Learning To Fall
by: LunarEclipse360
Disclaimer: not mine
A/N: this isn't much, just filler.
Chapter 13
Gabriella sat at her desk, staring blankly at the book she was supposed to be reading. Her mind, however, was on the blue eyed boy that up until then she believed hated her. Sighing, she closed the book and walked over to her bed. It had been almost two weeks since Troy confessed to liking her and he hadn't spoken to her since. Her relationship with Ryan, however seemed to grow. It seemed that without Troy to bother her, she spent more time talking to Ryan. As much as she liked not being tortured, she couldn't deny that she missed hearing his voice. From her bedside table, her cell phone rung and she answered.
"Hello?"
"Hey, Gabriella, it's Ryan."
"Oh, hey, what's up?"
"Not much. I'm actually calling to ask you something."
"Ask away."
"Well, I wanted to know if maybe you'd be my date for prom."
"Um…well, me and Taylor were actually planning to go together."
"Oh."
"But I would love for you to be my dance partner there."
"I can do that." She could hear him smiling from the other side, her own grin crossing her face.
"Gabi," her mother said, peeking through the partly opened door. "Taylor's here."
"Okay, mom. Ryan, I gotta go. Taylor and I are going shopping for our dress."
"Well, then I'll let you go. I'll talk to you later."
"Bye." She ended the call and got up, heading downstairs. She climbed into Taylor's car minutes later and the two girls made their way to the mall.
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"Ryan asked me to prom," Gabriella said as she and her best friend walked through the mall.
Taylor gasped and turned to her. "What did you say?"
"I said 'no'."
"What? Why?"
"Because we're supposed to be going together, remember?"
"I know, but I wouldn't have minded if you went with him." Taylor trailed off for a second before turning back to Gabriella and crossing her arms. "This doesn't have anything to do with Troy, does it?"
"What? No! Why would it?"
"Well, he hasn't talked to you in two weeks, much less looked at you. I'm just thinking that maybe you're hoping if you don't go with a date that he'll come to his senses and ask you to dance at the prom. Knowing you, you would never be able to dance with someone who likes you if you're with someone else even if it's only for one night."
"That's not it at all."
"Gabriella, stop pretending like Troy's avoidance of you isn't bothering you. You and I both know it is."
"So what if it is?"
"Just admit it, you like him."
"I do not."
"You do too."
"Whatever." Gabriella looked away from her best friend. "You can say whatever you want, but I don't like Troy."
"Speaking of Troy, here he comes." Gabriella turned her attention forward and watched as the blue eyed boy walked towards them.
"McKessie, Chad wants to talk to you for a second," he said not once looking at Gabriella. Taylor looked around the five foot ten boy and saw his best friend standing against a wall, looking at his shoes.
Taylor looked at Gabriella. "I'll be right back." Taylor walked away, leaving Gabriella and Troy to stand there in an uncomfortable silence.
"Why are you ignoring me?" she asked finally.
"You know why."
"But it makes no sense." His eyes turned to her, looking at her for the first time in two weeks.
"How does it not make sense? I told you I like you and you told me you hate me, plain and simple."
"Troy, you've put me through torture since the day we started high school. Did you really expect me to forget all of that?"
"No, but I was hoping you would look past it."
"How can I look past that?"
"Because everything I ever did was my way of saying that I like you."
"What?"
He shook his head. "Never mind."
"I'm not interrupting something, am I?" Taylor asked as she made herself known.
Troy shook his head again and looked away from Gabriella. "No, you're not." He walked away, going back to his best friend.
"What was that about?"
"Can we not talk about it?" Gabriella asked and walked away from Taylor. "So what did Chad want to talk to you about?"
"He asked me to prom."
"And what did you say?"
"That I would go."
"What?" Gabriella stopped walking and turned to her friend. "Tay, I thought we were going together?"
"I know I said we were going to go together, but you gotta understand, I've been crushing on Chad for a year now and I wanna see where this goes. Besides, now you can say 'yes' to Ryan."
"Tay…" Gabriella groaned.
"Just go with him and see what happens. If you don't think he's right for you, then just tell him."
"I already tried that when we went on that date and things went well…until I found out that Troy saw me there with Ryan."
"Whoa, hold up. You never told me this."
"I didn't. I thought I did."
"No, you didn't. So Troy actually saw you two together?" Gabriella nodded.
"That's why he was mad at me that day."
"Damn. He's got it bad. Wait, but why was he mad at you when he hadn't even told you he liked you yet?"
"Because it was only a day or two after he kissed me and I also told him once that Ryan was just a friend."
"He actually asked you if you and Ryan were more than friends?" Gabriella nodded. "Girl, if that didn't tell you that he liked you, I don't know what would've, besides that kiss of course."
"Things have gotten too complicated and I can't take it."
"Look, just tell Ryan that you'll go to prom with him and have a good time. Don't think about how Ryan feels towards you or what Troy feels about you. Just let everything go and enjoy the night, alright?"
Gabriella nodded and the two girls continued to shop for their prom dresses.