Chapter 7
The morning of the talent show Taylor finally got through to Gabriella and told her about a plan that she and Ryan had come up with to get Troy back to his regular self.
Chad on the other hand was in the kitchen with the team, Martha, and Kelsi when Troy walked in for breakfast.
Chad, Jason, and Kelsi were trying to figure out what they could do to get back in the talent show. Ryan and Taylor were figuring out how to get Gabriella back so it was up to them to work out how to get the team back into the talent show.
"It's okay, Ryan can help us," Kelsi was saying when Troy approached them.
"I don't know, I...," Chad started, stopping himself when Troy sat across from them.
"We'll get it eventually," Kelsi said.
Chad grabbed his plate and walked away, he really wasn't interested in what Troy had to say. He watched Kelsi give Troy the flyer about their not being allowed in the show to see his reaction.
His reaction did surprise Chad. Troy scrunched up the flyer and walked away.
"Well that looked like the old Troy," Jason said positively.
"Yeah, we'll see," Chad said, he refused to be happy that his best friend was back until he actually was.
Taylor spent the day ushering people into the building where they would be led to tables at the back by other staff members for the talent show. It wasn't starting until five but people were arriving from three so she had been put on door duty instead of kid duty for the day.
Chad spent the day serving the people who arrived early, in the restaurant. Mr Fulton had ordered all staff to be on alert and not let visitors and members into the talent show area until 4:30. It had been a busy day.
Taylor was relieved when the final guests arrived at 4:45, only people with a ticket were granted access to the club that day in order to keep those who hadn't bought tickets from being a part of the events. Taylor spotted Gabriella walking towards the building when the security personnel were locking up the doors.
"Wait, she's an employee who's working tonight," Taylor said quickly.
The two men sighed and waited until Gabriella was inside before they closed the doors.
Taylor hugged her best friend tightly, "I'm so glad that you're here. Now all I have to do is make sure that no one sees you until it's time."
Gabriella laughed softly, "well I guess we better get to hiding."
Taylor smiled and led her best friend into Mr Fulton's office, the only place that would be occupied all night.
"I assume that Chad plans to text you when we need to leave?" Gabriella asked.
Taylor smiled, "yes he does. Then we're going to sneak out of the building and to the back of the seating area so that no one sees you except the other employees."
They spent the next couple of hours catching up on everything that they had missed with each other over the last four days.
It was 6:50 by the time Taylor received a text from Chad.
"He says that they've patched things up with Troy and everything's falling into place. He'll text me again when it's time to join the crowd," Taylor explained to Gabriella.
"Well I guess all that's left is for Troy and I to make up," Gabriella said.
"He's an idiot but he loves you so that makes up for it," Taylor laughed.
Gabriella grinned, "you are very right."
Ten minutes later the girls headed out of Mr Fulton's office and joined their friends and fellow employees at the back of the audience. Their plan for Troy not to see Gabriella was perfect, Kelsi had him distracted with learning their new song. A song which Gabriella herself had only learned that morning. Kelsi hadn't chosen a song for their performance until two days ago and because Taylor couldn't get ahold of Gabriella until that morning she couldn't learn the song until then either.
Taylor smiled at Chad as he came into view, they hugged and then stood side-by-side while Gabriella hid behind them.
"Showtime," Chad said with a grin as he held Taylor's hand.
"Time to put two souls back together," Taylor agreed.
They all faced the stage as Mr Fulton introduced the 'act' and Kelsi began playing the music.
Taylor and Chad couldn't help the grin's that appeared on their faces when Troy ended his verse and Gabriella began to sing behind them. Their 'family' was finally going to be bought back together again.
They tried not to laugh at the confused look on Troy's face as he continued to sing.
Troy finally looked over at them and Chad and Taylor moved apart to let Gabriella step out from behind them. Chad wrapped an arm around Taylor's shoulders as their friends began to walk towards each other as they sang.
Taylor smiled at the pair, as much as she loved Chad she knew that if any couple were destined to be together it would be Gabriella and Troy.
Chad couldn't help but feel the same way, their friends were soulmates.
The couple began to think about their own relationship and hope that they would be soulmates too.
They were both pulled from their uncertain thoughts when Troy and Gabriella sang the leading words that meant they had to head towards the stage.
"Everyday," all of the employees sang and Taylor and Chad lead the way to the stage dancing and singing.
It was the moment that they had been rehearsing and the fun that everyone was having as they sang and danced was evident to the audience.
There wasn't one face on that stage as they took their final bow who didn't have a massive grin.
Everyone was proud of Sharpay when she awarded the 'Star Dazzle' to Ryan.
Taylor and Chad shared a smile when they were ushered off stage in opposite directions. Whether they were soulmates or not was irrelevant to them at that moment because all that mattered was their friends and being able to celebrate their success.
Mr Fulton ordered the regular employees to clean up before they headed home and told the Wildcats that they could have the night off and return the following day where they would be allowed to make use of the pool area with the other employees. Ryan had made the request before he ruined Sharpay's show. The team all got changed out of their formal attire, not wanting to damage it.
Taylor, Chad, Gabriella, Troy, Kelsi, Ryan, Martha, Jason, Sharpay, and Zeke all headed out to the tee off for the first hole on the golf course each carrying a lantern that had been situated around the stage area.
Chad took ahold of Taylor's lantern as they approached the hill and Taylor held onto Chad's arm. What could have been a bad night turned into a beautiful one.
They all watched a shooting star fly across the sky and they each made wishes.
Taylor wished that she and Chad would be soulmates.
Chad wished that he and Taylor would be together forever.
They all, except for Troy and Gabriella, ran down the hill and started dancing around.
Fireworks went off behind them and Chad starting spinning Taylor around both of them laughing and smiling. As if the fates were against them the sprinklers turned on, it didn't stop the happiness that they all felt though as they continued to dance around crazily and with no intention of stopping.
The next day was just as much fun as the previous night. They all got to enjoy the pool and have a great day. It was meant to be only for employees but Sharpay and Ryan decided to join them.
No one knew if Sharpay would stay the nice girl that she was at the moment but they were all willing to see if she truly could change.
As for Taylor and Chad they were both looking forward to their future together and hoping that their senior year would be full of more happiness and fun than their summer had been.
A/N: Sorry that the last chapters were a bit rushed. I'm busy writing the prequel to this which will be out soon and the sequel to 'Sparks Fly' which already has one chapter posted under 'All In'. I hope you enjoy them :-)