CHAPTER 7
"Gabriella? Can you tell us why you left the show?"
"Gabriella, what's it like living in disguise?" About thirty voices asked varying degrees of the same question as she tried to get into East High two days later.
Frightened about the reaction she was getting, shocked at the press having found her, Gabi stormed into school as she bustled through the bodies, not knowing where to turn.
She ran for Taylor as she saw her friend and threw her arms round her neck.
"Hey, there you are," Taylor said, hugging her friend back. "There's press outside, there's a rumour there's someone famous at our school." Taylor said and Gabi wasn't sure if she was aware it was her.
"It's me, Tay." She admitted on a sob, her fear becoming overwhelming as the press tried to siege inside the doors and the teachers were now shooing them away.
"Oh my god…" Taylor slowly clicked. "You're…Gabriella aren't you? Troy was right all along…" Her eyes went wide and Gabi nodded.
"Wow. Oh my god." Taylor stood, open-mouthed.
"Please don't do that to me, Tay. I'm just another student, I'm just like you." She assured her.
"Oh my god. I'm best friends with Gabriella Montez." She said again and Gabi looked at her with a worried face.
She prayed inwardly that Taylor wouldn't go star-struck on her.
"Yeah, is that ok? Only you know I'm mot really Gabriella Montez. I'm just me, just Gabi." She repeated.
Taylor blinked a few times and Gabi turned from her, begging for a familiar face.
Troy was struggling through the crowd at the door and he frowned at her, sprinting over.
"Hey, are you ok? How did they find out?" He asked, so concerned about his girlfriend that he scooped her into a hug.
"I don't know!" She cried, and then a thought flashed into her mind that had no place to be there. "Did you tell them?" She begged softly, looking into his face with her big, brown eyes.
"No…oh god, no. Gabi, I would never do that…." He promised.
"But they didn't find me until the day after I told you who I really am…" She argued, trying to figure it out, wildly accusing him even though in her heart she didn't think it was true.
"Are you like all my other 'friends'?" She spat the word, pulling away from him. "Just using me for my fame? Are you going to tell them what it was like to kiss me?" She wondered erratically.
"No, hell no….I love you, Gabi. I would never hurt you." He implored, every bone in his body aching to protect her if she would let him.
Gabi merely turned from him, pulling out her phone as she dialed her mum's number, rushing for the girl's restroom with tears streaming down her face.
Troy could only watch her, his hands outstretched helplessly; hurt by Gabi's accusation at the same time he understood her difficulty to trust him.
He turned to Taylor, bewildered by what he had found at the school entrance, worried about Gabi's reaction.
"Did you know about this? Do you have any idea where it came from?" He begged.
Taylor was still wide-eyed as she responded.
"I didn't know…Oh my god, do you think if I knew I would have been such a dork?" She asked herself more than him.
Troy frowned at her reaction, realizing with a slow-growing horror that this was a familiar scene as he looked around him.
Students were gossiping, excitably, edging toward Gabi's hiding place as the news buzzed around the halls.
He blinked, wondering what the heck was wrong with everyone. He wanted to protect Gabi more than anything and her reasons for disguising herself were as yet unknown, but filled him with a sense of dread if her frightened face was anything to go by.
"Dammit!" He swore to himself, hitting a locker, his rucksack falling down his arm to his elbow.
He took a breath, hitched his bag back up and stalked toward the girl's bathroom, glancing around him before he went in the door, not caring about the surprised gasps that followed him in.
He paused in the doorway, closing his eyes.
"Gabi?" He called.
An answering sob broke the silence and his heart in one fail swoop, his whole gut aching with her apparent hurt.
He opened his eyes and ventured further into the cold bathroom, jumping in shock as the door swooshed open behind him.
"Get out!" He commanded, unnecessarily angry at the interruption.
"Uh…okay…" The small, brown haired girl stuttered and left.
He came round the front of the stalls, checking for feet under the doors, finally finding a pair of biker boots in the last stall. He could see she was sat on the floor, in a ball.
"Gabi, I swear on my mom's life I didn't tell anyone." He promised again, not knowing if it would go any way to alleviate her distress.
"My mom's coming for me." She offered on a shaky voice and he almost collapsed at the relief it brought him to hear her voice.
"Good, that's good. I'll escort you out. I won't let them get to you, I promise." He swore again.
Troy gently pushed open her cubicle door which was unlocked and she lifted her face to her boyfriend, still not sure if she should trust him. What if it was him who had been sending her the notes? He knew everything about her, he was her biggest fan. What if he turned round and wanted to hurt her?
But one look onto his desolate blue eyes told her that he wasn't capable of it. Even the thought of her crying seemed to be tearing him apart.
He dropped into a crouch, then to his knees to reach her, curling her whole body into his strong arms, even though the space was cramped and she was defending her body in her tight pose, he still encompassed her unequivocally.
"I'm sorry I blamed you." She sobbed, shifting awkwardly; finally able to lean up on her knees to hug him back.
She pulled back and kissed his lips, her tears making his face damp in the imprint they left against his cheeks. His brow dug in a little at the top.
"I'm a little hurt that you thought I would do that…" He hedged.
She nodded, her lower lip trembling. "I understand if you want to break up." She said, not knowing what this feeling was because she had never had a boyfriend before to split up with.
"Hey…no, I don't want that." He protested quickly, stroking her hair, the blonde version of it.
It made her heart break even more that he treated her the same no matter what guise she took. His hands framed her face as she met his eyes.
"I don't want that either. You're the only one who really knows me. Really knows me." She accentuated. "Taylor's gone all funny on me…" She panicked.
"She'll come round; it's just a shock, that's all." He assured her softly, still brushing his thumbs soothingly across her cheeks, his blue eyes concentrating only on her.
"You didn't act that way…" She accused sulkily.
"Well, I am kinda cool, didn't you know?" He asked, trying to make her smile.
She managed a smile back, even as another tear dropped down her face that he leaned to kiss away as it reached her upper lip.
"I heard that somewhere." She said vaguely, grasping his t-shirt in her small hands for comfort.
"Gabriella?" A voice echoed into the bathroom as the door swished open again.
Gabi let out a pained sob, scrambling to get up and to her mom, burying herself in her mother's protective embrace, sobbing heavily against her chest where Maria soothed her, her concern for her daughter evident.
Maria's eyes turned to Troy who had gotten up and now stood, somewhat awkwardly before her. He wondered if she might think the same as Gabi and he met her gaze, waiting for the accusation to hit him.
"Apparently one of Gabi's friends from New York accidentally let slip about her new home to someone who then contacted the entire paparazzi." Maria said carefully.
Gabi lifted her head with a gasp. "Who?" She asked quickly. "No-one knew I was here." She added, confused.
"Amy." She said softly, knowing this would be a big blow for her daughter, already distraught at leaving her friends and hurt by their lack of contact.
"No…she wouldn't…" Gabi whispered, almost begged.
"It was an accident, honey. It seems they badgered her into it somehow, I don't know." Maria sighed.
"But what about the letters? What if they find me?" She panicked and Troy frowned, alerting Maria to his ignorance of the situation.
"We should get you home." She said gently and Troy's eyes widened in concern.
What weren't they telling him?
Gabi turned her eyes to him then, leaving her mom's embrace to walk to him and take his hand.
"I…I guess I'll see you later." She suggested, confused and scared.
He lifted his free hand to her face, tracing her cheek. "I love you." He whispered, knowing that her mom still heard the words even though he wanted this moment to be private.
"I love you, too." She replied and turned, leaving with her mother as he trailed from the girls' restroom, ready to face his friends.
Gabi was being barreled down the hall with cover from police officers and that's when Troy felt the heaviness begin in his tummy. Gabi was in danger and there was nothing he could do because he didn't know why. He couldn't bear the thought of her leaving, not so soon after they had just gone official.
"Hey, bro, what's going down?" Chad asked. "Your girl is your TV crush and all" Chad commented confusedly.
Troy nodded slowly, still watching the hallway, even though she was no longer in sight.
"Yeah, she is." He agreed.
"Wow, you are one lucky son of a gun." Chad whistled through his teeth.
"Why, because she's famous? All of a sudden you think she's fantastic because she was on TV?" He shouted and Chad looked stunned.
"Is that what you all think?" Troy yelled to the bustling corridor that grew quiet and paused at his outburst. "Do you all think she's changed somehow? She's still a girl!" He argued to no-one in particular, fisting his hands to express his anger.
Why couldn't everyone just see her broken, vulnerable soul? All they saw now was the all-singing, all-dancing, all-American girl that brought in thousands of viewers every week.
"She's still my girl." He panted, winded, hurt and so lost as to what to do.
He felt a hand touch his arm and he was shocked to see it belonged to Sharpay.
"You're right, Troy." She said and everyone began chatting animatedly at her support.
"Listen up Wildcats!" She called to the congregated students. "Gabriella came here to hide for whatever reason and we are gonna let her do just that!"
A few voices agreed whilst Troy stared at her in shock.
"If need be, we'll dupe the paps, help Gabriella in and out of school and show her that East High is where she belongs." She added.
Troy looked to Chad, and then to Taylor, who both looked a little sheepish.
"She's one of us now, let's treat her like a Wildcat." She finished, staring several people in the face that looked down and nodded.
"I never thought it would be you…" Troy frowned, ashamed himself.
"I like to shock people now and then, Bolton. Don't say I never did anything for your girlfriend." She added with an arched brow, her smile softening her words as she shimmied off, leaving the students somewhat more subdued in her wake.
"Class assembly!" The Principal called and the hallway groaned collectively, filing into the school hall.