Eleventh Grade Social

Chapter 4: Happily Ever After

Disclaimer: Congratulate me. I've just won the rights to HSM in a chook raffle! NOT.

A.N: I have succumbed. I have joined the Dark Side. (Their cookies are delicious, by the way.) I have written an AU HSM fic. Usually I'm rather reserved about these things. But now I've written one. Those are awesome cookies.

At the high school dance
Where you can find romance
Maybe, it might be love!
'We Go Together' – Grease

Gabi and Troy went on a date the weekend after the social, at the mall. He did everything a boy is supposed to - helped her with her coat, paid for the popcorn (she wouldn't let him pay for her ticket to The Dark Knight) and let her choose where they went for dinner afterwards, a sushi bar. They went for sticker photos, and he drew little red hearts around the one where she was kissing his cheek. They caught separate buses home, since they didn't live anywhere near each other, and Gabi went to sleep that night with a big cheesy grin.

Of course on the Monday, all of Gabi's friends pressed her for details, and so she accordingly gave them the dossier above. Gabi and Troy chatted a few times via SMS and MSN, but then Gabi fell ill. Really ill. Like Marianne in Sense and Sensibility, or Beth in Little Women. Except she was in no danger of dying, just extreme discomfort due to an inflammation of her bronchial tract. Not only did she fall out of contact with Troy (since she couldn't get up out of bed to check her emails or her cell phone) but she also missed most of the end-of-term assessment. Understandably, by the time she got back to school, she was rather peeved off.

"So have you heard from Troy lately?" Martha asked her one day at lunch.

"Nope," Gabi shrugged.

"Aw, that's too bad," Taylor commented.

Gabi shrugged again. "To be honest, I'm not that fussed. I mean, how many people meet their soul mates in high school? If it was meant to be, we both would have tried harder to keep in contact, even when I got sick."

Gabi could tell from the disbelieving frowns on her friends' faces that her reasoning didn't seem sound to them, but that wasn't her fault.

A few months later, when the gang were all in twelfth grade, Kelsi was walking to the mall, which wasn't too far away from EGC, to get to her bus. An EBC boy was walking in front of her. When they stopped at a set of lights she took a good look at his face, and was startled to find that it was the one, the only Troy Bolton. Since Gabi didn't seem to want to talk about Troy, Kelsi decided not to mention it to her.

And a few months after that, Gabi moved house, because the company her mother worked for had moved to a new office. Accordingly, she had to catch a different bus. She boarded one Thursday after Scholastic Decathalon practice and noticed the EBC boy lounging in the back seat, who, according to the uniform rules, ought to have changed out of his basketball singlet and shorts before leaving campus. He was sitting in one corner, so she moved to sit in the other one, but as she hauled her schoolbag onto the seat he spoke to her.

"Gabi? What are you doing here?"

It was Troy. It emerged that this was his usual bus, but he didn't usually take it on Thursdays since, as his father was basketball coach, he usually drove him home. However tonight there was a teachers' meeting so Troy was catching the the bus. Obviously. He laughed nervously. Gabi explained about moving house, and then it emerged that the two of them got off at the same stop. In fact they now lived on the same street, conveniently enough. They made a plan to meet at the local park on Friday afternoon.

If it's meant to be, it will be. At least in fiction.

A.N: Sorry for the wait. This story was flamed, which shattered my confidence in it. Then jelsi4life restored my faith in it (many thanks), but then I just lost interest. However, I'm doing clean-up on my account at the moment and thought I might as well finish this, considering I knew where I wanted to take it. Unfortunately my real-life Troy and Gabi really have fallen out of contact, which is a terrible shame considering that I think he really fancied her, but what can you do? At any rate, reviews are always appreciated.