I changed my penname! Kat convinced me. I just thought that the 'freaky callback girl' phrase from HSM was becoming overused (not that it's bad or anything). But I wanted a new penname that would distinguish myself from the rest. I'm still Picc and I'm still writing. So, no worries.
So, once again, this chapter is a small bit on the short side. But it needed to be, because it leaves room for the next chapter.
Chapter I: Questions
"Who does she seriously think she is?" Troy mumbled, walking past the snack bar in the dormitory lounge. He could still feel his blood boiling just minutes after his encounter with Gabriella. "She's such a know-it-all," He continued mumbling. Although he was tempted to throw away the papers he'd picked up for Gabriella—who had been too much of a jerk to accept them back—he instead stuffed them in the back of his notebook.
Ever since high school, it seemed that Gabriella Montez just had it out for him. She constantly corrected him during the classes they had together, she always seemed to make him feel like a complete idiot, and she acted as if anything he did was wrong in every sense.
Just because he had found a liking in the sciences didn't mean that he was in those classes just to get on her nerves. He nearly gave up taking advanced classes his freshman year of college just to get away from her.
Troy shook the thoughts out of his head as he unlocked his dorm room door. Throwing it open, he spotted Chad sitting on couch, typing away on Troy's laptop. The encounter with Gabriella and seeing the sight before him caused a surge of anger push through the basketball star.
"Chad!" Troy groaned at his roommate, putting his notebook on the counter on his left. "Do the words 'personal property' ring any sort of bell in your head? It took me ages to save up for that, and you just come in here and use it as you please!"
"Dude, chill," his best friend said defensively. "I didn't log onto your instant messaging account. I just needed to check e-mail. I'm not chatting with her." Chad stressed the last word, knowing very well that the mysterious girl was the reason Troy didn't want him on his computer.
"Can I at least have it back?" Troy asked, rolling his eyes, but feeling a sense of relief. There had been a mysterious girl that he'd met on their college forum, and he found himself enjoying their well-into-the-night talks. He didn't know her real name, but he would like to.
"Fine. I'm all done anyway." Chad clicked out of the window, closed the computer, and handed it to Troy. "And judging by your temper, I'm guessing another Gabriella run-in?"
"Uh-huh," Troy nodded.
"Well, it's your fault for taking that class!" Chad reminded his friend as he dug through the small refrigerator. The co-captian knew his best friend a little too well, sensing that only one person could put him in such a defensive mood: Gabriella Montez. Chad remembered the day that a basketball teammate said that he found her attractive, and Troy made it clear that if she ever attended one of their basketball practices, he'd make them go outside and run the remainder of practice.
"What can I say? I enjoy science." Troy responded honestly, snapping Chad out of his high school memories.
"I hope you enjoy basketball more," Chad joked, taking a gulp of a coke he had just retrieved from the top shelf of the refrigerator. "Because we have practice in two hours and I personally would rather listen to pep talk instead of a discussion of human anatomy."
"Coach rescheduled again?" Troy sighed in disappointment, wishing that he would be able to have tonight off. "It's almost four in the afternoon, and he relied on you to tell me this?"
"Yeah," Chad shrugged, taking another drink from the soda bottle. "He told me that he trusted me to get it to you."
"You remember the last time he did that?" Troy raised an eyebrow, remembering the time Chad forgot to tell him, and he had to run three miles as punishment for missing practice. He hated being captian, but every year, Chad would nominate him, and he would end up getting everyone's vote.
"Just because I forgot does not mean I'm incapable of trying again," Chad retorted, messing with his mound of hair. "You're just in a crappy mood and you know it."
In response, Troy closed the door to his room, just wanting to escape, also wondering how Chad knew the meaning of 'incapable'. Once inside, the basketball superstar stared at a very messy dorm room. He had never been known for his neatness when it came to living on his own, or even with his parents, for that matter. Troy placed his laptop on his blue bedspread and began his search for his practice jersey.
Clothes were scattered across the floor, and Troy carelessly searched through the mess, scattering clothes in even more directions. Finally, he found it under the mound of clothes that served as his laundry pile. With a displeased look on his face, Troy tossed it back into the pile.
It probably wouldn't be too flattering to go to practice in a jersey that had been in a pile of dirty laundry, so Troy reasoned he would just leave for practice early and get dressed in the locker rooms where he kept an extra practice jersey.
Ready to get online, Troy hopped onto his bed and opened the laptop. He was glad that Chad had left the computer on—it saved him ten minutes of waiting for the computer to boot up. Happily, he clicked into his instant messaging sign-in.
While he was waiting for his computer to sign him online, Troy thought about this mysterious girl. He knew that she went to the University of Albuquerque, and was taking a basics course this year. She had asked for a due date on an assignment in her basics English class, and since he knew the date, he'd responded.
It just went on from there.
Troy would openly admit he'd like to meet her, but he had found that she was very cautious when it came to her safety. That's why they didn't know even each other's names. He understood her reasoning, however, he was still curious. She seemed to be a wonderful person, and he felt compelled to meet her.
Smiling to himself when he saw she was already signed on, Troy quickly typed up a hello message, ready to get his mind off of Gabriella Montez.
Hey Brainiac. How'd your day go?
Troy was tempted to mention his earlier stress, but decided against it. Happy with the message, he clicked 'enter', and eagerly awaited her reply.
It turned out her day had been crappy as well, and Troy gave her the only advice that he really knew to give in situations like that. Simply write them an 'I Hate You' letter, then crumble it up and throw them away. He would have done that with Gabriella, but his mood had been dramatically been lifted up by Brainiac.
Brainiac824: I might have to try that…
It was a moment before Troy typed again, but what he typed even surprised Troy. He didn't want to offend her… but during times like this, he really needed someone other than Chad to talk to in person.
Do you think we should meet?
Feeling a mixed sense of relief and dread, he pressed the send key.
HSMHSMHSMHSM
Just as a response was being typed, Gabriella heard the door to her dorm room open. She knew it was Taylor. Not looking at the newly typed reply, Gabriella wrote a quick 'be right back' message and walked outside of her room to where Taylor was.
"You're already chatting with him, aren't you?" Taylor asked, throwing her purse on the couch.
"Well, yeah, but I'm also doing my Theory report," Gabriella replied thoughtfully. "Listen, since it's only four o' clock, I thought that maybe in an hour or so we can go grab some pizza, and then maybe and ice cream. I get paid in two days, so my funds say that there's a little room for some fun eating."
"Sound great, Gabriella," Taylor nodded in approval. "And sorry about last time we planned going out to eat. Evan was just so insistent that I work the graveyard shift."
"No problem," Gabriella smiled, going back into her room. Evan Meek was Taylor's boss at the campus supply store. Taylor absolutely hated when he made her work late, especially since nobody goes to the store at three in the morning, but she reasoned that gas prices were just too high for her to drive across the city to get to her job.
Opening her laptop again, Gabriella typed a back message.
Brainiac824: Sorry that took so long. My roommate came home.
Baskethead14: It's okay. So… what's your answer?
Confused, Gabriella read scrolled back up the window, and saw the question he'd typed as she had went to greet Taylor.
Baskethead14: Do you think we should meet?
Gabriella gasped a little, but apparently it was loud enough for Taylor to hear, because her best friend came into the room with a confused look on her face.
"What's wrong?" Taylor blinked, looking at her bewildered friend sitting on the bed. Taylor was clued in by Gabriella's gaze that was transfixed on the screen. She walked closer to her friend, trying to get a peek of the computer screen.
"He… He just asked if we should meet." Gabriella looked at her friend for advice, knowing that this had been coming all along, but had refused to think about it.
"Woah!" Taylor gasped, reading the IM window over Gabriella's shoulder. "I don't know, Gabriella. I mean, I know you're dying to meet him, but… Well, I just don't know. But type back a response. Say something to let him know you're thinking!" Taylor pushed, her thoughts spinning.
Quickly, Gabriella typed in the only thing that she could think of.
Brainiac824: Let me think about it for a second.
Baskethead14: Okay.
"Wow," Gabriella said at the quickness of Baskethead's reply. "He must be watching the computer screen like a hawk."
"That means he's just dying to meet you as well." Taylor nodded in approval, over-dramatizing the middle of the sentence. "Plus, if he had a campus forum account, and only students here can have accounts, so it's unlikely that he's a… er…"
"Yeah, I know," Gabriella cut her friend off, not really wanting to listen to the end of the sentence. "But I just don't know. It might ruin everything. I mean… what if he already knows who I am? What if he turns out to be a complete fake?"
"Well, isn't that the risk you were willing the take the day you started chatting with him?" Taylor challenged, receiving only a shrug from her friend. "Look, you better decide here in a little bit, because I'm ready for pizza, and I need to start getting ready."
"If we do meet, what could we talk about?" Gabriella reasoned.
"What you talk about every time you instant message each other," Taylor winked, striding out of the room.
"But--" Gabriella tried to get more advice from Taylor, but her friend was already ignoring her. In all honesty, Gabriella wanted to meet him. They had so much in common, and there were so many things that they told each other. There were books that the two of them had agreed to read together, there were the study sessions, and there was the smile that she could feel coming when she would talk with him. Or, rather, type messages to him.
Sometimes, she wished she had someone else other than Taylor to talk to. Her mother had suggested a boyfriend, but that was something Gabriella found to be the last thing on her mind while taking so many college classes.
Why put her feelings up for heartbreak when being friends is just good enough? Besides, there were no decent guys that she knew of that seemed interested anyway. Most of them were like Troy Bolton. Big egos, sports maniacs, heartbreakers...
Shuddering at the thought of dating someone like him, Gabriella focused her mind back onto the instant messaging question. Her eyes darted from the text by Baskethead to the blank reply box, with the cursor blinking away, taunting her. It just sat there... blinking, as if trying to rush her thought process. This was a yes or no question. Why was it so hard to answer?
It had only been a few minutes since he'd asked her, but it had already felt like it had been hours. What should she say?
Cliffhanger!
Please, please, please review your thoughts. I was sort of hoping for a better turnout feedback-wise... Since A Day of Shopping is lower in writing quality than this one, and that story started out a smidge better in feedback than this one has. Not to mention, this story is going to actually contain--/gasp/--FLUFF!
Anyway, I haven't had much time to write since I've been at band camp all week (and I can just hear every one of you giggling at that thought). I have the next chapter written, but I'm perfecting it for all of you awesome readers. ;)
