Chapter 7
After Troy's birthday party, the tree house conversation between Gabriella and himself wasn't forgotten. Troy relocated his seat, in the two classes he shared with her: History and Chemistry, closer to her and the two teens became friends quickly. The growing friendship didn't go unnoticed to Taylor, Chad or Zeke. When their respective friend went missing from the lunch table or left a class earlier for History and Chemistry, they knew they were safe and happy in each other's presence.
"Hey Cutie, are you joining us for lunch today?" Taylor bumped shoulders with her most recent best friend as they walked down the halls from Literature class.
"Hey Tay. I think I'm gonna bail today. Get some fresh air outside" Gabriella smiled happily at her friend who raised a suspicious teasing eyebrow
"Hmm bailing again? Once upon a time, I was your only friend" Taylor bumped her shoulder again mocking Gabriella
"Again? I ate lunch with you yesterday"
"I don't remember." She rolled her eyes playfully and paused at her locker. "I'm kidding. Go 'enjoy your fresh air Gabi'"
"See you in Math" Gabriella returned the shoulder bump and headed for the glass door that was framed in the middle of the large ceiling to floor glass wall with the school's mascot pasted in the middle with vinyl paper.
Gabriella headed towards the lawn that was occupied with a handful of students lounging around on the grass. She looked at the concrete small round table that was paved under a tree along the lawn. The lawn had a line of tree, six meters apart, from one end of the lawn to the other; it was obvious that VEA took great pride in their lawn maintenance. Under each tree was the same arrangement of a small concrete round table and seat, it was designed for students to be able to sit and do work in the warm weather seasons. Although they were all similar, Gabriella was only interested in the third table and seat from the left of the lawn and seeing that it was empty she was excited to finally be seated and enjoy her lunch in the beautiful weather they were having.
She pulled the sandwich from her brown paper bag and unwrapped it; she took a bite and placed it on top of the wrapper. She pulled out her Jane Austen book and flipped to the page she bookmarked, excited to know what would happen next.
"Trade ya! I got a burger" A fellow classmate slipped into the seat opposite of Gabriella. He placed his books on the empty seat beside him and carefully dropped the brown paper bag similar to Gabriella.
"No deal, Turkey sandwich," she pointed down on her lunch "plus I already took a bite. You snooze you lose"
"Homemade burger Brie, come on!"
"No deal Troy" she repeated
He groaned and gave up as he unwrapped his burger.
Besides the weather, the cool shade and great scenery another reason she liked that spot was because it was their spot. It was the one place their friends wouldn't bombard them because they simply couldn't fit. That specific table and seat only accommodated for two people, therefore if Taylor, Chad, Zeke and occasionally Jason decided to tag along with their friend they could stay because then they would have to sit on the grass or stand in the sun which eventually got too hot and leaving them with a very slight case of sunburn.
"Oh my gosh! This is the best burger I've had in my life! You're missing out Brie, you should've switched"
"Oh really? Then I guess I'll just eat this SECOND sandwich"
"I'm kidding! I'll trade you …" Troy looked around and glanced into his empty paper bag.
"You got nothing Bolton"
"Please Brie! You're aunt Helen makes the best turkey sandwiches!"
"That she does." Gabriella smiled and waved the sandwich slowly across the table. Troy was suddenly hypnotized as his blue cerulean eyes watched the sandwich moving left to right
"I'll do your chemistry homework for a week"
"Yea right!" Gabriella rolled her eyes. "Take it, she made an extra for you. And anyways, why would I let a B student do an A student's work"
"Uh A- student, thank you very much."
It was very often Troy and Gabriella traded lunch, unless it was Helen's delicious turkey sandwich or Lucille's mouthwatering barbeque chicken wraps then there would be serious negotiations. Although Gabriella has met both of Troy's parents, he had yet to formally meet Gabriella's aunt and distance was the main reason why it hadn't happen, seeing that Gabriella travelled to school on her own.
"So I have a favor to ask you" Troy looked deadpan at Gabriella. Her smile took a 180-degree as she saw the seriousness in his face
"What's up?"
"I need you to help me …" Troy looked away and sighed heavily
"Hey, whatever it is I'd be happy to help"
"… to prank Chad and Zeke" his straight face instantly curled into a wide smile as he saw the tone of annoyance and frustration grow on his friend's face. She rolled her eyes and continued to read her novel
"No way, don't get me involved. That's between you and Jason, and Chad and Zeke"
"Brie come on, Jason has tutoring everyday after school"
"Troy, in case you forgot I have to leave right after school everyday, just to get home before sundown"
"I'll get dad to drive you home!"
"No Troy. I can't ask him to do that"
"Yea you can! He loves you, so does Ma"
"Troy" Gabriella said in a warning voice that threatened Troy to let the conversation go.
/
The following weeks ahead, Gabriella carried on with her precise and predictable schedule but that only meant Troy spent as much free time with Gabriella before and during school. That also meant, unfortunately, Troy was on his own to retaliate against Zeke and Chad in their ongoing prank war.
The prank war was taken one step too far and in the process of humiliating each other, Gabriella took the heat and it was then the boys had called a truce, but continued to live with the guilt of spraining Gabriella's left wrist.
It was the middle of November and the annual winter junior high dance was only 14 days left. Troy had been crushing on Mary Montgomery, who was apart of the volleyball team, and spent two weeks trying to court her and ask her to be his date to the dance. Chad and Zeke took that as an opportunity to retaliate against Troy, who was now a single target. Therefore during physical education class, the semester was based on indoor sport and luckily for the boys basketball was on the curriculum, so Chad and Zeke took the opportunity to their advantage.
The boys were dribbling the basketballs and making free throws effortlessly on one end of the court while the girls were struggling to dribble the balls on the opposite side of the court. On the contrary, Mary and her friends were lingering on the half court line with the balls bouncing in their hands while they gossiped and swooned over the boys.
Chad and Zeke stood on the free throw line practicing their free throws and jump shots while Troy on the sidelines with Gabriella. She bounced the ball down and tapped the ball in an irregular pattern and height; this was her attempt at dribbling the ball. Troy stood in front of her and found the scene hilarious, basketball was second nature to him and seeing Gabriella struggle with a simple task was hysterical to him.
"Troy, this isn't funny! Am I doing this right or not?!" Gabriella groaned and the frown on her face grew larger
His laughter grew stronger and uncontrollable, lucky for him Mr. Danforth (the physical ed. teacher) was not in the gym currently and the echoes from the bouncing balls around the court masked his laughter.
He shook his head left and right, not trusting himself to speak out loud without laughing in tears.
"Can you show me so that I don't fail, we didn't do this at Eastmellow, we just did track and field"
"Okay, okay relax …" his laughter subsided and he took the ball from her
"Don't tell me to relax!" she hissed
"No, that's the first thing you have to relax"
"Oh"
"Okay, so the second thing is you use your finger tips, not your palm that way you get more power and control…"
"Okay"
"… and third, your feet shoulder be shoulder length apart and bend yours knees a little and drop your hips slightly, that way you have a good and better foundation. Got it?" He demonstrated with the basketball in hand. Gabriella nodded as she studied his frame and watched the basketball bounce up and down from his hand to the floor. Just as she thought he'd hand the ball back over to her, he transitioned his dribble to a faster pace and started widening his stance. Soon he was dribbling the ball between his legs and behind his back and over his shoulder; he smirked at Gabriella as she rolled her eyes at her best friend who would get conceited over his natural talent and skills with basketball.
He caught the attention of the class that was now watching him effortlessly play with the ball. Troy got the eyes of Mary Montgomery watching him with her famous sexy smile that was a pout that curled half way into a smile. He now turned his stance and attention to the blonde beauty that was watching him from the center circle. He picked up the pace and added more moves he'd been practicing. He balanced the ball on the back of his neck and rolled it to his left hand and began dribbling the ball between his legs again until Chad shouted his name. He and Zeke were thinking of ways to get back at Troy in front of Mary, and now Troy had set his own trap all they had to do was embarrass him so Chad did the first thing he knew. He distracted Troy.
Troy bounced the ball downwards with all his power in an attempt to spin and catch it before it hits back ground but as Chad shouted his name the ball slipped from his hand and hit the court in a bad angle; rebounded and hit Gabriella's wrist. She hissed on first reaction and then gripped her left wrist. Troy gasped and disregarded the ball that was now rolling away, and attended to Gabriella while the previous onlookers resumed their earlier activities. Chad and Zeke gasped and rushed towards the pair, in shock of the failed prank.
"Brie! Oh my gosh! I'm so so so sorry!"
"Oww"
"Gosh, I'm so stupid! Does it hurt really bad?"
Gabriella nodded as she attempted to twist her wrist but only screamed in pain
"Gabi! Are you okay?" Zeke placed a soft hand on her left arm
"Don't touch her!" Troy growled and slapped his hand away. "What the hell were you thinking!"
"YOU lost control of the ball!" Chad argued
"YOU distracted me, what the hell was that!"
"Guys …" Zeke tried to ease the anger between the two raging boys
"Seriously! Just cause I'm better than you …"
"Oh please! You didn't even make the first team in elementary school"
"Shut up! If you guys weren't having this stupid prank war in the first place, this wouldn't have happened!" Gabriella stepped away from the fuming boys. She nursed her left wrist with her right hand and consumed the pain silently. She turned her attention to the sandy blond teen and her anger changed to disappointment. "I told you to leave me out of it"
She headed of the exited and quickly went in search for the nurse. She glanced at the signs above as she hastily walked down the halls until she heard someone shout her name.
"Gabriella!"
"Oh hi"
"Drew, we're in literature together"
"Oh right, hey"
"Are you okay?" he glanced at her nursed hands
"I hope so, I think it might be sprained. I'm looking for the nurse"
"Oh, that's just down the hall on the right"
"Thanks"
"Actually I'll walk you there, just so you don't get injured anymore"
Gabriella giggled and followed the dark hair Latin boy with glasses framing his eyes. He waited outside with her while the school's nurse was treating another student. Drew had asked what had happened and Gabriella had told him what occurred in physical education class. Seeing that she was in pain, he decided to distract her with talks about their current project in Literature class.
After the nurse did a thorough check up with Gabriella, she did confirm it was a sprained wrist. She then sat her in the corner and placed a bag of ice on her wrist to help the swelling, in which Drew happily kept her company. They eagerly talked about the book they were reading in class as well as other books they both read. Surprisingly the two became quick friends as they bonding over the common ground of their love for books. When the nurse returned to check on the swelling, she was happy to see that the swelling went down so then she wrapped her wrist tightly with an elastic bandage. She gave Gabriella a painkiller to help ease the pain since she insisting that she did not need to go home.
During the lunch hour, Gabriella quickly ate her lunch with Taylor and avoided the boys as best as possible. She started feeling a headache as the lunchroom grow louder and louder and so she dismissed herself from the table and walked out of the lunchroom. She was headed towards the doors that led to the lawn until someone interrupted her thoughts.
"Hey you. Where you heading?"
"Are you stalking me now?"
"Uhm … will I get in trouble if I say yes?"
"Probably"
"Then no"
Gabriella chuckled and looked down at her shoes as her hair fell forward and curtained her face "I was gonna hang out on the lawn for a bit"
"Oh okay … actually I know this sounds lame but I was gonna go to the library to search of the original 'A Midsummer's Night dream' would you like to join me?"
Gabriella fought the dilemma of enjoying the sun or literature but the thought of Troy being out on the lawn had leaned her closer to literature
"Brie!" Troy pushed through the doors that led to the lawn and saw the brunette he called his best friend. "I was waiting for you all through lunch"
"Oh, I ate with Taylor today"
"Oh … well come join me. I got our spot outside"
"Actually I'm gonna go to the library with Drew"
"Drew?"
"Yea" Gabriella grabbed unto Drew's arm with her stronger hand and dragged him away from the blue-eyed teenage boy. They headed in the direction of the library and an uncomfortable silence fell between the two new friends but as they entered what they considered their sanctuary they both fell into an easy conversation.
Meanwhile Troy stood like a statue in the position Gabriella left him in. His mind rattled around as he thought about the guy that Gabriella walked away with, then he thought about Gabriella and he realized how upset she was that he was responsible for her getting hurt. Now she was avoiding him and anger with him but most importantly she was with … Drew.
What.
The.
Fuck.
/
A week later after the incident, Troy was relentless on gaining her forgivingness all while trying to ask Mary to the winter dance. Gabriella continued to keep her distance from the boys and spent her lunch hours in the library hiding out with Drew. As the friendship bloomed between the two, they found more common grounds besides literature. It turns out that they both excel in academics and lived in New York for a short period of time at some point in their life, so much of their conversation revolved around those topics. So they sat across each other at a table in the corner of the study lounge in the library during lunch hour.
"How's your wrist?" Drew glanced at her wrist that was still wrapped in a plastic bandage
"It's getting there. It doesn't hurt as much now"
"That's good. I'm glad you're feeling better."
"Yea, me too"
Gabriella and Drew sat in silence reading their own book that was laid out in front of them. Drew would glance up and stare at Gabriella's beauty every three seconds and Gabriella noticed his stare but didn't acknowledge it because she would hate for their friendship to get awkward
"Hey Gabi, I was kinda wondering …"
Gabriella knew where this was going and she tried so hard to avoid this all week.
"… I don't know if someone already … what I mean is …"
"Drew," Gabriella frowned and sighed, "if this is about the winter dance …"
"Right, you're already going with Bolton. Why would I assume …"
"No … wait what? No." Gabriella shook her head at the thought that he would assume Troy would take her to the dance. "Where did you get that idea?"
"It's be going around school. Anyways I'm sor—"
"No Drew, Troy didn't ask me. He's actually planning to ask Mary"
"Oh"
"I was gonna say that I'm not planning to go to the dance. It's too far for me to travel in the night and I already made plans to attend my previous school's dance"
"Oh" Drew repeated with a hint of disappointment. He was truly looking forward to spend the night with her.
"I'm sorry Drew"
"No don't apologize, it's okay" he smiled at the brunette seated across from him. "Speaking of Troy, have you spoken to him recently?"
"Nah"
"Well now you will, here he comes" He gathered his books and shoved them into his bag carelessly and quickly left the table before Troy approached them with a worried and desperate face.
"Hi" Troy sat in the now vacant seat and looked ahead at his best friend, who was avoiding eye contact
"Hi" she mumbled
"Brie, you have to believe me I never meant for you to get hurt. I told Chad and Zeke that you weren't involve and they weren't aiming for you. They said they wanted me to embarrass myself in front of Mary but things didn't go as they hoped and … Gabriella I'm really sorry!"
"I know, they told me ... everyday the past week"
"Does that mean you forgive me?"
"Maybe"
"Pleeeeaaasseee Brie!"
"Sssshhhhh" the librarian hissed from behind the bookshelf. The two teens sat up straight in shock as they whipped around to look at the elder librarian who was threatening them with her wide strained eyes.
"Brie, I never-"
"Ssshhh" Gabriella grabbed his arm and pulled him closer to wrap her hand around his lips. The librarian peaked over the bookshelf again and glared at the teens before walking away slowly with her hands occupied with a stack of books. "Alright Troy, I forgive you"
The weight on Troy's shoulder was suddenly gone and he could not be happier than at that moment. Gabriella giggled as she watched him relax into the wooden chair with a happy smile on his face.
"How's your wrist?"
"It's good. It doesn't hurt as much"
"Gosh, you don't know how guilty I felt when I saw your wrist wrapped in that bandage the next day."
"It's okay, I'm all good."
"Good. Oh guess what"
"You'll treat me to ice cream?"
"Not exactly, but I finally asked Mary to the dance!"
"Troy, that's great!"
"Yep! So now I get to go to the dance with Mary, and you'll go with Drew"
Gabriella could see the excitement in Troy's eyes that she couldn't bring it to herself to disappoint two boys in one day but she vowed to correct him one day before the night of the dance.
Sorry I'm so behind guys! Tryna catch up with school and write at the same time.
Let me know your thoughts!
-Lea
