I'm back with another update!
Troy sat back in his math class, waiting impatiently for the bell to ring. He wanted to get out of the boring class and to basketball. The team usually had free period workout and Troy was anxious to go. True, he usually wasn't excited, but his life was drastically changing since Gabriella appeared and he wanted something normal and familiar.
"It's so weird. I never even noticed the girl before and now I'm questioning who I am because of her. Since when did I care what other people think? I've never even thought twice about when I was about to pick on someone. Now, I don't want to do anything to disappoint Gabriella. What do I feel guilty now that I look back?"
Troy snapped out of his thoughts when Mrs. Bailey yelled at him.
"Mr. Bolton! Class was dismissed five minutes ago!"
Troy looked up at the class. Sure enough, he was the only student left in the room.
"Sorry," Troy muttered an apology and quickly gathered the books that had remained closed on his desk.
Troy went to his locker and stuffed his books in it. He then remembered that he was planning to break up with Sharpay.
"She won't be happy."
Troy saw a couple of his basketball friends come up to him.
"Hey, Jase, Zeke, Chad."
"Hey, Troy. Listen, Coach has a meeting so practice is cancelled. We were told to tell everyone."
Troy nodded.
"Kay. Thanks, Chad. see ya later, guys. I have somewhere to be."
"Going to break up with the Ice Princess?"
Troy looked shocked.
"How'd you know, Jase?"
"Chad told us. Good luck, man. You'll need it."
Troy glared at Chad, who looked away, innocently.
"Ya. Thanks."
♪
Troy walked towards the pink locker at the end of the hall. He saw Sharpay fixing her makeup in the mirror. He sighed.
"Just get it over with, Bolton. She probably won't care anyways. She'll just move on."
Troy took a deep breath and spoke.
"Sharpay. We need to talk. This isn't working out. The 'us' thing just isn't cutting it for me."
Sharpay stopped applying her mascara and turned to face Troy.
"WHAT?!?! You can't break up with me! I'm Sharpay Evans!"
Troy rolled his eyes.
"I know that, Sharpay. Your locker says 'Sharpay' right on it."
Sharpay shot Troy a glare for his comment.
"Look, buddy. If you want to break up, then fine, I don't care. But I break up with you! Not the other way around. Got it?"
Troy looked blankly at the pampered princess in front of him.
"Actually, Sharpay. I just broke up with you."
With that said, Troy walked off, leaving a stunned Sharpay Evans behind. When Sharpay got over the shock, she looked around to see people staring at her.
"What are you looking at?!?!"
Sharpay slammed her locker shut and strutted down the hall. The other students broke into laughter as Sharpay rounded the corner.
♪
Gabriella had sat in front of her locker, writing in her notebook, occasionally erasing something. She just couldn't seem to concentrate.
"What if Taylor's right? What if Troy is being nice to me now, only to hurt me in the end? I mean what he did this morning with Sharpay... Okay, so I don't expect him to really stick up for me, but couldn't he have said something?"
Gabriella was snapped out of her thoughts when a large shadow stood in front of her. She looked up to see Troy Bolton, with his guitar case in hand.
"Does he always have a guitar or basketball in his hands?"
She just looked at him. Troy looked questioningly at her. Why was she just staring at him?
"Um, hey, Gabriella. I was wondering if you were busy. Coach has a meeting so there's no basketball practice. Do you want to practice?"
Troy lifted his guitar slightly.
Gabriella looked down at her notebook. She had only written a few lines, but had erased most of them. She wasn't really doing anything so she nodded, stood and smiled nervously at Troy.
"Sure, I guess. Where do you want to go? I mean, I don't really want to here... in the hall."
"I know a place we can go. I go there all the time. Come on."
Troy lightly took her hand as he led her towards a staircase. Gabriella blushed as Troy took her hand.
"He's so gentle. Wait! Why am I feeling like this? Isn't he dating Sharpay? I hope she doesn't show up."
Gabriella followed Troy up the stairs and gasped at the sight.
It was so beautiful! It was a garden on a balcony. There were plants in flower pots everywhere. The view was magnificent. You could see all the mountains and hills that surrounded the school. Asides from all the flowers, there were a couple metal stools, along with a bench. Gabriella started walking up to the railing to look out when she noticed Troy still hadn't let go of her hand. She blushed again.
Troy felt a slight tug on his arm and realized he had Gabriella's small hand in his. He felt colour rise in his cheeks and followed her to the railing, letting go of her hand. They both felt suddenly empty without the other's touch.
"I can't believe I held her hand. Great! Now she's not looking at me. This is so awkward."
"Wow. I can't believe he held my hand. But he let go. He must have been just caught in the moment. Don't think of it as anything, Gabriella. He has a girlfriend, remember?"
Troy looked over at Gabriella the same time she tried to sneak a glance at him. They both reddened and looked down. Finally, Troy broke the silence.
"I guess we should start. Free period doesn't last forever."
He set his guitar case down by the bench and pulled over a stool. He popped open the locks on the case and pulled out his guitar. He took the pick out from between the strings and strummed, checking to see if the guitar was in tune. After slightly twisting one of the pegs, he strummed again, this time satisfied that his guitar was in tune.
Gabriella watched as Troy tuned his guitar.
"Wow. He really loves that thing. And he's so good at playing it too. I wonder if he could teach me how to play..."
Gabriella snapped back to reality as Troy waved his hand in front of her face. She was still sitting on the bench and Troy was on the stool, facing her. He looked at her expectantly.
"Did you memorize it, already?"
Gabriella nodded her head, but pulled out her notebook anyways, where she had written down the chords for the song. She set the book on the bench, turning it so both Troy and her could see it. She looked up at Troy and saw him watching her. She quickly looked down and pretended to skim the words.
Troy, seeing that she was ready, started to strum the intro to the song. As he played, he watched Gabriella look intently on the book, although he could tell she wasn't actually reading it. As the last strum of the intro rang out, Gabriella took a deep breath and started to sing. She eventually got into the song and closed her eyes, swaying slightly to the rhythm of the guitar.
Troy watched as Gabriella lost it, and swayed to the music. He couldn't help but smile at how peaceful she looked when she sang.
"Wow. She is amazing."
Troy didn't know what possessed him to do it, but as Gabriella got to the chorus, Troy opened his mouth and sang along with Gabriella, adding harmony.
Gabriella's eyes snapped open as she heard the baritone voice. She almost stopped singing just to listen to Troy. She didn't, though, and the two continued to sing the song together. As the song ended, Troy strummed the last chord and looked at anything except for the girl in front of him.
"I can't believe I just did that. Oh no! That was so bad. She'll probably start laughing at me. Great!"
Gabriella sat there, shocked that the boy in front of her had such an amazing voice. She looked at Troy and saw him looking nervously at the floor.
"Why does he look so nervous? He was amazing. Maybe he should sing with me. I mean, he harmonizes so well."
Gabriella opened her mouth to say something, but Troy picked that moment to speak as well.
"Sorry about that. I shouldn't have. It won't happen again."
Gabriella almost gasped. Here was the most popular guy in school, looking so nervous about singing a song.
"No, Troy. It was great. You should sing, too. Ms. Darbus would really like that."
Troy snapped his head up to look at her with a look of horror on his face.
"No! I mean, um, I don't sing! I can't sing!"
Gabriella was shocked at his slight outburst.
"What are you talking about? Of course you can sing. You just did. And really well, too. Is there anything you can't do, Bolton? I mean you play basketball, you play guitar, you're smart, you can sing, and to top it all off, you're the hottest guy in the entire school!"
"I can't believe I just said that! Oh my... He's probably thinks I'm like obsessed with him now. Perfect! Just perfect!" "She didn't just say that! Oh my, she did. But wait, all the girls say that. Why am I not affected by them?"
Troy looked over to see Gabriella deep in thought. She felt someone's gaze on her and looked up into Troy's blue eyes. She gave him a shy smile and he returned it with a big grin.
"Thanks. You're not too bad to look at either."
Gabriella looked down at her shoes and blushed.
"Thanks. But I still think you should sing."
Troy looked uncomfortable.
"Uh... I'm not really the singing type. I just... uh... It just happened. Can we forget about it?"
Gabriella looked at him and saw the look of discomfort and decided to not push it anymore.
"Sure. If you don't want to sing, then you don't have to. I was just saying... I mean, you are really good."
"He's really good. I wonder why he's so scared to sing. I mean, I don't think he's shy. He plays basketball and the guitar in front of people all the time. Why is he so nervous to sing? Oh well. I told him I'd forget it. But something like that is so hard to forget. He has an amazing voice."
Gabriella snapped out of her thoughts when the bell rang, signaling the end of free period. She looked at Troy to see him putting his guitar back in its case. She quickly reorganized her books and stood from the bench. Troy stood also with his guitar case in hand. No words were exchanged as the two walked down the stairs, heading to their lockers to put away their books.
♪
As Troy and Gabriella came down from the balcony, a certain pink obsessed girl stood around the corner, watching as Troy and Gabriella smiled at each other, before heading to their lockers.
"Gabriella Montez. You can not steal Troy from me."
♪
Lunch went by quickly. Too quickly for Gabriella's liking. She had been in the science room with Taylor, helping some students with their homework. Taylor and Gabriella always spent their lunches in the science room, helping students that were behind in their schoolwork.
For Troy, lunch couldn't have gone by any slower. He, Chad Danforth, Jason Cross, and Zeke Baylor were all on the basketball team and they had practice during lunch. As the bell rang, Troy ran out of the change room, stopping at his locker to grab his guitar and binder. He headed to his next class: music.
♪
"Okay class. You have the rest of the period to work with your partners on your projects. Remember, they are due soon so don't waste the period."
Ms. Darbus was once again looking skeptical as she saw the class all pair off. She walked over to where Troy and Gabriella sat.
"I'm almost afraid to ask. How are you two doing?"
Ms. Darbus held her breath as Troy opened his mouth to answer. She quickly shot a glance at Gabriella, who was watching Troy, waiting for his answer.
"It's going really good. We practiced during free period."
Ms. Darbus looked stunned as Troy looked over at Gabriella and smiled, causing Gabriella to blush.
"Well that's good. Are you two going to practice now?"
Gabriella looked up at Ms. Darbus, fearing that she would make them sing in front of everybody.
"Actually, Ms. Darbus, we don't want to practice during class. Everyone would hear the song and there would be no point in performing it later. I think we will just work on some other music stuff."
Ms. Darbus nodded her approval and walked over to the next group.
Gabriella sighed in relief after Troy got them out of singing.
"I can not sing in front of everyone. Not with everyone staring at me. I know that once we start playing, people will stop and listen to Troy. That means they will listen to me, too. I think I'm gonna faint."
Troy looked at Gabriella and noticed how pale she had gotten.
"Are you okay?"
Troy's eyes widened as Gabriella fell over, off her chair. Troy leaned over and caught her before her head hit the ground.
"Gabriella. Gabriella! Oh shit!"
Everyone in the class turned their heads when they heard Troy swear, including Sharpay. She saw Gabriella in Troy's arms and fumed. She watched in disgust as Troy tried to wake the fainted girl in his arms.
The group next to Troy and Gabriella was Troy's best friend, Chad and Gabriella's friend, Taylor. Taylor immediately rushed over to her friend's side and placed a hand on her forehead.
"She's really warm, Troy. She might have a fever."
Troy looked at the girl beside him.
"Who are you?"
Taylor let out an exasperated sigh.
"Taylor McKessie. I'm one of Gabriella's friends."
"Oh. Sorry." He turned his attention to the teacher, who had just finished calling the nurse.
"The nurse is coming. Everyone back away. Give her some room to breathe."
Everyone backed away a few steps, except Troy. He continued to hold Gabriella and try to wake her.
"Gabriella. Wake up. Please. Come on, Gabi!"
He let out a sigh of relief when Gabriella stirred in his arms.
"Gabriella!"
Gabriella looked around and saw everyone watching her. She looked up at Troy and noticed that she was in his arms. She turned a deep crimson and moved to get up. She fell back and Troy caught her again.
"Thank you, Troy."
Troy just grinned at her.
"You had me worried for a second there."
"He was worried? Why was he worried about me? He hates me. He just puts up with me because he has to. What? I'm so confused."
"Hey, Gabi? Are you okay?"
Gabriella looked up at Troy, his grin turned into a look of concern.
"What'd you just call me?"
Troy looked at her confusingly.
"Gabi?"
"Oh. Okay."
Troy looked questioningly at her.
"Is that okay?"
Gabriella smiled at him.
"Ya. No one has called me that before. I like it."
Troy grinned at her again. Just then, the nurse came in.
"Is everything okay?"
Everyone's eyes focused on Gabriella, causing her to panic.
Troy, noticing her distress, held her closer.
"She's fine now, but I think she should go home. She might have a fever."
Gabriella looked up at Troy and gave him a small smile. She mouthed a thank you to him and he returned it with a smile.
Everyone noticed the exchange between the two. Taylor and Chad looked at each other and gave each other questioning looks.
"What is going on between those two? They hate each other."
Chad was extremely confused. Taylor, on the other hand, was worried.
"Gabriella is going to get hurt. I know it."
Sharpay Evans watched the scene play out in front of her.
"How dare she? She can not steal Troy from me like that. I will get him back. And I'll take that Montez girl down, too"
Sharpay gathered her books, thinking of a way to get back at Gabriella, as the bell rang and everyone vacated the classroom.
♪
After Gabriella's incident, she was sent home and straight to bed. Mrs. Montez had made Gabriella some soup and Gabriella graciously accepted it.
"Thanks, Mama. It's really good."
Gabriella smiled up at her mother, who returned the small smile.
"You're welcome, dear. Now you should get some rest. Don't forget to take your pills."
Gabriella's smile disappeared.
"Yes, Mama. I won't forget. I'm really tired. Please wake me up when Dad gets home."
Mrs. Montez nodded and turned to walk out of her daughter's bedroom. Gabriella leaned back in her bed and pulled the covers up to her chin. She quickly fell asleep; her last thought was being in Troy's arms. When Mr. Montez came in to see his daughter, he saw her sleeping with a smile on her lips. He decided to let her sleep until dinner was ready.
♪
Please review!
Jay