriella asked.

"Actually quite easy. The kids love the blowup twister game that Mr Fulton had Jason setup. There is one little girl, Kailey, who refuses to leave my side, Jason had to bribe her so that I could come to lunch," Taylor explained.

"That's adorable Tay, you've got an admirer," Gabriella teased.

Taylor laughed, "so it would seem. How was your morning?"

"Better than Troy and Chad's," Gabriella laughed.

"What do you mean?" Taylor asked.

"They had to caddy for Sharpay's family today, didn't you get like a hundred messages from Chad about it?" Gabriella explained.

"Oh, that's why my phone kept going off. I had to ignore it cause of my 'admirer'," Taylor smiled.

After lunch Taylor had to try to convince the kids to do anything other than twister, none of them were willing to though so she took them back. Her group went from 24 to 32 children at 3pm. By that point Taylor had split the kids into two groups, while one group played twister the other had the option to colour, draw or talk amongst themselves after thirty minutes they switched. At 4:55 Taylor led the kids back to the kids club meeting spot, there were too many kids to take them into the country club reception area.

When she was finally kid free at 5:20 Taylor headed into the kitchen to find Chad sat on a chair with his feet in a bucket full of ice and water, Troy was holding an ice pack to his shoulder.

"What happened to you?" Taylor asked worriedly as she approached Chad.

"Sharpay," Troy responded simply.

"Ah, that's right Gabi said you were caddy's for her family today," Taylor smirked, "a bit worse for wear Chad?"

"Not funny Tay, I can play basketball, baseball, even do track and field but this this was painful," Chad informed.

Taylor kissed his cheek, "you'll survive."

They heard footsteps and Taylor immediately moved away from Chad, something told her that kissing her boyfriend would get her a strike.

Kelsi poured more ice into the bucket for Chad.

"Next time I see country club princess I'm going to launch her and her pink cart straight into the lake," Chad said in annoyance.

Taylor rolled her eyes as she tried to look busy.

"I'll build the ramp buddy," Troy said as he tapped Chad's shoulder.

Mr Fulton walked in carrying a suit, "Danforth this is a kitchen NOT a day spa. You and Jason suit up for dinner duty in the dining room."

Jason walked over to Chad as Troy walked over to Mr Fulton.

"Bolton you have five minutes to change and come with me," Mr Fulton said firmly as he handed the suit to Troy, "In case you're not familiar with this particular item it goes around your neck, like a uh dog collar. Chop chop."

Mr Fulton followed Troy out of the room as Taylor walked back over to Chad.

"What's going on there?" Taylor asked.

"I'm going to say it has something to do with Sharpay and her father. She spent the whole day trying to trick her Dad into helping Troy with college. I'm assuming that he listened," Chad explained.

"This isn't going to end well for someone. Probably Gabriella," Taylor sighed.

"We'll work it out," Chad said softly as he got out of the footbath.

"You're starting to sound like Troy," Taylor teased.

"Looks like after fifteen years he's rubbing off on me," Chad laughed.

"We should get going," Jason said.

Chad sighed, "yeah I know give me five minutes."

Jason rolled his eyes and walked over to the employee change room to get changed into the appropriate attire for dinner duty.

Chad hugged Taylor tightly and kissed her forehead, "I'll meet you outside back here in an hour?"

Taylor nodded, "I'll call your Dad and let him know."

Chad frowned, "actually he's probably already here. Do me a favour and don't go find him on your own, take Gabi with you."

"Chad it's a two minute walk I'll be fine," Taylor sighed.

"Please for me," Chad smiled sweetly.

Taylor nodded, "yeah, okay I'll take Gabi. I'll see you in an hour."

Chad kissed her forehead again and then went to get changed.

Taylor sighed and walked out to the pool area where she knew Gabi would be.

"Hey Gabi, I have a very overprotective boyfriend," Taylor said as she approached.

Gabriella laughed, "what's he done now?"

"He has to work at least another hour for dinner duty and his father is probably already waiting for us in the parking lot. I have to go and let him know but Chad doesn't want me going alone," Taylor explained.

"I'll make you a deal, I'll go with you if you promise to help me tidy up afterwards," Gabriella decided.

"Deal," Taylor smiled.

The two girls easily found Chad's Dad.

"Hey Taylor, where's the boy?" John joked.

Taylor laughed, "he's still got at least an hour left to work. I think Sharpay's parents are to blame."

"Ah so you're the bearer of bad news," John teased, "well I might as well go get a coffee or something. Get Chad to text me when you're ready to leave."

"I will, bye John," Taylor smiled as she and Gabriella headed back to the country club pool.

The two girls spent the next hour cleaning up around the pool.

Chad came out to the pool at the hour mark, "you ready to go?"

Taylor smirked at him, "you look like you had a fun night. I'll come clock out with you and then you can call your Dad to let him know we're ready, then I'll help Gabi finish cleaning up."

Chad agreed easily enough.

Gabriella kept collecting the towels while the couple headed towards the kitchen to clock out.

"I'll tell you about it later, not here," Chad said simply.

"I wasn't going to ask," Taylor promised.

After they clocked out in silence Chad walked to the parking lot while Taylor headed back to Gabriella. She knew that something serious must have happened to make Chad act coldly towards her.

The two girls looked up as they saw Troy come running out of the club and towards them.

"Sorry I'm late, give me two more minutes," Troy said slightly out of breath.

"Nice tie," Gabriella said by way of forgiving him, "your shoes don't match though, hehe kidding."

"Huh," Troy laughed as he ran away.

Gabriella turned back to putting the towels in a basket.

Taylor walked over to her carrying a towel, "hunny, two minutes is being late. But an hour is approaching a felony. Just because Troy's a nice guy doesn't mean he's immune to boy disease."

"Boy disease?" Gabriella asked giddily.

"Yeah," Taylor smiled widely, "forgetting things they shouldn't forget."

"So now you're a boy expert?" Gabriella teased.

Taylor laughed, "my older sister has ten rules about boy behaviour and nine of them involve boys forgetting things they should never forget, like dinner dates."

Gabriella's smile softened, as did Taylor's, as she spoke, "well it wasn't an official date type of thing."

Taylor shook her head and a finger, "rule number three, all dates are official. Whether the boy knows it or not."

Gabriella laughed.

Chad came back over to them, "Dad's here."

Taylor hugged Gabriella and then followed Chad to his Dad's car.

When they got to Taylor's house Chad convinced his Dad to let him stay the night. Taylor's parents had gone away for work so it was just her and her sister. John had no problem agreeing as long as Hailey could take them to the country club the following morning. Taylor assured him that she would.

They grabbed their bags and headed inside.

After getting Hailey to agree to take them to work the following morning Taylor and Chad headed to Taylor's room.

After Chad told Taylor about his day she felt like she wanted to punch Sharpay in her pretty little face. Taylor and Sharpay had a long history that stemmed back to grade 2. It was an ugly year for both of them. They had been best friends in grade 1 then everything changed the following year when Sharpay was cast in her first performance.

Taylor and Chad spent the night talking, it was 2am before they finally fell asleep curled up together.