Chapter 2

That night Troy parked his car about a block away from Taylor's house, waiting for her to call him. He turned off the engine and turned down the radio. He reclined his seat and tried to relax. He had done most of his homework after dinner before telling his parents he was going out. His cell phone buzzed and he picked it up, "Hello," he answered.

"Where are you?" Taylor asked, skipping a greeting.

"About a block west of your house," Troy said.

"Wait two minutes and then come on over," Taylor said.

"Thanks Taylor," Troy said before she hung up. He watched the minutes tick by on the clock before starting his car up again. He drove down the street after turning right. He pulled into the correct driveway. He got out and locked his car. He walked up to the door that Taylor was opening.

"Please do not tell me you got into a fight with him," were Taylor's first words as Troy walked in.

"Might as well have, practice, caught the elbow of my 'favorite' person," Troy said. He said hello to Taylor's parents and the two teens went upstairs to Taylor's room. "And there is not a scratch on him."

"And what exactly ensued all this?" Taylor asked, sitting on her bed as Troy took a seat at her desk. Troy told her the conversation he had with Sam quickly, "I hate him. I hate him."

"You and me both, but don't tell Chad, I don't want him to go fight Sam or do something stupid," Troy agreed.

"We have to tell Gabi," Taylor said.

"We both know she wouldn't believe us. He can do no wrong in her eyes. She'll ask him about it, he'll lie and then she'll be mad at us."

"How can she not see it?"

"Same way Chad doesn't see you like him. Same was Gabriella doesn't see I like her."

"I don't like Chad."

"Ok, Rephrase, the way you and Chad can't see that you like each other."

"Chad likes me?"

"Might have weaseled it out of him."

"Please tell me you are serious."

"Why would you care, you don't like him."

"Sometimes I'm a liar."

Troy laughed, "Sam is going to break Gabriella."

"And you are going to swoop in and pick them all up."

"I don't want to have to pick up the pieces."

"But you will."

"Of course I will, I just don't what to."

Silence consumed them for a minute, "You haven't really ranted or yelled yet tonight," Taylor stated.

"I got some of it out talking to my mom. Moms are really smart."

"Because they are female."

Troy picked up a pencil sitting on Taylor's desk and chucked it at her. Taylor threw a pillow back at him. A small war started as objects were flying back and forth between them. They didn't hear anyone coming. "Am I interrupting something?" Came a voice from the door.

Troy was in the middle of throwing a tube of lip-gloss at Taylor, but missed horribly as his head swiveled towards the door. In the doorway stood Chad, "No I was just leaving."

"What's up Chad?" Taylor took the opportunity to nail Troy in the head with her hairbrush.

"Ow, hey I call a truce," Troy said rubbing his head.

"Loser," Taylor said, "So what are you doing here Chad?"

"Well since you are so smart, I was wondering if you could help me with my Chem. homework. But if you are busy..." Chad drifted off.

"Nope, I'm gone. And the desk is clean," Troy standing up, "See ya Chad, thanks Taylor."

Troy walked out of the room and down the stairs. He bade Taylor's parents good night and went out to his car. He was halfway home when his phone rang, flashing Gabriella. Troy sighed and picked it up, "Hey."

"Hi," Gabriella greeted.

"What's up?" Troy asked.

"I wanted to know if you could come over," Gabriella said.

"Yeah, I'll be over in a few minutes," Troy said.

"Ok, thanks!" She sounded quite happy and excited.

"Bye," Troy hung up the phone. He called his house and he turned towards Gabriella's house. "Hey mom," he said after she answered, "I'm gone from Taylor's but Gabi called and I'm headed to her house."

"Be home by eleven," she told him.

"Ok, got it, bye mom," Troy said hanging up again. A few turns later, Troy pulled into Gabriella's driveway. He walked up to the door and knocked. The door swung open to reveal Gabriella, "Hey Gabi," he smiled.

"Hey, thanks for coming," she let him in. "Ok, so I need you help with something."

"Ok, what?" Troy asked. It was not uncommon for her to ask for his help. He nodded a hello to her mom.

"Sit, there next to my mom," Gabriella instructed, pointing to the couch. "Hey what happened?" she asked as he came out of the shadows and into the light of the living room.

"What? Nothing, it just got a little rough at practice," Troy said taking a seat, "Now what am I sitting next to your mom?"

"Ok, so I need your opinion on some stuff."

"And this mysterious stuff is?"

"Clothes now don't groan. I need a guy's opinion. I've got mine, Taylor's for a girls, my mom for an adult, but I need a guy's opinion, that is where you come in, please, help me?" She gave him a pleading look.

"Fine," Troy tried not to groan.

"I'll be back!" She disappeared up the stairs, Troy guessing to her room.

"Why is she doing this?" He turned to her Mrs. Montez.

"My guess is it's a boy and she is trying to impress him. She wouldn't give me a name, would you know?" Mrs. Montez explained.

"Sam," Troy sighed, "She has the biggest crush on a boy named Sam."

"Is he a good guy?" Mrs. Montez asked.

"He's on the basketball team with me, second point-guard. He's pretty good," Troy did that thing where you avoid the question but still tell the truth about something else.

"That didn't answer my question," Mrs. Montez caught him, "And that makes me suspicious."

"Well that is the only way I can answer that. He's my teammate; I can't say anything bad about him. And I don't know him outside the team so I still can't tell you anything," Troy said.

"Troy," Mrs. Montez said with one of those looks. That look that said, what are you not telling me, I can tell that you are lying or at least not telling a whole truth.

"There are some different rumors about him, I don't know if anything at truth and I don't want to spread them, especially if they are actually false. I don't really like, but it could be because I don't know him," Troy said, "And you can't judge a guy based on what I say."

"Why do you have to be the good guy? Why can't she like you, I know you are a good guy," Mrs. Montez wondered aloud.

Troy didn't have to answer as Gabriella announced she was coming down. And Troy was thankful for that.

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The next day at school, people were constantly asking Troy what happened to him. And he told them all the same thing, "Rough practice."

"Yo, where's your head at man?" Chad snapped Troy out of his daze, "Dude what are you starin' at?"

"Them," Troy nodded down the hall behind Chad. Chad turned slightly and followed Troy's gaze towards Gabriella and Sam together, participating in some obvious flirtation.

"Oh, what's with her clothes?" Chad asked.

"She's trying to impress him. All it does is make her look easy," Troy said. He had told her exactly what she had wanted to hear last night, even when he silently disagreed.

"Yeah, I guess you do anything for your crush," Chad said, with obvious parallels to Troy, not that Troy noticed.

"Yeah," Troy said absent-mindedly, "So you and Taylor get the homework done?"

"Yeah, so, what were you doing there? I didn't think you guys were really like, friends," Chad asked.

"If you are wanting to know if there is something between us, no. I was just there to talk to her, about Gabi. She gets things a little bit better than you do."

"Oh."

"Yeah, she's all yours."

"Woah, woah, woah, I don't like her like that."

"Sure you don't."

"I don't."

"Then I guess you don't care to know that she likes you."

"She does?"

"Might have weaseled it out of her."

"Really? You're like, for real?"

"But you wouldn't care, you don't like her."

"Well, maybe I said a little white lie."

Troy laughed, "See ya in homeroom Chad," Troy walked down the hall away from Gabriella and Sam. He walked until he found familiar stairs and he climbed them up to the rooftop. His own secret garden that no one else knew about. He had often thought about showing it to Gabriella, but never seemed like the right time. The rest of the world didn't exist when he was up there. The only thing that brought him back to reality was the bell, but that wouldn't be ringing for another few minutes.

He sat down on the bench and rested his elbows on his knees. He reached into his pocket and pulled out his grandfather's dog tags. Troy had never met the man, he had died the year before Troy was born, but he had heard a lot of stories about him. Troy got the tags after his grandmother passed away when he was twelve. He carried them in his pocket rather than wearing them. He didn't want to go through putting them on and taking them off for practice and games each day, or for gym class. And he found it a little silly to always have them with him. So if he didn't wear them, no one would know. And he didn't want anyone to make a big deal out of it. It was a little more special to him if he was the only who knew, well, besides his family.

But the thing was, if he didn't have them, if he couldn't feel them banging against his leg, he felt a little incomplete or like part of him was missing. He made the mistake of telling his mom this once and she laughed, telling him to picture himself without an arm or a foot. Troy smiled at that memory. Only his family knew of the tags. His friends didn't, not Chad not Gabriella. And he wanted to keep it that way.

Hey, remember that bell that usually brought him back to reality when he was on the rooftop? It just went off. Troy stuffed the tags back into his pocket and picked up his bag before walking down the stairs and to his homeroom. He could feel the chain against his leg as he walked. These tags were the answer to Mrs. Montez's question last night that he never answered.

"I didn't tell you this, but Sam asked Gabriella to the after party Friday night whether we win or lose, but it isn't like we are going to lose," Chad whispered to Troy before class started. Troy just nodded. Yet another fabulous thing he was looking forward to, not.

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By Thursday, Troy had successfully made all his friends happy. He had gotten Chad and Taylor together, or at least they were going to the party together. Gabriella was with Sam. Troy listened to her talk about him for hours on end and never complaining – or at least not out loud. And he could still tell you every word she said. He had his whole team confident and playing the best they ever had. He had gotten almost all of his teammates a date to the after party, but still flying solo himself. He wasn't even sure about going, he knew that someone would for sure spike the drinks, and he wanted nothing to do with that. He also knew he should go just to watch out for his friends, more specifically, Gabriella. He didn't want to, but he knew he would, as always.

Friday came and the school was pumped. People were constantly wishing him good luck. And he always faked a smile and said thanks. He practiced during free period. He was ready. He was going to win this game; there was not doubt in Troy's mind. They would win.

He sat in the locker room in his uniform on a bench. He was waiting for his dad to call him out, and going through what had become a little pre-game ritual for him. With his grandfather's dog tags in hand and his eyes closed, "Hey Granddad, it's me, that grandson you don't know, again. Got a big game today. I really want to win. It'd make me and a lot of people happy. And we've worked so hard for it, and we're not even to state yet. The boys need this small reward for their efforts. Please, give us some luck and watch over us. The last thing anyone wants is an injury, especially me. I don't want to let anyone down. Love from Troy, the unknown grandson."

"You always say you don't know him, but you do," Troy looked up at the doorway, where his dad stood, "I had never met anyone like my dad until I met you. You are exactly alike. From your big heart to your blue eyes. I miss my dad, but I see him everyday when I see you. That is why you have his tags. I use to carry them with me after he died, but their rightful owner has always been you. Cause you're him."

"I really want to win dad, I really do," Troy said looking at his dad as he put the tags in his bag by his feet.

"I am sure we will, even if the scoreboard doesn't show it. And you will play great. Now go warm up the team," Jack said, smiling.

Troy stood up and went out to play the game he loved. And his dad was right, as always, he played some of the best ball he ever had. East High took an early lead, and as predicted, the other team fell into a zone, but it was still no match for the wildcats, it just slowed them down a little. They dominated the floor and come away with a 62-48 victory. The crowd stormed the court and the band played the school fight song, followed by the school song, which the crowd sang along to.

Everyone was celebrating and heading to a teammates house for the party. Troy lagged behind everyone, a little slower at changing in the locker room. He never showed up to parties on time. "Are you going to the party?" His dad asked him as Troy passed to leave.

"Yeah, but I'm not going to stay for too long," Troy said.

"Ok, just call us when you start to head home," Jack said.

"Kay, see ya," Troy left and headed towards the party. He parked down the street from the house and walked there. It was already in full swing by the time he arrived. Many people was on a makeshift dance floor, among them were Sam and Gabriella. He greeted a few of his friends that weren't. He politely refused a few of the cheerleaders who came onto him. By the way some people were acting, he guessed the drinks were already spiked. He stood near the front door, ready to leave. He didn't want to see his friends act like fools, and he wasn't going to join them. He gathered up his teammates' keys, even Sam's - Who was curiously void of Gabriella that moment - and gave them all to Taylor. He knew she would stay sober and not let anyone drive drunk. And then he let her go back to flirting with Chad.

After about half an hour, he had had enough and walked back to his car. He wasn't ready to go home, so he just started to drive. He came across a sign that said 'Albuquerque City Limits'. He pulled over in front of it. He stared at the sign. He decided he needed out of the city. He pulled out his phone and dialed a number. The person picked up after the fourth ring, "Hey, its Troy," He said.

"Troy! What's up?" the person said.

"Are you home for the weekend?"

"Yeah, well right now I'm out, but I will be. You can go; key is still in the bottom of the mailbox. I should be home about ten tonight."

"Well, you officially have a guest now."

"Sweet, so where are you now?"

"Alb's city limits."

"Ok, I'll see you in a little while."

"Bye," Troy said.

"Bye," the other person hung up.

Troy called his house next, "Hello?" his mom answered.

"I'll be home Sunday night at eight, I'm going to Layla's," Troy said and hung up. He quickly turned off his phone and then turned up the radio. He started to drive again. His fingers drummed on the steering wheel with the radio. He was on his way to his second way of venting. The less used, but more liked way of venting when Taylor didn't really work or was busy. He caught up in his thoughts and almost missed his exit off the highway. He pulled into the correct driveway of Layla's house right in front of another car. He looked in his rear view mirror to see her lean over and kiss the driver on the cheek before getting out of the passenger side. He got out and locked his car.

"Hey!" Layla hugged him, "We have impeccable timing."

"Who's the guy?" Troy asked.

"His name is Jerry, not Mr. Perfect, but still had some fun. And so not calling him back."

"We going to stand outside all weekend?" Troy asked, looking around.

"Oh, right, come on," Layla motioned him to follow her as she pulled out her keys to unlock the door, "Lindsey moved out about a month ago and into what's-his-name's apartment. So it's just little ole me," Layla said as they entered the house.

"Really?" Troy asked, a little surprised.

"Yep, and she's afraid to tell Mom and Dad, so this is top secret."

"Well, it's not like she was ever here before."

"True, mom and dad know you are here?" Lindsey asked.

"Yes, I have to be home Sunday at eight," Troy told her.

"I want ice cream, what about you?" Layla said walking into the kitchen, "It's best for a broken heart."

"What?" Troy followed her, "But yes I'll take some."

"Well, I'm assuming this unexpected visit has something to do with the on-going Gabriella saga," Layla said taking out a carton of ice cream.

"How do you know I didn't want to spend some quality time with my sister?" Troy asked.

"Call at night, already almost out of Albuquerque, and accepting ice cream. Oh! And it's Friday, you have a game but you are not at the after party. I'm a girl babe, don't lie to me," Layla said scooping out ice cream into two separate bowels.

"Fine, ok. So I told you about Sam right?" Troy asked as he squeezed chocolate syrup on to his ice cream. Layla nodded, "Well guess who went to the after party with him?"

"Gabriella," Layla said taking the chocolate syrup away from him and started to squeeze some onto her own.

"Yeah, so didn't stick around there for but about thirty minutes," Troy said as he started to eat. "When she told me he asked her to it, she was so excited, she was almost hyperventilating."

"And you pretended you were happy for her."

"Of course, though, not always sure why I do it," Troy said.

"I do. You like her and you are always trying to please others, especially her."

"I could have said that."

"But you didn't, and," Layla leaned over and reached into Troy's pocket, he looked at her strangely until she pulled out the dog tags and slipped them around his neck, "You are trying to be the good guy. But the good guy would tell her that Sam is a bad guy."

"Yeah, but I don't want her to hate me."

"She'd only hate you for a little while until she sees that you are right. Then she'll be all over you for being a good friend."

"I think I hate you," Troy said.

"Then I'll kick you out of my house," Layla said.

"You wouldn't do that," Troy called her bluff.

"Fine, I wouldn't," Layla pouted as they finished their ice cream.

They went into the living room and sat on the couch, cross-legged, facing each other. Layla pulled out a deck of cards and dealt them all out as Troy told her about what he did for Chad and Taylor. They started a game of slap once the cards were all dealt out. "So aside from a little lying, it all worked out with out anyone getting hurt," Troy said as he flipped over a card.

"Always helping people, just like granddad," Layla said, shaking her head seeing such resemblance between the two people she loved.

"You can say that 'cause you have actually knew him, I didn't and everyone has to remind me of it," Troy said.

"You would have loved him. I always remember sitting on his lap for the family photo at Christmas. And he always knew what everyone was getting from everyone. He'd always sneak me, Lindsey and Tony a present earlier than everyone else."

"You realize you tell that story every time I'm here and we talk about him."

"Yeah, but you love it. It's a shame he died before you were born. I was only seven so I don't really remember the funeral. I just remember that me, Lindsey and Tony all heard daddy crying in his study afterwards so we cried ourselves to sleep that night all huddled together in my bed. Only he doesn't know we know so it's a secret you are now in on."

"Really, that is very interesting," Troy said in that voice of a person thinking about blackmail, not that he would ever say anything about it, "Something good about having older siblings."

"And we also have a lot experience to tell you how not to live. Take Lindsey for example. She can tell you that you shouldn't ever move in with your boyfriend and not tell mom and dad for instance," Layla said, then started laughing at what she said.

"Well, I don't think I will ever be moving in with my boyfriend, since I am not gay," Troy said laughing.

"You're not happy?" Layla questioned him. He grabbed a pillow from behind him and hit her with it. Their card game came to an abrupt halt as their pillow fight started. The war only ended when the phone rang, "Hello, ow," Layla scrabbled to answer the phone as Troy hit her once more, "Yeah he's here and hitting me with a pillow, bye," Layla hung up, "You're dead Bolton!"

"You would never kill blood Bolton!" Troy said before she whacked him on the head. Battle restarted until they were both too tired to go on.

"So I doubt you have any sort of clothing her with you other than what you are wearing," Layla asked from the couch.

"Nope, none at all," Troy said from the floor.

"I think Tony left some here last time he was here, which was when we were moving in," Layla said getting up.

"Oh yeah, mom wants to know if he will be home for Easter," Troy got up to follow her down the hallway.

"I don't know, he's in Texas as of now. There's some rumors running around that he'll be going back to Iraq again around the middle of March. If they're true, then no. If they aren't true then he is for sure going to Germany in June unless he is already deployed in Iraq. Does that make any sense?" Layla said, digging through some drawers in a guest bedroom that used to be Lindsey's, "One thing though, is if he is deployed, it wouldn't be for a really long time, he should be getting discharged in about ten months, I think, or maybe it was fourteen? Unless he signs up for some more, but I think mom is putting her foot down at no."

"In an email he said he thought he had enough money saved he could probably go to college and a pretty decent one if he wanted. I think he said he was thinking about Texas A&M, or some college in Texas," Troy said, standing in the doorway, leaning against the frame.

"Ah-ha! Found it! Here we go, well here's his shirt from boot camp," Layla threw a shirt at Troy. "And, um, here, some sweats to wear tomorrow. I'll wash what you have on to wear Sunday."

"Thanks Lay," Troy said.

"Anything for my baby bro," Layla said.

"You know, I think that Tony once hated me for stealing that from him. He didn't like being a middle child," Troy told her.

"He should be over it. He was the baby for what? Six years? Then we got stuck with you and you ruined it for him. But he's 22, he should be over it by now," Layla laughed.

"It's not like I am going to go challenge him on it. Any other guy at my school, yes, except for maybe like a lineman for football or a wrestler, but everyone else, yes. But now my army trained, older brother, no. No way, no how."

"So how about a movie? I stole The Princess Bride at Christmas," Layla said, "And there is no way you can say it is a bad movie."

"YOU! I was looking for that the other night, I should have known you would have stolen it," Troy accused her, "You probably just wanted it for Cary Elwes."

"Come on, we both know all the words to it. You can't turn down Fezzik, he's like the most cool giant ever."

"Fine just don't start singing Willy DeVille."

Ignoring Troy, Layla started to sing, "Our love is like a storybook story/But it's as real as the feelings you feel." Layla danced out of the room to grab the DVD from her bedroom next to the one they were in.

"Way to listen to me," Troy shook his head following her into the living room once more.

"Because I know something you don't know?" Layla quoted.

"And what is that?" Troy went along with it as Layla set up the movie.

"I am not left-handed."

"There is something I ought to tell you."

"Tell me."

"I'm not left-handed either," Troy said sitting on the couch.

"I love that scene. And so did Tony, have you ever scene the home movie on him doing that scene with me? We had the whole thing perfectly from the conversation at the rope after Vizzini and Fezzik left all the way to where one of us would pretend to knock the other out. We were constantly switching roles whenever one of us would forget a line," Layla said sitting next to him.

"No I haven't. I am going to have to have mom dig it out. I want see to that."

"It was after you were born right after you had learned how to walk. You tottered in and out of frame, it was so funny you weaving in between and we never hit you with our fake swords," Layla started the movie. They both got comfortable and watched what would easily named their favorite movie.

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AN: Ok so I am obviously quite passionate about The Princess Bride it is probably my favorite movie ever. And the quoting was from memory and so it is probably not totally actuate, but very close, that I am sure of. Anyway, leave me a review telling me what you think.