Besar

By Jeune Ecrivain

Rating: K+

Summary: Former one-shot extended due to good reviews. On the cusp of a relationship, Troy and Gabriela find something unexpected that they have in common and use it to further their fledgling singing careers.

Soon enough, Troy found Gabriela shuffling books around in her locker. He smiled as he approached her, watching her rearrange her things almost with an artist's eye. He inwardly wondered if anyone else could pull off looking cute doing such a mundane activity. "So," he said, leaning against the locker beside hers, "I had a really good time last night."

Her response was a small, playful smile. "You know, I told my mother what you did, you sneak," she said.

"Oh, did you," he said, playing along. "What'd she say?"

"Something about how great it is for a 'young, full-blooded American' to have a good enough command of Spanish to have understood what we said," she answered. "She was too busy being impressed to notice how you let us keep talking, pretending to be clueless, so you could hear me pour my heart out about you," she added with mock irritation. "I, however, won't be so keen on forgiving your sneakiness."

"Is that so?" Troy challenged, stepping closer to her. "Well, I don't see what you have to be so mad about. After all, I, for one, went home and actually thanked my Mom for having made me good at Spanish." His voice grew sincere. "Because if she hadn't, I wouldn't have found out that you felt the same way I did."

Her mock anger melted, and she smiled at him sweetly.

"My mom was thoroughly confused, of course, but that just made the night even more fun in addition to being…" He sighed. "…really fulfilling.

Gabriela giggled. "I'm glad it happened, too," she said warmly.

Troy tentatively slipped his arms around her waist. "So, just to be clear,…" he said, a trace of nervousness in his voice, "we're not 'just friends' anymore, are we?"

She blushed and slipped her own arms around his neck. "Are you asking me to be your girlfriend, Troy?" she said softly.

"Well, yeah," he answered. "Although, 'girlfriend' doesn't really do justice to what you mean to me. There are so many bad boyfriends out there who have really cheapened the word, and…"

"Cállate y bésame," ("Shut up and kiss me") Gabriela interrupted.

Troy grinned and leaned in to oblige her. Their lips were just about to touch when Chad appeared seemingly out of nowhere, followed closely by Taylor, Jason, and Kelsi. "Hey, Captain!" he said. "That was some after party last night, wasn't it,"

Troy turned to his friend with a sarcastic smile on his face and slung his arm casually around his shoulders. "Chad, we need to talk," he said. "You see, there's this thing called 'timing,' and you really need to work on yours."

Chad blinked, and Taylor rolled her eyes at him before rounding on Troy and Gabriela. "Oh, I think they were about to kiss!" she said, her voice rising substantially in pitch towards the end of her sentence as she looked at Gabriela hopefully.

Gabriela blushed again, but she recovered quickly and grinned cleverly. "Can't a girl kiss her boyfriend anymore?" she said pointedly, taking Troy's hand in hers.

Taylor squealed, and Kelsi muttered "Finally." Chad, however, wasn't quite so happy. "Aw, man," he blurted.

Troy turned to face Chad, taken aback by his response, but as he promptly found his best friend handing a crisp $10 bill to a triumphant Taylor, that was all the explanation he needed. He rolled his eyes in amused shock. "Oh, you have got to be kidding me!"

"You guys bet on whether or not we'd get together!" Gabriela said with a gasp.

"Of course not!" Taylor said indignantly, as if offended by the charge. "We bet on WHEN you would get together," she clarified. "Chad gave you guys two whole months."

"Unbelievable," Troy shook his head. "You guys are bad."

"You guys," Kelsi interrupted her friends' raillery, "I hate to spoil the mood, but I came looking for you for a reason," she stated, referring to Troy and Gabriela. "Ryan and Sharpay are at it again."

This caught everyone's attention. "What's up?" Troy asked.

"Apparently, Sharpay's determined that Twinkle Towne will be the only time she takes a bow to newcomers. She's convinced the Drama Club to pass some new rules. No one can star in more than one school production without being inducted into the club, of which she conveniently happens to be co-president," reported Kelsi distastefully. "And, as an added bonus, any hopeful members must now have had at least one diction class."

"Diction class?" Gabriela repeated.

"It's a foreign language class that most aspiring actors or singers have to take sometime during their education. It doesn't really teach the language, just how to pronounce everything, so if they ever have a job that requires them to sing in another language, they can pull it off."

"Oh, geez," Taylor said with a roll of her eyes. "I'll bet the classically-trained Evans twins have had several diction classes."

"You guessed it," Kelsi said with an exasperated sigh. "So, basically, if you guys want to keep performing for East High, which I really hope you do 'cause you guys are so great, we might have to do something drastic…again."

"Well, Gabriela and I both know Spanish," said Troy. "Doesn't that count for something?"

"It should," Gabriela said. "I mean, we don't just pronounce it. We actually know what we're saying when we speak it." She threw a pointed smile at Troy, who responded with a playful smirk.

Kelsi's eyes brightened. "There is one way. If you can show that you're good enough at singing in Spanish, Mrs. Darbus is willing to forget the actual class requirement. But Drama Club applications are this week, and you guys'll have to prepare some sort of skit or something to show that you can sing in Spanish."

"That's awful short notice," Taylor remarked. "How are you guys gonna learn a whole Spanish song in just a few days? I mean, you're both wonderful singers, but it's going to take a little more than raw talent to get past Sharpay's roadblocks. It's going to take preparation."

"Unless it wasn't really a new song," Troy thought aloud.

"What do you mean?" Gabriela asked curiously.

Troy swallowed, wondering if he was crazy for even trying this, but something inside him was spurring him on, and following his gut had served him quite well before. Case in point: Gabriela. He smiled at her, encouraged by her thoughtful gaze. "I have an idea."