I do not own High School Musical or any of the characters. This is my first story and I hope you like it!*
Beep,beep,beep...
Gabriella slapped her alarm clock beside her bed, stretching as she sat up and slowly got off the bed.
It had only been one month since she had joined East high school and played the lead role in the schools musical. But most importantly, it had been a month since she met her boyfriend, Troy.
"Gabriella honey, breakfast is ready" Maria told her daughter as she got dressed.
"Ok momma" Gabriella said. She quickly brushed her brown curls and went downstairs for breakfast.
Maria watched as Gabriella slowly ate her favourite breakfast. She had watched her daughter all week and she knew something was wrong. Everyday when Gabriella got home she would run straight to her room and refuse to come out for anyone, and Maria also took notice in the bruises forming on her daughters body.
"Honey, is there anything you need to tell me?" Maria asked gently.
Gabriella shook her head. "Of course not mom, if there was I would tell you" Gabriella said dully.
"Well, gabby you've-" Maria began.
"Oops! Gotta go, bye mom love you!" Gabriella quickly kissed her mom's check and ran out of the house.
Maria sighed and went about to get ready for work, hoping her daughter would tell her what was going on soon.
Gabriella arrived at school early as usual, she felt her heart race when she entered through the door, knowing exactly what her day would hold.
Just as Gabriella reached her locker she was slapped to the ground. "Ouch!" Gabriella whimpered.
"Aww, did that hurt?" A tall boy laughed, it was Jake, the caption of the football team, six team members stood beside him.
Gabriella gulped in fear, this had been happening for weeks now. Jake and his team had been bullying Gabriella.
"What do you want Jake?" Gabriella asked, stupid mistake, that earned another slap to the face.
"Watch you tone with me nerd, you got what I want?" Jake asked.
Gabriella quickly pulled a five page essay out of her backpack and handed it to Jake. "It's all there, and it's signed with all your names" Gabriella told them.
"We better get a full marks, or you're dead" Jake threatened. Pushing her one more time before walking away.
Gabriella sighed and opened her locker, leaning in close to hide her tears. Her face hurt from the slap, her heart ached as his threats sunk in, he would kill her if she gave him the chance, literally kill her.
Troy and the other teens walked into school and happily talked while walking around to find Gabriella. Once they found her in the lunch room alone, they could tell something was wrong. Something had been wrong all week, Gabriella was always upset or shut down, but she refused to tell anyone why.
"Hey baby girl" Troy greeted, kissing her cheek. "How are yo-what happened to your cheek?" Troy asked as he found the red marks that covered her face.
"I, um, ran into my locker this morning" Gabriella lied.
Everyone knew it was a lie, something else had happened. Everyone sat down around the table and continued their conversation, hoping Gabriella would soon join in, but she never did.
The bell rang to signal students to get to home room. The gang made their way to Mrs Darbus home room and quickly found their seats.
Gabriella found her seat in the back of the class and watched fearfully as Jake entered the room. The boys gaze landed on the brunette and he walked up to her desk.
"Good job Montez, you've avoided me, but watch your back, I'm always watching your EVERY move!" Jake whispered and went back to his desk at the front.
Gabriella fought back the tears as they filled her eyes and laid her head down on her arms on the desk.
The entire day Gabriella was on edge and jumpy, whenever Jake looked in her direction, Gabriella would jump behind Troy and cling to his shirt.
Now she was in gym class and sadly, none of her friends were in this class, but now she was alone with Jake and two of his friends Mike and Josh, she was terrified.
"Ok class, today we're gonna run laps of the field, no complaints! let's go" Jack, the coach and Troy's dad, ordered.
Gabriella quickly put her inhaler into her pocket, when she was younger she had been diagnosed with asthma.
While the class was lining up to run, Jake carefully reached into Gabriella's pocket and took her inhaler. He laughed, this would be great!
20 minutes later...
Gabriella was panting for breath as she completed her 5th lap of the field, Jake and his friends had complained and earned everyone three extra laps.
Gabriella suddenly felt her breath catch in her throat and she reached for her inhaler. When she felt nothing she started to panic, she knew this was serious and she needed it.
"Ok everyone back inside!" Jack yelled as all the students ran inside. "Gabby, you ok sweetie? You're really red" Jack asked concerned.
Gabriella leaned on her knees, breathing heavily. "J-Jack, I ne-need my inh-haler! C-can't breathe!" Gabriella cried desperately, clutching one hand to her heart.
Jack cursed under his breath and rushed to her, scooping her up and rushing her under a shady tree. He laid her against the tree and began to dial a number on his phone.
"Hello? I need Troy and Chad to come to the back field right now please, and tell them to get a asthma inhaler from the front office, thank you Miss Green" Jack hung up and took out his water bottle, "here honey, drink this" he told Gabriella.
Gabriella took small mouth fulls and continued to struggle for breath. "Didn't you get your inhaler before the run? you always remember" Jack said.
Gabriella nodded, "I swear! I did! I-I don't kno-w what happened!" Gabriella was slowly getting weaker and weaker.
"Just hang on sweetie, deep breaths for me, really deep ones" Jack encouraged.
Troy and Chad ran as fast as they could to the back field, they had collected the inhaler from the front office and immediately knew who it was for, Gabriella was the only girl with asthma in her sports class.
"Dad! Where is she?!" Troy yelled as they found Jack rushing inside the gym.
Gabriella was cradled in Jack's arms, barely conscious. "Troy..." Gabriella gasped out.
"Oh my god Brie, here deep breath" Troy said as he put the inhaler between her dry lips and pressed on the top. After a few deep breaths of the medicine Gabriella started to feel better. "You hold this while we get you comfortable"
Jack led the three into his office and set Gabriella on the small couch, he turned the AC all the way up and used the phone to call Maria to inform her of Gabriella's incident.
Meanwhile Troy and Chad quickly snuck into the locker room, they knew someone had taken Gabriella's inhaler, she knew she needed it when doing sports so someone must have taken it. As they stopped in the door way they heard Jake laughing.
"Did you see her? Her face was priceless when she realised it wasn't in her pocket!" Jake laughed.
Mike slapped his shoulder, "dude, she's so stupid, I can't believe she didn't notice" Mike laughed.
Chad looked and Troy and mouthed, 'who are they talking about?' Troy shrugged.
"I guess this is more necessary to her than we thought" Jake said as he pulled out Gabriella's inhaler! Troys eyes widened. "Oh no! I can't breathe! I'm gonna die!" Jake mocked Gabriella's behaviour and fell to the ground.
"She's such a nerd and so much fun to mess with" Josh said.
"I know, tomorrow I was thinking we shove her in a closet, she's claustrophobic too" Jake told his friends.
"How do you know all this? Surely she wouldn't tell you" Josh asked, Jake smiled and winked.
"But she'd tell her friends and let's face it, they can't whisper and even if they do I can always hear them" Jake chuckled.
Troy and Chad's jaws dropped, that's what was upsetting Gabriella everyday, Jake and his friends were bullying her. They would get her alone and torture her. But the question was, why hadn't Gabriella told them?
"Alright, thank you Maria, see you soon" Jack hung up and looked at the teens. "Your mom is coming to get you Gabriella, she wants you to go home and rest, no buts young lady" Jack said, chuckling as Gabriella's open mouth slowly closed again.
"Chad, can you take Gabby to the office? I'll meet you there, I need to speak with my dad" Troy asked, Chad nodded, knowing Troy was going to tell Jack what they heard in the locker room. "Brie, go with Chad I'll be there soon" Troy kissed her forehead before they left, he shut the door to the office.
"What's up son?" Jack asked, concerned.
"Dad, someone took Gabriella's inhaler from her pocket, and I know who it was" Troy began, Jack raised his eyebrow. "It was Jake, Mike and Josh"
"Troy, are you sure? If we accuse them and you're wrong, you'll get in trouble and I'll loose my job" Jack told Troy.
"I know and I have prove, in the locker room Chad and I heard everything and recorded it" Troy said. He pulled out his phone and let Jack listen to the bullying and comments being made. "They've also been bullying Gabriella, not sure for how long but they admit to it themselves" Jack sighed, this was all he needed to hear...
Troy got to the front office just as Maria embraced her daughter, rubbing her back and asking her if she was ok. Chad stood behind her. "Hey Mrs Montez" Troy greeted.
Maria looked at her daughters boyfriend, "hi Troy, and for the last time it's Maria, you're making me older every time you say it" Maria joked.
Troy smiled and kissed Gabriella on the cheek, "you feeling better now princess?" Troy asked, Gabriella nodded, still feeling frightened.
"Well, I better get her home, thank you for your help boys" Maria said as she began to walk Gabriella outside. "Oh! And tell your dad thank you for me Troy" Troy nodded and waved them off.
"Love you Brie!" Troy called out. When they were gone he turned to Chad, "I told dad and showed him the video" Troy said.
"Gabby admitted everything, she broke down man. She thought we'd be mad for her not telling us" Chad said. "She's too hard on herself"
Troy nodded, "did she say why she didn't tell?" Troy asked.
Chad winced, "you won't like it, you see..." Chad began.
Jack and Troy were on their way to the Montez house, after spending an hour in the principal's office reporting the bullying and discussing discipline against Jake and his friends, who were without a doubt suspended for a few weeks.
Troy was desperate to talk to Gabriella and sort this issue out, the reason she had hidden the bullying, he couldn't believe she thought about this and intended to hide it forever. He wanted to hug and kiss her until she melted in his arms.
When Maria opened the door she smiled warmly, "hi guys, come on in" she welcomed, "Lucille is in the kitchen, she came over a while ago, she's upstairs Troy" Maria knew who Troy wanted to see, Troy thanked her and rushed up the stairs.
Troy knocked on Gabriella's bedroom door, only opening when she told him to. She was laying in bed, her inhaler on her bedside table and her small tv playing softly. "Hey wildcat" Gabriella greeted softly.
"Hey, you feeling better?" Troy asked as he shut the door and moved to sit on her bed.
"Yeah I guess" Gabriella frowned when she saw his face, that look, he knew something... "what? What's wrong?"
Troy sighed, "why didn't you tell us that Jake was bullying you?" Troy asked. When Gabriella didn't answer, Troy continued. "Gabriella, you know we would have helped you! Chad told me why you hid it" Gabriella tensed up. "You thought we would bullying you for being a baby? That you would end up a friendless victim with constant bullying from everyone at school?"
That's when Gabriella finally broke, she burst into gut wrenching sobs. "I'm sorry! I didn't mean to lie to you! I wanted to tell you, I really did! But the thought of loosing you and the gang was too much! I couldn't do it, Troy I love you and the gang and I want to keep it that way!" Gabriella cried. Finally, the truth was out.
Troy's heart broke, he wrapped her in a hug and kissed her head, just letting her cry, that's what she needed. After twenty minutes she finally settled enough to finish the conversation. "Gabriella Montez, your are so sweet to think of us when all this is happening to you, we love you so much too and we intend to keep being your friends forever. We could have helped you, we will help you, but you have to tell us" Troy said, lifting her chin to meet his gaze. "Promise me you'll say something to us next time?"
Gabriella nodded, "I promise Troy, I love you so much" Gabriella whispered.
"I love you too" Troy leaned in and they kissed passionately.
Finally everything was out and the problem was solved. Gabriella was still very hesitant to tell her friends her problems, but at least now she knew she had them when she knew she couldn't handle the problem alone.
The end.
Ok so that's it, my first story. Sorry for the ending I'm not the best at them. I really hope you liked it. Please follow my Instagram at @baby_vfangirl for more updates on Vanessa or other stories. Please leave your thoughts in a review and feel free to send suggestions through my Instagram.*
Until next time loves xoxox*