Wanting Something More
i ate nemo
2006

Gabriella and Troy are the best of friends, but the line between friendship and love are about to blur. Neither can resist because they are wanting something more.

Prelude.

Gabriella remembered the near-fatal kiss she almost had with Troy after he won the championships. Not ready to take that step forward, she was thankful for Chad's sudden intervention. Something would've happened. Gabriella was sure of that. Troy, stoked from the win, acted as if nothing even happened. She convinced herself that the almost-kiss was just an illusion of her imagination.

She knew that there was no way, shape, or even form that a kiss was likely. Troy was a sweetheart, a true one-of-a-kind that Gabriella was happy to be friends with. And she assured herself that he only saw her a friend—maybe a good friend. Thinking or suggesting anything more was stretching the truth beyond its limits. And, believing that it was the only way things would work, she went out of her way to show Troy how she saw him.

There weren't any hard feelings. Six months into their solid friendship, Troy finally took the leap. He asked Kelsi if she would go on a date with him. It was sweet how he went out of his way to make others feel happy. As far as selfish goes, she couldn't even put Troy under that category. He got to the stage in his life where he didn't need to worry about what everyone thought.

It was just like kindergarten again. With the support of everyone around them, there wasn't a need to hide the truth—except for Gabriella. As much as she pushed Troy away and made him stay in the friendship only zone, she couldn't help but adore him. Her feelings continued to grow, but he was with Kelsi. Gabriella knew to hang back in the shadows. Kelsi was too sweet to hurt.

And that brought her to her most recent problem.

Gabriella Montez was in love with Troy Bolton and there was nothing she could do about it.

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII

It was senior year at East High in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The familiar scent of the school wafted through Gabriella's nose. Something about the way that she felt told her that this was the year to go for it. Standing on the sidelines as the somewhat quirky, shy decathlon leader was not enough. For two years in a row, Gabriella had led the scholastic decathlon team to it's second, consecutive win in twenty five years.

"Gabriella!" Taylor squealed, hugging her friend. "I haven't seen you all summer."

She smiled, dropping her messenger bag at the foot of her locker. "I know," she added vaguely.

All summer, every day, she thought about Troy. It was getting ridiculous. Gabriella Montez was not obsessed or a bordering stalker. Well, that was stretching it. She followed Troy and Kelsi on a few dates. Her way of justifying it was telling herself that she was looking out for Kelsi, but she didn't even believe herself.

This year was going to be different.

Taylor grinned. "I know we didn't get to hang out but I spent all summer in Cancun with—."

"Chad?" Gabriella butted in. "Yeah, I know" she added softly.

Even though Gabriella had opened up a lot, she was still shy and soft-spoken.

Not even noticing that anything was wrong, Taylor smiled. "Did you hear that Troy and—"

She sighed. "Kelsi are going out and madly in love?"

Taylor, not detecting the sadness in her friends voice, continued. The entire school went crazy after Troy and Gabriella followed their dreams, especially Taylor. She, without a warning, dropped out of the scholastic club, even though science was her true calling, and decided to audition for cheerleading tryouts. Who knew that Taylor had so much pep?

Taylor, pouting, ignored the hostility in her friends tone. Gabriella, not the judging type, wondered if cheerleading and its popularity had changed her life. Chad was top priority. They were practically head over heels in love. In other words, absolutely perfect for each other. Joining cheerleading, Gabriella thought, was Taylor's way of being closer to Chad. Junior year, she was always at his side—giggling or laughing.

She soon realized that she was one hundred percent jealous of Taylor. She had the boy, the fairytale. All Gabriella had was her friendship with Troy that just wasn't enough. She was going insane, trying to keep her feelings pent up inside. Things had gotten so bad that the only true female friend she could rely on was Sharpay.

Trust Gabriella, no one saw that coming, not even herself. Beneath the surface, Sharpay was just as friend as Troy but about twenty times as competitive as he was. And as for her brother, Ryan, he wasn't that bad either. He was often mistaken as the gay drama dude to a majority of the school, but that wasn't true. Ryan was slightly flamboyant. He was well dressed and loved to stand out when Sharpay wasn't around.

For twins, the two were nothing alike. Ryan, Gabriella found out one day, didn't really like to sing. He only did it because he was good at it. And the fact that he was afraid to stand up to Sharpay was another problem. Sharpay had significantly gotten better after she became Gabriella's understudy for the winter musical. But, as much as she changed, she still liked to remain in charge. She was known as the drama girl with a power trip.

"Gab, I am so excited. We're seniors now. Isn't that something to be proud of?"

She nodded. "Sure thing Taylor."

"You're quiet," Taylor commented. "What's wrong?"

Gabriella shrugged. "It's just one more year, Taylor. It's just school. What's there to be excited about?"

Taylor smiled knowingly. "You're too bitter. You need a boyfriend, someone like Ryan. He's totally sweet. I think that when the Sadie Hawkins dance comes around, you should so ask him to it. You'd have the best dressed boy there."

But Gabriella could only think of one thing: he's not Troy Bolton.

"I don't know..." she trailed off. "Ryan's really eccentric and I'm not."

Taylor grabbed her friends books and threw them into her locker. "But Ryan's so cute, Gab! And didn't you know, opposites attract?"

Gabriella frowned. "I just don't see how that's true."

"Aww. Have you sworn off love? Were you scorned? Are you afraid of dating?"

Gabriella didn't see any point in answering the questions. They were just rhetorical, anyway. Taylor's attention span was shortening in the past year. She adopted that "if I die tomorrow, at least I had fun" theory. And Taylor was the solid proof that not all changes at East High were good.

"Look, there's Troy and Kelsi. Aww, they're holding hands, Gab. Isn't that so sweet?" Taylor cooed.

Gabriella's heart ached. "I want something more," she whispered, "with Troy."

There was no doubt about it. Kelsi and Troy complimented one another perfectly. Kelsi had her head against Troy's chest as they walked—something so intimate and private that Gabriella felt repulsed. She knew she threw away her chance with Troy, but it was worth one more shot. Gabriella Montez didn't quit or give up with something/someone she felt so strongly about. And she'd stick around to prove it.

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII

Gabriella wasn't looking forward to lunch. She shared a table with Sharpay, Ryan, Troy, Kelsi, Taylor, and Chad. Sometimes a few stragglers would sit at their table, but it wasn't often. A summer without Troy had left Gabriella hurt. He called a few times, out of common courtesy, to see how her summer was going. She hated lying to Troy, but she couldn't tell him the truth. He was with Kelsi. She needed to get over herself, but she couldn't.

"Gabby, how's it going?" Sharpay asked, slamming her tray onto the table.

Formalities. Gabriella frowned. She was not in the mood to chit-chat or even talk at all.

She managed a tight smile. "Fine. You?"

"Ryan's under my skin. I found his diary—."

"It's a journal. Not a diary," Ryan added, sitting on my right side.

Gabriella half smiled. "You have a diary and write in it?"

Ryan moaned. "For the last time, it's a journal."

An uneasy feeling swept over Gabriella as she glanced at Ryan. He looked angry and embarrassed. She didn't understand. Sharpay wasn't giving out secrets from his dia—journal.

"He mentioned a mystery girl, someone he's been crushing on since Sophomore year."

Ryan groaned this time. "Sharpay, it's my personal journal, not a tabloid entry."

Sharpay smiled. "Right Ryan." She turned and looked right at Gabriella. "Anyway, he wrote all these sweet things about her, but I can't figure out who she is." She paused. "Are you good at riddles, Gabby?"

"It depends. Why?"

Sharpay started to reach into her bag.

"Sharpay," Ryan moaned. "Don't tell me you stole my journal too."

She waved off handedly at him. "No, silly. I photocopied it."

Gabriella stared at Ryan. She swore all the color drained from himself. Why was he so nervous about a girl? It was cute. Sort of. As outgoing as Ryan was, when it came to the opposite sex—he was shy—a lot like Gabriella.

She threw a stack of paper onto the table. "Enjoy. Mock. Figure out the riddle, please," Sharpay begged. "The sooner I find out, the sooner I can convince her to go to the Sadie Hawkins dance with him."

Troy and Kelsi suddenly appeared at the table, their arms linked together. He was carrying the lunch—one tray with lots of fruits and vegetables. Kelsi, not long after the winter musical that Troy and Gabriella starred in, admitted that she was a vegetarian and against all meats. Up until that very moment, she didn't know that Troy was a vegetarian.

"What about the Sadie Hawkins dance?" he asked, pushing the tray in front of Kelsi as he sat down. Gabriella stared on in wonder.

"Ryan's got a secret lover," Sharpay piped up. "He won't tell, so I've recruited Gabriella to make sense of it."

The smile fell from Troy's face. "Come on, Shar. Ryan doesn't make any sense when he's talking. How could this time be any different?"

"That's mean, Troy," Gabriella added suddenly. What was wrong with him? "Ryan's diar—journal is private. I don't want to read it."

Ryan reached over and awkwardly hugged Gabriella. "Thank you for being you," he whispered into her ear.

Gabriella shivered. No one—well, no one besides Troy ever made her shiver. Her stomach felt like a mess of butterflies. Troy was with Kelsi. She had to stop pining over him. And Ryan was an attractive guy that was single. He was carefree and actually talked about more than sports and cars. But as much she felt attracted to Ryan, she knew she could never love him.

So, to make Troy jealous, she leaned over and kissed Ryan on the cheek.

The table grew silent.

Houston, we've made contact.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Hi, sorry this is short. It's just a prelude to get everyone up to speed. This is not my first time writing fan fiction, but I'm still not very experienced. Please review if you've dropped in and read this. I've only seen HSM twice, so I apologize if I messed anything else. Also, I think HSM is one of the best original movies from Disney channel in a long time.

I ate nemo.