Disclaimer: I am not affiliated with the HSM franchise in any way, shape or form. Nor do I hold any rights to Willow by Julia Hoban. Nor do I own Edward Cullen; frankly, I have no desire to.
11/23: Hey! Thank you again to SassyBR and the anonymous reviewer pumpkinking5 for the feedback! Okay, I would of posted this sooner, but I got caught up in writing a oneshot. =P Anywho, here's chapter four. Enjoy!
to pumpkinking5: You're so sweet! Thank you for the great feedback, it's really encouraging and helpful. I'm ecstatic that you're enjoying the story so far and I hope you keep reading. Thanks for taking the time to review! XD
His words seemed to resonate in the empty halls consisting of only them. She pales from both his words and the fact that her older sister is now approaching the door with a grin on her face. Genevieve opens the door and looks questioningly at the two teens. She notes that their fingers are interlaced and she raises an eyebrow while smirking. "I'm on the phone with a parent, but we're just about to finish. So, if you two don't mind waiting..."
Troy merely nods as Genevieve eases the door shut. He walks backwards until he hit's the wall and slides down it, dragging Gabriella down with him. "Fuck. Fuck. Fuck."
"You think that I'd…that I am suicidal?" she asks as she stares at the closed door.
"Aren't you?" he retorts as he stretches his legs in front of him.
She rolls her eyes at his assumption. "If I wanted to kill myself, then I would of done it already."
"I'm sorry, but are you trying to convince me not to tell your sister or are you giving me more reasons to tell her? Because, to me, it sounded like if it came down to it you wouldn't hesitate."
"That's not what I meant!" she screeches and lets out a groan of frustration. "Look, I have no desire of ending my life, that's not my game."
He scoffs. "Then what is your game? Seeing how many times you can cut yourself before you get an infection? Or is it watching the blood ooze out from a self-inflicted cut?"
"Not that I expect you to understand, but I don't do it to draw blood. I do my best to make sure they don't get infected and I always make sure that I never cut too many times in one area, to minimize blood loss. "
"That doesn't make it any better," he counters softly. "Ms. Moretti has a right to know about what's going on with you."
Gabriella can feel his eyes boring into her, but she refuses to look at him. "Ms. Moretti is pregnant though," she states simply.
"Yeah, I got that," he replies with an eye roll. "She's a tiny woman and her stomach is huge, that typically means that said person's pregnant."
"If you tell Gen, then she'll worry," she deadpans.
"Good because she should be worried," he replies, not seeing where she was getting at.
Gabriella shakes her head. "Do I have to spell it out for you? My sister is five months pregnant! She's suppose to avoid stressful situation and by telling her, you're creating a stressful situation. God, if she has a miscarriage and it's my fault, then I'd loose my sister even more than I already have."
"You're not going to lose your sister over this, no matter what happens."
"You can't promise me that," she says dismissively as her eyes flutter shut and she leans her head back against the wall. "Please, just don't tell my sister," she pleads one more time.
"I'm sorry, but I have to. It's the right thing too do."
"Screw this righteous attitude. Nothing good can come out of Genevieve knowing." A line has been cross and she's through with playing nice. "Just forget that you even saw me up there. Pretend that nothing ever happened."
Troy turns to look at her. "How the fuck am I suppose to forget that you cut yourself? That you do it over and over again? That you carry around a fucking blade with you at school so you can sneak away and cut? And of all places, your hand!"
"That was an accident!"
He scoffs at her and reaches for her left arm, then forces her fingers to uncurl. "Of course, because when you squeeze a sharp object it doesn't cut you," he spits out sarcastically.
Gabriella emits a groan of frustration "God, I really can't explain it right now, but all I know is that if you tell Genevieve about what you saw on the rooftop then…"
"Then what? You'll kill yourself?"
By now, she's immune to his blunt words and gathers enough courage to finally look at him. She forces the horrid images that begin to reappear out of her head and attempts to focus on him. She notices that his normally bright eyes are now a stormy shade of dark blue. "Get it through your thick skull that I'm not out to kill myself. And if the only reason you're doing this is because you think that I'll stop, then you might as well walk away now."
Neither of the two were aware of how intimate of a position they were in. Anyone could see that there was something going on between the pair by the way that they were pressed up against each other, making it hard to tell where Troy ended and Gabriella started. Her left hand was still intertwined with his right hand and rested at the junction of their thighs. His other hand held hers protectively as it rested just above his knee. But it was they way he looked at her that really signaled the connection between the two. It was a look of concern that hinted something more than friendship. This, of course, was obvious to Genevieve as she peered through the glass pane.
"Hey guys!" Genevieve's perky voice startles them both and causes them to look up at the older woman. "Come on in!" Genevieve holds the door wide open. Her smile falters slightly as she saw that they instantly sever all physical attachment from each other. Her smile returns though as she realizes that it was just so they could stand up. She watches as one of her favorite students from last year held out his hand to help her little sister up and on to her two feet.
The brunette looks at Genevieve with critiquing eyes. Her older sister is actually smiling at her, something that rarely happens now a days. She reverts her attention back to Troy, who looks lost in his thoughts and the only indication of his actual presence is the tight clasp of his hand on hers.
"So," Genevieve prompted with a genuine smile gracing her lips, "what can I help you two with?"
"I forgot," Gabriella quickly fibs and begins edging back out the door.
The basketball captain remained anchored to his position on the floor, thus holding her back.
"Are you sure?" she asks as she turns to face the other person in the room.
Troy shifts uncomfortably on his feet as he sneaks a quick glance at the pleading figure beside him. He lets out a discreet deep breath and directs his attention to his old English teacher. "Yeah, Ella and I just had a disagreement, but we sorted it out." The words slipped from his lips without a second thought.
It barely registered in her mind that he used her old nickname, seeing as she was too busy studying her older sister's reaction. She watches as Genevieve's eyes grow wide in shock before briefly meeting hers, silently questioning her. She tears her eyes away from her sister's and looks up at Troy. Her sister's stare soon follows, causing Troy to once again shuffle his feet nervously.
Genevieve clears her thought after getting over the initial shock. She walks over to the front of her desks and leans against it, gesturing a hand towards the desks in front of her. "Mind telling me what your disagreement was about?" she asks as the two teens walk over to one of the desks in front of hers.
Troy automatically hops onto the tabletop while Gabriella remains stiff at his side. If he was going to lie to one of his favorite teachers of all time, he was at least going to do it while being comfortable. "It was nothing big. I offered to take Ella out Friday night and show her around town."
The two sisters shift their attention to the basketball captain. One stands gaping at him and her brown eyes the size of saucers, while the other smiles brightly.
Genevieve pointedly raises an eyebrow at her sister and smirks slightly. "So, what was there to disagree about?"
Troy opened his mouth to speak, but Gabriella snapped out of her trance in time to cut him off. "I said that I couldn't because I had to work at the daycare after school and I promised Noelle that I would clean up."
"But when we were waiting outside your classroom, I finally convinced her that it was a good idea." Troy says before Gabriella could say anything further. "If that's alright with you?"
"Of course!" Genevieve practically yells. "I think it's a great idea. I haven't had a chance to show her around since she transferred." She looks down almost timidly as she says the later sentence. "Anyway, shouldn't you two be in class?"
"Nope, we both have lunch now."
Genevieve nods at Troy's response before turning to look at her sister. "Gabriella, please tell me that you actually ate lunch."
The petite brunette resists the urge to roll her eyes at her older sister's condescending tone. "Yes, I ate some pizza," she lied, avoiding her sister's gaze. "Now, if you'll excuse us, we should probably get back to our backpacks that we left in the library."
Genevieve nods as she walks them to the door. "I'll see you at home, Gabriella. Nice to see you again, Troy."
"You too, Mrs. Moretti." Troy says, waving awkwardly before leading a brooding Gabriella out of the room.
"Why the hell did you tell her that?!" Gabriella finally explodes once they were a great distance away from her sister's classroom. "You could of said anything, but that. Do you even realize what you just did?"
"What I just did was save your ass. You know, you can at least pretend to be grateful," he fired back, annoyance evident in his tone.
The brunette is at a lost for words, so she doesn't say anything. She is forever indebted to him for not telling Genevieve, but she's also angry at him. The way she sees it, Troy has complete and utter control of the situation. He built up false hope for Genevieve, making her that she was getting better. The smile that graced her older sister's lips hinted that she was under the impression that Gabriella was moving on with her life. Then Troy came up with that ridiculous lie that secured her speculations. She doesn't want to disappoint her sister anymore than she already has. Genevieve doesn't deserve it because she has been nothing but good to her. To top it all off, Gabriella is at Troy's whim. Whatever he chooses to do with his new found knowledge, will affect her forever.
"Why couldn't you just walk away and never look back?" she says lowly as they come to a stop in front of the white metal door.
Troy takes a deep breath as he turns the medal handle and holds the door open for her. "Because you can't expect me, or anyone else for that matter, to not care," he whispers in the same voice as he follows her up the concrete stairs. "Anyone with a heart could never do that."
"Well, I don't need you to care." She snaps at him, irritated by how difficult he's making it. "What I need you to do is to leave me alone and to forget that you."
"Fine," he says curtly as he trudges up the wooden steps that lead to the deck with the bench. "What's this?" he asks as he picks up a white package by her discarded bag. "Sterile Wipes: Saline Solution," he reads off the packaging. "This is so fucked up," he mutters as he pulls out one of the wipes. "Come here," he deadpans and motions for her to come forward. He holds the back of her hand securely as he runs the moist wipe over her hand, folding it over each time the white sheet became too tainted with the crimson blood.
Gabriella doesn't protest because quite frankly, she doesn't have the energy to do so. The day's events have left her too exhausted to argue with him anymore. Once he's done with cleaning her hand, she bends down to retrieve a large Band-Aid from her makeup bag on the ground. She struggles to open the paper packaging with one hand and allows him to get it from her. She watches as he rips the paper apart and removes the glossy backing from the sticky adhesive.
Troy smoothes the Band-Aid of her left palm and applies enough pressure to ensure that it stuck. He retrieves another sterile wipe to clean his hands of her blood. He discards all the evidence of this afternoons events in a nearby trash, before collapsing on the provided bench. He rubs his calloused hands over his face and then runs one through his silky locks.
After returning all of her belongings to her bag, she timidly mimics his actions. The pair slip into a silence as thick as wool. They sit a foot apart from each other. She sits with her eyes trained on the floor and so does he. Every now and then he sneaks a glance at her and she pretends that she doesn't notice. Neither one dares to cut through the uncomfortable silence because, for now, there's nothing left to say.
"Yeah, so that's what happened at work today. Crazy stuff. Anyway, congrats Gabriella!"
Gabriella looks up from picking at her grilled chicken and lentils with rice. "What?"
Genevieve scowls at her husband as she drops her fork onto her plate. Adam lets out a yelp, giving Gabriella the impression that he was just discretely kicked.
"I told you not to say anything!" Genevieve scolds as she picks her fork up.
"You did?"
She rolls her eyes at her husband's stupidity. "Yes I did. I remember specifically instructing you not to mention it because, well, it's just not something I think she needed to know."
Gabriella's eyebrows furrow and she sends her legal guardians a questioning look. "What's going on?"
Adam smirks as he spears a piece of chicken onto his fork. "Troy Bolton called." He stuffs the meat into his mouth and chases it down with rice and lentils.
The petite brunette looks stunned by this new information. Her palms begin to moisten and her heartbeat quickens in pace. She can't stop her hands from shaking so she set her fork down and clamps them together. Had the gorgeous basketball captain changed his mind? Did he decide to tell after all? She shakes her head at the idea.
But they're smiling!
"Really?" she asks and mentally curses herself for the word coming out an octave or two higher than normal. She clears her throat and opens her mouth to speak again. "I mean…he did?"
Genevieve and Adam nod their heads in conformation as they continued eating, both clearly amused by the teen's reaction.
"What did he say?" She plays it off like it's no big deal, but she can't help fidgeting with her hands.
"Oh, he was just asking about your work hours," he says nonchalantly.
"He could of asked me in Chemistry," she says more to herself than to them. After the incident on the roof, Troy and Gabriella parted ways. When she had arrived to her last class of the day, he seemed indifferent. He didn't say anything to her, nor did he acknowledge her presence. Even though that was what she requested for him to do, it still hurt.
"So you're into jocks? I would of pegged you as one of those chicks into those quiet-mysterious-always-brooding types. Like Edward Cullen! Wait. Unless Troy is like that. Then your attraction to him would make sense. I guess he could be like Edward."
Genevieve cocks her head to the side and stares at her husband. "Seriously?"
"What? It's a completely valid observation. "
"No it's not. She's not antisocial and awkward like Bella. You're forgetting that she was a pretty athletic Knight."
"Uhgg..don't mention those damn Knights in my house."
"Hey!" Genevieve and Gabriella exclaimed simultaneously. Their eyes meet from across the table and they burst out into wide grins.
"Babe, you're forgetting that you're out numbered by Knights here," Genevieve reminded him, referring to the fact that she is a West High alumna.
"Nu-uh! Gabi's a Wildcat now!"
"Sorry, Adam. Once a Knight always a Knight."
"Got that right sis," Genevieve agrees with a cheeky smile.
"What's you're little boyfriend going to say when he finds out he's dating a Knight?"
"Troy's not my boyfriend!" she blurts out. She mixes some of her lentils with her rice as she tries to hide the fact that she's blushing.
Adam exchanges a knowing glance with Genevieve. "Who said I was talking about Bolton?"
"Awe, Gabi! You're blushing!" Genevieve jeers as she takes another bite of her chicken.
"He's a good kid; I approve."
Gabriella rolls her eyes and looks up to see her brother-in-law smirking. "I'm so glad," she says sarcastically. "Your food's getting cold, Adam."
"It's okay. If my food getting cold is the price I have to pay for teasing you, then it's all worth it."
As Gabriella engages into a normal conversation with her sister, she can't help but feel happy. The afternoon's events never cross her mind. To her it feels like when she would visit the young couple. Gabriella would sometimes come over for dinner and 9 out of 10 times, there would be a Knights versus Wildcats discussion. Adam would represent his fellow Wildcats, while Genevieve and Gabriella would list all the reasons why West High was the better school. The trio broke out into a fit of laugher and continue in their light conversation. This is what it was like before the accident.
After dinner, Gabriella slips into her room - which was only illuminated by her bedside lamp - and eases the door shut behind her. She quickly walks over to her bed and just collapses onto it, not even bothering to get under the covers. It is only now that she's in the comfort in her room that she realizes that for the first time in a very long time, a tension-free dinner was held in the Moretti household. Her entire day plays like a film inside of her eyelids as she snuggles into the bed. Happiness, fear, confusion, edginess, and contentment were all the emotions she never expected to feel today. Whoever said that the best things in life were unexpected, obviously didn't foresee the tragedy that is Gabriella Montez.
I love Adam. Don't you? =P Okay, from this point on, it focuses less on the cutting and more on her other issues. Oh and keep an eye out for my oneshot/twoshot. Thanks for reading!
Reviews? Please?
Much love,
Kae xoxo
