Brief A/N: Long-ish chapter (for me), mostly substance. Longer author's note to follow.

Standard Disclaimer: I do not own High School Musical nor its characters nor its songs and I do not own RENT nor its characters nor its songs. Don't sue me for feeling inspired.

Take Me, Baby, or Leave Me

Chapter 16

Sharpay's eyes snapped open. There was something warm in her bed. And it was making noise. It was softly… snoring? After a second of processing, all the events of the night came rushing back to her, and she drew in a sharp breath of remembrance. Although she knew Taylor was sound asleep, she used extreme caution as she gently climbed out of the right side of her bed. Sliding on her pink fuzzy slippers and wrapping her robe around her, she glanced at her clock. It read 7:13 in glaring red digital numbers. Her alarm had been set for 7:30 anyways, so instead of trying to go back to sleep, she decided to go downstairs and get some coffee.

As Sharpay descended the stairs, heavenly aromas filled her nostrils and her stomach growled. Not only was the chef busy in his kitchen preparing a delicious pancake breakfast for the four teens, but Ryan also was awake and working the espresso machine in the kitchenette. Sharpay smiled to herself watching Ryan meticulously produce the perfect shot of espresso while lightly rocking back and forth, tapping his feet to music in his own head. It was his morning ritual; he said it was therapeutic, and it in turn soothed her to watch her brother obtain such intense serenity. Regardless, Sharpay did always count on benefiting from the final product. She lingered in the doorway for a few minutes, unbeknownst to Ryan.

"Ohhhhh, loverrrrr," Ryan softly sang aloud to himself and started humming the rest of the line.

Leaning on the doorframe and grinning, Sharpay announced her presence in the kitchenette by stating, "Thought so."

Ryan jumped slightly and drew a sharp startled breath. He turned around to face Sharpay, calmly sipped his cup of espresso, and scolded, "You know I hate when you mess with me making espresso! And thought what?"

Sharpay replied, "You had another dream about Chad last night didn't you."

Ryan nearly choked on the bitter liquid in his mouth. He swallowed it heavily and then stammered, "H-how did you…?" and trailed off in wonder. Not even a second later, his eyes lit up as he realized how she knew.

A smug look crept upon his face as he asserted, "You knew cuz you had the same one about Taylor."

Sharpay nodded and shrugged, acknowledging, "You've gotta love twin telepathy."

"Yep," Ryan agreed. He took another sip of his espresso and advanced toward his sister. He stared her straight in the eye and declared, "That's why I know there's something else you're not telling me about."

Sharpay blinked, in turn giving herself away.

"I knew it. What happened with you and Taylor last night?" he interrogated.

Snatching the shot out his hand, Sharpay smirked, sipped the beverage, and retorted, "Wouldn't you like to know."

Sharpay revisited the stairwell, the carefully prepared espresso in tow, while Ryan raised an eyebrow of interest and called after her, "No worries, I'll figure it out like I always do!"

"Have fun, it's a good one too!" Sharpay returned.

She realized that she should probably finish the drink before entering her room so as not to wake Taylor. She sat lengthwise across the hallway at the top of the stairwell, taking a few minutes to admire the painting across from her while swallowing small mouthfuls of the hot aromatic beverage.

"That smells awesome."

Sharpay looked up to see a bedraggled Chad. His voice was a bit scratchy, his eyelids a bit heavy, and his hair was more than a bit frizzy.

With a twinkle in her eye, Sharpay hinted, "It would definitely be Ryan's pleasure to make a cup for you."

Chad was still extremely groggy and therefore missed the inflection of Sharpay's words, so he merely replied, "Awesome," which was apparently one of the few words he could think of in the morning.

Sharpay was amused as she watched him trudge down the stairs; there was actually something endearing about his partial lack of function in the morning. Smiling, she knew Ryan would be gushing about it later. With that thought, she threw back the last swig of her espresso, rose to her feet, and proceeded down the hall to her bedroom.

Upon entering, she flopped across her bed, grabbed the remote, and turned the tv on to get ready to music videos like she did every morning. That's when the realization hit her: the bed she just flopped across should not have been empty.

As if on cue, the door to her private bathroom opened, and her eyes couldn't help but to fixate on what she saw. With only a towel draped around her body and another wrapped up in her hair, a glistening Taylor emerged through the doorway, the steam from the room billowing out from behind her.

Noticing Sharpay's staring, Taylor reached up with the hand not clutching her body towel and let her hair loose. She shook it, letting the damp curls splay down over her shoulders. Sharpay still had a dumbfounded look upon her face.

Using her free hand, Taylor toweled off her hair as she began to make her way towards Sharpay, explaining, "I woke up when you closed the door when you left, so I figured I had a few minutes to take a nice, hot shower."

Sharpay was still uncharacteristically speechless as her eyes followed Taylor approaching her. Sharpay's heart was racing when Taylor sat down on the bed, still clad only in the towel, and placed her free hand on the other side of Sharpay to brace herself as she leaned over.

Taylor could tell she had Sharpay flustered, so she smirked quickly before leaning in and giving her a full kiss. Teasing as she pulled away only seconds after she initiated the kiss, Taylor playfully nipped a stunned Sharpay's bottom lip, and, with her face still close, whispered, "Hope you didn't mind."

The only thing Sharpay could manage in response was a very breathy, "No."

Just then, Sharpay's alarm clock screeched that it was 7:30, and the noise caused the two girls to spaz ,with Sharpay's reflex including slamming her hand down on the snooze button. They each burst into giggles at the other's reaction, and Taylor quipped, "I guess this means good morning."

Sharpay, finally broken out of her spellbound state, crooked her finger under Taylor's chin and guided it toward her, capturing her lips for a more prolonged kiss. The sensations were arousing; Taylor savored Sharpay's espresso on her tongue as Sharpay could taste the minty clean of Taylor's freshly brushed mouth. Sharpay tangled her fingers in the wet tresses that had been so alluring to her, and Taylor ached inside to return the gesture, but one hand was busy preventing her from exposing herself while the other kept her balanced. Slightly frustrated, Taylor kissed Sharpay with more hunger.

They drew apart at the reminder of the snooze at 7:35, and Sharpay placed a quick peck upon Taylor's lips once more before replying, "G'morning," and then leaned over to shut off the alarm for good. Taylor sat up, still clutching the towel tightly above her chest. Sharpay propped herself up on her elbow, facing Taylor, who looked like she was about to ask a question.

With a goofy grin, Taylor asked sheepishly, "Could I borrow some of your clothes?"

"Don't you think it's a little soon for you to be trying to get in my pants?" Sharpay joked with a playful smirk.

Taylor's face contorted in an adorable fashion as she tried not to laugh while swatting Sharpay on the leg. Recovering, she took the joke and ran with it, replying, "You're right, I should probably wait at least until after our first date." This elicited giggles from Sharpay, and then Taylor continued, "But seriously, I do need to borrow some clothes just until we get to rehearsal. I have my Joanne clothes in my locker, but I need something to wear over there."

Sharpay rose from the bed and strutted to her walk-in closet, gesturing for Taylor to follow her. Taylor obliged.

"Pick whatever you want and get changed while I go check on breakfast," Sharpay offered, and then leaned closer and spoke lowly, "I know you'll look good in my pants."

As she walked away, Sharpay gave a firm yet gentle slap to Taylor's toweled behind, and left the room with a sing-song "See you downstairs!"

Descending upon the kitchenette, Sharpay could hear Ryan and Chad bickering about something. She rounded the corner to find Chad sitting upon the counter by the espresso machine and Ryan perched on one of the barstools. Both boys had shots of espresso in their hands.

"Sharpay!" exclaimed Chad, "Tell your brother that adding a little bit of milk and sugar to your espresso makes it taste so much better!"

"It ruins the integrity of the drink!" Ryan countered.

"And just how can a drink have integrity? Last time I checked, the coffee never said a word to me," Chad questioned.

Sharpay just crossed her arms and watched the verbal volley. Exasperated, Ryan took a deep breath and cried, "It's just a figure of frickin' speech! And it's not coffee, it's espresso!"

"Same difference," grumbled Chad.

"No it's not, you treat them differently! You're not supposed to add anything to espresso!" insisted Ryan with a raised voice.

"What, so people can't like their coffee black then? You have to add stuff to it?" Chad shot back.

"That's not what I said," Ryan defended.

"Yeah it is, you said only espresso can be black," Chad argued back.

Before either boy could get out another word, Taylor popped into the room, and with a smile, she inquired in a hard street tone, "Why's it always gotta be black?"

A huge grin broke across Chad's face at the ethnic joke, emphasizing his handsome facial structure. He held his creamy espresso up in front of him and concluded, "I guess it's gonna be white for me this time."

Everyone started laughing, though Sharpay and Ryan caught each other's knowing eyes. A look passed between them signaling recognition of Chad's double-entendre; Chad didn't know it, but the Evans twins wanted his statement to extend past coffee into real life.

Just then, the door leading from the kitchenette to the kitchen opened, and, to the delight of the teens, the chef appeared, announcing with a hearty smile, "The pancakes are ready!"

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Ms. Darbus stood atop the stage and gestured widely to the students sitting in the auditorium seats below. "It's a beautiful day for theatre," she swooned. "Let us start off with a rousing number… Everyone involved in the opening and 'Rent' please join me on the stage!"

Most of the cast shuffled their ways to the stage and took their places at Ms. Darbus' command. Glancing around, she mentally took attendance, and she noticed that she was one main character short for the number.

"Has anyone seen Ms. McKessie?" she asked.

Chad answered, "She had to get changed, but I would have thought she'd have been back by now."

"Alright, go look for her, Mr. Danforth. Mr. Bolton, you go with him," Ms. Darbus instructed.

"It'll be faster if we split up," Troy suggested to Chad.

"Got it," he agreed, and the two boys left opposite ends of the auditorium in search of one Taylor McKessie.

Meanwhile, a heated discussion was taking place at the locker of Sharpay Evans. However, it was not heated in the manner that one would normally think.

Hooking her right index finger into the belt loop of the pants Taylor was wearing, Sharpay tugged the girl closer and commented in a husky voice, "Still wearing my pants, I see."

Tracing her own index finger down Sharpay's jawline, Taylor responded, "You were right, I do look good in them."

Sharpay removed her finger from the belt loop to reposition her hand onto Taylor's hip, and with her left hand she pulled her girlfriend even closer by tugging on the tie hanging nonchalantly down her front. Leaning in close, she added, "You look even better with this tie on."

Lifting her other hand to run her fingers through Sharpay's silky smooth locks, Taylor pressed, "How much better?"

"This much," Sharpay stated, and then used Taylor's tie to close the final distance and drew the raven-haired beauty into a searing hot lip-lock.

The smoldering kiss had been heating up for several minutes before it was interrupted by the sound of a third party clearing his throat. The girls froze.

"I'm thinking I probably wasn't supposed to see that," guessed an amused Troy with a lopsided grin.

Realizing that Troy was completely at ease with what the two girls were doing, they drew apart, and each smiled at him sheepishly.

"Well I guess I'm one less person you have to out yourselves to, huh," he figured.

"That is true," agreed Taylor. "By the way, what were you doing in this area of the building?"

Troy replied, "Looking for you, actually. We're gonna start 'Rent' and we can't do it without you."

"Oh, sorry! What time is it?" Taylor inquired.

"9:18," Troy stated after glancing at his wristwatch.

"Guess we got carried away," Sharpay noted with a smirk.

Taylor's eyes nearly fell out of her head as she exclaimed, "Ohmygosh, Darbus probably doesn't even know I'm here! I didn't check in! I'm gonna be in so much trouble! I-I gotta go!"

Taylor dashed down the hall and had almost reached the auditorium before nearly colliding with Gabriella.

"Oh, you're here! Did Troy find you?" asked Gabriella.

"Yeah," replied Taylor, short of breath.

"Where is he?"

"Dunno… down the hall?"

"I'll go find him." With that, Gabriella started heading in Troy's direction.

When Taylor had left, Troy had turned to follow her, but Sharpay had scurried in front of him first.

"Troy, wait," she had started, putting her hand up to his chest briefly to stop him.

"Hey, don't worry, Sharpay, I won't tell anyone. And for what it's worth, you two looked really happy with each other," Troy had affirmed.

At first glancing down, Sharpay then looked back up at Troy and had responded, "That means a lot coming from you, Troy. Thank you."

"You're welcome."

"No, I really mean it. Thank you for being okay with us being together, and thank you for keeping it a secret… for now," Sharpay had continued, "We plan on telling everyone, eventually, but we've gotta start with who we trust first. You're actually the first person to find out; Ryan doesn't even know yet."

"Wow, really? It must have been really scary for you two to find me standing there then, huh," Troy had realized.

"You have no idea. If the wrong person saw… my reputation… it's all you've got in high school," Sharpay had said with downcast eyes. "Taylor, too."

Noticing the unsteadiness of Sharpay's voice, Troy had sought to comfort her and pulled her into a reassuring hug. Patting the back of her head, he promised, "Your secret is safe with me for as long as you need me to keep it. You can trust me."

"You are one great guy, Troy Bolton," Sharpay declared tenderly.

It was at that moment that Gabriella rounded the corner and spotted Troy in the tight embrace.

"Troy?" she questioned in a voice slightly above a whisper, her bottom lip quivering involuntarily as tears started to well in her eyes.

Troy's eyes widened as he realized her misinterpretation of the scene before her. "Gabriella! It's not what you think!" he tried to explain, releasing his hold on Sharpay.

Gabriella just shook her head in disbelief and ran off down the hall.

"Gabriella, don't!" Troy called out to her, to no avail.

He looked at Sharpay with his mouth hanging open, speechless.

"She has no idea how much this," Sharpay gestured back and forth between herself and Troy, "would never happen." She offered a gentle smile and added, "You can tell her exactly why what she saw was wrong. I think I can trust her; she's Taylor's best friend, and Taylor was going to tell her today anyway."

Troy smiled weakly, thanked Sharpay, and tore down the hall in nervous pursuit of Gabriella.

While half-running, half-staggering down the hallway, the well of moisture in Gabriella's eyes had spilled over into big splashy tears. She had wiped at the offending drops as she rounded a corner and collided with someone taller than her.

"Sorry," she had sniffled, before looking up to discover it was Zeke she had crashed into. He had been sent out to search for Troy because he was nowhere to be found when Taylor returned.

"Hey, hey, hey, what's the matter?" Zeke had asked with genuine concern, gently rubbing his hands up and down Gabriella's arms to calm her down.

"Troy… he was…" Gabriella had stammered but could not finish before bursting into a fresh wave of tears.

"It's okay… shhh, it's okay. When you're ready, I'm here for you to tell me," Zeke had reassured.

Gabriella looked up at him with watery doe eyes.

"Gabriella! Where are you?"

She immediately recognized Troy's voice, and on angry impulse, she grabbed the sides of Zeke's face and kissed him full on the mouth just as Troy had rounded the corner.

Troy's ears grew hot with rage, and his face soon followed. Without a word, he sprinted back to the auditorium, slamming his palm against the wall and breathing deep to compose himself before entering. How dare she? Sharpay and I did nothing, and she runs off and sucks face with the first random guy she finds? Who the hell was that guy anyway? And who the hell is she?!

Back in the hallway, Zeke stood motionless as Gabriella removed her lips from his.

"I…" Gabriella trailed off.

Zeke cleared his throat and began, "Wow, Gabriella, umm, I'm flattered and all, but honestly, I'm interested in somebody else right now."

"I… am… so… sorry," Gabriella apologized, drawing out each word for emphasis. "I wasn't thinking. I heard his voice and I panicked because he upset me, and I guess I did the one thing I knew would hurt him back."

"Apology accepted," Zeke said with understanding.

"And please don't take this the wrong way, but I'm not into you as more than a friend, no offense," Gabriella clarified.

"No worries, none taken," Zeke chuckled. "Shall we return to rehearsal?"

"Thanks for the offer, but you go ahead. I need some time to myself."

"Fair enough, I'll see you later then."

Gabriella nodded and gave him a small smile and a wave as he walked off. Suddenly feeling a bout of nausea overcome her, Gabriella darted to the nearest ladies' room. She leaned over the sink, and after a dry heave, burst into sopping wet tears.

Sharpay was on her way back to the auditorium after finishing up at her locker when she heard the sobbing coming from the girls' bathroom. She knew it could only be one person, and it was a person she desperately needed to talk to. She tried to enter quietly, but the door creaked, causing Gabriella to hastily wipe her eyes dry and look up at the intruder.

Realizing that it was Sharpay, Gabriella stated with a renewed confidence, "I have nothing to say to you."

"Which is not entirely unexpected," agreed Sharpay, "but I do have a lot to say to you, and you're going to want to hear this."

Gabriella crossed her arms, narrowed her eyes, and firmly set her jaw, waiting to hear what the Ice Princess could possibly have to say to her after stealing Troy away.

"Nothing was going on with Tro-" Sharpay started.

"Bull. I'm calling bull on that one, you've wanted him since the day I met you," interrupted Gabriella, waving her hands in front of her as if trying to halt an oncoming mugger.

Putting her hands up in slight concession, Sharpay returned, "I can understand how you could have misinterpreted the hug between Troy and I based on that line of thinking."

Gabriella arched an eyebrow.

"Your line of thinking is completely wrong," declared Sharpay.

"It's going to take a lot more than just empty words from you to convince me of that," Gabriella retorted.

"I swear these words aren't empty; I swear I'm telling the truth, but you haven't let me fully explain yet," Sharpay pleaded.

Narrowing her eyes once more, Gabriella demanded, "This better be good."

Sucking in a breath of air and then exhaling it loudly, Sharpay mustered some courage and blurted, "I like girls."

Gabriella's eyes grew wide with surprise at first, then narrowed dangerously, and she started advancing on Sharpay with renewed ferocity. "You think this is funny? I ought to smash your skull through this wall!"

"Gabriella, please! I've never been more serious in my life! Troy caught me kissing another girl and he hugged me so I knew that my secret was safe with him!" Sharpay explained in a panic.

Recognizing the sincerity in her eyes and in the tone of her voice, Gabriella stopped moving forward and her features softened. "You really are dead serious aren't you," she muttered. "This is so… unexpected… I don't even know what to say."

"There is more," mumbled Sharpay, nervously.

Gabriella tried to give an encouraging smile and nodded, saying, "Go on."

Closing her eyes and breathing deeply, Sharpay divulged, "The girl I was kissing wasn't just a girl, she's my girlfriend." Gabriella nodded again, comprehending, when Sharpay spoke again. "And my girlfriend is your best friend."

Gabriella's mouth formed a little 'o' as she absorbed this startling new information. "Y-you and Taylor… are?" she stuttered, a bit in shock.

"Yes, and I care about her deeply." With her chin angled down, Sharpay looked up at Gabriella and admitted, "I've never felt this way about anybody before."

Gabriella, still unable to properly express herself in words, nodded slowly.

Sharpay spoke again, acknowledging, "Taylor was going to tell you after rehearsal today. I know how important it is to her that you know about her and about us. She probably won't be too happy with me for being the one to come out to you, but I also know how head-over-heels you are for Troy and I didn't want you thinking badly of him. He really is a great guy."

Gabriella smiled genuinely for the first time in the conversation and jested, "But so obviously not the one for you."

Sharpay grinned at the joke and replied, "Looks like you're finally getting it now."

"Yeah, I'm sorry I didn't give you a chance to explain yourself at first. I was just so angry that Troy would do that to me… Troy!" she gasped and put a fearful hand over her mouth. "He was trying to tell me, and I wouldn't listen… now we might be done for good."

"What? Why?" asked a concerned Sharpay.

"I made a huge, impulsive mistake," Gabriella confessed, shaking her head in shame. "When I ran away from you guys, I crashed into Zeke, and he tried to make me feel better when I was crying, so when I heard Troy calling to me I wanted to hurt him back, so… I kissed Zeke."

Sharpay inhaled sharply and reached her hand out to clasp Gabriella's shoulder as a sign of friendship and cooperativity.

"Looks like we've got some damage control to do."

A/N: Whew! Lots of romance and drama in that one! Hopefully now that you've read the chapter, you are forgiving me (at least a little bit) for taking 4 months to get around to writing it. It will never take me that long to update again, I can promise you that. School is now done for good, so I have a bit more spare time even though my summer has been quite busy so far. My goal is to plot out the storyline for the next chapter and write it sometime in the next 2 weeks… we'll see how that update deadline works out.

In the meantime, while I've got you here reading, I'd like to thank all of you who voted for me in the HSM Fanfiction Awards. I won all three categories this story was nominated in: Best Slash, Best Femslash, and Best In-Progress. You holding me, as an author, in that high of regard means so much. Thank you once again. I'd also like to thank you all for the feedback you have given… as of this chapter publication, this story has reached 400 reviews, which is phenomenal. Heck, if everyone who has TMBOLM on their Favorite Story list reviewed this chapter, I'd be over 500 reviews! That being said, I am hoping that you have a lot to comment about for this chapter… there was a lot going on, so review, review, review and let me know what you're thinking!