This Slope Is Treacherous (READ DISCLAIMER)

Chapter 8

Things are starting to look up.

Gabriella had never thought she'd reach a truce with Sharpay, not after their fight in the bathroom, but when she walks into school the morning after she got stage fright during rehearsal, the first thing she's greeted with is a courteous nod from Sharpay.

They're not friends, not by any means, but their truce is a start.

Furthermore, she's grateful to have someone to look out for when she has stage fright, as strange as it is that this person is Sharpay. The truth is that Gabriella needs that. She needs someone to challenge her, to give her the courage to sing and stand up on stage. As much as she's learning about being on stage, her stage fright isn't just solved in the blink of an eye.

So far, Troy has been the one to encourage her, to give her faith when she needed it most, both at the New Year's Eve party and at the auditions. However, Troy is not always going to be present, especially as he was too afraid to audition himself. So yesterday, when she choked, it seemed like she was alone.

She couldn't be more wrong.

The thing is, though, that Sharpay encourages her in an entirely different way than Troy does. While Troy's presence is comforting, Sharpay's is daring.

As Sharpay put it herself, they challenge each other to outdo one another. In the strangest of ways, their rivalry is helping both of them.

And now they've both realized that, it's not a rivalry anymore. At least, not in an actually hostile sense.

Now, it's more like they're frenemies. And after all of their fights, Gabriella thinks that's the way it should be.

Not friends, not enemies. Just something else.

Gabriella arrives at her locker with a spring in her step, waving as she sees Taylor standing by it, and grinning as she removes the lock.

"You're in a good mood," Taylor comments, smiling and sounding a little amused and Gabriella just giggles.

"Yeah, I just feel good today."

"Well, I'm glad," Taylor says earnestly, before the grin falls off her face and she curses. "Oh, shit, Gabriella, Sharpay is coming this way."

Gabriella turns around to watch Sharpay approach with menacing strides. However, Gabriella can see that there's no anger in her eyes, so she just watches curiously as Sharpay stops right in front of her and musters a slightly forced smile.

"You're gonna sit with us at lunch today," she says, before rolling her eyes as both Gabriella and Taylor raise their eyebrows. "I mean, do you want to sit with us at lunch today? Ryan, Kelsi and I were planning to go over a few scenes and I figured you'd want to join, too, since you play the biggest supporting character."

Gabriella narrows her eyes, before smiling. "You want to have lunch together?"

Sharpay rolls her eyes again. "Ryan and Kelsi are there too, and they both actually like you for some reason. And again, I'm only inviting you, because you play an important role in the musical."

Tapping her foot impatiently on the floor, she adds, "So, what's it gonna be?"

Gabriella bites her lip, sneaking a glance at a horrified Taylor, before nodding and offering Sharpay a small smile. "Why not?"

Sharpay smiles and stands up a little straighter. "Great! Well, I guess I'll be on my way then. Toodles!"

Gabriella giggles at Sharpay's little wave, returning it and watching as Sharpay struts off.

"What was that?!"

Gabriella sighs as she turns back to Taylor, shrugging. "We called a truce."

Taylor quirks an eyebrow. "So, you and Sharpay are friends now?"