Gosh I am having some technical errors :/ The 'BlueEyes' IM tag didn't show up but hopefully you understood who it was messaging! I'm so sorry :(

Zacharyandvanessa- It's set in modern times, just that Gabi likes the 50's style :)

Starswalkbackward- yay! Lol I've not seen Twilight so I'll wait patiently for the next instalment of your Troyella :)

Nikki- You don't always need to post a review, I know you so well now. Thank you for the compliment, I try really hard to tackle things that affect people in real-life!

Chapter 2

Gabi was last in cross-country. She was always last in cross country despite being slim and fairly athletic but somehow when it came to running, she just failed. Majorly.

As she dragged her feet across the yard toward the gym changing rooms; she spotted the boy's team by the basketball hoop, looking as though they were also winding down from their session.

She tried to walk with her head down and her eyes locked to the ground but she couldn't help the curious flicker towards the group as she spotted her new lab partner among them- against the wall and surrounded, but not in a menacing way.

"I can't play anymore…" Troy's soft but insistent voice carried across the yard and Gabi's ears pricked up.

"It was just one game, dude; you can't quit the team…" Gabi recognized the deeper tones of Chad Danforth reply.

"Yeah, man, we all have bad days…" Was that Jason, she wondered?

"Look, I told you I can't do it anymore, okay?" This time, the voice was angrier, bitter even and Gabi actually stopped and looked up, seeing the tall, brown haired boy exit the crowd around him and for three whole seconds, his blue eyes fixed on her brown ones and neither of them spoke but Gabi knew he knew she had heard. And she sucked in a fearful breath at what he might do but she didn't need to because he merely looked away and stormed inside the building, slamming the changing room door behind him as he went, leaving her to exhale slowly.

Phew.

"Hey, Montez, looking good," Jason Cross called to her and the boys snickered as she rolled her eyes. "Were you waiting for me?"

"Not in this lifetime, Jason," she remarked with a stretched smile before she scurried into the safety of the changing rooms.

/

"Your hair is flat…" Kelsey remarked as Gabi slipped into the seat beside her for last period Math.

"I just had Physical Ed," Gabi whispered and her friend nodded, knowing this was the only time she would see her friend without back-combing.

"Oh look who it is…" Kelsey murmured as a shadow fell on the desk and Gabi looked up from where she had been rooting in her bag for her notebook and pen.

"Who?"

"Who what?" Troy Bolton asked back, flipping his hair out of his eyes that was also damp from last period.

"Who…killed JR?" Gabi blurted to cover her gaffe.

"Bobby…I think?" Troy replied, unnervingly familiar in his response.

"I must have missed that episode…" Gabi murmured, then frowned as Troy stood fixed by her side. "Are you alright?" She asked eventually.

He gripped his bag strap uncomfortably and ran his hand up and down it in a nervous gesture.

Gabi lifted her brows.

"Uh…can we talk? Maybe after class?" He ventured in a low voice.

"You can sit here if you like," Kelsey offered and jumped up, giving Gabi a look before she moved into another seat.

"Oh, wait Kelsey, you don't have to…" Gabi trailed off as her friend merely winked encouragingly at her before facing forward.

Troy still hovered and Gabi cast her eyes up. "I'll meet you after class," she told him.

"Can I sit there?" He asked instead.

Gabi sighed. "I guess so."

"Why are you always so angry?" He smiled lopsidedly as he slid into the seat next to her.

She flicked him a look, unable to reply as the teacher came into class and called attention.

"Hey…" Troy elbowed her and she frowned at him irritably.

"What?" She whispered back, annoyed.

"What you saw before…"

"It doesn't matter…" She broke eye contact and tried to pay attention to the lecture but actually, having a basketball player sat next to her was pure distraction. Mostly because every girl in class kept looking at them both and nearly every boy, too.

"It does," he insisted but the presence of the tutor beside their desk brought his gaze up.

"Something to share, Bolton?" Mr. Lomax asked.

"Uh, no sir," he looked down to the desk and fiddled with his pen.

"Miss Montez?" He added and Gabi's cheeks flared.

"No, sir."

"Good, then I'll carry on the class if that's okay with you both…"

/

"Gabriella, wait up!" Troy called as the petite Filipino rushed from class, her normally styled hair just wavy and loose down her back but her tear-shaped glasses ever-present, framing her beautiful brown eyes.

Gabi paused from her quick exit down the hallway.

"Hey, sorry I got you in trouble back there…"

"Why are you talking to me?" She asked bluntly.

"Because." He said, frowning at her challenging question.

"Because what?" She folded her arms and tilted her head, wondering if the jocks were playing some kind of game with her and Troy was the leader.

His blue eyes held hers but his words didn't come.

"See you after school tomorrow for Lab homework," he said and brushed by her down the hallway and she turned to follow, seeing Kelsey waiting for her by her locker and she wondered if Troy had seen her too and that's why he had escaped.

"So, what did he say?" Kelsey asked as Gabi went over to rid her books.

"Not much," Gabi shared honestly.

"Oh come on! Troy Bolton? THE basketball player? Troy Bolton asked to sit next to you and he had nothing to say?"

"That's right," Gabi shrugged lightly.

"Mm, you better not be lying to your best friend…" Kelsey warned and Gabi looked at her.

"I'm not lying."

"Fine. Let's go, then."

/

BlueEyes didn't come online all night.

Gabi lay on her bed on her front and typed replies to her daily messages with the silent hope she would get to talk to her new needy 'friend' but he didn't appear. She gave every one of her customers the same degree of commitment but there was something about BlueEyes that made her want to find out the whole story.

Only that wasn't going to be tonight. Nor tomorrow night what with Troy coming over for Lab homework.

She sighed as the jock came into her thoughts. She hadn't expected him to be there, at the forefront of her mind as she checked her facebook and twitter, but he was. He was there and she didn't know why.

Other than his strange behaviour in Math today.

But she didn't want to even try and decipher what went on in Troy Bolton's head so she rolled onto her back and picked up her phone, testing Kelsey with her thoughts.

Gabi: Do you think I should find a boyfriend?

Kelsey: I don't know- do you want to?

Gabi: Well you have Ryan

Kelsey: So? Have you seen anyone cute?

Gabi: Not really…

Kelsey: Wait, do you mean Troy?

Gabi: No! No way, he's a jock and besides he doesn't like me that way.

Kelsey: Do you like him that way?

Gabi: This conversation is over.

Kelsey: That's a yes!

Gabi: It is not! It means I don't want to talk about something that's not even real.

Kelsey: Why don't you come bowling with us Saturday night, you can get ready at mine.

Gabi: I'll think about it, see you tomorrow.

Gabi signed off with a sigh into her pillow. Playing third wheel, how fun. Not.

/

"Mom, this is Troy. He's my lab partner…"

Gabi's brown eyes rolled upwards under her spectacle frames; her rich black hair in its usual half-up, half-down style with back-combing on the crown and a pretty clip to hold it in place. She was wearing a pink checked shirt-dress with her worn cherry-red leather shoes and she had never looked more uncomfortable.

Jenna however, was pleased to meet the elusive Troy.

"Hello, there," she smiled warmly. "I was thinking of fish fingers for tea- do you like fish fingers?"

Gabi made a face at her mom. "Really? Fish fingers?"

"I love fish fingers," Troy replied, his fringe hanging down in his face as Gabi twisted to look at him and she made a face at him too.

"Really? Fish fingers?"

"You don't like fish fingers?" He asked innocently as Jenna watched on in the kitchen where they hovered in limbo.

Gabi merely rolled her eyes and stomped through the kitchen while Troy paused in the room.

"Uh…thanks for having me Mrs. Montez…" He offered to Jenna politely and she smiled in surprise.

"You're welcome Troy. Please, call me Jenna …"

Troy nodded and slipped his hands in his pockets, following Gabi into the house when she stuck her head around the kitchen archway to look for him.

"Are you coming?" She asked in that way she did and he couldn't help his smile as he followed.

/

"So this is your room…" Troy looked around nosily and noted the ethnic vibe of the decoration- a dream catcher above the bed, a red, ochre and brown embroidered bed throw and ornaments carved from wood.

And then there was her teddy-bear. A big, brown, bobbly but soft fluffy toy that sat proudly on her bed. He sat down and lifted the creature with gentle hands, a soft smile gracing his lips.

"He's a lot like mine," he looked up at her.

"You have a teddy bear?" She almost accused with a brow arch.

He blushed at her tone. "Yeah…I guess I shouldn't have admitted to that…"

Gabi sucked her lower lip. "I was just surprised, that's all," she softened her tone. It was actually quite cute that he had a bear let alone admitting it.

As Troy sat and fussed over the toy, Gabi pulled out the books they needed and set up a study area on the bed.

"Okay, so we need to decide what our project is going to be based on…" She began formally, not sure how to handle having the tall and sleek Troy in her room playing with her bear of all things.

He looked over his shoulder at her. "How cute your bear is?" He smiled and she tilted her head. "Okay, sorry…"

"We have to collect samples and test them for chemicals but are we going to choose water, earth or air?"

"Well I have no idea how we collect air," he admitted with a purse of his lips as he twisted and lay on his side, propping his head on his hand and his elbow on the bed. The bear remained firmly in his possession she noted as he tucked 'Julian' under his belly and leaned up to make notes.

"With the suction cup," Gabi looked to him and flipped to a page in the text book to show him. "Remember?"

He gave a little curl of his lips. "Not really."

"Do you pay any attention in class?" She asked.

This time he grinned. "No. Do you?"

She sighed. "Not all of us are jocks with scholarships to pay for college," she arched and she watched his grin fade.

When he ventured his eyes up to her again, she felt nervous for what he was about to say.

"I'm not a jock anymore," he shared quietly.

Gabi frowned. "Oh."

"Yeah, oh," he lifted his brows. "I quit the team. I'm not playing anymore."

Gabi wanted to ask him why not but somehow she sensed he wouldn't tell her even if she did, so she just accepted his admission and briefly wondered why he felt he could trust her with that information and then she blinked it away.

"Ok."

"What you heard yesterday…that was me quitting," he added, flipping through the pages of the work book.

"I see."

"Thank you for not saying anything," he carried on nonchalantly.

"You're not at all what I expected," Gabi admitted as Troy showed her a sensitive side she had never had the chance to see before. Mostly because he was pounding round the gym with his basketball or strutting the halls with his friends. But alone, like this, he was all kinds of surprising.

"Is that good or bad?" He teased.

"Good," she assured confidently, and then picked up her notepad.

"I think we should do earth and water." He suggested of their project. "I know this quarry down by the detergent plant. Surely they have chemicals running out of that place? We can take some samples of rock and water and pitch the two against each other for which absorbs the most pollution and then compare it to rocks in the yard and water from the tap for the percentage of harmful chemicals in comparison."

Gabi's eyes widened as she just stared at him.

"What did you do with Troy?" She asked lightly and he had the grace to chuckle.

"If you tell one soul that I listen in class, there will be trouble, Gabriella," he warned with a warm voice and she felt her insides quiver excitedly. Somehow when he said it like that, she wanted to get in all kinds of trouble.

"You should call me Gabi," she broached. "No-one calls me Gabriella."

"Why not?" He wondered.

She blinked. "My father called me that and he left when I was fourteen."

Troy pursed his lips. "Ok. Understood."

"Sorry," she winced. " I didn't mean to sound harsh."

"You didn't." He assured. "Do you have anything to eat? I'm hungry…"

Gabi smiled at his statement and went down to get some chips while they waited for dinner but it wasn't long before Jenna called them down to eat properly and they sat and ate in jilted silence, the night coming to an end once Troy had eaten half a tub of Neapolitan ice-cream with Gabi.

Gabi walked out onto the porch to say goodnight and frowned when she didn't see a ride waiting to take him home.

"My mom can drop you home if you want," she offered.

"I like to walk," he assured. "Gives me time to think."

"Okay, be careful."

He smiled and squinted at the same time. "You're not what I expected either."

"Oh," she sucked in a breath, wondering what he had expected.

"I mean, in a good way," he added right before he trotted down her steps and into the dark.

"You are one big mystery, Troy Bolton," Gabi murmured to herself as she turned back inside.

/

"So?" Kelsey pitched herself sideways into the locker next to Gabi's and looked at her expectantly.

"So, what?" Gabi frowned confusedly.

"So how did date night go?" Kelsey asked.

"It wasn't a date, it was homework…" Gabi amended.

"So how did it go?" Her friend asked again and Gabi sighed, lifting her heavy books up out of her locker and shutting the door with difficulty.

"It went fine. We did homework," Gabi supplied.

"That's all?" Kelsey looked disgusted.

"Look, Kels, just because you and Ryan use every study session to make out does not mean I am going to start sucking face with the school's basketball team captain," Gabi ranted as she swung left without looking and her heavy books came into contact with an unknowing student making progress through the throng in the hall.

Gabi gasped and quickly apologized, reaching her hand out to touch the shoulder of the afflicted; suddenly snatching it back as she realized it was Troy who was doubled over in pain.

"Oh, it's you," she sighed in relief and crouched to collect her books.

Troy looked up with an incredulous look. "Thanks," he derided.

"I just meant-" she began but his blue eyes met hers as he straightened and rubbed his pec, something that kind of distracted her, much to her annoyance.

"You just meant what?" He enquired lightly, his lips bearing the tiniest amused smile at her awkwardness.

"I just meant that I know you…a little bit…I thought I hit a total random who's not used to my accident-prone-ness but thankfully I didn't…that's all I meant…"

Troy pursed his lips and raised his brows and Gabi blushed at his superiority in this moment.

"Sorry." She added sheepishly.

He bent and picked up the last of her books- the heaviest one that put her off balance to start with. He checked the cover and smirked.

"I have Math, too." He supplied even though they both knew they took the same class.

"Right…" She held forth her hand to take back her wayward book but he merely tucked it under his arm.

"I might look like I'm actually interested if I take a text book in…" He conspired mischievously.

Gabi rolled her eyes and looked to her friend. "Looks like I have to walk with Troy to class, are you coming?" She asked Kelsey.

Kelsey smiled knowingly and looked between her friend and Troy. Troy, for his part, held out his hand towards the other girl.

"Hi, I'm Troy," he introduced.

Kelsey lifted her brows and shook his hand. "I know." She said in a tone that told him not to mess with her.

"Right…" He nodded and headed down the hall to his own locker.

"Wait, that's my-" Gabi sighed as he held her text book hostage on his little trip. "I'll see you in class," Gabi told her friend.

"Uh-huh…" Kelsey smirked.

Gabi rolled her eyes. "He has my book, what do you want me to do?"

"Nothing. Go chase him," Kelsey offered and Gabi swiped her friend at her suggestive remark and trailed down the hall towards Troy.

She slowed when she saw Chad take a running jump at his friend; the basketball team member intimidating her just a little too much to approach.

"Hey, buddy," Chad greeted Troy and Troy squinted at his friend.

"Hey."

"So, look. The guys got together and we think you should still come to practice. We know you're not up to playing right now but you could be bench coach and still hang out…" The black boy offered, his braided hair tight against his scalp.

Troy cricked his neck uncomfortably. "I have to do the Science assignment…"

"So what? You have time…besides I thought you were paired with Swotty Montez, you got a free ride, buddy…"

Troy frowned at Chad's description of his lab partner. "That's what she said…" He murmured amusedly.

"See? That girl loves homework. So come hang with the boys," his friend insisted.

"I just need a time-out," Troy replied softly, swallowing. "I have to go…"

He ducked out from the confrontation with his friend to find Gabi waiting for him and he opened his mouth but nothing came out.

"Swotty Montez?" She repeated and he didn't know if she was insulted or not.

"I didn't say that," he argued gently. "Besides, you called me brainless…"

She pursed her lips and he liked the way her beautiful face frowned.

"Can I have my book back?" She wondered and he merely smiled and carried it all the way to class.