Chapter 5

trumpetrulez101

Well, after a lot of GREAT ideas, I am combining a few, and one of my own. This chapter should be long, because I've got so much I want to pack into it, but if it's short, I'm sorry!!!!

Disclaimer: I own nothing but any characters not appearing in the DCOM HSM, and the plot line.

Gabriella walked down the hall after her encounter with Troy in the hallway.

"How could he still like me?" She wondered aloud before turning the corner into the cafeteria.

"Hey Gabriella!" A guy called, rushing up to her.

"I- Oh hey Brian." She groaned inwardly. Brian Welsh had a huge crush on her, and didn't bother to hide it. Whether he was following her to class, saying he was walking her to class, or snatching her books, claiming he was carrying them for her, or buying her a bunch of crap she didn't need or want, insisting that he was merely purchasing her little trinkets, he annoyed the hell out of her.

"Gabriella, I was wondering...would you be my girlfriend?" He asked her this at least 3 times a week.

Her eyes narrowed as she thought. Bolton still liked her. She hated him. Well she extremely disliked him. And Brian...well Brian could be doable...if he'd shut up. So the dilemma was: Bolton liked her. She didn't like Bolton. Brian liked her. She didn't dislike Brian...perfect opportunity to make Bolton jealous.

"I'd love to be your girlfriend Brian." Gabriella cooed, taking his hand in hers and walking to the table she shared with the cheerleaders and Taylor.

"Guys, meet Brian!" She exclaimed, faking enthusiasm.

"Gabriella we know Brian..." Taylor started, but Gabriella held out a finger, as a way of quieting her.

"Brian is my boyfriend." She stated, giving each of them a look not to burst out into laughter.

They followed through, and smiled up at him. "Hey Brian! Nice to meet you!" Amy chirruped, "Won't you sit down?"

Brian smiled, and shook his hair out of his eyes, taking a seat, then yanking Gabriella down next to him.

Gabriella took this opportunity to look at him.

He was tall, well taller than her, but obviously shorter than...Bolton. He had piercing green eyes, broad shoulders, and black shaggy hair. Most girls would swoon over him. And despite how wimpy he came off to Gabriella, he was the football captain, and really quite hot. Perfect.

Gabriella smiled coyly.

"Brian, why don't you tell them about your new football and cheerleader idea?" She asked in a kittenish voice, wrapping her hand around one of his thick arms.

He smiled down at her, and proceeded to talk eagerly to the girls, who feigned interest.

Gabriella tuned him out, and scanned the cafeteria. Bolton was just coming in. Perfect.

She saw him scan the room, before he locked eyes with her. His eyes followed along her body, until they saw her hand wrapped around the football captain's arm.

His eyes narrowed angrily. She smirked at him, and tossed her hair, turning away.

He walked over to her.

"Can I have a word with you Montez?" He asked stiffly, tapping her on the shoulder.

"What do you want Bolton?" Brian demanded, wrapping one arm around Gabriella's waist, pulling her in to him.

She winced; that was where Troy had bruised her.

"I'd like to speak to your girlfriend for a moment if that's alright with you." Troy said coldly, glaring at Brian.

"You have 5 minutes." Brian muttered, glancing at a neutral Gabriella. At his words, her eyes flashed with anger.

"I don't think you're allotting my time out Brian. Just because I said yes for once doesn't make you my keeper, let alone my secretary. So if you don't mind, I'll schedule my own play dates with Bolton. Got it?" She yelled, standing.

Brian backed up in his seat, nodding. "Yes Gabriella. Sorry Gabriella." He murmured meekly.

Gabriella stood.

"I'll be back soon girls. Brian." She said icily, with a sharp nod to him.

Troy and Gabriella walked out of the cafeteria into the hallway.

"I must say, you handled that meat-head very well." Troy commented, leaning against a locker.

She narrowed her eyes. "Excuse me? Maybe I like that meat-head." She hissed.

"I don't think you do. Because you didn't talk to me like that when we were dating." Troy said grinning.

"So what do you want anyway."

"I want to know why that idiot is clutching you and calling you his girlfriend." Troy said, standing up straight.

"Is Bolton jealous?" Gabriella said with a smirk. "I didn't realize."

"I'm not jealous, I'm mad. Why would you go and say yes to him, when I had obviously just branded you as mine back in that hallway?" Troy growled, not thinking before he spoke.

"Branded me as yours? Would you care to re-think that sentence Bolton?" Gabriella hissed, furious.

"No, I think that sums it up." He responded casually.

She stared at him for a moment, before slapping him roughly across the face.

"I am not a piece of meat. You can't brand me. Get that through your head." She hissed.

"You really have a bad habit of slapping people." Troy commented, his cheek stinging.

"You have a bad habit of getting on my last nerve." She retorted.

He grabbed the wrist she had used, the other wrist this time.

"Let me go." She said angrily.

"Not until you learn that slapping people is bad. As is using people, like you're obviously using Brian to make me jealous." Troy retorted, gripping her wrist tightly.

"Bolton, you're hurting me." She hissed.

"You hurt me Montez." He shot back, angry that she couldn't comprehend.

"You hurt me first Bolton." She whispered, staring up at him.

"Oh yeah? How?" He asked, interested to hear this new piece of information.

"I'll admit it. I did cry for you to see. On June 25th, 2008." She began.

"So I broke up with you, big deal." Troy said lazily.

"There's more, stupid. June 25th 2008 is the one year anniversary of my grandfather's and father's death. I was already down, and you just kicked me while I was." She whispered, her eyes filling with tears.

His eyes widened, and he released her wrist.

"Gabriella I'm so sorry...I had no idea..." He whispered, about to sink to the ground next to her, where she shook with sobs.

Brian chose this moment to come out of the cafeteria, seeing Troy standing over her, Gabriella on the ground, sobbing.

"What did you do to her?" He yelled, lunging at Troy.

Gabriella looked up at the yell, to see her boyfriend and ex-boyfriend starting a fight.

Before long, the fight was too big, and she tried to stop them.

"Guys! Stop!" She cried, trying to get between them.

The cries attracted people from the cafeteria, who saw Bolton and Montez's new boyfriend beating each other up, and Montez trying to stop the fight.

This caused opposing students to start fighting with each other.

The fights filled the hallway, and Gabriella found herself being swarmed, surrounded by other fights.

Suddenly, everything stopped. A shrill whistle was being blown.

Coach Williams strode into the hall.

"WHAT IS GOING ON?" She shouted angrily, glaring at everyone.

"Bolton-Montez fight." A guy from the back mumbled.

"Bolton! Montez!" She barked.

"Ms. Montez, because you are unharmed, I assume you had nothing to do with this. Mr. Bolton. You too look mostly unharmed, and only because you're my star player, am I going to call this a little accident. Everyone else...dispatch yourselves!" She yelled.

Everyone but Troy, Gabriella and Brian left to go back to lunch, or to the nurse's office.

"Gabriella baby did he hurt you?" Brian gasped, grabbing Gabriella's hand.

"No, you don't under-" She was cut off by his mouth against hers.

'Ugh...he's a terrible kisser!' She thought, but kissed him back, only because she knew Bolton was standing there.

Brian, taking this as a good sign, deepened the kiss, and he slammed her against the lockers.

Pain shot through her body, and she inwardly screamed. There was a locker door handle (thing? I don't know what it's called...the little triangle thing that you grip to open your door...that thing.) in her back, and the force of his shove...well it had been used to bring down guys 3 times her size.

Troy, getting sick of this, finally tapped them on the shoulder.

"Uh, excuse me...Brian...Montez and I weren't done with our conversation." He said coldly.

"I know what kind of conversation you were having. I don't like guys beating up on my girls." Brian said defensively, his arm wrapped around Gabriella's waist, and she winced at Troy.

"He...didn't...do...anything...we really were just talking..." Gabriella gasped, her side and her back throbbing.

Brian released her as she walked away, and she teetered on the spot, before falling into Troy's waiting arms.

"Hello Gabriella...you seem to end up in my arms quite often." He commented, as she glared up at him.

"More like body parts ending up in your hands." She hissed.

He laughed. "Montez, do you realize how dirty that sounded?" She laughed softly.

"Sorry."

"Don't apologize, you gave me nice mental images." Troy whispered, his hand grazing her thigh.

"Bolton! You pervert! I have a boyfriend too." She said giggling.

"You don't care about him. Admit it. You were doing it to make me jealous." Troy murmured, his hand now resting on her the small of her back, as he pulled her closer to him.

"Depends. Was it working?" She asked with a smile.

"Working? I wanted to tear him limb from limb and stick my tongue down your throat right there in front of all those 'Team Montez' girls." Troy whispered, smirking.

She slapped him lightly on the arm. "Remember Brian." She hissed gently.

"Is that all I get to remember Montez? Not even a little parting present?" He asked with a grin, his hand creeping lower.

"You can remember that I still don't like you Bolton. And not any of your charm and smiles and cutesy lines is going to change that." She said, pulling herself out of his arms.

"Wanna bet?"

"What? OK how much?" She said, turning with a smile.

"30 dollars we're together at the end of these two weeks."

"You're on." She said with a smirk. "You just basically lost 30 dollars Bolton."

3 days later, Gabriella's back was still throbbing. But she was captain of the step team, and could not abandon them on a game day.

Noon came, and so did the basketball fans.

Gabriella and the rest of the team were warming up in the room, when her back was shot with pain.

She winced, but kept working.

"So Gabriella, we're doing the whole routine, right?" Chrissy asked, making sure.

"Yep. It's the first game of the season, and we're gonna blow their minds." Gabriella said, her voice laced with pain.

"Are you OK?" Danielle asked, coming over.

"Yeah, I just...popped something in my back. I'll stretch some more, I'll be fine."

5 minutes passed. Then 10. After more waiting, and stretching on Gabi's part, it was finally time to perform.

"AND NOW WILDCATS! PUT YOUR HANDS TOGETHER FOR...THE WILDCAT STEP TEAM!"

Music blasted, and Gabriella and her team ran onto the court, cheering.

They all got into formation, and when Gabriella gave them the downbeat, off they went.

There's a link in my profile to a video that basically sums up their performance.

The crowd was going crazy. They loved them. Boys were cheering and screaming for the girls, and other girls were just screaming for their friends.

Troy sat on the sidelines, watching Gabriella dance. She enthralled him, to put it lightly.

Her every move kept him captivated.

Suddenly, as they ended, Gabriella let out a sharp cry, and she collapsed on the court.

No one moved but Danielle who rushed to her side.

She let out a scream, and both Troy and Brian, who some how got down there, rushed down to her side.

Danielle and Brian shoved him away. "Get out of here Bolton." He snapped, shoving him backwards.

Gabriella's eyes were shut, her face lax, and her pulse barely there. (I am not a doctor. Just go with me.) Brian, freaking out, shrieked "SHE'S DEAD!"

A shrill scream rang up from the crowd, and Taylor and Ms. Montez dashed down to the girl's side.

A ambulance was called, and Gabriella's still limp body was loaded onto a stretcher, and wheeled out.

Moments later, sirens wailing, the ambulance pulled away.

Silence fell over the gym, but the silence was broken by Brian's shouts.

"YOU DID THIS TO HER!" He screamed at Troy, who was taken aback.

"I didn't do anything to her! You're the one who slammed her into the lockers! She was wincing! Couldn't you tell?" Troy shouted back at an irate Brian.

"DON'T YELL AT ME BOLTON! YOU PUT GABRIELLA IN THE HOSPITAL! YOU PUT THE GIRL I LOVE INTO THE HOSPITAL!" Brian screamed, punching Troy in the jaw.

Troy lifted a hand to his jaw, and turned to walk away.

Suddenly, he wheeled back, and punched Brian in the mouth.

"There. YES COACH WILLIAMS I CAN WALK MYSELF TO THE OFFICE." Troy yelled at an approaching Coach Williams.

"I was coming to escort Mr. Welsh off the court, but you can go there as well, if Mr. Welsh's claims are true Mr. Bolton." She said calmly.

"Oh...right...then." Troy stammered, and left the court.

The step team stood on the court, stupefied, before Danielle whispered something, and they followed Troy off.

"Classes are resumed!" Mr. Matsui yelled into a microphone from his seat, and walked down to the office to wait for Troy.

The crowd groaned, and filed out, back to class.

Troy was in the hallway when he suddenly found his way blocked by a horde of angry dancers.

"So is it true that you've been hurting Gabriella?" Daniella asked coldly.

"We got angry at each other, and I did get a bit rough I admit. But Brian orally attacked her and slammed her against the lockers. I'm guessing she collapsed from the pain. She might have hit her head on the lockers too...I'm not sure." Troy stated, glaring at the irate dancers in front of him.

"Do you swear?" Christine asked, stepping forward.

"I swear on my life. When she gets out of the hospital, she can tell you herself. Now move." Troy demanded, and walked through them into the main office.

Troy walked into the office, and Mr. Matsui was at his desk.

"Hello Troy." He said calmly.

"Good afternoon Principal Matsui." Troy said pleasantly, well pleasantly under the current circumstances.

"So is it true you hurt Ms. Montez enough to cause her to pass out? Or do you have your own story?" He asked kindly.

"Brian orally attacked Gabriella in the hallway outside the cafeteria. He slammed her into a locker. I saw her wince painfully. Her head might have made contact, I'm not really sure. All I know is that I didn't hurt her. I wouldn't hurt her." Troy insisted.

"Really? We have a surveillance tape that shows you grabbing her by the wrist, picking her up in the air by said wrist and waist, and then dropping her. What do you say to that Mr. Bolton?"

"Well then don't you have the surveillance tape showing Brian orally attacking her?" Troy asked impatiently.

"No, we don't survey the areas outside the cafeteria. Why do you say 'orally attacked her'? Mr. Bolton?" He inquired curiously.

"Because he was trying to make out with her. And I only use the term 'make out' between a girl and a guy who actually like each other. Gabriella's not really into him. Or his kissing. So I say he orally attacked her." Troy explained, hoping Mr. Matsui wouldn't ask why Gabriella was kissing him if she didn't like him.

"Well then...never mind. I assume this is a student matter, and it shall stay a student matter. As to Ms. Montez collapsing..."

"I didn't hurt her! Maybe she hit her head on the ground when she fell. I mean, her head fell from 5 feet and 4 inches. That's enough to do head trauma isn't it?" Troy asked seriously.

"We hadn't taken that into consideration...I'll call the hospital. But Mr. Bolton...it's your word against Mr. Welsh's. And we have on camera you potentially hurting her. So..." Mr. Matsui trailed off.

"Could you please wait until Gabriella comes back? And she'll tell you Brian slammed her into the lockers. She'll tell you, I swear." Troy pleaded.

"Alright...only because you seem so torn up about her injury. I thought you two hated each other?"

"We're working through our differences...I guess you could say." Troy said with a laugh.

"Very well Mr. Bolton. That's all. Go back to class now."

"Actually...I was wondering...it's past noon, and I was wondering...could I leave school grounds to go visit Gabriella?" Troy asked, looking at Mr. Matsui hopefully.

Mr. Matsui gave a great sigh, and laid his head down on his folded arms.

"Very well...just...be sure to get all your homework done." He said wearily.

Troy gave his thanks, and quickly excused himself to the parking lot, where he dashed to his car and sped off to the hospital.

Upon arriving, he asked for her room number. The nurse looked at him flirtatiously.

"We're only allowed, to like, give room numbers, to like, family, or like, close friends. Are you, like, Ms. Montez's brother, or like something?" She asked, twirling her hair.

"Actually, I'm her boyfriend, so can I go in or what?" Troy said impatiently.

"Yah, sure, it's like, room 932." She said, not too disappointed.

Troy rushed to the elevator, and pounded the 9 button.

When he got up there, finally, he ran down the hall until he skidded to a halt outside room 934, and backtracked.

He knocked on the door.

"Come in!" A weary Gabriella called softly.

Troy opened the door, and entered the room.

Gabriella looked up at him.

"What the hell are you doing here?" She demanded, staring at Troy.

So yeah, doesn't sound like she's going to be really willing to help clear Troy's name! Sorry about the cliff-hanger, but please review. I love reviews. And cookies. But reviews are better. One thousand smiles to all who review!!!! I love you. :)