Chemicals React
About a week and a half later, finals were underway. It was the start of third period and Troy was sitting in his chemistry class, anxiously awaiting his exam.
He had not spoken to Gabriella since the night she had told him to leave her house when he had tried to convince her he had never been unfaithful. So the studying was up to him and a very useless Chad.
"Okay class…" Mr. Warren, his chemistry teacher began, " you have seventy-five minutes to complete the test. There are fifty multiple-choice questions, and three essays. No. 2 pencil only, no notes, and no looking off your neighbors test. You may begin." He finished sternly.
Exam booklets and answer sheets were passed quickly around the room. Troy received his and promptly scribbled his name on the test. He opened the booklet and groaned when he read over the first question.
How is an ionic bond formed?
He did not know the answer to the question. In fact he was sure he wouldn't know any of the answers to the questions to the test.
Troy scanned the room. His widened when he saw the girl next to him already turning to the next page. How was she getting through the questions so fast? Troy wondered puzzled.
Maybe I should just wing it, he considered.
Suddenly, a memory flashed through his mind as he re-read the question once more.
"I guess we should get started on chemical formulas and bonding." She stated opening her textbook
"Yeah." Troy replied directly
"So static attraction is the basis for ionic bonds. In an ionic bond, a positively charged ion is attracted to a negatively charged ion."
"I don't really get it." Troy said just a little confused
"Okay, uhh let's try this in a way easier to understand." Gabriella said as she gesticulated with her hands. "If I were a metal, I'd form a positive ion, and if you were a nonmetal, you would form a negative ion. So…" She signaled for him to continue with her analogy
"We would create an electric attraction and form an ionic bond." He finished
"Yes! You got it!" She jumped up and hugged him.
That's it! The answer seemed so obvious after thinking of his study sessions with Gabriella. Troy quickly bubbled in the answer and moved on to the next question.
Everything seemed so simple now. The questions were no longer as frightening as they had appeared before. All Troy had to do was think of everything Gabriella had taught him, all the metaphors between science and real life. Come to think of it, Gabriella may have taught him a lesson in more ways then one. She constantly compared the chemistry curriculum with everyday situations the two had experienced. Gabriella didn't just teach him things about Chemistry, she taught him about certain aspects of life. How to open up to people, how to be friends with someone new…but now it was all gone.
Troy snapped out of his thoughts and continued to focus on his test. It went a lot smoother once he realized all he had to do was think of Gabriella to get through it.
Troy finally finished the multiple-choice section and he began to work on the essays. Time seemed to be on his side today because once he placed the period indicating the end of the final sentence on his last essay, the teacher called out…
"Time! Pencils down and pass your tests forward."
The exams were passed down to the front of each row and Mr. Warren collected the tests. The bell rang and the students rushed out of the classroom, relieved the grueling exam was over.
"Pretty intense test huh man?" Chad asked, approaching Troy
"It wasn't that bad." Troy replied coolly
"Not that bad? I was stuck on the first question for hella long." Chad said looking at his friend as if he were crazy. "Do you think you passed?"
"I sure as hell hope so." Troy answered. "Oh and by the way the first answer was combining a positive and negative ion." Troy added as he walked away. Chad just gave him the same bewildered stare.
Troy walked around the corridor and spotted Gabriella by her locker speaking with a guy.
"So are you going to the dance tomorrow?" He asked trying to act suave.
"I don't know. Probably not." She replied uninterested.
"Oh…" he mumbled in disappointment. "Well if you change your mind you know, I'll save you a dance."
The guy walked away and Gabriella let out a sigh of relief. Sure he was a decent guy, but definitely not her type. He was too cocky when it came to sports and to put it lightly, he wasn't the sharpest tool in the shed. She walked the opposite direction and headed to class.
Troy also let out a sigh of relief. They may have broken up but he did not want to see her go out with a guy like that, and he had feelings for the girl.
After school, Gabriella received numerous phone calls. Mainly from Taylor and Kelsi, begging her to go out and have fun at the dance with them.
"Oh come on Gabi!" Taylor whined. "You need to get out of the house. It's going to be fun. Pleeeease."
"I don't know. Maybe." Gabriella spoke into the receiver genuinely considering her friend's offer.
"Okay. I'll take the maybe, it's better then no." Taylor concluded. "I guess I'll see you later, hopefully at the dance."
"I'm still sticking to maybe." Gabriella said with a smirk, even though she knew she couldn't be seen.
"So have you talked to Sharpay lately?" Taylor asked out of nowhere
"No, I'm still kind of mad at her." Gabriella responded
"Well I think you should, you know she is really sorry. She meant well Gabi."
"I don't know." Gabriella replied
"Just consider talking to her." Taylor advised
The two hung up and Gabriella tossed her phone on the bed at the sudden sound of the doorbell. Gabriella quickly ran down the stairs and answered the door.
She opened the door only to see Sharpay.
"Oh." She said with a bit of spite
"Listen…I know you're mad at me, but I just wanted to say I'm sorry. I really didn't mean to hurt you the way I did. I honestly thought I was doing you a favor. I want you to know I did help Troy try and get you back, even though it didn't do much. I just hope one day you can forgive me." Sharpay said sincerely
Sharpay started to walk away. Gabriella thought about what Taylor had said, Sharpay may have meant well and her apology did seem valid.
"Sharpay I forgive you." Gabriella yelled before she walked away completely
"Really?" Sharpay questioned whether or not Gabriella truly forgave her
"Yes!" Gabriella confirmed
Sharpay ran back up onto the porch and engulfed her friend in a hug. Their feud was over.
"So what are you doing tonight? Are you going to the dance?" Sharpay asked
"I don't know, Taylor and Kelsi have been begging me to go for the past week. They think I need to get out of the house." Gabriella said with a bit agitation
"Maybe you should go, it wouldn't hurt." Sharpay pushed
"Well…I guess it could be fun. Just us girls."
"Exactly! So it's settled, we're going. Come on let's get ready." Sharpay said excited
The two girls ran up the stairs and into Gabriella's room. Gabriella called Taylor, telling her she was going and that she and Sharpay had reconciled. Both Sharpay and Gabriella had sifted through the mass of clothes in Gabriella's closet, in search of something to wear for the night. They each picked out dresses that were more fun than formal, and more flirty than reserved. They each applied a light coat of make-up and did their hair. With one final mirror check they were out the door and off to the dance.
"I am so glad you came!" Taylor squealed running up to Sharpay and Gabriella, glad her friend was finally out of her house
"Me too." Gabriella replied
"So is everything cool between you two?" Kelsi wondered, unsure if the two friends were actually friends
"Yes, everything's fine now." Gabriella confirmed.
"Uh-oh" Sharpay murmured under her breath
"What? What's 'Uh-oh'" Taylor asked
Sharpay motioned to the door and Taylor nodded in an understanding manner.
"What are you guys looking at?" Gabriella speculated trying to figure out what they were talking about
"Gabi don't!" Kelsi warned
Gabriella turned to the doorway and saw Troy walking in with Chad, Zeke, and Jason.
"It's okay you guys, him showing up…it was pretty much inevitable. It is one of the last dances of the year. Of course he came." Gabriella said trying to hide her emotions.
"Gabi…it's okay if you want to talk to him." Taylor assured, trying to encourage her to follow her heart
"What makes you think I want to talk to him?" Gabriella said once again trying to hide how she truly felt.
"Come on Gabi, we're not stupid. We all know you still like him." Sharpay retorted in a 'duh' tone
"Why don't you ask him to dance? You know you want to." Taylor suggested trying to convince her to talk to Troy once more
"I don't know you guys, I don't think – "
"Just do it!" All three girls yelled at the same time pushing her in Troy's direction.
Gabriella gave in knowing her friend's wouldn't stop until she did. She composed herself and took a deep breath as she began to walk towards Troy.
"Dude" Chad mumbled to Troy, giving a quick motion with his head in Gabriella's direction
"Hey Troy" Gabriella greeted as she finally made her way to Troy
"Gabriella! Hi." He returned
Chad, Zeke, and Jason were still standing there watching as the two interacted with one another.
"Guys…" Troy said, signaling for the guys to leave
"Oh yeah! We're going to go somewhere that's…not here." Zeke said walking away with the guys
"Yeah, see you Troy" Jason added
Once the guys left, Troy and Gabriella began to talk.
"So…what's up?" Troy asked, unsure why Gabriella had chosen this moment to start speaking to him.
"Troy I want to talk to you." Gabriella nervously started talking
"Do you want to dance?" Troy asked out of instinct
"Yes" Gabriella answered
As a slow song began to play, Troy lead Gabriella onto the dance floor. He wrapped his arms firmly around her waist as her arms slivered up and encircled his neck.
You make me feel out of my element
Like I'm walking on broken glass
Like my worlds spinning in slow motion
and you're moving too fast
"So what did you want to talk about?" Troy asked trying to start the conversation with a subject that wouldn't make things uncomfortable.
"I don't know. What's been going on with you?" She asked awkwardly
"Well…I took my chemistry final yesterday." Troy stated
"Really? How did it go?" She said, feeling a bit guilty she wasn't there to help him
"Pretty well, actually. It wasn't that bad. I uhh…just thought of all our study sessions and it sort of went smoothly." Troy admitted
"Yeah?"
"Yeah. I thought it was going to be really hard and I was actually stuck on the first question for a while." He confessed sheepishly
"What was it?" She wondered curiously
"How is an ionic bond formed?" he said
"Oh come on Bolton, that's an easy one. That was one of the first things we covered. An ionic bond is formed when you combine a…"
"Negative and a positive ion. Like with a metal and a nonmetal, the ionic bond is formed as well as an electric attraction." He finished
"Exactly." She said quietly
The two continued to dance and converse.
"Do you want to go somewhere we can talk some more?" Troy suggested
"Yeah" Gabriella simply said
The two of them made their way to the roof top garden. The music still blaring throughout the entire school.
Were you right, was I wrong
Were you weak, was I strong, yeah
Both of us broken
Caught in the moment
We lived and we loved
and we hurt and we joked, yeah
But the planets all aligned
When you looked into my eyes
and just like that
The chemicals react
The chemicals react
"So why did you come up to me earlier? What's really on your mind?" Troy said getting straight to the point.
"I don't know, I guess I just needed to talk to you." She said. "Sharpay told me about her plan. I'm really sorry Troy, I guess I had more trust issues than I thought."
"It's okay it's just, what does this mean? Do you want to get back together? I really like you Gabriella but I don't want to get my hopes up if you're just going to turn me down again."
Gabriella looked to the ground and the music was still playing loudly.
you make me feel out of my element
like i'm drifting out to the sea
like the tides pullin' me in deeper
makin' it harder to breathe
We cannot deny, how we feel inside
We cannot deny
"I don't know. This situation is just so confusing, I mean could we really make it work?"
"Well we'll never know unless we give it a try. Gabi I need you to know, I have never felt the way I feel towards anyone other than you. I'm crazy about you. That last night we were together you told me you thought you should have tutored me on something other than science but you did! All I could think about during my exam was you and everything you taught me. You taught me to open up my heart in a way I never thought I cou –"
Gabriella cut him off by pulling him into a kiss.
were you right, was I wrong
were you weak, was I strong, yeah
both of us broken
caught in the moment
we lived and we loved
and we hurt and we joked, yeah
but the planets all aligned
when you looked into my eyes
and just like that
the chemicals react
the chemicals react
Kaleidoscope of colors
Turning hopes on fire, sun is burning
Shining down on both of us
Don't let us lose it (don't let us lose it...)
were you right, was I wrong
were you weak, was I strong, yeah
both of us broken
caught in the moment
we lived and we loved
and we hurt and we joked, yeah
"I thought we agreed we would stop cutting off each other's sentences." Troy said with a smirk.
"Yeah, but I had good reason to." Gabriella replied smiling as well.
They kissed again, happy to be back together.
"You're a great tutor." Troy said in between kisses
Gabriella didn't say anything. The smile on her face said it all.
"I love you" Troy confessed simply
"I love you too." Gabriella returned
we lived
we loved
we hurt
we joked
we're right
we're wrong
we're weak
we're strong
we lived to love
But the planets all aligned
when you looked into my eyes
and just like that
Watch the chemicals react
and just like that
the chemicals react
(The chemicals react)
Chemistry isn't just about molecules and ions. It's about the bonds that are formed and the things learned from one another. In the end, Troy Bolton truly did learn a lot more than science from Gabriella Montez . The two really did have chemistry. In more ways than one.
Author's Note: So there's the final chapter! I hope you guys liked it.
So I'll get on the sequal AP Histroy and post it as soon as possible. If you like this story, I was considering turning this into a trilogy and having one more story in association with both Chemistry 101 and AP History called Music Theory and Composition. If I decide to write it, it will be about Troy and Gabriella in a music class (same format as this with the references) and I could use it to debut my song writing skills.
So thank you all who have read this story! Reviewed and added it to your favorites or alert lists. I hope you enjoyed reading my work. Please review this story one last time if you please and tell me what you thought and what you think of the idea of the sequals.Thank you so much again!