Hey everyone! Here's the next chapter, this one is pretty fluffy… I hope you enjoy it!
Disclaimer: I do not own High School Musical, nor do I own any of the HSM characters.
CHAPTER 6: Lunch with Cake & Orphans
Troy and Gabriella continued to stare at each other, faces inches apart…(at some point between the time that they sang the last lines of the song and a couple of seconds after the audience had started applauding, Troy and Gabriella had both moved in closer together). Gabriella couldn't tear her eyes away from Troy's and Troy couldn't tear his eyes away either… but he wasn't looking at her eyes, he was staring at her lips... 'Ohh… I really want to kiss her right now…'
Gabriella could see where he was staring and felt the warmth flood to her cheeks. She could practically feel them turning a deep shade of red. 'Wow… this is intense. How do I keep finding myself here? So close… I could just lean forward…' Gabriella felt herself leaning in closer, '… but yet so far away? I'm right here and yet he or I can't seem to close the gap… something always gets in the way… but what's in the way now?' and that's when she suddenly sensed the eyes on her, watching her… watching both of them… so just as Troy leaned in further, ready to finally close the gap, Gabriella regained her awareness of the situation (they were about to share their first kiss in front of a room full of people who were watching them carefully) and stepped away, looking anywhere but at Troy… attempting to regain her composure.
Troy at first was surprised Gabriella moved away, surprised and disappointed… but then he too felt the eyes on him and looked around, remembering as well, where they were. Troy felt his cheeks burn, 'Oh how embarrassing, I can't believe we almost did that in front of all these people! How could I just forget they were there! … Actually Troy, you shouldn't be all that surprised about it… Gabriella makes you crazy and you know it!' Looking around again, his made eye contact with his mother, and his cheeks flushed redder… she was looking at him with raised eyebrows, the edges of her lips contorted to the beginnings of a smile.
Mrs. Bolton broke eye contact first, moving up onto the stage to conclude the concert, thanking the audience for the time, offering them light refreshments and then promptly reminding them to leave a donation for the Children's Home.
Once she'd finished with that, she turned to Troy, speaking quietly, "You two look pretty close… did breakfast go well?" Troy just blushed deeply and nodded.
"It was… almost perfect," he replied grinning to himself as he remembered what had happened... or nearly happened at breakfast.
"Good… Well we're all having lunch in there today," she said pointing through the double doors at a door across the hallway, 'if you and Gabriella still wanted to join us."
Troy nodded again and then asked, "Did you remember to pick up the cake?" to which Mrs. Bolton gave a quick nod.
"I'll have it brought out after lunch. Why don't you two head in there now, the kids have probably already started. I'll probably be stuck here for awhile with the donators."
Troy nodded and stepped over towards Gabriella, who was talking to one of the audience members. She had her back to him and as Troy came closer he distinctly heard the other person speak, "If you don't mind me asking… You and that young man sung very well together and you looked so nice together, any chance he's more than just your singing partner?"
Gabriella blushed a deep shade of crimson at this question, giving the person a nervous chuckle, "Haha… erm… Troy… Troy and I… we… we're just good friends… Best of actually."
"Oh really… I could have sworn by the way you two sung and looked at each other that… Oh well, never mind… good job anyway," said the donator, moving away to talk to someone else.
Gabriella let out a loud sigh, closing her eyes, 'Aaarrgh! I don't know how much longer I can take this…! I know it's there and I'm getting the feeling that so does Troy, so why can't we do anything about it! … I guess the right time, just hasn't come yet…'
Gabriella let out a shriek of alarm as she felt someone lightly squeeze her waist, causing many people in the room to look at her. She heard a familiar laugh behind her and turned around to face Troy, hitting him on the arm as she did so.
"Ow… no need to hurt me Montez, geez," cried out Troy in mock pain, Gabriella smiled, she like it when he called her Montez… she didn't like being call Gab or Gabi by anyone other than her mum, which is why Troy never he called her either, but she did like Montez… 'I don't know why, but I love it when he calls me that… it's cute when he says it.'
"Whatever Troy, if you didn't give me the fright of my life, I wouldn't have to," replied Gabriella matter-of-factly and Troy just laughed, "So what are we doing now? You haven't got any more nasty surprised for me, have you? … If you do you might as well tell me now."
"No, Montez… no more nasty surprises, but a couple of good ones yet to come," he said mysteriously. Gabriella looked as if she was about to ask, but Troy cut in first, "But before we get to that… how would you like to have some lunch with the other stars of the concert?"
"Oohh, yes please! I'm starting to feel a little hungry!" replied Gabriella enthusiastically.
"Well, I'm not surprised you're hungry, since you chucked most of your breakfast at me this morning!" laughed Troy, taking her hand to lead her to the other room. Gabriella laughed too and stuck out her tongue at him as they walked across the hall to the other room.
"Ohh, again with the tongue poking… you know you're lucky it's your birthday… or you sooo wouldn't get away with that," said Troy, opening the door for her and following her inside.
Gabriella just shrugged, turning her head to flash him a cheeky smile and winked at him, causing Troy to almost melt on the spot. She then turned away towards the group of orphans sitting around a long table, who had all turned to watch them walk into the room. What she didn't see was the dazed look of awe that had appeared on Troy's face as his insides fluttered and he stared at the back of her head longingly. The orphans however… did see it, and as he snapped back to reality Troy noticed some of them eyeing him with raised eyebrows and suggestive looks. He also noticed a couple of the girls giggling and whispering to each other, making Troy blush red as a tomato.
"Hello everyone! I'm Gabriella and this is Troy, some of you have probably already met him since his mum works here," said Gabriella introducing herself. She seemed to be ignorant of what had just taken place.
The kids all smiled and waved, many saying, "Hi" or "Hello". There were about 18 of them altogether, ranging in age from around 3 to 14, there were about 10 boys and all the rest were girls (obviously, lol).
"Well I just want to say that Troy and I really enjoyed the concert, even though we didn't see most of it… but judging from the fullness of the room, I think it was a pretty big success," continued Gabriella, flashing them a friendly smile, and glancing at Troy, prompting him with her eyes.
"Oh, right… yes, big success… it was… great," he added lamely, grinning sheepishly as Gabriella rolled her eyes at him, "Hehe.. well anyway, I hope you guys don't mind us joining you for lunch."
"Oh, no we don't mind…" spoke out Anna, the girl they'd seen reading poetry, "Mrs. Bolton told us to expect you and your girlfriend Troy."
Troy choked noticeable at her words, causing more giggling from the group, and a nervous laugh from Gabriella. He looked to see her blushing, and felt unsure as to how to reply.
"Oh… no… you guys, it's really not like that, me and Troy are just good friends…" replied Gabriella first, smiling unintentionally… she'd liked the way it sounded, 'girlfriend…'
"Hah! Good friends don't stare at each other the way you two did!" answered a red-headed, young boy with freckles, and the rest of the group nodded in agreement, "I thought you two were going to start eating each others faces in there, for sure!"
Troy and Gabriella both gave out choked chuckles at this, making eye contact momentarily before both looking away, clearly embarrassed. An awkward silence ensued before Troy cleared his throat.
"Uh… yeah well… we're… just good friends," said Troy awkwardly, "Erm… well how about that lunch then… hehe, I'm famished! What about you Gabriella."
Troy turned to face Gabriella and she looked at him, catching his drift.
"Erm… yea… yeah I'm starving… let's eat!" she replied, rubbing her stomach, to prove she was hungry. She walked over and sat in an empty space next to a young girl in pigtails who looked to be about seven.
Troy nodded in agreement and sat down next to her, both of them reaching for food automatically, to avoid having to look or talk at each other or the orphans. Everyone else just exchanged glances at each other, rolling their eyes at the stubbornness of the two, to not see what they had right next to them, and went back to their lunch. Eventually, Troy and Gabriella relaxed and started chatting with the group. There was a lot of talking and laughter everyone telling funny stories and sharing information about each other.
"Well… Troy here is a basketball superstar, Captain of the East High team," explained Gabriella when one of the kids asked about them, "… although I don't know why, since his aim is totally off!"
Gabriella laughed and Troy's eyes widened in offence, Gabriella was of course referring to their muffin fight this morning.
"I already told you, I misjudged my strength!" cried Troy defensively. He poked Gabriella's side, causing her to jump and giggle loudly, and turning she punched him lightly on the arm. The two of them laughed at each other, forgetting that there were other people present.
"… yeah… good friends… sure… Whatever!" mumbled the red-headed boy, who's name was Billy, loud enough for everyone to hear. The others nodded in agreement, smirking at one another. Troy blushed and Gabriella laughed, both returning to their food.
After lunch, everyone continued to talk, Gabriella and Troy sharing various stories about how they met and the musical and how they changed the composition of the school hierarchy. Eventually Mrs. Bolton walked into the room, finally having good-byed the last donator.
"So I see you've all finished lunch and you're getting along well with Troy and Gabriella… I don't know whether any of you have thought to do so yet, but I just want to say a thank you to Troy and Gabriella for coming here today and making the day all the more successful. So why don't we give them a round of applause, as a thank you for helping us out?" suggested Mrs. Bolton, though everyone new she wasn't asking. Taking Mrs. Bolton's cue all the children started to clap their hands at Troy and Gabriella, all grinning widely.
Gabriella blushed as she heard someone say, "You two were sooo good!" and many others nodded in agreement. Mrs. Bolton waited for them to quiet down, before continuing.
"Also, I don't know how many of you are aware of this, but today just happens to be Gabriella's 16th birthday so it means all the more that she'd be willing to give up part of her day for us… And so as an extra thank you to Gabriella, Troy has graciously organized for a cake to be made especially, for all of us to share with her," finished Mrs. Bolton, as Gabriella's eyes widened in surprise and she looked over at Troy for some sort of confirmation. He merely gave her a small smile and motioned Gabriella with his eyes for her to turn and look in the other direction.
Gabriella turned and put a hand to her mouth in surprised awe as she saw someone bring in a large, rectangular chocolate cake and place it on the table in front of her. Gabriella looked down at it, the edges and sides were bordered and decorated with cream and strawberries, and on the top was written the words, 'Happy 16th Birthday Gabriella!'. There were also 16 candles of silver and gold, set up in two alternating rows of 8, along one of the smaller sides.
Gabriella turned to Troy, pulling him into a big hug and whispering in his ear, "Thanks so much Troy! It's wonderful, I love it!"
Troy grinned, hugging her back… he could feel his heart racing at their closeness and the feeling of her voice tickling his ear.
"It was nothing… thanks for agreeing to sing with me," he whispered back.
Gabriella pulled away, beaming at him and turned to see Mrs. Bolton lighting the candles. Once this was done Troy began singing happy birthday, to which everyone else followed suit.
"Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you… happy birthday dear Gabriella… happy birthday to you!" they all chanted together and Gabriella blew out the candles.
Mrs. Bolton handed her a knife so that she could be the first to cut the cake and Gabriella took it, plunging the knife gently through the middle and pulling it down gently to cut the cake. She pulled the knife out of the cake slowly and seeing the bits of cake that had stuck to the edge of the knife a number of the children spoke out.
"Your knife didn't come out clean! So now you have to kiss the closest boy!" they cried, laughing happily at the embarrassed expression on Gabriella's face. Troy also blushed, realizing straight away that he was the closest boy.
When Gabriella didn't move, Billy cried, "You have to do it! It's a rule! Besides, you know you want to!"
Everyone laughed at this and the kids started chanting, "Do it! Do it! Do it!.."
Gabriella blushed deeply, not enjoying being put on the spot at all and she turned to Troy, who was trying not to look at her. They made eye contact and she bit her lip, giving him an apologetic smile. Then she leaned over and kissed him… on the cheek (she wasn't about to kiss him for real in front of all those people!). Troy blushed at her and they both looked away, while everyone else started laughing hysterically. Gabriella and Troy laughed at their ridiculousness and Mrs. Bolton took the knife from Gabriella so she could continue cutting the cake.
Everyone ate cake then, talking and laughing about the days events… there was much teasing made by several of the orphans referring to the relationship between Troy and Gabriella, the two of which decided to just laugh and ignore them.
After awhile Troy leaned over to Gabriella and whispered in her ear, "Do you want to get out of here? As much as I'd love to spend the rest of the day here with these guys and listen to them make comment after comment and joke after joke about us… I could kind of put up with doing something else instead…"
Gabriella giggled and whispered back, "I know what you mean… they all keep staring at us, wiggling their eyebrows or winking… I'm starting to feel like they're trying to tell us something."
Troy laughed, nodding and started to rise from his chair, Gabriella following his lead.
"Well everyone, this has been a lot of fun… I think Gabriella would agree that we've both had a great time," said Troy and Gabriella nodded in agreement, "but I think we better get going… it is Gabriella's birthday after all, and we had some other things planned."
"Yeah, thanks for having us… I had an awesome time hanging with all of you! I hope I can come back soon!" added Gabriella and the two of them waved and smiled at the group as they walked towards the door. The kids waved back, yelling goodbye and asking them to come back soon.
"Hey Troy!" yelled Billy and both Troy and Gabriella stopped and turned around, "You better make a move on Gabriella quick or someone else will!"
Troy felt his face heating up and he sent a glare at Billy, who laughed out loud, as did the rest of the group, and as did Gabriella, blushing slightly as she did so. Troy took Gabriella's hand, pulling her out the doorway before anyone else could make a comment, while Gabriella continued laughing and waving at the group.
Once they got outside, they fell into a comfortable step, walking side by side, Troy's hand still in Gabriella's.
"Sooo… What's up next? Or am I not allowed to know?" asked Gabriella, smiling at Troy.
Troy smiled back at her, silent as he thought about, "Um… you know what? I'll tell you… just this once... but only because I know you'll love it and you'll jump on me, hugging and shrieking."
He laughed and Gabriella hit him softly, her face registering a look of shock, as if to say she'd never do such a thing.
Troy paused for a second and leaned over to whisper in her ear, "I thought we could go to the mall for some shopping and possibly a movie."
Gabriella's eyes widened in joy and she jumped on him, hugging and shrieking… just like he said she would.
"The mall! Yay! Troy… you are the best boyfriend ever!" she squealed before realizing what she said, she blushed deeply as Troy's eyes widened in surprise, "I… I mean boyfriend as in a... a friend, who's a… a boy… erm…"
Troy laughed, squeezing her hand, "Its okay Gabriella… I know what you mean… you're the best girlfriend, that is friend who's a girl as well… Now let's go find that mall!"
Hey! I hope you enjoyed this chapter… Be sure to leave a review because I got something special that I just know you're all going to love, coming up in the next chapter… so leave a review and I might just update! Also I know who's got this in their favs or on alert, so I'll know if you don't review! C'mon! You know you wanna…! ;)
