AN: AAH! LOL. Okayyy... so I lied. I didn't post the next chapter on the same day. haha. well... in turn, i'll give you an extra long chapter:)) and of course, thank you for your reviews guys! PS: Longest chapter so far!
DISCLAIMER: Omg. After 3 chapters, then I remembered. I totally forgot about the disclaimer. HAHA. I dont get what's the purpose though. I mean, everyone knows that the author for the fanfiction owns nothing. Thats whyit's called a fanfiction. LOL. Well... I'll just do it anyway! I DO NOT OWN ANYTHING. Now, back to the story:)
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Troy and Gabriella walked hand in hand as they made their way to the East High cafeteria. Troy looked over at her only to see her biting on her bottom lip. He smiled as he squeezed her fingers. "It's gonna be okay, Gabi."
"I know," she said a little too quickly.
Troy stopped right outside the entrance and turned to face her. "I mean it Gabi...if we want to do this we have to go in there with confidence. We smile and pretend we are a happy couple in love, okay? That can't be too hard right? We love each other right?"
She had to smile. "Yes, you know I do...but not in..."
"That way, I know," he finished for her. "That's why it's called pretend. Didn't you ever use to play it as a kid?"
"All the time."
"Exactly, so you should be a pro at it." He then surprised her when he lifted their joint fingers and kissed it. "Relax."
The feel of his lips on her skin made all the nerves and anxiety melt away. She sighed in content. "I'm ready."
Together, they walked into the cafeteria with happy smiles plastered on their faces as they gazed at each other. They noticed people pointing and whispering at them as they walked by, but were not surprised. In fact, most of the students had looks on their faces that say 'Finally!'
Troy just chuckled as he put an arm around her and pulled her next to him, before kissing her temple.
Wow, Gabriella thought. He was good at this.
"Hey guys," Troy said with a smile as they sat across from Chad and Taylor. Kelsie, Zeke and Jason was also there, just hanging out.
"Hey, congratulations man! I mean not to sound like a girl or anything but I have to say that I've always thought that you and Gabriella would end up together!" Zeke started while patting Troy on the back.
Troy and Gabriella both blushed.
(AN: Kelsie's going to be a bit out of character here.)
Kelsie's eyes grew wide. "So...it IS true?" she asked and then squealed with delight when Troy and Gabriella both nodded. "Oh, I'm so happy! I always thought you guys would be adorable together."
Troy flushed even more. "You did?"
"Yup. I mean the both of you have such great chemistry together. It's kind of hard not to notice it. I think the bond between the both of you just deepens even more since you guys started as being the best of friends and now you are involved romantically…and…and… you guys are just so cute together!" Kelsie squealed.
Everyone laughed.
The laughter didn't last long. The presence of a man walked up behind Troy and Gabriella, looming over them.
Taylor, Chad, Zeke, Jason and Kelsie looked up and by the look on their faces, Troy and Gabriella immediately knew who it was.
Troy and Gabriella looked up, expecting the worst.
"You can't honestly expect anyone to believe this little game you're playing, do you?" Tyler whispered harshly at Troy and Gabriella, his eyes clouded with anger and hatred.
Troy turned around and stood up, sheltering Gabriella behind him. Troy towered over Tyler by an inch and the other boys stood up on the other side of the table, on the verge of hurdling themselves over the table if Tyler started anything.
"Course not, Wemming," Zeke said. "You're so full of yourself it must be difficult for you to believe that a smart girl like Gabriella turned you down,"
"I'm not here to talk to you, Baylor," Parker said.
"News flash," Chad said. "You mess with one of us, you mess with all of us." Taylor pulled Chad back down and tried to calm him. As did Kelsie, but with Jason and Zeke. Everyone then glared at Tyler.
"How noble," he smirked.
"Just go away, Tyler," Gabriella finally spoke up as she stood up behind Troy. She tried to step around, but Troy reached around and grabbed her wrist, silently telling her to stay behind him.
"You heard the lady," Troy said. "Gabriella is with me, Wemming. The sooner you realize it the better."
"So what...you go around holding hands and I'm supposed to believe you're dating?" He let out a laugh.
"Anyone can do that. Sorry, I'm not buying it." He looked at Gabriella. "I don't know why you're pulling away for me, Gabi... "
There's a whole lot of reasons, Gabriella thought with a snort.
"Don't call her that," Troy hissed while the rest of the cafeteria looked on the intense scene between Troy Bolton, Gabriella Montez and Tyler Wemming.
"I can call her whatever I want, you don't own it," Tyler said getting defensive.
"Yes we do," Troy said and finally had enough of him. Gasps and shrieks filled the room when Troy pushed Tyler down to the ground, Tyler landing with a loud thud.
Gabriella pulled Troy back, nervousness and shock evident on her face. "Troy… don't start…" She whispered calmly into his ear.
"Leave her alone, Wemming. I mean it, or I'll punch you into the next dimension." Troy hissed, his knuckles turning white.
"Fine...I'll leave," he said, while standing up and then looked at Gabriella. "You can't hide behind your bodyguards forever, Gabriella...we will finish this."
"You touch my girlfriend and you die," Troy said firmly as he gripped Gabriella's wrist more firmly.
Tyler gave him a smug look before he turned and walked away. Gabriella let out a sigh as she pressed her mouth against his shoulder, closing her eyes as she sighed. Troy immediately turned around and pulled her in his arms, coaxing and soothing her as he ran his hands up her back. He could barely hear the girls in the room, sighing and awing at the sight of them. "Are you okay, Gabi?" he asked.
"Don't worry, Gabi...he's an ass...he's not worth it," Taylor said as she placed a hand on her shoulder while she was still in Troy's arms.
She finally leaned back and gave her best friends a small smile. "What would I do without you guys?"
"I think the correct statement is, what would WE do without our Gabriella," Troy said as he pushed back strands of her hair, caressing her cheek.
Gabriella then smiled up at him, before sliding her arms round his waist bringing him back to a hug. Taylor, Kelsie and some other girls in the room smiled at the pair.
While some, are overly jealous and wanted nothing but to be in Gabriella Montez's shoes. Although they knew that they had no chance whatsoever with East High's Primo Boy, there's no harm in dreaming right?
At that moment, Troy Bolton momentarily forgot about pursuing Cecilia Watson and instead, found himself getting a lot closer to his best friend.
At that moment, he wanted nothing to do with his 'crush' at the new transfer girl but only spend time with the girl that was right now, in his arms.
--
The seven of them were laughing happily as they made their way back to their lockers, as if what Tyler said in the cafeteria did not affect them.
Well truth be told, it didn't. He's just a piece of scumbag who's asking for trouble.
Everyone then scattered to go to their individual lockers, to get their books and other stuff needed for their next class.
"Hey, Gabriella, I'll walk you to your locker," Troy suggested. Gabriella smiled at him and shook her head.
"It's okay, I need to go to the bathroom anyway… we have English next for two periods right?" Troy nodded.
"Okay… Can you please get my stuff for me because we only have like 10 minutes left before the bell rings and I don't think I have the time to get to my locker to get my books. I'll meet you in class in 10," Gabriella explained, knowing that Troy knew her locker combination.
"Okay, hurry back and watch out for him," Troy said as he leaned down to kiss her temple. Gabriella gave him a quick smile before she turned and headed down the opposite direction, towards the closest bathroom.
When Gabriella started to walk away, Troy started to make his way towards Gabriella's locker before going into his own.
Once inside the bathroom, Gabriella disappeared inside one of the cubicles when she heard voices coming into the bathroom.
"Are you sure it's not just your jealousy?" a feminine voice she recognized as Jo Cayhill. She was in the same year as her and was in her Chemistry class.
"Don't be silly Jo," another familiar voice said. Claire McDuff was also in her year and good friends with Jo, and also had a mad crush on Troy. Everyone knew that. "Tyler is right, it's obvious they are pretending. Quite sad really, that Gabriella has to use poor Troy like that."
"I don't know Claire, they look happy to me," Jo said uneasily.
"They're friends, Jo. Of Course they are happy, but Troy would never see Gabriella in that way... First of all, I heard that he had a mad crush on that new girl, Cecilia Watson... and secondly, I mean come on...who would even like Gabriella Montez, the geek?" Claire huffed.
Gabriella felt her heart drop as she felt tears start to swarm in her eyes. She bit her lip and kept listening.
"Tyler likes her." Jo retaliated lamely.
"Tyler thinks of her as a challenge, that's all. Gabriella just won't accept him so he'll just keep on bugging her until he gets her and besides, Troy is too good for Gabriella...she's so...boring."
"That's not very nice, Claire, I've talked to her before and she's pretty nice." Jo defended.
"Nice is boring," she stated. "Come on; let's go see if we can find Troy. I saw him a second ago and he was alone."
"You're hopeless, don't you ever give up?" Jo asked.
"Never... I always get what I want," she said with a laugh.
Gabriella closed her eyes as their voices faded, replaying the hurtful words in her mind over again as she exited the cubicle. She had never heard anyone say such hurtful things to her since that time when her ex-boyfriend Parker Bowen badmouthed her, causing her to cry in the bathroom for hours.
Luckily she had very supportive friends and gave her the courage to break up with him. Parker has been transferred to another school because his family moved, due to his dad's job complications.
The tears threatened to come up and she tried to keep them down, but knew that she had no chance. Suddenly, she heard the bell ring.
Wiping away the tears that ran down her cheeks, she slowly made her way towards her English Classroom, not even caring if she was going to be late or not. She stopped halfway and walked towards the opposite direction. In fact, she doesn't even know whether she even wanted to go to class.
--
Troy looked at the clock that was hung up above the classroom. "What could be keeping Gabriella?" he asked worriedly. "She should have been here by now."
"I'm sure she's fine," Taylor told her. "Maybe she got sidetracked or something."
He shook his head. "No...something's wrong, I can feel it." He then stood up and made his way towards the door. "I'm going to go look for her. I'll see you guys later."
"But dude, the bell just rang, Ms. Vetra should be coming very soon" Chad informed him.
"Thanks for the obvious, Chad." Troy said sarcastically. "Just… cover for us." Troy said before leaving the room.
Taylor sighed in adoration as soon as he was gone. "Soul mates...how romantic."
Chad blinked. "Huh? Soul mates?"
"Didn't you hear him? He said he could feel it. Only her soul mate could do that."
Chad let out a laugh. "You're such a mushy romantic," he said.
"You know you love it," Taylor replied, kissing him softly on the lips.
Ms Vetra, a 45 year old English teacher, came in the room slowly with a smug look on her face. Taylor made her way back to her seat but not before winking at Chad.
"Turn to your textbooks page 137…" started Ms. Vetra, starting her lesson for the day, not even noticing that Troy and Gabriella were not at their desks.
--
Troy walked over to where the girls bathroom was and lingered by the doorway, looking for Gabriella. Victoria Kinsdale came out of the bathroom along with her sister Violet so he quickly walked up to them. 'Hey, was Gabriella in there?"
"No, she wasn't," Victoria said. "I actually saw her a few moments ago, she was heading towards that door over there." She said while pointing at a door at the end of the hallway.
"She actually kind of looked upset," Violet added.
"Upset?" Troy asked quickly. "I'm gonna go see what's wrong, thanks girls."
"No problem," they both said.
Troy jogged towards the door the girls were pointing at and realized that it was their secret hideout, the school's rooftop garden.
He found her sitting on one of the benches, her head down. He walked slowly towards her, careful not to give away his presence. Her shoulders were shaking as she sniffled and sobbed quietly.
His heart broke in two at the sight. He hated seeing her cry. It was the worse feeling ever.
"Gabi?" he finally said softly as he made his way to the couch.
Gabriella gasped as she sat up. "Troy? What are you doing here? Aren't you supposed to be in class?" She asked as she began to wipe her tears away.
"Aren't you?"
Gabriella sighed.
"You never came to class... you don't usually skip classes," he said as he sat down next to her. "I was worried."
"You wasted your trip...I'm fine," she said unconvincingly.
"Do you honestly expect me to believe that," he said softly. When she didn't answer he reached over and tilted her chin up, forcing her to look at him. He could see her red puffy eyes were glistened with tears. "Oh baby...why are you crying? You know I can't stand to see you cry."
Gabriella sniffed as the tears crept up again. "I'm...sorry," she sobbed as she started to loose herself again.
"Shh...it's okay," he said as he pulled her to him, comforting her the best way he knew how. She buried her face in his chest, clutching handfuls of his sweater with her hands as she started to fall apart.
Troy pressed her closer to him and ran his hands over her soft hair, pressing his lips against the top of her head. He breathed in deeply, catching her scent, which smelled oddly familiar but incredibly wonderful.
"Please tell me why you are crying, Gabi. Please."
"I'm...I'm sorry," she said again.
"For what?" he asked as she felt herself start to relax against him.
"For pulling you into this...for making you pretend," she sobbed softly.
Puzzled, he gently pulled her back so he could look at her. "What's this? Why are you all of the sudden apologizing to me? I told you I don't mind, I'm actually having a wonderful time with you." He confessed.
"You don't deserve this...I'm not good enough for you, I..."
"Wait," Troy said suddenly angry. "Just back the hell up for a second...what's this about you not being good enough for me? What happened? Who told you that?"
"No one did, I..."
"Don't lie to me, Gabriella," he said and then shook her lightly by the arms. "Who told you that? What would make you think such a crazy thing?"
She looked down at her lap. "I overheard...some girls talking...in the bathroom." She sniffed as she wiped away a tear. "They were saying how I'm not good enough for you, that obviously Tyler's right and how you and I are just pretending."
Troy cupped her face and made her look at him. "Who was it?"
She sighed. "Claire McDuff."
The anger inside him doubled. "Fuck," he hissed as he stood up suddenly and started pacing. "Claire? That idiotic blonde who has been following me around like a puppy for the past two years?" When she nodded, he cursed again. "Gabriella, why the hell did you take her seriously? You're smarter than that."
"I don't know," she sighed. "It just hurts. She called me boring Troy, no one has ever said something that hurtful to me before, not even when Parker said those stupid things about me when we were dating."
"Gabi...baby, you know she's wrong," he said as he walked over and kneeled in front of her, placing his hands on her knees. "You are not boring. You are a beautiful, bright and loving. You're adventurous...brave and of course fun. Do you think I would let you hang out with me, if you were boring?"
Gabriella could hear the teasing in his voice and couldn't help but smile. "I guess not."
"Of course not!" he said as he reached up and cupped her face again, brushing away a tear with his thumb. "You are not boring. You are wonderful and please, what's more boring than looking yourself at the mirror all day long saying how 'gorgeous' you look?" Troy said, referring to Claire.
Gabriella giggled. "But Troy...we're not fooling anyone so far. Tyler won't back off... he'll be right back to where he was after he recovers from that push you gave him just now."
Troy leaned up and sat down next to her. "Then we start getting serious," he told her.
"We need to pull off a scam of a lifetime, Gabriella, and I think you know what we need to start doing."
Her heart started to beat uncontrollably. She swallowed hard. "You mean? Kiss?"
"Yes. We need to kiss." He let out a shaky breath, but inside, he was buzzing with excitement.
--
AN: Ooh… things are heating up! An update will be up soon… and a hot one at that! Haha! R&R guys! And btw, I'm sorry if I mix Tyler and Parker up sometimes. It's kind of confusing. Haha. Thanks a bunch! -throws virtual cookies-
Jen
xoxo