A/N: This High School Musical story was inspired by and features characters from the MTV television show Catfish, but you do not have to be familiar with the show to understand this story. There will be another Wildcat besides Gabriella, but I am choosing to only tag her since the other character's identity is part of the mystery. You'll see what I mean. Enjoy!
Catfish
Help
The cameraman followed Nev as he tiptoed down the hallway and approached the hotel room. Nev reached into his pocket and took out a room key and quietly slid the piece of plastic into the mechanical handle. The little light flashed green and he motioned for the cameraman to follow him. He crept into the room, holding up his water gun and taking aim at his unconscious victim.
"Max!" Nev yelled out, "Wakey, wakey!" He dosed Max with a blast of cold water.
"Oh my God!" Max shot up in his bed. He looked around the room in panic and confusion before finding Nev and the water gun. He eyed the object quizzically and asked, "Where did you get a water gun from?"
"Your worst nightmares!" Nev quickly pumped the device and served Max another blast of water.
Max dove towards the end of the bed and cupped his hands over the end of the gun. "Who let him have this?" He asked the crew.
"I just wanted to help you clean off!" Nev said.
Max shook his head disapprovingly and said, "I will get you back for this, Nev. You just wait."
"Get up," Nev shook Max, "We have lives to change!"
…
Nev plopped down at the desk and immediately began scrolling through the countless messages, "What do we have in the inbox today?" He murmured to himself.
Max peered above the small camera he had on the computer and asked, "You mean what will we reel in?"
"Don't make me get that water gun back out."
"That's fair," Max chuckled. "You know, I deserve it after that."
"Ooh!" Nev clapped his hands together excitedly. "Here's one from Gabriella. It says: Dear Nev and Max, I'm a twenty four year old single mother of two twin boys living in San Jose, California. Two years ago, I received a friend request from a stranger by the name of Noah Lewis. I didn't recognize him, but I accepted the request anyways. We started messaging and my life completely changed. I fell hard for this guy. He was always so loving and caring. We would talk well into the night on the phone, but never on video." Nev paused to give the camera a suspicious glance. He continued reading; "We made plans to finally meet up in person about three months ago after two years of talking online. When the day finally came, he didn't show. I was so devastated. I couldn't bring myself to speak to him about it, but he didn't reach out, either. I can't believe that he would end things like this. Worse yet, I can't even be certain that it's really over. I've been stuck in this relationship limbo for three months too long. I need to know why he didn't show up. I need to know if we're over. Most importantly, I need to know if what I felt and if the person I was talking to was real or not. I hope you guys can help me. Gabriella."
"Wow!" Max said, "Should we reach out to her? Should we give her a ring?"
"Totally," Nev rapidly typed out a message to Gabriella within a few minutes, was waiting for her to pick up the Skype call.
A beautiful brunette woman sitting in an office chair with a couple of kids running around in the background suddenly appeared on their screen. "Hello!" The woman greeted the duo.
Nev and Max said, "Hey!"
"Oh my gosh, I can't believe I'm really talking to you guys!" Gabriella said. "Hold on," she yelled over her shoulder to the kids, "Stop it with the nerf guns right now or you won't see them for a week!"
One of the boys wearing a cowboy hat and wielding a plastic sword ushered the other one out of the room and slammed the door shut behind him.
She redirected her attention back to the guys on her screen. "Sorry about that. It's hard raising two six year olds."
Max said, "It's alright."
Nev asked, "What are their names?"
"They're Benjamin and Alexander." Gabriella smiled.
"Whoa!" Max said, "Sophisticated."
Nev said, "Let's talk about you and this mystery man. How did you two meet?"
"So in the middle of my junior year of college, I get a message from this really cute guy named Noah. I had no idea who he was, but I accepted the friend request anyway."
Max spoke up, "Do you guys have any mutual friends?"
Gabriella looked off to the side in thought. "I don't think so."
Max nodded. "Carry on."
"We started messaging back and forth and it just never stopped after that. He was always asking me about how I was feeling and how the boys were. He was super caring and supportive. It was so easy to fall in love with him."
Nev said, "Then what happened when you two tried to meet up?"
"Yeah, well after we had been talking for two years, I asked to finally meet him and he said yes. I told him to meet me at a coffee shop down the street from my house, but he never showed."
"Oh, is he from your area?"
"He moved to Palo Alto from New York around the time we were supposed to meet up."
"Wait…did he move there for you?"
"He said that he got a job offer first, but I think being closer to me was his main reason. He made it sound like because he was moving closer, we could get married and be a happy family after we met up. That's what's been so rough," Gabriella dropped her head. "I was preparing to finally give my boys a real father figure. This has been a huge letdown in more than one way."
Max said, "We're so sorry to hear about that. We really want to help you out. Do you have any suspicions about who he says he is?"
Nev said, "Yeah, we noticed how you wrote in your email that you guys haven't video chatted ever. What do you think about that?"
"I don't particularly like it," Gabriella confessed. "I knew once he first started avoiding getting on video chat that meant he could be someone different from the person in the photos. I think I've accepted that a while ago. It doesn't matter to me, I still love him."
"Wow," Nev said. "Is it okay if we fly out to San Jose and meet up with you?"
"Oh my Gosh!" Gabriella squealed, "Yes! Please do!"
"We'll be there soon, Gabriella. Take care."
The woman on the screen waved goodbye and Nev shut the laptop. He immediately looked towards Max with an uncertain expression.
Max said, "Well, at least she's being realistic with her expectations about his identity. She's not dumb. She knows that he's hiding sometime."
"Yeah…shall we pack up and head for San Jose?"
"Let's do it."
A/N: Thank you so much for reading! Why do you think "Noah" didn't meet up with Gabriella? What do you think they could be hiding?