Chapter 8: Avoidance
Monday morning came to quickly much to Gabriella's distaste. She had woken up yesterday to find that Troy had left a hicky on her neck. She was shocked that they had gotten that intense in such a short period of time. After brushing her teeth and washing her face Gabriella went into her closet to pick out the day's outfit. Settling on a denim miniskirt, red polo and matching red flip flops she applied light make up, and let her dark locks cascade over her neck, covering the mark Troy had left.
When she arrived at East High she went straight to her locker hoping not to run into Troy just yet. Once at her locker she found Kelsi, Taylor and Sharpay waiting for her. "Hey guys, what's up?"
"Nothing much, but you missed some killer shopping Saturday," Sharpay informed her as their two friends agreed.
"So anything exciting happen this weekend?" Taylor asked watching Gabriella grab some books from her locker.
"Um, not that I know of," Gabriella responded while continuing the task at hand.
"Really?" Kelsi asked. "Because we heard Troy Bolton went over to your house on Saturday."
Gabriella froze and quickly thought of something to say. "Whatever. I invited him over because he sucked at memorizing his damn lines. If he didn't get them he would have ruin the whole musical and we couldn't let that happen, now could we?"
Watching her carefully Sharpay replied, "Yeah, that's true. Are you sure nothing else happened between you two?"
"Not a thing," Gabriella lied. "We practiced our lines, read over the whole play and he left." She quietly prayed that her friends would let it go, which they did.
"Good!" Taylor said with much satisfaction. "You deserve someone better."
"Now on another note, do you want to go shopping Friday?" Sharpay asked, changing the subject greatly to Gabriella's pleasure.
"Why? Didn't you guys just go two days ago?"
"Yeah, but Shar's throwing a pool party on Saturday," Taylor said.
"Everyone in the junior class is invited, unfortunately," Kelsi added.
"Hey! It's tradition. I can't not invite some people just because we can't stand them," Sharpay whined.
"Yeah, but the basketball guys are such idiots!" Kelsi whined back.
"Well, it's just one day. Besides we could have fun with this," Sharpay thought aloud with a mischievous grin.
"What are you thinking?" Gabriella asked a little worried by her friend's expression. Sharpay merely shrugged. The bell rang signaling that students should start towards their homeroom classes. Once in their seats Gabriella turned back to Sharpay and asked her again. "Shar, what are you thinking?"
"Yeah, you can't say something like that and not tell us anything else," Taylor put in.
"Please Shar, pretty please with cherry on top," Kelsi begged, sticking out her bottom lip for effect.
"Fine! You are going to love me for this." The other three waited for Sharpay to continue. "We play with their heads."
"Who's?" Gabriella asked.
"The lunk-head basketball players', of course," Sharpay clarified as that mischievous grin reappeared on her face.
"And how do you presume we do that?" Taylor questioned, loving the idea of playing with their minds.
"Show them what they want but can't have," Sharpay replied before Ms. Darbus walked into the classroom announcing that class had begun.
Throughout homeroom Gabriella could feel Troy's gaze on her but chose to ignore it. Once the bell rung she made a dash for the door to her first period class without waiting for Taylor. When Taylor finally caught up with her she had a worried expression on her face. "Gabi, what's wrong? Why didn't you wait for me?"
"Sorry Tay, I had to speak to Mr. Dirk before class started," Gabriella fibbed.
"Oh, okay," Taylor replied, not fully believing her friend but allowing to let it go.
Gabriella was relieved when the last bell of the day signaled. She had been avoiding Troy all day, changing directions and dodging into empty classrooms whenever she saw him. Walking to her car she immediately cursed herself when she saw Troy waiting for her. "Excuse me, you're in my way."
Troy looked at her for a minute, "Can we talk?"
"There's nothing to talk about. Now if you could move, I would like to go home."
"Gabi, we kissed," Troy bluntly said.
"And?" Taking in the hurt in his eyes Gabriella cursed herself once again. "Look, yeah, we kissed, actually we made out but it didn't mean anything. What had happened shouldn't have, I was just caught up in the moment."
"How can you say it didn't mean anything? It meant something to me." Gabriella was shocked at his confession but chose to ignore it. Don't believe him; he's like the rest of them. Guys cannot be trusted they're all the same: lying, cheating bastards.
"No it didn't. It just bugs you that someone hasn't fallen for your charm. It bugs you that I don't want you." At that Gabriella walked around him and got into her car. Driving home she called Sharpay. "How far are you willing to go to play with their heads?"
School finally ended Friday afternoon and Gabriella was on her way to the mall with her three best friends. "Okay we have to get something hot and sexy," Sharpay explained as they made their way into Hollister. "Revealing but not slutty. We need to make those boys want us but realize they can't have us unless they work for it."
"A little much don't you think Shar?" Kelsi asked a little nervous at the thought of wearing a revealing swimsuit.
"Nonsense Kels, we're just having a little fun," Gabriella said while looking through some racks for a bikini. "It wouldn't hurt to do a little teasing, now would it?"
"Nope," Taylor said.
"Not at all," Sharpay added. All three girls turned to Kelsi expecting her to reply.
"Fine, I guess I'll go along with this." At that the other three cheered and went back to looking for some bikinis. Kelsi, Sharpay and Taylor had found the perfect outfits twenty minutes later but Gabriella was still looking around.
"Gabi! Come on! How long does it take to pick out a friggin' bikini?!" Taylor yelled out slamming her hand against the fitting room door.
"Just a minute. I'll be right out," Gabriella replied from the other side of the door. When she opened the door a minute later she met a silent room. There she stood in a simple black bikini waiting for her friends to say something, anything, but nothing. "Does it look that bad? I actually thought it was cute."
Sharpay was the first to recover. "Cute doesn't even come close. Gabi! You look hot!"
Blushing Gabriella asked, "Really?"
"Absolutely! That outfit's going to kill at the party tomorrow," Taylor replied. "You have to buy it!"
"Totally!" Kelsi agreed.
You're going down Troy Bolton.Gabriella thought. No way was she going to let him think that he had any power over her.
The girls woke up early Saturday morning, all having slept over at Sharpay and Ryan's, in order to prepare for the day ahead. By eleven o'clock everything had been set up for the pool party and the four girls went back to Sharpay's room to get into their bikinis.
Once they got back downstairs they saw that numerous guests were already there. Gabriella looked around the area looking for one person in particular. After a minute her eyes finally landed on his figure. There he stood with his friends laughing next to the pool, being carefree. He had long discarded his shirt and was now only in swim trunks, his toned body glistening in the sunlight. With every laugh his body shook making Gabriella want to run her hands over his abs, want to feel his skin on hers.
Shaking her head Gabriella reminded herself that she was on a mission, she couldn't let him, nor anyone else, have this sort of affect on her. Turning back to her friends they all nodded their heads, knowing what they had to do. They all linked arms and made their way to the other side of the pool.
Troy stood al the edge of the pool with Jason, Zeke, and Chad laughing at a comment Chad had made earlier. He had arrived half an hour earlier and had yet seen Gabriella, hoping to talk to her. He tried to focus his attention back to his friends when he saw her making her way towards him with Sharpay, Taylor and Kelsi. None of the other three mattered to him, his eyes were set on Gabriella, and Gabriella alone. She wore a simple black bikini, nothing too revealing, her hair cascading over her shoulders. Troy longed to touch her curves, feel her skin upon his. He longed to tell her that he wanted her and no one else; if only she would talk to him.
Once the girls had reached their destination Sharpay was the first to speak, "Hello boys, good to see that you were able to make it."
Chad, Zeke and Jason turned around to meet the source of the voice that interrupted their conversation to find Sharpay, Gabriella, Kelsi and Taylor standing there. Chad looked Taylor up and down never before realizing how good she looked. What a little hottieHe thought. Zeke watched Sharpay thanking god that his skin was so dark or else everyone would have seen him blush. Truth be told he had had a crush on Sharpay for the longest time but was too scared to do anything about it. Tilting his head to the side Jason looked into Kelsi's eyes intently, wondering how this petite girl is having this sort of affect on him. Never before had he seen her as anything more than the school's top composer, the quiet girl who never stood up for herself. Today, standing there in front of him Jason had never seen her more confident of who she was.
Troy was still to mesmerized by Gabriella's appearance to even think straight much less form a sentence so he was thankful that Chad had spoken up. "It's our pleasure to grace you ladies with our presence." Stupid Chad! Troy thought wanting to smack his best friend in the head for making such a remark. Troy was relieved to see that Gabriella had laughed at the comment and not one of the girls seemed the least bit offended.
"We're glad you're all having fun. Now excuse us, we have other guests to attend to," Gabriella said. Then, the girls left the basketball boys standing there with longing.
"Um, why did we leave so suddenly?" Kelsi asked once they had gotten out of the boys' earshot.
"We just want them to see us for now. I promise that when they see us talking to any other guys they'll be at our sides in a heart beat," Gabriella explained whilst Taylor and Sharpay nodded, agreeing with their friend. "By the end of this party, we'll have them wrapped around our fingers. There's no doubt about it."