No More Hope 1x1 – Beginnings

Gabriella ran across the street, not looking back, not wanting to look back, not needing to look back. Who needed him anyway? He was just a jerk. A jerk she was in love with…

Oh, I'm sorry, you have no clue what I'm talking about, huh? Well, it all started out with a sweet little tale about two teenagers named Gabriella Montez and Troy Bolton. They were happily in love. Until things took a turn for the worst…

I guess we should start when Gabriella and Troy met – August 21, 2003 – a day Troy and Gabriella wish they could forget.

{Flashback}

Troy looked around the park, and his eyes spotted a petite Latina girl, sitting on the park bench and reading. He walked up to her, and tapped her shoulder. The girl looked up from her book.

"Hello," the girl said, a bit puzzled on why this boy was talking to her.

"Hi," Troy said, flashing the girl a smile. "I'm Troy Bolton."

"Gabriella Montez." Gabriella scooted over on the bench. "Do you want to sit?" she questioned as she patted the space next to her.

"Sure," Troy stated, and sat down.

{Present Time}

How both Gabriella and Troy wish how that could've been the way that they met, but it wasn't. You know what they say – it starts out bad, it ends out bad.

{Real Flashback}

Gabriella was peacefully reading her favorite book, Moby Dick, on the park bench, when she heard two boys snickering. She looked up at a tree from the corner of her eye without moving her head, and saw two boys laughing at her. One had sandy brown, unkempt hair, and the other had an afro as big as the tree he was leaning against. She was able to hear their conversation slightly.

"Hey, look at that nerd over there," the one with the brown hair said, and pointed at Gabriella with a smirk. Gabriella noticed he had a gap in his two front teeth.

The afro-kid laughed. "Who comes to the park to read!?" he exclaimed with a snort.

"Nerds. C'mon, let's go make her cry."

Gabriella heard them coming, but she didn't look up. It was the most tense part in the book, and – even though she knew how it was going to end – she didn't want those two bozos ruining it for her.

"Hey book-worm, what'cha reading? The little nerd that could?" gap-kid said with a laugh. Afro-kid laughed too.

Gabriella looked up into gap-kid's piercing blue eyes. She could read peoples' eyes as well as she could read a book. She saw hurt, and a lifetime of struggle in his eyes, but he didn't want it to show. He gasped a little as he gazed into Gabriella's chocolate-brown eyes.

"I'm sorry, what was that?" Gabriella questioned, trying to look angry. "'Cuz all I heard was blah, blah, blah." She dashed off, teary eyed. Not because she got her feelings hurt, but because she knew she was only adding on to the gap-kid's stress.

"Woah… she was…" "gap-kid" – aka Troy – trailed off.

"Nerdy? Strange? Weird?" "afro-kid" – aka Chad – said with a laugh.

"Pretty." Troy finished.

"Eww!" Chad said with a horrifying shudder. "Dude, we're 13. We're not supposed to like girls. And even if we did, not a bookworm! It should be some bodacious babe." Chad made a curvy figure in the air with his hands.

"Sorry, Corb, what did you say?" Troy said with a smile as he watched Gabriella smooth out her dress and sit down on the bench at the other side of the park.

"I'm leaving man," Chad stated. He left with a shake of his head, making his brown curls bob side to side.

Troy walked over to the peaceful Gabriella, who wasn't so peaceful when she saw Troy approaching her.

"Hey, look I'm sorry –"

Gabriella's sigh cut Troy off, and she bookmarked her book. "No, you're not," she said in a flat tone.

"Yes, really, I am," Troy apologized. He looked into Gabriella's eyes. Gabriella mentally sighed happily. His eyes were becoming her comfort zone.

"Okay," she said, trying not to sound dreamy. "I believe you. Bye." And with that, Gabriella(attempted) to walk off. Of course, she was followed by a desperate Troy. "Wait, please," he pleaded.

She unwillingly turned around. "What?" she snapped. "And make it quick."

"Will I get to see you again?" Troy asked.

"Chee-sy!" Gabriella said in a sing-song voice, and started to walk away again.

"I'm Troy Bolton!" he yelled after her. She smiled at his desperatness and turned around.

"I'm pissed off," she said sarcastically. "Well, see ya," and she successfully walked away. Troy let out a long, low groan.

{Present Time}

You might be thinking, 'Aww, he apologized and now they love each other.' Ha, I wish it was that simple. But, of course, love always leads to drama, right?

August 21, 2007…

Gabriella entered East High slowly. It was the first day of school, and her first day of junior year at this school. She looked around, absorbing the scene. She saw people talking, making out, and hurrying to their classes. One girl stood out from the others. She was beach blonde, and had a hot pink dress that brought out her curves. She had a black clutch and pumps, and three girls and a boy were gathered around her. The thing that was so unique about this girl was that she was staring back at Gabriella.

"Ryan, look at the new girl. Can you spell 'nerd'?" the blonde girl across the hall told the boy standing next to her. Gabriella assumed the boy was Ryan.

"N-E-R-D," Ryan said with a sarcastic smirk.

"Ugh, that is so fourth grade. Grow up, Ryan!" With that, the girl slammed her locker door shut, and stalked off. The girls followed her quickly, but the boy hesitated and looked at Gabriella, his head cocked to the side. Then, he looked after the girl, rolled his eyes, and eventually followed.

Gabriella walked down the halls to her first period – drama. When she entered (surprise, surprise) she saw the girl and Ryan. The girl just rolled her eyes and looked forward. Gabriella took her seat at the front, and started taking some books out of her bookbag.

Troy walked into the classroom. He laid his eyes on a black haired girl, then soon realized who it was. He took the empty seat next to her. "Nice to see you again, pissed off," he said to her, and smiled smugly.

Gabriella immediately recognized the voice and looked up. "T-Troy? Troy Bolton from the park four years ago?"

"The one and only," Troy said with a broad smile.

Gabriella stared deep into his eyes. It was the same – hurt, lifetime of struggle – but then she saw that part of it was her fault. When he blew her off, it only added on to all of it. She let herself rest in his eyes for a minute, amazed at how blue they could really be.

But, she had to put her tough face on. She was a deep cut now, and couldn't let anybody in anymore.

"Nice to see you too, Troy," she said as she pulled out her notebook. She kept her mouth in a straight line, and looked forward. She felt his eyes making a hole in her back, but she just looked at Ms. Darbus – the drama teacher – and tried not to feel guilty for Troy.

&

Gabriella walked into the lunch room, and desperately looked for a place to sit. She quickly realized the social groups. The nerds – who had their noses stuck into a book as if it was glued there. The snobby cheerleaders – who were making fun of the nerds. (No surprise, she saw the blondie from her first period there) The band geeks – who were practicing for the "Big Concert" which Gabriella saw a poster for plastered on the white walls of the hallways. The emos – which one of them were showing of their new razors. And of course, the always lovely jocks. Among that group, they had one of the nerds in a headlock, and were laughing their heads off. For some reason that Gabriella didn't know why, she just stared at them.

She looked at each of them, memorizing their faces. She almost dropped her plate when her eyes laid on Troy. He spotted her, smirked, winked at her, and motioned her to come over. She looked around, searching (for dear life) for another place to sit. She finally gave up and made her way to the jock table.

Once she sat down next to Troy, she felt the whole student populations' eyes on her. She simply just blushed and poked at her mac and cheese.

Chad stared at Gabriella, then finally leaned over to Troy and whispered, "She looks familiar."

"Park, four years ago," Troy whispered back.

Chad thought about it for a minute, then – once he realized who it was – he slammed his fists down on the table and stood up.

"Her!?" Chad screamed. The whole cafeteria looked at him.

"Chad, dude, calm down," Troy said calmly.

"No! You're letting that nerd sit here!?"

"Chad! Calm down!" Troy yelled back, getting angry.

"She was reading at the park! No one reads at the park!"

"So!? She does! I'm fine with it!"

"Can I say something here?" Gabriella asked, raising her hand.

"NO!" Troy and Chad yelled at her simultaneously, and went back to their argument.

Gabriella just exhaled slowly, threw away her food, and exited the cafeteria.

Troy and Chad watched her walk away, then turned to each other. "Nice, look what you did," Chad said at the same time as Troy said, "Nice going. Now she'll never talk to me again."

Troy ran out of the cafeteria, and started searching for Gabriella in the hallways. Little did he know, he'd never find her.