Chapter 9

Troy entered East High for another week of school. Even though he wanted to go to college he hated school. But he loved playing basketball and loved that Gabriella was at his school. When he saw her on Monday he snuck up behind her and tickled her making her giggle. "Hey Troy" Gabriella said happily and Troy said "Hey" and he wrapped his arms around her from behind. "Troy" Gabriella said giggling "I have to get to homeroom and so do you." "Oh whatever" Troy said Gabriella sighed and heard him say meet me at our secret spot. Gabriella nodded and kissed him softly on the lips he responded by kissing her passionately. Suddenly Chad went up beside Troy and pushed him along and said "Hi Gabriella" on his way to homeroom.

Gabriella smiled at Chad and turned around to put her books in her bag. She saw Taylor, Sharpay and Kelsi coming and she smiled at them. "Hey girl" Taylor said "how was your weekend." "Amazing" Gabriella said "I spent it with Troy" she said smiling as she said his name. Taylor said "when are you not with Troy." Sharpay added "no offense but you and Troy are like magnets." Gabriella said "Leave my relationship alone and look at yours." All of Gabriella's friends had boyfriends too. Zeke and Sharpay were together, Chad and Taylor were together, and Kelsi and Jason were together.

At lunchtime Gabriella went up to her and Troy's secret spot. He wasn't there yet. Gabriella wanted to tell Troy that her father was coming to visit. She hoped that Troy wouldn't freak out. Gabriella knew that her father wanted to meet Troy and Gabriella's father was pretty protective of his daughters. Troy finally arrived and swung his bag to the floor. "Hey my beautiful angel" Troy said to Gabriella. Gabriella beamed up at him and jumped into his arms. She loved it when he held her. She reluctantly pulled away and held his hand and led him to one of the benches. "Troy" she said "I have something to tell you." "What is it" Troy asked. "Well my dad is coming over to visit." Troy's face became suddenly serious and he sat down next to Gabriella.

"Now Troy don't be nervous," Gabriella began, Troy interrupted saying "I'm not nervous Gabi but the thing is what if he finds out what we've done together." Gabriella was completely nervous for Troy her dad was pretty intimidating and she knew he wouldn't like the idea of his daughter having sex already. "Well" Gabriella said "he's called me and told me he wants to have a dinner with me, you, him and my mom. Don't worry Troy he's not going to find out about us having sex" Gabriella said laughing. Troy sighed and said "should I wear something nice." "Jeans and a plaid shirt is fine" Gabriella said. Gabriella wrapped her arms around the side of Troy and said "relax" then she kissed him fully on the mouth very passionately he responded eagerly not wanting to stop.

Then the bell rang and Troy gently pulled away from Gabriella and smiled and said "C mon I'll walk you to class." After their talk the week went by pretty quickly and before you know it was Friday the day of the dinner.

Gabriella's dad had arrived in the morning. When her doorbell rang Gabriella's mom had answered saying "Hi Robert how was your flight" Maria said this while hugging him. Gabriella's dad replied saying "it was fine now where are my two princesses." At that moment Gabriella had walked down the stairs "Dad" Gabriella said groaning "I'm not a little girl anymore stop calling me your princess" she said while hugging him. Dad laughed and said "you'll always be my little girl. Now where is my Paige?" Mrs. Montez sighed and said "she's in the kitchen in her high chair eating before we do so she can go to bed early tonight." "Well I hope you made some good food Maria I'm starving." Maria smiled and said "I've made lasagna, fried chicken, corn bread, potato salad, and fruit salad for desert." These were all Mr. Montez's favorite foods. Mr. Montez said "Mmm I can't wait."

"So Gabriella" Mr. Montez continued "where's that boyfriend of yours I'd like to talk to him." "Dad" Gabriella said almost angrily "Be nice to Troy please Troy is important to me." Her father rolled his eyes and said "He's just a boy Gabriella and you know my rules about you dating." Gabriella sighed and couldn't wait for the night to be over. Mrs. Montez interrupted what was soon to be an argument and said "Robert Troy is a good boy and he's good to Gabriella, I've seen them together trust me you'll like him." "Hmmph" Mr. Montez said "I hope so."

Mrs. Montez went into the kitchen and picked Paige up and said to her "come one Paige time to wash you off and put you to bed" she said sweetly Paige. Paige said "Gabi" and Gabi smiled at Paige and watched her mom go upstairs. Suddenly the doorbell rang; "I'll get it" Gabriella said hurriedly and almost ran to the door. When she opened it standing there was her love with a grin on his face as he saw her, he said "Hi" and reached to kiss her but Gabriella said "not now" nervously. Troy sighed and said "Oh right your dad." Gabriella nodded and let him in.

Troy hung up his jacket and looked around nervously for any sight of Gabriella's dad. "He's in the dining room" Gabriella said looking at Troy. "Remember whatever happens I'm right here" Gabriella said to Troy and she grabbed his hand and they both walked into the dining room.

Troy had seen pictures of Gabriella's father but had never met him in person; Troy walked over to the figure that was standing Troy cleared his throat and Gabriella's father turned around. Immediately Mr. Montez looked Troy up and down then suddenly he held out his hand for Troy to shake. Troy shook Mr. Montez's hand and tried to smile as best he could. "So you're Troy" Mr. Montez said, "Yes" Troy said softly. "Well" Mr. Montez said "let's eat before the food gets cold." Not once had Mr. Montez smiled at Troy but instead gave him half a frown and half a smile. Troy nervously sat down next to Gabi underneath the table they were holding hands and Gabriella was rubbing Troy's hand gently.

Mrs. Montez entered the room and smiled at Troy. "Hello Troy" she said. "Hello" Troy said. Mrs. Montez sat down and said "let's eat." Everyone reached across the table putting food on their plates and started eating silently for a few minutes. Then Mr. Montez cleared his throat and said "So Troy you and Gabriella go to the same school?" "Yes" Troy said quickly glancing at Mr. Montez. "And how are your grades Troy?" Troy looked at Mr. Montez again and said "A's and B's." While they were talking Gabriella kept glaring at her father. "How long have you been seeing Gabriella?" Mr. Montez asked while picking up a chicken drumstick. "Umm" Troy said "a couple of months." "Do you have any plans after high school?" "Yes sir" Troy said "I plan to go to college, hopefully on basketball scholarship." "Oh so you play sports?" Mr. Montez said. "Robert" Mrs. Montez said "let the boy eat before you bombard him with questions." "Maria I'm just getting to know him after all he is dating my daughter." Gabriella sighed and picked at her lasagna she was still rubbing Troy's hand and noticed that it was shaking. Gabriella looked at her father angrily again.

"So Troy" Mr. Montez said "what are your intentions with Gabriella?" Gabriella looked at her dad again shocked and almost slammed her fork down. "Okay dad that's enough" Gabriella said angrily. "What" Mr. Montez said innocently "don't you want to know what his intentions are?" Gabriella almost yelled "I know what his intentions are dad I love him and he loves me." Now Mr. Montez angrily glared at Gabriella "you don't know what love is Gabriella you're too young."

"Oh but you weren't too young to get my mom pregnant then leave her" Gabriella said. "Gabriella" Mrs. Montez said warningly. "No mom I'm not going to sit here and have dad judge me and my boyfriend like this." Troy squeezed Gabriella's hand and looked at her lovingly. Mr. Montez finally sighed and said to Troy "I'm sorry son but my daughter is important to me." Troy let go of Gabriella's hand and looked straight at Mr. Montez. "Sir Gabriella is important to me too, you couldn't possibly know how much I love her." Gabriella beamed at Troy and he smiled back at her. "Well" Mr. Montez said "it looks like you've found a keeper Gabriella. But let me make one thing clear Troy" Mr. Montez said "if you ever hurt Gabriella in any way I will see to it that you will pay." Troy looked at Gabriella then back to Mr. Montez and said "Don't worry sir if I were to hurt Gabriella I'd be hurting myself, she's a part of me." Gabriella smiled proudly at him and he smiled back and placed his hand back into hers underneath the table.

After dinner Gabriella's parents were talking in the living room. They told her to say good night to Troy. Gabriella sighed and walked Troy to the front." I'm sorry for all the trouble my dad has caused" she said while stroking Troy's hand. "Hey don't worry about it" Troy said while stroking her cheek. She sighed and said that she wished that he could stay. "I wish I could stay too" Troy said "but I'd don't want to push the luck I have with your father." Gabriella leaned into Troy and kissed him on the mouth he kissed her back lovingly. Gabriella never wanted to stop kissing Troy but she didn't want her father to come out here either. So she gave Troy a hug goodbye and he smiled saying "Bye baby" to her. She closed the door and went into the living room where her parents were.

Her mother looked up at her when she walked in and said "Did he leave?" "Yeah mom he left" Gabriella said this a little sadly. Gabriella's father looked at her and said "Gabriella I only talked to Troy the way I did so he would listen." Gabriella sighed and said "Dad you have to trust me and Troy. I trust Troy you just have to learn how to or things are never going to get better" she said. Her dad nodded and said "I'll try." Gabriella said "good that's all I wanted to here" and she went over and kissed her dad on the cheek. "Well I'm going to bed" Gabriella said and her parents both said good night and Gabriella went to her room where she knew there would be text messages on her phone from her friends waiting for her about what happened that night.