Gabriella listened to the song over and over again. Counting it out, down to every second of her three minute song that would soon become her routine. She knew the song and the beat like the back of her hand, but yet…something was missing. She knew that she somehow could do this, she had made up routines before, but something was missing this time.
"I swear the wall won't change if you look away for a second." Gabriella heard a male voice call out as she couldn't help the smile that came onto her face. Gabriella turned around and playfully narrowed her eyes.
"Ha ha Jake. Real funny." Gabriella shrugged her shoulders feeling her muscles tense as her legs carried her over to the bench that was in the back of the studio where her water was.
"Hey, is it okay if I work out here?" Jake asked as he walked in further.
Gabriella nodded her head as her wattle bottle was in her mouth. "When has me ever saying no stopped you?" Gabriella teased as Jake started for the door in the back that lead down to a work out room that had all the new equipment in it.
"You're right, one of these days you should just give me a key." Jake called as he was already halfway down the stairs as he wasn't able to see Gabriella roll her eyes.
Gabriella shut her eyes briefly as she took a deep breath. She was tired, there was no denying that. If anyone saw her then they would instantly know she wasn't getting nearly enough sleep. It was Friday and Gabriella was barely at school anymore, she showed up for her two AP classes in the morning along with homeroom and Spanish, but right when lunchtime came along she would leave, making her miss free period and cooking class, but cooking class was her last elective that she would need for an elective credit so Gabriella wasn't really worried about that since she always had senior year to get another half of credit for electives or she could just do it next semester, Gabriella didn't really care.
Gabriella hadn't really talked to anyone lately seeing as whenever she was at school she was always half asleep, just trying to stay awake and when she was in class she was just trying to listen to the teachers. Gabriella sighed as she sunk down onto the floor with her back to the cold hard wall. She could hear Jake's music blaring from downstairs even though it only registered in her mind as a mere whisper since there was at least three walls between them.
She shut her eyes as her head rocked back and forth to the beat of the rock song playing. A small smile formed on her lips as she through that now she would have all this time over the weekend to work on her dancing. Her mother didn't seem to mind that she was staying out until 11 or sometimes even 12 at night on a school night as long as she was at the studio and Gabriella was okay with that. But her mother and her were still on rocky terms, Gabriella couldn't get over the fact that her own mother wouldn't help her out.
Gabriella must have been close to sleep again as she nearly fell over at the sound of the bell that hung above the door to the studio ring indicating that someone just walked in. Gabriella looked up from the ground hoping it wasn't some parent signing their kid up for lessons because in the position they would see Gabriella, they would think of her as weird.
Gabriella slowly got up as she didn't hear any footsteps. She looked over the counter with her eyes and felt a smile play on her lips. There stood Troy looking around from the doorstep that was surrounded by two huge windows that lead to the outside. Gabriella stood fully up as Troy caught sight of her and the smile on his face turned into a confused one.
"What were you doing on the ground?" Troy let out an awkward laugh as he took a couple of steps forward.
Gabriella felt the color rise in her cheeks as she stepped out from behind the counter and walk to the middle of the dance floor. She looked at herself in the mirror for a brief second, seeing the blur of her black booty shorts, and green tank top. Gabriella turned around and flashed Troy a smile. "Nothing, just resting."
"Oh yeah, because resting on the floor is so comfortable." Troy said sarcastically as he walked further in so now his reflection shown in the mirrors.
There was a silence as Gabriella could still hear in the back of her mind Jake's music playing from down below and she knew that it was his way of telling her that he was right below her, so she wouldn't forget that he could come up at any moment.
"What's up?" Gabriella asked.
"I don't know. I could ask you the same thing, I haven't really seen you at school that much this week." Troy said and Gabriella knew what he was talking about. Even though they had the same classes, they still didn't get to talk or anything and it was basically back to square one and using their eyes.
Gabriella tried to hide a yawn as she stretched with her hands up in the air before bringing them back down. She now was starting to regret going off of her dancing schedule because now her body was sore from dancing too much. Gabriella shrugged her shoulders, "I've been around."
"So this dance competition is a big deal?" Troy asked casually as he walked away from Gabriella and towards the back benches where the trophies Gabriella won hung on the wall along with plaques and pictures of every recital Gabriella had been in. Gabriella looked at him curiously as Troy scanned the wall closely with his eyes partly squinting as he looked at each picture one by one.
Gabriella didn't know what to do. Should she stay where she was standing? Should she go over to Troy? Should she start practicing her dance? Gabriella shrugged her shoulders again, "It's not as big as the one in February, but this one I've been in for the past five years and I've come in first each time."
Troy glanced over at Gabriella briefly before returning his attention to the medals hanging on the wall. "So am I still picking you up at 8 tomorrow night?" Troy asked as Gabriella saw his fingers trace an outline of something in one of her pictures on the walls so delicately.
Gabriella's mouth hung open slightly and she thanked God that he couldn't see her right now. She had completely forgot about their date that was supposed to happen tomorrow night. She was planning on practicing and pushing herself with her dance. How could she just have forgotten their date?
"Um…yeah." Gabriella concluded as she let out a breath of relief. "8 sounds good."
Troy turned on his heel as he flashed Gabriella his million dollar smile and stepped forward again. Gabriella could feel Troy's eyes appraising her as they bored into her body. She thought he was actually going to burn a hole through her, but then their eyes connected and she could see the concern flash through them.
"Hey, you're okay right?" Troy asked bluntly as Gabriella almost let her face contort into shape to show that she was confused by his question.
"Yeah…" Gabriella said slowly. "Why wouldn't I be?" Gabriella almost let the sentence roll off her tongue if it wasn't for her hesitance.
Troy shrugged as he came closer to her and it was now Gabriella wished she was wearing make up to cover up her sleepiness. "I read somewhere that teenagers that go to school probably should get 10 hours of sleep, especially if they're really active."
Gabriella let out a staggered breath with a small smile on her face at how Troy voiced his opinion in a not so subtle fact. "I think I heard that too." Gabriella played along.
"Um…I got to get going, my dad wants to work on basketball and I told him I was stopping somewhere for food, so I should probably be…" Troy trailed off as he looked at the door from the corner of his eye before reverting his attention back to Gabriella.
Gabriella nodded as she took a step closer to Troy. "Wouldn't want Coach Bolton worrying now, would we?" Gabriella more like commented as their lips lingered by each other before they both made a move to connect them for a short sweet good bye kiss. "Can't wait for tomorrow night Troy Boy." Gabriella said as they pulled back.
"Ditto Gabi. See you later." Troy called before Gabriella heard the bell ding again and was left by herself besides Jake who was still downstairs. Gabriella looked around and all of a sudden found a second wind as she grabbed the remote to the cd player and hit play to let the music drown out her thoughts.
Troy stood in his room buttoning up his white collared shirt, (the one he wore while singing start of something new in hsm1,) Troy left the top two buttons undone as he looked at himself in the mirror one last time and flicked his hair to one side so it fell perfectly over his eyes. He was wearing dark loose fitting jeans as he walked over to his bed and grabbed his dark brown jacket.
"What is this, your third date?" Chad's voice plowed itself into Troy's head as Troy turned around in his room and saw Chad sitting on his bed still emerged in some war game for PS2, exactly in the same spot Troy left him in when he went to go take a shower.
"Dude, I don't know how you remember these things, but yet you can't remember when our country declared independence." Troy teased as Chad rolled his eyes and cursed under his breath as his guy just died.
"Look at what you made me do." Chad dramatically said as he shut off the game with an eye roll. "So where are you two going again?" Chad asked as he stood up from the beanie bag chair he was sitting in.
"Tyson Beach." Troy simple stated as he was picking at his hair again in the mirror that was on the back of his door.
Chad let out a snort. "Dude, how many girls have you taken to Tyson Beach?"
Troy shrugged knowing he took quite a few as their first and last dates. "A couple." But Chad and Troy both knew that was an understatement.
"And we all know how those turned out. But seriously, couldn't you have thought of a more played out date?" Chad said sarcastically as Troy turned back around again and gave him a soft glare.
"And what is that supposed to mean?" Troy asked with slight offense.
Chad got down on his hands and knees and looked under Troy's bed for something. "Nothing, it's just everyone knows that when a guy takes a girl to Tyson Beach that they're looking for a quick fuck and an easy date that they don't have to really put much thought into and spend a lot of money." Chad stood up from the ground and went to the other side of the king size bed and looked on that side for something.
Troy knew what Chad was saying was true, most guys would take girls there to butter them up and then get in and out, but Troy didn't want this date to be like that. "And you took her to the movies last week, right?" Chad continued in a struggled voice as Troy peered over his bed on the balls of his feet and saw that Chad was reaching for something underneath his bed, but couldn't seem to reach it.
"Yeah…" Troy said wearily.
"Exactly, you already did an easy date, you watched a movie in a dark nearly empty place where you two probably sucked face the whole time, and it wasn't that much money. Girls are always trying to get us to spend money on them, and that is why God invented the uptight bitchy restaurants." Troy heard Chad hit his head on his bed as he winced in pain for his best friend. "Fuck."
Troy thought about this, he thought he had Gabriella figured out, but did she really want to go to some uptight restaurant and order foods that weren't even in English and have them brought out to you in a silver platter? Troy shook his head, but what Chad said did make sense, their first date was at a house party for God's sake!
"And then of course there are the presents." Chad continued. "Yes I got it!" Troy looked at his friend in bewilderment as Chad propped himself up so that he was now kneeling and out brought his arms holding a basketball. "I knew I left it here last time."
Troy's head was going into overdrive. He had only really ever gone on one date with each girl that he interacted with, he didn't do seconds, so he had no idea what the hell he was supposed to do. When it came to other girls he would mostly take them to Tyson beach and occasionally he would take him to an uncomfortable restaurant that he hated and they seemed to love, the only reason why he didn't do seconds with girls was because none of them interested him, that's why he is so determined to do things right with Gabriella.
"Wait…what do you mean presents?" Troy asked knowing he hadn't really given Gabriella anything.
Chad shrugged his shoulders as he stood up. "You know, occasionally you should get her flowers, maybe chocolates but that might result in them yelling at you for making them fat…" Chad got a dreamy look on his face. "I still remember Tay when I took her out on our first date which happened to be at Tyson Beach and I got her flowers, she was so stunned."
"Chad!" Troy bellowed with panic in his voice. He hadn't done anything for Gabriella. Troy looked quickly over at his bedside table and saw that it was 7:45, he could either get her flowers quickly and be at least five minutes late, or not get her anything and have this be the second date that he doesn't spend any money on her. "Um…I got to go." Troy rushed out of his room and started jogging down the stairs. "Make sure you lock the door when you leave!" Troy called over his shoulder as he slammed the front door shut and raced to his car. If flowers were a present Gabriella possible wanted, then Troy would give them to her, and once he had his mind set, there was no stopping him.
Gabriella thought something was going differently than the last two dates that they shared together. First, Troy was ten minutes late which didn't really bother her, but then he gave her flowers which she didn't mind, it's just the way he presented them to her, it was as if he was nervous, awkward, and uncomfortable. Gabriella didn't want him to feel uncomfortable around her, but then once they got into his car Gabriella couldn't keep the smile off of her face as she thought about the last time she was in that spot.
And now here they were, standing outside of Troy's car looking around the beach that had teenagers scattered around everywhere and a couple of bomb fires going with music playing in the background. Gabriella looked at all the kids there and then looked down at herself, she found that she dressed perfectly. She was wearing jeans and a green short sleeve shirt with her red swimsuit bikini underneath just incase, after all they were at the beach.
Gabriella felt Troy slip his hand around her and saw him flash her his perfect smile. "What do you want to do first Montez?" Troy whispered huskily in her ear.
Gabriella looked around with a little smirk on her lips and saw that they could either dance, go over by the fires where some of their friends were, or even just walk up and down the beach in the dark cool air.
"I don't know, anything I guess." Gabriella said in a laid back manner. She found it relaxing from going from a seven hour dance practice with one break to just hanging out at the beach.
"Up for a dance?" Troy asked as he offered her his hand which Gabriella accepted. They both headed over to the group of kids that were already grinding on each other as they held beers in their hands and were making out with random people. Gabriella felt Troy pull her closer to him as her body just melted into his and they moved together. Gabriella couldn't help but think what this would feel like without clothes on.
Gabriella felt Troy's hands slide down her sides and rest firmly on her waist as Gabriella's hands traced over his arms, loving the feel of the little hairs occupying them. Gabriella turned her head so she was lightly breathing onto Troy's neck as she could smell his cologne radiating off of his body. Gabriella pressed a kiss to his neck as she felt him pull her body closer.
She loved these kinds of dates, she got to do her favorite thing which was dance for fun and she got to spend time with Troy. This was the perfect date for Gabriella, she didn't care about the other drunk kids around her, or the fact that some girls hated her right now because she was with him and he actually liked her, she just blocked all of that out as Troy turned his head and connected their lips together.
Gabriella hadn't even realized that they danced to four songs so far as Troy finally pulled back reluctantly and turned her around to face him. "You want to go to the fire?"
Gabriella looked briefly over her shoulder and saw someone's car that she could point out at anytime. "Yeah." Gabriella said as Troy and her laced hands and made their way over to one of the five fires going that had about six kids there already.
Gabriella instantly recognized them as one guy was on the basketball team with Troy who was a junior also and he was with his girlfriend, and then a football player who came over to her studio to work out sometimes with his girlfriend and Gabriella knew that Troy and him sometimes talked in the hallways at school, and then Haley which meant that Jake was there. Gabriella smiled as Jake caught her eye and he got up to hug her.
"Hey there Montez, who knew you would get out of the studio?" Jake teased as Troy and Gabriella took a spot on one of the logs that was specifically put there for seats. There were a bunch of greetings which Gabriella just nodded to as Troy did their special guy handshake that Gabriella would never understand. On her right side Troy was securely wrapping his arm around her, and then on her left side Jake was sitting.
"Would you like a s'more?" Troy asked into Gabriella's ear as the other three guys talked about some sports thing that they saw on TV and Gabriella was pretty sure that if she wasn't with Troy right now then he would voice his opinion also.
"I would love one." Gabriella said in a cheesy tone as she flashed Troy a cheeky smile which he just rolled his eyes to with his own teasing smile. Gabriella loved how close they were getting, and often found herself wishing he would just ask her to be his girlfriend already since she wasn't dating anyone else and he seemed to stop interacting with all other girls completely unless it was Taylor, Sharpay, or Kelsi who were girlfriends to his three best friends.
Troy gave Gabriella a stick that already had a marshmallow on it as Jake all of a sudden turned and made Gabriella jump in her seat as she was just about to put the marshmallow in the fire along with Troy who had his own.
"Whoa Whoa Whoa Montez, remember the last time you tried doing this?" Jake asked as it was now only Haley, Jake, Troy, and Gabriella listening seeing as the other two couples were busy with each other.
"What?" Gabriella asked clearly confused and then it hit her and she let out a laugh. "Oh my God, I can't believe I forgot." Gabriella laughed along with Jake and Troy and Haley looked at their partners confused.
"What happened?" Troy asked with curiosity.
Gabriella felt the color in her cheeks rise as she looked at the fire, not meeting anyone's eyes as she pretended to rotate her stick in the fire making sure she didn't burn the marshmallow.
"Gabs here started the grass on fire." Jake said patting her lightly on the back. "She only nearly burnt down the play set that was in the backyard and burn half of her arm in the process."
"Maybe this wasn't such a good idea." Troy joked as Gabriella looked up at him with a sheepish smile.
"In all defense, we were going through that drought that lasted two months and everything was dry and maybe it wasn't the smartest idea to let two freshmen make their own fire for s'mores, but it was worth it." Gabriella said.
"Worth what, burning your hand off?" Jake asked incredulously as he chuckled along with Haley and Troy.
"It was my arm thank you, and I have both of them now." Gabriella said with her own pout as she turned towards Troy and leaned up so that her mouth was dangerously close to his ear as she heard Jake clear his throat uncomfortably seeing his best friend getting close to a guy before turning towards Haley more. "It'd be a shame if I lost one of my hands because these babies can work wonders." Gabriella smirked as her mouth gently pulled on the bottom of Troy's ear lobe.
Troy bit back a moan and then his eyes got wide when he heard Jake, "Montez, your marshmallow is burning."
Gabriella pulled back with a self satisfied smirk on her face, "I like them hot." Gabriella coolly said as Troy knew exactly what she meant and found himself even more attracted to her, if that was even possible.
The night went on as Gabriella and Troy danced, ate s'mores, and talked with some of their friends from school while enjoying each other's company. They immersed into a conversation about basketball which to Troy's surprise Gabriella knew quiet a bit about considering the fact that she's never really played except in gym class before high school, and Troy asked Gabriella quite a few questions about her dance and especially about her competition that was coming up in exactly a week.
Now Gabriella and Troy were just walking on the beach with their hands interlaced and the tiki lights as their only source of light excluding the moon that was right above them. Gabriella and Troy were both just taking in the view in front of them with the stars above them making the sky look even more beautiful.
Troy briefly looked at Gabriella out of the corner of his eye. All night he forgot what Chad was telling him before, but now when he actually had time to think in peace and quiet his words kept coming back to him. Troy looked down at their hands connected and knew that he wanted to take their relationship to the next level. It was their third date after all, and he wanted to show her that she meant more to him than any other girl he just dated, he wanted her to be his girlfriend.
"What are you thinking about Troy Boy?" Gabriella asked as she took in the light breeze that felt good against her skin.
Troy hesitated at first, should he ask her there? But then Chad's words crept into his head again, fancy restaurant. Troy sighed as he ran his hand through his hair with his other hand that wasn't connected with Gabriella's. But then on the other hand Troy wanted everyone to know that he was with Gabriella, that they couldn't have her because they were as good enough as a pair now. Three weeks could change a person, and they definitely changed him for the better seeing as he was willing to give Gabriella anything that she wanted and it was all through the eyes.
Troy couldn't help the words pouring out of his mouth. He had never done this and with a girl that truly interested him and made him feel this happy. With that, it made him feel like some 7th grader again. "WillYouBeMyGirlfriend?" Troy asked in one breath as Gabriella and him stopped in their place still holding onto each other.
"What?" Gabriella asked with a smile on her face at how amusing Troy was acting. Gabriella knew that something was up when he first asked her to take a quiet walk with him alone.
Troy sighed as he contemplated on whether or not to lie about what he just said, did she really want him to ask her like this because to Troy didn't seem all that great, but he just wanted her to say yes so badly. "Gabi, I know we just started dating a couple of weeks ago and homecoming is coming up in two weeks, but I was just wondering…" Troy trailed off as he realized that this was it, he was either going to get rejected or accepted. "Will you be my girlfriend?"
Gabriella saw Troy shut his eyes for a second and then open them with hope in his eyes. Gabriella smiled, she had been wondering if Troy was going to ask her since they did see each other at school in almost every class and it seemed that Gabriella saw Troy more than she saw her own mom nowadays.
Gabriella nodded her head as they both had smiles taking over her face. "I would love to be your girlfriend." Gabriella said as their lips connected and Troy moved his hands to her waist as Gabriella let her arms snake around his neck as they pulled away.
"Do you want to go for dinner on Saturday night after your competition?" Troy asked as his lips brushed against hers.
Gabriella gave Troy a peck on the lips before answering, "Sure. You can just pick me up at my house let's say around 8:30?" Gabriella suggested.
Troy shook his head as Gabriella got a confused face on. "I'll drive us right from the theatre." Troy said as Gabriella's confused face turned into a smile.
"You don't actually have to come." Gabriella said knowing now, why Troy was asking so many questions before.
"Of course I have to come, I'm your boyfriend now, and if I'm not mistaken that's what boyfriends do." Troy smiled cheekily at Gabriella before connecting their lips again to silence Gabriella's protests.