DISCLAIMER: I do not own 'High School Musical' or any related characters.
A/N: Okay, I've been wanting to write a tutor-hook-up thing for ages now and I found the beginning of this a little while ago and decided to continue it, I hope you all like it!
Tutor Me
Troy wasn't exactly sure how he'd ended up convincing her to tutor him. In fact, he'd been absolutely stunned when she'd agreed to help him, avoiding his gaze and uttering a 'yes' that was so soft he'd had to bend down to her level to hear her. He wasn't sure what stunned him more, the fact that she'd said yes or the fact that she had no idea he had the fourth highest grade in the school. But still, he couldn't help but feel slightly ecstatic that she had not only said yes to helping him, but he'd managed to pull off being confused and slightly stupid for the last four or five weeks in a row. That had been a little harder than he'd first thought. It had taken all his willpower to pretend he didn't understand a question he'd already answered and even more when he had to write out simple equations and get at least one part of it wrong so she could patiently go over it with him. It probably would have been simpler, and a lot easier, for him to walk up to her and ask her if she wanted to go to dinner sometime. But he preferred this way, simply because he wanted to get to know her when she was most comfortable and he'd had a feeling that walking up to her randomly one day and asking her out, not only would have made her uncomfortable but it most probably would have leant to him taking her to the nurses office because she'd fainted from the fright of speaking to someone she wasn't comfortable with. It amazed him that someone could be as painfully shy as she could be what amazed him even more that he found it completely endearing. He didn't know why, all his other girlfriends had been outgoing and loud, he'd never had to work to get one of them to speak his name and he definitely hadn't had to work to make casual conversation with one of them. But that was probably what he liked the most; she challenged him in a way he hadn't been before because she was so shy and afraid. He liked the challenge and the more he'd gotten to know her over the past few weeks, the more he'd found he liked her.
Shaking his head slightly, he glanced at the clock and felt his eyes widen when he realized that he had exactly ten more minutes to figure out which equations he was having 'difficulty' with and change out of the tracksuit pants he wore and into something that didn't smell like a gym. Glancing down at the book that was open in front of him, he decided simply to tell her that he had no idea where to begin and that she should just pick out the ones she'd found most difficult because that way she could help him with the ones that he'd normally skip, or at least, the ones she normally thought he'd skip. Standing up, he stretched; feeling pleased that he'd basically finished all his homework and had started the English assignment that he'd been handed that afternoon. Scratching his head, he glanced around his room, in search of a pair of jeans that would seem relatively clean and a shirt. Feeling triumph surge through him when he spotted a pair, he discarded his tracksuit pants and pulled on the jeans. Glancing around his floor again, he wrinkled his nose when he realized that the chance of him finding a clean shirt was slim to none. Taking in a deep breath, he found the only reasonable thing he could wear without the need for a shirt that had some message on it that his mother wouldn't approve of and pulled on the white wife beater that was, amazingly enough, clean. Picking up his math book and calculator, he headed out of his room and into the kitchen, carelessly throwing the book and calculator onto the bench he headed straight for the fridge and pulled it open.
"There's cake in the cupboard." He jumped when he heard his mother's voice. Spinning around to face her, Troy narrowed his eyes at his mother who simply smiled at him, adjusting the strap of the dress she wore as she leaned against the bench.
"Thanks, you look nice." He commented absently, heading for the cupboard he knew his mother had hidden the cake in. Taking it out, Troy turned back to her and raised his eyebrows at the way his mother was looking at him.
"Thank you. Now, are you going to make your move on this girl tonight or give yourself a headache acting dumb again?" Troy choked on his mouthful of cake at his mother's words and his eyebrows rose when he saw the self-satisfied smirk on his mothers face at his reaction.
"Uh, I don't know what you're talking about." Troy replied with a cough, placing the piece of cake he'd been holding down onto the bench as he hit his chest once to make sure that nothing was still stuck there.
"No? Then are you going to tell me exactly why you have a tutor that you don't need?" Troy groaned at his mothers words before shrugging, figuring it was best if he didn't respond to her question and then seeing no way out when she gave him a look that told him he wasn't getting out of this one.
"Uh, well, see, Gabriella's really, really shy and I don't think that me randomly asking her out one day would go down too well. So I made up this story so she felt comfortable around me and wouldn't faint when I asked her out." Troy said, wondering why on earth he was telling her this and then blushing slightly when he realized how stupid it must have sounded. His mother didn't laugh; instead she studied him intently and then nodded.
"Uh-huh. So she's the shy type?" His mother asked, trying not to sound amused as Troy shoved the rest of the cake into his mouth and shrugged.
"You could say that." He agreed and his mother rolled her eyes at him before her husband appeared out of no where, dressed in a suit that he looked more than uncomfortable in.
"We've got to get going or we're going to be late," Jack Bolton said to his wife, who nodded. "We're leaving, order pizza or try and cook something without burning down the house." Troy held back at a grin at his father's words, the fateful day that he'd tried to barbeque and nearly burnt the house down coming to mind.
"Sure, have fun wishing you were on a court and in your tracksuit." Troy replied and Jack glared at him as his wife shot the two a look before leading her husband out the door.
Troy listened to the car start up and let out a quiet breath of relief when he heard the car pull out. He wasn't surprised that his mother knew what he was doing, she had this uncanny ability to have him pinned down the moment he even thought about doing something and while some of the things he'd done she hadn't approved of, she hadn't exactly spoken up about them. His dad was a different matter; Troy knew he was completely clueless about what he was up to and Troy knew that if Jack caught wind of him having a tutor then there would be hell to pay, because the Wildcat Captain had to not only excel on the court, but he had to excel in the classroom as well. And a tutor was not exactly setting the best example for the school to follow. Before he could begin to annoy himself with his thoughts, Troy heard the doorbell ring and sighed in relief. At least she'd take his mind off his thoughts. Without thinking Troy skidded into the hallway and yanked open the door, grinning down at a very nervous looking Gabriella Montez.
Slim, petite with tumbling ebony curls and eyes to match, Gabriella Montez was something to look at and something Troy had found he'd been looking for quite a long time. Even with various girlfriends and a constant reminded of the status quo that he really couldn't care less about. Now that he'd gotten to know her, Troy found that Gabriella Montez was much more than something to look at. And he really liked the fact that she was more.
"Hi. You're a bit early." He said and she shifted nervously again, offering him a small smile that had taken him nearly two weeks to get from her.
"Sorry, but I had nothing else to do cause Mom's not at home and I thought we could get started early." She said quietly and Troy shrugged, sparing a glance towards the sky which was covered in dark clouds that brought the promise of rain.
"That's cool. Come in. My books are in the kitchen." Troy stepped aside to let her in and noted how she hesitated. He knew why, it was the first time she'd come to his place. Normally she'd tutor him in the library after school but he'd had a practice and she'd had to leave, so he'd suggested she'd come to his place.
"Are you're parents home?" She asked as he shut the door and turned to her. Troy shook his head and ignoring his urge to take her hand and lead her into the kitchen, began to walk towards.
"Nah, they had a function to attend. Dad was not looking forward to it, he hates wearing suits." Troy said and Gabriella let out a barely audible giggle that made Troy grin as he motioned toward the chairs that sat at the bench he'd thrown his books on.
"Doesn't he have to wear suits to school though?" Gabriella asked, sitting down and shifting slightly when Troy sat down next to her, reaching across the table to grab his books.
"He bends that rule so often Principal Matsui has given up telling him to at least wear a tie. Anyway, algebra," Troy changed the direction of the conversation to something Gabriella found more comfortable as he watched her face light up as she pulled the work they'd both received that day out of her bag. Troy wasn't surprised to find it done as she picked up a pencil and pulled his own sheet toward her.
"You haven't even started it." She commented and Troy shrugged, leaning closer to her to look at the sheet. He felt her shift and ignored it as he studied the sheet.
"I know, it's complicated. I hate algebra." The comment was said so often that Troy had to give it to Gabriella for laughing at him every time he came out with it.
"I'm sure you don't, you've been doing so well." She said encouragingly and Troy nodded his head, forcing the answers out of his head as she began to explain one of the more complicated ones to him.
Instead of actually focusing the way he should, Troy found himself concentrating on the fall of her hair as she tilted her head slightly so she could have a view of him and the paper. His eyes followed one curl and then the next as she shifted her head slightly, speaking softly as she wrote out the problem and then the working. Troy glanced at the question and then held back a sigh. Glancing at the clock, he was almost grateful to find that six-thirty was going to come around a little quicker than planned. With a small grin, he turned his attention back to Gabriella who was twisting a piece of hair around her finger as she wrote and spoke at the same time, Troy's grin spread slightly and he fascinated himself with watching her finger work its way through her hair.
Troy found that watching Gabriella's hair and occasionally her mouth, was probably the better way to spend forty minutes then torturing himself by acting dumb. Glancing at the clock again, Troy felt his stomach grumble when he found the clock read six-thirty and instead of speaking snapped his book shut and looked at Gabriella who had jumped at the sudden movement.
"What's wrong?" She asked and Troy noted the faint panic in her voice and smiled reassuringly, wondering why on earth she had thought she'd been the one to do something wrong.
"Nothing. Hungry?" He replied and Gabriella stared at him for a few seconds, almost like she was trying to comprehend what he had just said and then slowly nodded. "Good. How do you feel about pizza?" Troy asked and watched as Gabriella blushed slightly at his casual question.
"Um, I like it?" Her response was a question and Troy stopped himself from rolling his eyes at it.
"Great, what do you like on it?" He asked and let out a small chuckle at the look of utter confusion on Gabriella's face, he decided to let her ask before he explained what he was doing.
"Anything. Why?" Gabriella replied, her brow furrowing slightly as Troy reached for the cordless phone placed carefully on the bench.
"That's good. Wanna pick out a movie?" He replied as he dialed the number for the local pizza restaurant and watched as Gabriella sat completely still and listened to him order the pizza.
"Troy, I – what are you doing?" She asked as he hung up and stood up. Troy stretched before he answered.
"I'm hungry, your hungry, my parents aren't here and I don't want to spend the night alone. Wanna stay for dinner and a movie?" He asked and watched curiously as Gabriella went bright red at his question. He could tell that she hadn't seen it coming, even with his questions and found the fact more amusing than frustrating.
"Oh. Um, sure." Troy fought to keep his eyebrows from rising at Gabriella's submission. He'd thought there would have to be more convincing on his part to get her to abandon the maths and even more to convince her to stay.
"Good. Come on, you can pick out a movie while I find where Mom hid the money I'm meant to use." Troy took her hand and pulled her up without thinking. Only when their fingers entwined did it occur to him that she might not be that comfortable with him holding her hand. Glancing at her, Troy found her eyes focused on their joint hands and grinned slightly at the blush that was steadily spreading over her cheeks. So much for her feeling uncomfortable. Instead of commenting on the blush as her eyes suddenly flicked up and their eyes met, Troy winked at her and pulled her toward the DVD cabinet.
"DVD's in there. Remotes are over there, I'm pretty sure you know how to use a DVD player seeing as you live in the twenty-first century. You pick and I'll find the money, which I'll probably find the moment the pizza gets here which should be about," Troy squinted at the clock. "Ten minutes." He said and Gabriella nodded dazedly, causing Troy to hold back laughter. Instead he let go of her hand and headed back into the kitchen, glancing back when he heard her swing the cabinet door open.
True to his word, Troy found the money just as the doorbell rang signaling the arrival of the pizza. Walking to the door, he opened it and took the pizza from the delivery guy, who looked incredibly bored as he accepted the money and gave back too much change. Shaking his head, Troy shut the door and headed into the living room were Gabriella was sitting, three DVD's set out in front of her. He saw her eyes flick over to him and he grinned as he placed the pizza on the coffee table and opened the box.
"What are we watching?" He asked, picking up a slice and biting into it. Glancing at Gabriella who seemed lost in her own world, Troy glanced at the DVD's and grinned. Two chick flicks and one comedy, nudging her, Troy watched as she snapped out of her daydream and looked at him a blush spreading across her cheeks
"Um, what do you want to watch?" She asked shyly and he shrugged, glancing once again at the DVD's before looking back at her.
"Don't know. That's why you were picking the DVD." He replied matter-of-factly and was rewarded with a small smile. He smiled back and watched as she blushed again.
"Okay, 'Good Morning Vietnam' it is." Gabriella announced, standing up and picking up the case. Troy didn't say anything as she placed it in the DVD player and then settled herself down on the lounge again, curling up on the opposite end to him and eating a slice of pizza. Troy watched her as the movie began and observed that she was deep in thought, about what he couldn't be sure of. Glancing back at the movie, Troy watched as Robin Williams stepped off a plane and the wisecracks began. He felt Gabriella shift uncomfortably and his eyes slid off the screen and onto her.
"Troy?" Her voice was tentative and Troy looked at her even as she kept her eyes determinedly on the screen.
"Yeah?" He replied and Gabriella seemed to work up the courage to look at him and made the very rare effort to meet his eyes.
"Won't your friends be mad when they find out you spent tonight with me?" Gabriella asked cautiously and Troy saw a strange spark of fear in her eyes that informed him that she thought his friends would do something to her because he'd asked her to say.
"Why should they be? I asked you to stay, there's a difference from if you'd invited yourself to stay." He replied and Gabriella looked at him. Troy could see the wheels of her mind turning and waited for another question to come.
"How does that change your friends prospective? I'm a nerd and you're, well, you." She asked and Troy visibly winced at her words. The status quo again. It had taken him nearly three weeks to convince her that she could talk to him without being worried about being teased.
"Okay, if my friends barged in here, and by my friends I actually mean the guys I'm friends with, Chad, Jason, Zeke and Ryan, if they barged in here, they'd look at you, be suspicious until I told you that I asked you to stay. If I said that I hadn't asked you to stay then there might be some trouble as it is, I've told them to leave you alone." Troy saw her stiffen as he said the last part and ignored it as he turned his attention back to the movie.
"Why did you ask me to stay?" Gabriella asked and Troy detected a faint hint of nerves in her quiet voice and fought back a grin.
"Because I wanted too." He replied and watched as her eyes widened slightly at his words, obviously she hadn't been expecting that answer.
"But why did you want too?" She asked again and Troy wondered if she knew she sounded like a two year old child who answered everything with 'why?' and innocent eyes.
"Same reason I asked you to tutor me," Troy replied and turned away from the TV angling himself so that he was facing her, his eyes flicking over her confused features.
"Because you're bad at algebra?" She asked and Troy knew that she was becoming more than nervous as he shook his head.
"Gabriella, I have the fourth highest GPA at East High and one of my best subjects is algebra," Troy said and watched as her eyes widened again, incredulity shining in them as she looked at him.
"So…why have I been tutoring you if you're good at algebra?" She asked and Troy wondered why she wasn't angry, in fact looking at her now, he had to say she looked slightly hopeful.
"Because I wanted you to at least be able to talk to me without fainting from shyness before I asked you out." He replied matter-of-factly and watched as she recoiled at his words, Troy had no idea what had made him say that and he didn't particularly want to know as he realized there was a ninety percent chance that he had just overstepped his boundaries with her.
"I – I what?" Gabriella asked dumbly, still staring at him and Troy blew out a breath and moved closer to her. He wasn't all that surprised when Gabriella didn't pull away from him, she looked like she'd gone into shock and while he wished he could say that worried him, he had a feeling it was the first time a guy had said something like that to her.
"I said that I wanted you to be able to speak to you without you fainting from shyness before I asked you out." He repeated slowly and watched as Gabriella shook her head and her eyes widened even more when she realized how close he'd come.
"B-but why would you want to ask me out?" She asked and Troy shrugged, wondering how long he'd be able to fight a very strong, very sudden urge to kiss her.
"Because as I discovered a little while ago, I've been looking at you for quite some time and thought that maybe instead of scaring you into fainting, I could get to know you better before I asked you out," Gabriella looked at him and Troy saw confusion, sighing, he shifted even closer. "Basically? I like you." The simple statement was said with as much confidence as he could muster and Troy watched as Gabriella swayed at the words and panic flashed through him at the way she swayed, scared that she was going to faint after the announcement.
"Um – I – um are you sure?" Her voice was barely above a whisper and Troy rolled his eyes at her words, ignoring the way panic flashed through her eyes as he slipt an arm around her waist and pulled her toward him.
"Want me to show you how sure I am?" He countered and she stared up at him and Troy could see her trying to figure out exactly what he meant. Before she could figure it out and her shyness caused her to pull away completely, Troy leaned down and captured her lips in a soft kiss that had her stiffening and him wondering exactly how many guys she'd kissed before. Instead of pulling away when he felt her stiffen, Troy pulled her closer and kept his lips resolutely planted on her. Very slowly, he felt her begin to relax and her hand tentatively find his cheek as she kissed back hesitantly. Troy stopped himself from taking the kiss to far and instead pulled away, quite pleased with the warmth of the newly tested waters.
"I – I guess you're pretty sure." Gabriella said, a small gasp escaping her as a blush spread across her cheeks and she avoided his gaze.
"I'd hope that prove how sure I was. Want to try it again?" Troy replied softly, lifting hand that wasn't resting around her waist and brushing away some curls that had fallen into her face. Gabriella nodded and Troy smirked slightly before he pulled her into another, much longer kiss. This time, he took the kiss a little deeper and forced himself not to grin against her mouth when a shiver went through her as the tip of his tongue found hers. Pulling away again, Troy looked at her and this time didn't bother to control the grin that spread across his face.
"I think now would be the time to chime in your feelings," he said helpfully when she stared at him like a small child lost in the supermarket.
"I like you too." She admitted quietly, avoiding looking him in the eye and instead looking at his chest. Troy let out a soft, relieve breath at her words and kissed her again, more quickly.
"I'm glad I convinced you to tutor me." Troy murmured softly as Gabriella readjusted herself so that she was curled up next to him. Her eyes flicked to his and she blushed again at the look in them.
"Yeah, me too." She replied softly and Troy smiled at her admittance. Leaning down he kissed her again before pulling away and looking at the TV screen. He felt Gabriella hesitate slightly before she snuggled closer and smiled.
"I think maybe you need a tutor." He murmured, running a hand absently through her hair as she looked up at him confusedly. Troy smiled down at her and once again touched his lips to hers.
"I think you might need a relationship tutor." He said humorously and Gabriella's smile spread across her face at his words.
"Okay then, why don't you tutor me?" Gabriella asked shyly and Troy grinned at her.
"Why don't I?" He asked and Gabriella let out a small giggle at the look on his face before he leaned down to kiss her and thanked himself for being so patient. After all, Gabriella was the best tutor he'd ever had.
A/N: I'm not sure how well that turned out, I sort of struggled to find a way to end it without it seeming abrupt and that's how it happened. Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed!