Hey everyone! I'm currently in Long Boat Key Florida on vacation, soaking up the sun, so that's why it's been a while since I've updated last! I thankfully sent this chapter to my laptop so that I'd have it to update while I'm here for all of you! Thanks for the reviews, too! If everyone reviewed who did last time, I'll update when I get home! :) This chapter is short, like the first, but that's just because it's another introduction chapter! Enjoy!

Loving Love

Chapter two

Wildcats

The side of Gabriella's hand throbbed as she closed her locker at school the next day. While peering out the window that looked out through the diner, she hadn't noticed that her hand was sitting on the hot stove top, which resulted in her extreme pain today. There was a bubbly pink blister tattooing her hand temporarily and she frowned as she was hit in the shoulder with the shoulder of one of the pretty cheerleaders that walked the halls of East High. She smiled softly when she saw her good friend Taylor Mckessie, waving at her when she walked into her homeroom.

Setting her books down, Gabriella sighed.

"How's the hand?" Taylor asked with concern, seeing the painful mark on the soft part of her friend's hand.

"The Neosporin that you told me to put on it helped. Hopefully it doesn't scare." Gabriella said as she studied the wound.

"How did you manage not to notice your hand being seared?" Taylor asked with a soft laugh, wondering how her friend was oblivious to such things.

"Well…" Gabriella started unsurely. "Someone from East High came to the diner last night."

"EW, who was it?" Taylor asked as she became immediately interested. She knew that Gabriella didn't like seeing any familiar faces while at work.

"Take a wild guess." Gabriella said as she opened her history book to chapter twenty-two, shaking her head as she thought.

Just as Taylor opened her mouth to reply, a loud noise coming from the group of guys walking into the room burdened the classroom. The girls looked up, seeing Troy Bolton and Chad Danforth walking in with their posse, smug smiles on their faces. Gabriella looked over at Taylor, raising her eyebrows.

"No way." Taylor said in surprise. "Which one was it? Please don't say it was the rude meatball head!"

"Oh, no. It was the leader of the pack." Gabriella said with an eye roll. "He saw me and left. Big surprise. Having me serve him a burger would ruin his reputation."

"Why the heck was he there anyways?" Taylor asked, watching the group as they dispersed throughout the room to their designated seats. "Rebecca's is half way across town."

"He was in workout clothes. I think he might have run there." Gabriella said carelessly.

"Yeah, and I bet he ran home faster when he realized he could have been seen with you." Taylor said in annoyance, seeing Gabriella nod, agreeing with her.

"Let's hope it doesn't happen again." Gabriella said with a sigh. "I see enough of him at school. I don't need to be having surprise sightings of the alpha cat."

Taylor's laugh filled Gabriella's ears as she looked over at Troy who was sitting in the front row, a place where he was assigned to sit after getting into too much trouble while sitting in the back of the classroom. He and Gabriella switched seats and thankfully Taylor moved with her, otherwise she would have been stuck sitting next to Chad.

Troy turned with a laugh to look at Chad who was sitting next to him, wondering if they'd be going to Zeke's after practice for additional practice. As he turned he noticed the girl he saw at the diner the day before watching him. He looked away from her immediately and she also glanced away, blushing slightly when she realized she was caught.

Troy had left the diner the second he realized she had seen him there. He didn't want to seem rude, although being rude around her was what she was used to, but he didn't want to get stuck talking to her, or having to be nice, so he had left, and he was somewhat glad that he had, but there was something different about her when she was at the diner. She seemed to be more carefree and to him, she looked like she had a lot more freedom than she did at East High.

***

Gabriella scanned the cafeteria, making sure Taylor was at their table before she had to make the journey through the room crowded with too many hateful people to count. She saw Taylor with the rest of her friends through the small window in the door and opened it to walk towards the table. She weaved through the many people standing around talking and she gasped when she accidentally bumped into someone, feeling a slight pain in her shoulder as their hard shoulder hit hers.

"Sorry!" She said truthfully, turning to see who she had probably bruised.

Her stomach dropped when she saw that it was Troy Bolton she had collided with and he stood there, looking down at her.

"Sorry." She said again, this time less enthusiastically.

"Whatever." He said dully. "You know, I forgot to get a fork for my lunch, do you think you could get me one?" He asked with a snicker.

Gabriella rolled her eyes, turning to leave as she shook her head, seeing her friends watching her walk over to them. She threw her lunch on the table in annoyance and sat down with a huff.

"What'd he say? I'll kick him in the ass with my stiletto!" Sharpay, one of Gabriella's few friends, said as she rose from the table, ready to pounce.

"Shar, it's okay!" Gabriella said quickly, knowing that Sharpay would make a scene if she approached Troy Bolton. "He didn't say anything I haven't heard before."

"I'm sick of East High. Now I understand why you took a job that's miles away from here." Taylor said with a sigh, plopping a chocolate covered pretzel into her mouth, chomping down on it as Sharpay bit into her apple after sitting back down.

"Tell me about it." Sharpay said with her mouth full, wrapping a piece of her long blonde hair around her index finger.

"Well, at least I don't have to worry about Troy coming to the diner today. They have an away game today and they won't be around." Gabriella said with a shrug, hoping that Troy's random visit to the diner would be his first and his last.

The girls fell into a comfortable silence as they nodded, rolling their eyes as a bunch of happy cheerleaders bounced past them, shouting something about how the guys would win their game that day. The whole cafeteria buzzed with excitement, except for the three girls in the middle of the cafeteria. Gabriella and her friends weren't into supporting a team who could care less about them and that's why they got up and left when the basketball team started to cheer their annoying Wildcats' cheer.

Like it? Review!

Much love,

unknownbyhim22