Beautiful Smile
Gabriella's second day at East High was considerably better. They had math that day, and their teacher had got one of the equations wrong. Gabriella had nervously corrected her, and the teacher had congratulated her, and at the end of the class, Taylor and Martha approached her.
"Hey," Taylor said. "I'm Taylor McKessie, and this is Martha Cox." Martha smiled warmly. Gabriella wished she could smile. She tried, but couldn't bring herself to it. She hadn't smiled since her mother was shot. Without her mom, living in the hell hole of her dad's house, there was no reason to smile. So she nodded politely instead.
"You sure are good at math," Taylor said, getting straight to the point.
Martha nodded. "I don't think anyone's ever corrected Ms. Wood before."
"Martha and I are on the scholastic decathlon team, and we were wondering if you'd like to join," Taylor said.
"We have a contest in a few weeks, against West High." Martha said.
"Yeah, sure!" Gabriella said, nodding.
She'd hung out with Taylor, Martha and the rest of the brainiacs the rest of the week. She liked Taylor, Martha and their friends. Although they were far from living in the cloud of doom and misery that was her life, they weren't 'perfect# either, like Sharpay Evans and the basketball team. She was glad someone at this school was finally on her side.
On Friday, Gabriella was happy to see her dad was fast asleep when she got home. She tiptoed up to her room, not wanting to wake him, because if he woke up, he would hit her again.
She arrived at her room. It was quite big, but it was simple. The walls were white and the floor was wooden. She had a bed, a closet, her guitar and a framed picture of her and her mom when she was just seven. In the picture she was wearing a bright yellow sundress and a flower in her hair. She fought back tears as she picked up the picture and thought back to a happy time, a time where she could hug her mom any time she wanted, a time where she was truly happy.
Oh Mom, Gabriella thought, Why aren't you here with me today? Why did you have to die?
The hot, salty tears poured down her cheeks, and Gabriella thought, why shouldn't she cry? She shouldn't be ashamed. She'd lost the most important person in her life. Her heart was broken. Why shouldn't she cry?
Gabriella was so wrapped up in emotion that she didn't notice someone was watching her- Troy, from his bedroom window next door.
Troy was confused- what was it that drew his eyes to Gabriella's all the time? He didn't even know her. But he wanted to know her. But why? She was an emo. His friends hated her. She was a loser and he was popular. If he showed the tiniest piece of kindness towards her, his reputation would be crushed.
But Troy was also concerned. Was Gabriella still upset about yesterday? She hadn't shown any signs of emotion. But maybe she was just good at putting on a brave face.
Now was the time for Troy to make his decision: what was more important, his rep or Gabriella?
The decision was easy. By instinct he opened his window. "Gabriella?" He called. "You OK?"
Gabriella turned around. "Of course I'm OK! Stop butting into my life!" She said, but she still had the tears spilling down her cheeks.
Troy sighed. Of course she was not OK.
Gabriella sighed. Was that guy out to ruin her life? He'd gone from dragging her by her hair to butting in on the two most private things in her life- songwriting and missing her mom. Why oh why did that jerk live next door?
"You don't look OK to me," Troy said. "Hold on. I'm coming over."
Gabriella rolled her eyes. She didn't want that lunkhead to come over. But he'd already started climbing down his balcony.
A minute later, Troy Bolton was in her bedroom.
"Hey! It's OK," He said, surprisingly soothingly, and the tears fell from Gabriella's big brown eyes again. He wrapped his arms around her and she cried onto his shoulder. Gabriella was surprised- of all the people she thought she could find comfort from, Troy Bolton was second to bottom of the list (her dad was at the bottom). He held her tight in his arms, and Gabriella felt safe, protected, warm… almost like how she felt in her mothers' arms, and the memory of her mom's hugs made the tears fall faster.
Troy looked at the beautiful girl he hardly knew, crying in his arms. Even though she had been crying so much her mascara had run all down her face and her nose had turned red, she still looked amazing.
Troy looked at the framed photo Gabriella was holding. The photo was of two people, a woman and a little girl, who looked about seven. They both had long, brown, curly hair, brown eyes and friendly smiles. They both looked startlingly alike and startlingly like Gabriella.
Troy smiled, guessing the little girl in the picture was Gabriella. She looked even more pretty when she was wearing bright clothes and smiling. Troy wondered why she was emo. Why she was so upset.
"Why are you crying?" Troy asked, but Gabriella shook her head.
"Please," Troy said sincerely. The blue eyes met the brown ones. "You can trust me."
So Gabriella poured her heart out. She told him all about her mom.
"Omigod, I'm so sorry," Troy whispered, stroking her hair.
Gabriella couldn't believe how nice Troy was being. Holding her, comforting her, listening to her, wiping away her tears. And he didn't have to. He could have stayed in his room watching TV or talking to his friends. But he didn't.
Gabriella looked up at him. "Troy… thankyou," She said simply, but his little bit of kindness was enough. Enough to make her smile.
And when she smiled, the real Gabriella shone through.
It was the first time she'd smiled since her mom died.
Troy smiled back. Gabriella had a beautiful smile.