Chapter 11: Basketball Dinner Part I

Recap

"Are you okay?" Gabriella sat down next to Troy. Troy rubbed his face.

"I'm fine. Just thinking about you and Alexia."

"In what way?"

"You know."

"Okay. But don't stress about it."

"Alright." Gabriella lightly kisses him on the cheek and skipped off to pay for the dress. Troy followed her and pulled out his American Express credit card to the saleslady.

"I'm paying for it remember?" Troy smirked. Gabriella smiled and wrapped her arm around Troy's.

"Thanks for coming!" The saleslady shouted as Gabriella and Troy walk out of the store.

"Where to next?" Gabriella asked.

"Let's just go home." Gabriella nodded and they walked off to Troy's car.

End Recap

"Don't stress out, Gabi. It's just a dinner," Troy said as he grabbed her hand and rubbed the knuckle of her index finger.

"I know. But everyone will be there. Including your basketball team."

"They're just people like us. Don't be worried. I know they'll love you." He took her hand and kissed it. Gabriella blushed.

The basketball dinner was tonight. Troy was calm about it even though he hasn't seen his basketball mates for a while. Gabriella was really nervous since she hasn't seen them since last year. They both heard that there were going to be paparazzi, but they didn't worry about that too much.

Troy drove to the Hilton where the dinner was held and parked it in front of it. He tossed his keys to the valet person and another valet person opened the passenger door. Gabriella got out in a sky blue dress that shines all the way home. Troy ran to Gabriella and grabbed her hand.

"Don't worry, babe. Everything is going to be fine." He squeezed her hand, meaning that she can trust him. Gabriella smiled and nodded. They walked together into the Hilton and was met by flashes. This time, Gabriella stood tall and kept walking. She looked at Troy and he was trying to push some of the cameras away.

"I'm fine Troy. Let's just go." Troy nodded and pulled her out of the crowd and immediately up the escalator. The next floor had music playing and a lot of elegant dressers chatting with each other. Troy pulled Gabriella toward one of the groups.

"Hey Troy!" Gabriella suddenly remembered this was one of Troy's teammates, Nathan.

"Hey Nate." He gave Nathan a manly hug and kissed the woman next to Nathan on the cheek.

"Gabriella, this is Nate's girlfriend, Ellen. Ellen, this is my girlfriend Gabriella." Gabriella held out her hand and Ellen shook it. Ellen was a Philipino brunette that had luscious skin and a beautiful dark blue sequin dress.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Gabriella. I've heard so much about you."

"From the news?"

"No, from Troy and Nate. Nate knew you before you left right?" The basketball team knew that Gabriella left Troy but didn't know why.

"Yeah."

"Well, it's nice to finally meet you."

"Troy!" Gabriella turned around to see Chad and Taylor walking toward them. Chad ran up to them. "Did you take my car?" He sounded like he was out of breathe.

"Yeah. You said I could."

"I said you could wash it. I didn't say you could take it."

"Well, you said I could do anything with it."

"That didn't mean…" Taylor ran over and pushed Chad behind.

"Sorry, he's just kind of mad since he had to take the taxi." Troy nodded and mouthed 'sorry' to Chad.

"Hey Ellen!" Taylor kissed Ellen on each cheek and pulled back. Another couple came dressed matching with the color pink and white.

"Hey Taylor!" the lady in a pink and white flowers dress came over with the man linked arms with her.

"Hi Cindy!" Cindy and Taylor hugged each other. After that, Taylor dragged Cindy's hand to where Gabriella was, also pulling Cindy's man.

"Cindy, this is Gabriella, Troy's girlfriend. And Gabi, this is Cindy." Gabriella took out her hand but Cindy pulled her into a hug.

"It… is…so…great…to…finally…meet…you…" Cindy squeezed Gabriella between words. Gabriella was almost suffocating before Cindy pulled back. "You are so amazing and I think it's so cute that you and Troy met in high school."

"Uhh… thanks?" Gabriella seemed a little scared of Cindy. She was being a little too cheerful.

"No problem. We're gonna be such great friends." Troy wrapped his arm around Gabriella's waist.

"The guy next to Cindy is Max, her boyfriend. He's also on the basketball team." Gabriella nodded and Troy kissed her on the neck.

"Please, Bolton, no PDA!" Nathan covered his eyes, but Ellen pulled his arm down.

"Dude, you sound like our teacher, Ms. Darbus," Chad said. Gabriella giggled at the memories when Chad and Troy would pull pranks on Ms. Darbus.

The doors opened for the guests to come in. the ballroom was beautiful; it was really big, looks like it can fit about three thousand people. It looked like about three thousand people came anyways. The people had to sit in their designated spots, but Nathan, Ellen, Chad, Taylor, Cindy, Max, Troy, and Gabriella were all seated at one table. They ran to the table, which was in the very middle front of the room where they could watch the stage perfectly and they could just walked a few steps to the dance floor. There were three seats empty and they saw Coach Watson and his wife sitting there.

"Gabriella! I haven't seen you for a long time!" Coach Watson got up and hugged Gabriella. She and Coach Watson were very close when Gabriella would always go to Troy's practices and watch him. She'd even pour water into the cups that they drank during break.

"Where have you been?" Coach Watson asked.

"UCLA. I'm trying to get a degree."

"Typical Montez. I'm so proud of you." Gabriella giggled and sat between Troy and Coach Watson.

"This is my wife, Whitney," Coach Watson introduced. Gabriella and Whitney shook hands.

"My husband has told me so much about you and Troy's days."

"I didn't know I was that famous." Whitney laughed.

"So did you hear about Alexia?" Ellen asked. Gabriella turned her attention to this conversation.

"Yeah, I saw you on the news, Gabriella. I'm so sorry," Cindy said.

"I don't mind."

"Yeah, she's totally a bitch. When she came to basketball practice with Troy, she was practically flirting with the other players." Gabriella grabbed Troy's hand and squeezed it. Troy felt better.

"That girl is a slut. I was amazed when I heard you broke up with her, Troy." Troy smiled.

"Something had to be done," Chad said, tipping his chair.

"She tried to beg me to let her come to this dinner, but I didn't," Coach Watson said.

"You go, Coach Watson!" Ellen shouted.

"I didn't want her to ruin this dinner. And besides, she wasn't like Gabriella, who is so mellow and loved to help out with the team." Gabriella smiled.

"It was fun hanging out with you guys," Gabriella said.

"I heard that after Troy broke up with her, she went to the bar and had sex with a male stripper," Cindy said. Gabriella could tell Cindy was into gossip.

"Ughh, I hate that whore," Ellen said.

"This is a basketball dinner, so let's focus on that. Alexia is off our discussion list and besides, if we continue about her, I'd might just describe her in all the cuss words made for English," Taylor said. Ellen and Cindy laughed.

The appetizer was served. It was a typical Caesar salad with Hilton's homemade dressing. It was really delicious.

"So what are you doing now, Gabriella?" Ellen asked, stuffing her mouth with lettuce in dressing.

"I'm at UCLA, studying acting." Ellen nodded.

"Isn't acting hard?" Cindy asked.

"Sort of. You had to be serious most of the time."

"Yeah, I can't be that. I have to be cheerful or emo. And I don't like it when I'm emo." Gabriella chuckled.

"My mom thinks that acting can get you into drugs. I don't believe that for most of the celebrities," Nathan said.

"The Lakers are kind of celebrities," Chad said.

"Especially Troy," Max coughed out. Cindy hit him on the head.

"Look! Look! I told you I'm not the only one who gets hit in the head." Taylor hit the back of his head. "Ow, I was just stating out the facts." He lowered his head and drank his water.

"Modeling is also so superficial. The girls had to be anorexic to fit in the clothes," Ellen said.

"Yeah, I mean look at Tyra Banks. She's retired from modeling and she's still doing America's Next Top Model," Cindy said.

"How many seasons did her show do?"

"I don't know. About five. I'm not sure." A/N: Seriously, I am not sure. I don't watch ANTM a lot.

"I don't really care anyways. Can you believe Alexia is a model."

"She's not suit for it. She looks like a size ten. A size ten does not do modeling."

"I know huh?"

"Speak of the devil…" Taylor said. Gabriella ate a tomato and turned around. Her eyes widened.

"Oh my fucking god," Ellen's jaw dropped.

"That bitch isn't supposed to be here," Cindy said.

"I'm here!!!" The girl spread her arms for everyone to welcome her. Everybody turned around and stared.

Alexia Wallace was here.

A/N: Frikkin' cliffy man! Watch for the next chapter. Someone finally wins the fight for Troy Bolton.