"Come on guys, get excited!" The energetic voice filled the dimly lit room as the youngest class in the school giggled effortlessly. The owner of the voice stood in the front of the room with a small, brown book in his hand as he held it up. His eyes grew wide as he looked from each student. "It's only the best love story that ever happened to the world!" Mr. Garble promoted excitedly. "Those of you love birds out there should love Romeo and Juliet." His eyes lingered on the two people in the back of the room who were giggling oblivious to the fact that class was going on. He didn't even bother to say anything to them anymore, since the girl had an A in the class and the boy… well, there was just no stopping him anymore. Besides, they were living what the theme of the book was about, love.
In that dark corner the deep chuckles filled Gabriella's ears as she smiled shyly at the indescribable boy. The butterflies in her stomach were fluttering at top speed at his piercing blue eyes blink while the grin seemed to burst open on his tan face. She could feel his long finger rubbing against her sides, making her skin tickle and it impossible to stop giggling. "Troy!" She whined in a hushed voice. "Troy please stop!"
"Mmm, watching you squirm is so much more fun." Troy whispered seductively while his dark brown eyebrows rose suggestively. Gabriella's hot face grew the color of a tomato as she shrunk embarrassedly down in her plastic seat as though to try to hide herself from him. Though hiding herself was the furthest thing she wanted to do with Troy Bolton.
"We should be listening to Garble, this is gonna be on the semester exam." Gabriella tried to pull her attention away from the untouchable boy but found it was extremely difficult with the sparkling eyes that could make mountains melt. She didn't want to listen to boring Shakespeare. All she wanted to do was be with him, but she knew that wasn't an option for her. He was forbidden.
"I can tell you how it goes," Troy informed her proudly. "Romeo meets Juliet. He scales her balcony and they make out for awhile. They get married, he kills her cousin, they fuck, he leaves, she pretends to die, he comes back, he sees her dead, he drinks poison, he dies, she wakes up like a second later, she sees him dead, she stabs herself with a knife, she dies, the book ends," He explained happily as his large hand rests on her shoulder, sending spark waves through her entire body. "See? You'll pass now."
Sweet giggles spill from Gabriella's mouth as she shakes her head. "That's not all what happens! There's the dance, and the fight, and…"
"Speaking of dances…" Troy cuts her off excitedly as her complete body freezes up. She wanted to stay away from that topic, even though she was sent in today to English to ask him about it. Desperately did she want to know, but for selfish reasons, not what she was meant to do today. "Anyone asked you to Winterball yet?"
Gabriella's tiny heart stopped beating. His cerulean blue eyes were dancing across the crevasses of her smooth face. Her desire was to shake her head and pray he would ask her, but that couldn't happen. She could not go to a dance with him, or be any more than friends with him. Even if that was all she wanted. "No… not yet," His blue eyes perked up with hope as Gabriella bit her puffy bottom lip. "Have…have you asked anyone?"
There it was. The question she was sent to ask. The genuine smile that made Gabriella weak in the knees shows on his lips as he shakes his head. "Nope," He responded before a flip of his sandy blonde hair. "I think I'm gonna do it this weekend at Chad's party."
She bit her bottom lip again to see he was staring at her exactly the way she wished he would look at her. No. He couldn't do that. She couldn't fall for him even harder than she already had. That wasn't allowed. He was off limits; it was a girl's code of friendship. "Oh…" She replies plainly before she took a deep breath and shut her eyes for a moment. "… you… you know who you'd look really… really cute with?" Her tongue was on fire just saying the words.
Troy's dark eyebrows rose in amusement. "Who would I look cute with?" He asked smirking before placing a light hand gingerly onto her arm, gently covering the yellow and green bruise that had formed beneath her shirt too nights ago. Her flawless face cringes painfully, but Troy didn't seem to have noticed.
Brown met blue. His smirk curled upwards as he seemed to be pouring into her body with just a gaze. Her body suddenly floated up to the heavens, well; at least it felt like that. But she reluctantly tears her orbs away from his and looks down at the lifeless ground. "Taylor."
Her head looks up ever so slightly to see Troy's bronze face fall as though crushed by a semi. His own head looks to the white floor as his starting to form muscular shoulders come up in a confused shrug. Slowly, his hand runs through the brown hair as he glances longingly at her. "Yeah… Tay's cool I guess."
The thin air turned unbearably heavy as Troy's blue eyes still gazed upon her. Her in control brain forced hers away from him to look out the window to see little snowflakes sailing from the roof. She wanted to go with him. She wanted him to ask her. But Taylor was too much in love with him for her to. She would be complete and total stinky garbage in the world if she went with Troy Bolton.
The bell interrupted her confused thoughts as she immediately gathered her boring materials. Before she could start towards the door, Troy places a warm hand onto her shoulder again. Shivers course down her bruised back as she raises her brown eyes to him to see him smiling softly. "Hey… you're not leaving without me."
Her lips curled up playfully as she leads him towards the narrow doorway. "I can do whatever I want."
"Yeah, as long as I'm there too." He responded while Gabriella's burning cheeks flushed red. They walked into the crowded hallway together and made their journey towards the freshman hallway.
"You flatter yourself too much." Gabriella comments teasingly as Troy just smirked down at her.
"You tease me too much." He replies softly, making Gabriella's body shoot into shock from the statement.
They finally make it to the packed hallway until Gabriella sees the dark, shorter girl running towards her. Gabriella's body tenses ever so slightly as she reflexively takes a step too the side to get further away from Troy. "Hey Gabs! Hey Troy!"
"Hey Tay." Both she and Troy greet at the exact same time, making them look at each other and blush slightly.
"Hey Troy, can I talk to Gabs for a sec?" Taylor asks sweetly, Gabriella practically seeing the drool fall out of her mouth as she stared into the melt worthy eyes. Taylor's smile was taking over her entire face as Troy nods sadly.
"Yeah… I'll see ya later. Bye Gabriella." Troy waves as he gives her one last look of desire before walking in the mist of the entire school. Gabriella's dark eyes remain on her for a moment, before she turns back to her eager best friend.
"So… what'd he say?" Taylor asked excitedly as she practically peed in her pants waiting for Gabriella's reply.
"Um…" Gabriella lets out slowly, bringing her hand up to chew on her short nails. "He uh… he said you were cool."
Taylor let out an ecstatic squeal as Gabriella smiles at her sadly. "That's good right? Cool's good? What about the dance? Is he asking anyone?"
Gabriella ripped at her soft nails slowly. "Um… he said something about asking at Chad's party."
Another squeal from Taylor as she practically jumped in the air from excitement. "He didn't say who did he?" Gabriella shook her heavy head. "Oh well… you'll have to come to my house before, and pick out something. Troy Bolton. I could be going to Winterball with Troy Bolton."
Gabriella glances at the hundreds of eyes that all seemed to be looking at the freshman basketball star at his locker. The ocean blue lift up from a book he was looking at down the hall and connected with her brown, giving her a small wink in the process.
If only Taylor didn't like him.
"What the hell? Pink jelly?" Gabriella asked giggling as her body pushed through the massive crowd called the hallway and stopped abruptly at her locker.
"It was sophomore year ok? I didn't know what the hell pink jelly shots were!" The deep voice responded defensively as his strong shoulder collided with the one next to hers. His brown hair glowed in the florescent lights that gave the impression they were stuck inside a well guarded jail instead of school. The sparkling blue eyes were filled with laughter as Gabriella opened her locker gently and placed the books inside.
Two days had passed since Troy ventured over to Gabriella's house. Two days that had more felt like two lifetimes ago. Last week, if someone told her that she and Troy Bolton would become friends, she would have laughed in their face and told them to get off the pot. But now, that is exactly what they had become. Friends. Such a simple word for such a powerful bond. All last night and the night before they had been texting, over random and pointless things, but Gabriella didn't mind. Not at all.
She felt as though her body had been pulled back into freshman year, when he was all she could think or talk about. Funny how one project could do that to a person? "Well, you should have known that anything with alcohol in it would make you throw up."
"Hey, watch it Montez," Troy threatened jokingly just as the girl whose locker was right next to Gabriella's walks up and practically drools as Troy glances at her. "Sorry." He mumbles before moving behind her instead.
"So you were drunk and just stupid, great combination!" Gabriella exclaims jokingly as she pulls out a small black bag that held her tight spandex, beaten up running shoes, and bright yellow sport's bra to brave the elements outside in.
"I told you to watch it!" Troy warns again while his fingers immerged from his side and poked the thin sides of her slender form. The now familiar light and airy feeling grazed her skin as she suddenly felt as though every problem in the world could be solved. Gabriella squirmed as a giggle came through her throat, knocking into a guy who was standing near them and earned an annoyed look from him.
"Sorry!" She apologizes halfheartedly before narrowing her dark eyes on Troy and smacking his chest. "Look what you did!" She accused as Troy's cerulean blue eyes rolled with delight.
"I didn't do anything!" He responded defensively again as he placed his hands up as though someone was going to jump out and shoot him. "Hurry your ass up, I'll walk you to the locker-room."
Gabriella giggled as she followed him through the mess of people before making it to the hollow staircase. The echo of their shoes bounced off the sides of the walls as the two kept stealing glances away from each other. She couldn't help the fluttering of the butterflies in her stomach as he opened the door to the first story and held it for her. "What the hell? You're not going to slam it in my face or anything are you?" She asked him teasingly as Troy's eyes grew wide in accusation.
"Why do you think I'm out to kill you?" He questioned amusingly as she timidly walks through as though Troy would pull out and knife and stab her.
"Because I know deep down you want me to die. You're going to make me plug something in during music pro and it will like… explode or something." She giggles as Troy jumps next to her to fall into step.
Troy's blue eyes roll again. "Wow, you caught me. Guess I'll have to think of something else then." He joked before nudging his elbow against hers tenderly, shooting another round of fireworks off through her veins. They stole a glance from each other before were suddenly halted by four girls who were just standing in the middle of the empty hallway.
"Troy!" The high pitched, ear piercing voice shrilled as a flash of the bright pink outfit flew past Gabriella and sprung into Troy's built arms. He stares down at the Barbie for a moment with confusion written onto his features. His own arms laid limply at his sides as the bright blue eyes turn to giggling Gabriella as though something repulsive was draped his body.
"Uh… Sharpay!" His fake energetic voice only made Gabriella's gut burst further as she tries to suppress the spits of laughter that were erupting from her wet mouth. "What are you doing down here?" He asked through his bright white teeth as Sharpay's tiny body reluctantly pulled away from him.
"I had to find you!" She announced in a voice that sounded like she was talking to a new born baby. Gabriella watched as the flowing blond hair was tossed over her boney shoulder as she batted her long black eyelashes hiding the light brown eyes.
"Well… you found me!" Troy exclaimed in a voice that sounded completely fake as he painfully glanced over to Gabriella again. "Do you need something? Cuz I kinda have practice."
His long finger pointed towards the gym that was only a few feet away. Sharpay glanced in the direction he was pointing to, and then turned back to him and shoved her manicured nail into his chest. "I wanted to make sure you're going tomorrow night!"
Going? Going where? Gabriella's beating heart increased as multiple scenarios were running through her mind. Did they have a date or something? Something familiar shot through Gabriella's veins as she realized it was jealousy. Wait, was she jealous for Troy Bolton? The cyan eyes rolled annoyingly as he nodded his head. "Yeah, it's my same answer when you asked me yesterday, and the day before that, and the day before that. I'll show up for awhile since we're playing on Saturday alright?"
Relief trickled through her veins as she suddenly realized what the two were discussing. Ryan and Sharpay's party. Not a date. Just the party. "Fabulous!" Sharpay exclaimed as her arms choked around Troy's neck again.
Another cerulean eye roll. "Yep. I really gotta go to pract…"
"Did Ryan invite you?" Sharpay's huge blonde head whipped around after she let go of Troy's now bruised neck and narrowed her sharp eyes at Gabriella.
"Umm… yeah, he did." Gabriella responded with irritation laced into her voice, both from Sharpay and the fact that she told Emily she'd meet her in the girl's locker-room, and Sharpay would make her late.
"Oh… well isn't that… special." Sharpay let out as though Gabriella was dirt on her bright white boots. The drama queen then spun back to Troy and smiled like the sun. "Well, I'll call you tonight on details if you need them!" She exclaimed reminding Gabriella of an overly excited cheerleader.
"Uh… that's ok." Troy responded before running a hand through his brown hair and scratching the nape of his neck. "I'll figure it out. But I'm gonna be late…" Troy's slender finger pointed to the clock as Gabriella's eyes followed it to see that it was rounding close to three o'clock.
"Oh, you have practice right now?" Sharpay asked sweetly and Troy's jaw dropped quickly to the floor. Did she not just hear that he had been trying to say that for the past five minutes?
"Uh yeah, emphasis on the right now." He exclaimed in a frustrated tone as his hand reached out and grabbed Gabriella's upper arm. Her nerves started to spasm at the impact point as a warm heat crept through her blood stream.
"Oh…" Sharpay responded in a disappointed tone. Her head looked down for a moment, before snapping back up and waving her fingers. "Well, tah tah!"
"Tah tah?" Troy tight mouthed as soon as his back was facing the ice queen. "Later!" He yelled as his other hand that wasn't holding Gabriella's arm waved up. The giggles were uncontrollable now as she could barely hold her body up. Troy's head reeled to her as he attempted to stifle chuckles too. "What are you laughing about?"
Gabriella shook her light head as they rounded towards the locker-rooms. "You… and her… oh my god!" Her feet actually had to stop and place a hand on the wall to steady herself. If not, she would have crashed to the ground in the hysterical laughter that was purging through her mouth.
"Shut up!" Troy ordered, even though he was on the brink of hysterical laughter also.
"You know… you two would make a cute couple!" Gabriella exclaimed as the bubbling laughter subsided a little.
Troy's bright and shining blue eyes stared at her in disbelief. "Go run." He instructed her while waving his hand towards the girl's locker-room.
"I plan to," she stated proudly before walking towards the light wooden door with a sign and a stick woman on it. "Tah tah Troy!" Gabriella mocked evilly with a wave her fingers just as Sharpay did a moment ago and Troy's ice glare shot at her.
"Fuck you!" Was the last thing she heard before the door closed and her giggles spilled again.
She rounded the corner to see the blonde stick standing there in her gray spandex and her hip popped out. Her hand was resting on it, and it was an accusatory action that made Gabriella's face flush red. "So how's flirting with gorgeous Troy Bolton?"
"We're not flirting! We're being friends." Gabriella defended, but couldn't help the broad smile that draped across her face lazily.
"Sweetie, Troy Bolton plus a girl equals flirt or fuck city. It's about damn time too," she stated while Gabriella pulled out her bag and stripped out of her tight jeans and put on her second skin running clothes. "You two are both hot."
"Nothing's going on alright?" Gabriella unsuccessfully tried to convince her and pulled her cascading hair up into a tight pony tail before then pulling out her beat up shoes with the red logo on them.
After she finished getting dressed, the two walk out of the thin doorframe and into the rush of the echoing of squeaking basketball shoes. "Come on, I wanna go out those doors." Emily pointed towards the doors on the opposite side of the gym. Obviously, she wanted to spy on the basketball guys.
"Em!" Gabriella whined as her friend ran into the gym. She reluctantly followed, but couldn't help to feel her heart beat increase dramatically as her eyes landed on the boy with blue shorts that matched with his eyes and a black sleeveless shirt. He was standing in the mix with the other varsity boys, sweat already evident on his smooth face.
"Nice pass. Come on guys, pick up the pace!" Troy's voice boomed through the gym as her head remained on him. Obviously, the coach wasn't there yet and Troy had to take over for the moment.
"Just look at those arms." Emily noted as the orange ball landed in Troy's hands and he quickly passed it to one of the juniors. Drool was practically sliding down Gabriella's face as his biceps flexed in a way that shouldn't be legal.
His head turned to the side for a moment and Gabriella froze like a deer in headlights. Her body was being lifted from the ground as he eyed her up. A small smirk curled on his face as his hand lifted up in a small wave before he returned his attention back to the team.
She was pretty sure she just melted. "Come on Gabs." Emily grabbed her arm and pulled her to the door, Gabriella looking back one more time to see Troy staring at her before she braved the blistering winds of Colorado winter.