Disclaimer: Blake and Jen are all that I own.
For the next several days, Gabriella began to grow even closer to Blake and less bothered about Troy, who was following his teammates advice and avoided her at all costs even though it was killing him on the inside. He missed her like crazy and he felt completely miserable without her, but she no longer wanted anything to do with him and he had to learn to except that.
On the other hand, Gabriella couldn't have been happier with her life. Over the past week, she had been spending more and more time with Blake and had pretty much forgot all about Troy. Even though it felt weird at first not having Troy around in some way, she was getting used to it. In her opinion, Troy was just one chapter of her life that had already ended and a new one was just beginning.
On Thursday morning, Gabriella was gathering her books from her locker when suddenly someone came along and slammed her locker door shut. Startled, Gabriella looked beside her to see an obviously very angry Jen.
"What do you want, Jen?" Gabriela asked in a slightly bored tone. "Shouldn't you and Troy be somewhere making out?"
"No, because thanks to you, Troy broke up with me!" Jen shouted angrily.
"He did?" Gabriella asked, suddenly growing interested in the conversation. "When?"
"Last Friday!" she answered.
Gabriella felt a tinge of guilt. She had accused Troy of lying hen he tried to tell her nearly a week ago when he told her, but now she knew it must've been true.
"How do you get he broke up with you because of me? He chose you over me not too long ago, remember?" Gabriella pointed out.
"Because he must be stupid! I mean, you're just some geeky science nerd!" Jen said bitterly.
Gabriella was mad now. "You listen, Troy Bolton is a lot of things but none of them are stupid!"
"He is stupid! Stupid for loving a girl like you!" Jen snapped.
"The only stupid thing Troy has ever done was getting hooked up with you!" Gabriella shot back.
"You had something to do with this, didn't you?" Jen accused her.
"Of course I didn't! Unlike you, I'm not like that! Troy just doesn't want you anymore! If you really loved him, you would want him to be happy!" Gabriella told her just before the warning bell rang through the halls, saving her from a longer argument.
"So, what was that all about?" Taylor asked her moments after she had gotten to homeroom.
Gabriella sighed, frustrated. "Stupid Jen is accusing me of being the reason Troy broke up with her, but I didn't really even know he did!"
"Where have you been the past three days? I thought you already knew!" Taylor said.
Gabriella shook her head. "He told me, but I didn't believe him, and I've been too busy to really notice these past few days."
"You mean busy with Blake?" Taylor questioned.
"Uh, yeah, I guess so," she answered.
"So, has he asked you to be his girlfriend yet?" Taylor asked curiously.
"No, we're just friends!" Gabriella said, although the blush on her face told the real truth.
Taylor laughed. "Whatever you say."
"So, dude, what's up?" Chad asked Troy later that day during lunch.
"Not much," Troy answered. "You?"
"Nothing here either," Chad said. "So, did you hear what Jen did?"
"Oh no, don't tell me!" Troy said, scared to know. "I never want to hear her name ever again!"
"But, I think you might want to know this being it involves Gabriella," Chad said. "And don't try to deny it, I know you still like her."
"What happened?" Troy asked, fearing the worst.
"I saw it myself," Chad started. "Jen started accusing Gabriella of being the cause of you breaking up with her, but Gabriella denied it saying that she's not even speaking to you. Then, Jen called you stupid for loving Gabriella, then she called her a geeky science nerd. Then, Gabriella told her that the only stupid thing you've ever done was date her. Basically, that's it."
Troy looked at him, shocked momentarily. He was expecting a different outcome to the argument, but he was glad Jen didn't hurt Gabriella like he was half expecting.
"I wish she'd just learn to leave people alone. Doesn't she get that I don't have feeling for her anymore?" Troy said, frustrated.
"Obviously not," Chad said. "Maybe you need to find a new girlfriend, then maybe she'll get the message."
"It's not that easy," Troy said.
"Of course it is! I bet that every girl in this cafeteria would jump at the chance to be asked out by the most popular guy in East High," Chad said.
"Not every girl," Troy said, staring at a certain brunette who was sitting across the room with another guy.
Chad sighed. "You need to move on, dude, it's obvious she has."
"Yeah, but I have a feeling that something is going to happen to her," Troy said.
"Like what? She gets a boyfriend that's not you?" Chad questioned.
"No," he lied partially, knowing he was a tad jealous of Blake. "I just don't want her to get hurt again."
"So what if she does?" Chad asked, shrugging. "She's not your responsibility anymore. She wants nothing to do with you, so just stay out of it."
Troy sighed, knowing he was right. As long as Gabriella wanted nothing to do with him, he should respect her wishes and just stay out of her life, even if it killed him.
"So, Gabriella, would you like a ride home?" Blake asked her after school.
"Yeah, sure. Thanks," she answered, putting the rest of her books in her bag.
Together, they walked down the halls of East High, in a comfortable silence. Once they made it to his car, Gabriella put her bag in the back seat and sat in the passenger seat. Blake got in the driver's seat and put the key in the ignition.
The ride was spent mostly in a comfortable silence. Gabriella's mind wandered onto what went on that morning. Jen had been acting like a spoiled brat in her opinion. If a guy broke up with her, she would just let them go because she didn't want a man to stick around because he had to but because he wanted to. True, when Troy basically dumped her, she was heartbroken because he was her best friend, but she didn't try to win him back. Jen, on the other hand, was making a big deal out of it. She acted like it was Gabriella's fault that Troy broke up with her, but Gabriella wasn't even on speaking terms with Troy, so how could she have caused it?
"Hey, Gabriella, something wrong?" Blake asked her, noticing the distant look on her face.
"Oh, um, I was just thinking about something that happened earlier, that's all," she answered, snapping out of her thoughts momentarily.
"What happened?" he asked curiously.
"I was confronted by Jen, Troy's now ex-girlfriend. She was accusing me of being the reason Troy broke up with her, but I'm not even on speaking terms with him so how could I have caused it?" Gabriella explained.
"Some people just like to blame others when it's really their fault. They just look for an easy excuse, and her excuse is probably that Troy still has feelings for you, but if you're smart which I know you are, you'll stay away from the whole mess," Blake advised.
"Thanks, but what if she keeps it up and it gets worse?" she asked.
"That's when you wear a disguise, change your name and hope she can't recognize you," he joked, making Gabriella laugh.
"That might work," she said. "But hopefully it won't come to that. Hopefully that's the last I'll see of her."
"Yeah, maybe," he said, pulling into her driveway.
"Thanks for the ride, Blake," she said, starting to get out of the car. She opened the back door and pulled out her book bag. "I'll see you tomorrow."
"Um, wait, there's something I forgot to ask you," Blake said, following her to her door.
"What-" Gabriella was cut off by Blake who had caught up with her and kissed her. At first, Gabriella was taken aback, but she soon gave into the kiss and kissed him back.
When they pulled apart, they were both smiling awkwardly until Blake got up the courage to ask her the question that had been on his mind for days. "Gabriella, will you be my girlfriend?"
"Of course I will," she answered.
"Great! Then I guess I'll see you tomorrow then," he said, giving her a peck on the lips before leaving.
"Um, yeah, see you then," she called after him quietly.
Once he had left, Gabriella quickly ran upstairs to her room and pulled out her cell phone. After dialing the old familiar number, she waited for Taylor to pick up the phone.
"Hey, Gabi," Taylor greeted her friend after a few rings. "Didn't I just see you?"
"Yeah, but I have great news!" Gabriella said excitedly.
"What are you waiting for? Spill!" Taylor said anxiously.
"Blake kissed me and asked me to be his girlfriend!" Gabriella said excitedly.
"Congratulations! Now you can officially move past the whole Troy mess," Taylor told her.
"Um, yeah," she answered, suddenly not as enthused as before. Now that she knew his feelings for her, she felt guilty but then again, he did it to her first.
"So, how was it? The kiss I mean," Taylor asked her curiously.
Gabriella laughed. "Why should I tell you?"
"Because I'm your best friend so I need to know these things!" Taylor answered, making Gabriella laugh again.
"It was great, happy now?" she answered.
"Very happy," Taylor said. "Are you happy?"
"I just hope I don't get hurt again," Gabriella said. "I don't think I can take anymore heartache this month."
"Blake seems like a nice guy. I don't think you have to worry about it," Taylor assured her.
"Yeah, maybe," Gabriella replied.
"Um, Gabi, I'll talk to you tomorrow. I have a lot of stuff I need to do," Taylor told her.
"Oh, okay, see you tomorrow," Gabriella said and hung up the phone.
Walking over to her nightstand, Gabriella found a paper turned face down. She picked it up and examined it, only to realize it was "Teardrops On My Guitar". She hadn't pulled it out since Troy had accused her of spreading lies about he and Jen, and as she looked over it, old feelings began to resurface as to how she felt about Troy before he broke her heart, but she quickly shrugged them away and threw the song in the trash can. She was done crying. She was with Blake now and she didn't need Troy or her song. There would be no more teardrops on her guitar.
AN: I'm totally sorry for the long update, but things kept popping up and I couldn't help it. Anyway, this wasn't one of my favorites, but I needed to get Blake and Gabriella together somehow. Also, on another note, I know a lot of you went on my profile and voted on which of the four story ideas I had listed that you wanted me to write first, and for those of you who voted for Speak, that will be the first and I already have chapter one almost done, so that'll be up in the next several days hopefully. The others are still undecided, but as of this moment, Breaking The Ice is at a very close second, so I'll try to start that after this story is finished. Then, the other two will start after either my other story, I'll Stand By You, or Speak is done, whichever one finishes first, but either one will be anytime soon. Anyway, to those still reading, thanks so much! I promise the next update will be sooner!