DISCLAIMER: I do not own High School Musical or any related characters.
A/N: The next chapter has arrived!
Saving Me
CHAPTER 9
NOW YOU KNOW
Gabriella stared at the entrance doors to East High and wondered if she should go in or not. Students milled around her shouting at each other and laughing, while Gabriella stood there gazing at the doors. As soon as she did, she would see him and Gabriella didn't know if she could. His words still echoed in her mind 'Gabriella and her secret don't matter'. Gabriella felt the pain well up and she forced it down, she would not break down at school again. She would not break down because of Troy Bolton. Suddenly Gabriella heard a cheer and she turned quickly, Troy was getting off the bus and what seemed like half the school was there to greet him. Gabriella stood, frozen to the spot as she watched the crowd approach, Troy in the middle of the chaos. Gabriella watched as he smiled at all the people talking to him, how could he act like that? Like nothing had happened two days before? She bit her lip as he looked up at the entrance, she watched as he froze when he saw her and than detached himself from the crowd. Gabriella suddenly realized he was headed straight for her and she took a step back, he was closer to her now and she suddenly found that her legs had strength again. Quickly she turned on her heel and pushed the door open and headed into the school. He wasn't going to get a chance to talk to her and hurt her again. Gabriella was determined he wouldn't.
"Hey" Taylor's voice caused Gabriella to drop the books she had just taken out of her locker.
"Hi Taylor" she said quietly retrieving the book and facing her.
Of all the things Taylor expected to see on Gabriella's face, pain and sadness were not at the top of the list. Taylor had thought that Gabriella would have been over the Troy thing by now. Yes what Troy had said was a little harsh, but Taylor had figured that Gabriella would have brushed it off. They'd only known each other for a week after all; no-one could get that close in one week.
"So, we have a week till the decathlon and I was wondering. Have you made a decision yet?" Taylor asked hopefully.
Gabriella stared at her in shock. The decathlon was the last thing on her mind at the moment. All morning Gabriella had put her energy into avoiding Troy, which was harder than it seemed. He was everywhere. Gabriella had forgotten that she shared most of her classes with him. Whenever he walked into a room late the entire class would turn to welcome him, once Gabriella had looked up from her book only to discover his eyes on her. It had unnerved her somewhat, because his eyes, as soon as she had met them, had pleaded with her again in the same way they had when she had run from him two days ago.
"Gabriella? Hello, Gabriella, we have to get to class the bell rang" Taylor said with a laugh.
Gabriella stared at her, wondering how she could laugh when Gabriella felt there was nothing to laugh about. She suddenly remembered that Taylor didn't know what had happened and she made an attempt at a weak smile.
"Right, what class do we have now?" she asked quietly and Taylor began to wonder exactly what was really wrong with Gabriella.
"English" Taylor replied and Gabriella winced, another class with Troy.
She followed Taylor without complaint, dodging the crowd. Her thoughts quickly turned to Troy and she wondered why he was the only person she could think about now. Maybe because he was the only person beside her father who had had the power to shatter her completely and she hadn't known he had that power until he had said what he had said. How could she have not known he'd had that power? Why had she given him that power? How could she have not known that he wasn't what he said he was? What about all the things he had told her? What about wanting to be just a normal guy and not playmaker anymore? Why did he have to say those things? Just, why? Gabriella blinked back tears that threatened to spill over. She'd promised herself she wouldn't break down and she would stick by that promise. She walked in and realized the Troy was already there, Mr Hall wasn't and she suddenly realized that he was there purposely early; he knew that she would be early and he wanted to talk to her. Gabriella looked the other way and ignored him completely, he knew when she was going to break down and Gabriella knew that she was on the verge of breaking down again. She slipped into her seat as Mr Hall ran into the room, apologizing for being so late. Gabriella sighed and opened her book to a new page and preparing to take notes. She pushed all thoughts of Troy out of her head and concentrated on taking notes. She was only half-listening to Mr Hall, who was asking students random questions about the poem 'The Illiad'; she was jolted out of her concentrated state by Mr Hall asking Troy a question.
"Mr Bolton, while I am sure Miss Montez's ear is as interesting as the poem; would you be able to tell me exactly why it is important that Paris, Prince of Troy, killed Achilles, son of a goddess?" Mr Hall asked and Gabriella's head snapped up and she stared at her teacher and then slowly her gaze slipped to Troy who was rather red.
Before he could answer however, the bell rang and Gabriella gathered her things as quickly as she could and was one of the first out the door. Troy right behind her. Gabriella was a few steps away from the classroom when he finally managed to catch her arm. Gabriella jumped and spun around and came face to face with him.
"Gabriella-" he started to say and she tore her arm from his grip and glared at him.
"I can't believe you! How can you even think about talking to me, after what you said? How can you do that Troy?" she asked him her eyes flashing.
"Gabriella please-" he tried again and again she cut him off.
"Don't Troy, just don't, you've done enough damage, I don't see how you can do more. Wait, I know, are you going to tell me a joke about my father? Because last I heard you thought my 'secret' was laughable. My dad's dead Troy! How is that laughable? How is anything I ever told you laughable? How could you say I didn't matter? When you knew that I was completely shattered! I trusted you, I let you in, I told you things my mom doesn't know, I told you things I kept to myself through out the entire time dad was sick! Because of you my life had gained some normality again, some peace again, those pieces that were lying on the ground when I met you connected again, I could feel again, and than you took that all away" Gabriella hardly noticed that the hallway had gone quiet, she didn't realize that she was yelling, she didn't realized she was crying, she was only concentrating on Troy, who looked stunned.
"What makes this entire thing worse is that I don't want to feel again, I just want to go back to being numb, because it would be better than what I'm feeling at the moment. I'm broken beyond repair now Troy, I'm falling again and this time there's going to be no-one there to catch me because you were the one that was going to catch me before and I hardly realized what was happening to me until the day you broke me again, I hardly realized I was falling for you and not towards you" Gabriella didn't know if she was making sense or not, she didn't know why she had just told him that, what she did know is what she had just told him was true. All of it was true.
Gabriella realized she wasn't going to get another word out of him. Everyone in the hall stood stunned at the scene they had just witnessed or were witnessing. None of them knew what to think, none of them fully understood what was going and none of them knew why the new girl was yelling things like that at Troy Bolton, who was standing there and allowing her to yell at him.
Slowly Gabriella wiped away her tears and than she turned and began to walk in the opposite direction of Troy. Her footsteps echoed as everyone watched her and she stopped when she heard his voice.
"Gabriella" Troy's tone was soft and gentle; slowly she turned to look at him. Her brown eyes met his blue ones and she shook her head.
"You were saving me Troy" she said as more tears fell, Gabriella could feel the pain battling to escape the bottle that she had forced it inside and she turned and walked away from the only person, apart from her father, who truly understood and cared about her.
Chad and Taylor stood frozen in shock at the scene that they had just witnessed. They hadn't known, they hadn't realized, her dad was dead? Was that the reason Troy and Gabriella were so close? She'd just said that that was true, Chad and Taylor suddenly realized how harsh Troy's words had been, they suddenly realized how badly they'd screwed up and now they needed to put it right.
Gabriella found herself in the bathroom all alone. Again. She stared at her reflection and wondered how she could have said what she had said to him. How could she have told him that she was falling for him? Gabriella didn't realize there was a radio in the bathroom until a song started playing.
In these eyes
More than words
More than anything that I've spoken
As the skies turn to gray
My hearts just about to crack open
So the story goes
There's something you should know
Before I walk away
And I blow the ending
I never want to be without you
Oh no here I go
Now you know
What I feel about you
There's no running
I must have been wrong to doubt you
Oh no there I go
No control
And I'm fallen
So now you know
Feels so light
Craving oxygen
All this truth's left me empty
Will you run?
Can you handle it?
Cause I need you to tell me
Maybe this is bold
But I'm hoping you'll stay for the happy ending
I never want to be without you
Oh no here I go
Now you know
What I feel about you
I must have been wrong to doubt you
Oh no
There I go
No control
And I'm fallen
So now you know
No I won't look back
When I tell you what I think about you
No I won't look back
When I tell you what I think about you
So the story goes
Yeah
You already know
So don't be a fool
And go and spoil the ending
I never want to be without you
Oh no here I go
Now you know
What I feel about you
There's no running
I must have been wrong to doubt you
Oh no there I go
No control
And I'm fallen
So now you know
Gabriella's sighed, her skies weren't gray anymore, they were black, her heart wasn't just about to crack open it had cracked open, she'd already walked away and there was going to be no ending it had already ended. He knew now what she felt about him; she suddenly realized the repercussions of what she had said. What was Troy going to do? Was he going to run? Gabriella sighed as she realized how much she doubted Troy at the moment, was she wrong to doubt him? How could she have lost control like that? Should she look back? Gabriella rested her head on the mirror as her mind continued replaying the questions over and over again. Somehow a new one forced there way into the non-stop circles, did she want to be without him?
A/N: Okay and that was the chapter! I only like certain parts of it to be truthful, but I bet you didn't expect Gabriella to do that! The song was 'Now You Know' another Hilary Duff song, I think the lyrics fit okay, I'll try and update as soon as I can!