(A.N. I'm so so sorry it has taken me so long, I've had 12 hour days most of this week, so getting time to write has been tough but I'll hopefully be back to posting a new chapter once a week maybe more, I'm not sure yet. Thank you to everyone for their feedback and comments and feel free to give any you have. I hope you're enjoying the story :) )
Gabriella had received curious looks from her friends and was surprised that they didn't say anything to her until they met her at her locker at the start of first break, Taylor not able to hold her questions anymore. "Gabriella, what in the world is up with you and Troy Bolton?"
She giggled softly. "You know you don't have to use his full name every time you talk about him, we only have one Troy in our grade." She continued after the group glared at her. "Ok sorry, Troy and I are family friends and we've had a few issues recently but we've sorted them out and now we're trying to be friends."
"But why didn't you tell us?"
"He didn't really want anyone to know that we knew each other and honestly, I didn't really either."
Kelsi spoke up. "Is that why he was bothering you all the time?" Gabriella nodded. "Ok should we go to the cafeteria now that we're all here?"
"Actually," Gabriella started hesitantly, "Troy wanted me to ask you guys if we could sit with him and the team."
"I don't think that's a good idea Gabriella, I don't think they'll like it."
"Troy said it's fine and he thinks that the team will be ok with it too. Can we just try and if it doesn't work, we can move or sit somewhere else at lunch?"
Sharpay agreed. "Ryan'll probably hang 'round too, what's the worst that can happen girls, the Wildcats won't do anything."
Kelsi interjected. "But Ryan doesn't like Troy."
"No but he's not stupid enough to cause any trouble with him, he knows better than to get on the wrong side of Troy so let's go."
The other three girls hesitantly agreed and they walked into the cafeteria. Gabriella smiled as she saw Troy waving her and the girls over and walked to the table. She inwardly laughed as she noticed Chad and Zeke's eyes widen as they watched their crush and moved around to make room for them. "Come sit." Troy said with a smile, pulling Gabriella down beside him. "How's your day been?"
"Pretty good, yours?"
He nodded, "same."
Their conversation was interrupted as Chad cleared his throat. "Alright lovebirds, we're not gonna sit here watching you flirt." They both glared at him accompanied by Taylor hitting him on the arm. "Anyway, Troy explained how he and Gabriella are friends, so you girls can sit with us whenever you'd like."
"Thanks Chad."
The group's conversation continued and naturally, Troy's arm circled around Gabriella's waist and she found herself leaning closer to him. Some minutes later, she heard some of the boys quietly groan – Troy included – and noticed a blonde guy walking towards the group, stopping beside her as she felt Troy's grip tighten. The blonde boy spoke, "Hi, I saw you and just had to introduce myself, I'm Ryan and you are?"
His leering gaze made her uncomfortable and she was thankful when Sharpay spoke up. "Ryan, leave her alone."
"What Shar, I'm just trying to get to know your friend." He said as he placed his hand on Gabriella's shoulder. "So how about it?"
Gabriella shifted so his arm fell. "No thank you."
"For now then."
Gabriella shivered as the boy walked away and Troy moved his arm to around her shoulder, pulling her closer. "It's alright, we won't let him do anything." The rest of the group looked at her sympathetically before the bell rung and they had to go to class. As Gabriella and Troy walked into chemistry and took their seats, Troy began. "Are you ok from before?"
"Yeah I'm alright, I just have a bad feeling about Ryan, I know he's Sharpay's brother but he makes me feel a bit uncomfortable."
He nodded. "Well we'll make sure that someone's always with you so he can't do anything, you'll never have to be alone with him Brie."
She smiled and hugged the boy. "Thank you Troy."