Chapter Two - Start of Something New
Gabriella's Point of View
Troy Bolton. I thought to myself. His laugh was genuine and he was very handsome. He was tall with light brown hair that just tipped over his ears and sea blue eyes. He wore a pair of faded jeans, a white long sleeve shirt, and an unbutton gray shirt over top. He stuffed his hands in his front pockets and Nicole told me to show him what to do, before leaving the room.
"So, your volunteering for the summer, too?" I asked Troy, trying to make conversation. He seemed uncomfortable about the topic. He took his hand from his pocket and scratched the back of his neck, moving his weight on his right foot.
"More like forced." He shoot me a weak smile. I raised an eyebrow, but he went to the desk. "So, what am I suppose to do?"
I walked up beside him and looked at the papers. I had almost finished organizing the folders and was half way finished sorting the papers for tomorrows pick-up. I looked over at him.
"Well," I said, grabbing the papers and folders and handing them to him. "You can put these papers into these folders."
He nodded, then pulled up the chair from the photocopier and sat across from my chair at the desk. I watched him blankly, organizing them, without saying a word. I walked around the desk, putting my bag beside my chair, and started placing papers into the small basket. Troy's eyes slowly rolled over to me three times, within the five minutes we were there.
"How long have you been volunteering here?" He asked me. I looked up from my work and stared at him curiously.
"I just started today, actually." I returned to my work, not wanting to slack off, there were a lot of papers that needed to be ready for tomorrow. An awkward silence fell upon us.
"That's cool." Troy said, nodding to himself. I nodded slowly, trying to ignore him. I caught him, from the corner of my eye, staring at me. I looked up a little, just in time, to see him blush and look back to his work. I saw him trying to hide a smile, I smiled at him.
"What?" I asked, curious. He looked up, his dimples flashing.
"You seem like your really concentrating." He commented. My smile vanished from my face, I could feel my eyebrows pulling together. Troy's smile faded. "No. It's not a bad thing, it's just that .. " He trailed off.
"It's just that what?" I asked him. He looked back up to me.
"Well," He started. "You're only volunteering here. Most people, who volunteer, don't work as hard as you seem to be." He shrugged his shoulders. I stared at him.
"I'm not like most people." I continued to my work, trying not to get distracted.
Troy's Point of View
She didn't seem like most people, either. I watched as she continued sorting papers. She didn't look back up at all. I started putting the different papers into their proper folders. I glanced back up to Gabriella. Something about this girl was .. different, but in a good way. She must have just moved here, I'd never seen here at East High before. Maybe she went to West High? Ugh, that's just scary, but she didn't seem to act like the of kids from across town. Maybe she moved into the Donaldson's house a few blocks away? Or maybe she's that girl who got pregnant in ninth grade? No, she moved to Ohio.
I looked up at her, again. She was staring at two pieces of papers, almost unsure which was suppose to go into the basket. She let out a low sigh and put them off to the side. She continued looking through the papers and organized them into the basket. I tore my gaze from the beautiful brunette and tried to concentrate on the papers and folders in front of me.
It had only an hour since my mother dropped me off. Gabriella had finished sorting the papers into the basket and was now helping me with the folders. Our hands would touch sometimes, when we both reached in to grab a folder. She would blush and pull away, letting me take the folder on top. Her touch was warm and her skin was very soft. The blush got redder and redder beneath her dark skin each time our hands met.
When she finished four I finished two. I tried to quicken my pace and try to look like I'd done this before, but the paper would fall out of the folder and I would have to pick them up and stuff them back in, neatly. I wasn't very good when it came to office work. Gabriella would try to hide a smile whenever the papers fell to the ground, but when I picked them up she recovered herself and finished packing the folder with the right paper.
There was only one more folder left, Gabriella and I were both finishing a folder. I quickly put the folder to the side at the same time she did. She absentmindedly reached for the folder, I copied her movement and let our fingers touch. She blinked quickly and looked up at me. A smile tugged at her lips then she blushed a darker red and reach away. I smiled to her and pulled the folder in front of me. I stacked the last few papers and set them into of the folder, putting it to the side with the others.
Gabriella got to her feet and grabbed the folders she had stacked in her arms. Her stack, which was much bigger than mine, hardly fit in her arms. I got to my feet and reached over the desk.
"Here." I said, taking half of the folders from her arms. "I'll take these." She smile politely at me then started walking to the door. I took the folders I had done in my other hand and followed her.
"So," I said, trying not to drop them. "Where are we taking these?" I asked. Gabriella didn't turn around, she kept walking.
"Nicole told me they go in the mail room," She looked at the doors, until she found one that said mail room. She opened the door and let me walk in, closing it behind her. "Alright, so we have to put the right folders into the right mail box."
"And how do we know which one goes in which mail box?" I asked her. She picked up a folder and started looking at it, her eyebrows pulling together. She walked towards the different mail boxes and then looked back to the folder. She turned back to me and went beside her folders, looking at the top of them.
"Oh." She said, smiling to herself. "You see the name at the top of the folder?" She asked. I picked up one from my pile and looked at it.
"Charles?" I said. I looked back to her. "So, we just match them to the mail box?" I asked her. She smiled and nodded to me.
She took half her pile in her hand then walked up to the boxes, looking for the names. I copied her, grabbing half the folders and looking for 'Charles'. When I found it I placed it inside and looked for the next one. I had finished my half and looked over to Gabriella. She silently put them into each box, her eyebrows pulling together when she couldn't find it. She tried looking at the top shelf and finally found it. She reached on her tip toes to put it inside the box, but she wasn't tall enough. She tried giving a little jump, but she still couldn't reach. I smiled to myself.
"Need help?" I asked, coming behind her. She shook her head.
"No," She said, struggling. "I got it." I took the folder from her small hands and slid it into the box with ease. She turned to me and gave and small smile, she obviously wished she could have done it herself. "Thanks."
She walked passed me and took another folder from her pile. I finished with mine easily, and started helping Gabriella's with hers. She asked me a few times to get the top shelves. I smiled as I slid behind her to take the folder and place it in it's box.
When we finally finished Gabriella sat down on a small table in the mail room, looking at each of the boxes. I sat beside her and glanced at her from the corner of my eye. A satisfied smile crossed her lips and she turned to look at me.
"So, does your mom work here?" She asked. I was taken back a little, surprised at her question. She realized. "I saw a mail box, Lucille Bolton." Gabriella said quickly, pointing the the mail boxes. I looked over to them and nodded.
"Oh." I said. "Yeah, she volunteered here and then she sorta started working here, in her spare time." She nodded slowly.
"Was she the one who forced you to volunteer here?" She asked, a smile tugging at the corner of her lips. I shifted a little.
"Yeah," I said. "Something like that." I whispered under my breath.
Gabriella's Point of View
Something like that. I'd heard Troy say under his breath. The smile vanished from my lips. He never seemed comfortable talking about why he was at the shelter. I stared at him, hoping he would turn to me and tell me what that was suppose to mean. He stared at the boxes then finally stood up and scratched the back of his neck.
"So," He said, still not looking at me. "What do we do now?" I jumped off the table and got to my feet.
"I guess we go to Nicole." I shrugged my shoulders and Troy went to pull open the door. He held it open for me to go through then I walked down the hallway to the front desk. Nicole stopped what she was doing and looked up at myself and Troy.
"Well, look at you two." She said, smiling. "Did you guys finish already?" She asked, astonished. I looked over to Troy, who smiled down to me.
"Yeah." I said, looking back to Nicole. She sat back in her chair and stared back and forth from Troy and I.
"Wow," She said. "Some of our workers here wouldn't have even finished that paper work until tomorrow, never mind in less than two hours."
Nicole let us take a break and look around the shelter, until Robyn returned from her meeting. Troy knew most of his way around the shelter and showed me where all the animals were kept, the food for the animals, the training ground for the animals, and he showed me a quiet garden that was just at the side of the shelter. It looked out onto a small pond that was hand made.
Troy said he wasn't sure who made it, but one week it was weeds and bushes the next it was a beautiful sitting area. There was a bench that was one foot away from the pond and there were different flowers in every direction you turned. The pond had one fish in it. It wasn't much larger than a gold fish, it could have passed for one, but it's colors were much more genuine.
"Do you like it?" Troy asked me. I turned to look at him. He was standing next to the bench, his hands in his pockets.
"It's amazing." I said, kneeling down beside the pond. I watched the little fish swim around the edges. I watched as he continued to swim by himself. Troy knelt down beside me.
"Do you want to feed him?" He asked. I looked at him, biting my bottom lip and nodding at him. He got something from his back pocket. He held it out for me and poured a little food in my hand. I smiled at him then looked back to the small pond, holding my hand above it an letting the food slip from my fingers. The little fish came to the surface and took small amounts of the food.
I got to my feet and went to sit on the bench, Troy came to sit beside me. I watched as the food slowly disappeared. I turned over to Troy and caught him staring at me. He stared into my eyes, trying to read them.
"What?" I asked him, when his head slowly shook.
"You seem sad." He said. I looked back to the pond. "How can you be sad in a place like this?" He asked, his hands looking over the nature. I shook my head slowly then I looked back to Troy, who was waiting.
"Well," I started, blushing a little. "The fish seems almost sad." I said. Troy's dimples started forming. "What?" I asked him.
"Your sad, because a fish is sad?" He asked, chuckling to himself. I nodded slowly.
"He needs company." I said. "A friend." Troy's smile slowly faded as we sat in silence. I looked over to him, slowly. "Who feeds it everyday?" I asked. He turned his head to me, his blue eyes burning into mine.
"I do, of course." I raised my eyebrow. He started laughing. "No, I did though, when I use to come with my mom after school. She feeds it on her break and when she doesn't come in I'll come and do it." I looked back to the fish.
"What's it's name?" I asked. Troy turned to the fish.
"I couldn't tell you." He said, smiling a little. "Whoever brought him here never left him with a name tag. When I first found him, I called him Charlie." I stared at him. Troy looked over to me. "What?"
"How do you know it's a boy?" I asked. Troy looked back to the fish, chuckling to himself.
"I just do." He said, smiling back to me. I laughed.
Troy's Point of View
She did it, again. Laughed her heartbreaking laugh. I smiled while she recovered herself. We sat in silence, listening to the sound of birds chirping and dogs barking in the distance. Gabriella got to her feet and looked at me.
"We'd better head back." She said. "Robyn might be here." I nodded and got to my feet.
We came from the clearing of the trees into the large field. The building holding the animals was just across from us and the main building was just beside us. I put my hands in my pockets and listened to Gabriella's heavy breathing. She seemed so innocent and sweet and caring. Her hands swung silently at her side. I clenched my fists pushing them deeper into my pockets. No matter how badly I wanted to hold her soft hands, we barely knew each other and it would probably make things weird.
I'd only known this girl for two hours and a half, tops. I didn't even know which school she would be attending in the fall, I didn't know her favorite color or food, I didn't even know why she had volunteered here. But I had a pretty good guess. She either liked animals or she wanted the community hours.
When we reached the main building I pulled open the door for her. She smiled and gracefully walked in. Gabriella walked over to the main desk and greeted Nicole. I walked up behind her and smiled to Nicole.
"I'm sorry I made you guys wait," Nicole said, looking between Gabriella and I. "Robyn's meeting is going to take longer than she thought. So, you guys can head home if you'd like, there isn't any work that needs to be done until she returns." We nodded.
"Okay." Gabriella said.
"I'll see you two tomorrow." She smiled. Gabriella pushed away from the desk, smiling back to her.
"Have a nice night." She said, looking back to me. "I'll see you tomorrow." She smiled then went back down the hall. I smiled as I watched her disappear. I went to sit in one of the chairs that sat in front of the window. Gabriella came back down the hall, a bag slung over her shoulder. She smiled to Nicole waving good-bye to her. When she saw me, her smile grew larger and she looked down as she walked out the door.
I turned to see her standing near the curb, waiting for her ride home, I figured. I turned back to sit down and saw Nicole staring at me, a strange look crossing her face.
"What?" I asked her, curious of what she staring at me for. She shook her head slowly.
"I've known you since you were .. what?" She said. "Fourteen?" I shrugged my shoulders, tempted to look back at Gabriella.
"So?" I asked.
"Not once have I seen you this interested in a girl you just met." She said. I shook my head.
"I'm not interested in anyone." I lied. Nicole shrugged her shoulder and got up from the desk. She walked down the hall. I turned back to see if Gabriella was still there, but she was already gone. I sighed then got to my feet. Nicole came back.
"Where are you going?" She asked me. I looked at her. She was only, what, twenty one? Why did she care?
"Why?" I asked her.
"Your mother said to keep you here until she or your father picked you up." Nicole sat down. "Now sit, please." I rolled my eyes and sat down. She would make a good teacher in the future.
Gabriella's Point of View
"So, what time are you going in tomorrow?" My mom asked.
"Same time." I said. My mom went silent, never a good sign. I looked over to her. "What, mom?" She turned to look at me for a second, then back to the road.
"I know I promised that I'd drive you to the shelter," She started, focusing on the road. "But my work asked me to come in earlier, I guess someone is sick or something. Would you mind walking?" She asked.
"Oh, yeah, of course." I said. "I don't mind." The only thing is how to get there.
"Thanks Gab's." She said. "I got the directions, they are pretty straight forward." We turned into the driveway and my mom cut the engine.
We walked up the steps and my mom unlocked the door. She went straight to her studies and took out the books from her suitcase. Then she walked into the kitchen and started opening cupboards.
"Gab?" She called after me. I set my bag down on the stairs and walked into the kitchen.
"Yeah." I said, standing in the archway.
"What do you want for dinner?" She asked, leaning against the counter.
"It doesn't matter, whatever you want." I said. She nodded to herself then got a pan from under the cupboard.
I turned and left. I grabbed my bag from the stairs and went to my room, closing my door. I went to start unpacking the box I had started unpacking the other night. I took the handful of books and put them on the second shelf. I went back to the box and took the last books, putting them next to my other ones.
I tore the box apart and set it aside, opening another one I had sitting in the corner of my room. I peeled the tape off and opened it. It was all my awards and medals from the competitions my old schools had entered me in. I looked at them then put them on the top shelf.
I finished unpacking my awards and I broke the boxes. I took the boxes and started downstairs. I put them beside the front door then walked into the kitchen, to see if my mother needed help preparing dinner. I walked in to find her turning off the stove and putting the food on a plate.
"French toast?" I asked her, amused by her breakfast for dinner. She turned to face me.
"Well," She said. "I have a lot of work that needs to be finished for tomorrow and I just wanted to make something quick to eat."
"It's fine, mom." I said, grabbing two other plates from the cupboard. My mom put the french toast on the table and got out the forks and knives while I got the syrup. We sat down together and had a quiet breakfast dinner.
Troy's Point of View
"So," My mom said, while bringing the potatoes to the table. "How was volunteering?"
"It was alright." I said, pouring gravy on my turkey.
"Nicole said that there was another volunteer you were working with." She said, while taking a drink of her water.
"Yeah." I said, taking the last bite of my corn. I stared at my food, feeling my moms eyes on me.
"Well?" She asked. "What's their name?" I looked up from my food.
"Gabriella." I said. "Where's Dad?" I asked, changing the topic before she could ask me more questions about Gabriella.
"He had some things he needed to take care of at the shop." She said, eating her turkey.
My dad was the coach of my school's basketball team, during the year. Over the summer and the winter he worked at the mechanical shop downtown. He would normally only go stay there for a few hours, but lately he had been staying later and working more shifts. The way my mother acted sometimes made me think that it was because of the way I had acted this summer, but it wasn't entirely my fault. Especially not the sneaking out part.
I tried finishing my dinner fast, so I could just go to bed and have tomorrow come fast. I was thinking how I couldn't wait for summer to come, I could just hang out with my friends. Now here I was and I couldn't wait for school. I wouldn't be grounded and I wouldn't have to deal with his crap until basketball season started again.
I took the last bite of my dinner and helped my mom clean up. We didn't say a word the whole time. The silence started eating at me. I kissed my mothers cheek and ran up to my room, closing my door and turning on my stereo. I laid on my bed and just listened to the music. I stared at the ceiling, looking at the weird shapes and objects I could find.
My eyelids started drooping. Finally I rolled on my side and listened to the music, hoping it would just make me sleep, and soon enough, I was out.
Alright, so here is the second chapter. I want to thank everyone who had reviewed my story, it means a lot to me. This chapter is a little boring, but it's all about Troy and Gabriella together for their first day. Hopefully you like it. I will try and have the next update tomorrow night maybe Saturday morning? I'll try for tomorrow night though. Thanks again and hope you like it ! :)