Title: Precettore

Author: dwilivia

Category: High School Musical

Rating: T

Pairing(s): Gabriella/Ryan

Summary: He was the blonde boy known as Sharpay Evans' devoted step-brother who followed her around far too much and starred right alongside with her in every single school play since they were in kindergarten. He wasn't as stupid as they thought he was, and his jealousy for one person brought out the manipulative side in him that Sharpay had always said was lost on him and had been granted to her instead. But, he supposed as he sat back and reflected, he had to be really stupid to land a tutor in Chemistry, who, he found out later, was none other than the genius Gabriella Montez, girlfriend to the one and only Troy Bolton. According to schedule, they would spend a long, two hour period every day after school for the next four weeks in a secluded study area. Him, and Gabriella Montez, all alone for two hours every, single day. He had an idea. One so big and devious that even Sharpay would've been proud. And just like that, he was looking smarter already.


Ryan wondered, after pulling into school and saying goodbye to his newfound brunette friend, if he was prepared to take on such a first as this- friendship with the one and only Gabriella Montez, whose popularity had increased tremendously since her official title of Troy Bolton's girlfriend had sunk in. She was also kind of pretty, even if he did say so himself, and rather intelligent. It was a pleasing thought, he decided when he'd thought it through and counted the perks, to be friends with her.

He walked into school with his head held high, something he hadn't been able to do for the past few days because he'd felt so down without Sharpay by his side. But now that he'd decided that he wasn't going to stayand wait around for her, he'd actually been feeling a whole lot better. Even the girls who commonly stood near the entrance when he walked in, who always gave him the same sultry smiles time after time just because he was real good looking (in a movie star handsome kind of way), he acknowledged with a smile. Usually he'd just ignore them, sometimes flirt a little if Sharpay ended up talking to one of them, but he was in such high spirits today, he thought that everybody deserved to be smiled at.

The girls giggled excitedly as he walked past them, before one summoned up the courage and caught him by the arm, pulling him back to where their group was. He stumbled a little, caught off guard by the sudden tug, but regained his stance as he faced the five girls, all dressed almost identically. He looked at them as they grinned at him, and internally, he began to critic each and every one of their outfits, not because he was mean like that, but because it had become a sort of second nature for him. He paused to think. The brunette girl on his extreme right wasn't as well off as her other counterparts, considering the fact that he'd spotted her imitation Gucci bag almost instantly and fake leather boots that came up to her knees. The blonde on his left had on a shirt so tight, he wondered why she hadn't suffocated just yet.

Meanwhile, the girls were talking about a party at Zeke's house tomorrow night, because, as they claimed, he served the best booze and strawberry cheese cake, which he himself agreed, was a rather good combination, albeit a little weird. The girls were asking if he was going to be there.

He searched his mind to try to recall anything about a party. Zeke himself hadn't mentioned anything to him, but perhaps it was because he had forgotten to. He knew Zeke fairly well, because Sharpay had dated him a few months back, before deciding that eating those genius cookies Zeke loved to make every, single day of her life wasn't exactly going to help her maintain her figure.

He wondered why Zeke wouldn't invite him.

Just then, one of the girls spoke. "Oh yeah, I remember! Sharpay had been telling me for days that she was going too. And she'd already had her whole outfit planned already!" She gave Ryan a funny look. "How come she didn't tell you?"

Realisation hit him then. Zeke had probably just told Sharpay about the party, not him, because it was a standard protocol for every important school social meeting. Sharpay was always the more outgoing one who knew more people than he did, and besides, Ryan and her were always together, so the organisers probably felt no need to tell both parties seperately.

He felt a little downcast, and the girls must have realised it. A red head came and patted his arm and said, "It's okay, Ryan. Maybe Sharpay forgot about it?"

He wanted to snort. Sharpay wouldn't have just convieniently forgotten to tell him. She probably did it on purpose. But he nodded at the red head's attempt at comforting him.

"So, you're going, then?" The red head asked, her pretty green eyes gleaming.

He shrugged.

"Great!" She shrieked in his ear before coming to clutch at his arm. "I don't suppose you have a date yet, do you?"

Ryan was still a little lost from thinking about Sharpay too much. He stared at the red head, slowly comprehending her words, before blurting out, "I'd like to take you if you're free."

The red head released his arm and shrieked once more, to the utter disdain of her fellow clan mates. They glared at her, and he heard one mutter something rather unpleasant to another. He hid his disgust, gave them a polite smile, then walked away to his classroom building.

Sharpay hadn't told him about the party. He couldn't believe it. Why wouldn't she? She told him everything, from the latest tube top that she'd bought to her bi-monthly period pains.

And then, two words floated through his mind which made the whole thing a little more clearer.

Troy Bolton.

Troy Bolton was going to be there. And she hadn't wanted Ryan there because she knew he'd object. She knew how much he disliked the boy, and it would only hold her back from making her move on Troy if Ryan was there.

He thought about it somemore, which wasn't something he did often, and then he dismissed the notion. No, not even Sharpay was that evil or smart to think of a plan like this.

He stopped in his tracks. Was she?


Sharpay was the only one in homeroom when he strolled in. She held a compact in her hand and brushed her bangs neatly to the side, before smacking her lips at the mirror to check if her lip gloss was perfect. Ryan thought it was.

He sat down beside her and clasped his hands together on the table, waiting for her to notice him. She didn't.

So he spoke first. "Why didn't you tell me about Zeke's party tomorrow night?"

Her eyes never left her compact. "I didn't think you'd want to come."

"Why not?" He said, indignant.

"Because..." She said, like it was the most obvious thing in the world, "You never did like Zeke." She closed her compact. "Remember how you threw your shoe at him because you caught us kissing in the kitchen that one time?"

"That was one time!" He protested. "Anyone would've done the same. I mean-" He screwed up his face in disgust. "He was shoving his tongue down-"

"Alright!" Sharpay said, turning to him and slamming her hand on the table. She held a face in his hand, as if it stop him from talking. "Let's not bring up this subject again. Zeke is done with me, and I with him. We're just friends now." She stressed on the word 'friends'.

Ryan folded his arms across his chest, and stared angrily in front. "That wasn't the only reason why you didn't tell me about the party, was it?"

She shook her head, rolling her eyes as she crossed her legs. "I have no idea what you are talking about."

He turned his body to face her. "TROY BOLTON! God, did you think I was that stupid not to know? Troy Bolton was gonna be there at that party and you're just waiting to get your hands on him, aren't you?"

She scoffed. "Whatever, Ryan."

"You are, aren't you?" His gaze was an accusing one as he continued. "You wanted to go to the party yourself so I wouldn't stop you from getting your darling Troy Bolton. Well, you know what? You can have him."

She stared at him like he'd gone crazy.

"Yeah, you heard me." He went on. "You can have him. Because I'm sick and tired of hearing you talk and rave about him and making me out to be his clone just because you can't have the real thing. I'm not your slave boy, Sharpay."

He took a long pause. She looked at him, her eyes narrowed. "Is that what you think of me, Ryan? Is that how you truly feel?"

"Oh yeah." His voice suddenly went down a notch.

"Then I feel sorry for you." She proclaimed. "I feel sorry that you're so obesessed with me and Troy Bolton. What's wrong with you? Troy has never done anything to you to deserve the negative feelings you have for him. And I have been defending him all this while-"

He cut her off. "You? Defending him? It was more like openly lusting after him."

She glared. "You are just so infuriating."

"I'm just saying it as I see it." He replied evenly. "Or at least, how a normal person would see it."

She cross her arms over her chest.

"I know you well enough, Sharpay, to know that you are so in love with Troy Bolton you'd even go so far as to sabotage the relationship he has with Gabriella Montez so that you can be there to comfort him when they've broken up."

She sneered at him. "You know nothing."

He shrugged. "I read your diary."

Her face morphed into utter mortification. "You wouldn't dare."

His face contorted into a sort of smile, and it made her stand up from her chair just to get away from him. She headed toward the door just as the bell rang for homeroom to begin and stomped away, letting out an infuriated scream, to which Ryan only smiled.


A second bell rang that day, and Gabriella Montez had a sort of half smile on her face. It was the period for science, which meant that she was going to ace that test on hydrocarbons that Mrs. Winters had set for them and that she had studied like crazy for.

She couldn't help, though, but feel a little nervous, as she always did before every test. It was only natural, she decided. Perhaps everybody, including Taylor who was pretty good in science herself, did.

She was the first to reach her class, and she smiled at her teacher before taking her assigned seat behind Chad, Troy's best friend and basketball buddy. She recalled her facts in her head, and slowly they swirled around before her as she closed her eyes.

She always did have a fantastic memory.

The class began to fill up soon after, and she felt a pat on the back and a voice whisper in her ear, "Good luck."

She turned to see Ryan Evans there, grinning at her, before going to sit down two seats from her left. She waved at him, smiling her good luck before turning to face the front where Mrs. Winters was giving out the test papers.

They had forty five minutes, but as Gabriella thumbed through the whole paper, she felt like she could've done it in ten.

Ryan, however, was a totally different story.


"Pens down, people." Mrs. Winters said, glancing up at the clock from her book. A couple of heads were lifted from the tables, and a few groans were heard. Gabriella sat down in her seat, reveling in the same happy, satisfied feeling that came to her everytime she finished an exam she just knew she'd get an A in.

Mrs. Winters got up and started to collect the answer scripts. She glared at Winifred Jones, who had still been writing a couple of sentences when Mrs. Winters got around to her table and had her exam sheet ripped from right out beneath her, causing a long, ugly line from her pencil that started from the exact spot she had started to write to the edge of the paper where it was abruptly cut off.

The class turned to watch as their teacher turned from Winifred's table to her own and sat back down, removing her thick lens glasses before nodding at the class. "You may leave early for second period today."

Chatter broke out among the class as they filed out to their lockers. Gabriella bumped into somebody as she stood up after clearing her desk of pens and her books under her table, and she looked up to find Ryan Evans staring back down at her. He cracked her a grin. "Sorry, Gabby."

She shook her head, tucking a dark brown curl behind her ear. "No, it's my fault. I, uh, wasn't looking when I stood up and, yeah."

Ryan shrugged. "Happens all the time." They both started to walk toward the door, but then, they heard the distinct voice of Mrs. Winters call out their names.

"Ryan Evans and Gabriella Montez." They heard a distinct pause, and it made them wonder what it was all about. "I would like to have a word with the both of you."

Ryan looked at Gabriella, who in turned looked terribly worried. She was the one who spoke first. "Is this about my grades, Mrs. Winters?" She'd averaged a B- last term, because she'd been concentrating on the school production a little too much, and it really wasn't easy to have two major things to juggle at the same time.

Mrs. Winters shook her head, before looking pointedly at Ryan. "Au contaire, Ms. Montez. It's about him."

"Me?"

"Him?"

Mrs. Winters looked amused at the simlutaneous replies. "Yes."

"Excuse me, ma'am." Gabriella said, "But what do Ryan's grades have anything to do with me?"

Mrs. Winters shrugged. "Why don't you two sit down so I can talk to you?"

They did. Ryan took a seat on her left and placed his elbows on the table, his hazy blue eyes looking bored already as they darted across the room. Gabriella stole a quick look at him, but he hadn't noticed.

"Mr Evans." A quick shuffle of papers brought his focus to his whithered teacher in the front, his face a complete look of disinterest. "I have noted that you are doing terrible in Chemistry."

He shrugged.

"And because of my overwhelming concern for you." Gabriella could almost hear a sarcastic snort at that, "I have assigned you to Gabriella Montez for tutoring."

Ryan looked a little outraged, to which Gabriella herself felt a tad bit insulted by. "What do you mean, tutoring?"

"You know, like when someone else has to teach you the lesson, instead of me?" Mrs. Winters said in a matter-of-factly voice. "Kinda like extra lessons, in a way. 'Cos you need serious help, Ryan."

Gabriella raised her hand. "Mrs. Winters, does this mean that-"

"Yes." Came her answer even before Gabriella had even finished talking. "You're back on the tutoring staff. Congratulations." Although the last bit had been stuffed with a little drawl of sarcasm, Gabriella didn't really mind. She was estatic to be part of the team again because she'd originally had to drop out due to her commitments to the school production.

Ryan looked at her, flabbergasted. "I never knew we had such a thing as tutors in this school!"

Gabriella chuckled. "How do you think Troy managed to stay on the team? He wasn't exactly very good at Chemical Equasions, either."

"Oh." Came his realisation. Mrs. Winters looked back and forth between the two teens, before saying, "I hope you two will be well-acquitted with each other and fit time slots for your own tutoring schedules." She shot a look at Ryan. "I also wish to see some progress, Mr. Evans, even though you may complain that being an actor or a broadway star won't require an A for Chemistry in your resume, it's still important now to get you into a good college."

Ryan just looked at her like he didn't understand a single word.

Mrs. Winters sighed. "Oh, never mind. I don't know what's wrong with kids today. Why, in my day-"

Gabriella turned to Ryan and whispered, "Perhaps we should go before she tells us about her five previous marriages."

"Five?" Ryan sounded incredulous.

Gabriella giggled. "Well, I guess. "

He shrugged and waved to Mrs. Winters. "Uh, Mrs. Winters, we're leaving."

But the old woman didn't hear them, even as they got up to leave, as she rambled on and on about her life story to no one in particular.


Just as the bell rang before lunch, Gabriella grabbed Ryan by the arm and pulled him to a corner. She slipped him a piece of paper, and he opened it. "These are the dates which I'm free to tutor you." She pointed at a couple of numbers. "It's mostly everyday, except for when I have to go see my Grandma every other month. She lives in Utah."

Ryan half nodded. "That's kind of far."

Gabriella shrugged. "Yeah, well, it wasn't my idea. But anyway-" She tucked a curl behind her ear. "Are you free?"

He nodded.

"Great!" She nodded enthusiastically. "I'll meet you tomorrow in the library's study area then. Four sound good?"

"Yeah, sure." He said.

"Uh, well, okay. I gotta go meet Troy at his locker down the hallway, so I guess I'll see you around, yeah?" Her smile was charming, and the way she seemed so awfully occupied with whatever she was doing was just adorable.

Ryan nodded, then on impulse, kissed her on her cheek, before replying, "Vedere tu dopo."

And then he left soon after, and Gabriella hadn't a chance to ask him what he'd meant by that sentence. She wasn't very good in foreign languages, only fluent in one- Spanish, because her grandmother spoke it. Of course, she'd also had his kiss on her mind.

Okay, well, it wasn't really a proper kiss- a rather lame one by anyone's standards, she thought. But his lips were oddly soft and warm on her cheek, and the way he casually brushed it across her skin made her whole body tingle. It was meant to be a friendly kiss, she thought, like how movie stars gave their congratulatory kisses to each other when they recieved awards.

But then, she wasn't sure. Ryan was so unpredictible in a sense.

A voice caught her attention and diverted her thoughts away from the blonde. "GABRIELLA!" She searched the crowd of people and noted Troy waving a single hand frantically above his head, vying for her attention. Her eyes met his, and he smiled and put down his hand and stretched his arms out wide, like a dad would to invite his daughter to run into them and embrace him. And so she dropped her book bag by the wall and ran into his open arms, wrapping her arms around his neck and giggling as he caught her up and twirled her around. People around them gave their approving stares. A couple of love-struck girls sighed and nudged at their boyfriends, who in turn made faces at one another. The cheerleaders who adored Troy swooned at the sight.

Troy pressed a kiss to her cheek, laughing alongside with her before placing her down and messing up her hair affectionately. "So, how has my favourite little science genius been?"

He loved to tease her like this, she realised, as she hooked an arm around his waist and pulled him to the corner of the hall to retrieve her book bag. Grabbing the green tote bag off the floor, she proceeded to tell him about her science quiz and of course, her reinstatement of her tutor status.

"That's great!" Troy had said, his eyes sparkling with genuine adoration for the brunette. "I'm so proud of you. You so deserve it after those idiots kicked you off the team the other time." He pretended to roll his eyes. "Just because of that B- in what, Chemistry?"

She laughed. "Well, all is forgiven. I'm just happy that I got another shot at tutoring. I just love helping people."

"Oh god." Troy said, his usual mischievious twinkle alit in his eyes, "Now I have a Samaritan for a girlfriend."

She swatted his arm. "What's so bad about being a Samaritan, might I ask?"

"Oh no. Now the Samaritan's questioning me!" Troy went down on his knees and raised his arms and began to bow exaggeratedly to Gabriella. "I'm not worthy! I'm not worthy!"

She giggled again, before hauling him up to his feet and began to teasingly scold him. "I don't know what I'm going to do with you." She sighed. "You are just so embarrassing."

He kissed her again on the cheek, a big wet one smack in the middle. She shrieked and wiped furiously at where his lips had been, and he chuckled at her.

She rolled her eyes, an amused grin barely hidden from his sight. "You are such a weirdo, Troy."

He grinned. "But I'm your weirdo!"

"Point taken." She said, "Next time I get a boyfriend, it'll be someone sane."

He made a small, poutish face. "There ain't gonna be a next time, missy." He poke her side, causing her to shriek. "We're gonna be together for the rest of the year, and next year too, and for the rest of our lives!"

She giggled. "And what if I can't take it? I mean, you are kinda crazy."

He shook his head. "I'll be good, you'll see!" He was so excited in telling her all this, like a little child waiting to open presents. "I'll charm you with my witty pick up lines and sluggishly sweet kisses and you'll just want to love me every single day of your life! We'll get married in a huge church in Venice and invite the whole world to see, and you'll get that beautiful Vera Wang dress you'd always wanted and we'd tour Rome and Paris for our honeymoon, and then you'd get knocked up then 'cos I wouldn't be able to keep my hands off you."

She swatted him at that.

Troy went on, grinning that same brilliant smile that enchanted her from day one. "Then we'll have four kids after that, and we'll name them after each of the Killers because you used to love them so much."

She pouted. "What if they're not all boys?"

He laughed. "Then we can think of some more names, Gab. We'll have tons of children. I know you love kids."

Hearing it straight from him was a little scary. Gabriella thought about spending the rest of her life with Troy Bolton. She'd have fun because Troy loved to mess around with her, and at the same time, she knew he was responsible, smart, and down to earth. Everything that she'd ever wanted in a guy and more, with his dashing good looks and the fact that he worked out almost every other day.

She laughed and kissed his shoulder as he wrapped an arm around her. He gave her a mesmerising look just then, and it immediately quietened her. "And I mean it, Gabriella, with all my heart."

She could've cried just then. He really did have a way with words, she thought. He could've easily charmed the best looking girls from all corner of the state, and yet he chose her. Simple Gabriella Montez, a nobody with a scholarship to Yale.

He was willing her to say something, she realised, but she wasn't sure what to say. She looked up at him and managed a small, "Okay."

He gave her a teasing smile. "Is that all you can say, Gabriella Montez, after I'd practically proposed to you?"

She giggled and he shook his head. "Well, if you're gonna be like that." He said, pretending to think. "Then I'll just have to find another Mrs. Troy Bolton who can take your place."

She swatted his arm, rolling her eyes at him as he gripped her closer to himself, steering them in the direction of the cafeteria.


A/N: SUPERSIZED CHAPTER. YEAH!

I didn't think I'd get around to posting this baby, and I hope that the fact that I'd squeezed in nearly one and a half chapters into this little thing more than makes up for the long wait.

Well, actually, I was kind of waiting for the number of hits of go up before I posted chapter 3.Meanwhile I wrote, and I can't keep my fingers fromposting this.

At least now,we're getting somewhere.

Thank you toall who reviewed.Your lovely comments make mehappy.But remember: I'll keep writing if you keep reviewing!

Also, as you all know I'm a strict, adamant TROYELLRA HATER ( they're so perfect, it's sickenening.But if you haven't reading 'KnowingAngels', another of my fics, then you're missingout.Eh. I am so modest. (:

It's mostly asad fic about Troyella, so if you hate them, you can read it and laugh at Troy. (which is kinda mean,but whatever.)

Much love. (: