Thanks for the reviews and for wishing me better. Thought as a reward would chuck in a little ball of fluff. Hope you like it, if so let me know and there is more where that came from. Love Tink. xx
Gabriella was a nervous wreck by the time she arrived home, she constantly checked over her shoulder convinced that Christian may have continued to follow her. Just as she was about to hop in the shower she heard her cell phone go, her heart thumping as she wondered if it were Christian. A quick check revealed it was Taylor and she answered gratefully,
"Hey Gab, got your message what's up?" she chirped
"It's Christian Tay, he left me a picture of us on my locker and then when I tore it up, sent me a text . . . He'd been watching me Tay, it was so creepy" she shuddered delicately as she remembered.
"God, Gab, you ok?"
"Not really, he followed me home. I had to call 911 to get him to leave . . . He didn't hurt me or anything, he was just being a jerk."
"He what? Gab you have to tell Matsuai! He could be dangerous"
"I don't want to get him into trouble, he's just mad cos I broke up with him, I'm sure in a few days it will be over with" Gabi said hoping she was right.
"Gab I really think you should tell someone, he might hurt you" Taylor responded her tone worried.
Gabi sighed "I don't want to make him angry Tay, I think if I just be more careful, he'll probably get sick soon"
"If you're sure Gabi but you have to make sure that you're never alone with him, I don't trust him"
"I won't be Taylor; I've got you and Shar"
"And Troy" Taylor reminded her.
"No! I don't want him to know" she blurted "Tay promise me you won't tell him"
"No way! Why?"
"Christian has already said he'll kill him if he so much as breathes on me, he thinks there is something going on between us . . .If you tell Troy, he'll go after Christian and he could get hurt. . . Promise me Tay, you can't tell him"
There was a long silence at the end of the line as Taylor was obviously looking for a loop hole, to allow her to break her promise.
"Okay, Okay. I promise but you have to promise me, you'll be more careful and we tell Shar"
"You can tell Sharpay but that's it" she insisted, her voice firm and resolute.
"Ok, but if anything else happens you need to go to Matsuai"
"I think me calling the police scared him, he'll leave me alone now"
"Christ Gab, I hope you're right" Taylor said worriedly.
So do I, she said to herself "I am, I know it…Anyway I better go, I'll see you at school tomorrow"
"Night Gab and remember be careful!" she said before ending the call.
Within seconds of ending the call, Taylor dialed Sharpay's number and relayed her conversation with Gabi.
"And she won't tell Troy" Taylor concluded in exasperation.
"She what?" shrieked Sharpay "Why not?"
Taylor sighed "She's worried Christian will hurt him, but I think Troy Bolton is big enough and ugly enough to take care of himself"
"So tell him then, she needs protection Tay"
"I can't tell him, she made me promise" Taylor sighed
"She didn't make me … I'll tell him, I'm not breaking a promise then" Shar said and Tay could hear the smile in her voice.
"Sharpay you are brilliant!"
" Duh, I know. I'll call him now"
"Text me you're done and tell him not to let Gabi know, that he knows what's going on"
"Done and done . . . later" she ended the call and dialed Troy's number.
"Hello Sharpay" he said as he answered, wondering what the drama queen could want.
"Troy, I need to tell you something but before I do, you have to promise me you won't get mad and you won't try and get even"
"Its Gab isn't it? What's happened? Is she okay? Is she hurt? Dammit Sharpay tell me" he cursed angrily, a million things going through his head.
"Promise Troy"
"Christ I promise okay, you happy? Now tell me" he snapped, his concern for his best friend making him short tempered.
"She's fine, but she's had a few run ins with Christian, he's been watching her and tonight he followed her home, freaked her out a little"
"Why the hell hasn't she told me?"
"Apparently Christian thinks there is something between you and he's threatened to hurt you . . " her voice trailed off.
"She's trying to protect me?" if it wasn't so serious he would have laughed.
"It seems so Troy, the thing is you can't do anything about it. She made Taylor promise not to tell you and if you do something she'll know that you know, if you know what I mean"
"So how is it that you are telling me all this?" he asked bemused, despite the serious subject at hand.
"She never made me promise"
"Sharpay you are devious" he chuckled, able to relax now he knew Gabriella wasn't hurt or in any imminent danger.
"Why thank you . . . Now remember you have to act dumb . . . you're a jock so that shouldn't be too hard, just don't let Gabi know anything"
"So what can I do?"
"Get close to her, stay close to her, make sure nothing happens to her, god Troy, you're the guy. You're supposed to be good at this kinda macho shit, you figure it out."
Troy chuckled dryly "Thanks for the vote of confidence"
"You know what I mean Bolton, this is serious, she's scared of him"
"Can't I just kick his ass and get him kicked out?"
"She doesn't want to make him angry, just to make him go away."
"I'll handle it Sharpay"
"Thank you Troy. . . I'll see you around"
"Yeah bye Shar"
Troy couldn't believe that she thought to protect him by not admitting what was happening to her. Troy Bolton was one of the last people at East High that needed protecting. For Gabriella to attempt to do it, gave Troy a bit of hope that she cared about him in the way that he thought he was beginning to care about her. For so long he had overlooked her, overlooked the possibility that there could be more than friendship between them and now it just seemed that too many things were getting in the way, namely Christian. He knew he should just ignore what Sharpay had said and kick the ever living crap out of the guy, but there was always a chance that doing so could be dangerous for Gabriella. Instead he would just have to do as Sharpay suggested and stick as close to her as possible, if only, he thought with a naughty smile…
Gabriella had yet another unsettled night, her cell beeping to announce the arrival of yet more messages from Christian. Most of them abusive, some begging for her back. When she turned off her cell and finally succumbed to sleep she was plagued by nightmares, where Christian attacked her or killed Troy and there was nothing she could do to stop him. By the time she woke in the morning she had more messages and missed calls from Christian, all demanding that she spoke to him, then telling her how much he loved her and missed her. Enough was enough and Gabriella decided to change her cell phone number as soon as possible. She showered and then waited for Troy to arrive to take her to school.
He was running late as usual and was still eating toast as she climbed into the car.
He smiled at her and her heart gave a funny little flutter, sometimes he looked so cute, especially with half a slice of toast hanging from his mouth.
"Good morning" he mumbled around his breakfast.
"Running late Troy?" she enquired with a smile, reminding herself just how much she had missed him.
"How'd you guess? So have you heard from Christian lately?"
"Just a few messages, think I'm going to change my cell number" she replied wanting to play down the incidents.
Troy nodded "Might be a good idea . . . So I was wondering if you wanted to hang out tonight?"
"You got nothing else better to do?"
He shrugged "Well I could go out and score some hot chicks but I'd rather hang with you"
Gabriella giggled and Troy thought how good it was to hear her laugh.
"Sure why not"
"You gonna bring pizza?" he asked looking hopeful.
"Only if you promise to share"
"Deal" he grinned and they exchanged warm smiles.
Gabriella felt herself tense as the entered East High; she was on the alert looking for Christian.
"You ok?" Troy asked, noticing the lines of tension in her body.
She nodded looking about her "Yeah" she replied distractedly, making her way to her locker.
Gabriella breathed a sigh of relief when she saw there was nothing pinned to it and that Christian was nowhere to be seen.
"Hey Guys!" cried Sharpay coming towards them, dragging Taylor with her.
Gabi smiled at her friends as she opened her locker door, the smile dying on her face as she saw what was inside.
Perched on top of her math book sat a small brown bear holding a card which read "I love You xx Christian".
"Gab, you ok?" asked Troy looking over her shoulder, into the locker, sensing something was wrong as she stood rooted to the spot.
"He's been in my locker, how could he do that? How could he get in?" she muttered.
She turned to look at her friends with a shocked expression, as Troy reached in and took the bear out.
"Get rid of it" she cried "I don't want it"
"Gab, you need to tell someone" Tay insisted "This is creepy"
"NO! He'll get bored soon"
"Troy will you tell her?" Taylor looked at him expectantly.
"Maybe she's right Gab, he has to be stopped, he's weird" Troy said looking into her scared eyes.
"If I just ignore it he'll get bored and leave me alone"
Troy wasn't so sure but didn't want to say so, and as the warning bell went he dumped the bear in the nearest bin.
For the rest of the day Gabriella was on edge even though she never saw Christian, she could feel him watching her, as though he were close by. It made her nervous, angry and emotional. By the last period of the day all she wanted to do was go home but she had gym to contend with first.
As Gabriella warmed up for track she tripped and fell, spraining her ankle and had to be carried to the nurse's office. There was no harm done but she was advised to see her doctor and stay off it for a few days, giving it time to heal. For the first time in her life, Gabriella was pleased she would not have to come in to school, being away from Christian would help her, she wouldn't have to worry about gifts or letters or being followed. It was a relief to know she could simply relax. Shar, Taylor and Troy all promised to visit and bring her any work she missed, so all she had to do was rest and forget about Christian.
When Troy arrived at Gabriella's that night, he found her sitting on her bed with her ankle strapped and elevated slightly, reading a book, the only light in the room from the lamp and the rising moon through the window.
"So Gabs, how you feeling?" he sat next to her on the bed and lay back, his arms folded behind his head nonchalantly, as he had done so many times before. This time though, it felt different, Gabriella thought, almost carnal.
"I'm still a little sore but should be okay in a few days, to be honest it's nice to have a rest" she admitted setting the book aside and scooting further away from Troy, to roll awkwardly onto her side, mindful of her ankle, propped up on a nest of fluffy white pillows.
Troy looked at Gabriella "Who are you and what have you done with my Gabi?"
She giggled "No really, it will give me time to get my head together, catch up on my work that kinda thing"
"Seriously though Gab, are you ok?" he asked her softly and turned on his side to look at her, his bright blue eyes probing.
Gabriella rolled hers "I'm fine I wish everybody would stop asking me that"
"We're just concerned; you were a different person Gab"
"I know but he had me convinced I needed to change . . . Anyway I don't wanna talk about Christian"
"So what do you wanna talk ab-"
He was interrupted by the ringing of her cell and saw the look on her face; she didn't want to answer it.
"You don't have to answer of you don't want"
She looked down and saw it was Christian "I better or he'll just ring all night"
Taking a deep breath she opened her cell,
"Hello?"
"Gabi babe are you ok? I heard what happened to you" his voice was full of concern, slick even.
"I'm fine Christian" she sounded polite, frosty.
"Did you like my present?"
"You've got to stop this Christian, we broke up. I don't want anything from you" her voice was wobbly
"But I love you, I thought you loved me"
Troy could see Gabi was getting upset and said "Gab hang up"
"Is that Bolton? Is he with you? You sure as hell didn't wait long did you" he snarled all the charm gone, to be replaced by fury.
"Christian it's not like that, we're just friends"
"You slut! I bet he's in your room isn't he? In your bed? I never saw your room Gab; maybe I should come over when he's gone, show me what I've been missing"
"Christian, you stay away from me, I mean it" Gabriella cried, panic evident in her voice.
"See you later babe" he chuckled and the line went dead.
Troy looked at Gabriella; she was pale and trembling as she closed the cell phone. He sat up and pulled her into his arms, feeling the tremors that ran through her body. Gabriella buried her face into his neck, taking comfort from his strength, the steady pounding of his heart, his oh so familiar smell and she held on tight.
"It's ok Gab" he soothed running his hands up and down her back, trying to comfort her.
She shook her head against him
"I'm scared of him Troy" she murmured into the crook of his neck, her breath hot and tickling his skin, which prickled in reaction and he closed his eyes for a second, willing his body to behave.
"What did he say?"
"That he knew you were with me, that he was coming over later to see what he'd been missing . . . He wouldn't, would he?"
"He's just saying it to scare you, he wouldn't dare" he tried to reassure her, pulling back a little to look down into her eyes.
"But what if he does?"
"He won't Gab, you're Mom is here and I'm just across the street, we won't let anything happen to you, I promise" he stroked her soft cheek with his thumb, in a gesture that was meant to comfort but Gabriela couldn't help but feel a frisson of awareness, as tension grew between them.
She looked up into his deep blue eyes and felt all the feelings she'd had for him, rushing back into her body, she had never stopped loving him, never stopped caring about him, never stopped wanting him.
Troy returned her stare, wanting to loose himself in her golden gaze. There it was again, that look she gave him, all love and lust and tenderness all rolled into one. She was practically begging to be kissed by him, but with all that had happened lately he knew it was wrong. His head told him she needed a friend but his heart told him something else entirely. He dropped his gaze to her lips and watched as she bit her lip nervously, her tongue darting out to lick it better. Troy bit back a groan as his whole body clenched in reaction, and he battled with the need to take her into his arms and kiss her senseless.
Gabriella was amazed; all he had done was look at her and her whole body felt alive with tension and need. It was as though she were surrounded by energy and her skin itched with the need to be touched by Troy. Christian had never provoked that kind of reaction and she'd always blamed herself, thinking that there must have been something wrong with her, frigid he had once called her. But maybe she wasn't after all. She looked at him with wonder, wonder that she could feel this way without touching him, wonder that she wanted to make him feel the same, wonder that she wanted him to kiss her, touch her, wonder because she'd not enjoyed it with Christian.
"Gab?" Troy's voice was husky and made her shiver as he asked her permission and suddenly she knew that she wanted to kiss him, wanted him to kiss her.
She gave him wobbly smile "When I kissed Christian, I used to feel numb" she began "I hated it, he always seemed to want to grab me and grope me, he said it was because he liked me and it was ok because everyone did it"
Troy could hear the pain in her voice and he closed his eyes against it.
"I used to think there was something wrong with me, you know"
Troy shook his head "Brie there is nothing wrong with you, you're bright and funny and gorgeous"
She blushed and ducked her head, still shy even after all this time, he mused "But with you, all you have to do is look at me and I tingle" she confessed "I feel you everywhere"
Troy felt his blood surge at her words and the unintentional innuendo "God Gabi"
"But I need time Troy, I don't want things to change between us…I couldn't loose you"
"You won't loose me Gab, not when I've just realized that you were always right beside me" he whispered as the night closed in around them, his eyes searching hers in the growing darkness.
"I don't know how much I can give you . . .All I know is that I want to be with you Troy" she confessed in a sudden rush and Troy felt his heart lift, she wanted him, beautiful, shy, perfect Gabi wanted him!
"How about we start with a kiss?" he challenged softly.
"A kiss" she repeated, feeling her pulse quicken and her tummy tighten in anticipation.
He nodded a slow, sexy smile spreading across his oh so perfect face "You kiss me, then you know you'll like it, you'll be the one in control" he suggested his voice a little hoarse. The idea of Gabi being in control was something of a turn on, even though he couldn't admit that to her . . . yet.
She nodded and her brow furrowed slightly, she was concentrating hard and if Troy hadn't felt so needy he would have laughed.
Gabriella had hardly any experience to guide her; she only knew that she wanted to get close to him. So with a slowness that drove them both crazy, she leant forward, her golden brown eyes closing, until her mouth brushed his, repeatedly kissing him time and time again. Each time she touched her mouth to his she kissed him a little longer, a little harder, slowly opening her mouth until she was able to touch him with her tongue. A sigh escaped from her lips and a tremor ran along the length of her body as she fit her mouth more closely to his. Gabriella kissed him as she wanted to be kissed, her heart racing, her pulse thudding, her body trembling all with a need to have more of the delicious sensations that kissing Troy Bolton evoked.
With the same slow tenderness that began the kiss, Troy ended it, pulling away from her slowly, dropping his forehead onto hers, his breathing uneven. Gabriella smiled to herself and opened her eyes, to find Troy watching her intently. His eyes dark, his face worried.
"Okay?" he breathed.
"More than okay" she sighed and it was.