So sorry for the delay people, I have my laptop back but it's not in a good state :(
Quick shout out to Hisboo13 & The Amy Johnson for messaging me and there have been plenty others who have also sent me lovely messages which I really appreciate!
Chapter 4
Gabi smiled into the morning breeze; actually having something worth smiling about today. All thoughts of the despicable Troy Bolton were wiped from her mind as she recalled her web chat with the unknown- but increasingly interesting- BlueEyes.
He'd started the chat by asking her if she ever went offline and she smiled wryly to herself as she remembered admitting to him that she didn't.
**FLASHBACK**
BlueEyes: Do you ever go offline?
TezzyG: No.
TezzyG: It's my downfall.
BlueEyes: You have a public to serve.
TezzyG: And an addiction to feed.
BlueEyes: So it really is a downfall…
TezzyG: But I'm here to help, I justify my addiction with a selfless deed.
BlueEyes: lol, I like your style.
TezzyG: That would be a first.
BlueEyes: You sound jaded tonight.
TezzyG: I'm sorry, I'm being unprofessional :/
BlueEyes: No, I like it. I like talking to you.
TezzyG: :) Then I'll break a few more rules! Jk.
BlueEyes: Can I see a picture of you?
TezzyG: You wouldn't want to. But I can't, anyway.
BlueEyes: Tell me what you look like?
TezzyG: Are you some internet perv?
BlueEyes: I haven't got to the part where I ask what underwear you have on, don't freak out on me yet…
TezzyG: Are you okay?
BlueEyes: You had to ask THAT question didn't you?
TezzyG: It's kind of my job to…
BlueEyes: So I'll never know what underwear you have on?
TezzyG: I'm signing off now.
BlueEyes: No wait…
…
TezzyG has logged off. Any messages you send will be delivered when they log on.
…
TezzyG has logged in.
…
TezzyG: Ok, tell me you were joking.
BlueEyes: I was. Badly.
TezzyG: Tell me about your day?
After that, BlueEyes had talked to her a little more without revealing anything that she
could identify him by, but this morning she felt like there might have been some kind of breakthrough. And that made her feel stronger, somehow. Like she could take on the world and not be beaten. Like she could-
"Hey."
Troy Bolton, in all his tall, lean, attractiveness blocked her path into school.
She rolled her eyes up and smirked. "Hi."
"So yesterday I feel like you got the wrong idea about me…"
Jeez, he was brave, she mused silently with a brow arch.
"The wrong idea?" She repeated, waiting for him to explain.
"I wasn't…y'know…trying to…woo you or anything…"
Damn. Why did her heart sink into her toes, she wondered?
"You weren't?"
"No, honestly I was just trying to ask for help and going completely the wrong way about it…"
"Yup," she agreed shortly.
He peered through his fringe. "So will you? Help me?" He appealed.
Gabi swallowed. Now that she was onto a consistent communication with BlueEyes, she didn't want to risk spending too much time away from her PC and possibly losing that rapport. But she had a weakness for boys with brown hair and blue eyes so she couldn't refuse, either.
"Maybe." She allowed for now.
"Maybe?" He repeated, and then slowly smiled. "Cool."
"That's not a yes," she warned as he turned to walk away.
"It's not a no!" He called back jovially, leaving her fuming once more.
/
After Kelsey and Ryan had quizzed her on every detail of her new friendship with Troy, Gabi was allowed to eat lunch.
She ventured small, subtle looks over the heads of her schoolmates to track the basketball team as they ate and chattered with the cheerleaders about three tables over.
Troy was wearing a black hoodie, his shoulders hunched as he read something that he had flat on the table but the rest of the team seemed boisterous; hyper even. And the girls in short skirts with pom-poms followed suit.
Gabi quite liked the back view of Troy. She could imagine how wide his shoulders were and how muscled he was under that hoodie but she also knew it was fruitless to imagine. She let out a little sigh as she came back to earth from her daydream; only to find her two friends holding in obvious giggles.
"What?" She blushed.
"That was a love-sick sigh," Ryan accused.
"It was not," Gabi frowned.
"What happened to bowling?" Kelsey asked pointedly tilting her head.
"I told you, I had stomach ache," Gabi lied, knowing she had blown off her friend's offer last weekend so she could avoid the awkwardness of being gooseberry.
"Uh-huh," Kelsey gave her one of her famous looks.
"I was at home, okay," Gabi reinforced.
"But you do like him, right?" She asked of Troy.
"No! God no," Gabi denied vehemently.
"Why do you deny the obvious, Gabs?" Kelsey wondered.
"I'm not! He's just…I'm just…"
Both her friends stared at her while she tried to fathom a reasonable excuse.
"I'm his tutor, okay?" She spat, knowing this wasn't an entire lie.
"What?" Ryan frowned.
"I'm tutoring him for Math and Science. That's all."
"You're his tutor?" Kelsey repeated.
"Yes."
"I don't believe you."
"Fine," Gabi sighed.
"Let's ask him…" Kelsey suggested as Troy sauntered by their table. "Troy!"
"Kelsey don't you dare…" Gabi hissed across the table at her best friend, then folded her arms on the table and groaned into them as Troy approached. At least this way she could pretend the ground had opened up and swallowed her, she mused.
"Hi, Troy…" She heard her friend say.
"Hey, how's it going?" Troy asked back politely, but Gabi could hear his slightly confused tone at being called over. "Hey, Gabi," he added and she nodded into her arms.
"Is she ok?" She heard him ask her friends.
"Headache," Ryan supplied and Gabi screamed into her arms and stomped her feet, leaving all three of her friends frowning at her.
"Are you sure?" Troy asked.
"She's fine…"
"Anyway, I wanted to ask you something," Kelsey smoothly began and Troy's attention was drawn from the hiding Filipino back to the girl who was speaking.
"Okay…"
"I heard you were getting some tutoring," Kelsey broached. "Is that right?"
Troy frowned. "Uh…"
"From Gabi…" Kelsey added and Gabi started to bang her head on the table while still covering her face.
"Hey…" Troy reached out with a concerned frown and gently lay his hand on the back of her head, distracted from Kelsey's questions. "Are you sure she's okay?" He checked with her friends.
Gabi jerked her head up and smiled grimly. "I'm fine." She told them all before she climbed from the bench and walked right out of the cafeteria, her chin jutted high.
"What's this about?" Troy asked Kelsey honestly.
"Oh, nothing." Kelsey smiled sweetly and he looked at them both before he turned to leave.
"That was evil," Ryan told his girlfriend with a sigh.
"She was lying!" Kelsey argued. "She needed punishing."
"There was no need to get Troy involved…"
"Wasn't there?" Kelsey turned to him and smiled knowingly.
/
"Gabi, wait up!" Troy gave a slow jog down the hall until he caught her up and when he did he saw her sigh and swallow before she looked up.
"Why are you following me?"
"Because I'm worried about you…you banged your head back there…" His face creased with concern and she nearly believed he cared. Nearly.
"Swotty Montez in brain-bashing shocker," she quipped with an eye roll.
"Hey, you know I don't think of you like that," he argued.
"No? Then how do you think of me?" She arched a brow for his offering but there was none coming.
"Nothing. Awesome," she turned and walked away again.
"Hey, wait…" he called again as she scurried off but she didn't and he didn't follow her. Not this time.
/
"So what shall I make for yours and Troy's study dinner tomorrow?" Jenna wondered excitedly as Gabi came in and threw her books flat to the floor, creating a rather loud impact that frightened Jenna half to death.
"What happened?" She asked her only child.
"Kelsey thinks I fancy Troy." Gabi complained, then, "And she asked him today if I was his tutor…she asked him! Like just because I said I was and she didn't believe me, she asked him…and I told Troy that maybe I would be…but I don't know why he keeps talking to me he just does, you know? So why is my best friend treating me like a liar? What am I meant to say? It's not like we're dating or anything…It's not like I'm lying about us…but she thinks I am…she thinks I'm hiding something…"
Jenna lifted her brows as she wiped her hands on the hand towel and waited for Gabi to finish venting.
"Honey, are you hiding anything?" Jenna ventured, only to be pierced by Gabi's dark gaze.
"No! I wouldn't do that! I just didn't know what to say. I don't like that he follows me around and talks to me all the time you know…"
"You don't?" Jenna frowned, thinking she would like it if a cute guy followed her around and talked to her all the time.
"Not when he might be playing a game," Gabi pointed out.
"Oh honey, why would he be playing a game like that?" Jenna cooed.
"Because he's a boy, mom. And boys play very strange games in case you didn't know."
"The kind of boy that plays games like that are not the kind to come home and meet your mom…" She hedged very gently as Gabi calmed down and picked up her books.
"I suppose you're right," Gabi sighed as she sank into a kitchen stool and prolonged her trip upstairs for the first time in a long time by choice.
"Tell me why you feel like he would do that to you?" Jenna encouraged.
"Because his friends call me Swotty Montez," she mumbled under her breath.
"His friends call you what?" Jenna gasped.
Gabi rolled her eyes. "Because I study a lot."
"Well, you do study a lot," Jenna agreed, then cleared her throat as she got the death stare. "But there's no need for names like that…"
"They are jocks…" Gabi broached.
"He asked me to tutor him," Gabi added. "And I just don't know that I can trust him. Yet."
Jenna nodded. "Seems to me that something has changed in Troy's world…"
"Do you think so?" Gabi looked up hopefully.
Jenna nodded. "Why don't you talk to him and find out." She suggested.
"How?" Gabi made a face.
"Just ask him. I promise I won't interrupt you all night," Jenna added with a wink.
"Except for dinner," Gabi added.
"Except for dinner," her mom confirmed.
And that left Gabi with a little more hope than she had felt coming in the house. More hope than she'd felt in a while.
/
BlueEyes: Do you ever take a break?
Gabi looked up at the sound of her IM alarm. An instant smile crossed her lips.
TezzyG: Sure, I'm studying right now.
BlueEyes: That's not really a break…
TezzyG: Then what do you suggest, blue eyes?
BlueEyes: Do you ever go out on a date?
TezzyG: Not so much…
BlueEyes: Bowling with friends?
TezzyG: I flaked on the last invite.
BlueEyes: Go this weekend. I dare you.
TezzyG: Alone?
BlueEyes: ~eye roll~ with your friends, dummy.
TezzyG: Yes, sir.
BlueEyes: I like it :D
TezzyG: Don't be a perv.
BlueEyes: *sigh*
TezzyG: You're gonna have to face facts sometime…
BlueEyes: You're gonna ask me how I am, right?
TezzyG: Yep.
BlueEyes: and if I say I don't want to talk about it?
TezzyG: You came here to talk about it. You just need a kick up the backside.
BlueEyes: Is that what you're meant to say?
TezzyG: No, but is it working?
-pause-
BlueEyes: My mom asked me to invite a girl home last night.
TezzyG: Your girlfriend?
Gabi sucked in a breath as she waited for an answer. Somehow, she didn't want the answer to be yes.
BlueEyes: Just a friend.
TezzyG: Then why don't you?
BlueEyes: Because most of the time she and my father are screaming at each other. How is anyone gonna understand that?
TezzyG: She might, if you tell her…
BlueEyes: I already feel like I'm boiling myself alive by telling you about it let alone anyone I know…
TezzyG: Okay, then what are you afraid of?
BlueEyes: Anyone being made to feel the way I do.
Gabi waited for the 'logged off' message to come up but it didn't and she silently applauded her stranger for staying online this time.
TezzyG: Maybe she cares about you enough to ignore it.
BlueEyes: No-one could ignore it…
TezzyG: You don't have much faith in people do you?
BlueEyes: I want this girl to like me. Not send her running.
Gabi smiled. So he was out to impress…
TezzyG: Okay, but how do you know she will?
BlueEyes: …good question…
TezzyG: Has she asked you round to her house yet?
BlueEyes: Yeah, her family are cool. Unlike mine.
TezzyG: Did you have fun?
BlueEyes: Well, we were studying.
Gabi frowned. No, it couldn't be.
TezzyG: Studying can be fun too…
BlueEyes: I don't think she likes me. At least that's the impression I get…
TezzyG: Invite her over. If she doesn't like you then she'll find an excuse not to go.
BlueEyes: That's terrible advice!
Gabi felt tears hit her eyes at his accusation.
TezzyG: I'm sorry you feel that way. Goodnight.
BlueEyes: Don't do this to me again…
TezzyG: Do what?
BlueEyes: Log off because I upset you…
TezzyG: You didn't upset me. I just feel I can't help you any more.
BlueEyes: OK, goodnight, then.
…
BlueEyes has logged off. Any messages you send will be delivered when they log on.
…
Gabi stared at the screen and felt a sharp pain of failure stab through her chest at her first failed counseling session. She'd never had anyone tell her before that she was terrible at giving advice, that really stung. But she didn't know what to do about it, either.
Maybe she shouldn't have been so hasty and run away like that but her self-preservation kicked in and told her to shut up shop and go back to something she knew only too well- studying.
So she closed down her web browser and went offline to concentrate on her books and her books alone.
If only it worked.
/
