Vendetta Dolce
It was deadly silent; the only sound that could be heard throughout the entire house was the tapping of her fingers against the laptop keys as she fought to get her half a page article written up perfectly and on time. Her brunette locks were pushed negligently to the top of her head in a messy bun - a few stray hairs cascading down her shoulders here and there.
The room in which she used to write reflected her personality more than anything else; tiny piles of important documents scattered around, organised in a way that only she could understand. Her television was hanging on the wall - the pictures flickering, the sound muted to avoid distraction. Lying beside her door was a black laptop bag. The infamous initials "GM" printed on the front in large, silver font. Below that, her name sake; "Eric Slade Enterprise - Professional Reporting."
'She' was reporter, Gabriella Montez. At age 26, she had been in the business for a relatively long time; completing school and higher education to get to where she wanted to be. She was the best in the industry some had claimed, although none of the praise she received ever made her conceited; she promised herself the moment her ego got too inflated she would resign. Gabriella would never be like him.
The slam of the large book against her delicate glass table caught her attention. Her head snapped up and her eyes widened, ready to shriek insults at the owner of the hands who had thrown the object down carelessly, challenging the durability of the table she worked on daily. That was until she saw that said owner was her boss - Eric Slade. She bit her lip as she glanced up at him warily, watching as his mouth curved into an amused smirk.
"Problem?" His voice sent chills down her spine. She knew him well enough to know he'd never hurt or intimidate her, but the tone of his voice was rough - risky, and the sharpness of it pierced through her ears.
Adjusting the papers on her desk and straightening out her clothes, Gabriella composed herself before responding. "Certainly not, Sir. Any particular reason why you're in my office at..." She trailed off, glancing at the clock that rested on her office wall. "...9AM?"
He chuckled and she relaxed a little. Her couldn't-care-less attitude was just one of her masks; used to divert his attention from the fear she felt in his presence. It had always won with him–previously he had said it reminded him of how he used to be. "Actually, there is."
Her chocolate brown eyes flickered up, twinkling with excitement at his statement. "Do elaborate."
"Troy Bolton."
The enemy.
A subconscious growl left her throat and her face contorted with disgust. "What about him?" She hissed.
He smirked once again. Though this time, the smirk was more mysterious - holding secrets and schemes that only he knew the answer to. "I have a proposition for you. I know you usually pick and choose which articles you write just lately, but I feel the twist in this may entice you."
Her stomach began to do flips, like butterflies soaring delicately through the sky. "This sounds intriguing. What exactly do you have in mind?"
"Troy Bolton is in town next week on a work trip. He's only staying for 7 days and I want to get revenge on him for the stunt he pulled last year that almost brought us down. This is where you come in. As much as Troy insists his extreme dislike for you is larger than the height of Mt. Everest, I know that given the opportunity, he could never say no to you. Nobody could say no to you. Your job is to show Troy Bolton what it is like to love and then in seven days throw it back at him and show him what it's like to lose something valuable. Prove that his motto - "Troy Bolton never loses" - is not the case. By the Monday of the next week, the eighth day, I want the article of "To Live and to Lose" on my desk and word perfect. Are you in?"
Gabriella knew that she need not even respond to his offer as the look on her face would tell everything she thought of the proposal; but did so anyway. "Hell yes. I'll begin my research tonight. Expect top quality for this article, Sir. I know I can pull it off."
Nodding his head curtly, the middle aged man strolled out of the room, leaving Gabriella to contemplate every possible outcome of what she had just agreed to. Her conclusion - her life had just taken a very intersting turn.
Greater Boston. Home to 4.5 million residents and known for its crowed metropolitan streets. Normally, Gabriella revelled in the fact that she never felt alone in her city, but when mobs of people gathered at every street corner and prevented her from getting to her favourite cafe to meet her best friend - she began to wish she lived somewhere more rural.
"Excuse me, please," she huffed, glaring at the man who had stood directly in front of her and began to fire up a conversation with another person.
"Sorry," he mumbled, moving to the left to let Gabriella through.
Those lines were repeated several times as she fought her way through the many different cliques until finally she got to her desired destination – Diesel Cafe.
Pushing the door open, she waved at the workers and very quickly located Sharpay, sat at their regular table. She didn't even have to open her mouth to let Gabriella know she was pissed.
"You're late," the blonde hissed, glancing at her wrist, only to find no watch.
"By five minutes," Gabriella responded coolly, sitting down at the table. "So chill the hell out, will you."
Sighing, Sharpay backed down. "Why were you late?"
"The streets were mobbed," Gabriella mumbled, evidently bored.
Rolling her eyes, Sharpay ignored her uninterested tone and grinned. "Guess what?"
"What?"
Lowering her voice, Sharpay leaned over the table and whispered in Gabriella's ear. "Troy Bolton is in town next week."
Pulling back, Gabriella's face twisted in hatred once again. "Tell me something I don't know."
"You knew?" Sharpay gasped in shock.
"Give me credit, Shar; I do specialise in celebrities," she said bitterly, spitting out the last word resentfully.
"What are you going to do?"
Gabriella paused for a moment, contemplating whether or not to tell Sharpay about her 'mission.' "...I don't know."
"You're so much better than him, anyway. I don't know why he's so famous," she mused.
"I do. It's because he uses his charm to get information out of everyone."
Sighing, Sharpay bit her lip. "I guess so, sweetie. Look, I've got to go; Zeke wants me ready for 4 so he can take me out. He doesn't seem to get the hint that I'm really not interested. But I'll go anyway; a free meal never hurts anyone. Everything will be fine, I promise."
Standing up, Gabriella pulled Sharpay closer to her and gave her a quick hug. "Speak to you later, Shar. Have fun! Love you!"
"Love you too, Gabs," Sharpay waved Gabriella goodbye, leaving her standing in the cafe awaiting the week to come, because one thing was for sure... Troy Bolton would pay for what he did.
Troy Bolton was a man of many talents; cooking (although he'd never share his talent with anyone but his mother), communication skills and writing - his job depended on it, and most importantly charming his way out of parking tickets.
Resting his strong hand against the handle of his ebony car door, Troy heard a high pitched voice shout to him. "Excuse me, Sir?"
Spinning around, Troy raised his eyebrow challengingly at the tiny, ebony haired woman that was marching towards him, pen and notepad in hand. "Yes?"
"May I see your ticket please?"
He frowned at the petite lady, who stared back at him pointedly with her arms interlocked in an inpatient fold, and reluctantly unlocked the car door. He took the ticket out of his windshield and gave it to the woman.
"Just as I suspected, you're late by ten minutes," she scolded.
Sighing, Troy plastered a fake grin on his face and took the lady by the hand. "Wow, that's a beautiful ring you have!"
Her eyes flickered with delight for a split second before returning to the cold look they had before. "Thanks...but that's not getting you out of this. Name please?"
Just as Troy was about to surrender and tell the woman his name, a man with pearly white teeth and a rather large afro poked his head around the side of the car. "Bolton, what the hell is going on?"
"Bolton?" The girl repeatedly, timidly, a small blush erupting on her face. "Bolton as in Troy Bolton? The absolutely gorgeous, most successful celebrity journalist out there?"
Smirking, Troy nodded his head cockily. "Yes, that's me. Now I'd be so grateful if..."
"Oh, don't worry about the parking ticket, it's fine! But in return, there is something you could do for me," she flirted, handing over the notepad and pen.
Just as Troy had finished signing the paper, he heard an all too familiar voice enter his earshot.
"Cindy, what on Earth are you doing?" A colleague of the lady shrieked.
Troy's head shot up and to his surprise stood an old school 'friend'. "Sharpay."
Glaring back at the tall figure before her, she let out a disgusted laugh. "Bolton. I thought you weren't in town until next week?"
"Change of plan."
Turning to her colleague with an irked expression, she repeated the question she had previously asked.
Her friend bit her lip and gave her a helpless look and a gentle shrug of her shoulders, before locating a spot to stare at on the floor.
"Oh, I understand. It's Troy Bolton, there's no way you can give him a parking ticket...he's too gorgeous...you'd feel too guilty," Sharpay spat out sarcastically.
"Glad you think so," Troy responded, grinning brightly at the blonde who stood in front of him. "By the way, what happened to the modelling career? I never thought I'd see you giving people parking tickets for a living."
Sharpay's face twisted in hatred. "Fuck you, Bolton."
"Hit a nerve, have I?"
She opened her mouth to retort but found no insult strong enough to express her emotion, so she closed it once again.
He had never been Sharpay's favourite person, even before she had become best friends with Gabriella. When he was in high school, he had spent 9 months dating Sharpay's old best friend and then broke her heart on their 9 month anniversary by ending it and not giving an explanation. Ever since, Sharpay had held a bitter grudge against him which had only worsened when he had took it upon himself to ruin Gabriella Montez and all of her successes. It wasn't often that Troy and Sharpay crossed paths, but when the unfortunate situation occurred, Troy couldn't help but be a bastard to her.
"Bolton, man, don't be such a dick," Troy heard his best friend reprimand, finally revealing his entire body to the group.
Grinning at the man who had just defended her, Sharpay stuck her hand out in greeting, and he gladly accepted. "You must be Chad? Best friend of the asshole?"
Chuckling, Chad nodded and Sharpay continued on her tangent. "I pity you. Who would want to be best friends with him?"
"I could say the same thing about Montez," Troy interrupted, rudely. "Now, I'm sorry but I have to be at work. You two can continue to...bond somewhere else. Nice meeting you, Cindy. Sharpay."
Blatantly ignoring Troy's mention of her, she smiled sweetly at Chad and said goodbye, telling him that she'd probably see him around. Turning to Cindy, she glared. "We need to have words."
Rushing through the doors of the tall building, Troy ran past the reception – stopping only to drop off a few unimportant files with the receptionist – before sprinting to catch the elevator to the floor he worked on when he was back in town. The thirty second journey to the top floor gave him a chance to review the entire reason why he was in town, and not spending the week with his family back in Alabama. He winced at the destination of his home town; his poor past was something he was ashamed of and very few people knew about it.
Shaking his head to clear his thoughts, he focused on his future and what was about to take place in the upcoming weeks. He was more than excited. His mission was huge and absolutely pivotal if he wanted to continue being the best at what he did. It wouldn't be easy though – Gabriella Montez was the most stubborn lady in the business and it didn't help that she despised him. Their previous encounters had been less than friendly and it was going to take all the acting skills he could muster to so much as tolerate her, never mind anything else. He had concluded that if he wanted to pull this off; he'd have to keep his eyes firmly on the prize.
Walking into his room and sitting down at his desk, Troy stared out of the huge window at the front of his office. The view always helped to calm him down, and the one thing that inspired him the most stared back at him.
When Troy had first moved to Greater Boston, he was strapped for cash and had to live off toast for the first few months. He'd found that living off the benefits only just got him by and there were times when he wondered why he even got up in the morning. Every day he'd wake up to the smell of the hot dog van which was situated outside of his apartment, and feel disgusted that he couldn't even afford one.
It was then that he spotted the building. Its old architecture and slightly slanted roof enticed Troy. At first he couldn't quite pinpoint what it was about the building that made him feel so…different, but as each morning went by the feeling got stronger and stronger. It wasn't long until Troy figured out what the feeling was. Hope. Troy felt compelled to visit it, find out what it was. It took him hours to get to the building, but he finally found out what it was – one of Greater Boston's universities. That day, Troy spoke to one of the advisors and enrolled on the course that would later change his life dramatically.
"Troy?" A gruff, deep voice penetrated his ears, distracting him from his thinking time.
"Yes, boss?"
"I need you to focus. This is either going to work smoothly or it will sink us like the Titanic. Therefore, I'm going to provide you with the basics; the simple things. I need you to build on that – find things out about her that nobody else knows. Go as far as you need to, no matter what the cost. This mission is shameless and you're our best reporter. Don't let us down."
Nick Lowe and Eric Slade were enemies. Period. Something that had started as petty arguments and competitiveness as children had escalated into something so much more and it scared Troy. It scared him because it was his responsibility to make sure that Nick didn't lose out to Eric. It wasn't as though this was something that could be forgotten, it would be ruin him, and Troy prayed to God he wouldn't cave under the pressure.
Troy watched as Nick sauntered out of the room and sank back into the padded cushion of his chair. When Nick Lowe wanted something it happened. Fact. And it seemed like Karma had come to bite him on the ass for all the times he had laughed at those who were not able to meet the standards of his extreme expectations.
Gabriella smoothed out her red cocktail dress and took another look in the mirror. Her hair was curled and her layers were visible, whilst her eye make up was dark to ensure it wouldn't clash with her dress, but brought out the vivid colour of her deep brown eyes. She'd been to several business gala's in her lifetime but for some reason her stomach would just not settle as she thought over the one she was about to attend. She had a gut feeling that the night ahead held something unexpected…something that would cause her to have to rethink and reschedule everything she had planned. Grabbing her clutch, she checked to make sure she had everything and saw that her cell phone was missing. "Shit," she cursed, grabbing it from off the couch and realising that it had no charge. She glanced at the clock which read 5:45PM and she knew there was no point in charging it for 5 minutes. Throwing it down carelessly, she applied another layer of lip gloss to her lips, double checked that all lights were off and all plugs were unplugged before leaving the house to meet her boss.
Gabriella met Eric halfway between his estate and her apartment, and the other workers who were attending met them minutes later.
"You look amazing, Gabriella," Eric praised, and she smiled. It wasn't often that Eric praised her…it wasn't often that Eric praised anyone and so on the off chance he did, she felt beautiful.
"Thank you."
"Not a problem. Are we ready to go?"
The workers responded 'yes' in unison, and the group set off for the gala.
Gabriella's lips enclosed around the wine glass which held her beverage. Since she wasn't driving and didn't feel like she would get through the night without having at least one drink, she'd opted for a glass of Rose wine.
"So Gabriella, apparently Eric seems to think this will be your year. Are you in agreement with him?" Gabriella had to refrain from rolling her eyes for she had been asked the same question countless times that evening.
"Yes, I guess. Well, I hope so. I can only predict what I think will happen and I can see us going far. We have quite a few ideas, and if they turn out perfectly, I believe we'll be up at the top again," she smiled, pressing a hand to a colleague's bicep for support before taking another sip of her wine.
"Well that is fabulous. I wish you the best of luck," the man smiled.
"Thank you, likewise," Gabriella responded sweetly before spinning on her heels and getting caught up in yet another conversation similar to the one before.
Gabriella felt the annoyance bubble up inside her, and almost screamed with joy when Eric placed a hand on her shoulder and freed her from the boring conversation. "I'm terribly sorry to interrupt, but I need to speak to Gabriella rather urgently."
"Oh no, go ahead, it's fine. We'll catch up later. It's been lovely speaking to you, Gabriella."
"Likewise."
Turning to face her boss, she sighed in relief and wiped her forehead of the sweat that had gathered there. "Thank you! Thank you for ridding me of that hell." She grinned up at him, but her smile faltered when she saw the look on his face; his face was pale and his eyes were blood shot; he was clenching his fists and tapping his feet.
"That's not exactly why I took you away," Eric said, ringing his hands.
"Then what is it?" She asked, almost afraid of his answer.
"It's Troy. I know I said he wouldn't be in town until next week, but I've just been informed he has pushed his leave up another two weeks, and has come into town early. He'll be here for the remainder of this week, next, and then the beginning of the following week."
The colour drained from Gabriella's face and she found herself gripping her wine glass so hard her knuckles paled. "You've got to be kidding me."
"I'm afraid not. But there's no need to panic, this could be a good thing; you have longer to longer to gather your research about him."
Taking a deep breath, Gabriella smiled. "You're right. I can plan tonight and locate his whereabouts tomorrow."
"Umm, I'm afraid that's not all, Gabriella. It gets worse."
Her smiled faltered yet again and she looked worried. "How much worse can it get?"
"Montez!"
Gabriella's mouth dropped at the voice as she spun around and came face to face with Troy Bolton. He was dressed in a black suit, with a white blouse and a thin black tie. His cerulean orbs twinkled with excitement and curiosity as he trailed his eyes over his business rival's body. His hair was the only thing that had really changed – instead of covering his eyes and reaching below his ears, it was flicked up at the top and shaved close to his scalp.
"Bolton" she smiled sweetly at him with her pearly white teeth and stuck her hand out to shake his. "Fancy seeing you here!"
Furrowing his brow in confusion for a split second before recovering, he took her tiny hand in his and shook it tightly. "Well, I get around," he smirked and she bit back the temptation to mumble "you're not kidding" in response. If she was going to do this, she was going to do it right.
"Of course," she smiled. "It's only natural for you to be at such a prestigious event. How's the business?"
"It's doing incredibly well, thank you for asking. We're still at the top. But I hear you're catching up, congratulations!" Gabriella found it extremely out of character that he wasn't even attempting to boast, but shrugged it off.
"We're getting there," she giggled a fake laugh and plastered a huge smile on her face. "So, besides this event, what brings you back here to Greater Boston?"
Just as Troy was about to respond, the air grew thick. Nick Lowe ventured further into the room and stood directly in front of Eric Slade. The entire room felt they were treading on egg shells, just waiting for the two to explode and Troy and Gabriella glanced at each other warily.
"Slade," Nick hissed, extremely different to the way Troy had addressed Gabriella just seconds before.
"Lowe," Eric growled in response before turning on his heels and marching away. The room suddenly filled with conversation again and people began to relax a little knowing that the two were not going to make a scene, at least not for the first few hours.
Letting out a breath he didn't realise he was holding in, Troy responded. "Well I wanted to be in town for this gala, but I also have some things I have to finish and I figured the earlier the better. Would you like to get a drink?"
"I'd love to," she smiled and followed Troy towards the bar. As he got lost in the crowd, Gabriella took a deep breath and rubbed her eyes. She'd be needing a lot more drinks if she wanted to keep this up for the rest of the night and she knew she'd be needing something much stronger than alcohol to keep her grounded if she were to keep it up for the next two weeks.
To the outside world, it would have seemed Troy and Gabriella had been friends for years. Her giggles intertwined with his chuckles as they sipped their drinks, made belief that they were more than friendly with one another. The couple had been sat at the bar for hours, getting to know each other and making mental notes that they would follow up when they got home.
However, for Gabriella's co-workers, she was rapidly becoming a hot topic of conversation. Attempting to subtly watch the two from a far, they communicated with their eyes, all asking the same questions – what on Earth was going on between Troy and Gabriella and why was Eric not phased by their cosy interactions?
"I saw Sharpay today," Troy mentioned, watching her reaction intently.
"Oh, really? I'm guessing that didn't go down to well?"
He chuckled. "It wasn't as bad as previous encounters with her. Saying that, it was cut short. Her and Chad seemed to hit it off pretty well, though."
"Chad?" Gabriella questioned, glancing around the room before meeting Troy's eyes once again.
"One of my co-workers. I taught him the ropes a couple of years back and we've been like brothers ever since."
"Wow. That's got to be nice though, working with your best friend? You know you've got someone to rely on that way."
"Yeah," Troy responded distantly. "Hey, Gabriella…I know this is rather impromptu, but what do you say to hanging out tomorrow? You seem like a lovely person, and I feel as though I haven't had the chance to get to know you properly before now."
Perfect.
"Uh, sure! I think I'm free. What time were you thinking and whereabouts?"
"How's three thirty at the local Starbucks for you?"
Grabbing a pen from her clutch, she wrote the figures 3.30 on the corner of her hand and smiled. "That's fine. While it's been lovely speaking to you, Troy, I really must get back."
"Of course," Troy nodded, standing up and handing her his arm for support.
Taking it, she smiled and got down from the stool. "I'll see you tomorrow."
Troy merely nodded and made his way over to Nick, whispering something in his ear and then walking off. Slipping in next to Eric, Gabriella introduced herself and waited until his conversation died out and the people turned away, before simply smirking at him. "Date. Three thirty, tomorrow afternoon. I'll call you straight after to clear up a few things."
Eric's eyes widened in shock and pure delight. "Seriously? Wow, Gabriella! I'm so proud of you"
Gabriella nodded her head and smiled, before walking away and finding her seat ready for the speeches. Peace and quiet was just what she needed, since it had become increasingly obvious that Troy Bolton was going to wear her out.
AN: I wasn't going to continue this, but I did because I realised I wanted to write...for no reason other than my own passion and love for it. I'm not sure how regular updates will be, but I'm coming close to having a long break off, so updates will be more frequent then. I hope you enjoyed it.