Just A Click Away

Questions

"Who does she seriously think she is?" Troy mumbled, walking past the snack bar in the dormitory lounge. He could still feel his blood boiling just minutes after his encounter with Gabriella. "She's such a know-it-all," He continued mumbling. Although he was tempted to throw away the papers he'd picked up for Gabriella—who had been too much of a jerk to accept them back—he instead stuffed them in the back of his notebook.

Ever since high school, it seemed that Gabriella Montez just had it out for him. She constantly corrected him during the classes they had together, she always seemed to make him feel like a complete idiot, and she acted as if anything he did was wrong in every sense.

Just because he had found a liking in the sciences didn't mean that he was in those classes just to get on her nerves. He nearly gave up taking advanced classes his freshman year of college just to get away from her.

Troy shook the thoughts out of his head as he unlocked his dorm room door. Throwing it open, he spotted Chad sitting on couch, typing away on Troy's laptop. The encounter with Gabriella and seeing the sight before him caused a surge of anger push through the basketball star.

"Chad!" Troy groaned at his roommate, putting his notebook on the counter on his left. "Do the words 'personal property' ring any sort of bell in your head? It took me ages to save up for that, and you just come in here and use it as you please!"

"Dude, chill," his best friend said defensively. "I didn't log onto your instant messaging account. I just needed to check e-mail. I'm not chatting with her." Chad stressed the last word, knowing very well that the mysterious girl was the reason Troy didn't want him on his computer.

"Can I at least have it back?" Troy asked, rolling his eyes, but feeling a sense of relief. There had been a mysterious girl that he'd met on their college forum, and he found himself enjoying their well-into-the-night talks. He didn't know her real name, but he would like to.

"Fine. I'm all done anyway." Chad clicked out of the window, closed the computer, and handed it to Troy. "And judging by your temper, I'm guessing another Gabriella run-in?"

"Uh-huh," Troy nodded.

"Well, it's your fault for taking that class!" Chad reminded his friend as he dug through the small refrigerator. The co-captian knew his best friend a little too well, sensing that only one person could put him in such a defensive mood: Gabriella Montez. Chad remembered the day that a basketball teammate said that he found her attractive, and Troy made it clear that if she ever attended one of their basketball practices, he'd make them go outside and run the remainder of practice.

"What can I say? I enjoy science." Troy responded honestly, snapping Chad out of his high school memories.

"I hope you enjoy basketball more," Chad joked, taking a gulp of a coke he had just retrieved from the top shelf of the refrigerator. "Because we have practice in two hours and I personally would rather listen to pep talk instead of a discussion of human anatomy."

"Coach rescheduled again?" Troy sighed in disappointment, wishing that he would be able to have tonight off. "It's almost four in the afternoon, and he relied on you to tell me this?"

"Yeah," Chad shrugged, taking another drink from the soda bottle. "He told me that he trusted me to get it to you."

"You remember the last time he did that?" Troy raised an eyebrow, remembering the time Chad forgot to tell him, and he had to run three miles as punishment for missing practice. He hated being captian, but every year, Chad would nominate him, and he would end up getting everyone's vote.