HSM 3: Hello and Goodbye - Chapter 1

            “Troy !”
            Troy jerked convulsively, almost falling out of his bed. “Wha-?” he mumbled sleepily. He turned to see his Mom standing in the doorway, obviously not very happy.
            “Get out of bed right now! You’re going to be late on your first day of school! Your father left ages ago,” she said.
            Troy wiped his hand over his face and hair sleepily and groaned after looking at his bedside clock radio. “Okay…I’m up.”
            Mrs. Bolton stayed until he swung his legs over the side of the bed and stood up before smiling. “Good morning,” she said sweetly, and closed the door.
            Troy walked over to his desk chair and picked up the clothes he’d laid out the night before, knowing there was no way he would get up early enough to pick them out the next morning. As he stumbled into his bathroom, Troy caught a look at himself in the mirror through his sleepy blue eyes. “Happy first day of school to me,” he mumbled, then yawned and turned the shower on.

            Gabriella had been sitting in front of her mirror for the past 20 minutes trying to fix her hair. She had tried everything from a messy up-do to pigtails, and she was frustrated that nothing looked right. There was a knock on the door as she sighed and threw her hair-tie down on the counter of her vanity. “Come in.”
            Taylor walked in and set her back pack down. “Hey Gabs,” she said with a smile. “Happy first day of school!” When she didn’t get an answer, Taylor went over to the vanity and set her hands on Gabriella’s shoulders. “Hello? What’s the matter? You should be excited! We’re finally Seniors! We get to get into our--well, my Senior car and park in the Senior parking lot and move into the Senior lockers in the Senior hallway and get the shiny new Senior textbooks and-”
            “Believe me, I would be a lot happier if I could get my Senior hair to behave,” Gabriella said.
            “Your hair is fine, beautiful even,” Taylor said. She stood behind Gabriella and ran her hands through Gabriella’s wavy brown hair and settled it over her shoulders. “There, perfect. You have that whole “messily coifed” thing going on, just like Troy.” Taylor smiled when Gabriella smiled and blushed at the mention of Troy’s name. “Have you talked to him today?”
            “No, but we’re supposed to meet in the Senior hallway before homeroom,” Gabriella said, getting up to grab her purse from the top of her dresser. “I hope we’re all in the same homeroom again this year. What about Chad?”
            “He called me last night, but we didn’t make any plans,” Taylor said, trying her best to look nonchalant. “I’ll just see him around.” 
            Gabriella arched an eyebrow but didn’t say anything as she checked her bag one last time to make sure she had everything. “Okay…” Gabriella took one last look at herself in the mirror. Taylor came over and joined her, and both girls smiled. “Senior year, here we come.”

            Sharpay blew on her fingernail once more, just to be sure that the bright pink polish was dry before reaching for her shoes. She then stood up and looked at herself from all angles in the full length mirror on her wall and smiled. “Perfect,” she said, and walked over to the intercom on the opposite wall and pushed the button for her brother’s room. “Ryan, I’m ready. Meet me downstairs,” she said. She picked up her purse, gave herself a wink in the mirror, and left her room, going down the stairs and into the kitchen.
            “Good morning, Mother,” Sharpay said as she entered.
            “Good morning, Kitten,” Mrs. Evans said. “Did you sleep well? Of course you did, you look absolutely beautiful,” she cooed, handing Sharpay an apple and a glass of orange juice.
            Sharpay took a bite of the apple and chewed, then tossed it into the trash can and drank her juice. “Where is Ryan?” she asked, annoyed. “I told him that I was ready to leave,” she said, reaching for the intercom button.
            “Your brother already left, dear,” Mrs. Evans said, taking Sharpay’s empty glass to the sink.
            “What? Why would he leave?” Sharpay exclaimed.
            “He said he had things to take care of at school this morning. Come now, Kitten, you don’t want to be late do you? You’d better hurry.” Mrs. Evans came over and kissed Sharpay’s forehead. “Have a wonderful day, honey. I’ll see you this evening.”
            As Mrs. Evans left the room, Sharpay frowned. “He’s been acting so weird lately,” she grumbled, then fished her keys out of her purse and left the house.

            Chad pulled into a parking space in the Senior parking lot and turned the engine off. Troy smiled as he looked around the interior of the car. “This is such a sweet ride, man,” he said. “I can’t get over how much money you saved to buy this thing.”
            “ ‘This thing’?” Chad exclaimed. “You can’t call this car a ‘thing’. It’s a work of art.” He jumped over the driver’s side door to the pavement and ran his hand over the bright red paint. “A 1965 Mustang Convertible,” he said reverently. “This is the car of my dreams. It completes me.”
            Ryan raised an eyebrow. “You’re scaring me, Chad. It’s a car, not a girl.”
            “Speaking of girls, where’s Sharpay this morning?” Troy asked as he got out of the car the old-fashioned way and pulled his seat forward so that Ryan could do the same. Ryan picked up his backpack from the backseat and got out of the car. “I don’t know, I left before seeing her. After Chad offered to pick me up last night, I figured she could get to school on her own for once.”
            Chad grabbed his own backpack from the backseat, then closed and locked the car. “Look at you, man…new look and a new attitude, huh?”
            Lucas looked down at his green T-shirt, jeans, and white sneakers, all of which were un-adorned with any sort of shiny material, and shrugged. “A new me for the new year,” he said with a smile. “Thanks for the ride, Chad.”
            Chad threw an arm around Ryan’s shoulders. “Consider it an open offer, my friend.”
            Ryan grinned at him, but turned when he saw something out of the corner of his eye. “Speaking of girls we actually like...” he said with a smile.
            “Hi guys!”
            Gabriella, Taylor, Kelsi, and Martha walked up and there were happy greetings all around. While Troy and Gabriella kissed hello, the others talked and laughed around them.
            “I can’t believe we’re Seniors,” Martha said with a grin.
            “This year is gonna be so awesome,” Kelsi said, pushing her glasses back up the slope of her nose. “I was so excited this morning that I couldn’t sleep, so I started writing this killer song! You guys have to hear it.”
            “Hear what?”
            “Dude!” Troy and Chad greeted Zeke and Jason with high-fives, while Ryan shook their hands.
            “A song I wrote this morning,” Kelsi explained.
            Jason put an arm around her shoulders. “Composing this early in the morning? My little overachieving Mozart,” he said, kissing her on the cheek. Kelsi just smiled.
            “Dude, how awesome is basketball gonna be this season?” Zeke said.
            Chad grinned. “Yeah, all of those shiny new sophomores to break in…fresh meat!”
            “Be nice, you guys,” Taylor said.
            Chad put his arm around her. “Don’t worry, we won’t hurt ‘em. It’s just a friendly initiation. We all had to go through it.”
            Troy shook his head as Chad, Zeke, and Jason laughed. “Come on guys, nothing too crazy right?” he asked as he took Gabriella’s hand.
            “Dude, don’t worry about it. We’ve got it all under control,” Chad said.
            “Hey Ryan, where’s Sharpay?” Zeke asked, holding up a plastic bag. “I made her some muffins.”
            Ryan shrugged. “Who knows?”
            “Who cares?” Kelsi grumbled.
            Just then, the first bell rang. Everyone took a deep breath and turned toward the building. The red and white East High School sign shone in the morning sun as students poured into the glass double doors. Suddenly, the sound of screeching tires rent the air. Zeke had to jump out of the way as Sharpay’s pink convertible swung into the parking space next to Chad ’s. Sharpay turned the car off and got out, blew a kiss to herself in the driver’s side mirror and began walking toward the school. She stopped when she saw all of them staring at her.
            “What’s everybody standing around for?” She flipped her hair over her shoulder and smiled, her sunglasses catching the glare of the sun. “It’s time for the show.” She turned and walked off, the crowd of other students entering the school parting in front of her like the Red Sea.
            Zac smiled. “She’s right, you guys.” He smiled down at Gabriella. “Let’s do it.”