Crash Into You

Chapter 36: Just Friends

Gabriella followed James through the red bleachers. Her glances towards the court were filled with a blur of red and white jerseys and basketballs. She sat down on the hard seats and sighed. "Why did I come?"

James put an arm around her shoulders, "Because you need to face Tyler and tell him you just want to be friends. And then do the same with Troy."

She sighed again. "You know I really hate it when you tell me what I already know, but don't want to hear." Her eyes focused back on the court. She watched both teams huddle on the side of the court as the announcer started to announce the teams.

"…And your school MVP and Red Team Captain…Tyler Williams!" The crowd roared with applause as the tall, brown haired boy ran through his teammates and arrived at the center of the floor. "…And you former school MVP and White Team Captain…Troy Bolton!" Once again the crowd roared with applause as he arrived in the center of the floor. Gabriella clapped her hands quietly as she watched him.

James patted her knee. "It's going to be fine. Just watch the game and try not to freak out too much when Tyler punches Troy."

Gabriella's head whipped around. "What do you mean when Tyler punches Troy? Did he talk to you about hitting him?"

"You know if you hadn't chopped off all your hair, I would have been blinded by that head snap."

"James! Answer the question!" she demanded.

He smiled at her. "Chill Gabs, I was just messing with you."

Gabriella shook her head and turned her attention back to the game. "One minute down, the rest of the night to go."

By the end of the game Gabriella was relieved to have not witnessed a fight between Tyler and Troy.

"You meeting Tyler?" James asked at he stood up and stretched.

Gabriella nodded her head. "Unfortunately."

James pulled her into a hug. "You'll be fine. Just don't look him directly in the eye for more than five seconds and stay a good arm's length away from him."

She giggled as he rubbed her back. "Thanks J." Gabriella said her goodbye and leisurely made her way down the bleachers, wanting to run away with each step. In a few minutes she found herself waiting by the boy's locker room.

"Gabriella!" She slowly spun around, knowing who was calling her. "I'm glad you came." He said as he ran up to her.

She smiled softly. "Couldn't miss a chance to give to charity now could I?" she let out a small breath. "You played a great game Troy."

An electric smile shot across his face. "Thanks, but it was tough with us all being three years out of practice. Those guys deserved to win." His eyes wandered from Gabriella. "Hey guys!" Troy waved for them to come over.

Gabriella turned around and saw three guys walked towards them. She vaguely recognized the one with the afro. As they approached, she put on a smile.

"Hangover girl!" The one with the afro greeted her. "Almost didn't recognize you with short hair and girl's clothes."

Slightly stunned, she crooked her head towards Troy for an explanation.

"This is Chad." He explained. "He's the one that came over to my apartment the morning I took you home from the bar."

"Ah…" she murmured as the memory flooded back into her mind. "I'm Gabriella." She stuck a hand towards them.

"Jason." He flashed a smile at her as he shook her hand.

The next one politely shook her hand. "Zeke."

"Thanks for the hangover food." She told him.

A smile formed on his face. "No problem. I'm used to making that kind of stuff." He motioned towards the other guys.

"And I'm Chad." The last one said. "The one Zeke usually makes the hangover food for."

Gabriella laughed and smiled which caused Troy to beam. "Hey guys, where's Huff?"

"Ah, he had to go right after the game." Chad explained.

"Plan to catch. He's on his way to New Jersey." Jason finished.

"And we got to go too." Zeke said walking past Troy and Gabriella. "You coming?"

Troy nodded. "I'll catch up in a minute." He waved as the other guys left.

"Your friends seem nice." Gabriella noted.

He nodded in agreement. "They can be when they aren't being completely ass holes."

"Looks like you fit right in." she quirked an eyebrow at him. Troy's smile faded and his head slung low on his neck. "I'm sorry. That was out of line."

"No, it wasn't. I deserved that." He told her. "Can I ask you a question?"

"Anything."

"What are we?"

Gabriella stared blankly at him. What were they? She honestly had no idea. "I guess we're……friends." She said softly.

"Good." He lightly brushed her arm. "I'll see you around."

Gabriella waved a weak hand goodbye as he walked away. "Bye." She turned her attention back to the locker room door. "Hey Tyler." She said with a smile as she watched him emerge.

"Saw you in the audience. Glad you came." He leaned down to her level and greeted her with a hug. "You like the game?"

She stared up at him. "As much as I've liked any of your games."

"You hated it."

"I didn't hate it." She said quickly. "Basketball just isn't my sport."

Tyler stared at her, unconvinced. "Whatever you say. So why did you want to meet me."

Gabriella started to walk down the long, white hallway. Tyler followed. "Over the last few weeks we've been hanging out a lot and it has been fun. Actually a lot of fun. But I want to make sure that you know that I just want to be friends."

"Just friends."

"Just friends." She repeated. "Is that alright?"

Tyler shrugged. "Yeah, I mean I never expected you to get right back into a relationship after breaking up with him." Gabriella lightly smiled at the fact that Troy rarely said Troy's name. "But you have to understand that I'll always care for you Gabriella. You were a major part of my life for three years and those feeling just don't go away."

"I still care about you too, a lot. But I don't think that I can date you. At least not right now. So are we cool?"

"We are so cool that I am going to invite you to the team's victory dinner at the pizza parlor downtown."

Gabriella smiled. "Thanks, but we've done the whole you, me, and the rest of the team thing and, if my memory serves me correctly, it never works out too well."

"But you won't be the only girl." Tyler told her. "All of the guys are bringing their girlfriends or their soon-to-be-girlfriends and I don't have a date."

Gabriella sighed, but her smile remained. "I would gladly be you date so you wont be the twenty third wheel."

Tyler laughed. "Great. So we better get going."

She smiled and followed him out to him car. They were just friends. They all were just friends.

Gabriella rubber her eyes as she felt herself walking downstairs the next morning. Yawning, she entered the kitchen to see her mom. "Hey mom." She said sleepily.

"Morning sweetie." Karen gave her daughter a kiss on the cheek. "You got in late last night."

Gabriella weakly nodded her head as she grabbed a box of cereal. 'Yeah, the team wanted to go out for a victory dinner and I was invited."

"The team." Her mom noted. "So does that mean that you and Tyler are together again?"

"No mom." Gabriella said sternly. "Tyler and I are just friends the same that Troy and me are just friends."

She lightly rubbed her daughter's arm. "How are things going with Troy?"

"They're going. But I'd rather not talk about it."

"Fine with me. Your father is coming into town."

Gabriella's eyes snapped awake. "Really? When?"

"This week." She told her daughter. "He called and said he has a few days off from work and decided that he wants to see you at your big competition."

"But that if the competition you are missing because of that big conference in Seattle. He doesn't want to come when you are going to be here?"

"We talked and decided that since you usually don't have either of us there that it will be good that one of us is there for two different ones than both of us for just one."

Gabriella nodded. "I guess that makes sense. And I'm glad he's coming. Is he stayed here?"

Her mom nodded. "Yep. And speaking of my big conference, my plane leaves in two hours." Her mom grabbed her purse. "I'll see you when I get back sweetie!"

"Bye mom!" Gabriella yelled after her as she shoveled a handful of dry cereal into her mouth. Gripping the box, she ran up to her room and grabbed her pink phone. "Ashley….Guess what….No, I did not hook up with Tyler….Or Troy….Or that cute guy from my math class…No, my dad is coming into town this week and he's going to be here for your competition….You could be a little more excited….I realize that this news doesn't involve a cute boy so I know your not too thrilled….Ugh Ash, that's my dad you're talking about….Look I'll see you at class in a few hours….Okay, love ya, bye." She clicked her phone shut and threw it on her bed.

Gabriella wandered to her balcony and admired her backyard. A small, immaculate waterfall stood in the corner near the basketball court. Greenery spread across the entire years with flowers spread about. In front of her was a new swimming pool completely with a water slide, diving board and connected hot tub. "Wow." She muttered. "This looks really good." Smiling inwardly she let her mind wander back to the days where she and Troy would sneak a kiss when he was working or when he would stay late just so he could give her a proper goodbye. She missed those days, and although she'd never admit it aloud, she missed him as well.

I'm so sorry that I haven't updated. School starting has thrown me off, but I feel myself getting back into the groove of this story. I really love this chapter for some reason and just posting it makes me want to write more (But I have 20 pages of AP Biology to read, so I'll be doing that for the next few nights). But I have a question for you all. Am I using too much dialouge? I have started to realize that I'm putting in more and more of it and is it good, bad, annoying, interesting? Thoughts are very much appreciated.