A/N: I hope you enjoy this one. Not much action, I'm sorry! Read & Review please!
Troy felt his face flush with anger.
Across the cafeteria, Gabriella sat down at her lunch table, eating with her friends. Nothing out of the usual, except that Gabriella was actually eating lunch. She usually spent the lunch hour in the library, but since it was the first day of school, she had absolutely no work to push. But that wasn't the reason why Troy was angry. Troy's face had flushed when Collin Rosenhoff had entered the cafeteria and invited himself to sit at Gabriella's table, right next to Gabriella, after playfully demanding a long hug. Troy scoffed and looked back down at his lunch, which seemed much less appetizing now. He couldn't get the image of Gabriella and Collin out of his head; the scene replayed in his brain over and over again.
Sure, Troy didn't mind if Gabriella had other guy friends. It was just Collin that made him angry. Troy and Collin had a very unfriendly history together, ranging back to Kindergarten, where Collin would always lie about Troy doing something bad, forcing the innocent blue-eyed child to give his toy up to Collin. Then in the first grade, Collin had intentionally spilled chocolate milk all over Troy's new lunchbox, and in the second grade, Collin had "accidentally" placed Troy's drawing into the class paper shredder. In the third grade, when Collin and Troy started playing ball together, the two had fought at almost every practice, and in the fourth grade...the list went on and on. The bottom line was that Collin and Troy wasn't a good pair to put in a room alone. And now that Collin was even around Gabriella made Troy feel like exploding right then and there.
Collin had played the "cushion guy" last year after Troy had stupidly ruined the relationship he had with Gabriella. Whenever Troy turned around, Collin was there with Gabriella. He was constantly making her laugh, inviting her to watch movies with him and his friends, offering up his lunch when Gabriella didn't have one...it made Troy sick. To a person that didn't know Collin, he may sound like the stereotypical "bounce-back-on-me" movie character, but to Troy, Collin wasn't. Troy knew that Collin had his ways of getting things he wanted, a skill that Collin had ever since he was a young boy. Troy had overheard Collin many times last year talking about how Gabriella was just a friend, and when he stepped outside of the locker room, he would drape all over her like a fucking curtain. Even if Troy didn't know exactly what Collin's motives were, he knew he was up to no good.
Troy watched from the corner of his eye as Collin talked to Gabriella, sending flirtatious gestures in her direction. Troy bit his bottom lip hard as Collin laughed and put his hand on Gabriella's arm, and nearly drew blood from his tongue's fleshy texture when Gabriella laughed in response. Sighing heavily, he turned his back on the two and looked over his lunch table, which was filled with his teammates. The team was carrying on random conversations about their experiences over the summer, including Zeke's new special recipe. But, as Troy glanced around the table, he had caught Chad's eyes, who was looking at him with a serious look. Troy quickly looked away, afraid that Chad may know what Troy was thinking.
"Truthfully, Troy," started Chad when Troy looked away, "I would beat the shit out of him." Troy looked up at Chad. Did he actually understand what he was going through? Troy was surprised that Chad had such intelligence to analyze and perceive; he had always thought Chad as academically challenged. But from time to time, Chad had been successful on impressing his peers with random insights of knowledge.
Chad's relationship with Gabriella was hard to explain. The two were extremely close friends, but it seemed as if they were torn apart because of Troy. Troy didn't want that to happen; he wanted them to remain close friends, but there was a level and a standard that would be broken if Chad continued to hang out with Gabriella. Troy also had to admit; he wouldn't take it too fondly if Chad still took Gabriella out for ice cream. Not that he would be jealous...it would just be weird. Troy knew that Chad was still bitter about what he did to Gabriella. Even though Chad had lost a level of respect for Troy, the two had been friends for ages now, and nothing could break their bond.
"But," continued Chad, the serious look remaining on his face, "it was your fault."
Troy sighed heavily and looked back down at his food. Chad was right. If Troy hadn't been such a fucking loser last year, none of this would be happening. He would be sitting with Gabriella right now, with his hand on her shoulder, and with his jokes making her laugh. Troy couldn't bear to hear Gabriella's voice anymore; it was like a knife cutting through his heart. Troy inhaled softly as he turned his shoulder again to look back over at Gabriella's table, when he caught eyes of the beautiful chocolate eyes he was in love with.
Troy's heart nearly stopped. It felt like the cafeteria had gone silent, and had been covered in mist. His vision clouded until he could only see one person in his line of sight; Gabriella. The two had exchanged a look - not a long one in reality, but one that lasted forever for Troy. He felt his body tense up and get extremely warm. He tried to rip his gaze away from Gabriella, but he couldn't. His eyes were locked. However, Gabriella seemed to have no problem looking back down at her food with an unreadable look, then back up to her friends who had cracked another joke. It took Troy a second to realize who was coming over.
"Troy!" said Collin, slapping Troy on his back. Troy had coughed up the strawberry milk he was drinking; a sweet liquid mixed in with bits of salad flooded his mouth. Troy ignored the predicament and swallowed the remnants in his mouth back down before looking up at the face of the devil. Troy's devil.
"Collin," replied Troy, his voice nowhere near the level of enthusiasm that Collin's voice possessed. However, Collin did not pick up the hint that Troy was relaying. Instead, he greeted the rest of the basketball team, and looked over at Chad, who tried to keep a good face on. But not too good though; Troy was watching.
"Workouts today, right?" asked Collin, nodding at Chad. Chad nodded back with a smile, and glanced over at Troy, who was having an intense staring contest with his lunch. Chad watched as Collin left the cafeteria through the double doors at the end of the enormous lunchroom. Troy shot Chad a deathly look, who shrugged innocently. Sighing, Troy picked up his bag and left the lunchroom as the bell rang, signaling to students that it was time to return to class.
Gabriella had a free period on her schedule, most likely coming from the extra courses she took over the past summer. She didn't expect to get a free period, however, and definitely didn't know what to do with it. She could try to go to the library and catch up on whatever she needed to do, but unfortunately due to the fact that school had just started and no work was given out, Gabriella was left with a period of complete nothingness.
Her legs subconsciously started moving towards the library while her mind was focusing on the unbelievably awkward glance she had exchanged with Troy today in the lunchroom. Why was he looking at her in the first place? She had remembered taking a bite out of her lunch, then looking up to match orbs with him. She had broke the gaze almost immediately, but the damage had been done. The two had locked eyes for the first time in a long while. Gabriella, although she tried to deny it, couldn't avoid the slightly warm feeling that she got when she stared into Troy's soft, caring blue eyes. But her warm streak cooled down when she thought of the night.
Shaking her head, she walked into the library. Immediately, the mouths of librarians curled into a smile upon seeing the familiar face. Gabriella greeted the librarians, then took her favorite seat in the corner of the library. She propped open a book, hoping that the hour would pass quickly, when she felt a tap on her shoulder. As Gabriella turned around, a bright smile greeted her, and she got a warm feeling inside; the same feeling that she used to get with Troy when he looked at her. Gabriella stood up and gave Collin a silent hug, and gestured for him to sit down at the table.
"What're you reading?" asked Collin, taking a seat across from Gabriella. Gabriella shrugged; honestly, she hadn't been reading anything. She just plucked out a random book from the shelves and propped it open.
"I don't really know, actually," replied Gabriella. She flipped the book over so the cover faced upwards, then blushed at the title. It read - A Man's Brain: Psychological Studies of the Male Mind. Gabriella timidly scratched the back of her neck, not daring to look up at Collin, afraid that he may get the wrong impression. She heard a small laugh across from her, and her face blushed harder. Out of all the books in the library, she had to just grab this one. With a sigh, she cleverly slipped the book off the table and attempted to change the subject.
"What brings you to the library, Collin?" Gabriella asked, resting her head on her palm.
"Well, it's my free period," replied Collin, leaning back in his chair.
"Really? Mine too!" exclaimed Gabriella. She was glad to have a free period with him.
"Exciting!" said Collin. But it seemed as though he wasn't interested in having small talk with Gabriella. His face turned innocent and sweet, and Collin's eyes penetrated Gabriella's with a tremendous force, just like Troy's used to. Collin took a deep breath and cleared his throat before speaking again.
"Gabriella, there's a back to school party tonight. Why don't you and I go?" asked Collin.
Gabriella's muscles tensed up as she quickly tried to think up an excuse to make. Biting her lip, she looked into Collin's eyes, which looked so innocent and hopeful. Gabriella looked into her mind, and pulled out something that she knew wasn't going to work.
"Oh, uh," started Gabriella, "thanks for the offer, but I'm really not into parties..."
"It's not anything like that," said Collin, "I assure you. No drugs, no alcohol, no sex...just a regular party, with music, dancing, chips, and soda." Gabriella shrugged and avoided looking into Collin's eyes again. She was going to melt if she looked in those dark brown eyes of his again.
"I'm...I'm busy tonight," Gabriella lied.
"It's okay if you don't want to go with me," said Collin, his voice lowering into a heart-broken tone. Gabriella quickly shook her head to signify that it wasn't like that.
"No, no," she said, "it's me. I...I..." Gabriella bit her bottom lip as she fell into the gaze of Collin's eyes once more. "Alright, Collin. I'll do it. I'll go with you. But I want to be home by ten."
Collin nodded ecstatically and stood up. He walked over to where Gabriella was and pulled her into a big hug, then walked off out of the library. Gabriella placed her head in her hands and rubbed her temples, afraid of what she had just gotten herself into. Taking a deep breath, she propped open the book she had attempted to hide from Collin earlier, and began reading silently to herself.