Not a Regular Day

6:00am

That was the time Gabriella would wake up every morning. Cathy was passed out and wouldn't wake up for a few more hours, Jim was asleep and would wake up at eight, and she was free to go to school without anything happening in the morning, at least at home.

You see, Gabriella was adopted when she was fifteen. She was basically adopted to be a free maid and punching bag for Jim. Which is rather stupid, considering the fact that they're rich as hell and Jim goes to a gym every day.

Jim and Cary Walling: the perfect socialite, respected, and well known married couple. They adopted Gabriella from a really poor orphanage that no one really knew about. Hence forth, no one knows where Gabriella came from, and no social services know about her because her orphanage wasn't listed.

Jim is a very strong looking man, and also very handsome. He's rather tall and strong chinned. He's always very serious and mean around Gabriella, but when he's out, he's a smiling, laughing and friendly kind of guy. Short light brown hair and grayish blue eyes, a good build and white sparkling teeth. He's the CEO of a major corporation, and makes a lot of money. He's a very well respect man in their community and a lot of the kids around the neighbor hood admire him. If only they knew what he was really like.

Cary is a beautiful woman, with medium length red hair, bright green eyes, a slim figure, and breast implants. She orders Gabriella do to a lot of stuff, but she doesn't hit Gabriella as much as Jim does. Cary is unemployed and proud of it. She's never worked a day in her life, and doesn't plan to. She's the kind of woman you would find at an adult tea party, or at a really expensive country club. Gabriella doesn't like her, but would never tell her that.

The only thing that Gabriella has ever thanked them for is letting her go to school. Gabriella loves to learn new things; especially History and Science.

Gabriella chose to keep her last name, which is Montez. She doesn't like the name Walling, she doesn't want the name either. But everyone at school knows her as Gabriella Walling, considering the fact that that's her name in her file.

Gabriella wears jeans everyday, and a long sleeved button down shirt that is like a giant tent over her. Mainly so no one can see the bruises on her body, or the cuts on her arm. But also because she likes to be in a big shirt, it doesn't touch the bruises, because when it does it stings a tiny bit. She doesn't really care that much because she gets worse pain everyday, but it's a distraction at times.

Gabriella also cuts herself. She's knows it's pain, but it's a different kind of pain. It makes her forget about Cary, Jim, and East High. There are a few holes in Gabriella's room from her hitting the walls. She has a lot of anger in her, which would surprise most people because she doesn't look like the kind of person to ever get angry.

When Gabriella was thirteen, she witnessed her father get murdered. Her father, Richard Montez, whom Gabriella loved dearly, was killed by police officers after being accused of being in a notorious Mafia, which he wasn't really in; at least Gabriella didn't think he was. She thought he had only done them a few favors because they were his friends, and he didn't know they were part of a big Mafia gang. When, actually, her father was the head of the Mafia, and she didn't even know. Most of the members in the gang considered Gabriella as their niece, and Gabriella remembers every one of them like it was yesterday, even though she hasn't seen them for four years. She never met her mother though, she never asked about her, and never cared.

She does remember the Mafia accompanying her to her father's funeral. They were her family, and Gabriella loved them like they were really her uncles. But, after her father died, she blocked them out of her life. They did however bring her to an orphanage since she refused to live with them. She blames them for her father's death, and she isn't afraid of them. She knows they don't have the guts to kill her, they love her, and she doesn't know it, but they keep a close protective watch over her.

There are certain things that Gabriella doesn't do. She doesn't cry, she doesn't yell, she doesn't wear skirts, doesn't use makeup, she hasn't smiled since she was thirteen (except in Betty's), and she doesn't talk unless she has to. These are the things she's become accustomed to. The no skirts and no makeup thing are her own because she just doesn't like those things anyway. But she hasn't cried since her father died, and she doesn't know why. She knows she should cry everyday from the pain. But she doesn't, she just stays silent.

She also never takes off the most precious thing she owns; a necklace that her father gave to her the night before he died. It's a small silver locket. Inside is a picture of her father and on the other side is a picture of all the men she considered her uncles. Even though she refuses to be in the same room as them, she still loves them. She never, and I mean never, takes it off.

Gabriella's voice is also very soft and quiet when she talks. Probably because she doesn't really want to be heard, or because she's partly afraid, but if you asked Gabriella, she'd say that she's never afraid of anything.

No one knows about the abuse she takes everyday. When Jim's on a business trip, Cary usually beats her, and not to mention the bullying and physical abuse she gets at school. That's right, everyday Gabriella is thrown against lockers, harassed, verbally abused, and of course beaten. It's not nearly as bad as it is at her home, but she still doesn't like it. Only the girls at school physically hurt her, the boys just verbally hurt her, but there are some boys that like to push her around.

The students at East High judged Gabriella the moment she stepped in their school. She didn't speak to anyone, she didn't smile, and that made her an outcast. She's the only outcast in her school, and that makes her a major target.

Gabriella actually is a person with many strong opinions. If someone actually had a conversation with her, they'd see that she has a very strong voice, but she wouldn't talk to someone like that unless she knew them really well.

Anyways

Gabriella slowly got up, feeling the pain from the night before as she pushed the sheet off her. She got up and looked at the bruises on her legs and arms and sighed. They weren't as bad as usual. Luckily, Jim was drunk last night, so her beating wasn't as bad, but it still hurt.

She grabbed her glasses on the table and put them on carefully as she got up with a little wince before putting her arms on either side of her tank-top and braced herself. She held in a breath and closed her eyes as she lifted her shirt over her head and tossed it to the floor. Luckily her breasts don't get damaged during her beatings; that would really, really hurt.

She then picked up her bra and winced slightly at the pain from her arms, and the strap going over a newly forming bruise. She reached for her boxers and slowly pulled them down, feeling the pain from the bruises hurt like hell. She silently groaned at the pain before stepping out of the boxers and putting on new boy-shorts. She reached for her jeans and put them on with a tiny groan. It hurt even more because of the material, but it was worth it if no one could see the bruises.

Grabbing a tank top from her little dresser, she put it on carefully. Gabriella always wears a little under shirt, just in case she gets wet during school. She's had paint thrown on her, water, and not to mention milk. And when water it thrown on her, her shirts usually basically become see-through, and she's already had an incident when someone almost noticed her bruises because her shirt was see-through.

Gabriella then looked over her over large light blue buttoned down shirt, making sure that it had no blood on it. After a quick look over, she put it on. She looked at herself in her little mirror as she buttoned the shirt up. She walked closer to the mirror and put her chin up to see her neck. The strangulation marks were still there. She thought she was going to be strangled to death, turns out; Jim wanted to keep her around longer, so he only made her unconscious. She put the collar up to hide the marks and grabbed the brush with a sigh.

She took out a few tangles while staring at herself in the mirror. She was trapped, and she knew it. Jim or Cary could kill her any minute, and then they would get a new kid. But they had one little fault in their plan. Gabriella skipped a grade, and she didn't tell them. They're probabaly going to kill her on her eighteenth birthday, but they don't know that she's not going to be there.

Gabriella hopes her plan will work. She just feels so lost though, like she doesn't know what to do. She should have run away years ago, but she didn't, and she doesn't know why. She should have told the police, or at least a teacher, but she never did. After brushing her hair she looked at it for a second. She really was thankful that it was so long. It hid some bruises sometimes, and that always helps.

She grabbed her backpack and sighed deeply as it pushed against some of her bruises. She went over to the stairs and pushed them down. That's right, she lives in the attic. She walked down them slowly, making sure not to make a sound.

When she got to the bottom she walked down the little hallway and looked inside Cary and Jim's room to see them asleep. She walked quickly down the stairs to the first floor and went to the kitchen.

Rummaging around to find the eggs and milk, Gabriella realized that she would have to go to the grocery store after school. She quickly made the food and placed them on the table with the forks and knifes.

She couldn't help but have her fingers linger over one of the knives. Jim stabbed her in the leg once, he was drunk that time. It hurt like hell.

Gabriella took a quick look at the table and was satisfied with her work. She grabbed her backpack again and walked out the door.

That's what she did every morning. Every morning Gabriella does the exact same thing, and the rest of the day goes pretty much into a schedule too. But if Gabriella had her way, there wouldn't be a schedule. She'd go live in the mountains, or the beach, or even in a tree, where everyday all she would have to do is relax, sleep, and write novels.

Outside you could see the sun peaking, Gabriella stared at it blankly before continuing to walk down the street. She took out her MP3 player, which she got by working as a waitress, and turned it up full blast. Jim and Cary never give her money, not even a little. Gabriella always buys their food with her money.

Gabriella works at an old diner called Betty's. Only old people go there, and Gabriella likes old people. She thinks they have a lot of wisdom, and she loves to listen to their old stories. The people in Betty's are the only people that Gabriella actually socializes with. She has work after school this day, and work at Betty's is the only thing she ever looks forward to, and it's the only place she smiles.

Gabriella continued walking to school while listening to the Above and Below by The Bravery. Gabriella loves The Bravery; their lyrics match her life almost exactly. She mouthed the words to the song as she saw the sun rise even higher.

She saw East High in the distance and then looked at her little watch, which she bought with her own money. The school buses were about to arrive, and she was still outside. She couldn't run because her leg hurt like hell, so she would have to subdue some verbal torture before lunch time when it would get more physical.

Three buses came up and two cars did to. One was pink convertible, and Gabriella knew that Sharpay Evans, Taylor Mckessie, Kelsi Neilson, and Monica Forman were in that car, she knew because she's been locked in their trunk a few times.

The other car was a black truck in very good shape; this had Chad Danforth, Zeke Baylor, Jason Dolly and Ryan Evans.

Those girls and those guys ruled the school, and Gabriella couldn't care less about them. But she's their favorite person to have "fun" with.

"Well, well, well. Look who decided to show her ugly face today." Sharpay said as Gabriella tried to walk past them.

Gabriella moved to one side and Kelsi blocked her way, she moved to the other side and Monica blocked her way, they both had evil smiles on. Taylor stood next to Sharpay with her arms crossed and asked with sarcasm, "What did you do this spring break, expect read like the geek you are?"

Gabriella didn't answer; she sighed and tried to walk past them. "God, you still don't talk. Either you're too stupid, or you're just a freak." Kelsi said as Sharpay began to circle around Gabriella.

"You're still fat too." Sharpay said with an annoying giggle as she stood in front of Gabriella again.

Gabriella actually isn't fat; her big clothes just make her look fat. If you take off the big button up shirt, you would see perfect curves, perfect breasts, and tons of bruises. But she also has a very low self esteem, and also doesn't care about the way she looks.

Gabriella doesn't know why they pick on her, she never does anything to them, and yet, they just push her around, whenever they feel like it. She can't fight Jim, so she certainly can't fight a group of people, plus, she's much too weak.

She's is however, surprised that they were attacking her in front of the school, they usually only push her around in the halls, mainly because there are teachers in front of the school.

Gabriella was right though, they only wanted to mess with her a tiny bit, and they left as soon as they saw a teacher walking their way. "See you later loser." Monica said as they walked away. The group of boys didn't come over to her because a teacher was walking right behind her.

And yet, no one saw the black Camino on the side walk across the street.

Gabriella walked into school, and didn't witness what was happening in the group of popular people.

"Hello girls." Chad said as the group of boys approached the group of girls at the fountain in the middle of the courtyard.

"Hello boys." Taylor said as she jumped into Chad's arms. Kelsi jumped into Jason's arms, Sharpay jumped into Zeke's arms, and Monica jumped into Ryan's arms.

"I heard there's going to be a new kid today, he's a senior too, and I hear he's hot." Sharpay said as the girls sat on their guy's laps and went to their girl talk that the boys briefly enter once in a while.

"What are we?" Chad asked as for the guys.

The girls looked at their guys for a few seconds before turning back to the conversation. "I hear he moved here because his parents kicked him out of the house, and now he's living with his grandparents." Kelsi said as they forgot about their guys and continued to talk about all the information they had on the new kid, wither it was true or not.

"I'd die before living with my grandparents. They're so boring." Sharpay said as Ryan rolled his eyes.

"I bet his are boring too." Monica said with a little giggle.

"Yeah but I heard that his Dad is a famous coach, and his mom works for Prada."

Some of the girls scoffed before Sharpay said, "Yeah right. That's like the perfect family. No way does this new kid have that great of a life." Sharpay's dad was the owner of a major corporation, but her mother just goes to parties and benefits.

Two seconds later, the bell rang. The girls gave their guys a quick kiss before going into school. The guys however stayed, they always waited one minute after the warning bell until going to class.

~*~

Gabriella always sits in the back corner, always. No one every sits next to her, and she likes that, but someone does sit in front of her.

Gabriella loves to write novels, she's made about seven so far, and she's on her eighth one at the moment. All of her books are about a twenty four year old witty detective named Richard Jones, after her father, he solves the crimes that no one else can, and he's a single father to two children. The one she's working on know is about a serial killer that's Jones later recovers is a woman, and she kills seven year old boys with red hair after raping them, and they're always found on their parents front door horribly mutilated and naked. She puts some great humor at the perfect points too. She's on the last sentence and just finished it when the teacher noticed that she wasn't paying attention.

"Ms. Walling…Ms. Walling…….Gabriella!" Mr. Johnson said at the front of the class. Everyone turned to the back and looked at her as she finally looked up. "Would you like to share what you're working so hard on, because it must be more important then what I'm teaching." He said as he walked over to her desk in the back.

Gabriella pulled her book close to her and shook her head while quietly saying, "Not really."

Mr. Johnson grabbed the book out of her hand easily and started to read from it. After twenty seconds of silence, Mr. Johnson looked up from her book and asked, "You wrote this?"

Gabriella nodded her head slowly before looking down at her desk and quietly saying, "Yes sir."

Mr. Johnson flipped through a few pages and after a few more seconds said, "I'm going to borrow this; I'll give it to you later." He walked back to the front of the room and started to read the book.

Gabriella wanted to stop him, but she couldn't find the words to do it. She doesn't let anyone read her books, but how can you say no to a teacher. After a few minutes of nothing, Taylor interrupted Mr. Johnson's reading by asking, "Mr. Johnson, you were saying something about a new student and a project."

Mr. Johnson looked up from Gabriella's book and said, "Oh right…To start this year off, I'm going to pair you up and the two must make a two hundred page story, about anything, but it has to have a plot, characters, dialog, and at least one sub-plot. It'll be due in three weeks."

Gabriella gulped. She would have to work with someone, that means someone would have to come to her house, and she would have to talk to them a lot, and share ideas.

"What about the new student?" Sharpay asked with a smile.

Mr. Johnson looked back up from the book and said, "When he gets here I'll talk about him."

"Hello? Is this English 12?" Troy Bolton, the new kid, asked as he stood at the door.

Mouths dropped, Troy was, without a doubt, the hottest thing to walk through that door. He was wearing a leather jacket, a white t-shirt, dark jeans, and black sunglasses hanging off his shirt, a few books in his hands, and he couldn't have looked any hotter. His shaggy hair was the most beautiful color of sandy brown, and you couldn't see his eyes because of the sunglasses, but he still looked like the hottest thing on the planet. Gabriella thought he looked very hot, but she didn't want to think about him because she knew he wouldn't ever like someone like her.

"Ah. Mr. Bolton…Nice of you to join us." Mr. Johnson said as Troy handed him a piece of paper.

"Sorry I'm a little late. The principle wanted to talk to me." Troy said as he stood their and didn't look at the students that he knew were staring at him.

"It's ok; we were just discussing our first project of the year…I'm Mr. Johnson, and you must be Mr. Bolton." Troy nodded his head and Mr. Johnson continued. "You can take a seat next to Mr. Danforth." Chad raised his hand and Troy took the seat next to him. "The project is a two hundred page story that you have to write with a partner." Mr. Johnson said quickly

"Do we get to choose our own partners for the project?" Jenna asked while giving a quick glance to Troy.

"No…Jenna, you will be with Ryan. Monica, you will be Jason. Sharpay, you will be with Chad. Taylor, you will be with Zeke. Kelsi, you will be with Jake. Tina, you will be with George. Michelle, you will be with John. And Gabriella, you will be with…Troy." It just so happens to be a small English class.

Gabriella dropped her pen as her partner was called. Why did it have to be boy girl pairing, she could have dealt with a different boy coming into her home better then the new kid. He'd want to know her name and her "parents".

Everyone went to sit with their partners, and Troy looked around and saw that the only girl without a partner must be his partner. He did a double take on her and thought he was dreaming. Never had he seen a girl so beautiful. Her long black hair looked enchanting, and her glasses made her looked sophisticated, yet sexy.

He got up and walked over to her desk. Gabriella saw a shadow over her desk and looked up; her brown eyes met his electrifying blue eyes. "Hi. I'm Troy." He said as he held his hand out.

Gabriella looked at his hand. He wanted to shake her hand. She slowly and cautiously raised her and to meet his. He smiled at her and took her hand while slowly shaking it. Gabriella felt a tiny spark go through her, but she didn't notice it. She was focused on the fact that his grip was soft and gentle; she's never felt that kind of touch before. "I'm Gabriella." She said quietly.

Her hand was so soft and small. It fit perfectly into his big manly hand. "It looks like I'm your partner. Do you wanna get started?" Troy said warmly.

Gabriella got ready to write and kept her head down while asking, "What genre do you want it to be?"

Troy just thought of two random genres that just happened to be his favorite. "How about Horror and Comedy?"

Gabriella already had a great idea in her mind. "Ok. A married couple and their thirteen year old son go on vacation in a really old house. After the wife finds out that the husband has been having an affair for years, she goes crazy and tries to kill him in the most horrifying of ways, all the while, their son stumbles upon an old legend about the house which is about a psychotic man who killed many families in the house and when he finally went to court, he said that the butterflies told him to do it so he could drink the people's blood in order to survive the bugs that are going to eat his brains."

Troy looked at her blankly before saying, "That sounds…great. How did you come up with that so quickly?" Gabriella didn't answer him, and she went to writing. Troy just watched her write; she was so fast, as if she knew the story already. "How is it going to be a comedy?" He asked after a few minutes.

"The wife is going to try and kill him and the whole time he doesn't know about it. He thinks that she doesn't know about his affair, so he goes through the days normally, and she makes contraptions to try and kill him, but somehow, they always end up killing someone else around them." Gabriella said without looking up.

Troy nodded his head and the bell rang. "I'll meet you after school?" He smiled at her and Gabriella felt her heart flutter for a split second.

Gabriella thought about it for a second. Cary had a gala to go to, and Jim will be working, it was a Saturday after all. "Ok." She said quietly. Troy nodded his head and left while Gabriella put there stuff away. She walked to the front of the class and stood in front of Mr. Johnson, who was extremely into her book. "Mr. Johnson…Can I have my book back please?"

Mr. Johnson looked up and said, "If it's alright with you Gabriella, I would like to finish reading your book."

"Yes Sir." She said before walking out clutching her books to her chest tighter.

Well, school was over, and now she had to go to work, which I mentioned earlier, is the only thing she likes. She walked over to her locker, trying her best not to limp. She put her books in, and before she closed her locker; someone else closed it, hard.

She turned around and saw Jake Wyle and his two goons in front of her. She looked at them blankly for a few seconds before trying to walk past them. Jake and his friends chuckled as she tried to get past them, but she couldn't, and after a few more seconds, Jake pushed her back against the lockers.

"Hey loser, we missed you over spring break, didn't we boys?" Jake said as he and his two friends made a tight circle around Gabriella.

"Yes we did." John Riled said as he caged her in on one side by slamming his palm against the locker on her right.

A hand slammed on the locker to her left while George Tobin said "You can say that again."

Gabriella didn't say a word; she just stood still, closed her eyes and waited for a punch to the stomach. But instead, she felt a rough caress on her neck. The pain was almost unbearable, and if she wasn't used to it, she probably would have screamed in pain, considering the bruises on her shoulders and chest.

"Even though your partner is the new kid, that doesn't mean you can't still do our projects for us too. The As that we have are really looking good for collage, not to mention our sports scholarships that we're obviously going to get." Jake said before he slammed the back of her head on the lockers behind her.

Gabriella would have fallen, but Jake was holding her up by her neck. "But you have partners." She said with as much breath that she could, and they could barely hear her since she was so quiet.

"We've spoken to them; they want you to do the project too." George said with a weird grin. Their partners were the girls that hate Gabriella, and she has to do their homework anyway, but now she had to do all of them.

Gabriella heard a few chuckles as breathing started to become a problem, and then she faintly heard John say, "We'll see you next week."

When Jake let go of her, she slid to the floor and took a deep, but quiet, breath. She closed her eyes and swallowed hard. When she opened her eyes, they were gone, and the halls were completely empty.

She stood up slowly, using the lockers for leverage. The school was completely deserted, with the exceptions of a few teachers in their classrooms. She grabbed her backpack that had fallen from her shoulders and checked her locker to make sure it wasn't broken. She sighed before turning to leave, but froze in her place when she heard Troy's voice. "Hey, there you are." She gulped and turned back around to come face to face with Troy. She didn't say anything, she just stared at him. Troy looked at her confused as to why she wouldn't talk. But he pushed it aside and said, "I told you I'd find you after school. So should I come to your house or do you want to come to mine?"

She leaned her head to the side, and Troy thought she looked cute. Then she remembered their project. "Oh. Actually, I have to go to work, so maybe tomorrow."

"Where do you work?" Troy asked with a tiny smile as he put on hand in his pants pocket.

This was weird, Gabriella's never had anyone ask her questions with a smile, or even really talk to her. "Betty's." She said quietly.

"What's Betty's?" Troy asked stepping a tiny bit closer to her, so he could hear her better.

"It's a little diner…I have to go now." Gabriella said as she turned and started to walk away.

Troy noticed she had a tiny limp, so he caught up with her easily while saying, "Maybe I can come with you. We can work on our project, and I'm kinda hungry."

Gabriella stopped walking and turned her head to the side to look at Troy, ignoring the pain as her leg accidently hit her other leg, sending shooting pains through her body. She thought about it for a moment before saying quietly, "Ok."

Troy smiled at her and they started walking out. "So I'll just follow your car."

"I don't have a car." She said, with no sadness or anything, just a calm expression.

"Oh…Do you want me to give you a ride?"

This Gabriella really considered. Her leg hurt, and she didn't really want to walk on it at the moment. "Ok." She said with a quiet whisper. Troy thought he barely heard her.

Troy smiled at her again; he was doing that a lot. They got to his car and Gabriella looked at it for a second. It was a nice car, but it was a black El-Camino. No one these days has an El-Camino. "What?" Troy asked as he stood next to her, looking at his car.

"I didn't think people drove El-Caminos anymore." She said quickly and softly before she hurried to the passenger's door and got in the car. Troy was impressed, he's never met a girl that new what kind of car he had by one look. They got in and after a few seconds Gabriella said, "It's a couple blocks away." Troy looked at her and saw her looking straight out the window with no expression on her face. He decided to try and break her silence with a little music. He put in the only CD in his car and went to track 5. Gabriella's looked at the music player in awe and then at Troy before asking, "You know The Bravery?"

Now it was Troy's turn to look at Gabriella in awe. He never met a girl that liked, or knew about The Bravery. "Of course, they're like my favorite band."

Bad Sun was playing and Gabriella said, "This is one of my favorite songs." Troy smiled. He got her to talk. Even if it was only a few words, he still got to hear her voice again.

Troy saw a big sign that said Betty's, and chuckled. He stopped the car in front of the place and Gabriella got out. He grabbed his backpack and followed her in the diner. "Hey Gabi" They were greeted with by a bunch of old people.

Troy stood at the doorway as Gabriella went behind the counter and put her backpack down before putting her little waitress apron on. "Hey Saul, Greg, Willy, Sammy, Lee, Bruce, Doug. How life been treating you guys?" Gabriella said as she grabbed the coffee pitcher and poured them some coffee.

"Can't complain, but my damn kid is trying to put me in an old folks home." Greg said as the other guys nodded.

"My Johnny won't get me in one of those places, at least not while I can still walk." Sammy said as Gabriella smiled.

Bruce was about to say something, but he noticed Troy standing by the door. He elbowed Lee, who was sitting on his left and pointed his head in the direction Troy was. Lee elbowed Doug and did the same. "Who's the boy?" Doug asked Gabriella as she started to make some more coffee.

Gabriella fumbled with the coffee pot and almost dropped it. She turned back to the old men and said, "This is Troy. He's my partner for an English project."

The men looked Troy up and down before Saul said, "Sammy, move your flabby ass over. Take a seat Troy." Troy put his bag down with a smile and sat down next to Saul. Gabriella looked at Troy emotionless as he sat down.

"Coffee?"

Troy looked at Gabriella and saw her holding a cup in front of him. "Yeah, I could use a cup of coffee."

"So Troy, how come we've never seen you around." Lee asked as he took a bite of his eggs. Betty's serves breakfast all day.

Troy took a quick sip before saying, "I just moved here from California."

"What brings you to our town?" Willy asked.

(I may have forgotten to mention this, but this story is taking place in a town right outside New York City. But only really rich people live there. Betty's is the only building that looks out of place.)

"My father is coaching the Nicks, and my mother wanted to live here. She's a designer."

Bruce and Greg whistled before Greg said, "That's pretty sweet kid."

Lee patted Troy on the back before asking, "So what's this project?"

"Two hundred page story with a sub-plot." Gabriella said as she put some dishes in the sink.

Bruce chuckled before saying, "Well, you're damn lucky you're partner is Gabi. She's going to be the best author in America as soon as she gets out of his place." Gabriella's written a few short stories for them. They loved them and praise her for them ever chance they get.

"I bet." Troy said looked at Gabriella with a smile. She looked at him confused and expressionless for a second before grabbing a washcloth to go wipe the tables. Troy watched her for a few moments before turning towards the old men at his side. "I've told you about me, but I'd like to ask about you guys, if that's ok?"

Saul stood up slowly and said, "May I introduce" Gabriella groaned with a chuckle before he continued. "The only living soldiers from C-Company's second Battalion, one of the finest Airborne Units in World War Two."

Troy's mouth opened in shock and his eyes widened with a smile. "Wow. The Airborne, that's amazing."

"We were in Normandy, Bastogne, and somewhere in Germany." Doug said with a little chuckle.

"Gabi here is a bit of a hypocrite in that area." Saul said with a little chuckled as Gabriella rolled her eyes.

Troy smiled curiously and asked, "How so?"

"She knows everything about the military. Ranks, history, medals, even the names of every Major, Captain, Sergeant, and Lieutenant in World War Two. But she hates the military."

Troy smiled at her as she argued on her behalf. "That's not entirely true. I hate the military now. World War Two was for a good cause, so was World War One. Vietnam was just stupid. Who are we to tell other countries how to run their people? And don't even get me started on Iraq."

Troy listened to her intently, and with a smile. Even though it looked like he was just staring at her as if she was covered in sparkles and romantic music played in his head, he really was listening to her. "Get started on Iraq." He said as the old men watched him with a smile.

Gabriella looked at him confused. She saw something in his eyes. "It's just about oil, land, and lies." She said before quickly going to take the order of the family that just walked in.

~*~

Three hours later, Gabriella was cleaning off the last table. It was starting to get dark outside, and toady Betty's was closing early.

Now, Troy and Gabriella could work on their project.

"So what do you want to name the characters?" Troy asked with a little smile.

Gabriella was really confused. He almost seemed excited about doing this project with her. This was a first. She didn't really know how to talk to someone smiling at her that wasn't seventy or sixty years old. "Do you want me to decide?" She asked quietly.

Troy was confused, she was smiling when Betty's was open, now she was quiet again and a look in her eyes told him she was a little scared. "If you want to, or we could deicide together. We are both doing this project."

Gabriella stared at him emotionless, but he could tell she was confused. "You want to do the project together?"

Troy chuckled at her question and said, "We are partners."

This was seriously weird. "So we work and decide things together?"

Troy smiled. She looked cute when she was figuring stuff out. "Yes, we work together. You act like you've never had a partner before."

"I always do all the work." She mumbled to herself with her head down, not thinking that Troy would even listen.

But he did listen. "Why do you always do all the work?"

Gabriella didn't think that Troy would listen to her, or answer back, so without thinking she said, "Because I get enough pain at home." She said it with a little giggle, as if it were a joke. But as soon as the words left her mouth, she clamped her hand over her mouth with her eyes open.

Troy just stared at her. "What do you mean by that?"

She stayed silent. All these years she's kept it a secret. No one knew about the pain she gets at home. But one new guy comes and she spills it within their first day knowing each other. "I have to go." She said as she grabbed her backpack, grabbed the keys for Betty's and waited for Troy to step outside.

"What about our project?" He asked, not really wanting to go. Plus he wanted to know what Gabriella meant before.

"We can finish it later. I'll walk home. Now if you'll please leave." She said, surprising herself with how much conviction and confidence there was in her voice.

"At least let me give you a ride home." Troy said as Gabriella locked up Betty's.

Gabriella was going to say something, but first felt her confidence go when she stepped outside of Betty's. She was back to the weak, quiet, and pained Gabriella. And this Gabriella can't say no. "Okay." She said quietly.

Troy was confused how her posture could change in such a short time. A few seconds ago she was standing up straight and had a little gleam in her eyes. But now she was holding her backpack strand like it could save her life, and her head was down.

He opened her side for her and she slowly got in. He started up the car and looked over at Gabriella to see her staring down at her hands. "Two blocks away." She said quietly, not even looking up.

Troy took a few seconds to gather himself from the strange turn of events before stepping on the gas pedal. The ride was in silence, and Troy kept looking at Gabriella every chance he could. But she didn't even move once. She only looked up to see where they were before he asked, "So which house is yours?"

Gabriella motioned her head towards the big white one. "That one." She said weakly, and Troy could have sworn he heard a bit of sadness in her voice. But he didn't think about that too much because he just realized something.

"Hey. My house is right next to yours." Troy said as he pointed to his white house that had a chimney and flowers on the windows.

Gabriella opened her door but stopped before she stepped out to say, "I'll do the project. You don't have to worry about it."

Before Troy could protest, Gabriella left. He sighed before going to park his car in his garage.

Gabriella was dreading coming home. She stayed out a little bit more late then usual because of Troy, but she would never blame him for what was about to happen to her. She can't blame anyone for anything, except herself.

As soon as she opened the doors she heard Cary yell, "JIM!"

Gabriella closed the door as Jim came running in the room. Cary was standing at the bottom of the staircase with her arms folded and her red hair down. Jim was wearing his work suit. He must have just come home.

"Where have you been? You were supposed to make dinner thirty minutes ago." He said in a stern voice as he approached her.

"I'm sorry sir. I had to work." Gabriella said cowering slightly.

"You work was supposed to end ten minutes ago. Where the hell have you been you ungrateful bitch?" Jim said as he picked up Gabriella by her neck and started to slowly choke her. Her toes tried to touch the ground, but she was too high.

She gasped for breath a few times before saying, "I had a project to do for school with a partner."

Jim tightened his hold on her neck and brought his fist to her stomach. "So we let you go to school and you don't even feed us."

He let her drop to the ground and she didn't even bother to clutch her stomach in pain. "No sir. I wanted to finish the project." She lied, and it would cause her more pain, but at least he wouldn't ask her anymore questions.

He kicked her in the stomach and then in her side while Cary just watched from behind. Gabriella didn't cry, she just winced in pain. She felt her consciousness start to slip away every kick but her eyes widened when she head a bottle breaking.

She turned her head and saw Cary walking over to Jim with the broken bottle. She could see the sharp edges of glass and back up against the wall even more. "Hit her with this dear. Then come to bed." Cary said as she hand Jim the bottle before walking up the stairs.

Jim took the bottle with a little smirk before turning to Gabriella. She braced herself for the pain. Jim brought the sharp edge of the bottle to her right shoulder and she cried out in pain for a few seconds before biting her lip to keep the screams in.

He kicked her once more on the shoulder where her deep wound was, and that's what made her almost black out again. She fell again and out of the corner of her eye saw Jim go up the stairs. "Make sure you clean up. I don't want any messes tomorrow morning." He said, just loud enough for her to hear.

Gabriella stayed down for a few more minutes before putting her hands on the wall to try and get up; her right arm had blood dripping down her fingers. She tired to apply pressure on the wall from her right arm, but fell down again in pain. So she used her left arm, and let her right arm hang by her side.

She couldn't clean the mess now, so she would have to do it in the morning. She started to walk up the stairs, trying her best not to get any blood anywhere.

She reached the door to her attic and used her left hand to slowly open it, wincing in pain as she did so. She walked up her stairs, turned on the light and went directly to her bed. She sat down on the edge and took off her shirt slowly, only using her left hand. She looked at the forming bruises, but cared more about checking her wound.

She went to her mirror and turned to her side to see her shoulder. She sighed and picked the few pieces of glass that got stuck in her flesh.

She sighed again as she took out her bandage roll. She started it at the top of her wound and wrapped it around slowly, ignoring the pain the best she could. She finished after a minute or so and took off her bra. She put on a tank-top to try and not disturb her wound, but she didn't take her jeans off. She figured it would be too difficult and painful.

She went back to her bed and turned off the light before staring up at the wooden ceiling and taking three deep breaths. She made sure to sleep right so her right arm wouldn't hurt in the morning, or in the middle of the night.

So this was pretty much a normal day for Gabriella. Except for Troy Bolton, he sure changed things a bit, but the end of the day ended the same way it always does. But she didn't see the person in the attic in the house next to hers looking at her the entire time she got into her "pajamas" and fix up, or at least try and fix up, her wound.

~*~

If you think I should continue, please review.