Hey everyone! This story is my favorite OneShot and I have a lot so this story is getting a pretty good compliment from me. : ) I really hope you all like this story and would love for you to tell me what you think, so review if you haven't or always have! Well, enough of my talking! Enjoy!

(Oh, and please notice the copy right. :) I do not own HSM, only the plot... blah, blah, blah).

Pink Converse

"Pink Converse" © unknownbyhim22; 14 March 2009

Gabriella Montez was popular. The IT girl at Albuquerque University… she would laugh if she read that, if she had to live up to those standards. She had best friends and enemies, annoying teachers and exams that were made to destroy one's self-esteem. Gabriella Montez had about twenty guy friends and three girl friends. She was average.

Gabriella Montez would also laugh if she was called average.

She, Gabriella Montez- definitely not the IT girl, but a fraction past average- smiled as she walked through the crowd of people with her best friend Chad walking next to her and her other best friend Taylor, his girlfriend, leading the way.

A group of guys were laughing loudly as they made bets about who would win in a one-on-one basketball game with a boy named Troy Bolton. That group was now waving at the three, telling them to take a seat anywhere they could find one.

Apparently, this Troy Bolton guy was new to the school and as Gabriella sat on the lap of a guy who she had been close with since elementary school, she learned that he was the new IT guy- he was not average.

His basketball skills were currently being talked about and Gabriella let her eyes scan the room, going past Sharpay and Kelsi, her only other girlfriends that she had and then they came back to the group. She sat up from the lap she was sitting on and told Zeke, Sharpay's boyfriend, that she was getting a drink when he asked.

The music could be felt vibrating through the floor as she came into the kitchen, excusing herself as she bumped into someone walking past her as she walked over to the refrigerator. The refrigerator was open already and as Gabriella walked up to it she saw a pair of black converse, the rest of whoever the shoes belonged to was covered up by the door.

"Get me a Pepsi, would you?" Gabriella called to whoever was behind the door.

The door closed, and a pair of blue eyes was looking at her, traveling subtly as they looked at her guy-like clothing as he handed her the Pepsi she asked for.

"Thanks." She smiled softly, pulling her black sweatshirt over her shoulder as she realized that it was falling off of her, her barely covered shoulder exposed.

"No problem." He said as he opened his own can of Pepsi, leaning against the counter across from her. There was a basketball sitting there and Gabriella wondered if it was his. "So is the group of people by the couches still betting on the one-on-one?" He asked her as if he expected her to know.

"Um… yeah, they are." She nodded, taking a sip of her Pepsi. "I think they're actually talking about some guy named Troy Bolton like a bunch of fan girls. I left because I was bored." She told him honestly.

"Bored, huh?" He asked as the dark eyebrows above his bright eyes rose as if he was laughing on the inside.

"Yeah. Apparently he's really good at basketball, but I bet I could beat him." She told him, setting her drink on the counter as her hand became too cold to keep it there.

"Why don't we see about that?" He asked her, taking the basketball from the counter, spinning it professionally on his index finger.

"Why? Do you know Troy Bolton?" She asked him as he set his drink down on the counter behind him before he walked towards the back door of the kitchen where he noticed a basketball court earlier.

He chuckled, looking behind him at her, smiling as she followed him, stopping as he stopped in the doorway. He tossed her the basketball, putting his hands in his pockets as he jumped down the few stairs.

Gabriella creased her eyebrows in confusion as they walked over the small area of green grass to the basketball court. He turned to look at her, smiling at her confused look.

"I am Troy Bolton, and you, Pink Converse Girl, are going down." He said to her, the look in his eyes playful.

"It's Gabriella Montez, and we'll see about that Pretty Boy." She said as if the fact that she was talking to Troy Bolton about Troy Bolton earlier didn't faze her at all.

Troy smiled softly, liking the determination that he saw on this girl's face as she tossed the ball to him. He dribbled the ball slowly, looking at her.

"Before we start I must say that I love your shoes." He told her, laughing because commenting on a girl's shoes sounded so stupid to him.

"Thanks, yours are okay." She smiled, stealing the ball from him as he laughed, shooting the ball into the hoop, smiling as she turned to look at a very impressed new guy. "Are you sure you don't want to back down?" She asked him, stepping closer to Troy, who was now holding the ball.

He smiled softly, taking a step closer to her, raising his hand that was gripping the ball. He tossed the ball behind her, while still looking her in the eyes and it landed right into the hoop.

"One, one. We'll play to twenty." He said to her, stepping towards the ball that was bouncing towards them.

***

"You know, Gabriella," Sharpay started as they sat in her pink convertible, driving back to their dorms later that night. "I don't understand you." She said, looking over at Taylor who was nodding in agreement in the passenger's seat next to her. "You dress like a guy, yet guys are still attracted to you."

"For the one hundredth time," Gabriella said in annoyance, leaning into the cushiony seats of the car. "He isn't attracted to me."

"Uh-huh. You won a game of one-on-one with Troy Bolton and he was nearly drooling over you as you walked away from him the second you won." Sharpay replied with an eye roll.

"Yeah, and it looked like you were attracted equally to him." Taylor said with a smile, looking back at Gabriella.

Gabriella rolled her eyes, sighing. There was no point in trying to get her friends to stop because once they were on the subject of guys and love; there was no stopping the conversation.

"I think all the girls watching him sweat with no shirt on were very attracted to him!" Sharpay laughed, remembering the crowd of girls by the kitchen window while they were playing their game. "If I wasn't dating Zeke, I would have been all over him."

"Gabriella took care of that." Taylor smirked, swatting at Gabriella as she kicked the back of her chair.

"I told you, I tripped! He was gentlemen enough to soften my fall." She tried to explain to her friends.

"Yeah! With his rock hard abs." Sharpay replied, laughing with Taylor.

"Why am I friends with you again?" She asked the two, crossing her arms over her covered chest.

"Because although your choice to dress like a guy makes some girls want to throw up, we love you." Sharpay replied.

"Oh, that's why! I love you too, Sharpay." Gabriella said sarcastically, getting out of the car as Sharpay parked in her parking spot, walking with both of them to her dorm.

Gabriella rolled her eyes yet again as Sharpay and Taylor continued their talk about Troy Bolton and as the conversation turned into what machines they thought he used in the gym while working out, Gabriella walked into her room, slipping off her pink converse, and zipping up her black sweatshirt as she closed her bedroom door.

***

Gabriella jogged up the boy's dorm stairs. She had on baggy jeans, a baseball cap that held up her hair, and a band t-shirt that had red hand prints on the back. The girly thing about her: her pink converse. She laughed as she high fived Tyler, Chad and Zeke's neighbor, who was coming down the stairs as she went up.

"Chad!" She shouted while pounding on the door to his room, wanting to make sure that her friend hadn't thought she was serious when she told him to jump off a roof when he commented on Troy when he visited earlier that morning. It was now night time, parties were in full swing.

The door opened and Gabriella cursed under her breath as Troy Bolton stood before her, only in his boxers, a cell phone pressed to his ear. He must have been Zeke and Chad's new roommate and he said a quick goodbye to whoever was on the phone and hung it up.

"Pink Converse Girl." He smiled, moving away from the door so that she would come in. She stayed outside.

"Gabriella." She corrected, smiling softly as she noticed that Chad and Zeke weren't there. "Where's Chad and Zeke?"

"They're on dates with Taylor and Sharpay." He told her, grabbing a shirt that was on the microwave which was next to the door. He quickly pulled it on and smiled shyly.

"I'm going to kill Kelsi." She said to herself, throwing her arms in the air in disbelief.

"Violent much?" He said with a laugh, leaving her at the door so that he could search for a pair of jeans, he found them and pulled them on quickly.

Gabriella sighed. Kelsi had told her that Chad was in his room like always and that Taylor and Sharpay went to grab a coffee so they'd be up to study for Monday's test. All of them were obviously in on the same plan and Gabriella had just stepped into part one.

"You know, I'm going to go." She said with a small laugh, turning away from the room. "You can continue doing whatever you were up to."

"I was going to go on a walk. Care to join me?" He asked, jogging over to the door.

"You were going to take a walk in your underwear?" She questioned him, turning back to face him.

"It's much more refreshing that way." He joked, walking towards her as she shrugged, agreeing quietly to go on a walk with him.

When they stepped outside, the cool air hitting their skin, the people Gabriella had seen minutes before wandering around were no longer there. She stopped, looking around. Oh, her friends were good. Troy looked behind him to see that Gabriella was not walking.

"Can I ask you an odd question?" She asked him.

"Well, you already know that I wear boxers so I don't know how odd it can get." He said with a laugh, running a hand through his hair.

"You're not wearing, like, video cameras or something on you, are you?" She asked him and his mouth opened slightly, his eyes looking at her as if she was out of control.

"Yes, because while pulling on a t-shirt and pants I had time to hook up video cameras." He said, smiling as she rolled her eyes at herself.

"I'm sorry, I'm just paranoid." She explained to him as they started to walk together again, quiet as Gabriella looked up at the stars.

"So, I have to ask…" Troy started as he glanced over at her.

"No, I'm not hooked up to video cameras." Gabriella joked, lightening the mood by making fun of her own question.

"I'm glad." He smiled, laughing as he looked down at his shoes. "How'd you get so good at basketball?" He asked seriously, looking over at her when she sighed.

"I have a lot of guy friends." She explained, looking around the path and avoiding his eyes. "And what about you? How did you get so good?"

"I always have been." He answered egotistically, laughing as she faked an impressed look.

They were quiet as they walked across the street, onto the very green grass of the park across from the dorms. The shadows that were forming on the sidewalk shaped as their own bodies while they walked gave them something to look at since the talking had simmered down into an awkward silence.

The wind blew softly, causing the swings they were passing to swing by themselves and Troy looked over at them, stopping.

"I bet the kid in you wants to swing on those." Gabriella said with a laugh, skipping over to them before he had time to admit, that yes, he so badly wanted to sit down and swing on the swings like he had when he was younger.

"Can I ask you something?" He asked her, not sitting down on the swing next to her just yet. She looked up at him, laughing slightly.

"Is your middle name curious?" She asked him, smiling as he laughed softly.

"Nah, but maybe I should change it to that." He smiled, sitting down.

"Sure, ask your question." Gabriella replied, swinging barely as she dragged her feet on the dirt underneath her.

"What's with the clothes?" He asked her, causing her too look up from the ground that was currently occupying her thoughts. "I don't mean to sound rude. I'm just asking since they don't exactly seem girly." He tried to sound polite, which made her laugh as she looked away from him, out at the rest of the playground.

"I've known Chad since kindergarten and I won't even explain my clothing to him. Do you expect me to tell you after knowing you for, I don't know, a day?" She asked, keeping her eyes forward, but still smiling.

"No, I guess not." He said with a shrug, taking his eyes off of her for a minute to look forwards as well. "I was just wondering." He explained.

"I'll tell you." She said, causing him to look over at her quickly in confusion.

"Just like that?" He asked in surprise.

"Just like that." She repeated quietly, facing him.

He nodded, swinging softly as he waited for her to start her explanation. She was preparing herself, taking a deep breath and releasing it before she started. Looking over at him again, she started, her heart pounding extremely fast.

"My brother and dad died in a car accident before I started college." She started, glancing away at him when his eyes widened slightly. "My mom stopped talking after that and I couldn't blame her because she had no one to talk to anymore." Gabriella explained, squinting her eyes when she felt them tingle with tears.

Troy watched her, taking in her clothes and her saddened face, along with the pink converse fiddling in the dirt below her.

"So one day I went into my brother's room after he died because I couldn't handle the door to his room being shut anymore. His sweat shirt was thrown on his bed as if he tossed it there right before he left. I walked over to it and picked it up as I sank into his bed." She said, looking up at the stars now, trying to keep her eyes tear free.

Troy remained quiet as he watched her, wondering why she was telling him this. She didn't know him, yet there she sat, telling him her story.

"It smelt like him." She went on. "The sweater, the jeans, the hats." She said, looking down at the shirt she was wearing. "I put the sweater on and went downstairs into the kitchen where my mom just sat all day. I pulled up a chair next to her at the kitchen table and she smiled for the first time since the death of the both of them."

Troy eyes wandered over her body once again, landing on her pink converse, and then looking back up at her face.

"She talked to me too and I realized that it was because I looked like my brother as I sat in his clothes. I reminded her of him and from that day on I wore his clothes. From that day on my mom started talking to me again." She said, looking over at him as she finished telling the story that she never told anyone.

"Chad and Zeke know about your brother and dad, right? I mean, since you've known them." Troy asked quietly, looking her in the eyes.

She nodded, a single tear running down her cheek. She brushed it away quickly in embarrassment.

"Chad and Zeke barely got out of the car alive." She explained. "They were my brother's best friends. They were his teammates. They watched him die." She told him.

Troy shook his head sadly, looking at the ground as he felt his heart ache for the girl sitting next to him and for his new roommates that he knew painful secrets about. Gabriella sighed, looking in front of her.

"Why did you tell me this?" Troy asked quietly.

"Because you were the only one that noticed my shoes." Gabriella told him seriously.

Troy looked at her in confusion, watching the smallest smile form on her face as she opened her mouth to explain her shoes to him.

"I need to become Gabriella again." She told him. "I need to be the person I was before the two most important people were taken away from me. I just need some time to do it."

"You're losing me here." Troy admitted. He didn't understand what the shoes had to do with it.

"Eventually, I'm hoping to be full on girly again like I was before this happen. I hope to let my brother go. I can't do that in his clothes." She explained to him. "My shoes were the first step to moving on and as much as Taylor and Sharpay and sometimes Chad and Zeke bug me about getting ride of the guy clothes, they didn't notice the shoes."

Troy nodded, looking at her shoes.

"They didn't notice the small part of me coming back, but you, the guy I've known for a day. The guy I will continue to beat in one-on-one basketball games noticed. That's why I told you… because you're the first to notice Gabriella right away, not her brother's clothes."

"I'm glad I could do that for you." Troy said sincerely.

Gabriella stood up, and he watched as she extended her hand to take his so they could continue their walk. Troy looked over at her with a smile as they walked hand in hand and he slowly reached over to her, pulling the hat off of her head, placing it on his. She looked at him as her curly hair fell down her back, wondering what he was doing.

"I'm just helping with the process." He explained with a smile, squeezing her hand softly.

Gabriella smiled as she looked away from him while they continued their walk. The rhythm of their shoes hitting the pavement was all that they heard as they walked together quietly. Pink converse… black converse… pink converse… black converse… pink converse.

The first thing my cousin's husband said to her was that he liked her converse shoes! I just thought I'd share that random fact!

Like it? Review!

Much love,

unknownbyhim22