AN: So ends FY on the date exactly two months after it began.
The chapter title comes from the musical Titanic.
Title: Forget Yesterday
Rating: T
Author: MadiWillow
Summary: The kids at East High are all seniors now, and looking forward to spending every day as if it were their last together.
Genre: Humor/Drama
Chapter: We'll Meet Tomorrow
It was the middle of June, and the eight recent high school graduates were sitting in Troy's den, as per usual. They were watching Family Guy, drinking beer, and eating chips and popcorn, also routines. But the mood was considerably different than it had been six months earlier.
"Zeke, what time do you leave tomorrow?" asked Taylor quietly.
"Around two. My flight's at four."
There was silence, as they continued to watch TV. A few minutes later, the show ended, and Troy turned the television off. He looked around. "So... what should we do now?"
Everyone shrugged.
"Should we... watch a movie?"
Shrug.
"TV?"
Shrug.
"Play pool?"
Shrug.
"Drink?"
Shrug.
Troy sighed. "Okay, I need a little help here."
"Yeah, guys," added Gabriella. "Zeke, what do you wanna do? It's your last day."
"I don't know."
Taylor frowned. "Well... I guess we can just sit here and do nothing, then... on our last day together."
They were all quiet for a while, sitting on various pieces of furniture and staring around at everyone.
Finally, Sharpay stood up with her hands on her hips. "Okay, that's it. Everyone up."
"Why?" asked Gabriella suspiciously.
Sharpay clapped her hands together. "Because we are not going to just sit around when Zeke is leaving for Michigan tomorrow. We are going to live up our last day."
"Does your plan include beer?" Chad asked. Sharpay nodded. "Okay, then I'm in."
"We are gonna go..." began Sharpay dramatically, "... camping!"
There was a short pause, and then everyone began to laugh. "Yeah, okay," said Gabriella sarcastically.
"No, really!" Sharpay persisted. "I have the perfect idea!"
"Yeah, but... camping?" inquired Taylor, unsure. "Are you sick or something? You're not dreaming, you know."
She rolled her eyes. "Duh. I know when I'm dreaming."
"How?" Taylor challenged.
"Because I live in New York and I'm rich and my penthouse is all pink with my initials everywhere – S.D."
Gabriella smirked. "S.D.? As in, Sharpay Danforth?"
Sharpay and Chad both blushed. "No!" she said quickly. "I said S.E.!"
"You so said S.D."
"D and E sound alike; you just heard wrong," Sharpay snapped. "Anyway. We're going camping and that's that."
"Where are we going camping?" Troy asked. "The lake? I think that's illegal."
"Well," she began, "it's also illegal for us to drink, isn't it?"
They all mumbled incoherently.
"And no, we're not going to the lake. You'll never guess where we're going."
"Can we try?"
She shrugged. "Go ahead."
"Um... your backyard?" tried Troy, and she shook her head.
"Nope."
"Troy's backyard?" Gabriella suggested.
"No."
"Chad's backyard?" Taylor asked.
Sharpay scowled. "Why are you all convinced that we're camping in someone's backyard?"
"Well..." said Chad cautiously. "You're not exactly the camping type. We're thinking that you're taking us somewhere near a bathroom."
She opened her mouth indignantly, but then stopped. "Well... this place does have a bathroom nearby. But it's not a backyard."
"Are you taking us to an actual campground?" Zeke asked incredulously.
"Psh. No." Sharpay waved his comment away and then jumped up and down excitedly. "This is so cool, you guys don't know!"
"Can you tell us?" Ryan questioned.
Sharpay shook her head smugly. "Nope. You'll have to wait and see-eee," she sang. She waved her hands. "Now, shoo. Everyone has to get packing for the night. And we'll need a tent, sleeping bags, cooler with food and beer, and... whatever else you'd want to do while camping."
"Can we make Smores?" asked Jason eagerly.
"Sure."
"Score!" He pumped his first triumphantly in the air.
Gabriella and Taylor stood up. "So, Sharpay, are you going to help us pack, again?" asked Gabriella. "One last time?"
Sharpay shrugged. "Might as well. You could use a couple more tips." She turned back to the rest of the group and said, in a very business-like tone, "Okay. Someone needs to bring a tent that can fit all eight of us."
"My dad has one," volunteered Troy. "And we have coolers too."
"Perfect. Now, everyone, go home and pack stuff for the night," she ordered. "Bring sleeping bags, pillows, whatever."
"I'll get the beer," Chad volunteered, standing up and walking over to the bar.
"Don't let my dad catch you," Troy warned. "That would really suck if, the day before Zeke left, he killed us all."
After the three girls had visited Sharpay's house and then Taylor's, they ventured to Gabriella's to finish their packing for the night.
"Can you please tell us where we're going?" asked Gabriella for the millionth time as she shoved a pair of sweats and one of Troy's old T-shirts into a sports duffel bag.
Sharpay shook her head defiantly. "Nope!"
"Why not?" whined Taylor, her own overnight bag at her feet.
"Because then it wouldn't be a surprise!" droned Sharpay in an obvious tone. "Come on, Taylor. We're high school graduates. Be smart."
Taylor rolled her eyes. "Whoops," she said sarcastically. "Guess I forgot."
Gabriella stuffed a couple other articles of clothing into the bag before hauling it over her shoulder. "Is that it?"
"You need a sleeping bag and a pillow," Sharpay reminded her.
"Oh." Gabriella placed her bag back down and entered her closet, reaching up to the top shelf to grab a sleeping bag. "You don't have one," she pointed out.
Sharpay smirked. "Chad has a twin size."
Taylor looked disgusted. "Um. Over share!"
Gabriella finally managed to retrieve her sleeping bag and tucked it under her arm, looking thoughtful. "You know, that's a good idea. I wonder if Troy has one..."
Sharpay looked at Taylor haughtily. "Prude."
"Remember when I was the prude?" Gabriella sighed, reminiscing. "Taylor, you and I have switched roles."
"I am not a prude!"
"That's what I said," Gabriella reminded her. "But it was still true."
Taylor scowled. "Whatever."
The five boys were in Troy's room, while Troy packed. Jason and Zeke were sitting on opposite sides of the room, tossing a nerf ball back and forth between them. Ryan was lounging on Troy's bed, reading an issue of Sports Illustrated as the nerf ball sailed over his head. Chad sat on the ground, drinking from a beer can. There were four overnight bags in the corner of Troy's room.
"Chad, did Sharpay tell you where we're going?" Zeke asked, throwing the ball back to Jason.
Chad shook his head. "You were there. I know as much as you do."
"Well, I thought maybe you bribed her with sex or something to get her to tell you." He shrugged.
Smirking, Chad said, "Sharpay would slit my throat if I abstained from sex. I don't think either of us could ever hold out on each other."
"You know, if I had known how horny Sharpay was, I would've hooked up with her last summer when I had the chance," mused Troy.
Chad glared at him. "What?" he said menacingly.
Troy laughed. "Trust me, I'm kidding. I'd rather base the 60-Year-Old Virgin on myself than ever do it with Sharpay."
"That's better." Chad nodded. "But, just so you know," he added, "Sharpay is amazing."
"How would you know?" smirked Jason. "Haven't you only done it with one other girl, when you were drunk?"
Chad smiled back. "Two more than you."
Jason's face fell. "I can't believe I graduated high school without losing my virginity." He narrowed his eyes at Zeke. "You had enough sex for the both of us, and you turned out gay. Unfair!"
"Don't worry, Jase," said Chad with a faux-soothing voice. "I'm sure you'll be able to find some white-trash beach whore in San Diego to give you pity sex."
Jason looked up hopefully. "You really think so?"
Ryan looked at him disgustedly. "You're pathetic, man."
"Hey, have you nailed Taylor yet?" Chad asked him.
"I refuse to talk about my sex life with you," Ryan said stubbornly.
"That means no," Troy piped up.
Ryan scowled. "It does not. It means --"
"Taylor's still holding out on you, huh?"
"How do you know she's holding out on me?" Ryan retorted.
Chad looked at him condescendingly. "Because why would a guy hold out on sex? It's always the girls. You never see a movie or a TV show where the girl wants to have sex but the guy 'isn't ready,'" Chad explained, with the use of air-quotes.
"Look," began Ryan, "Taylor and my relationship is deep. It reaches far deeper than sex, which is why we don't need it to be happy with each other."
"I bet Ryan wishes he could go 'deep,'" Zeke muttered loudly to Troy, who snorted.
Ryan glared and picked up Troy's basketball pillow, throwing it at his head. Troy held up his hands and caught it, bringing the pillow up to his cheek. "Gabriella came on this pillow once," he said dreamily. Ryan scrunched up his face in disgust.
"Come on, Ryan, be a big boy," snickered Chad. "You've done it before. Don't be so grossed out."
Ryan shook his head and hopped off the bed. "I don't want to be anywhere near where you or Gabriella have orgasmed."
"Oh..." Troy bit his lip. "Then you should probably leave this house. And go to the next block."
The group of eight reconvened in Troy's living room about an hour later, all of them carrying an overnight bag, a sleeping bag, a pillow, and, in Troy's case, a tent.
"Ready to tell us where we're going?" asked Jason, slightly irritated due to his impatience.
Sharpay shook her head, grinning. "Nope." She led the way out the front door and to her car. "Come on, let's go."
The eight friends loaded all of their belongings into the trunk of Sharpay's pink convertible. Then they clambered into the car; Sharpay, Chad, and Zeke squished into the front seat, and Troy, Gabriella, Ryan, Taylor, and Jason in the back. Gabriella and Taylor were perched on their respective boyfriends laps. "How far is it that we're going?" asked Gabriella. "Because if it's a long drive, I think we might get pulled over for, you know, not driving safely."
"Oh, Gabriella," scoffed Sharpay, pulling away from the curb. "Taylor may have taken the prude title, but you will always be a little prude-nerdy on the inside."
"Excuse me for not wanting to die in a fiery car crash," she said loudly over the roar of the wind.
"Don't worry, the place isn't far," Sharpay assured her. "Besides, the police in Albuquerque totally don't even care."
Only a couple minutes later, Sharpay pulled into the parking lot at East High, which was completely empty, and parked her car near the football field. As she turned off the engine, everyone slowly rotated their heads to stare and blink at her. For a few seconds, she was unaware of their gazes, until she glanced up and saw fourteen pairs of eyes on her. "What?" she asked obliviously.
"Why are we here?" asked Chad slowly.
"Duh! We're camping out on the football field!" Sharpay opened the driver's side door and stepped out. She looked around at everyone like they were crazy. "You haven't figured it out yet?"
"But... why?" was all Gabriella managed to get out.
"Why not?" Sharpay asked. "Think about it. Even though school sucked, we had some great times here."
"Yeah, like the school musical," said Chad sarcastically. "That was fun."
Sharpay rolled her eyes. "And our senior prank. And Homecoming. And Zeke and I did it, like, a hundred times here." Chad narrowed his eyes, and she quickly added, "But it was so much better when you and I did it here." She smiled sweetly. "And then we had that talent show and the picnic where we drank so much Vodka that we were all drunk out of our minds and everyone else couldn't figure out how we got wasted on water."
Chad laughed. "Oh, that was fun."
"So, come on, it'll be fun. Besides, I think it's illegal. Plus, we have beer, which is also illegal to not only drink, but to have on school property."
Troy nodded. "Yeah, the more I think about it, the more I like it."
"Oh, Troy," said Gabriella suddenly, and she smirked seductively at him. "I stole my mom's twin sleeping bag."
Troy's eyebrows shot up. "Really?" he said suggestively.
"Wait, why does your mom have a twin sleeping bag?" Zeke asked.
Gabriella frowned. "Oh, God..."
Troy put his arms around Gabriella's waist. "Hey, it's okay. We can just do it in my sleeping bag. We don't need a twin."
Gabriella giggled. "Okay."
"You guys can do it in such a small space?" asked Ryan skeptically.
"Please." Troy brushed the comment off with a wave of his hand. "I could do it anywhere."
"Come on, everybody out!" ordered Sharpay. "You think I'm gonna carry all your shit to the field?"
Everyone obediently got out of the car and Chad opened the trunk. They all grabbed their own belongings and approached the fence that served as an entrance to the school's football stadium, but froze when they saw it was locked.
"Oh, great," said Gabriella sarcastically. "Fantastic. Now what?"
"We hop the fence!" said Sharpay. She tossed her bag over the fence and then proceeded to climb the chain-link fence with ease. Once at the top, she threw her legs over to the other side and jumped down.
Chad, Jason, and Zeke followed suit. Gabriella glared at Sharpay through the fence. "Couldn't you have told me that we would be hopping fences? I'm wearing a dress."
"Yesss!" hissed Jason.
Gabriella clenched her jaw.
"Well, are you wearing a thong, like a slut?" sneered Sharpay.
Biting her lip, Gabriella responded, "Well..."
"YES!" cried Jason again.
"Shut up," Troy shot at him.
Jason smirked. "I'm not scared of you, Troy. Good luck reaching me through the fence!" he taunted.
Gabriella kicked off her flats and tossed them over the fence before beginning to climb. "Everyone, look away!" Troy demanded. Ryan obeyed him, but Zeke, Jason, and Chad did not. "What the hell, Zeke, you're gay!" exclaimed Troy.
Zeke grinned and shrugged sheepishly. "Then, what are you worried about?"
Troy glared viciously at them all. "You guys suck."
Gabriella did the best she could to keep the boys from seeing up her dress as she climbed up the fence. At the top, she smoothed it down and held it in place as she jumped to the other side.
Troy hopped the fence after her, and immediately punched Jason in the arm.
"OW!" yelped Jason, rubbing his arm furiously. "What the hell was that for!?"
Smirking, Troy said, "For thinking you could look up my girlfriend's dress and get away with it."
Ryan helped Taylor climb the fence, and then jumped over himself last.
"See? Was that so hard?" said Sharpay as they all gathered their stuff up again.
"Yes," said Gabriella truthfully. "Everyone saw my ass."
"And a little more," added Jason, only to get another fist connect with his arm. "WHAT THE HELL, TROY!?"
Troy rolled his eyes. "You'd think he'd get it by now," he commented to the others.
"Well, now we've seen Gabriella completely naked," Chad said. "First we saw her topless, and now her ass. Just put them all together, and --"
"Don't finish that sentence," Sharpay warned him.
They stopped walking in the middle of the football field and dumped all their stuff on the ground. The six o' clock sun was beating down on them. Sharpay plopped down on the turf and fanned herself. "Boys, set up the tent," she said lazily.
"Why us?" whined Chad.
"Uh, because your the guys?" Sharpay reminded him condescendingly. "Besides, if you take your shirt off and get all hot and sweaty setting it up, we'll reward you with beer and sex."
"You're holding out on sex?" Chad said incredulously.
Ryan grinned teasingly. "I thought you said she'd never do that."
"And beer," Sharpay added, not hearing Ryan's comment. "So, you guys better get to it."
"Well... okay..." Chad took off his shirt and pretended to stretch, when in actuality, he was flexing his muscles. Sharpay licked her lips.
Chad bent over the various parts of the tent, while Troy got to work. "So... how do you do this..." He picked up one of the poles and said, "Wow, this is really long and hard." He held up part of the tent and said, "Do I just stick it in anywhere?"
Sharpay gasped and sat up a little straighter. Gabriella and Taylor watched, amused.
"I guess I should just... shove it in, fast," he said thoughtfully.
Breathing in deeply, Sharpay swallowed. Gabriella snickered.
Chad demonstrated sticking the pole through one of the tent loops, and said, "Hm... maybe if I move it around a little bit..." He began to move the pole in and out.
Suddenly, Sharpay jumped up and grabbed Chad's hand. "Let's go."
He smirked triumphantly. "Where?"
"Anywhere," she growled, and the two took off toward the bleachers.
"Oh, my God, they're like rabbits," giggled Gabriella.
"Sharpay never was that horny when we were dating," said Zeke.
"Well, you were gay," Jason reminded him.
"Still. She didn't know that."
"Did you have sex like a gay guy?"
Zeke blinked. "Uh..."
"Well, thanks to all of your help," began Troy sarcastically, "Ryan and I got the tent up."
"Oh, yay," said Gabriella. "That was fast."
"I used to go camping a lot."
Taylor stepped forward and smiled at Ryan, slipping her hand into the waistband of his shorts. He stared at her blankly. "Um... what --"
She smiled shyly. "I wanna... do it with you."
His eyebrows shot up into his hairline. "Really?"
She nodded. "Yeah."
He looked at her for a moment. "Did Chad's little display get you all hot?"
Shaking her head, Taylor responded, "No. Watching you put up that tent did."
He looked around wildly. "Where --"
"Tent," she said shortly, dragging him inside.
"Hey, what're you --" began Jason, seeing the two nearly dive into the tent.
"Don't come in," Ryan advised, zipping up the entrance to the tent.
"Oh, my gosh, where's Sharpay when you need her?" said Gabriella aloud.
"Sharpay?" asked Jason, puzzled. "I don't think Ryan would have a three-some with his own sister. You, on the other hand --"
Gabriella shoved him roughly. "No. I mean, Sharpay's always on Taylor's case about doing it, and now she is!"
Troy reached down and patted Gabriella's butt. "Hey. All this sex talk --"
She pouted. "Troy. There's no where to do it. They took the tent, and --"
"There's still the car," he grinned.
She beamed. "Okay. Let's go!" As they trotted off, she asked, "Can you put the top up?"
"If I can't, do you care?"
"... nope."
Zeke glared at them. "FINE!" he shouted after them. "I'll just spend my last day listening to all my friends having sex!"
Jason frowned sadly. "I won't be having sex."
About an hour later, Zeke and Jason were playing Go Fish in the middle of the football field, a good distance away from the tent, when Chad and Sharpay approached them. Sharpay's shirt was on backwards and they both had messy hair. "Where's everyone else?" asked Sharpay.
Jason glared. "You guys are so rude."
"Why?" asked Chad.
"It's Zeke's last day, and everyone is doing it."
Sharpay gasped loudly. "TAYLOR'S doing it!?"
Zeke narrowed his eyes. "Woo-hoo for her."
Sharpay frowned. "Awww. We're sorry, Zeke. We're just really horny."
He shrugged. "Fine. Whatever. It's just, this is our last day together."
"I know," said Sharpay, genuinely apologetic. "Want me to go break up the other couples?" She seemed excited at the prospect.
"Well, if they're anything like us, they won't stop no matter who walks in," Chad said, a cocky grin on his face.
Sharpay rolled her eyes. "Please. Of course they're not like us. We're amazing and I can't see Gabriella being that wild."
Zeke laughed. "Well, she is doing it in your car with the top down."
Narrowing her eyes, she growled, "She's WHAT!?"
As if summoned, Troy and Gabriella appeared behind them. Their clothes and hair, like Sharpay's and Chad's, were ruffled. "What's going on?" slurred Gabriella, as if on a high.
Sharpay glared. "I can't believe you did it in my car!"
Gabriella beamed. "Yeah. It was so cool! And I think people saw us, too, as they drove by, 'cause some of them honked." She bounced on the balls of her feet. "It was exhilarating."
"Are Taylor and Ryan still going at it?" Troy asked.
Jason nodded. "But we haven't heard much... I'm starting to think they're faking."
"Only one way to find out," said Sharpay smugly. She marched up to the tent and unzipped part of it slowly, peeking in. She screamed at what she saw and quickly sprinted away. "Oh, my God, oh, my God, oh, my God, EW! I just saw MY BROTHER having sex!"
Gabriella burst out laughing. "What's wrong with you? You knew they were doing it in there!"
"Well, I thought they were faking, too," retorted Sharpay. "No one is that quiet. I'm not even that quiet if I try."
"It's true," supplied Chad.
"Yeah, Gabriella's pretty loud, too," Troy bragged.
"Okay, okay," Gabriella cut in. "It's our last day together, and I don't think we should spend it having sex."
"You're one to talk!"
"So are you!"
Sharpay paused. "Fine." She added quickly, "Besides, Chad and I are going to school together, so we'll be able to have as much sex as we want for the next four years."
The entrance to the tent unzipped and Taylor stuck her head out. "Sharpay, why the hell did you look in?" She and Ryan emerged, also dressed haphazardly.
"To make sure you were actually doing it." She sat herself down and motioned for everyone else to do the same. "Now, sit. Zeke is leaving, and we have to hang out as a group."
"Taylor... how was it?" murmured Gabriella.
"Amazing," sighed Taylor as she sat down.
A couple hours later, darkness had fallen, and the group of eight was sitting in a circle. They had changed into sweats and T-shirts to sleep in, and the three girls were wearing their respective boyfriends' jackets around their shoulders. All of them were clutching beer cans. There was a small, battery powered lamp in the middle of the circle, dimly illuminating their faces.
"Well, we've just gambled all our money away in poker," said Ryan, tossing away the deck of cards as Chad pocketed a wad of cash, looking quite proud of himself. "Now what should we do?"
There was a short silence.
"I'm gonna miss this place," said Gabriella suddenly. She was snuggled up to Troy with her head on his shoulder.
"What place?" asked Sharpay. "East High, or Albuquerque?"
"Both," she sighed. "Albuquerque is more my home than any other place I've ever lived. And I've never felt more comfortable in a school than East High."
"Oh, Gabriella..." said Taylor, pretending to be emotional. "That's so beautiful."
She smiled. "Ha, ha. But it's true."
"Yeah. This past year has been fun," Sharpay said. "I mean, after I got over Troy."
Chad rolled his eyes. "That only took half a year."
"Shut up."
"You know what I'm gonna miss?" spoke up Jason, and everyone turned to him. "The bond that we have. Like, I know we make fun of each other and stuff, but we all know each other so well. I don't think I'll ever find friends like that again. Not that I really want to."
Everyone stared at him. "Wow," said Taylor finally.
Sharpay looked slightly suspicious. "Who knew you could be so insightful?"
"Uh... thanks," said Jason doubtfully.
"I'm gonna miss that, too," agreed Taylor. "I've always had girl friends, but never guy friends before. Even though a lot of times you guys were, like, really gross... I liked it."
"Aw, thanks Taylor," said Chad, pretending to be touched. "I enjoyed grossing you out."
Jason guffawed. "Yeah. The pleasure was ours. Get it, guys?" He looked around excitedly. "Get it?"
Gabriella smiled. "Some things will never change."
Troy nodded. "Yeah. In five years, Chad and Sharpay will still be the horny couple, probably with ten kids, Ryan and Taylor will be the innocent ones, Jason will be the sad virgin, Zeke the flamboyant gay guy --"
"I'm not flamboyant."
"-- and we'll be the perfect ones."
Gabriella beamed up at Troy. "Yes, we are the perfect couple."
"Um, excuse me?" Sharpay cut in. "You're so not the perfect couple. Whenever you fight, you break-up. How many times have Chad and I broken up? And Ryan and Taylor? You guys have broken up twice – once for, like, five months."
"Because of you, for one of them," Gabriella retorted.
"WILL YOU GET OVER THAT ALREADY?"
"I agree," Jason interrupted. "Ryan and Taylor should be the perfect couple."
Sharpay gasped, offended. "What about us?"
"Well, it took you guys, like, nine months to get together, and even then, you guys are always fighting," Zeke reminded her.
She scowled. "Ugh."
"Well," began Chad, his arm around Sharpay's waist, "fighting leads to angry make-up sex." She rolled her eyes at his immaturity.
There was a bit of pause. "I'm nervous to leave," Zeke admitted, and everyone turned to him. "I've never lived anywhere except here."
Gabriella frowned. "I thought about that. I'm gonna be living on my own, two whole states away..."
"I'll be all the way up north," said Zeke. "It's gonna be kinda... scary."
Chad let out a bark of laughter. "Wuss."
Zeke glared. "Well, you're staying here. I think you're the wuss."
"I know what you mean," Taylor said to Zeke. "I'll be down in California for the first time. And Ryan'll be in New York."
They were all silent for a few moments; the only sounds heard was the occasional spark from the lamp, or the motion of one of them taking a sip from their beer cans. A grasshopper was nearby, loudly eliciting crickets from its position somewhere in the distance.
Sharpay suddenly clapped her hands together, although it sounded louder because she was holding a near-empty beer can. Everyone jumped at the noise and looked at her.
"Remember that pool party we had at Lava Springs?"
"You mean the staff party that you and Ryan attended anyway?" Chad reminded her.
She ignored him, smiling. "That was fun. And then the party in the gym after you guys won the basketball game."
"And you lost out in the school musical."
Sharpay turned and scowled at her boyfriend. "Are you trying to bring me down?"
He shook his head. "No."
"Then shut up!"
Gabriella pulled her hair away from her neck and flipped it so that it splayed across her back. "We had a lot of fun times in the past year."
Ryan nodded, a slight grin on his face as he glanced at Taylor. "Yeah."
"And some horrible times," added Sharpay, glaring at Zeke.
"But," Gabriella cut in quickly, "it all worked out in the end. Look at us now. Even though we fought --" She and Taylor exchanged quick glances, "-- and hurt each other sometimes, we still pulled through and now we're closer than ever."
Chad rolled his eyes. "We are so corny."
"Well, look," snapped Gabriella suddenly. "That's just how it goes. You graduate, your friends move away, all across the country, you get corny, okay? Deal with it, Chad."
Sharpay turned and stuck her tongue out at him. "Ha."
"Anyway," Gabriella began again, slightly winded. Troy looked down at her, amused, and tightened his grip around her waist. "All I'm saying is, we've been through a lot together, and we'll be fine. Even though we're leaving, we'll be fine."
"Yeah, we'll see each other on Thanksgiving," Taylor added.
Gabriella nodded. "And I'll try and come down here to visit on weekends."
"And we can visit, too," Jason put in, nodding at Gabriella and Taylor.
"Yeah," said Zeke. "We're growing up, but that doesn't mean we're growing apart."
"Beautiful," Troy said softly in a mocking tone, placing the hand clutching his beer can over his heart.
"We'll always be friends," affirmed Gabriella with finality. "We'll be a hundred years old and still drinking beer at Troy's house."
"At least we'll be legal by then," chirped Troy.
"Yeah, that'll probably be the only good thing about being a hundred," said Chad truthfully.
"Awww, and we'll all have kids and grandkids!" cooed Taylor. "There'll be a hundred mini-us's around."
"Can we handle little Sharpay's?" Jason asked worriedly. "I mean, one is bad enough..."
Sharpay smiled slightly. She glanced around at the group and nodded, repeating Gabriella's earlier words by saying, "Some things never will change."
And as the group went to bed that night, woke up to the sound of a track race at seven the next morning, got chased out of the stadium by an angry coach, took Zeke to the airport and said a tearful good-bye, followed by Ryan a few weeks later, and Gabriella, Taylor, and Jason a few weeks later still, and kept in touch constantly through e-mails and text message whilst meeting new people at their various new locations, they always carried the thought fresh in their minds that the bond shared between the eight of them could never be broken; tampered with, perhaps, or bent slightly, but never destroyed. Even as they made new friends and built new friendships and memories, they always thought of each other and the experiences that took place in their senior year. They knew that they were each other's best friends and always would be, and that no one else they met could ever change that.
AN: IT'S OVER. -CRYING-
Wow. It's finally done. I'm very, very happy. And even though there's a follow-up on its way, I'm still feeling all emotional that this is over.
I've had a couple questions on the subject of Jason losing his virginity before the end of the story – sorry, but no. I honestly don't see Jason as mature enough for sex yet. But also, I wanted at least one of them to remain a virgin at the end of the story, because not EVERYONE has sex in high school. Sure, Jason wanted to have sex, but I think if he were put in the position where he could have sex, he would be too nervous. And Taylor and Ryan do have one of the strongest relationships, I feel (even though it may not be shown so much), so, hence, I chose Taylor to lose her virginity in this chapter.
Well, thank you to everyone who read, big thank you if you reviewed, huge thank you to those who have stuck with it since chapter one, and the biggest thank you to Caity and Angelina (Promise.Me.Forever and JolieMarie, respectively). I know I thanked you near the beginning, but it must be said again. Seriously, I cannot stress how your support and input has helped me. Especially Caity (Angelina, you are just NOT ONLINE ENOUGH), who knew all the details of this story and helped me out a lot. I talked to her about this story CONSTANTLY and I could almost hear her, three thousand miles away, going, "Okay, enough." haha. But really, your guys' suggestions and help is much appreciated. You deserve some sort of patience award, at the very least. THANK YOU MUCHLY.
Hm... what else, what else... have I already thanked you all immensely?
Okay, well, now, onto this chapter. What'd you think of the ending? It took me weeks to get right. That's why it might seem like their conversation at the end went on so long... I was hoping that if I just kept writing, the ending would write itself. Yeah, that didn't happen. But I finally wrote an ending I was happy with. Your thoughts?
As for the follow-up (Jesus, this AN is like a page long), I don't know when it'll be up. Certainly not for a couple weeks. I'm on page 2 of part 2 out of 3, and I'm still not one hundred percent sure of how exactly it's going to end. I don't wanna wait too long, for fear that people will lost interest after a while. But I also don't wanna not wait long enough. It's all very strategic. Add me to author alert's so you don't miss is!
THANKS FOR READING! (seriously, 750 reviews? That's more than I ever could've DREAMED)