Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I do not own High School Musical or any of its characters.

Troy's POV

Troy woke very early the next morning hoping to get a couple of hours out on the expert slopes to burn off some excess energy before meeting Gabriella at ten o'clock. Unfortunately he'd just finished dressing to go down to breakfast when his Mom knocked on his door.

"You're up early" she said in surprise.

"Yeah I wanted to make an early start because I have a date later and I don't think she skis very well yet" Troy explained smiling happily. "I'll probably spend half the day on the beginner slopes."

"Oh Troy I'm sorry. I've been called back to work urgently. We need to hurry and pack our flight leaves at 8" Lucille said.

Troy bit back his disappointment knowing his mother felt bad enough about having to cut their holiday short without his throwing a tantrum about it. "Okay Mom have we got time for breakfast?" he asked wondering if he could ring Gabriella to join him in the dining room.

"Not really I've a car booked for 15 minutes. We'll eat at the airport after we check in" Lucille replied.

Troy reached up and pulled his suitcase off the top of the wardrobe, hurriedly throwing in his clothes and stuff.

He debated writing Gabriella a note but decided not to as he didn't want to cause her problems with her Mom. Gabriella hadn't said much about her Mom the night before but Troy knew that usually girls didn't reach sixteen as inexperienced as Gabriella was without strict parental supervision.

It was too early to call so he pocketed his phone and went to help his Dad carry everything downstairs to the waiting shuttle car.

He had breakfast with his parents, getting his phone out to text Gabriella while his mother was in the restroom.

"You're not trying to set up a hook-up for tonight already?" his father asked frowning.

"No letting Gabriella know I need to cancel the date we had this morning" Troy explained.

"Who is Gabriella?" Jack asked.

"A girl I met last night, I was meeting her by the lifts at ten o'clock" Troy said working hard at trying not to betray how disappointed he was not to be able to keep the date

"A real date not just a hook-up?" Jack asked surprised.

"Yeah dad a real date, we didn't have sex last night we made out and actually talked. She's really nice."

"A girl you actually wanted to talk to" Jack mocked. "She obviously doesn't know you."

"No and now she never will" Troy said crossly hiding the hurt he felt at his father's words. "She wasn't like the cheerleaders she actually had real thoughts, and talked about stuff other than makeup clothes and boys. She was interesting."

Troy knew his dad disapproved of his lifestyle, but that he felt that as long as he was being safe and his social life didn't interfere with basketball then there wasn't much he could do about it. He didn't understand how trapped Troy felt by his need to keep peace with the team and the cheerleaders. Or how his own actions actually encouraged the behaviour he disapproved of.

Gabriella's POV

Gabriella woke at the sound of her phone receiving the text. Remembering the night before she smiled sleepily. She picked up the phone and grinned when she saw the message was from Troy.

Her grin faded quickly as she read the message

SORRY CAN'T MAKE DATE

MOM CALLED BACK 2 WORK

AT AIRPORT W8 4 PLANE

TROY

She quickly sent back a reply

AM SORRY 2 HEAR

HAVE GOOD FLIGHT

CALL ME L8R

GABRIELLA

And a minute later heard back from Troy. It seemed he really was disappointed not to be able to see her that day.

GOOD MORNING

HOPE I DIDNT WAKE U

I HAD FUN LAST NITE

TROY

They text back and forth until Troy had to turn off his phone for take off.

Gabriella sighed and decided to get up. Her enthusiasm for the upcoming day already waning.

"Good morning Gabriella. How was the party last night?"

Gabriella shrugged "I had a great time. I met this guy, he was really nice" she said unenthusiastically.

"Then why so long in the face this morning? Please tell me you're not hung over or coming down from a drug high."

"No of course not" Gabriella said shocked and angry that her mother could think that way.

"Then what's the matter?" Maria asked.

"This guy last night. We made plans to meet up after my lesson this morning but he just text and cancelled."

"Did he say why?" Lucille asked frowning. If the little brat had just had second thoughts and had hurt her daughter for no good reason she was tempted to track him down and injure him.

"His Mom got called back to work he was texting from the airport" Gabriella explained. "For what it's worth he sounded genuinely sorry not to be able to meet me."

"Well it's not like you would have seen him again after this week ended. Maybe you'll meet someone nice at East High" Maria said pragmatically.

"What's the point, it will be just like all my other schools." Gabriella said dejectedly.

"You don't know that" Maria scolded.

"Either I hide my intelligence which will harm my chances at a scholarship to Stanford or everyone will see me as the freaky genius girl again" Gabriella retorted getting up and walking away before her mother could scold her again about her attitude.

Gabriella attended her ski lesson then practiced diligently until lunch time. She collected the book she'd abandoned the night before from lost property, bought a sandwich and took it up to her room where she lost herself again in the world of Jane Austen.

Late afternoon she was distracted by the sound of an incoming text.

HI BEAUTIFUL

HAD A GOOD DAY ON SLOPES?

TROY

HI TROY

T'WAS OK

MISSED U

DID U GET HOME SAFE

G

Gabriella panicked for a moment after she hit send, she didn't want to frighten him off. Was 'missed U' too much.

MISSED U2

LONG BORING DAY TRAVELLING

PARENTS NOT TALKING

DAD'S PISSED WITH MOM BOUT WORK

HATE BEING STUCK IN MIDDLE

Gabriella decided to call in response to that and they spent an hour on the phone commiserating about various experiences with their parent's jobs and sharing information about themselves.

"Hello"

"Hi Troy it's me."

"Gabriella" Troy exclaimed feeling much more cheerful.

"You sounded kind of down. Are you okay?" Gabriella asked.

"I hate it when Mom and Dad fight" Troy said sighing.

"Yeah I used to hate that too?" Gabriella commiserated.

"Used to?" Toy asked.

"Dad died in a car accident when I was eleven" Gabriella explained unwillingly. She waited for Troy to make his excuses and hang up because she'd made him feel awkward as had happened when she'd mentioned her father's death to new acquaintances in the past.

"Oh I'm sorry Gabriella. I must sound like a real jerk bitching about my Dad..." Troy said apologetically.

"No don't worry about it Troy" Gabriella said resignedly.

"I really am sorry. I hope I haven't upset you bringing it up. Are you going to be okay?" Troy asked anxiously.

Gabriella didn't know what to say. She appreciated his honest reaction and concern and didn't want him to feel bad for upsetting her.

"So what are you doing?" Troy asked trying to find a less distressing subject.

"Reading 'Pride and Prejudice'" Gabriella replied so surprised Troy wanted to continue the call that she automatically told the truth instead of claiming to be doing something more interesting or cool.

"For class or for fun?" Troy asked.

"For fun. It's one of my all time favourite books. What are you doing?" Gabriella asked.

"Hiding in my room talking to you" Troy admitted.

Gabriella laughed. "Surely it's not that bad?" she asked not knowing whether to be concerned about Troy's home life or tease him for his cowardice.

"You didn't just spend the whole day sitting in between two people who are actively not talking to each other. I swear it's like they're the teenagers" Troy said tiredly.

"I'm sorry you had such a bad day. Will they make up again soon?" Gabriella asked.

"I dunno, it depends how long it takes Mom to sort out the crises at work" Troy replied. "She went straight there as soon as we got home so it must be something urgent."

"I hope things settle down" Gabriella said sympathetically.

"So where do you live?" Troy asked wanting to know more about her instead of talking about his frustrations with his parents.

Gabriella gave a bitter laugh "Would you believe that I don't actually know where I will live when we leave here?"

"Huh" was Troy's intelligent response.

"We move around so often because of Mom's job and I just got sick of hearing it. I threw a bit of a tantrum when she told me we were moving again and refused to listed when she tried to tell me where we were moving to. So the moving company is currently unpacking out new house but I don't even know what state it's in and I refuse to ask Mom Gabriella explained defiantly."

Troy laughed "That's got to be the strangest answer to that question anyone ever gave. Hey maybe you'll move somewhere near me" he suggested.

"Where do you live?" Gabriella asked.

"Not telling" Troy teased. "I'll tell you when you tell me where you live."

Gabriella laughed too suddenly feeling better about not knowing where she was moving to. "Okay deal" she agreed.

"Okay so when will you find out?" Troy asked.

"We leave here on Friday. I assume we'll be going straight to the new place because Mom will want me to start school on Monday. It's easier to start a new school on the first day of term and I'd have two days to get my room straight" Gabriella explained. "So I'll find out Friday unless I cave in and ask earlier."

"It sounds like you know too much about that. What's it like to start a new school?" Troy asked curiously.

"You've never changed schools?" Gabriella asked enviously.

"I've never moved house I was actually born right in this room, Mom wanted a home birth and Dad refused to let her have me in their room. He said he was afraid he'd never be able to get it up again with memories like that" Troy said laughing.

"Umm...Wow" Gabriella said laughing embarrassed by Troy's bluntness.

"So tell me what's the worst thing about starting a new school?" Troy asked.

"Not knowing anyone. I try to be polite to a guy and the next minute his girlfriend and all her friends are in my face telling me what a bitch I am just because I sat in an empty seat next to him or something. And the people who are all really friendly for the first few days and then refuse to have anything to do with me because they've realised I'm a geek and being seen with me will hurt their reputation. It's got worse since we started high school" Gabriella ranted.

"But you have the opportunity to start again. To change the way people see you" Troy said encouragingly.

"Yes but you can't really change that much. Otherwise you're playing a part and eventually you get caught out. And if your not being yourself you can't make real friends anyway because they only like the fake you" Gabriella said practically.

"Yeah but there's some things I really want to change and I'm trying but everyone expects me to behave a certain way" Troy replied.

"What do you want to change?" Gabriella asked curiously.

Troy was quiet for a moment "You don't have to tell me if you don't want to" Gabriella said hastily "I didn't mean to pry."

"I know you didn't and it's not that I want to keep secrets from you but I'm afraid you'll not want to be my friend if you knew" Troy babbled.

"Troy I am your friend. What you get up to at school isn't likely to change that because I don't see you there. I like the person you are when you're talking to me"

"I still would like to wait and let you get to know the real me before I tell you about this" Troy said.

"Okay Troy" Gabriella said sighing "I'll trust that you will tell me when you can" she said unwillingly wondering what he was hiding from her

"Thanks Gabriella" Troy said gratefully.

"So tell me some of the things you like about yourself then" Gabriella asked him to turn the conversation to a more positive note.

"Well I love sports, I play Basketball and Golf for school. I used to play Baseball over the summer and I love to ski snowboard, surf, run and swim. I'm a bit of an exercise junkie. I can't imagine not being active" Troy said.

"Were you one of those kids who couldn't sit still?" Gabriella asked amused.

"To be honest I still am if I haven't run in the morning" Troy admitted.

"Wow! I love watching sports but I'm really not good at any of them. I like to swim though and I used to do Jazz ballet until I got to the age that it was hard to find a class that didn't take it too seriously" Gabriella replied. "I'd kind of like to do a ballroom dancing class but the classes close to where I lived recently only accepted couples."

"That sounds a bit discriminatory" Troy said.

"Yeah but to be fair the class was geared toward competitive dancing and you can't compete without a partner, there were other classes for older people that you could go to where my partner wouldn't have to be a boy. I asked Mom to go with me but she really didn't have time" Gabriella explained.

"What else do you like to do?" Troy asked.

Gabriella hesitated she didn't want Troy to know what a brainiac geek she was. She now understood better what Troy was talking about when he didn't want to tell her what he wanted to change about how people saw him for fear that she wouldn't want to continue being his friend.

"Um I'm a bit of a loner because we've moved so often. I love to read, and to sing though not in front of an audience. I loved walking on the beach when we lived in Seattle but we weren't there in the summer so it wasn't warm enough to swim in the ocean. I like being outside, my favourite chore is gardening though I'm not very good at it. We've never really done much because we know we're not going to stay long."

Troy noticed her hesitation and realised she was holding back. He felt a bit hypocritical being upset about it when Gabriella had been so understanding when he'd admitted he hadn't wanted to tell her something. He decided to leave it for now "My favourite chore is washing the car" he said instead. "Chad and I do it together and turn it into a water fight."

"Is Chad your brother?" Gabriella asked assuming he was from the way Troy spoke of him but wondering why Troy hadn't mentioned him earlier.

Troy grinned "Just about. He's been my best friend since we were toddlers. I'm an only child."

"Me too. It must be wonderful to have a friend like that" Gabriella said wistfully.

"It is. He knows me better than I know myself at times and it's great to have a second set of parents I can go to when I want help or advice" Troy said smiling at the thought of the Danforths.

"You don't get along with your parents?" Gabriella asked.

Troy shrugged "Mostly I do but Dad teaches at East High and coaches Basketball so a lot of our interactions are all mixed up between teacher, coach and parent. Sometimes I just want advice that is coming solely from a father point of view and I can't trust my Dad to give me that anymore" he said sadly.

Gabriella thought about that for a minute "I guess that also means you never get away with anything too huh?"

"That's where it gets odd. Dad always knows everything I get up to but sometimes even when he doesn't like what I'm doing he doesn't do anything about it because it's better for the team if the coach doesn't get involved so I get away with it even though if Mom found out I'd be in trouble" Troy explained sighing.

"Like what?" Gabriella asked confused.

"Getting drunk out with the rest of the team. If I did it with friends that weren't on the team I'd be grounded but it isn't good for the captain to be grounded by the coach because of a party hosted by one of the other team members because next time they just wouldn't invite me and that would change the way the team interacts on and off the court so I not only get away with it he helps cover it up so Mom doesn't find out" Troy explained.

"And drugs, would he cover that up too?" Gabriella asked concerned.

"Troy sighed "I don't know. Luckily I've never been tempted to try them. I would like to say that he'd step in to stop me and get me the help I needed but..." Troy trailed off unable to voice his doubts out loud.

"And what about your Mom?" Gabriella asked hoping for something more positive to distract Troy from his doubts about his father.

"Mom's pretty strict, she would definitely not be ok with me drinking but she's pretty busy with work all the time and she get's called in like she did today a lot. What's your Mom like?" Troy asked having had enough of talking about his parents for a while. This was the most he'd ever told anyone, only the Danforths knew more because they'd been the one's Troy turned to for help when he needed it.

"She works a lot too" Gabriella said "And we move a lot because of her job. Mom says the company have promised that she won't be moved again until I graduate but I doubt if she'd turn down a big promotion just so we could stay in one place. She knows I'm really upset about moving again when she promised that we'd stay the whole school year in Atlanta. It's not even that I loved Atlanta or the school I was at it's that she'd promised we wouldn't move and we are in the middle of moving. She never even asked me if it would be okay just told me to start packing about a week before we left" Gabriella said heatedly.

"I thought you were from Seattle?" Troy asked confused.

"No that was last winter, we moved to Chicago in May for three months and then we've been in Atlanta since September" Gabriella said tiredly.

"That must be really tough" Troy said sympathetically.

"Yeah I used to dream that I'd make some wonderful friends and then next time Mom got transferred they'd offer to let me stay until the end of the school year just so I wouldn't have to start at another school in the middle of the semester. But as I get older it's harder to make friends at all everyone is already established in their little cliques."

"Yeah I understand that. I would like to make some new friends but everyone expects me to stay in the group I'm in." Troy commiserated. "What you really need to do would be to somehow be invisible for the first week so you could get to know who you wanted to be friends with and how they dressed and behaved so you could make sure you fit in from the start."

Gabriella laughed. "Well that would help but unless you know Harry Potter's phone number so you can ask him to loan me his invisibility cloak..."

Troy burst out laughing. "I'm afraid I don't have any sensible advice I've never had to start a school where people didn't know me."

"I'm sorry Troy but I have to go. Mom wants me to go down to dinner with her" Gabriella said.

"Okay thanks for calling. Have a nice dinner I strongly recommend the apple pie it was great. I'll call you again" Troy said making light of having to hang up. He'd never felt this way about anyone before. And he didn't want their conversation to end though he had to admit he was feeling hungry.

A/N: Thank you to Pumpkinking5, Mrs Wesley-Salvatore, Ciaosmarty, Ceciliaa93, old voldys gone moldy, Siobhan, Wildcats2016, Boris Yeltsin, EllaBieber20, sentarstage and FangirlingForLife for your support.