People were staring at these two from afar, most of them were shocked that they kissed. They didn't have a clue what was going on with this school; things had changed so much since Gabriella started coming to this school. Troy has been acting differently and a lot of girls are getting annoyed because he was paying so much attention to a girl he was meant to hate. The music in the background was still blasting and the students were dancing and sitting in the corner. In the middle of the dance floor, you had Gabriella and Troy staring at each other.
"What is it that you're keeping from me Troy?" Gabriella asked over the music.
Troy looked to the ground, he had to tell her and if he didn't then she'd probably hate his guts even more then she has. Just when he was beginning to fall for her, things had to turn like this. He knew he shouldn't have done what his dad told him to, but if it wasn't for his dad then he'd never talk to Gabriella.
Gabriella lifted his chin up with her finger to make him look at her. She grabbed his arm and took him out to the front of the school so she could hear him. "Talk to me…" She said to him softly.
Troy looked at her and took a deep breath; "Well…" he began to say. He looked at her in the face and noticed she was waiting anxiously for him to say something. "Your dad doesn't like me and I don't want him to get all protective because of this…" he lied, he just couldn't tell her the truth. "It's probably better off if we stay friends…" He said to her then walked back inside the school.
Gabriella stood there shocked. She didn't know that was the reason why he didn't want her to fall for him. It's probably better anyways because that would mean she didn't have to break his heart. Gabriella headed back into the school and went to take a seat next to Sharpay and folded her arms.
"What's wrong girl?" Sharpay asked.
She shook her head, "It's nothing."
Sharpay looked at her and followed her eyes to see where she was looking and saw it was Troy. Sharpay still didn't know what was going on between them, but she looked back at Gabriella and sighed. "Maybe its better that you guys go back to the way you hated each other."
Gabriella shrugged then looked around the dance floor.
Troy was talking to a few guys from the team and looked over to where Gabriella was. This was wrong, he led her on and told her that she couldn't fall for him. He sighed, "Excuse me guys." He said to them and then walked over to Gabriella. "Hey." He said.
She didn't glance up at him and gave him a small wave.
Sharpay looked at the two then took Zeke's hand, "let's go somewhere else." She said then walked away from them two.
"I'm sorry about this." Troy said to her. He sat down at the chair next to her.
Gabriella shrugged, "I don't get it…"She said to him.
Troy turned his head towards her, "Don't get what?" He asked. He shook his head, "I do like that we started talking instead of fighting. I don't know why I stopped you earlier, or why I tried walking away." He said to her.
She sighed, "It's just…"
"Just what?"
"I think I really like you" Gabriella said softly.
"You think? Well I know I like you…a lot"
"Well what does this mean then?" She asked him.
"Wait there's something I have to tell you." Troy knew this was the time to tell her the truth; he couldn't keep it from her. If she didn't want to speak to him again after this then he'd understand.
Gabriella stopped talking and looked directly at him, "what is it?"
Troy took a deep breath, "Truthfully…" he began to say, "I didn't want to talk to you or like you from the beginning…" Troy said.
"What? I don't get it…" Gabriella said.
Troy shook his head, "I hated your guts and never wanted anything to do with you at the beginning, and the game against your brother was coming up this week and my dad wanted me to get you to fall for me and then break your heart so you'd go crying back to your dad about it and then it'll effect your brother because he'd want to kick my ass and all…" he told her straight out, "and I was suppose to break your heart tonight after I get you to kiss me…" he told her the truth and all of it, "But listen." He said.
When Gabriella heard this, she was shocked. Her jaw dropped open and it felt like someone just punched her in the stomach when she heard this, she couldn't believe he was acting to like her all along. Though she wasn't innocent herself since she was doing the same thing but she thought he really did like her. "No…" Gabriella shook her head and wanted to walk away in disbelief.
"Gabriella wait, listen." He grabbed her hand. "I didn't want to break your heart tonight because I did actually fall for you…I misjudged you from the beginning because I thought you were a stuck up girl like your family, but you're nothing like them…" He said, "I like you because you're different from your family and I actually did fall for you…"
"So you're saying that none of this night was a mistake?"
"No, I swear." He said. "I understand if you don't want to talk to me."
"I gotta go." Gabriella shook her head and walked away. She couldn't tell Troy her side of the story, it would make things worse. She was already hurt from what he had told her today. She made him release her arm then walked off to the front of the school and called her brother to come get her.
Troy let her go; he didn't want to go after her because it would only make things worse.
--
Gabriella cried to her room and lay in her bed. She heard a knock on her door and she lifted her face, "Go away." She said then laid her head back on her pillow.
"It's dad."
"I don't want to talk tonight, just please go away." She said. The footsteps began to disappear and Gabriella sat up straight in her bed, "I can't believe this…"She said once again.
--
The next couple of days, Gabriella and Troy didn't talk at all. Gabriella avoided him when she saw him walking down the hallway. Troy would look for her sometimes, but he'd never see her. When they were in class, Gabriella would make an excuse to leave the class. Gabriella knew avoiding Troy was wrong because she did the same thing but she was too embarrassed to tell him. It was the night of the basketball game, and Gabriella knew she had to tell Troy the truth before he went out there and wondered why she was mad.
Gabriella was at the school before most people had arrived, she knew that Troy would be in the gym warming up. She walked in and saw everyone was warming up and practicing. Gabriella stood in the corner and waited for him to look over, once Troy did look over he stood there confused. Gabriella motioned him to come over and he did so.
"What are you doing here?" Troy asked her.
Gabriella looked at him then passed him, "I'm here for your game, what else?" She asked.
Troy looked at her then at the team. "Well, if you're here to distract me or something then you completed that because I can't get you out of my mind Gabriella…"
Gabriella placed her finger on his mouth to make him stop talking, "I have to tell you something…" Gabriella told him.
"What is it?" Troy asked her.
"I haven't been completely honest with you myself." Gabriella said.
Troy stood there, waiting for her to continue.
"My dad…" Gabriella began, "He wanted me to make you fall for me and get you close to me so when it was your game night I'd have to break up with you and get you distracted for your game and make you lose so my brother would get scouted on…" Gabriella told him, "I didn't think you'd actually fall for me or me actually fall for you." She sighed, "I'm sorry I didn't tell you the night you told me…" She said, "It's just the things you do for family can really do some damage."
Troy was shocked to hear this himself; he didn't think Gabriella would have the guts to do something like this, "Are you serious…" Troy said in disbelief, "All this time you made me feel like the biggest ass in the world. I should've' known you were up to something, it's just how your family is. I knew you guys were good for nothing. I can't believe I trusted you." Troy said. "Whatever, I'm out." He walked back to his team.
Gabriella looked at Troy, "Troy, don't just walk away like this."
He gave her the peace sign from behind and continued walking. Gabriella shook her head and walked out of the gym.
Half an hour later, the gym was beginning to fill with fans from both school there were some red and white color and blue and white colors filling the room. The band started to come in and play some music. This was like a college game day for rivals…the biggest game of their season. There were some basketball recruiters sitting on the benches and talking amongst each other. Gabriella sat behind the row of cheerleaders and looked out at the crowd; she could see her parents on the other side of the gym where her brother's school was sitting at. Gabriella looked around and saw Troy's mom and little sister sitting a few rows behind her. She ducked her head and looked back at the crowd. The crowd went roaring when they saw the wildcats come out and began to do some warm up shots, after the wildcat band played their fight song, the Knights came out and the fans began roaring. Gabriella watched her brother come out last and made some shots.
Troy looked out to the crowd and waved at his mom then his eye followed down and saw Gabriella. He shook his head then walked over to the refs. Matt walked over to the refs as well and had to shake hands with Troy.
"Ready to lose Bolton?"
"Over my dead body." Troy smirked then shook hands with the ref and walked back to his team.
Coach walked over to Troy, "Alright Troy, play your best game tonight college scouts will be here for you" he said, "You see over there?" He pointed at one of the guys, "That's the duke coach so play well for him."
Troy looked over at the bench where he was sitting and saw the UCLA coach and Texas Coach a few rows behind him. He sighed then went to his team.
The soon finally began when the opening tip-off started. The Knights got the ball and Matt began handling the ball. The game at first started off very slow as it was still 0-0 two minutes into the game. Matt was the first one to make a 3 point shot which gave the Knights a 3-0 lead, after that Troy came back with a jump shot making it a 3-2 game. Matt and Troy were the ones making the most shots of the team. By the end of first quarter the score was Knights lead 18-16.
Troy took the ball up, being defended by Matt. Troy tried to drive pass him but was knocked in the head by Matt's elbow. Troy was mad and he got up and tried charging at Matt.
"Calm the hell down boy." Matt said.
Troy smirked, "You better watch your elbows."
The ref called a technical on Troy and he was benched for a few minutes.
Soon it was halftime and the score was tied 32-32. Troy was only held to 10 points when he usually had 21 points before half time, but he still led the scoring. Matt had 20 points. The game resumed and the game was mostly in Knights' favor. Troy was having an off game, constantly he'd look over at Gabriella who was looking back at him. He shook his head and tried putting his head in the game. This Gabriella thing was distracting him, he knew it.
Gabriella looked at the score then back at him, she knew she was the reason why the wildcats were losing, and she had to tell Troy before the game.
The game was over with the Knights winning 63-51. The Knights' went crazy all of the fans ran onto the court.
Gabriella looked at the final score then looked at Troy who was walking pass her. "Troy." Gabriella spoke softly.
Troy heard her and turned around and shook his head, "Congrats, you completed both of your missions; making us lose and making me fall for you…hard." He said then walked off.
Gabriella watched him walk off then looked to the ground, she couldn't believe this…she felt so bad. Gabriella began walking out when she bumped into the Texas coach. "I'm so sorry."
He looked at Gabriella, "Oh its okay." He said, smiling. "Good game eh?"
Gabriella nodded, "yeah it was."
"Matthew Montez was on fire. I'm really hoping he's going to look forward to coming to Texas"
She laughed, "Yeah my brother can make those shots."
"Oh you're the other Montez?"
Gabriella nodded.
"Well your family is really talented." Gabriella heard him say.
"Thanks." She said to him. "Look, Troy Bolton is an amazing player as well…he really wants to go to Texas so you should consider looking at him more often."
"Troy Bolton? His father said he wanted to go to Duke so I came just to look at Matt. And what do you know about Troy? I thought your families had a feud going on."
Gabriella shook her head, "No his dad wants him to go to Duke, but he wants to go to Texas…and me and him…well it's complicated."
"Well I'll look more into that." He said, "We'll go to his next few games and if we like him then he has a full ride scholarship."
"Thank you Mr.…"
"Coach Barnes."
She nodded. "Bye." She walked off and ran into her brother. "Matt, good game."
"Thanks, and thank you for distracting Troy. Now Texas might be looking at me more."
Gabriella looked to the ground then back at him, "Maybe…" She said then walked off towards her dad's car.
Troy was heading to his car when he saw Gabriella walking. He didn't say anything and got into his car. He started it and drove up to her. "Get in."
Gabriella was startled but got into his car, "I'm sorry again…"
"I just wanted to tell you that we should go back to hating each other. I like the sound of that." He said.
Gabriella bit her lip and sighed, "If that's what you want, but for the record, you're not the only one who fell in love." She said then walked out of his car.
Troy watched her walk away and laid his head back against the seat.
REVIEW PLEASE!
PREVIEW FOR NEXT CHAPTER:
"I can't stop thinking about you…"
Gabriella looked up at the tone of his voice. She opened her mouth to say something but instead a pair of lips crushed her lips.
Matt stood in the back as he saw this coming, "get off of her." He went forward and charged at Troy.
