Troy felt extremely bored as he sat at a red round table filled with six other kids. The room was buzzing with noise of talking, laughing, and even some yelling that was making Troy even more bored. He just nodded his head as he took in his surroundings even more, Chad was on his left with Taylor by Chad, Jason was at the table across from his with Kelsi as they were in their own discussion about this one TV show, and then Zeke and Sharpay were on Troy's other side talking about some new recipe Zeke was trying later in cooking class.
Usually there would be other people at the table that Troy could talk to so Troy never had a chance to let his mind wander, but not today for some reason. Troy looked around to see every other table filled with busy energetic students eating their lunches, but Troy was only interested in a certain brunette. But she was no where to be seen and this made Troy feel even more stupid seeing as this was the fifth week of school and he was just noticing that Gabriella never showed up for lunch.
Troy turned slightly to see that Taylor and Chad were busy having a private discussion as they would occasionally nip at each other and suck the other person's face off. Troy looked around and saw that at the other table over about five football players were seated with some of the cheerleaders and pom girls including Brent and Jake. Troy sighed as he stood up and left his tray of food on the table as he headed over to Jake who looked to be listening to some story Brent was talking about.
Troy felt the eyes on him and usually this kind of attention didn't both him, but now he was feeling nervous as he was just about to ask one of Gabriella's best friends where she was just so he could go talk to her, which to any student in the school it seemed weird since Troy wasn't one to show affection towards others so much.
"Hey Jake." Troy said as he could feel Brent's eyes narrow in on him and he swore that he saw Jake's smile falter for a quick second before having another smile on his face. "Um…do you know where Gabi is?"
Jake looked around for a moment and then back at Troy as his mind briefly wandered back to what Haley told him three days ago, but he shook that out of his mind. "Yeah…she's usually in the library doing homework since she really doesn't have time with dance after school."
"Oh…thanks man." Troy said patting him on the back and leaving as he knew that Brent was still glaring at him. Troy walked out of the lunch room and made his way to the cafeteria only getting stopped once by a cheerleader to ask him about how he was doing. Troy pushed open the heavy oak doors and looked around before spotting the brunette at a table in the back with a paper brown bag in front of her with her lunch out on the table and a notebook and text book sitting next to that.
Troy found this strange seeing as last time he heard Gabriella didn't have dance after school. He walked in silently and put his hands over her eyes as he felt her jump a little before letting out a little laugh. "Guess who?" Troy asked huskily in her ear.
"I don't know…Chad?" Gabriella joked as Troy took his hands off of her eyes as Gabriella turned her heads upwards and they shared a quick peck on the lips. "Hey Troy Boy, didn't know that you knew where the library was." Gabriella teased.
Troy laughed as he took a seat next to Gabriella and stole one of her chips that was sitting in a plastic bag. "I didn't take you to be the library girl either."
"I guess it's a habit. I usually come up here to do homework since I never got a chance to do it at home because I was so busy, and now that I have all this time, I'm still in the library." Gabriella said as she closed her text book figuring she could do it later. "How'd you know I was up here?"
"Jake." Troy said simply as he flashed Gabriella a perfect smile. "What are you working on?"
"Math, but I'm done now." Gabriella said pushing her school stuff aside and taking her bag of chips in her hand. Gabriella offered the chips to Troy who took her up on the offer seeing as he didn't really eat at lunch himself. "God, this first month of school seems like it went by fast."
"Yeah, I know what you mean. And I'm not even failing yet." Troy joked as Gabriella looked at him with a smile.
"Yeah, usually I would be working my ass off getting ready for…" Gabriella's face paled as her brain seemed to click what it was that her mother and her forgot. A dance competition that Gabriella always did a week before the homecoming dance which was in three weeks, so that meant the dance competition was in two weeks and Gabriella didn't even have a song picked out.
"For?…" Troy asked as he saw Gabriella's look of shock and horror on her face. "Gabi?"
"Of my God." Gabriella said quietly as she sat upright in her chair and started gathering her things. Her mother and her forgot which was highly unlikely since they have been doing this competition for five years now and every year Gabriella won. This was the competition for when they weren't living New Mexico, they would always make a road trip of it. And it was even more strange that Gabriella forgot this one seeing as Gabriella had the most fun with this as this was the competition that Gabriella usually did her hip hop routine in. "The dance competition. I totally forgot." Gabriella said slinging her bag over her shoulder, she had to tell her mother that they have to both buckle down and work on this.
"Right now!?" Troy exclaimed earning him a glare from the librarian. Troy cleared his throat, "I mean, right now?" At least he managed to control his voice volume as he sounded less frantic as Gabriella stuffed her uneaten food in the brown paper bag.
"No, not right now, in two weeks. Oh my God, I can't believe we forgot. I've just been so…" There was that word that haunted Gabriella. Gabriella mentally groaned as this now proved her mom's point, but Gabriella wouldn't so call Troy a distraction yet. "…busy." Gabriella said meekly as she started to walk away, but she felt Troy's hand on her arm keeping her in place.
"What? Where are you going?" Troy looked around confused, they still had three classes together.
Gabriella sighed as she looked Troy in the eye. Why was she getting so worked up about this? Maybe because dancing was apart of her, and she just couldn't help but miss it a little even though she was still dancing in the morning, it wasn't exactly the same. "Troy Boy, I have to go. Two weeks isn't enough time, and this dance…" Gabriella trailed off as she managed to free her arm from Troy. "I'll see you later Troy Boy." Gabriella pecked him on the lips and before he knew what was happening, Gabriella was out of sight and he was left alone in the library.
Gabriella knew that her mom was laid back for the most of things, except when it came to dancing. That was the one thing Gabriella knew her mom took very seriously, but what came next surprised Gabriella even more and she almost started to hyperventilate. Gabriella walked into her mother's business office, past the twenty people out in their little cubicles as she received smiles and waves. Gabriella nodded back politely as she hurried past them and to her mother's own personal office.
Gabriella came face to face with the light wooden door and hoped that her mother wasn't busy. Gabriella pushed it open and saw her mother sitting in her chair doing something on her computer. Anna's head snapped up as she heard the door click shut.
"Gabs? What are you doing here? Are you okay?" Anna hurriedly asked with concern as Gabriella walked over to her mom and stood before her instead of taking one of the two brown chairs that was on either side of her.
"I'm fine…well not fine." Gabriella said as she took a deep breath, why was she getting so worked up? "It's just…"
"Gabriella, honey, you need to calm down. Is everything okay at school? Wait, school, why aren't you there?" Anna proceeded with the questions with her voice laced with concern and uncertainty.
"Two weeks!" Gabriella heard her voice go up two octaves than usual. "Two weeks and I'm expected to perform at the Albuquerque dance competition."
Anna's face drained color as her hands suddenly flew down to her desk to flip her calendar over to see the dates. "Oh my God…oh my God…this is not…"
"Good." Gabriella filled in as Anna looked up. "Mom, how did we forget?"
"Just calm down…we already are entered, right?" Anna asked referring to six months ago when they filled out the entry form.
"Yeah…so we can check that off our list, but I don't have a song…I don't have a dance routine…we don't have time to pull this off!" Gabriella's voice went up again as she slumped down in one of the two chairs.
"Okay…we'll just work harder." Anna said. "I never meant for it to get like this. I thought we were doing okay, and then this happens." Anna said as Gabriella knew that her mom was beating herself up over this mentally. "I mean, I cut back on your practice time figuring that it would be okay, and then I forget something like this….I was just concentrating on the big competition in February, I didn't even think of this small one."
"It's okay mom." Gabriella said but Anna just went on.
"We're really going to have to push it, maybe even take you out of school for a couple of days." Anna said reaching for her phone. "I have some vacation time and we can use that."
"Mom, just take a breath and some time to think." Gabriella let out a small laugh as she found that this situation took a turn and now Gabriella was almost in her mom's shoes.
Anna calmed down as she put the phone down as she realized maybe that this small competition was something that could benefit them. Or more particular, could benefit Gabriella.
"You're right Gabs, you're going to do great, you just need to think." Anna said as she thought about it more in her head while Gabriella gave her a confused look.
"What? We're going to do great." Gabriella said knowing that her mom usually helped her with the critiquing of the routine.
Anna shook her head no slowly as she gave her daughter an encouraging smile. "No sweetie, you're going to do good. Now, I'll take you out of school for how many days you want so that you can work, but…" Anna looked down at her desk as she saw her daughter's face drop.
"Mom?" Gabriella said as she now knew what her mom was doing. She couldn't be doing this, they worked twelve years together, side by side and even though Eric and Troy came into the picture and their practice times were messed up right now, they could work something out. "Mommy?"
Anna sighed. "Gabriella, work out a schedule and I'll make sure the studio is open and I call you into school. You're going to do great and remember, I'll be there watching and cheering you on."
Gabriella pushed herself out of her seat and couldn't help but glare at her mother. She felt betrayed that her coach, her mentor, her…mother wasn't going to be by her side like she always was. It was the way she grew up, and now…she felt like she had no help, it was like everything that she knew about dancing was erased from her mind.
"Don't bother." Gabriella said a little too harshly for someone to believe that it came from Gabriella's mouth.
"Gabriella, darling…don't go." Anna called out to Gabriella's retreating back as her office door slammed shut.
Anna sat back in her seat as she sighed. She knew that this news hurt her daughter, but she was only doing it for her good. Gabriella would be leaving to college in a little less than two years and would be off on her own. Anna only wanted Gabriella to see that she could do this competition by herself, Anna had complete faith in her, and she knew Gabriella would put 100 percent heart into this dance routine whether Gabriella believed that now or later. Anna shut her eyes as she tried to block out the hurt that was in Gabriella's eyes, but Anna just wanted Gabriella to dance without the pressure as she knew that in four months the biggest competition of Gabriella's life would be here, and it would be a lie if Anna said she knew Gabriella was looking forward to it.
Gabriella and Anna seemed to both know that Gabriella was iffy with this upcoming competition seeing as Julliard scouts were coming and Gabriella was one of the most promising dancers, but she seemed to be getting distracted easily. Maybe she really didn't want this?
Gabriella stormed into school, even though they only had one class left which was just gym and all of a sudden Gabriella wasn't looking forward to it. She didn't know why she was taking this dancing thing serious again since she was having second thoughts about her dancing career, maybe this dancing competition would be an eye opener for her, the only thing that Gabriella knew for sure was that she didn't want to go to Julliard. But she wanted to dance, so that's what the problem came down to, how could she manage to pull off dancing but not going to one of the best colleges for it?
Gabriella didn't even realize that she had tears brimming her eyes as she walked down the silent halls as she looked up at the clock and saw that she was two minutes late. Gabriella walked faster knowing she had to find the one person that has only saw her like this, and they weren't even supposed to see her like that.
Gabriella shut her eyes briefly as if hoping all that happened that day didn't. She just wanted to go back to Friday night in Troy's car, feeling his secure body lingering over hers. Gabriella pushed the metal bar on the door as the door swung open. Gabriella looked around seeing that Coach Bolton was no where to be seen, probably in his office looking over things. Gabriella knew he wouldn't be out for a couple more minutes because he gave them about ten minutes to change.
Gabriella looked around the gym more closely now and saw that only a couple of guys were out so far as most girls Gabriella knew took their time. Gabriella looked around for her short blonde hair friend that had it spiked up today, his light baby blue eyes that weren't as piercing as Troy's, but could still intimidate someone if he really wanted too, and his slim muscular body that kept getting stronger with each football practice that he went too.
Gabriella put on a small smile as she spotted him wearing a red t-shirt that said wildcats on it along with black athletic shorts that lead down to his tan calves before you saw the white tennis shoes that were slowly getting dirtier each time her wore them.
"Jake." Gabriella called out as she realized the last time she felt this vulnerable and let down was when her dad called 13 years after he just up and left and asked to get together with Gabriella and just meet her, of course he called twenty minutes late and said that he couldn't make it, and Jake just happened to be with Gabriella at the time seeing as Gabriella didn't want to meet her dad by herself and her mom was at work so Jake tagged along with Gabriella.
Jake's head whipped around as Gabriella heard more kids come out of the gym. Gabriella could almost hear Taylor's voice mixed in with Sharpay's and Kelsi's. And then there was that chipper voice that always had something to say…Chad's and if that was Chad's voice coming near that meant that Troy would be coming out soon.
Jake looked at Gabriella with his blue eyes that always seemed to grow lighter and lighter with worry, and at times they would even grow a light gray. Jake took in Gabriella as she blinked back tears, and even though he didn't know what happened, he still knew that she had missed two classes, so it must have been something pretty big.
"Gabs?" Jake asked shock as he started to jog over to her from the other side of the gym where him and a couple of his friends were throwing a football.
Gabriella saw out of the corner of her eye that Taylor, Kelsi, Sharpay, Chad, and…Troy were standing at the locker room doorways that were right across from Gabriella as Jake just came up to Gabriella and enveloped her in a huge hug.
Gabriella didn't care if she was overreacting just a little. She was hurt and confused that her mother would just like…abandon her when Gabriella felt like she needed her the most now. Of course there was always the possibility that Gabriella could just drop out, but what would that say about her as a person? She wasn't a quitter, she just needed to let out her feelings, and if that meant crying, then she would cry if she wanted too.
"Gabs…what's wrong?" Jake asked as he whispered in her ear while stroking her back. Gabriella just clung to him as sniffles came and she would shiver involuntarily even though no tears were falling yet.
Gabriella could feel eyes on her as she heard in a distant voice something sounding like Taylor, "Troy, don't. Gabriella just needs to be alone."
Gabriella heard Troy huff from across the gym as she buried her head into Jake's chest more. She let one tear fall as she thought back to her mom's calm face in the office. She let another tear fall as she thought about the dance competition. She let a third tear fall as she thought about the harsh tone she used with her mother.
"Gabs, you're going to have to talk to me." Jake soothed in her ear which made Gabriella crack a watery smile against his chest.
"My mom--" Gabriella got out as she heard her other friends behind her back.
"Well do you know what's wrong with her?"
"Troy, she's going to be fine."
"She doesn't look fine."
"we just…I'm so sorry. It's stupid." Gabriella said as she pulled back from Jake and saw that there were a couple of tear marks on his chest.
"Hey, hey, hey. Hold on Gabriella Montez, nothing you say can be stupid." Jake said moving a stray curl behind her ear.
Gabriella smiled as she looked up at him who was a good head taller than her and knew this is why they were best friends. "I think you and I both know that's not true." Gabriella joked.
Jake laughed slightly. "Okay, but I know when you're like this something happened. What is it Gabs?"
Gabriella sighed as she ran her hand through her hair. "My mom and I had a miss understanding and now I have two weeks to put together a dance routine by myself and I have no idea where to start." Gabriella explained. "And it doesn't help that we're fighting now, and it's not even fighting, I just said some harsh words and walked out."
Gabriella looked up to see Jake looking down at her still. Gabriella sighed. "See, I told you it was stupid. You probably think I'm--"
"That you're an excellent dancer that will be able to pull this off." Jake beat her to it as he smiled down at her. "I've been to…God, countless amount of dance shows to watch you and each time you yet cease to amaze me. You'll do better than great at this one."
"Troy man, maybe you should just let them talk."
"Maybe he should go over there, she looks better."
"Because she's talking to Jake, Troy just let them be."
"Let him go, he doesn't need permission."
"Troy, get back here!"
"Hey Gabi." Troy said slowly as he stood in front of them making Gabriella turn around from Jake to come face to face with Troy who was three feet away.
"Hey." Gabriella said as she looked down at the ground not knowing how to explain this, God, she must look so stupid right now.
"I'll just be over there, come get me if you need anything, and I mean anything." Jake said giving her one last hug and walking off after nodding to Troy with a small smile.
"So…are you okay?" Troy asked as he walked over to the bleachers that were a couple of feet away from them with Gabriella following. He sat down, but Gabriella stayed standing.
Gabriella shrugged, "Yeah…just it's complicated."
"Want to tell me and maybe I can uncomplicate some things." Troy said as Gabriella offered him a small smile, but that's all as Troy found this weird since Gabriella would usually let him hear her laugh that he has grown attached too.
"It's really stupid actually, but my mom basically quit." Gabriella said as she looked down at the floor.
"Quit?" Troy asked wondering what the hell that meant.
"Yeah, I'm on my own for this competition and it lead to a little argument between us. Which is kind of new for us, we never really fight that much and if we do then it's little and we make up quick, but this is a first and it was so small. I'm kind of wondering if I should even be this upset about it." Gabriella said quietly.
"You're not over reacting." Gabriella looked up with a disbelieving look. "You're not." Troy said firmly as he stood up and put two hands on her shoulders. "You're one of the most strongest girls that I know, not to mention down to earth, kind, and caring." Troy kissed Gabriella on the top of her head as he brought her into a hug. "And I want you to know that if you need any help whatever it is, then I can be there to help you."
"Thank you Troy." Gabriella said as they stood their hugging each other. They both jumped slightly as they heard a whistle blow and knew that it was Troy's dad.
"Miss. Montez, why aren't you changed?" Jack Bolton called out as Troy and Gabriella pulled away. Troy was scratching the back of his neck as Gabriella felt a blush creep up on her cheeks.
"Um…" This was it, she could either be the quitter and let her mom get to her or she could put on a strong face and be the person she usually was while pretending her mom was on her side this time. Gabriella sighed, "I just came here to tell you that I'm dancing today, so I won't be here from now on."
Jack looked at Troy and Gabriella as every other student were sitting on the bleachers on the other side of the gym. "Okay Miss Montez, it was a pleasure having you in class."
"Thank you Coach Bolton." Gabriella said as she looked at Troy.
"Troy, gym is starting, hurry up." Jack instructed as Troy and Gabriella looked at each other now as Troy nodded his head. They heard Jack walking back across the gym.
"I'll see you later Troy Boy." Gabriella said.
"Wait up Montez, I think you're forgetting something." Troy smiled as Gabriella smirked and bit her lower lip innocently as she leaned up and Troy leaned down some to connect their lips. "I'll see you around Gabi."
"Bye Troy Boy." Gabriella said walking out of the gym to pull herself together and start preparing for the next two weeks. Troy watched her retreating back before he couldn't see her anymore as the gym door closed.