Follow Your Heart Chapter 4: It's About Time, a high school musical fanfic

The next morning

Troy woke up and rubbed his eyes tiredly. He didn't have a well sleep last night. He sighed and got up. He searched each room he passed by to see all of them empty. He scanned Dustin's room. It consisted of various posters of numerous bands, Fall Out Boy, Rolling Stone, U2, and the Beatles. He noticed that Dustin happened to own a few guitars. He probably inherited his love for music from his mother.

He then walked towards Sophia and Jasmine's room. Their room was unbearably girly. They hung up numerous posters of boy, Zac Efron, Corbin Bleu, Cody Linley, and the Sprouse Twins. He felt all this mad energy come through within him. He stopped, what was this feeling? It was a feeling fathers have around their daughters once they gush about boys. He smiled. He actually felt like a real father now. He sighed and walked down the stairs. As he walked into the kitchen, all commotion stirred within the room.

"Morning Troy." Gabriella said as she was on the phone. Troy smiled and waved unwillingly because of his tiredness. He walked towards the eating table and sat next to Sophia who was finishing up her breakfast. Sophia looked up at Troy.

"Morning Dad."

Troy smiled. "Morning sweetheart." He said rubbing his hand against her back lovingly. As Sophia smiled Dustin dashed into the room.

"Morning Mom. Morning Troy." He said. Troy realized maybe Dustin might be a little harder for him to come around Troy. Troy nodded and smiled.

Jasmine dashed into the room without greeting anyone. She ran to the table with literature book in hand. "Breakfast, Jas?"

"Can't talk, need to finish literature homework."

"You do know that homework is when you do work right when you get home, not," Dustin looked down at his watch. "3 minutes before you're being picked up."

"Shut up before I slap you."

"Geez, no need to be violent." He said.

There came a knock on the door. Carl came downstairs and opened it. It was Angela. "Morning Mr. C!" She said happily.

Carl glared at her. "Angela, you know you can just call me Mr. Carl."

"Okay, Mr. C!" She said. Carl rolled his eyes and walked to the kitchen. Angela followed.

"Dustin, Angela's here." Dustin nodded and both of them left.

A honk came from the front yard. "YES I'M FINISHED! AND JUST IN TIME TO LEAVE!" Jasmine exclaimed. She hurried and left.

"Soph, get your things. We need to leave now." Sophia nodded and got her things. "Bye Carl." Gabriella said as she quickly pecked him on his lips. She turned to Troy who was just glaring at them. "I'll see you later Troy." She simply said and waved. Troy nodded and waved. Sophia ran to Troy and kissed him on the cheek.

"Bye Daddy."

"Bye sweetheart." He said and soon after that they left. Troy looked up to see that Carl was the only one left. "Morning Carl."

"Morning Troy." He said as he nodded.

"Is it always that complicated in the morning?" Troy laughed quietly. Carl nodded.

"Oh yeah. It's crazy. I can't believe Gabriella has to go through all that."

"Yeah for sure." Troy laughed as he sipped his coffee.

"It's a good thing once me and Gabi are married we're going to enroll them into boarding school." (No I'm not talking about the cool boarding school like PCA in Zoey 101. I'm talking about uniforms and all those boring things.)

Troy choked on his coffee. "Excuse me?"

"Oh, once Gabriella and I get hitched, I'm shipping those brats off to boarding school." (Talk about evil.) Troy nodded not really knowing what to do. There came an awkward silence.

"So what do you do for a living?" Troy asked.

"I'm a doctor." Troy nodded.

"What does Gabi do?"

"She owns a popular restaurant, the Parkway, in downtown Albuquerque." Troy nodded. Carl looked at his watch. "Well I need to go. I'll see you, man." Troy nodded and Carl left.

Meanwhile,

Dustin and Angela were walking together down the halls of school. They talked about random things until the jocks walked up to him. "Well if it isn't the happy couple." Jeffrey smirked. "Give me your lunch money, Montez."

Dustin knew it was time to stand up to his fears. "Make me."

The footballers 'o'-ed to each other. "Well I think I can." He punched Dustin right in the eye. Dustin, almost unconscious, fell to the floor.

"DUSTIN!" Angela yelled as she dropped to the floor by Dustin's side.

"Forget him." Jeffrey said and walked off with his posse.

Meanwhile again.

Jasmine sighed as she walked towards her locker at East High. She clutched her books to her heart. The popular girls were walking towards her. "What's your name?" Audrey, the leader of the pack, asked obnoxiously.

"Jasmine." Audrey seemed to not remember. "We have math, English, and science," Audrey still seemed confused. "And everything else."

"Oh now I remember!" She exclaimed. "Well my sources told me that you were glancing at the musical sign up sheets. Don't go there. The musicals are my territory. Stay out." Jasmine nodded. Audrey rolled her eyes and pushed her books out of Jasmine's hands, with that Audrey and her posse walked off. She sighed and squatted down to get her books. Her cell phone vibrated in her pocket. Jasmine answered her phone.

"Hello?"

"Jasmine? It's me Angela."

"Hi Angela. Why are you calling me during school?"

"I'm sorry but Dustin got beat up with a black eye."

"Are you serious?"

"I am. We're in the nurse's office right now."

"Oh my god. Is he okay?"

"I'm okay." Jasmine heard from the background.

"Well classes start soon so I don't have enough time to call Mom but I'll call her as soon as I can."

"Thanks Jas. I'll talk to you later."

"Okay. Bye." Jasmine shut the phone and breathed out heavily.

A little earlier with Gabriella

Gabriella sighed as she walked into the restaurant she has owned for 9 years. "Good morning everyone." She said happily.

"Morning Gabi." The employees chanted together.

"Good morning Gabs." Zeke said. Zeke was hired by Gabriella as head chef.

"Ugh, morning Zeke." She sighed as she sat in an empty chair.

"Under the weather this morning?"

Gabriella nodded. "You will never believe my luck."

Zeke was about to answer until Taylor and Kelsi came along. "What luck?" Taylor asked. Taylor was assistant manager of the restaurant and Kelsi was entertaining the guests by playing piano.

"Well it's a really funny story-."

Sharpay made her grand entrance into the restaurant. "Why hello employees of the Parkway!" She said with arms wide open. The employees waved to her. Sharpay was an actress who sometimes has to leave Albuquerque to film movies. She visits the restaurant every morning to have her coffee.

Sharpay made her way to the rest of the gang. "Hey guys."

"Morning honey." Zeke greeted Sharpay with a quick kiss on the lips. Zeke and Sharpay got married last year and are going strong. He misses her dearly whenever she has to leave but they always find time to spend together. "Anyway Gabi. What happened?"

"Okay well I was at home with Dustin, Angela, and Carl. I was waiting for Jasmine and Sophia to come home. I was making dinner with Angela and Dustin and then there was a knock on the door. I thought it was very peculiar that Jasmine had to knock on the door because they have keys to the house but anyway I asked Dustin to answer it and once he opens it, he freezes. I was watching him as he wasn't moving. I walked to the front door and guess who I saw with Jasmine and Sophia?"

"Who?" They asked in unison.

"Troy Bolton."

"WHAT?" They said in unison once again.

"I know it was crazy. And then that night when we went out because I burnt dinner, I asked him where he was staying. And he said he was going to the really expensive hotel. And being the humble person I am, I just had to invite him to live with us."

"Wow that's great!" Sharpay started. "Now you guys can get back together!" She exclaimed. Everyone glared at her including Zeke.

Gabriella brought up her left hand showing her engagement ring. Sharpay 'o-ed and tried to cover it up. Gabriella sighed.

"I don't know what this is supposed to mean." Gabriella said sadly. Troy walked in the restaurant with out Gabriella noticing. Everyone except for her noticed. A few of the employees dashed and tried to get their phone cameras and some tried to fight the temptation of asking for his autograph.

"Um Gabriella-." Kelsi said trying to get her attention that Troy was there.

"I can't talk right now, Kelsi. I'm thinking." She said still looking down deep in thought.

"No Gabriella really because it's-." Taylor said until Sharpay interrupted.

"TROY!" She said rushing towards him. She hugged him which kind of shocked Troy. Gabriella turned her back and was wondering what was going on.

"Troy? What are you doing here?" She asked getting up.

"Sorry. I didn't want to be bored at the house so I decided to see you. Do you have time?"

Gabriella turned to Zeke. "Well I don't know if I can just stop working-."

Troy interrupted. "Well we can just talk for a few minutes here."

Gabriella turned back to Zeke. "Well-."

"It's okay, Gabi. I'll watch everything for you." Zeke assured. Gabriella nodded slowly and followed Troy to a booth in the front of the restaurant.

"We really didn't get to talk all too much ever since I arrived."

"I know we should try to catch up."

Troy looked around to find a conversation. "So tell me about the kids."

Gabriella laughed. "Ah they are like teenagers. Jasmine tends to become shy at school. It's almost like she's a smaller replica of me. She dreams of becoming a singer but all she thinks of is that she's a geek. I always tell her, Jas, you are not a geek. But then she goes, 'oh my god Mom. Stop putting all this pity on me." Gabriella said mocking her daughter. Troy laughed.

"Sophia, is like the big ball of energy. For a 10 year old, she sucks all of the energy out of me. Her passion is dancing and I really try to make her dancing recitals every year, but sometimes something goes on here and I have to leave early. I really hate leaving her like that but I have no one else to come with me. Carl tries to go but he always has something going on." Troy nodded.

"And then there's Dustin. I think out of the three of the kids, Dustin is the most bitter. He's lived for so long without a father that he doesn't know which way to go in life. He has such a great future. He loves music and has his own band. He writes songs in his room and thinks I never hear him, but the songs he writes are beautiful. But the problem is that he gets bullied a lot at school and tries to get Angela to cover it up for him. It's just horrendous. Angela is probably the only one he ever talks to about anything. I would hate to break those two."

Troy remembered something.

Flashback

"Oh, once Gabriella and I get hitched, I'm shipping those brats off to boarding school."

End of Flashback

"Troy? Troy?! TROY?!?!" Gabriella exclaimed trying to get Troy's attention. Troy looked up.

"Oh sorry. I was just um thinking."

"Okay." She smiled, just then a waiter came to them and handed Gabriella the restaurant phone.

"Jasmine."

Gabriella nodded. "Hello? What? Is he okay? Jesus Christ I can't leave now." She was panting and then she looked up at Troy. "Hold on, Jas. Troy, can you do an extremely great favor for me?"

Troy nodded.

"Dustin had a little misunderstanding at school that left him a black eye. I can't pick him up but do you mind picking him up for me?" Troy nodded. Gabriella threw him the keys and with that Troy left.

Troy drove up to Dustin's school and walked to the front office. When he approached the secretary, she seemed to just blankly stare at Troy. Troy seemed really uncomfortable. "Hi, I'm here to pick up Dustin Montez."

"Oh yes, let me get him. Dustin, honey, Troy Bolton is here to pick you up." Troy saw Dustin walk out of the back room with an ice pack on his eye. Dustin and Troy were about to walk out until the secretary stopped Troy.

"I'm sorry but do you mind and signing an autograph for me and my husband. We're very big fans." Troy nodded and signed her autograph. The secretary smiled from ear to ear and left them to go to their car.

As they walked into the house, Dustin ran upstairs. Troy sighed. He and Dustin weren't having any type of relationship so far. Dustin barely talked to him, and when he did, he didn't refer to him as 'Dad' he referred to him as Troy. Troy breathed out and read the newspaper.

He was almost finished reading the article until he started hearing music from the second floor. He was curious and followed the music. He walked all the way up the stairs. The more he walked up, the louder and more distinct the music became.

He walked behind Dustin's door. He heard a soft guitar play.

There she goes again
The girl I'm in love with
It's cool we're just friends
We walk the halls at school
We know it's casual
It's cool we're just…

I don't want to lead you on
No
But the truth is I've grown fond
Yeah

Everyone knows it's meant to be
Falling in love, just you and me
'til the end of time
'til I'm on her mind
It'll happen
I've been making lots of plans
Like a picket fence and a rose garden
I just keep on dreaming
But it's cool cause we're just friends

Small talk on IM
Just four more sentences
It's cool we're just friends

If I had my way
We'd talk and talk all day
Yeah

Thinking about how
We're gonna say our vows
It's cool we're just friends
She walks down the aisle
Seeing my face smile
Cause now we're more than friends

Everyone knows it's meant to be
Falling in love, just you and me
'til the end of time
'til I'm on her mind
It'll happen
We've been making lots of plans
Like a picket fence and a rose garden
I'll just keep on dreaming
Just keep on thinking about how we used to be just friends

La, La, La, La
La, La, La, La
La, La, La, La, La
How we used to be (How we used to be)
La, La, La, La
La, La, La, La (Just friends)
La, La, La, La, La
How we used to be just friends

Troy came from behind the door and into Dustin's room. Dustin was startled and started putting away his guitar. "No, you were awesome. How did you learn how to play?"

"I asked Mom if I can learn how to play and I got lessons." Troy nodded. There was an awkward silence.

"Can I ask a question?" Troy asked. Dustin shrugged.

"Sure."

"What's between you and Angela?"

Dustin turned crimson red but shook it off. "I don't know. It's kind of hard to explain."

"Oh come on, I know why you wrote that song. It couldn't have just been for anyone else."

"Well yeah. Angela and I have been best friends ever since Mom moved us here. We've grown close through the years. I've known her for so long to actually discover feelings for her but I don't know if she really likes me like that." Dustin shook his head.

"Oh come on, have you ever asked her out on a date?"

Dustin shook his head. "I'm a chicken."

"Well I think you should. And you will get a personal Troy Bolton class into how to make a perfect date." Dustin smiled. "And not just as Troy Bolton, the basketball guy, as Troy Bolton, the dad." Dustin looked up.

"It's about time you visited us, Bolton."

Troy nodded. "I know. And I'm going to try to make up for everything."

"Thanks Troy." Dustin shook his head. "No, thanks Dad." Troy smiled and took his son in his arms. He felt a tear roll down his face. He was probably the happiest in his life.