AN: Hey guys! I'm back. Sadly, I don't know how long for. This is the only free night I have to write. I'm very busy, especially right now, i'm trying to decide what college would be right for me, and the future is a very scary thought, it's something i'm really concerned about right now. I hope you guys understand. Of course, I'm very devoted into finishing this story. But you know what's really annoying? The fact that microsoft word totally broke down on me so now im typing on word pad, and theres no spell check on this, so sorry in advance if I make a huge typo, i'm not a very good speller.
Waaaay too many things have happened during the time that I haven't updated so i'm not really gonna mention them all. I'm pretty sure they were mentioned in other stories that you guys read.
Another thing that I DO want to point out, however. Is that so many people choose to add this story to their alerts/favorites but NO ONE chooses to review. Oh wow, I seem like a hypocrite just typing that but I DO THE SAME! .. Ok from now on i'm gonna review each chapter of a story I read. Bet on it;) Karma does hit big then.
Disclaimer: I just blew all my money on a purse.. and to think I could have used 118.00 dollers to buy the characters off HSM... yeah I don't think so.
The song used in this chapter is by Taylor Swift. And I HIGHLY RECCOMEND that you listen to this song, and listen to all her songs, she is such an amazing artist!
Chapter Fourteen - Should've Said No
It's been a little over two weeks now. Troy and Gabriella were avoiding each other as much as possible. Gabriella would see Troy, she'd turn the corner. Troy saw Gabriella.. well you could guess it. He was embaressed. She was ashamed. The only good thing coming out of this was that Sharpay was happy, if you even consider that a good thing. She would talk to Troy, and Troy would try to avoid her, but it never worked. Sharpay even told Gabriella to not bother talking to him anymore, because now she's got the rest of the plan all worked up and she didnt need Gabriella anymore. Everyday, the first thought Gabriella has when she wakes up is that she shouldn't have agreed to be involved in getting Troy and her back together, because now in her eyes, it looked as if it was working.
Gabriella was sitting with Taylor in the library. Taylor looked at her friend with serious contentment. She knew something was wrong. She knew that face.
"Gabi, is there something wrong?"
"No of course not... everything is perfect." She rolled her eyes at her own sarcasm.
"Want to talk about it?"
"No."
Before Taylor could say anything else, the warning bell had rung and they both rushed off into their next class. Gabriella pulled out her schedule out to see what she has. When the days are hectic, like today, she tends to forget what her next period is. Gabriella sighed when she read she had math. Great, another day avoiding Troy. She slipped the schedule back into her bag, and silently walked to class.
As if the day couldn't get any worse, as soon as she walked in she saw Sharpay flirting with Troy. Gabriella rolled her eyes and sat down at her desk.
She hated this. The teacher was teaching a lesson, something about finding the 'x' in the triangle. Of course, Gabriella wasn't listening. Her mind was on something else. Someone else. What Gabriella was more surprised of though, was how Troy's marks kept decreasing.
The teacher handed back the latest test, and when she got to Troy's she said: "Another fail, Mr. Bolton. Please see me after class." She heard him sigh. This was all her fault. If she didn't listen to Sharpay's stupid plan, she could have been helping Troy with math. He would probably be passing. And they would probably be together.
After class, as Gabriella was putting all her stuff together to get ready to leave, Sharpay approached her. She had this huge smile on her face, she had also just noticed how perfect and white her teeth was, and how flawless her face was. She truly was a beautiful girl, and Troy.. well Troy was the hottest guy. And who was Gabriella fooling? She was just another average Joe. These are the two that belonged together. Well, just her luck, they were already half way there.
"Gabriella, I just wanted to thank you again." Sharpay said. Wait! Was that an actual sincere smile? Gabriella brushed it off, and smiled back.
"It's not a problem. I needed to get Troy off my chest anyways, me tutoring him was interfering with my own grades." She lied through her teeth, and it made her want to barf a little.
"Well, as a thank you, I wanted to give you this." Sharpay shuffled through items in her purse and she got a cheque. "This is for you."
Gabriella hesitantly took it, and then looked at it. Her eyes went wide and her jaw just dropped. "One houndred and fifty dollers?!" Sharpay smirked and nodded. "Sharpay, I can't accept this." She gave it back to her, but Sharpay refused to get a hold of it.
"Please keep it, Gabi. I can't emphasize the fact on how happy I am. Troy and I seem to be doing great, and I do believe that things are going to work out again. Please accept it, I don't know how to say thank you in any other way."
Gabriella felt a tad of jealousy. "Thank you."
Sharpay smiled once more and walked out. Gabriella looked at the cheque in her hands once more. This cheque could have read one thousend dollers, Gabriella would have still felt like a complete fool. No money can make up for what she really wanted. What she really wanted was Troy, but she had to accept the fact that she lost.
The bus ride home felt so lonely. Today was Friday. Friday was normally the day Troy would be sitting on the bus with her. She took a look on the left of her, and all she seen was an empty seat. It just didn't feel right.
She walked into the house and she wasn't surprised when she saw it empty again. Right when she set her stuff on the floor the phone rang.
"Hello?"
"Hey Gab!"
"Hey Taylor"
"What's up?"
"Nothing really, i'm just about to do homework."
"On a friday? Girl, you gotta live a little. Put you're homework down. We're going out."
Gabriella sighed, not really wanting to hear it. "Where are we going?"
"Were just gonna go get some pizza and maybe hit the mall later. Pretty please come?" "Wait.. you said 'were'. Whose "we"?"
"Oh, just me and Chad. I don't want to go with him by myself. Please come, you're the only one who can make conversation."
"I guess i'll come."
What the heck? Gabriella thought, she needed a night out. No use in moping.
"Yay! Thank you, Gab."
Gabriella hung up and then got ready.
Taylor and Chad arrived at her house a couple of minutes later. She smiled when she saw them. They look cute together. Gabriella opened the back seat to Chad's car and they both said hi to her and then they were off.
Things were going great, they were talking and laughing. Until SOMETHING just had to show up. Gabriella saw Sharpay and Troy walk through the door, and sit at a table, she was pretty certain that they couldn't see her. But she saw them perfectly. They were laughing and flirting. It was making her sick. She head Taylor talking, but she wasn't listening. The only thing she was looking at was how happy Troy looked.
"...of course I said no! I mean I don't want to be a cheerleader! Isn't that right Gab?" She looked at Gabriella, expecting encouraging words, but she didn't say anything. It kind of looked like she was just day dreaming. "Gab?". She reached across the table to shake her shoulders. Gabriella snapped back into reality immediately. She still ignored Taylor's question.
"Excuse me just one second." Gabriella excused herself and walked out the door.
Taylor looked over at Chad confused, Chad gave her a pout and pointed to the table in the corner. Taylor's eyes widened and then she completely understood why Gabriella had to leave. Taylor was going to go talk to Gabriella, but she figured that she should give her some space.
Back to Sharpay and Troy's table, Troy felt he had to step outside for a second, "Shar, i'm just gonna go outside for a minute."
"Well, i'll come with you."
"No! I mean, you don't have to. Just stay here and make sure we don't lose our table, okay?" Sharpay nodded sadly, and watched Troy walk out of the door.
Truth was, he needed a break from her.
He stepped outside and was surprised to see Gabriella curled up with her knees to her chin sitting along the wall.
Troy had to blink three times to make sure it was her, and it was.
"Gabriella?"
Gabriella looked up and she saw Troy's eyes looking back at her. "What do you want?" Gabriella snapped. She didn't expect her voice to sound so cold. But she figured she was just trying to protect herself.
"Look Gabriella, you don't have to be angry with me. I don't even know what I did wrong. Want to tell me? Maybe i'll understand you a lot better!"
"All I want is for you to leave me alone. Isn't your date waiting for you?"
"Is that what it is? Your intimidated by Sharpay? Well don't be!"
"Wait.. who said I was intimidated by Sharpay? Where do you get this stuff from, Bolton."
"You didn't hear?" Troy had to admit, he was shocked. He was sure Sharpay would run off and tell the whole school right when she asked him. "We're kind of dating."
"Oh. And you expect me to be all normal about it?"
Troy looked at her and he was speechless, he's never heard her speak out to him like that.
"Gabriella, YOU ARE the one who rejected me when you had a chance. I don't understand why you're acting this way."
"Did you ever think about why I rejected you?"
Troy was silent.
"That's what I thought. Why don't you go back inside with you're girlfriend. I think she's starting to wonder where you went."
But he didn't move, he didn't make a sound. Gabriella sat back down on the floor and rested her head on her knees and he heard her sobbing. He crouched down, and tried to pull her hair back, she slapped his hand away. "I don't know what i'm supposed to say Gabriella.''
"You don't have to say anything." She said more softly. "Just leave."
"Not until you tell me something." Gabriella looked up at him and put on a serious face.
"You want me to tell you something? Okay, fine i'll tell you something alright!"
Gabriella started thinking about what she was going to say, and Troy just stayed there waiting for what was to come.
"You get me so angry!" She spat at him. "There's something about Troy Bolton though. I don't know what it is. Is it because of his name? Is it because he is the captain of the basketball team? Is it because he's rediciulously hot, and every single girl in the school, and every single girl in the other school want to date him? Let me tell you something, before you, no guy has ever bothered to talk to me. Sure, you were asking for a tutor, but no guy wanted to tell me anything. I was just useless! I was only seen for my smarts. No one looked at the girl behind the text books, but that's where you come along. You've really opened my eyes. You taught me so much. Sure, I was the one teaching you, but you were teaching me something too. Do you want to know what that was? You were teaching me how to be myself. You pretty much showed me to live a little. Put those books down, because I am worth so much more than that. Troy, no guy has ever wanted to date me. So when you asked me to be your girlfriend. I felt scared. I mean, look at my parents relationship! I didn't want that. I'm better off without you, and your better off without me. You're with who you belong, and i'm back where I belong. But I still can't help it. Every night before I go to sleep, I think about all the things i've done wrong in my life leading down to that time in the park where you asked me to be you're girlfriend, and I also realized that was the BIGGEST mistake in my life. The biggest mistake was saying no. I had to do it. So I tried. I tried so hard. God, I even avoided you for 2 weeks! But now here you are, listening to me rant. Then right here, this is when I realize what's so good about Troy Bolton. And do you want to know? It's the fact that he managed to get me to fall for him."
Gabriella took a deep breath and finished what she had to say. "You're the only guy who can get me to fall for you."
Troy looked at her and walked closer to her, he didn't know what to say. So all he did was wrap his arms around her, and let her cry into his chest.
He pulled away and looked at her right in the eyes, "Gabriella, Sharpay asked me out. I didn't ask her."
Gabriella looked at him, expecting him to say more.
"I said yes. Obviously. But if I could go back, I would take it all back."
"What can I tell you, Troy?" In barely a whisper she said: "you should have said no."
She broke apart from his embrace, and she could have sworn she felt cold the minute in doing so, but she went back in the pizzeria and found Taylor and Chad.
They both looked at her, and they could tell that she had been crying. "Guys we need to go."
Taylor was very understanding, so they all left and drove Gabriella back home.
"Sorry for tonight, Gab." Chad apologized.
"Don't be sorry. It's not you're fault that Troy was there."
"We'll see you." Taylor said before Gabriella went back home.
That night
Gabriella and Troy were both trying to sleep. But each one of them thinking about something.
Troy thinking he should have said no.
Gabriella thinking he should have said no.
"Should've
Said No" It's strange to think the songs we
used to sing [Chorus: You should've said no, you should've
gone home You can see that I've been crying [Repeat Chorus I can't
resist... before you go, tell me this No... no no no... [Repeat Chorus
The smiles, the flowers, everything: is
gone
Yesterday I found out about you
Even now just looking at
you: feels wrong
You say that you'd take it all back, given one
chance
It was a moment of weakness and you said
yes...
You should've thought twice before you let it all go
You
should've know that word, bout what you did with her
Would get
back to me...
And I should've been there, in the back of your
mind
I shouldn't be asking myself why
You shouldn't be begging
for forgiveness at my feet...
You should've said no, baby and you
might still have me
And
baby you know all the right things: to say
But do you honestly
expect me to believe
We could ever be the same...
You say that
the past is the past, you need one chance
It was a moment of
weakness and you said yes...
Was it worth it...
Was
she worth this...
AN: Dum dum dum...
I'm not a fan of this chapter.
Next chapter: Troy figures EVERYTHING out. Sharpays plan. How will he react to it? Will he get his tutor back?