Sorry I haven't updated in ages!!
The next day on the bus after school, Gabriella made sure she was one of the first ones on. If she wasn't, she'd end up next to the guy who smelt like he hadn't had a shower in three years again. She sat a few seats in front of the backseat. Her eyes were trained out the window, as she didn't want to look at Troy when he got on. There was the usual scuffle as people rushed to get out of his way as he walked up the steps on the bus. Gabriella rolled her eyes. She didn't get it: sure, he was gorgeous, but he wasn't a prince or anything. Troy basically ignored his mates when they pointed at his saved seat, and moved down the aisle……right toward Gabriella. He stopped beside her and shot her a grin.
"This seat taken?" He asked her with a cocky grin. Gabriella looked up at him, seemingly unsure. She pursed her lips and tipped her head side-ways, a strand of hair coming loose from the hair-tie. She slowly shook her head and moved over a bit, aware of the looks they were getting from everyone around them. "I get off the stop before you, kay? Just follow me out."
"Yeah, I do know how to get off a bus," Gabriella said tersely, looking out the window. Troy looked at her for a moment, and then quickly turned away as a cheerleader flounced down the cluttered aisle of the bus and grasped his arm, smiling widely at him. She started going on about something which didn't mean anything to Troy, but he listened anyway, knowing he wasn't going to get anymore conversation out of Gabriella. When they came to Troy's stop, there were even more looks from people as she followed him out. Most of the cheerleaders were glaring.
"Just ignore the cheerleading robots," Troy muttered to her as they stepped off the bus. As it pulled away from the curb, people leaned out of the window and yelled good-bye out to Troy. Troy flashed them a smile and waved. Gabriella just turned her back and waited for Troy to show her the way to his house. "It's about five minutes walk, sorry," Troy told her as they started walking down the road. "And I usually stop at the café for a bit." Gabriella shrugged and followed him in silence. Troy frowned slightly, but didn't say anything. "Are…are you okay, or are you just naturally this quiet?" Gabriella gave him a pointed glance and he shrugged. "Just askin'. No-one seems to know anything about you."
"And that's the way I'd prefer to keep it," Gabriella said abruptly and turned her head in the other direction. Troy pursed his lips and then stopped. Gabriella turned to look at him in surprise. "What?"
"You seem sweet, but you also seem angry at the world," he said wisely. Gabriella narrowed her eyes. "Why? What horrible thing has everyone else done to you to make you so angry?" Gabriella tugged at the strand of loose hair which hung by her eye and didn't reply. "You can only make friends if you open up to someone," his gaze was intense.
"Who said that I wanted to make friends?" Gabriella replied with flashing eyes. Troy looked slightly confused.
"Everyone wants friends," he said.
"I don't," Gabriella answered snappily. "If the only reason you asked me to come over was because you wanted to research my background then I'm gonna go home." Troy realized that she was serious and jumped forward, grasping her hand.
"No!" He said. She blinked, and he realized that he had shouted. "Uh, sorry," he felt himself flush. "I didn't mean to interrogate you." Gabriella slowly nodded. They both just stared at each other, before they both realized that they were basically holding hands. "Oh, uh…" Troy quickly pulled his hand away and shoved it deep into his jean pocket, along with the other one. Gabriella folded her hands and then started walking again, not waiting for Troy. He jogged to catch up with her, and they walked in silence for a bit more. They past a small café which over-looked a park and Troy paused. "Uh…can we take five?"
"Whatever," Gabriella mumbled. She followed him into the café. He led the way into the café and to the counter. The woman behind the counter recognized him and greeted him with a smile. She glanced at Gabriella and then gave Troy a small, knowing smile.
"The usual, Troy?" The waitress said. Troy nodded. "And what does your girlfriend want?" She turned her playful, green eyes toward Gabriella. Gabriella narrowed her eyes at the ground and snapped under her breath,
"I'm not his girlfriend."
"Sure, honey," the waitress said, sounding unbelieving. "So what did you want?" Gabriella was still annoyed at the comment about being Troy's girlfriend, and just stared at the ground sullenly. Troy shrugged and the waitress rolled her eyes. "You guys go get a seat, I'll bring over your cheesecake and latte." Troy gave the waitress a sympathetic smile before leading Gabriella to a table near the back. A few girls were sitting in the table in front of them, and they cast an appreciative glance in Troy's direction as he walked past. They gave him flirtatious look. Troy smiled back as he passed and slipped into a seat next to Gabriella. Gabriella gave him a cold look and moved her seat over purposefully.
"Why do you have to be so difficult?" Troy groaned, resting his head in his hands. Gabriella shrugged and trained her eyes in the opposite direction. "I've always been nice to you, and you…you just can't manage even politeness back." Gabriella glanced down at hands and then quickly and Troy before looking away.
"Don't be nice to me, okay?" She mumbled. "It'll only make things easier." Troy frowned slightly and shifted his seat closer. "No, don't…" Gabriella drifted off. He slowly reached over and held her hand. She tensed up, but then slowly relaxed. He slowly twined his fingers between hers and Gabriella tensed up again. She was used to guys coming on her, she was pretty, but it was never anyone she really liked back.
It wasn't until then that she realized that she did really like him back. She felt her hand start to sweat and she didn't know what to do. She had had boyfriends, but there was nothing serious, they were only friends, really. Troy seemed to give off the impression he wanted to be more than friends.
"Here ya go, honey," the waitress said as she came over and placed a plate with a cheesecake and a latte. She noticed their linked hands and winked at Troy before walking off. Troy didn't want to let go of Gabriella's, hand, but he realized he would look pretty strange if he just watched his latte grow cold and cheesecake congeal. He reluctantly released Gabriella's hand and bit into the cheesecake. He noticed Gabriella flexed her hand and then slid it into the pocket in her hoodie. Troy noticed a slight flush creeping up her neck, and there was a rosy pink color in her cheeks. Troy finished off his cheesecake and moved onto the latte, slowly sipping it from the polystyrene cup. Gabriella watched the ground intently, avoiding looking at him completely. Troy paused and then touched her arm, feeling her jump slightly underneath his touch.
"We can go now, I can drink on the way," Troy told her. Gabriella nodded and ducked her head, following him out of the café. The waitress followed them with her eyes and then turned to another waitress.
"She seems okay. A lil rough around the edges," she noted. The other waitress grinned and nodded her agreement. "She's a lot better than the other ditzy cheerleaders who follow him in," she snorted in distaste. "Hopefully they hook up, they make a cute couple." The other waitress laughed lightly and went off to serve another customer.
Troy and Gabriella walked up the road of his house, Troy just finishing his latte. Gabriella glanced at him and then in front of her again. Troy slowed down and then pointed at a two-storied house in front of them. Gabriella slowly took it all in and tried not to let her impressed expression on her face. She followed Troy up to the concreted driveway and he pushed open the wooden door leading into the house. Gabriella slipped off her shoes and trailed shyly after Troy, hearing someone call from another room. Troy walked off, leaving Gabriella to stay in the lounge, standing aimlessly and not knowing what to do. Troy returned a moment later with a plate containing freshly baked garlic bread. Gabriella raised her eyebrow and Troy rolled his eyes.
"Sandra is always cooking. She thinks every small thing to eat has to be turned into an elaborate meal," Troy said. Gabriella was about to ask who Sandra was, but then a tall, dark-skinned woman walked in, holding another plate containing savory scone things. She placed it down on the table in the lounge and turned to Troy and started talking.
"¿Troy, que es su amigo?" Sandra Marcoz smiled at Troy as he gave her an exasperated look. "Usted debe haber reconocido algunas de aquellas palabras."
"I don't know what you just said! Stop stalking to me in Spanish!" He cried out in exasperation. Gabriella smiled at the ground and then turned her attention to the Spanish woman standing next to Troy.
"Mi nombre es Gabriella, y no soy realmente un amigo de Troy, yo sólo enseñarlo en Matemáticas," she said. Sandra grinned at Gabriella and gave her a little clap. Troy frowned in surprise and then crossed his arms as Sandra shot Troy a pointed look.
"You should be as good as this young girl….perhaps she could teach you some Spanish as well as tutoring," Sandra said. Troy blinked.
"Huh? How did you know she was tutoring me?!" He cried out.
"She just told me," Sandra said as she walked out of the room, shooting Gabriella another smile. Troy looked a bit put-out as he picked up the garlic bread plate, indicated that Gabriella pick up the other plate, and then walked towards stairs at the other end of the room. Gabriella followed him up the stairs and then into a room down the hallway. There were big basketball photos on the wall, mostly of Michael Jordan and other famous players. There were photos of his friends at school and different newspaper articles featuring the Wild-Cats sitting on the desk and then stereo with two speakers above his bed.
Gabriella sat down on his bed and slipped off her bag, dropping it to the floor. She spread her fingers through the fuzzy duvet and looked around the room slowly, taking in everything. Troy watched her sitting there and realized how nervous he felt. Sure there had been girls in his room before, but they were mostly cheerleaders whom his mates brought to his house when they were going out with them. It was different with Gabriella. She was real, and not plastic and fake like the other girls. And that made her far more gorgeous than any other cheerleader. Troy pulled his chair from his desk so it was in front of Gabriella, and sat down on it, pulling out his Math homework.
"So, what part are you having difficulty on?" Gabriella asked, leaning closer to him. Troy had to force himself to concentrate, although her nearness was making it difficult for him to even remember to breathe. He wordlessly opened the book and flicked to his current page, which was filled with scribbled and lots of crossed out marks. She bit back a grin when she saw the work and pulled out the work-sheet he had to work off. "Fractions…oh, these are so easy!" She cried and nudged him. "The Wild-Cat superstar shouldn't be having difficulty with these!" Troy glared at her, but then had to grin as she pulled the Math book onto her lap, forcing him to sit beside her so that he could see the work. She pointed to the first equation and troy ducked his head to her level. Gabriella started explaining the equation to him and Troy listened intently.
"….So what you're saying, is that I can do all fractions on the calculator?" Troy asked in disbelief. Gabriella gave him a small smile and nodded. "And all along I thought it was something hard!" Gabriella gave him another smile and then stood up, picking up her bag and slinging\her bag over her shoulder. Troy stood up and followed her downstairs. They stopped in the foyer.
"Well, see ya," she said as she opened the door. Troy stepped forward again and touched the door-knob.
"You don't want me to walk you home?" He asked her. Gabriella thought for a moment and then shook her head. "You sure?" She rolled her eyes and took a few steps down the drive-way.
"I do know where I live," Gabriella told him with a slight smile before she turned and walked down the drive-way. Troy watched her go, walk down the driveway. Sandra appeared by his side and smiled as she shut the door. Troy had a slightly dreamy look on his face.
"Ella es una muchacha hermosa," she said. Troy raised an eyebrow in confusion, but then shrugged and walked back upstairs to his room. The finished Math lay on his bed, and the empty plates sat on his desk. He could still slightly smell Gabriella's Impulse perfume. He flopped down on his bed and stared up at the ceiling. He was filled with a weird feeling, kind of light….Troy sighed and turned on his stereo, flicking on the latest song by Bone Thugs N Harmony feat. Akon called I Tried.
Gabriella walked home slowly, scuffing her sneakers along the concrete. She was smiling slightly as she walked up the front path to her new house. Her mother was in the kitchen, making dinner. Gabriella walked in and smiled brightly at Ms Montez before walking up to her room. Smiling.
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