Detention Buddies

Gabriella Montez wasn't the most popular girl at East High, but she was pretty close. She went to all the cool parties, had all the hot boyfriends, and did all the things that the cool kids got to do. She was always different from them. She had actual dreams. Her life wasn't about smoking pot and getting drunk like the rest of her friends. She got excellent grades, was the senior class vice-president, and she was always busy with something.

She had a lot on her plate. Her parents wanted her to go to Stanford but she wanted to go to Julliard. She just wanted to make music, write music and sing music. She wasn't completely bat-shit crazy when it came to stardom like her best frienemy Sharpay Evans. She just wanted to sing.

Gabriella took piano lessons since she was three and dance since she was two. She bought herself vocal lessons for her twelfth birthday. She came from a wealthier family, living in The Ridge. The Ridge was a small elite community of no more than twenty houses in the Mountains of East Albuquerque. About ten houses lived grumpy old rich people who get pissed off and call the cops when there's a high school party in The Ridge. The rest were families; The Montez family being one of them.

The Montez family wasn't very close for the most part. Richard, the father, was always away on business. Maria, the mother, focused on being a Desperate Housewife of Albuquerque rather than a mother. Gabriella was the oldest of three at eighteen. Camilla was the middle child at thirteen, desperate to be like Gabriella but getting old enough to resent her for being 'too perfect.' Lastly was the baby, Mariella, spoiled rotten and only eight years old.

Rose was the housekeeper and Gabriella's best friend. They'd grown close the past fourteen years, since she was originally hired on as Gabriella's nanny. At fourteen, when things started getting rough for Gabriella with periods and puberty, Rose was right by her side. Gabriella saw her in more of a best friend or cool aunt type but still being the voice of motherly reason when needed. Gabriella sought her out often, especially when it came to the birds, the bees, the boys and the booze.

School had started about three weeks ago and Gabriella found herself landing the first detention of the year. What did she do? Her cell phone went off in class. Her idiot boyfriend called her in the middle of homeroom. She had two after school detentions to look forward to. One for the cell phone and one for calling Ms. Darbus a 'spineless theatrical tyrant.'

Gabriella honestly couldn't help it. She's been trying out for shows since freshman year. Darbus has given all the leads to that bitch Sharpay Evans, even the ones across from her twin brother Ryan. Is that fucked up or what? She thought Sharpay was a hell of an actress, though. Gabriella didn't know if she could practically make out with her own twin. She had to draw a line somewhere, even if it was 'just acting.' It looked like this year wouldn't be any different, especially since she got two detentions a month into school.

She found herself dragging her feet to Mrs. Darbus' classroom after she collected what she needed from her locker. The day had been so long already and she didn't want to listen to Ms. Darbus for the third time today. She knew she should have taken Woodshop instead of Advanced Drama 3. She set her stuff down in her usual seat and slumped in her chair.

"Welcome to after school Detention. I hope you don't make a habit of it." Ms. Darbus projected to the five kids in the classroom. She was the only girl, go figure. Gabriella rolled her eyes and propped her chin on her fist. "After I have a small discussing with each one of you, you are expected to do homework. I know you all have homework."

"Ms. Darbus, when do we get out? I gotta go to basketball practice." Jason Cross said. She inwardly groaned. Jason was an idiot for asking that question, now Darbus is going to rant on and on about nothing.

"Well Mr. Cross, if you hadn't fallen asleep in class then you would be able to get to basketball practice on time. My suggestion to you is when you leave from basketball practice, eat a healthy dinner and go to sleep at a decent time. Don't play video games until the early morning hours." Darbus said. "Moving on."

"You still-"

"Just shut up." The boy sitting next to him said. Gabriella recognized him as Troy Bolton. He in homeroom with her, but she didn't remember him getting a detention.

Darbus gave Troy Bolton a pointed look and moved past Troy to Tucker Matthews. He looked scared shitless as he was about to get the wrath of Darbus. Though Gabriella was curious to know what Tucker was in for but she had better things to do, like homework. She pulled out her books and started on her homework.

About thirty minutes into their detention, Ms. Darbus had to leave quickly for a bathroom break. The once quiet room was now buzzing with chatter. Desks were moving and Gabriella lost her concentration. Somebody sat down in front of her.

"Hey."

"I'm busy." Gabriella said, not bothering to look up.

"What are you in for?"

Gabriella sighed, looking up. Troy Bolton was the nosy one apparently. He must have been really bored because they've never even glanced each others way. "Cell phone." She said, bored. She looked down at her papers.

"Darbus hates cell phones, that sucks." Troy said. "What are you doing? Trig? Yuck. Satan made math in the dark pit of hell."

"Are you flirting with me? I have a boyfriend." She said getting annoyed.

Troy laughed in her face. "No, I was not flirting. I know you have a boyfriend. Owen Jacobs right? I'm going to vote him in for Biggest Tool Bag at the end of the year for senior favorites."

"You don't even know him." Gabriella said, rolling her eyes.

"He's my like my third cousin. Humor me." Troy said with a roll of his eyes.

She looked up and narrowed her eyes. "I don't believe you."

Troy shrugged. "Doesn't matter to me if you do or not, I was just enlightening you with some family history."

"Look, I have to do homework-" The room went silent again as Ms. Darbus walked to her desk. There was some whispering on the other side of the room Darbus didn't seem to mind.

"I'll probably vote you in for Biggest Sucker if you last all year with him." Troy whispered with a small smirk.

Gabriella glared at him. "Aren't you supposed to like your family?"

"No." He said with a small smirk. "I definitely don't… Do you like all of your family?"

She sighed. "Shut up."

"I was just saying." Troy said with a shrug.

She let out an annoyed sigh and closed her book. "Ms. Darbus."

Darbus looked up at her. "What Ms. Montez?"

"Can I do my homework in the music room next door? I need complete silence."

She sighed. "Fine. I'll check on you every so often."

"Don't worry. I'm not going anywhere. I have so much homework to do." Gabriella said, packing her things. She stood up and walked out the door. Down the hall was her favorite room in the whole school. The music room. She stepped inside and smiled, finally some peace and quiet.

She took a seat on the piano bench and started her homework again from there. She was finished quickly with her homework. She packed it neatly in her backpack and looked at the piano in front of her. She lifted the lid on it and her eyes found the sheet music that laid on the piano. It was from the choir, she would know she took advanced choir as one of her electives.

She started playing. Her fingers brushing gently over the keys. She hummed along to the classic song. "And can you feel the love tonight." She sang quietly. It was the original version, not The Lion King version as everyone hoped. She didn't mind, she just liked to sing. She heard the door open behind her and stopped playing. She turned around. "Oh, it's just you." She murmured, turning back towards the piano.

"What's wrong with me?" Troy asked, closing the door behind him. He walked into the room and took a seat next to her. "Hm, I've never been in here."

"Shocking."

"I always see you so peppy. I never thought you were this grumpy in real life." Troy said, leaning his elbow on the piano making a loud noise. Both of them winced. Gabriella shut the cover over the keys and Troy rest his elbow on the top.

Gabriella rolled her eyes. "This is all real life. Ms. Darbus let you out?"

"I didn't have detention so she didn't have a problem with it." Troy said.

She furrowed her eyebrows. "What? Then why were you in there?"

"It's a long boring story." Troy said, elongating his adjectives. "I wanna know why you're so grumpy."

She leaned against her forearms, looking over at him. "I got detention for one." She murmured.

"Big deal. It's just detention. You'd probably go home and do your homework right away anyway." He said with a shrug.

"I guess but I'd rather be home."

"Touché." Troy said, narrowing his eyes at her.

She sat up again. "Don't you have basketball practice or something?"

"Quit." He said simply.

"Why?" She asked. She was just so confused by this guy.

Troy shrugged. "I didn't want to play anymore. Coach Bolton is a prick."

"Wait, isn't Coach Bolton your dad?" Gabriella asked, confused. Troy just smirked. "Point taken."

"That is true. I guess I more got kicked off and quit at the same time." He said.

She groaned in frustration. "You can't even get your story straight. Why should I believe you?"

Troy shrugged. "You can if you want."

"You're so annoying." She exasperated. "No wonder you got kicked off the basketball team." She lifted the cover of the piano up, knocking his elbow off. She took a deep breath before she played a song she'd memorized when she was little. It was a song she was playing for a recital, it got great reviews. He started ruining the music by pressing random keys. "Do you mind?" She asked, stopping her moving fingers.

"Nope. I was just playing along." He said, shrugging.

"Fine, then I won't play."

"What do you want to do then?" Troy asked, turning his body to her, giving him her full attention.

"We can sit here quietly until I have to go home."

"Or we could make out?" He suggested. She opened her mouth to protest but he put his lips on her before she could get a word out.

After she got over the shock, she pushed him away as hard as she could. "Dude!" She shrieked. "What the fuck!" Troy just shrugged with a smug smile on his face. "I have a boyfriend… who's your cousin!"

"Third cousin." Troy corrected.

"It doesn't matter!" She yelled. Her chocolate eyes were blazing with fury.

Troy's smirk fell a little. "So does that mean you don't want to make out? Or?"

"Of course I don't!" She said, pushing his chest again. "God!"

"That's too bad. Your lips were as soft as I imagined them to be." He said softly. She stared at him for a moment, dumbfounded. Troy got up. "Well I'll see you around I guess." He walked out the door without even looking back.

She frowned all of a sudden, looking at the door as if he was going to come back in. She turned back around toward the piano and started playing a soft melody. The door opened again. She turned around quickly to see if it was him. "You can go home now. I'll see you tomorrow Ms. Montez." Ms. Darbus said.

"Okay." She breathed out. She collected her stuff. "I'll see you tomorrow Ms. Darbus." She put her backpack on, fishing out her keys from the pocket of her jeans.

Gabriella shook her head to herself as she walked out of the building. She walked to her car. She saw someone smoking out of the corner of her eye. She saw Troy, leaning against a truck in the teachers parking lot. He smirked when their eyes connected. She just shook her head again, getting into her car.

She turned up her radio and sighed. She drove up towards The Ridge. It took a good fifteen minutes just to drive to school every day. She cursed her parents for living in some stupid gated community so far away from school. She pressed the gate opener and drove inside then she parked in the drive way. It was like a whole other world up here. She hated The Ridge. She couldn't wait to live anywhere else.

She grabbed her things and walked inside, heading straight for her room. Dad was never home and her mom was constantly on the phone. Camilla was doing whatever in her room and Mariella was always looking for someone to play with. Gabriella gladly drove around her little sisters, especially to get them out of her hair and out of the house.

She lie on her bed and touched her lips. A fire started to burn in her belly. She was pissed off thinking about his audacity to kiss her. God, she wanted to punch him. Part of her wanted to kiss him again. She frowned at that random thought. She had Owen of course. She didn't love Owen. Owen wasn't capable of loving her back. It was all just politics and sex.

Owen Jacobs wasn't the best boyfriend, not that she expected him to be. She always had a boyfriend. She couldn't remember a time where she didn't have a boyfriend for more than three weeks. She frowned at the thought. Maybe she needed to be single for the end of the school year and the beginning of college. How long would that last? Probably not long, she mused.

She rolled her eyes, thinking back to Troy's kiss again. She hoped he wouldn't be there for detention after school tomorrow. She didn't want to face him after he assaulted her with his mouth. She wanted to hit him for that soft lips comment too. She just found him so annoying, yet she wanted to get to know him better. It was a foreign feeling Gabriella definitely wasn't used to.

She didn't remember what time she fell asleep but all she knew was she that she was starving. She forgot to eat dinner last night due to falling asleep. She turned to her side and cursed. She was going to be late. She got up quickly jumping into the shower. She threw a dress on and some heels. She blew dry her hair the best she could and just threw it up into a ballerina bun. She put some light makeup on and rushed out the door.

"Gabi, we're going to be late!" Camilla cried when Gabriella walked past her with her back pack.

"Get your shit and let's go." Gabriella snapped. "Mariella!"

"Coming! Gosh!" Mariella said, moving her ponytail to the side.

"Get in the car and let's go." Gabriella said.

"Gabi, do you want some toast to go?" Rose asked.

"No time." She said, pushing her sisters out the door. "Thanks anyway." She said with a small smile. She closed the door behind her. "Seatbelts!" She called out sliding into the car.

Gabriella drove Mariella to school first since she started the earliest. She headed across town to drop off Cami then pulled up at East High five minutes late. She parked in her designated parking spot and raced toward her locker. She stuffed everything in.

"Hey baby." She felt arms wrap around her.

"Hi Owen, can't talk. I'm late." She said, shutting her locker.

"You can't even pause to give me a kiss?" He asked with a smirk.

Gabriella gave him a small smile but shook her head. "Sorry honey."

He pouted cutely. "Come on baby. Just one peck."

Gabriella smiled, rolling her eyes. She gave in, giving him a quick peck on the lips. He deepened the kiss after she tried to pull away. She felt his tongue on her lips. She used all the strength she had and pushed him back. "Owen! I have to go! Darbus is going to kill me!" She gave him a peck and backed away from him. "I'll see you around, okay?"

"Later." Owen said with a slight wave of his hand.

Gabriella rushed to homeroom and to her seat with an embarrassed blush since all eyes were on her. "Sorry Ms. D." She said, pulling out her things.

"Ah, Ms. Montez, nice of you to join us. You've decided to be quite the trouble maker this year. I'll see you for after school detention… for the rest of the week." Ms. Darbus said cooly.

Gabriella closed her eyes, putting her head in her hands. "You've got to be fucking kidding me." She breathed out louder than she intended.

"Do you want to make it a month, Ms. Montez?" Ms. Darbus asked.

She blushed when she realized she'd been heard. "No." She said quietly.

"Then I suggest you keep your comments to yourself." Ms. Darbus said, turning back to the board. "Back to what we were talking about: the Winter Musical. It'd been quite some time since we'd had a musical. We are doing…. Cabaret!" She said excitedly.

Sharpay Evans squealed next to Gabriella, causing her to jump slightly. "When are auditions? I am going to make a great Sandy Bowles."

"Auditions are this week at free period. If you need an audition song, we have some sheet music for those who need it. You'll have to see me during free period or here after school." Darbus said. "I am looking forward to seeing you all at auditions for some extra credit." She said with a small smirk. "For any other information you can talk to me or come to a drama club meeting it is held Thursdays at lunch."

The bell rang and everybody got up. Gabriella sat in her seat while everybody rushed to get out. She put her things away and walked towards the door. She looked to her left. Troy Bolton was still at his desk. He was watching her with a small smirk on his face. She sighed to herself and walked out the door. She headed to her first class of the day. Trig.

Hey y'all. Remember me? I know it's been forever and I don't expect to be forgiven but it's been a crazy couple of months. I moved back to California from Arizona. I worked but now i'm currently looking for a job. I'm baby sitting and driving every body around. I've been writing and trying to write throughout. I just went to disney and now i'm back. Hopefully, i'll land the summer job i had last year but i'm not too sure how that's going to go. I hope you all have been well. I missed you guys and i miss writing. Hopefully i'll get back into it when i read all of your lovely comments. Don't forget to review!