woke up new (after) part five
They all have their own ways of coping with their tragedy.
Martha tries to lose herself in dance, taking a role as an assistant choreographer at a summer camp. Taylor turns to academia, studying advance material and reading classic novels, poetry, the collected works of Shakespeare; anything to keep her mind busy. Gabriella is away, occupied, distracted, kept busy and she's already beginning to turn her back on this chapter of her life, to forget and let things fade.
Zeke bakes, endlessly, obsessively, working his way through his entire repertoire, focusing on perfecting the cookies that finally wooed Sharpay. Zeke smokes, blowing cigarette smoke out of his bedroom window if it rains, or leaning against the side of the house with Troy, the brick rough on their bare arms.
Troy plays the loyal best friend, a haphazard hero. He splits his time between: the Evans’ house, where his best friend needs so much more than he can help with; Zeke’s house, which is the site of a culinary frenzy and a new nicotine habit and their friends are there most of the time because they want to help too but there’s only so much they can do; his tree house, where he has long talks on the phone with Gabriella, who left before it all fell apart.
His cell reception’s shitty in the tree, but if he lies down and closes his eyes, he can almost trick himself into believing that she’s there with him. The fantasy is fleeting, and desperately necessary.
Sometimes he just holds the phone to his ear and listens to her breathing. Once or twice, she falls asleep, but he doesn’t hang up. It makes him feel better somehow, knowing that she’s there and she’s safe and she still makes that little snuffling noise in her sleep that he teases her about until she gets embarrassed (but he secretly thinks it’s endearing).
Gabriella asks him about Chad and she asks him about Ryan. Ryan still isn’t talking to anyone, and Chad’s mostly only talking to Ryan, so Troy is pretty much the go-to guy for updates on either of them. In exchange, Gabriella tells him about Taylor, because the girls talk most days, despite their physical separation. Lately, Gabriella’s talking to Taylor more than Troy is.
He feels tired all the time, stretched thin. He doesn’t know how Chad does it, has no idea how he’s functioning at all, is genuinely amazed by the way he’s coping with everything. Chad’s a fucking superhero. Chad’s the Golden Boy, not him. He’s just Troy Bolton, who can’t hold the rest of them together, but he’s trying. He’s trying, so hard. It’s not enough. It’s never enough. He misses when it was summer and all they had to worry about was washing dishes, and all it took to cheer them up was a pep talk or a perky musical number.
“Do you need me to come visit Albuquerque?” Gabriella asks him, prompted by his slurring exhausted mumble of a monologue.
“You can’t. You need to be there.”
“Do you want to come visit here?”
He sighs, rubs his hands over his face. “Yes. So much.”
“But...?”
“I can’t. I need to be here.”
Gabriella sighs and says she understands but Troy isn’t sure he believes her. He doesn’t think she can understand. She’s so far away. She hasn’t seen it. She doesn’t have to live it. It barely touches her. Sure, she’s sad, because Gabriella’s a good person and Sharpay was...not quite a friend, but almost, and all the people who cared about her are hurting. But it’s...it’s not the same for her. She can hang up the phone and put it all to the back of her mind. She’s living in a completely new place, with different people, people who have never met and will now never get the chance to meet Sharpay Evans. Gabriella has a new life that doesn’t include this nightmare.
"I have to go now," Troy says, and it's mostly not a lie. He can't remember if anyone's staying with Zeke tonight and he hasn't spoken to Chad at all yet today.
"I'll call you soon?"
Troy hates that it sounds so much like a question. "Yeah." They're both so busy, with so much to cope with at the moment. A lot of things have changed, and it seems like things between them are changing now too.
Martha tries to lose herself in dance, taking a role as an assistant choreographer at a summer camp. Taylor turns to academia, studying advance material and reading classic novels, poetry, the collected works of Shakespeare; anything to keep her mind busy. Gabriella is away, occupied, distracted, kept busy and she's already beginning to turn her back on this chapter of her life, to forget and let things fade.
Zeke bakes, endlessly, obsessively, working his way through his entire repertoire, focusing on perfecting the cookies that finally wooed Sharpay. Zeke smokes, blowing cigarette smoke out of his bedroom window if it rains, or leaning against the side of the house with Troy, the brick rough on their bare arms.
Troy plays the loyal best friend, a haphazard hero. He splits his time between: the Evans’ house, where his best friend needs so much more than he can help with; Zeke’s house, which is the site of a culinary frenzy and a new nicotine habit and their friends are there most of the time because they want to help too but there’s only so much they can do; his tree house, where he has long talks on the phone with Gabriella, who left before it all fell apart.
His cell reception’s shitty in the tree, but if he lies down and closes his eyes, he can almost trick himself into believing that she’s there with him. The fantasy is fleeting, and desperately necessary.
Sometimes he just holds the phone to his ear and listens to her breathing. Once or twice, she falls asleep, but he doesn’t hang up. It makes him feel better somehow, knowing that she’s there and she’s safe and she still makes that little snuffling noise in her sleep that he teases her about until she gets embarrassed (but he secretly thinks it’s endearing).
Gabriella asks him about Chad and she asks him about Ryan. Ryan still isn’t talking to anyone, and Chad’s mostly only talking to Ryan, so Troy is pretty much the go-to guy for updates on either of them. In exchange, Gabriella tells him about Taylor, because the girls talk most days, despite their physical separation. Lately, Gabriella’s talking to Taylor more than Troy is.
He feels tired all the time, stretched thin. He doesn’t know how Chad does it, has no idea how he’s functioning at all, is genuinely amazed by the way he’s coping with everything. Chad’s a fucking superhero. Chad’s the Golden Boy, not him. He’s just Troy Bolton, who can’t hold the rest of them together, but he’s trying. He’s trying, so hard. It’s not enough. It’s never enough. He misses when it was summer and all they had to worry about was washing dishes, and all it took to cheer them up was a pep talk or a perky musical number.
“Do you need me to come visit Albuquerque?” Gabriella asks him, prompted by his slurring exhausted mumble of a monologue.
“You can’t. You need to be there.”
“Do you want to come visit here?”
He sighs, rubs his hands over his face. “Yes. So much.”
“But...?”
“I can’t. I need to be here.”
Gabriella sighs and says she understands but Troy isn’t sure he believes her. He doesn’t think she can understand. She’s so far away. She hasn’t seen it. She doesn’t have to live it. It barely touches her. Sure, she’s sad, because Gabriella’s a good person and Sharpay was...not quite a friend, but almost, and all the people who cared about her are hurting. But it’s...it’s not the same for her. She can hang up the phone and put it all to the back of her mind. She’s living in a completely new place, with different people, people who have never met and will now never get the chance to meet Sharpay Evans. Gabriella has a new life that doesn’t include this nightmare.
"I have to go now," Troy says, and it's mostly not a lie. He can't remember if anyone's staying with Zeke tonight and he hasn't spoken to Chad at all yet today.
"I'll call you soon?"
Troy hates that it sounds so much like a question. "Yeah." They're both so busy, with so much to cope with at the moment. A lot of things have changed, and it seems like things between them are changing now too.