Chapter 6
It was 9am when Chad was woken by his girlfriend Taylor.
His first concern should have been how she got into the house, Chad's parents were away for the weekend and Taylor didn't have a key.
Apparently that wasn't on his mind at that point in time, instead he pulled Taylor onto the bed with him and started tickling her.
Taylor tried not to giggle but she couldn't help it, she was very ticklish after all.
After ten minutes Chad decided to stop and let his poor girlfriend breathe.
"So what brings you here this early on a Saturday morning?" Chad grinned.
Taylor took a deep breath to calm herself before responding, "we have rehearsal for the talent show at 10, remember?"
"Oh, right, that," Chad mumbled as he pulled his pillow over his face.
"You're not going back to sleep Chad. You have to get up and ready Hailey is waiting for us," Taylor said as she ripped the pillow from her boyfriend's arms.
Chad groaned, "can't we just skip it and sleep in?"
"No Chad we can't, we made a commitment. You are getting up NOW! You are the team captain, you have to be a role model. Without you there is no team so get up and get ready you have ten minutes," Taylor said fiercely, when Chad refused to move Taylor got an evil glint in her eyes.
Taylor left the room and returned with her sister.
"You were warned!" Hailey said sharply.
Together Taylor and Hailey lifted Chad's mattress, with him still on it, and flipped him onto the ground on the other side of the bed. Chad immediately jumped up and glared at the two before begrudgingly walking into his bathroom to shower.
Taylor and Hailey smirked, "don't take long we'll be downstairs," they spoke at the same time.
Chad, being terrified of what they might do if he did take too long, had a very quick shower and got ready. Eight minutes after the girls left his room Chad appeared at the bottom of the stairs.
"Let's go," Hailey smiled leading the couple out to her car.
Chad locked the house and got into Hailey's car, then a thought occurred to him as Hailey drove away.
"How'd you get into the house?" Chad asked Taylor curiously.
"I know where you keep the spare key," Taylor said rolling her eyes.
"Oh right Mum showed you that," Chad remembered.
"For the exact reason that I used it this morning, to make sure that you didn't oversleep when they aren't around," Taylor teased.
Chad shook his head but smiled at Taylor.
As soon as Hailey left them Taylor and Chad headed to the lockers and then the rehearsal space that Ryan had told them to meet him in.
Taylor sighed in relief when she realised that they weren't the last to arrive.
Ryan smiled at them and walked over, giving Taylor a hug and high fiving Chad.
"I'm glad you both turned up, I was starting to worry that you'd changed your mind," Ryan admitted.
"Sorry about that, this lunk head decided that he wanted to sleep in, like always," Taylor apologised.
Chad just shrugged, "I like sleep, nothing wrong with that. Besides Tay we're here now so no harm done."
Taylor just rolled her eyes at her boyfriend.
Gabriella walked into the room at that point and approached them.
Taylor hugged her tightly and Gabriella smiled softly.
Chad and Ryan then exchanged hugs with Gabriella.
"He'll be a part of it whether he realises or not," Ryan promised.
Gabriella smiled softly in response, "thanks Ryan. I just hope that he won't be completely different by the time the show comes around."
"He'll come around Gabi, he's never been the sharpest tool in the shed but he always returns to his friends eventually," Taylor told her best friend.
"This isn't the first time he's gone off on a different path?" Gabriella questioned.
"Nah, it is the first time that he's treated us differently. Usually when he tries something new we get ignored for a while and then he apologises constantly until everyone on the team says he's forgiven," Chad explained.
Gabriella sighed, "you couldn't have pre-warned me?"
Taylor smiled as she hugged her friend, "we didn't think that it would happen again. It's only happened like four times in the time I've known these guys. Chad's right though he's never treated his friends negatively until this time. Until high school I was friends with him, enough to know what he's like. Troy was a good guy he just never felt like he belonged so he tried fitting in everywhere only to work out that he only fit in with the basketball crowd. There's never been a pattern in his actions either so it's hard to know when and if something like that will happen again."
"Look he'll figure himself out. Everything will work out eventually," Ryan said confidently.
The rest of the day was spent rehearsing and reminiscing about the various ways that Troy always made amends after such events as him ignoring his friends for personal gain.
"I hope that Gabi doesn't think Troy is a bad guy. He's just always lost over what he wants," Taylor sighed as she and Chad sat by the pool at Chad's house after rehearsals.
"He'll come crawling back soon enough and Gabi will forgive him cause that's the type of girl she is," Chad replied.
Taylor smiled softly, "very true."
The following day was much the same with rehearsing for the talent show. They spent a lot of time just collaborating and coming up with ideas as they listened to the music and moved around to it. Ryan was still choreographing but it gave them all a chance to be apart of the process. The music that Kelsi was playing was upbeat and energising, she had every intention of making their routine song better than the music she'd altered for Sharpay and Troy's performance.
The only difference about this day was when they left for the night Taylor could have sworn that she saw Troy's truck and she hadn't seen him anywhere.
When Taylor mentioned it to Chad he told her to just shrug it off Troy was probably just working on his future.
The next day Taylor had left the kids early to have a longer lunch with Chad when she almost ran her golf cart right into Mr Fulton. She quickly slammed her foot on the break and looked at her boss in slight confusion.
"Ahh," Taylor said as she looked at the hand that Fulton held out in front of her.
Mr Fulton handed Taylor a stack of flyers, "distribute these in the staff area but not until after shift."
"What! Wait Mr Fulton," Taylor called in surprise as Mr Fulton walked away from her.
"No discussion Miss McKessie," Mr Fulton said sternly, "This. Is. A. Business. Welcome to the world of adults who wish to keep their jobs because they have mortgages they wish to pay. Tuition bills, car payments etcetera, etcetera, etcetera. So sometimes we have to perform tasks, however unpleasant, that are necessary for that all too important paycheck to land in our too empty pockets."
Taylor could tell that her boss was stressed, "may I get you a cup of tea Mr Fulton?"
"Camomile would be lovely," Mr Fulton responded before seating beside Taylor in her golf cart.
Taylor silently drove her boss around to the back entrance for the kitchen.
Taylor led her boss into the kitchen and made him a cup of tea as Mr Fulton went and sat down in the staff meal area.
"What's up with him?" Zeke asked Taylor.
"Sharpay. Zeke I know you like her but really you could do sooooo much better," Taylor said truthfully.
"You don't know her like I do," Zeke insisted for the zillionth time.
Taylor just sighed and rolled her eyes as she took the cup of tea over to Mr Fulton.
Taylor decided to just get lunch from vending machine food, she didn't have the stomach to eat much else at this point knowing that she was going to be breaking her friends hearts at the end of their shifts.
Taylor spent the remainder of the day with the kids as far from the building as possible so that she wouldn't run into anyone and ruin their day's earlier than she was allowed.
When the last kids had been picked up by their parents Taylor felt her stomach lurch. Now was the time that her friends were going to be shattered. Knowing that she couldn't avoid it any longer Taylor grabbed the flyers from behind the front desk counter and headed for the kitchen where she knew everyone would be.
Taylor hesitated at the door when she heard her friends laughing and having a good time. Then she decided that if she didn't move soon then she really would chicken out.
"May I have your attention please!" Taylor called over the noise, holding up her clipboard, "You guys I need to make an announcement," the noise quieted and Taylor continued regretfully, "all junior staffers will be required to work on show night."
"What?" Martha and Gabriella said at the same time as everyone crowded around Taylor.
"Yeah," Taylor said sadly as she continued to read the flyer, "it says 'no staff participation in the show will be allowed, no exceptions."
Taylor handed the flyers out in disappointment.
"No show?" Martha asked.
"There's a show, we're just not in it," Taylor said defeatedly.
There were murmurs of disbelief and annoyance.
"I'm sorry guys there's nothing we can do about it, Fulton's orders," Taylor sighed.
"Nuh-uh," Chad responded, refusing to believe that their boss would do such a thing, "there's no way this is Fulton's idea."
"Not unless Fulton suddenly has blonde hair and wears designer flip-flops," Kelsi agreed.
Taylor could see the hurt spreading on Gabriella's face and immediately worried about her best friend as she left the room.
Chad looked after Gabriella then down at the flyer and up at Taylor. The couple both shook their heads and Chad headed to his locker while Taylor went to put the spare flyers in the trash can under the sink.
By the time Taylor and Chad left for the night their friends were all plotting Sharpay's demise.
"There's nothing we can do," Taylor sighed as she and Chad climbed into Hailey's car.
"There's always something," Chad said conspicuously.
That night when Taylor got ready for bed Gabriella called her to talk about what had happened between her and Troy after she left the kitchen.
Taylor spent the next four days calling her best friend every chance that she got only to get her voicemail.
Chad spent the four days debating calling his so-called best friend to check on him but always came to the same conclusion, Troy was in the wrong and deserved to feel some of the pain that Gabriella had been feeling from him over the past few weeks.