Summary: Chad finally starts planning things out.
A/N: decently long chapters strike me again, FINALLY! i rarely write 1k-2k chapters anymore so idk what's gotten into me lol
— — — — — —
When word got out that Taylor finally had private plans with her boyfriend, Chad knew he was gonna have to put his effort into something that wasn't basketball and bring his A-game to this date of theirs if he wanted to impress his girl. Even though Taylor said it could be simple, the curly-haired man kinda wanted to go all out. So, while using Google and the notes Troy told him to keep track of, Chad pieced together what could be the perfect date (or a decent one at least) for the upcoming weekend.
First, he'll pick Taylor up in his new car—once he gets it, and yes he's been saving up ever since last summer while getting his license—with flowers and take her somewhere chill like a café so they could be in a quiet setting and talk over drinks paired with some snacks. Secondly, they'll walk around Alberquerque before Chad takes Taylor back to his place so they can eat some homemade food from his parents while watching a movie. That was it...for now. All he had to do was get his upcoming check before Saturday and things were gonna look good.
"Troy, dude...I think I just planned the best date ever."
"Now that sounds far-fetched. But what do you have planned anyway?"
"I'm gonna take her to some small café Zeke recommended me the other day. Then, I'll take her home for dinner and a movie."
"...There's nothing else to that plan of yours?"
"Nope, not yet anyway. But if things escalate to that...point, I already got condoms and lube."
"Well damn, someone's prepared!"
Chad laughed through his phone, "Listen, bro, my pops told me to always be prepared no matter what. Even when it comes to stuff like that."
"That's good because I haven't even thought about me and Gabby's first time. Eh, it'll come one day. But I gotta hang up and work on my truck's engine a bit, talk to ya later."
"Aight, bro. Peace."
— — — — — —
With a Thursday night being filled with cleaning his room, Chad was glad it was finally Friday. His paycheck was due in the mail after school, so all he had to do was get through school and get to a car dealership after cashing his check into the bank. But...there was an issue. Chad had backed himself up into an academic mountain of late assignments. Most of 'em he was supposed to do after basketball practice. But knowing how Chad moves after practice most of the time, he wasn't gonna do any work while he was tired. So, as a semi-last resort, he texted his girlfriend about trying to crunch in all of his assignments during lunch and free period.
"tay, guess what"
"what is it, chad? i'm in the middle of helping gabriella with her outfit"
"in the bathroom?"
"...where else"
"idk" "but i'm on the borderline of failing all my classes cuz i haven't turned in any work for the past week"
"CHAD DANFORTH, WHY AREN'T YOU DOING YOUR WORK?!"
"because basketball is more important than some papers"
"chad don't pmo" "cuz if you can't get things together...then that mean we can't go on our date AND i can't get some flowers"
"then can you spare lunch and free period to help me?"
"...fineee. BUT i betta be gettin' my flowers handed to me soon!"
Chad chuckled under his breath after reading Taylor's message, then shoved his phone back into his jeans pocket before going up to his English teacher and asking about the assignments he was missing. He did the same thing with all of his other teachers before lunch hit, making him carry a hefty folder filled with everything he needed to do before the end of the day.
As he walked around the cafeteria with his hot school lunch, he spotted Taylor within a radius of fifteen feet, sitting with a few black girls plus Gabriella and one of her friends. They chatted over their lunch trays, not noticing the pair of eyes that were staring at Taylor's backside until...
"Taylor, Chad's staring at you."
The intelligent woman turned around, looking over her shoulder momentarily before facing her boyfriend and gesturing for him to come over. Chad, being the slightly observant guy he is with borderline failing grades at the moment, quickly walked over to Taylor and sat on her left side. He set the lunch tray (which had the folder of schoolwork under it) in front of him, then moved his lunch aside.
"Uhh...where should we start?"
"Chemistry since me and Gabriela just came from there."
Even though Chad wanted this lunch date to be private, he had more important things to worry about. He flipped through the papers he had and pulled out a small stack of scientific assignments, moving them between him and Taylor.
"Ms. Michaels wants me to finish all of these."
"...You seriously didn't do that equation page? She literally gave us all of the answers, Chad."
"He can borrow mine, Taylor."
Gabriella stepped into their conversation for a second, handing Chad her completed assignment that was graded with an A+; "Just give it back to me by the end of the day."
"He shouldn't need it for that long, Gabriella."
Taylor went over how Gabriella got her answers with Chad, then went over everything else before lunch was done for this school week. All Chad had left was...homeroom assignments. They only consisted of grade check-ins with the additional annoying announcements of anything from the Drama Club. But once Chad did his updated grade check-in, he rushed to turn everything in before passing period was over and break period was on. Once he was done, Chad decided to crash Taylor's private study time in the English classroom with some snacks from one of the vending machines downstairs.
"Tay, guess what I got?"
"Chips and juice?"
"You know it. But, with a leftover brownie."
Chad sat next to Taylor on one of the desks, hooking an arm on the side of her waist and pulling her close; "Do you really need to study for English?"
"Yes, Chad. I could be the smartest student on Earth and still need to study."
"But you can't study during our date this weekend, Taylor."
"...It's this weekend?!"
Chad laughed, "Yup. Does that work with you?"
"I mean...I had plans to go shopping and grab myself some new jeans but I think I'll be fine."
"What type, if you don't mind me asking?"
"The ones that flare out at the bottom. I haven't been able to find any in my size unless I go to Hollister."
"Maybe I can get you some with your initials on the back pockets."
Taylor laughed, nudging her boyfriend with a shoulder, "Oh really?"
"Maybe, Tay. But for now, just note that I'll be picking you up at around three tomorrow."
Taylor put her English papers down and looked at Chad with a surprised yet curious look, "Why three? Is our date gonna be that long?"
"Possibly, but I'm savin' all that info for tomorrow."