Title: The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year

Summary: It's Christmas Eve and the Wildcats are gathering at the Evans' Mansion for a holiday party. Laughter, craziness and hijinks ensue!

Pairings: Troyella, Chaylor, Zekepay, Jelsi.

Rating: K+

Disclaimer: High School Musical and all its characters belong to Disney. I'm just borrowing them for a while.

A/N: Written for the 'Have Yourself A Merry Wildcat Christmas' Fanfiction Challenge on VanAshBreNique.

Chapter 1 – Do You Hear What I Hear

The city of Albuquerque was slumbering in the dawn hours. On the horizon the sun was slowly rising in the sky, its mellow light glinting off of the thick tinsel hanging from the streetlights. The Christmas decorations on every house fluttered in the morning breeze, the bells gently tinkling and the pinecones lightly rattling their own soft melody. In this picture of quiet serenity, the creeping sunlight illuminated a beautiful two-storey home with delicate fairy lights wound around the porch. Inside, its two occupants were lost in peaceful dreams, the older of Christmases past and family now gone, the younger of music, love and brilliant blue eyes. The younger shifted under the covers, a dreamy smile crossing her lips as her petite hands reached out to hug an invisible figure. It was the morning of Christmas Eve in the Montez household and all was peaceful. Until…

"Huh, what?" Gabriella shot up in bed as a loud noise echoed across her room. Looking around wildly, her eyes landed on the cell phone now dancing across the bedside table with abandon. She frowned and mindlessly picked it up, answering it with a yawn and a sleepy hello.

"Gabriella, it's Sharpay! I just wanted to make sure that you haven't forgotten about the special gift I asked you to bring. Oh and to remind you that wearing something Christmassy is mandatory. Not gold of course, because that's my outfit or silver, because Ryan has that covered, but I'm sure you can find something suitable. Also, you better have learned those carols because my neighbours are very fussy and will only listen to the best. In fact a week ago they complained that…"

Gabriella blinked once slowly and pulled the phone away from her ear, blearily glancing at the time on the screen. Her eyes widened with disbelief at the glowing 6:30am which greeted her. With a groan she rubbed her hand across her eyes and took a deep breath before replacing the phone against her ear.

"And then they called Daddy, when it so wasn't my fault and…"

"Shar…" Gabriella started to interject but was cut off.

"He took away my credit card, can you believe it? That…"

"Sharpa…"

"So now I have to wait a week to get my new Jimmy Choo's which is so un-fabulous…"

Growing frustrated because, after all, Sharpay had interrupted a very important dream involving a certain blue-eyed wildcat and a moonlight picnic, Gabriella finally just screamed into the mouthpiece.

"SHARPAY!"

"What? Geez, Gabriella I'm not deaf!"

"It's 6:30am, why are you calling? In fact, why are you even up yet?!"

"I have to get everything perfect for our Christmas party! Or at least, make sure the maids get everything perfect. The decorations need to be put up, the food cooked, the presents arranged, the piano tuned…"

Rolling her eyes, Gabriella could just picture Sharpay standing in the foyer directing people around her like a drill sergeant. She might have become less of an ice queen since last summer, but her personality hadn't magically changed. She still had to be the top dog, no pun intended.

"Alright, alright, I get the picture. But why are you calling me?"

"Didn't you just hear a word I said? I wanted to make sure that you have everything organised and ready…"

"Well I do, so why don't you ring Taylor or Kelsi or Martha and check up on them, ok?"

There was a slight pause on the other end of the line before Sharpay's perky voice came over the speaker once again.

"Fine, See you later Gabriella. Remember, no gold or silver. Toodles!"

Gabriella felt a faint sense of guilt as she placed the phone back on her bedside table. Taylor wouldn't be too happy about an early-morning wake up call from Sharpay but if she had to suffer, so should everyone else. With a sigh, she debated for a moment about going back to sleep but her mind had already kicked into gear and was buzzing with thoughts of the coming day.

So with a longing glance at the soft pillow, she swung her legs out of bed and onto the floor. Slipping her feet into a pair of Ugg boots, she padded across to the balcony door and stepped out into the faint sunlight. Her breath escaped as a white puff, curling into the sky as the winter chill hit her bones. From here, Gabriella could see across the rooftops of neighbouring homes and out towards the dull red mountains in the distance.

"Merry Christmas Eve, Albuquerque," she whispered before turning back inside to start her morning routine.