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"Would you get lost Mack! I'm trying to do my homework!" A frustrated Troy yelled. The 8th grade girl that he yelled at just cocked her head and blinked once.
"Dad wants to know why you signed up for that stupid musical in the first place, and frankly so would I," she said calmly.
Troy just sighed and looked down at his paper. Looking at them you could tell they were siblings. They had a lot of the same features; same eyes, nose, mouth, same hair color, even the same build.
"You know Darbus won't pick you. I hear you singing in the shower all the time. You stink!" She had actually heard him sing before, at the New Years Party, and she thought he was great. But she would never tell it to his face.
Troy looked up from his paper. Mack saw the look in his eyes and knew he was getting mad. She hardly ever saw her brother get mad, he was always pretty calm. But lately her brother blew up like a volcano when he was even the slightest bit angry. She focused her eyes down on his paper, it was history. She didn't like history. Troy had always been good at history, she had slipped by because her last name was Bolton.
"Could you just leave me be, I already have dad pestering me about it, I don't need you too." Troy was the sensible one like their mother, Mack was like Coach Bolton and didn't know when to shut up.
"I bet it's that girl." No, Mack wasn't like her dad. She was exactly like her dad. "You need to keep your head in the game, not in the musical. You can't be on cloud 9 about Montez either. She's not even that pretty."
Troy's pencil broke right in his hand and Mack's eyes widened. "Mack, I'm sick and tired of you always on my back. I don't care what you think about Gabriella or the musical. She's very nice, and I really don't care if you don't think she's pretty. Since when has your opinion ever mattered?" He rose from his seat and stood over her. She stepped backward trying to get away from his gaze, but she knew it was useless. "Oh Mack you make me so mad. Sometimes I wish you were never born and it was just me! Get out of my sight! I hate you!"
Mack could feel the tears stinging her eyes. Troy was the kind of guy that when he said things he meant them. She turned around on the spot and ran off not wanting to give Troy the satisfaction of seeing her cry. Mackenzie Bolton never cried, it was just a fact of life.
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"Gabriella, I can't wait until the Decathlon! We are so going to win with you there!" Taylor said as she and Gabriella walked down the sidewalk toward the school. They were going to meet Chad, Zeke, Jason and Troy to discuss how they were going to pull of the wonderful idea Troy and Chad had come up with earlier that morning.
"I can't either. I'm so surprised that they came up with that idea so quickly," Gabriella replied.
"I'm surprised Chad helped come up with it at all." The two girls giggled at Taylor's statement. Once the giggling subsided, Taylor pointed toward the elementary school. "This is the short cut I was telling you about."
Gabriella stopped and looked around as Taylor kept walking. She had never been at the elementary school before. The kids all looked so happy, except one little girl on a swing.
"Gabriella! Come on!"
"Taylor, go and tell them that we're going to meet here." Taylor shrugged and walk toward East High as Gabriella started walking toward the girl. The closer she got to the girl the more of her features she could make out. Her head was looking down at the ground showing a hair color that Gabriella could have sworn matched Troy's. She could hear the girl sniffle a little. Then when she was so close she could almost touch the girl she noticed the sleeve of her long sleeved shirt. Written on it was BOLTON in red. On her other sleeve were basketballs. Troy had never told her about this little girl who she presumed was his sister. But who could forget to tell someone about their sister.
"Hi," she said cautiously. The girl looked up. Even through all the red Gabriella could tell those eyes. They were Troy's eyes and she should know, she was the one who caught herself staring into Troy's eyes when no one was looking.
"Get away from me," the girl said. It reminded Gabriella of when she first met Coach Bolton. There was a sense of hatred in her voice. "You're the one who made Troy hate me."
Gabriella was shocked. She didn't understand. "You know, it helps me a lot when I'm upset to talk to someone. That makes me feel a whole lot better." So maybe Gabriella lied a little bit. Really she liked to sit in her room with a carton of mint chocolate chip ice cream when she was upset. But if she didn't talk, she couldn't find out why this little girl thought that it was her fault that Troy hated her. If he really did say that.
"I don't think so."
"Why don't you tell me your name," Gabriella tried.
"You probably already know it."
"No, I don't actually." The girl's face dropped even more as Gabriella said this.
"You mean, he didn't even tell you about me. He must really hate me." Tears started flowing freely down her cheeks.
"So...how about a name?"
The girl sighed and the tears stopped. "Mackenzie Bolton. Can I ask you a question?"
"Go right ahead."
"Do you find pleasure in taking my brother away from me?"
Gabriella was shocked. She had not expected that question. "What," she spluttered out. Did she really ask that?
The girl rolled her eyes. "Troy's different and it's all your and that stupid musicale's fault. He never yelled at me before. He would have stayed the old Troy if you hadn't come along. But he changed, he yells at dad and me all the time. Mom says it's from the stress of the big game, but I know it's your fault."
Gabriella was speechless. She couldn't picture Troy yelling at anyone. "I'm sorry if the musical has disrupted your life."
"Disrupted, try ruined it." Gabriella gave her a blank stare hoping that she would continue. The girl sighed. "Troy was the person I went to if I had a problem. Now when I go to find him, he's either gone with you or trying to pick out an outfit for the next day at school that might impress you."
Gabriella was taken back by this. Troy Bolton, star of the basketball team, picking out clothes that would impress the freaky math girl... that couldn't be right.
"Really I don't get why he likes you." Gabriella turned to look at the ground. Who did this girl think she was. She was like those cheerleaders Gabriella had met. "I mean, he told me at the other schools you were called the freaky math girl. Oh yeah, Troy tells me everything." The last comment was because Gabriella put on a stunned look.
"Well... at least Troy used to tell me everything. Now he doesn't say as much as 2 words to me...unless he's mad. We used to do everything together. What we had was special..."
"What did you do that was special?"
The girl gave Gabriella a strange look. "You'd laugh."
"No, I wouldn't."
"Troy used to read to me at night. Mom is usually away on business and Dad had to take over and do everything Mom did plus coach, so Troy took over. Sometimes he'd tell me stories of East High or about Princesses named Mack and her daring brother Prince Troy who used to travel all over the world. And after the New Years Party, he told me a story about how Prince Troy fell in love with the beautiful Princess Gabriella, but didn't know if he'd ever see her again. That's when everything started to change."
Gabriella looked into the girl's eyes and saw loneliness. She never knew much about Troy's home life, just that his dad was the varsity coach. She always pictured Troy's life to be perfectly paved so he didn't struggle or anything. Listening to the girl's story, she knew otherwise. She had always known Troy was calm, caring and mature, but she understood why now. He had to grow up so his sister would get the same love and attention he had.
"Troy does care about you. I know he does."
"No he doesn't."
"MACK!" Gabriella turned to see Troy running toward them, Chad, Taylor, Zeke and Jason jogging to keep up. She stood up and moved out of the way, leaning against the beam. She watched Troy pick up the girl and swing her around, the girl hugged him tightly. Gabriella smiled and walked toward the rest.
"Gabriella, we are so happy you found her," Chad said.
"Yeah Troy was flipping out," Zeke added.
"He was yelling at himself too. It was pretty funny," Jason said, chuckling at the memory.
"It was nothing really. I just noticed she was upset and went over to help. The problem we need to worry about now is how we're going to pull this off."
How'd you like it? How will Mack react to Troy getting the lead part... with Gabriella? Next Chapter: The Audition, The Game, and a Chad-Taylor Conversation. Review!