Chapter 18

Hello, my sweet readers! Good news for y'all! Now that I am done with the writing and the story is complete, I can update more often! Yay! Enjoy the latest installment!

When Gabriella got home that evening after her date with Davis, the first thing she noticed was the silence in their apartment.

That's odd, she thought to herself. Even when he's not home, it's never this quiet. TV... music... something!

Pushing the issue aside, she walked into the kitchen and grabbed a bottle of water from the refrigerator and took it with her into her room. She kicked off her sandals and collapsed on top of her bed, staring up at her ceiling. She was exhausted. She had a good time on the date going around downtown San Francisco, but she and Davis did a lot of walking and her feet were aching.

She rolled over onto her side and pushed herself up from the bed and went into the bathroom to take out her contacts, wash her face, and brush her teeth. It was then that Gabriella spotted the note taped to her mirror. Her breath caught in her throat and she froze as her brain registered the handwriting; she'd know that almost sloppy- yet still neat in its own way- scrawl anywhere. She pulled the note from the mirror and held it in her hands, reading what it said.

G,

I went out. See you in the morning.

T

Gabriella lifted her eyes to stare at her reflection in the mirror and narrowed her eyes at what she saw there. Confusion and envy were evident in her chocolate brown eyes as they stared back at her. So he went out; no big deal, right? But where did he go? Why did he go? And who did he go out with?

Does he mean out with the guys, or did he go out on a date? If it's a date, why didn't he tell me he had one? And who would he have one with?

Suddenly the confusion and envy in her eyes were edged out by sadness.

What does it matter, Gabriella? He's just trying to move on. You've been going out, too. Why can't he?

Her eyes welled up with unexpected tears and she swallowed the lump that formed along with them, forcing herself to not cry. If she was honest with herself, she would admit that she's really being unfair. It's unfair to expect him to sit at home every night while she went out trying to sort out this mess in her head. But despite all of that, she couldn't help but be hurt over the fact that he was in essence giving up. Was he getting tired of waiting on her? Was he getting bored? The one shred of hope she had through this situation was that he kept fighting for her, he wasn't giving up on her and their relationship. But now- all of a sudden- was he letting her know in his own way that he was done waiting on her to sort it all out?

There's really nothing you can do about it, Gabriella. Just let it go for now, she told herself.

With that single thought in her mind, Gabriella continued her get-ready-for-bed routine. As she emerged from the bathroom, she picked up the remote control and snuggled deep under her covers as she turned on the tv and turned it to Nick at Nite, getting lost in the re-runs of whatever sit-com was being shown.

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The next few days passed with Troy avoiding Gabriella as much as possible. He'd be sitting in the living room watching tv and she would come in the kitchen to clean it. At that point, he would merely turn off the tv and go into his bedroom- shutting the door behind him- just so he wouldn't have to see her. His days were quickly becoming a routine of hide and hide when it came to being in the apartment around Gabriella. He found that going out at night was a lot easier than sitting around and shutting himself in the bedroom. At least that way he was actually doing something. So that's what he did- he went out.

It started off with just catching a bite to eat with Andy, Nick, and two of the other guys from the team. A bonding, of sorts. It eventually became the other four guys and their girlfriends, with Troy being the only single person there. About a week after they all started getting together, one of the girlfriends brought her cousin- a red head from Sacramento who was a junior at Berkeley- named Brendi.

Troy's first impression of this girl was how striking and yet opposite from Gabriella she looked. While Gabriella had dark hair, dark eyes, an olive complexion, Brendi had red hair, green eyes, and a pale complexion. Both girls were beautiful in Troy's opinion, but there was just that something that Gabriella had that made her absolutely gorgeous. Despite how hard he tried not to, Troy couldn't help but continue to mentally compare Brendi to Gabriella. He knew it was unfair, but his mind was already doing so before he could stop it.

After all the couples broke off into their own bubbles leaving Troy and Brendi to fend for themselves, he turned to her and tried to make polite conversation.

"So Brendi, what are you majoring in?" Troy asked.

"Media Studies," she told him. He was struck by the ever present giggle in her speech when she talked and gave a small inadvertent shiver.

This girl, delivering the news every night on my tv? Scary... he thought to himself as he racked his brain trying to come up with a proper response. He finally just said the most polite thing he could think of.

"Oh."

"It's fascinating, really, how we can all- Hey, look!" she interrupted herself, and pointed across the front of Troy's face- causing him to lean back in his seat- out the window.

"What?" he asked while looking out the window, trying his best to appear interested.

"The top that girl's wearing? I love it. I saw it yesterday at American Eagle. I need to see if I can find it online and order it. I want it in teal. That's my favorite color, by the way. What's yours?"

"Um, red," he answered slowly.

Troy's head was without a doubt spinning at this point trying to keep up with Brendi. She was pretty, yes, but could he deal with her nonstop chatter and her airhead tendencies? Although he wasn't looking for long term at this point. He was merely looking for a distraction and she could provide just the distraction that he was in need of.

Or was he looking at all? That was the one question that he couldn't seem to answer. Part of him wanted to just stick it out and see what would happen with Gabriella, but at the same time, the other part of him didn't want to just sit around all day and night waiting while she was apparently finding a life without him. Brendi's gasp was enough to pull him from his thoughts and force him to focus on what she was saying again.

"Red? That's so cool that that's your favorite color! That's the color of my hair!" she said, her voice holding an annoying shriek.

Troy sighed and rolled his eyes when she wasn't looking. "You don't say?" he said, feigning interest once again.

And so his night went on... Fine tuning his acting skills by pretending to focus on whatever Brendi would say while secretly wishing he was back in his favorite place- his bed with Gabriella wrapped tightly in his arms.

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The next day as Davis was leaving his last class of the day, he heard his name being called.

"Davis!"

He turned to look and saw Justin Messer approaching him. Justin was the captain of Stanford's basketball team and shared a class with Davis. The two friends chatted for a minute about the class they just came from and exchanged notes from the lecture before Justin turned the conversation personal.

"So how've you been doing?"

"I'm doing well, man. Thanks for asking," Davis told him.

"Dating anyone yet? Last we talked, you kind of had your eye on someone. How did that turn out for you?" Justin asked him.

"Actually, I've been on a few dates with Gabriella Montez. You know her, right? She was in our political analysis class last spring semester."

"Gabriella Montez, huh?" Justin double checked. "I thought she was dating that guy at Berkeley. Their point guard... what's his name? Bostic?"

"Bolton," Davis corrected him. "Troy Bolton."

"Yeah, that's it," Justin said, nodding his head in agreement. "They're pretty serious, aren't they?" he asked, confused. "What's changed between them?"

"Well, let's just say that things aren't as smooth for them as everyone seems to think."

"So are you guys serious? I mean, if she has a thing for ball players, maybe I'd have a shot with her. I've always wondered how she would be, if you know what I mean," he said, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively.

"Well, I wouldn't call her 'easy' by any means," Davis said with a slight pout. "But go ahead, man. I mean, we're not exclusive, so why not?" Davis encouraged. "Do you have her number?"

"I'm sure I can find it in the student directory."

"Here, let me give it to you." Davis pulled his phone from his pocket and searched through his contacts list until he found Gabriella's number. He turned the phone around so Justin could see it and store it in his own phone.

"Thanks, Davis. I appreciate it. I'll give her a call tonight."

"Good luck, man."

The two class mates said their good byes and went their separate ways, Justin with a smirk on his face over this new nugget of information. He made his way to the gym for practice, deciding to wait until later that evening to give her a call.

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On the rare occasion when they were home at the same time, the two sat in the living room- Gabriella on the couch and Troy at the desk- with their books open in front of them, both lost in their own worlds. Such was the case on this particular evening. The television was on, but more so for background noise. Neither was paying attention to it. Gabriella had just completed a section of the practice test from her LSAT study guide and was about to check her answers when the cordless phone rang. Troy- who was sitting closest to it- leaned back in his chair and stretched his arms behind him and grabbed it from the table where it sat charging on the base.

"Hello?" he answered.

"Hey, um... Sorry. I must have dialed the wrong number. Is this 759-1236?" the person on the other end asked.

"Yeah," Troy said, slightly confused.

"Oh." Justin couldn't help but be surprised over the fact that a guy answered Gabriella's phone. "Is Gabriella there by chance?"

"Yeah, hang on." He rolled his eyes and tried hard to hide his irritation at the guy on the other end of the line calling for his Gabriella before turning around to give her the phone. "It's for you," he said.

"Who is it?" she asked without looking up from her book.

"Some guy," Troy told her as he tossed the phone in her direction. Luckily for her, she glanced up just in time to catch Troy's fumbled toss before he turned back around to face the computer screen and book in front of him.

"Hello?" she said into the phone, while shooting a glare at Troy's backside.

"Gabriella? Hi. This is Justin Messer. How are you?"

"Justin Messer? Oh, hi, Justin. Um, how did you get my number?... Oh, Davis gave it to you? Well, um, good." Gabriella paused in the conversation, stealing a look at Troy who had turned in his seat and noticed as he creased his eyebrows in confusion. She knew he recognized the name and she knew from where. Although part of her was enjoying watching as he tried to work it out in his head, the other part of her found it an invasion of her privacy to stay here on the couch and have this conversation in the living room where Troy could overhear. "Um... hang on a second, please. I'm going to go into the other room for some privacy. My um... my room mate is studying and I don't want to disturb him."

Gabriella stood and walked into her bedroom while Troy turned back around in his chair to face the computer and pulled up the Stanford University online student directory. Meanwhile, with Gabriella's bedroom door still open, he could hear her end of the conversation as it played out.

"Yeah, Troy Bolton, from Berkeley. We dated for awhile... Why did we break up? Well, it's really...it's a long story."

Troy's eyes narrowed even more as he turned his head with his chin resting on his shoulder so he could better hear her as she continued the conversation.

"I'm sorry, Justin, but at the risk of sounding rude, why are you calling? ... Tomorrow? I, I don't know. I mean, I guess I could... No, you don't have to pick me up. Why don't I just meet you? Well, ok, if you insist. I'll be ready around 6?"

It didn't take him long to find Justin Messer and place exactly where he knew that name... Justin Messer, the starting point guard and captain of Stanford's basketball team. Not only was he Troy's equal in the sport, but he was also calling Gabriella. All the more reason for Troy to not like him all that much.

"Ok, I'll see you tomorrow, Justin. Thanks for calling."

Troy heard Gabriella's voice coming closer as she came further down the hall and back into the living room and moved to quickly minimize the Stanford directory to go back to what he was looking at previously.

She hung up the phone and placed it back on the charger base and sat back down on the couch. As she was pulling her LSAT study guide back into her lap, she heard Troy's voice as he spoke to her without looking in her direction.

"You're seriously going to go out with him? Why him?"

"Why not him?" she shot back in defense.

"Stanford's starting point guard?" Troy questioned directly.

"Yeah, so? We had Political Analysis together last semester and this semester he has Biology with-"

"Let me guess... with Davis," Troy interrupted with a snarl.

"Yeah."

Troy broke the eye contact the two held and turned his focus elsewhere around the room. Anything to keep from looking at her right then. He gathered his things and got up, making his way to his room. He was halfway down the hall to his bedroom when he heard her voice calling out to him, trying hard to hide her anger.

"Why is this such a big deal to you, Troy?"

He spun on his heel to look at her, his steely blue eyes meeting her almost black ones. "You don't know guys like him, Gabriella," he said as his tone carried more force than he intended... more than he had ever used in any of their past arguments over the past few years, in fact. Realizing the tone of his voice and watching the combination of hurt and fear slowly work its way into her eyes, he loosened his tight fist and immediately softened his tone. "I'd probably be just like him... if it weren't for you. I hope he treats you well," he told her quietly before turning back in the direction of his bedroom.

"Troy... Wildcat..."

He paused and glanced back at her over his shoulder. He held up his hand to ward off her response and shook his head, knowing that if he verbally responded right then, they would more than likely just end up arguing further. Instead, he turned back around, went into his room, and shut the door behind him. When Gabriella heard the sounds of Kings of Leon drifting from the walls of his room, she knew their conversing for the evening was over. Sighing, she found that all hope for her studying had flown out the window so she gathered her books and went into her own bedroom for the night.

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The following night, as much as she tried to, Gabriella just couldn't quit push Troy's non-warning warning from her mind.

"You don't know guys like him, Gabriella..."

Throughout the course of her date, she found herself wondering what exactly he meant by that statement. She kept watching Justin for any signs of unwelcomed approach and inadvertently kept her distance.

Justin picked up on her hesitance and took it upon himself to try and pull his date from her shell. To him, they were little movements. But to Gabriella, they made Troy's words echo in her mind. The more she tried to dissuade him, Justin just came on stronger. At one point she dropped her head, slightly defeated with the knowledge that Troy was right – and perhaps guys like Justin weren't an experience she needed to have.

Then, on top of Troy's concern, she began thinking about her most recent conversation with her mom that morning. She had shared a lunch date with Maria and ended up getting her own plate of crow as her entree.

Maria stared at her daughter, disbelief at the update she had just been given by Gabriella written all over her face.

"You've been on how many dates?" she asked incredulously. "With how many guys? Although I'm not sure I really want to know the answer to that. And you're still living with Troy?" When Gabriella answered with a simple head nod, Maria shook her head and continued talking. "I thought I had a smart daughter. Apparently your book sense is outweighing your ability to see reality, Gabriella. You want to get your future in order? I think maybe you should step back a few weeks and take a look at what you've been doing since Taylor was here. Honestly - and you know how I hate to use this word- and I know how you hate to be lectured - but this is stupid, Gabriella. The way you're behaving right now and how you're treating Troy, it's absolutely stupid."

"Mother!" Gabriella shrieked, borderline angry at the words her mother had just spoken to her. But Maria didn't relent.

"I mean it. You know I love you and support you - and most of your decisions. I've even tried supporting this idea that you need to see other men. It made a little bit of sense at the beginning. But if you can't see how special your relationship with Troy is or was... It's like you can't see the forest for the trees. He adores you, Mija. He's wrapped his entire college life around you. And now- when you're both on the verge of moving forward into truly being adults and really beginning your future together- now you decide he's not giving you enough?

"Mom, can we please not talk about this here?" Gabriella begged.

Maria took a deep breath and for the first time since the two met at the restaurant, she was able to tell that something was indeed different in Gabriella's demeanor. The older woman looked around and met a few of the eyes that had turned toward them. She sat up straighter, took another breath and lowered her voice before beginning again. "I'm sorry. But I finally had your attention and I've needed to get that out for a while now. Sweetheart, I love you, but grow up, Gabriella." The matching brown eyes met head on as Maria made her point. "Take a break from studying and think about your life over the past few years and what's going to happen after graduation. Sit down, make your pro/ con list that I know you've just been itching to make. I think you'll be surprised at what you find. Stop thinking about what Taylor said and start thinking like the Gabriella that I know and love."

Gabriella chanced a look into the matching brown eyes and the look that Maria held in her own was dark and serious, more than Gabriella had seen in a longtime. She was trying hard to convey love and concern with her voice, but Gabriella knew her mom. The two Montez women could read each other like a book and it was very easy for Gabriella to see that her mom was upset about this situation. There's only one answer that she can give. It's the one that she knows Maria is expecting, so that's what she provided.

"Yes, Ma'am."

As hard as it was to hear her mom's words and as hard as she tried to fight them, Gabriella had no choice but to let them sink in. And sink in they did. So much so that when Justin knocked on her door to pick her up and gave her a bouquet of flowers and leaned in for a kiss, she found herself backing up out of his reach, hoping to fend off his way-too-soon advances. But blocking him once only seemed to like a challenge to Justin.

And Justin Messer liked a challenge. He often conquered almost all challenges that were presented to him.

Between all the attempts at holding her hand, putting his arm around her shoulders, putting his arm around her middle from behind, or even kissing her, Gabriella was ready for the end of the evening. She felt almost deflated and couldn't wait to get back home to Troy, the only gentleman in her life.

Wait, did I just think that? she asked herself. I can't wait to get home to Troy? But he and I-

"Another drink, Gabi?" Justin asked, bringing her from her thoughts and causing her to inwardly cringe at her late father's nickname for her.

"Um, actually, Justin, I don't think so."

"But you've only had one cider," he pointed out too condescendingly for Gabriella's liking. "That's not even a real beer."

"I actually have my LSATs in two days. It's-" she paused to glance at her watch- "almost midnight. If you don't mind, I think I'm going to leave. I'm getting up early to spend all day tomorrow studying."

When the two said their goodbyes, Gabriella watched as Justin didn't last five seconds before he walked off and found another random girl at the bar to hook his arms around. Gabriella rolled her eyes as she grabbed her purse and walked to the door.

The whole drive back to the apartment, Gabriella had a permanent scowl on her face. As she pulled into the parking lot, there was another car in front of her. As she sat studying the tail lights, she wondered why they looked so familiar. She easily spotted the "UCB" parking sticker in the lower left corner that marked Troy's vehicle.

Wonder if he went out with someone tonight, too? she thought with another touch of sadness.

At her turn, she pulled up to the keypad and punched in the code to open the gates behind him, following him through the parking lot to their building. As the two got out of their respective vehicles, there was no avoiding each other, as much as they each tried.

"Hey," Troy greeted.

"Hey," she responded softly.

"Well? How was this one?" he asked, trying to mask his frustration and attempting to make polite conversation despite the fact that he didn't really want to know.

"Never. Again!" When he turned his confused look to her, he first had to ignore the tears in her eyes to focus on her look of disgust. "Will I go on a pseudo blind date."

"Pseudo?"

"I only knew his name through class. Well, class and the fact that he's a famous athlete around campus. You know what that's like, right? We've never really hung out in the past. So in a way, it was a blind date, but yet not really." She let her voice trail off to keep from rambling and to try and curb her mixed emotions.

"I'm guessing he wasn't what you were expecting?" Troy questioned as they reached the door and he lifted his hand to the door knob to unlock it.

"Well," she paused and looked down at Troy's feet, "Neither were you," she told him with a slight shrug of her shoulders.

Troy held his lips together as he watched her. Then he opened the door and allowed Gabriella to enter first – ever the gentleman that she found him to be.

"He was too... forward? I think he wanted way more than I did."

"What makes you say that?"

"Because after I said bye, in the time it took for me to reach for my purse, he had already found some new blonde bimbo with a boob job that he was hanging all over."

"How do you know she had a boob job?" Troy asked through his laughter.

"Because her breasts were four times too big for the rest of her body. She was way out of proportion. Plus the fact that no one's boobs are that firm and perky."

"That is so not like you," Troy pointed out with a chuckle. "When did you become judgmental?" Troy noted to himself that it wasn't necessarily a change that he liked – and hoped it wasn't permanent.

Gabriella turned on the kitchen light and grabbed a water out of the refrigerator before she turned to face him. For the first time in the past few weeks, she studied his face- really studied it- and was surprised by what she saw: fatigue, sorrow, despair, melancholy... Gabriella softened her voice, knowing that she was the reason why he was the way he was right now. The current shade of his eyes stabbed her right in the heart and again, her mind drifted back to the conversation with her mom earlier that afternoon.

"Take a break from studying and think about your life over the past few years and what's going to happen after graduation. Sit down, make your pro/ con list that I know you've just been itching to make. I think you'll be surprised at what you find."

"I don't know. Maybe I'm just starting to see things in a different light."

Troy didn't respond. And with his silence Gabriella felt the tension in the air. Maria's words lingered. Troy's despondent face, yet caring attitude, mixed with her mother's lecture... She couldn't look at his face another second and yet she couldn't push it from her thoughts.

Gabriella took her water and purse and walked softly past him with a whispered "excuse me", went down the hall and into her bedroom, and shut the door behind her as she fought the tears that she surprisingly felt making their way down her cheek.