AN: Thank you to all of you who have reviewed for me for the first two chapters, I am really happy at the response that I got, making me more antsy to update.
Chapter 3
Troy's dad yelled at him for getting detention and missing part of a practice, but Troy didn't care. He was grounded from the TV and his cell phone for a week. Neither really bothered him, he usually just watched the NBA on TV and only used his phone when he had to. He wasn't really into texting or things like that. He didn't make many calls, as he'd rather talk to you in person.
Gabriella swore that he was bipolar as he came into school later that week the happy, not jerk Troy suit. He was impossible to keep up with. He was cranky, then a jerk, then laughing, the yelling at some poor freshman, then giving Zeke a high five. He was in all directions. Troy was on a roller coaster of emotions as the first time he noticed that Gabriella was in his history class. He knew that he was worse than a girl on PMS with all his mood swings.
Right now he was sitting in said history class, bored beyond belief. Chad kicked his chair and Troy turned to glare at him, "Papers," Chad said lowly. Troy turned around to see that there were papers on his desk for him to pass back. He took one for himself and tossed the rest over his shoulder at Chad. He looked at the top of the paper, 'Partner Project' it read, great. There were different choices of projects for you to choose from to do over the three ancient civilizations of the Americas.
"Bolton!" the teacher yelled, "pay attention!"
"I am!" Troy yelled back.
"Then who is your partner?" the teacher asked more calmly.
"I didn't say I was, I said I am paying attention."
"Montez, now pay attention," the teacher went on.
Montez? Who was that? Troy didn't recognize the name until that told him who it was, the new girl, just spectacular.
The teacher must have told them to get with their partner as Gabriella came over to his desk. "Ok, so I know we started out on the wrong foot, but call me a truce and let's just do the project," she said, sticking out a hand. Troy just looked at it.
"I don't do truces," Troy said.
"You know we have to work together," Gabriella said, Troy could see her becoming frustrated.
"Says who?" Troy asked.
"Don't expect me to do all the work, you have to do some too," She said.
"Oh yeah? Watch me," Troy pulled out his phone that he just got back and started to text someone even though he hated doing it.
"Oh no you don't, you are working, you don't have to like it, but you are," Gabriella snatched his phone out of his hand and held it out of his reach.
"Hey! Give me that back, now!"
"Not until we figure out what we are doing and who is doing which of what."
"Give me back my phone now!" He said deadly.
"I was thinking letters A and C sounded easy, but if you wanted to something else, I would."
"Give me back my phone before I crush your wrist."
"Work with me. I don't care if you hate me, but I want an A, so please work with me!" Troy grabbed her wrist sharply and scraped his phone out of her hand. "Ow, that hurt, you are such a jerk!" Gabriella said, rubbing her wrist, looking at him.
"I told you what would happen, now just get out of my sight!"
"No! We have until the end of the period to work, and this is one of the few times we are going to be able to work on it in class, so we will have to work together outside of class."
"Oh darling, I don't work," he said cruelly.
"Why do you have to be impossible?"
"Because I do."
"You don't have to, you have a choice."
"And I made that choice a very long time ago."
"Choices can be changed."
"Don't hold your breath."
"I'm not, I'm lining up to kick you where the sun don't shine if you don't work."
Troy oddly took this threat seriously as he looked at the enraged girl, "A and C are fine."
"Thank you, now will you do part 2 of A and part 1 of C and I will do the rest."
"What if I wanted to do something different?"
"Do you?"
"No, just wanted to know what you'd say."
"Now you know, woop-dee-do."
The bell rang and Troy smirked at her before getting up and leaving, he'd won, he could tell. Gabriella let out a frustrated noise. She stomped back to her seat to grab her bag before walking out of the classroom.
Troy wasn't in all that of mood after that argument so he went up to his place to think. They couldn't get along in their side-by-side life, so how were they to work together, their lives mixing. That and a small part of him liked arguing with her. He actually had someone to talk back to him, some one who could keep up with him in an argument. He hadn't had someone who could do that in a very long time. And everyone here was afraid of him. So why wasn't she afraid of him? Not knowing that answer bothered Troy. It was an unknown in his world where he knew everything.
Maybe he should try and scare her, and then maybe the world would go back to how it was suppose to be. But she wasn't afraid of his usual way he instilled fear in new kids. Maybe nothing would scare her. That would be bad right? Yes, it would be, Troy told himself.
After the next bell, Troy walked down the stairs and out into the hallway. As he opened the door, he hit a freshman with the door. He slammed the door and walked away. The kid ran to the nurse with a bloody nose and a black eye. More people went to the nurse because of Troy than any other cause beside sick fakers.
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The next day in history was the only time in class they had to work on their projects. Troy got into it with Gabriella and their yelling got them kicked into the hallway. "I suggest you set your differences aside and try to get along," The teacher said before closing the door to the classroom.
"I tried that," Gabriella said to herself, but Troy still heard her.
"Come on," Troy grabbed her arm and dragged her along to the library. Gabriella stumbled after him, trying not to fall. "One rule, no talking," Troy said. He let go of her arm and walking into the library.
"Could have just asked me to follow," Gabriella said rubbing her arm.
"Would you?"
"Depends on how you asked."
"Whatever, we're here, just work," Troy left her at the door and sat down at a table and he took his book out of his bag and flipped through the pages. Gabriella took a seat in the chair in the opposite corner from him and got out her stuff too. They worked in a weird silence until the bell rang. Troy hurried out of the library once it did ring.
"It is like I have a disease," Gabriella muttered to herself as she gathered up her things and left. What was his problem? What had she done wrong? Was her existence bothering him? He was really out there with his strange mindset.
Troy was ready to blow off his next class as he often did after being with Gabriella. She always got under his skin and he needed to cool off, but he remembered he had a test. He went to the class and made a design on his answer sheet. He didn't know the material, what was the point it wouldn't be important in five years. He forged a note from his dad asking to see him after he finished his test and he gave it to the teacher, not that she was really paying attention anyways. He wondered up the steps to his spot. He had been spending a lot more time up there since Gabriella got to this school.
He was fidgety until the final bell of the day rang. He sprinted out of his class and to the gym. He changed quickly and went out to the court. He was ready to sweat. H was ready to work. He was ready to get her off his mind. Other players drifted in. He dad called them to attention. He told them to warm up with four laps around the gym and then some normal ball handling drills. Troy was of course the first to finish. He was doing to b e mad if his dad went light on them today. He wasn't disappointed
All the other boys, including Chad, were ready to die at the end of practice. The guys lay out on the floor of the gym, exhausted while Troy was still shooting around.
"How do you still have energy?" Chad asked.
"Just do," Troy said making a basket.
"You're not human," Chad said pulling himself off the ground and going to the locker room.
Troy continued to shoot around into the night. His dad left, telling him not to stay too late and that his mom would have dinner ready in about an hour. Troy nodded and jumped and shot a three. Swish! It had almost become too easy. Even with all of his frustrations with Gabriella, nothing threw off his game. If anything, the annoyance of Gabriella had improved his game. He concentrated harder on what he was doing. He concentrated on keeping her off his mind and basketball on it.
The door to the gym opened, Gabriella, "Sorry," She said. "I was going to just cut through to the parking lot, I can go around."
Troy, who had stopped shooting, "Go through, it is just walking, it is not like you are murdering someone unless you are wanting to take a swing at me." He went back to shooting, not noticing that she hadn't moved.
"Wow you are really good, how'd you do that?" She asked as she watched.
"You know, when I said walk through, I thought you would actually walk through and not be a disturbance," Troy said. She looked away, blushing. It was cute, not that Troy would ever admit it though, "And it is called practice."
"You must have done a lot of practice."
"When your dad's the coach you are going to do a lot of practice."
An awkward silence fell between them.
"Why are you still here?" Troy asked.
"I was working on our history project," She said, "Can we work on it tomorrow during free period?"
"I have practice," Troy said automatically.
"Oh," Gabriella said lamely.
"Before school, 7, in the library," Troy said.
"Works for me," Gabriella said. She wanted out of the situation now, so did Troy, he wasn't comfortable at all. "I am going to go then, I'll see you tomorrow," she said walking out but stopped at the half court "You know you make it look more than just a bunch of sweaty boys running around with an orange ball, it looks almost eloquent."
Troy missed a shot when he heard this, the first one in a while, "What?" He asked confused.
"In gym and now, you make it look so easy when it isn't. It would be the type of thing little boys watch and wish they could do and become when they are older."
"Are you calling me inspirational?"
"Maybe I am, maybe I'm not."
"Ok whatever, and it is as easy as it looks. It's just," Troy stopped he didn't know how to explain it, "shoot, it's just shoot."
"Just shoot makes people get hit in the head because of me," She said.
"Then those people are stupid. They should be paying attention to the ball."
"I don't think watching the ball with help if the ball starts in my hands."
Troy wanted to laugh at that but didn't allow himself to, "So you have your own murder weapon if you have a ball in your hands?"
"Something like that," Gabriella said with an almost smile; she couldn't believe it, a joke from Troy Bolton to her.
"I'd like to see that," Troy said walking towards her and stopping at the top of the key.
"Just protect yourself and don't pass it, I can't catch," Gabriella said, she couldn't believe she was doing this either, she was going to look like an idiot. She set her stuff down on the floor and walked towards him. He handed her the ball and she walked up to the free throw line, "Watch yourself," she said.
"I'm behind you," he said.
"As long as you are in the gym with me, you are in danger," She said lining up. She shot the ball awkwardly and air-balled it.
"You just shamed my gym with that shot," Troy said as Gabriella fetched the ball.
"I told you, I can't do it," She handed the ball back to him.
"It could be worse."
"How?"
"The ball couldn't have ended up behind you."
"True, but I'll never make a free throw, making me fail gym and there goes my grade point average as I fail a class for the first time ever."
"I thought you were suppose to be smart?"
"I am, just in math or science, not physical activities."
Troy cocked an eyebrow at her, "Ok."
"Ok, rephrase, at sports and non-academics."
"Sounds less dirty," Troy said. He took a deep breath and cursed himself mentally but then continued, "Do you wanna learn how?"
"How what?"
"To make a free throw."
"Are you offering? It would save my GPA."
"One-time, limited time offer that is going quickly."
"Yes I would.
"Ok," Troy handed her the ball, "First of all, your grip was wrong, you are right-handed right?" Gabriella nodded. "Ok, so you put your index finger of your right hand right under the air pump valve. And let the rest of your fingers rest in the grooves for grip." Troy stood behind holding the ball and took her hand and placed in the correct position, "And then your left hand is used to guide the ball on the side so it goes straight. I usually put my middle finger in a groove for some extra grip on the ball," He placed her left hand on the side of the ball under his. "Line up with the basket and take a deep breath. Bend your knees and start with the ball just under your chin. And it is like creating the top half of a 'C' in the air with the ball, like this," Troy went through the motions without letting go of the ball. "And jump, you'll probably need the extra power. Got it all?" He looked at her and she nodded. "Try it." He let go of her and took a step back, "Wait, move to the left just a bit," he put his hands on her hips and moved her to the left a few inches, "Now try it," He let go and stepped back again. She shot the ball like he told her and it bounced off the rim and out of the basket to the right.
"Definitely a start," Troy said.
"Improvement from before," she said.
"Try it again, and think about making your movements more fluent, they should flow, and keep your elbow in, it will make your shot straighter," Troy coached.
Gabriella, now less nervous, bent her knees and shot. It hit off the backboard and the rim before falling into the basket. Gabriella squealed and threw her arms up in triumph. She turned around and jumped on Troy, hugging him. Troy was shocked by this. She quickly came to her sense and let go of him and backed away. "Sorry, I was just overly excited, I've never done it before. I didn't mean to."
"It's, um, ok," Troy said still shocked, "Just not my style." He didn't know what just happened. His skin was tingling from her touch. "I, um, should be getting home, my mom should be finishing dinner."
"Yeah me too," Gabriella said awkwardly.
"You wait just a minute, I'd walk out to the parking lot with you," Troy said. He wasn't sure if he should be punching himself or thank himself.
This surprised Gabriella too. "Um, ok, I'll wait here," she said. He went into the locker room and put the ball away, grabbed his bag and walked back out. Gabriella was standing at half court awkwardly with her bag over her shoulder.
They walked out to the parking lot in silence, "I'll see you tomorrow morning then?" Troy said when they were about three rows back. He had his keys out and he hit the unlock button. A car a few yards down to the right flashed its lights.
"Yeah," Gabriella said. Troy turned to walk to his car. Gabriella walked back another two rows and to the left to her car. She shook her head, thinking about what had just happened. It was different than anything else. She got in her car and drove home. She couldn't believe the Troy Bolton she had met that night in the gym
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AN: There is the next chapter. There is still more to come hopefully tomorrow morning or at least sometime tomorrow at least that is what I am shooting for. Please leave me a review telling me what you think and I will try to get the next chapter up soon.