TROY

Sleep that night seemed impossible. I tossed and turned. I couldn't stop thinking about the bizarre dream I had about my mom, or this girl, Gabriella. It was kind of moronic that I'd be thinking romantically of any girl. I wouldn't have time to give her any part of me. And I surely wouldn't be able to open up to her, express myself and my own pain to her. So honestly, there was no point to all of this.

There was something different about her though. It captured my interest. She seemed shy but at the same time friendly. I couldn't really explain it. She seemed like the type of girl who'd rather spend her time alone than with someone. She was independent and I liked that. She didn't have to rely on other people to make her feel satisfied. Most of the girls I know, well. . . let's just say they're used to getting attention. I envied that Gabriella could isolate herself from the world and feel okay about it. I honestly wished I could do the same.

I hated being alone. And it wasn't just because it led me to thinking about the agony, but it was just the fear of uncertainty. When I'm with someone, it's as if I know no one can hurt me, that no one can do anything really violent. But when I'm alone, say at my house, well, I have no idea what's coming, whether it consists of my dad unconsciously bashing my head into the wall, or my future "step-mom" kicking me where she knows it hurts. I realized my dad turned to the dark side. I wasn't sure who I could go to anymore.

School was a living hell on Monday. I waited for ten minutes at each of my friends' houses, expecting their arrival. The only one who actually came out was Chad. The others apparently left moments before, said their mothers'. And well, that pretty much lead to the beginning of a horrible, dreadful day. Zeke and Jason decided they wouldn't speak with me and remained silent all throughout passing periods and lunch. I could tell they were still furious - they kept whispering to each other like little girls and glaring at me when they had the open opportunity. Chad was surprisingly cool with me and walked with me to every class.

Before Darbus' class, I was about to lose my passiveness towards their behavior, but Chad was the one who stepped in and told me it wasn't worth it.

"Dude, they're just still in shock - they seriously thought you weren't serious about the future and this school business," Chad told me, shrugging as if it wasn't a big deal at all, "just give them a few days and they will forget it even happened."

"Yeah, and all of a sudden I'm part of the freaky science geek club. . ." I rolled my eyes and slammed my locker shut. "Do you remember when we promised each-other we'd go to the same colleges?"

Chad hesitated for a second, his arms folded across his chest as he leaned against my locker, ". . . Uh. . . I think so. UCLA?"

"Yeah," I bit on my bottom lip thoughtfully, "I'm gonna try and get in."

Chad's eyes nearly popped out, "Whoa, Hoops, you've gotta be kidding. . ."

"Does it really seem that. . . hard to believe?"

"It's a big school. . . I mean, we were just kids when we made that promise. We had no idea what life was all about. But. . . I'm not gonna discourage you," He gave me an upbeat grin, slapping me on the shoulder, "ready to face the devil?"

I chuckled, following him into Ms. Darbus' class, "Never."

I slid into my usual seat, Chad taking his place behind me. I could tell it was going to be an awkward class period. Zeke and Jason were both in this class, along with Gabriella.

Hmm, Gabriella. For some unknown reason, I felt my heart beat speed up a notch. Pretty dumb, getting all worked up over a girl. I was actually excited to see her.

I began to wonder how she reacted towards my weird behavior on the phone. Why did she have to catch me at my worst moments, anyways? I mean, it was partially my fault for bringing up my mom, but I couldn't help it. It's like Gabriella made me want to speak about things that were practically forbidden. I mean these were things that were put into the obscurity of my past, the obscurity that I didn't want to get close to. But because of some girl, I was wanting to express myself, and that wasn't like Troy Bolton. Definitely not.

I promised myself not to do anything outlandish like that again.

I still couldn't avert my eyes from her when she walked into the classroom though. She always looked so conservative in her dresses that fell to her knees. They were always lighter colors that brought out her hair and her beautiful chocolate-colored eyes. Man, I didn't even know what hit me. Love songs were playing in my head and my lower region didn't know how to stay elevated. It was so damn uncomfortable.

Her legs were the hottest feature of her. Some girls in East High wore these tiny mini skirts that showed half of their ass-cheeks practically and let me tell you, they were not sexy. But Gabriella, no, she was sexy. She could probably wear one of those skirts and pull it off better than the rest of them. She was like model material. Except she kept it strictly confined so no one could see how beautiful she really was. And that's why I was drawn to her so much. She wasn't bragging or showing off. If anything, I think she was oblivious to how cute she really was.

She walked in with her books hugged to her chest as usual, like a little church girl or something. She was so innocent and pure; she was like an angel sent from heaven or something, some kind of goddess with fabulous legs. I have no idea why I couldn't keep my eyes off of her. I was probably looking like a creep by now, and my breathing had stopped entirely. Like she had taken all the oxygen in my body away from me. Literally.

My friends were probably really confused. This could definitely take a nice article in the school's newspaper - Troy Bolton, captain of the basketball team and school heartthrob, takes a double take at Gabriella Montez, participant in every club available and the smartest girl in the school. I was probably not even qualified for taking these glances at such a saint. But for some reason, I just couldn't help myself.

And then Chad hit the back of my head with his basketball.

"Ow," I sent him a look from hell before I restrained myself from glancing at Gabriella Montez any longer.

"Mr. Danforth, what have I told you about bringing inactive objects into my classroom when they do not pertain to drama arts?"

Ms. Darbus raised a thin eyebrow at Chad, who just shrugged carelessly and put the basketball underneath his desk.

"Sorry, Ms. D."

"Now, shall we get on to drama arts?"

Ms. Darbus had that look on her face. The look that could kill a student in a second. Yeah, enthusiasm. She was ready to explain something - something big. I shifted my eyes towards Chad, who looked more nervous than me.

"Shit, she's got that look on her face. . ." He mumbled.

I just shook my head and rubbed my neck, uneasily. I was actually trying to find all the temptation I had to turn around "casually" and give Gabriella one of my million dollar smiles. I mean, I couldn't even wink at her because I was too busy having a complete stroke because of how godforsaken beautiful she was. Ugh. Is that even a good enough reason? No. . .

"So today," Ms. Darbus cut off my thoughts by optimistically leaping from her podium. Yeah, it was definitely going to be big. She had a giant grin on her face and looked like she was about to dance around. Never a good thing, "we are going to be starting a project."

I could hear Chad slapping his forehead from behind me, others sighing, a few people texting though I'm guessing Darbus was just going to avoid that for now and become detective later, and then there was Sharpay and Ryan in the back, beaming like there's nothing better to do than school projects. Especially Ryan. Wearing his hat and everything. Again, a reason why most people don't like the guy. And his pink shirt. I think he was crossing his legs too. Like a girl.

"Oh, projects, Ms. Darbus, you shouldn't have," Jason added.

As usual, thickheaded comments.

"This is a 100 point project, Mr. Cross," Ms. Darbus gave him a sickeningly sweet smile, "something that could boost your grade up tremendously."

A few people snickered.

"She should not be this enthusiastic," I whispered to Chad who just nodded with agreement.

"I want this to be taken seriously," Ms. Darbus growled, "and I do not want this to become something you will all just blow off. I want you to pick a partner who you can get along with, and work together with." She eyed Chad and I for a second. "You will make a dialogue that teaches a lesson. . . it could be a lesson about yourself, a lesson about life, problems, divorce, love, parents, drugs. . ." She frowned, "abuse, violence, but. . . no basketball." She narrowed her eyes at us.

"Aw, Ms. D, you're my favorite teacher, how could you do that to me?" I playfully put my hand to heart as a few of the students chuckled.

"Mr. Bolton, this isn't a gymnasium, this is a classroom, please take the project seriously."

"Always," I saluted her, again, receiving a handful of giggles.

Many students sauntered across the room, in search for the "perfect partner". I turned around, about to ask Chad. I was surprised to see that he had already partnered up with Zeke who must have asked him ahead of time. Yeah, so much for best friends forever. Wait, am I seriously jealous over the fact that Zeke is partners with Chad? Seriously, Troy? Get it together.

I looked over to Jason who somehow managed to spark up a conversation with Martha Cox, who was completely eager to be his partner. Weird that Jason could even get girls. Then again, I'd never forget what happened at the movies with that one girl. She was cute. It was amazing she'd even listen to him after he compared himself to the "Jason" monster in Friday the 13th.

Sharpay was all over some football player. Figures. If she wasn't drooling over me or one of the basketball players, she was all over the bulky football players, who were zealous about her being all over them. I mean, any guy would be. Sharpay was drop-dead gorgeous, she was just full of herself and wanted to be the center of attention all the time. That was something that could get annoying very easily.

Ryan was attached to Kelsi, talking to her animatedly about his ideas for the project. Of course. He must have made some crazy diagram up on a piece of notebook paper. The guy was creative as it gets. And I hate to say it but he was a very good actor.

A few other girls were ogling me out from across the room. They seemed to be battling their eyelashes and attempting to lure me in. It didn't work out very well. They were the "bashful", yet "flirty" type I could tell. They wanted to seduce me with their eyes and their hair. Most of them were just blonde cheerleaders who wore too much makeup and tried way too hard. Now, don't get me wrong, I love blondes, they're adorable, but I really prefer brunettes.

Speaking of which. . .

My eyes flickered to the back of the room where Gabriella sat. For some, absurd reason, the girl was sitting all alone, scribbling things down on a piece of notebook paper. I wondered to myself why she was all alone.

The reason I was alone was very self-explanatory. My friends were pissed because they found out I have a brain and they were envious of the idea and wished they had a brain too. Okay, not so much, and I'm really not that arrogant of a person, I'm just saying. That's a totally obvious idea, right? I didn't look like a loser over here. I couldn't. People weren't thinking that. . . at least, I hoped they weren't.

Alright, so I had two choices. I could either scoot my ass over there and start a conversation with her and suggest we could be partners. Or, I could be a pussy, sit here, and hope ideas come to my brain. Then I could makeup some bull shit to tell Darbus and she would let me do the project alone. Honestly? The first idea sounded much better. . .

I tried to subtly walk over there but obviously I couldn't be subtle about anything. Everybody seemed to be watching me and let me tell you how obnoxious that really was. It was horrible. And when I sat down next to her, their eyes only widened. Even my friends, or ex-friends, whatever, were gaping, their mouths hanging open like they were stuck like that or something. Even Chad looked confused. And the cheerleaders? They were furious. My fan club? Ready to kill.

The whispering came next.

"Is he really sitting by that geeky science girl?"

"Do you think he's secretly dating her?"

"I forgot her name. I just know she's a complete nerd!"

"Is it true that she's the smartest girl in the school and he's the dumbest?"

But the truth was I was at the top of this class, second next to Gabriella. I'd rather shoot myself in the head then admit that out loud though.

And then, Gabriella's eyes rose up from the notebook, and I'm surprised she didn't scream or something. She just acted as if she couldn't believe what she seen, like maybe she was dreaming, as if I wasn't here or something, just a figment of her imagination. I sat with the chair pulled up to her desk, turned backwards, my legs between the chair.

"How's it going?"

"T-troy," She breathed, the surprise still leaking from her tone, ". . . what are you doing?"

"Should I. . . leave, or something?"

I raised an eyebrow, not sure on why she was acting so funny about the situation. I get that everyone was talking. But I really didn't care that much. And its' not like my other friends were around to be my partner. So, why not go to Gabriella?

"N-no. . . I just, I didn't expect you! I mean, what about your. . . um. . . friends?"

"My friends?"

Uh, not a good topic.

". . . Oh, um, they're kind of mad at me right now. It's. . . complicated." I bit my bottom lip, "Do you not wanna be partners with me, because I mean, I was gonna ask, and if you prefer to do the project alone then that's perfectly fine with-"

"No! Troy, it's fine, really, I just. . . everybody's kind of staring at us," She chuckled, nodding her head towards the unnerving amount of eyes that were watching our every move.

I turned and gave them all a smile, "Hey guys, uh, nothing new here, you can all get back to what you were doing. . ."

I scratched the back of my head, my face feeling a bit hot as Ms. Darbus furrowed her eyebrows from across the room. Everybody seemed to turn away gradually.

"Well. . . then. . ." Gabriella cleared her throat and gave me one of her sweet, heart-stopping smiles.

"Well, . . . how'd you sleep last night?" I asked, casually.

She laughed, and I remembered why I was so enticed by the girl, "A very random question, but I slept fine, how did you sleep, Troy Bolton?"

My heart hammered across my chest when she said my name for some reason. "I slept. . . reasonably good." I answered, untruthfully.

"Well, that's good. Do you have any ideas for this. . . project?"

She was flipping through her notebook, tearing out papers that had millions of notes in them.

"Wow. . ." I met her eyes. "You sure have enough notes."

She just shook her head, "They're for all my classes, not just this one. I'm pretty active when it comes to note-writing. It really helps me on my tests."

". . . Yeah, me too, I've never been one for the teaching out loud. I have to write everything down to learn it."

I suddenly felt a bit embarrassed for mentioning this.

I rubbed the back of my neck, edgily. "So. . . umm, sorry I got off the phone so fast last night, I know I've been sort of leaving you hanging lately and not saying goodbye. . . sorry about that,"

She just shook her head with a smile that eased my mind a little, "It's okay, but you didn't wink at me."

"Yeah. . . sorry about that too, I just seen you and, you just blow my mind, has anyone ever told you that you look like an angel?"

Why the hell was I blushing? I felt stupid for saying something so cheesy to her. I mean, seriously? "You look like an angel"? Who says that? I never say that.

I looked away from her for a second but when I looked back to her, a hint of a smile spread across her lips and her eyes just twinkled I think. It was as if they just sparkled at me. I suddenly didn't feel so embarrassed anymore. Still felt like a moron though.

"No, but thank you." She said sincerely, and well, politely. "I can't believe you just said that."

"Me neither," I admitted with a laugh. "Stupid, huh?"

"No. . ." She looked down for a second, ". . . it was sweet. You're good with words, Troy. Has anyone ever told you that?"

I chuckled. "A few times. I wasn't trying to be good with words though. I was serious. You seem like the type of girl who doesn't realize how attractive she really is."

"Something like that," She sighed, a pensive look on her face, "I'm the girl who doesn't try and stick out. I try to blend in."

"But you don't,"

"Troy. . . we've been going to the same school since Freshmen year. And you never noticed me once," She laughed, almost bitterly.

I thought about her statement. Yeah, that was true. I never even knew her name. Why was I suddenly noticing her now? Was it her personality? I wasn't sure. There was something extremely interesting about her.

"Well, you've got this. . . shy yet mysterious vibe," I chuckled, "and you don't try to beautiful, it just happens. I like that."

Again, why was I flirting with her so much?

Now she started blushing. "Troy, come on!"

"Seriously." I told her. "You're absolutely gorgeous and you don't even try to be. That's amazing, Gabriella. Most girls spend all day trying to look as pretty as you do. And you can tell they do."

She looked down, timidly. "You know. . . we should really be doing the project right now."

"You're absolutely right," She chuckled to my enthusiasm, "it's a good thing we've got both of our brains to figure this one out."

"I've always been extremely intrigued by the topic of abuse. Do you think we could take that one on to impress Darbus?"

Gabriella's question hit me in the strangest way.

Abuse. Yeah. I didn't really want to, considering the fact that I knew too much about it, that I actually suffered from it myself. It reminded me of the way Sara was towards me and the way my dad has been holding me guilty for everything nowadays. It was more-so my dad that's been bothering me lately though. It was as if I had lost my dad. He wasn't even really a father anymore - just someone who liked to lecture me, yell at me, and when he was drunk, he enjoyed throwing me up against walls and beating my face in. Fortunately, there were no marks. Just a bloody nose and a smashed up lip.

"Troy?" Gabriella obviously noticed my hesitation for the subject.

"I was thinking we could talk about abortion or something, you know, something really powerful. Maybe marijuana legalization, you know, something crazy."

But Gabriella didn't seem so convinced - obviously abuse really appealed to her. Which was my perfect irony, I guess.

"Haven't you ever wondered why people deal with abuse, why they don't tell someone about it? I mean. . . I just can't stand the idea. I think it's worse than anything when someone feels like they can't trust people," Gabriella said, grimacing, "I wish I could help them. . . you know?"

I felt some kind of aching inside of my chest at her words. She wanted to help them? But what could she do? Absolutely nothing.

"It's probably more complicated than you think," I tried to act passive about the discussion, like it didn't eat me up inside, "the person that's abusing them probably has them in a headlock where they can't say anything, you know?"

"That's why you get them locked up, where they can't." She argued. "It just makes me want to cry, you know? I think if we tried hard enough, we could make people realize that it's not okay, not in relationships, or even with relatives!"

I bit my bottom lip so hard I felt like it was going to bleed. Damn it. I couldn't just try and express what abuse was like. I'd do it so well that people would be baffled on why I know so much, why I can express it so much. And plus, I'd start to believe my own words. I couldn't handle that. . . that was just too much.

"It's just. . . it's probably a really touchy subject with some people, I mean what if people get offended, or something?"

I could feel my irritation rising. I really didn't want to do this. I wish she could have just gotten that and left it alone.

She turned to look at me, brown eyes meeting blue, her eyebrows furrowing, "Troy? Why are you upset? It's just a school project. . ."

And then I felt it. I felt my insides just splitting - all the secrets I was holding, they were all just coming alive, destroying the façade I had been wearing. I swallowed thickly, hoping that it would just go away, that the pain would just go away, the aching. But I couldn't. It was there, and I'm positive Gabriella could see it. I was just begging to be heard, but I couldn't bare to say it out loud.

"Look, it's fine, I don't know why I'm getting angry, I just. . . knew someone who got abused really bad and it just. . . aggravates me," I lied quickly, scratching the back of my head and looking elsewhere.

"Oh. . ." She looked down, apologetically, "I'm sorry. . . I didn't know. . ."

"It's nothing big, I just. . . I was hoping we could do something else?"

"Yeah. . . I understand," She didn't seem satisfied about the decision though, "it's just the one thing in the world that makes my stomach churn."

"Tell me about it. . ." I muttered, running my hands through my hair. The emptiness seemed endless.

"You probably think I'm crazy."

"I don't think you're crazy. . ."

"Yeah, I'm sorry, I just. . . I have no idea. . . I'm really not crazy. . ." I promised her.

She must have thought I was rabid by now - ill in some sort of way. I mean, if it's not my mom or if I'm not pulverizing a hoop with my basketball, I'm erratically freaking out about "abuse". . . I tangled my hands through my hair, frowning.

But she just watched me with concern in her eyes. Like she was worried about me or something. And then she grabbed one of my hands, stopping my mindless wander through my hair. I nearly stilled when she did this, and just looked into her beautiful brown eyes. She held onto my hand, not letting it go, and a small smile crept up on her lips, buoyant as always.

"It's okay, Troy."

And for that second, I realized life couldn't be that bad. Not when there's people out there like Gabriella Montez, anyways.

END OF CHAPTER