"She's so high, high above me, she's so lovely."

-FASTBALL

Gabriella's Mind-

Life used to be such a piece of cake for me.

Seriously – once feelings get involved, everything becomes complicated.

And me, I just happen to be a closet-hopeless romantic….

(I didn't just tell you that though. So pretend you didn't read this.)

I couldn't help myself though. I was in love. Again. And I was trying my hardest to forget about it, to dispatch it from my mind.

I spent most of my Monday avoiding Troy. He knew this too. He ended up tracking me down and attempting to force an explanation out of me.

I can't deny the fact that it sincerely broke my heart to see the look that appeared across his face when I told him I was wrong about him. Personally, I thought I could get through it – I thought I wouldn't fall for him, that it could be just for play and maybe mean nothing. That's what I'm used to, anyways.

I was mistaken. I couldn't deny him. He always looked at me in a way I can't describe. It was beautiful – breathtaking. It sucked the life out of me and I knew I couldn't keep control when he was looking at me in that way. It wasn't good for me. It wasn't healthy. I wouldn't let myself break again. I remembered the feeling so well and it wasn't a good one.

Some of it was good, I guess. The part I couldn't stand was how I'd start relying on him. It's like I couldn't live without knowing he feels the same way. That's the worst part. And the letting go of it. What if it didn't work out between us? What if something tore us apart? I'd live with not one scar, but two. He surely had fixed me, and I definitely felt whole again… but once he smashed up the pieces, I'd not only be left with the scar he gave me, but the scar that he fixed that I received from Jason.

I didn't want trouble. I didn't want complication. I wanted to live without these necessities, these wants and desires. I was perfectly fine without him, I convinced myself as I laid on my bed, watching a storm approach Albuquerque's sky. It never rained in the desert. Ever since I moved here, it seemed to be a common thing.

I must have brought some bad luck, or something.

Thunder roared from the sky. I've never been a fan of storms, either. I had very little weaknesses, (one being a cute boy with beautiful blue eyes and the heart of an angel), so it was strange for me to have a small fear of storms.

Had a bear approached me, I wouldn't even fret. If I seen a ghost, I'd probably try and have an actual conversation with it, because that would be so fucking tight. Usually being scared is an adrenaline rush for me. I enjoy it. But when I actually despise a fear, then well, I really despise it.

Rain started pouring from the sky, as lightning flared into its grayness. It was almost terrifying, just looking out the window. It wasn't dark yet, just breaching on five o'clock. I held onto my knees protectively, lost in my thoughts on love.

I really wanted to erase the giddy feelings from my mind. If only there was a pill you could take that would free you of any strong feelings. Or erase memories. What I needed was hypnotism, or something. I needed to be disengaged from theses heart strings. They were driving me insane. Once I fell, I was dead in the water, and there was no swimming in the tough current.

As I continued to be preoccupied in these thoughts, I hardly noticed the sound of rocks being thrown up, hitting my window. It took me a moment to knock out of my daydreams. For a second, I thought I was dreaming, maybe having a nightmare and I didn't realize I was asleep. Maybe it was a hail storm or something.

I opened the sliding door to my balcony, ignoring the strong rain that fell on me, soaking me in its coldness. I was shivering as I noticed a tall figure below my balcony. He looked familiar – drenched dark hair and somber blue eyes looking up at me. It was none other than Troy Bolton. His hair was clinging to his face, which was wet from the rain. His clothes – a dark black t-shirt and straight legged jeans, seemed to stick to him, also drenched from the rain. Overall, he defined beauty, as usual, and I could easily feel him stealing oxygen from me as he continued to look up at me.

"What are you doing?" I yelled, thankful that my parents went out to eat to celebrate their 20th Anniversary, or something. I'm sure this was an odd picture, but Troy didn't move from where he was standing.

In response to my question, he propped himself up on a tree, climbing up a branch that lead directly to my balcony. It wasn't long before he was standing in front of me, a rather serious look on his face – his lips in a straight, firm line. "Gabriella, we need to talk."

The wind howled as the rain continued to spray down, feeling like rocks against my skin. He had to of been insane.

"If you haven't noticed, it's raining." I informed him in a shouting voice. My hair was now stringy and disgusting from the rain. I winced at the thought of what my eye makeup must have looked like.

"I don't care," He really didn't seem to mind. I didn't really have the room to think. He already had crashed his wet, golden lips onto my own, taking me by surprise as I stumbled back, my back running straight into the sliding door.

I was losing myself in his kiss as always before I found some self control and pushed him off of me, glaring at him with all I had left, "What the fuck, Troy?!"

"Gabriella, please," He was pleading with ocean-blue eyes and I couldn't help but trace the rain that fell down from his forehead to his chin. It was a fairytale that was for sure. But I couldn't buy into it.

"Please what? Didn't you hear what I said today? I don't want this. Don't do this." I was still screaming over the rain, and it's a wonder why we didn't just go into my room.

"I think you do," He bit down his bottom lip with so much pressure, I'm shocked it didn't bleed. Our noses were practically touching and I couldn't breathe correctly. "Gabriella, I'm in love with you." His eyes were electric in the rain and I couldn't concentrate on anything but their beauty. I was losing my control and I hated every part of what he was saying – mostly because I felt the same exact way.

I found myself surrendering as his lips were on my own again. My heart was slamming against my chest. I was so very desperate for him. I was longing for him. His body was now pressed against mine as I found myself backing into my room, ignoring the voices in my head telling me not to. My heart was on full command. Everything it wanted had to be done. I couldn't back down now.

Our tongues found each other, as usual, circling around each other's mouths, hungry for the next step. And it wasn't long before he had me on my bed, trailing kisses from nose to my neck. I couldn't do it anymore. I couldn't fight off my obsession anymore. I quickly stripped off my clothes, and yanked off his shirt. We were both soaked, but it didn't matter. Nothing mattered. The heat was impossible.

He was closing in on me, and I could feel his erection before he even undid his pants. The passion was so heavy I nearly fainted from breathing so heavily. And then he revealed his Calvin Klein's and I knew I wasn't going to be able to deny him. I wanted him – all of him. And nothing else mattered. I was in love with him. And I wanted to be as close to him as humanly possible… which meant…

"Gabriella," He was panting, and I could feel his heartbeat from where he was. My own was uncontrollable.

"Yes," I didn't care about my head, or what it was shouting at me. The way he unzipped his pants and continued planting kisses all over me… it was driving me mad.

And hungrily, violently, he drove himself inside of me. Not remembering the last time I felt such passion, I found myself sighing and moaning, like nothing could be so great. It was the ultimate. I felt his cheek against my shoulder as he continued pulling himself further inside of me. Thrusting. Oh God, it was beautiful.

"You're so… beautiful…" I whispered, not entirely sure of what I was saying. He was sweating from the amounts of strength and heat he was feeling. He was so powerful, so mature, as if he had done this thousands of times before… when he really hadn't, when he was actually as green as could be. It suddenly dawned on me that I was his first. This was his first.

"Tell me you're in love with me, too, Gabriella," He begged, desperate to hear the wonderful response. And he continued panting. Thrusting. I had lost myself entirely in him. I was consumed in his magic. Nothing could stop this.

"I'm so in love with you that it makes me hate you all the same," I muttered, disgusted by my own loss of power, my own weakness. He was my weakness. I was a fool for him entirely. He had me wrapped around his finger.

It was unhealthy the effect he had on me. It was almost more than what I'm used to. I couldn't do anything but let him finish. He had to finish. And when I came to my own climax, I could be nothing less of satisfied. He was… amazing – in every aspect. I couldn't shake the pictures of us in my head. They continued dancing around my mind and I found myself falling even further in love with him.

When we finished, I lied next to him, just watching him. The thunder continued roaring outside, the lightning clashing against the sky. His eyes remained on me. I couldn't stop panting from the exhausting activity. And the movie kept playing, over and over again.

"I didn't want to become this girl again," I whispered to him, tracing my fingers down his eyes, his lips, and his perfect face I just kind of wanted to memorize over and over again until it was implanted in my memories forever.

He didn't say anything, just remained silent as he moved closer to me again, his rather sweaty lips against my own. It felt so right though – so complete that it made me feel anxious, and my insides trembled. It wasn't something a person could get used to. And even when I had been around him before, I never felt this aroused, this overjoyed. It was almost ridiculous and I cursed myself for being so vulnerable. I was the one who was supposed to be in control, not the one falling all over the place like a small girl.

The sky was now black, a complete eclipse. Everything seemed kind of meaningless though, besides the boy lying next to me. The world faded away easily when I was lying there, lost in his kiss against. I wanted to do it all over again and I found it rather pathetic that I was that desperate. Still.

And then I heard a door slam downstairs.

Shit.

My parents were home.

Troy and I departed quickly and he gave me a look that proved altogether he was terrified of my parents and what they would think if they caught us in bed together.

Before I knew it, I was kicking him out, practically kicking his ass out onto my balcony. He seemed kind of aggravated that I was so forcefully getting rid of him but I didn't give a shit. My parents were already pissed off at me for being a little bitch all the time. They didn't need to see how slutty I was too.

"This isn't a onetime thing," He practically told me. I'm sure it wasn't. I was so involved that no matter how hard I'd try, I couldn't back away. His lips were on my own again and I could feel he still wanted more, as did I.

I cut the kiss off quick, "Troy, you have to go home – my parents are going to be pissed if they find you here. Look, come later tonight." The invitation was rather seductive as I found myself breathing heavily in his neck. "Midnight,"

"Midnight? Gabriella are you crazy—"

"Shut up, I love you," I swallowed the lump in my throat that appeared after I said those gigantic, meaningful words. Troy didn't complain as I kissed him on the cheek and then on the lips one final time before leaving him out on my balcony.

I slammed the sliding door as I heard footsteps on the stairs. Fuck.

I heard something hit the ground extremely loud as the footsteps continued. I sprinted to the balcony and realized it was just clumsy-ass Troy Bolton, who of course, fell off the branch he used to climb up. He was on his ass, looking as embarrassed as can be, face red and all. I found myself laughing mockingly as he ran back to his house, the redness never leaving his face.

"Gabriella?" It was my mother's voice and I mumbled a few profanities underneath my breath in response. As we all know, I couldn't stand my parents and it was a nightmare for them to even attempt to have a civilized conversation with me. It wasn't going to be civilized at all – it was going to be a lecture of some sort.

Mama Teresa didn't have much to say. She tried to have a civilized conversation, surprisingly. That didn't work out so well. I really just bitched her out when she tried to ask me what the hell I was doing all night. So badly I wanted to tell her I was fucking the daylights out of McSexy, but I decided against it.

(Yes, I did just say McSexy. Damn Grey's Anatomy has got me saying 'Mc' before everything. Ugh.)

Yeah, I'm not going to call Troy that ever again. It just doesn't add up to me. He's just the sex. Does that make any sense? He's literally sex. Sex. When I told myself he would be hot in bed, I didn't lie. That's pretty fucked up considering the fact that it was an assumption. And I never really wanted to do it with him because I knew I would care too much.

Obviously I did. I was inviting him back for a rematch. Fuck.

I never did rematches, unless it was an actual boyfriend.

Troy was not my boyfriend. I knew that much. But it wouldn't be long before he would want that title. And that was the hard part. I didn't usually do boyfriends. I only had one my entire life and he wasn't the greatest, if you haven't noticed. But I'm starting to believe it was just because of his name. Any man named Jason is a monster no matter which way you put it. Plus, I noticed his middle name was 'Gabriel'. Secretly, he wasn't the good angel. Instead he was the evil one.

That's even more fucked up though. Why would you name your son after an angel if he's anything but an angel? He's like the damn Grim Reaper with the way he rips out girl's hearts and acts like he gives a shit. Truthfully he doesn't though. He just likes to lie until he has a bottle up his ass. Then he tells the truth about the bottle. What the fuck?

Alright, I'm done ranting about bottles.

But seriously, I had to break up with him. If your boyfriend was saying he could stick a bottle up his ass, you'd be kind of petrified also. That's just wrong… on so many levels. The sad part was I stuck up for him for about 2 years and said it was just a joke. Then he treated me like shit. WHAT AN ASSHOLE!

Now he's probably on the curb snorting cocaine or something with one of those ghetto girls that talk all ghetto and live in the ghetto. (I do not kid you.)

In short, he's probably fucking ghetto.

What kind of smart ass made up the word ghetto anyways? It reminds me of a gecko. Like what does ghetto and gecko have in common? That's what I'd like to know. Or maybe I myself have been smoking too many blunts. HA.

Btw, I really need to get Troy to loosen up when it comes to that. He's really scared of marijuana and cigarettes and it's starting to piss me off. Really, we're all going to die anyways, why not speed up the process?

Okay, so I waited up until about midnight because I'm that fucking obsessed or something. (I'm not usually the girl that waits for guys… ugh.) It did surprise me though when the rain finally stopped and Troy Bolton was found hiking up the tree branch that he so gracefully fell down earlier to get up to my balcony.

I smirked.

Rematch time, indeed.

And then there he was, all ready and stuff. So I took advantage of him again and it wasn't long before we were fucking full speed, doggy style. It was almost as if he went home and read a book about sex and practiced and got better. Wait, that's possible isn't it? No. He'd have to be fucking another girl. Or… ugh, I don't even want to think about any other possibilities… with all those weird-ass sex toys they have out there, the thought scares the shit out of me.

By the time we finished, we were both so wore out. Plus, it was around two in the morning. That's two hours of straight-up sex. And we had school in the morning. I almost considered skipping.

I ignored the idea of kicking him out and just lay beside him again, both of us staring up at the ceiling in awe of the amazing chemistry we shared.

"You should just stay the night." I suggested, not looking back at him.

"I can't, tomorrow's school, remember?" he sounded… well, surprisingly agitated that we had school tomorrow. And here I thought he was Mr. Academic Honors.

"What the--- are you actually upset that we have to go to school tomorrow? Shit, Bolton, you really have mellowed."

Troy rolled his eyes. "I never said I liked school."

"You should if you have a brain like that. Fuck, I would be like making every else feel stupid. It would be awesome, especially Zeke, I'd really piss him off."

He almost chuckled, almost.

"I'm serious though, Gabriella – I have to get home." He sounded kind of worried as he looked over at me. "I can't believe I actually snuck over here at this time of night."

"Oh, don't go all remorseful now. You know you wanted to. And like I said, you should just stay, and we could skip school, or something."

At this statement, blue eyes became bigger than usual, "You've got to be kidding!"

"Do I look kidding?" I was very serious. "You need to take a shit sometime, Troy. Like I said before, I don't know, one million times. Is it so bad if you break your perfect record?"

"Yeah, because my dad will kill me…."

"My parents won't notice, and then we could sneak out during the day and get really high. I think it's what you need." I grinned, cheekily.

His eyes got even wider. Oh how I love making him squirm. "Gabriella?"

"Troy, we're never going to work out if you continue judging the things that I do. I'm telling you, you need to take the edge off. Smart guys do it all the time. How the hell are you ever going to keep my heart if you can't even enjoy Mari Jane with me?"

Troy bit down on his bottom lip, his eyes never leaving mine. I could tell the idea terrified him and almost made him piss his pants, but for some reason, I found myself practically threatening him. "If you don't, I may just never talk to you again."

"You can't do that…" He looked crestfallen at the idea.

"I told you, we're from two different worlds. You may not belong in mine if you can't learn to accept the things that I do. So I'm telling you, if you want to make it work, you'll take the day off with me. Just this once…. You won't get in trouble."

"No, this is stupid, Gabriella," And with a huff, he got up, revealing his naked body, and stripped back on his boxer briefs, his pants and shirt, which were now sticking to him because they were wet. The clock read three o'clock now and I could see the nervousness he was feeling.

I rolled my eyes realizing he wasn't going to give in so easily. I copied his motions, throwing on my own clothes and stalking him to the balcony. Before he could jump off and fall on his ass like before, I stood in his way.

"Troy." I put on my ever-so-famous smirk and pushed him into the wall, kissing him on his neck – his weakest point. "Come on. Stay with me." I grasped the rim of his pants, licking the bottom of my lip seductively.

He couldn't control himself whatsoever… especially when I ran my hand around his 'area'. I could tell he was getting aroused at just that. It wasn't long before he was into a mad erection again. Lord, help the horny, yet beautiful adolescent.

And it didn't take much for him to have no choice but to agree.

It was then I knew he did love me… simply because Troy Bolton hated marijuana at all costs, but he was willing to skip school and smoke pot just to be with me all day.

END OF CHAPTER

A/N: Oh my god, I'm sorry it took me so long. I've been in severe writer's block forever. But guess what, I may get a book published! Some publishing companies agreed, so that's exciting. I guess my writing is pretty good. Hopefully you all enjoyed this chapter. I put my heart into it and FINALLY Troy's about to loosen up. And him high? Is anyone excited? Because I am… (What you do for the people you love, right?) Ahem. Well, leave your reviews. Let me know what you think. Btw, I love Gabriella's ranting. It makes my day. :P

-Whitney.