Author's Note: Haha! I broke 100 reviews! Thanks to everyone who reviewed Chapter 6!
foreverlily: I'm sorry if my updates aren't as fast as you would like them to be. But the chapters are getting (somewhat) longer and more complicated, so they take longer to write. In addition, I'm taking three advanced courses this year, so you can imagine the piles of homework I get.
bayxbay: No, it wouldn't be too out of character to Gabriella to be asked out. But I'm going to hold off on that for a bit...I want to focus on other things first. ;-)
And thanks especially to MadiWillow, your average tEEn, and my (formerly) anonymous reviewer, I Love Zac Efron, for reviewing every chapter without fail, and (on ILZE's part) reminding me everyday in French class to update! You guys are the best!
---
Title: Because I Loved Him
Summary: A new girl comes to East High, and vows to get a certain basketball captain. When she finally attracts his attention, he leaves Gabriella to be with her. But will he realize who his true soulmate is?
---
Chapter 7
Taylor was at the head of the group, madly dashing towards the library. They burst in the double doors, causing a loud crash! as the doors banged into the walls behind them. Students looked up from their work, and Mrs. Folstaff marched over from her desk.
"Taylor McKessie! What is going on here?"
"Oh, sorry Mrs. Folstaff. See, my friends here, we have, uh...a...uh..." Taylor stammered.
"What she means is that we have a report that was just assigned today, and we want to get a head start," Sharpay butted in, putting her twelve years of theater experience to use. Taylor shot the blonde a look of gratitude.
Meanwhile, in the back, Kelsi had whispered to Zeke, "Zeke, please, please, please tell me that you have something baked in there!" she begged, pointing to Zeke's lunchbox. Her stomach rumbled, as she had abandoned her lunch in favor of the gang's search for Gabriella. He opened it and started rummaging, digging between Ziploc bags and napkins.
"No...no...no...hey! I didn't know Mom packed me a sandwich!" he muttered.
"What kind is it?"
"Um...liverwurst." Kelsi made a face.
"Err...no thanks. Anything else?" she asked.
"I've got...water."
"Zeke!" Kelsi whisper-shouted.
"What's the report on?" Mrs. Folstaff inquired.
Sharpay paled. She hadn't thought to make up a research topic. Behind her, Ryan slapped his forehead, while Jason and Chad shook their heads.
"Crème brulee! (A/N: I have no idea how to spell that)" Zeke shouted triumphantly. He held up a small container, finally successful in his Lunchbox Search. The gang slowly turned to look back at him, disbelief etched on their faces.
"There's no way Folstaff is going to believe that!" Chad hissed.
But he was wrong. Up front, Mrs. Folstaff's face had taken on a dreamy look. "Ah, yes, crème brulee. My absolute favorite dessert...so creamy and fluffy, yet filling and satisfying. Yes..."
"Uh, Mrs. Folstaff?" Taylor waved her hand in front of the librarian's face. But the woman was daydreaming about desserts, and waved her hand, allowing the group to pass. They rushed by, whispering "Thanks" as they went.
---
They found Gabriella at one of the back tables. A sheet of paper was in front of her, and a pencil beside it. But the sheet was blank, and wet with tears. "What did I do to deserve this?" they heard her ask over and over. Her head was bowed, and the tears were running down her nose and onto the paper.
The boys held back, while Taylor, Sharpay, and Kelsi went over to comfort her. Taylor took the seat next to Gabriella, and rubbed her friend's back, saying, "Nothing, Gabriella, you didn't do anything." Sharpay and Kelsi went to the other side and sat, taking Gabriella's hands within their own.
Startled, Gabriella looked up, and saw the faces of her friends. She saw Taylor, tears brimming in her brown eyes. She saw Sharpay, with a genuine look of concern on her face, and Kelsi, looking unusually mad. Behind them she saw the boys, Chad, Zeke, Jason, and Ryan, looking somewhat uncomfortable in the library, but sad for her.
Gabriella was touched. She hadn't expected her friends to be so loyal, especially the boys. It wasn't that she didn't trust them, but she had expected those on Troy's team to stand by him, instead of her. She straightened up, and drew her sleeved arm across her eyes. "What are you guys doing here?" she asked, her voice slightly husky.
"We came running after you left the cafeteria," Chad started.
"Yeah, we wanted to make sure that you were okay." This came from Ryan.
Gabriella smiled slightly. "I'm sorry...I just didn't want you to see me completely break down..." she trailed off.
Tightening her hold on her friend's hand, Sharpay spoke up. "Gabriella, you're allowed to cry, you know." Gabriella nodded, tears still streaming down her face.
"Can we ask you what happened?" Kelsi asked softly.
---
Troy was staring into space.
Well, to be more specific, he was staring down the hallway that had swallowed up his former girlfriend, and then his friends.
What had he done?
He had never felt so alone. Not when the team shunned him for trying out for the musical, and not when Gabriella refused to talk to him because of something he had said (although that incident is a close second).
But what made it worse was that when the team turned their backs on him, Gabriella was there to comfort and reassure him. And when Gabriella wasn't talking to him, he had his friends by his side.
But now he had no one. Well, no one except Bianca.
However, Bianca wasn't exactly the perfect companion. She was extremely self-centered, checking her makeup and her hair every five minutes, and then puckering her lips everytime he looked at her. After their respective practices, she would complain about the tremendous amount of flipping, jumping, and shouting she had to do, as if he didn't have his own strenuous practice.
But he had to admit, she was a pretty good kisser.
---
Bianca couldn't get her boyfriend's attention. He was still staring off into the hallway that his friends had taken, in pursuit of Gabriella. Bianca's insides boiled as she thought about that girl. She still hated her for having brains and loyal friends.
To be honest, she hated Troy's friends. She thought they were weird and strange, for willingly coming together when they were so clearly from different groups. Taylor was obviously another brain, Kelsi, Sharpay, and Ryan were from the drama club, and Chad, Zeke, and Jason were jocks, the most popular members of the basketball team. Aside from Troy, of course.
And she hated how they never talked to her, never gave her a moment's attention. She was Bianca Sheppard, the cheerleader, the new girlfriend of the popular Troy Bolton. Shouldn't she get the most attention, instead of the geeky Gabriella?
Bianca was uneasy about her. She saw the way that Troy stared at Gabriella after she fled the cafeteria, with hurt and sadness in his eyes. He had never looked at her with such conflicting emotion before. Well, not that she wanted him to, but she still wanted him to look at her! Mostly, when they were together, he was staring into space, at other people, at the floor. Anywhere but at her!
Bianca was worried that Troy was still in love with Gabriella. In addition, she was bored now. She had gotten the boy, but now she needed another scheme to keep from dying of total boredom.
After a few minutes of thinking, she hatched the perfect plan: permanently destroy whatever was left of Troy and Gabriella's relationship.
---
"You're kidding!" Sharpay gasped.
"No way!" Ryan exclaimed.
"Dude," was the only response from Jason and Zeke.
"He broke up with you for that witch? What does he see in her?" Chad asked in disbelief.
"Yeah, he--wait. You know how she really is?" Gabriella said.
"Yep. After you let, we started fighting with Troy. And then she butted in, calling you a 'sad wannabe,' " Kelsi filled in.
"Why does she hate me so much?" Gabriella whimpered sadly.
"Probably because you're smart, popular, and you had the most popular guy in school for your boyfriend," Chad replied. Taylor smacked him on the back of his head. "Ow! That hurt!" he complained, massaging his head.
"You're not helping!" she hissed.
"Notice the word, 'had'," Gabriella said quietly.
Taylor turned away from Chad to look at her friend. "Gabriella, I just have one question: Why did you let him go so..." Taylor struggled for the right word, "willingly?"
"Yeah, that's what I wanna know!" Ryan chimed in. A chorus of "Me too" joined also.
"I guess because I wanted him to be happy. I saw that he enjoyed Bianca's company much more than he did mine. After all, she's the typical image of a cheerleader. She's blonde, skinny, leggy, tall, and has green eyes."
"Yeah, but she has the attitude to match," muttered Ryan.
Gabriella smiled slightly. "True. But how can I ever compete with that? I'm plain. I'm not flashy or anything. All I have is brown hair and brown eyes."
"But you have a big heart. You have the brains. You're nice to everyone, no matter what they did to you in the past," Taylor said gently.
"You still didn't tell us why you let Troy go..." reminded Jason.
Gabriella sighed. She looked down at the table, weaving her hands together. She took a deep breath, before looking back up to stare at her friends.
"Because I loved him."
---
Author's Note: Ah ha! Now you see where the title comes in!
I realized that there was another question that a lot of people have been asking me:
Is this story a Troy/Gabriella?
As the author, I can't say that. It would give too much away. If it helps, I hate Bianca as much as you do. But, if you do a little research, you just may find out what my favorite High School Musical pairings are...
My next update probably won't be until next weekend, so I've decided to give you a little preview:
Gabriella stepped out of the science room, having just finished shooting a film of one of their experiments for a school project. Little did she know that Bianca was waiting right outside the room. The cheerleader stepped out to block Gabriella's path, mirroring her movements when the brunette tried to step past her.
"May I help you?" Gabriella asked, loading venom into her voice.
Bianca narrowed her eyes, then raised a perfectly manicured finger to point at Gabriella. "Listen, you little geek. There's only one girl here who's going to stay in Troy's heart. And. It. Ain't. Gonna. Be. You," she said, saying the last six words as if they were separate sentences.
"I don't know how you shoved yourself onto Troy, but I know him well enough to be able to say this: he hates girls like you!" Gabriella shot back.
"Please. Have you seen how he's been with me? Who's the person he's always talking to nowadays? Who's the girl that he kisses everyday, in front of the whole school? You know, it's a shame that you never got to experience them. They're actually very nice. Very hard, very passionate, and always involving the tongue..." Bianca trailed off, watching Gabriella's reaction carefully.
Sorry, but that's all that I can give you. Hopefully it'll hold you over until my next update. See you then!
