A/N: This one-shot is based on part of a story I'm reading right now. Hope you like it:)
She looked everywhere for him. He wasn't downstairs with his friends talking about basketball. He wasn't near the drinks, getting wasted or having the time of his life. He wasn't on the dance floor grinding behind her, getting a chance to turn himself on. She trotted upstairs, praying at the same time that he wasn't doing something he'd regret later. She knocked on the first door she saw but heard nothing. She didn't want to interrupt whoever was in there, but she was looking for him. If he was doing something regretful, she had to know. She had to find out.
She grabbed the doorknob and opened the door slowly. She heard moaning and sucking but it was dark. She didn't dare turn on the lights or she might see some personal parts of the body. She listened if someone was going to say something.
"What if your girlfriend comes?" She heard a feminine voice. It wasn't high-pitched but it sounded like the snobby voice she heard around school.
"She's not my girlfriend. Don't worry." Her eyes started to tear up. She recognized that voice and it wasn't the voice she wanted to hear from the room.
"She will. You have no clue if she's going to or not." She had a funny feeling in her nose. She tried to prevent it from coming out, but she was too late. She sneezed.
"Who's there?" She heard some shifting in the room and then she saw the light turn on. There as she predicted, he was in nothing but his boxers and his jeans while the girl on the bed was in a bra and panties.
"Gabi…" She shook her head. He was right; this was none of her business. She was just…his friend.
"It's fine Troy. You go ahead with… your activities with Lola."
"Gabi, it's not—"
"…what it looks like. I know, this isn't a movie, Troy." She faked a smile at him.
"Are you going to be mad?"
"Me? Remember, I'm your best friend." She put a finger to her lips. "I'll keep my mouth shut so Chad and Jason doesn't get jealous." She waved bye to Lola but doing it like she didn't have a choice. She grabbed the doorknob and closed it shut. She sighed deeply before stepping back down the stairs and joining her best friends, Taylor and Kelsi with her best guy friends.
This was the third time Gabriella caught Troy with a girl in a row. He'd been hooking up with random girls every time they went to a house party and he would always apologize to her the next day if she caught them making out or almost on their way to sexual land.
Gabriella wasn't supposed to care. After all she was his best friend, not his girlfriend. If she was, she would have gone mad. But she wasn't; that was an if. Oh, how she wished she could.
"Gabi!" Gabriella groaned to herself before slamming her locker shut and turning for him to come over. Troy opened his arms and hugged her. Awkwardly, she hugged back.
"I'm so sorry about what happened on Friday! I didn't mean for you to see that."
"It's fine. I wouldn't think you'd care." Gabriella started her way to Ms. Darbus's homeroom. Troy ran after her.
"Of course I do. You're my best friend." That's right, just a friend. Oh wait, even better. Best friend. "I don't want you to make it awkward between us."
"That's your business with whoever you're dating, not mine," Gabriella answered without looking Troy in the eye. She knew that if she turned around, Troy would see her eyes and ask what was wrong. Obviously, she didn't want to say what was wrong because there was nothing wrong except she likes her best friend.
"Okay…so who are you going to homecoming with?" Gabriella totally forgot about homecoming. It wasn't really on her mind since the only person she wants to go with is not going to ask her.
"I don't even know if I'm going…" Troy pretended to pout.
"Awww… what, no one has asked you yet?" Gabriella shook her head. Three guys have asked her to go with them but she turned them all down. She was waiting for the perfect moment to come, but it didn't look like it was coming. At least, not now.
"I just feel like these are one of those meaningless dances." Troy's eyes widened.
"Meaningless?! It's homecoming, Gabi. And it's our last homecoming, the fact that we're seniors this year." Gabriella smiled. "And it wouldn't matter about dates. I don't have a date either."
"It would feel weird not having a date there. Taylor has Chad, Sharpay has Zeke, Kelsi has Jason, and Martha has Ryan. You can get a date within these ten seconds but it takes me longer than how much time Sharpay takes in the bathroom in mornings." Troy rubbed his chin.
"She does take a long time…" Gabriella laughs and enters Ms. Darbus's homeroom. Troy followed her inside and walked up to Sharpay, Chad, Taylor and Jason who were crowding around Chad's desk.
"Hoops!" Chad touched knuckles with Troy. Gabriella took a seat next to Taylor while Troy grabbed a seat next to Gabriella.
"Gabs, can you come to the mall with me and Kelsi after school to make orders for our dresses?" Taylor asked Gabriella. Gabriella shook her head.
"I don't think I want to go to homecoming," Gabriella answered. Sharpay's eyes widened.
"Why aren't you going to homecoming? It's like one of our major dances!" Sharpay yelped.
"That's my same reaction," Troy said while trying to steal Chad's basketball. Chad reacted fast and snatched his ball away from his desk.
"Why aren't you going?" Taylor asked calmly, unlike the blonde and auburn-haired girls.
"I don't have a date and I don't see the point of going. Tickets are sixteen dollars for each person, too!"
"Why are you worrying about money? Your mom is working pretty hard enough to at least put food on the table," Troy said.
"I would need to use my own money to buy my own ticket."
"I'll pay for you," Sharpay spoke up. "Just come. It's going to be fun."
"I can't do that with you. I'd have to pay you back."
"No, you don't have to. I really don't care if you do. It's not like I won't have any more money if I lend you some."
"I know, but I'll feel guilty."
Taylor interrupted. "And I'll feel guilty if I let you stay home on the best night of our life, besides Senior Prom. This is our last homecoming as seniors. C'mon!" Taylor whined. Troy pointed at Taylor.
"Hey! That's what I said." He pointed at Gabriella. "Listen to her since I said the same thing." Gabriella rolled her eyes.
"Mr. Danforth!" Every one of them widened their eyes and ran to their seats. Ms. Darbus walked up to Chad. "This is a classroom, not a hockey arena. Please put the football away!" He chuckled about Ms. Darbus mistaking basketball as another sport.
"You ready, Gabi?" Sharpay asked as she took off the Crest white strips off of her teeth.
She used it to make her teeth white, which actually helps.
"Almost. Tay, can you help me with this zipper?" Gabriella said, trying to zip her yellow dress by herself. (A/N: I don't feel like describing, so look in profile for the girls' dresses.)Taylor walked over to Gabriella and helped her with her zipper.
"It's not going up. It's stuck." Gabriella's jaw dropped.
"You're kidding me," she said in a low tone.
"Yes, I am." Taylor laughed and zipped up her dress. Sharpay walked into the bathroom in her hot pink dress with the rest of the girls. Her hair was in an easy up-do, looking like a ponytail but not entirely with her ends curled.
"Gabi, you look sexy," Sharpay commented. Gabriella giggled as she crossed over to grab the brush. Taylor used the curling iron to curl her ends a little. Her dress was a white halter dress with gold sequins around the neck and down under her breasts.
"Gabriella, why isn't your hair up yet?" Mrs. Montez, Gabriella's mother, came in to check up on the girls. "The boys will be here in any minute." The bell soon rang.
"And there they are. Girls, you better hurry." Mrs. Montez left as Sharpay and Taylor helped Gabriella with her hair. They pinned her hair half up and left the bottom half down in her messy curls.
"And, here, you can borrow these," Sharpay handed Gabriella a pair of diamond dangling earrings. Gabriella took them and poked them into her ear holes.
"Girls, the boys are here!" The ladies heard Mrs. Montez yell. They grabbed their handbags and got ready to walk downstairs for the boys to be amazed. Gabriella takes a deep breath before following Sharpay and Taylor out.
The boys shoved their hands in their pockets nervously and looked down. When they heard someone clearing her throat, they all raised their heads and their jaws drop. Sharpay, in her hot pink dress, strutted down the stairs confidently. Zeke laughed as Sharpay came up to him and kissed his cheek. Taylor came down next, swaying her white dress trying not to trip.
Chad bowed and kissed Taylor's hand. Everyone was waiting for Gabriella to come down but she never did.
"Where's Gabi?" Troy asked. Taylor shrugged and shook her head. Troy left the crowd and jogged upstairs. He saw Gabriella sitting down on her bed, playing with her hands.
"Knock knock," Troy imitated, knocking on the door. Gabriella raised her head, showing her tear-stained cheeks. "What's wrong?"
"I don't want to go to homecoming! I look like crap and I don't have a date!" Troy walked over to her and cupped her face. He wiped her mascara stains with his thumbs, not caring about whether it will get on his hands.
"You don't look like crap, Gabi. You're beautiful just the way you are," he said, meaning every word. He grabbed a tissue, wiped her tears and mascara, and threw the tissue away. He stood up and stuck out his hand. "And I'll be your date."
"Really?" Gabriella grabbed his hand and stood.
"I don't have a date either, so either that or I'll be a loner for the rest of the night." Gabriella giggled as Troy twirled her around. "By the way, nice dress."
"Thank you." Troy intertwined their hands and pulled her out of her room.
"Princess Montez came down?" Chad said as Gabriella giggled and Troy stepped out with her.
"All ready, Chadster!" She shouted like a little soldier girl.
"This is fabulous!!" Sharpay yelled, posing for the camera boy taking pictures for the yearbook. The boy started to walk away but Sharpay grabbed his arm. "I want more."
"Sharpay, let's go," Zeke said, pulling Sharpay away from the boy. The boy didn't want to pull away from her since he was kind of afraid what she would do if he did. Sharpay finally let go and followed him, linking arms with him. They had just arrived to the Hilton Hotel.
Gabriella was nervous about homecoming. She had moved around a lot since she was ten, so she never got to experience a school dance, especially her own homecoming. She dreamt out it when she was little; her dad would be tormenting her date as he got more nervous each word he said to him, her mom crying at each picture her dad takes when she was posing with her date, her date and her friends were all in one limo riding to their homecoming, and then dancing and having fun with her date. Her dream homecoming was different than the homecoming she was reenacting that night. Her dad wasn't there anymore since he passed away from heart cancer three years ago. Troy, as her date, wasn't really her date since he offered to become her date because he felt sorry for her. All she wanted to do was relax and have fun with her friends, especially knowing who the homecoming king and queen are. She'd always imagined herself as homecoming queen and then the most popular guy in school would be homecoming king. They would have their spotlight dance right in the middle of the dance floor. At the end of the night, she would lose her virginity to her homecoming date since it was tradition for seniors to lose their virginities on homecoming night. She wasn't ready and hoped her date would understand. Now that she's experiencing homecoming herself with her best guy friend, its better that she didn't lose her virginity tonight.
"Would you like to dance?" She looked at Troy's hand in front of her. She smiled and took it. Troy led her to the middle of the dance floor. People moved out of their way so their basketball captain and his date could get by. Some people even whisper to their date, knowing that that night would be the night the whole school changes.
Troy twirled her around as she giggled and landed on his chest. Grabbing her other hand, he placed it on his shoulder and snaked his arms around her waist. Gabriella wanted to look in his eyes but she avoided it, nervous enough that her feelings might pop out of her chest.
Everyone expected Troy to get action tonight but he wasn't ready. He had tried so many times with the girls that he hooked up with, but it just hadn't seemed right. None of them were the girl he wanted to be with. None of them were the girl he wanted to show off to his friends and be like 'Hey! This is my girlfriend and I'm in love in her!'. Only one girl filled that spot. She was perfect, in his words and mind. He loved how she giggled so much that her stomach would never hurt from laughing. He loved how her brown, chocolate hair would just fall loosely over her shoulder and she wouldn't have to spend an hour just making the curls look perfect. He loved how she bit the ends of her mechanical pencils when she was thinking really hard on a book problem. He loved that she could be so open and not be afraid to be embarrassed when she does something unusual or weird. He loved that everyone can tell that he was in love with her and that she was so oblivious about it. Basically, he just loved her for who she is. The only problem was he didn't want to screw up the best friendship/crush he ever had.
"Is something wrong?" He shook his head, coming back to pay attention to her and answering her question. Gabriella smiled and leaned against his chest. He could just smell the cucumber melon shampoo her mother just start letting her use the week before.
After three more songs, Troy asked Gabriella to sit down and rest for a while. She agreed and walked over with him to where their friends were. Their hands were intertwined but their hands were too numb to feel each other.
"How do you like the dance so far?" Kelsi asked Gabriella.
"It's really great! I love how the school can actually afford getting a ballroom as beautiful as this," she replied.
"They can't, unless someone chips in," Zeke said, looking at his girlfriend. Sharpay just raised her shoulders and grins.
"C'mon, bathroom time!" Sharpay linked arms with Taylor and Gabriella as Kelsi ran over and linked arms with Taylor and Martha links arms with Gabriella. Gabriella waved goodbye to Troy as she was being pulled away from the guys. They arrived in the bathroom in three minutes after they figured out it was next to the ballroom. Sharpay immediately got out her makeup bag and reapplied her eyeliner. Taylor grabbed a pale pink MAC lip gloss, wiped off her remaining her lip gloss with a paper towel, and reapplied to her lips. Kelsi and Martha just stood near the wall to wait for the girls.
"I need to use the restroom," Gabriella said. Sharpay and Taylor nodded. Gabriella ran to one of the stalls. Almost finishing peeing, she heard Sharpay and Taylor's voices draining off. Assuming they left without her, she groaned to herself and tried to finish her business. After flushing, she was about to open the stall when she heard two cheerleaders near the sink also reapplying their makeup and fluffing their hair while talking about Troy.
"Troy actually has a date tonight." Gabriella noticed that it was Alyson, a cheerleader. She peeked between the crack to see the cheerleaders talking. She also noticed that the other cheerleader was the co-captain, Bella.
"I thought Gabriella Montez was just Troy's best friend. I didn't know they're dating."
"Everyone knows that Troy and Gabriella are in love with each other but are just too stubborn to admit it to each other." Gabriella's eyes widened. How would Troy, the basketball captain who led them to their victory at the championships, the most popular guy in school who steals every girls' breathes and her best friend be in love with her?
"Well, I hope Gabriella is careful. Troy is always caught making out with a girl every second. I don't think he actually wants to change just because of her." She could hear their voices drain and then silence. Gabriella's tears were coming back as they fell down her face again just like a few hours ago at her house. This time, Troy wasn't there wiping them with a tissue.
"Where's Gabi?" Troy asked when he saw the girls coming back. He saw all his friends' dates but not his. Taylor's eyes widened.
"Oh my god! I forgot Gabi in the bathroom!" Taylor was about to run but Troy stopped her.
"I'll go find her. I need to ask her something." Taylor grinned as she saw Troy run out of the ballroom.
"Did you guys convince him?" Chad, Zeke, Jason, and Ryan all nodded at the same time.
Running out of the ballroom, Troy looked around to find Gabriella but suddenly remembered that she was in the bathroom. He couldn't go in but he could wait for her. A girl ran out of the bathroom, covering her face. She sounded like she was crying. Troy noticed her dress was yellow. Wait, wasn't that Gabriella's dress? Troy didn't know why she was crying but he had to find out. He took off after her.
"Gabi!" Gabriella heard him yelling her name. No, he was the cause of her heart breakdown; only he could fix it unless she doesn't want him to. Gabriella ran out of the Hilton Hotel and felt tons of water droplets falling on her. It was raining hard but that didn't stop Gabriella. She ran until her feet started hurting, or as one of her heel broke off which cause her to fall to the ground.
"Shit!" she hissed as she pushed herself back up and took off her broken yellow stiletto. She felt herself being lift up and thought that she was being lift up by angels until she saw his face.
"Gabi, are you okay? Let me help you." Troy tried to lift her up, but she pushed him away. She took off her other stiletto and stood. Luckily, her foot wasn't twisted when she fell.
"Don't follow me!" She ran away from him but stopped at thirty feet and turned around.
"Gabi, why are you acting this way?" Troy yelled in the rain. The rain kept pouring.
"Because I'm hurt!" She yelled back. She could feel her tears mixing with the rain droplets on her face. Her mascara stains were being wash off by the rain. "I was hurt by the only person I love other than my mom! I love her dearly but not as much as I loved him! He was the only one who understood me so well and always knew what to do to fix it only this time he can't fix it!" She sobbed a little while before continuing. "You don't know what it's like to not have someone to hug when my dad died! You don't know how much he hurt me! He hurt me, Troy! You don't know what it's like!" Her curls are now drooping down her face. She took out the big pin that was holding her hair and threw it on the ground.
She's wrong, he thought. He was experiencing the pain right now. He was feeling the pain that she talked about right now, watching the girl he loved crying her eyes out over a guy who doesn't deserve her. She deserves better and if she only knew how he felt, he would give her so much more than that jerk could give.
"I know! I know what it's like. I know how it feels because I've experienced it. I'm seeing it right now!" Gabriella's jaw dropped a little. Other than the pouring rain, they could hear nothing. What is he saying? "I'm seeing the hurt in your eyes right now and it's hurting me, too. I don't know what to do because you said that only he can fix it! I want to fix it so badly for him because he doesn't deserve you! You deserve so much better!" Gabriella didn't dare make a move; she wanted to hear what he had to say.
He didn't have to say anything. He ran up to her, grabbed her face and crashed her lips into his lips.
Gabriella wanted this for so long. She finally got what she wanted. Troy Bolton was kissing her! Sparks flew between their lips as Gabriella melted into the kiss. His tongue ran against her bottom lips. She knew what he was doing and opened her mouth to welcome his tongue. Their tongues danced along with the rain as the rain kept pouring even harder. Gabriella pulled back, breathing heavily. Troy leaned against her forehead.
"Gabi, you really do deserve so much better. If you'd let me, I want to show you how much you deserve." She linked her hands together and blushed. She slowly nodded, agreeing with Troy. He smiled, grabbed her waist and twirled her around. She giggled, the giggle that he loved, and wrapped her arms around his neck. He put her down and looked down in her eyes.
"Why? Why me though?" Gabriella whispered, loud enough for just them to hear.
"Because…" he started. "Because your name is Gabriella Montez. Because I love how you giggle so much that your stomach would never hurt from laughing. Because I love how your brown, chocolate hair would just fall loosely over your shoulder and you wouldn't have to spend an hour just making the curls look perfect. Because I love how you bite the ends of your pencils when you're thinking really hard on a book problem. Because I love how you can be so open and not be afraid to be embarrassed when you do something unusual or weird." He kissed her one more time. "Because my dream girl has to have the name 'Gabriella Montez'."
"You're so cheesy." He laughed.
"Yeah, I know." He intertwined their hands together. The rain started to fall less as they walk back to the Hilton hotel. "So who's your dream guy?" Gabriella tapped her chin softly.
"He has to have the last name 'Bolton' and the first name 'Troy'."
A/N: This is to pay you guys all back for waiting so long. I'm so sorry & I hope this will make up part of it. Hope you likeee