Chapter 4

He doesn't bite her mid-kiss.

Which is surprising, but good, Gabriella thinks.

He does, however, pull away immediately, shocked and gaping for words.

"Oh, shit," Jason whispers, voicing the thought running continuously through all the boys' heads.

It takes about two milliseconds for Troy to recognize her from the face-painting booth, except now she has dark drown hair, and notice that Sharpay is now striding towards the front doors of the school. He grows even more furious, fighting back the urge to forcefully shove the carnival girl to the ground as he wipes his mouth with the back of his hand.

Now how is he supposed to prove that he's faithful?

Gabriella hears the sweet sound of Giselle's Honda exiting the parking lot, a slight screech informing her that her plan had been executed well. Judging from the boys' pale faces, the results had turned out even better than she thought they would.

She takes a step back, her eyelashes fluttering softly as if they were delicate butterfly wings.

Troy then explodes, "What the hell was that?"

Gabriella regards him for a moment with innocent doe eyes. "A thank you for requesting my services last week. Oh, wait, that was him." She glances at Chad who's frozen in place, and giggles, "Oops."

His ears are ringing as he tries to form words in spite of his overwhelming anger and disbelief.

"Well, I guess you'll have to pass it on to him, then," chirps Gabriella. She rocks back and forth on her feet as she revels in the situation and how familiar it is, always taking delight in watching people trying to evaluate the problem, realizing its severity and then looking like they're about to either pass out or strangle her.

"Do you -- do you have any idea how -- oh, fuck it. I'll deal with you later." And in a flash, Troy is now running after the blonde, weaving through the crowd and dodging backpacks while hitting a few people with his own in the process. He almost trips trying to get up all of the front steps with a single leap, and the strap of his bag is snagged on the railing.

Gabriella pities him a bit, but it stops there, as remorse never enters her mind.

With only a few more minutes until the start of classes, the crowd moves as one large entity towards the school. She lets herself become swallowed up in it before one of the boy's friends could finish what he had postponed until later.

She walks up the steps with confidence, preparing to let the repercussions of one microscopic, impulsive kiss between her and an ordinary blue-eyed boy unravel.

-

Luckily, Sharpay frequently wears heals, so Troy is able to follow the clacking and locate her amongst their peers in the busy hallway. "Sharpay," he calls, "Wait!"

The skirt of her pink and white dress disappears around the corner. He hurries after it like a poor man chasing a dollar bill attached to a fishing line, knowing there is a chance he can grab it, but he probably won't get to keep it.

Troy continues to yell, "It's not what you think. I don't know her at all. She randomly chose me out of all the boys in the school to kiss!"

By this point, almost every head in the corridor has turned to watch the pursuit.

Sharpay finally decides to walk into a nook in the hall for the water fountains and waits for her ex-boyfriend to join her. "Troy," she says calmly, "It's okay. Don't -- "

"But," he pants, "Why'd you walk away?"

"I thought she was your girlfriend. You were having a moment, so I thought I'd leave you two alone and catch up with you another time."

"She's not!" he insists. "How could she have been my girlfriend? We -- "

"Broke up, Troy," Sharpay explains, enunciating her words clearly. "We're not together anymore."

"The whole thing with Emily -- it was a misunderstanding." His voice is desperate now, eyes begging her softly to reconsider.

"Whatever did or didn't happen between you and her doesn't matter anymore. Do I really have to tell you this again?"

"It mattered then! And it's affecting us now."

"Emily wasn't the only issue in our relationship."

"Then tell me what else there was!"

"Troy," she sighs. "Please."

"I think you're acting too fast, not giving us enough time to get over this bump."

"I think you have to move on from that glittery version of us you've got in your head that never existed in the first place." She regrets the sudden move she made to bluntly cut off all communication with him after their separation instead of letting it taper off, as she imagines a miserable Troy missing her all summer. She thought he'd be better off being forced away from her, and although he might be angry for a few days, he would eventually realise he didn't need her as much as he wanted to.

Troy can tell Sharpay's annoyed with him. He's never seen her so serious and straight-foreword before. A part of him starts to deflate, and there's too much pressure on his mind.

The bell rings shrilly, signalling the start of classes. She says, "Good-bye," and he, having little control over his mouth now, reflexively returns the farewell remark.

Sharpay struts off in one direction, and he knows he needs to head off in the other.

Defeated, he trudges to his locker, ignoring the fact that, all this time, his lips have never stopped tingling.

Troy didn't plan on tracking down his spontaneous kisser until lunch hour, but it seems fate has plopped her directly in his path. He leaves his first period class only to see the carnival girl emerge from the next room over, trotting away from him. No one but him notices a thin book the size of a calculator fall out of her arms. A frantic student whizzing by unwittingly treads on it.

He's about to walk past the novella, but hesitates, knowing he'd feel guilty if any more footprints were to mar an innocent book. So he submits to his conscience and picks it up. It's Animal Farm, by George Orwell, and he guesses she has to read it for class, which makes sense because he would have never pegged her as a read-for-pleasure type.

Troy runs up to the girl, their strides beginning to match. "You dropped your book," he monotonously informs her as he holds it out.

She grabs it from him. "Oh, I guess I did."

He feels a rush of indignation at her lack of appreciation for his laudable deed. Giving her a chance to excuse herself, he asks, "Hey, why did you kiss me this morning?"

She averts the question. "I don't think we've properly introduced ourselves." Her gait is nonchalant, and she shifts her books from one hand to the other. "My name's Gabriella Montez. What's yours?"

Impatient, he spits out his reply tersely, "I asked you why you kissed me."

Without warning, Gabriella barrels Troy into a lone sophomore, yet she'd been discreet enough to make it look like an accident. After hearing the boy shout, "Sorry, Troy!" she smiles at her luck, believing she has always been a magnet to good fortune. This Troy has to be quite popular for a random kid to know his name, Gabriella notes.

"I told you, Troy. It was meant for the other one."

He can practically see the lie slip through her teeth like a sliver of smoke. Any person would have been able to remember Chad's afro. "You caused a shitload of trouble for me, just so you know."

"Hmm, so the blonde from this morning, is she your girlfriend?"

"She might have been if you hadn't interrupted us."

"You had mutual feelings for each other then?" chirps Gabriella, adding a bounce to her step, almost skipping alongside him. "Interesting. I haven't received my slap yet. You know, like in the movies."

Troy grinds his teeth. "It's complicated."

"So what do you want from me?"

"Huh?"

"We could move on from this incident, but you had to go seek me out in your free time. Is it because earlier today you said you'd 'deal with me?' But, I mean, what are you going to do?" She feigns curiosity. "Would the golden boy really make the lonely new girl pay for a simple mistake?"

"Well, I -- " Troy's cut off by Gabriella's stumble after tipping over someone who'd bent down to tie their shoelace.

She casts him a withering glare, and snarls, "Hey, buddy, no one likes a roadblock."

He blinks at her inability to admit that it had been just as much her fault as it had been his. "Oh, wow, you don't know how to say sorry, do you?"

"What?"

"I went to go find you because something didn't sit right with me. It might have been an accident that you kissed me, but you didn't seem apologetic at all that it caused me trouble."

"Sorry." Gabriella swiftly runs her tongue across her lips, as if tasting this strange new word. "Are you happy now?"

"Something genuine would be nice," Troy comments.

"Beggars can't be choosers."

"I'm not begging, just telling you the right thing to do."

"Who are you to order me around?"

"I'm not. I'm only trying to help a lonely new girl make some friends around here."