Both were breathing heavily as they laid horizontally on her bed. They had just gotten done with a serious of little kisses that always lead to some big make out; leaving them wanting more.
He stared into her big blue eyes as they were both facing each other while laying on their sides. He tucked a stray piece of hair behind her ear while grinning at her. Her cheeks tinted a light pink as she bit her lower lip innocently.
"My parents are gonna be out of town this weekend. Something to do with my dad's job." She whispered as her hand softly stroked his muscular arm as there were no barriers between their chests besides her lacy black bra.
"They're gonna be gone for your birthday?" Troy asked as he tried to block out the feeling she was evoking within him with just the slightest touch.
Lilly leaned over and pressed a kiss right below his earlobe. "Consider it their present by giving me an empty house for two days."
Her other hand that wasn't resting on his arm ventured lower as her nails tickled his skin right above his belt line.
"You're coming over still, right?" She asked with hopefulness in her voice.
"I have to help my mom with something in the afternoon, but I should be here six on the dot." Truth was, Troy had the whole afternoon planned out for her. He just wanted to keep it a secret.
Lilly sat up and swung her one leg over his waist so that she was straddling him. "Have I mentioned how much I love the afternoons where you come over and my parents are both at work?"
Troy swallowed as his hands traced up her small hips and stomach before gently caressing her back to play with the bra clasp.
He leaned up and pressed a kiss to the swell of her breasts. "I love them too."
His fingers very slowly unhooked her bra and let it drop from her shoulders. Lilly giggled as she leaned down; both hands on his shoulders, her breasts dangling as they seemed to like torturing Troy with the view.
"I also love you."
Jason folded his arms over his chest as he was leaning against his locker with Zeke on his other side at his own locker also.
"Ready for the game?" Zeke asked to make small talk.
Jason nodded at some of the cheerleaders who passed them by as they were already in their uniforms that were just barely school appropriate. Their tops were long sleeved, but only came up to right under their breasts, and their skirts came to about mid thigh or lower. It just all depended on how well grown your body was.
Zeke rolled his eyes as he saw that Jason was busy making googily eyes with a senior on the squad. "You do know that you need a girlfriend."
Jason rolled his eyes at hearing that. "Says the boy who's whipped by Sharpay. Sharpay Evans." Jason shuddered with a smirk as Zeke lightly punched him on the arm. "But no. I don't need one. I'm too busy."
"Right." Zeke said sarcastically with a roll of the eyes. "Or you're too busy with someone else."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Dude, you're practically whipped by Gabs. Don't deny." Zeke pointed out with a clap on the back.
Jason thought about it as he would do anything Gabriella needed, but that didn't mean he was whipped. They were just friends; friends who were always there for each other, or at least that is what Jason thought before he found that Troy and Gabriella were going behind his back.
"We're friends. You would do the same thing for her also, and Tay, and Shar. It's what FRIENDS do." Jason emphasized.
The boys fell silent as that was the end to their conversation before they headed to homeroom. As they passed various other hyped up students Zeke started talking again. "So did you hear what the plans are for the cheerleaders?"
They flung their stuff down on their desk as Jason sat on top of his. "No. What's the low down?"
"They each are painting a person's number on their stomach and back. They picked a couple of days ago, or was it yesterday?" Zeke more so asked himself. "But anyways, they each have a number and Shar got mine."
"Yah think?" Jason asked sarcastically. "I would hope she got yours." If it was any other day and Jason wasn't busy convincing his mind to wander away from Gabriella and Troy in the library still, then he would've jumped at the chance to find out who was wearing his number. He would be walking through the halls still and talking to people even more as they wished him good luck. He would be eating up the glory of everyone who was dressed in school spirit. But he couldn't as his mind ran on one track, and at the moment, it was still focused on Troy and Gabriella.
"Dude, I heard Emma got your number."
"Emma?" Jason asked in a daze.
"Emma. The petite blonde who Danforth was with at my party." Zeke explained further right as Gabriella came into homeroom.
He had his car back so they didn't need to drive together; thus leading to even more separation and giving him more time to think of all the possibilities as to why Gabriella was hanging out with Troy in the library.
"Hey." She said cheerfully as she slid into her seat right next to him.
He plastered on a fake smile. "Hey. You look nice."
She smiled at him. "Thanks. You don't look so bad yourself."
"Jase?" Gabriella called out as she finished climbing up the tree house that her dad built ten year prior. The tree overlooked her whole backyard as she was now a freshmen in high school and the tree house wasn't as big as she remembered it. "There you are." Gabriella stated as she clambered in and sat by Jason who's eyes were narrowed and his thoughts running wild.
He didn't move as she sat near him. "I was getting worried. You said you would meet me for ice cream."
His shoulders went up and down as he tried to block out what his dad and him just fought about. Gabriella sensed something was on his mind as almost anyone within a one mile radius could see it.
She tentatively put her cold hand on his and squeezed comfortingly. "What's wrong?" She whispered softly.
Jason shut his eyes as he remembered his dad's blazing eyes as they got into a heated discussion about Jason finally telling his dad that he knew Troy was his half-brother. Even without seeing the photo of Troy years before, Jason would've figured it out as he grew up hating this boy who's name was never spoken in their house.
He had walked in on his mom and dad having another heated argument about Troy and Lucille, and then that was when his mother told him to go up to his room. Jason refused as it was time to stand up for himself and not to be shut out anymore. He had the right to know what was actually going on.
His dad was already in a bad mood, and that was when Jason told him everything. From what he knew to how much he could find out by just talking to Troy to see what his story was. Andrew lost it as he slammed his fist down on the table and Jason remembered his mother jumping in surprise.
His dad told him everything. Everything within his rage. It was a lot more than what Jason suspected as he found out that Lucille and him actually loved each other. Or at least, that is what his dad said as he probably got some sick happiness out of it.
Jason could tell his father's words hurt his mother as she had tears in her eyes. And seeing that made Jason want to ask just one question. 'Why did you choose mom over Lucille?' But Jason couldn't get a word in as his dad continued in his raging explanation. He retold how he just HAD to give up his sport scholarship to stay close to Cassie, he told Jason how he used to bring him to the park when he was litter; just in hopes to see Troy there.
Jason ripped his eyes open as he forced his mind to forget that hatred and anger he felt towards Troy Bolton at that exact time. He forced his mind to forget the truth his dad told him as Jason felt like his whole life had been one big lie. How could he not forget that as his dad was feeding him different stories that matched his mood.
"I don't want to talk about it." His gruff voice said after a while of silence.
Gabriella kept her hand on his as she didn't know what to say or do.
"Is it your dad again?" Gabriella asked softly.
Jason barely moved at the mention of his dad's name as he took the time to soak in Gabriella's words. Was it really his dad? Sure, his dad finally told him the truth about Troy being his brother, and other stories that were unnecessary, but was he really angry at his father? Or was it more towards Troy Bolton for almost having the life that Jason has right now?
"I don't want to be here right now." Jason finally decided as he completely blew off Gabriella's question; even though she knew that it did have something to do with Andrew Cross.
"Okay." She agreed. "Where do you want to go? What do you want to do?"
"I want to jump. I want to feel like I haven't been lied to my whole life. I just want it all to go away." He scrambled up and slowly made his way to the window that both of them could fit through.
Right when he said the word 'jump' Gabriella's mind flashed to the worst picture ever. She quickly followed closely behind as she wanted to ask various questions about what he meant, but she knew that it would all come in good time.
"Jase--"
"Follow me." He instructed softly as he climbed through the window and out onto the sturdy, big tree branch.
Gabriella looked around worriedly before climbing after him, and quickly attaching herself to the branch as it overlooked her swimming pool that was at the time filled with cold water.
"You want to jump into the pool?" Gabriella exclaimed as if he was crazy.
He looked hesitant as he saw just how far it was away and down into the deep end of the water. But he quickly hid his fear and looked at Gabriella.
"You trust me, right?"
"Of course." Her reply came immediately.
"On the count of three then." He held his hand out to her as she took it tentatively. "One…two…three."
Gabriella held her breath as she jumped with Jason. A flying feeling overtaking both of their bodies as they plunged into the water together.
But that's all that mattered.
That they were together.
Troy was feeling good as he got out of his car. Him and Gabriella left about the same time as she was in front of him when driving to school. He kept looking ahead of himself and would see her glancing back at him through her mirrors. He would smile and she would return with the same grin.
And now he was standing out in front of the fountain with Jake, Dane, Kyle, and Chad as various students were also with them. Some of the football players who's season just ended were out front, their girlfriends, and other athletes filtered in and out too.
This time Troy didn't need to be called over from the parking lot as he just walked over and emerged himself into a conversation Dane, Jake, and Sadie were having about how the Sadie Hawkins dance was being moved from January to the last day right before Christmas Vacation. The Sadie Hawkins dance was in replacement for the Winter Ball as it was the girls' choice to ask someone to attend with them, and not the guys.
"So you ready for the game Bolton?" Jake asked. "I know I can't wait. We always cream the Bulldogs at the start of each season."
Deep down Troy was nervous. But he was at first excited, and he was letting that excitement grow to block out the nervous feeling in his stomach.
"I'm as ready as I'll ever be."
Chad was engaged into a conversation with some of his other teammates from baseball in the past spring, but he was secretly keeping tabs on Troy's conversation also as something didn't add up again. And he was going to uncover it sooner rather than later.
"You guys better be pumped up. Us cheerleaders are doing something creative." Sadie said while wincing a little at the end.
"A little creativity never hurt anyone." Jake said pulling her into his side.
"It's Shar's idea. And you better appreciate it. Especially if the paint doesn't come off." She warned.
Jake rolled his eyes before looking up at an amused Troy again. "They're painting our numbers on their bodies. Should be fun to see."
"Oh?" He wanted his voice to sound unamused, but deep down he secretly wondered who had his number.
Sadie smirked as she was a girl who was good with reading people. "Don't worry Bolton, the person who has you will knock your socks off."
He narrowed his eyes slightly. "I'm not worried. Just…thinking."
"Well don't think too much. It doesn't look good on you."
"She's right Bolton." A voice called out as Troy rolled his eyes enthusiastically.
Chad definitely could see something different with his friend as he was smiling. Now Chad wasn't one to point out feelings and get all mushy about them, but seeing his best friend of eleven years smiling like there was no tomorrow, that sent alarms through Chad's head. And he could only relate it back to one thing.
"Ha ha Danforth. What's up man?" They greeted each other with a manly guy handshake that every female in their group wondered how exactly all the guys knew it without actually talking about it before hand.
Chad grinned as he cocked his head to the side; indicating the building. "Let's go to the library. I have to pick something up."
Troy left their group of friends as he allowed Chad to make up some story that he couldn't believe since Chad never stepped foot in a library his whole life; or at least when he absolutely didn't have to.
"So what's up for real? I know we're not going to the library." Troy stated.
Chad gave him a small smile as they continued to walk the halls. "Nothing much. I guess I just need to ask you something."
Chad turned the corner and entered the empty gym as Coach Montez was probably in the locker room setting up his game plans for later that day. He looked around the big empty space as Troy mimicked his actions.
Troy looked at the empty bleachers that would soon be filled with rowdy students, teachers, and city people as later in the day he was expected to play in his first official game of basketball. He had been doing great in practice as he knew how to maneuver himself around his teammates, and as the days went on Coach Montez pulled him and the other two back up point guards away from the team to go over more specifically the other players on the Bulldog team.
Troy was feeling as confident as he was going to get, but he couldn't deny the little nervous feeling tingling in his body. It would resurface every time he let his mind stop thinking about other things. That was why he preoccupied himself with thinking of Gabriella and their kiss they shared. He thought about how his mom was actually getting home early again. He thought about his math test that was later in the day also. He would think of anything else to replace the game in his mind, and so far it was working.
"You want to play?" Troy asked as it wouldn't be the first time they would play basketball and skip homeroom.
"I want to know what's going on with you and Montez." Chad said in the bluntest way possible.
Troy blinked as he slowly withheld the answer for as long as possible. "What do you mean?"
Chad looked at him pointedly. "Don't make me tell you the whole story. Just cut to the chase and start explaining why you were at the library with her a couple of days ago."
Troy caved as it wasn't that big of a deal when it came to his best friend. "I was doing crappy in trig and she's tutoring me. Her dad set it up."
Chad narrowed his eyes. "Is that all?"
Troy looked up. "Yeah. That's all."
"Nothing more? Nothing at all that could possible make you smile like an idiot and all of a sudden become the world's most sociable person?" Chad pressed.
Troy knew Chad was serious. He didn't know how Chad found out. All he knew was that he almost liked keeping it secret because it's as if the two of them had something different and special going on. But it didn't matter as his best friend was calling him out on something and Troy wasn't going to lie to him.
"…we kissed."
Chad choked on his air. "Dude, are you crazy!? You just got on the team, and you're already going against your brother!"
Troy glared at the ground, "Half-brother."
Chad rolled his eyes. "It doesn't matter because if Cross finds out that you are flirting with his BEST FRIEND then even more hell will break loose!"
"I'm not flirting or whatever the hell you want to call it. She's my tutor. I'm her student. Whatever you want to call it. But we're not flirting." Troy denied.
Chad sensed the finality in his friend's tone. It wasn't a finality that he was telling the truth because now that it was brought to his attention that Troy actually might be happy about the supposed kiss, then there was no way that they were just a teacher/student relationship. It was a finality that Troy wanted to drop the subject completely.
He grinned at Troy as he drained the seriousness from their conversation. Whatever his best friend wanted to get caught up in; Chad would back him up 100 percent.
"So you two kissed. How was it?" Chad elbowed him in the ribs as Troy rolled his eyes and nudged him away.
"F-U Danforth." Troy showed him the middle finger as he started exiting the gym; leaving Chad standing in the middle of the floor.
Chad chuckled as he knew that there was no way that it was over. Whether Troy liked it or not, Chad had to ask him one more question. But it could wait as Chad needed to find that right moment for this one.
At lunch Jason was sitting with his usual friends; a couple of people from the team, a couple of people from other sport teams, and a couple of cheerleaders who were dating his teammates.
"This game is gonna be off the hook! And of course the party is a benefit." Zeke exclaimed to anyone who was listening at the table.
Jason glanced over at the table next to theirs and saw that even more of his teammates were at the round red table; teammates including Troy.
"I hear U of A scouts are gonna be there." Dane pointed out.
Jason had already known about the scouts coming on Wednesday for their second game, but he didn't know about the U of A scouts.
"Right Cross?"
Jason blinked back confusion as he went along with it. "Yeah. They're coming. I gotta go." He stood up as Gabriella watched him carefully from sitting right next to him.
"You want company?" She asked quietly as everyone else was already in another conversation.
He hesitated. "I'm just going to the gym. No big deal."
She looked a little hurt with his answer. "Okay."
"You can come though. That is if you want too."
Gabriella smiled brightly up at him. "Let's go then."
Gabriella shuffled her feet nervously behind the counter as it was 2:35 in the afternoon and she had just changed into her work clothes and was now waiting for Taylor to exit the bathroom as she was busy changing into her tan pants, and dark green polo that read the logo of the sport store they worked in at the mall.
It hadn't registered in Gabriella's mind when she asked Troy if he wanted to stop by for tutoring that Taylor was going to be with her. She hadn't even thought of the tiny detail that someone that she went to school with was going to work with her as usually the store owner would have one of his older employees working with the teenagers 'just in case' anything were to happen.
So when Taylor walked through the shop's entrance, Gabriella was seriously surprised as her friend just waved and went straight to the bathroom to change and clock in. Gabriella had no idea what to do as Troy would be getting there around three, and she knew Taylor wasn't as superficial as some of her other friends, but Gabriella still didn't know how she would react.
Taylor walked out of the bathroom and stepped around the counter to be near Gabriella at the cash register. There were at least two cash registers as each person who was working got one, unless they were running low on items and they had to go out back and reload, or some customer needed help, then and only then were the employees allowed to leave from behind the counter.
"Hey Gabi. What's up?" Taylor asked.
Taylor had various opinions on things. She out spoke anyone who she thought was wrong. She even argues with teachers when it came to certain papers and tests that she got marked down on, but she was Gabriella's second best friend as they also met in first grade. Gabriella shouldn't have to hide anything from her.
"I have someone coming here at three for tutoring." She stated casually while glancing around the store as if she was inspecting to see if any customer needed help. Although there were only a couple of middle aged men looking at various footballs; probably for their sons or if they coached then they were probably looking at them for their teams.
"Tutoring? I didn't know you did that. I don't see you down at the center." Taylor looked at Gabriella curiously as she was busy flicking through some papers with notes on them. She was also a tutor as Gabriella, along with everyone else, couldn't figure out for the life of them how Taylor balanced everything.
"Yeah. My dad set it up."
"Yikes. It's one of the basketball players? Please tell me it's not Jason. That wouldn't benefit him much then." Taylor said as she totally dismissed the fact that Jason actually is capable of doing things without people just handing it down to him.
"No. It's actually not that bad either. He's really smart; just not when it comes to math." She specifically left out Troy's name; hoping that Taylor hadn't caught on, but knowing Taylor for eleven years, Gabriella knew she wouldn't be able to avoid it no matter what.
"Well spit it out. What's his name? I'm gonna see him soon anyways." Taylor probed.
"Troy. Troy Bolton. We have a couple of classes with him?" Gabriella offered in assistance; even though practically everyone in the school now knew of his name.
"Troy Bolton? As in your best friend's half-brother?" Taylor asked with surprise. "The Troy Bolton who beat Jason at basketball? The Troy Bolton who's number you're wearing tonight to the game? THAT Troy Bolton?!" Taylor exclaimed.
Gabriella's stomach lurched at the thought of Jason and Troy's name in the same sentence. It was a bad sentence if both of their names were in it. And it brought back the feeling of guiltiness as she thought of Jason.
"It's just tutoring." Gabriella reasoned as the feeling of his soft lips on her own overtook her senses. Gabriella couldn't help but secretly wonder if it was just tutoring as the previous night had nothing to do with tutoring and they ended up kissing. But neither one of them said anything to each other about it that day, so maybe Troy wasn't thinking about it as much as she was? "Just give him a chance Tay. He's not as bad as Jason makes him out to be."
Taylor doesn't remember a time where Gabriella was practically pleading with her to give someone a chance, so she was willing to go out onto a limb to get to know Troy Bolton. "I'll be nice if he talks to me, but if he doesn't then don't expect me to go out onto a limb. I don't need Jason to blow a gasket that two of his friends are crossing him."
Gabriella smiled happily. "I can deal with that. Thank you."
"You like him more than tutoring, don't you?" Taylor offered.
Gabriella bit her lip from saying the truth. Somehow she felt safer if she kept everything the same. If she kept to the same story then the less likely Jason would ever find out about this.
"…I tutor him. That's it."
"You get tutored in a sports store? Sign me up then." Chad said goodheartedly.
Troy rolled his eyes as Chad insisted after school got out that he would hitch a ride with Troy to the mall because he had 'shopping' to do when Troy had a theory that Chad just wanted to spy and read more into Gabriella's and his relationship.
"She works here. Usually we're at the library." Troy stated briefly as they walked past various other stores to reach the back ones.
"Well it just so happens that I was heading to the sports store before you told me this." Chad said as if he was proud of his excuse.
"Whatever man, but I'm serious. She's just my tutor."
Chad snorted. "Yeah. A tutor who you kiss? Nice man."
Troy glanced briefly at his best friend. "It's not like we kiss all the time. It was only once, and hardly a kiss."
"Your first kiss since Lilly. That's saying something." Chad commented casually as he knew this would stop Troy in his tracks.
"What did you say?" He asked as Chad stopped also so they could finally talk about what Chad had been meaning to ask him ever since finding out about Gabriella and Troy.
"Don't read too much into this, but if you haven't noticed, Gabriella's nothing like that two-timing bimbo." Chad looked at Troy to see if anything he's saying is registering. "Come on man! You have got to have noticed that they're nothing a like?! Completely different!" Chad said exasperated.
Deep down Troy knew. He had been collecting all this information about Gabriella and comparing her to Lilly as Gabriella was smart. Right off the bat Lilly was the average B-student, sometimes a C being thrown into the mix when Gabriella was probably getting straight A's. Gabriella had brown hair, while Lilly had blonde; also, Lilly had the light almost white skin, as Gabriella had golden olive skin from being out in the sun, and her race on her father's side.
Troy shuffled his feet as he let his mind compare the kisses. With Lilly it was always in a rush, and with Gabriella their lips moved slowly against each other; as if they had all the time in the world.
"I don't know what you're talking about man. She's my tutor; a friend even. Granted she's not like my best friend, but we talk." Troy tried to convince Chad.
Chad smirked as he kinked an eye brow. "Who are you trying to convince? Me or you?"
"This is why I get mad at you. You read too much into these things." Troy said as he patted his friend on the back before continuing through the mall.
Chad rushed to catch up. "I read too much into things?! Coming from the guy who spends half the day critiquing his shooting skills. But whatever man. I'll believe you for now."
Troy and Chad arrived at the store right at three o'clock. The first person they saw was Taylor who was busy scanning items a couple of guys were buying. The two of them stayed near the entrance of the shop that was a good medium size store as it had isles of balls, sports equipment, and team sweatshirts as the store even had Wildcat things there for their school.
Troy glanced around as there was no sign of Gabriella. The three men passed them and Troy and Chad ventured into the store now as Troy noticed that Chad's eyes were trained on Taylor as she casually was flipping through a magazine. Troy was just about ready to ask her where Gabriella was when she walked through the back door with her cell phone to her ear.
"What do you mean you don't remember the game was tonight?" She didn't sound mad. She sounded a lot more concerned and worried than upset and angry.
The person on the other side of the phone was talking when Gabriella finally looked up, but instead of looking at Taylor, her eyes found Troy's in surprise as she froze in her step.
Gabriella looked away as she really did have a puzzled face on. "It starts at the same time it has every year. 7 p.m. mom." There was another pause, and Gabriella shut off the phone.
"Is everything okay?" Taylor asked before Troy could even open his mouth to do so also.
"Yeah. Just…" she tired to find the right words so she didn't worry Taylor either, but something was off with her mom. It wasn't like her to just forget about the game that night; especially since it was the first game of the season, her husband was coaching, and her daughter was dancing. "Nothing. I'm just worrying myself again."
Troy watched Gabriella intently as Taylor said nothing else about the matter; it was like she was buying Gabriella's unsure tone.
"Well I'm gonna go do some stocking." Taylor announced as she departed from the counter, and sent a suspecting stare Troy's way as it didn't go unnoticed by Troy himself or Gabriella.
"Don't YOU have something to do Chad?" Troy asked pointedly as Chad seemed to get the message and backed up a little.
"Yeah. I do actually." Chad knocked against Troy's side a little as Gabriella was busy retrieving her bag from under the counter to notice. "Play nice Bolton." He whispered as Troy rolled his eyes and preceded over to where Gabriella was.
When two people kiss and they're from two completely different groups of friends that are slowly coming together, one would think it might be awkward afterwards. When in all reality, it's the people who make it awkward as they usually are worrying about what the other one thinks, or how the other one is going to react. They choose to play the defensive strategy and let the other person make the first move.
That was what Troy and Gabriella were both planning on doing. They were going to see who would bring up the kiss first. Who would initiate the inevitable conversation. Who ever did initiate it, didn't want to seem too eager. And whoever didn't bring it up didn't want to seem like a coward. Thus fore, both of them wind up dancing around each other, choosing their words carefully; all the while trying to maintain the same conversation flow they had before, and now they were secretly analyzing what the other one did to see if there was anything more.
But the one question they both wound up asking themselves was: Did they want more?
"Hey." Gabriella greeted quietly; as if Chad and Taylor would hear them from the back of the shop.
"Hey yourself." Troy grinned as he leaned against the counter and Gabriella smiled also as she leaned closer. "So you work here?"
"Yup. I guess I can't get enough sports."
"Nothing wrong with that." Troy dismissed charmingly as Gabriella's eyes twinkled with delight.
There was something about him leaning on the counter, his bright icy blue eyes concentrating on her, and her alone, and having him all to herself sent a jolt of joy throughout Gabriella's body. Having and knowing the fact that she was basically the only girl that went one-on-one with Troy made her think of all the envious girls that are soon to come with how popular Troy was getting.
Gabriella shook out of his eye sight as she glanced down at the papers she took out. "So how did your test go?"
Troy let out a huff as he reached back to his pocket where he had his test in and pulled it out. He unfolded it once and held it out to her.
"I got a C."
"That's an improvement. And hey, remember? You fail; I fail. But I'll take a C any day." Gabriella said cheerfully as she tried to keep things light. "Your grade isn't so bad either Troy."
"You're actually serious about that? You fail; I fail thing?"
"It may surprise you Bolton, but I do what I say, and I say what I mean." Gabriella smirked at him as Troy's face puzzled.
"I've heard that before."
"Humor me Bolton." Gabriella taunted as some would call it flirting as she subconsciously leaned in closer.
"One of these days I will, and you won't see it coming Brie."
Both of them froze at hearing the nickname Troy used.
"They don't look like they're studying." Taylor commented to herself, as she nearly jumped out of her skin when hearing a voice from the side of her.
"You're right. It looks like your friend is trying to seduce my friend."
Taylor glared at Chad, but before she defended Gabriella, she did a quick double take and looked around the shelves where they both had a perfect view of their friends 'talking'.
"See right there?" Chad asked as they both were staring fascinated by them. "She's doing that little giggle girls like to do."
"Well Troy's doing that staring thing with his eyes. He must know that every girl is mesmerized by that." Taylor countered.
Chad rolled his eyes. "Oh please? Girls find that creepy." Chad had recalled many times a girl had said that to him.
Taylor snorted quietly. "I don't know who you've been hanging out with, but girls like attention like that."
"Whatever. But see…" Chad pointed with his finger. "She has her top three buttons undone."
Taylor held in a giggle as she turned to Chad and poked at his shoulder until he turned to look at her. He had a puzzled face on before she pointed to her own top that had the three buttons undone.
"Does this mean I'm trying to seduce you too?"
"No. But Gabriella's practically leaning herself into him." Chad stated.
Taylor rolled her eyes. "Oh come on! There's a counter between them, and even so, Troy is being a perfect gentlemen by not looking." Taylor added as an afterthought, "Maybe he's gay?"
"What?!" Chad exploded in a strained whisper. "Troy is NOT gay."
"That would explain why he hangs out with you a lot." Taylor continued on with her thinking out loud; not even paying attention to Chad's protests. She moved on with the items she was restocking as Chad followed.
"You can't honestly think that McKessie?" Chad demanded. "You saw me with Emma at Zeke's party. You SAW!" Chad accused.
Taylor let out a giggle. "Relax Chad. I'm just kidding."
Chad cleared his throat as he straightened himself up. "Okay. Well that's uh…good. That's good."
Chad had left two hours before as he told Troy that he had 'other' things to do. Troy knew that his friend just got bored of watching him study with Gabriella. And Taylor had left her shift early by a half an hour as within the time Gabriella and her were working, the shop had various adults and teenagers pass through, but no one hardly bought anything. Gabriella had informed Troy that it was the weekends that they were busier on or earlier in the week, but for some reason Fridays just weren't that busy when games were going on that night.
"You going to the party tonight?" Troy asked as Gabriella stepped out of the store with her backpack that was holding her school stuff and her work clothes in it on her shoulder.
"Thinking about it, but since I have to work bright and early tomorrow with Jase, I don't think having a hang over will help us." Gabriella stated as they headed for the exit. "What about you?"
"Thinking about it." They reached the outside quickly and Troy glanced around as he saw his truck right away; due to getting their before the after school rush. "So you good for a ride home?"
"I think I'm gonna run it." Gabriella stated as in the previous years she had taken it upon herself to leave her car at school, have a nice jog over to work, and then jog home on game days, and hitch a ride with her dad to the school. From there, after the game all she had to do was drive her car home and she would follow that same cycle for other game days too.
"You're not jogging." Troy said as he held back his disbelief. He had known that for being a cheerleader at their school and competing in the competitions that they usually attended, they had to be fit, but he never thought Gabriella jogged.
"Yeah. I'm pretty sure that I am." Gabriella stated with an amused smile on her face. "Considering I do track in the spring, I should probably start running even more than now."
"I can always give you a ride. It's not like it's THAT far out of range." Troy mused.
"No thanks Troy. But we should get going if we're gonna get to the game." She pointed out. "But hey, I bet I'll even beat you home with the traffic and all. You're gonna be really slowed down with the downtown rush."
"I accept your challenge." Troy said nobly.
Gabriella giggled as she held out her hand and he shook it firmly. This caused her to giggle even more as he looked really good with that sexy grin of his.
"And maybe next time I'll let you run with me." Gabriella said coyly as Troy kinked an eye brow.
"Next time?"
Gabriella blushed as she brushed it off as if it was nothing. "Yeah. Next time."
Jason made his lay up as that is what he did in the games. He drove to the basket; even though he could make a shot anywhere from inside of the three point line. Now shooting from the outside of the arch--almost everyone knew this, but all were too scared to call him on it--was out of Jason's skills. He could do hook shots, do any lay up necessary, dribble around three defensive players, and shoot free throws while balancing a book on his head and being blind folded, but he just couldn't get his three pointers down.
Every once in a while he would get lucky, and if aligned properly, and at the given time, he would attempt and make it. He would watch the ball either hit the back board and bounce off, or just fall short of the basket, but every once in a while when God was feeling nice, Jason would watch the ball sail right through the net. It was a truly proud moment in Jason's life when he would get to see that, but even so, he only took that shot if necessary, but now his team had someone who could make those shots. He had someone to take that risk for him, and even though Jason should've been smart enough to let Troy have that chance, he was too greedy. He was planning on trying to keep the ball away from Troy as much as possible. Do what his dad wanted, and not the Coach.
So Jason had a plan worked out. He had a plan in his head and his dad especially approved of the plan, but when they were just starting to warm up with lay ups on both sides of the court as the opposing team were basically doing the same warm ups, Jason couldn't help but notice that one cheerleader was missing. A brunette to be exact.
He looked at the entrance again and saw the big wooden doors open. He wondered if God could hear him wishing for Gabriella to enter, because there she was walking in with a big black duffel bag that probably held her things to get ready in after the game for the party.
He could just see the hem of the red skirt that was too short for his liking on his best friend's body, as she was wearing a black sports hoodie over her top to hide the number she supposedly had painted on her stomach and back.
"Boys! Come in!" Coach Montez yelled as there were only two more minutes left before the game started. As the boys gathered around their coach, Jason glared at the little C on Troy's jersey. It should've been Zeke as the Co-captain. Not Troy.
Coach Montez started talking about strategies that Jason went over with him right after school. He talked about the Bulldogs defensive plays that they were known to use. But Jason wasn't listening as he saw that the cheerleaders were slowly taking off their jackets as they were done stretching. He saw Sharpay was wearing Zeke's. Taylor was wearing Chad's number, which surprised him a little. And then there was Emma wearing his number.
Jason's face contorted into confusion as if Emma had his number, then that meant Gabriella had to have someone else's. His eyes skimmed over each girls' stomach, and saw Troy's number clearly painted on someone's small torso. He looked her over, and all the color drained from his face.
Troy couldn't help but notice where everyone's eyes were. Almost all the guys were listening and watching Coach Montez, but Jason wasn't. He followed his half-brothers eyes and saw that he was looking at the cheerleaders. Troy rolled his eyes as it was almost typical of Jason to be studying girls like that, but Troy's breath hitched in his throat as his eyes also found the number fourteen.
Gabriella.
"Hands in!" Coach Montez called as the buzzer went off and he motioned to Chad with a small nod of the head.
"WHAT TEAM?!"
"WILDCATS!…"
As they were chanting Coach Montez separated himself from the group as he called over his daughter.
"You see your mother yet?" His eyes scanned the crowd as he couldn't spot his wife where she usually sat with the other mothers who had their sons playing or their daughters dancing.
Gabriella also scanned the crowd and shook her head. "No. I had to remind her about the game this afternoon. There's no way that she could have forgotten." Gabriella mumbled more to herself as her dad held in his concern. There was no use in worrying his only daughter again that something might be wrong. They could wait a week to see what the doctor had to say in the check up. "Dad?" Gabriella asked as she looked at her father; eyes glossed over in panic. "What if--"
"Don't worry." He cut her off before she could even ask. "She's probably just running late. I'll call her if she doesn't show up in a couple of minutes."
Gabriella nodded as from the corner of her eye she could see that the boys had dispersed from their huddle, and now were getting ready to go in by taking off their warm up jerseys and pants.
"So Bolton's number, eh?" Her dad teased.
Gabriella rolled her eyes and shrugged. "I like the number fourteen."
"Yeah. Right?" Carlos rolled his eyes before giving Gabriella's shoulder a small squeeze and walking over to his assistant coach. Only looking back at the entrance one time to double check that Anna hadn't walked in yet.
The five starting players walked past Gabriella as they were going to have to wait on the court to be announced properly by the designated teacher who gets stuck announcing things for various sport events.
"Good luck." Gabriella wished.
Two bodies stopped. Two half-brothers turned their heads. One smiled happily, and the other had a tight mouth as he managed to suppress his anger and hurt.
Gabriella's eyes widened as she didn't think about her actions. She saw Troy and Jason both glare at each other before Gabriella stammered with her words. "The both of you. Good luck to the both of you."
"Yeah. Thanks." Came Jason's short answer before he bumped shoulders with Troy as he turned and jogged over to where Chad, Zeke, and Jake were.
Troy grinned and looked down at her stomach. "Nice number. It suits you."