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Taylor swings by the Montez household to pick up Gabriella at 6:30 to head over to the Evans estate for the big party on Saturday night. On the way, they also pick up Kelsi and Martha. The girls were leaving extra early to help Sharpay and Ryan set up things, not like the servants weren't doing most of it, but also to make sure everything was in the guesthouse before Sharpay locked up. The guys were out practicing until 7:00 with Coach Bolton but promised to be at the party by 8:15 as the party started at 8:30.
The gates to the estate are already thrown wide open with pink balloons and streamers on it indicating that the party was at this estate and not some of the neighboring ones. "She really does love pink doesn't she?" Martha comments, causing the three other girls to laugh.
Taylor parks the car and they all grab their stuff from the trunk to carry inside the Evans' house. "Hello!" greets Ryan, who is just coming from the kitchen. "Shar told me to expect you guys. She is currently at the tanning salon working on her tan but I certainly appreciate the company. Why don't you girls go throw your stuff in the guesthouse? It's out in the back, past the tennis court and pool. You'll find we stocked the fridge with sodas and munchies if you girls get hungry before the party. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to see to a few last minute things."
"Sure," Gabriella says, trying not to laugh too much at the ease with which Ryan described the location of the guesthouse. "I'm thinking that we may get lost here tonight."
Kelsi laughs. "Could be, but if you get lost with Troy, I doubt you'll be complaining," she says, shocking everyone.
"Kelsi! That was so not like you! Did you channel Sharpay for a second or something?" Taylor asks.
"Geez, I crack a joke and you guys go ballistic on me! I was just being silly," Kelsi defends.
"I like!" Gabriella exclaims, giving Kelsi a half hug since they had bags and sleeping bags and pillows in their grasps. They continue past the tennis court and pool to find a one story building big enough to be one of their houses.
"Seriously, this is the guest house?" Taylor asks, opening the front door.
Martha enters behind her and stops in her tracks, taking in the decorations. "All this art, it looks like it should be in the Louvre, not here in a guest house," she comments, continuing to walk in to appreciate some of the art pieces on the wall.
Kelsi's face brightens as she sees a piano in the living room. She walks over, lifting the cover, and runs her fingers over the keys. "This is beautiful," she says, admiring the craftsmanship of the piano. She plays some quick scales and becomes more in awe of the power of the piano. "Can I just stay here and compose tonight?"
Gabriella laughs. "If it was up to me I'd say yes in a heartbeat, but I don't think Sharpay will approve. Besides, Jason will miss you," she says, earning a blush from Kelsi. "You two really are great together."
"Thanks," Kelsi returns. "You and Troy… You both are still so special to me and I think even more so to each other. I'm glad you made it through stronger than before."
"Thanks Kels," Gabriella replies. "Come on, let's go find this so called girls' room."
The two leave the living room and go down a hallway, following Taylor's and Martha's voices. They turn a corner and see the two girls in a large room, similarly decorated to the living room with fancy art and cream-colored walls. "You sure this is it Taylor?" Gabriella asks.
"That's what the sign says, then again, it has a wink on it too," Taylor responds, indicating the sign on the door that Sharpay put up. Getting a grin on her face, Gabriella turns and goes back in the hall, looking for a similar sign for the boys. Of course, it is down the hall, past the private garden with a Jacuzzi, on the opposite side. She peaks her head in and sees Ryan must have set this room up as it is decked out with a large TV and video games belonging to the multiple game systems.
Taylor sticks her head in next to Gabriella and groans. "Oh, I could kill Ryan," she says, earning a questioning look from Gabriella. "Duh, with this set up, we won't see the guys at all tonight. They may not even go to the party unless Sharpay bodily throws them out."
Understanding, Gabriella laughs. "Come on. Since the twins don't need our help, we'll go get ourselves ready," she says, leading Taylor back to the girls' room to get ready.
At 8:15, they hear the boys come running through the hall, closing the door to their room. The girls had just finished putting their dresses on after doing their hair and makeup, admiring each other's dresses when the boys come knocking on the door. Martha goes to answer it and pretends to faint as she sees Troy, Chad, and Jason standing on the threshold, dressed similarly in slacks and a buttoned up shirt. The Evans' parties were always more dressy, or so they had been told.
Troy is the first to step over the imaginary line of the girls' room and grins as he sees Gabriella standing in front of him in a dark blue knee length dress with spaghetti straps. "Gorgeous," he says before taking her in his arms and kissing her. "You even smell good."
"Umm, that's called being clean!" Gabriella exclaims, laughing as he makes a face at her response.
They break apart and intertwine the fingers of their hands as they follow their friends out of the house to the pool, meeting a very sophisticatedly dressed Sharpay on the way. Sharpay stops to lock the doors to the guesthouse, pocketing the key in her purse, and joins the gang as they sit around the pool full of floating candles.
"Wow Sharpay, you and Ryan did a great job designing the layout and decorations tonight," Gabriella says, looking everywhere around her which is decorated. "You thought of everything didn't you?"
"We always try," Sharpay replies proudly. "Ryan and I have great event planners on staff too which helps."
Ryan chuckles as Sharpay continues talking about their event planners and their staff. 'She still doesn't understand how obnoxious she sounds when she does that,' he thinks, seeing the looks on the faces of their friends as they are thinking the same thing.
"Shar, why don't we show them where the main dancing room is and where the refreshments are before the party starts?" Ryan suggests, wanting to get his sister to stop with that line of discussion.
"Sure," Sharpay happily agrees. "Everyone follow me."
The group follows Sharpay and Zeke into the mansion and are awed all over again by the grandeur that is the Evans' estate. The main dance room is a large room, which looks to be a real ballroom with hardwood floor. There is a DJ set up in the corner with his lights already spinning. As it turns out, the refreshment room is full of food the catering staff is in the process of laying out with two different bartenders.
"Are you sure we are at a house party and not a hotel?" Taylor jokes to Gabriella, who just smiles. "Seriously, now I know why she thinks she can have everything… She can!"
Soon, they start hearing voices travel through the house indicating that their host and hostess need to start greeting. The gang heads back to the ballroom and hang out as more of their classmates join them. Once the music starts really going with the popular songs, the girls are the first ones out there, Martha of course leading the way.
Troy, Chad, Jason, and Zeke are watching from the wall they were leaning against, watching the girls dance without them. "Seriously, are we going to stand here all night?" Jason asks. "They look like they are having so much fun!"
Chad looks over in disgust. "If you want to go, then go out there J. I for one am not dancing, no way no how," he states, making it sound final.
"Right… So if Taylor came over to you right now and begged you to go, swaying her hips the way she is right now, you would tell her no?" Troy challenges, watching as the girls start dancing a little bit more provocatively to Christina Aguilera's "Dirrrty" as it comes on over the speakers. He looks over to his right and sees a group of soccer buddies also eyeing the girls. "Hey Chad, don't look now but I think one of the soccer guys is heading Taylor's way."
Chad turns his head so fast, Troy has to laugh. "Not funny Bolton!" Chad exclaims seeing it was a joke. Jason and Zeke join in, much to Chad's annoyance. "Whoa, wait, there is someone approaching the girls."
They watch as the soccer team captain approaches the girls, smiling, and asks Martha to dance with him. "You've got moves Martha, I never knew!" he adds, taking her hand and separating her out from the group so they can dance together.
"Go Martha, go Martha!" the three remaining girls start to chant as they watch Martha do her thing with Mike, who seems to really be enjoying it.
"Wow, he dances really well," Taylor comments, watching Mike actually staying in tempo and matching Martha's moves. "Who knew he had it in him, yet another jock with a secret talent."
Gabriella laughs. "Now, if only we could get our own boyfriends out here!" she exclaims.
Taylor peeks over at the boys and sees them still watching her, Gabriella, and Kelsi dancing together. "Well, we could approach the other soccer players over there and get them to dance with us. I'm sure that would call the guys over faster than yelling fire," she conspires.
"No way, that would so get us into trouble," Kelsi protests.
"Speaking of trouble, there she is," Taylor replies, looking at the doorway. Gabriella and Kelsi both stop dancing as well to see Jasmine and three of her companions with her, surveying the room. "That looks like major drama brewing right there."
Gabriella eyes Jasmine warily, knowing Taylor was right just based on what Jasmine is wearing: super short jean skirt and a red halter that showed off quite a bit, accompanied by black stilettos and huge silver hoop earrings. Just then, Jasmine must have spotted Troy as she gets a satisfied smile on her face and starts walking over to where the four boys are talking basketball, having stopped watching the girls.
"Hi Troy, looking sexy tonight," Jasmine drawls in a loud voice.
"Quick, start dancing again," Taylor murmurs to Gabriella.
"What? Are you crazy?" Gabriella returns, not seeing the logic in this plan.
"Just do it! If you act like you don't notice or don't care, she's not going to dally with him too much longer," Taylor explains quickly, getting Kelsi's help in getting Gabriella to dance again. The three girls move over to where Martha is dancing with Mike, effectively putting him in the middle of the girls.
Taylor makes sure that Gabriella has her back to the scene unfolding back at the wall, keeping tabs on the events as they happen every now and then when she feels Jasmine or her crew aren't looking.
"What do you want Jasmine?" Troy asks, very guarded. "I didn't even think you'd be let through the door tonight."
"Oh you are such a kidder Troy. I have connections, don't you forget it," Jasmine replies. "Want to dance?"
"No thanks," Troy manages to answer politely. "I actually am enjoying the view from right here."
Jasmine, thinking he was talking about her, poses a little bit more provocatively. "Is this better?" she asks.
"Actually, now you are blocking Gabriella, who I've been watching for quite some time. She's a very good dancer, isn't she?" he asks, knowing it would drive Jasmine nuts.
"Whatever," she replies. Seeing that Gabriella isn't even paying them any attention, Jasmine leaves the room out of frustration.
Taylor, seeing Jasmine leave, lets out a sigh. "Thank God she finally left. Troy is back open if you want to drag him onto the dance floor," Taylor announces. "I don't think he'd come willingly."
"Wanna bet?" Gabriella answers with a mischievous look in her eyes. She turns around and faces Troy, who is already staring at her dancing. She blows him a kiss and turns her hand around to crook a finger in a "come here" gesture. Troy at first stands his ground, shaking his head. Gabriella tries pouting but seeing that doesn't work, she results to her last plan of action. Gabriella shrugs her shoulders and walks back to Taylor and Kelsi, Taylor giving her an "I told you" look, and then over to Martha and Mike, who are now dancing fairly close. She gets behind Mike and starts moving in rhythm behind him and before she knows it, Troy has his arms around her, pulling her farther away from Mike's backside.
Gabriella smiles as she hears Kelsi and Taylor crack up hysterically as Gabriella turns to look into Troy's blue eyes. "What?" she asks innocently, slowing down her dancing.
"That, Ms. Montez, was a desperate act and you know it," Troy answers, slowly trying to find the rhythm to dance along with Gabriella.
"Perhaps," she answers, "but I got my man in the end, didn't I?"
Troy lets out a chuckle at this. "Yeah, I guess you did. But then again, when did you lose him?" he teases, drawing her into his arms as they start to move together.
Eventually, Taylor and Kelsi are able to draw Chad and Jason out, Zeke joining them out of not wanting to be the only one standing along the wall. Sharpay and Ryan finally join the group after an hour and a half into the party, dancing right along with them, Ryan showing the guys a few new moves.
At around 2 AM, as previously scheduled, Sharpay's security staff starts rounding people up and escorting those who don't look like they can make it home out to a shuttle van that Ryan had hired to take people home. Once everyone is cleared from the house, Sharpay comes out to the pool area to find the rest of the gang lounging around the pool, waiting for her to unlock the guesthouse. "Oh, sorry, I forgot I was the one with the key," she apologizes, hurrying over to the house to unlock the door.
The couples make their way in, Gabriella and Troy being the last. As they approach the girls' room, Troy leans down and whispers, "Meet me in the private garden across the way when all you girls are settled." With that, he kisses her and heads down to the guys' room.
Once the door is closed, all the girls start kicking off their shoes and changing into their pajamas. Gabriella brings out her cloud print boxer and t-shirt set that she loved sleeping in because it was so soft and changes into it, letting her hair down right after. As she is brushing it, she sees Kelsi and Martha already dozing off in their sleeping bags so she decides to sit down on hers as Sharpay finishes changing in the bathroom and Taylor sets her sleeping bag up.
Just then, there is a bunch of loud laughter coming from the guys' room, pricking the interest of Taylor and Gabriella both, who sneak out into the hall and head to the room at the end. They peek in and burst into laughter as they see Ryan had convinced the guys to not play basketball on the game console but the dancing game with the dance mats. Currently, it was Chad and Zeke who were trying to battle it out, both not doing too well.
Ryan hears the two giggling by the door and decides to catch them in the act. He goes out the other door and comes up behind them, poking both of them in their sides. When they jump around to see him, he puts on the most serious look he can muster. "Enjoying the show ladies? You know, that's not free," he says before breaking into a smile at their shocked faces. "Come on in!"
Taylor and Gabriella follow Ryan in, wearing guilty looks as he explains that he found them spying on them. "Spying! We would never do that, would we Troy?" Chad jokes, acting outraged.
"Oh yeah, never!" Troy responds in a gruff voice.
"Sure," Taylor drawls. "We know you guys snuck off sometime during the party to play basketball out on the courts, at least part of the time you vanished tonight. Couldn't resist could ya?"
"See, you are making it a habit of spying on us!" Chad accuses. "Besides, it wasn't like you girls missed us when we were gone!"
"Not spying per say," Gabriella argues. "Just curiosity. We were debating on whether or not if you guys got lost in the Evans' mansion, if you would ask for directions or not."
Ryan lets out a laugh at this, earning him a glare from the guys. "Hey, it's funny and so true," Ryan defends.
Eyeing Ryan and Gabriella, Jason gets a great idea. "I think Ryan and Gabriella should duke it out, see who the better dancer is for that," he suggests.
Ryan looks over at Gabriella with a questioning look. "You game Montez?" he asks.
"You are so done for Evans," she replies with a smile and a wink, surprising the friends in the room.
Ryan scrolls through the songs and picks a difficult one, knowing Gabriella had the skills to keep up. Both take their places on the mats, noticing how quiet it gets as Zeke, Chad, Taylor, Troy, and also Sharpay take seats to watch this battle. As the music starts pumping, they start cheering for both Gabriella and Ryan, alternating support. They are all blown away by the perfect scores both of them are keeping, even as the song switches over, changing the rhythms. After four more songs, Ryan looks over at Gabriella, who looks just as tired as he feels.
"Draw?" he offers.
"Draw," she agrees, both stepping off the mats on the same time. Troy hands Gabriella a bottle of water as Sharpay hands one to her brother, respect in both of their eyes for the two dancers.
Ryan comes over and high fives Gabriella. "Great job out there Gab. You're always welcome to come out here for a rematch," he offers.
"Anytime," Gabriella says back, taking another drink of the water Troy gave her.
She sits down next to Troy at the edge of the couch in the room as Zeke pulls Jason up to try out the game with him. "Let's make a run for it," Troy whispers in Gabriella's ear as soon as the two boys start going at it, leaving the others to get busy cheering.
Gabriella follows Troy out the door they were sitting next to and down the hall until they reach the sliding glass door that leads to the private garden Troy had been talking about. "Troy, I can't see anything," Gabriella calls out, just as Troy fumbles and finds the matches he left out from earlier. He lights a few candles, amazing Gabriella once again with his planning.
"Candles and a sleeping bag, one sleeping bag. That's rather cozy," she comments, sitting down on the chaise where the sleeping bag is laid out with a pillow. "Romantic too."
Troy smiles as he sits down next to her, drawing her face to his for a tender kiss. "Thought I'd capitalize on this opportunity to spend the whole night with you under the stars. That okay with you?"
"More than okay," she answers as he gets up and opens the sleeping bag for her to crawl into, cuddling beside her once she gets settled. They lay there on their sides, Troy's arm wrapped around Gabriella's waist, staring at each other, letting their silence speak. Gabriella runs her finger along Troy's jaw, finding stubble is coming out of the usually smooth skin. He catches her eye and leans in, kissing her with his entire being, running his hand through her hair. Needing air, Troy pulls away and grins as he hears Gabriella let out a sigh of contentment. She opens her eyes and smiles.
"This was really sweet of you Troy," Gabriella says, feeling so swept away by this moment. "I have this feeling that I'm never going to forget tonight."
"As you shouldn't," Troy responds. "I want all of our moments together to be memories worth never forgetting."
Gabriella leans over and kisses Troy, which he happily returns, then pulls back, not wanting to get that hot and heavy with him. Knowing her thoughts, Troy helps guide Gabriella so she can flip over onto her other side in the sleeping bag, now resting her back to his chest. "I hope that's okay," he hears Gabriella murmur.
"Gabriella, you know it is," he replies, thinking back to their talk in the spring, before junior prom, when that had been a topic for many couples in their year. "I understand you wanting to wait and I respect you even more for it."
She turns her head to which Troy takes advantage of and kisses her on the lips then on her neck, smiling as he hears her sigh of contentment. Troy wraps his arms back around her waist, pulling her closer to him as they drift off into comfortable silence. Feeling sleep pull at him, he leans over to Gabriella's exposed right ear and whispers, "I love you Gabriella."
"I love you too Troy," she returns in a whisper, just before both drift to sleep, under the stars, wrapped together in love's embrace.