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CHAPTER 3

"Sharpay told me not to talk to you." Gabriella stated to the visitor on her wall.

"Do you do everything she says?" He asked with a lift of his thick brow and a mischievous smile that flashed his perfectly white teeth.

"If I want a quiet day I do." She spouted without thinking, then blushed.

"Why, what happens otherwise?" He wondered worriedly.

"Nothing." She quickly denied.

"What did you do Gabriella Montez; I still can't work it out." He murmured.

Won a beauty pageant. The words wouldn't make sense as an answer to him; but they made perfect sense to her. Ever since she could remember, she had been told how beautiful she was; how extraordinary. How unique, stunning, promising for a modelling career. The pageant had been her big chance and she had won it, worn the sash and the glamorous gowns.

And then the seething jealousy had erupted and someone who hated her enough to hurt her had taken a glass into battle and fought with her with the intent of ruining her looks.

Well, they had succeeded. And now she was the butt of all the jokes. She was disfigured, for life.

"I was beautiful once. Apparently that's a crime." She whispered.

"Wait, Gabriella…" He called as she ran off again. "You're beautiful now," he said to himself.

/

"Hi," The ballsy blonde was a familiar face in West High, despite the ban of the schools mixing.

"Hi, Sharpay." Troy answered levelly.

"So, you're taking me to the ball." She smiled.

"Err, no I'm not." He replied honestly, annoyed at her directness.

"Then who are you taking, little miss scar-face?" She smirked.

"No-one. I'm going on my own." He replied.

"But Troy, we belong together. My dad and your dad; they would love it if we got together and they get to spend more time playing golf and having dinner."

"Sharpay, I said no." He replied firmly.

"So you're asking her then are you?" Her tone changed to icy and he thought back to Gabriella's reluctance to share what Sharpay was doing to her.

"No actually I'm not. I walk with her to school, that's all." He lied.

"Mm. I don't know why you bother." She flounced off.

/

He didn't know what made him go out that night, wander in the street and eventually skulk in the shadows; smoking a secret cigarette while his dad was buried in paperwork. He had on a beanie to cover his identifiable brown, shaggy hair. His blue eyes were still evident, even under his dark hoodie. His jeans and converse his trademark items. He bounced a basketball with his other hand, lazily, watching his smoky breaths pour out.

"The dragon is back, then." Her voice came from behind him and he swung his head around, watching her power-walk right by him, her small body clothed in soft gym trousers and a hooded top similar to his, but purple. His ball bounced across the street and it rested against the curb.

"Don't go in." He challenged and she stopped, bending down to touch each toe to stretch. He watched as her pants tightened across her ass and he smiled at her curves.

"You're staring." She had her hands on her hips, still facing away but she had twisted to look at him.

"Yes I am." He smiled audaciously back, a little glint in his eye.

"Oh god…" Her face fell and she paled so suddenly, he quickly dropped his ciggie to catch her, thinking she would pass out.

"What is it?" He panicked.

"No!" She held out her arms as he went to steady her. "I know what all this is about, now. I should have known. God, stupid me."

"Stupid me too, then, because I have no idea." He remarked bemusedly.

"This is about sex, isn't it? All the boys have a bet on as to who gets laid on the night of the ball. This is some kind of stupid bet. I've seen 'She's All That' Troy, and I am sorry to say I am not Lainey Bloggs. This face doesn't come off like her glasses did." Gabriella announced, heading for her porch.

"Would you STOP?" He called angrily, fisting his hands as he followed her. "I am not the guy you keep accusing me to be! I understand your mistrust, but I'm not like everyone else."

Gabi took three or four laboured breaths and then felt her breathing slow as she paused on the steps, eventually trailing over to the swinging chair.

"I don't know who you think I am, Gabriella…" He sighed as he sat beside her.

"You can call me Gabi…" She hedged.

"Tell me about this bet thing..." He begged.

"I heard the girls talking about it. They all wanted to be part of it." She shook her head.

"I promise you, I knew nothing about it. It's not why I'm here." He assured.

She looked up, met those blue, truthful eyes. "Then why are you?"

/

"Did he ask you yet?" Philip enquired as Gabi came inside after her evening run. She refused to exercise in daylight.

"Are you spying on me?" She wondered.

"No, I heard voices. I was checking you weren't being attacked."

"Well he did, if you must know." She mumbled.

"And?" Philip lifted his brows.

"And I said no again." She replied simply, shrugging, heading for her room.

"Why did you say no?"

"Because there's a billion more beautiful girls he could ask, dad." She replied.

"There's none as beautiful as you." He said quietly.

"Well, mom didn't think so did she? I don't see why anyone else would…"

"Gabriella…" He called as she ran up the stairs and into her room.

/

He was there, on her wall, the next morning. She deliberately plugged her earphones into her ears and crossed her arms across her body as she came down the path, showing him she didn't want to talk. And they didn't.

He walked beside her but didn't say anything; he just glanced at her every now and then, trying to work her out. Eventually, she removed her earphones and glared those dark, fiery eyes at him. He traced her face; what he could see of it, the heart shape beautiful, housing those huge, soulful eyes and a small, cute nose and full lips. He noticed the way one side of her upper lip was propped up a little, one of the scars separating the skin and disfiguring the shape of her bowed lips a little. He wanted to kiss there; he realised bemusedly. He wanted to see what she would do if he did that.

"Why do you keep staring at me?" She accused cagily.

"I like looking at you, is that a crime?" He asked back with a smile.

"If you want to see what they did to me then just ask me, Troy. I'm not an animal in the zoo to be stared at."

"I'm not…Jeez…" He whooshed out a breath, flummoxed by her accusations. Hadn't they been through this last night?

"It's what everyone wants to know. How bad is it? Is it really ugly? What does it feel like?" She narrated, pulling her hair further across her face as she even thought about her scar being on show.

"I wasn't thinking that." He swore, stopping outside her school, having gone past East High to walk her all the way there.

"Then what were you thinking?"

"That I'd like to kiss you."

/

The words stayed with her while she tried to concentrate on Math, and failed miserably. How dare he say that to her before class started? Now all she could think about were those words.

She had run away of course, like she always did when he said things she couldn't understand. Nobody wanted to kiss her, let alone Troy Bolton. Just why on earth did he keep following her and telling her such things. And more importantly, why now?

Sharpay kept reminding her she was good for nothing with a face like hers and her once happy life was now a constant struggle. Maybe she had taken her beauty for granted; maybe she had let it go to her head. But did she deserve this? This constant round of put downs and attacks? Hadn't she suffered enough?

Netball was her favourite sport and gym was the only time she tied her hair back and faced the looks of horror as she bared herself to her classmates. All the make-up in the world could not disguise the patchwork of deep scars that zigzagged her face. It was the worst time for her; it was when she got pushed and kicked afterwards in the showers. It was the last lesson of the day and no-one was there to make sure she left in one piece. It was the time she had to fight her way out and run for her life.

He found her, sobbing into her arms as she sat against a tree, hidden from the main route home. She was wearing her gym kit; red shorts and a white tee top. She looked beautiful; but broken. So broken.

Her legs were covered in bruises and mud. Her hair was littered with chewing gum. He felt his heart break a thousand times over at what her classmates had done to her and at seeing her in her complete vulnerability; struggling to hold on.

He dropped his bag at her feet and quickly sat down, curling an arm around her shoulders. "Gabriella?"

The fact that she didn't instantly rebuff him had him even more worried. It wasn't like her at all. He expected her to at least put up a fight. She cried a bit more, then she came round, looking up at him.

"Why do you keep doing this?" She begged.

"Because I like you." He answered honestly.

"Why now?" She beseeched.

"It's not just 'now'." He shrugged. "Do you know how long it took me to work up the courage to speak to you?"

"I don't know why." She remarked.

"Because you have a reputation for being a little hard to talk to," he smiled to soften his words, showing he was teasing.

"Then why do you keep trying?"

"I can't stop now I started, right?" He asked.

"You could." She argued.

"Is that what you want? Do you want me to stop talking to you?"

She wiped her eyes and sniffled, twisting from his semi-hug to stand up. He eyed her dirty legs all the way up to where her shorts covered her thighs.

"Would you walk me home?" She asked softly.

He nodded, standing too. She was shivering in the evening air so he stripped off his West High Knights jacket to lend her.

And they walked, in silence again while they both thought of what to say.

"Would you like to come in for a juice?" She asked shyly as they reached her house.

"Won't your dad mind?" Troy asked back.

"He's not home."

"Oh. Okay." He went inside the large brick house and looked around with interest, noting how tidy everything was. Not like his house; all crazy with his stuff strewn everywhere. His mom tried to keep it tidy but she was usually away on business while his dad was busy with coaching the basketball team at school and 'paperwork'.

"Hey, let me help you," He said as they got inside and sat at the breakfast bar, sipping sodas. She had found a lump of gum in her trailing hair and was trying to pull it out.

She looked up at him with her big brown eyes. "Thank you."

He found some scissors, which initially frightened her, but he carefully cut the blobs of sticky gum out, one by one. He let his fingers tangle through the black curls, stroking her hair gently down her back and over her shoulders as he finished, coming around to smile at her softly.

"You have amazing hair, Gabriella."

She tugged it back across her cheek, making him tilt his head. "You don't need to do that." He promised.

"You should go." She said, standing up and ending their moment of intimacy.

"Will you be okay, getting cleaned up?" He checked.

"You're not helping me to shower, Troy." She replied knowingly.

"Oh darn…" He grinned at her and she was caught off guard by his dazzling smile.

"I'll see you tomorrow." She pushed him toward the front door.

"I'll be here." He swore.

She opened the door to let him out, finding her father about to put his key in the lock. Troy came face to face with Dr. Montez and smiled as innocently as he could.

"Hi Dr. Montez." He said, slipping by him. "Bye Dr. Montez."

"What was that all about?" Gabriella's father frowned quizzically.

"He just came for a soda, dad." She assured, heading back inside.

"Rough game of hockey, Gabriella?" He questioned, noticing her dirty legs and bruises.

"We had track, dad. It's called hate. I am the school punching bag…" She muttered derisively as she went up to her room, cutting off their conversation once more.

As she lay on her bed and stared at the ceiling, she wondered if he would actually do anything about those words she had just uttered. Probably not. He never did. He was barely home long enough to eat and sleep let alone sort out her problems.

Troy seemed her only friend right now. And even though she still didn't trust his intentions, she was grateful for having him around. If only she knew what he was up to.