Still There For Me
Chapter 4
Walking up to the school Chad noticed someone was sitting at the fountain. It was still quite early so he wondered who it was. The closer he got, he realized it was Gabriella.
"Hey, Gabi. What are you doing here so early?"
Hearing Chad's voice, Gabriella jumped up and pulled him into a hug.
Not expecting to have his arms full of Gabriella, Chad was caught off guard and knocked to the ground. Realizing what she had done, Gabriella started to panic.
"Oh, God, Chad! I'm soo sorry! I didn't mean to knock you down! I was just excited to see you! I'm sorry! Are you ok?"
"Calm down, Gabs. I'm fine. You just caught me off guard is all. Its cool."
Smiling at her, Chad picked himself up off the ground.
"Are you sure? I mean, you are just starting to get over that nasty virus and I know that didn't help any."
Looking at the ground, Gabi's eyes started to water. She knew Chad hadn't been home with a stomach virus. She knew all the signs. He was having family problems and by the way he had been acting before, she knew it had become physical abuse.
Placing his finger under her chin, Chad raised Gabi's head up to look at him. That's when her tears began to fall.
"Gabriella, I'm ok. You didn't hurt me. Please don't cry. You're too pretty to cry."
Chad just smiled at her.
Blushing, she looked away again.
"Hey, no, you look at me. Look and listen, ok?"
At this, she looked back to him.
"You did not hurt me. You could never hurt me. Therefore, you have no reason to cry. I'm a lot tougher than I look and your skinny little ass sure as hell can't hurt me. Ok?" Chad smiled as he spoke.
Laughing through her tears, Gabi finally spoke.
"CHAD! Ok, I get it. But I'm still sorry, ok?" She answered through her giggles.
"Sure. If it'll get you to stop crying, then fine, I accept your apology."
"Thank you. So, what are you doing her so early?"
"Well, I could ask you the same thing. I know you're like this freaky-genius girl and all, but damn, school doesn't start for another 45 minutes."
"And you're what? A lunk-head basketball man, what brings you here so early?"
"I figured since I had missed a week, I would come in early to get all of my missed assignments." Chad smirked as if he had just outsmarted the smart girl.
"Oh, yes, Ha, I guess that makes sense, doesn't it?"
"Yep. And you still haven't told me why you are here to early?"
"Honestly?"
"Yes, please."
"I was waiting for you. I wanted to get here early so I could wait for you."
Chad did all he could think of, he smiled. A real, genuine smile.
"That's sweet, Gabs."
"Well, you have been sick and all. Like I said the other day, I've missed you."
"I guess I've kinda missed you too."
Smiling up at Chad, Gabi did something she had wanted to do for a while now. Without warning, Gabriella reached her hands up and tussled Chad's already messy curls.
Laughing at the stunned expression at Chad's face, Gabi pulled her hands away, clutching her sides laughing.
"What in the world are you doing, crazy-genius girl?!"
"Oh, God, Chad...the look on your face! It was so worth it!"
"Funny, Gabs, real funny. What in the world made you do something like that?"
"I dunno. I've just always wanted to do that."
Chad just smiled, shaking his head at his very strange friend.
"So, you wanna go on in. Since we have first period Drama, we may as well make our way there."
"Yeah, sounds good. Let's go."
As they began to make their way to their classroom, Chad placed his arm around Gabriella's shoulder. While she was too stunned to react, Chad began messing up Gabi's hair. Laughing at how childish they were being, they ran the rest of the way to class.
Once they made it to class, the talked for a while, only stopping when their classmates began to enter the room.
Once the bell rang, Ms. Darbus walked to the front of the class.
"Quiet down everyone! Quiet down. Now, seeing as there isn't a large amount of time left in this school year, I have decided to take your final grade from a project. Your final assignment is going to be your final grade. Everyone with me so far?"
Most of the class nodded along with her.
"Ok, then. I am going to pair each of you with a partner."
Groaning could be heard throughout her class.
"Yes, I knew most of you wouldn't be happy with this, but I am sorry. This is how it's going to work. Now, first I am going to tell you who your partner is and then I will tell you all what you will be doing. Still with me?"
More nodding.
"Good, now here are the pairs. Sharpay Evans and Taylor Mckessie, Troy Bolton and Ryan Evans, Chad Danforth and Gabriella Montez..."
After hearing that she was going to be paired with Chad, Gabriella blocked everything else out. Turning to look at Chad, she smiled. He smiled back.
"...and Jason you will be paired with Kelsi. There now, I am sorry if you aren't happy with your partner, but you will just have to learn to work together on this. Is that clear? Good, now onto your assignment. As pairs, you will be working together as often as possible, which means you will be getting to know your partner on a new level. That being said what you will be doing is writing your own song, skit, or whatever you would like to call it, reflecting this time in your lives. In 5 weeks, you and your partner will be performing if for the class."
The first thing to run through Chad's mind was Gabriella's safety. There was no way they could do this project without becoming closer to one another. Not that being close to her would be a bad thing.
"Not now, Danforth! Now is not the time to be thinking about things like being close to Gabi."
Chad didn't think he had been this worried over something in a long time. There was no way Gabriella could find out. He would make sure of that.
Before he knew it, the bell was ringing indicating the end of class. Taking his time leaving, he noticed Gabi was waiting by the door, most likely for him.
"So, what do you think of this bogus project Darbus has us doing?"
"I think it sounds kind of interesting. In fact, I already have some ideas as to what we can do."
"Already? Gabi, she just gave the assignment less than 20 minutes ago!"
"I know, but I have already been working on something and I think it is exactly what we should do."
"If you say so. So, when and where do you wanna do this thing?"
"Um, how about you meet me after school today and we can go to my house? Unless you want to go to yours?"
"NO! Uh, I mean, no, your house is fine. I'll meet you out front at 3:15pm."
"Sounds good. See ya then."
And with that, Gabriella turned and walked away. Chad never saw the smile that was ever growing on her face.
HSMHSMHSMHSMHSMHSM
As soon as the last bell rang, Chad began making his way to the front of the school. He was meeting Gabriella to work on their Drama project. No matter how much he thought about it, Chad could only see this ending badly. He was terrified Gabriella was going to find out what was really going on with him. He knew she would just pity him and that was something Chad never wanted. He never wanted anyone to pity him. No matter what the situation was.
Finally spotting Gabriella, Chad walked over to her.
"Hey, Gabi. Ready to go?"
"Sure. Uh, does your Mom know you might be home late tonight? Won't she worry?"
"Na, I called her before and told her where I would be. She's cool with it?"
"Ok, then. Oh, since I don't live to far from here I usually walk, is that ok with you?"
"Yeah, that's fine. I walk almost everywhere I go too."
They walked the rest of the way to Gabriella's house in silence. Finally reaching her house, Gabi took out her house key and unlocked the front door.
"I hope its ok, but my Mom won't be here tonight. She is out of town on some kind of business meeting."
"Oh, great. Just what I need. Temptation at its best. Home alone with a beautiful girl." Chad stopped mid-thought. "Where did that come from? I've never thought of Gabriella like that before."
"Hello! Earth to Chad! You there?"
Snapping back to reality, Chad answered Gabi.
"What? Oh, yeah. Sorry, I must have spaced there for a minute."
Laughing at the funny look on his face, Gabriella grabbed his hand and began pulling him up the stairs to her room.
"Come on. We can work in my room."
Walking into Gabriella's room, Chad looked around at everything. It actually looked pretty normal for a freaky-genius girl.
"So, you said something about what we were going to do for our assignment. What did you have in mind?"
Walking over to her nightstand, Gabriella pulled out a leather bound notebook. Flipping through the pages, she stopped on one halfway through. Turning to Chad, she handed him the book. Looking at the page, this is what he read.
Cause I, I Even when I can't
be there for you
Wanna
tell you that I'm sorry
And I, I
Even when I'm not giving
enough
And I'm taking too much
You're still there for me
Even
when I got nothing at all
And I'm ready to fall
You're still
there for me
There for me
There for me
You're always there for me
Lyrics. They were lyrics to a song. Looking up at Gabriella, Chad smiled.
"Did you write this? Its amazing. But, its not finished."
"Yeah, I wrote it. I was going through a bad time in my life and the words just sorta started flowing. I know its not finished, but I just can't figure out where to take the chorus. I thought that maybe we could finish the song and that would be what we perform for Ms. Darbus."
"This is great, Gabi. But you're never going to believe it."
"What? Believe what?"
Taking his notebook out, Chad turned to the page he was writing on last. Showing Gabi, she smiled as she read.
"Chad, this is perfect."
And for the first time in a long time, Chad was actually excited about something. He and Gabriella were going to finish his song. No, their song. And he couldn't be happier.
A/N: Well, there ya go. Another chapter. So, how did everyone like it? Leave me a review and let me know. Next chapter should be up tomorrow night. Until then, Tootles:)