Chapter Four - Questions and Plans
Gabriella's Point of View
I sat in the booth beside the window, watching Troy order our lunch. I had offered to pay for mine, but not only did I forget my wallet, Troy wouldn't let me. It was a small restaurant, only a block away from the shelter. There were only two other people dinning, both looked over the age of sixty. I looked back over to Troy. He had a tray in his hands and he was walking towards me with his dimples flaring.
"Okay," He said, putting the tray of food on the table. "I got milkshakes, chocolate of course, and two orders of chicken strips." He handed me my food and drink. We ate silently, both of our stomachs growling.
"Thank you." I said, taking a drink of my milkshake. Troy smiled, swallowing his last french fry.
"Your welcome." He said, picking up a chicken strip. "Let's play a game." He said. I stared at him, curious.
"While were eating?" I asked, he nodded simply.
"Yeah." He said. "It's called .. Questions." I raised an eyebrow, although it sounded gay, it would help Troy know more about me and me know more about him.
"Okay." I said, sipping on my drink.
"It's easy, I ask a question, you answer it. Then you ask a question and I answer it." Troy's eyes focused on mine. My cheeks got hot and I looked to the table.
"Alright," I said, looking back at him. "You first." Troy rubbed his chin, eying me.
"Favorite color?" He asked.
"Blue." I said, quickly. Troy smiled, taking a drink.
"What's your favorite .. food?" I asked. Troy thought for a moment, then looked to me.
"Ice cream."
"What's your favorite book?" I sat back in the chair, trying to think of an honest answer.
"I have two." I said. "A Walk to Remember and Charlie St. Cloud." Troy smiled. "What is the last movie you have seen?"
"Promise you wont laugh?" He asked, I nodded slowly. "Mean Girls." I tried holding my breath to keep from laughing, but I wasn't able to. "Hey!" Troy laughed. "You promised you wouldn't laugh and my mom made me watch it with her." I nodded slowly then caught my breath.
"I'm sorry," I said. "But, that movie is the biggest chick flick out there." I chuckled a little, Troy sat where he was, a slight smile forming.
"Alright, back to the game." He said, finishing his last chicken strip. "What school will you be attending in the fall?" He raised an eyebrow.
"East High." I said. My mom told me it was one of the most athletic schools in the city. Troy smiled. "What school will you be attending in the fall?" I asked. I crossed my fingers under the table. Please say East High. Please say East High. I repeated in my head.
"East High." Woohoo! "Do you have any siblings?" He asked. I shook my head.
"Nope. I'm an only child." Troy nodded slowly.
"What was the best time in your life?" I asked, glancing up at him. His eyes went off into space, a small smile showing at the corners of his mouth.
"Uh," He said. "It was a couple years ago. My mom, dad, and I went to San Diego for a basketball tournament." He looked down to the table, smiling to himself. I smiled with him.
"I take it you won the tournament? You scoring the game winning point?" Troy looked back up at me, his smile faded.
"No, well yeah, but that's not why it was the best." He said, still staring off. "It was just my mom, dad, and me. We went to the beach when I didn't have to play, we went to the different attractions, and it was just us. My parents and I having a little vacation together, before my dad went basketball crazy." He looked back up at me, staring into my eyes.
"While were getting more personal .. " Troy said, trying to loosen the moment. "Why did you move?" I shrugged.
"My mom's job." I said, eating the last of my food. "She gets relocated .. a lot, and this was her next destination."
"Oh." Troy said, looking at the tray.
"Yeah." I said, feeling the awkwardness closing in. "So, have you ever been .. grounded?" I asked. Troy nodded.
"Oh yeah." He said laughing, as if to an inside joke that I didn't get.
Troy's Point of View
If only she knew that I was grounded right now. Wonder what she would think of that? My punishment, or grounding, was to volunteer at the animal shelter? Maybe she'd think I was a bad kid and not want to see me, but she didn't seem like the type of girl who would just stop talking to me because of that.
"So, Gabriella Montez .. what is the worst thing you have ever done?" I asked, a smile tugged at the corners of her lips.
"Well, in grade one, a boy said that I was mean and .. " She started laughing, I waited.
"What?" I said, chuckling myself.
"I feel so bad now, but he was asking for it." She said, still chuckling. "I kinda filled his backpack with sand." I stared at her, disbelief crossed my face.
"That's the worst thing you have done?" I questions, shaking my head. She continued to laugh to herself.
"Alright, Troy Bolton," She put her elbows on the table staring into my eyes. I copied her, watching her as she was watching me. "What is the worst thing you have done?" She raised an eyebrow while my entire body froze. Should I tell her the truth? About everything? Why I was at the shelter, why I was grounded? She continued to stare at me, waiting for my answer.
"Me and my friend we nickied every house on his block. His neighbor talked to his mom, who talked to my mom, and we blamed it on another kid who lived down the street. His mother gave him so much trouble, while me and Chad just watched behind a car." I didn't technically lie. That did happen, it just wasn't the worst thing I've done. Right now, it seemed the less Gabriella knew about that side of me, the better.
"Did you guys ever come clean?" She asked, I shook my head.
"We did it again two days later and the kids mother flipped." Gabriella let out a soft laugh.
"Wow," She said. "You were just the trouble maker." Gabriella looked out the window, sighing to herself. I looked around the small restaurant, seeing the small clock. Crap.
"Oh," I said, Gabriella turned to look at me. "We have to get back to the shelter." She nodded then got up from the booth, taking the tray in her hands. I followed her to the garbage where she through out our wrappers and empty drinks.
We raced across the street, before the light turned green. Gabriella looked to the pavement as we walked silently back to the shelter. At times her eyebrows would pull together, meaning something was bothering her. I was curious to know what she was thinking about. We were almost at the shelters parking lot when she turned to me.
"Is everything okay?" I asked her. Her head snapped up to me, her eyes distant.
"Pardon?" She asked. I put my hands in my pockets.
"You seem a little .. out of it." I said. "Is everything .. alright?" She nodded, quickly.
"Of course." She said, walking a little faster. "Why would anything be wrong?" I shrugged my shoulders. You tell me. I thought.
I opened the door for Gabriella. She smiled and walked in, greeting Nicole. Nicole quickly got to her feet., rushing over to us.
"Thank god you guys are back!" She said, taking Gabriella's hand and pulling her down the hall with me following behind. Gabriella looked back at me, confused. I shrugged my shoulders, not too sure either. "Alright, you guys have to put all this food aside. Put it in the dogs bowls, feed the cats and birds, whatever, but it needs to go .. now." Nicole said, practically jumping. Gabriella and I nodded.
"Okay, you better get started." Nicole continued, walking towards the door. "A huge shipment will be coming in less then ten minutes and we need to put it somewhere." She rushed out the door. Gabriella turned to me.
"Wow." She said. "So, what do we do with all this food?" She asked. I shrugged my shoulders.
"I have no idea." Gabriella sighed.
"I guess we can put it in these containers and just-"
"Oh, thank god you haven't started yet." My mother said, running into the kitchen. "All this food .. needs to be packed into the car, your taking it to the shelter downtown." She said, pointing to us. "I brought the car around the back and now we just need to load it, quickly." We nodded then got to work, lugging the food from the kitchen to the car.
Gabriella's Point of View
With Lucille helping us load the car we had it finished in time for the shipment. Troy and I had dropped it off while Lucille stayed back to sign and help with the new supply of food. There were five young girls at the downtown shelter, all in high school and all blushing over Troy. He helped them put the food in the back and helped to fix a broken door they had at the side of the building.
Troy had the door fixed in a matter of seconds. He screwed back on the door handle while each of the girls giggled and glared at me. There was one girl, who looked the oldest or just had the most make up on, that never took her hand from Troy's shoulder and when she did she looked over to me and started throwing herself all over him. To my satisfaction, Troy, would slip her arms from his neck and back away towards me. Only making each of the girls look more angry at me.
The blond, and oldest looking girl, kissed Troy on the cheek good-bye, glancing over to me and smiling when my fists began to clutch. Why was I feeling so angry? It's not like he was my boyfriend, or even that much of a friend, we just volunteered together .. everyday .. for five days a week. Yet, somehow, this made me jealous and made me want to smash that girls' face with a shovel, but that wouldn't probably end too well.
When the blond put something in Troy's hand he glanced over to me. I turned away, pretending that I wasn't interested, and watched from the corner of my eye. He smiled slightly, his dimples not showing, and put it back into her hand, telling her something and pointing over to me. The girl followed Troy's glance and her eyes narrowed. Troy got to his feet and smiled good-bye to the girl and waved to the others who watched from the window inside.
Troy walked over to me, taking my hand and waving back to the blond. He wrapped his arm around my waist and kissed my cheek. I stared up at him, shocked and surprised. His face went serious, he bent down to my ear.
"Go along with it." He whispered, staring back at the blond. I looked back at her and smiled, putting my arm around Troy. He pulled me closer and kissed my cheek again. My cheek stared stinging. That was two kisses in less then two minutes. I felt my cheek going hot while Troy opened the door to the car for me.
"Thank-you." I said, smiling. He shut the door and waved to the girls in the window. The blond stood where Troy left her, crossing her arms and shooting daggers at me. Troy climbed into the car and started the engine. The blond flipped her air and stomped through the buildings doors.
"That was fun." He said, flashing his dimples. I started laughing, remembering the blond's face.
"What was that even about?" I asked, still laughing. Troy hit the gas and looked over to me.
"Little Ms. Amber over there gave me her number and asked me to dinner." He said, looking back to the road. I stared at him.
"Go on." He smiled a little to me.
"I kinda told her that I already had a girlfriend." He said, looking guilty. "And I told her it was .. you." I started laughing even harder.
"Did you see her face when you kissed me?" Troy's eyes shot over at me. "My cheek, when you kissed my cheek." I corrected, my laughter slowing. Imagine what her face would have looked like if he actually did kiss me? Troy's face relaxed and he chuckled, concentrating on the road.
Troy's Point of View
Imagine what it would have been like if I actually did kiss Gabriella. I think she might have slapped me, maybe not though. Amber sure seemed mad when she saw me wrap an arm around Gabriella, I would pay to see that again any day. Especially if it meant kissing Gabriella again. I wonder what she would do if it happened again. There was a beeping noise coming from the car, I looked at my gas, it was almost empty.
"Hope you don't mind making a pit stop." I said, looking over to Gabriella. She smiled.
"Nope." She said, looking out be window.
I pulled into the next gas station I saw. I opened the tank and waited until the tank was half full. Gabriella jumped out of the car, looking over the hood at me.
"I'm just going to run in and get a drink, do you want anything?" She asked. I shook my head, then realized.
"No, I'm good. Do you want to pay for the gas while your in there?" I asked, she nodded. I walked around the car and gave her the money. "You can buy your drink too." She started shaking her head.
"I have some change." She said, walking into the store before I could say anything.
I ran back around to the drivers side, watching as Gabriella went to open a fridge and get a ginger ale. I opened the glove department and dug through the papers my mom had inside of it. Then, finally I found it. My cell phone. My mom had taken it away when she dropped me off at the shelter this morning. I flipped it open and saw ten text messages, all from Chad. I quickly dialed his number, looking over to Gabriella.
She was at the end of the long line. It rang five times until I finally heard a muffled greeting on the other end.
"Chad?" I said. "Man, what's up?"
"Troy?" He said. "Man, where have you been? You didn't answer me all day, where have you been?"
"My mom took my phone away." I said, watching Gabriella hand the money to the cashier. "Look, I can't talk long, just tell me when your picking me up." I said.
"I'm not sure, Zeke got busted for sneaking in and he's grounded." Chad said.
"Look, me and you will just go." I said. "We have to finish it quickly, I'm not getting caught again."
"Alright," Chad said. "I'll be there at midnight, so be ready."
"Okay," I said, watching Gabriella push the stores door open. "I gotta go, later." I closed it quickly, slipping it back into the glove department. Gabriella opened the door and handed me the change.
"Here," She said. "It was only fifteen." She put her seat belt back on and I turned the key, starting the engine.
...
So, I'm sorry for the short chapter, but I just needed to get this out of the way. I know that this chapter seems like Troy's and Gabriella's relationship is happening really fast .. but it will slow down a little, then when the time comes, pick back up. So, what did you think about their little game of questions? Also, where do you think Troy and Chad are sneaking out to? Let me know what you think and keep posting your amazing reviews. And the next chapter wont be up for at least a couple days, it will be no later then Tuesday, so stay tuned!