Chapter Eight:
Gabriella was at the top of the stairs and noticed her mother was in Mia's room helping her straighten things up.
"Need some help?" Gabriella asked, she noticed that Mia had unpacked almost everything she owned. Which means she could be home for a while, Gabriella wasn't sure if she should be happy or concerned at the moment.
"No thanks, I heard your big scholastic decathlon meet is tomorrow." Mia said before placing the last of her bags away in her closet.
"Yea, mom Troy said he'd come pick me up in the morning." Gabriella announced to her mom looking in her direction, she sat on her sister's bed as their mom waked to the door.
"Well I will be there, so will your sister." Ms. Montez turned to both her children before speaking.
"Goodnight girls, don't stay up too late. Mia, we'll talk tomorrow. All of us." She turned to her daughters before closing the door behind her.
"O.k. girl spill, tell me everything about your boyfriend." Mia smiled to Gabriella. They were both happy to have some time together, although Gabriella had realized that her sister had come home for a reason.
They stayed up talking like they use to, before their lives went in somewhat opposite directions. Mia told her sister about some adventures she had at school, avoiding the subject of why she came home. Gabriella received a text message from Taylor when they realized it was getting pretty late. Mia said goodnight to her sister, who had fallen asleep to her ipod while lying on her bed. Mia decided to get ready for bed and went into the bathroom she brushed her teeth and put on her pajamas. When she took off her shirt she realized that a lot of her bruises were still visible, she knew she had to tell her family or suffer the consequences of losing a loved one.
Mia couldn't believe this had happened to her. School had become a nightmare her ex-boyfriend decided if he couldn't have her, no one could. When she decided enough was enough they broke up. The only problem was he couldn't take a hint. He started spreading rumors that Mia was easy, according to all of the guys in school she was a slut. Mia felt truly alone, kids made her out as some sort of freak just because she was smart. Her and Gabriella use to be made fun of as kids but it was worse for Mia, especially now that she didn't have any friends around her at school. That's one reason she envied her sister. The past week had been hell in slow motion. All Mia wanted was to be left alone. It's bad enough she was normally the smartest kid in class, but now this disgusting rumor about her hooking up with a teacher to get a good grade was spreading rapidly.
Mia had decided to confront her ex-boyfriend Brandon about this stupid rumor he had decided to start, unfortunately the conversation turned violent in Mia's favor. How could someone who claimed to care for her wind up being the one who hurt her. Mia had gone to confront Brandon one day after school.
"I can't believe you." Mia was standing by the lockers that Wednesday afternoon, Brandon was becoming very agitated.
"So what I'm having fun. Deal with it." Brandon turned to Mia she noticed a dark look in his eyes. She tried to turn away when Brandon snapped suddenly and grabbed her arm.
"I thought I made it clear, If I can't have you no one will." The conversation turned more intense as Mia realized she needed to get as far away from Brandon as possible. Suddenly, she was being thrown into the lockers she saw the dark look in his eyes. His fist came in contact with her face before everything went black. The last thing she remembered hearing was Brandon saying something she could faintly hear before having everything turned black.
"If you tell anyone I won't just kill you I'll go after your sister."
Mia went to bed feeling more scared and nervous. She had been having the same nightmare ever since the incident which resulted in no sleep.
Morning came not long after Mia had woken up once again from another nightmare. Gabriella woke up due to Mia's constant movement while sleeping. She figured it was due to the fact of whatever was on her mind. She didn't want to pry, Mia would talk when she wanted too tell them.
"Good morning." Gabriella said as they both were getting ready for the day. Mia went downstairs for breakfast. She grabbed some cereal just as she heard Gabriella coming downstairs she was on the phone trying to calm down someone. Mia sat at the counter when Gabriella made her way over to her.
"Taylor calm down, trust me we're so prepared for this, Yes…just relax everything is going to be fine." She hung up the phone and got a bowl of cereal for herself. They sat together quietly since Gabriella didn't have to be ready to go for a while they went to the living room to watch TV.
"So are you excited? Today's a big day." Mia looked at her sister.
"It's our final meet so of course, but Taylor's freaking out." Gabriella said just as the phone rang. Ms. Montez called from upstairs if one of them could get the phone. Mia grabbed the phone, it was Ms. Montez's boss calling to talk to her.
"Mom, its Mr. Riley on the phone for you." Ms. Montez traveled down the stairs to get the phone. She was hoping her boss didn't call her into work today. She had put her work first for quite some time now, she wanted to make up for lost time and now that both er children were home they all needed time together as a family.
"Hello Mr. Riley, How are you." Ms. Montez sounded happy but looked to her girls with an apologetic look on her face.
"Well to be honest Maria I called to offer you a higher position in the company. You are a value to us and I'm afraid with your children graduating soon you might want to find work elsewhere." Ms. Montez was speechless, this was the opportunity she'd been hoping to have in her career but her mind immediately went to Gabriella and Mia.
"Maria, we were wrong to not offer this to you sooner but we would like to make it up to you. If you could please think about it and get back to me, the job wouldn't start until summer so get back to me at your earliest convenience." They hung up the phone. Ms. Montez turned to her daughters not exactly knowing what to say.
"What's going on mom?" Gabriella asked noticing the look on her mothers face. She looked at Mia to see if she had any clue what was going on.
"Sit down girls." They sat on the couch across from their mother.
"That was my boss on the phone just now and he has offered me a higher position in the company. It's the opportunity I've always wanted but now I'm not sure about taking this offer, he's given me some time to think on it. I wanted to talk with you both first before I make a decision." She let out a breathe Gabriella turned to Mia. They wanted their mother to be happy but this could mean not being together as a family for a long time.
"I think you should do whatever will make you happy." Mia spoke after a moment of silence.
"Yea, I agree whatever you decide we'll support you." Gabriella said agreeing with her sister. About an hour after the conversation Gabriella was getting ready when she heard Troy's truck coming to a stop outside. The Mntez Women stepped out the front door. Mia hugged her sister and wished her good luck as she got into the car with her mom so they could follow Troy and Gabriella to the meet.
"Does someone need a ride?" Troy asked Gabriella as he pulled her closer to kiss her cheek. She didn't notice how nervous she was until they pulled up to East high. Troy could sense the feeling she had.
"Baby don't worry, all wildcats are number one win or lose." She realized if Troy was there everything was going to be o.k. Once Troy was seated with Ms. Montez and Mia he noticed that Sharpay and Ryan were sitting a couple of rows behind them. Things were tense for the first two rounds, the reams were tied by the end so the speed round would take the first winner with the correct answer. Since the speed round was mostly math and chemistry questions Gabriella would be up against West High's smartest opponent, Laurel St. Claire. The two walked to the center of the stage, Gabriella's mind seemed to go blank at the moment. She couldn't think of anything to say. Troy could see how nervous she was becoming. He turned to their friends who were sitting a couple of rows in front of them. Jason and Chad signaled for Troy to come closer, somehow he realized they had a plan to calm her down and show support for their friends. Troy and the rest of the team stood up, Chad signaled for the guys to follow when needed.
"What team?" Chad chanted.
"Wildcats!" The guys followed
"What team!" they started again as half of there class that was present in the audience joined along.
"Wildcats!" They all stood up, Troy looked over at Gabriella, she had the biggest grin on her face.
"Wildcats, Get 'cha head in the game!" Everyone cheered Gabriella realized she could actually do this. Laurel and Gabriella began the speed round, with one question left East High was in the lead, if Gabriella got this right they would win.
"What is the answer to the equation on the board?" The announcer asked. Before Gabriella could think of what it might be Laurel buzzed in her answer.
"It's six." She answered proudly
"That is incorrect." Gabriella studied the equation then buzzed in to answer the question.
"It's four." She looked up at the announcer to see if she was right.
"Correct, the winner of the scholastic Decathlon is East high." Gabriella shook Laurel's hand, the audience cheered as the team celebrated on stage. Taylor, Gabriella, Martha, and the rest of the team met their friends in the hallway, Gabriella ran up to Troy to say Thank you.
"I new you could do it." He smiled proudly and kissed her forehead as she wrapped her arms around his waist. Troy looked over to see Mia and Ms. Montez coming over.
"Congratulations." Mia hugged her sister, just as Jason asked the obvious thing on everyone's mind.
"Hey, who are you." Gabriella then felt a little odd. She'd never had such a close group of friends before, she hoped they would like her sister.
"Everybody this is my sister Mia. Mia this is everybody." They greeted her with a warm smile and a hello. She felt very welcomed, they all stood around talking for a while until someone brought up a trip to the mall. The guys groaned until Troy realized they need to come up with an original idea for asking the girls to prom. He had an idea in mind but realized Chad was most likely nervous to ask Taylor. Of course Troy was anything but calm when thinking about asking Gabriella so a trip to the mall could maybe calm their nerves.
When their shopping adventure had started the guys decided to split off from the girls and meet up with them later.
"So guys lets think, what are we going to do?" Zeke asked as the guys found a store to browse in. When the guys had all first got on the basketball team the seniors on the team passed on the team passed on their traditions. When prom had come up that year the captain of the team and the other seniors on the basketball team told them that to somehow always keep the prom invitation originality. The seniors that year gave their girlfriends balloons with the word prom written on them and if they said yes they would tape them to the girls' lockers. So now the traditions from the guys in the basketball team have been alive and well since they started East High.
"I think I've got an idea for you guys?" Troy spoke just as Chad almost broke something. Chad put down the snow globe and the guys walked toward the food court.
"So what's your idea captain?" Chad asked Troy when the guys went off to get food.
Meanwhile the girls were in a store trying on clothes, Gabriella was looking through the clothes rack, Mia was sitting near the dressing rooms where Taylor, Kelsi, and Martha were trying on dresses. Gabriella looked over to her sister and suddenly noticed the bruise on her arm. She wanted to ask Mia about it but didn't want to get her upset if it was nothing. Luckily Taylor came out of the dressing room at the moment.
"OMG, Taylor that looks gorgeous on you." Mia looked up to see Taylor standing in a white dress with a red skinny belt around the waist. Gabriella and Taylor were going through some stuff that Gabriella that Gabriella had found in the store.
"Taylor you look really pretty." Mia said when Gabriella was about to go sit down Taylor pulled her back in their direction.
"Come on Gabriella at least try one thing on, you know you want to." Taylor smiled to her friend.
"Tell you what I will try on this outfit." Gabriella said as Taylor pushed them both into a dressing room as Taylor went to pay for her things Kelsi and Martha came up to her.
"So what's the verdict ladies?" she asked looking at the size of their bags.
"If you must ask we did splurge a bit. We also have some stuff set aside for prom." Martha stated looking to her friend Kelsi.
"Yes now all I need is a date for prom." Kelsi didn't have high hopes for prom but Martha was optimistic about it. Maybe things would turn around when they least expect. The three girls walked back over to the dressing rooms to see what Gabriella and Mia had tried on. They both stepped out of the dressing rooms onto the small platform in front of a mirror. Mia twirled in front of the mirror, Gabriella posed as if someone was taking her picture.
"Gabriella if you weren't my sister I would probably hate you for looking completely gorgeous." Mia said before they went back to change. Gabriella got a text from Troy asking what store they were in. She text him back before heading to the register. The guys came a minute later.
"Hello ladies, how was the shopping extravaganza." Zeke asked to Martha and Kelsi. Gabriella was searching through her purse frantically when Mia asked.
"Hey what's wrong?" Gabriella looked a little worried.
"I can't find my wallet and I'm pretty sure I let if at home on the nightstand next to my bed." Troy placed his arm around Her. He reached into his back pocket and pulled out his wallet.
"No baby I can't let you…" Troy placed a finger to her lips before talking.
"Relax babe, it's no problem. Mia it's ok I can get it." Troy said noticing Mia was searching through her wallet.
"I couldn't let you…" Troy noticed his head. Mia realized Troy was different from other guys, especially Brandon.
They finished up their shopping and went out to the parking lot. Chad placed the bags along with the bags the guys got for their prom invites in the back of Troy's truck. The girls were curious but Jason just told them they will figure it out, soon. Troy pulled up in front of the Montez home. Mia opened the door, before getting out she turned to Troy.
"Thanks for today, Ihad fun." She smiled before stepping out. Gabriella kissed Troy's cheek.
"Oh, and if you ever want pictures or video of your wonderful girlfriend here don't hesitate to ask." She walked inside as Troy smiled at Gabriella. He grabbed her bags from his truck. Troy noticed Gabriella had a nervous look on her face.
"Something wrong?" he asked getting her attention away from the closed front door.
"While we were shopping today I noticed a bruise on Mia's arm." She seemed pretty scared to admit this to Troy.
"It could be nothing, but if you're really worrying about her just talk to her." They walked to the front door Troy placed her bags down beside his foot. He kissed her before turning away. Gabriella grabbed his arm and pulled him in for a kiss, she had this urge to have him stay but she had to talk to her sister.
