AN: The reviews were amazing, thank you so much to everyone who reviewed, and especially to those who wrote those extra long reviews! You know who you are! ;] I just wanted to clear up a few things for those of you who were wondering.
First of all, yes, Gabriella's father killed her brother.
Second of all, Troy's mother killed herself when Troy was fourteen, his friends know that his mother it dead, but they don't know the details.
Enjoy!
For so long, she had searched for something to thaw her out completely. She was tired of constantly being cold. It seemed like the chilly goose bumps never left her soft bronze arms. But apparently she hadn't been looking in the right places, for her body was still plagued with the peril icy feeling.
She had always kept her self on lockdown, never allowing want, need, or love into her cold system. But now, after seeing the sight before her, a new feeling erupted through her.
Jealousy.
It was a very pure feeling, and it was easy to recognize. She hadn't felt that feeling for three years, three fucking years. Gabriella knew the moment she laid her eyes on the couple leaned up against the lockers that the feeling overtaking her brain was jealousy. She had read the definition multiple times.
jeal⋅ous⋅y [jel-uh-s-ee] 1. Feeling resentment against someone because of that person's rivalry, success, or advantages example: He was jealous of his rich brother. 2. Wanting to be in the place of another.
Seeing the solid warm figure pressed up against the other made her want to puke, scream, and run. The strength that she had felt earlier in the day vanished as her eyes took in the scarring image before her. Troy's hands ran down Caroline Petroffs's smooth hips, as he caressed her angel like skin. Instead of sucking at her neck, which is always what he seemed to do to Gabriella, he was pulling and tugging at the blonde's lower lip, while his tongue plunged into the warm confines of Caroline's greedy mouth. The worst part was, he didn't even notice her standing there, his blue eyes never looked up. Tears gathered at the rim of her eyes and flooded down her cheeks. Her body had become instantly numb as she remembered his statement from the night before.
"I want you, Gabriella." \
Jealousy can do horrible things to people's minds. It twists there thoughts and often makes them think to deeply about things that really mean nothing. "Lying bastard." She growled inside her head. Her mascara had run down her cheeks, and the foul taste of stomach acid burned the back of her mouth.
She had let the words of Troy Bolton into her head, she had believed that he wanted her, and she had thought she needed him. How foolish could she be? She had let him get to her, like he got to every other girl. She had to be stronger, stronger than everyone else, because she was not wanted, and she never would be wanted. She had to stay away from her weaknesses, including Troy Bolton.
Pulling her books against her chest, she quickly traveled back down the hall she had just come down. Gabriella was actually kind of glad that he had not seen her. She was almost halfway down the hall when she heard her name being called from behind her. "Hey Gabs! Wait up!" She turned her head at the sound of the breathless female voice.
"Hey Tay!" she called seeing the dark skinned girl pattering quickly down the hall.
"Hey—Oh my gosh, Gabs. What's wrong?!" Taylor asked frantically as she rubbed Gabriella's shoulders. Gabriella had forgotten about her smeared make up.
She paused, not sure what to say. "Oh," she gasped, forcing a giggle through her mouth to go along with her fake act "I hit my head really hard in the bathroom, " she giggled again smiling at her friend "I'm such a wuss that I started crying." She threw a big fake smile at Taylor's amused face.
"That sounds like you Gabs." Her friend said laughing.
They both walked down the hall in silence before Taylor spoke up. "Oh Gabs you won't ever guess what I saw, when I was coming down the hall back by the cafeteria I saw Troy, he was making out with Caroline, don't you think they should just get together? I mean, they would be so cute."
She gagged, and felt unyielding jealousy soar through her veins. "No," Gabriella thought with confidence, "you are not jealous of that bitch, you do not want, or need Troy Bolton." She told herself stubbornly, before turning back to her best friend with a fake smile stretched across her face.
"Yeah, you are so right! They would be so adorable!" she quickly thought of a way to change the subject before Taylor could say anything more.
"So, do you think she will beat me out for cheer captain this year?" She looked at her friend quizzically and forced a knowing smile onto her paled face.
"I don't know Gabs, it's pretty close, you both have an even shot." Taylor said sighing, offering Gabriella a hopeful smile.
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"Gross" he thought, as the girl's overly wet lips attacked his hungry mouth. He couldn't help but imagine how different it might feel kissing another girl, like Gabriella for instance. But he knew deep down that Gabriella would never give him anything. So when a release of pain was offered to him, he took it, no matter what.
She felt her cold hands clasp around his neck, and he felt shivers vibrate through his body.
It was hard to get pleasure from someone so cold, when you are already cold yourself. Her bottom lip pressed against his as her tongue licked his lower lip, before shoving into his mouth without permission. He knew he would get in trouble later for skipping Art, but he didn't really care, he needed to be numbed.
The need to numb his pain swelled over him, but nothing was happening, the pain was still present. Even as her lips sucked his skin raw, he felt the pain develop deeply within him. He felt so horrible, almost dirty, why was he feeling like this? He had never felt this way…but then again…this was the first girl he had kissed since he danced with Gabriella.
The pain became unbearable and he jerked away, shoving a fake grin onto his pained face. "Baby…" He said sucking at her neck, so he didn't have to feel her slobbery lips on his. He heard her moan bounce around the hall as he let his cold hands trail down her sides and arms. She was so damn cold. It was almost haunting.
"Troy…" she moaned his name across the hall as he continued his pleasurable actions. He pulled back and rested his hands above her shoulders. She was so cold, he was frozen, and he was going to stop breathing if he didn't get away from the artic winds. His breath got stuck in his throat and he couldn't proceed in kissing the ice cube he had pinned against the lockers.
"Hey I got to go, bye!" he dismissed her with a flick of his hand as he pushed off the lockers.
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The second he was out of Caroline's line of sight, Troy ran. He tried as hard as he could to pump air into his breathing machine, but it really wasn't working. Ice started to take over his body. He pushed through the doors of the now-empty East High and slowed down to a jog. He became rigid with cold and he collapsed on the bench out front.
He bent over with his elbows on his knees and groaned as he rested his head in his hands. He felt heat pulse back into him, but not enough to melt the thick ice surrounding his body.
Then the feeling of guilt racked his body as he remembered the expression on Caroline's face when he had just used her than left her in the hall. It wasn't the same kind of guilt that he had felt for the past three years though, that level of guilt was almost unbearable. It was the guilt that had embedded itself in his body the night his mother committed suicide while he had been asleep in the same house, on the same floor, just one door down. It was his fault and he knew it. He had failed his mother.
That guilt never left him, ever. But for the first time in three years it actually had left him, when he pressed his chilled lips against Gabriella's flaming shoulder, all his body felt was the wanton-need of her, and his whole body filled with sexual tension.
He looked up from the bench feeling slightly better, when his eyes landed on the flowing dark brown curls that were tossing back and forth in the wind. She was standing next to her best friend who was a quirky African-American named Taylor. What were they still doing here, and more importantly, had Gabriella seen him and Caroline in the hallway?
He jumped from the bench and ran towards them, as they walked slowly into the parking lot. "Hey Brie, hey Tay!" He said slowing down once he was walking alongside Gabriella. He felt the warmth of her body radiating towards him.
"Hey Troy!" Taylor said cheerfully, but the intriguing girl beside him remained quiet and looked the other way so he couldn't see her beautiful features. He narrowed his eyes on the back of her head, and studied the gorgeous waves of hair.
"Are y'all going to Zeke's movie night on Saturday?" he said trying to create conversation.
Taylor was the first to reply, "Yeah, It sounds like fun! Aren't we supposed to be watching like Blood Diamond or the Grudge II?"
Troy nodded at her peacefully, as he looked at the quiet girl beside him. They were approaching her jeep and the cold air whisked around them, whipping her luscious body heat over his ice covered figure. "What about you Gabs?" Troy asked, as they had now approached her car.
He watched her curvy sweat shirt clad figure open the passenger side door and shove her books into the seat. "Save it for someone who cares, Bolton." She he said briskly. She ran around to the other side of her car and he heard her door open and slam shut.
"Gabriella?" He asked as he was left in a cloud of cold when her car burst through the parking lot and zoomed onto the street.
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"How dare he even try to talk to me, or whatever he was trying to do." She said aloud as she sped at a dangerous speed down the highway. She knocked the heat up another few degrees as she stopped at the traffic light.
She had cringed the moment he walked up next to them. She didn't even have to look at him to know it was him from the extreme body heat pouring off his muscles.
It confused her though, because usually, he would still be in the school all over his current make out obsession. It was odd for him to only kiss a girl for a few minutes then leave them. Maybe that meant he really liked her a lot. "That was probably it, he loved her, and that was just a simple good bye kiss!" she thought, stomping on the gas, letting out her anger.
When Gabriella was jealous her mind went into over drive, like it was mentioned earlier, when people get jealous they think about things too much; to deeply.
Gabriella pulled up to another red light as she rested her head frustratingly on the wheel and let out a harsh groan. He was so hot, literally. He was like a burning flame, and she was like the log, and she was in his fire. And now, she was struggling to pull herself out. He was just a user. A simple boy who played girls like a guitar.
The light still hadn't change and causing Gabriella to curse under her breath.
Still red.
She stared at the glowing electrical light and it reminded her of the night she had sat in Troy's car with his hand running up and down her thigh, and his lips brushing across her freezing skin. The thought almost made warmth rupture through her.
She was pulled out of her thoughts by a loud "honk!" beside her. She turned her head gracefully to the side as her curls fell over her shoulders. Sitting in the car next to her's, was a smirking Troy Bolton. The light turned green and he smirked and sped off in front of her with a quick wave.
"Oh, it's on boy." She muttered slamming her foot against the gas, causing her books to slide from the seat and onto the floor, as she raced to catch up with his old blue truck.
AN: Any thoughts? Good? Bad? Confused? Please tell me.
