This is my newest story, and I'm planning on making the chapters a lot longer than they used to be in my others stories, which means I won't be updating that often, sorry. The story will only be about ten chapters long.
Disclaimer: I do not own the characters, only the plot.
The silence around Gabriella Montez seemed to make the situation even gloomier. Her mother hadn't come out of her room for three days, since the court hearing. Gabriella had cooked and cleaned, done everything she would normally do, except go to school. Gabriella was the whiz of the school, and usually loved it. But now…it would horror to go back to school. It would a living nightmare to walk along the hallways with people pointing at her and staring and whispering behind their hands to their friends. Her friends would probably ignore her, and act as though they'd never met her before in her life. It would be the same as the last time this had happened. She didn't have any real friends, just people who shared the same interests as herself, the same goals, hopes, achievements.
It was obvious what was going to happen.
They would move again.
Except this time, there would be one less person. Her father wouldn't be coming with them this time. He was staying her, in Salt Lake City. It had been her home for nine months. The place they were living had been her home for a year, and that was the longest she could remember living anywhere. They had always moved. There was a court hearing—per usual—and then they would again. There was always a court hearing, always a court case, always another police report.
Gabriella moved around the house listlessly. She had nothing to do, there was nothing on television, and she had already spent a few hours on the computer and her head was beginning to ache. It wasn't near enough to lunch to make something to eat, so she couldn't use that as an excuse. She had lost a lot of weight in a few weeks, and already her pants were feeling loose around her stomach. Even her skinny jeans were feeling loose, and they were usually quite tight.
Finally, she grabbed her wallet and a hoodie and walked out the door. Pulling on the hoodie, Gabriella tucked her wallet into the front pocket. It would've been better with her iPod to help drown out all her feelings, but her father had busted it in his last yelling fit. Her mother had promised to get her a new one as soon as they moved and she got a new job, but she didn't want one. Her iPod had been a present from her grandma, who had died last year, and another iPod wouldn't replace it. Of course, her father wasn't thinking of that when he threw it at the wall and then stamped on it several times. What happened after the iPod smashing still left shivers in her spine. Even though her bruises were starting to fade, they still seemed to ache when she thought of him.
Gabriella got closer to the mall, which was looking rather empty because of the lack of school students. She pushed on the revolving doors and walked inside, her footsteps echoing lightly on the polished floors. There were several adults checking out the shops, and they all gave her strange looks. Gabriella gave them looks loaded with bitterness and stormed past them. She reached the Food Court and sat down on one of the benches. The last time she had been here, she had been with Raewyn Davis and Janine Peters. They had been shopping for the Prom which was coming up. None of them had dates, but they were going just for the fun of it.
Now, thanks to her father, she wouldn't be using the amazing black chiffon dress she had brought for over three hundred dollars. Raewyn and Janine had been so jealous that she had so much money to spend. Her mother had a high-paying job which kept all of them well stocked. Then Gabriella had got a part-time job to keep her out of the house, which had given her about one hundred a fortnight.
After a few minutes, she went over to the Subway and ordered a bun. The woman behind the counter took her credit card warily and swiped it. While waiting for her bun, a father and son lined up behind them. The son, a hot, blonde guy, was complaining about missing school. Gabriella was trying not to eavesdrop, but it was kind of hard. So in the end, she just listened in as the woman behind the counter walked around fetching ingredients.
"I still don't get why I had to come," the guy whined. Gabriella got her bun and walked past them, hearing the last few words from the boy. "I wanted to spend the day with Chad." Gabriella glanced up at him, and the boy abruptly stopped talking and gave her a small smile. Gabriella bit her lower lip and ducked her head. She sat at a table near the emergency exit and ate slowly. It didn't really taste of anything, even though Subway was her favorite food, it tasted like cardboard, and she threw the remaining half away.
The boy had left his father and was walking around the Rebel Sports shop. Gabriella had to go in to get new sneakers and another netball. The netball was yet another thing which was ruined in one of her fathers' rages. He'd thrown it at her, and she'd ducked. It hadn't exploded, or broken, and so he'd thrown it on the boiling oven, glad that it was finally destroyed. The burning leather had filled the kitchen with a horrible burnt smell for days afterwards. Her mother had tried to cover up the smell, cover up the memories, but even the small thing like the netball was burnt into Gabriella's memory.
Gabriella found a pair of white and black sneakers. She took of her sandals and pulled the sneakers on. They fitted fine, although a bit tight around her toes. Gabriella sighed and put them aside and put on her sandals again. She walked up to the counter and placed them there. She was about to pay for them, when the boy appeared at her side.
"She doesn't want this pair," he said softly, and took the pair of shoes off the counter. Gabriella frowned in confusion and followed him over to a stool where he was standing. "Sit down," he told her quietly. Gabriella sat down. He knelt at her feet and took of her sandals, placing them neatly beside each other. "These shoes won't fit, because you're not wearing socks." He put them on and pressed down lightly on the toes. "See? They're already a bit small for you."
"Um, thanks," Gabriella mumbled. The guy retrieved another pair of sneakers from the rack, a white and silver pair, and slipped them on. They felt a bit loose, but Gabriella guessed that she would grow into them. He walked her to the counter and Gabriella paid for the pair. "Thanks again," she murmured as she took the bag the clerk was offering her. He nodded and smiled.
"Bye," he said and walked off to find his father. Gabriella licked her lower lip and smiled slightly. She looked down at the pair of shoes in the bag and smiled again. Then she took her wallet and walked out of the shop, in the direction of home.
"Moving time, honey," Mrs Montez announced the next day. She had finally come out of her room, and she looked terrible. The lack of sun for three days had drained some of the color from her face, and she obviously hadn't been sleeping, given she had bags under her eyes. Gabriella blinked up at her mother from her bed, groaned, and pulled the covers back over her head. "No, sweets, up and outta bed!" Mrs Montez pulled the duvet back and then thrust open the curtains. Gabriella let out a louder groan and curled into a ball, trying to keep herself warm. Mrs Montez laughed slightly. "Still my same old Gabi."
Gabriella sighed as her mother left the room. Then she rolled out of bed and picked up her backpack. She started putting her clothes in. She had become an expert at packing, and knew exactly how to make all her clothes fit in a backpack and a duffel case. After she managed to get all her clothes in the back, she trooped downstairs to get a few boxes for the other stuff in her room. She saw her mum in the kitchen, smiling into the phone. Mrs Montez saw Gabriella, and gave her the thumbs up. Gabriella smiled back hesitantly, not quite sure why her mum was so happy. A few minutes later, she put down the phone and gave Gabriella another weak smile.
"I got myself a job. My company is very understanding—given the situation—and they said they don't mind getting me a transfer," Mrs Montez said. Gabriella nodded and shifted her grip on the boxes so she was holding them more comfortably.
"Where is it?" She asked.
"In Albuquerque," Mrs Montez replied. Gabriella took a deep breath and nodded. "I know that it's quite far, but—"
"Nah, it's alright, I'm good," Gabriella walked up the stairs. Her mother sighed this time and sat down on the bench in the kitchen. Gabriella walked into her room and put the boxes down on her floor in the center of the room. She started loading all her books and other things that would fit. They would move to Albuquerque, hundreds of miles away—from here, from her dad—and start a new life. Hopefully this one would be better than this life.
"Mum!" Gabriella whined. "I don't wanna start school today. We only just got here last week!" Mrs Montez sighed and gave Gabriella a push out the door. "Er," she grumbled as she stomped out the door and onto her new street. She had on the sneakers she had brought last week at the mall, a black halter-neck and jeans. A bus from her new school, East High, pulled up at the curb a few minutes later and she slowly got up the stairs. There were stares from a few of the students, given she was the "new kid", but most of them just ignored her. She made her way past a group of people she immediately knew were the cheerleaders, and then the jocks. There was only one seat left on the entire bus, and that was behind the jocks, so she slipped into it, narrowly missing having her head whacked off by a flying basketball.
The bus pulled up at another stop, and the bus went quiet. Gabriella frowned as a loud cheer went up. She saw a flash of blonde hair amongst a group of people slapping hands with whoever it was. The cheerleaders blushed red as he past them. Gabriella still hadn't seen her face, and she rolled her eyes, turning her head to look out the window.
The cheering and talking soon stopped. Gabriella wondered why it had halted so abruptly, and realized that the jocks and most other people on the bus were looking at her with an expectant expression. In fact, some of them were glaring at her. Gabriella frowned in confusion and then looked in the aisle.
The blonde guy who had hopped on the bus was standing by the seat, looking at her with a raised eyebrow. Gabriella frowned at him, trying to figure out where she had seen him before. The guy bit his lower lip as he realized it was the girl from the mall. She had moved here. He flicked his hair away from his eyes and sort of moved nervously from foot-to-foot. Gabriella also realized where she had seen him before, but since he didn't act like he recognized her, she would play that game as well.
"What do you want?" She asked him tartly. The jocks all looked put out.
"You're in his seat," one of them said. "Can you get out?" The way he put it, it wasn't a question. She was being ordered out of the seat. Gabriella looked at him, hoping that this was some kind of joke, but they all stared back, perfectly serious. Gabriella turned her eyes back to the blonde guy. She blushed a slight pink.
"Chick, move it," another guy from the basketball team told her.
"Nah, it's all good," the blonde guy said. "She can stay there." He slipped into the seat beside her. Gabriella turned her burning face to the window, glad that the bus had started up the noise again. The jocks were all talking really fast, and the cheerleaders were gazing adoringly at the blonde guy. Gabriella tried not to notice the fact his leg was pushed up against hers. He seemed to be able to ignore her easily enough, so she did the same.
When they got to school, everyone waited while the guy and then the jocks all piled out of the bus. Then everyone else made a mad rush from the door. Gabriella tried to walk out amongst the crowd, but it was obvious she was new, given the fact she wasn't talking to anyone and she was walking by herself. She had already been told which class she was in, and she followed the signs to 14B where the teacher was a teacher named Ms Darbus.
She entered the class quietly, trying to blend in with everyone else. She walked slowly around people to the back of the class. Gabriella found out that as few of the jocks and the blonde guy were in her class. She didn't know whether to be pleased or annoyed that he stared at her when she passed his table. Then the teacher came into the class, and it fell instinctively silent. The teacher glanced over them with her squinty eyes and then pulled out her clip-board with the class list on it.
"Bolton, Troy!" She yelled.
"Yes, miss," the blonde guy replied. Gabriella pursed her lips thoughtfully. His name was Troy. Troy Bolton. Gabriella zoned out of the world until she heard Ms Darbus call out her name. Then she nodded. She had already turned her head back down to her desk as Troy turned slightly in his seat and glanced at her. His eyes scanned over her body, which was seated sideways on her seat, and then they finally came to a rest of her face, which was tilted downwards.
Hm, I hope it's okay.