Chapter 7

Gabriella sighed. She had found herself doing that a lot lately. 'When should I tell him? It's not something Troy Bolton wants to hear.'

'The pep rally. Wait until after because, knowing Troy, he will stay behind and shoot some hoops. Tell him then.' Zeke advised.

'But, I-' Gabriella started.

'No buts. You're going to tell him in exactly nine minutes.' Ryan grinned.

Gabriella frowned. 'Right. I'm going to tell him.' She kept walking towards the gym. 'I can't do this.' She turned around but bumped into Ryan and Zeke who gave her a stern look with their arms folded.

'You can. If he doesn't like you after all those texts, he's not worth it and we know you like him.' Zeke raised his eyebrows.

Gabriella took a deep breath and entered the gym, sitting on some bleachers in between Ryan and Zeke. The pep rally started as the basketball team entered the gym wearing their uniforms and they sat on the front row and watched the cheerleaders do some fancy routines. When they finished, Jack stood in the centre of the gym.

'What team?' He yelled.

'Wildcats!' The gym chorused.

'Now, the cheerleaders have put a little something together to get us in the mood for tomorrow's game.' He walked off and Sharpay, Taylor and Kelsi took his spot.

'Thank you.' Sharpay said once the gym fell silent. The other cheerleaders acted the story out as Sharpay continued. 'Once upon a time, there lived a Wildcat. He wasn't an ordinary wildcat, he was the most popular wildcat around. He had a beautiful girlfriend and all the guys were jealous of him. But, one day, the wildcat dumps his girlfriend and starts an online relationship with an e-pal named lakergirl.'

Gabriella gasped and Zeke rubbed her knee. 'This isn't good.' Ryan muttered.

'I don't want to be a basket baller, I want to go to the singing auditions...with you.' Taylor acted like she was texting and was wearing a replica of one of Troy's jerseys.

'What are they talking about?' Jack asked.

'Nothing, Dad.' Troy muttered.

'I've never told anyone this but I've never been kissed.' Kelsi whispered, wearing a princess outfit.

'I can't believe she read my e-mails. Where did they get it from?' Gabriella asked through tears.

'At last, the wildcat meets his princess and they danced until dawn.'

Taylor and Kelsi started waltzing around the gym, causing laughter to erupt.

'But, our princess had a secret. She wasn't royalty. She was a geek, a loser...a servant girl.' Sharpay said as Kelsi came from behind the bleachers in Gabriella's work uniform. 'Fellow wildcats, meet our pretend princess, freaky maths girl: Gabriella Montez.' She pointed at Gabriella.

Gabriella looked around, crying at all of the people staring at her. She looked to the front row and saw Troy looking at her with an unreadable expression on his face. She couldn't take the laughing anymore so she ran out of the gym, crying.

The next day, Gabriella walked into East High wearing the necklace her Dad gave her when she was thirteen. It gave her a sense of comfort but the pain from everyone's comments still came through. Gabriella saw Troy and Sharpay up ahead in a heated argument, obviously about her. Gabriella just carried on walking.

What she didn't see was Troy looking at her apologetically. He didn't want for this to happen. He just wanted his Lakergirl.