Yay! Another update only in two days! (: Aren't you guys happy? Haha. It's a short author's note. No worries. (;

The Mental Guy

Chapter 2- Familiar

Nobody's POV-

"Fine." He answered, as he opened his mouth to speak again, but was interrupted by a squeal, and shriek that came from the other side of the restaurant, after the bell rang.

"Gab! Shar!"

Sharpay, Gabriella, and Jacob looked over, and saw the two girls rushing over towards them.

"Hey Kels! Hey Tay!" the blonde and brunette exclaimed as they got up, and went to hug their friends, as Jacob sat awkwardly to the side, watching them.

"Sharpay Marie Evans! When did you get back from New York?!? You should've told us!" Taylor scolded, as the four girls let go of the hug.

"I told Gabi." The blonde argued, as she pointed to Gabriella.

"No you didn't."

"Gab! Not helping!" she exclaimed, throwing her hands up in defeat, and playfully glaring at Gabriella, as all of the girls laughed together in harmony.

"Ahem." Jacob pretended to clear his thoart, as Sharpay looked at him, and gasped.

"Oh! Silly me. I forgot about you again." She said, shaking her head, as she went over to him, and pecked him on the lips.

Taylor and Kelsi stood on the side, gawking at the couple, as Gabriella stood there, silently laughing inwardly, as she watch her friends' expressions amusedly.

"Tay, Kel, this is Jacob, or you could call him Jake." Sharpay introduced, as she motioned to him once again. "That's Taylor, and Kelsi. More besties. Under Gab of course." She explained, as she motioned to the girls, who stood beside a laughing Gabriella. The two girls squealed and started jumping up and down, and they waved to him.

"Hi Jacob." They said flirtatiously batting their eyelashes, as they got closer to him, staring at him. Jacob immediately backed away a little, as he awkwardly waved his hand back. "Umm, hi…" he stated, before looking down, avoiding eye contact with anyone. All of the girls started to laugh uncontrollably. He looked up again, and stared at them weirdly.

"What's so funny?" he asked confused.

"Y-you should've s-seen your f-face! You so th-thought we were coming on to y-you!" Kelsi exclaimed, in between laughs. He sighed out of relief.

"Great! I seriously thought you were." He told them, shaking his head. After a couple more moments of their laughter, they all took their seats next to each other.

"Awesome pick Shar." Taylor started. "He didn't freak out like Kelsi's last boyfriend did. What was his name…" she trailed off trying to think of it.

"You mean Robert?" Gabriella asked, as Taylor shook her head no.

"Justin?" Sharpay guessed, as Taylor shook her head again.

"I got it! It was Seth!" She exclaimed, as Kelsi sighed, and shook her head.

"No. That was in the fifth grade, Tay. My last boyfriend was Kyle." She corrected them, as the other girls oh-ed.

"Okayy. Now that that's over, let's talk." Jacob stated, trying to change the subject as he desperately didn't want to hear the girls talk about Kelsi's love life.

"Let's talk about our feelings!" Taylor suddenly answered, as Jacob started to chuckle.

"Kay. Then, we can go to Gab's house, paint our nails, and have a girly, girly, sleepover!" he exclaimed in a fake girl voice, as he started to shake his head. "Ha-ha-ha, No. Let's play two truths and a lie. So we'd get to know each other better." He suggested. Everyone agreed, and they started to play the game, familiarizing with each other's personalities, and lives.

The next four days went by fast for the five of them. They spent their last days before school, shopping for it, and just hanging out, and getting to know each other even more. They relished their personal time together as much as they could, since school was soon starting.

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Kelsi, Gabriella, Taylor, and Sharpay walked into the halls of East High arms linked, as Sharpay stood on the side, hand in hand with Jacob. The five of them walked into the halls together, one by one leading each person to their perspective locker. At the end, Gabriella lead Jacob to the office, so he could retrieve his schedule, and necessities for his new school. When all of her accompanying duties were finished, Gabriella walked to her own locker.

"Hey Gabi!" Steve greeted as he passed by her. She smiled and waved back.

"Gab! Let's do lunch later. Kay?" Morgan asked, as she walked by the brunette, making a call me sign, as she turned the corner. Gabriella merely nodded, that being the only thing she could do since Morgan walked at such a fast pace.

After a couple more greetings from all of the familiar faces Gabriella knew, she finally arrived at her locker. She slowly opened her locker, and dropped off her new books for the year. She soon heard a commotion of whispering and chattering in the hallway, that wasn't there when she first arrived. She turned around, and had locked eyes with the same cobalt eyes that had seemed really familiar to her. She looked at the pair of eyes' owner, and saw that he was walking in the halls, taking steady steps.

He had a very unique look. He was wearing a navy colored blazer, with multiple designs, and stitches all over the back. Underneath it was a black t-shirt, with a colorful volcom design in the middle. His jeans also had stitches on it, as there were patches of other brand names all over them. He had a blonde streak in the middle of his hair that was spiked up. On his right shoulder, loosely hung his black and white striped backpack.

She took in his appearance, as her mind was swarmed with many thoughts, mostly questioning why he looked so familiar and if it was because she had seen him the year before or not. The two teenagers continued to lock eyes, as he continued to walk, and she stood by her locker.

He soon broke their eye contact, and went straight into the office like Jacob had. Gabriella stood there, looking at the office door questionably, before she shook her head, dismissing any thoughts that she had seen him before. She sighed as she closed her locker, and prepared to go to her first class of the day, homeroom with the infamous Ms. Darbus.

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Jacob stood inside the office, waiting for the grouchy secretary to come out again. He sighed, as he looked at the clock, noting that he would be late if she didn't return soon. He soon heard the door open, as he looked over and saw his half-brother coming in. His green eyes soon locked with his brother's blue ones.

"Where were you this morning Troy?" he asked curiously. "I wanted you to meet Sharpay. You know, my girlfriend… whom you avoided, and never met back in Brooklyn." Jacob finished, as Troy looked at him boredly.

"I went for fresh air, and then I just came here myself. Why didn't have fun with your slutty girlfriend?" he asked coolly, as Jacob felt telling him off, but he decided to save it for later. He disregarded his brother's last statement.

"We should've gone together." He began. "That's what Dad told me he wanted. He wanted us to be friends, or act like brothers at least." Jacob finished, and Troy snorted loudly.

"Since when do you listen to Dad?" Jacob clenched his right fist angrily, as Troy watched in amusement.

"Don't… even start that right now. You know I've been caring for dad after mom died. You should too." The blonde stated.

"Two things. One, Mary is not my mother. She's yours, only refer to her as that. No way in hell would I ever call her my mom." Troy explained coldly. "And two, I do care about Dad. I just don't care about what he wants."

"What the fuck Troy? The man's on his death bed. Stop sulking, and suck it up. He needs you." Jacob retorted.

"That's funny." The blue-eyed boy said sarcastically. "Since I seem to recall of a time when my mom and I needed him, and he wasn't there." His brother sighed.

"That's in the past Troy. Move on." Jacob responded, as Troy shook his head.

"Why would I?! I only have that to remember her by. Since some half brother of mine, destroyed all of the other things!" he exclaimed, as anger built up inside of him.

"I didn't know they meant that much to you." The blonde told him, shaking his head.

"Exactly. You don't know anything. You don't even care. You know what? Just fuck off, and leave me alone Jacob." Troy said as he paced around.

"Don't you even dare try that lame excuse, Troy. You know I care about you. We're brothers." Troy stopped pacing, and looked up at Jacob as he snorted.

"Excuse me? If you haven't noticed, we're only half brothers. And if you cared about me, you wouldn't have ruined my life. If you cared, you would've helped me and my mom, and not have existed at all." He retorted coldly.

Jacob felt the anger and sadness in Troy's voice, and started to feel guilt in him, as he thought about what Troy had said. He soon opened his mouth to respond, but he was interrupted the secretary coming back out. She called his name, and handed him a packet of paper.

"Here." She stated boredly. "And give this one to your brother." she told him, as she handed him another one, with Troy's name on it. Troy immediately plastered a fake smile on his face.

"There's no need." Troy started as he got closer to her, and looked down at her. "I'm Troy. I can take my own things, instead of having him give them to me." He finished as he took his packet out of Jacob's grasp. "Thanks." He told her nonchalantly, as he faced Jacob. "Cya Brother." He said through gritted teeth, and started to walk out the door, slamming it behind him. Jacob turned his attention back to Ms. Whittman, who shrugged.

"Go on. Get out. You've got your needed items." She told him, as she sat back down, and continued to play solitaire on her computer. As Jacob walked over to the door, and opened it, she spoke again.

"Don't you even dare slam it." She stated, before returning her full attention to the card game in front of her.

Jacob sighed in frustration as he looked out into the hallway. He shook his head as he saw his brother's retrieving figure. I didn't mean to ruin your life, Troy… he thought sadly, as Troy went into a classroom, and closed the door. It was all a mistake…everything was.

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Gabriella sat in her homeroom, doodling on her notebook, as she heard the door open and close. She looked up, and saw him again. He looked at her, before turning to Mrs. Darbus and talked to her about something, as she nodded, and got out of her chair, and stood up beside him.

"Pupils of the theatrical arts, listen up. We have a new student joining us today. This is…" she trailed off looking at the pass he gave her. "It doesn't seem to say your name." She said confusedly, as she looked at him again. "What's your name?" He shrugged as the class started to laugh, as Gabriella stared at him, studying his features again.

"Quiet!" Mrs. Darbus exclaimed, blowing her whistle that was hanging from her neck, as she turned to him again. "You." She said pointing at him. "Tell us your name this instant!" she yelled clearly angry. He smirked as he answered her.

"Who knows?" He said in nonchalance, as he shrugged, and walked towards the empty seat in the middle of the class, and sat down. Mrs. Darbus sighed in fury, as she sat down at her desk again, looking at her schedule to see what time her dreaded homeroom ended.

Meanwhile, Gabriella sat, and stared at the mysterious guy seated in a desk in front of her, still trying to find out why he looked so familiar. Sharpay sat beside her friend, staring at her in amusement, seeing that the new unnamed guy has caught Gabriella's eye. First time in a while. The blonde thought excitedly as she looked at the guy Gabriella was staring at. Looks a little challenging. It'll be so much fun to get them together!

No cliffy. (:

Haha. I know, another short chapter. But they'll get longer. I'm still trying to get in tune with the story. Comments, suggestions? Send the in a review, or PM. (;

-Ilyilyx3

P.S. Again, sorry for any careless mistakes I missed.