Gabriella stared at the pink walls of Danielle's bedroom. It had been forever since she had been in this bedroom. She never thouhght in a million years that she'd be back in Albuquerque, much less Danielle's bedroom.
The only reason she agreed to come to Danielle's house was to keep up the facade that she was still Danielle's best friend. Another reason was to go through Danielle's things and see if she could find anything. But Gabriella's plans were interrupted by unexpected guests.
Next to her was Sharpay Evans, Troy's godsister. "Sharpay, are you new out here? I don't really think I remember you."
Sharpay nodded, "Yeah, I moved out here a few months ago with my parents. We lived in Santa Fe."
"Oh. Danielle never mentioned you."
"She never mentioned you either. I guess she wanted to keep you all to herself."
"Actually, I just moved back out here from L.A. I spent a year out there."
"Really?" Gabriella nodded. "That's so interesting."
Gabriella sighed, "I know. My parents thought it would be a good idea if I moved back out here. I'm moving back as soon as I get the chance."
Sharpay looked at her watched and sighed. "Troy was supposed to pick me up 15 minutes ago, but as usual, he's running late."
"You have somewhere to be?"
"No. I just don't want to be here."
Gabriella frowned, "Why?"
Sharpay shook her head, "No, it's not you. In all honesty, I'm not Danielle's biggest fan."
Gabriella kept a straight face, even though she was smiling on the inside. She might actually like Sharpay. They already had one thing in common: their mutual dislike for Danielle.
"Oh, really?"
"Yeah. Troy thought it would be a good idea for us to get to know each other, but I'd rather be anywhere but here right now."
Gabriella walked over to Danielle's window and looked out. "Well, Troy is here."
"Where?"
"Outside with Danielle." Gabriella replied, rolling her eyes at the couple.
Sharpay walked over to the window. "If they start kissing, I seriously might throw up."
Gabriella nodded in agreement. She backed away from the window. "They're too caught up in each other right now. You want me to drive you home?"
"Yes, please."
Gabriella grabbed her Sharpay's purse and handed it to her. "Alright. Let's go."
They walked out of Danielle's bedroom and started heading downstairs. They spotted Danielle's parents coming up the stairs.
"Hey Mr. and Mrs. A." Gabriella greeted with a smile and wave.
Danielle's mom, Alexis, smiled, "Hey girls. You leaving?"
Gabriella nodded, "Yeah, I'm just going to drop Sharpay off at home."
Alexis frowned, "Aw, too bad. I wish you could stay longer, Gabriella. We haven't seen you in a whole year."
"How was Los Angeles?" Robert, Danielle's father, asked.
"Los Angeles was great. I plan on moving back out there for college." Gabriella answered.
"Your father was telling me that Lola goes to UCLA, now."
"Yeah, it's her first year. She's super excited."
"Well congratulations to her. Now if you girls will excuse me, I have to make sure Robert gets some rest." Alexis said.
"Lex, I'm fine."
"I find it ironic that a cardiologist with cardiac dysrhythmia can't take care of himself." Alexis stated. "Now go upstairs to your room."
Robert put his head down, "Yes mother. Goodbye girls."
Gabriella smiled as she said goodbye. How could Danielle have such nice parents, and be such a horrible human being. That didn't make a lick of sense.
"Hey guys." Troy greeted, as the two girls walked outside. "Shar, you ready to go?"
Sharpay pointed to Gabriella, "Actually, Gabriella offered to drive me home."
Troy shook his head, "No, Gabriella. You don't have to do that."
"I know, but I want to."
"Are you sure?" Troy asked, skeptically.
Gabriella held up her hands in surrender, "Ok. You can take her hone."
Troy scoffed, "Never mind. Sorry I pushed it."
"We'll see you guys tomorrow at school." Sharpay said, waving. Gabriella unlocked her car door so she could get in.
"Where do you live?" Gabriella questioned, turning to Sharpay.
"Savannah Avenue."
Gabriella smiled, "No way!"
"What? What's wrong?"
"We live on the same street."
"Are you for real?"
Gabriella nodded, "Yes. We live on the same street."
"Great. I'll have someone to hang out with."
"There is only so much Danielle a person can handle at a time." Gabriella half-joked.
"I seriously hate physics." Troy complained, closing his textbook in frustration. "Physics sucks."
"It's not that hard, Troy." Gabriella argued, opening Troy's book back up.
They were sitting on the floor of Troy's bedroom. Textbooks, notebooks, highlighters, pens, and post-its were scattered all around them. She was Troy's new physics partner/tutor.
It completely shocked Gabriella when Troy asked Gabriella to be his new partner. He said because of Danielle, they got a 62/100 on their last lab, and he couldn't afford to have a D.
"In case you haven't noticed, I'm completely horrible at anything that has to do with math, or equations."
"Troy, you're really smart. Every question I've asked you, you've gotten correct. You're mistaking your hatred for confusion."
"Way to go all psychological on me, algebra girl." Troy groaned, throwing his eraser at Gabriella.
"Don't throw things at me!" Gabriella ordered, throwing the eraser back at Troy, hitting him on the forehead. "It's not nice to bully the person who is helping you."
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry. Quiz me."
"What are the two types of motions Aristotle studied?"
"Umm, natural and violent."
"Correct. Newtons 1st Law of Motion?"'
"An object in motion, stays in motions and an object in rest, stays in rest, unless acted upon by an outside force."
"What's the difference between weight and mass?"
"Mass is the measure of material in an object and weight is the measure if gravitational force acting on an object."
Gabriella smiled, "Troy, you're going to ace your test."
"Are you positive?"
"Extremely positive." Gabriella assured. "I'm willing to bet money on it."
Troy let out a sigh of relief. "Good. So, no more studying for today?"
Gabriella shook her head, "No, not unless you want to."
"Trust me, I don't." Troy grabs his books and puts them back under his bookshelf.
"Knock knock!" A cheerful voice caught the attention of the two teens. They looked up and saw Troy's mother, Lucille, standing in the doorway.
"Hi mom." Troy greeted.
"I thought you two little scholars would like a snack." Lucille said, setting a plate of cookies down on the dresser. "Gabriella, are you allergic to peanuts?"
"No. Why?"
"I made a few sugar cookies, just in case you were allergic to the peanuts in peanut butter cookies."
"No way. I love peanut butter cookies."
Lucille smiled, "Well there is a lot more in the kitchen. You can take the rest home."
"Thanks Mrs. Bolton."
"Lucille." Lucille corrected. "And you're welcome, sweetheart." She walked out of Troy's room, closing the door behind her.
"Your mom is really sweet." Gabriella complimented.
"I'll tell her you said that."
Gabriella looked over at Troy, who was fiddling with his television. "What are you doing?"
"Turning on my XBox. Want to play?"
"Sure. What game are we playing?"
"Saints Row: The Third."
"I have never heard of that game."
"All you have to do is drive and kill. It's really simple. I promise." Troy handed Gabriella the controller.
After spending a few minutes creating a new character for Gabriella-she refused to play as Troy's character. He had a tattoo on his neck-they were finally ready to play.
"Ok, what do I do?" Gabriella asked, pushing random buttons on the controller.
"You don't push anything yet. It's just in the story mode right now. Pay attention."
Gabriella stared at the TV screen. There was a group of people trying to rob a bank. "Why are they wearing those ridiculous masks?"
"They're robbing a bank. It's a disguise." Troy explained.
Gabriella gasped, "Oh my goodness, that dumbass just pushed the silent alarm. He is like the world's dumbest criminal."
Troy let out a lazy 'mhmm' in reply.
"Ok, now what am I supposed to do?"
Troy pointed to the green 'A' on the controller. "Press that to shoot."
"All I'm doing is shooting?"
"Yes."
"I'm shooting but it isn't working."
Troy grabbed the controller from Gabriella. "You ran out of bullets because you wasted them on shooting at the ground."
"Oh."
Troy swapped Gabriella's character's gun for someone else's and gave the controller back to her. "This time shoot at the people." He teased.
"Don't make fun of me, Troy."
Troy chuckled, "I'm sorry, Gabriella. This is just really amusing."
"My failure isn't... aha!"
"What?"
"I killed someone!" Gabriella exclaimed. She jumped up, excitedly. "I killed someone. I killed someone. In your face, I'm amazing."
"Gabriella."
"Yes, Troy."
"You died." Troy said, biting down on his lip to keep from laughing.
Gabriella turned around to look at the TV. Troy was right. Gabriella's character was indeed dead, "What the hell?"
"You got so caught up in your victory, you weren't paying attention."
Gabriella playfully shoved Troy. He shoved her back. Gabriella slapped Troy on the leg. "Don't shove me."
Troy shoved Gabriella back, causing her to fall over. "You shoved me first."
"Your maturity level is outstanding." Gabriella said, giggling.
"Ok, now that we are..." Troy was cut off by a marker hitting his nose. "Ok. It's on."
"What do you mean?" Gabriella asked, raising an eyebrow.
Troy grabbed Gabriella's arm and pulled her closer to him. He put her in a headlock.
"Troy! What are you doing?"
"Say sorry." Troy ordered.
"No."
"Say you're sorry."
"I'm not sorry."
"I'm going to give you a noogie." Troy warned.
"Troy if you give me a noogie, I will punch you."
"All you have to do is apologize." Troy said, rubbing his knuckles against Gabriella's head.
Gabriella gasped, "You're messing up my hair!"
"Gabriella, all you have to do is say sorry."
"Fine, I'm sorry."
"Say it like you mean it."
"Troy." Gabriella growled.
"Say it like you mean it." Troy repeated.
"I'm sorry."
"What are you sorry for."
"I'm sorry for hitting you and throwing things at you." Gabriella apologized.
"Excuse me."
They looked up and saw Danielle staring...no glaring at them. She was obviously pissed.
"Hey baby." Troy greeted, letting Gabriella out of his strong grip. She smoothed down her hair. He got up and gave Danielle a kiss on her cheek.
"What's going on here?" Danielle asked.
"We were studying." Troy explained.
Danielle looked around the room. "I'm not really getting the "studying" vibe."
"Well "were" being the operative word." Gabriella stated. "We stopped and started..."
"Rolling around on the ground, giggling?" Danielle finished.
"Playing XBox." Gabriella corrected.
"Ok, and then you guys started rolling around on ground, giggling?"
Gabriella dismissed Danielle's comment. "That isn't important right now."
Danielle scoffed, "It isn't?"
"No." Gabriella assured. She picked her book up from off the floor. "I'll see you lovebirds at school tomorrow."
"Don't forget the cookies." Troy called out as Gabriella walked out of his room.
"I won't!" Gabriella called back.
When Gabriella left, Danielle turned to Troy. Troy shrugged, "What?"
"What the hell was that?"
"What do you mean?"
"When I come over, can I not find you flirting with another girl?"
Troy rolled his eyes, "I wasn't flirting with Gabriella."
"Sure you weren't." Danielle ground out. "I may have been born at night, but it wasn't last night."
"Do you really think I would flirt with another girl? Who is your best friend?"
Danielle eyed Troy skeptically. She let out a sigh, "No."
"Ok then." Troy gave her a kiss. "Don't be so paranoid."
"I'm not paranoid."
Gabriella was actually really happy to get home. All she wanted to do was get some sleep. After three hours of tutoring Troy, and then getting attacked by him, she was exhausted.
Her cellphone vibrated against the palm of her hand. She looked at it. A picture of Lola popped up.
"Hello?"
"Hey sis." Lola greeted. "What's up?"
"I'm going to take a nap." Gabriella replied.
"In the middle of the afternoon? Are you a toddler?"
"Lola, I'm sleepy."
"Why?"
"I was at Troy's house studying."
"Studying?" Gabriella could hear the mischievous tone in Lola's voice.
"Yes. Studying. I'm am his new tutor and his lab partner.
"Oh. What's the fun in studying?"
"Gosh, let me finish the story."
"Sorry."
"So we were studying, and we stopped to play a game on his XBox 360." Gabriella continued.
Lola sighed, "Still doesn't sound like fun."
"Well, I can tell you that there was a lot of physical contact involved."
"What kind of physical contact?"
"The playful nature. It was really fun until Danielle walked in."
"Uh-oh. Was she pissed off?"
"Oh yeah. She was livid." Gabriella giggled. "It was great!"
"You did it just to piss her off?"
"No. She walked in on us. Troy and I were just playing around. And his mom gave me like a million cookies."
"Really?"
"Yeah. When she bakes, she doesn't stop at just a dozen. We'll have peanut butter cookies until December."
"Try to save me some, alright. I'll be out there next weekend."
"What's happening next weekend?"
"Labor Day weekend." Lola answered. "I'll be in New Mexico for a few days."
Gabriella scratched her head in confusion, "You're going to leave L.A. to come out to here?"
"Yeah. It's not like I'm 21."
"You're gorgeous! Pretty girls don't need ID, Lola."
"Do you not want me to come visit?"
"No. It'll be great to see you."
"Good. Now I have to go. My next class starts in 6 minutes."
"Call me, later."
"I will. Bye!" Lola hangs up.
Gabriella flopped down on the bed. She still wanted to take a nap, but she was on a Troy Bolton high. There was no way she could sleep when her heart was pounding a mile a minute. They were having such a good time until Danielle ruined it.
She gagged at the thought of Danielle. That bitch ruined everything. It seemed like as soon as she opened her mouth, the light hearted atmosphere did a complete 180 and it was suddenly being controlled by the block of ice living the spot where her heart should be.
Gabriella frowned. Thinking about Danielle totally ruined the natural high she was on.
Gabriella pushed herself off of her bed. There was a huge plate of cookies sitting in the kitchen, waiting for her. If those didn't put Gabriella in a good mood, nothing would.
The next day at school, the tension was thick between Gabriella and Danielle. Everyone around them could feel the awkwardness between the two "friends", but no one was courageous enough to bring it up.
"Danielle, about what happened yesterday..." Gabriella started. Danielle cut her off.
"It's whatever."
"It was really inappropriate." Gabriella continued.
"Yeah." Danielle agreed, stabbing her salad with a fork. She stared at Gabrielle, intently. "I was pissed, but Troy was able to calm me down. He made it up to me last night."
Gabriella rolled her eyes at Danielle's not-so-subtle way of telling her she and Troy had sex. "Glad you guys were able to talk."
"I told Troy that you two should find a new place to study. Maybe somewhere more public. Like the library. Or the park."
"Of course." Gabriella smiled. Danielle was jealous and intimidated. That was right where Gabriella wanted her. "Speaking of the library, I have to go there. See you in English."
Danielle watched Gabriella leave the table. She turned around and faced her salad, again.
"You alright?" Danielle's friend, Robin, asked.
Danielle nodded, "Yeah. Why wouldn't I be?"
"Well, for one, your hand is bleeding." Robin pointed to Danielle's hand.
Danielle looked down at her palm. She had dug her nails into the palm of her hand., and she broke skin. "I want you to watch her."
"Watch Gabriella?"
"Something is up with her." Danielle observed.
Robin laughed, dismissively. "This is Gabriella Montez we're talking about."
"She isn't the same Gabriella. And I don't trust that bitch."
"Are you jeal..."
"Robin if you know what's good for you, you won't even think about asking me that question." Danielle threatened.
Robin looked down at her tray, afraid of Danielle's hateful glare. Her question had been answered.
On the other side of the cafeteria, Gabriella was watching Danielle talk to Robin. Things were going to be too easy for Gabriella. Troy liked Gabriella, and it pissed Danielle off.
"Watch your back, bitch." Gabriella whispered, looking at Danielle. "I'm ready to play. Let the games begin."