AN: Thanks for reviewing! I know you all want Troy and Gabriella to get together... but just be patient! It may happen in time!
Oh geez. I just wrote the saddest chapter I have ever written in my life. It's not for this fic, it's for my other HSM. It was so sad, I was almost crying too. Why was it sad, you ask? Well, you'll just have to wait until chapter 5 of that fic is posted. Which hopefully won't be in too long.
And I'm writing another HSM fic, partly because the sad one is so draining. This new one is a humor fic, so check that out when it's published. It won't take long at all.
Lastly... my birthday is on May 16th! You better not forget to leave me a birthday review! Don't worry, guys; I'll remind you about it after every chapter I post. :)
Title: Where She Belongs
Rating: T
Author: MadiWillow
Summary: Ms. Montez's company transferred her back to San Diego, California. Troy and Gabriella lost touch after the move, but what will happen when they meet up again in college?
Genre: Romance/Drama
Chapter: Chapter 3
Finally, after another agonizing hour and a half, the game ended. Gabriella couldn't be happier to be able to leave the stuffy stadium full of obnoxious college boys, drunk Hooters girl, and... well, Jeremiah. She just wanted to go home.
"So, are we headed back to school?" asked Gabriella hopefully. She wanted to get some sleep, badly.
Jeremiah gave her a look. "Hell no. There's an after-party."
Gabriella's mouth dropped. "But what about me?" She cried.
Jeremiah shrugged as they started up the stairs to the lobby. "You can stay in the car." Gabriella stared at him in indignation. He obviously sensed her irritation, as he added, "Or why don't you just join me? You don't have to drink or anything. I'm sure they have water."
"Well..." Gabriella muttered. "I'm kinda tired."
"Then sleep in the car," scoffed Jeremiah. "Or you can sleep at the house we're going too."
Gabriella raised her eyebrows. No way was she sleeping in some strange persons house with hundreds of drunk guys running around. No thanks. She sighed. "Well, I guess I'll come with you." She relented. Hopefully Troy won't be there.
"Great!" Jeremiah exclaimed enthusiastically. "Maybe you can try some Corona, it's really good you know-," He paused and gave her a sideways glance as they left the stadium and emerged into the cool parking lot. "Oh yeah. You don't drink."
"Yeah, I don't," Gabriella told him quietly. Truth was, she had gotten drunk, once. The summer after her sophomore year, she, Troy, Chad, Taylor, Kelsi, Sharpay, Jason, Zeke, and Ryan had all gone over to Jason's to hang out and he'd snuck a couple packs of beers into his family's den, where they always hung out. It had been the first time getting drunk for all of them, and Gabriella felt a little guilty admitting that she'd liked it.
Not that she'd done anything inappropriate, or anything. It had just been a really exhilarating feeling, doing something so completely illegal, yet fun, with her best friends.
"Well, then, I really don't know what you're going to do there," said Jeremiah. He unlocked the car and slipped into the driver's seat, waiting for her to enter the passenger side. Troy used to open the door for me...
When she got in and shut the door, they left the stadium and followed a long line of cars into a gated, residential community. They parked, got out, and followed a large crowd of people down two streets before finally reaching a huge house where the party was at.
Gabriella followed Jeremiah into the house, wishing he would take her hand and guide her through the mob of people, some of them already trashed. But he didn't; he just went right to the beers, popped one open, and downed it in a matter of seconds.
Looking around, hoping to see someone she recognized, Gabriella realized that this wasn't just a party for Stanford students – they had won, after all – but also UCLA students. No way was she going to know anybody here. Most of the people she talked with, but weren't really her friends per se, were most likely still back at Stanford. Gabriella found herself wishing more than anything she could be with them and not at this over-crowded house party with music so loud it was giving her a migraine.
Knowing she wouldn't be missed. Gabriella pushed past a bunch of dancing couples – or threesomes, foursomes, whatever – to the stairs. She hoped that not many people were up there.
Her prayers were answered – the huge upstairs was nearly deserted. She went straight for the first door she saw, hoping it was a bathroom, but it was a very spacious bedroom. Deciding that the person who occupied it probably wouldn't care that she was there, Gabriella entered and shut the door behind her. She didn't know what she was going to do up here, but it was better than being down there.
Or not.
After sitting on the bed for a couple minutes, just thinking, she heard a loud thud from the other side of the door, and Gabriella stood up quickly. The door handle turned and a clearly drunk guy came stumbling into the door. If he hadn't been wasted, he would've been gorgeous – his curly, almost black hair curled at the ends in all the right places, and his not-too-tight-but-not-baggy Abercrombie & Fitch clothing made him look like a model. But his face was shining with sweat, and his would-be-beautiful green eyes were dull.
"Hey, you," the guy mumbled, as if they knew each other. "Whaddya doin' up here, all alonnne?" He slurred.
Gabriella smiled politely. "Oh, nothing. Just admiring the house." She started walking to the door but the boy blocked her way.
"Oh, no you don't," He sputtered, closing the door and blocking her path. "You ain't goin' nowhere!"
"Excuse me," said Gabriella with forced-politeness. "I need to go."
"No, you don't!" The guy yelled and he pushed her back onto the bed.
"Hey, what-!" Gabriella tried to scream, but the boy covered her mouth a strong hand and began to undo the button on her pants. Tears started to fill her eyes, but she wasn't going to take this without a fight. She in a house filled with people – obviously someone had to be sober enough to elp her?
She started to claw the boys face, making him slap her back. But that didn't stop her – she tried to hit him in the stomach, to kick him away from her. She got her chance to scream when he recoiled slightly, holding his stomach.
"Help!" she screamed as loud as she could, but the boy punched her into the stomach before she could get much more out, knocking the wind out of her and causing her eyes to water. He then put his hand back over her mouth and nose – he was blocking her airway – she couldn't breathe –
"Hey, what the hell are you doing!" A familiar voice shouted. The boy moved off of Gabriella immediately to sit down next to her. She sat up straight, gasping as she forced air back into her lungs. Blinking through her tears she saw that Troy, of all people, was standing at the door, his face furious. He was wearing the same UCLA tracksuit Gabriella had seen him in during halftime.
"Hey mann," the boy slurred as if nothing had happened. "Saw you at the game. You did-,"
"Get the fuck outta here!" Troy shouted, his eyes livid.
The boy looked surprised. "Geez, man, get a grip on yourself," He got up and stumbled past Troy, through the door. "Hey, and what was up in the second half? You looked-," But before he could finish his sentence, Troy had slammed the door in his face.
There was an awkward silence between Troy and Gabriella. After a moment or two of Troy staring at Gabriella and Gabriella staring at the floor, she realized that the top of her pants were still unbuttoned and her shirt had been lifted up, exposing her stomach. She quickly re-buttoned them and stood up, fixing her shirt.
"Thanks," she whispered, almost inaudibly. She made her way to the door, but knew that there was no way Troy was going to let her leave.
"Where's your boyfriend?" He asked, almost bitterly. "If I was at a party like this with my girlfriend, especially a girl as pretty as you, I wouldn't let her out of my sight for a second."
Gabriella stood before Troy, folding her arms angrily. "Why are you so upset about this boyfriend thing? Did we have some kind of deal that we wouldn't date after we broke up?"
"No, but-,"
"I'm sure you've dated. You can't tell me you haven't dated." Gabriella plowed on.
"Well, I've gone on dates, sure!" argued Troy. "But I haven't actually had a girlfriend!"
"Oh, and this is my fault?" asked Gabriella angrily. "So, because you haven't had a girlfriend and I have a boyfriend, that means I did something wrong?"
"No, it just hurts me to see you with someone else!" exclaimed Troy.
There was another awkward pause, before Gabriella said, "I'm sorry. But, please, don't be mad about Jeremiah. Please."
Troy sighed. "I won't." Another pause. "Hey, what do you say to getting something to eat?"
"Well, I don't know-," Gabriella started, but just then her stomach rumbled so loudly it sounded like some kind of hurricane. She blushed in embarrassment as Troy laughed.
"So I guess that's a yes?" He grinned.
"Well, but, what if Jeremiah decides to leave and he can't find me?" asked Gabriella.
"He knows your cell phone number, right?" Troy asked. She nodded. "So he can call you and pick you up at the restaurant. And if you're worried he might get jealous or something that you're having dinner with another guy," added Troy, "I can make sure to hide when he gets there. So, come on. You're hungry, and we can catch up. I can give you updates on what everyone's been up to and stuff. Please?" He pleaded, pretending to pout.
Gabriella laughed. "Well, I guess so." She grabbed her purse from the bed and said, "Okay, I'm ready."
They went back downstairs and pushed their way through the crowded mob of sweaty, drunk college kids to get to the outside. Troy grabbed her hand and gently guided her through. Gabriella prayed that Jeremiah didn't see, but then again, at the speed he'd ingested that first beer, he was probably so buzzed that he wouldn't even register what he was seeing even if he did see them.
Troy and Gabriella walked together slowly for a while until they finally reached his car. Troy opened the door for her, smiling. Gabriella smiled back before climbing in and fastening her seat belt. Troy jogged around the front of the car to the drivers seat, got in, and started the car.
"Sorry about your loss tonight," said Gabriella, breaking the silence.
Troy shrugged. "Ah, it's okay. I don't really care that much, to be honest," he glanced at her. "I was probably the reason we lost anyway. But oh well, there's always next year."
She nodded. "So, tell me, did you get into UCLA on a basketball scholarship?"
"Yeah," said Troy modestly. "After winning the championship again in junior and senior year, every college I applied to accepted me and pretty much begged me to go to their schools. Actually, even schools I hadn't applied to wanted me." He laughed,.
Gabriella laughed, too. "I figured something like that had happened."
"So what about you?" asked Troy as they drove out of the neighborhood through the gates. "Stanford, huh? I'm not surprised you got in."
She giggled again. "Yeah, well, I got an academic scholarship, which was really good for us because, well," Gabriella paused awkwardly. "I'm not sure my mom would've been able to afford sending me there for four years."
Troy nodded, pretending not to notice her discomfort. "I expected nothing less. About the scholarship, I mean."
Gabriella blushed slightly.
They drove along in silence for another few minutes before pulling into a fancy restaurant.
"Wow. This is beautiful." Gabriella said in awe as she went to open the car door.
"Hey, wait," said Troy. He climbed out of the car and ran to the passenger door. "My lady," he opened her door and bowed.
Gabriella grinned. "Why, thank you, sir," she said in a fake British accent and giggled again.
Troy smiled too as they began walking up the stairs to the restaurant. "Does Jeremiah do that for you?" Taking notice of the look Gabriella gave him, he added quickly, "I'm not trying to rat on him or anything, but it's just the way you went to let yourself out of the car. If you're boyfriend always opened the door for you, it doesn't seem like you'd go to open the door for yourself right away."
Gabriella raised her eyebrows at his strange philosophy. "Maybe I was just being polite." Troy continued to gaze at her, so she sighed and relented. "Well, no, he doesn't. But he's not supposed to, is he?"
Troy shrugged. "No, he's not," he said, in an unconvincing voice. He held the door open for her when they reached the entrance, something Jeremiah didn't do either, and then entered after her. The restaurant was almost completely empty, except for a few couples out for a late night, romantic dinner.
"Table for two?" The blonde hostess guessed in a bored voice. When the two of them nodded, she sighed irritably, as if they were asking for a huge favor or something, and then grabbed a couple menus while saying, "Follow me."
She led them to the very back of the restaurant next to a pair of huge windows. The small table had a single red candle in the middle of it. "Enjoy your meal," the hostess droned before plopping the menus on the table and stalking away.
"Well, she wasn't very pleasant," Gabriella said quietly as they sat down.
Troy laughed lightly. "You know, I've always wondered why they seat you in random places throughout the restaurant. You'd think they could just put you in the closest table, but instead they'll lead you, like, all the way to the back of the place." Gabriella raised her eyebrows again. "It just seems out of the way, you know?"
She shrugged. "I guess so." She smiled at him and picked up her menu to scan through it. "Do you come here often?"
Troy shrugged. "Sometimes. Usually I'll just come alone, if I need to be alone, or something."
Gabriella nodded in understanding. The two of them looked through their menus for a couple minutes. Gabriella couldn't decide on what she wanted, so she just figured she'd get whatever Troy got, which is what they used to do. They'd always fought to order first, because a lot of the times they didn't like what the other was eating. People around them always gave them rude stares, but it had been a cute little tradition of theirs.
She set her menu down on the table and said, "So, how's everyone? Do you still talk to them?"
Troy nodded as he put his menu down as well. "Yeah, we all talk a lot. We meet somewhere to hang out once, sometimes twice, a month."
Gabriella nodded, feeling a pang of sadness to realize that her old friends met up with each other all the time, without her.
"We all go to school in California," Troy explained. "It was a pact we made when we applied to school, to go to school here."
Gabriella nodded in understanding.
"Oh, yeah, I forgot to tell you – Kelsi and Jason broke up," Troy added.
Gabriella's mouth dropped open. "Really? Wow! They were always so cute together!" She paused. "Is it... awkward around them?"
Troy thought for a moment, and then shook his head. "No, not really. They broke up in... I think it was January, senior year. It was a mutual thing, and at first it was uncomfortable, but then, a couple weeks later, they talked for a long time and severed their ties. They're pretty good friends."
"Are they seeing anyone new?"
"Yeah," Troy laughed a little. "Kelsi's actually going out with Ryan, and Jason met someone up at school."
"Kelsi and Ryan?" Gabriella exclaimed, laughing. "Wow, who would've thought?"
"I know!" Troy laughed too. It felt so good to laugh with him again – just like old times.
"Hi! How are you two kids doing?" An overly perky, slightly overweight brunette came over to their table with a pencil behind her ear and a note pad in her hand for their orders.
The pair of them smiled and Gabriella said, "Fine, thanks."
"I'm Marjorie, and I'll be your waitress this evening!" She explained excitedly as if telling a group of preschoolers that they were going to be playing duck-duck-goose. "What can I get you two?"
"Um..." Troy glanced back at his menu. "I'll have the steak with potatoes and fries, and... I guess I'll just have a water with that."
Marjorie jotted his order down on her pad and then said, "What about you, gorgeous?"
Gabriella said, "Um, I'll have the same," a little uncomfortably because of the perky waitresses comment. But then she saw Troy grinning at her from across the table and smiled back.
"Oh, aren't you two just so adorable!" The waitress cried before taking their menus and bustling away.
Troy and Gabriella both started laughing quietly once Marjorie was out of earshot. "What a nutcase." said Troy quietly.
Gabriella giggled.
"But she wasn't too nutty," said Troy. "I mean, she thought you were gorgeous."
She blushed furiously at the comment. She coughed a little uncomfortably, even though Troy had called her gorgeous before, and then said, "So, where does everyone go to school?"
Troy stretched his arms over his head. "Well, I'm alone at UCLA. Sharpay, Zeke, Chad, and Taylor are just across town, at USC." Then Troy laughed again and said, "You know what's funny, is that Taylor was this close-," He held up his forefinger and thumb to demonstrate how much, "-to going to Stanford, but she'd gotten a full scholarship to USC and not Stanford, so she went there instead. Besides, Chad was going to USC, so that was a plus."
"Wow," said Gabriella. "I can just imagine if she'd gone to Stanford. That would've been so great." She sighed sadly. "Another stroke of luck against me."
There was a small silence and Troy cleared his throat awkwardly, "And, um, Jason is at UCSB with his girlfriend of, like, a year or something. And Kelsi and Ryan are at Cal Poly."
Gabriella nodded. "So all the couples stayed together, huh?"
Troy nodded too. "Yeah, they all planned it like that." He smiled.
Marjorie strode over to their table, juggling two waters and two steaming plates of meat. "Here ya go!" she cried happily as she set their dinner in front of them. "Enjoy the meal, you crazy kids!"
"Thank you," responded Gabriella politely, holding back a smile. She and Troy both starting eating and were silent for a while, except for the chink of knives and forks on the plates.
"So, I understand why you didn't call me," said Gabriella, as if continuing a talk they'd just been having. "But, what about everybody else? I haven't heard from them since before I last heard from you."
Troy was silent for a moment. He was chewing his food slowly, thinking. Then he swallowed and said, "You know, I'm not sure. We never really discussed the fact that we'd all stopped calling you. I mean, we talked about you all the time, of course, wondering what you were up to and stuff like that. But-," He paused again. "I don't know, I think they were just too afraid of being disappointed."
"Disappointed?" she prodded.
"Well," Troy struggled to find the right words. "I think they were afraid that they'd call you and discover that you were, like, in another country and that you'd forgotten about us and were having the time of your life wherever you were. They probably thought it was better to just imagine what you were doing instead of actually finding out and being let down."
Gabriella nodded slowly. She stared down at her half-eaten food sadly. "I probably should have called you guys sometime." She looked back up at Troy, who was staring intently at her. "I'm sorry."
"No, no, it's okay." He reached across the table and grabbed her hand in his. Gabriella smiled at him, and he grinned back. It felt just like old times.
Gabriella then pulled her hand away from his and continued to eat. She was still starving from eating nothing all day so she was finished within minutes. She could feel Troy watching her out of the corner of his eye, and it made her heart melt.
"Just wait until everyone hears about this!" exclaimed Troy suddenly.
"Huh?"
"Everyone! Chad, Taylor, Sharpay, Kelsi! They're going to be so happy!"
"About what?" asked Gabriella, perplexed.
"About me seeing you again! It's, like, a miracle." He laughed.
"Oh," Gabriella beamed. "Maybe it can go back to old times."
Troy nodded. "You are obviously welcome to come join us when we hang out." He paused. "And Jeremiah too." Gabriella could tell he was trying to sound excited about it, but he said Jeremiah's name with some bitterness.
Gabriella nodded enthusiastically. "That'd be great."
Marjorie came by, took away their plates and handed them the check. Troy simply refused to let Gabriella pay for the dinner, which made her feel slightly uncomfortable; when they'd dated, they always split the check in half.
"My treat," insisted Troy.
"Well, you did stop a guy from molesting me, or more, earlier, so the least I could do is help pay," argued Gabriella.
"Come on, Gabi, chill," grinned Troy.
"Don't call me that," she said immediately and then regretted how rude and annoyed she sounded. But she was so used to Jeremiah calling her that, that it was really getting on her nerves.
"Oh, sorry," said Troy apologetically as Marjorie returned with his change. "I forgot you don't like being called that."
Gabriella nodded.
"So, uh, should I take you back to the party?" asked Troy as they stood up. Gabriella checked the clock on her phone. It was around midnight.
"Um... no," sighed Gabriella. "Whenever Jeremiah goes to these kind of parties, he either leaves before eleven or ends up passed out there. So I guess I'll just get a hotel-,"
"No way!" cried Troy. "Nope, you're coming to my apartment. You can crash there for the night."
"But-," protested Gabriella as he led her to his car. "Hey, wait, you have an apartment? Aren't apartments, like, really expensive in Beverly Hills?"
"Yeah, well," Troy opened the car door for her and then got into the drivers side. He started the car. "My roommate, who's also on the basketball team, has some famous producer parents or something and they offered to pay the entire rent, so who am I to refuse that?"
Gabriella laughed. "Wow, you're lucky."
Troy started to drive. "He's probably out at some party and won't be back until the afternoon, so you don't have to worry about him."
She nodded.
They drove for another few minutes in silence until they reached a beautiful apartment building. "Home, sweet home!" said Troy, getting out and, once again, opening the door for her.
"Wow, it's gorgeous," breathed Gabriella.
"Come on." Troy grabbed her hand and dragged her to the door. "We're up on the ninth floor."
They to the elevator and rode up to the ninth floor. They walked down the hall and opened one of the doors, revealing the apartment.
"Wow," uttered Gabriella for the third time that night. They were in the middle of a huge living room, with an archway on the other side that showed the kitchen. Down the hallway was three doors, that most likely led to bedrooms.
"Yeah, it's nice," said Troy offhandedly. "So, do you want something to drink?"
Gabriella shook her head and said, "No thanks, but I need clothes."
"Ah, of course," Troy disappeared into the closest room and came out with a pair of sweats and a sweatshirt.
"These are the smallest clothes I have." He tossed them over to her.
"Thanks." Gabriella smiled at him and yawned hugely. "Wow, I'm exhausted. Um, I guess I'll sleep right here-," she sat down on the couch.
"Oh, no!" said Troy quickly and pulled her up. "Nope, you get my room."
"No, but-," protested Gabriella.
"Get in there," Troy spread himself out on the couch so she couldn't get on. "Sleep tight." He grinned.
Gabriella playfully smirked at him. "You too." She turned to walk away but Troy grabbed her hand and pulled her down next to him. They looked into each other's eyes for a moment before Troy kissed her on the cheek.
She smiled and got up from the couch, going into Troy's room.
"I love you," whispered Troy, once he was sure the door was closed.