For the next few weeks, Gabriella dragged herself to school day after day, distractedly doodling in the margins of her notes all day as she waited for the bell to ring. She would be itching to go home and get on the computer to message Troy, or anxiously await a text from him. They would talk on the phone and she would help him with his homework. She still hated Louisiana – her classes were boring, rather than interesting and challenging, and she hadn't made many friends. She sat with one other girl at lunch that was even shyer than she was, so much so that she hadn't even learned her name yet.
It was a Friday, and she was sitting in her literature class, bored out of her mind. She had already finished the essay assignment for the day, but there was still half an hour of the period, and she had her phone in her lap and an earbud in one ear, hidden behind her waves of dark hair. She was glancing down at her phone as she received texts from Troy.
Troy: Shakespeare makes my head hurt.
Gabriella: He's not that bad.
Troy: He is when I have to write an essay on "Romeo and Juliet".
Gabriella: I just finished writing one about "Macbeth".
Troy: Ah, good to know I'm not the only one suffering, then.
She tried desperately to hold in a giggle as she responded.
Gabriella: Write your essay, Wildcat. I'll still be around when school lets out and practice is over.
Just then, the bell rang, and she tucked her phone into her pocket and gathered her books, dropping her completed essay on the teacher's desk on the way out the door. She made a quick stop at the school library to return a few books and pick up a few new ones. She glanced at her phone to check the time – Troy was still in school for another few hours or so.
It was a Friday afternoon, and Gabriella was relieved – exhausted and ready to sleep in the next day, but delightfully happy. She walked upstairs, dropping her stuff haphazardly on the floor and sitting in her desk chair. Booting up her laptop, she kicked off her shoes and threw her hair up into a bun. Once it was logged on, she got a notification. It was a message from Troy that she must have missed the night before.
Troy: I made this for you.
Clicking the link that followed the message, she realized it was a playlist. She immediately brought it up on her phone instead, plugging in her headphones and making her way downstairs. She still had time to waste before Troy was done with school, and then he had an hours' worth of basketball practice.
Deciding to kill some time, Gabriella made her way around the kitchen, gathering ingredients for brownies. She was in a good mood, ready for the weekend, and she was craving chocolate, so she decided to surprise her mom when she got home from work. She was in the middle of mixing the batter when the front door opened. Gabriella didn't notice, humming along to Troy's playlist as she mixed.
"Gabi? Are you making brownies?"
"Oh! Hi Mom!" she said cheerfully.
"Someone had a good day," Maria laughed, dropping her bag on the counter and dipping her finger in the batter, licking it. "Yum."
"Stop it, wait for them to bake!" Gabriella scolded, pouring the batter into a pan and sticking it in the oven. Then she sat on a stool at the kitchen counter, watching her mom fill the dishwasher with a grin.
"Someone's in a good mood. What happened today?"
"Not much. Classes were boring, as always."
"Did you make a friend or something? You've seemed awfully cheerful lately for someone who claimed to hate Louisiana," Maria said conversationally.
"Not really," Gabriella said, running her hands through her hair.
"What do you mean?"
"Well, no one at school. School still sucks a lot," Gabriella said. "I did meet this guy on vacation, though. We exchanged phone numbers. I guess you could say I've been long-distance tutoring him in geometry."
"Really?" Maria said, an eyebrow raised. "Where's he from?" Gabriella blushed.
"It's not like that, Mom. We're just friends. He lives in New Mexico."
"Okay, okay, whatever you say, honey," Maria said with a teasing smile. "But tell me – is he cute?"
"Mom!"
"Is he?"
"Maybe," Gabriella admitted, blushing even more. Maria laughed. Gabriella's phone started to vibrate, the music cutting off abruptly in her ears, and she rushed to pick it up.
"Is that him?" Maria asked excitedly.
"Mom! Shhh!" she said, picking up the phone. "Don't forget to take those brownies out of the oven at 4:30."
"What?" came the voice on the other end of the line.
"Oh, sorry, Troy, I was talking to my mom."
"Troy, huh?" Maria teased. Gabriella slapped her hand to her forehead.
"I'm going upstairs, Mom," she said, already halfway to her bedroom.
"Your mom sounds like she's really nice," Troy said.
"Yeah, I love her," Gabriella said, closing her bedroom door. "Thanks for the playlist, by the way. I've been listening since I got home. I love it."
She sat down in the spinning chair at her desk, putting her feet up on the desk.
"I knew you would. So, guess what? I don't have any geometry homework this weekend, so we get to talk about things that aren't math," he said. She laughed.
"You're calling earlier than usual. No basketball practice?"
"Nope. It got cancelled. Chad is still gonna come over later, we're probably just gonna watch a movie or something."
"Chad is the one with the afro, right? That always carries around a basketball?"
"That's the one. My best friend. Don't ask why, I couldn't even explain."
"Have you known him your entire life?" she asked, twirling the ends of her hair.
"Yeah, we've been friends since diapers."
"I bet you were adorable."
"The cutest," he agreed, and she giggled.
"I wish I had a friend like that," she said. "We always moved too much. I never really kept in contact with anyone from my childhood."
"Well, you've got me now, okay? I'm your friend no matter where you are – I hope."
"Are we?" Gabriella asked, biting her lip.
"Are we what?"
"Are we friends, Troy?"
"Of course we are, Ella," he said, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. Her heart fluttered at the nickname.
"Ella?"
"Oh, sorry. I didn't even realize – "
"No, it's okay. I like it," she said, grateful for the fact that he couldn't see her blush.
"Okay," he said. She could hear his grin through the phone. "I mean it, Gabriella. We're friends."
"Okay," she agreed softly. "Friends."
/
"Louisiana sucks," Gabriella ranted, pacing back and forth in her room.
"Why?" Troy asked.
"There's absolutely nothing to do here. I'm bored out of my mind every single day. People at school won't talk to me, and I'm not even sure I want them to, I swear, they watch paint dry for fun – and my teachers are so stupid! I should be teaching the classes, honestly, they just hand out these fucking worksheets – "
"Whoa, whoa," Troy interrupted. "Somebody's fired up."
"Sorry," she said sheepishly, sitting on her bed. "I just can't wait to get out of here. But I think we're moving soon – Mom says we're heading to Seattle next."
"That's okay, I get it. Sometimes I wish I could just drop everything and leave. Especially when everyone keeps pressuring me about basketball. We're getting closer to the championship game, and my dad and Chad are stressing me out."
"You should run away," she suggested, only half joking. "Pick me up along the way. We can move to an obscure European country and live on a farm and no one will be able to bother us."
Her heart lifted at the sound of Troy's laugh.
"That sounds great," he said.
Gabriella sighed wistfully.
If only.
"Hey, I gotta go. I told Chad I'd meet him at the park for a one-on-one game in twenty minutes. I'll talk to you tomorrow, Gabriella."
"Okay. Bye, Troy."
As she hung up, Gabriella's heart fluttered.
Shit, she thought. I like him.