She Could Be

Chapter 2 – Just the Beginning

Thanks to everyone who reviewed:) It is much, much appreciated! Also, thanks for adding this to your alerts and favorites and such. But really though! Thanks for all those reviews!

I hope I get the same or more for this one :)

After they were informed about the idea, they all walked to Gabriella's house which was only a few houses away. Gabriella was silent during the short walk and it didn't go unnoticed by the guys.

"Gabriella, what's up?" Troy asked with concern and she bowed her head in embarrassment. All three guys stopped walking and looked at her, waiting for her to respond.

"Well, to tell you the truth, I'm not sure if this will work out." Gabriella was still looking down but Zeke put his hand on her shoulder and she looked up. "Why?"

"This is like trying to make Chad look like a decent girl." Chad whipped his head towards Gabriella. "No offense!" He nodded and they walked some more.

"Besides, they already think I'm some lesbian or something. (A/N: No offense to anyone!) Me trying to be a 'girl' is just another excuse for them to make fun of me."

Gabriella walked up to the door and put the key in. Once the door was open they all walked up to her room. In her room were trophies from her sports teams, posters of famous athletes, her computer, some sports gear on the ground, and her door to the balcony.

Chad walked to her door and closed it, "Gabriella," He turned to her so his back was to the door, "We all know you're a girl and that you don't like them. So whatever happens, just be yourself no matter what. We'll always be dawgs. Alright, sis?"

Gabriella smiled and nodded from her seat on the bed, "Gotcha bro."

"So… the checklist said to make sure you wear different clothes." Zeke said as he examined the list. "I guess we can check your closet and drawers to see if you have stuff those other girls wear." He said shrugging.

Gabriella shrugged as well and continued letting them do all the work while she sat down on her bed. "Hey why don't we give you new nick name? Kinda like a new you." Zeke suggested and she shrugged.

"Sure, like what though?" Gabriella asked and Chad suggested his own idea, "Ella?"

She wrinkled her nose, "No way, too girly."

"Brie?" Troy asked and she nodded with a small shrug. "It's better."

All three boys stared at the clothes in her closet in confusion. "Why did our moms ask us to help? We're dudes." Troy said as he moved the hangers back and forth.

"Gabriella do you have any other clothes besides these?" Chad asked. The clothes in the closest consisted of sweats, shorts, big shirts and sweatshirts. On the shelves were her shoes, hats, and beanies.

"Um… yeah they're in there." She pointed to the dresser and they walked to open the drawers.

Zeke quickly closed the drawer he just opened and they all looked at him with puzzled faces.

Chad walked to his drawer and opened it with Troy following. "Whoa. Brie I didn't know you wore a bra."

Gabriella ran quickly to the drawer and closed it. "Okay, that's enough. I don't need you guys looking at my um… clothes anymore. I don't have any of those clothes they have."

Troy sat down and rubbed the back of his neck. "Why don't we just try to improvise? Take your hat off so you can fix your hair."

Gabriella took off her hat exposing her frizzy hair popping out of her ponytail. "Jeez Gabriella! You should brush your hair." Chad exclaimed.

"I wouldn't be talking." Zeke and Troy snickered as she went to brush her hair.

Before Troy looked at the checklist he said, "Wow, I've never seen you with nothing on your head in a long time." He looked down at the paper, "Anyways… take off that loose shirt."

"I don't think that would help," Gabriella started and Zeke smiled. "Come on, we're trying to help you."

"But-" Chad interrupted, "Gabriella, it's not like we're gonna do anything. We're like your brothers, we're not gonna make fun of you."

"Yeah, we're family, your dawgs." Zeke agreed. (A/N: Note Troy doesn't:D)

Gabriella nodded and took off her shirt, leaving her in a white ribbed tank top and sweats. "Now what?"

"That was a big change if you ask me." Chad said before walking out to the kitchen with them.

"Am I going to school like this?" She asked them as she tossed a juice pouch to each of them. They each sipped some juice.

"Why don't we get you some clothes at the mall?" Zeke asked them and they agreed.

"Where do girls shop?" Chad asked and they all shrugged, including Gabriella.

Troy looked at the girls' shopping bags as they walked by them. "Yo, Troy. This isn't the time to check out girls." Zeke joked and Troy shook his head and informed them.

"For your information, I was looking at their bags. Why don't we go where they went?" Troy suggested.

When they walked into the store, Gabriella raised her eye brows in shock at all the clothes. "I don't know what to pick. Why don't you guys pick out what you think is pretty?"

The three boys looked at each other with confusion and mouthed 'pretty?' to each other. After a few minutes of looking at clothes they thought she would look good in, or what other girls wore, they finally found some acceptable ones.

Gabriella walked out with a bag of clothes. She bit her lip as she looked at the clothes one more time.

"That has got to be the longest time I've ever taken in the mall." Gabriella admitted as they walked to the food court to grab some food.

Troy chuckled, "Yeah, it was pretty weird looking for girl clothes."

"Hey, Gabi, I think you should wear the blue one." Zeke said once they got to the register. "Whoever picked it out was very talented." Gabriella rolled her eyes and pushed him.

They grabbed their food and walked to a table. Gabriella put a fry into her mouth and looked at the other girls. "What else is on that list?"

"Uh… how do you get your eye brows done?" Chad asked. Gabriella's eyes widened when she heard that. "D-Do I have to?"

"I don't want any chores." Zeke said and Chad nodded. "Me neither."

Gabriella and the boys drove home after their long day of getting Gabriella's things. They didn't know what to expect for tomorrow because when Gabriella was done with her eye brows, they were a little red.

Now, everyone is at home and Gabriella was sitting with her mom at the table. "So, your eye brows look good." Anna said inspecting her daughter.

"I guess…" Gabriella said not really caring. "May I be excused? I wanted to play my new video game."

Anna nodded then stopped herself, "N-No. I, um. I want you to stay here so we can chat for a few minutes."

Gabriella sat back down and furrowed her eye brows, "What about?"

"How do you like the idea of getting a little more… feminine?" She shrugged, "It's alright I suppose."

Anna had a mischievous grin on, "You never know… you might catch the eye of a boy you might like."

"Mom." Gabriella warned as she rolled her eyes.

"Is there any boy I should look out for?"

Gabriella shook her head, "No. There isn't any boy at all. Am I excused now?" Anna nodded and she kissed her mom before putting her plate into the sink.

"Mom!" Gabriella called from the bathroom, "This shirt is too tight! I can't breathe in it!"

"Yes you can Gabriella. Now hurry up. They're coming to pick you." Anna said walking to the bathroom, "You look fine. Here, Why don't we put some eye liner and some mascara? Oh! Maybe some lip gloss too!" Anna was so excited she could finally do this to Gabriella. Gabriella smiled softly at her mom.

Anna applied some makeup on Gabriella. She looked in the mirror, "I think that I look weird." The door bell rang, "You look fine, now go."

The three boys gaped at the new Gabriella. Zeke and Chad snapped out of their stare, but Troy didn't.

"Do I look that bad?" She asked them suddenly nervous about going to school.

"No, you just look different I guess," Troy said and Gabriella didn't lose the anxiety, "Oh! It's not a bad different," He explained and they walked off to the car.

They walked into school and Gabriella was nervous. With all those eyes on her, it wasn't helping. It must have been such a big change that whispers asking who she was were heard.

Actually, Gabriella didn't look all that different. Her brown hair was no longer tangled and frizzy, but smooth and straight. She clothes now hugged her body instead of covering it up. Just like Zeke suggested, she wore the shirt he picked out. She was actually fond of it. It was blue, had a cute saying, and still made her have that same tough, edgy side to her exterior. (A/N: If you wanna see it, it's on the profile.) Her jeans were dark and they went well with her shirt and shoes. While Anna put on Gabriella's makeup, she decided it was best to have her natural beauty enhanced rather than concealed. The simplicity of her silver hoop earrings complimented the new look. Overall, she didn't seem to have a vast change, but just enough as to not overwhelm.

"Why won't they stop looking at me?" Gabriella asked through her fake smile as she went to open her locker. "I think I wanna go change."

"Chill Gab-dawg. Just relax and everything will be alright." Zeke told her, using the nickname they had all made to go with them.

One day, Chad thought it was 'extremely cool' of him to say 'dawg' whenever possible. So, in a mocking manner, the rest said it too. They got used to it and developed their own nicknames: Gab-dawg, Chad-dawg, Z-dawg, and T-dawg. (A/N: Okay, I admit that was retarded. But! It shows closeness among the four.)

"Yeah, everything will be alright. Thanks, Z-dawg." They pounded fists when a guy came up to them. "Well, hello there. I'm-"

Gabriella rolled her eyes and finished for him, "Nick Anderson the guy who can't throw a decent pass."

The guys sniggered as Nick was taken aback. "Montez?" She nodded and they pounded fists, "My bad. Thought you were a chick."

She raised her eye brows at him and he shook his head vigorously, "Not like that… You know what I mean."

Gabriella nodded and gave him a small smile. Even though it was unintentional, that comment hurt her. "Brie. Brie!" Troy called her from her thoughts.

"Yeah?" She asked him. "I don't know if this new nickname is working. You don't seem to respond to it."

She shook her as she laughed lightly. Troy closed her locker for her and she smiled at them. "Thanks for helping me. And I like this nickname, so don't stop calling me it." They nodded with smiles but Gabriella couldn't help but wonder what it was going to be like once this whole plan was in full swing.

Gabriella worried about it. She knew that comments like those would be made, but she never knew it would hurt. Gabriella couldn't back down from their deal now, they're all in it. Gabriella sighed knowing that was just the beginning of what was to come.

A/N: Alrighty then:) So, that was the second chapter. It's not oh so interesting yet, but it's just beginning! Anyways, review please! Lots of people say it's a purple button… In my opinion, it looks more like a blue-ish grey kind of thing. Oh well. :)