A/N: I'd just like to say I'm REALLY REALLY SORRY. & I love you guys for waiting for me for so long. I promise I'll get the next one up sooner or later and not as long as you had to wait for this one.
Gabriella sat on her chair, her long brown hair swept backwards in a classic ponytail. Her soft hazel eyes were intensely concentrated on what Ms Langdon was teaching. Every move, every flutter of her eyelids, were noted by her old crush. Troy Bolton.
Troy didn't mean to break her heart. He really didn't. It was such a coincidence she happened to stroll by the dustbin. The worst thing was, he had nobody else to blame. For the past 5 years, he had let his guilt nibble away at him, whilst watching her as she blossomed into who she was today.
5 years ago
Gabriella kept her eye on Troy Bolton, her crush. She hardly had crushes, but fell hard when she got one. Her heart fluttered as he turned and glanced at her casually. The next day was Valentines day.
'Send him a card!' Taylor advised her.
'But I don't want him to know!' Gabriella said
'He's gonna find out some way, but of course, you don't have the courage to do it. Only someone really brave would do that' Taylor said, using reverse psychology.
'Fine! I'll do it!'
She did send him a card. It was pretty, homemade, and beautiful. He didn't think so. He would have preferred a shop-bought card. He didn't think she was beautiful at all, with her braces and her glasses. She just, wasn't his type.
The whole basketball team laughed when they found out Gabriella had sent him a card. The seniors had made fun of Troy, laughing at how a 'geek' was in love with him.
Troy was so hurt, so affected by peer pressure, when he did that fateful thing- He scrawled 'Ugly Loser' on Gabriella's card, and dumped it in the trashcan. He didn't mean it, but at that time all he could think of was how her card had made his friends make fun of him.
Gabriella had finished lunch and was about to throw away her left overs when she saw the card in the bin, with the word 'Ugly Loser' written on with black marker. She knew Troy wrote it- She could recognise his handwriting. It was too much to handle as she dumped her lunch and ran towards the empty Hall.
Gabriella really let loose once she got to the Hall, she cried for a long time until Taylor appeared- she had apparently been trying to search for a book she needed for English. Taylor comforted her, and afterwards, Taylor told Troy. She told him that Gabriella had seen what he did to the card.
There was no bell at the end of 3rd period English, and Ms Langdon was convinced the clock was fast by 10 minutes, therefore agonizing those who were watching the clock minute by minute. As Ms Langdon dismissed the class, Gabriella hadn't even known it had been an hour already. Time seemed to past so quickly when she was concentrated. She arranged for books into her bag neatly and quickly, and went up to Taylor's desk where Sharpay was waiting as well. Taylor wasn't exactly a klutz, but she always seemed to take forever packing her bag. Gabriella was impatient for lunch and helped her.
'Come on, hurry! Or else we won't be able to get the seats inside the cafeteria...it's raining!' Gabriella said in a rush.
'Who cares? It's just rain anyway. I like sitting outside.'
'Take a look outside!' Gabriella said, trying to convince Taylor to hurry up. Taylor looked outside at the rainstorm brewing up.
'Oh damn,'Taylor said as she packed her bag in a second and ran in front of Gabriella and Sharpay. 'Come on, guys, hurry up!You guys are so slow!'
Gabriella and Sharpay giggled and followed Taylor as they ran down the stairs towards the cafeteria.
Gabriella thankfully slipped into the last remaining indoor table just in front of a group of giggling freshmen girls.
'God. English was SO boring today... I fell asleep once Ms Langdon started talking about ballads' commented Sharpay, 'I only woke up once the bell rang'
'Oh come on Sharpay. I loved it! Especially when she recited her own poem! It was so sad...' said Taylor.
Gabriella's eyes started to glaze over as she dived into another daydream. Her shimmering eyes were so concentrated, so determined yet so calm and composed. She didn't even notice anything Sharpay and Taylor were babbling about.
'I can't believe Valentine's day is tomorrow! Are you going to send flowers to anyone?' Sharpay asked Taylor
'It's so expensive! The school earns so much money from it. I'm volunteering to help the stall though, so my form tutor can think better of me'
'Oh! I want to buy some flowers for Zeke. Can you give me a discount?' said Sharpay
'Sharpay! I won't do that!'
'Fine' mumbled Sharpay as she pouted.
--
Gabriella woke up in a daze as she fumbled around to find her alarm clock. It was Valentine's day and the horrid memory of Troy Bolton was revealing itself once again. She had plenty of time, she decided as she got up and stretched. She took a long shower, lathering the soap all around her body, rubbing the shampoo into her hair, and then rinsed off. However, her pain was still not washed away.
Gabriella opened her make-up drawer. She didn't like to put a lot of make-up on, unlike Sharpay. She applied mascara, eyeliner and a little lipgloss. She was now ready for any sadness the school would bring to her.
--
Gabriella walked to school with a small smile on her face. It wasn't because she was particularly happy about Valentine's day. She was just happy because of the harsh winter weather had gone and the cool, spring weather had taken over. Nature blossomed around her and being an outdoor girl, she enjoyed immensely.
As she walked into the school, everybody's eyes were focused on her. There was a brief period of silence which lasted until the boys all gave her Valentine's cards. She smiled and said thanks but certainly didn't feel that way inside. They were only sending her Valentine's cards because of what she looked like on the outside, and not on the inside. She didn't like that at all. She would much rather have someone send her a card because of who she was.
'Hey Gabbi!' Sharpay squealed. 'Did you get any flowers?'
'I don't know, I'm heading to my locker right now!' Gabriella smiled at Sharpay's enthusiasm, as though a 5-year-old at Christmastime.
'You know Zeke sent me roses and chocolate? I love him! I didn't even have to remind him this year! He voluntarily did it!'
'Its not voluntarily if he knows you'll get mad at him about it.' Gabriella giggled.
'But at least he did it! He's the best boyfriend ever!' Sharpay exclaimed with a huge smile on her face.
Gabriella reached her locker and found 6 bunches of roses on her locker- Jake, Chris, Ben, Justin, Oliver and...she gasped. Chad?
--
'Dude! Why did you send roses to Gabbi?' Troy asked Chad
'Obviously because I like her!' Chad replied defiantly.
'You know I like her!'
'You never said that.'
'But you should've known! Its so obvious!'
'Well, sorry' Chad said sarcastically, obviously annoyed.
'Hey Chad!' Gabriella said. 'I just wanted to say thanks for the flowers! I really appreciate them!'
'Oh that's no problem. I just wanted to ask whether you wanted to go out for lunch sometime' Chad said.
'Sure! When?' Gabriella answered. She knew the pain of being let down and disliked doing that to others.
'Tonight? I'll pick you up at 7'
'Okay, I'll see you then!'
A/N: OMG! Chad's going out with Gabriella. Troy has competition. You might think this story is predictable, but I'd just like to say- Happily Ever Afters don't happen in real life. & I write about real life.