Chapter 4
The following morning Taylor and Chad were woken by Hailey yelling at them to get up.
"COME ON YOU TWO, RISE AND SHINE! YOU'RE GOING TO BE LATE!" Hailey shouted as she jumped on Taylor's bed for emphasis.
It didn't take long for the couple to jump up and quickly get ready for work.
Ten minutes later Taylor and Chad ran down the stairs to see Hailey waiting for them.
They all got into Hailey's car and headed to the country club.
"Staff baseball game after work, you still in?" Jackson, one of the full-time employees of the country club asked.
Chad nodded, "yeah absolutely man."
"Awesome, it'll be you wildcats against us actual employees," Jackson chuckled.
"Game on," Chad said then he smirked, "WHAT TEAM?"
The wildcats in the kitchen grinned, "WILDCATS!"
"WHAT TEAM?"
"WILDCATS!"
"WILDCATS!"
"GETCHA HEAD IN THE GAME!"
The full-time Lava Springs nodded their approval at the team spirit that the summer employees had.
Taylor smiled lovingly at Chad before they both clocked in and headed in different directions.
The first thing that Taylor planned for the kids that morning was a stroll around the grounds, the older kids had wanted to know more about the activities and things that you could do at the club. Seeing as they spent the entire previous day doing something 'fun' Taylor decided that doing something 'educational' would be a good idea.
"Okay you know the drill though, we aren't going anywhere until you all give me your names, then we'll go for a walk around the place, starting with the pool area," Taylor said.
The kids got into a single file line and told Taylor their names, Taylor wrote their names down and led the kids to the pool area where Gabriella was teaching water aerobics.
"Alright kids now the pool area is my favourite part of the country club, we're going to watch the water aerobics for a minute and maybe join in," Taylor explained while she waited for Troy to leave.
The kids nodded.
"Okay now some jumping jacks," Gabriella said as she demonstrated.
Taylor copied her movements and the kids did the same.
"Hey, what's she up to?" Taylor asked Gabriella who turned to face her.
The two girls looked to the window where Sharpay was standing.
"Who knows?" Gabriella sighed.
"Believe me she does," Taylor sighed.
"What are you doing with the kids today?" Gabriella asked.
"Well Tyler here suggested that we take a walk around the club, the other older kids agreed so I figured we'd start here," Taylor said as she indicated Tyler who was stood directly behind her.
"Nice, where's your admirer?" Gabriella teased.
"She'll probably be here in the next group. Who knows maybe I'll be able to walk freely today," Taylor laughed.
Gabriella turned back to the class and had them do a freestyle stroke to stretch their arm muscles. Taylor had the kids do the same thing.
"Well I guess I better take this lot for the next part of the tour, the kitchen," Taylor smirked.
"Tay, are they even allowed in there?" Gabriella laughed.
"Well I spoke to Zeke when we got here and he said that he would make cupcakes if I could bring the kids to him. They probably still aren't allowed but I can spin it to make Mr Fulton realise that it's a good idea," Taylor smiled.
"Devious," Gabriella laughed, "see you later?"
"You bet," Taylor smiled.
Taylor led the kids to the kitchen, "okay now we're about to enter a room that no guests are allowed to go into. Luckily for you one of my dear friends works in this particular area and he has a special treat for you all," Taylor informed them, "to the kitchen we go."
The kids grinned and squealed in excitement.
Taylor led the kids into the kitchen and smiled when she saw all her friends, except Gabriella and Troy, were there.
Zeke had set up a table filled with cupcakes for the kids.
"Okay kids, Zeke here is a marvelous baker and he made these cupcakes especially for you," Taylor smiled, Zeke put an arm around Taylor's shoulders.
"Taylor told me you all like sweets, I like making sweets so I figured I'd do something special for you all. Especially because you were all well-behaved yesterday," Zeke said.
"You can each take ONE," Taylor emphasised as the kids started to get jumpy with excitement.
The 18 kids each took one cupcake.
Chad sidled up beside Taylor as Zeke moved to talk to the kids about what they were eating, how he had made the cupcakes.
"Troy got a promotion," Chad whispered to Taylor as he wrapped an arm around her.
"What?!" Taylor whisper yelled in response.
"Troy is now a puppet for Sharpay's family. He now teaches golf to kids. He's getting a salary not clocked hours. Whatever strings that Sharpay is pulling are definitely helping Troy," Chad sighed.
"Don't let it get to you. He's still your best friend Chad. Everything will work out," Taylor said gently.
"I hope you're right," Chad said simply.
After allowing the kids to have one more cupcake each Taylor led them out of the kitchen and towards the driving range. Some of the kids parents had signed them up to learn how to play golf and it was Taylor's job to get those kids to the range in time for their lessons.
Taylor spotted Troy when they got there.
"Hey Tay," Troy smiled.
"Hey Troy, I have some students for you, ten to be exact," Taylor smiled.
Troy smiled at the kids, "awesome. Why don't you all go and choose a place and start hitting some golf balls. I'll come help you in a moment."
"So you got a fancy promotion," Taylor said.
Troy nodded, "yeah I did. Mr Fulton even said these are Italian shoes."
Taylor raised an eyebrow, "just don't let the special treatment go to your head."
"Don't worry, I won't," Troy said confidently.
Taylor just nodded uncertainly and led her remaining eight kids out of the way to chat to them.
"Are any of you interested in learning how to play golf?" Taylor asked curiously.
Five of the kids, two girls and three boys, raised their hands.
"Well my friend Troy over there is the new instructor. Troy has been playing golf, along with basketball, for the last six years. He's the best player I know, of golf that is," Taylor informed them.
"Miss Taylor, what about basketball?" Tyler asked.
Taylor smiled, "Troy might be the captain but he's not the best player in my eyes. My boyfriend Chad Danforth is, he's also co-captain of the East High Wildcats. Chad gets the team fired up before every game."
"I know him, he's awesome! My Dad took me to watch him play once. He plays baseball too! Can I get an autograph?" Ten year old Ben asked excitedly.
Taylor smiled, "I can definitely arrange that Ben."
"Me too!" Three of the other boys begged.
Taylor laughed, "okay I'll make you a deal. While you're all at lunch I'll get autographs for you from three Wildcat players."
The five boys were clearly excited as they watched Troy teach golf.
Taylor frowned as she watched Sharpay get out of her golf cart, she wondered why she was there and nearly laughed at herself, of course Sharpay was wherever Troy was this summer.
"This is for you, Mr Fulton wants you to carry it around so that parents can easily find where their kids are and others can drop their kids with you whenever they please," one of the employees said to Taylor as he handed her a plastic orange flag on a plastic orange stick.
Taylor just nodded, "okay, sure, thanks."
Taylor was trying to hear what Sharpay and Troy were talking about but with the sound of swinging golf clubs she couldn't hear anything. Taylor decided to walk closer to them in hopes of hearing their conversation. The kids followed suit.
Taylor shook her head as she heard Troy asking Sharpay about his 'Italian shoes'. What was with his sudden obsession with his shoes? Taylor couldn't understand it.
Taylor led the kids to the kids dining room before getting on her club appointed golf cart to find Gabriella.
It didn't take long. Gabriella was standing near one of the entrances, Chad had just arrived beside her as well.
"Hey Gab," Chad smiled.
"Hey," Gabriella smiled in return.
The two moved closer to see the scene in front of them. Troy was teaching Sharpay how to play golf.
"That girls got more moves than an octopus in a wrestling match," Taylor said as she came to stand between the two.
"Eh, he knows how to swim," Chad smiled.
"Yeah, Troy can handle himself," Gabriella agreed.
"I did overhear him asking her opinion on his new Italian golf shoes," Taylor admitted.
That had both Gabriella and Chad feeling uncertain.
"He didn't ask me," Gabriella said softly.
"So wake up sister! She's basically offering him a college education just to sing with her in the talent show," Taylor pointed out.
"Troy would never do that," Chad tried to convince them.
"You got eyes, use them," Taylor said.
Taylor wasn't trying to be mean, she just hated seeing the two people that she cared about the most getting hurt without them even knowing it. It was obvious that they were both trying to ignore what was clearly right in front of them. Taylor had been hurt by Sharpay more times than she cared to admit and didn't want her loved ones to experience the same pain that she had because of Sharpay. If it took being harsh for them to realise it then Taylor would be harsher.
"Let's go eat," Gabriella decided with a smile as she looked at Taylor.
Taylor nodded.
"Yeah I gotta go," Chad said, "hey see you later?" He asked Taylor.
Taylor smiled, "okay," she said in a slightly higher pitched voice than normal.
"Okay," Chad responded as he walked away.
It made no sense to Taylor how she could still be nervous around Chad, especially after last night, they slept in the same bed cuddling together. She supposed that it was something that happened when you were truly in love with someone but you didn't know how to tell them. At least that was what Taylor hoped.
Taylor watched Sharpay for a minute after Troy left the scene, she hit the golf ball with perfect precision. Taylor shook her head and put her hand on her hip, typical Sharpay move, get the boy to think she's totally innocent and get everything that she wants.
Taylor sighed and headed to the kitchen where Gabriella was already sitting with sandwiches and packets of chips for each of them.
"Thanks for getting me food," Taylor smiled.
"No problem. Zeke had already made our sandwiches, I just had to get the chips," Gabriella responded with a smile.
Taylor sat down and started eating.
Moments later Chad stormed into the kitchen with a plate in his hand.
Taylor watched him worriedly, he clearly didn't look happy.
"Zeke," Chad snapped.
Zeke was standing near him, "yep."
"Troy wants swiss," Chad snapped as he handed the plate to Zeke.
"Coming right up," Zeke said as he walked away with the plate to fix the burger.
Chad stormed over to where Taylor and Gabriella were sat in the employee break room.
"You know you were right," Chad said to Taylor, "there's a guy out there who looks just like Troy Bolton but I have no idea who he really is."
Chad pulled a chair up to sit between Taylor and Gabriella.
Taylor moved her food over so that Chad could have some. Chad gladly took one half of a sandwich.
This is what Taylor had been trying to avoid. She had tried to warn them. Now Chad was hurt and she had no idea what the news was doing to Gabriella. All she knew was that Troy was ruining the two relationships that he claimed meant the most to him.
Taylor just hoped that maybe Troy would come to his senses and fix his relationships before it was too late.
"We still have the games after work. Maybe he'll be social then," Gabriella tried to reason.
"Maybe," Taylor said, although it wasn't very convincing.
Zeke finished remaking the burger and handed it to Chad.
"Don't do anything stupid," Taylor said as Chad's facial expression was clearly showing his anger still.
"Chad," Taylor warned.
He still didn't respond nor change his expression.
Taylor sighed, this wasn't how she had wanted this moment to go but she had a feeling it was necessary to save Chad from himself.
Taylor stood up, handed the plate back to Zeke and leaned up to be face-to-face with Chad.
After hesitating for a second Taylor leaned into Chad, their lips met in a soft, sweet kiss. Their first kiss. After the initial shock Chad pulled Taylor closer to him.
Zeke, Gabriella, Martha, and Jason whistled and cheered along with the other wildcats.
Taylor slowly pulled away and Chad slowly let her. Their foreheads were still touching as smiles spread across their faces. It might not have been the most romantic moment but it was still special.
"Try not to kill Troy now," Taylor teased.
Chad chuckled, "yeah I'll try."
The two pulled apart completely and smiled at their staring friends.
Chad took the plate back from Zeke, "see you later cutie," he said to Taylor before he headed back to the balcony dining area.
Taylor sat back down beside Gabriella and the two squealed slightly in excitement.
Martha rushed over to them.
"Tay wow, that was, that was your first kiss right?" Martha asked.
Taylor nodded as she bit her lower lip, "yeah."
"How was it?" Gabriella questioned.
"It was, pretty amazing," Taylor gushed.
The three girls squealed again.
"Hey Tay, shouldn't you go back to the kids?" Zeke asked.
Taylor looked at her watch and quickly stood up, "I'll find you before the baseball game," she said to Gabriella before hurrying off to the kids dining room.
"Alright kids it's time to go back and find your parents," Taylor said to the kids two and a half hours later.
The group of 28 kids groaned.
Taylor laughed, "I'll see you all tomorrow."
"Can we play twister?" An eight year old girl named Talia asked.
Taylor smiled, "I suppose I can make that happen."
That earned her lots of cheering.
Taylor shook her head as she led the group over to the kids club meeting area where most of the parents were already gathered.
By 5:30 Taylor had managed to send all of the kids back to their parents.
Taylor then went to get her golf cart and drove it around to the employee entrance at the side of the country club. She got out and went to get changed before getting back in the golf cart and driving around to try and find Gabriella.
When she did find Gabriella it was obvious that something had happened. When Taylor had left her after lunch Gabriella had been smiling and happy. Now she looked hurt and disappointed.
"What happened?" Taylor asked as she pulled up beside Gabriella.
"Troy isn't going to be playing at the game. He went to play with the Red Hawks," Gabriella explained.
Taylor shrugged, "it's his loss Gabi. Come on, don't let Troy ruin the excitement you felt about the game this morning."
Gabriella nodded and began to smile, "you're right. Troy's doing his own thing, I can do my own thing too. It's not like we're joined at the hip."
Taylor smiled, "well come on, hop on, we've got a game to get to."
Gabriella laughed and jumped in the passenger seat of the golf cart.
Taylor drove them around to the other side of the country club as they laughed and talked.
"Any idea when they decided on this game today? This morning Jackson asked Chad if he was still in, I hadn't even heard about it," Taylor asked.
"I only heard about it this morning too," Gabriella admitted.
"Oh well at least we got an invite to watch, go Wildcats," Taylor laughed.
Gabriella shook her head, "you spend way too much time with Chad."
"What do you mean?" Taylor queried.
"Your team spirit," Gabriella laughed.
"Someone has to have team spirit," Taylor teased, "besides I'm so excited about the game."
Gabriella laughed.
Taylor pulled the golf cart to a stop when they spotted Ryan looking glum.
"Hey Ryan, no rehearsals?" Gabriella asked.
"Ah, my sister is working up something new," Ryan admitted.
Taylor rolled her eyes, of course Sharpay would choose Troy over her own brother, she could see that that was what Ryan was not telling them.
"So you coming to the baseball game?" Gabriella asked.
Both girls could tell that he wanted to.
"I'm not staff, wasn't invited," Ryan admitted before he turned to walk away.
Taylor pulled the golf cart up beside Ryan again.
"Hey, everyone's invited," Gabriella said, "come on hop in."
Taylor smiled in agreement with Gabriella, Ryan wasn't a bad guy. They used to be friends before Sharpay let 'fame' go to her head and she dragged Ryan down with her a few years later.
"Alright," Ryan agreed as he climbed on the back.
Taylor smiled widely she was glad to have her friend back, at least partially.
"Hang on," Taylor said as she drove off, "weeee."
Gabriella laughed at her friends antics.
Ryan just smiled, it felt nice to be included again. He missed hanging out with his old friends.
Taylor pulled onto the dirt track that led straight into the baseball field.
"Hey Martha, hey Kels," Taylor said as the two girls came rushing over to them.
They followed the cart as Taylor drove right up to the home plate.
All the while the girls giggled and Taylor pressed the small horn on the wheel, "beep beep," she said as she pulled the cart to a stop on the home plate.
Ryan looked like he was having a lot of fun.
"What did Fulton send you out here to spy on us?" Chad asked Ryan before he could even get out of the cart.
"Nah my sister did, she thinks you guys are going to upstage her talent show," Ryan admitted.
"Oh no worries," Zeke spoke, "we were going to do the show but then Troy bailed on us so whatever."
"What do you mean, whatever?" Gabriella asked them, "it's our summer remember! I thought we decided that doing the show would be fun."
Taylor, Martha, and Kelsi nodded in agreement behind her.
"Well I think so," Martha spoke softly.
"And I do to," Taylor said as she removed her sunglasses and looked at Chad.
"Who are we kidding?" Chad questioned looking straight back at Taylor.
"I don't think so," Zeke agreed.
"We don't know how to put together a show," Jason added.
"Maybe not but he does," Gabriella said as she moved towards Ryan, "if we have a real director put it together it could be great," Gabriella turned towards Ryan, "have the employees ever won a star dazzle award?"
Ryan scoffed, "hey now."
"I've seen what you can do Ryan, why not do it for us?" Gabriella asked.
Chad had had enough talk, he wanted to get on with the game and he made his thoughts heard.
"Look if you wanna play ball then grab a mitt but I don't dance," Chad said.
"You don't think dancing takes some game?" Ryan questioned.
Everyone around them laughed, Chad smirked.
"You got game?" Chad asked.
Ryan shrugged, "a little."
Chad nodded, "come on," he murmured to Greg, the guy holding the baseball bat.
Greg tossed the bat in the air and Chad caught a hold of it, as did Ryan who won the grab.
The two teams went to their respective start positions as the girls climbed into Taylor's golf cart. Taylor drove them off of the field and left the golf cart out of the way of the entrance to the field. The girls then moved into the stands where other employees and some members were sat watching.
Taylor smiled as she watched Chad take his place on the home plate.
Taylor proudly watched Chad play, she couldn't believe how talented her boyfriend was.
It was an entertaining game as Ryan tried to convince Chad that he could dance, that baseball required certain movements that flowed together like a dance, that essentially baseball was one big dance.
As Chad slid onto the home plate and was announced safe Taylor let out a little squeal and started to jump up and down with a grin plastered on her face. She was very proud of her boyfriend.
"Hey Evans," Chad called as Ryan started to walk away, "I'm not saying that I'm going to dance in the show but IF I did what would you have me do."
Ryan smiled as he walked off of the field, Gabriella gave him a hug, "you played great."
Ryan chuckled, "thanks."
Taylor smiled as Chad ran off of the field and straight to her. Chad lifted Taylor up and spun her around both of them were grinning.
Once Taylor was back on her feet Chad kissed her softly and soundly.
When they pulled apart Ryan announced that they could use the picnic area that was near the baseball field as the location for the after party.
Taylor and Gabriella took the golf cart back to it's parking spot while the guys plus Martha and Kelsi went to set up the area for a party.
"That was so much fun and such a great game," Taylor gushed.
Gabriella laughed, "you're only happy because your boyfriend managed to bring home a win for us."
Taylor laughed, "yeah, maybe. Wait us? Girl you were supporting one person out there and that person was not a wildcat."
Gabriella mock glared at her friend's teasing, "hey Ryan deserved to have someone in his court for a change. Just because he's Sharpay's brother doesn't mean he's a bad person, people just treat him like he is."
"Believe me Gabi I know what a great guy Ryan is. Unfortunately Sharpay gives him a bad reputation," Taylor sighed.
"Look no more sadness. It was a great win and now we have something to look forward to. We get to be apart of the talent show without Sharpay taking us down," Gabriella smiled.
"I don't know if I'd go that far but yeah it is something to look forward to," Taylor smiled.
The two girls made their way to the parking lot, Gabriella's Mum was dropping off her amazing brownies for the party, after Gabriella had called her Mum in her lunch break her Mum had gotten to work on making the brownies that the girls loved so much. After getting the brownies Taylor and Gabriella made their way over to the picnic area where Martha and Kelsi were waiting for them. Gabriella's Mum had made 22 boxes of brownies, 6 brownies in each box, one each for every player and for the girls. Taylor and Gabriella handed Kelsi and Martha a few of the boxes each to hand out to the players and to keep one for themselves.
Taylor and Gabriella handed some boxes out before turning around to Chad and Ryan who were sat talking. Taylor couldn't help the smile that spread on her face as she watched the two talk, it was like the second grade had never happened.
"Good job," Gabriella said as they stood beside the two boys.
"Nice hat," Taylor commented as she moved Chad's hat slightly.
"Thanks, you know I think it would look great on you," Chad said as he removed the hat and put it on Taylor's head instead.
Taylor laughed and posed as Chad took a picture of her.
"Gorgeous," Chad commented as he showed Taylor the picture.
"Why thank you," Taylor laughed.
Chad pulled her onto his lap as Gabriella placed a box of brownies in front of the three and took her own seat opposite Ryan with her own box of brownies.
"These are amazing," Chad said through a mouthful of his second brownie.
Taylor shut his mouth by forcing it closed with her hand, "don't talk with your mouth full, you're spitting crumbs everywhere."
Chad smiled apologetically.
Taylor just shook her head good-naturedly, "you're hopeless."
"I'm your hopeless," Chad corrected.
Taylor looked thoughtful for a moment, "I may have to reconsider that."
Chad started to tickle her and Taylor squealed as she started laughing and getting out of breath.
"Chad leave the poor girl alone, you're going to make her collapse if she doesn't breathe soon," Ryan said, only half teasingly.
Chad just grinned as he stopped tickling Taylor.
Taylor took a few deep breaths before glaring at Chad.
"You'll regret that," Taylor promised.
"I look forward to it," Chad grinned cheekily.
A/N: I hope you liked the first kiss scene, I figured that something must have happened to turn Chad and Gabriella from being hurt by Troy to being willing to give him another chance. Look out for the next chapter coming soon :-)