Gabriella's POV
Looking into the magazines and seeing how thin and beautiful the models were - it was making me think of how I hadn't eaten in many weeks. Hunger was all that filled my mind, but I had to resist the temptation. Hunger was something that was tempting me again and again. No! I just couldn't give up my effort after all these weeks. I had to get thin. I didn't exactly know when this all had started. All that I knew was that I didn't eat anymore. Well, not much anyways. It wasn't that I disliked food, but it was a sacrifice I had to make in order to get the pounds off that had gathered over years. It was making me unattractive and everyday I went to school I could feel the looks of my fellow classmates, making me squirm. It seemed as if I wasn't the only one noticing how fat I had become. My mum's yelling for me to come eat dinner interrupted my train of thoughts. I put down the magazine and looked on the counter. Oh, the delicious food that was on the table was looking so irresistible. But I had to stay hard.
My mom always asked why I was never eating. And I told her the same lie every night. Of course I was feeling terrible about lying to her, but I said it nevertheless: "I had a big lunch." I knew my mom was worried. I also knew that it was only a matter of time until she'd start questioning me about it seriously. But I didn't want to tell her. It would break her heart.
Every time I sat at the lunch table I was lying once again, but this time to my best friends. Troy, Zeke, Miriam, Taylor, Chad, and Sharpay - they all knew that there was something wrong with me. They just couldn't put their finger on it. I missed telling them the truth and I felt guilty every hour of the day. It was eating me inside and out, which was quite ironically with me trying to lose weight. There had been a time I had tried to stop my virtually absent eating habits by myself, but it just didn't work. It was just so addicting; I was just too much involved already. And then there was also something else.
Every day, when I went to school, I could see the look on Troy's face. He was just as worried about me as my mother, I could tell by only one look into his eyes. Troy. Deep inside my heart I had had feelings for him since freshmen year. It had started off in a slow progress, but somewhere along the line my feelings had become so strong it had been impossible to deny them to myself. The realization had shocked me, to say the very least. He was my best friend after all. I had known him for a little over ten years. Right now we were both sophomores in East High School in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Along with Chad he was the most popular guy in school. I was the second most popular girl, right behind Sharpay Evans. Through Sharpay, who I had met sometime in pre-school, I had gotten to know her brother, Ryan Evans. All of us had known each other for a long time. But still Troy remained my best friend. He was always there for me. No matter what it was - from girl-things like shopping and periods to my several boyfriend problems - Troy was always listening to see if he could help me out. The only secret he didn't know was that I was anorexic. And of course he never knew about my developing feelings for him. I had never told him and I didn't think I ever would.
This morning I woke up with a feeling that something bad was going to happen today. I shook my head to clear it from the thought. Why should today be any different from other days? I figured it was just because I was still tired. I hopped out of bed and got ready for another day of school. As I walked into the hallway of East High an hour and a half later I saw people looking at me. I instantly began to feel uncomfortable. Maybe people were looking to see how fat I was. All I wanted was for people to stop looking at me. Was that too much to ask? I accelerated my pace in hope I would get out of people's eyeshot.
As I stopped at my locker, I saw the person I wanted to see most. Troy was standing there, waiting for me, his chestnut hair just a little over his beautiful blue eyes. I really liked everything about him. He was the one who was most important to me. Sometimes I even felt as if I lived to make him happy. As I approached, he started talking. "Hey, Gabs. You want to hang out during lunch hour?" My heart took a leap. Still I tried to sound as nonchalant as possible. "Sure. Why not? Where do you want to go?" I could see his eyes light up. "Let's go to the pizza parlour down 15th Avenue." I was quick to agree. "Okay. I'll meet you in front of the school in the beginning of third hour." And with that I had a plan for lunch.
Troy's POV
Now I had lunch plans with Gabriella. Gabriella was my best friend, a beautiful brunette with sparkling milk chocolate eyes. Every time I looked at her it was hard to look way. All the guys of our school wanted to be with her, but they knew that she was mine. The only person that didn't know about my claim on her was she herself. It was a shame that she didn't know, because everyone was continuously saying how good we looked together. I loved her with all my heart. I didn't know what I would do without her. She was like my soul mate. When she was sad I felt the pain in my heart. When she was hurt it just broke my heart and I wanted to kill whoever had hurt her. And for all the things I do for her she repays me with even more. She helped me with my anger. Yeah, I had serious anger management problems. But whenever she was near I could feel myself calm down. And still I couldn't bring myself to admit my feelings to her. I couldn't afford to lose her over my feelings.
Finally lunch hour had arrived. "Hey, are you ready to go?" I questioned. "Sure.", she answered in her beautiful Hispanic voice. I offered her my arm and she took it smiling. Together we left the school building and hopped into my car. After a few minutes we arrived at the pizza parlour. "Hey, what do you want to eat? My treat.", I volunteered to take care of our meals. It took a moment for her to answer. "Oh. Uh… I- I'm not hungry." She had said it so fast that I had to play it again in my head a few times to understand what she had told me. I couldn't believe it. "Come on, you love pizza." I stated, trying to persuade her to eating something. I could have never foreseen her reaction. "I TOLD YOU, I'M NOT HUNGRY!"
Gabriella's POV
After I had yelled at Troy, I ran out of the parlour and headed straight for the library, where I usually went to calm myself down. Troy always knew where to find me and within minutes he, too, arrived at the library, looking for me. "I'm so sorry." I apologized. I didn't know what had come over me to ract the way I had done. Suddenly I lost all my thoughts and pitch blackness came over me.
When I woke up, I saw Troy kneeling beside me, regarding my face with concern. I could see his facial expression change to one of relief, as he saw I had opened my eyes again. "I called your parents and they said that you haven't been eating. But still you tell us every lunch you're not hungry, because you've eaten too much at home. Are you lying to me, to us? What are you hiding, Gabby?" I swallowed hard and as his temper started to rise, I started to shake. When I tried to hide something I tended to shake like I just saw a ghost. And of course Troy knew it too. "I...Uhh...I" That was all I could say.