Against All Odds

A Change Will Do You Good

Gabriella couldn't stop smiling – throughout the entire day students and faculty had been coming up to her and Troy telling them how awesome the musical had been. It was amazing to know all of her peers enjoyed watching the show just as much as she enjoyed being in it.

She waited as Ms. Darbus finished off the day's lesson and watched the clock count down the minutes til the day was through. As much as she loved school, she was on too much of a high today to waste time in class.

The bell finally rang, and the students all rushed out of the room and made their ways to their lockers. Gabriella smiled over at Troy before they parted ways and went to their own lockers. Gabriella put her books into her locker, double checked to make sure she had no homework, and closed the locker door. She jumped about four feet in the air when she saw Tim was standing on the other side of her locker door.

"H-h-hey Tim. You scared me!" Gabriella said trying to smile. It seemed more and more that she felt awkward or scared around him.

"Oh, I'm sorry Gabby. You ready to go? The buses are going to leave soon."

Gabriella looked over at him and felt horrible. Today was the day she was supposed to help Tim at his house, and she completely forgot. "Well, uh."

"You forgot." Tim said with downcast eyes after seeing the expression on her face and hearing the tone in her voice.

"I'm sorry Tim. It's just with the musical and everything it slipped my mind. But I'm sure I can change my plans so we can still work together. And I'm sure Troy would drive us over." Gabriella said. She hated imposing that on Troy, but buses scared her more than Tim did.

"Fine." Tim said with a flat voice. "Go find him and figure it out."

"Hey guys." Troy said walking up to the two of them and putting his arm around Gabriella.

"Wow. That was hard." Tim muttered rolling his eyes.

"Troy, do you think you could drive me and Tim over to his house? I forgot we had something planned today. I know we had plans, but we could maybe go the movies later?" She said meekly.

"Hey, it's no big deal. We could always go another day. I mean we've already seen the first three Indiana Jones movies, how different will the fourth be?" He said sarcastically.

Gabriella laughed at him causing Tim to gag. He hated Troy Bolton. How could one person be so freaking perfect? He was clearly attractive, or else every girl in the school wouldn't follow him around like lost puppies. He was really talented, but not just in basketball but in music as well. He was incredibly smart. But what Tim hated the most was that he was a generally nice guy. He always had been. Even before the status quo changed, Troy was never the one to harass or make fun of other people. It was a no brainer that Gabriella would fall for him. She would never want to be with someone like Tim.

But then Tim thought a little more about that. She had just canceled her plans with Troy for him. And why did she keep tutoring him if she was so in love with Troy? He knew that she knew he didn't need help with math. He had always been a straight A student in math class. Why else would he keep making the same mistakes over and over? After thinking about it some more, Tim knew that Gabriella only tutored him because she did indeed want to be with him. She just didn't want to upset Troy or disappoint East High. Troy and Gabriella were the Golden Couple of the school. It would crush all of their peers. So Tim followed Gabriella and Troy out to his car, smiling the entire way. He got in the back seat and ignored the fact that two in the front seats were holding hands. He stared out the window and felt like the sky just got a little bluer. Gabriella wanted to be with him.

He directed them to his house, and both he and Gabriella got out of the car. Gabriella walked over and kissed Troy goodbye before they made their way into the house.

Immediately walking into Tim's house, Gabriella smelled something delicious and felt her stomach grow. Tim laughed at her, and motioned for her to follow him down a hallway leading to the kitchen. There Gabriella saw a middle aged woman in an apron, putting cookies on a wire rack to cool.

"Hey Mom." Tim said, causing the woman to smile and turn around.

"Hi Tim. How was school today?"

"It was good."

The woman smiled and looked over to Gabriella. "And you must be Gabriella. I've heard so much about you. I'm Marissa, Tim's mother. I'm so glad I could finally get to meet you."

"It's a pleasure to meet you as well." Gabriella said smiling. On the inside she was completely confused. Either Tim's mother was just a really cheery person, or Tim had led her to believe that she was more than just a tutor.

"Alright, well we're going to go up my room Mom. We'll be back down later."

"Okay, well you two have fun. And Tim?"

"Yeah?"

"You know the rules. Leave the door open."

"Mom!" Tim hissed before storming out of the room being followed by closely by Gabriella.

Gabriella knew her questions had been answered with that statement. Tim had definitely told his mother there was more than just tutoring going on. But why would he do that?

They went up to his room where Gabriella was met with walls of Tim's drawings and heavy metal bands. She sat down at his computer, and the two began to work.


Almost two hours later, they were still working on the same set of problems, and Gabriella couldn't figure out why he was making the same mistakes every time.

"Hey Tim, may I use the restroom?"

"Yeah, it's downstairs through the kitchen and to the right."

"Okay, thanks. I'll be back. Just keep working on those questions."

Gabriella made her way out of the room and back down the stairs towards the bathroom. She didn't really have to go, but she just needed out. She walked into the kitchen and saw Marissa sitting at the counter with a cup of coffee.

"Oh hey Gabriella. You guys having fun up there?"

"Yeah, we are." Gabriella lied.

"That's good. I'm so glad you came over today. Tim never has very many friends over."

"Well, I don't see why not. Tim is such a nice guy."

"I never really got it either. But I'm glad you're with him. I can tell you're a really sweet person, and I just know you'll make a change for the better in my Tim."

"Well, like I said. Tim's really sweet, so it's not hard to be friends with him." She smiled at Marissa, wanting to make sure the "friends" word got out there. She wasn't sure exactly what Tim had told her, but she wanted to clear that up quickly. She excused herself to the bathroom where she stared at herself in the mirror. What did Marissa mean about bringing out the better in Tim? Tim was an overall nice guy, even if he was a little awkward sometimes. But then Gabriella thought of the drawings she saw that day in the hallway, and the drawings that adorned Tim's walls. Surely, Marissa had seen them too, and maybe that's what concerned her.

Gabriella let these thoughts swirl around her head as she made her way upstairs and gave Tim yet another set of questions.


Another two hours had passed and Gabriella stood in the kitchen with Marissa and Tim waiting on Troy to pick her up. They were eating the cookies that Marissa had baked earlier, and Gabriella was more than thankful for that. She was starving.

She felt her pocket buzz, and pulled out her phone to see a text from Troy.

"Well, that's my ride. Thank you very much for the cookies, Marissa. It was really nice meeting you."

"You as well, Gabriella. Please come back soon."

Gabriella smiled at her, and then looked over at Tim. "I'll see you at school tomorrow Tim."

She then made her way out to Troy's car.

"Rough time?" Troy said looking over at Gabriella's expression as she got in the car.

"Four hours! Four hours and he is still making the same mistakes. I must be a horrible tutor."

"Brie, you know that's not true."

"Then why isn't he getting it? I don't understand."

"I don't either. But just keep in your mind that you're doing a really good thing for him."

"I know, I know. It's just so frustrating. But enough of that. Let's talk about something else."

"You want to go grab something to eat? I don't know if you ate or not, but I'm hungry."

"Oh, that would be awesome Troy. I've only had like, three cookies, maybe. You can even pick where we eat." She said quickly.

Troy laughed at her. "Okay, sounds good."


The next day, they sat at their lunch table making plans for spring break with all of their friends.

"Okay, so there's this great water park downtown. It has like lodge style hotel rooms and we could all stay in one. It has like six queen sized beds plus a couch. I went there with my family once. It's really cool." Taylor explained while peeling the banana in her hand.

"Yeah, that sounds fun. But I still think we should go to New York City. It's so much fun, and the shopping... just incredible." Sharpay said in her usual dramatic tone.

Everyone laughed at her. "None of us have the money for that Shar." Gabriella said. "But maybe-"

"Hey Gabby." She heard a familiar voice behind her. She turned around to see Tim standing behind her.

"Oh. Hey Tim. What's up?"

"Uh, can I talk to you?"

Gabriella looked back at her friends who were all giving her the same weird look then back at Tim. "Sure Tim."

She got up and followed him out of the cafeteria.

"Okay, he really creeps me out." Sharpay said receiving comments of agreement.


Once they were out alone in the foyer, Tim stopped walking.

"What's up Tim?"

"I was wondering if you could come over again today. To help me study of course."

For some reason, Gabriella knew this was coming. "I'm sorry Tim I can't."

"Why not?"

"Because I have plans."

"With Troy?"

"Yes, with Troy. And my friends too."

"What? Am I not your friend Gabby? You never spend time with me!" Tim screamed, his voice bellowing through the hallway.

Gabriella stepped back in fear. "Tim, I'm really sorry. You are my friend. I just made plans with them."

"But what about my studying? I need help! What about my Mom? She expects you to come over again! Gabby you can't just do this to me!"

Gabriella opened her mouth to respond but Tim kept yelling at her.

"You have to come over Gabriella. You have to!"

"Tim, I don't think I should tutor you anymore." Gabriella said with a weak voice.

"What? No! You have to, I'm getting so much better with you."

"But you're not Tim. There are great tutors in the student center. I'm sure that one of them can help-"

Gabriella stopped when she felt Tim's lips crash down upon her own. She pushed him off and looked at him with wide eyes. "I'm sorry Tim. I love Troy. I uh, I-I'm sorry if I led you on. But I can't do that. I'm so so sorry."

She ran off back into the cafeteria before anything else could be said. Tim punched the wall next to him and heard laughing coming from down the hall. He looked up and saw Zane leaning against one of the lockers, laughing.

"Wow, that was really something."

"Shut the hell up, Zane."

"I have a better idea."

"Whatever. Why are you even here? I heard you dropped out?"

Zane walked up to him and put his hands around Tim's throat. "Hardly. Even after Superstar and Pigtails' performance, I still failed Darbus' class. What was the point in coming back? So anyways, you want to get Pigtails for you and only you?" Zane released Tim, shoving him in the process.

Tim paused and looked up at Zane.

"Well?"

"I'm listening aren't I?"

"Alright, we'll just have to show her another side of Tim Smith. And don't worry, I'll help you."


yep, zane's back. not good at all. please review!!