Title: Doing Time

Summary: Troy and Gabriella never sung at New Year. They're stuck in detention together and it's earthquake weather.

Disclaimer: Nope, don't own it. Ooh, except James Martin.

Chapter Title: Phone Calls and Wrong Accusations

"Yes, people have been feeling slight tremors all over New Mexico for the last week. It's earthquake weather, and sadly, this hasn't been the worse of it yet."

Taylor turned down the volume on her television, sighing. Earthquake weather – wonderful, just wonderful. She felt sorry for Gabriella; stuck in detention with Troy Bolton would be worse than an earthquake.

She'd never really been against the actual people themselves, just the jocks they made themselves out to be. In fact, even though she tried to deny it, she might have admitted to herself a small crush on Chad Danforth.

"So far, the only large building that has been affected seriously is East High School, where the infamous Wildcats are based. James Martin has some more on this – James."

Taylor's eyes widened and she grabbed her remote, turning the volume up.

"…Mrs Trina Darbus was in the building just moments before the earthquake occurred."

Taylor heard Mrs Darbus's voice. "I was just watching over two students in detention – they're still in there now…"

Taylor reached for the phone with shaking hands and dialled Chad Danforth's number – the one she'd picked up from the emergency school line.

Troy was a quick thinker; he always had been. And so, as the lights above Gabriella smashed and her body stayed still, he jumped, not really caring what happened if he too got hit by the falling glass.

Gabriella was always logical when it came to sticky situations. However, in this particular instance, she was torn between two ideas – it didn't occur to her that her life was in the balance. The first was to stay and shield her head as best she could.

He had wondered why she was just standing there, staring at the oncoming danger. It was almost as if she was frozen in time but her world around her was still moving. He didn't know this girl, but he didn't want to live with the conscience of her getting wounded or killed.

Gabriella's second thought was to jump and risk injuring herself on a piece of furniture. For a split-second she looked at Troy, almost giving enough time to wonder why he was staring at her. As she glanced back up, she caught sight of him out of the corner of her eye – he was letting go of the shelf and running at her.

Troy wasn't really sure why he was doing this – except his conscience. He didn't know this girl; why was he risking his life to save her? As he rammed into her and pushed them both over the table out o harm's way, it suddenly occurred to him that she was the one Sharpay hated.

Gabriella flinched as the first of the crystal clear glass pieces hit her shoulder and a weight fell on top of her. She vaguely thought why he was helping her when his girlfriend hated her, but nothing was really being processed in her brain at that moment.

As the shakes lessened, Troy breathed deeply and got up off of Gabriella, holing his hand out to her. She shakily took his hand and he helped her up. 'Why the hell didn't you move?!'

Gabriella had been thinking about being logical and trying to get hurt as little as possible. 'This isn't the time to be logical, Gabriella!'

She gingerly touched her side where her stomach had been bruised and split open slightly from the sudden pressure of the table. 'Have you hurt yourself?' Troy's voice was suddenly much softer.

Even though it was excruciatingly painful, she murmured something about it not hurting that much. 'Oh come on, you're really pale.' Troy said, leading her over to a table.

Gabriella tried to pull away but he pushed her down onto it and pulled her shirt up slightly. She cringed as he touched the tender area around her wound. He glanced around the room, catching sight of the white curtains and scissors which had fallen out of the pencil pot on the floor.

Gabriella looked down at her injury, seeing the bluish bruise that had formed around the cut and laid her cool fingers on top of it, trying to slow the bleeding. She watched as Troy bent down and picked up the scissors and pulled the curtain slightly.

Troy cut a slit into the fabric and then grabbed either half of the material. Ripping the material until it was long enough to wrap round her slim stomach, he brought the strips to Gabriella and placed the end of it near the wound. 'Hold this.' He instructed, as he started to wind it round.

Gabriella did as she was told with her bloody fingers. She flinched as his hands ran over her wound and looked up at his concentrating yet concerned face. 'Won't Sharpay be mad?' she asked quietly, examining his work.

Troy stopped momentarily, frowning at the mention of East High's Ice Queen. 'Why would she be?' he said, starting to wind it round again. He finished it off and tucked the last bit into the makeshift bandage.

Gabriella thought it was pretty obvious why she wouldn't want him touching her, but decided to clarify anyway. 'Won't Sharpay be angry that you're helping me and "touching me up"?' she used her fingers to make quotations.

Troy grabbed her hand. 'Did you hurt this too?' he asked. She quietly shook her head and scolded him for not answering the question. 'Wait, you think Sharpay's my girlfriend?' He looked disgusted.

'Well yeah. She sure seems to think so.' Gabriella said incredulously. Troy shook his head vigorously and told her, in some strong language, that Sharpay was not his girlfriend and would never have a chance of being it.

Gabriella laughed. 'You hate her that much?' she said, smiling. She had been old by Taylor that he was a self-centred jerk who couldn't care about anyone but himself. Somehow, she thought wrong, and Gabriella just hoped that he wasn't playing her – another speciality Taylor had told her about.

Troy smiled – he didn't need to answer after the little rampage he'd just had. He walked over to the door and placed his hand on the doorknob, turning it and pushing.

Gabriella eased herself off the table and frowned in the pain. She glanced towards Troy who was rattling the handle and walked forward. 'What's wrong?'

'The door's been jammed. We're locked in.'

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