THE SOMEDAY TRILOGY: THS MOMENT
AN: Thanks to Audrey for beta reading... looove you mwah!
Also - just to clarify for those of you who are not American and don't spend hours of your time researching the college system... This is directly from the College Board website
Early decision plans are binding. You agree to attend the college if it accepts you and offers an adequate financial aid package. Although you can apply to only one college for early decision, you may apply to other colleges through the regular admissions process. If you're accepted by your first-choice college early, you must withdraw all other applications.
Early action plans are similar but are not binding, unlike early decision. If you've been accepted, you can choose to commit to the college immediately, or wait until the spring. Under these plans, you may also apply early action to other colleges. Usually, you have until the late spring to let the college know your decision.
Some of Gabriella's applications have been through early action, not early decision. Essentially its the same as regular applications, its just that the application is earlier and so you don't have results from your senior year to bolster your application. Like she needs them.
Taylor was being so one track minded about Harvard that she didn't bother with any of these applications - Harvard doesn't have an early action or early decision proram any longer, they used to but they removed it. She has applied to other colleges, just all through the regular decision rounds.
Chapter 25
Only this moment
Holds us together
Close to perfection
Nothing else out there
Always beside her
Trusting my senses
Deep down inside I know love will survive
Royksopp 'Only This Moment'
Troy's tongue trailed a languorous trail around Gabriella's left areola. She moaned slightly as he allowed his tongue to flick backwards and forwards against her nipple, and again moaned but this time in exasperation as he removed the pressure.
His tongue reconnected with her skin, travelling from her left to her right breast through the scenic route of the valley between her breasts, then her underside of her right breast and finally reaching the summit. Without warning, his mouth became engulfed with the warm, smooth flesh of her breast, capturing her nipple and surrounding skin within the cavern of his lips.
His mouth was completely occupied by the flesh of her breast, and yet somehow he managed to say her name with perfect clarity. "Gabriella?"
"Troy…" Gabriella said throatily.
"Gabriella!" an impatient voice said.
His impatient tone made little sense, her voice uttering his name again but in a questioning tone.
"Troy?"
"Gabriella wake up, it's not Troy, it's Ryan. I'm going to pretend I didn't hear you say his name like that just before."
Her eyelids fluttered open, and spotted Ryan in his t-shirt and boxers, clutching onto his laptop, staring down at her.
"Ryan? Did I sleep in?" Gabriella asked groggily.
"No your alarm hasn't gone off yet. Look!"
He thrust out his laptop which was connected to the wireless at Gabriella's, placing it into her lap. Gabriella blinked a few times, her sleepy haze not allowing her to focus yet, and then realised what she was looking at – in Ryan's e-mail account was an e-mail from CollegeBoard.
"Oh!" Gabriella gasped, suddenly completely awake. She sat upright, picking up the pillow on the left side of the bed and placed it behind her so she could lean back against them. "How did you go?!"
"I haven't looked yet. The first thing I did was pick up my cell and on my way walking in here I sent a mass text to people telling them."
"Well go on then!" Gabriella urged. "Log in!"
She shuffled over, giving Ryan room and gestured for him to sit down beside her. He obliged, sitting beside her cross legged. She gently placed the laptop back into his possession.
"Maybe you should go first," Ryan said warily. "Or, you get your laptop and we can do it together. Yes! Let's do that!"
Gabriella swallowed. "Um. Okay." Somewhat hesitantly, she swung her legs over to stand up and pad over to her desk. Her laptop had only been hibernating so it didn't take long for the desktop to load. Her hands slightly shaking, Gabriella opened an Internet Explorer browser and swiftly typed in the web address and navigated to the log in menu of her CollegeBoard account.
"Okay," Gabriella said.
Ryan nodded. "Ready… set… go!" he declared, and his fingers in a flurry entered his log in details as he waited for that impatient moment for the screen to load.
Across the room, Gabriella hadn't even touched her keyboard and she was instead intently watching Ryan's face, watching for that moment when she knew that his scores had come up and he was registering the information. That moment came, and it wasn't a look of elation, or a look of relief,
"Well?" Gabriella asked, biting her lip. She rose from her desk and made her way back across to the bed. "Can I look?" He nodded, and Gabriella sat back down beside him, peering over at the screen. As she looked. Ryan was continuing to stare at the screen – trying to register what the implications of these scores were.
Truthfully – he hadn't expected brilliant scores. He hadn't even expected great scores. The 1550 that was staring back at him sat pretty much within the realm of average. Ryan wasn't accustomed to average. Average wasn't something that was associated with his life. If he had to hand in an assignment for a subject that he didn't particularly 'get', he would attach a glossy, shiny title page which at least gave the aura of something special.
The 380 staring back at him for math was beyond depressing. The 590 for reading was slightly above average, so too was the 580 for writing. Ryan was lucky – for many people, getting this sort of result would be a guarantee of not getting into any of their top choice colleges. All of Ryan's top choices weren't reliant upon SATs. He had auditions lined up for the dance program at Juilliard, NYU and Purchase over the coming months. He'd also applied to colleges such as Columbia College in Chicago where you audition upon entry to the college itself – but where a video of your dancing being sent with your application was taken highly into consideration. And his scary back ups, the back ups that he really didn't want to have to go to, were all schools which didn't consider standardised tests in the application procedure and had extremely high acceptance rates.
"That's okay!" Gabriella said optimistically. "I mean… you planned around not having the SATs really being that important, right? All that matters is that you didn't fail abysmally so that they can see that you are literate."
"I know, I just… Would have liked to do better. For me, you know?"
Gabriella gave him a tight smile. "Yeah."
"Anyway, how did you go?" Ryan asked, and before Gabriella could say anything he plonked his laptop down onto her mattress and catapulted himself up off the bed, running toward her desk.
To see the log in page before him.
"You didn't look!" Ryan exclaimed accusingly.
Gabriella bit her lip. "No."
"Why not?!"
"I don't know," Gabriella said, biting her lip. "I just… I don't know."
"You're going to do brilliantly!" Ryan exclaimed.
"You don't know that, what if I don't?" Gabriella replied quietly. "I um… I think I might have a shower and get ready and look after that."
"You promise you're gonna look?" Ryan asked warningly.
"Of course I'm going to look," Gabriella said witheringly. "I just need a minute. This is a big deal."
Ryan rolled his eyes but nevertheless got up and left the room, returning back to his own. He heard the shower turn on a few minutes earlier. A part of him wanted to sit in Gabriella's room and wait for her to return so he could tie her down and force her to open the browser and look at her results. But he wondered if maybe she wanted to be alone while looking at them, and so when he heard the bathroom door open, he left her to get ready in her room and went and took over the bathroom himself.
Ryan bound downstairs dressed in grey slacks and a red long sleeved button up shirt, finding Gabriella sitting at the breakfast bar in the kitchen with a bowl of cereal in front of her, while Elena was cooking herself some toast.
"Morning Ms. Montez," Ryan said cheerfully.
"Good morning Ryan," she responded pleasantly.
"Well?!" Ryan looked at Gabriella expectantly.
Gabriella kept staring down at her cereal without reacting.
"You haven't looked yet, have you?" Ryan asked, aghast.
"Looked at what?" Elena asked.
"Our SAT results went up on CollegeBoard this morning and I woke up Gabriella so we could look at them."
"And you haven't looked yet, Gabi?" Elena exclaimed. "Well, go on then!"
The doorbell rang at that moment. "I'll get it," Ryan volunteered, disappearing towards the front of the house.
"I would just prefer to maybe find out how everyone else went and then look," Gabriella protested.
"You've been waiting for these results for so long! I don't understand!" Elena protested.
Ryan reappeared in the kitchen with the early arrival of Troy.
"Well?!" Troy exclaimed, staring at Gabriella expectantly.
"That's what I just said, she hasn't looked yet," Ryan said, rolling his eyes.
"Why are you here so early?" Gabriella asked, avoiding the issue.
"Because when Ryan texted I cut my jog short and like, ran home. And then my modem wasn't connecting to the internet so I thought I'd just come here early – I hope that's okay…" Troy said, glancing at Elena.
She waved her hand at him. "More than okay."
"So why haven't you looked? Come on, let's go look now," Troy prompted.
Gabriella bit her lower lip. "Um… we'll go look at yours."
"You can use my study," Elena said – her casual way of requesting that they don't go up to Gabriella's room.
Gabriella nodded and picked up her bowl of cereal, leading Troy through to her mother's den just across the hallway from the living room.
"Gabi, what's going on? Why haven't you already excitedly looked?"
Gabriella sighed. "It's nothing Troy, really, I just… kinda didn't feel ready to look at it yet." She gestured for him to sit down at the desk chair in front of the computer, while she pulled up another chair from the corner of the room. It didn't surprise her that her mother had already had the computer on that morning, checking her e-mails.
"Are you nervous?" Troy asked, glancing up at her as he typed in the web address.
She paused. "Yes and no. I really was going to go check after Ryan had looked at his but then I felt bad because he didn't do as well as he wanted to."
"Then maybe I should be making you do it before me because I'm not exactly expecting brilliance here," Troy said wryly, as he now typed in his details. He took a deep breath. "Okay."
"Do you want me to stay, or would you rather I gave you privacy?" Gabriella asked.
Troy bit his lip. "Umm… I want you to stay. No. Actually… do you mind going?"
Gabriella shook her head. "That's fine, I'll just…"
"No I want you to stay! Or... maybe… no stay." Troy paused. "Stay, but can you like… close your eyes. And then if it's really embarrassing I can just click out of it."
Gabriella nodded. "Deal." She promptly closed her eyes and for good measure, placed her hands over them.
"How many fingers am I holding up?" Troy asked.
"Four," Gabriella responded cheekily – knowing very well that he wasn't holding any fingers up. It was a joke they'd exchanged on more than one occasion prior.
"Okay, you're really good at that because I was thinking four," Troy said with a laugh, before the seriousness came back over him. "Right. I'm doing this. I am clicking on it….. now."
Gabriella bit her lip as she waited in anticipation for Troy's reaction.
"Hmm."
"That's all? Hmm?"
"Uh huh."
"Can I look?"
"Yeah."
Gabriella removed her hands from over her eyes and her eyelids fluttered open, focusing on the screen.
"That's not bad at all," she said encouragingly.
"Coulda been worse. Sure glad I'll be getting into college on the basis of a basketball offer and not relying on that, that's for sure."
"You totally kicked it in writing!" Gabriella exclaimed. "690! That's awesome! And you say you don't have a good vocabulary."
"Yeah, then the average math and reading scores totally bring down the high of that," Troy remarked, glancing at the 480 and 530 respectively.
"That 670 is almost Ivy League level."
"Yeah but writing doesn't even count at some of the colleges. If I had been relying on that…"
"But you're not," Gabriella pointed out. "Troy, did you even really study for the SATs? Like SAT specific study?"
"Well… not as much as I could have, I suppose," he admitted.
"So given that, what does this matter?"
"I'm not upset. I'm just very… meh."
"Meh?"
"Yup. Meh. I'm not happy, I'm not upset. The SAT doesn't define who I am, it's basically a means of getting into college and then in a few years it won't even matter. For me, how I play this Friday is the clincher, not this number here."
"I'm glad you feel that way. That's a very mature outlook," Gabriella said, clearly impressed. She stood up from the second chair and quickly moved toward the door, speaking behind her as she moved. "Okay I have to go do my hair and…"
"Gabriella!" Troy exclaimed, moving after her. "Come back here and look at your score right now!" He grasped onto her hand and pulled her back, sitting back in the chair in front of the computer and pulling her to sit upon his lap.
"But…"
"Gabriella, you are looking at this now!" Troy cut in, exasperated. "You're not even ready to go and we have to leave in like less than fifteen minutes. You can't keep putting this off."
"But I want to."
"And I don't have a clue why," Troy said. "Now come on, type in your details and let's just get it over and done with."
With a sigh, Gabriella begrudgingly typed in her details, hit enter, and then huddled into his shoulder, turning away from the screen. "I can't look. If I do badly, can you break it to me gently?"
When she'd said that, it had flashed through Troy's mind that he could be a smart ass and say in a quiet voice, 'Um Gabriella… you got a… well…' and then tell her in a cheery voice the extraordinary high number that he undoubtedly knew was going to come up on the screen any moment.
But when the number came up – Troy found himself so blown away that he wasn't capable of pulling off any sort of acting performance.
"Holy fuck!" he exclaimed, a whole lot more loudly than intended.
"How'd she go?!" Ryan's voice exclaimed from outside the room.
"Come in and look! Gabi look!" Troy said, prying her from his shoulder.
Both Ryan and Elena burst into the room from where they'd been unashamedly eavesdropping outside. Gabriella finally looked at the screen, her mouth dropping open as she stared at the number.
"That's… that's pretty good," she said blankly.
"Pretty good?! Pretty good?!" Troy repeated. "2330 is not what I would call 'pretty good' I'd use… like… fu-reaking amazing!"
Elena didn't even glance sideways at Troy catching his own curse, staring in amazement at the screen herself.
"Gabriella, this is… oh my… I'm so…" she couldn't even finish a sentence, instead throwing her arms around her daughter who was still sitting on Troy's lap, embracing her in a tight hug.
"And 800 in math you freaky math girl you," Ryan teased.
"For the first time in my life that phrase don't offend me," Gabriella said, blinking again at the screen. "I wonder what I missed in the reading," she pondered, looking at the 770. "I bet I got Question 7 wrong, do you remember it?"
"Gabriella, I hardly remember what I did yesterday let alone what Question 7 was about," Ryan remarked, rolling his eyes.
"2330 baby, that's so incredible," Elena said, still overcome with the result. "Oh my… I have to… I have to call people. And 800 for math! That's just… absolutely amazing. Who do I need to call?"
"You don't need to call anyone, mom, you need to get ready for work," Gabriella said, standing up from Troy's lap and rolling her eyes, feeling a little uncomfortable.
"'You're right. I can call people once I get to work," Elena said with a firm nod.
Troy's cell phone began to ring, and as he reached into his pocket he said, "You, Miss 2330, go finish getting ready."
Gabriella rolled her eyes. "Yes, Mr. Bolton."
Troy smirked and they all dispersed, Ryan and Gabriella to finish getting ready for school, Elena to get ready for work and Troy moved into the hallway and answered his phone.
"Hey mama," he said, having seen the caller ID of his mother's cell phone.
"Well?! Are you at Gabriella's? How did you go?"
Both Lucille and Jack had been at home getting ready for work when Troy had come bursting into the house clambering for his laptop, and then for the computer in the den when the internet connection wasn't working properly. It had been Lucille who had suggested that he arrive at Gabriella's a few minutes early and ask to use her computer – at which point Troy had gotten ready in about a quarter of the typical time, driven twice as fast as usual and arrived at Gabriella's almost half an hour earlier than he would normally.
"I did okay," Troy said. "I got a 1680, so that's above average."
"That's wonderful, sweetheart! There's nothing wrong with that at all!"
"Yeah. I got a 670 for writing, which was a surprise."
"My son, a writer?" Lucille's teasing voice came over the phone.
"Yeah, I think they marked it wrong, mixed it up with someone who is now looking at their 400 wondering what happened," Troy joked.
"How did Gabriella go?"
"Troy, are you speaking with your mother?" Elena asked excitedly. "Can I talk to her?"
"Did you hear that? I think Ms. Montez wants to brag about Gabriella to you herself," Troy said somewhat cheekily.
Elena practically snatched the phone out of Troy's hand. "Lucy! Oh my God! My Gabi did sooo amazingly. She got 2330, can you believe that?!?! 2330! And there was 800 for math…"
Troy left his mom and Gabriella's mom gushing over the phone while he made his way to the Montez kitchen, helping himself to a glass of milk. Ryan appeared in the kitchen a moment later.
"Gabriella's mom talking to your mom, is she?" he asked.
Troy nodded. "It's cute, she's so excited and proud."
"Hey, I would be too, if I were her 2330, that's…" Ryan trailed off, unable to find a label for it.
"Yeah," Troy agreed. "Don't know what she's doing going out with a moron like me."
"You are not a moron!" Gabriella protested, entering the kitchen with her school bag slung over her shoulder. She pressed her lips to Troy's in a soft kiss, before adding cheekily, "Besides, I go out with you for your abs."
Ryan laughed while Troy mocked being offended. "That's fine. I only go out with you because you help me study. If it weren't for that, I wouldn't give you the time of day."
"Yeah, studying, that's what you guys do together," Ryan said, rolling his eyes.
"Okay, I'm ready, are we going?" Gabriella asked, looking to Troy.
"Yes. Except… your mom has my cell," Troy said, gesturing to the hallway.
The trio all filed out of the kitchen, Ryan taking the lead and calling behind him, "See you guys there!" as he made his way out the front door.
"Mom! We have to go to school, can Troy have his cell back?" Gabriella asked impatiently.
Elena held her finger up for a moment, quickly wrapped up the conversation, and then handed Troy back his cell phone.
"Lucille said to tell you congratulations, Gabi; and she also said to tell you Troy that she sent your lunch with your dad since you left so quickly."
There was a mixed mood among the Wildcats and their peers as they went about their day at East High. With East High competing in the junior varsity girls basketball championships on Friday afternoon, Varsity boys basketball championships Friday night, the East High's Got Talent auditions being finalised that afternoon, the juniors beginning their intensive ACT prep and speculation surrounding an upcoming wild drunken party to take place at the house of Jason Cross – that was enough for the school to be buzzing.
However it was the buzz of SAT results at the forefront of the gossip, with emotions running both high and low. The Wildcats themselves represented the broad spectrum of reactions to results. Kelsi was the quiet achiever of the group, people knew her for her musicality but didn't automatically associate her as being an academic although she received predominantly A's with a scattering of B's. She'd studied ridiculously hard for the SATs, pulling out a 1780 which she was absolutely ecstatic about. If she didn't get into Juilliard, her back up was to get into Columbia which had a program she could study music classes at Juilliard whilst studying at Columbia. Martha had also done well, not quite as well as she had hoped with her math score sliding a little, but her reading and writing scores had been excellent. None of her top college choices required SAT scores for admission – an active decision on Martha's part, as she was a strong opponent against the concept of standardised testing.
Chad had been pleasantly surprised, really not expecting much at all but wound up with similar results to Troy – except achieving a higher reading score, a just above average writing score and a slightly below average math score. Zeke had announced loudly that his total score resembled something more like Gabriella's math score and that he didn't particularly care – although his friends all suspected that deep down he did care and was kicking himself for not really studying for the exam in the first place.
Jason wouldn't tell anyone his score.
Taylor wasn't happy in the slightest –2110 was a score that most would be incredibly proud of but that wasn't quite enough in her mind to sew in a place at Harvard. Statistically, about fifty percent of Harvard students had received at least a 2250 on their SATs and as a result of her Harvard tunnel vision, 2110 was simply not acceptable.
When Sharpay had arrived that morning, Ryan had called out to her and darted over to enquire about her results.
"Oh, I didn't look," Sharpay responded smoothly.
Ryan's jaw dropped. "Pardon?"
"I did not look," she responded, speaking slowly and articulately.
"Why not?"
"It doesn't matter," she said simply. "My Juilliard audition is in a few weeks and I need to be completely focusing my energy in that direction."
"Sharpay, you're not a guarantee to get into Juilliard! You need to look at your SAT so you can look at your fall back options and see whether they are realistic and whether you need to be filing any late admissions or…"
"Ryan. You do yoga. You understand energy and stuff, don't you?"
"Sharpay, getting into Juilliard has nothing to do with yoga. It's just math. They accept like, eight percent of the people who apply. Out of every 100 people who audition 92 get rejected. Those odds…"
"Include people who apply and are deluded," Sharpay finished for him. She'd thrown him a bright smile and kept walking into the building, passing the rest of the Wildcats along the way and throwing Zeke a small smile as she passed.
"She looked bright, did she do really well?" Gabriella asked Ryan as he rejoined the group.
He shrugged. "She didn't look."
Gabriella's eyes widened. "She didn't look? Why on earth wouldn't she look?"
"If I remember correctly, you were protesting about looking," Troy pointed out with raised eyebrows.
"I was just being weird, I would have looked right before I left," Gabriella said. "But to actually not look at all…"
Gabriella had been coy about her results, telling her friends that she had done 'well' – however Jack Bolton was crossing the school from a short faculty brief in the main admin building to his office in the gym, and to Troy's embarrassment stopped by to hand his son his bagged lunch. He then congratulated Gabriella on her results, having been texted by his wife to let him know Troy's results and mentioning Gabriella's score as well. And of course enough people overheard so that by the time that Gabriella had reached first period, ninety five percent of the school seemed to have heard about it.
"Oh my God, Gabriella, congratulations!" a red headed boy had exclaimed in passing her in the corridor, as she and Troy moved from homeroom to their first period.
"Thanks," she said awkwardly, having no recollection of ever having spoken to this boy before. She wondered if he was in her literature class, or maybe she'd seen him around at basketball games. "Um, how did you go?"
He gave her a peculiar look. "I'm a sophomore…"
She laughed nervously. "Right, I knew that, I was just being silly."
"You had no idea who he was, did you?" Troy said quietly as they walked away.
"None in the slightest. So why on earth does he know me?"
"Well, firstly because you're in student politics, secondly because you star in musical productions, and thirdly because you go out with me," Troy announced matter of factly.
Gabriella rolled her eyes but she wasn't even going to call him on being arrogant because she knew it was true, that before she was known for her leadership or musical theatre roles, she was known as the girl Troy Bolton was making googly eyes at.
Classes were running as per usual however there was a bit of disruption with students coming and going in the middle of classes. The guidance office had announced that in addition to the compulsory appointments coming up after midterms, they were offering times over the coming week for students who felt the need to speak with someone as soon as possible about their options. Heads of department were circulating notices about extra tutorials in the lead up to mid terms – these exams realistically being the final chance that students would have to improve their GPAs before colleges would make decisions.
Good results, average results, bad results – whichever way it went, the buzz of the release of scores was bound to stick around throughout the day, whether the attention was wanted or not.
With all of the extra attention she was receiving, it took Gabriella an extra ten minutes to make her way from her elective creative writing class to the cafeteria for lunch. If she wasn't being stopped by students, she was being stopped by teachers who wanted to congratulate her. She was feeling somewhat frustrated, it wasn't like she'd gotten a 2400. She'd expressed this to Mr. Davis, her calculus teacher and favourite mentor, and he'd rightfully pointed out that in reality there was little difference between achieving a 2300 and a 2400 – either way it would likely place her above the 99th percentile.
Finally she'd made her way into the cafeteria, creating eye contact with Kelsi who had waved at her from where she and Ryan were sitting on the ledge beyond the table with the rest of their friends, and Gabriella began to move through the lunch queue. Her head was ducked as she moved swiftly from the food line to her friends, avoiding eye contact with anyone else.
Martha, Taylor, Jason, Chad and Zeke were all seated at the table, while Ryan and Kelsi had taken seats on the ledge behind the table, declaring that they wanted a place to spread out the notes they had for the talent showcase. Troy was standing up, the peanut butter and jelly sandwich his mother had made for him in hand, looking at the sheets of music in front of Kelsi and Ryan. Troy spotted Gabriella sliding into the spare seat beside Jason at the table, and he was quick to abandon Ryan and Kelsi to step toward his girlfriend.
"Can't a girl get a good SAT result without being stopped every five seconds with someone wanting to talk about it!" Gabriella said, rolling her eyes.
Troy pressed a kiss to her cheek in greeting. "I'm not happy about this either, how dare they take up our time together at lunch?"
"Oh stop complaining. People are being really nice about it. They're congratulating you in a good way," Taylor pointed out from directly across the table, her tone somewhat snippy.
"I just don't like people making a big deal about it, that's all," Gabriella said a little defensively. "I test well, so what?"
"I think I should make an appointment with the guidance counsellor," Jason said abruptly.
"Good luck with that," Taylor scoffed.
"What do you mean?" he asked.
"I went to book an appointment with the guidance counsellor and you know that they said? They said that these appointments are reserved for people with actual concerns and that they'd prefer I wait until the end of the week to see if there are spaces available and if not I can wait until February, can't I? Aren't my concerns legitimate enough? Do my parents not pay school fees like everyone else's parents? Am I not entitled to the services the school provides?"
"Why do you need to go see the guidance counsellor?" Troy asked from his seat beside Gabriella. "You got an awesome SAT. I bet your GPA is great. You have a solid list of extra curriculars. You're pretty guaranteed to get into a top school."
"I wanted to enquire as to whether there is any way I can somehow bolster my Harvard application. Is that not a legitimate reason to go?"
"No," Jason said under his breath.
"Sorry, what did you say?" Taylor asked, slightly taken aback.
"I said no," Jason repeated, a little firmer. "Seriously Taylor, you need to chillax. So what if you don't get into Harvard? Life will go on."
"You're still in with a great shot; I mean if you want to talk statistics, the bottom twenty five percent of Harvard admissions go to students who get an SAT of less than 2100," Gabriella pointed out, trying to speak Taylor's language, identifying statistics. "And anyway, the SATs aren't everything. Besides, Jason's right. I know that Harvard is important to you but it's not the be all and end all."
"You do not get to lecture me about this!" Taylor said firmly.
Gabriella blinked. "Uh… I'm sorry?"
"You have no idea what I feel like right now. You've already been accepted into half your colleges through early action!" Taylor snapped. "So you can just take your 2330 and stop judging me, okay!"
Gabriella's mouth dropped open slightly, her wide, innocent eyes glossing over as she stared at her best friend in utter disbelief. "Fine then," Gabriella said coldly, and stood up, clutching at her cafeteria tray.
"Gab…" Chad began to say.
But it was too late, because Gabriella had stormed away, pausing briefly at the trash can to dump her tuna surprise – keeping possession of her tub of yoghurt, apple and water bottle – and then fleeing altogether. She kept walking, eyes cast steadily forward on her destination. She didn't know if there was simply no one else left wanting to congratulate her or if there was something in her expression telling that she simply wasn't in the mood, but not one person attempted to converse with her.
She wasn't sure about Troy, but Gabriella hadn't been up to the rooftop for a while. It wasn't the kind of place that you went to all the time because she feared that would somehow diminish its magic. In cooler weather, it was nice to remain within the confines of the smaller undercover section. In warmer weather, it was nice to move beyond the shelter, to enjoy the vast span of this magical rooftop world with the breathtaking views of the Sandia Mountains. The brilliant Albuquerque sunshine was deceiving, as tempted as Gabriella was to continue with her dash beyond the covered area, she knew that it was actually fairly cold and was best remaining in the area with the slightest of a balmy greenhouse effect.
It was only minutes later that Troy appeared – Gabriella wasn't surprised at all that he'd made his appearance and followed her.
She looked up at him; he was standing over her looking at her as she sat on the bench with tears glistening in her eyes. "You didn't have to come, I'm just being a silly emotional girl."
Troy shook his head. "No you're not. Taylor was a real bitch to you just then. Just because she's cut up doesn't give her the right to be rude."
"Maybe I should have just held my tongue, I mean I know why she's being all uptight about this and so maybe…"
"Don't make excuses. You're allowed to be pissed at her."
Gabriella nodded but didn't say anything, instead drew her knees up, the soles of her black flats resting on the edge of the bench. Arms hugging her legs to her chest, she finally began to speak again.
"When I was thirteen, I had to get the bus home from school on a regular basis. My middle school was across the road from the high school and we all used the same school buses, the high school kids would have to cross the road and come get them from the stop on our side of the road I had these sunglasses with like, a turquoise frame… in hindsight they were probably really ridiculous but at the time I loved them desperately. I was sitting on the bus one day, like, in that area at the front where there are seats facing into the aisle. And I was sorta staring off into the window behind the head of the girl who was sitting across from me. She was this… really… rude individual," Gabriella said tactfully.
"She was a bitch?" Troy supplied quietly, as he sat beside Gabriella on the bench, turning to face her.
She nodded. "She said to me 'just because you're wearing stupid sunglasses doesn't mean that I can't tell that you're staring at me.' I didn't even really register that she was speaking to me at first, I was in my own dreamland. And she said something like, 'oh yeah, won't even acknowledge me, how rude' and I realised she was talking to me and I just apologised quietly and said that I was daydreaming and staring out the window. Every day for a week after that, she was downright rude to me for no reason other than that she could be. She said that I was probably staring at her because I was a lesbian and… just all this shit."
"Teenage girls can be real cows," Troy said sympathetically.
"I stopped getting that school bus, instead I took this other bus which was on a different route but in the same area, and I was just going to have to just walk a little further but still got me pretty close to home. The first day I got it, I was really worried because I hadn't gotten that bus before and I wasn't sure exactly where it stopped along the way, it was going up this street further and further away from where I'd thought it would stop at the corner, and then I would walk up in the other direction. So I quickly went up to the front of the bus to ask the driver where the regular stop was, and she just stopped right there. A bunch of these other kids then got off and they started in on me, saying that I was a bitch for making her stop there because they were gonna have to walk further because it wasn't meant to stop yet. I apologised and tried to explain to them that I was worried that maybe it wasn't going to stop for like, another half a mile or something. But they were just being really rude, and this time there was like, this whole bunch of them. 'Freaky math chick is a lazy bitch' I remember they would say."
"Oh Gabi…"
She continued with her story. "I had this one sorta half acquaintance who I would sit with on the bus, he was so amazing in just providing me with the strength to get on that bus. They wouldn't say anything on the bus. Every day after that, I just let them dictate where the bus was going to stop and I walked longer. I didn't care because the girl on the other bus scared me even more, I guess because she was older. This one day, it was like the last day before a vacation and my friend wasn't at school and hardly anyone was there. One of the chicks ran up to where I was sitting on my own and she said something, and I turned around, and she had this candy bar wrapper with all the melted chocolate bits on the inside and she shoved it in my face."
"That's disgusting," Troy said – not so much referring to the act itself, but the fact that some kid would actually feel compelled to do something like that to someone else.
"I… I'm not one of those weirdos who like, picks at stuff from his scalp and eats it. I don't flaunt my intelligence like a know it all. I just do my own thing. At most of my schools it wasn't really like, a thing I was picked on for, but I was always excluded. That was the only school where it was really bad but I think… I think it sorta made me segregate myself from people further after that. Each school I've been at, I'd find a group of academically inclined acquaintances but even among them I always knew that they looked at me differently. I didn't… I didn't ask to be who I am. I don't know why it is that I can do all these crazy math problems in my head. I didn't ask for a photographic memory. I just got it. And… I guess… I thought of all people…" Gabriella paused. Throughout her whole story from her childhood, she'd remained fairly calm. But it was at that moment that fresh tears began to well, a lone droplet sliding down her left cheek. "I thought of all people, that Taylor understood that."
"I'm sure she does," Troy said, reaching over to take Gabriella's hand in his, squeezing it gently. "I think she was a bitch and I don't think you are overreacting by being upset at her. But I don't think she really meant what she said."
Gabriella swallowed and sniffled the welling tears back. "I hope not. Because… you know, I can deal with people like all those idiots on the bus making me feel inferior, or people like that. I'm used to it. But when people who are meant to get it, to appreciate intelligence – people like her – start making me feel like I'm less of a person…"
"No one should make you feel like less of a person. No one, Gabi."
"Are you sure I wasn't being unreasonable? Like, Jason is there and telling us that he wants to go see the guidance counsellor. We all know that he must have screwed it up really badly, so badly that he won't even say just how badly. And Taylor's going on about how terrible her situation is and…"
"You weren't being unreasonable, she was. She had no right to speak to you like that, you were just trying to get her to see what everyone is trying to get to see. But Taylor is… I think she's just beyond being able to be helped. She's gonna be like this until she gets that letter from Harvard. And if it's not the letter she wants…"
"She is going to break," Gabriella said quietly. "I'm mad at her but I'm still feeling bad for her and wanting to help. How screwed up is that?"
"It's not screwed up, it shows that you're a good friend." Gabriella nodded and swallowed, biting her lower lip slightly. "You know if you want to cry, you can," Troy offered. "I don't mind."
"I thought boys hated it when girls cry?"
"Hmm, sometimes. I don't like the idea of you crying because of me. But I get that sometimes you just need to cry. Kinda like how sometimes I just feel the need to hit at a punching bag."
Gabriella perked up. "That could probably work for me too right now."
Troy laughed lightly and leaned forward, pressing a kiss to her forehead. "Everything will be cool with you and Tay. You're both just stressed, and you're obviously a bit hormonal and…"
"Excuse me?" Gabriella asked, eyebrows shooting up.
Troy smirked. "I can count to 28, you know. As in, 28 days…"
"And here I was thinking that fifteen was your limit," Gabriella said teasingly.
He pretended to stab at his heart, gasping. "Ouch, babe!"
The bell signalling the end of lunch period rang, and Gabriella immediately rose to her feet and took a breath, wiping at her eyes.
"Hey, we don't have to rush anywhere, it's free period," Troy said soothingly, and grabbed her hand to pull her back down. "Just take a minute."
"Don't you have training?" Gabriella asked, her tone somewhat protesting but allowing him to pull her down nevertheless.
"Just gym work, nothing official. If I'm a few minutes late, it's cool," he assured her.
Troy bit his lip. Among Taylor's venom filled comments, there was one piece of information which had been fluttering around in Troy's brain.
You've already been accepted into half your colleges through early action
He wasn't so irate about the piece of information that he was going to drag it out of her in the midst of her teariness, but she was mostly calm now, and so he couldn't help but feel tempted to ask her.
"Gabriella?"
"Yeah?"
He paused and took a breath – and then backed out. "Are you okay now? Do you um… are you gonna be okay going to drama class with Taylor there?"
Gabriella nodded. "I'm okay. Still annoyed with her but I know she didn't really mean any harm and she just snapped. And class should be fine – it might be awkward if she decides she wants to ignore me but I'll try to smooth things over. I hate tension."
East High had one of the best gym facilities of any public school in New Mexico. A few years prior, the parents of one of East High's track stars just so happened to be the mangers of a fitness equipment warehouse. They had struck up a deal with East High, selling treadmills, rowing machines, cycle machines and weights equipment at just a fraction above cost price. In return, there was a long term advertising agreement with East High – the advertisement for their warehouse featuring around the basketball court, football grounds, and baseball diamond; as well as in the East High Yearbook and the newsletter sent out to parents on a monthly basis.
The result was that Varsity athletes had access to a vast array of training equipment. Zeke, Chad, Jason and Troy were all in the cardio room during their free period. Zeke and Chad were on two of the treadmills, while Jason and Troy were on two of the rowing machines just in front of the guys.
"So she just huffed and went to the library?" Troy asked, enquiring about what had happened at lunch after he'd gone after Gabriella.
"Yep," Chad said. "I went after her and she said to not follow her. And I asked if she was just saying that and it was a test and did she really want me to follow her, and she sorta cracked a smile and said she really wants to be alone. So I doubt it's anything monumental."
"So it'll just blow over probably. Gabriella said if Taylor isn't a bitch to her then she'll try to apologise."
"I so don't get chicks. All this drama for no reason," Zeke commented.
"Tell me about it. Kelsi keeps saying how she thinks something is up with Martha and I'm like, just ask her about it! But she's all, it's not that simple, I ask her and she avoids it and I'm like, just ask her again!" Jason said, rolling his eyes.
"They should just get into a cat fight and then it'll all be good," Chad remarked.
Troy snorted. "No, that's what you and I do, man."
"Boys!"
All for of them looked up to see Coach Bolton in the doorway.
"I thought you were teaching a class," Troy remarked, eyebrows raised.
"I am. I thought I'd check on you. If you're able to talk while you're exercising, you're not going hard enough." Coach Bolton went over to the treadmills and increased the elevation by a couple of notches, and then fiddled with each of the rowing machines, increasing the tension. "That should be better."
"Gee, thanks Coach," Troy said sarcastically.
Gabriella decided to take the initiative, and she left the music room where she'd gone through her song one last time with Kelsi before auditions that afternoon; and headed to wait just outside of Taylor's Global Issues class that she was in while the rest of their friends were on free period. She arrived in perfect timing, less than a minute before the bell rang and the students began to pour out of the classroom. Taylor was one of the last out of the room, and her eyes widened upon seeing Gabriella approach her from her position leaning up against the wall on the opposite side of the corridor.
"Um… hey," Taylor greeted her awkwardly.
She didn't ignore her, so it was a start.
"Hi," Gabriella responded.
"Listen…" both girls said simultaneously.
"You go," Taylor said quickly.
Gabriella took a deep breath and nodded. She gestured in the direction of their drama classroom and the girls began to walk and talk. "Firstly – I just want to explain to you the reason that I was getting so sick of people congratulating me for my SAT score. It's not that I'm embarrassed, or that I'm not grateful for the opportunities it'll open up or… or whatever. But it annoys me because quite frankly, I really don't see how there is such a huge difference between my SAT score and yours; and the score that plenty of other kids in our grade got. I don't even particularly agree with standardised testing, I mean I do well at it, but I don't think it's the fairest measure of judgement. And… I hope you know that I wasn't judging you, and I'm sorry if it came across that I was being harsh. And I probably shouldn't have just left, I should have sorted it out there and then. But I just felt really… you kinda made me feel badly about being intelligent which is a way that I haven't felt in a really long time and…"
"Gabriella," Taylor interrupted her, eyes widening. She held her arm, stopping her from walking for a moment, the girls coming to a standstill in the corridor. "I don't… I don't think less of you. I wasn't… I wasn't denouncing your intelligence. Don't you get it? I'm jealous of you."
"Jealous? Of me?" Gabriella repeated.
"Yes," Taylor admitted with a sigh. "Which I known isn't fair because it's just something you were gifted with. But I just… I studied so freaking hard for the SATs it isn't funny. I barely slept for months, I drank so much coffee and energy drink it's ridiculous. And I know that you studied too, but it wasn't at the same intensity that I did, I'm sorry it wasn't."
"I know that."
"And just as a by-product of having a photographic memory and numbers just making sense to you… you can put in less work and achieve better scores."
"Which is why I was frustrated with people congratulating me!" Gabriella exclaimed. "I don't sit around and do nothing with my… with my brain. But I know that there are people who worked harder and as a result achieved really great scores – like you. And you should be getting the attention, because you put in the work and achieved a great score and that is what is worthy of something to congratulate."
"Harvard doesn't see it that way, though," Taylor said quietly. "And we're back at the jealousy thing. Because you're going to get accepted…"
"Taylor, you don't know…"
"Yeah, I do. On paper you look so impressive. 2330 SAT, perfect GPA, winner of contests, participant in extra-curricular activities not only academic, but civic and performing arts. You'll get in. And…"
"And I don't even want to go there," Gabriella admitted.
Taylor nodded. "And it's my dream and… and I know that even though I'm in with a chance, it's not a guarantee. I know that, and I don't need you guys to remind me of that."
The final bell rang and Taylor cursed under her breath. "Shit. Come on. We'd better go."
"Tay? Are we okay?"
Taylor nodded. "Of course. Come on, Ms. Darbus is gonna flip."
Gabriella nodded, not quite as convinced that Taylor was entirely happy with the situation, but happy to let the situation go for now. The girls darted downstairs and along the corridor, eyes widening in fear of the closed door to their drama room.
"I'll do it. Since I made us late," Gabriella said boldly, and stepped tentatively toward the door, knocked and opened it.
"Miss Montez and Miss McKessie, you are late! Do you have a pass?" Ms. Darbus demanded immediately.
Gabriella swiftly moved to where Ms. Darbus was seated on her high backed chair and began to explain a story in a hushed tone that no one could overhear. The teachers facial features softened and she nodded. "Girls sit down, and don't be late again."
Troy and Chad glanced at one another and then gaped at their girlfriends as they took their seats. If the two of them had arrived late to class, there would have been a showdown between Darbus and Coach Bolton regarding appropriate times for athletes to complete detentions. A note flicked onto Gabriella's desk a minute later, with Taylor's familiar neat and precise cursive.
What did you say to her?
Gabriella promptly wrote back. I told her that I'd gone to the bathroom at the end of my free period and realised I needed a 'supply' that I didn't have and called you to ask if you had any. Even Ms. Darbus isn't cruel enough to yell at a student over a time of the month related issue.
Troy often had difficulty concentrating on his school work. He'd go through periods of high motivation where he'd find himself suddenly very dedicated and productive, but on the flip side he would go through periods of the complete opposite. The weeks surrounding the playoffs and the championships had been the same every year at East High, during his freshman year on the JV team, during his sophomore year when they'd been knocked out of the playoffs by West High, during his junior year when they'd made it to the championships. School work would take a backseat to basketball. Senior year felt like the intensity of the three prior years combined. There was more at stake. There was no second chance.
The result of such high intensity training was that at any given moment of free time when Troy would sit down to look at a homework assignment or an essay, he would either be too wired to sit still, or too exhausted to concentrate. Monday night after dinner he was pacing around in his bedroom, a mountain of school work building up on his desk in addition to the study for midterms that he knew he needed to focus on sooner or later.
But he was fine with later, and any distraction was welcome. Including the ringing of his cell phone, especially when a photo he'd taken of his girlfriend on New Years' Eve popped up onto the screen.
"Hey you," Troy greeted her. "How was your audition?"
"Hey. Um, it was fine." Immediately, Troy knew that something was up.
"What's wrong?"
"Nothings wrong, but umm…. Do you think you can come over? My mom said its okay."
Troy furrowed his brow. "Umm… why? If this is some kind of booty call, then don't you have your…"
"No, I don't mean it like that," she responded, Troy could just imagine the slight smirk and the roll of her eyes. "I uh… there's something that I… that we…. Well, we need to talk."
'We need to talk.'
The four most frightening words a guy could hear within a relationship.
Closely rivalling 'Honey, I am pregnant.'
"Gabi, you don't say that to a guy, you should know that."
"And I also don't mean it like that. I um… just please? Can you ask if you can come over for a little while?"
"If your mom agreed and I'm home by curfew I don't see why there will be any problem. I'll call if mom and dad have a problem with it, otherwise I'll see you soon."
"Okay thanks."
"Oh and Gabriella? Should I wear anything special? If I've done something wrong and you're inviting me over so you can kill me, I'd like to go wearing something half decent."
Twenty minutes later and Troy had gotten permission from his mom to go over to Gabriella's – as long as he was home by 10pm – and he'd driven over, been let in through the front door by Ms. Montez, and went straight up to Gabriella's room. He could hear music playing in the room next door, a concept which Troy was going to have to get used to, that there was additional member of the Montez household. He knocked on her door and immediately opened it, finding her pacing backwards and forwards.
"Are you okay?" he asked immediately. "Did something happen? Are you…"
"Troy, it's seriously nothing like that," Gabriella assured him, rubbing his arm.
"Did the audition go badly? You said it went well but…"
"It did go well, I was really happy with how I sang. We were running behind but we saved a bit of time when Sharpay had proclaimed that there was no need for her and Ryan to audition given their track record as brilliant performers," Gabriella said with a slight smile.
Troy raised his eyebrows. "Right."
"But no this is…. Nothing to do with any of that. Come, sit."
The two both sat down on her bed, Gabriella across from Troy with the 'good luck' bear that he had given her on the opening night of Once Upon A Time in her lap.
"So," Troy said.
"So," Gabriella echoed, before taking a breath. "Okay. Umm…. I'm just gonna. I'm just gonna… well see the thing is… what I wanted to talk to you about… the thing is…"
"Gabriella?" Troy interrupted. "Just say it because you're making me nervous now."
She nodded. "When Taylor had her outburst at lunch she said something, something about me, and I don't know if you didn't hear it or if you heard it and you're trying to work out how to ask me about it or if you heard it and you don't want to ask me about it but I've wanted to talk to you about it for a while now and so I figured that maybe today is my sign that I just should blurt it out and so here I am, about to blurt it out. I um… okay well firstly, is that as you might have heard Taylor say, I have already gotten accepted to some colleges via early action programs."
Troy nodded. "I did hear it… and…. I wanted to say something when we were talking up on the rooftop but it just didn't feel right. I wanted you to tell me."
"I should have told you sooner, I really should have but… I guess I didn't want to distract you, with the championships and everything."
"How is telling me that you've gotten some acceptances going to distract me, exactly?" Troy asked, an eyebrow cocked.
Gabriella sighed, beginning to play with the bear in her hands subconsciously, untying and retying the bow around its neck, fiddling with its paws. "Because it's not just that I got acceptances. It's that I've been thinking about those acceptances, and also the ones that I didn't get to apply for early action or that I haven't heard back from and… anyway… I was thinking about colleges. And…. I made a decision. Well, not really a decision, but I narrowed down the field and I think… no. I know… I know what my top two choices for college are. And I know that we agreed to start being completely candid about these decisions but a part of me felt as though I'd be making it harder for you over these next few weeks when you'll have your offers and scouts and doing more official visits and… and that I didn't want you to be even subconsciously favouring particular schools because of their geographic location, I don't want you to be closing your options in any way. But… I decided that I wasn't doing us any favours by being coy about it and that I'm better off just being completely upfront and being here for you to vent and bounce your thoughts off as you're going through this process."
Troy blinked, taking a few seconds to digest Gabriella's ramble. "Okay… I… I get your logic. But I'm also glad that you want to talk about it. I prefer the new logic. And can I guess?"
"Can you guess…"
"Your top two schools. I've looked into them, out of curiosity. I'm guessing… Harvard and Stanford."
Gabriella smiled. "You got one of them right," she said elusively.
"Right. So… Harvard and MIT?"
"You changed the wrong one."
Troy's brow furrowed. "Not Harvard?"
Gabriella shook her head. "Not for undergrad, anyway. I like the look of their Medical School but for undergrad it's not really my preference."
"So… Stanford and MIT?" Troy said.
"Stanford and MIT," she confirmed with a nod. It was the first time she'd said it out loud, actually admitted that those were her choices to someone. Her mother had practically guessed, just between their various conversations and her daughters ponderings. But this was the first instance of Gabriella speaking the words aloud. "Assuming I get into both of them, anyway. They are my favourite two choices. Which… really doesn't help you or us anyway. Opposite sides of the country and all. It's like I'm not only making a decision about a college, but about a lifestyle. I really don't know how I'm going to make the decision, at the moment I have early action entry to one of them and the other I have to wait until regular decisions to find out but…"
Troy leaned over, pressing a soft kiss to her lips. "Doesn't that feel better? Having told me? I feel like… I feel like this big weight of our relationship has been lifted."
Gabriella nodded. "Yeah, I'm kinda wondering why I keep doing this, putting off talking about stuff."
"You have to stop doing it," Troy said seriously. "There's no reason why it should keep building up into this big scary conversation we need to have. It should just be something we continually talk about. I'd never bought the concept that you still hadn't developed any further thought about your college choices since our first conversation. When you told me that Yale had pretty much been kicked off your list, I knew then that you'd been contemplating it seriously and not waiting until you had all the acceptances in your hands."
Gabriella flopped back on her bed, her head hitting the soft pillow and let out a small sigh. Troy also laid down to her left, waiting patiently for her response. Gabriella turned onto her left side, her right arm draping across his abdomen.
"It's not that I don't trust you, or that I don't take the future seriously. It's more so that… talking about it is… it's accepting that the future will be the present soon. And I'd much prefer to just live in…"
"… this moment," Troy chimed in softly, the pair speaking the end of her sentence simultaneously
"Do I really use that phrase a lot?" Gabriella asked.
Troy nodded. "Kinda."
"Well, it seems appropriate."
Troy shrugged. "Yes and no. I mean… I agree with the living in the moment but at the same time, I think about the future, and I don't just mean my future with basketball or my future with what major I might study. Gabriella I…" he paused and took a breath. "I don't see myself at any point in my life without you there."
Most girls in their senior year would be struggling to get their boyfriend to make a commitment to an upcoming school dance more than a week or so in advance. But as Troy spoke so candidly, the warmth and sincerity of his tone was unmistakable.
Gabriella's arm that was draped around Troy's torso squeezed him in a half hug. Their foreheads met, resting together, the blue and brown loving gaze speaking multitudes.
"I love you," Gabriella murmured.
Troy smiled, responding quietly moments before their lips met in a lazy, tender kiss. "I love you too."
AN – I'd really love some feedback… I'm going through a slight motivational/confidence crisis and I know you guys are still out there reading but I'm not hearing as much in response to my work and… yeah. Just would like to hear anything you have to say. :)