"I'll tell him to stop bothering you, if you'd li-"

Gabriella raised a stern hand at Alessandra, forcing her to clamp her perfectly sculpted lips shut. Ah, finally, quietness.

"Seriously, Allie, it's fine." She promised weakly as she exited the classroom, the brunette following close behind. "I can take a few insults here and there."

Yeah, it's been exactly a week since Troy's sudden outburst in the classroom – a whole week. That may not seem like the longest amount of time, but for Gabriella, it felt as though it were eternity.

He continued his simple charade as an aloof teenager, doing anything and everything to get under Gabriella's olive toned skin. Simply, cracking brusque jokes was not enough. No, Troy went full out on the torment.

At any precise time, he'd been laughing at her with his buddies, knocking down her books from her feeble hands, embarrassing her in any way attainable.

To say she had been fed up with his games, that was a thorough understatement.

He was mutilating her.

And who was by her side, through it all?

No other than his distinctly personalized sister; Alessandra.

It just didn't make sense.

"But you shouldn't have to." Allie commented sincerely, treading towards Gabriella's side with a candid smile transfixed on her features.

Gabriella had come to a realization, that Allie's persona and personality, wasn't even the smallest bit of a façade. She truly was genuine, around everybody – anybody.

With the exception of Troy, that is.

"It doesn't annoy me as much as it annoys you." Gabriella beguiled defensively. "Just drop it, ok?"

"If you say so…"

"Thank you."

There was an awkward silence between the pair, and Gabriella loathed the uncomfortable feeling of Alessandra boring into her soul. It was like she was trying to press the matter, somehow get Gabriella to blurt out the truth about her concealed feelings. Even though they have only been friends for a week, or around there, Alessandra wasn't completely a mystery. She had her moments, where she'd just look at you, in attempt to find out unknown information. And usually? It worked.

"So…" Allie peeped in, striving to amend the unpleasant moment. "Are you still coming over today? I already have the first page finished, and—"

"Troy won't be there, right?" Gabriella asked, making no notion to look at Allie, since she was merely focused on opening her locker.

"No…" She muttered. "He has basketball practice till 5, so that gives us about…" There was a hesitant break, until the soft voice broke through the reticence. "3 hours?"

The relief surged through her veins as she nudged free her lock, proceeding to grab all of her items needed for the project. They were assigned some report about a scientist of their choice, and it was really no surprise when Allie stormed over and nicely demanded for Gabriella to be her partner. She wasn't going to say no though, how could she? There wasn't anyone else in the class who she'd be with, so that left Allie as the only option.

But, that didn't mean she was jovial about her assistance.

This project would probably take a substantial amount of time to complete, and that usually required needing to spend time together – outside of school.

Gabriella's eyebrows scrunched slightly and she lightly slammed her locker, unintentionally. "I'll see you then?"

"Sure thing." Allie's contagious smile made an appearance once again. "See you then!"

And, she was gone.


Gabriella scoffed as she ran a hand through her loose curls. "As if." She commented. "You and Zeke are perfect for each other, and we already agreed that I'd be the maid of honor at your wedding."

"First of all…" The voice spoke through the phone in an annoyed tone. "I'm not even sure I want to get married. I'm only 18."

"So?" She countered irritably. "There's been like a million 18 year olds who've eloped and spent the rest of thei—"

"Gabs, seriously, just shut up." Sharpay laughed in a hushed melody. "I have a long time before I have to worry about marriage."

"You might as well. You two already act like a married couple." Gabriella grinned smugly. "I mean, Shar, you have him begging for sex…also, he probably has a thousand scars from how whipped he's become."

Unwillingly, Sharpay let out an enormous laugh at the claim from her best friend. "That's not true!"

Moments like these reminded her how much she missed her best friend, her hometown in general. She'd give anything to take a plane back to New York and rekindle the good times.

"Whatever you say." Gabriella chuckled briefly, before the inevitable goodbye occurred. "Listen, I have to get to Allie's to do this project. I'll call you as soon as I get home?"

"Yeah, yeah. Talk to you later, babe."

"Bye, bye."

A flutter of sadness flew through her body as she ended the call, mindlessly staring down at her phone, wishing somehow this wasn't what she had to resort to every day.

God, why did her father have to bring her here?

Gabriella deliberately pushed those thoughts aside for the mean time as she jumped off her bed. She recently found out that Alessandra lived about three blocks away from her, which made sense since she was on the same bus as her. But at the same time, she was ungrateful for the short distance between them. Because having Allie as a friend, meant Troy would continue to make her life a living hell. She just couldn't win in this situation, could she?

10 minutes later, Gabriella was panting uncontrollably in front of the Bolton residence. With her amazing luck, while she was walking to Allies, a pit-bull just so happened to be let loose from its confinements.

The gradual walk transformed into a helpless run as she tried she avoid getting torn to pieces by the bloodcurdling animal.

"You alright there?" Allie asked with true concern, having opened the door without Gabriella so much as tapping her fingers against the door.

"I...pit-bull…chasing…" Gabriella stuttered in a pant. Her whole body was leaning forward and her hands rested involuntarily on her knees. She reluctantly looked up to the wide eyed girl.

"Why didn't you tell me to pick you up?" Allie shrieked and gripped Gabriella's shaking forearm, pulling her forcefully into the comforting abode.

Refraining from letting out a sarcastic laugh, Gabriella instead focused on her erratic breathing. "I wasn't aware…you had a…c-car." She whispered.

"Of course I do." Allie looked down at her as if she stated the most absurd thing in the world. What was with the baffled look? She was the one who took the bus every day.

"Oh." She said quietly, albeit unsurely. Allie couldn't actually expect Gabriella to know she had a vehicle, right?

"You're lucky you weren't bitten." Her eyes scanned Gabriella's form, checking for any sign of a noticeable injury. It was Gabriella's turn to look bewildered. "Rabies is not something you'd want."

"Well, then, it's a good thing I'm a fast runner, huh?" Gabriella joked gingerly.

"Whatever." Allie motioned her head towards the staircase. "Let's get started."

That was odd. Allie altered into a motherly figure in a matter of seconds, and was actually seemingly acting degraded by Gabriella's behavior.

The Bolton's – they were definitely unlike any other siblings.

Finally, Gabriella had gotten her breathing back to normal, and followed Allie up the descending stairs. Her house was huge. Like, not some mansion huge, but holy shit. This house was probably the biggest in the neighborhood, maybe even town.

"Are your parent's home?" Gabriella questioned once they settled into Allie's room. Her room was nowhere near similar to Gabriella's. There were zebra stripes all over, practically flooding the walls.

But alas, this girl was in love with the color pink.

Really, could someone love pink as much as this?

"What?" Allie looked up with her blue eyes gleaming under the fluorescent lighting.

"I asked if your parents were home…" Gabriella repeated. She didn't see any parental supervision, but that didn't mean they weren't hiding off somewhere.

Allie looked perplexed by the simple question, and took a little too long to register what had been asked. "My parents?" She cocked an eyebrow. Then, as if something clicked inside that brain of hers, she perked up in realization. "Oh, right, my parents!" She giggled shortly and shook her head. "No, they're um, working till late."

"Sure…" Gabriella made an uncanny expression and turned her face away from Allie's, grabbing her notebook and pencil out of the bag she had brought along with her. "So, did you decide on a scientist already?"

Allie strolled over to her desk and pulled out a stack of papers. "Hope you don't have anything against Isaac Newton?" She said with a tiny smile.

"Not at all." Gabriella shrugged nonchalantly as she momentarily tried to recall any information on the deceased scientist. The only thing she could remember was an apple…and a tree?

"Um, but before we start," Gabriella began, earning full undivided attention from Allie. "Where's your bathroom?"

"Down the hall, first door on your right."

"Great, thanks." Gabriella set her pencil and notebook on the desk. "Be right back."

As she walked out of the room, and into the hallway, she couldn't help but let her curious instincts take over. Allie did say he wouldn't be home until 5.

A grin accompanied her features at the thought of seeing exactly what Troys' room looked like. Did he have anything to hide? Was he secretly in love with unicorns? Or did he really have that immense passion for basketball?

Well, there was only one way to find out.

Instead of opening the first door on her right, she decided on the only other door down this particular hallway.

Now, Gabriella wasn't the sneakiest culprit known to man, but if she could get away with something this devious – that was debatable.

She did happen to win an award in second grade as 'most clumsiest'.

Letting out the air between her clenched teeth, she slowly took her time to close the door behind her, hoping the sound wouldn't echo throughout the empty house. And once she finally, successfully accomplished her task, she swallowed the lump in her throat that she hadn't realized was there.

"So…maybe he doesn't have a closeted unicorn obsession." Gabriella mumbled as she studied the rather large room, taking in the appearance of the grey walls and sparkling clean carpeted floor. Broadcasted all over the walls, were trophies resting on shelves, posters of famous basketball players, and a few certificates – which looked undeniably like awards for basketball.

Yes, Troy Bolton did have an immense passion for basketball.

A laugh bellowed from Gabriella when her eyes finally fell upon his queen sized bed; looks like Troy also had a passion for plush toys. This would be amazing payback for all of the insults he dropped onto her.

Hastily, Gabriella's small fingers plucked out her cell-phone from her pocket and lifted it cleanly into the air, positioning it at a perfect angle to capture each and every stuffed object lying on the bed.

"Ha." She uttered out triumphantly after the picture had been taken, and she concisely gazed at the photograph now saved into her memory card. "Take that, Tr—"

"—oy!"

SHIT.

Gabriella's head whipped towards the door, almost faster than the speed of light, it felt like. That was sure to result in a gruesome kink later on.

"What are you doing home?"

The quiet voices appeared to get louder with every shocked blink Gabriella performed. If only she could move from her spot, yet her feet were ostensibly glued to the floor.

He wasn't supposed to be back for another three hours!

"Oh god – god oh." She muttered incoherently as her body finally pulled out of its paralyzed state and absentmindedly dropped down to the ground. Gabriella did the only thing she could think of at the moment.

She rolled herself under his bed.

Dammit, but why couldn't she remember how to breathe?

"Basketball practice was canceled." The familiar voice said in an emotionless tone. It was then, that the door creaked open, and a minute later, slammed harshly.

Gabriella's now sweaty hand covered her trembling lips, her breath escaping through the cracks in large amounts. She could barely make out his shoes as he walked around, but every time he inched closer to the bed, she felt her heart stop beating.

Fuck her curiosity.

Look where it landed her.

She tried to regulate her breathing, although was there really any point? If he found her, she'd be dead anyways. Why not just go on her own terms?

Music immediately reverberated in the room – some type of disturbingly loud rap music, you know, with the curses being said with every other pause. It was agonizing to listen to.

If she thought she was going to die by lack of breathing from the possibility of being caught, she was far off.

Because, when a shirt hit the floor, and following suit, a pair of jeans, she almost fell into oblivion.

Shoes were kicked off, the sound of a dresser was opened, and Gabriella cursed herself for allowing inappropriate thoughts to consume her.

Oh god, with her position, and the size of the room, she was able to faintly make out the contours of his back as he rummaged through his dresser in search for an outfit.

Don't turn around, don't turn around, she mused.

But, he then turned around to slip on his pants, and Gabriella gasped at the newly found sight.

Holy shit, his abs were so perfe—

It took Gabriella a minute to realize, but her eyes tore away from his godly like body to search around besides her, trying to find where the abrupt noise was coming from. It wasn't the music he had on, except she could somehow hear the mesh as it played with the rap.

And she quickly glanced at her cell-phone, brown eyes repetitively looking over the new text message.

Where are you? –Allie