"To Catch a Cheater"
A Ryella Story
By Sami
Chapter 5:
The next day, Gabriella walked into the Evans' huge kitchen and was immediately greeted by Ryan.
"Hey, Gabriella," he said, pouring a glass of milk at the counter and taking a swig.
"Hey," she replied.
"Want some milk?" Ryan asked her as he lowered the glass from his lips, leaving a ring of white around his mouth.
"No thanks," Gabriella chuckled lightly, and grabbed a napkin from the dispenser in the kitchen table. She walked over to him, and reaching her hand to his face, she wiped the milk away. "Goofball."
"I'm choosing to take that as a compliment."
"You do that," she smiled, backing away and throwing the crumpled napkin at him. It ricocheted off his skull and fell to the floor.
"Thanks," he grinned, bending down to pick the napkin up. When he stood again, he tossed the trash into the can, missing his target by about a foot. Gabriella rolled her eyes. "So why are you at my house anyway?" he asked her, ignoring the napkin on the floor.
"Oh," she uttered. Her smile fell, and she stared at her feet, which were adorned with beaded moccasins.
"What?"
"I um… I wanted to talk to you about our little plan," Gabriella then nervously checked behind her to make sure no one else had heard what she'd said. "Is Sharpay home?"
"Uh, yeah. I think she's in the den watching One Tree Hill or something equally lame… Maybe we should go upstairs so she doesn't, like… hear," Ryan suggested. Gabriella nodded. Ryan grabbed his half-filled glass of milk and led Gabriella to the long, winding staircase. When they reached the top, and were safely in Ryan's room, they shut and locked the door behind them. Gabriella laid cautiously on Ryan's bed, and Ryan took a seat in the swivel chair at his computer desk.
"Sooo… What's on your mind?" Ryan asked. Gabriella shrugged.
"I'm not sure this is such a good idea," she said quietly.
"What's not a good idea, exactly?"
"The whole 'cheating on Troy' thing," she replied.
"Oh…"
"Yeah."
"Why not?" he asked, hoping not to sound pushy.
"Well, it just seems… wrong. I mean, yeah he's a douche bag and everything, but wouldn't we just be sinking to his level? If we're going to get back at him, first of all, I think we should be completely sure that he's actually cheating. And--"
"You saw them, though. At the movies?" Ryan prodded. Gabriella shook her head.
"They were just there, though. I mean, I didn't really see them do anything, did you?"
"Well… no. But he did completely blow you off," he argued.
"Yeah, and I want to get back at him for that. I really do. I just don't want to feel guilty while I'm doing it," she explained. "I don't want to have to always wonder whether he really cheated on me or not. You know?"
"What else would he be doing at the movie theater with my sister when he was supposed to be at the pizza place with you?"
"I don't know… But I plan to find out," she said. Ryan nodded.
"Yeah. Well, you don't have to go through with this if you don't want to."
"Thanks…" Gabriella felt awkward. She sincerely hoped that Ryan knew that it was nothing against him specifically; she just really felt uncomfortable cheating on her boyfriend. "You'll still help me though, right?"
"Sure… Of course," he replied, pasting a smile to his face. "How?"
"I'm not quite sure. I mean, we'll obviously need some kind of a plan," she said, standing up and pacing across the floor in thought. After a moment, she suddenly stopped. "I might have just thought of something. It's kind of lame, but we could try it at least."
"All right. I'm up for anything," he replied. She walked over to where he was seated at the computer desk.
"Move." Ryan quickly got out of his chair so she could sit, and he walked to the bed to lay down, just as Gabriella had a few minutes before. Gabriella turned to Ryan's laptop, and opened it, turning it on. After it had loaded a bit, she called him over. "It needs a password," she said.
He walked over and typed something real quick, then went back to the bed. Gabriella waited for the computer to finish doing its thing before clicking on the Internet Explorer icon on the desktop.
"Ugh," she groaned. "I hate Internet Explorer."
"Get over it, babe," he replied, and she stuck out her tongue at him. "Oh yeah. I feel like, so burned," he said sarcastically.
"Shut the hell up," she said back. He put his finger to his lips in a scolding manner.
"Shhh! Language, Montez!" he teased. "I like to keep it G-rated."
"Pussy," she muttered with a small smile.
"Hey! What did I just say?!" he joked. She rolled her eyes.
"You know, for the co-president of the drama club, you're pretty bad at that whole, um… acting thing."
"Gasp! You bitch!"
"Well, well, well, Mr. 'Keepin' It G-Rated,'" she laughed.
Ryan pretended to plug his ears. "I'm not listening, I'm not listening," he repeated.
"So mature," Gabriella said sarcastically. "I wanna be just like you when I grow up, Ryan."
"Shut it, and get on with your little boyfriend sabotage."
"Thought you weren't listening," she grinned to herself, turning back to the laptop. Yahoo! had opened as the homepage, and Gabriella let the cursor wander down to the 'Create Account' link.
"So, what is this brilliant plan, anyway?" Ryan asked her.
"I wouldn't call it brilliant. All I'm doing is trusting in the fact that Troy is the dumbest, most oblivious being on the planet."
"Okay… You didn't answer my question, though."
"I'm setting up an email account," she said plainly.
"And… ?"
"I'm creating it under your sister's name."
"So what?"
"Well, hopefully I can email Troy, and he'll think it's her. Then he'll respond… and all his secrets… shall be revealed," she said, emphasizing the last part and adding a "Muahahaha!" for effect.
"Right. And what exactly will you put in this email? 'Hey Troy! Are you cheating on Gabriella?'" Ryan mocked skeptically.
"No…" she replied defensively. "Yes."
Ryan sighed. "Give me that." She handed him the computer. He leaned back into the headboard and placed the laptop on his belly. He then clicked 'Compose,' and when the blank message box opened, he began to type an email to Troy.
Ryan read out loud as he formed the message so that Gabriella would know what was going on. "Hey, Troy. It's Sharpay. Sorry I changed my email without telling you first, but my old one…" He thought for a moment. "…wouldn't let me log in anymore." Gabriella walked over to the bed and laid down beside him to watch. Ryan stopped reading since it was no longer necessary.
He continued to type: "i was wondrin, neways, if u could meet me at zekes paty 2morrow."
"You spelled party wrong," Gabriella corrected. Ryan groaned, and continued to ignore the mistake.
"maybe we could fool around afterwards or sumthing," he continued to type. "let me no. xoxo S." Ryan finished typing, and Gabriella nodded her approval. She leaned over and typed in Troy's email address, assuming that Ryan didn't know what it was, then quickly changed Ryan's intentional spelling errors.
"Gabriella, it's supposed to be that way. Sharpay isn't smart enough to spell all that right. You know that."
"Fine, then," she huffed in reply, pressing 'Send.' Ryan closed the laptop and looked to the girl beside him, their eyes meeting.
"Well, that's done. What do you wanna do now?" he asked.
"Actually, I should be getting to rehearsal right about now."
"Oh… okay."
Gabriella leaned over and gave Ryan a quick peck on the cheek before standing up and walking to the bedroom door to let herself out. She opened it, but after a moment she turned back around to face Ryan, whose hand was placed on his cheek where her lips had been seconds before. He quickly moved it as soon as he realized she was still looking at him.
"Wanna come with me?" she asked. Ryan quickly nodded, and jumped out of the bed.
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Troy knocked on the Evans' front door, and was quickly let in by Sharpay. She hurriedly pushed him into the foyer and slammed the door behind him.
"Gabriella's upstairs with Ryan," she whispered. Troy's eyes widened, and Sharpay forced him into the den, flicking off the T.V. as she went.
"Wait, wait, wait. My ass is vibrating," Troy said.
"Huh?"
Troy pulled his vibrating cell phone out of his back pocket, and Sharpay's face relaxed with understanding. He flipped the phone open and pressed a few buttons. Sharpay took in the confused facial expression that suddenly appeared on him.
"What's up?" she asked.
"New email… from... you?" he questioned. Sharpay furrowed her brow.
"I haven't emailed you since like, three days ago."
"Huh… Weird," he said suspiciously. "Whatever. I just came over to see if you were gonna come with me to rehearsal."
"Oh."
"So… Do you want to come?" he asked.
"Ummm... Nah. I'll stay here and watch T.V. There's a soaps marathon today."
"'Kay. I guess Gabriella will be taking off soon, so I better get out of here before she sees the truck."
"Bye."
"See ya."
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Ryan and Gabriella walked into the theater, arms linked. Kelsi turned when she heard the door open, and she immediately sighed in relief when she saw them.
"You're late," she said.
"Aw, we're glad to see you too, Kels," Gabriella said. "Um, you too Troy," she quickly added, mainly to avoid the awkward situation. He politely nodded from his seat next to Kelsi at the piano bench, looking curiously at the spot where Gabriella and Ryan's elbows were linked.
Gabriella released Ryan's arm and climbed up the stage, walking over to the piano. She shot Ryan a nervous glance, and he responded with a wink of encouragement. She nodded and slid in next to Kelsi at the piano bench. Kelsi began to play, and the rehearsal had begun.
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After rehearsals, Ryan drove Gabriella home in his car, the same way they'd arrived. When he pulled into Gabriella's driveway, there was an awkward lull.
"Wanna come inside or something?" she asked. He shook his head.
"I better not."
"Okay, then. I have to go. I'm supposed to cook dinner anyways, so yeah."
"See ya," he said.
She nodded. "Later. And thanks so much for everything today." She shut the passenger door after climbing out of the car, and waved to Ryan as he drove away. Ryan arrived back at his house a few minutes later and retired to his room, all the while thinking about how much he hated Gabriella's conscience.
YAY! Sorry for the long wait, guys. Unfortunately, you're probably used to that by now, though...
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Jonesy's Review Replies for Chapter 4:
SharpayEvansBolton12: thanks
xzashleyxashleyx: thanks
MOiRA: I can't wait either to see how it will develop.
star jelly: I know what you mean, but you'll just have to be patient.
firedragongirl: I'm glad you thought it was funny but it honestly wasn't intentiaonally meant to be, so it probably works better like that.
A c t i n g-Is-A-P a s s i o n: Ryella is good and personally everyone needs a bit of Ryella in their lives.
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Thank you, oh ye faithful reviewers! R&R!!