I needed to get away from everything that I've been writing (whether it be cute or sad), and start on something funny. I've been writing a humor Marching Band one, but I wanted to do an HSM one. So here it is.
As much as I did not want to pull pairings in this, some of the events that take shape in this story call for a couple. And, some stores in this story are real, but most will probably be something I made up. Also, the mall is purely from my imagination too. The reason for the rating will come in later chapters.
I promise you this gets funnier. The first chapter is just kind of an opener
Pairings: Troy/Gabriella, Chad/Taylor, Sharpay/Zeke, and Ryan/Kelsi. No Jason. I don't like making up OCs anymore.
The dim light of the Saturday sun was just now peeking over the horizon as a group of eight teenagers was already deep into their day of shopping. The group consisted of eight people, included four girls eagerly sprinting into every store and four guys yawning and complaining about the early wakening they had to do to get out to the large shopping complex.
Currently, they had entered one, of many major stores in the three-story mall, that carried just about everything. They were all apart from another couple, but that didn't last long. It never did.
"Does this look good?" Taylor asked Chad, strutting around a dress. The couples were spread out through the store, but the girls would all call each other when ready to leave. The guys would simply follow.
"I dunno." Chad had a sports magazine in his hands and was looking at an article 'How to Effectively Gain and Keep Muscle Mass'. It was obvious he neither was interested in or cared about the current situation around him.
"Ugh!" Taylor stomped back into her dressing room and started trying on another outfit.She was now wishing she had convinced Sharpay or Gabriella to come along with her.
A floor and a couple feet from there, Gabriella was quizzically looking at a Su-Do-Ku puzzle, with Troy unsuccessfully trying to help. They were nestled on a bench outside the store, Gabriella not wanting to do anymore shopping until she finished the last puzzle in her very large puzzle book.
"That's three." He said, trying to help.
"Troy, it's four," Gabriella chuckled, writing down the new number. Troy sighed, confused. "See? There's no three in this row," she pointed to the up and down row. "But there is one in this row," Then she pointed to the other row.
"There's a four in this row, and this row." Gabriella finished; pointing to the two columns that surrounded the box with the new number.
"Oh," Troy said, sincerely understanding. "So this one is nine?"
"Actually, yes it is." Gabriella smiled at him.One step closer to finishing the last puzzle.
Sharpay was, like Taylor, clothes shopping, but instead of trying on the clothes, she was matching them with purses.
"How about this one. Too pink?" Sharpay held up a glittered purse with a denim skirt that had a pale pink matching tank top.
"Sharpay, I'm a guy… I really don't know," Zeke shrugged and mumbled. "Or care." Either Sharpay ignored him, or she just did not hear him, because she continued to look like she was having an internal debate with herself.
"But what would you want to see me in?" Sharpay stuck out her bottom lip, and Zeke sighed.
"It is a bit bright. I liked the white purse with the jeans and ruffled shirt better." He shook his head. As Sharpay began searching for a new outfit to match, Zeke let his mind wonder. He should have just convinced Sharpay to go with Taylor. Then him and Chad could have done something productive.
Ryan and Kelsi were just browsing through the store, but had found themselves around the electronics area. They were the only ones on the third floor of the store, looking through CDs that they could preview some songs on. Ironically, they had not intentionally gone to the music section. They had just... gotten there.
"This one has some inspiring lyrics." Ryan told Kelsi, who came over to him and pressed the 'Preview' button on the CD player-like object. It scanned the label on the CD and began to play the song, in which Kelsi listened to through connected headphones.
"Yeah, it does." She agreed, bobbing her head to the melody. Just then, her cell phone rang. She pulled off the headphones and answered it as the melody of Ryan and Sharpay's version of 'What I've Been Looking For'. She had grown to like that particular song, despite her reluctance when they had first sung it.
"Sharpay?"
"Yeah. I'm bored. Let's get outta here!" Sharpay finished, adding emphasis to the last bit of her sentence. Kelsi giggled, putting her hand over the reciever. Heaven forbid Sharpay get bored.
"Okay." Kelsi agreed finally and flipped the phone shut.
"Sharpay's bored." She giggled again, as Ryan knew what that meant. It was time to go. Well, it was either that, or Sharpay would continue to bug them until they left the store. However, if she would have argued, it would have broken the organized calling system the girls had set up.
Kelsi was the one that Sharpay called, and then she would call Gabriella, who would call Taylor, who would call Sharpay if she was the one wanting to leave.
It was a very organized system that went full circle. Just like a song: a verse, the chorus, another verse, the chorus, and either fading out of the chorus, or a final verse. It was nice and steady and wis very predictable. Just the reason why Kelsi liked it.
In about twenty minutes, all the couples had met outside of the store, where Gabriella and Troy had just finished the puzzle book.
"Ready?" The new Su-Do-Ku masters asked the group, who was full of nods and smiles, so they got up and left.
"What do you guys want to do next?" Kelsi asked, eager to visit the music store, one store that was on her list of places she absolutely had to go to.
"There's nothing to do. You guys have gone to every store and haven't bought a thing!" Troy complained.
"We're comparing our prices before we buy! You guys are just wimps that have sore feet." Taylor defended.
"Since it's obvious who the dominant gender is here today, I say we do what we want for a change!" Chad protested, and the guys all nodded in agreement.
"Dominant? Dominant?" Sharpay spoke, with a very dangerous look on her face. Then, it softened, and cracked into one of her old 'Ice Queen' smiles. "Then let's find out who really is." She said quietly.
"Huh?" The girls all snapped their heads around, wondering what kind of plan Sharpay was concocting. She had to be, since she did not back off without a fight unless she had something planned to humiliate the person that was causing her even the slightest bit of grief.
"I say we make a bet. We make a list of dares for the guys to do, and they make a list for us. Winner is crowned dominant and the others must take them out for ice cream. Ben and Jerry's." She added, trying to make the bet more interesting.
"Okay." The girls agreed. Sharpay broke the circle and turned to explain the plan to the boyfriends.
"We propose a bet."
"What? With you guys?" Chad snorted and Sharpay glared at him.
"Yes. With us. Scared?" She shot back, with a smile that had 'bring it on' written all over it.
"No." Chad retorted, with the other guys giving him looks that read 'do not mess with fire'. The fire, of course, being Sharpay.
"Anyway, we want to do a bet, no, a challenge," Sharpay continued as if Chad had never spoken. "We will split up into two teams, four on each. The first team is the guys; the second is the girls. Each team makes up a list of fifteen things to do. Each task has to be challenging. Losers take the winners out for ice cream and the winners are crowned most dominant. There are no limitations as to what you can and can not make the other team do."
"But-"
"NO INTERRUPTIONS!" Sharpay snapped, getting annoyed with Chad, who finally backed off.
"As I was saying, each challenge must be difficult and original. The only thing that we will limit you on is that anything less than one-piece swim suits does not count. There are only three rules. One: You must get a video camera and document everything you do, since we don't want any fakers out there. Two: All events take place in the middle of a store, where everyone can see you, unless otherwise stated. Three: Don't get caught. You guys need to go home, grab a video camera, and get a list together." Sharpay winked, spun on her heels, and the girls walked off.
"We'll meet back at the eating area of Little Italian Eats." Gabriella yelled back at the guys, naming a popular stop in the food court. The groups had only taken two cars, one being Gabriella's and the other being Zeke's, so each team was set to go.
"Sharpay!" Kelsi complained as they raced into the parking lot. "They'll be sure to come up with gross stuff for us to do!"
"How can they?" She replied sweetly.
"Well…" Kelsi trailed. There really wasn't much guys could make girls do, since they had ruled out anything like running around in a bikini. Girls could find good embarrassment for guys, though. So Chad was as bad at thinking before he acted as she gave him credit for. And Sharpay was more dangerous than she gave her credit for. Kelsi noted to give her another solo in the next musical...
"Exactly." Sharpay slid into the front seat, interrupting Kelsi's thoughts. Taylor and Kelsi hopped into the back. Gabriella's silver Mustang might not have been new with tons of seats, but it had plenty of room for the four girls.
"So, where to?" Gabriella asked, shifting into reverse to pull out of her parking space.
"I've got a camera, but so does Ryan. They guys might head to our house… So any suggestions?" Sharpay turned to the back of the car.
"I've got a camera! In my room. It's fully charged!" Taylor jumped from the backseat, nearly hitting her head on the top of the car as she jumped.
"So to Taylor's house?" Gabriella asked, switching her blinker on to take the road to Taylor's house as they neared the exit of the parking lot.
"Sure." They all agreed, already beginning to think up list ideas.
The Guys"Zeke, can this car go any faster?" Chad complained as the truck scooted down the highway.
"It'll get us there. Ryan's house isn't that far from here." Zeke responded with his eyes on the road and with a shrug. He wasn't the happiest person with Chad right now. He could already feel something embarassing about to happen...
"But it's so slow!" Chad whined and rolled his eyes.
"Patience, my friend." Troy shook his head from the backseat. Zeke's car was a bit slow, an old dark green truck that Zeke had fixed up a bit, but still barely ran; especially with four adrenaline-struck teenagers bouncing around in it.
"This car's old, what do you expect? It's not like yours is any better!" Zeke rolled his eyes back, turning into the long driveway to the Evan's two-story house. At just the right time for the boys to jump out, the car jerked a bit, steam rising out of the hood.
"What the…" Chad wasn't able to finish his sentence, Zeke already having the in-car fire hydrant in his hands, rushing out of the driver's door.
"I guess you do this on a regular basis?" Ryan raised an eyebrow as he climbed out from his place in the backseat.
"Yeah." He sighed, taking a look under the hood.
"Do you guys want to take my car?" Ryan asked, unlocking the front door.
"Nah, this'll run fine," Zeke concluded, closing the hood. "Just a bit overheated, that's all."
"Can it get us back to the mall on time?" Troy questioned.
"Yup." Zeke nodded, and the trio followed Ryan into the house. They grabbed the video camera, and got a piece of notebook paper out in Ryan's room. The four were crowded around a desk, eager to start writing their ideas down.
"Any ideas?" Ryan sighed, twirling the pencil around in his hand.
"Well…" Chad rubbed his chin, a smile escaping onto his face.
Back to the Girls"Done!" Sharpay exclaimed happily, pressing the 'Print' button on the computer screen menu. Taylor's printer spat out the list, which was printed in dark purple letters on light pink paper, courtesy of Sharpay.
"This'll be GREAT!" Taylor clapped, jumping up and down.
"We will so show them!" Gabriella added. Kelsi just shrugged and stood back.
"What's wrong?" Taylor asked her.
"Well, what if we get caught? By security?" She asked, unsure of her participation in it.
"Are you kidding me? We won't get caught!" Sharpay laughed.
"But one of the rules-"
"Nah. That was just to scare the guys. The security guards here take naps all the time. Then there are just some that think it's funny when kids goof around. Plus, the most they could do to us is call our parents. But what will they say? 'Oh, Mrs. Neilson, you're daughter was caught deflating basketballs in the sports store'." The group laughed, Kelsi seeming a bit more optimistic about the ordeal.
"I bet you ten bucks that that's what Chad will come up with for one." Taylor giggled.
"I bet you twenty that Troy helped with that one." Gabriella shook her head.
"Our boyfriends are nutcases." Sharpay concluded with a laugh.
Little Italian EatsSharpay, Taylor, Kelsi, and Gabriella stood outside the eating area of the Italian restaurant, waiting for their boyfriends to show up. Right before they could complain, they saw four familiar figures practically running up the up escalator to them.
"Sorry…" Chad said, out of breath. "Zeke's truck…wouldn't start…"
"It's fine," Sharpay shrugged. "Lets get going."
The group found themselves at a table in the food court, the boys on one side, the girls on the other. The teenagers had grabbed some breakfast from a nearby fast food restuarant before they had sat down.
"Nominate team captains. They will be responsible for handling the list. I nominate Gabriella, because she is the most organized." Sharpay began, with the girls quickly agreeing.
"I nominate myself!" Chad smiled, digging into his breakfast burrito, with the guys shaking their heads, making it clear that it was a 'NO!'
"How about Zeke?" Troy asked, nibbling off of his sausage biscuit, with the others now nodding their approval.
"Okay. That's over with. Now, switch lists." Sharpay handed Gabriella the girls' list, while Ryan handed Zeke the guys' list.
They were in for one interesting afternoon, as Ms. Darbus would have put it.
So… What do ya think? I would like to note again that the mall and the food store mentioned are purely from my imagination. I have no idea if they really exist, but it fits. Some stores in here are real stores (you will soon figure that out…) but I would like to mention again that I own nothing. Anyway, feedback would make me happy!
The story really starts getting funny in the next two or three chapters.