Hey everyone. Thanks so much for your reviews! They really mean a lot to me, especially since with my past stories people would eventually just stop reviewing all together. So again thanks and I hope you enjoy this one.
"Oh my god, Kelsi. Did you hear?" Hannah Kush leaned over the back of her chair conspiratorially.
"About what?" Kelsi Nielson asked warily. It was a well known fact that Hannah was the biggest gossip in the school band. Just last week she had spread a rumor about the first flutist that had caused her to break down in tears in the middle of rehearsal. The details of whatever Hannah said weren't necessarily true but generally the basic idea of whatever story she was telling was factual.
"About Gabriella and Troy. They broke up." She said casually, obviously this wasn't the juicy part of her tale. Deciding that she had better warn Gabriella about whatever rumor was being spread about her Kelsi asked the question that she knew Hannah had been waiting for.
"I heard about that." Kelsi answered just as casually. She had heard about it yesterday from Gabriella herself. Kelsi knew exactly what had happened; Gabriella hadn't embellished her tale at all. Instead of informing Hannah about this though she feigned ignorance, "So do you know how it happened?"
As she expected Hannah smiled and turned all the way around in her chair. A small group had formed around the two girls as the class waited for the bell to ring and band to begin. Always comfortable being the center of attention Hannah flipped her hair behind her ears and started her account.
"Okay so Troy like, went to some party and got totally wasted. While he was there some chick from a different school started like, hitting on him and stuff. She like, tricked him into hooking up with her cause he was like, so drunk, you know? Anyway Troy realized what he had done the next morning and he like, decided not to tell Gabriella. For her own good, you know? But then someone who was at the party went and leaked like, the whole thing to Gabriella. She got so mad that she confronted him in front of the whole school, in like, the middle of the hallway. Anyway when Troy started to explain things to her she totally freaked out on him. She started like, screaming things at him and swearing in his face. So Troy totally dumped her right there, for being such a bitch you know? Anyway that's what I heard." Hannah finished rolling her eyes, "I never liked that Gabriella girl anyway. Troy could do so much better than her."
Of course, Kelsi thought, he could do better than anyone who isn't you. It was well known that almost any girl in east High would date Troy Bolton if presented with the opportunity. As a result if the topic of dating Troy came up in a conversation best friends could be reduced to competitors and competitors would slip into outright animosity.
Out loud Kelsi interrupted the now chatting group, "Who told you that? About Troy and Gabriella I mean."
"I dunno her name. It was some cheerleader in my Chem class though." Hannah waved one hand signifying that this particular detail wasn't all that important. Of course she was dead wrong about that.
"Well that's not what I heard." Laura Ross, the flutist that Hannah had recently spread a rumor about, said. She regarded Hannah haughtily, the tension between the two crackled through the air. It was plain that she was going to do her best to show up the gossip queen, if only to take the attention away from her own week old scandal.
"Wait, you heard a different story?" One of the other girls cut in, "I heard the same thing that Hannah did."
"Well I talked to Sharpay." Laura countered, "And she heard it from Gabriella herself. Sharpay said that Troy knew what he was doing. He totally didn't care that he was still going out with Gabriella; she wasn't at the party so he didn't think anyone would find out. Can you believe him? So as soon as Gabriella asked him what was up he just broke up with her. Sharpay said that he didn't even try to work things out with her, just dumped her right there. And the craziest thing is Gabriella was totally willing to give him a second chance. What a jerk, I totally sympathize with Gabriella."
"Gabriella told Sharpay that?" Kelsi asked skeptically, "I thought they hated each other."
"No way they're like best friends. Aren't you friends with both of them? Why don't you know this?" Laura turned to Kelsi.
It was true that Kelsi was Gabriella's friend and she hung out with Sharpay whenever the blonde felt like she needed a larger posse. Still she had talked to Gabriella just yesterday and Sharpay the day before but neither girl had spoken of the other. Clearly Laura, who really wasn't friendly with either girl, couldn't be trusted to know the truth of the situation but still something felt wrong. The explanation that Gabriella had given Kelsi about the break up hadn't matched up with either of the two 'true' accounts that she had just heard.
"You know I haven't talked to either of them today. I'll ask Gabriella which one of you was told the real story after school." Kelsi promised the group. She rarely took part in the before class rumor mill but sometimes a good story was just too much to pass up on.
Mostly though, Kelsi didn't like being lied to or taken advantage of, and at the moment it seemed to her that Gabriella, who appeared to be holding back the whole truth of her scandalous break-up, was doing just that.
As the bell rung Kelsi sat down in her seat, opened her music book to the right page, and plotted an intervention with Gabriella.
In the same girls bathroom where the trap for Sharpay had taken place Gabriella studied her reflection. She methodically reapplied her lip gloss and touched up her barely there eye shadow. Primly she ran her hands over her hair, smoothing it out slightly. It was all part of Gabriella's plan to remain looking like she actually had some semblance of composure. She surveyed herself in the mirror once more, feeling slightly guilty for acting as self absorbed as Sharpay often did. It was worth it though, as long as no one was worried about her she could mourn in silence.
Deciding she looked as perfect as was humanely possible Gabriella turned to walk out of the bathroom. It was only the end of third period and her perfect façade was threatening to fall apart. If she had to escape to the bathroom whenever she was on the verge of falling apart Gabriella wasn't going to make it through the week. She thought back to the beginning of her day.
Six o'clock A.M.: Thursday
Gabriella was sharply jerked out of her dreamless sleep by the droning blare of her alarm clock. Her first thought upon reaching consciousness was about her newly acquired status. She had been single for two days and still had not found closure. Troy had been Gabriella's first serious boyfriend, having had no prior experience with breaking up, or being dumped as some might view Gabriella's situation, she didn't know what to expect.
Still, never had Gabriella expected to feel the way she did. She felt lost, as if Troy had been leading her blindfolded through a forest. With him she felt safe, even though she didn't always know where they were going she knew that they would get there together. Now that he was gone she had no idea where to go. She supposed that she could stumble around blindfolded, crashing into trees and eventually falling apart or simply stand were she was waiting for Troy to come back for her. But Gabriella wasn't the type to wait for things to come to her or to give her future up to luck or fate. She knew that she could pull the blindfold off and find her own way through the woods, however dark and confusing they might be. If only she could find the resolve to actually remove the blindfold and face reality. It was so easy to stay ignorant though.
Feigning independence Gabriella pulled herself out of bed and automatically got dressed. She picked neutral and pastel tones. Hues that clearly stated: I'm all right. No I do not miss my ex-boyfriend at all, in fact good riddance. If only she could make herself feel that way as well. Meticulously Gabriella ran a brush through her hair, when it was perfectly straight she moved on to her make-up. Light natural eye shadow gave her a healthy look, as if she had actually slept well last night. A light coat of sheer lip gloss gave her an innocent appeal as well. On the outside Gabriella was ready to face the oncoming day, internally she didn't feel quite as confident.
"Morning!" Gabriella called out pseudo cheerfully as she descended the stairs. Her mother called out a reply and set a plate of pancakes in front of her daughter as she sat down.
"Wow." Gabriella gestured to the pancakes, "What's the occasion?"
"Well…" Her mother trailed off as she reached into the back of the cabinet to grab the syrup, "I have a bit of a favor to ask you. You see I have this co-worker."
Gabriella groaned playfully, her mother often went to extremes when asking her for a favor. Still she wasn't going to argue with a pancake breakfast, not when it was already made. Gabriella only hoped it was something small, if the event was too big Gabriella had a feeling that she would have to refuse. She felt fragile, breakable at the moment even the smallest occurrence could cause her to want to break down into tears.
"Okay, does she need me to baby sit or something?" Gabriella felt that she could handle children. Children, especially young ones, would take all of her concentration away from Troy and force her to focus on them.
"Actually no. She has a son Gabriella. And he's just about your age." Gabriella was speechless; her mother was trying to set her up. On a date. Did she really seem that fine? Could she possibly appear that put together that her mother thought she'd be willing to date again?
"Mom!" She finally burst out, "You want me to what? Date him?! I've been single for two days!" She shoved the pancakes away from herself, grabbed her bag and stormed out the door as her mother called after her about how nice her co-workers son was.
End of Third Period: Thursday
The rest of the day so far had gone just about as well. Gabriella had been planning to finish her math and study for a Latin test before school started but she had been so agitated she had forgotten. In math she had been the only one who had not done the homework and had to suffer through the surprised gaping of all the other students. In Latin she had done her best but had forgotten much of the new vocabulary and sentence structure they had gone over.
With nothing to do in her third period study hall Gabriella was left to agonize over her test, her math grade (surely one missed homework wouldn't bring it down too much?), and her mother. What had she been thinking? Did she really believe that her daughter wanted to date again so soon?
Gabriella escaped to the bathroom to collect herself ten minute into the period and still had not gone back. With five minute left until the bell rang she decided to just wait it out there. It was better than having to make up an excuse to the study hall monitor. As Gabriella was preparing herself to face the rest of the day Kelsi walked into the bathroom.
"Hey Gabriella." Her tone was not entirely friendly.
"Hi Kelsi, what's going on?" Gabriella asked. Kelsi was normally so happy and bubbly. To see her looking almost angry worried Gabriella.
"Guess what I heard today? Just last period actually." Kelsi asked. Without waiting for Gabriella to ask what she was talking about Kelsi continued, "I heard that Troy dumped you because you were verbally abusing him about everything that happened after he tried to explain it to you."
"What? That's crazy. You know I didn't do that." Gabriella laughed a bit but it sounded high and brittle even to her own ears.
"Yeah, but I also heard that you told Sharpay that he dumped you even though you were willing to give him a second chance. Funny thing is, I clearly remember you telling me that you never would have stayed with him after what he did." Kelsi raised her eyebrows and crossed her arms.
"Kelsi, I had to tell Sharpay that. You heard what Troy was telling everyone." She was pleading now, pleading for one of her best friends to understand her.
"You had to? You didn't have to Gabriella, what about the truth? What about telling everyone what you told me?" Kelsi hadn't changed her stance and looked angrier now than she did before she had heard Gabriella's excuse.
"But…we both look like idiots in the truth." Gabriella knew that sounded weak and that Kelsi wouldn't approve of her motive for lying.
"I see, so lying is better than looking like you made a mistake. Like you're human?" Kelsi asked.
"Can we not talk about this anymore?" Gabriella felt like she was on the brink of falling apart once more.
"Yeah." Kelsi nodded, "Let's not talk anymore. At all." She turned and walked out of the bathroom without glancing at her former friend once more.
Stricken Gabriella turned to the mirror and not knowing what else to do brushed through her hair once more. What was losing one more person? She tried out a smile, one that displayed just how perfectly fine she was pretending to be. It came out looking more than a little demented.
Only two days into her new life and already Gabriella's perfect façade was cracking up.
So I planned this story out in more detail a few days ago and you can all expect a lot more twists and turns coming up. If you continue to read that is.