"Gabs!" Everyone in the hallway turned their heads to the blonde haired boy who was at the opposite end of the hallway except the person who he was trying to get the attention of and her boyfriend.
Gabriella smiled as she looked up into the reassuring eyes of her boyfriend Troy as his grip around her waist tightened, pulling her closer to him as he was leaning against a wall with her in front of him.
Gabriella leaned up on her tip toes and pressed her lips against Troy's as he instantly responded like it was a natural instinct. Her two hands were on his chest as they pulled back with grins. Gabriella knew things were okay with them after that dinner they had last night. Troy and her talked and Gabriella thought she did a good job trying to convince him that he did great with the questions.
"Gabs!" Jake said again as he jogged over to Troy and Gabriella. Before Gabriella could even turn her head to see Jake, he ran up to her and picked her right up out of Troy's hold on her waist and engulfed her in an overly excited hug.
"Whoa!" Gabriella exclaimed with a laugh as some people were staring at them in the hallways and Troy who for a second let a flash of jealousy show on his face and eyes, but quickly covered it up before Gabriella or Jake saw.
"It's time to celebrate." Jake said as he put Gabriella down but didn't take his hands back off of her sides.
Gabriella grinned up at her friend knowing he had some pretty good news if he was this excited. "And what are we celebrating Mr. Hill?" Gabriella laughed as Jake rolled his eyes at Gabriella's choice of words.
"The fact that your best friend just got a whole ride to Ohio State on a football scholarship." He whispered in her ear and this got Troy very suspicious. He couldn't help the thought of what Ms. Darbus said at dinner come popping up into his head.
Did they used to date? Or were they just really good friends? Troy didn't want to say anything to Gabriella though just incase she would explode on him. He could see it now, where she would accuse him of being too protective and then they would have a huge fight and break up. There was no way that he was going to take that chance of what could happen, he was sure that if they dated before then someone would've told him by now. Taylor probably would've been the first one to bring it up.
Troy saw Gabriella pull back from Jake with a huge smile on her face as she leapt on him with her arms around his neck and he spun her around again. "Hey man, what's up? What's with those two?" Chad asked as he patted Troy on the back and motioned to Jake and Gabriella.
Troy shrugged as he gave an honest answer, "I wish I knew."
"Oh my God, I can't believe I'm gonna be best friends with a famous person." Gabriella said as Jake and her walked over to the now formed group of Troy, Tay, and Chad.
Jake rolled his eyes. "And she's already teasing me. Maybe we won't be best friends after all." Jake said back as Gabriella playfully glared at him before walking over to Troy and molded into his side and Troy smiled as he put his arm over her shoulder and they connected hands. It was these little things they did as a couple that told him that they never dated.
"What's the big news man?" Chad asked as he had his arm around Taylor's waist. Troy looked between the two guys wondering Jake would tell them what was up if it was so important to tell his best friend first.
"Well…" Jake dragged out. Troy waited with anticipation, he noticed Chad did too along with Tay. Over the past two and a half months of dating Gabriella he noticed Jake and Chad became a lot better friends. "Guess who is going to be playing football at Ohio State." Jake continued.
"Oh my God…that's great man!" Chad said as they did a guy handshake.
Troy smiled as he watched Taylor give Jake a friendly hug. He was happy for him. Jake and him weren't best friends, but they were good enough friends that could hang out if they had time, but who had the time anymore with school, sports, family, and girlfriends?
"That's awesome man." Troy said as they did a guy handshake and Gabriella smiled up at Troy. He felt her press a kiss to his cheek as the bell rang and everyone kind of dispersed to get to their lockers quickly before homeroom. "And what was that for Montez?" Troy asked as they started walking towards homeroom.
Gabriella smiled, "To prepare you for homeroom today."
Troy rolled his eyes, "I almost forgot about that, but thanks for reminding me." Troy said sarcastically as Gabriella just smiled sweetly at him.
"No problem." Gabriella said as she quickly kissed Troy on the side of his mouth and went to her spot before he could even respond.
Ellen Darbus had been through a lot. Losing her dancing career, her two husbands and somewhere along the lines her daughter. She just didn't want to add her granddaughter to that list, and if that meant cracking the whip towards the boys that seemed taken by her then Ellen Darbus would bud into her business and see if the boy was okay.
Now usually Ellen Darbus was the typical grandmother, she baked cookies on the weekends, she went to church and made scarves for people in need, and she would always be there for her grandchild, the only thing different about her was that she was very protective of Gabriella.
She didn't want anything bad to happen to her. And it wasn't her fault that at dinner she was only going off of information she had on Troy Bolton with the news that circulated around school.
She had heard how he had hooked up with numerous girls in the locker room the previous year, she had heard how his grades slipped exactly a year ago when basketball started and he lead them to championships that year, she had heard all his excuses as to why he didn't turn in homework sometimes, but… if Gabriella was willing to go out with him then there must be something there that she didn't see and overlooked because Gabriella didn't waist her time on something she didn't care for.
Darbus sighed as she entered the school at 6:30 in the morning. It was basically only teachers there except for the occasional early bird students who needed a computer or catch up on work, or the decathlon team was meeting that day along with the dance team. Darbus walked past the principal who nodded his head at her with a smile as he was busy talking to one of her co-workers.
Darbus continued her way to her classroom that she didn't even need since she was in the auditorium most of the time. Darbus was proud that her granddaughter was getting more involved at school even though it still revolved around dancing.
Darbus walked into her classroom after unlocking the door and set her bag down with a sigh. She didn't want to be that hard on Troy that night, she thought she opened up conversation with him with a lot more simpler questions then as the night moved on and she only interrogated him to see if he would crack under pressure.
Darbus almost hated to admit it, she was reluctant to say it out loud and she wasn't willing to yet, but…from what she saw last night Troy treated Gabriella good and Gabriella obviously cared for him or else she wouldn't have stormed out on dinner because usually Gabriella respected her and her opinion.
Ms. Darbus set down to finish her lesson plans for that week and didn't even notice that students started to pile into her room. She really did love her job now and often wondered if she didn't hurt her knee would she love dancing on Broadway just as much as this?
And then there was always Gabriella as she always feared that her granddaughter would soon resent ever dancing. Ms. Darbus was almost scared to admit that maybe it was a little healthy that Gabriella was dating to take her mind off of dancing for a while.
Ms. Darbus opened her left top drawer to put her papers away and saw a picture that always put a smile on her face. A picture that was taken two years ago with Gabriella up on stage singing. Although this picture wasn't taken when Gabriella was performing in front of people in the auditorium, she was just performing for herself.
Gabriella's smile was real in that picture, it was sincere, Gabriella was truly happy. It was a smile that she hasn't seen on her granddaughters face since last night when she walked into the restaurant hand in hand with Troy.
Ms. Darbus heard students enter her room again as her head snapped up and saw Gabriella and Troy enter the classroom with smiles on their faces. Ms. Darbus saw how happy Troy made Gabriella right now, and it could only mean good things. And Troy did seem to do well at dinner last night, it was now whether or not she was going to act on how generous she was feeling, she obviously couldn't make it that obvious.
Troy and Gabriella were walking past her desk, one step at a time, it seemed as if it was going in slow motion. Gabriella looked right at her and Gabriella's smile faltered a bit as Troy seemed to notice that Gabriella tensed up and he turned his head to see where she was looking and looked right at Ms. Darbus' brown eyes.
It was now or never, she could either accept him or not. Ms. Darbus gave half a smile as Gabriella almost gave her a double take and Troy just stared dumbfounded that they got a smile. Ms. Darbus nodded her head slightly as a real smile took over her face, Gabriella was still going to see Troy one way or another and Ms. Darbus would prefer that Gabriella still loved her while being with Troy.
That was that, Ms. Darbus sighed as she saw Troy kiss the top of Gabriella's head and take his seat and Gabriella go to her own as more kids piled in. It wasn't like Ms. Darbus could go up to Troy right now and tell him that she was okay with him, so a nod would have to do and she got the feeling like Gabriella and Troy understood since Gabriella had a huge smile on her face as Troy looked back at her and then they looked up at the front again as Ms. Darbus quickly looked away so they wouldn't catch her looking.
"So you want to come over tonight?" Jake asked as he and Gabriella were in the dance studio sitting on the ground as Anna was in the very back getting things ready to close as Gabriella was pretty sure that she was on the phone too since she could faintly hear her mom's voice. "My mom wants to do this family thing and I'm pretty sure my grandparents are coming, but she wanted to know if you wanted to come too?" Jake said.
Gabriella smirked at the blonde haired guy at her side, "So your mom is the only one who wants me to come?" Gabriella joked.
"And me, I definitely wouldn't mind if you came." Jake added. "We haven't um…" Jake scratched the back of his neck. He didn't want Gabriella to take this offensively because he meant nothing by it. "really done that many things together outside the world of studying."
Gabriella sighed, "Yeah…we've both been busy. You with your scholarship and football camps and me with…" Gabriella just realized that the only thing different in her life was Troy. The dancing Jake and her were used to so they didn't really count that, but she was always with Troy. "Troy." Gabriella breathed out.
"So you want to come?" Jake asked as Gabriella winced and he was taking this as a bad thing.
"I really want too, but…"
"But?" Jake asked as Gabriella trailed off.
"But Troy and I have plans." Gabriella felt kind of guilty that they haven't really done anything just them two. It wasn't fair on either one of them that they never got time together. "Why don't you bring Haley tonight and over the weekend you and I can do something?" Gabriella suggested as Jake nodded his head.
"Yeah, that sounds really good. We can go to the mall and you can pick out your birthday present." Jake said as he stood up.
Gabriella stood up also with a confused face on, "My birthday isn't until the second week of January." Gabriella said with a laugh.
Jake shrugged, "But who knows how long until we get some more time together." Jake said with a smile. Gabriella knew that he was joking, but on some level they both knew that was true. Christmas was coming up, and then dancing would take over her life again and that was another thing she had to think about, what was she going to do with Troy and Jake with the little amount of time she will have? "I'm gonna get going, but I'll see you later." Gabriella nodded her head and hugged Jake before he left and she turned to get ready for meeting Troy later.
Gabriella quickly changed her clothes seeing as she had already taken a shower as she ran out to her car. She still kind of felt guilty for not even realizing how much time she was spending with Troy and not her other friends. She could barely remember when the last time she was alone with Taylor and just talked to her.
Gabriella drove down the empty streets towards Troy's house in her jeep as she made a promise to herself. She was going to try to equal her time out with her friends, but then is that fair to Troy? They were girlfriend and boyfriend, she didn't want to give him the wrong idea that she wasn't as in to him as he was her.
Gabriella pulled up to the curb right outside his house and noticed that his parents' cars weren't there and only his was in the left open garage. She rolled her eyes as she got out of the car at her boyfriend's laziness of not closing the garage door.
She walked up to his house and even before she could knock on the door it burst open showing Troy in just his black athletic shorts and wet hair as Gabriella figured he just got out of the shower since he came from basketball practice.
Gabriella smirked, "Eager much?" She teased as she stepped into the entry way of his house.
Troy smirked, "Tease much?" He retorted as he kicked the door closed and put his hands on Gabriella's waist to move her against the wall to cage her in. He licked his lips hungrily and kissed Gabriella on the mouth.
Gabriella arched her back as her pelvis rubbed up against Troy's and her hands went up to his neck to play with the little hairs. His tongue ran across her bottom lip asking for entrance as she granted it and their tongues played tag.
"I scratched your back, now you have to scratch mine." Troy said huskily into Gabriella's ear as he all of a sudden put his hands on her lower back and butt and lifted her up so her legs could wrap themselves around her waist.
Gabriella smiled, she didn't totally forget about their little deal, but…she just was kind of tired and she couldn't get the guilt she held for Jake out of her mind. They were going to the mall over the weekend, so what was the big deal? Maybe the fact that she wasn't celebrating with him tonight.
Troy didn't seem to notice as he kissed her briefly on the mouth again and started carrying her upstairs. He continued planting light kisses on her neck that was starting to get to Gabriella and turn her on a little more.
He pushed open his bedroom door as one of his hands were under her shirt rubbing circles on her toned stomach while Gabriella found herself getting into it a little more. She ran her tongue across his lips and he opened them to allow her access.
He laid her down on the bed and started to slowly move his hands up her shirt as he situated himself between her legs and his knees and hands were helping him so he didn't put his weight on her. He could tell something was off by the way that she wasn't usually running her hands all over his chest and something was off by the way that she was kissing him.
"Gabi…" Troy breathed as his mouth disconnected from hers and he pressed a kiss to her collarbone that was still covered by her dark red graphic T. "Is something wrong?" Troy asked as he looked up and their eyes connected.
Gabriella ran her hand through his hair once as she sighed, "Nothing really. You probably would think it's stupid." Gabriella said as she leaned up a couple of inches and kissed his mouth again.
They both pulled back as Troy rested his forehead against her own. "Come on, you can tell me anything." Troy said softly.
Gabriella nodded, "Well…I guess I kind of fell…guilty?" Gabriella said more of a question than a comment. She sighed, "I mean…Jake and I were talking earlier and I then realized that I never see him anymore apart from school related stuff and it just…sucks." Gabriella said as her hands ran up and down Troy's arms slowly.
Troy nodded as he kissed the side of her mouth. "Well…" Troy said in a husky voice as he came closer to her ear. "Do you want to go be with him now?" Troy kissed under her ear as Gabriella shut her eyes briefly from pleasure.
"No,…well yes, but not if I'm with you." Gabriella said as Troy continued to kiss slowly along her jaw line. If she wasn't with Troy right now Gabriella would be with Jake in a heart beat, but he was her boyfriend and they had plans from before, plus Jake and her were going to celebrate his scholarship their own way at the mall and she was with Troy now in a bed in an empty house, things were about to get good.
"Is Jake mad?" Troy asked again as he kissed down her neck to the beat of her pulse.
Gabriella's hands gripped his biceps tighter as she let out a small moan from him sucking on her sensitive spot. "I don't…I don't think so." Gabriella said as her breath hitched in her throat.
"Well then…" Troy continued as he slowly kissed his way up her neck again. He had no other thing to ask as he stared down at Gabriella who was looking up at him. He didn't know why else Gabriella would be feeling guilty, especially if Jake wasn't mad at her, but then for some reason Darbus' words came back into his mind. Did they actually used to date and that's why she was feeling guilty because they actually really used to be boyfriend and girlfriend but then decided to just become really good friends?
Troy couldn't stop the words coming out of his mouth as they sounded husky, "Did you two used to date?"
Gabriella tensed up and for once, she missed a beat as Troy stared at her in shock.
Gabriella opened her mouth to speak after taking that one beat to actually think of an answer, "…Maybe…you should sit up for this." Gabriella suggested meekly…
Author's notes--I didn't really like this chapter, but you guys be the judges of that. I really only liked the end and I know it's kind of a cliff hanger, but maybe it's not what you think, or maybe it is? So tell me what you think of Darbus. I hope you kind of got that she was just testing Troy to see if he was tough enough mentally or something along the lines of that, she still is the kind of sweet grandma that can be a toughy if neccessary. She just wanted her granddaughter safe and happy. Review please and thank you.