What Do You Want From Me?

Disclaimer: We do not own hsm.

Chapter 3: Gabriella or Sharpay?

I don't understand what's going on. I'm so confused, Gabriella thought to herself, Troy was acting so weird yesterday when I was with him. Sure, Sharpay was there, and it may have made him feel a bit weird… but he shouldn't have talked to me that way.

She knew his father just died, but he should not have shut her out. She was here to help him. She is his girlfriend, and she'll always be there for him.

No matter what happens, I'll stand by his side. I thought he knew that. But if he did, then why did he act that way? She kept on thinking.

Gabriella went to school today, but she wasn't really into it. For the first time in all her life, her thoughts were elsewhere during. All she wanted to do was go visit Troy. He was her life. She loved him with all her heart, and hated that he was hurting. She felt like she should be there with him. Shouldn't she?

The minute the last bell rang, Gabriella hurried out of school and down the street. Troy didn't live that far from school, so she was there pretty fast. She knocked on the door, and it was Mrs. Bolton who answered.

Mrs. Bolton greeted Gabriella with a sad smile. "Hi Gabriella. Did you have a nice day at school?"

"Yeah," Gabriella replied, blinking weirdly. She looked like she hadn't slept in ages. And really, it was only two days ago that it happened. Who knew how important sleep could be for a person? "Is Troy here?" she questioned, looking pass Mrs. Bolton, and into the house.

"Yes," she said, and opened the door all the way to let Gabriella through. "He's in the living room with his uncle. I'll just go get him."

Gabriella nodded, and watched as she retired to the living room. She was slumping as she walked. Who could blame her, really? Her husband was dead. Gabriella's own mother had looked far worse when her husband died. She had been a total mess.

Troy came into the hallway a couple of minutes later and Gabriella wrapped her arms around him. Hugging him close, she buried her nose in his neck. He smelled so nice. She could feel him patting her back awkwardly, so she pulled back. She shot him a smile.

"Are you alright?" Gabriella questioned as she studied his face hard. He looked tired too. And he didn't look happy. Well, obviously.

"I'm okay," he replied, as he grabbed her hand tightly, and turned to the staircase, "Let's go upstairs to my room. We can talk there."

Gabriella nodded, and they walked up the stairs in silence. She could hear the quiet talking of his mother and uncle in the living room, but she couldn't hear their conversation. Troy was oddly stiff as he walked and held her hand, but she decided not to comment on it.

They sat down on his bed, her hand still clasped in his strong one. Gabriella just looked at him for awhile, waiting for him to say something. But he looked back at her, without really looking. His gaze was hollow, and it kind of scared her.

"Troy?" she whispered, stroking the back of his hand lightly.

"Yeah?" he whispered. His voice was broken and raw, and it actually made Gabriella shiver. He sounded a bit spooky.

"Do you need to talk about this?" Gabriella asked him with a sigh. "Do you need to get it out? Do you need to cry? It's okay to cry, Troy. I'm here for you. Talk to me about it."

He shook his head, and turned it away from her, not wanting to meet her eyes.

"Troy?" Gabriella spoke quietly, "I need you to understand this. If you don't get it out, it'll bottle up inside of you, and that's not good. You need to talk about your emotions…"

Again, he just didn't answer, but he met her eyes. His blue ones digging deeply into the depths of her own.

"Troy?" she tried again, and she could hear that her own voice was close to begging. She didn't care, she loved him. "Please…" she whispered, "Talk to me. I love you so much. I hate seeing you like this."

He closed his eyes for a second, and let out a deep sigh, "Gabriella…" he said, as he opened his eyes again, to lock them with hers. "I can't… I can't talk about this right now. I have too much going on, and it hasn't quite settled. It's too hard for me to even think about it. Don't ask me to say it out loud. Please don't ask me to do that."

Gabriella stared at him for a second or two, as she thought his words over. She didn't understand him. What was he going on about? The best way to get through all this was to talk about it. Why couldn't he see that? She had done nothing but talk about it when her father died. So yeah. She was gonna make him talk. She couldn't see him like this.

"Listen Troy," she said, as she kept on going, "I know how you feel. I've been there, okay? My dad… when he died, I was only nine years old, and it hurt so much. But I talked with my friends about it, and I saw a shrink. Maybe you should see a shrink, too! It helps so much, and I want to make you feel better. It helped me Troy, it really did…"

He jerked his hand away from her grip and stood up, walking to his door, and opening it. He looked at her. His eyes were still haunted, though they had a glassy look, because he was fighting back tears. "I need you to leave now, Gabriella."

She stood up, confused. "What?"

"You need to leave. I can't talk to you right now, not when you keep on pressuring me," he said as he swallowed, "So please leave. We'll talk soon."

Gabriella didn't want to leave. She opened her mouth to protest. He shook his head and pointed down the hallway. She bent her head down, let out a sigh, and left. Like he couldn't talk to her, she couldn't talk to him. Not when he didn't want to listen to her. She was only trying to help, but he couldn't understand that.

And it hurt her that he didn't want to listen to her and take her advice. It really hurt her.

--

Robert watched as the sad teenage girl walked out of the house and down the street. Lisa was in the kitchen, fixing something for them to eat. Now might be his moment with Troy. He needed to speak with the boy. It was important to maintain a good relationship with each other. He needed to talk to him about Jack.

He made his way up the stairs, and gently knocked on Troy's bedroom door. He knew he would be in there. He was always in his room.

"Yeah?"

Robert gently opened the door, and peeked inside, a shy smile on his face. "Hey Troy… I saw your friend just leave. Is everything all right?"

"It's fine," Troy replied, and motioned for his uncle to come all the way into the room.

Robert did, and he closed the door behind him, before sitting down on the bed. Troy was in the chair by his desk. He swung around to face him.

"How are you feeling, Troy?" Robert asked, staring into the blue of Troy's eyes.

"I'm all right." Troy shrugged. He didn't want to seem weak in front of his uncle. It wasn't very manly. He didn't even want to cry in front of his girlfriend, how could he cry in front of a man?

"Are you sure?" Robert asked, as he leaned back, to rest himself against the wall. "I mean, it is good to talk about your father. It'll make you feel better. Your mother and I already talked a lot about him. It eases the pain."

"I guess but I don't know…"

"It will help, trust me. Me and your mother just talked about him. Like what he loved, and what he spent his time on." Robert replied. He was studying Troy's ceiling with great interest. "I talked a lot about our childhood together."

"Oh, yeah?" Troy asked, getting interested, "I've never really heard about his childhood. He didn't want to talk much about it. And about you. We've actually never spent time together that much."

"We've both been busy, which I now regret." Robert replied.

Yeah right. As if. Busy? No way. The guy just couldn't stand me! Just like I can't stand you.

"Yeah, it's sad when families break apart." Troy replied, his face dropping. "So how was your childhood? Did you guys spend a lot of time together? There's only two years between the two of you. You guys must have been the best of friends."

No not at all, it was horrible.

"Yes," Robert said, smiling. "We were very good friends. We skipped school to go and play football. I loved your father, and he loved me."

No, he didn't. He hated you. You know it, Robert. He hated you, and he trampled all over you!

Which is why I'm here now…

"Ah, I wish I had a brother." Troy simply said, "I mean… It could be a sister too, but a brother would be preferred. We could be as close as you guys were."

"Sure, it'd be great." Robert smiled, except he'd despise you Troy. Wouldn't want to hang out with you. He wouldn't want you to have all the good things in life, because he wanted to be the best.

"Yeah…" It grew awkward; Troy started to spin around while Robert just rolled his eyes at him. Troy didn't see that.

"So…what happened between you and your friend?"

Troy stopped spinning and shrugged. Robert could see that he didn't want to talk about it, but he didn't care.

"Nothing…we just had a bit of a fight is all…."

Robert nodded. "Oh, about what?"

Troy looked uncomfortable, "Uh, just everything that's been going on."

"Ah, I see…"

"Yeah."

"Is she your girlfriend?"

"Yeah."

Perfect, Robert thought, putting his hands together.

The doorbell rang just then, causing both of them to turn towards the bedroom door.

Robert got up and stretched, "Guess I'll go answer it."

He left without waiting to hear a response from Troy and headed down the stairs.

When he answered the door, the girl that came by yesterday was standing there…what was her name? Sharpie…Sharp-sharp something…Sharpa, Sharpo, Sharpay! That's it.

She smiled at him, "Hi Mr. Bolton. Is Troy around? I wanted to check up on him. Make sure everything is all right."

Who was this girl anyway? His other girlfriend? Wow, he's a lot like Jack. A womanizer.

Robert faked a grin, "Yeah. Come on in. Troy's upstairs in his room."

"Thanks."

Sharpay stepped inside; Robert shut the door after her and waited as she walked up to Troy's room.

Once she was there, he turned and headed for the kitchen, wondering if Lisa was still in there. He needed to put his plan into action, and he needed to do it quick.

Author's note: Hey guys! Hoped you liked that chapter! Thank you so much for all of the reviews! We love you all! Keep at it kay?