The last chapter, it's actually surprisingly sad. I'm going to miss writing this story. I want to thank everyone whose read and reviewed this story. Thank you guys so much, I loved reading your reviews and I'll miss those too.
If you've ever stood before a large crowd of people, then you may know how I felt at that moment. If you have stage fright you'll have an even better idea. As I stared at all the eyes that were trained on me (and ok Troy as well, but it sure as hell seemed like everyone was looking at me) I was struck silent. This, I believe it's safe to say, doesn't happen often, even when surprised I can usually manage an 'oh' or something. But…there were just so many of them and they were all going to listen to me (me!) sing. Suddenly I forgot the lyrics. Then the tune flew out of my head followed shortly by what I was even supposed to be doing on the stage. What was I doing on the stage? Was I here to dance? But no I couldn't dance (I still can't actually). So what was it? I was in complete panic mode.
Now I've never experienced this (and, to be completely honest I don't think many of you have either) but I imagine my state of mind was kind of like that of a child in an emergency. You know like there's a burglar or a fire and they call nine-one-one but suddenly can't remember their phone number or address. I'm pretty sure I was feeling something like that.
Kelsi began to play the piano (I listened but couldn't even tell you if she was playing the right tune or not) and I knew that I had to sing. It was time to make or break, if I could sing right now I would shine, I was sure of it. Yes people, to put it simply: it was go time.
…But I never went. I tried, really I did, I tried to sing really hard but I couldn't. I ended up just kinda squeaking and then going silent. Then I was spinning, I couldn't see the people who were watching me, or Kelsi playing the piano, or even Troy waiting for his cue, as if he'd sung on stage for his entire life. With a jerk I was pulled back into reality, Kelsi had stopped playing the piano and Troy was holding my shoulders (he was probably holding me up too).
"Are you all right?" He whispered concern heavy in his voice.
"Honestly?" I whispered back, "No. I think I'm going to vomit." And I did too. Feel like I was going to be sick, I didn't actually get sick.
"Hey, no. Just look at me, ignore everyone else. We're just rehearsing; the call backs aren't for weeks." Troy let go of one of my shoulders, it felt icy where his hand had been only moments before. But I nodded and did just as he said, turning my head to look at him instead of the sea of eyes watching me. I could still feel the weight of their gaze resting on me, pushing me down but I stood straighter and cued Kelsi to begin the song again.
This time the words came easily spilling from my lips as if I was a fountain spouting water. Gradually the weight lifted from me and I spun away from Troy. The dizziness clouded my head for a second but then it was gone burned from my thoughts by the rush of singing with Troy.
And then I felt it, all those people sitting in the audience gaping at us (the nerdy girl and the basket ball player, we were clearly the underdogs and let's face it who doesn't love a good story about the underdog?) were suddenly not just watching me perform. No, they were watching Troy and I.
They were watching us.
As the song ended the audience erupted into applause, I even noticed the Wildcats basketball team and the mathletes stand up at one point. I can't even begin to describe the feeling of bowing in front of all those people. It was the best part of the performance, it was over and we had done well. There was one thing nagging me in the back of my mind though…
"Troy, we need to talk." I whispered in his ear as we exited the stage. Smiling he pulled me into the prop closet (the thing where most drama departments keep their costumes and props, ours had a couch about a million shoes and the oldest refrigerator I've ever seen) and shut the door.
"Talk." Troy instructed me, sitting on the couch and patting the cushion next to him. I sat down and began.
"Well, I've been thinking about the call backs and the roles we would play if we got the parts…"
After Troy and I talked we exited the prop closet (which as I've mentioned before isn't much of one) and snuck back to our respective destinations (the gym for Troy and a random science class room for me). Now I don't know how many of you talk to your friends (and Troy and I were just friends mind you) in prop closets but when you exit one with a member of the opposite sex, people stare at you. Apparently prop closets are just as bad as any other closet in the school. But seriously, if I was going to sneak around the school to make out with my boyfriend (which I would never do, and sadly will probably never get a chance to do) or whatever, I would be a little more original than a closet. Give me some credit people!
I never wanted to join this mathletes thing, I don't know if I ever covered that but really I didn't. Think about what it could do to my credentials (in terms of college it would look good but to my peers? I had pretty much kissed popularity good-bye), but Taylor was insistent and in the end her pleading and my future college application won out. Suffice it to say that I was considerably bored during the decathlon.
That's not to say I didn't want to win, I just didn't see the point of cheering on my teammates when they faced a particularly hard challenge. After all when I'm working out an equation I usually prefer quiet.
As soon as the decathlon was over I quickly congratulated everyone and attempted to move through the crowd to get to the door. Of course our team won (we were ahead of them from the first problem after all) so all the parents and spectators (but come to think of it, who goes to watch a decathlon for fun?) were crowding onto the floor to congratulate us. Which completely blocked my way to the door. See, I had promised Troy that I would try to catch the end of the game so that we could go talk to Ms. Darbus about the call backs together.
When I finally reached the door I was practically pitched into the hallway by the still celebrating crowd. The hallway as it turned out was a relief, it was completely empty and sometimes that's just what you need after being pushed around by a big crowd. I raced to the gym hoping to catch even the last minute of the game. Behind me I heard footsteps that sounded just as desperate as mine, Taylor it turned out had become quite friendly with Chad over the past few days (they really bonded while trying to screw up my life) and she had promised Chad the same thing I had promised Troy. We entered the gym together and were greeted by a cacophony of noise.
Screams, cheers, and shouts of joy were exploding all throughout the gym. People were flooding from their seats and above all that noise our school's anthem played from the loud speakers. Most school anthems are just boring, you know like: East High, the best of them all/ See her standing proud and tall… But ours, no, no, no ours couldn't be like that. It's this really pop sounding thing, kind of like a mixture of a cheer and a song. I think Sharpay and Ryan actually made the recording that the school plays. It goes something like: We're all in this together…we're all stars…Wildcats sing along…together everyone. Obviously that's not the whole song but I really couldn't hear the whole thing, and I'm not quite sure what it is that we're all in together (the sport, the school? Something like that).
Now, I'm pretty good at navigating though the crowds that are in our school's hallways so I led Taylor through the swarm of people, darting through openings in the crowd and pushing my way through the more extraordinarily populated spots. Eventually I saw Troy holding the biggest trophy I had ever seen (why didn't our decathlon team get such a big trophy? I think I know why…) and pointing him out to Taylor we headed that way.
"Hey Wildcat!" I greeted him, "How'd you do?" Obviously they had won but I felt compelled to ask him. Troy handed his trophy off to his dad and grabbed my hands (which instantly got all tingly and jump started my heart rate).
"We won! And you?" He asked carefully, fully aware that I might be upset if we had lost (some guys would have bothered to ask at all).
"We won too!" I had to yell back to him because another rendition of our school's anthem had started blaring on the loud speakers. Sharpay, the unofficial moment ruiner of East High, stormed over to us and pointed her finger in our direction. Then sighing she dropped her hand looked at us dejectedly.
"Congratulations," She deadpanned, "You guys got the parts of Minnie and Arnold. That means Ryan and I (she hitched her thumb over her shoulder to point first at Ryan then herself) will be you understudies in case something happens. So, break a leg, I guess." This is what I had prepared Troy for, smiling I turned to him.
"So Troy we got the parts." I said casually knowing full well that my nonchalant attitude would entice Sharpay to listen to our conversation. Her face contorted into a mask of confusion (although she tried hard to conceal it) and I knew I had her hooked.
"Yep. We did." Troy answered also less than enthusiastically.
"So, you think we should tell them?" I asked doing my best to look like I didn't think we should tell them.
"Well…" Troy also didn't sound convinced, the boy is an amazing actor.
"Wait a minute tell us what?" Sharpay had cracked; I knew she wouldn't be able to hold out for very long. She was just a little bit too nosey.
"We're giving up the parts." I told her simply, "You can have them." I could tell that Sharpay was surprised, she opened and closed her mouth a few times and Ryan looked like he was going to faint. They plainly never would have given up the parts.
"I- uh- Thanks." Sharpay managed and I swear it's the first time I even heard her use the word 'thanks' (I didn't know I had surprised her that much).
I know I probably surprised you all with giving up the leads, especially when I had wanted them so much. But I honestly knew I couldn't deal with learning all those songs (I would have had three solos and two duets not to mention all the songs I sing with the cast) and the lines and having to worry about not knocking anything over. No I had realized that I would be more comfortable being in the cast for my first stage show. After talking with Troy he had agreed with me and we only had to go ask Ms. Darbus if we could be the understudies instead of the leads (we hadn't actually asked her yet but I was sure she'd say yes). So it was almost settled, Sharpay and Ryan would play the leads and Troy and I would be Sharpay's parents and the understudies.
Sharpay and Ryan left before we could change our minds and Troy and were left alone. The gym had by this time pretty much cleared out and only some streamers and a stray balloon or two were left behind (our school really gets into the championships, they apparently buy streamers and blow up balloons before the game and toss them around whether we win or lose).
"I think we made the right decision," Troy assured me after they had left; "I just wish we didn't have to give up-" He stopped as if he had almost told a secret. Which of course made me want to know what he had been about to say.
"What? What are we giving up? Our career as the most amazing leads this school has ever seen?" I teased.
"Well yeah but…I meant-" And then he kissed me. It caught me totally off guard but let me tell you it was the nicest surprise I had ever received (and yes it was very surprising, who knew Troy Bolton liked me? Me, the dorky science girl).
"I meant the kiss scene." He told me and then smiled, he smiled because I was still pretty surprised and I guess a look of wonder had crossed my face.
"Oh well, we're going Sharpay's- I mean Minnie's parents, aren't we? I think that entitles us to a kissing scene." I swear if I hadn't been in such a daze I never (never in a million years) would have said that. But I'm glad I did because Troy just said 'Damn straight' and kissed me again.
I was kissing Troy Bolton, the most wanted guy in the school and that in itself was amazing but it wasn't even the best part. No the best part was that Troy Bolton was kissing me.
Troy and I have been going out for three months now and I've changed so much since I've met him. As it turns out I actually like watching basketball. It's so much more interesting than I ever thought. There's just so much going on, and I can scream whatever profane things I want and everyone around me just screams them too. I've even started practicing with Troy at his house and for my lack of co-ordination I'm surprisingly good.
As for the drama club? The musical was amazing (and remember that present I gave to Troy? It was a set of matching scarves one for him and one for me, but he refused to wear his. I wore mine every day and got numerous compliments on it though), but even just being part of the cast I managed to break a crate that I was supposed to pretend to sit on, how was I supposed to know it couldn't actually support my weight (remember that box I painted blue? It's a box no more). And although Troy and I never actually got our kiss scene we made up for it while we were back stage.
I talked to a specialist two months ago about my (undiagnosed) kainotophobia and as it turns out it was all in my head. Still getting used to changes and surprises hasn't been easy. I still have cereal for breakfast every morning, but I try to change up the brands. I have been getting better though, take my answer to Troy's question of 'where do you want to go for dinner tonight?' My answer?
"Surprise me."
Thank you so much for reading! And I know that some of you are probably disappointed that Troy and Gabriella didn't keep the parts but it just made sense to me, and it set up the kiss scene so well.
Now that Compatibility Test is officially over I've started thinking about another story to write. I've got a good idea but I'm not sure how many people will read a Ryelsi, if you decide to review this chapter (and since the last one I'd really appreciate it if you did) I'd like to know if anyone would like to read a Ryelsi.