Disclaimer I do not own High School Musical or any of its characters.
A/N: Thank you to everyone who read and reviewed the last chapter, I'm really glad you all enjoyed it! Most of you seemed to think that the recaps were helpful, so I will continue putting them in! Enjoy…
Last Time…
"I don't recognize you. Are you new here?" he asked. Gabriella nodded.
"Well then, I should introduce myself, shouldn't I?" he smiled. "Troy Bolton" he said holding out his hand.
"Gabriella Montez" she said softly shaking his hand. Troy seemed to smile a little but more as he heard Gabriella's name. Gabriella tried to ignore the spark she felt between her and Troy.
Chapter Two – You Didn't Tell Me
Troy had never seen anyone as beautiful as the girl who was walking up the stairs. Her dark curls bounced behind her as she walked and he wished she would look up so that he could see her face, which he was sure would be the face of an angel. She was looking down concentrating on the piece of paper in front of her.
Just then Troy noticed a piece of paper on the floor and as the girl's shoe approached the paper Troy knew what was coming and moved towards her. As her shoe came in contact with the paper she began to fall backwards, but Troy couldn't let that happen to the angel, so he swiftly caught her in his arms. Taking a moment to feel her soft skin, he basked in the radiance of it. Once she realized she wasn't on the floor she opened her eyes and Troy gazed into gorgeous chocolate brown eyes.
Carefully, Tory pulled her upright and being the gentleman he was he bent down to pick up her papers. He studied her for a moment, trying to figure out if he recognized her. Once he figured that he didn't he handed her back her papers and asked,
"Are you alright?"
"I'm fine. Thank you though" she said softly. Troy was already mesmerized by the melodic tone of her voice. He grinned in an effort to see if she would smile,
"You're very welcome." he stated.
"I should probably go. I have to find my class" she said softly, turning to continue up the stairs.
"Wait" Troy said, without thinking. He couldn't let her go without knowing her name.
"I don't recognize you. Are you new here?" Troy asked after she had turned around. Instead of saying anything she just nodded.
"Well then, I should introduce myself, shouldn't I?" Troy smiled. "Troy Bolton" he said holding out his hand.
"Gabriella Montez" she said, taking his hand and shaking it gently. Troy couldn't help but smile as he heard Gabriella's name. It was perfect. Gabriella. As a spark of electricity ran up his arm he wondered if Gabriella had felt it as well. His thoughts were quickly interrupted by his best friend, Chad, who he had been walking with before along with his other team mates.
"You coming?" Chad asked.
"I'll meet you there" Troy answered. Chad and the team nodded and continued walking.
In the time that Chad had interrupted Troy and caused him to release Gabriella's hand, she had looked back down at her map and was studying it again.
"Those maps are useless. They are way too small." Troy pointed out. Gabriella looked up at him helplessly. "Who's your homeroom teacher?" he asked.
"Um, Darbus." Gabriella said. Troy grinned,
"I'll walk you and give you a mini tour" Troy offered.
"Oh, you don't have to. If it would be easier, you could just give me directions. I don't want to cause trouble." Gabriella said, not wanting to make trouble for Troy.
"No trouble at all, it would be my pleasure and besides, I have Darbus too" he assured her.
"Ok" Gabriella nodded, agreeing.
As the pair walked together through the hallways of East High Troy pointed out the important places and explained how the school was set up. It was obvious to Gabriella that he knew this school inside and out. Troy confirmed Gabriella's thoughts by explaining that he had lived here his entire life, he had an older brother and sister who had both gone to East High and his father taught at the school, so he was more than familiar with the school. She also noticed that he seemed to know a ton of people. With each corner they turned there seemed to be someone new for Troy to say hello to or someone who would come up and say hello to him.
On the journey Troy managed to make Gabriella laugh several times. Once he heard her laugh he decided that he needed to hear it as often as possible as it was almost more amazing than her voice in general. But he did seem to notice she didn't talk as much as he girls he was used to. Maybe it was just because he was used to the cheerleaders who never seemed to shut up or maybe it was his mother and sister who once they got started chatting, you could never get a word in edge way. Whatever it was Troy found it slightly refreshing, although for once in his life he wished she would talk more so that he could hear more of her voice.
Eventually they made it to room 218, Ms. Darbus' room.
"Well here we are. Just to warn to you, Darbus is slightly insane, so just bare that in mind" Troy said. Gabriella smiled,
"I'm sure she can't be that bad" Gabriella reasoned.
"Don't say I didn't warn you"
Troy held the door open, so that Gabriella could step through first. She made her way up to the front of the classroom, where Ms. Darbus was sitting in a chair reading a very large book.
"Excuse me, Ms. Darbus?" Gabriella asked softly.
"Yes" the woman's loud, sharp voice said.
"Today is my first day at this school. Where should I sit?" Gabriella asked politely, expecting Ms. Darbus to simply point to a desk near the back of the classroom, but instead Ms. Darbus began what would be a very long enthusiastic speech welcoming Gabriella and stressing the importance of the theater. Finally at the very end of the speech Ms. Darbus pointed to a desk in the back as Gabriella's seat.
She made her way to the back of the classroom as discreetly as possible. After sliding into her seat she scanned the classroom, taking in her new surroundings. However, her eyes quickly landed on Troy. She couldn't help but admire his impeccable body, which made it obvious he was an athlete. His blue eyes had drawn her in when they first connected with hers. Gabriella couldn't deny that she was attracted to him, but she couldn't let herself get close to him. She needed to protect her family above everything else. And besides, she was just Gabriella Montez, surely the jock who seemed to know everyone and was currently surrounded by friends would not be interested in her.
Just then the bell rang loudly through the school, signaling the beginning of homeroom. Students quickly sat at their desk, as Ms. Darbus stood up and began to give yet another speech welcoming back the class.
Like most students in the class Troy didn't have any interest in what Ms. Darbus was saying. While she was addressing students on the opposite side of the room, he turned around to scan the classroom for Gabriella. Upon meeting her gaze he smiled at her. She responded with a shy smile.
Turning back around Troy let his mind drift to thinking about Gabriella. He had only known her for less than an hour and yet he couldn't help but feel this heart flutter whenever he thought about her. She was so captivating in every single way possible and he couldn't imagine meeting anyone more stunning than her. Already he wanted to be the one who was allowed to hold her close, to wipe her tears, to laugh with her, to run his fingers through her luscious locks. He wanted to make her his.
--
Later that day, another bell rand loudly through the school, ending 5th period. Gabriella had just finished her advanced chemistry class and was now gathering up her books. Just as she placed her book bag over her shoulder, the African American girl sitting next to turned to her and said,
"Your explanation on your favorite parts of chemistry was really impressive. I especially enjoyed it as those are my favorite things too. What was your name again?"
"Gabriella Montez" Gabriella answered. She admired this girl's confidence. Never in a million years would Gabriella have the confidence to speak to a perfect stranger unprompted. As she thought back to the class, she remembered this girl's explanation being quite intelligent as well. "And thank you" Gabriella added.
"I'm Taylor McKessie. Are you new here? I don't recognize you." Taylor said.
"Yeah, I just moved from Connecticut last month." Gabriella explained.
"Well, I hope you like Albuquerque so far. East High has a fantastic academic record, if that's what you're into."
"I'm a clutz which puts sports out of the picture, so academics are really my only chance." Gabriella said.
"I know what you mean. I must warn you though, East High has a huge focus on basketball, so there are more than a few lunk-head basketball guys wandering around this place, but I guess I can't complain, my boyfriend is on the basketball team." Taylor explained. Gabriella nodded, understandingly.
"So, what class do you have next, I could see if I could help direct you" Taylor offered.
"Lunch. So just correct me if I'm wrong, the cafeteria is down this hall, then you make a right, go down a flight of stairs and then a left or is it a right" Gabriella muttered trying to remember the tour Troy had given her that morning. Taylor smiled in amusement,
"I have lunch too, we can walk together, I like you." Gabriella smiled.
As the two walked to lunch together, Gabriella got another tour of the school, this time by Taylor. It was interesting to listen to what two different people thought Gabriella should know about. Finally the two arrived at the large doors of the cafeteria. Taylor and Gabriella each pushed a door open, revealing the enormous room, that was loud due to the sheer number of people in the room.
"I think we decided the same table as last year" Taylor muttered as she scanned the cafeteria for 'the gang' "Ah! Yes, there they are." She said once she had located the table. Taylor led Gabriella over to a table near a very large window. She immediately went around the table to give what Gabriella guessed was her boyfriend a kiss. Once she had finished kissing the curly haired boy, she motioned to Gabriella and tried to catch everyone's attention,
"Guys. Guys." Her normal voice wasn't working as a blonde haired girl seemed to be having an argument with a dark haired boy who looked completely confused. "Sharpay! Jason!" Taylor said sharply, finally catching their attention. "Guys, this is Gabriella, she's new here and I think she will be well liked within our group, so I've taken the liberty of deciding that she is sitting with us." The group seemed to nod, accepting what Taylor had just said.
"So introductions, this is Zeke, our resident chef, Sharpay aka drama queen-"
"Hey! President of the drama club!" Sharpay protested. A blonde boy cleared his throat "Ok, ok co – president of the drama club" she corrected.
"As I was saying…Ryan, Sharpay's twin brother and co-president of the drama club, Jason is…well Jason-"
"I'm on the basketball team!" Jason reminded him.
"Yeah you and every other guy at the table" Taylor fired back. Ryan coughed purposely, "Fine, expect Ryan, can I please get through this. Who's next? Kelsi, our composer, Chad -"
"-funniest person to ever walk on this planet" Chad said proudly.
"Sure" Taylor said sarcastically raising her finger to stop Chad from protesting. "And finally, Troy, who, wait, where's Troy?" It wasn't until she actually looked at the empty seat that she realized Troy wasn't present.
"No idea" the group murmured. Just then, Troy came striding up to the table.
"Where've you been captain?" Chad asked as Troy took a seat.
"Had to go see my dad quickly" Troy explained.
"What did he want?" Jason asked.
"He just wanted to give me the new practice schedule for this year." Troy handed Jason a copy of the schedule.
"Troy's the captain of the basketball team and his father is the head coach" Taylor explained to Gabriella. Troy was the captain of the basketball team? Oh wow. With the way Taylor had explained that basketball was important at East High that made the captain God basically. There was definitely no way a basketball captain would have any interest in Gabriella.
Upon hearing his name on the other side of the table Troy turned to look at Taylor and Gabriella.
"Who are you – Brie" His voice seemed to soften as he uttered Gabriella's nickname. He seemed shocked but slightly happy to see Gabriella sitting at the lunch table. "What are you doing here?" he asked. "Not that it's a bad thing or anything I was just wondering how…" Troy began quickly but just as soon as he'd started he began to trail off. The entire table seemed to smirk as they noticed Troy nervousness.
"Taylor started talking to me in our advanced chemistry class and she brought me here." Gabriella explained. "You didn't tell me you were the captain of the basketball team."
"Must have slipped my mind and besides you didn't tell me you were a super genius" Troy grinned. Gabriella smiled as a faint blush crept up her cheeks.
"Wait, you guys know each other?" Sharpay interrupted unable to stand the confusion among the group.
"Well, since this morning." Troy said.
"Oh! How could I forget? She's the girl you caught before she fell down the stairs" Chad recalled. The entire table looked to Troy and Gabriella for confirmation. The two gave a small nod of the head to confirm. Jason, Chad, Zeke and Ryan smirked as Sharpay, Kelsi and Taylor just smiled. Troy gave a small, yet meaningful smile to Gabriella, who managed to smile back. This exchange did not go unnoticed by Taylor who turned to Sharpay to whisper,
"Looks like Mr. None-of-the-girls-at-East-High-are-for-me has finally found one he likes"
A/N: Hope you all enjoyed that chapter. Sorry for the delay, I've been in Northern Ireland for the past week and we have no internet. But thank you so much for reading and please review.
This chapter is dedicated to those who lost their lives in the horrific plane crash at Madrid Airport. I was supposed to fly into Madrid on Wednesday but our trip was cancelled due to the accident. It left me shaken because it shows you just how quickly things can go from being great to completely horrifying in a matter of moments. My thoughts are with those who lost family and friends in the crash.