Disclaimer: I'm an angel, so why don't I own HSM?

Author's Note: Thank you for the amazing reviews! I seriously didn't expect to get that many for my first chapter, even my first story. So here is the second chapter and I hope you like it just as much. This one is a bit more focused on Gabriella but there are hints of Troy's true character within it. Enjoy!

Fatal Attraction

Chapter 2: Too Far

Slamming her locker shut, Gabriella turned to see a small huddle of students watching her as they passed. Rolling her eyes, she leant back against her closed locker and sighed heavily. It had been happening all day. Everywhere she went people had been staring at her, whispering behind their hands, sending her evil glares. It was all because of Troy Bolton. The jerk had managed to ruin her high school plan in the space of one day. The plan was to pass through her last two years with as little fuss as possible and with no attention at all from her fellow peers. And yet, from a stupid pairing in gym class with East High's reigning bully, the entire school suddenly knew who she was, destroying all her faith in her plan.

"Let me guess, Troy Bolton?" A voice said from beside her and she nodded, recognising the familiar voice.

"Why? Why me? What did I possibly do that would make him at all interested with me?" Gabriella asked Taylor who was rifling through her bag.

"Have you seen you? You're gorgeous and every guy in this school knows it," she replied, retrieving an apple from the bottom of her bag and bit into it. Gabriella frowned at her friend and turned to face her locker. Groaning, she banged her head against it, the deafening sound ringing through the hall. Leaning back to bang her head again, she felt a hand place upon her shoulder and turn her away from the hard metal.

"Gabi stop it. How can you let one, complete idiot ruin everything. I mean nothing even happened. You danced together, the end." Gabriella nodded but her thoughts turned to the morning and what Troy had said. "Who said I wanted to get to know you?" she had asked him, the position of his hands staying firm in her head. "Oh you will," he had replied before disappearing.

"I know Tay, but I just have this feeling that that wasn't the end. That I'm like a…sheep that he's picked out of a herd and is going to torture before heading in for the kill." Looking across at Taylor, she saw her smiling and frowned, pushing off of the wall. "What?"

"You. You make me laugh, making this into a bigger deal than it actually is. I mean what are the odds of Troy Bolton doing anything to you besides trying to seduce you to get you into bed. I mean seriously, I've known you for two months and I already know you inside out. I know for a second you won't cave because you don't like him."

Gabriella's eyes snapped up and she looked at her friend, trying to hide the flash of guilt that had just passed across her face. Taylor suddenly straightened up, the apple going limp in her hand.

"Gabriella, no. Please, tell me you don't?"

Shrugging her shoulders, Gabriella turned her head from Taylor. On her first day at East High, she had instantly noticed Troy and of course, her heart had swooned. She could understand why every girl in the school liked him. He was gorgeous and extremely sexy, his eyes constantly dark and his swagger making him all the more mysterious. She had immediately been attracted to him, but after discovering some truths about his reputation, she had been scared off. Avoiding sneaking glances at him and trying to search for him in the crowds, she had almost forgotten he was there. That was, until she had caught him watching her from across the classroom. It had been just a fleeting glance and probably wasn't intentional, but it had caught her attention and she hadn't been able to forget it. But all the time she was fighting with her feelings as to whether she should let herself like him. After seeing him fight with Jonathon Anderson, her suspicions as to whether he was as bad as people made him out to be were confirmed and she knew he was trouble, yet she found that appealing and had discovered her feelings towards him were not going to go away.

Well they certainly aren't now, she thought. Glancing up at Taylor, she realised she hadn't answered and quickly shook her head.

"Of course I don't like him!" she insisted, moving off of her locker and into the swarm of students slowly filing out of the school. Hearing Taylor fall into step beside her, the continued to follow the throng of students out of the school.

"Well I'm glad you don't like him," Taylor added as they descended the steps of the school. "Because if you did that would be pretty awful." Suddenly stopping, Gabriella waited for Taylor turn around. Seeing the brunette turn, Taylor's face suddenly fell.

"You do!" she exclaimed and Gabriella instantly shushed her, moving quickly towards her best friend and linking arms with her.

"It's not that awful. Is it?" Gabriella asked, chewing on her nails absent-mindedly. Feeling Taylor's hand move hers from her mouth, she turned, her arms falling to her sides.

"It's not awful if you don't talk to him again. That way you can get over him and move on. Troy Bolton is not someone you should be crushing on," Taylor said, before biting her apple.

"I'm not crushing on him. It's just a…physical attraction. I'll get over it." Beginning to chew her nails again, the two headed across the parking lot towards Gabriella's car. Reaching it, Gabriella stopped deep in thought.

Turning to her Taylor watched as her face went from angry to worried to completely confused. With a smile she waved a hand in front of her face and watched as Gabriella's glassy eyes turned to look at her.

"Are going to stand around here all day?" Taylor questioned and Gabriella's head suddenly snapped over to the car and then back to Taylor. Suddenly opening her bag, Gabriella began rifling through it and then noticed there was something missing. Scanning over the books she had taken for homework, she noticed her chemistry book was missing. Sighing, she fell against the car her head dropping onto the warm paintwork. Pushing herself up, she turned to Taylor and tossed her the keys.

"I'll be back in a minute, just got to get my chemistry book." With an audible sigh and a roll of her eyes, Taylor opened the car and disappeared into it. Turning, Gabriella headed back to the building she had been so urgently wanting to vacate. Pulling on one of the doors, she entered and stepped into a deserted corridor, something she was used to due to her commitment to the Decathlon team after school meetings. Swiftly walking down the corridor, her heels clicking on the floor she approached her locker and began to enter the combination. Twirling the lock, she pulled but the door didn't budge. Sighing, she dropped her bag to the floor and began to enter the combination again. Pulling the door, it once again refused to open.

Banging her fists against the door, she groaned loudly, her head coming to rest on the cool metal. Leaning her body against it, she sighed as her eyes fluttered shut. Feeling a small breeze brush against her bare arms, her eyes shot open and she looked up to be faced with an empty corridor.

Pushing off of the wall and turned to face her locker, when a small scream escaped her lips and she stumbled backwards over her bag, her hand flying to her chest and her suddenly racing heart.

"Troy! That wasn't funny!" she exclaimed as the basketball superstar smiled at her as he leant casually against the wall of lockers. His eyes flashed over her, taking in her knee-length skirt and simply tank top due to the hot weather. He looked at her face and saw she was watching him, a hint of anger in her eyes.

"Come on Montez, lighten up. It wasn't like I touched you or anything," he muttered, pushing off of the lockers and moving further into the empty corridor.

Gabriella's eyes graced over him, taking in his sweaty exterior and his red basketball jersey and shorts. He had clearly just come from practise. The look made him, if it was even possible, more good-looking than ever and yet Gabriella fought against the feeling rising in herself and turned to glare at him.

"You could have announced yourself, instead of giving me the fright of my life," she retaliated and Troy simply smirked. Glaring at him, she turned her hair flying over her shoulders and she began to enter the combination on her locker again. When she was again faced with a still closed locker, she was thoroughly agitated and turned to Troy who had been watching her with an amused look.

"Was there something you wanted?" she questioned, pushing her hair out of her face that had become flushed with frustration. Troy simply shrugged, his arms now folded over his clearly visible chest beneath his shirt.

"Not really, but watching you is entertainment enough." Gabriella smirked at him sarcastically and bent down to her bag, searching for her timetable. "So, the sudden attention getting to you?"

Her head snapping up at his question, Gabriella frowned at him before shaking her head and then shrugging. Finding her timetable, she stood and glanced at the combination she had noted on the piece of paper at the beginning of semester.

"I saw you today, hurrying through the group of girls that had stopped beside you at lunch. What happened to the feisty girl I met in gym?" Troy persisted as Gabriella's petite hand moved to the combination lock and began turning it, her eyes flashing to the paper in her hand and then back again.

"Ah, well that girl's reserved only for you," she muttered and a dry laugh escaped Troy's lips. Moving closer to her, Troy watched her face. Screwed up in concentration, she kept glancing at the piece of paper her motions slow and steady. "Shouldn't you be in the gym?" Her comment made him look up. He smirked.

"I should, but I spotted you through the window on the way back from the principals office and made a detour." Gabriella snorted briefly, dropping her actions and turning to him.

"What were you there for this time? The principals office I mean," she asked and Troy frowned at her.

"I'm not in trouble if that's what you mean. You seriously think the principal knows all about that?" Gabriella felt her eyebrows furrow and her hand fell limp from the locker.

"You're telling me that the principal has no idea you beat up Anderson outside the school last week?" Troy shook his head, his hair once again falling into his eyes. He flicked it out and continued to watch Gabriella who was now sporting a slightly impressed look. The look disappeared however and she simply stared at him blankly.

"I simply told Anderson to keep it to himself or he could find himself having difficulty standing." Gabriella suddenly frowned.

"Aren't you such a nice person," she said and Troy couldn't help but smile. "Besides, I don't think asking someone something nicely is your style. I think if I remember correctly, you threatened him. Now that's more your style. The style of a bully." The smile on Troy's face faltered slightly and Gabriella smirked before turning to face her locker again. As her hand reached up to try and open it, Troy's fist collided heavily with the metal, making Gabriella jump. Looking up she noticed the dangerous look was back in his eyes, more menacing than before. Feeling her heart racing she wondered what he was going to do realising she had angered him. But instead of retaliating, he simply moved closer to her. As she watched him she noticed his hand on her locker. Moments later the door sprung open.

"You just need to hit it," he whispered, his face inches from hers and he smirked when he saw her swallow. "This was my locker in freshman year." An eyebrow raised briefly up his forehead before he brushed past her and moved swiftly down the corridor.

Standing in the same position for a moment, she tried to comprehend what had just happened. That look in his eyes, it had been so unnerving. It wasn't just anger, it was pure danger and she was scared too look deeper therefore her gaze had dropped from his. Her comment hadn't been out of line and yet it had affected him. Feeling her heart rate slowing, she turned to her open locker and grabbed the book she had come for.

Slamming the door shut, she fell against it as her eyes rolled shut. Still unsure on what happened, she knew one thing. She had just pushed Troy Bolton too far.


Author's Note: I'm really enjoying writing this story. Making Troy the bad boy is fun! Please tell me what you thought and CC is always welcome. The next chapter will hopefully be up soon!