We're All In This Together (A High School Musical Fanfiction)

Episode 7: Taylor versus Jeremy

When Gabriella was standing at her locker on Wednesday morning and she felt his arms come around her from behind, she instantly knew it was Troy. As she breathed in the familiar foresty smell of his cologne, Troy said, "We should do something after school today. We haven't been on a date in a while."

Gabriella turned to face him with a smile. "We walked through the park last weekend."

"Yeah, but that turned into more of a spy-on-Chad-and-Taylor thing. I want to do something that's just our thing."

"Okay." Gabriella closed her locker and they began to walk to their next class, which was Chemistry with Mrs. Michaels. "How about we go to Paradise Parlor?"

"Great!" Troy agreed immediately. "I bet I know your order."

"I bet I know yours."

Suddenly, Taylor rushed up to them. "Gabriella, I need to talk to you right now."

"I'll see you later," Troy said with a kiss to Gabriella's temple, before he jogged on ahead to class.

"What's up, Tay?"

Taylor looked madder than a dust devil. "Last year we had student government elections in October. I ran for president, obviously." Gabriella nodded. Taylor often kept Gabriella updated with all of her responsibilities as student body president. Taylor continued, "It was almost a tie between me and the only person arrogant enough to run against me." Taylor cast her eyes down the hallway pointedly, and Gabriella followed her gaze to see a clean-cut young man standing up on a milk crate with a crowd of students surrounding him. His overly-gelled hair didn't move an inch as he gestured broadly with his hands.

"Fellow students," he proclaimed grandly, "you may know that your current student body president, Taylor McKessie, barely pulled out a win in last year's election." His voice dripped with disdain as he said Taylor's name. Gabriella and Taylor sauntered closer as the young man continued, "All seemed right and fair at the time, but recently new information has come to light. It has been revealed to me by a trustworthy source that Miss McKessie was fraternizing with the student government monitor around the time of the election!" When his audience only gave him blank stares, the guy became even more incensed. "Don't you see?! She rigged the election! Taylor McKessie is a fraud!"

Gasps broke out among the crowd. Gabriella tried to quietly pull Taylor away, but Taylor wasn't about to let this guy get away with his accusations. "How dare you!" she cried, marching to the front of the crowd. "You have no right to--"

"And here she is now," sneered the guy on the milk crate. "Fellow students, I ask you, is it right that such a corrupt individual be in charge of our entire student body?"

"One might ask, 'Is it right for someone to make open accusations against their president?' You have no evidence, Jeremy Block!" Taylor was trembling with rage. Gabriella quickly pulled her best friend away before things could get any worse. Luckily, at that moment the bell rang, and the crowd dispersed.

"That was awful," Gabriella said to Taylor as they hurried onward to Chemistry.

"He thinks he's so amazing!" Taylor fumed. "Well, I'll tell you this, Gabriella: he's not going to get away with this. Jeremy Block has always had it out for me, ever since the first grade!"

"Maybe we should just forget about it," Gabriella suggested. "Maybe it was just a one-time thing. Like a freak accident."

But by lunchtime, the whole school had heard about Jeremy Block's claims against Taylor McKessie. Gabriella was beginning to fret when Taylor didn't show up for lunch. Martha hurried up to where Gabriella and Kelsi were sitting together. "I heard about Taylor," Martha whispered. "That's so horrible, that Jeremy would make such accusations." She paused for a moment, before blurting out, "It's not true, is it?"