"Hey Troy. I miss you so so so SO much," Gabriella said into the phone while typing out an essay on her computer.
"Oh, Gabby, I miss you too. How's Stanford, though?" Troy asked. He was in the University of California, Berkeley, lying on his back on his bed in his single room.
"It's great, Troy! This weekend, I'm meeting up with some girls I met, Grace and Katie. We're going cycling," Gabriella said and continued typing.
"That's awesome that you've made friends, Gabs," Troy said and smiled.
"Thanks, Troy. How's U.C.B?" Gabriella asked and stopped typing and leaned back in her chair.
"It's fine. I've made friends with the entire b-ball team and the theater club. Everyone's so nice here," Troy said. "But it'd be better if you were here."
"Oh, Troy, it'd be better if you were here as well! Hey! Why don't we meet up this weekend?" Gabriella said, excited.
"This weekend? Aren't you going cycling with your friends?" Troy asked.
"Yeah, that's Sunday. You can come on Saturday! I mean, I'd come over, but I don't have a car," Gabriella said and resumed typing.
Troy sat up. "You know what? I think I will come! I can't wait to see you, Gabs."
"You too, Troy. See you Saturday?" Gabriella asked. She clicked "Save" and closed her laptop.
"Saturday."
***
Saturday.
"Oh, Katie, I can't wait till Troy comes!!! It's gonna be so great," Gabriella said to her new friend, Katie.
Katie smiled. "Oh Gabby, you've said that too many times already."
"I can't help myself! I'm just SO EXCITED!!!" Gabriella said. "Oh! There's his truck!" she squealed and lept up from the front steps of Stanford, where she'd been waiting for Troy with Katie.
Troy parked his truck and jumped out. He was wearing a navy blue t-shirt with a pair of faded jeans. Gabriella rushed over to him and fell in his arms. They kissed passionately.
"TROY! I can't believe you're HERE!! FINALLY!" Gabriella said and smiled up at Troy. He'd grown taller since the last time she'd seen him.
"Gabby, I can't believe I'm here, too! Oh, I've missed you so much!" he said and kissed her again.
"Oh! I almost forgot. Troy that's my friend Katie," Gabriella said and pointed to the Asian black-haired girl who was coming over.
"Katie, Troy," Gabriella said when Katie came over.
"Hi," Katie said and shook Troy's hands. "Well, Gabs, I think I'd better go now. Grace and I were supposed to meet up at the mall to go shopping."
"Kay. Bye, Katie," Gabriella said as Katie walked towards her car.
"What do you want to do now?" Troy asked and took Gabriella's hand. They walked for a while around Stanford, Gabriella not replying to his question.
"Um, I dunno," she finally said. "I suppose I can show you my room?"
"Cool, let's go," Troy said and Gabriella giggled as she pulled Troy behind her and they made their way up to Gabriella's room. When they got there, they were surprised to see a man who was Troy's height standing infront of Gabriella's room with a bouquet of flowers.
"Hey, Gabriella! And.. you..?" the guy said and handed the bouquet of flowers - red roses - to Gabriella. "These are for you," he said and reached over to kiss her, but Gabriella turned away.
"Hey, hey, Gabriella's my girlfriend," Troy said and stepped in front of them. Gabriella put her hand on Troy's shoulder.
"Troy, it's fine," she said and Troy relaxed a little. "Let me talk to him," Gabriella said softly and Troy let her go in front of him, but he wrapped his arms around her protectively.
"Troy, this is Billy. Billy, this is Troy, my boyfriend," Gabriella said. "Thanks for the roses."
Billy looked at Troy, blue-eye to blue-eye. He narrowed his eyes at him and Troy did the same.
"Billy, we had a nice night out, but that was just once, okay? I love Troy, okay?" Gabriella said.
"You went on a date with him?" Troy asked.
Gabriella was about to answer, but Billy answered for her. "Yes, she did. And we had a lot of fun!"
Troy sighed, but didn't let go of Gabriella. "Did you two.. you know.. do.. it?"
"Do 'it'?! Troy, no! Of course we didn't do 'it'. We just.. went out for dinner. As friends," Gabriella said. "I didn't even kiss him!"
"Yeah, but you wanted to," Billy said and stepped closer to Gabriella. Troy pulled her away.
"Don't you dare!" Troy said angrily.
Billy held up his hands in surrender. "Okay, okay."
Gabriella turned to Troy. "I'm really, really, really sorry, Troy, but I.. thought that we were only going to dinner, as friends!"
"Yeah, 'friends'. She was wearing a sexy strapless dress that night," Billy winked at Gabriella. "Sexiest thing in the whole room!"
Troy's face hardened, and so did his grip around Gabriella.
"Troy, please, loosen your grip, please," Gabriella said, but troy ignored her. He wa glaring at Billy.
"TROY! You're squeezing me too tight!" Gabriella cried and Billy pulled her out of Troy's arms and she fell into Billy's arms.
Troy finally realized what had happened and he widened his eyes. "I'm .. I.. I'm sorry, Gabriella," he said and rushed out of there.
***
