Disclaimer: I don't own High School Musical...unfortunately. Cause then I would mysteriously become Gabriella and...yeah. Anyways.
--
Troy was halfway to Gabriella's house when he realized that he had left his car behind at school.
"Aww, man –" he groaned, and started running back. Even though he had just been through a basketball practice and had sprinted halfway to his destination already, he was moving incredibly quickly. He knew that his parents would kill him if he didn't bring his car home, so the sooner he got it, the sooner he could make things right with Gabriella.
Unfortunately, when he got back to the school, he found that luck wasn't on his side.
"Troy!" Mr. Matsui called out, surprised to find that the basketball captain wasn't inside the building like everyone else. "What are you doing? Why aren't you in class?"
"Ummm..." Troy cursed silently as he struggled to remember what his cover story was. "I wasn't feeling well, sir." Then, as he looked around him, he realized that his foot was half in, half out of his car. Oh, no. "I was just lying down in my car...but I'm feeling better now, so I thought I would get back to class."
Dave Matsui knew that Troy was probably lying, but he figured that he would probably be in enough trouble for being late as it was. "All right, Troy," he said placidly. "Just next time, if you're not feeling well, please rest in the nurse's office so we know where you are, okay?"
"Okay," Troy smiled sheepishly and got out of his car. The principal escorted him to his next class, and then left him there with a parting "Good luck on your next game, Troy! Whip 'em into shape!"
Troy thanked him, took a deep breath and opened the door.
His teacher was not impressed. "You were sick?" She narrowed her eyes and gave Troy a look that told him that she did not believe him for a second. "I'm sorry, Troy, but you need to go to the nurse's office when you don't feel well so that she can notify your teachers. You'll have to stay behind after school for detention."
Troy, who hadn't been expecting anything less, nodded and sat down, full of misery.
He hadn't been able to make things right with Gabriella. She probably hated him right now...and who could blame her? He remembered, with painful clarity, what he had said to make her upset:
"Look, can we just drop the Gabriella subject? It's annoying me, how we always talk about her."
Troy winced. No wonder she was mad. She'd probably go on hating him forever, and he'd never get a chance to ask her out...be her boyfriend...fiancé...husband. Troy knew that someday, he wanted to marry her...but he'd never get the chance now.
He felt something hit his head, and managed to catch it before it dropped to the floor. It was a pencil. He looked up and saw Chad staring intensely at him. Chad pointed to his desk, and Troy looked down. Chad had sent him a note. He opened it and read:
1: 34 p.m. Why are you here? Is everything all right with Gabriella?
If Troy hadn't been so unhappy, he might have found the situation funny. Chad always put the time on his notes. It was just one of the many strange things about him. He looked at the time: 1:40. So that's why he brought out the pencil.
I forgot my car, and when I came back I got caught by Matsui, he wrote. Now, I'll never be able to ask her out. :(
He threw the note back to Chad, who immediately started reading it. Soon, he was scribbling furiously. He sent it back Troy's way.
1: 43 p.m. Of course you will! You'll be able to make it up after detention. You'd better, too. You play badly in this state.
Troy shook his head, a very small smile appearing on his face. Classic Chad. He saw the teacher looking his way and slipped the note into his desk.
--
Detention, Troy decided, was a complete and total bore if you didn't have Gabriella by your side.
He was painting the trunk of a tree while he remembered countless detentions that he had been in for various reasons. Before Gabriella came, he had always tried to blow them off or make an excuse not to go, but after their first detention together, he had actually started to like them. Gabriella can make anything enjoyable, he thought, smiling. That smile turned into a frown when he realized that she was upset. But not if you've been a complete idiot and messed up your friendship with her! I can't wait to get out of here so that I can –
"Bolton! What are you doing? That's purple paint!"
Troy looked at the tree and, sure enough, saw thick, angry streaks of lilac paint on it. He hadn't realized that he had been painting with that level of ferocity.
Then again, he hadn't realized that the paint was purple, either.
He sighed. Now I'll never get out of here. I have to fix this up first...
--
It was late when he finally got to Gabriella's house. His parents had made him stay for dinner before he went, and their conversations had seemed twice as long as they normally were.
When he hopped over the balcony railing (the way he came whenever he wanted to apologize) and looked through Gabriella's glass doors, his heart very nearly ripped in two.
There lay Gabriella, on her bed, with her head in her arms. It was obvious that she was crying. Her backpack lay against the wall by the door: the place where she kept it before starting on her homework. After she finished it, Troy knew, she always put it on the other side of the door. A shock ran through him as he realized that she had probably been crying since the end or lunch. She hasn't even started on her homework yet, he thought. That's not like her at all...
He gently knocked on the door, and Gabriella's head shot up. When she met his gaze, her eyes filled with fresh tears, but she still got up and came to the door.
"Troy, what are you doing here?" She sounded so broken. Troy wrapped his arms around her and pulled her towards him. She started sobbing again, and he never let her go as he brought her to her bed.
"Shhh, Gabriella, it's okay," he murmured, letting her cry against him. "It's okay..." He knew, of course, that it wasn't, but he was hoping that it would be very soon.
Finally, she broke away from him and dried her eyes. "I'm sorry," she mumbled.
"It's okay, Gabriella, you did nothing wrong."
"No, I was annoying you," she said, and tears began to fall from her eyes again. "I didn't mean to, but I was, and I'm sorry for that. I don't know what I did, but I must've done something. I know you probably hate me right now, and –"
"Gabriella, I could never hate you," Troy said softly. "I was annoyed by my friends, because they were always pressuring me about you. They were annoying me, not you. Never you. I was trying to get them to stop it, but it came out wrong. I'm really sorry that you had to hear that. I didn't mean for it to come out that way."
Gabriella raised her head and looked at him. "I thought you hated me," she said quietly. "I thought I'd done something wrong."
"Gabriella, who could hate you?" Troy asked her, looking into her eyes. "What reason would anybody have to hate you? You're perfect. You're caring – you always put other people before yourself. Every time you walk into a room, you make everyone feel better just by being there. You're always willing to help others, you're brilliant, you're beautiful –"
"—and I love you," Troy wanted to say, but he couldn't. The words were there, but he just wasn't able to make them come out of his mouth. He tried, but his fear of rejection that he had harbored and built up ever since meeting Gabriella was stopping him. Say it, Troy, just say it! he screamed at himself, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't.
Gabriella looked down. "Thanks, Troy," she said quietly. Inside, she felt like jumping for joy, and she was rapidly inflating with happiness. She felt light-headed, but in a good way. I love him, I love him, I LOVE HIM! she wanted to scream. He's so amazing...and he just said all those things about me! Does he...?
But she didn't let her thoughts get much further than that, in case he didn't feel the same way that she did. The thank-you was all she could manage.
Troy coughed, uncomfortably aware of how close he had been to telling her his feelings. He was already in too deep – he had told her far too much already. What was he thinking? She obviously didn't feel the same way. It was clear from her response.
"Uh, well then," Troy stuttered. "I, uh..." He felt extremely awkward. It had never been that way between them before – they never had to think about what they had to say. They always just said whatever was on their minds, or whatever came out. Now, because of him, it was different. Stupid, stupid, STUPID! Then, he thought of something to say.
"I was sure that you were going to hate me," he said. "I'm still a bit surprised you don't, actually. I kept going over what I said in my mind and feeling really bad. And then I didn't get to you until now..."
Gabriella interrupted him. "I was never mad at you," she told him. "I was mad at myself...but now I know that I didn't do anything wrong, so everything is fine. And, you know, if you ever feel that way about me – that I annoy you – you just need to tell me what I'm doing wrong, and I'll try to stop. I don't want to lose you," she said seriously.
"That will never happen," Troy vowed. He meant both that Gabriella would never lose him and that he would never be annoyed with her, and he hoped that Gabriella understood.
"Ummm...just a question, though," Gabriella said timidly. "What did take you such a long time to come? I'm glad you came at all, it's just –"
Troy chuckled for the first time in a while. "I know," he reassured her. Then he told her his story.
"...and I'm halfway to your place and I realize: I've forgotten the car! So I run back there because I know Dad'll kill me if I leave it there...and I'm just getting in, and I get caught by Matsui..."
Gabriella laughed in all the right places and sympathized with Troy about the teacher who gave him detention. By the end of his tale, Gabriella was smiling and cheerful again. Troy was thankful that she was back to her normal self.
He glanced at the clock beside Gabriella's bed. "Shoot, I have to go! But why don't I give you a ride to school tomorrow? Remember, I still have to make lunch up to you...even more so now."
Gabriella smiled. "Only if you want to."
"Of course I do! Why would I have suggested it if I didn't?"
"Out of politeness." Gabriella grinned suddenly. "Or maybe because Mrs. Darbus turned you down and I'm your second choice."
"What?" Troy spluttered. Then he remembered their conversation earlier that day. "Oh, no, not anymore. Not after the purple paint incident..." he said, just to hear her laugh.
--
The next day, when Troy and Gabriella walked in as close as ever, their friends were relieved. All of them had been up for most of the night worrying about the misunderstanding, and they were happy knowing that it had all worked out.
But when Sharpay approached Ryan about his plan, he said that it would have to wait until the next day.
"It has to start when they first go to their lockers," he said. "It can't be any later than that. And I need a meeting with you guys at lunch."
This was easy to plan, since Troy and Gabriella were spending some alone time on the rooftop garden that day at lunch.
"All right, Ryan," Taylor began in a businesslike manner. "This meeting's obviously about your plan, but we don't actually know what it is yet, so..."
As Ryan filled them in, their eyes lit up.
"Brilliant," said Zeke softly.
"Amazing," breathed Jason.
"Can you tutor me?" asked Chad.
Everyone turned to look at him, rolled their eyes and brought their attention back to Ryan.
"But the thing is, they're bound to know each other's writing styles," Ryan explained. "So who has the writing most like Gabriella and Troy?"
Taylor volunteered for Gabriella's writing, and Zeke for Troy's.
"Good," said Ryan, and brought two squares of coloured paper out of his pocket. "I need you to write this..."
--
Gabriella got to school early that day – she wanted to do some research for her next essay in the library. When she got to her locker, she saw a piece of paper stuck inside it. She pulled it out and unfolded it. The writing looked like Troy's, but had a slightly unfamiliar quality to it.
Gabriella,
Will you meet me at the rooftop garden at lunch? I have something really important to tell you.
-- Troy
She smiled at the thought of Troy. I wonder what he wants to tell me... She knew what she wanted it to be about, but she also knew that it was next to impossible for Troy to love her back.
Well, we'll see at lunch, Wildcat...
--
Troy arrived at school at the normal time, missing Gabriella already. He knew that she had to work on her essay...but sometimes, he wished that there wasn't so much work in school. I would definitely get to spend more time with her...what's this?
He pulled out and unfolded a piece of paper that was stuck in his locker.
Troy,
I need to talk to you about something important...can we meet at the rooftop garden during lunch? I talked to Chad, and he said that you don't have basketball practice.
-- Gabriella
Troy's expression softened and a goofy smile appeared on his face. Maybe she wanted to tell him that she was in love with him. Maybe he'd get to –
"Hey, dude, what's that?"
Troy rolled his eyes before turning around. Jason's getting timing lessons from Chad. "Just a note," he said. "From Gabriella."
Jason grinned. "I should've known from your expression that it was from Gabriella. You should've seen your face! It had 'whipped' written all over it!"
Troy turned red. "Shut up, Jason," he muttered. "You should see your expression when you see Kelsi."
"Well, at least I'm going out with her," Jason said, shrugging. "See you in class." He turned around and walked back the way he had come.
That's funny, Troy thought after he left. I thought they said that they'd leave me alone about that...the same thing happened at practice yesterday. He got his remaining books out of his locker and closed it firmly.
Note to self: never trust Chad when he says he's going to stop bugging you about something...
--
During class, there wasn't that much time for Troy and Gabriella to talk to each other. Mrs. Darbus was having a bad morning: the telltale sign was that her speech was on idiotic mistakes made by performers on opening night. Gabriella tried to catch Troy's eye and nod, signaling that she would meet him at lunch, but she wasn't sure if he saw her. The same thing happened with Troy.
The next period, they had different classes, so at lunch, they just went straight to the rooftop garden. Troy arrived first and paced for a few minutes until Gabriella came. She was carrying the note in her hand. Troy had his in his pocket.
"Troy, are you okay?" Gabriella began. "I read somewhere that sometimes, when someone has a lot on their mind, their writing changes slightly...and the note you gave me was written in a different style than you usually write in. What's wrong?" (A/N: I'm completely making it up about what she read, but I see how it could be true.)
Troy looked at her blankly. "I didn't send you a note."
Gabriella frowned. "What was this doing in my locker, then?" she asked him, giving him the note.
After he finished it, his frown was deeper. "Gabriella, I didn't send you that, but the writing looks really familiar."
Gabriella turned it this way and that, trying to figure it out, but she didn't get any leads.
"Anyways, you sent me a note, right? Saying that there was something that you wanted to tell me?"
Now, the frown was on Gabriella's face. "No...I didn't send you one, Troy. I came up here because I thought that you sent that note."
"And I came up here because I thought that you sent this note!" Troy said, bewildered, as he gave his note to Gabriella.
"I didn't send this," Gabriella told him as she finished reading it. "I know this might sound crazy, but...that looks like Taylor's writing."
Troy's eyes lit up. "Hold on...let me see the note again?" When he finished reading it, he met her eyes. "That's definitely Zeke's writing. No doubt about it."
They slowly put their notes down and looked at each other.
"So, if Taylor sent this note..." Gabriella began, and looked at it again. "Yep, now I'm sure that that's her writing. That's really weird."
"...and Zeke sent this one..." Troy muttered. He looked at her and smiled. "Well, our friends obviously wanted us to have some alone time after what happened. The guys were really concerned about me and you patching things up the other day."
"Yeah, that must be it," Gabriella said, the frown disappearing. Then she hit herself on the head. "I can't believe I fell for that! I know your writing!"
"I know!" Troy grinned. "And I know yours! I definitely should've recognized Taylor's writing."
"They were obviously smart enough not to use Sharpay's writing, though," Gabriella giggled. "Remember when we were first looking at the sign-up sheet for Twinkle Towne and she signed her name?"
Troy laughed. "Yeah, I remember that. Nice penmanship," he mocked, turning to grin at Gabriella.
"Hey, I didn't hear you say anything!" Gabriella glared at him. "And it was my first day! I didn't know the way things were yet!"
"You soon figured it out," Troy said smiling. "And then we overcame it. And look at Sharpay now. She's come a long way."
"Yeah," Gabriella said, her smile fading. "Troy...umm...you don't like Sharpay, do you?"
It took a minute for Troy to figure out what Gabriella was asking. When he did, he laughed.
"Oh, no, Gabriella. No way. Do you have any idea what Zeke would do to me if I did? They're going out, you know." He smiled at her. "Besides, I would've told you."
Seeing Troy laughing in front of her, Gabriella realized how stupid she sounded. "You're right," she muttered, looking down. "It was stupid for me to have thought that you did."
"No it wasn't," Troy argued. "She is one of my friends, after all. And people do fall in love with their friends sometimes," he said, turning to look directly at her.
Gabriella's breath caught in her throat. This was it. Troy was leaning in, and she found herself unconsciously doing so as well. Their faces were inches apart when a shrill ring met their ears.
"Evil bell," she could have sworn she heard Troy mutter, pulling away. But it was probably just her imagination.
A/N: Once again, thank you for reading! I'm getting a lot more reviews, which is AWESOME! This one goes out to laalaa1123, ZaNeSsAObEsSeD102, "line" and "Sara." There were a lot more Troyella moments in this chapter...I enjoyed writing it! You know what to do!