Hey everyone! Sorry that it took a while to update. I was waiting to see if I could get thirty reviews, but I got really close to it, so I'm updating now! I'm thinking I'll update every Tuesday... how does that sound? FYI, I changed my picture on my profile to one that fits this story... and my sister surprised me with a YouTube video trailer for this story! Go to YouTube(dot)com(slash/)twinsplusone3 and click on the video that's titled "Loving Love". Then if you want to, you can mention that you're from FanFiction when you leave a comment. ;) Well, I hope you all Enjoy!

Loving Love

Chapter four

Get Hit by a Bus

The sound of the piece of gum Sharpay was chewing smacking against her lips was heard as she, Gabriella, and Taylor sat at a round table in East High's library. Gabriella glanced up at Sharpay with a soft giggle as she saw the pink substance on Sharpay's lips. Taylor sighed as she read a book for her English class, a pen secured tightly in her hand by her fingers as she took careful notes as each sentence passed in her mind. Shifting in her spot, Taylor flipped the page in her book only to have it suddenly torn out of her hands; the only thing left in front of her was her black pen.

"Hey!" She said angrily, her focus now broken as she turned around in her chair to see who had so rudely taken the book away from her.

She glared evilly as she saw Chad standing coolly behind her, the book closed in his hand.

"I've been looking for this book everywhere and I heard this was the last one here." He said meanly, raising his eyebrows as Taylor stood up from her chair, extending her hand so that he'd hand over the book.

"Please give it back." Taylor started nicely, wanting the dumb jock to have a change of heart. "I've been working on this essay for weeks and I'm almost done."

"I don't care how long you've been working on it for." He said, turning to leave.

"Give it back to her!" Gabriella said loudly, standing up from her chair.

Taylor gave her a forget-about-it-look as she went to sit back down, but Gabriella wasn't about to let Chad get away with being mean to her best friend yet again. She grabbed the small book that she had been reading and called his name again, giving him one more chance to give it back, but when he didn't, she threw the book right at his back, watching as it hit him between the shoulders, causing him to stop.

Chad felt a sharp object pierce his back and he stopped quickly, his face becoming red with anger as he turned slowly. He saw Gabriella standing with her arms over her chest with a similar angry expression on her face that he had. Taylor and Sharpay sat wide eyed as they watched Chad march back over to the table, coming uncomfortably close to Gabriella.

"You just threw your life away." He hissed as he went to grab her arm harshly, but she slapped his arm away from her, glaring at him.

"No, I just threw my book at you." She replied, swiftly grabbing the book that he had stolen from Taylor out of his clenched hand, throwing it on the table between Sharpay and Taylor.

They both sat speechless still as the book was taken back and Sharpay stood up quickly when Chad grabbed Gabriella's arms, only the three of them anticipating the pain he was always able to cause.

"I dare you." Gabriella whispered to him, seeing his angry brown eyes become darker.

"Hey, Chad!" They heard a voice yell across the library, making their attention be directed towards the front of the library.

The students in the library that had been enjoying the peace and quiet were now looking up from their books in annoyance as Troy Bolton jogged around the tables and rows of books towards Chad.

"Oh, no." Taylor whispered under her breath, hoping that Troy wouldn't help his best friend out with his bullying.

"What are you doing, dude? You're going to be late for practice." Troy said as he stopped his jog, standing next to Sharpay's chair as she stood, ready to pounce if she had to.

"This freak over here threw a book right at me." Chad explained, his grip on Gabriella tightening as if a new surge of anger pulsed through him.

"We can take care of her later, man, but the last time you were late the whole team had to run extra miles." Troy said, grabbing his friend's arm and pulling him away from Gabriella.

Gabriella's head started to hurt as Chad's rough hands slid away from her arms and his harsh glare left her direction. Sharpay sat down slowly as Troy and Chad walked away, breathing a sigh of relief. Taylor swore out loud as she took the book from the table and threw it into her backpack.

Troy waited until Chad was a few steps ahead of him before he turned to look behind him. Gabriella was still standing behind Taylor's chair, her expression somewhat shocked as they both made eye contact. He looked away as Taylor and Sharpay looked over at him as well and left the library with Chad.

Gabriella swallowed quickly, feeling her throat become dry as she sat down in the chair next to Taylor. Taylor looked over at her, running a hand over her stressed looking face.

"What the heck were you thinking?" Taylor asked her friend seriously.

"I'm sick of being push around and I know both of you are too." Gabriella replied, closing her math binder and putting it in her backpack.

"Gabriella, you can't stand up to any of the jocks!" Sharpay told her, her smooth hands resting on the table, showing off her pink finger nails.

"I'm tired of coming to school afraid of what's going to happen, girls!" Gabriella said sadly. "I'm not taking it anymore and I don't care about what might happen."

"What if Troy had stepped in, Gabriella? All of us could have gotten hurt. At least let it go for us." Taylor said quietly, looking at her angry friend sadly.

Gabriella felt tears appear in her eyes as her friends looked at her with hope that she'd let them do what they wanted for their sake and she nodded slowly.

"Okay." She said softly. "I won't do anything… I'll talk to you later. I have to go to work." She added, standing up and leaving her friends as they went back to their work, unsure if Gabriella was serious and unaware of the fact that Gabriella was hoping that Troy Bolton would show up at the diner that evening.

***

Gabriella laughed as Stephanie sang along to the music that could be heard in the diner as she wiped off the counter. Stephanie twirled past her with a giggle as she went into the kitchen to toss the dirty plates that she had collected into the soapy sink. Gabriella walked over to the front door of the diner and started to wipe the smudges and finger prints off of the glass. Humming softly to the song, Gabriella smiled at leaving customers, holding the door open for them so they didn't touch the now spotless door.

Gabriella's eyes fell from a happy position to an austere squint as she saw Troy Bolton walking down the sidewalk, a backpack slung over his shoulder as his grey t-shirt had a faint appearance of sweat. He had on a suspicious smile as he slowed by the door, surprised that she was still holding the door open.

He held up his hand, as if ready to give her a high five and her face contorted into a yeah-right-what-the-hell-are-you-doing look, but her expression changed quickly as he pressed his hand against the clean window, leaving a sweat paw print on the glass.

"Jerk." Gabriella said under her breath, not wanting the leaving customers to hear her as Troy chuckled, walking over to the counter, setting his backpack in the chair next to him.

Gabriella set the spray bottle of glass cleaner in the cabinet under the counter and she glanced over at Troy who was flipping through his math book, trying to find a certain page. She grabbed her notepad out of her apron pocket and walked over to him, putting a hand on her hip as she waited for him to notice her. She looked at the clock on the wall. This could take a while.

A daily customer waved at Gabriella before opening the front door of the diner and Gabriella smiled, waving back.

"Bye, have a good day." She said happily, looking back at Troy when he spoke.

"Why don't you tell me to have a good day when I leave?" He asked with a playful grin, knowing the obvious reason.

"Because I don't want you to have a good day. I want you to get hit by a bus and be splattered all over the pavement." She snapped, seeing Stephanie give her a weird look as she walked by the feuding pair.

Troy laughed softly because she was already angry with him. He looked back at his math book, starting to work on a problem as she left quickly, going about her usual tasks before setting a glass of water next to his book.

"I don't want water." He replied, glancing up from his book at the icy drink. He had chugged down a bottle of water after his intense practice and didn't exactly want anymore.

"Well, you can't get everything you want." Gabriella replied, filling up some cups with ice for a few customers across the diner.

"Unless you're me and you do get everything you want. And I want you to get me a straw." Troy said as he leaned against the counter, folding his arms over the mess of work that was in front of him.

"Stephanie can you come here?" Gabriella asked Stephanie as she was passing her.

Stephanie smiled at her, coming over to her happily.

"Will you give him a straw?" Gabriella asked her while giving Troy a shrewd look.

"Why, can't you?" Stephanie asked in confusion, looking at her friend who obviously didn't care for the guy in front of her.

"Just do it, please." Gabriella smiled, waiting until Stephanie set a straw on the counter by Troy's water and disappeared behind the kitchen door.

"Oh, poor guy. I'm sorry it didn't work out how you wanted it to." Gabriella said in a voice as if she was talking to a sick puppy.

Troy shook his head, laughing slightly as he watched Gabriella turn around to look through the kitchen window. She leaned against the back counter, saying something to Samantha who stood at the stove and Troy's eyes wander down to her arms. On the soft part of her upper arms were deep red marks that looked like they were in the shape of nails. He could tell that they were painful by the redness that surrounded it and he looked away quickly as Gabriella turned around.

"Do you want anything?" She asked him, taken back slightly when she saw the way he was looking at her.

"Oh, um, I'll just have a cheeseburger." He said to her, looking away when she gave him a suspicious look, going back to his math.

"Okay…" Gabriella said slowly, turning and telling Samantha his order before going to take care of the rest of her customers.

Troy was in the middle of a complicated geometry problem when his food was set down next to him, the smell of the hot food rising towards him. He looked up to see Gabriella getting a chunk of napkins from next to the coffee pot, setting them by him just in case he needed them.

"Thanks." He said, plopping a fry in his mouth as he looked at his math book.

"You're welcome, but I guess I could also thank you." Gabriella said as she cleared dirty plates off of the counter, setting them onto the back counter for Stephanie to collect later.

"Why's that?" Troy asked as he ripped his cheeseburger in half, biting down on the half that was in his hand.

Gabriella glanced up at him as she wiped the counter off next to him and shrugged, sighing quietly.

"For stopping Chad before he could beat the crap out of me." Gabriella explained, feeling her neck become hot as she remembered Chad's angry expression.

Troy shifted in his chair, staying quiet as he chewed, glancing at her.

"No need to thank me, I honestly didn't want him to be late." Troy said, making Gabriella feel completely stupid for assuming he had stopped Chad for her.

"Right." Gabriella nodded, tucking a loose strand of her hair behind her ear as it fell from her ponytail.

"Besides, I'm sure Chad wouldn't have beaten the crap out of you." Troy said through his mouth full of food.

"Yeah, right. I've experienced getting the crap beaten out of me from a few of your other teammates, so I'm sure he would do the same." Gabriella said with an eye roll, leaning against the back counter after seeing that her customers were still eating happily.

"I bet you this half of my cheeseburger," Troy started, pointing to the other half. "That he wouldn't hurt you." He said as he put another fry in his mouth.

Gabriella shook her head, not believe him as she held up her arm, showing Troy the deep nail marks that Chad had left in her skin. Troy shrugged as if he'd seen worse and Gabriella let her arm fall back to her side.

"I should have bet my math book on it, not my food." Troy said as he moved the basket closer to her, sighing.

Gabriella laughed, happy to take the food from him because that way he'd be paying full price for something he only ate half of. She watched as he went back to his math now that his food was gone, and she went into the kitchen with her half of the cheeseburger, waiting for the door to close behind her before she smiled.

"Okay, who's the hottie at the counter and where can I get one my age?" Samantha asked with a soft laugh as Gabriella leaned against the counter next to the sink where Stephanie was washing the dishes.

"What hottie?" Gabriella asked as if she honestly didn't know who she was referring to.

"The one you're sharing food with." Stephanie said with a smile, giving Gabriella a teasing look as she splashed her with some water.

"Oh, that guy, well, I hate him." Gabriella told them seriously, taking another bit of the burger.

"Just like you hate love?" Stephanie said dully, wondering why she was the only one who believed in true love and happily ever afters.

"Just like I hate love." Gabriella smiled, glad she understood.

"One day you will love love." Stephanie told her surely, starting to dry the dishes that were stacked next to Gabriella.

"One day I will not." Gabriella said to her, smiling as she ate the last piece of the burger, pushing herself off of the counter to go check on her customers.

She smiled when she saw that George had arrived while she was in the kitchen and watched as Karen took his order. Karen walked over to the kitchen window after talking to George shortly with a smile clear on her face. There was something different about the way she called out the order to Samantha and Gabriella raised her eyebrows suspiciously as she looked into the kitchen after giving new water to Troy.

"What's with you?" Samantha asked Karen with a smile.

"I met someone!" Karen told them, laughing as both Samantha and Stephanie gasped dramatically, squealing with Karen who was looking like a very happy thirty-five year old.

"Of course." Gabriella mumbled under her breath, rolling her eyes as Troy looked up from his book as he heard the crazy women.

"Are you jealous or something?" Troy asked as he saw Gabriella looking at them disjointedly.

"Furthest from it." Gabriella replied quickly, looking away from her older friends.

"Aren't nerds always hopeless romantics?" Troy asked her, blowing off the eraser bits that had accumulated on his paper. Gabriella glared at him slightly when they blew all over her shirt.

"Not this one." Gabriella replied as she brushed off the eraser bits from her shirt.

"Did you just admit that you were a nerd?" Troy asked with a smirk, finding it funny that she was going along with his insult.

"Some things you know are true." Gabriella told him, looking at the mess of papers in front of him. "And I know I would have definitely finished that math homework in twenty minutes." She said, insulting his intelligence somewhat.

"It's not my fault that I'm distracted." He said as he closed his book loudly, causing a few people around the diner to look up from their food at him.

"Distracted by what?" Gabriella asked in confusion.

Troy paused, taking in a deep breath and releasing it before he replied.

"You're right; you would have finished it in twenty minutes." He said with a nod, pushing his stuff into his backpack and closing it.

Gabriella gave him a wondering look and he pulled out a ten dollar bill from his backpack, setting it on the counter before turning for the door. Gabriella took the money and walked over to the cash register, glancing up at Troy who was standing in the middle of the diner.

"What do you say?" He said, giving her a humorous look.

"I hope you don't have a good day, get hit by a bus for me!" She said in a very nice voice, waving to him with a smile.

"We'll work on it." Troy said with a smile, pushing the door open, not using the handle but instead pushing his hands against the clean glass, leaving a pair of Troy Bolton hand prints on the door before he left.

Gabriella shook her head and cleared away the mess he left on the counter, stopping for a minute to look at the hand prints he left behind and she couldn't help but notice the smile that was forming on her tired face.

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Much love,

unknownbyhim22