DISCLAIMER: I do not own High School Musical or any related characters.
A/N: Well, I have to decided to try and finish all the stories I have started before I start any new ones, so I'm going to try and finish off all of them, including the ones that have a bit to go so SFM, DF and MTLFM. So, officially, DF is off hiatus and the last chapters of C&M and YA will be up soon as well. I would apologize for not updating for close to a year and I am sorry, but it took me a while to remember where I was going with this! Anyway, I'm really sorry but its going to be continued now!
So please enjoy this!
Dangerous Fascination
CHAPTER 14
BEAUTIFUL
She wanted to look beautiful for him. It didn't matter that she had a nagging feeling that he probably wouldn't acknowledge her at all today. She just…wanted to feel pretty for once in her life and she knew that Troy, for whatever reason, could make her feel pretty without even having to try. Even if it was just a glance, just one of those looks that had his eyes passing over her when the impassive look on his face barely flickered, she knew that he would make her feel pretty and she hoped that he would give her that look because the flicker, the one that nobody could see when he looked at her, allowed her to see what she wanted. He cared. At least, she wanted to believe that the flicker she'd begun to take notice of when he looked at her, meant that he cared.
God, she wanted him to care about her.
Shaking her head slightly at the thought, Gabriella brought her attention away from the thoughts that had been circling in her head since Troy had left the night before. Instead, she focused on her wardrobe and bit her lip slightly as her eyes fell on the miniskirt her mother had convinced her to buy on a rare shopping trip between the two. Hesitantly, she reached out to touch the jean miniskirt and knew she could get away with it. The day was going to be a warm one and Gabriella knew that if she showed up wearing a miniskirt it wouldn't really be questioned. But did she really want to wear a miniskirt? Gabriella didn't know if she was brave enough to wear something that short.
As quickly as she she'd pulled it out of the closet, Gabriella slid it back in. She wasn't brave enough. Why wasn't she brave enough?
Yesterday, she'd been brave enough to take Troy Bolton's hand while his legendary ice had frozen Doug solid. Yesterday, she'd been brave enough to let him touch her, see her naked when no-one else ever had. Yesterday, she'd been brave enough to ask him to stay with her when she'd known he wouldn't want too.
For God's sake, if she was brave enough to do all of that, why couldn't she wear a miniskirt?
Because, Gabriella thought, that was yesterday and this was today. Because, somehow, she knew that wearing a miniskirt wasn't going to make Troy look at her. Because, though she knew that flicker meant something, it didn't mean he wasn't going to ignore her today.
Pressing a hand to her stomach at the thought, Gabriella leaned against her door, wondering how she was going to deal with him if he ignored her. If her looking beautiful for him would be noticed by everyone but him. But then, how could she be sure he wouldn't just ignore her in the morning and then whisk her away in the afternoon?
Sighing, Gabriella knew that she couldn't guess what Troy was going to do when she showed up at school and wondered if he would ever do what she thought he would do. He probably wouldn't and Gabriella couldn't figure out if that was a good thing or a bad thing. Either way, she couldn't help but hope she saw that flicker, whether or not he even spoke to her that day, all she wanted to see was that flicker.
Snapping out of her thoughts, Gabriella shook her head slightly as she refocused on her wardrobe, eyes scanning the contents looking for something that would make her feel beautiful.
"You know, I don't think he'll mind what you wear to school." Her mother's voice made her jump and Gabriella swung around to see her mother leaning against the doorframe, watching her with a curious expression on her face.
"I – I wasn't looking for anything in particular. I just can't think of anything to wear to school." Gabriella supposed it was instinct for her to get defensive. Especially with the knowledgeable tone her mother had used.
Alexandra smiled slightly at the defensive stance Gabriella took. She stepped into the room, glancing at the bed where she was sure her daughter had been pinned beneath Troy Bolton yesterday. Shock wormed its way through her stomach, as did an overwhelming sense of astonishment at her own daughter's sudden jump from being so shy and uninterested in boys in general to being caught with a boy at the bottom of the stairs, her eyes soft and her hair tousled, both clues to what had happened before she had walked in. Instead of dwelling on it, Alexandra motioned for Gabriella to come over to her.
"Gabi, I know you don't particularly like me prying but…" Alexandra trailed off, unsure how to finish her sentence.
"But you want to know about Troy, right?" Gabriella asked and Alexandra nodded, watching her daughter closely as Gabriella wondered how much she could tell her mother and then fought a frown as she realized that there was nothing that she could tell her mother that wouldn't require a long, drawn out explanation.
"Well, I only want to know about him if you want to tell me about him." If only it was that easy, Gabriella thought. Because she wanted to tell her mother about Troy, to ask for her advice, to see if Alexandra could decode Troy in anyway. But there was too much to explain. Sighing, Gabriella took the easy way out.
"I want to Mom, really, but I don't think now's the right time to tell you," Alexandra studied her daughter as Gabriella shifted uncomfortably under her gaze.
"Okay. Can I tell you something?" Alexandra asked and Gabriella, who had glanced back at her closet, turned her eyes back to her mother, whose tone was just cautious enough to send alarm bells ringing somewhere near the back of her mind.
"What?" Alexandra moved towards the bed, ignoring Gabriella's suspicious tone as she sat down and patted the bed next to her. Cautiously and with a sudden interest in the time, Gabriella moved towards her mother, settling herself just a little more away from her mother than Alexandra would have liked.
"Gabriella, I'm not going to tell you to not see him if you think that's what I'm going to say," Gabriella glanced at her mother in surprise. She hadn't expected her mother to say that. "But, I am going to tell you to be careful around him." Gabriella wanted to roll her eyes, her mother reminded her of Taylor.
"Mom-" Gabriella started, something close to a lie forming on her lips. Her mother cut her off before it had even fully taken shape in her mind.
"No, sweetie, listen to me. Troy was very polite yesterday and he was also very cool. He never stopped assessing, never stopped storing things away in his mind. And he never once did anythin inappropriate with you. Believe me, I was watching for it." Gabriella blushed slightly at her mothers words, her mind flying to the minutes before her mother had walked when they were definitely doing something inappropriate.
There was silence for a moment, Alexandra silently waiting for Gabriella to prompt her and Gabriella waiting for her mother to continue.
"Okay, so, why do I have to be careful around him?" Gabriella wasn't sure if that was the question she should have been asking, but her mother didn't seem to mind.
"Because I don't know who he is. I don't know what he wants from you," Gabriella winced slightly, already having a pretty good idea at what he wanted from her, "I watched him. Baby, I watched him with you, he seemed to barely acknowledge you and you didn't seem to notice. It worried me. I don't want you to be hurt, Gabriella and because I don't know him, I don't know if he won't hurt you." Alexandra paused, allowed her words to sink into her daughter.
Gabriella stared at her mother for a moment, unsure what to expect next from her. Alexandra had never quite used that tone with her before, she'd never sounded firm, fearful and slightly upset and Gabriella wondered why it was the first time she was hearing this tone and then realized that it was the first time her mother had ever had to deal with her being interested in someone. Gabriella could only imagine that it was slightly startling for her mother and knew that it was even more shocking that she was interested in someone like Troy.
"Mom, Troy-" Alexandra cut her daughter off and Gabriella bit her lip, wondering what else her mother was going to say.
"Wouldn't put a foot wrong around me. Gabriella, I already told you that I won't stop you seeing him and I did say to be careful. But please, don't do anything that you'll regret with him." Gabriella opened her mouth to assure her mother that she'd be more than careful even as Alexandra continued. "Sweetie, in some ways you can be very grown up and in some areas you can be incredibly naïve. I don't want him to take advantage of those naïve areas." Something surged at her mother's words. Something Gabriella forced herself to ignore as she instead focused on her mothers words.
Gabriella wasn't sure if her mother's words irritated her or made her grateful for the advice she'd just handed out. Either way, Gabriella found herself resenting how Alexandra had gently pointed out her lack of experience. Instead of responding the words or succumbing to the flickering irritation inside her, Gabriella deliberately looked at the clock before standing up and moving back towards her closest.
"Thanks Mom. I'm going to be late." There was more Alexandra wanted to say, much more but she was stunned into silence by her daughter. Gabriella had clearly indicated that the conversation was over.
Gabriella knew she had shocked her mother, she also knew that Alexandra would probably reprimand her for it later, after she had recovered from her shock. But right now, Gabriella didn't care less. She turned towards the closest and waited impatiently for her mother to leave her room.
As soon as she heard her door shut again, Gabriella fought irritation. She'd expected something like that from her mother. She just hadn't expected her mother to point out something she hadn't thought about.
Even as a wave of insecurity washed over her, Gabriella pushed it away. She couldn't let herself feel that, not when she already held the insecurity of him not caring about her at all. Even as she pushed it away, Gabriella wondered if it was going to come back to haunt her. Taunt her at times when she felt uncertain.
Gabriella glanced at the clock again, this time seeing what the time was instead of using it as a distraction. Her eyes widened when she realized how late she was going to be.
Grabbing the first dress that she could lay her hands on, Gabriella stripped and pulled it on, all thoughts of looking beautiful for Troy escaping her mind as she hurriedly tied her hair up in a high ponytail, grabbed her book bag and ran out of her room, searching for anything that resembled shoes as she ran down the hallway.
She didn't acknowledge her mother as she ran past her, a pair of black heels in her hands; instead she slammed the door hard enough to know it echoed through out the house as she ran out of it.
---
She knew she hadn't made it too school on time when she parked her car and the courtyard was deathly silence.
There weren't even stragglers loitering around the front of the door, the way they normally did a few minutes after class.
It was enough to make her very nervous.
She'd never been late before in her life and, as she struggled across the courtyard in the heels she had snatched up on her dash for her car, the fact that she was late because of her mother irritated Gabriella even more.
She hated the fact that her mother had made her late while lecturing her about her lack of experience.
Though she knew Alexandra hadn't meant it that way, for once Gabriella didn't care. She despised the fact her mother had brought up her inexperience, her naïveté in aspects of her life and she despised her mother for awakening more insecurity in her when it came to Troy. She also hated that her mother had observed him as coolly as he'd observed her last night and she hated the fact that her mother thought he'd barely acknowledged her last night.
She may be naïve, but Gabriella knew that Troy hadn't ignored her the night before. He'd never been out of contact with her the night before, whether it was holding her hand discreet or his hand resting on her thigh. His way of acknowledging her last night had been physical contact, not verbal.
Gabriella's steps slowed slightly as a thought struck her. Troy had never been out of contact with her physically but Gabriella doubted he would ever open up to her emotionally and maybe that's why her mother had told her to be careful. Maybe that's what her mother meant. Her experiences emotionally with boys were more than lacking, they were practically non-existent.
Feeling her stomach drop at her thoughts, Gabriella stopped outside her homeroom. Peeking in, she saw Miss Darbus in speech mode, waving around a cell phone that she had obviously confiscated from someone. Her eyes slid from her teacher to the class and she smiled slightly when she saw Chad, at least she hoped his name was Chad, leaning his cheek on the basketball that sat on his desk, his eyes closed and his breathing even.
Her eyes slid from him to her watch and Gabriella winced as she realized that there was no way she could not go into homeroom. There was still another ten minutes left.
Before she could really think about what she was doing, Gabriella knocked gently on the door, interrupting Miss Darbus and jolting the class awake. Murmurs broke out as Miss Darbus turned narrowed eyes towards her and Gabriella stepped into the room.
"Um, sorry I'm late Miss Darbus." Gabriella said meekly, clutching the strap of her book bag and knowing that she wasn't going to escape an interrogation when Miss Darbus folded her arms.
"Of course you are," Miss Darbus' sarcasm wasn't lost on her and Gabriella bit her lip. "Now, do tell us all why you're late." There was no way she was going to tell the truth and Gabriella scrambled to find some sort of believable lie.
"Traffic. It was really slow." It was a weak lie and one Miss Darbus was about to call out when a loud voice cut her off.
"Holy shit, Montez, you have legs!" Gabriella spun to stare at the person who had spoken and met Chad Danforth's incredulous, if sleepy, gaze. Before she glanced down at what she was wearing.
She blanched. Actually felt the blood drain from her face as she realized she'd picked out a white dress that fell to mid thigh and hugged every curve she'd ever hidden. Looking back up at the class, Gabriella couldn't help but feel extremely exposed to everyone and wondered why she hadn't looked at what she was wearing when she'd left the house. It was a dress her mother had brought her a last year, a dress she remembered her mother saying, she could wear to school and feel pretty in.
She'd never worn it until now.
"Well, Mr Danforth, it appears we have woken you from your nap. I do apologize for it; just like I'm sure you're going to apologize for the use of language in this classroom." Gabriella assumed that the teacher's words were her queue to sidle to the back of the classroom and sit down.
She did so quietly as Chad sputtered out an answer that made little to know sense and the class roared with laughter. Sliding into her seat behind Taylor, Gabriella ignored her friend's insistent looks as she sank in her seat and became aware of eyes on her. Swallowing, Gabriella tugged at her skirt, wondering if she pulled hard enough it would settle at least another few inches down her thigh.
As she tugged, Gabriella scanned the room, looking for Troy. Her eyes settled on the back of his hand and she felt a small twinge of disappointment as she realized his eyes were possibly the only ones that hadn't noted her attire.
She failed to notice how tense he was.
"…honestly Darbus, did you not see her legs? They're like something out of heaven!" Gabriella blushed as she tuned in to the argument between Miss Darbus and Chad. She sank even lower in her seat when she heard the ripple of agreement coming from a large proportion of the males in the room.
"She is not a piece of meat Mr Danforth. She is a girl, who you seemed to have embarrassed in that momentary lapse of judgment you had after you awoke from you nap." Miss Darbus' tone was icy as she glared frostily at Chad from behind he glasses.
"But…Darbus…her legs," Chad attempted lamely and Gabriella silently thanked God that Chad seemed to have been affected by Miss Darbus' tone of voice.
She didn't see the way Troy's fist had plowed into Chad's leg as he'd spoken. But the people sitting closest to them did and Gabriella chose to ignore the looks that were thrown at her from over their shoulders.
Before Miss Darbus could continue her speech on cell phones, which was what she seemed prepared to do as she adjusted her glasses and peered at them seriously, the bell rang and Gabriella had never felt more thankful in her life.
As quickly as she could, she stood up and exited the room, falling into step behind only a few of the quicker ones.
She kept walking when she stepped into the hallway, heading straight for her locker with her head down.
"Hey! Gabriella, wait up!" She heard Christy's shout long before she stopped and only stopped when she was within distance of her locker, so the blonde could catch up to her.
"Well, you certainly caused a stir in homeroom." Christy commented, slightly out of breath from her run to try and catch up with Gabriella and leaving out the comment about causing a stir within Troy as well.
Gabriella shrugged. "It's embarrassing. I didn't really realize what I was wearing." She said and Christy smiled slightly as Gabriella headed towards her locker.
"I can believe that." It was said to ease Gabriella and instead it reminded Gabriella of her mother's words. How was she meant to wear clothes like this when she got embarrassed so quickly in them?
"It shouldn't be that big of a deal, it's just a dress." She said it almost too carelessly and Christy studied her closely, realizing that there was something more to the comment than what Gabriella intended and knowing that it had something to do. It probably would be easy to probe, Christy thought and very easy for Gabriella to tell her what was wrong but Christy wasn't sure if it would help Gabriella if she did tell.
She decided to leave it alone. "Its not 'just a dress'. Gabriella, you look incredible. Really incredible." Christy said gently and Gabriella looked at her in surprise before sighing.
"So? It's not like everyone's going to notice." And the conversation turns to Troy, Christy thought, trying not to be amused. She wasn't surprised that Gabriella had thought that Troy hadn't noticed her; he'd given nothing away when she'd walked into the room other than tensing slightly.
Christy doubted even Chad had realized how affected Troy had been by Gabriella when she'd stepped into the room. Thought he might have become a bit more clued in when Troy had punched him as he'd argued with Miss Darbus.
"Sweetie, I'm pretty sure everyone in that homeroom would have to be blind not to notice. Even Troy noticed." Gabriella felt something rise swiftly in her as Christy spoke.
"I wasn't talking about Troy." Denial, Gabriella thought, why was she denying it to Christy? Christy knew that there was something going on between them and, Gabriella studied her out of the corner of her eye, probably knew more than she was being credited for.
"Sure you weren't. But I'd better tell you something, Troy's heading this way right now and I'm sure you're going to be brave enough to tell him you weren't talking about him." Gabriella dropped her bag and spun around at Christy's words. Her eyes widened as she watched Troy weave through the crowd, clutching something in his hand as he shot a frigid look at a junior who got in his way.
Her heart jumped as she recognized signs of cold fury in him. Why was he mad? Why were his eyes so blank when his body was sending off waves of temper that had students dodging out of his way even before he had reached them?
She didn't have time to even formulate answers to her questions when he stopped in front of them and Gabriella blushed slightly, looking away from him as he glanced at her before focusing on Christy.
"Christine, don't you have class to attend on the other side of the school?" His amusement was lethal as Christy stared at him for a moment, wanting to take his words for a question instead of an order to leave.
She didn't have a choice when he ground out "Christy, you have a class on the other side of the school." She didn't bother speak to him; instead she squeezed Gabriella's arm and stalked off, throwing Troy a dirty look over her shoulder.
"Gabriella, would you be so kind to put this on?" Gabriella recognized an order when one was given and she didn't hesitate to take the rolled up white jacket from him, gratefully pulling it on and zipping it up.
She immediately felt less exposed to prying eyes as she snuggled into the jacket, breathing in his smell before tilting her head to look at him.
"Thanks Troy. I, um…" Gabriella trailed off at the look in his eyes. Possession, though she couldn't figure out how she'd recognized it, was swaying with fury and Gabriella wondered if the combination was meant to scare her.
Troy was silent as he watched her and Gabriella realized he was waiting for her to finish her sentence. She didn't know how to. She didn't know what words she was meant to use to cool the fury and calm the possession. What she did know was that it meant something.
Instead on thinking on it more, Gabriella followed instinct. Though she realized he might not want her too, Gabriella leaned up slightly and pressed her lips to his cheek gently, lingering there for a moment before pulling back.
"Thank you." Even as she uttered the words and people glanced at her curiously, Gabriella knew what she was thanking him for, he'd known how uncomfortable she had been in that classroom and he'd brought her his jacket. It meant something.
She waited for Troy to say something, do something. Instead, she watched as the fury in his eyes died slowly, the possession in them slowly sinking as well and the cool, amused mask resettled itself over his face.
"Get to class Gabriella. I'll see you later." Gabriella leaned back against the locker as Troy walked away from her, not once glanced back though Gabriella was pretty sure he could still feel her eyes on him.
Once she lost sight of him, Gabriella closed her eyes for a moment, burying her nose in the collar of the jacket and inhaling his scent.
It hadn't been a flicker like she had expected of him. It had been a wave of fury followed by possession. A mix, she knew, that would warn everyone away from her. The flicker would have made her feel pretty; it would have showed that maybe he cared.
The furious possession made her wonder just how much he cared. It made her wonder if hoping he cared was something that was little compared to how he really felt. It made her wonder what would happen to the next boy that tried to talk to her, what would happen to Doug if he even attempted to ask her out again.
It didn't make her wonder about what she felt though. The flicker would have made her feel pretty, pretty enough for him to notice.
But the furious possession made her feel beautiful.
A/N: Okay, how was that for a comeback chapter? Poor Troy's jealous and Gabriella's happy. God, even I'm confused with these two and I'm writing them! Anyway, sorry for the very looooooong wait! I hope you enjoyed this chapter!