Troy pulled the key out of his pocket and unlocked the door to his house. He stepped inside and closed the door behind him. He pulled a granola bar out of his pantry and plopped down on the couch.
He took his laptop out of his back pack and turned it on.
"You've got mail!" It sang. He signed onto his e-mail account and saw a new message.
Dear Andy,
I have a situation. You see my mom got a new job and I just found out I'm moving to a different part of town. I'm moving to West Albuquerque home of the West High Knights, our biggest rivals. And well I don't know how my friends will take the news? Especially since I am on the basketball team and know how bad the rivalry is. What should I do?
~ Soon to be a Knight.
He sighed. He would find out sooner or later seeing as he was on the basketball team. He took a bite out of his granola bar and began to type a response. Yeah, that's right. He was Andy, the school newspaper's "Ask Andy" advice columnist. Best of all no one knew except for the editor of the paper who just happened to be his beloved drama teacher. Well she wasn't so lovable but you get used to her.
Dear Soon to be a Knight,
It's always a disappointment to lose a fellow Wildcat but what's done is done and you can't do anything about your moving. I suggest you tell your friends because it's always better for them to find out now then later when we're crushing you on the court. (Sorry I had a little bit of Wildcat Spirit going through me at the moment.) And as for how they will take it…just make them understand that it's not your fault and that even though you'll be playing as a Knight you'll always be a Wildcat at heart. Hope this helps.
Love, Andy.
LINE
Gabriella Montez, East High's resident nerd needed help. It was uncommon for someone of a 120 IQ to need help; usually she could figure things out for herself but not this time. And so she began, typing an e-mail to the school's mystery advice columnist, Andy.
She didn't like telling a random stranger her problems but she had no choice. Other times she would go to Troy, her best friend since birth, but not this time. Not when the problem was about him. Now her love life was in the hands of some random person. Great.
"Love A Hopeless Romantic." She read aloud as she put the finishing touches on her message and sent it.
LINE
"Troy honey, you home?" He quickly hit the "Save" button and closed the laptop.
"Yeah mom I'm in the living room," When he meant no one knew he meant no one, not even his family.
"What are you up to?" she asked as she walked into the room to properly greet her son.
"Oh nothing much…just chilling and doing my homework," he answered.
"You've got mail!"
"And checking my e-mail."
She arched her eyebrow and cocked her head to the side wondering whether or not to ask why he was acting suspicious.
He opened his laptop and checked for a new message.
This one was signed by a girl named "Hopeless Romantic". Oh boy! These were the times he wished he could ask his best friend ,Gabriella, to help but she couldn't know; no one could. It was part of the rules of being Andy.
He sighed and began reading.
Dear Andy,
I need some serious romance advice. I think I'm in love with my friend. But the problem is I'm not exactly popular and he is, so I don't think he's into girls like me. As you know the Sadie Hawkins dance is coming up next week and I was planning on asking him. But he's the most popular bachelor and I'm sure the cheerleaders will fawn over him until he asks one of them. What should I do? I'm desperate! Please help!
He took a deep breath and thought for a moment. Yeah, he REALLY wished Gabriella could help him with these certain questions; He was no good with romance. He was having his own troubles, he, the most popular boy in school, was having issues asking out this girl. But you see the problem was that this girl wasn't like all the other girls. She wasn't really popular and she wasn't one of the cheerleaders, she actually had standards so he was sure she would reject him.
Dear Hopeless,
Ha ha! I'm not laughing at you. Just your current situation. I seem to be in the same boat and for once the advice giver has no idea what to do for his own problems. But that's another story. Anyways I may have a solution to your problem. If you guys are really good friends read the vibes coming from him and how he acts. If he constantly stares at you or gets nervous, chances are he likes you. See if he's interested in other girls or just pretends to be for the sake of being a guy. Lastly if you guys have been friends for a while then most likely he likes you. I'm sure you know how hormones work. If you spend enough time with a person you tend to start to like them. You spend a little more time together and it gets a little worse. So go for it and see what happens. Hopefully this will help you be not so hopeless.
Love,Andy.
LINE
Next day at school
"Troy!" a tough firm voice bellowed at him. He stopped dead in his tracks. He knew who it was before turning around.
"Yes ?
"Do you have Andy's answers?" she asked in a hushed tone.
He nodded and handed her a packet with the answers.
She smiled and took the papers from him before walking away.
LINE
"Hey Gabriella," he sat next to her in class.
"Hey, Troy, what's up?"
"Nothing really, oh how do you think you did on the English test?"
"I think I aced it, as usual. You?" He chuckled at her response.
" Well, I'm not overly confident like you but I think I did pretty well!"
" I'm not overly con-"
" Hey Troy!" He looked over at the voice that had stopped Gabriella mid sentence. Stephanie Dillon.
"Hey Steph," he said his eyes tracing over her body, her skimpy skirt and low cut tank top didn't leave much for the imagination. Wow, he couldn't believe girls belittled themselves like that to make a guy notice them. If the guy had any brains, at all, he wouldn't look twice.
She grinned as she noticed his eyes wandering. Gabriella looked away, obviously disgusted.
"Hey Troy, are you coming to watch the cheerleading practice today during lunch?" she asked and winked at him.
"Maybe," he flashed a smile at her.
"Great see you there," she smiled and walked away.
He turned to Gabriella and noticed her face was turned to the board. The teacher had walked in and was writing a question on the board. He sighed and tapped her on the shoulder. She looked at him and pointed her pencil at the board and then returned to answering the question.
After class he packed his things up and swung his bag over his shoulder. He noticed Gabriella was still packing her things. He opened his mouth and extended his arm to tap her on the shoulder and opened his mouth to say his name when he heard a voice that wasn't his own.
" Hey, Taylor!" she greeted her best girlfriend.
" Hey, what's taking you so long? We have to go to Chemistry!" she ordered grabbing her dark haired friend by the arm.
" Okay, okay! Bye Troy!" Gabriella called over her shoulder as her friend dragged her out of the room.
He shook his head and chuckled at their behaviors. He took one last look at his desk making sure he hadn't forgotten anything and left to his next class.
LINE
LUNCH
He sat next to Gabriella at their usual table along with, Taylor, Chad, Sharpay and Zeke.
"Oh hey, what are you doing here?" she asked quietly not looking up from her lunch.
He looked at her with a puzzled expression and she answered as if she had seen his expression.
Aren't you supposed to be watching cheerleading practice with Stephanie?"
" There's cheerleading practice now! No way! I'm game, come on Zeke!" interrupted Chad who only heard the words "Cheerleading Practice" out of the whole conversation.
"Sit!" ordered Taylor, he regretfully obliged.
Gabriella rolled her eyes at the sudden interruption and looked at him.
"You were saying?"
" Yeah, she invited to me to her practice, so what? I find her repulsive." He answered.
" Oh okay then," she answered and continued eating.
"What's wrong? You seem distant, almost nervous too,"
" No I'm fine. Hey when does the Wildcat Word come out?"
" The newspaper?" he asked a little bit perplexed as to why she was asking. She wasn't interested in the school paper she claimed it was full of gossip and trash.
" Yeah, I like reading the 'Ask Andy' column." He gulped.
" Uh, it comes out tomorrow, I think."
She nodded her head and they continued lunch like any other one.
LINE
NEXT DAY.
Locker Room during lunch.
"Hey Jase, why are you so quiet? You're usually the one we have to tell to shut up!" asked Troy laughing as he slapped him lightly with his wet towel.
" You alright man?" asked Chad we now seemed worried since his friend remained silent.
" Yeah, I just got to tell you guys something. "
He sighed and pulled out a folded piece of paper out of his locker. He clutched it in his hands as he readied himself to talk.
"Okay, my mom found a new job. And well I'm moving." He was 'Soon to be a West High Knight'. Troy looked at the paper in his hands and noticed it was the latest edition of the Wildcat Word. Oh boy.
"Where are you moving?" asked Zeke.
"Across town, to West Albuquerque." He said sadly.
"You're not going to play for the Knights are you?"
" Uh, they already have a spot on the team for me; jersey and everything. I'm co-captain." He answered his team mates questions.
"Traitor!" screamed Chad.
" No guys! It's not his fault." Troy stepped in to defend him.
" Yeah, Troy's right." He opened the copy of the newspaper and flipped to the "Ask Andy" section. Troy bit back a groan as he heard Jason recite his very own words.
" So Andy from the Ask Andy section in the paper answered me and he's right. Guys I'm moving and it's not my fault. It's my mom and I can't do anything about it, and though we'll be rivals on the court I'm always going to be a wildcat at heart." He said.
Troy smiled. " You promise?" asked Chad.
"Hell yeah!"
LINE
"He's so sweet!" he heard Gabriella's melodic voice. He spied around the corner and saw she was talking to Taylor and Sharpay.
" But I don't think he likes me, I'm a nerd , he just doesn't seem like the kind of person who would like a girl like me." He was about to round the corner when he heard her asking them another question.
" Have either of you guys gotten the newspaper yet? I don't get mine until English today and I can't wait any longer to see if Andy answered my question. "
She submitted a question for Andy? Oh boy.
"Sorry Gabs, " they answered and shook their heads.
"Hey when you get it, text me if there's one written by 'Hopeless Romantic' that's me." She said in a hushed tone.
His eyes widened. She was Hopeless Romantic. Gabriella. His Gabriella. He took a deep breath. There was a possiblility that she was talking about him. The only other guy friends she had were either taken or gay. He was neither so maybe it was about him.
He walked up to the group of girls.
"Hello ladies,"
"Hey Troy, oh Gabi were going to leave we have a little Sadie Hawkins business to take care of. We'll see you later."
" So have you read the Word yet?" He asked after the other girls left.
Her eyes widened and she looked nervous.
" No, why?"
"Because you
said you wanted to read the Ask Andy column."
"Oh right."
His hands shook as he pulled out his copy from his pocket. He gave it to her to which she accepted gratefully.
She flipped to the Ask Andy section and her eyes widened.
" Jason was the 'Soon to be a Knight' he kinda sprang the news on us after practice,"
" Oh that's so sad, I hope you guys are alright?" she asked only half worried. She was more concerned with the fact that Andy had answered her question.
" I just can't figure out why someone would ask for that kind of love advice." He said
She detached her eyes from the paper for the first time since she got it. " What do you mean?"
" Well, what kind of moron would like the cheerleaders, this girl obviously has standards and is smart. I don't think the guy knows how lucky he is to have a girl who has more priorities than losing weight and dying her hair. I think the girl should ask the guy to the dance because if the guy is smart he will wait until the right guy asks him."
She looked at him speechless. " Wow, you could take over Andy's job."
"Ha. Well I try!"
"Hey Troy. You, me, the Sadie Hawkins Dance, next week. What do you say?" asked Stephanie.
Gabriella frowned slightly. He saw her and smiled a little. She liked him. He was the one she was talking about.
" I would love to if you weren't so annoying, I can't deal with someone who constantly throws themselves at me in an attempt to get my attention."
The grin she had plastered on her face instantly melted away.
" Well you're a loser anyways!" she huffed and strutted away.
Once she had left Gabriella turned to Troy. " Why didn't you go with her?"
"She's not the right girl. I'm waiting for a special person to ask me." He smiled.
She smiled back and furrowed her brow in thought.
" Who is it?" she asked.
" Who is what?"
" The special girl." She took hold of his hands begging him to tell her.
He chuckled. She looked like a hyper little kid onChristmas.
" I can keep a secret! I promise!" she begged.
He laughed and looked at her in the eyes. " You have to swear you wont tell anyone okay?"
She nodded eagerly. " This girl is such a sweet person. She doesn't care about the latest trends or the latest gossip. She's really smart and has a great future ahead of her. She's so pretty that damn she doesn't even know how beautiful she is . She likes me for who I am and sees through my cocky personality. She sees through my basketball superstar persona. And I love how I can tell her anything without fear that she'll judge me. She's amazing and I'm pretty sure I'm if love with her."
" Troy, she seems perfect." She said close to tears.
" She is. She's like my angel and I feel honored that she even gives me the time of day. She is the best thing in my life. She is you."
What? Was he really saying what she thought he said.
"What? How did you- Why?" she couldn't form sentances and shut her mouth to allow him to finish talking.
" Gabriella Montez I don't want you to be a hopeless romantic anymore so I beg you to ask me to the dance. I promise I will say yes and just for the record I was never interested in the cheerleaders."
She smiled and took a deep breath. " Troy will you go to the Sadie Hawkins Dance with me?"
He held her hands tightly in his. "Of course,"
She smiled and looked at him not believing what was happening. He looked in her eyes , bent down, and kissed her lightly on the lips.
She smiled after they pulled apart. " How did you know I was Hopeless Romantic, and since when do you give advice?"
He sighed. " I knew this would come up eventually," he took out his laptop and sat on the floor. He looked up at her and urged her to sit down beside him.
He opened up his e-mail account. And opened the last two messages.
" How did you get that?" she gasped.
" I'm Andy, see here's my reply." He showed her all the messages and replies.
" How long have you been Andy?" She asked not believing that her crush was the one who gave her advice on how to ask him out.
" Since Sophomore year, when the basketball team vandalized the west high gym. It was our punishment and realized that I was good and I liked it so I stayed."
" So it's been you all along?"
" Yeah,"
She smiled. " Maybe next time I need advice I'll Ask Andy."
" No," he said and smiled. She looked at him with confusion.
"You can ask me, Troy." She laughed once she realized what he was saying and kissed him on the cheek. They interlaced their hands and walked to class.