Author's notes: Well, look at me, attempting to make myself at home in the High School Musical section. Ha. This is basically the physical manifestation of my undeniable love of all things overly-dramatic and angst-y. You all know you love it, too.
Some things you will need to know, so I don't accidentally offend anyone:
This deals with some heavy issues. Sexual abuse, eating disorders, etc., etc.
The rating will not go any higher than T. I promise. I don't write smut or anything like that.
As far as pairings go, this will be Troyella. No matter what weird things happen between them, in the end, it will be Troyella. K. As far as the other characters go, I'm not sure what I'm wanting to do with them.
If you read this and enjoy it, or even if you read it and hate it, leave me a review. I would really love that. Pleaseee do not this to your favorites/alerts without reviewing. I cannot stress that enough. I'm not gonna, like, hold chapters hostage until I get so many reviews or anything. I'm just sayin'.
As far as timeline, this starts about a week before their Senior year begins and will eventually merge with the HSM3 plot. It could stray a bit into AU, but hopefully not much.
Well, without further ado:
The prologue:
Gabriella's hands were shaking as she straightened up her disheveled clothes and made an attempt to pull her messy hair back up into a ponytail.
She was bleeding--- but just a little bit and her mind was going in thousands of directions at once.
First, first: she needed to calm down and remind herself that it could have been worse.
She could have been killed.
Gabriella let out a hoarse chuckle. What was she doing, finding a redeeming quality in a rapist? Why wasn't she screaming, crying, and crawling home in a fit of mass hysterics? Wasn't that what girls were supposed to do when they had their bodies and innocence abused and stolen?
Girls go for walks in the park.
Girls go for walks in the park all the time.
And mean wait for those girls in the bushes.
Men wait and watch, like hawks, and girls are pinned down.
Gabriella took a deep breath. She pulled her cellphone out of her purse and nervously dialed Troy's number.
"Hello?" Troy's voice was groggy.
"T-troy? Did I wake you up?"
"Uhm… yeah…" Troy's voice trailed off into a yawn. Gabriella could see him now, trying to blink away his sleepiness and gain control of his thoughts.
"… Troy?"
"Huh? Oh. Yeah. I was just taking a nap."
"It's a little late to be napping." Gabriella pointed out. She was trying to sound cheerful, but was failing miserably.
"I guess so… Everything okay? You sound a bit upset…"
Should she tell him?
This was the perfect opportunity.
"Troy, I… uhm… I'm in the park. I was wondering if you'd want to take a walk with me."
"Oh… yeah! I'd love to. I'll bring the truck around and we can get something to eat. That sound good?"
Gabriella didn't really care. It was important, though, to seem cheerful and happy and so completely Gabriellaesque because she couldn't let Troy know. She couldn't let anyone know.
She ended the conversation with nothing more than a simple "See you in a few minutes."
And then she cried and cried.
Sharpay said, "Ryan, this restaurant is so shabby."
Sharpay meant, "Ryan, this restaurant is so shabby. But that's why I'm not eating."
"Oh, come on, Sharpay. You can't tell me that didn't get sick of that hoity-toity Lava Springs food. I just wanted something… normal."
Sharpay said, "Of course I didn't get sick of the hoity-toity Lava Springs food."
Sharpay meant, "Of course I didn't get sick of the hoity-toity Lava Springs food. That could possibly be why I look like such a cow."
Ryan shrugged. He flashed a winning smile when the waitress came by to get their orders.
"For you, baby doll?" the tired-looking girl, who seemed to be about their own age, asked, pointing her pen at Ryan.
"Oh, well…" Ryan squinted to get a good look at the woman's name tag. "… Elaine, I'll just have a hamburger with a side of fries. What do you want, Sharpay?"
"Just a water."
"Alright, well, I'll be back with that in a minute!" Elaine slide her pencil into her ponytail and gave Ryan a wink before departing.
"Why aren't you eating?" Ryan asked, organizing all the colored packs of artificial sweetener.
"I already said why: this place is shabby. We could be getting in an extra hour of dance at the studio, but no. We're here."
Blue, yellow, pink. Ryan pushed the sweetener holder away. "You've been dancing a lot lately." Ryan's tone was so ambiguous, Sharpay couldn't tell if that had been a simple observation of some sort of accusation.
"Practice makes perfect." she said simply, flipping her cellphone open as if she's received a text.
Ryan was about to say something when he saw two familiar faces being seated. "Troy! Gabriella! Come sit with us!"
Sharpay rolled her eyes.
Troy said something to the hostess and pointed to the Evans twins. The hostess nodded and led Troy and Gabriella to the booth Ryan and Sharpay were sitting in.
"Your waitress will be with you shortly."
Troy's response was a charming smile; Gabriella stared off into space.
After a few minutes of awkward silence Troy said, "… Nice running into you two here…" in an attempt to start up a conversation. He tried to put his arm around Gabriella, but she squirmed away. The air between the four of them was heavy and stressful.
Even Sharpay noticed. She offered a pathetic smile and smoothed out Gabriella's messy hair. "You're looking a little sloppy right now." Though her action was kind, her tone was a bit sharp. Everyone saw that she was trying, though.
Gabriella gave a laugh that sounded more than a little forced. "Thanks." she muttered, staring intently at the salt shaker.
"So! You guys happy to be away from Lava Springs?" Ryan asked, also trying to make conversation.
Sharpay scoffed. "It's a shame they didn't get to see it from our perspective." Her tone indicated that she didn't really think it was a shame. Ryan gave her a strange sort of look. Her mood was flip-flopping at an alarming rate.
Another awkward silence.
"Well!" Elaine's cheerful tone cut into the uneasy air. "Here's your water, sweetie. I'll have your burger in a minute and--- Oh! Have you two ordered yet?"
"Uh, no…" Troy fidgeted in his seat. "What do you want, Gabriella?'
"Just a salad."
"Yeah, make that two."
Elaine gave Ryan yet another wink and trotted off.
"Good God…" Sharpay muttered, crossing her arms.
Troy made a pathetic attempt to hold Gabriella's hand, only t be denied when she slide her hands under the table.
Ryan noticed this; Sharpay was trying to act like she didn't care.
"Gabriella, are you---"
"I'm fine."
"You're acting awfully---"
"Troy, I'm fine! I just---" Gabriella's words were cut off when a sob caught itself in her throat. She almost-violently pushed out of the booth and took off towards the restroom.
"What the Hell?" Troy started to get up but Sharpay stopped him.
"Come on, Troy. Following her into the girls' bathroom isn't going to make anything better. Let me try." Before even waiting for Troy's approval, Sharpay slid out of the booth and walked with her usual flourish to the girls' restroom. She didn't try to approach Gabriella calmly; Troy had tried that and failed. "Gabriella, what is your problem?" she asked, barging into the stall the sobbing girl was hiding in.
"N-nothing's wrong…" Gabriella's reply was low and hoarse. "Nothing's wrong."
"That's a lie." Sharpay said, not even giving Gabriella a chance to defend herself. "Troy Bolton can read you like no one else and he saw that something was wrong with you."
"… Why do you even care, Sharpay?"
"Hmm…" Sharpay gave the question a lot of consideration. "Because I'm a very complex individual."
"Well, Sharpay, I'm not a very complex individual, okay? There's not big secret or underlying problem. Sometimes I just feel like crying."
"If you insist. Now. Why don't you tell me what's really wrong?"
"Nothing."
Sharpay was growing bored with this. "Fine, then… Maybe you should just go home." she offered, wondering if that qualified as advice. "Do you want me to drive you? Troy and Ryan can… I dunno, bond or whatever males do."
Gabriella wiped her eyes. "You're sort of being… nice."
"Not nice. Just complex. Now let's go."
"Well…" Ryan said. "It's just you and me… How odd."
"Yeah. Odd."
"… You okay?"
No, Troy wasn't okay. Troy wasn't okay because Gabriella wasn't okay. And what was worse---- he had absolutely no idea what could be wrong with her.
"Maybe she's just stressed?" Ryan offered.
"Maybe… but she can always tell me that." Troy ran a nervous hand through his hair. "She can always tell me everything. She sounded so strange when she called me earlier. Frazzled. She never gets like this. Ever."
Ryan nodded, obviously taking in all this information. It seemed as if he genuinely cared. Troy knew that Gabriella and Ryan had developed a friendship over the summer. Troy liked Ryan; he really did. He was just difficult to talk to sometimes--- not because he was mean or anything…. Just because he had the same eyes as Sharpay.
And even if Ryan's expression was kind (which it often was) he still had the same cold eyes as his sister."
"… Ryan, you're a good guy, you know?"
Ryan shrugged and gave a bashful sort of smile. "I'm glad you think so."
Gabriella cried.
When she realized her mother wasn't home, she sobbed.
She stood in front of her mirror and stared her body down.
Her body.
It wasn't even her body anymore.
A simple walk had turned into this. When was she going to tell Troy? Was she ever going to tell Troy? What would he saw, or do, or think? Was there anyone in her life she could tell?
Gabriella cried and she sobbed and she finally closed her eyes.
It was the most restless sleep she'd ever had.
Review, pleaseee. And I will love you guys forever.
