Heya, guys! Here I am again with the tenth chapter of 'Enemies or Lovebirds'. And I can tell you that I'm really glad this week is over and done. Because I did three tests this week and it was so not fun. I can tell everyone who doesn't live in a country where having your degree in Latin is compulsory for taking certain study paths that you should be happy about that. I don't know how many of my grade are afraid of taking these Latin exams, but heaven in hell, most of them including me certainly do. But I did it and I've got a feeling that I didn't do too bad, so it should be fine. Maths and German weren't that bad either, so I'm just relieved to have them all done.
So this is the chapter where I changed the dancing steps… you know, the first dance reminded me more and more of ballet and I didn't want that, so I replaced it with a kind of hip hop dancing mixed with some traditional steps, think of it as the kind of dancing shown in 'Step up', the movie. Tell me what you think about it and if you like this or the previous version better, 'kay?
This is a derivate piece of fiction featuring characters copyrighted and trademarked by Disney Enterprises Inc. It is based upon High School Musical, copyright 2006 by Walt Disney Enterprises Inc., all rights reserved; and High School Musical 2, copyright 2007 by Walt Disney Enterprises Inc., all rights reserved and High School Musical 3, copyright 2008 by Walt Disney Enterprises Inc., all rights reserved. The author is not connected with nor is this work authorised by Walt Disney Enterprises Inc., or any other motion picture studios. This work is solely intended for posting on Fanfiction, for the benefit and enjoyment of its intended audience. No commercial or financial benefit accrues or is intended to accrue to the author as a result of said posting. Any unauthorised copying or redistribution of this work might subject the party responsible for such unauthorized copying or redistribution to legal action by the owners of the aforementioned copyrights and trademarks.
Chapter ten – Enemies or lovebirds
In the blink of an eye, the door of the gym was opened up by Sharpay, who apparently had sneaked behind the door, to "accidentally" overhear more of their previous conversation. But obviously she had had very little of a success, for her facial expression was as curious as it had ever been. Completely clueless, she couldn't help herself but ask: "Okay, what the hell happened out here? First, you were all ready to go and kill each other off and now he's helping us? Damn, why do we always miss those mind changes?"
She looked pretty angry at herself. Gabriella, though, was rather glad that she hadn't heard anything. Conversations like that she had just had with Troy weren't to be overheard by anyone, seeing as they were more than private in her opinion. And if Sharpay had gotten the news about what had happened back in Sophomore Year – not that everyone didn't know by now Troy had cheated on her, but still… she didn't want details to be leaked. And especially not to Sharpay, the queen of East High when it came to gossip.
Troy just smirked. "We could repeat what we said outside, no problem… If it's that important to you?" He asked more than he stated, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively at Gabriella. Her eyes widened. He wouldn't… He couldn't… No, he certainly wouldn't dare to repeat just a single thing, would he? Looking him straight in the eyes, she wasn't really sure about it. He had always had a thing for telling some things that were too embarrassing for Gabriella and most of the times he wasn't even sorry for doing so – mostly because no one else found them disconcerting, but funny.
But this… This wasn't to be told and it definitely wasn't funny. Shooting him a stern look, she warningly shook her head, but he didn't even do so much as look at her. His gaze fully directed at Sharpay, he opened his mouth to start speaking… only to find he couldn't quite do so. Just in time, Gabriella had decided to do something about it and she had never been one to be good at thinking while being under a lot of pressure and stress. So, the first thing that came to her mind was something she'd rather not done, but what else?
Troy moved his mouth and he was sure that he was forming words with his lips and actually set them, but all that came out of his mouth was some kind of grunting and a lot of unintelligible sounds that were nowhere near whole sentences or making sense at least. Why? Because there was a rather small hand that definitely didn't belong to him clamped over his mouth, which forestalled him to actually get something out of it. Grinning, he gave a fake attempt to wriggle free from it, but, of course, Gabriella wasn't having any of it. "Oh no, you're beyond doubt not telling her that!"
Her tone was warning and unmistakeable, Troy noticed that only too well. But that didn't bother him in the slightest. He had never intended on actually giving away what had happened, but he had been tempted to see how Gabriella would react to an effort. Not too good, obviously. That meant he could trust her to keep this quiet just as much as he could trust himself about never loosing one word about this. It wasn't like he didn't want to work this out with her, but he knew for sure that it wouldn't be helping if suddenly the entire population of East High knew what this was about.
However, Sharpay didn't quite get the point in this. "Oh come on, guys!", she pouted, making puppy-dog eyes in their direction. "You know I won't tell anyone about it!" Gabriella laughed out loud. That was one of the best jokes she had ever heard. Sharpay and keeping something quiet? Not in this life. Troy gave a short snort. It wasn't like he wouldn't have laughed, but there still was the little fact that Gabriella still hadn't dislodged her hand from his mouth. Which made it rather difficult to give an articulated sound.
And Troy liked to speak, so he didn't intend on letting it there for any more minutes. And it didn't seem like Gabriella was going to remove it herself in the next few seconds, not really trusting him to keep it hushed, so he had to do something for himself. And so Sharpay Evans was living to see the first time someone actually dared to interrupt her. Having ranted on about how it wasn't nice to keep someone out of something because it could make them an outcast – "That gives one a horse laugh", was the only thing Gabriella could think about after hearing this -, she hadn't even paid a little bit attention to the fact that Troy had gotten a thoughtful look on his face.
So she was completely unknowing, as suddenly a sharp scream could be heard – one that was sure to not be missed by anyone within fifty metres. "Bolton, you pig!", was all that Gabriella could get out, desperately shaking her hand after having jumped three metres away from the now shamelessly smirking basketball captain. Sharpay could only shake her head. There you were absent with your mind for one minute and there was already something happening and you didn't experience it yourself, no, you were dependent on what was told. And she knew that getting any information out of Troy or Gabriella was useless when they didn't want to tell something – not that she wouldn't try to convince them to nevertheless.
"Alright, guys, what have you done now?", she demanded, hands stemmed into her hips, her eyes giving away that they were being a pain in her neck. But this time she actually got the news she wanted. "He licked my hand!", Gabriella screeched, pointing accusingly at Troy while still shaking her hand as if there was no tomorrow. Sharpay looked disgusted. "You licked her hand?", she interrogated, shocked. "With your tongue?" Troy just gave a short nod, still laughing at Gabriella. "That's hideous!" The blonde exclaimed, wrinkling her nose. "Tell you what!" Gabriella nodded in approbation.
Troy just shrugged. "She was clamping my mouth with her hand! What should I have done? She wasn't intending on letting go anytime soon and I really like my ability to speak, thank you very much!" Gabriella gave him a disapproving look. "You could have asked nicely! No need to use your tongue on my hand!" Hoisting his eyebrows, Troy looked down at her. "Tell me how to do that! I couldn't get a single word out! And would you have rather I used my tongue on anything else? To stick it down your throat, for example?" Both Gabriella and Sharpay starred at him in pure shock.
And not only that: Gabriella seemed like she was going to loose her temper again in one of these moments. "Too early for jokes?", he asked, a little bit scared by her murderous look – but only a little bit. "Yeah!" Both girls nodded their heads simultaneous. Two against one – looked like he was defeated. "Alright, alright, I'll watch my tongue!", he exclaimed, not noticing what he had just unintentionally implied. Gabriella, though, did notice it. "Bolton, if I should find your tongue sticking down my throat anywhere near these days, I swear, I'm not so sure if you'll have one to watch after any longer."
Her voice was dangerously low, as if daring him to say something different. Troy went red and white. "Oh no, damn it, I didn't mean it like that! I meant I'll shut up – for now, at least!" He looked at Gabriella, unsure how she was going to react. But the second his gaze met hers, he knew that she had been joking, a wide smile visible displayed on her face. Relieved, he let out his breath and smiled, too, until a thought struck his mind. "Hey, didn't you just say it was too early for jokes?" Gabriella shrugged, smiling. "That's different." Now it was Troy who pouted. "Not fair!"
The girls broke down with laughter. This was unbelievable. Since when did they laugh so much when Troy Bolton was anywhere near them? Gabriella had forgotten how funny he could be when he actually wanted and right now she nearly regretted having shut herself off from him. But there still was the fact that he had cheated on her… She stopped laughing abruptly and both Troy and Sharpay noticed the sudden mood swing. Regarding her carefully, Troy knew that she had just remembered how he had hurt her … and it hurt him. Couldn't she just forget about it? Or let him explain and actually believe him? Obviously that was a tall order.
Sighing with sadness, he looked down and then indicated for the door. "Maybe we should go in, shouldn't we?" Gabriella looked up and met his eyes that clearly showed him being upset. And for a short moment she wished that life could be different from how it was now. But that was impossible and there was no use in asking 'What if?'. So she just nodded and made a start for the door. Having stood in the longest distance, she was the last to enter the gym, because Sharpay had picked up her intention and already went in and Troy had followed her. But, just before they entered the gym, he slowly turned around to her one last time, ahead of being seen by everyone else, and winked at her. And to Gabriella's great misery she had to discover that it still made her utterly stunned.
*
Five minutes later, the questions that had been poured on the three teenagers coming in had been answered – the ones that Troy and Gabriella wanted to have answered at least. And although that weren't really that much, both teams were content with them. Not that they would have had that much of another choice. But anyways, after having settled the matter of not knowing what to do about the contest, Gabriella felt as relieved as she hadn't felt in a long time. And now all she wanted to do was to start with the practice, anxious to get this as perfect as possible. And for that the members of the basketball team needed to know the steps of the dance.
She was slightly worried about their feeling for the rhythm, but she decided to leave that matter for later. For now it was all about getting the steps right. "Okay, how do we do this?", she asked nervously, not really awaiting an answer. She was the captain; she had to know where to begin. And virtually she did know what to do; she just dreaded to do so. But there was no way to bypass it. So, taking one deep breath, she looked around nervously, searching for Troy who had warped himself to his team mates. "I suppose that maybe I should show you how it should look in the end, so I don't know… Troy, would you mind?"
She waited for his answer, scared that he would say that he didn't remember a single one of the steps and she actually didn't expect him to. Yeah, sure, he had danced with her all those times ago and maybe the memory would come back to him while re-learning it, but she was sure that he had tried to erase every single memory of them together from his mind after she had broken things off with him. That was what she had done.
But to her biggest surprise, he plainly nodded and strode towards her at a quick pace, as if knowing that she wanted to start with the dance as soon as possible. "You mean… you think you actually remember the steps?", she stuttered, feeling a little bit lost, still not being quite aware that he had agreed to dance with her in front of practically everyone without hesitation. Troy looked at her as though he wanted to ask if she was alright. "What did you think?", he asked, his voice sounding mildly amused. "That I would offer my help without at least remembering half of them? Do you think I want to stultify myself that much?"
Well, not exactly, no. But she hadn't given a thought as to why he had offered his help after having become convinced that he wasn't there to try and ruin the dance, so she would fall in disgrace. And she still didn't think that he really knew all the steps. Regarding him cautiously, she nodded once and then turned sharply around to turn on the stereo equipment. But to her surprise, Taylor was already ready to press the starting button, so Gabriella could get in starting position with Troy. Reminding herself that the dance was started with the pair of dancers engulfed in a hug, she nervously took place in the middle of the gym, sending Troy a summoning look.
But with every step he took in her direction, Gabriella began to shiver more. Was this really what she wanted? Enduring Troy and his closeness just because of some stupid contest? Letting him near her without screaming at him, no, even letting him touch her, dance with her? Was it worth that? Deep in thoughts, she hadn't noticed that Troy had accomplished the way to her and was ready to go into starting position. He, too, was more than unsure about what he was doing. In less than a minute he would have her in his arms again, being able to touch her without getting yelled at.
He knew that he had kind of longed for it, even while he had tried to outplay it with his hate for her. He knew that he wanted nothing more than finally being able to call her his again, but he also knew that it was not possible and not likely that it would ever be possible again. And therefore he knew that she was dreading his touch just as much as he was anticipating it. Not a thought that made him gain more confidence about this whole thing. What if his closeness was unbearable for her? What if she just let it happen because her pride wasn't going to let her give up that easily? What if she was being tortured by her feelings towards him?
He really wasn't sure about this, but what should he do? Back away in the last minute? Let her hanging if all of the above he had been thinking had been wrong? If she was feeling languorous if he touched her or not? There was no way he was going to back out of this now. Tentatively, as if trying to make sure she could grow accustomed to his touch again, he slipped his arms around her waist, only to find her jumping as his body came in contact with hers. He needed all his will power to not sigh in resignation. She wasn't compatible with him being this near. He should have known. Not just thought about it, he should have known. But he hadn't and now it was too late.
But there was something he had to do before they started into this dance. There was no way he would let her dance this way. She would be all stiff and most likely not be able to do the lifting figures. And he didn't exactly want her breaking herself an arm or a leg. So he leant towards her right ear and whispered: "Look, Gabriella, I know you don't want me here in close vicinity to you. And I understand why. But you need to relax. I can't change the way it is and that you won't believe me about the fact that I didn't cheat on you and I certainly can't change how you feel about me. But you won't be able to dance if you stiffen like this. I promise I won't hurt you and I won't let you fall. So please just try, alright?"
Gabriella swallowed. Whatever she had been expecting, this wasn't it. He tried to comfort her; he actually tried to understand her, to consider her feelings. And in some way she was thankful for that. Maybe that was the reason why she found herself able to really relax into his arms. Whatever it was, it helped. And that was all that counted right now. Finally able to meet Troy's eyes, she looked up and then gave Taylor the starting sign. Promptly, the music was being played. She looked back to Troy, never breaking the gaze between the two of them.
Searching his eyes for any signs of uncertainty, she heard the first notes floating through the air and hesitantly took a step to the right, relieved as he made one to his left. Cautiously beginning to circle each other as they had done so many times before, both remembered more and more the way they used to dance together, now being able to faultlessly put it into practice again. Their bodies moulding into one perfect couple of dancers, they starred into each other's eyes, getting lost in their own world.
Gabriella's breathing hitched, as she felt his right hand gently making its way from her back to her neck, his fingertips ever so lightly touching her burning skin. Before she actually knew what was happening, her own hand tangled itself in his hair, their heads approaching until their foreheads touched. Helplessly she gazed into his bright blue orbs, desperately trying to keep the erupting feelings in check. How could dancing with him affect her so much? She couldn't get sentimental over this; that wouldn't end very well.
Right on cue the slow introduction ended and the rhythm changed to a much faster one. Instantly breaking out of Troy's arms as soon the beat started to fill the gym, Gabriella gladly merged into the main part of the dance, wanting to leave her previous thoughts far behind. It couldn't be that hard, could it? Trying to concentrate on what she had to do next, she cursed silently. This was the old version she had to dance and that meant that the combined part wasn't finished yet. Even worse, the moves were only going to get even more sensual in certain parts.
And as if to prove her point, Troy slipped his hands around her waist, just in time to guide her down for the splits and lift her up in one fluid movement, assisting her for her first leap. Both jumped slightly before criss-crossing, their arms matching their feet movement. They broke out into various hip-hop dance moves, before Gabriella did a spot turn, once again facing Troy. She had to admit that he was good. Until now he hadn't messed up a single step, but Gabriella was sure that he didn't remember all of them. She was wrong.
He did, indeed, and he knew only too well why. Of course he had tried to do the same as Gabriella: forgetting something had ever happened between them. But that didn't mean that he had been able to. It was the only time that the old saw was wrong: There wasn't always a way if there was a will.
But right now he really couldn't concentrate on that much longer; because Gabriella now came to the part of the dance they both had enjoyed most back in Sophomore Year, which meant that it was going to be the most awkward for them due to their current circumstances. Troy could feel Gabriella tremble and the fact that it certainly wasn't anticipation that made her shiver suddenly managed to get him extremely upset. Confound it! He wasn't sure if he'd be able to keep himself at bay and restrain himself from breaking the dance to flee the gym. This certainly wasn't the best idea to…
All thoughts were suddenly ripped out of his mind as Gabriella seemed to have decided there was no sense in protracting the tension. Having made up her mind just in time to not miss the beat, she whirled herself in his arms and instantaneously started to dip low. Letting herself drop halfway to the floor, she could feel Troy's arms automatically reaching for her waist, pulling her into his body to provide her greater stability.
Her hands grabbing his shirt slightly, Gabriella came up again, trying not to let her uneasiness for this move show in her face. She couldn't believe she had actually pulled this off. Why hadn't she just broken the dance off, explained to him that she couldn't do it and tried to insert some other move they could do instead? This wasn't something you just did with everyone you danced with. She had always been of the opinion that it was pretty intimate since it allowed the boy a pretty good look at your cleavage, so why do it with Troy?
Easy question, easy answer. It just had felt so familiar, so … right to do it. Regardless the fact that they had just called a truth about ten minutes ago after two years of fighting it had felt like the right thing to do. And that troubled Gabriella more than any dance move in the world could.
Allowing herself to throw a short look at Troy, she swallowed hard, after seeing that his face was showing a mix of confusion, shock and … desire? No, no, no, that couldn't be. He surely wouldn't be turned on by this; if anything he should be disgusted that she had even done it. They weren't in Sophomore Year anymore and they weren't going out. She hated him; he hated her. No reasons for him to actually enjoy any of this more or less forced dancing. Therefore she was surprised all the more as he shot her a small smile that definitely didn't seem faked.
What Gabriella didn't know was that Troy was thinking exactly the same. He couldn't deny that he had enjoyed Gabriella's little 'visit' to the floor after he had gotten over the shock that she had actually let herself do that. And it was just as confusing for him as for Gabriella. Desperately trying to keep himself from grinning too smugly at her, he shot her a little smile, hoping that she wouldn't notice that he was having problems to concentrate on the dance after her little stunt.
You could say that he was more than glad when he realized that it was time for Gabriella's short solo. Just in time after the second chorus had ended, he whirled her around into a perfectly well achieved pirouette, before letting himself sink to the ground. It was more than awkward to do so in front of his basketball team – he didn't worry about the dancers, they were used to something like that -, but soon he didn't mind after remembering that they would have to do the same sooner or later. He'd prefer sooner in this case.
Gabriella, however, didn't even have the time to feel something like embarrassment for she was the only one dancing. It wasn't new to her and she had to concentrate hard for her solo, so she wasn't exactly capable of thinking about anything else. After she had been swirled into the pirouette – it really was surprising he remembered how to do so – she instantly broke into the Torshete, a scissor-like movement.
Knowing that it didn't take long for her to complete her solo, Troy strained his whole body, ready to go for the second last part of the song. Right on cue, he lifted himself from the ground, as Gabriella once again did the splits.
Doing a moonwalk in-between the ten seconds Gabriella stayed at the ground, Troy turned and lifted her up in the air, so she could jump once and leave the rest to him. Picking her up, Troy attempted to whirl her around halfway, as he felt her stiffen up. Knowing that she needed to be calm to minder the risk of getting hurt, he gave her a reassuring clasp on her hip with one of his fingertips. Gabriella closed her eyes while feeling the old sign he had always used to assure her she was safe with him. Feeling him turn and set her down slowly, she twitched shortly, but regained her trust in him relatively quickly. Jumping out of his grasp when she was near the ground, both of them did a spot turn and then diverged from each other with a quicker version of the backslide.
Eventually having reached the optimal distance, Troy turned around, facing Gabriella, waiting for her to run up to him. He was nervous, he had to admit it. The following lifting figure was the worst of the whole dance and there was no denying that Troy dreaded the figure. But it was way too late for backing out now. So he just stood there, waiting for her to run up to him. And so she did.
But, shortly before Gabriella leapt of the ground, Troy could see that she was scared, too. She could try to overact with the calmest face she could pull off, but she couldn't fool him. There was this spark of precariousness flashing through her brown eyes that gave it all away. And for one short moment Troy couldn't concentrate anymore. He saw her coming towards him, her feet leaving the ground and he… he found he couldn't move his arms up to head her off. His eyes grew wide with fear. What if she fell? What if she broke something? She would never, never ever forgive him for that. And he couldn't let that happen.
He had once let her down; he wasn't going to do it again. She had just learnt to trust him again – for the dancing, at least – and he wasn't going to throw that away just now. And suddenly he could move again. Finally raising his arms, he managed to break her fall just in time and lifted her up with all the strength he could muster. Going through the routine of the move, he couldn't think of another thing but that he had nearly let her fall. And he could have sworn that he heard a relieved sigh going round the gym. It wouldn't be a big surprise if at least some of the bystanders had noticed his hesitance.
And he was sure that Gabriella had noticed. Of course. How could you not notice if you were the one threatened to fall because of someone else? And Gabriella had indeed detected the little fact. She was just glad that she hadn't landed on the ground, but she knew she would have to speak to Troy about this later. For now, she just concentrated on the last steps. Jumping down to the ground again, she felt him gripping her hand and screwing her into him, only to release her seconds later and spin her into a short, but really quick turn. Not being used to that anymore, Gabriella nearly tripped over her own feet, but before she could fall to the ground and hurt herself, Troy was already beside her, holding her up by drawing her into the ending position, a kind of a hug, only that it looked more intimate than one.
The instant they had stopped moving and the music had stopped playing, the whole gym was silent. Nobody was moving; nobody was speaking; there wasn't anyone who dared making a noise. The dance they had just witnessed had exceeded all expectations. It wasn't just a dance, it was kind of perfection. Well, besides the short moment everyone had thought Troy wasn't going to move to break Gabriella's fall. But that was something nobody cared about at the moment. Breaking into rounds of applause, everyone was suddenly chatting and laughing brightly in a muddle and nobody overheard Gabriella whispering: "For one moment I thought you were going to let me fall!" Troy nodded shortly. "For one moment I thought the same thing." That shut both of them up.
Heavily panting, the two of them stood there for several minutes, trying to regulate their breathing. Gabriella had her head on Troy's shoulder, for once not minding this closeness. Taking in his scent, she coped calming herself down. Troy, becoming aware that she didn't mind, rested his chin on her head, closing his eyes. This was unbelievable. He had never dared to think that he would ever be this close to her again and here he was, holding her in his arms. But the moment was ending before it actually had begun. Gabriella, reminding herself of the fact that there were about thirty people watching them and thinking they didn't get along very well, untangled herself as quickly as possible from him and dashed a few steps backwards.
She didn't notice Troy's surprised and hurt face, as she was already turning around to their audience, trying to make them forget about what they had just witnessed. "Okay, guys, that's how it's made, so we should start in order to get this right by Friday, alright?" She swallowed dryly. What had she been thinking? Standing there with Troy in a more than friendly hug, although she didn't even like him? There was only one answer: She hadn't been thinking. And that was the biggest problem. She wasn't ready to even begin to think about forgiving him someday, much less starting to have any diffuse feelings she couldn't recognize. No, no, this wasn't happening, there was nothing she should be worrying about, there was nothing she even could worry about… frankly because there was nothing.
Shaking her head at these thoughts, she avoided looking at Troy, but instead looked at everyone else. "I don't know how we can teach you guys the steps the fastest, but I guess it would be a start if you girls each grab your partner and try to explain the steps to them. You know them, I bet Sharpay and Taylor already gave you a copy, as they knew we would have boys to dance with before me." She looked at her best friends, smiling to show them she wasn't angry anymore. "And if there are problems anywhere, I'll be glad to help, okay?" She received nods everywhere she looked and now found herself in the position of telling Troy what he should do.
Turning around to him, she still didn't look him in the eyes, but said: "I guess you can take a breath, you deserve it." Troy sighed, but it didn't reach Gabriella's ears. So he just agreed and made his way to the guys' locker-room where he had left his sport bad with his water bottle. For the next hour and a half, Gabriella had nothing else to do than going around and supervising the training pairs. They were coming on in leaps and bounds and she was thankful for that. She didn't know what she would have done if anyone hadn't been able to pull it off. She knew that she had practically thrown them in at the deep end, but what was there that she could possibly do? They had only four days, four days left until this had to be perfect. And that was not much time, no, definitely not.
*
By the time lunch time had arrived, the rumour that Troy Bolton, East High's king, was actually helping Gabriella Montez and her dancing squad in the contest. And there were very different reactions to it. Disbelief, shock, denial and laughing about it even were the nicest of them. Bad-mouthing, gossiping and openly confronting Gabriella about it were the worst. After it had become common knowledge that Troy had dumped Amber – not that Amber was very happy about the news -, many girls seemed to think that it had just been the chance Gabriella had waited for. For paying Amber back all the times she had tried to make Gabriella's life miserable and at the same time for getting East High's golden boy back.
Gabriella wasn't surprised about this. She knew that many of them had been jealous of her for the time she had dated Troy – although they had never dared to show it openly - and that they had been glad when she had broken it off. And she knew that many girls had supported Amber and Troy's 'relationship', even though they wouldn't have said no if Troy had come to them. And now they were thinking that Gabriella was taking advantage of the fact that Troy was 'heart-broken' – she really didn't know how you could think someone was heart-broken if they strode through the halls of East High, whistling joyfully – and only played him as a card in a game of winning and loosing.
She didn't care much about the rumours, but she couldn't stand the many girls coming up to her and telling her they really wouldn't have thought she would stoop that low to play with some boy's feelings. She had simply laughed at the first five of them, but after she had had to hear the same ranting from about seventy different girls she had unquestionably had enough. And so she had given ground and went into the gym to once again practice a few moves of the dance. She knew she could pull them off in any second, but she wanted them to be perfect. And it was a welcomed distraction from the harassing.
*
It never rains but it pours. Gabriella should have known that, but all she could think about at the moment was that she wasn't getting this damned dance move right. And she didn't even know why. She had managed to pull it off perfectly well just two hours beforehand and now she had forgotten how to do it? Impossible. But she had to admit that she wasn't fully concentrating on it, but rather thinking about Troy. He had remembered all the dancing steps. What did that mean? That it was possible that she had meant something to him? That she had been that important that he would memorize such little things from their relationship like the exact chronology of the dancing steps? Damn it, why did she have to be confused just now? It wasn't helping!
But now it was impossible to get this move right. There was no way she would manage to nail it without a lead and where to get one from? Sighing frustrated, she once again got in starting position after pressing play on the stereo equipment. Trudging herself through the dance, she stiffened more and more until it was impossible to get on with it. But she wasn't going to give up, she had to do it. Once again her pride was standing in her way. And it was being noticed by a certain blue-eyed boy. Seeing that she wasn't going to leave it until she had finished it, he saw no other way but to step up and help her. Otherwise she was most likely to break something. And she would be lucky if it wasn't her spinal column.
So, just as she was going to throw herself into the Pirouette, he grabbed her hand and whirled her around. Jumping due to the sudden touch, she nearly tripped and could only steady herself with a quick grasp at his shoulder. Yelping what with the surprise, her head darted around to look at him and she could barely restrain herself from yelping a second time. Troy Bolton was standing beside her. Where the hell had he come from? She hadn't even seen him approaching. And the more important question was: Why was he here? And who the hell did he think he was to scare her just like that?
Detaching herself from his grip, she glowered at him. "Bolton! What the hell are you doing?" She didn't even notice that she had gone back to last-name-calling. But Troy did notice it all the more. "Back to last name basis, Montez?", he emphasised her last name sarcastically, rolling his eyes. How come that she always went rigid if he did something unexpected? Oh yeah, right, she hated surprises. "Anyways, I was just trying to help!", he defended himself, as she didn't soften her look. Although he didn't exactly know why he was the one apologizing. Wasn't she the one that yelled at him, though he had done nothing wrong? Typically Gabriella. Always blowing up at innocent ones.
Gabriella, however, didn't think of Troy as innocent. "Helping?", she asked, her voice somewhat high-pitched. "You mean tripping over my feet is going to help me? I don't think so!" Troy couldn't believe it, but yet he stayed calm. Not that it was going to last very long anyways. "Hey, I was really trying to help. You couldn't get it right; I thought I would lend you a hand. But obviously it was, once again, wrong." Gabriella shook her head. "Of course it's wrong! What gives you the idea that I needed to be helped out? By you, for good measure?!"
He nearly laughed. "Oh, I don't know? Maybe because you looked like you were going to break in two halves any minute?" He didn't understand why she was already so worked up again. He had just tried to help. There wasn't anything wrong with that, was there? But apparently she thought so. "You know what, Bolton? I don't care why you thought it necessary, but let me tell you that it wasn't and if I were in your shoes I'd be making sure it doesn't happen again, alright?" Oh no, not this again. Troy had the slight feeling that he had heard this somewhere along the lines of the last two years filled with fighting before.
But what he didn't remember was that she had looked so intriguing the last time she had said that. He also hadn't committed to memory that she had been standing so close to him and he certainly couldn't retain the information that he had wanted to shut her up… not in the ordinary way, but through something special. And right now he was all for giving into that want. „You know what?", he asked her fiery. "I'm all and done for, if you ask me!" He shot her a nasty glare, which Gabriella returned equally. Glaring at him with fire obvious in her eyes, she shot back at him: "Well, it's a good thing nobody's been asking you then, isn't it? 'Cause I certainly don't care and…"
Whatever she was going to say next was forgotten as soon as Troy's warm mouth covered hers possessively, kissing her with all the passion he had built up over the last ten minutes. Gabriella, after all those years still being kind of used to his lips on hers, didn't hesitate to return the kiss, pressing herself more into him and placing her arms around his neck in an attempt to steady herself. Her fingers tangled up in his shaggy brown hair, she tilted her head back to give him more access and a chance to deepen the kiss, which he gratefully took.
Letting his tongue rest on her lower lip, he waited for her to give him access, which she appreciatively granted. His tongue slipping into her mouth, they let their tongues battle for dominance. Unable to hold herself back any longer, Gabriella let out a soft moan. She knew she shouldn't be enjoying this, but she couldn't help it. How was she supposed to be thinking when his kisses were mind-blowing? It was impossible and thus not imaginable for her to break the kiss. Troy, however, had come to his senses, as soon as he had heard Gabriella moan. It was hard to uncover his mind from the smoke screen and to control himself, but he managed to do it eventually.
Reluctantly, he backed away from her lips, looking her straight in the eye, only to find her starring back at him, her eyes being a mix of wanting more and being utterly confused. Troy knew that he probably wasn't looking any different. But what the hell… This was Gabriella Montez he had just kissed and he knew that it definitely shouldn't have happened. Why did it even happen in first place? He didn't know. Had they been fighting? If they had, he was convinced that he couldn't remember a single thing about it. He had been angry, yeah, but… why? He really didn't know.
The only thing that he knew right now was that he should get going this moment. But somehow he found that he couldn't. He couldn't just leave her standing there without doing anything. But what was he supposed to do? They were enemies for god's sake and he had only kissed her to shut her up. He had only kissed her because of that, right? Somehow he couldn't find a way to convince himself. Maybe he had wanted this… and she definitely could kiss… better than every other girl he had ever kissed.
But that didn't matter, it shouldn't matter at least. They couldn't stand each other, he had hurt her in any way possible and she had drawn the conclusions from it, so he had to bear the consequences. But nevertheless he couldn't seem to be able to restrain himself from what he did now: Raising his hand slowly, he briefly cupped her cheek in his hand, before he abruptly turned around, leaving her standing there in the empty gym.
Gabriella didn't look after him, for she was still too shocked by what had just happened. He actually kissed me!, she thought confused. And he still is a bloody amazing kisser as well… She didn't know if she should shout after him, asking if he still was right in his mind or if she should just let it be. Finally settling on the second, she brought her fingers up to her tingling lips, not quite able to cover up the small smile that flickered across her face. Slowly backing up against the gym wall, she searched for support of her knees that had gone weak. In no way she had imagined for this ever to be happening. She had never thought that she would ever be kissing Troy again, not after she had seen him and that… that girl in his room. Which brought her back to the reason why she shouldn't have kissed him.
Tiara. The reason why she had broken up with Troy, the reason why she knew that he was an egoistical, self-absorbed jerk. But the kiss brought her thinking back. She had felt that he had actually wanted to kiss her; there was no denying that after feeling the passion between them. And she couldn't deny either that she had ached for him to not break the kiss, to hold it up, although she knew that they would have needed oxygen sooner or later. No! No, she couldn't be thinking this, she wasn't right in her mind, she had lost her common sense, there was no other explanation. But she had to confess that she hadn't minded all that while Troy's mouth had still covered hers.
*
Five hours later, Gabriella burst into the Evans' mansion. She didn't even bother to ask herself why the door was open; the only thing she cared about was that she needed to see her friends as soon as possible. And for that she was only glad she didn't have to ring the bell and wait until the door was opened up by one of the butlers. Hurrying and deep in thoughts, she didn't pay attention to where she was running. "Oww!" With a loud thud she landed on the ground, having run over a blonde boy.
"Oh my god, I'm so sorry, Ryan, I didn't mean to…" She cut herself short, remembering she didn't have the time to give long explanations. The blonde just smiled sympathetically. "It's okay, no need to worry!" Gabriella was relieved. "Thanks, Ry. Do you know where Shar and Taylor are?" The blonde eyed her curiously. "They're at the pool, sun-bathing." The brunette smiled appreciatively and dashed forward to the backside of the house. "See you later, Ry!", she only managed to get out, then she was already out of the house.
Slithering and desperately trying to come to a halt, Gabriella tried to stop at her best friends' sun lounges, but she had no success, seeing as the ground she had run on was too wet to stop her. And before she knew what was going on, Gabriella found herself in the pool, wet from head to toes. "Argh!" A loud shriek emitted by two girls at the same time reached Gabriella's ears quite unwelcome. The splash that had inevitably come after she had fallen into the pool had hit both the girls trying to sun-bath. And they weren't too happy about it.
"Gabriella!" Sharpay screeched, looking down at her Prada swimsuit that had water spilled all over it. "What are you doing?" Gabriella shrugged apologetically, kicking water to stay afloat. "Sorry, couldn't stop, the ground's too wet." Sharpay nodded, not even wondering why her friend had run in first place. Turning around to Taylor, she just finished the sentence she had begun before being interrupted by Gabriella's little stunt. "Anyways, what was I saying? Oh yeah, Zeke's just so cute!"
Gabriella shook her head. Here she was, wet and soaked, and all Shar cared about was the cuteness-factor of her boyfriend? Really! That was no appropriate way to treat a friend. But she knew the perfect way to attract the attention to herself. "We kissed!", she spluttered, nervously awaiting the reaction of her two friends. "What?!" Sharpay sounded like she couldn't believe it. "You kissed Zeke?" What? How the hell did she come to that idea? "No!", Gabriella protested instantly and Taylor also looked apprehensive at Sharpay. "Shar, really! Why would she kiss Zeke?"
Sharpay just shrugged and Gabriella groaned. So not the point right now! "I meant Troy! I kissed Troy… or better, he kissed me!" "What?!" Now she had both her friends starring at her with a shocked look on their faces. "Is he dumb?" Sharpay asked, not believing what she had just heard. "He can't be trying to get himself in even more trouble, can he?" Gabriella couldn't quite suppress her smile. "Let's say he's mentally challenged, okay?" Taylor didn't even listen to them. "He kissed you? And you kissed him back?" She looked like a meteorite had just driven in just in front of her.
Gabriella shrugged abashed. "Maybe?" Now there was no way she could have prevented the two girls from letting questions rain all over her. "When? Why? Where? What exactly happened? Was it good? Don't you hate him? Was he…?" Gabriella kept her ears shut. Too bad that she forgot she was still inside the pool, so she went down, which instantly drowned the voices of Sharpay and Taylor out. Peaceful silence came over her, but she knew she couldn't avoid them forever. But how to answer their questions if she herself didn't even know what exactly had happened? She could say that he was the only one to blame, that he had surprised her. But she knew that it wouldn't have happened if she had just worked against it harder. As long as she knew it still took two to kiss.
*
While Gabriella was still deliberating how to tell the girls everything, Troy was lying on his bed, his face starring up at the ceiling. What the hell had he been thinking? Kissing Gabriella Montez? His ex-girlfriend? Oh god, he didn't even want to imagine how much she had to hate him right now. Burying his face in his hands, he once again let the memory of the afternoon live up. He couldn't deny that he had more than liked it to be the one kissing her again. And she had kissed him back! The only thing was: Had she kissed him back because she wanted it just as much as him or had she done it because he had taken her by surprise?
As much as he wanted it to be the first option, he tended to think that it was the second. This was Gabriella he was thinking about, not just one of the other girls who gave themselves to him in the bash of an eyelid. And that was another one of his worries. He didn't know what had happened this afternoon, but he knew that it had changed him in some way. He was sure he wouldn't have noticed if it wasn't for one of those cheerleaders.
After he had left the gym again, he couldn't avoid crossing ways with one of them… the type he had tried to avoid, which had been the reason he had been in the gym first-handed. Coming up to him and playing the compassionate girl, she had put an arm around his waist and he hadn't stopped her, although he hadn't liked it. But his mind had still been trying to work out what had happened back there in the gym and so he hadn't been up to speed. And the cheerleader had mistaken that for a sign of affection.
She had gone on about how bad Gabriella was for taking advantage of him and his broken heart – yeah right, as if – and then had suggested she could make it better. To which he hadn't complained, simply because he hadn't listened to her. And that was the reason why she had made them stop and tip-toed up to him, kissing him fully on the mouth. It hadn't been anything like the kiss he had just had with Gabriella. Had the earlier kiss had some feelings between them, then this was just meaningless. And that was the time he had finally woken up from his desperate condition.
Pushing her away, he had glared and told her she shouldn't be trying to do something like that ever again, before he had turned on his heel and rushed of in the opposite direction, not even caring about the complaining cheerleader. And now here he was, lying on his bed, still not fully comprehending what had happened and how this was going to affect things between him and a certain brown-eyed brunette. All of the sudden, it seemed like he couldn't have anyone touching him – girls, at least – and especially not kissing him. He felt somewhat dirty, but he didn't know if it was because he finally came to his senses and realised that girls worshipping the ground he walked on were not the type of girl he liked or because he didn't want anyone kissing him besides … her.
Okaaay, so they kissed. Wow, yeah, I know. Wasn't expecting it either, when I started writing this chapter, but somehow they wrote themselves… and who am I to stop them from kissing? So, did you like it? Tell me, tell me! Because I'd really like to know, you know?
A HEADS UP to all of those who follow my story 'First Bad Habit': I'm glad to be able to tell you that I've finally started on the chapter and that I've already written the first half of it… the part from Troy's point of view. Now there's only Gabriella's missing and I'm trying to get that done as soon as possible. Excited already? Yes, I am, too. Because I'm still not sure on how to end that story. Don't get scared now… they're most likely gonna end up together, I just need to find out how. Because until now, Troy's still knee-deep into the mess he's got himself in, so… we'll see :)
Thanks for now,
xoxo
Lena aka ElectrifyingChemistry