A Chance At Happiness
Chapter Six
If Gabriella had thought it awkward that Saturday evening after Ryan had kissed her, then she was completely unprepared for Monday morning. Everywhere she went he was, unfortunately, there. Neither wanted to see one another but it was one of those days where you tried so hard to get away from one person but you ended up going to the same place they went. It was a nightmare!
Whenever Gabriella tried averting her eyes, they managed to catch eye contact. Whenever Gabriella turned to go into another direction, Ryan would have a similar idea and somehow (it sometimes seemed quite impossible) they walked into one another. But it was very obvious that they were both trying to avoid each other – more so, it appeared, in Ryan's case. It was as if Gabriella were a contagious disease and Ryan were worried he would catch it.
"Why does Ryan keep looking at you as if you've taken his favourite toy away from him?" Taylor commented late that morning whilst Gabriella stood at her locker, sorting her books. Gabriella didn't respond but Taylor persisted. "Seriously, what is up with him? He's starting to freak me out a little."
"Maybe, he's tired?" Gabriella shrugged.
Taylor didn't reply straight away and Gabriella was too busy staring at her Physics book to notice the suspicious glance Taylor was sending her. "Gabby," Taylor slowly said, "did something happen at your party?"
"It wasn't my party. It was my parents'."
"Same difference." Taylor rolled her eyes. "So?"
"So, what?"
"Did something happen at your party?"
"It wasn't my party." Gabriella repeated.
"Gabby, answer the damn question."
"No, alright?"
"Well," Taylor said in a matter-of-fact tone, "that's a lie."
"If you know it's a lie then why ask me?"
"So, you admit it, it is a lie!"
"I never said that."
"You did."
"I didn't." Gabriella sang.
"Did." Taylor argued.
"Didn't!"
"Gabby, c'mon, tell me." Taylor begged. "I'm not stupid. Clearly something happened."
"Taylor." Gabriella gave an exasperated sigh.
"If you say nothing happened, Gabriella Montez, then I will smack you over the head with your own books." Taylor threatened. Gabriella only rolled her eyes. "I'm your best friend! I know, somewhere deep inside you, you're dying to tell me what happened."
"Oh, really?" Gabriella raised an eyebrow.
"Yeah, it's best friend syndrome. Very, very common case."
Gabriella fought to keep the smile off her face but she couldn't contain herself and burst into an amused grin. "Look, it's nothing major but..." Gabriella shot a glance in Ryan's direction. Clearly, he had been staring at her because the moment he caught her looking, he scuttled away with a deep blush on his cheeks. "He kissed me."
"Wait, you and Ryan?" Gabriella nodded. "What are you talking about? This is huge news!"
"It's really not. I told him straight away that I just don't like him like that." Gabriella replied.
"What did he say? Was he angry?" Taylor asked with intrigue.
"Well, he wasn't angry. Actually, he didn't have a chance to say anything." Gabriella admitted. "Troy rang and I wanted nothing more than to get away from Ryan at that point. It was much too awkward and you know how I am in those situations." Taylor casually nodded. "I feel bad, though. I must have given him some reason to think I'd want to kiss him back."
"Or, he just misunderstood you." Taylor looped her arm through Gabriella's on their way to English.
"I suppose, I mean, that sort of thing happens all the time."
"Exactly." Taylor nodded. "Does he know about," Taylor cautiously looked around before whispering, "Troy?"
"God, no!" Gabriella exclaimed. "That would've made everything so much worse if he found out about that." Gabriella could just imagine Ryan's angry and disappointed face. "No, we're still keeping that completely secret. And now, considering the circumstances with Ryan, there is no way people are finding out that we're talking."
"So, you and him are going well, then?" Taylor teasingly nudged Gabriella.
"We are not talking about this here." Gabriella replied but, for the second time that morning, she couldn't repress the giddy smile that reached her eyes. Taylor gave her a pressing look. "Taylor, stop looking at me like that. You won't get anything out of me." She sounded determined but Taylor merely scoffed.
"Gabby, I always get it out of you eventually," she pointed out, "so you might as well just tell me now and save yourself the bother." She had a fair point. "C'mon. You know you want to. I can see it written all over your face; remember, best friend syndrome."
"Okay, okay," Gabriella accepted a quick defeat, "everything is going very well if you must know."
"I knew it!" Taylor squealed.
"If you knew it then why did you ask?" Gabriella laughed.
"For clarification." Taylor shrugged, grinning all the same. "Although, I don't need to ask you if you like him or not. That is obvious." Gabriella deeply blushed. "So, when are you going to make your move?" She abruptly asked and Gabriella's smile immediately faded.
"I can't- I'm not- I can't." Gabriella frantically replied.
"Gabs, chill." Taylor laughed. "Y'know, it's not as hard as you think."
"Yeah, not as hard when your Taylor McKessie but when you're Gabriella Montez then it's completely different." Gabriella complained.
"You think I don't get nervous?" Taylor replied. "When I do it, I'm always shit scared but why should I let that stop me? Why should I be left wondering what if? Gabs, you can't keep putting your life on hold just because you're scared." Taylor confidently said. "You've got to take the chance. Just call him up and ask him if he wants to go out later."
"You make it sound so easy." Gabriella mumbled.
"You've gone out before, haven't you?" Gabriella nodded. "Well, there you go then, it is easy."
"Look, Darbus is already in the classroom," Gabriella quickly changed the subject and hurried ahead of Taylor which conveniently prevented Taylor from asking anymore questions. Shaking her head, Taylor followed her friend who was already seated at the back of the classroom and she hastily sat on the seat in front; Ms. Darbus was glaring at her.
Gabriella struggled to keep her concentration throughout the day. Ryan had been staring at her in all the lessons they shared and it had made Gabriella feel extremely uncomfortable. He diverted his eyes when she would look over and catch him staring but the moment she turned back around, she could feel his gaze return. She supposed he was rather upset after her rejection (although rejection always sounded so harsh) but wasn't it slightly strange that he couldn't stop watching her?
Despite all this, Miss. Dawn (the highly strict Geography teacher) decided to pair Gabriella and Ryan together for their latest Geography project. Granted, Miss. Dawn was unaware of Gabriella and Ryan's awkward predicament but that didn't mean Gabriella was any less annoyed with her. So, that afternoon, Gabriella moved from her usual seat to the assigned one Miss. Dawn gave her with Ryan sitting to her right. Her attempts to avoid him were now pointless. After all, how could they possibly work together without communication?
"I've always hated case studies." Ryan commented. "A volcano is a volcano, I don't need to know about Mount St. Helens and Mount Etna when they do the same thing; explode. Case studies are just really boring, aren't they?" Ryan looked to Gabriella, who was twiddling with a pen, for a response. However, he did not get the answer he wanted.
Lazily, her eyes still firmly on her pen, she said, "actually, I think physical Geography is very interesting. I like the study of volcanoes and earthquakes and such."
Ryan looked shocked for a second before recovering by clearing his throat and replying, "yes, well, I suppose that it is interesting in some ways."
And then, they fell into another awkward silence. One thing Gabriella was beginning to notice more than ever was that Ryan seemed desperate to impress her or agree with her as if she would suddenly change her mind and confess her love or something. Troy, however, was completely different. If he didn't agree with Gabriella he'd tell her and their difference in thinking had been followed by plenty of interesting and, very often, amusing conversations. She supposed it was unfair though to compare Ryan and Troy together. They were different people respectively but, still, the more Ryan tried being someone he wasn't, the more Gabriella was becoming very annoyed with him.
Later that evening, Gabriella was lying on the floor of Kelsi's bedroom finishing her homework with Taylor, Martha and, obviously, Kelsi. The four were relatively quiet as they concentrated on completing their assigned work with only the odd questions here and there. Their silence, however, was disturbed with one almighty crash that sounded from downstairs. What followed was yelling and it undeniably belonged to Heather. Gabriella, Taylor and Martha looked at Kelsi questionably.
"Ignore it." Kelsi said. She had already returned to her work. "She's been like this for days."
"Why?" Martha quickly and enthusiastically asked. As sweet as she was, she was still incredibly nosy.
"Her and Troy have had an argument."
Gabriella's head lifted so quickly she was lucky she didn't crick her neck. "What about?"
"Don't know." Kelsi shrugged. "I just came home one day to find that neither were talking to each other and when they did it involved in a lot of shouting." She explained and then added. "I prefer to stay out of it. When Heather's mad you don't tend to stay around to watch the fight." There was a murmur of laughter.
"I can't imagine Troy being angry." Martha absent-mindedly said. "He's always so chill."
"Yeah, I don't like it when he's annoyed about something." Kelsi admitted. "Anger has never looked good on him." The shouting from downstairs suddenly became louder and they realised that Heather was stomping her way up the stairs; Troy appeared to be following. A few seconds later and Heather's door slammed shut. "If any of you want a bathroom break, I suggest you take it now because you do not want to meet her in the hallway when she's angry."
Gabriella immediately stood up but when she closed Kelsi's door behind her and saw Troy at the other end of the hall, she knew that she never did need the bathroom at all. She just wanted to see Troy which is exactly what Gabriella got. Troy's furrowed brow relaxed and the corners of his mouth tugged upwards into a large smile. He beckoned for her to come over to him with his hand and she quietly hurried toward him.
"Hey." He whispered.
"Hey." She replied, also in hushed tones.
"I didn't know you were here." He commented.
"We're doing our homework in Kelsi's bedroom."
"I thought you had ballet practice or something on Monday's?" He questioned and Gabriella fought her smile from widening. He actually remembered what her after-school activities were – or, at least, one of her after-school activities.
"I do," she said, "usually but it got cancelled."
"I'm really glad it did. Gives me the chance to see you again." Troy confessed but he didn't appear bashful by it. Gabriella, on the other hand, wasn't used to such compliments and her cheeks let off a furious, red glow. "How are you?"
"I'm good but how are you? I heard the shouting."
Troy scratched the back of his neck and he suddenly looked quite tired. "How could you not? Heather's loud enough to bring the whole house down. I'm fine though." Gabriella couldn't help it and her face held the expression to tell Troy that she didn't believe him. "A little worked up then. She can't talk to me now without yelling."
"Mind if I ask why?"
"I -er- I know that Heather and Sharpay are -um- not nice to you. I saw it first-hand, after all." Troy replied. He wasn't awkward but it was clear he was choosing his words carefully as if he were worried Gabriella would become offended. "I basically told them to lay off you. Needless to say, Heather thinks I'm taking sides but she's just being immature."
"You...You stuck up for me?" Gabriella breathed out.
"Y-Yeah, I guess you could say that." Troy replied but there was a tone of worry in his voice. This was probably down to Gabriella. Her expression and voice hadn't given him much indication in whether she was grateful or angry about him stepping in. However, when Gabriella flung her arms round Troy's neck, he had his answer.
Stepping back, Gabriella said, "apart from Taylor, no one has ever done that for me before."
"At the risk of sounding like a L'oréal advert, you're worth it."
Gabriella bit her lip. She didn't want to laugh in case anyone heard but she found it rather hard as Troy was grinning widely himself. If it weren't for a bang in Heather's room, Gabriella suspected they would have been standing smiling at each other for quite a long time. Instead, they parted ways, Gabriella completely forgot about the bathroom and headed back to Kelsi's room while Troy walked into his own room.
When Gabriella reached Kelsi's door, she couldn't help but take a peak to her left and, sure enough, Troy was waiting for this glance. He smiled and then winked before closing the door behind him leaving Gabriella smiling insanely. Pulling herself together, although it was very hard to put on a straight face, Gabriella re-entered Kelsi's room.
Saturday trudged along and Gabriella couldn't have given it a bigger welcome. The rest of her week had been horrid. Teachers had piled on the homework and, although this wasn't a massive issue for Gabriella, it was becoming harder to complete it for the deadline whilst continuing with her extra activities; Heather and Sharpay were no longer speaking to her but Gabriella didn't know what was worse, them making snide remarks or constantly glaring at her with a look that was like a death warning and, finally, her Geography lessons with Ryan were becoming more and more awkward.
Gabriella had even noticed that Ryan was rather arrogant in those last, few days. He kept bugging Gabriella to tell him why she didn't want to date him and then preceded to list off all his best qualities. It was quite unbearable. Couldn't he understand that she just didn't want to date him? Who did he think he was? A God? It started to become a habit for Gabriella to leave Geography with a throbbing headache and a rising temper although the moment she was away from Ryan it seemed to cease immediately.
But Gabriella didn't need to worry about any of that for it was Saturday and she had two whole days before she needed to face East High again...That would be quite true if it were a normal Saturday but Gabriella had forgotten that this Saturday was the school carnival and that only meant two things for the brunette. Kissing booth and Taylor McKessie.
The moment Gabriella stepped foot on East High ground, Taylor had already bombarded her with duties. It was times like these when Gabriella actually wanted to stay clear of her best friend. It was a well known fact among the Scholastic Decathlon group that Taylor went on a rampage before any Decathlon duty and the carnival was clearly no exception. Therefore, Gabriella found herself struggling to put up the pink sign (that had red wonky hearts and what Gabriella assumed to be a pair of lips painted on) above the stall.
"Kissing booth?" A voice took Gabriella by surprise and she wobbled on the ladder. A hand came to rest on her lower back to steady her and she looked around to see Troy smiling at her with amusement. "You alright?" Gabriella nodded and clumsily pinned the sign up so she could turn to Troy. "So, you're doing a kissing booth stall?"
"Yeah." Gabriella nodded again. "Not just me though, the whole Scholastic Decathlon are a part of this."
"So, you're all getting to give kisses?"
"Er-" Gabriella stuttered nervously. "Actually, there's only four of us doing it."
"Are you?"
"Um – yeah, I am. My name got pulled out of the hat so I have to take a shift."
"Well then, I'll make sure to get a ticket when it's your shift."
Gabriella blushed and replied, "how will you know when it's my shift?"
"I'm actually covering a stall here." Troy replied. "In fact, it just so happens to be the stall right over there." He pointed across the small open space to a basketball stall that was just opposite the Scholastic Decathlon's stall. Troy's stall was quite large as it had three basketball hoops spread out. "My Dad is still basketball coach here so he asked for my help."
"And as the perfect son you are, you obliged?" Gabriella smiled.
"Exactly!" Troy exclaimed.
"Gabriella!" Taylor stormed over, her red clipboard in hand. "That," she pointed at the wonky sign, "is not straight."
"Oh, I know." Gabriella put on her best apologetic voice. "I was just taking a break." That had clearly been the wrong thing to say and she could see Taylor's cheeks glow a pinkish colour as her temper rose. "Well, not taking a break." Gabriella stumbled over her words. "Um- I was just- um-"
"She was just asking me what I thought of the sign." Troy interrupted and Taylor's dark eyes snapped towards him.
"Yes. That was exactly what I was, um, doing." Gabriella vigorously nodded her head.
"It doesn't explain why it is slanted and why you're not on the ladder fixing it." Taylor growled in response.
"I was only asking Troy's opinion on how he thinks it should be." Gabriella hastily replied. "I was stepping back to see, um, where the sign would, er, look best." This time, Troy was nodding his head and the couple found themselves in silence whilst Taylor looked them up and down wondering whether she should believe their story or not.
It appeared that she did, or maybe she couldn't be bothered to disagree (however, that was very unlike Taylor and so Gabriella settled on the former idea), "well then, you better decide quickly because we don't have much time left and there are still so many signs to put up and tickets to sort out." And then, with a swish of her hair, Taylor had left.
"Who was that?" Troy asked incredulously as he stared after Taylor.
"Taylor McKessie." Gabriella replied. "Captain of the Scholastic Decathlon, complete maniac and my best friend."
"That is your best friend?"
Gabriella smiled. "She's not always like that." She stepped back up the ladder to resume her work. "Only when there's fund raising to do. We're not like the other clubs at school, we actually make our own money."
"Why?" Troy asked. "The Scholastic Decathlon is one of the clubs the school has always funded."
"It was funded but it stopped a year ago before Taylor was captain. We were freshman then and we were losing horrendously to everyone. It was back when Katie Harper was captain." Gabriella casually explained as she fiddled with the sign. "The principal said he'd cut the funding if we couldn't win any games. Harper basically got the blame for all our losses which wasn't right but, to be fair, she didn't do anything. She forgot to attend the meetings and even some of the actual events themselves. We looked embarrassing without our captain and we pretty much became a joke to the surrounding schools. Katie thought he was bluffing and the got the real shock of a lifetime when he actually did cut the funding."
"But, Mr. Matsui loves the Scholastic Decathlon."
"Not when we were on such a humiliating losing streak, he doesn't." Gabriella responded. "After that, it was unanimous that Katie was no longer our captain. She said if she wasn't captain then she wasn't on the team. I don't know if she thought we'd suddenly change our minds but either way, she left the squad and we voted Taylor to take the position. Since then, Taylor has been determined to make us an independent club, despite Mr. Matsui offering to fund us again."
"Crazy." Troy muttered. "Absolutely crazy."
"I prefer the word passionate." Gabriella said and she stepped back down the ladder. "Is that straight?"
"Pretty much."
"Yeah, I didn't think it was." Gabriella climbed the ladder once more to fix the minor adjustment. Pretty much simply wouldn't suffice in Taylor's eyes. "So, are you here all day or only for a few hours?" Gabriella curiously asked and she put on a good show of looking as if she were more interested in the sign than Troy's answer.
"All day." Troy answered.
"Are you doing it by yourself?"
"No." Troy replied. "Ryan's coming later."
Troy looked up and squinted at the sun, unaware that Gabriella had frozen on the ladder with the sign hanging limply. There was no getting away from Ryan, was there? Gabriella fought the urge to groan, Troy had not been informed about Ryan's feelings for her. Neither Gabriella or Ryan were willing to let him in on that secret.
"You alright, Gabriella?" Troy curiously asked as he realised she had become suddenly still.
"Oh -er-" Gabriella shook her head to clear her thoughts and turned her head to face Troy with a smile. "Yeah, yeah I'm fine."
Troy looked unconvinced but he didn't press her on the subject. Instead, he offered to put the sign up for Gabriella if she gave him the direction so they had switched places and a fast five minutes later they had gotten the sign sitting perfectly straight on top of the stall. Afterwards, Troy and Gabriella said a quick goodbye and went their separate ways since Taylor needed Gabriella's help with tickets and Troy hadn't sorted his stall out at all.
A hour later and people were slowly creeping their way into the fields to look at the different games and rides. Gabriella noticed that Michelle and Chris hadn't had to kiss anyone yet and she now wished she had taken the first shift. They sat almost back-to-back so girls would queue on one side for Chris and the boys would queue on the other for Michelle. But she hadn't wanted to do the first shift for the fact it would be the first. She really regretted that now.
And she regretted it even more when it actually came to her shift. Not only had the carnival dramatically increased in the number of people that had shown up but Ryan had also arrived and was constantly sending glances in Gabriella's direction. Gabriella nervously gulped as Taylor beckoned her to switch with Michelle. Paul had already taken Chris' place and Gabriella noticed several girls had looked extremely disappointed. It appeared Chris had found himself some fans.
Gabriella stumbled forward suddenly and looking round she saw Taylor with one hand on her hip whilst the other still held tightly onto the clipboard. Taylor clearly had become impatient and Michelle had already left her seat which meant there was a long line of boys irritably waiting with anticipation. Gabriella slowly made her way to the seat and a chubby boy of about twelve or thirteen bounded up eagerly. Gabriella begun to wonder if this was actually legal but before she could think anymore the boy had handed Gabriella a ticket which she put in the basket next to her before bracing herself for the kiss.
It was quick peck on the lips and then onto the next one. It wasn't too bad but the thought of contracting glandular fever was in the forefront of Gabriella's mind. Thankfully, she hardly recognised anyone from school but there were a few people who she had seen in the hallways. Surprisingly, quite a few members of the football team had bought a ticket and a couple of members of the basketball team didn't only buy one but two or three.
At one point, a boy of, what Gabriella would guess at, eleven had strutted up to Gabriella (his friends giggling and pointing behind him) grabbed Gabriella by the face and planted a great big kiss on her lips which he tried to make last longer than necessary but Gabriella quickly pushed him away. It just so happened that she looked to her left and caught eye contact with Troy who was trying to contain his laughter. Gabriella glared but even from a distance his smile was contagious and she had to fight off the laughter that threatened to spill out of her mouth.
She was so busy glancing at Troy that she didn't realise that he was alone at the stall and the next person in the line was Ryan who was nervously waiting with his ticket in his sweaty palms. The moment Gabriella saw him, she thought she might just turn and run but he had already stepped up towards her and his face was nearing hers. Like the eleven year old, Ryan had tried to kiss Gabriella for longer than was required but Gabriella managed to pull away and turn her face. Gabriella thought that Ryan was extremely lucky as he was really not in her good books and she could have easily kicked him there and then.
Gabriella didn't lift her head even though Ryan seemed to be waiting around for her to do so and he finally walked away with a look of disappointment and annoyance. A little while longer and Gabriella was finally finished. Taylor had stopped selling tickets and when the last person walked away, Gabriella let out a sigh of relief.
"See, that wasn't so bad." Taylor told her.
"Speak for yourself." Gabriella replied. "I could easily have caught glandular fever."
"Stop being melodramatic." Taylor rolled her eyes.
"I'm not being melodramatic, I'm concerned about my health."
"You're being melodramatic."
"You say potayto, I say potarto." Gabriella giggled.
"Why would you say potarto?" Taylor smiled and quickly said a goodbye whilst sending Gabriella a small wink which went unnoticed by Troy. Turning to face Troy, he had an amused look with one eyebrow raised. Even when he wasn't trying he never failed to look handsome. "So, Sweetheart, you looked pretty cute up there, kissing all those eight-year olds."
"They were not eight!" Gabriella argued and playfully glared.
"And my cousin even had a little cheeky peck. I would have said he was trying to get in there." Gabriella nervously laughed and thought you don't know the half of it. "Do you think you can kiss one more lonely guy or are you all kissed out?"
Gabriella blushed. "...That depends."
"On..."
"Who wants to be kissed."
Troy immediately smiled broadly and he could see the twinkle in Gabriella's eyes; she was teasing him. Hastily, Troy looked from left to right checking that no one was looking in their direction before he grabbed Gabriella's hand and led her behind the kissing booth; no one would be able to see them directly and there was next to no chance of being caught. It was an enclosed area (just enough room for two) and Gabriella almost shivered with Troy's body being pressed up against hers.
Tenderly, Troy moved the stray hairs out of Gabriella's face and he tucked them behind her ear; he slowly leant in and kissed her cheek softly before lowering his lips onto hers. It began gently with Troy's lips tenderly pressing against Gabriella's in an affectionate, unrushed kiss. It made Gabriella's heart flutter and she felt she needed to pinch herself to make sure this was real but Troy made sure she knew he really was kissing her when he lifted his hand her cheek and his lips pressed down a little harder.
In all honesty, it wasn't a kiss that would be considered as hot and heavy. It wasn't one that would be called fiery or feisty. It wasn't one where they were suddenly desperate to rip each other's clothes off and do the deed right there and then like one would see in a film and it wasn't one where they would be left literally breathless but dear God it meant something to Troy and Gabriella. It was special to them and it was sweet and sincere and just how their first kiss should be.
It was a kiss that made Gabriella's insides melt and to pull away from him would surely be a sin. He knew exactly what he was doing and he was careful with her, as if she were precious and fragile; he cared about her. He let their tongues intertwine slowly and he didn't suddenly force it upon her but it did suddenly open a cage full of emotions and Gabriella really didn't want to let go and she found herself thinking, this is what a kiss should feel like.
When Gabriella did finally tear her lips away from Troy's, they couldn't stop smiling and Gabriella was profusely blushing (although Troy appeared to be smiling even more from this). Gabriella found herself in a half romantic, half awkward moment; what does one say after they've had a kiss like that, Thanks? But Troy had other ideas (a better one in Gabriella's opinion) and he leant in again. His lips were inches away from Gabriella's when the sound of a cough interrupted them.
"Really sorry," Taylor said and she really did appear apologetic, "but could you spare Gabby for a moment?"
"Of course." Troy nervously scratched the back of his neck. "Actually, I should probably start taking down my stall. Can't leave it all to everyone else." Turning to Gabriella, he added with a smile and his fingers brushed against her arm, "I'll see you later." Gabriella could only nod, her smile was much to big to say anything.
Gabriella watched Troy disappear back to his stall before she rounded on Taylor, "why did you have to talk to me now? Couldn't you have waited a few moments?"
"I just saved you, that's why." Taylor replied.
"What are you talking about?"
"Ryan came up to me and was started asking about where you were." Taylor explained and Gabriella's eyes widened a little. "I didn't think I should lead him to where you really were, with his cousin,might I add, so I sent him off in another direction but came to get you just in case."
Gabriella blinked before saying, "have I ever told you that you are the most wonderful person on this planet?"
"You don't say it enough, I can assure you."
"I promise to start saying it everyday!" Gabriella exclaimed.
"I look forward to it but enough about me, I want to hear all about that kiss back there."
Gabriella had been on a high when she returned home. Although she had never wanted to do the kissing booth in the first place it hadn't been as bad as she had imagined it to be and, of course, Troy had certainly improved her mood. Even when she was just thinking back to their kiss, a smile reached her eyes. However, her mood was dampened the moment she entered her house.
"Gabriella!" Her mother called her from a different room and Gabriella could hear the tone; it was stern and disapproving. "Could you come in here for a moment?" Gabriella never liked it when she heard this tone. It meant she had done something wrong (at least, wrong in the eyes of her parents).
Gabriella took her coat off hastily in a bid not to keep her mother waiting; this would surely make things worse. Nervously, Gabriella walked into the dining room in which her mother was already seated at the top of the table. Her face said it all; Gabriella had done something that was not acceptable. However, Gabriella was at a loss of what it could be.
"Sit down." Her mother commanded and Gabriella did so like the obedient child she was. "Right. Well, do you have anything you need to tell me?" Gabriella hesitated. No, I don't, she thought but she decided to ponder in case there was something her mother would have wanted to know. There wasn't, however, so Gabriella shook her head. "No? Well, I disagree." Christine paused and Gabriella supposed that she expected Gabriella to fill that silence. Finally, Christine slammed a paper onto the table. "You got an eighty-two per cent in your Maths exam."
"It's an eighty-three," Gabriella quietly corrected, "he wrote the wrong mark down first of all."
"Gabriella, an eighty-three is still not good enough." Christine complained.
"I'm sorry." Gabriella bit her lip. "I know it's not as high as my other marks but it's just not my favourite chapter of Maths."
"Then do you not think that meant you should have worked harder on it? You should have revised much more if you knew this would be a harder exam." Caroline argued stiffly. "Do you not want to get into a good university? Because you will not, you know, if this is what you continue to achieve!"
"I know, Mother, I just-"
"It really is not acceptable if your marks are continuously like this, Gabriella, it really isn't."
"It's still an eighty-"
"Now, you need to work much harder than this, Gabriella. You really do. You need to do better than this. Do you understand?"
Gabriella looked down at her feet. "Yes."
"Good. Now, you better get to your room and study hard. Louisa will get you for dinner." Christine ordered. "Until then, I do not want to hear a peep from you. You will do better than this next time otherwise you will not be going to Stanford or Harvard. You'll be going to University of Albuquerque because no where else will take you with those marks."
Gabriella and Christine both knew that eighty-three was a good score but it just was not good enough for Christine and Gabriella was certain it would not be good enough for her father either. If Gabriella wasn't the best then she was nothing. But, Gabriella did as she was told despite her insides squirming with anger and she went up to her room, took her books out and began to study even though the carnival had taken quite a bit of energy out of her. It wasn't long before Louisa knocked on Gabriella's room but she had brought in a tray of food for Gabriella which had not been expected.
Christine had said that Gabriella should study whilst eating in order not to miss any reading. Gabriella felt like tearing her book up and throwing it over her mother; now Gabriella was nearing the end of her school career, her parents were pushing her harder and harder. Why couldn't they just lay off sometimes? They didn't really care if Gabriella got into a good school because of Gabriella's future but because it would look good on their part. Their reputation was what mattered as it did in every situation.
Well, Gabriella rebelled the best way that she could and ate her food on her bed not even glancing at her school books. Besides, studying for so long without a break was not the way to study properly and Gabriella did not feel as if she had learned anything at all. I knew it would be counter productive, she said to herself bitterly. Her mother had put her in such a bad mood in fact that she had almost forgotten about her kiss with Troy. But that was suddenly brought back to the forefront of her mind when her mobile began to light up on her desk. It buzzed incessantly and Gabriella hurried over only to give a smile broadly.
"Hello, Sweetheart...I missed you."
girlwithbrowneyes:
Hello! First off, I need to give you all a huge apology for the delay in this chapter and to make matters worse, it didn't have to be this way. Unfortunately, my computer was hijacked by a nasty virus and was completely broken so I took it to the repair place and they said that it would be 28 days maximum before I got it back. Well, it's been over 2 months now and I've just got it back. But that is not the worst bit, the repair shop actually had my laptop 10 DAYS after I'd given to them. It was brand spanking new and working again but they just didn't tell me! Not a happy customer.
Well, here it is and I'm very happy to start writing again. Thanks for all your reviews, they make me as high as a kite! :)
Thank you to Bluebell140, pumpkingkin5, ilovesmiles, yogaluva, dancedivaw1309, SimpleThings, kristenkay0606, Fairyvixenmaiden, XHymxforeverx, lovinzacefron93, icebaby26 and ZanessaFamCam! Lots of love goes out to you all!
Hugs and Kisses,
Olivia
Disclaimer: I do not have any affiliation with the Disney/HSM franchise nor do I own any of the recognised characters; only the plot and my imagination.