Chapter 10: Monday Blues.
For the rest of the weekend, Gabriella had kept to herself. She hadn't talked to her friends, Ben, or even Jasmine and her mom. She lay on her bed for hours just thinking, and trying to come up with some sort of solution.
She had yelled at Troy, which was something she didn't think she was capable of doing, to anyone for that matter. But she had done it anyways, and hadn't spoken to him since. For the rest of the night at the Evan's on Saturday night, they seemed to have stayed separate from each other. Their friends obviously knew something was going on.
During free period on Monday morning, Taylor and Gabriella were sitting in the library doing some studying. They were the only two of the group, since Sharpay and Ryan had some theatre set thing to do, and Kelsi was writing music while watching the rest of the guys practice basketball.
Gabriella had barely said a word all day. Taylor kept trying to make conversation, but Gabby just answered simply instead of trying to keep a conversation going. Finally, Taylor decided to just go for it.
"Gabby, are you okay?" she asked gently.
Gabriella shrugged. "I guess not the greatest." There was no point in lying. "It takes a while to cheer yourself up when you lose a good friend and a boyfriend in one day." She added.
Taylor didn't know the full story about what had happened on Saturday, but she and Sharpay had been figuring out little bits of it. So far they had gathered that Troy and Gabriella weren't talking to each other, and that Gabby and her boyfriend were sort of broken up. Nevertheless, Gabriella was definitely feeling the pain of having pretty much lost the two main men in her life.
Taylor couldn't stand it. It was time to do something about this. She had no way of talking to Ben, but she knew exactly where to find Troy.
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
Troy hadn't been able to get that conversation out of his head. He felt horrible. He was getting sick of feeling like that too. It seemed to be going on for days.
He had been either at Chad's house, or in his room for the rest of the weekend. He had avoided his dad, knowing that he would want to talk. He wasn't in the mood for any more talks.
Chad noticed that his friend was being silent again while they sat at lunch, waiting for everyone to join them. "Troy stop thinking about it." He told him.
"I'm not thinking about it." Troy muttered.
"Mhm…" Chad said, unconvinced.
Troy sighed and picked at the crust of his sandwich. "I can't help it." He shrugged.
Chad shook his head, and was about to say something else when the rest of their friends started sitting down.
"Hey guys." Sharpay greeted for all of them. "Where are Taylor and Gabby?" she asked, seeming a little cold today. Troy had only one guess why.
"Good question." Chad told her. Troy didn't even attempt to respond.
"Uh…don't look now," Zeke told them all, sounding a little scared. "But Taylor is coming our way and doesn't look very happy."
Chad, Troy and the rest of the table all turned their heads, and sure enough, there was Taylor, coming towards them with a lunch tray in hand. She stopped at the edge of the table.
"Hey Tay." Chad smiled at his girlfriend hopefully.
She ignored him, slammed her lunch onto the red table, and focused her attention onto Troy.
"Okay listen Bolton." She told him seriously. "I don't know what you did to Gabriella, or what she did to you. All I know is that the two of you aren't talking and that my best friend is outright broken because she lost her boyfriend and friend. In one day." She went on. "So I'm not asking you to apologize or even be nice, but can you please just go and talk to her, because I am sick of it." She finished and stared him down.
Troy didn't take that well. Though he did take particular interest in the part where she had mentioned Gabby losing Ben. "You are aware that Gabriella stormed out on me the other day right?" he matched her glare.
Taylor sighed in frustration. "I don't care!" she told him. "You're a big boy, go and do something about it! One of you has to do something about it!"
"Well your concern is heartwarming, but I think I'll pass." Troy crossed his arms stubbornly. He got the glare of a very angry looking girl. Actually, more than one, since Sharpay seemed to have joined Taylor. "Okay, okay fine!" he got up, knowing he wasn't going to win this. "I'll go find her, happy?"
"Yes." Taylor told him. She watched him walked through the crowd of students, obviously not the happiest after that little confrontation. "God, they're a match made in heaven." She told the silenced lunch table and rolled her eyes. "It's impossible to get them to just talk!"
"Tell me about it." Chad shook his head in disbelief.
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
Gabriella wasn't hungry, so she had stayed in the library for a while, figuring she'd just sit there pretending to be studying until lunch was over. After ten minutes she had gotten completely fed up and had decided to just walk around. The halls were almost completely empty anyways, since everyone was outside or in the cafeteria eating lunch.
She could hear the clicking of her kitten heels hitting the floor. She looked down briefly, watching her steps while she turned the corner. She didn't realize that was a stupid mistake, since a moment later she banged right into someone.
"Sorry." She whipped her head up to see who it was.
"Ow, Gabriella, geez." She watched in horror as Troy covered his face. "You got me in the nose."
"Oh my god Troy I'm so sorry, I wasn't looking where I was going." She winced, she had the best luck didn't she?
"Yeah, I figured." He muttered.
She ignored his bitter sounding comment. "Are you okay?" she asked.
"Yeah I'm fine." He brought his hands away from his nose.
Gabby tried not to look disgusted. "Um, actually I think you better come with me." She grabbed his arm and dragged him to where she knew there was a bathroom.
He halted when he saw where she was leading him. "Uh, no. I don't think so." He told her as if she was crazy.
She turned to him with a look on her face that he didn't know what to think of. "Okay, well I was only trying to help you, but if you'd rather have blood all over you then go ahead." She shrugged and let go of his arm.
"What?" he lifted a hand to his nose and looked at it. His face paled when he saw the blood.
She looked a little shocked at his reaction. "Troy?" she asked, waving a hand in front of his face.
"I think I'm going to be sick." He informed her.
Gabby's eyes widened. "You're kidding me…" she sighed. He shook his head wildly. "Oh my god, come on." She grabbed the hand that wasn't covered in blood and dragged him into the bathroom. "Sit." She pointed to the counter, and he did what she said. "And just don't look in the mirror okay?" She got some paper towel and handed it to him to put on his nose, then she turned on the tap and grabbed his hand which was covered in blood.
Troy was slightly amazed. Two days ago she had been livid with anger and now she was cleaning him up like a little kid. Though he wasn't quite sure where they stood as friends, it was comforting to know that she obviously cared for him enough to do this.
Gabriella gently rubbed the blood off of Troy's hand, careful not to hurt him more. She didn't look up even though she knew he was watching her. She just couldn't bear to meet those blue eyes, since she wouldn't know what to say.
When it was all off, she carefully patted it dry with paper towels. Then she took a few more and dampened them, finally turning back to him. "How is it?" she asked Troy, he still looked pale.
"Not sure." He moved the paper towels he was holding on his nose a bit. "I think it's done." He brought them away. He saw her face change. "What?"
"Uh… let me just…" she took the dampened bunch of towels in her hand and lifted them to his face. She wiped away the blood that had smeared, biting her lip in concentration and trying hard not to catch his eyes.
She let out the tiniest little laugh. "I can't believe you're scared of blood." She said more to herself then him. She'd never known that before. He could watch the goriest movies and not even flinch, while she'd be burying her face into a pillow. She accidentally caught his eye, which she knew instantly was a mistake. She concentrated back on cleaning him up.
His hair had been getting long and was in his face. Without thinking, she lifted her other hand and pushed it away, out of his eyes, which she refused to look into again.
"There." She breathed out. She put the dirty bunch of paper towels down on the counter beside him, and suddenly realized how close together they were. She was standing between his legs, which were hanging from the edge of the counter, his shoes just brushing up against her shins.
There was silence, where all that they could hear was each other's breathing. Then, when Troy knew he couldn't stand it anymore, he slipped a hand behind her neck and pulled her in the rest of the way, connecting their lips.
Gabriella's hand fell to his knee. She let the kiss happen for a moment, but then pulled away in shock. She caught his eyes this time, his shocked face must have matched hers.
She slowly backed away, trying desperately to think of something to say. "Um…I'll….see you in rehearsal." Was all she could come up with. She turned and practically ran out of the bathroom. Troy didn't follow her, too shocked at what had just happened. Had he really just kissed her? He looked down at his jeans and saw a droplet of blood on the knee. Yep, it was all true.