Gabriella could feel the muscles on her legs begin to expand as she reaches past her feet on her right leg. Eight days. That's all she could think about. Eight days had gone by since she last spoke to him. Eight days since she last heard him talk to her. Eight days since her heart had been broken into a million pieces. It should have been simple. He lied, get over it. But this… this was different. She wasn't sure if they were broken up. She wasn't sure of anything right now. Her mind was torn. One half was saying to forget the bastard and quit now, but the other half was telling her to give him another chance. The first half sounded so much better to just drop everything that had happened, but she knew she couldn't let Troy out of her heart.
She sighs as she glances up in the mirror to see everyone else was stretching along with her. Her body was still a complete mess, though she looked a little better then last week. At least it actually looked like she showered, but she still had huge bags under her eyes from lack of sleep last night. How could she sleep when so many things kept running through her head, and there was absolutely nothing she could do about them?
"Hey." A low voice enters her ears as she looks up to find her best friend standing there. Taylor then sits down next to her, since the camp didn't actually start yet, and they were just stretching while waiting for Camilla to arrive, which wouldn't be for at least another fifteen minutes. "How's it going?"
Gabriella shrugs her thin and boney shoulders while glancing at the mirror again to see the brunette in the back of the room. She hadn't said a word to Amber at all in eight days either, nor did she have any desire to. In Gabriella's mind, Amber wasn't worth the thought. "Hanging in there." She says softly while Taylor nods and Gabriella switches feet to stretch.
"So guess who I saw last night?" She says casually while Gabriella shrugs and then grabs her arm to stretch that while still in a sitting position.
"I don't know… the Queen of England." She asks even though she knew that wasn't right, she just wasn't in the mood to play this game right now. She really wasn't in the mood to do much of anything but dance lately.
"Close, but no." She says while grabbing her own arm while Gabriella reaches behind her head and begins stretching. "A certain depressed brown-haired-blue-eyed-boy who is rooming with my boyfriend." She says with a hint of hope in her voice.
At first, Gabriella's heart lifts at the thought of her boyfriend, well if he WAS still her boyfriend, but then sinks when she was reminded of the pain her put her though. "Good for you." Gabriella says like she doesn't care, but deep down she was dying to hear the rest of this story.
Taylor rolls her own eyes. "Don't give me that, I know you care."
She sighs again and looks up at Taylor's face to see her move the bangs off to the side even more. "No I don't." She completely lies while Taylor rolls her eyes again.
"He's a mess." Her best friend tells her and Gabriella's heart sinks a little. He was a mess? What did that mean? Did that mean he was hurting as badly as she was? What if something was wrong with him? "He looks awful, I don't even think I'd be able to recognize him if I didn't know it."
Gabriella knew she was exaggerating, but by how much? "Good." Was the only thing that Gabriella could find to say. "Why are you telling me this?"
Taylor sighs, to add to the dramatic effect but Gabriella knew exactly where she was going with this. "I think you should talk to him."
Her body suddenly begins fighting a war inside her. It was like cannons were going off in her stomach and neither side wanted to back down any time soon. She wanted to talk to him; she wasn't going to lie there. Eight days had been torture without talking to him. But the other side of the war was shooting cannons back saying how he broke her trust, just like her father and just like Collin. How can she just go back to him like that and expect that he will be honest in the future? What else hasn't he told her? "No." Gabriella says plainly, even though the other half of her was furious right now.
"What's you not talking to him going to solve? You guys are both miserable. You guys can both barely function. Just talk to him, what's the harm in just talking?" Taylor asks as Gabriella sighs again. Every other girl in the studio was too busy gossiping about something or complaining to notice that the two girls were having an actual heart to heart conversation right in front of them.
"I can't do it." She says while looking at her best friend, trying to get her to understand.
"Why not?" Taylor asks.
Gabriella looks down, finding the floor so much easier to look at then Taylor. "Troy broke the most important thing to me. I have major trust issues." She says while looking back up at Taylor.
She nods in understanding. "But… he was just trying to protect you, to not hurt you. He was doing it for you, that's gotta count for something right?"
She pushes back a strand of hair that was sitting on her forehead. "It doesn't matter, he still lied. It's just so confusing. I want to talk to him, but I know I can't." She says while Taylor looks at her with concern.
"Why not?"
"I just…" Gabriella sighs. "I don't know what to do. I've been like this all my life… I've never trusted people after they've let me down." She says while looking down at the floor again. Her fingers trace light patterns on the studio floor. This was her home, it was supposed to bring her happiness. Then how could she feel this miserable?
"So you can't trust him now. No one can." Taylor says and Gabriella sighs again. She was acting like it wasn't a big deal, but it was. It was huge, and the war going on in Gabriella's mind was driving her crazy.
"But that's the problem." She explains while keeping her head down, still staring at the floor.
Taylor's eyebrow rises. "What is?"
Her eyes finally lift up as she could feel a burning sensation in the back of them. No, she was done crying. She couldn't do it anymore. "I want to trust him."
Suddenly, the door swings open and Gabriella turns around to see the small Hispanic lady walk in with an air of dignity. Camilla throws her bag to the floor in front of the studio and Gabriella almost cringes at the sound of the door slamming. The dance instructor scans the faces as everyone looks up at her, not daring to have to catch them off guard, or who knows what would have happened.
"Good morning." She says as though giving a lame attempt to be polite. Gabriella's tired eyes glance over at Taylor, who had her own scared look on her face. Both of them look across the studio to see that Sharpay was staring back at them, the same look in her eyes. There was something different about the way Camilla walked in today that Gabriella noticed. "I have some good news."
"Uh oh, this can't be good." Taylor whispers and Gabriella probably would have found it funny if she wasn't dying inside.
"I have finally made my decision on who is taking the senior solo." She says while a twisted smile on her face that almost made Gabriella shudder. The senior solo. Some of these girls had been working their asses off for this moment. Gabriella glances over to see that Sharpay was glancing at her. She also looks back to see that Amber had a smug look on her face that Gabriella just wanted to rip off, stomp on the ground, and let to die.
"It's gonna be you." Taylor whispers as Gabriella looks at her and shakes her head.
"Amber's been working on this forever." She whispers back, almost throwing up at the sound of the girl's name on her tongue.
"But you're the best fucking dancer I've ever seen." She whispers back with a warm smile on her face. It should have made Gabriella feel better, but all it did was remind her of that sweet, incredible smile that Troy gave her.
"Many of you have been working on this since you first got here." Gabriella glances back to see that Amber's smile grows even bigger. She rolls her eyes and faces forward again. "But I chose on who I thought will be able to take this, perfect it and give it individuality. The lady who will be performing this is… Gabriella Montez."
She could feel all eyes on her as her stomach flips. Usually, she'd be ecstatic about this, but right now, she could barely function, how was she supposed to do a solo? She had until the end of the month to do it, when they performed their performance at the showcase, but how was she going to do this? "Camilla, I…"
"Will practice until I get it perfect? Thank you Montez." She says while attitude in her voice. Gabriella looks up into the beady black eyes that were staring down at her while her lipstick seemed to be brighter then usual. There was no changing Camilla's mind. Whatever she said went, and right now, that meant Gabriella was going to have to do the impossible. Perfect a dance with a broken heart. "Alright, everyone get to work."
"Congrats Gabriella!" Angie whispers.
"You'll do so amazing Brie!"
"You definitely deserve it!"
"Nice job Brie!" Were all things called out to her.
"Congrats." Taylor says as Gabriella looks at her, probably paler then when she first walked in the room.
"I can't do this." She exclaims while Taylor places a hand on her shoulder.
"You'll do great, I know you will." She encourages as Gabriella takes a deep breath, trying to calm herself down.
"I can't." Her head turns back even further to see that Amber's face was a little shocked, with jealousy written in her green eyes as she stared back at the almost black-haired girl. Well, at least there was one good thing about this.
She got one thing Amber never got.
Hours later, Gabriella found herself alone in the studio. Camp was over, but that wasn't stopping Gabriella. Her deep brown eyes were staring into her own in the mirror. This was how it was going to have to be from now until the showcase. She would be able to practice after camp to get this right. It was a good thing though, because the more she practiced, the more she didn't have to think. And the more she didn't have to think, the better off she was, since then she wouldn't have to feel pain.
"Kick, fan, turn, step." She whispers the counts in her head as her body responds. It should have been so easy. She had done solos before in her life. In fact, she had done MANY routines by herself before. But this? This was hard. Because she had to do this while her heart broke with every second that went by.
Her body was stiff, and she knew it. There was no passion, no emphases, no heart into this. How could there be? Her heart was in the hands of Troy Bolton, who then decided to shove it to the ground and stomp on it. Why couldn't he just have been honest? Why did he have to put her through this much pain? Her legs continue to move as she thinks this. The white walls and the side with the mirror seem to close in around her. She felt so small, so helpless, so… so heartbroken.
Her legs finally collapse as she sinks to her knees. Small tears were built up in her eyes as she could feel them burning. But suddenly, without warning, she hears something in the room. It was a small sound, and almost would go undetected but there was no music in the room, and Gabriella was by herself. Her head lifts up to look in the mirror, and her body was completely thrown into shock.
Standing next to the white door was a familiar person, but in a way he was unrecognizable. His normally perfect hair had lost the normal shine to it that it had. His face seemed longer, paler then the usual perfect tan skin that lit up any room. There was a slight shadow on his chin and under his nose, giving him a dirty look. But what drew Gabriella in were the normally, piercing, perfect blue eyes. They had become completely dull, colorless, and almost gray in pain. Her eyes look up and meet his in the mirror. Gabriella's body couldn't move. It was the closest she had been to him in eight days. He looked like shit.
Her body slowly turns around away from the mirror but immediately lock back up with his almost gray eyes. Her legs slowly stand up as she has to balance herself to make sure that she didn't fall over in shock. The heart that was pounding quickly suddenly fluttered. He was here; he wanted to talk to her. Everything was going to be ok.
But that thought soon died as she could suddenly feel the pain she felt last week all over again. Why would he come here? There was no way she would forgive him. He broke her trust, just like every other guy. He wasn't any different, he was just like them.
Gabriella tries to look away but found that she couldn't. "Why… Why are you here?" Gabriella asks, weak at first but attitude lacing into her voice with every word that was spoken.
Troy sighs as he could pick up that tone she used. "I need you." They were the simplest words, and Gabriella's heart fluttered at them, but then her mind took control again. "We have to talk."
Gabriella's eyes narrow a little. "We don't have to do anything." She says while crossing her arms, not giving into his perfection.
Troy dares to take a step forward, Gabriella feeling the temperature in the room suddenly shoot up about ten degrees. "I can't do this Gab. I can't. I miss you, I want you, I need you…I'm sorry." He says while taking another step further towards her.
Gabriella could see the desperation in his eyes, but there was no way she was breaking now. She couldn't just forgive him like that. "I don't care." She says with her voice cracking. It was a complete lie and she knew it.
"Gabi… please." He begs but remains in his spot.
Gabriella shakes her head, and then looks down a the ground finding that if she did that, if she didn't look at him, then maybe, just maybe she could do this without loosing. "Sorry isn't going to do shit Troy."
He sighs and then takes another step forward. "I know… just tell me what to do." He says desperately. "I shouldn't have lied to you…"
Gabriella turns around and faces the mirror again. "I don't want to hear it Troy." She says while still staring at the mirror, her heart breaking just looking at him.
She watches as he sighs and closes his eyes through the mirror. "So is that it? After everything we've done this summer? You're just gonna throw it away like that?" He asks while taking another step closer, but still remaining his distance from her. His voice was getting slightly stronger with every word he said. "Are you ever going to talk to me?"
Gabriella knew the answer to this question. Her eyes look up to see him staring at her, with lust, pain, and desperation in them. "Yes." She says quietly. Hope stretches across his face for a moment, but then suddenly dies while Gabriella turns to look at him. "I just don't know what's going on right now ok?"
Each word made her voice shake more. Troy takes another step forward to comfort her as she takes a step back and wipes her eyes. "Gabi…"
"It's not like I'm never going to talk to you again." She says simply, starting to let her emotions take over. But not now, she couldn't. She had to be strong. She had to try to be in control. It was the only way she was going to ever get out of this, was maintaining control. "I just don't know what to think right now." She says in a low voice that was close to a whisper.
Troy nods and places his hands in his pockets. "This fucking sucks." He says while Gabriella gives out a weak smile. It was the first actual smile she had used in eight days.
"I just need time to think ok?" She says desperately. That was the truth. She needed to think about what she wanted. She knew she wanted Troy, but she had to figure out what meant more to her. Him, or her trust issues.
He nods slowly. "Ok… that's better then nothing." He says while taking more steps forward. Gabriella suddenly felt the room close in as she stares into his almost gray eyes as he stops in front of her. It was another thirty degrees hotter in the room as Troy leans forward and places his soft lips onto her forehead. She closes her eyes at the sensation of sparks flying through her body again as the side that hated him was screaming at her to push him away. She could feel a scratch of his stubble on her forehead as he pulls away and looks down at her.
"Thank you." She whispers, thankful that he was actually being a little understanding.
"Please don't take forever." He whispers back and tries to grab her to pull her close in a hug, but she quickly sidesteps him. She couldn't go there. She didn't know if that's what she wanted. The side opposed to him suddenly takes over again as her eyes cloud over a little.
"I never said I'd forgive you." She says in a stronger voice as Troy's eyes loose whatever hope was left in them. "I just said I'd think about it."
Troy nods slowly, obviously not wanting to get on her bad side right now. "That's all I can ask for.
Gabriella's eyes narrow a little again. "Good." She says with attitude in her voice again.
Troy sighs one more time as he turns around and takes slow steps towards the door. Gabriella war was going on again. Half of her was jerking to run forward and throw her arms around him, taking him back in that second. But the other half was holding her back, telling her she could not break, there was no way. He lied to her, he wasn't going to go back into her life like it was no big deal.
Troy stops at the door as his head turns around slightly. "You're stiff by the way." He says in an emotionless voice. "You're way to stiff."
Gabriella watches in confusion as he then walks out the door, then realizes he was talking about her dancing. Her eyes close again, feeling tears cloud up in them as she falls to the floor again, knowing he was right.