Another two weeks had gone by and before Gabriella knew it, it was December and the first basketball game. It was, of course, Friday and the team had been practicing for two weeks, and it was finally the first game. Gabriella feels Troy's leg shaking under the lunch table. All of the guys were nervous, but Gabriella knew this meant more to Troy than the first basketball game. There were scouts from Duke and Florida State were coming to watch the guys tonight. He had been accepted to both schools. She knew deep down that Troy didn't want to go to U of A like everyone thought. Troy was looking into Duke, North Carolina, but most of all; Gabriella knew he wanted to go to UCLA. She feels Troy's leg shake even harder so Gabriella puts her hand on it. "Everyone's quiet today." Ryan says and all of the basketball guys look up at him and glare except for Troy. He continues to stare at his food.
"I hear scouts are coming." Jason states.
"We know." Chad says and suddenly, Gabriella feels Troy stand up. "Where are you going?"
"Not hungry." He says and walks up the steps to the balcony and Gabriella sighs. She knew exactly where he was going and wanted to make sure he ate; otherwise his game was going to suffer. She picks up his bag of lunch that he didn't touch and stands up.
"I'm gonna make sure he's ok." Gabriella says walks away from the table. She throws out her own lunch and makes her way up the steps that Troy just walked up. She follows the steps he just took and makes her way to the biology room and enters the secret door. Gabriella runs up the steps to see Troy's back looking out into the horizon. He was, like the rest of the basketball team, wearing his red warm up suit with the number "14" on the back in white. "Hey superstar." She greets him and Troy turns around.
"Hey." He says back and walks over to kiss her on the cheek. Gabriella looks up at him, disappointed that was all she got, but then tries to shrug it off.
"Come on… I brought you your food." She says holding up his lunch and sits down on their bench. Troy smiles half heartedly and shakes his head.
"Thanks, but I'm not hungry." He says and looks back out into the skyline. Gabriella sighs and shakes her head.
"You need to eat something Troy. Otherwise you're going to hit a wall during your game." This gets Troy's attention. He walks over to Gabriella and sits down next to her on their bench and takes a bite of an uneaten sandwich. Gabriella places a hand on his shoulder and watches while he scarves down the sandwich. "Slow down though." She says giggling a little.
Troy looks up at her and swallows. "Sorry. I guess I'm just a little nervous." He says and Gabriella laughs. She could see his knee shaking again so she places her hand on his knee to calm him down.
"A little?" She asks and Troy finally cracks a nervous smile.
"Ok, a lot."
Gabriella rests her chin on Troy's shoulder. "You're gonna do great out there today. I promise." She says and kisses his shoulder. She continues to rub his knee until he finishes his sandwich and leans back against the bench.
"There's a Duke scout coming." He says and Gabriella nods. She leans back too and rests her head onto his shoulder. "This game could determine whether or not I get a scholarship." He says and Gabriella closes her eyes.
"Just think of it as just another game." Gabriella says, trying to convince him, but it didn't seem to be working out too well. "You'll do great. You always do. And, if it makes you feel any better, I'll be standing in the front row, cheering you on."
Troy lifts Gabriella's chin up with his fingers and leans down to kiss her passionately. Gabriella pulls away after a minute and smiles up at him. "You just reminded me of something. Come on." He says and grabs Gabriella's hand to lead her down the steps. They leave the biology room and enter the hallway that was crowded right now. Troy leads her to his locker and opens it. He drops his gym bag on the floor and goes through it. Gabriella watches intently and then he finally smiles and stands up holding something behind his back. "It's not much, and I totally understand if you don't want to wear it." Troy says and then brings his hand around.
Gabriella grabs the red jersey and holds it up. It was his away jersey, since it was all in red and had white lettering. She turns it around and sees his number 14 on it with "Bolton" written on the top. She looks up at him and smiles. "Of course I'll wear it."
She feels Troy pick her up and swing her around. Gabriella giggles as he puts her down and kisses her on the lips for a moment. "Thanks. It means a lot to me." He says and Gabriella matches his beaming face, happy he wasn't so tense anymore.
"Troy!" She hears a high pitched voice behind her and groans. Gabriella turns around and sees Bridget with Gretchen walking toward them in their cheerleading warm ups. She looks up at Troy who gives her a reassuring smile and puts his arm around her, to prove he wasn't interested in Bridget. But Gabriella feels awkward standing like this. Sure, it was comforting but she wanted to prove that she trusted Troy. And she looks around to see that people were staring at the four of them. She hated crowds.
"Hi." Troy simply states and Gabriella feels his arm pull her a little closer.
"So you pumped for the big game?" She asks Troy and looks Gabriella up and down as if to intimidate her, but it doesn't work.
"Yea, I guess." Troy says and scratches the back of his neck. Gabriella moves to the side a bit, trying to get away from Troy's grasp, but he doesn't let her go. She looks around to see more people staring, probably because everyone knew Bridget was trying to take Troy away from Gabriella.
"Good. I'll be cheering for you." She says and takes a step closer to Troy. Gabriella, feeling extremely awkward, tries to get out of Troy's grasp again but he only pulls her closer. She looks up to see Troy's hard face.
"Well, that's your job isn't it?" He says coldly and Bridget tries not to falter her face, but Gabriella could see it. She sighs in front of him and Gabriella finally wiggles out of Troy's grasp, since it felt extremely awkward standing there. Troy looks at her for a moment but Bridget says something so he turns his head back to her while Gabriella stands next to his locker.
"I know. But you're the basketball captain, and I'm the cheerleading captain, so I get to dedicate a dance for you at half time." She says as if that would convince him to go to her and Troy raises his eyebrows. "It's tradition… you know?"
"Really?" He says and shrugs. "Too bad I'll be in the locker room at the time." He says and walks back over to Gabriella. She smirks as Bridget looks offended and jealous. She storms away with Gretchen and Troy rolls his eyes. He turns back to Gabriella. "Sorry, I know, that was kind of an asshole move." He says and Gabriella smiles up at him.
"Well… you can be an asshole to the people who deserve it. Just don't get drunk, cuz I don't think I can handle that again." She jokes and Troy leans down to kiss her again but Gabriella moves her head so he kisses her cheek. She really wasn't into PDA and everyone was still staring at them. Troy looks around and nods, realizing why she did that and then smiles.
"Only for you." He says and Gabriella beams up at him.
At seven thirty that night, Gabriella was standing in the bleachers on the first row in the gym. She had her hair up in a ponytail so you could see "Bolton" on her back. She was wearing his red jersey, white shorts, white soccer socks and white tennis shoes. Next to her on her right was Taylor who had on Chad's practice jersey on and on the left was Sharpay who was wearing a beater she made that was red and had "Baylor" written on the back in rhinestones. Kelsi wasn't wearing anything to show that she was Jason's, but was still wearing a basketball shirt that he got her. Chloe and Ryan were standing next to each other, holding hands and all decked out in red. Gabriella looks up into the stands over by the parents to see on the top row was two men in business suits with a notebook in their hands.
"And for your home team." The announcer says on the loud speaker and everyone cheers. "Starting for the Wildcats is number 32… Zeke Baylor." A round of cheers and Sharpay screams the loudest. All of them look at her and she mouths "what?" They all laugh at her. "Number 23… Jason Cross." They all cheer and look over to see Kelsi smiling. "Number 5… Nathan Collins." Gabriella smiles as Nate runs out and waves at Mandy. "Number 8… Chad Danforth." Taylor screams and Gabriella laughs, thinking how funny it was that she used to hate him last year. "And your senior Wildcats captain… Troy Bolton!"
The whole gym erupts in the loudest cheers. "GO TROY!" Gabriella hears herself yell as Troy runs out of the locker room and jumps up and down as if trying to raise the volume. She watches as Troy's eyes connect with hers and gives her a huge smile, then points at her. Gabriella feels herself blush as the rest of the team runs up and they all jump up and down. Coach Bolton walks over to the side as well as the rest of the team that were subs and the five seniors stay out there. Zeke, being the tallest, goes for the tip off as well as the player from the opposing team, the Bulldogs. On the court, Troy looks up to the top row of the bleachers and Gabriella's eyes follow. She could see the scouts already writing things down and Troy's head moves over to her. She blows him a kiss and then gives him a thumbs up. He gives her a nervous smile and the ref walks out carrying the ball. He tosses it up into the air and the game begins.
Midway into the third quarter, Gabriella looks up at the score board to see it was 37 to 30. The Wildcats were up but Gabriella could tell everyone was getting tired. "COME ON CHAD!" She hears Taylor yell next to her as Chad grabs the rebound and runs down the court. He passes to Zeke to fakes left and breaks right and passes to a junior to takes a shot and makes it. The Bulldogs then take the ball and make their own shot.
"Come on Troy." Gabriella says quietly as she sees him put his hands behind his head and pants for a moment before Chad passes the ball to him. Being point guard, Troy takes the ball up and does his famous fake right and breaking left. He takes a three point shot which makes it in with a swish.
Before she knew it, there was only twenty seconds left in the game. The Wildcats were winning.52 to 46. Troy takes the ball and drives it hard for a lay up except one of the bulldogs foul him instead. Gabriella watches as Troy lands on his back onto the hardwood. "Is he ok?" Chloe asks when Troy stays on the ground for a moment, but then gets back up.
"Troy's tough." Gabriella says and watches as her boyfriend walks up to the free throw line and hears a huge "COME ON TROY!" From the crowd. He bounces the ball twice, then spins it in his hand and takes a shot. It bounces off the rim and Gabriella could see Troy's mouth swear. The ref passes the ball to him again and he does the same thing, then shoots. The ball goes it with a swish. The bulldogs take it back and try to make a shot, but Chad gets the rebound instead. He runs the clock until the buzzer sounds in the gym and the crowd erupts with cheers. Gabriella looks up to see the scouts nodding and making their way down the steps toward Coach Bolton. The team celebrates for a moment before Coach Bolton calls Troy, Chad and Zeke over. Gabriella watches as Troy shakes hands with both men and they talk for awhile.
"Good, I know Chad's really looking at Duke and Florida State." Taylor says as the crowd begins to fill out. Gabriella watches as the scouts shake hands with the three guys again and then the seniors run into the locker room. "I think he's going for UCLA too."
"It wouldn't surprise me. That's where Troy really wants to go." Gabriella says as they make their way through the gym doors.
"Tell Zeke I'll call him later. Ry and I have to go." Sharpay says and waves.
"I'm gonna go too." Chloe says and gives everyone a hug. She grabs hands with Ryan and follows Sharpay out the doors. Gabriella, Taylor, and Kelsi walk over to the entrance of the locker room. They suddenly hear a bunch of talking and look down the hallway to see three of the cheerleaders walking toward them Shannon and Mandy both wave.
"Hey guys." Shannon greets them and stands up against the lockers with them. "They played really well."
"Yea…" Taylor says. Gabriella knew it wasn't Troy's best game, but it was still good. "I'm sure they're all extremely excited."
Suddenly, Gabriella hears a loud laugh and looks down the hallway again to see Bridget, Jackie and Gretchen walking toward them. She lets out a groan. "Oh great." Mandy says with an eye roll as the other three girls stop.
"What are you doing here?" Bridget asks Gabriella who just rolls her eyes.
"Waiting for my boyfriend." She spits back.
"The better question is what are YOU doing here?" Taylor asks and Bridget smirks.
"Waiting for her boyfriend." She says as she points at Gabriella. Gabriella feels herself take a step forward but Taylor puts her hand on her shoulder. "What… are you afraid? That's I'm gonna take him?"
"No. I'm not." She says confidently and Bridget smirks.
"I would be." Suddenly, the locker room door opens and the guys walk out. Nate, Jason, and Chad all walk by their girlfriends but Gabriella couldn't see Troy. She glares at Bridget for a moment then turns to Chad.
"Where's Troy?" She asks as he and Taylor break a part from a celebratory kiss.
"Trainer's getting ice for his back." He says and Gabriella's stomach drops.
"What's wrong with his back?" She asks.
"When that guy fouled him, I think he landed on it wrong. He's got a pretty nasty bruise." Chad says and Gabriella nods.
"I'm gonna find him. I'll see you guys later." She says and glares at Bridget again before running down the hallway. She goes back into the gym that was completely cleared out and walks to the doorway of the trainer's room and stops.
"Just ice twenty minutes on and twenty minutes off for the night. It might be sore, but I think it will be ok." She hears the trainer's voice say and then takes a step back.
"Thanks." Her boyfriend's voice says and Gabriella watches as Troy walks out of the small room with a bag of ice in his hands. He looks up and smiles immediately and jogs over and wraps his arms around her.
"Nice game." She says and wraps her arms around his neck. He pulls away from her for a moment to lean down and kiss her. She smiles into it and gives him a little squeeze.
"Thanks. It was ok, but the scouts seemed to really like it. The one from Duke said he would contact us later on a scholarship. I can't believe it!" He says and kisses Gabriella once again.
"I'm so proud of you." She says and Troy takes her hand. He was a lot more relaxed than earlier today and that made her so much happier.
"Yea, but my dad said that he invited the scout from UCLA to come to the next home game." He says, which meant it was two weeks away.
"That's good though, right?" Gabriella asks and Troy sighs.
"It would be, if we weren't playing West High." He says. Gabriella knew that West High was the only team that really threatened the Wildcats. Plus, from what she saw in the pizza place before homecoming, it looked like Brad and the Knights were looking for revenge.
"You'll do great. You always do." She says and he sighs.
"Yea… hopefully. Anyways. do you still wanna come over?" He asks leading her out of the gym with an ice pack in his other hand. She had driven with Taylor because Troy had asked her to hang out after the game earlier in school today. She nods and he smiles brightly. "Great."
They arrive at the Bolton household and Troy leads Gabriella up the steps and inside. Gabriella could smell the scent of cookies baking and the two walk into the kitchen. Mrs. Bolton looks up from the cookie dough she was making and walks over to her son. "Congrats Troy!" She says and Troy smiles. "I thought I'd make cookies to celebrate. Your father's still at school."
"Thanks Mom." Troy says and lets go of Gabriella's hand to grab a cookie. She follows, grabbing her own and taking a bite.
"Mr. Bolton, you defiantly make the best cookies." She says smiling.
"Thanks Gabs. I guess I have to compete because Troy always says how great your mom's brownies are." She says and Gabriella laughs.
"What? They are!" Troy exclaims which makes Gabriella laugh even more. They both walk down the steps and sit on down on Troy's couch. She could hear Troy moan as he leans back and places the ice pack onto his lower back. She remembers Chad saying how bad of a bruise he had.
"You sound like you're in pain." Gabriella states as Troy looks up at her and shakes his head.
"It doesn't hurt too badly." He says as he winces. Gabriella giggles and places her hand on his arm.
"I'm sure. Let's see it." She says as Troy turns around.
"It's not that bad. Chad makes it seem like it's the size of California." He takes off his warm up jacket and then his t-shirt. Chad wasn't lying. Sitting on his lower back was a huge purple spot that stretched across most of his back. Gabriella places to fingers on it and Troy winces again. "Ah, don't touch it!"
"Sorry." She says and then leans down and places her lips onto it as if it would "make it better". She feels Troy shiver as she plants kisses up his back and then makes it to his neck. "Feel better now?" She asks and he turns around.
"Loads, but I think I could feel even better." He says huskily as he leans down, pulling his body over hers and attacking her lips with his own.