Chapter 10

"Dang Chad! Where are you?" Troy growled in frustration as he paced around his bedroom, cell phone to ear. He had dropped Gabriella off at home a little less than an hour ago and was still fuming over the huge argument they'd had while driving away from the restaurant.

Troy knew that he had acted like an insensitive ass, even going so far as to try and make Brie feel semi-guilty about the brief encounter with Angelina. In his heart he knew he should have listened to her point of view on why seeing him being so "personal" with another girl had made her uncomfortable. Instead, like an idiot, he'd grown macho and defensive and ended up calling her childish and insecure. By the time they pulled up outside the Montez house, Gabriella was fit to be tied, furiously slamming the car door in his face without so much as a good-night and storming into the house. The worst part was that Troy didn't even know what made him say such things to her given that she was probably one of the least childish or insecure people he knew, guy or girl. Now they weren't speaking and he was angry at himself, the situation, and the fact that he couldn't reach his best friend on the phone to rant about it.

As he sat at the foot of his bed feeling lost about what to do next, Troy's thoughts began to wander back in time to when he'd first met the only other girl that had ever affected him like Gabriella had at first sight…Angelina DeLeon...

It was during sophomore year, shortly after Chad had gotten hooked on her younger sister Marissa, that Angelina became a major "look but don't touch" fascination for Troy. Of course she had already achieved teen icon status among her peers by the time he, Chad, Zeke, Taylor, and Sharpay had come to East High as freshmen, but it wasn't until the following year that he had fallen completely under her spell.

It had happened one afternoon three weeks into the new school year, when he and Chad were talking to a group of Marissa and her friends. Angelina had rushed up in the middle of their conversation to relay a message to her sister regarding a family obligation after school, accidentally bumping Troy into the lockers in her haste. After passing the word along to Marissa, she'd turned in his direction, smiled and said "sorry I ran into you" before dashing off to meet up with her own friends just down the hall. From that point forward Troy had been hooked. Whenever he would see her on campus he would blush and try to look away but, after a while, Angelina took notice of his shy admiration and began paying him little doses of attention here and there.

Because Troy's father was the basketball coach, he was afforded a certain privilege by association standing when it came to the members of the varsity basketball team even though a lower classman. Dalton Avery was the captain at that time and Angelina's steady. He'd taken Troy under his wings as a fellow ballplayer and to earn "points" with Coach Bolton to some degree, so there were plenty of times with Angelina in tow that Troy had the chance to merely be in her presence. However, it wasn't until mid-October, when he actually got a chance to get closer to her due to a change in her class schedule.

Most East High seniors were allowed one "easy" class which more or less involved them acting as aides to the teacher in a particular class which earned them double credits toward graduation versus the regular elected class options. To Troy's delight and dismay it was his 3rd period history class that Angelina had chosen as her "easy" and so once a day until the end of the school year, he could sit in the back of the class and moon over her as she went about helping the teacher with various projects and assisting students where needed.

Angelina always found a way to innocently flirt with Troy, especially since she could see the effect she had on him, but she never took it further than that, not that Troy would have known what to do if she had. He was content enough to just be around her when he could and take whatever pleasure he found from those times when she made an effort to show him any attention. When Chad had finally broken things off with Marissa right before the end of the school year, Troy had panicked thinking it would change Angelina's attitude toward him, but luckily it did not. In fact, she didn't seem to care one way or the other.

During the last day of classes, a few days shy of graduation and the jumpstart to summer vacation, Troy had found himself alone with Angelina after everyone else had headed out to lunch. She was packing up some things in a box when Troy had walked up to the desk and, to his surprise, thanked her for being around to help out. Smiling, Angelina said nothing as she came around to where he stood and, before Troy knew what was happening, gave him his first real grown-up kiss. It only lasted for a few seconds but to him it lasted a lifetime and beyond. He remembered Angelina smiling at him, knowing perfectly well what she'd done and not sorry for it one bit. Then she picked up her things and walked to the door. Just before leaving she turned to a stunned and speechless Troy and said, "You are going to seriously break some hearts one day Bolton. I only hope I'm around and have the pleasure of seeing it." And then she was gone. Two days later she walked across the stage graduating with honors and the following week she was off to Europe.

Snapping out of his trip down memory lane Troy ran his hands through his hair and sighed. He'd all but forgotten about his "Angelina days" and in truth hadn't thought about her since her departure two years before…that is until tonight. He knew in his heart that he was in love with Gabriella and no one else. But Troy couldn't deny, no matter how hard he tried to convince himself or anyone else, that Angelina DeLeon still had a lingering hold over him and it had shown itself plan as day not only to his friends but to the last person in the world he would ever want to hurt.

Once again he wondered where Chad was because he was the only person who would truly understand what he was going through.