Chapter 4.
The running away plan didn't work so well, But to make things worst, They haven't spoken a word to each other since that day in the airport.
Gabriella did everything possible to avoid him and she made that happen.
Troy was at his locker and he looked down the hall and saw Gabriella walking by."Gabriella, Wait!-" but she just walked right passed him.
Cody smirked from the staircase. "What's wrong Bolton?" Biting his lip, Troy tries to ignore him.
But when Cody grabs his shoulder to forcibly turn to him, its hard. "What's wrong, Bolton?"
"You." Troy growls, shoving Cody back, The boy just laughs.
"Why are you laughing?" Cody laughs again, shoving Troy back hard against the lockers.
"Because you're misrable." Troy glares at him, Cody continues, "And that amuses me." "Gabriella hates you." "Like I give a fucking shit."
Troy runs at him, roaring in outrage, but before he can attack Cody, Cody punches his face and knocks him to the ground, straddling him across the stomach before starting on him again.
Attacking Troy's face and stomach then he begins squeezing Troy's throat.
Troy kicks him in the balls, and Cody rolled over in pain, "you'll pay for that one!" Cody goes to attack Troy but a voice stops him, 'Stop it! You said you wouldn't hurt him!" Gabriella sobs.
Cody glares then smirks, He looks at Troy, "Gabriella Is what you want?" They both look at him, he continues, "Tell you what Troy. I'll make you a deal."
Troy glares at him, "Me. You. Fight. Now. Gym. Who ever wins, Gets Gabriella and also gets the spot as captain on the team."
"Are you fucking serious right now?!" Troy blurted out. Cody smirks, grabbing Gabriella roughly by the arm, "You want her. I want to be captain. You got captain easy, You won't get her easily. It's a fair fight."
Troy looks at Gabriella, she has tears in her eyes, He looks at Cody again, "Let her go." "Not a chance-" "You want to fight me?" Troy asks through gritted teeth, "Then fight me. Let her go..." Cody glares at him, then at the scared girl in his arms.
"Fine. Between me and you." "Yeah," Troy mumbles looking at the floor. Maybe there is a way to stop this.
Cody glares at him then smirks, "Not a chance Bolton." Gabriella walks over to Troy. "Troy please, think about this-" "I have. I'm done losing you."
Gabriella shakes her head, "You can walk away from this Troy. Please. I'm not worth a fight or losing your spot as captain. Why are you wanting to do this?" She said through tears.
"Because I love you." Troy says, looking sincerely into her eyes.
Gabriella feels tears in her eyes as Troy looks at Cody. "Gym." Cody nods, "Lead the way."
They enter the gym, Cody smirks. The crowd comes in. Gabriella stands there nervously.
Cody laughs, "No funny buisness, Alright Bolton." Gabriella looks at Troy, "Troy please.." He looks at her, "I have to do this Gabriella."
Cody smirks, "Stop being a baby Gabriella." Gabriella ignores Cody's comment, "It could be a trap Troy! What if you win, are you really gonna believe he's gonna let me go?" she whispers.
Troy looks at her, then at Cody, "I have to try." he walks to the middle of the gym, taking his backpack off then his shirt.
Cody copies him, Gabriella bites her lip in anticipation and fear, she squeezes her eyes shut and looks away.
"Ready Bolton?"
"Bring it."
It starts off as a fair fight, but when Cody has more bruises than Troy, he grabs something from his pocket, a paper clip he had turned to a sharp stick out of boredom.
He runs at Troy, Troy runs at him, Cody jams the paper clip into Troy's stomach.
Troy growled taking his hands to his stomach, "You should of known better Bolton."
"Troy!" Gabriella screamed while Chad hugged her. Troy hissed, looking over at her, She began sobbing.
Cody glares down at him, "Get up Bolton! Get up! We're not done!" Troy looks at him, feeling blood seep through his fingers. Cody laughs, spinning the bloody toothpick in his hand.
"Come on," he taunts, "get up." Troy staggers, swaying as he tries to balance himself but when he goes to swing a punch, he falls to his knees.
Cody grabs his hair to make him look at him, "Gabriella is mine, Bolton. You're stupid to think otherwise."
Cody spits in his face, shoving Troy to the ground as he starts kicking Troy's stomach and face hard. "Loser." Cody walks away.
"Troy!" Gabriella screams running from chad's arms. She cups her hand under his head, she sobs, "Oh my god! Chad call an ambulance." Chad nods.
Gabriella grabs his hand, "Oh Troy." "Don't..Leave." He stammered. Gabriella nods, "I'm not going anywhere.. this is all my fault." she sobbed.
An Hour Later.
"What do you mean he's in a coma?" Gabriella asks, shaking all over from fear.
Chad, Hanna, and Jason try to comfort her, but she refused to. Not while Troy is lying in a hospital bed.
The doctor sighs, "We're sorry.. But he is in a coma right now..There's nothing we can do, It's all up to him now."
Gabriella began sobbing, Hanna rubbed her back and looked at Jason, "We'll go to the cafe. We'll be back, k?"
Chad nods and they leave him with Gabriella. Chad looks at her, "Gabs-" "He hates me Chad." He looks at her, "What?" "When he wakes up, He's gonna hate me so much. I treated him so bad for weeks and he ends up here. He'll hate me." she cried.
Chad looks at her, "Hey," He says gently, bringing her in for a hug, "You are not to blame." He whispers in her ear.
She sobs quietly, "I treated him..so bad-" "Bella," Chad says, "It is not your fault." "It feels like it is."
Chad shakes his head, "It's not." Gabriella sniffles, wiping her eyes, "What if he does hate me?" "He won't." "How do you know?"
"Because," Chad begins, looking in her big brown eyes, "I know you. And I know Troy. He won't hate you. He has nothing but love for you Gabriella."
Gabriella sniffled, "I feel so awful Chad-' "Do you honestly think he doesn't love you Gabriella? And that he will hate you because of this? What kind of shit has Cody put in your head?"
Gabriella sniffled, "I don't know, I'm a screw up Chad, I don't know why Troy keeps trying to be with me, I always end up pushing him away, I end up always hurting him in someway. I wasn't even with him, and now look at him?!"
She looked over at the hospital bed were troy's body layed. Him breathing in and out of tubes.
Chad sighed, "Gabs, the past few weeks, It's killed him. He barely ate, He barely slept, he barely talked to anyone. You were all he thought about. He loves you Gabriella, honestly I think more than anyone could ever love someone."
Gabriella looked away, "Did he say that?" Chad sighed, "He told me before Gabriella that he would himself if you left him.. You're his air. His world. His life. You are what is keeping him alive right now."
Gabriella walked over and held troy's hand, "I don't understand how he could love me so much. But god knows how much I love him for it."
Chad sighed, "He loves you. I know that for sure." Gabriella doesn't look at him," Chad, really, how has he been doing these past few weeks? please be honest with me?"
Chad shakes his head, "Look honestly, he scared me.."
Gabriella looks at him, her eyes half wide and nearly closed because of the heavy tears.
Before she can ask chad to elaborate, he continues, "One time I went to his house," he steps closer to his best friend. "He wasn't in his yard shooting hoops, He wasn't in his room, and the picture of his mom was shattered, hanging on the wall with dried blood on the shards of the glass."
Gabriella gasps, looking at Troy in shock, "he punched his mom's picture?" "I don't know." Chad says, "But I heard a pounding and..deep throated crying coming from the upstairs bathroom."
"He was-" "I opened the door and he was sitting on the floor in the middle of broken glass- big and small pieces- from the mirror."
No...
"I had to take him to the emergency room. Gabs, his left hand was completely torn up and covered in blood. His palm had a 10 inch shard right through the middle.
Gabriella looks at Troy's left hand, seeing the tiny scars and how his pinky curls in toward his palm and his two middle fingers are not fully extended. And she stupidly had avoided him. "I.." Chad pulls her in to a hug, "He needs you, Bella."
Gabriella sniffles looking at Troy, "He needs so much Chad.." Chad nods, "Gabriella with me being his bestfriend I can't help him. You're what he doesn't wanna lose."
Gabriella sniffled, "Do you wanna know why I can't see Troy?" Chad nods, "If you wanna tell me."
Gabriella sniffled, "Okay.. Right after me and Cody got together, He saw me and Troy laughing and hugging one day at school. He grew angry and thats when he started abusing me."
She let a tear slide down her cheek, she continued, "He didn't only just threaten Troy's life...He said he would make Troy look like the bad guy."
Chad looked at her, "The bad guy in what?" she cried, "In abusing me. He would make it seem like Troy was the one hurting me and Troy would get arrested... I couldn't do that to him Chad..I just couldn't... That's why I can't be with him."
Chad looks at her, "Gabriella.." She shakes her head, biting her lip, "I can't hurt him."
The machine beeps in her ears, the sounds seem to echo in her head, "Please, I just.." "Bella Troy needs you." "I am..I just need some air."
Chad grabs her hand, "He'll be alright Gabriella." Gabriella nods, "I hope so." she lets go of his grasp and walks out the door.
