Standard Disclaimer: I do not own High School Musical nor its characters nor its songs and I do not own RENT nor its characters nor its songs. Don't sue me for feeling inspired.

ALSO: If you did not gather from the pairings listed in the summary that this fanfiction contains homosexual couples and you do not care to read about homosexual couples, click the little "Back" button and find another story to read. Don't complain to me that you don't think So-and-so and So-and-so should be together because they are of the same sex. Get over it. And for the record, I am very much a straight person writing this story. A straight person who happens to enjoy both High School Musical and RENT and whose mind couldn't stop wanting to put the two into one story with some conventional and not-so-conventional character pairings. My apologies if anyone has done this before, I don't have time to look through the 1,000+ HSM fictions. Anyways, reviews are hearted mucho... now on with the story!

Take Me, Baby, or Leave Me

Preface

Ms. Darbus dropped the phone as a deep sorrow washed over her. She had always been so careful. Her brain could not even begin to comprehend what had just unfolded during that fateful conversation. They knew her secret. Not that it was something to be ashamed of, but she knew if anyone ever found out, her career was over. No parent of an East High School student would allow someone like her to continue teaching their children, spending countless hours before and after school with a select few of them. Due to her outstanding body of work she had accumulated during her reign at East High, the administration and school board were willing to let her finish out the year, allowing her one last musical production as a sendoff.

Slowly, the sorrow began to fade, and a new feeling took over: anger. She was angry that despite her credentials and her tenure at the school, the school board was able to find some cheap excuse for a reason to effectively end her teaching career. They thought they were being gracious, allowing her to finish the year out, allowing her to produce one last high school musical masterpiece. But really, their "grace" was a huge slap in her face. They might as well have said straight up "While your record here at East High School is impeccable and all your musical productions have been sold-out hits, we're firing you because we can't have a lesbian teaching here." Spineless bigots. For a moment, she was considering just resigning right then and there, in the middle of the year, just to beat them to the punch, claim she felt like she had completed her journey at East High. But then she thought better of it. She couldn't do that to the theatre, to Sharpay and Ryan and all the students that worked so hard and had come so far. And then she thought even better.

They think they can get away with this filthy act of bigotry? I'll show them. My final musical production will have them wishing they hadn't felt so "gracious."

It was that moment, with a wicked grin, that she decided the spring musical would be none other than RENT.

A/N: Just a warning, I'm not sure how soon this will be updated since I work all day during the day and I will soon be on vacation for a week. Any feedback would be appreciated, but I'm not gonna threaten with that asinine crap like "PLZ REVIEW! i need 15 reviewz b4 i update!" People that do that need to get over themselves and learn to type like normal humans. But obviously, I won't mind if you throw a review or two my way ;o)