"Troy, we've been driving for hours, where are we going?" Gabriella asked curiously as she watched the building past by until they were driving on a lone highway, a wall of rocks blocking her view on either side. Troy looked at her with a teasing smile.
"To a place and it has not been hours."
"I can see that but where is this place."
"You'll see. We're almost there." She pouted but then smiled, reaching into her purse. She pulled out her phone which flipped open and with a press of her button, a bright flash went off. Troy looked at her with surprise as she laughed and took another picture.
"Gaby, stop that," Troy said, stretched over to take the away from her but keeping his eyes on the road, he was unable to reach her hands.
"Tell me where we're going," She bargained, taking another picture and printed into her mind to delete all the horrible pictures of Troy's hand or fingers. Sighing, he sat back down before laughing,
"You know. If you wanted a picture so bad you could have just asked in the first place." Gabriella scoffed, smacking him in the arm which he pathetically defended himself against. Shaking her head, she turned the phone in her hand to take a goofy picture of herself.
"So why is this place such a big secret?"
"Because-"
"Because why?"
"Because, I say it is."
"Oh, I see," Gabriella laughed, taking another picture of her self but this time looking mystified. Troy snuck a glance at her and laughed,
"Also, because no one knows about it," He finally admitted. This time when the flash went off, her face had changed from a smile to a look of deep interest.
"That is secretive but why is that?" He chuckled, before once again nervously drumming his fingers on the steering wheel.
"I like to come here to be by myself. To think, you know?"
"Like the rooftop?"
"Yeah, except the rooftop is where I go when I can't come here."
"Is this where you usually go when you... get into trouble?" He looked at her with a mischievous smile.
"If you are referring to that day when I was going to leave, then yes. This is where I go when I can't stand being at school." She smiled back sincerely,
"This sounds like a cool place Troy."
"It is." Just as he said the words, her side view was cleared of rock and she gasped, looking out at what looked like a large golf course. Somewhere past the golf course was a water geyser was continuously spouting water and a bit further beyond it was a large brick building made of a burnt red adobe. As Troy drove closer to a large gate with blocks containing the letters L & S, she leaned over to whisper,
"What are we doing here?"
"You'll find out," he whispered back, as the gates opened to let them through and once inside, she was able to stare in awe at the adobe building coming closer. Swiftly, he drove to the far side of the building and parked his car to the side of the driving lane. Rushing out of his seat, he raced over to the other side to help her out of hers and held onto her hand tightly after locking the car.
"Troy!"
"Gaby, just come with me." Laughing, she wondered just what she was willingly to do to follow him and realized she was capable of almost anything, even climbing over a security fence.
"Are you sure we're allowed to be here?"
"Yes, believe me, you won't get in trouble," he assured, sounding exasperated. Once out back, she stared at the blue chlorine water shimmering under the moonlight and even smiled at the pretty Hawaiian decorations surrounding the pool site. She almost blushed when Troy caught staring at the small waterfall with excitement.
"Maybe next time if we remember to bring our swimsuits," he joked. Rolling her eyes, she followed him further into the back lot until they climbed a small hill of grass and when they reached the top, they saw a small playground built in a square of sand settled almost conveniently at the bottom of the hill.
"This is it," Troy pointed out, his hold on her hand loosening, until she turned to him and smiled,
"It's so cute." She made her way carefully towards the playground, Troy still in hand, and sat contentedly on the mini-carousel. Pushing into the sand with her feet, Gabriella began spinning around in circles and she held onto the iron bars tightly so she wouldn't slide off. Troy held onto a bar opposite side of her and laughed, pushing it harder into faster circles. Gabriella cried out in surprise, holding on tighter and laughed when she felt Troy jump onto the carousel and it began slowing down to a comforting speed.
"You're crazy Wildcat," Gabriella laughed, scooting closer to the center of it and sat across from him as he too scooted closer to say,
"You're the crazy one, hanging around a crazy person."
"I wouldn't want to be anywhere else." Troy laughed and nodded his head, making her smile grow by the second.
"Why were you in such a rush to leave, anyway? Did it have something to due with that guy?" Bringing a hand into his hair, Troy sighed as he looked straight at nothing,
"I'm sorry you had to see that. I didn't plan to hit him, but..."
"Did he deserve it?" Gabriella asked seriously, wanting to believe it was the other guy's fault from the look of grief on Troy's face. Troy shook his head, but stopped abruptly,
"That was my best friend, Chad Danforth."
"You hit your best friend? I guess I know what to expect in our weird friendship."
"I wouldn't punch you."
"I'd like to see you try," Gabriella said, trying to sound smug, but ended up making Troy laugh.
"I'm sure you're a real fighter."
"You can bet on it, but anyway..."
"But anyway... he and I used to be on the team and we'd practiced together all our lives, practically brothers." Gabriella nodded, hiding her awe at Troy being musically and athletically talented.
"Then, we were offered to be on a professional team, the real deal. But-" Cutting himself off, he began digging his feet in the dirt.
"But?" she egged.
"But I didn't want to take the deal. I didn't want to portray an image that certainly wasn't me and that's what the team's label wanted. So I dropped out, much to Chad's disappointment…he was all too happy to point that out to me tonight. Earlier, said I could have been somebody."
"Do you want to be somebody?" she asked as they began to spin on the carousel slowly. Troy drummed his fingers against the middle rail, looking at his shoes,
"Everyone expects me to be somebody, but I don't want to be somebody I'm not." She nodded, understanding Troy's reasoning but wondered if there was more to it.
"Why do you say everyone?" Troy glanced at her before looking away and getting off the carousel. He took slow steps to the swing set before sitting down, in a defeated manner. Cautiously, Gabriella got up and sat on the swing next to him, reaching her hand out for her, caressing his hand just as he had done to hers.
"Simply, because it's true, my dad, my teachers, Ms. Darbus, every one of them expects me to become famous or something that shows off my talents." The torn look on Troy's face struck her with a desire to take it way.
"Your talents are your own, you shouldn't let other people decide what you should do with them. If you're happy writing songs, write songs. But don't do them if you're doing it to make others happy." Somehow the words seemed hypocritical even as Gabriella spoke them, but she realized that's why they were so sincere. She knew what Troy was going through and wanted to assure him, things could work out despite his decisions.
"Someone I once knew told me, you got to break it to make it. I want to tell you that, if you have the courage to break free and go your own way, then your talents will make you somebody you're proud of, your own person." Troy's smile was practically radiant when she said that and her own smile was probably just as big. They soon were caught up in an easy conversation. Suddenly, lyrics popped into Gabriella's head and began humming a tune softly under her breath. She didn't fool Troy, who asked,
"Is that another song?"
"Yeah, the last one... wasn't totally satisfying," Gabriella laughed, her voice loosing a bit of life as she remembered Jay's instant dismissal of it. She felt Troy's eyes examine her face.
"Why not," he asked. Gabriella tried to come up with something close to the truth but shrugged,
"It's nothing, it won't impress anyone." Troy sighed and looked head, surprising Gabriella with his serious tone,
"Not everything you write has to impress someone else."
"Shouldn't it though?"
"You wrote it, you should be proud of it."
"I am."
"Really?" Suddenly, Gabriella recognized that knowing look on his face and smiled, she knew what he was doing. She sighed and leaned against one of the iron chains holding up her swing.
"I can't help it if I care about what other people think of my song. It's so embarrassing to think after everything we did for it, it's just the same old joke." It was then that Gabriella remembered one of the things she wanted answered by Troy, no vague or obscure rebuttal, because unlike other people, Troy would just tell her the truth whether she liked it or not.
"Do you know why people didn't make fun of me after that text? I know I shouldn't care and that it's in the past but I was expecting some more rumors about it after that."
"That sounds a bit conceited."
"That's not what I mean... I was just curious why I was let off so easily... Bret said once you had something to do with it." Shaking his head at her last comment, Troy began pumping his legs and his swinging slowly picking up speed.
"You don't have to thank me."
"For what?"
"What?" Troy asked again, but Gabriella knew he was only pretending not to have heard her.
"For what?"
"What?" he said loudly. His voice barely being heard over the metal chains swinging back and forth.
"Why would I thank you?"
"Nothing, nothing, forget it," Troy continued to shout, his voice getting carried away by the wind.
"Troy," Gabriella sighed, her shoulders slouched and stared at him pleadingly. Troy groaned, receiving her look and stopped pumping all together, slowing down a bit.
"I may have told some people to bug off…and I might have scared the person who sent the text in the first place. They said they wouldn't do it again, so you're good. No big deal." Gabriella's eyes widened and asked,
"You did that? Why?" Troy looked at her incredulously and asked,
"Can't you guess why?" Shaking her head honestly, Troy dragged his feet into the ground, coming to a complete stop and explained simply,
"Because it upset you." Gabriella looked away, surprise to feel her cheek burn and she too hid her mouth behind her hand, covering what felt like a huge grin. Standing up, Troy turned to her and smiled,
"Want to go for a swim?" Gabriella laughed, seeming fully recovered from her blush,
"No, it's cold."
"How would you know? New Mexico water can be quite warm at night." When he was in front of her, he helped her to her feet and turned towards the way of the pool, not at all expecting her jumping onto his back playfully. Troy stumbled on the sand for a grand total of 6 seconds before falling over and throwing Gabriella into the sand. Both teens were laughing hysterically and Troy crawled over to Gabriella's side. Bending one arm up, Troy held his head in his hand as Gabriella continued to softly giggle and turned to face him. Nothing was said until Gabriella began to sing in a whisper,
"Will you try to make me feel better? Will you say alright? Will you say ok? Will you stick with me through whatever? Or run away? Say Ok..." Troy listened silently until she finished and smiled,
"I like that. It definitely has potential."
"You think?"
"I think...your songs share a common theme."
"And what is that?"
"That you are hopelessly and completely infatuated with me." Gabriella laughed, patting him lightly on the face.
"Are you always this charming or am I just lucky." Troy took her hand in his and caressed his fingers over hers.
"Seeing as you are the first person I've brought here...I'd say you are very lucky." Something to the side caught her eye and she turned just to see the first morning light peeking above the horizon line where the grass blades sparkled with morning dew. She and Troy sat up, both letting out a slow, mesmerized breathe before Gabriella whispered,
"Now that's real lucky right there. What are the odds?"
"About one in a million," Troy said sarcastically. This time, Gabriella didn't bother to retort but only stood up and sat in front of him.
"Hey!"
"I'm trying to block out your face from this amazing view." Shock was definitely an understatement when she felt Troy coming up behind her, his legs laying on either side of her and his arms hugging her tightly,
"I thought you said I was the next Casanova."
"I lied," Gabriella lied, resting her head beneath Troy's chin and continued watching the sunrise, completely living in the moment.
As they drove up to the hotel Gabriella was staying at, Troy whistled softly,
"Nice place."
"It's only temporary."
"But still, staying at a place like this, you must be rich."
"Says the one, who has his own playground under lock and key, in a private resort," she countered him.
"My parents are the members, I just grew up there," Troy defended, pulling his arms back, one slung casually on top of Gabriella's seat. Noticing this, she stared at Troy, and couldn't stop herself from looking into his eyes. They were a magnificent blue, full of so much passion and feeling. One of the things that caught her attention, first time she met him. She had never seen them up this close before and before she realized it, both she and Troy were leaning in slowly. Blinking out of her stupor she whispered,
"My mom's waiting for me." Without breaking her gaze, he nodded and pulled back until he stepped out of the car. Taking a deep breath, she had somewhat collected herself when he opened the door for her and helped her out. Holding onto her hand, Troy brought her to the side of the car and leaned against it, his eyes still staring into hers.
"Don't go to school, tomorrow."
"What?"
"You heard me."
"But why?"
"It'll be fun, Gaby. Just trust me." Seeing him, looking at her so hopefully, she sighed,
"Fine."
"Good, I'll be here around 9 to pick you up." She didn't even bother asking for an explanation but reached out to pat down a stray piece of Troy's hair, whispering softly,
"Have you ever felt like there was this whole other person inside of you just waiting to come out?" Chuckling, Troy took the hand in his hair and held it tight.
"Yeah, and I think it's about time I showed him to you." Smiling still, Gabriella stepped back to leave when Troy pulled at her hand so she was standing practically toe to toe with him and staring up as he gazed down at her,
"Good night," he said softly, his voice a comforting calm.
"Good night," she answered sweetly. A suddenly smile lit his face and he turned his chin upward. Gabriella recognized this as his trademark move. It was simple. He wanted a kiss. Rolling her eyes, she leaned forward and was ready to kiss just him above his jaw when Troy turned to kiss her swiftly on the lips. Her body practically flashed hot against his when they separated and he repeated,
"Good night, Gabriella Montez." She watched as he slid into the driver's seat and drove out of the parking lot. Leaving her to shake her head at his antics but pressing her fingertips to her lips.
