The Parent Trap
Chapter VIII
Camping with Stepmom and Dad
It was already midday and the Boltons plus Gabriella haven't been able to even reach halfway of the whole trail. At the rate they're going, thanks to Gabriella, it would take them the whole three days to even reach the mountain. That was what Chloe Bolton actually said when they stopped for the umpteenth time ever since they started walking.
She was the leader of the group of four and she enjoyed the camping trips she and her father took every year before class starts. Walking confidently through the rough and rugged terrain, she was a few feet ahead of Troy who was behind her. Balancing herself, she easily walked over a fallen timber and avoided the big rocks which were situated at the right side of it. Squealing in delight, she looked around and motioned to her father to hurry up.
Troy beamed proudly at his daughter as he too easily balanced himself and walked over the timber. Gabriella was next and she propped herself up on a huge boulder at the left of the timber and tried to cross with a disgusted look on her face. Unfortunately, her bangs were in her line of vision and so it created a few black spots which made her miss her step and fall on her butt. The girls stifled a giggle as Troy rushed over to help her. Paige came after the Latina and stood on the rocks behind her, eyeing her warily.
Gabriella wasn't really in one with Mother Nature and so she found no pleasure whatsoever in their hike. Huffing and panting, she gritted her teeth and tried not to lose face in front of her rival's children. She already planned to send Chloe off to some boarding school once she and Troy were married but with the new situation, she decided to just send the both of them. Landing splat on her buttocks, she felt exhausted, again, and decided to sit on one of the huge rocks that were laid out beside the fallen tree trunk.
"Oh… I'm gonna kill my trainer… he says I'm in such great shape!" she seethed in between pants. Troy heard her and went back to check on his fiancé. Seeing that she was tired, again, he had no choice but to stop.
"I can't believe people actually do this for fun." Gabriella continued complaining as she rubbed her legs that were burning in pain.
"Hold on, we're stopping." Troy announced and Chloe halted and tried to straighten the angry expression that was coming upon her face. Paige ignored everyone and was busy picking up rocks on her way down to Gabriella.
"Again?!" Chloe couldn't contain her vexation any longer, "Dad, at this rate it'll take us three days just to get up the mountain," she complained and Troy gave her a quelling look.
"Gabriella isn't used to this altitude… Just chill, ok?" he said in a calm voice and Chloe rolled her eyes as Troy went a few feet away to check the trail. Chloe scowled as she turned back to Gabriella and her eye caught her sister who sat directly behind the Latina. Paige gave her a small as she opened the Prada backpack and started filling every pocket of it with the rocks she had gathered. Chloe sniggered and watched her twin while Gabriella finally sat up.
"Oh, I am in so much pain. Can someone hand me my Evian? I can't move," she asked and Paige looked up startled while Chloe looked at her coolly but didn't move. She just stood there with her arms crossed.
"Sure." Paige replied after deciding that she won't be so heartless. But after seeing the small lizard beside the Evian bottle, she immediately changed her mind. Picking up the small reptile, which started moving frantically as it tried to escape, she gently placed in on the bottle where, upon being raised, it would be directly in front of Gabriella's eyes. The Latina gratefully accepted the bottle and, sure enough, saw the lizard who was gazing at her steadily with its glassy beady eyes. Gabriella's eyes nearly crossed when she saw the lizard and as the reptile moved forward, she dropped the bottle and screamed to the mighty heavens and then jumping up and down in fright. Once again, the quick movement disturbed the dead nerves of her botoxed face and it was as if rusty gears jammed. Her face was locked into a pure look of horror and disgust as she jumped around and Troy immediately went to her aid. Chloe and Paige watched all of this in delight and tried not to show too much of their amusement.
Gabriella, who was jumping around too much, slipped on a dead leaf and fell on her butt for the second time that day. But she continued to scream.
"Honey! You ok? What happened?" a very concerned Troy was now cradling his fiancé who was whimpering on his shoulder. Chloe wanted to gag and Paige just rolled her eyes and picked up the poor lizard after its unwanted flying lessons on a bottle.
"This little guy was on her Evian bottle," she explained holding up the lizard, which upon closer examination, could be seen taking deep yoga breaths to calm itself.
"It won't hurt you, Gabs." Troy said as he placed her back on the rock. Gabriella smiled and brushed herself off.
"Oh right, right, right! I know, you uh… go ahead," she said waving Troy off as Chloe giggled behind her father's back.
"I'll be fine… Aaaahh!" Gabriella said and as she turned, she was once again face to face with the lizard now being held by Paige.
"G-get that thing away from me!" she cried waving her hands and Paige instinctively retracted the lizard to protect it from any more harm giving Gabriella a scowl.
"I hate things that crawl! Ugh, how can you touch that? Just… put it down." Gabriella was now slipping on the straps of her backpack.
"Ok, I'll put it down." Paige muttered and stood up. She looked below her in time to see Gabriella's glistening scalp and decided that the lizard could serve one more purpose.
"Girls." Troy said startling the twins who let out simultaneous 'What!?'s, "I'm going to take the lead, why don't you two help Gabriella. Alright?" he said and started down the path.
"Sure you'll help me." Gabriella growled as she now stood up and staggered at the extra weight her backpack magically gained, "Right over a cliff you'll help me…" she continued to mutter.
"Not a bad idea," Chloe whispered sotto to her twin who was sporting the same sneaky grin as hers.
"Yeah, see any cliffs?" she joked and Chloe suddenly smiled brightly.
"Not now, up ahead. It has a nice mud bath too, at the bottom," she said and winked.
"Perfect." Paige nodded and the two followed Gabriella.
"Ow… my back…" the Latina groaned.
"Need a hand, Gabs?" Paige asked sweetly and this stopped her cold in her tracks. She slowly pivoted and walked measured steps towards them.
"Not from you, thank you. Don't think I can't see right past those angelic faces. one more trick from you two and I promise I'll make your lives miserable from the day I say I do'. Got it?" she snapped then turned back with a smug look on her face. She told Sharpay's kids off!
"Got it, Cruella." Chloe said coolly and caused Gabriella to stop and pivot again.
"What'd you call me?" she asked, her face starting to redden in anger. Chloe and Paige walked pass her smiling to themselves.
"Nothing. Not a thing..." Chloe called out and leaned in closer to Paige whispering, "Cruella."
"Oh and Gabs," she said turning back, "I think there's something on your head."
Gabriella glared at the twins but nonetheless, patted her hair to check. Her bejewelled hand came upon the lizard and as she let out a blood curling scream, the lizard, who was also panicking, found its way past her face and into a small cave… which turned out to be Gabriella's mouth. The Latina screamed her head off and was choked and now half of the torso of the lizard was in her mouth while the other half hung precariously outside with its tail frantically swaying and its hind legs clawing to get inside. Gabriella's eyes bulged in fright as the lizard's front legs grazed her tongue and emitted squeaks of panic which was echoing in the hallows of her mouth. She vigorously shook her head and managed to spit the lizard out. Coughing and spluttering, she desperately wiped off its essence with the back of her hand as Troy rushed at her concern etched all over his handsome face.
"Are you alright?!" he asked and stopped short as he saw her now trying to scrub her tongue.
"Mhmbleheheheh!" Gabriella sputtered and Troy tried not to roll his eyes.
"What happened?" he asked exasperatedly.
"Ask (wheeze, point finger at nothing behind Troy) them (wheeze, cough, Troy turns around)."
"What did we do Dad? We were right behind you?" Paige said as she appeared behind Chloe who leaned from the tree she and her sister were hiding behind.
"Alright… now c'mon everyone, this time, you and Paige lead." Troy said and pointed towards the trail. He let his girls trudge on away from him in order to accompany Gabriella.
The twins reached a small cliff overlooking a bog down below. The bog was streaked with filamentous algae which was worse than the planktonic one because it exhibits threadlike qualities instead of just giving the bog a pea soup appearance. Paige wrinkled her nose in disgust.
"Ugh, what in God's name is this?" she cried out in disgust.
"That, my dear sister, is a bog." Chloe explained and Paige rolled her eyes.
"I know it's a bog! But what I meant was, what are we doing here?" she clarified and it was Chloe's turn to roll her eyes.
"Didn't Cruella say that we'll help her over a cliff?" she asked her sister knowingly.
"Oh right…" Paige said and nodded as she realized her sister's plan.
"Another one of my brilliant beyond brilliant ideas, thank you very much." Chloe congratulated herself and then hugged her sisters, "Of course, you too are coming up with your own!" she said in reference to the rocks and the lizard.
"Well, we are sisters." Paige said smugly.
"We're twins!" Chloe added and the two giggled.
"But how are we gonna get her here? I mean she is evil but she's not stupid."
"Good question, I wish she was."
Chloe looked around for something that would possibly lure Gabriella towards the cliff. She walked off and saw her father coming nearer and then Gabriella staying back a bit angrily punching the buttons of her phone. She cried out in frustration and Troy stopped to attend to her.
"Losing a beloved BlackBerry would crush her." Paige remarked with fake sadness.
"Would you like to see if it would make good bait?" Chloe asked taking out a ball of string.
"Would I?!" Paige gushed and handed her sister a sturdy stick.
"Girls, I have to take a leak. You three stay here for a while, ok?" Troy asked and walked off a bit far from them. Gabriella kissed his cheek and settled back into punching the buttons of her phone. She saw the twins huddled in a corner and whispering urgently to each other. Curiosity got the better of her and she went nearer in an attempt to hear whatever they're talking about.
"Spirits?! Chloe, there are no such things as spirits." Paige snapped and dramatically flung her golden hair over her shoulder accompanied by a dramatic eye roll. (oh so Sharpay!)
"Yes there are Paige! And you know, they hate the color black. It's an offensive color to them." Chloe insisted and watched as Gabriella drew nearer.
"That's a cock and bull story. I won't believe it!" Paige said in a haughty manner and stuck up her nose.
"You don't?! But you have to!" her sister cried grabbing her hand, "I once saw them take away a tourist's favorite hat. It floated in midair and disappeared…" she lowered her voice an octave, "… along with the tourist who attempted to grab it. Right into the thicket, he never came out."
"Really?" Paige's eyes widened in fright and her lower lip trembled.
"How amusing! Two sneaky little twerps scared of some forest spirits!" Gabriella startled the twins with her harsh laugh. Chloe stormed off angrily and Paige scowled at her.
"Just because you're an adult doesn't mean it can't be true," she said and Gabriella snorted darkly.
"Oh come off it! Ghosts don't exist," she snapped. Suddenly she froze and stared at something above Paige's head. The girl looked up in time to see a BlackBerry floating in midair.
"Argh! This is by far the stupidest trick you played on me!" the Latina snapped and tried to snatch her phone and attempted to disclose their trick by swiping the air above her phone. Nothing. She stared at her string-less hands and looked up to see her phone floating away.
"Oh no you don't!" she cried out and started after it.
The phone floated within inches of her grasp and Gabriella followed it right to the very edge of the cliff. She gave a final swipe and missed. Looking down, she animatedly waved her arms in small circles and leaned forward on the edge a bit. Much like a cartoon character does before it free falls. She gave one last look at the phone and plunged down leaving a waning scream in her wake.
SPLARSH!!!
Troy heard the commotion and ran as fast as he could to the spot where he left his fiancé and children. He saw Paige running ahead of him and followed her just as Chloe appeared beside him with a worried look on her face. All three stopped at the edge of the cliff and looked down to see a tall green mound flailing in the middle of the bog.
Chloe and Paige looked down to admire their handiwork. The filamentous algae did its thing and its cloak-like characteristic was now wrapped over Gabriella like a cloak. She was wailing and spluttering and Troy was looking for a way to get down to her.
"Stay here," he instructed his twins and went off.
"How did you manage to do that?" Paige asked looking wildly excited.
"A good magician never reveals her secrets." Chloe answered teasingly and waited for their father to pull up his wet and smelly fiancé.
"Ugh, she brings up quite a stench!" Paige whispered when Gabriella passed them, shivering.
"No wonder, the bog's connected to a sewerage before." Chloe muttered pinching her nose.
=:=:=:=:=:=:=:=
That night, Troy and the twins were enjoying their dinner of trout around the campfire while Gabriella looked at her plate in disgust. The only fish she ever ate were those that were filleted and this freshly caught slimy fished roasted on an open fire made her sick. She wrapped the provided blanket around her body tighter and clung to her phone.
"This'll hold us for a while." Troy said putting a few more sticks of wood into the bonfire.
"You sure you don't want some trout, Mom? Is that okay, by the way, if we start calling you Mom?" Chloe asked sweetly looking expectantly at Gabriella who was busy rubbing insect repellent on her arms.
"I think your mother would prefer if you called me Gabriella and no thank you, I do not eat trout... for the thousandth time. I'll wait until breakfast. What are we having?" she asked.
"Trout…" Troy, Chloe and Paige answered much to the chagrin of Gabriella.
"C'mon, its part of the experience." Troy cajoled and Gabriella beamed at him sarcastically as she slapped her leg.
"And what's the other part? Being eaten to death by mosquitoes?" she snapped, "God, you'd actually think they like this stuff!"
"What's that you're using?" Troy asked and put down his plate, "Let me see that." Gabriella handed the bottle over to him and he sniffed it before putting some of it on his hand.
"Well you're sure to attract every mosquito on the mountain with this stuff. Its sugar and water." Troy explained with a playful smile as Chloe and Paige shared sly grins. Gabriella glared at them and the twins hurriedly ate their trout and pretended that nothing happened.
"That's it! I'm taking one large sleeping pill and going to bed," she announced picking up two sticks before she stood up, as she went to the tent, she started whacking the sticks together and the sound reverberated in the silent night. Troy looked around with a raised eyebrow at her queer behavior.
"Gabriella… what're you doing?" he asked.
"I don't want the mountain lions to…" she stopped and turned around just as the twins snorted, "There are no mountain lions up here, are there?" she asked standing to her full height, which didn't really say much, after realizing the joke's on her. Troy tried to hide his amusement as he shook his head smiling.
"No," he mouthed and Gabriella put the sticks together in one hand and threw them to the side. Then she approached Troy who was now looking at her worriedly but she planted a luscious kiss on his lips leaving him quite breathless. The twins rolled their eyes and tried not to gag.
"Goodnight." Gabriella said smugly and sauntered into the tent. After she left, Troy gave a warning look at his daughters who looked back at him innocently.
"Guys, I'm telling you, lay off. This isn't her thing, okay? I'm not marrying her because she's Annie Oakley," he said sternly.
"Who's Annie Oakley?" Paige asked confused.
"Just cool it." Troy said and went back to his trout.
Later that evening, the moon shone brightly over the lake and no sounds where heard except for the distant hooting of the owls and the slight whisper of the wind as it rustles in the quiet. If you listen much harder, you'll hear a zipper softly being pulled down to reveal two girls both identical looking with impish grins on their beautiful faces. They looked around to see if the coast is clear and stepped out of their tent.
Tiptoeing softly, they reached the tent of their father and his fiancé and just as softly, pulled down the zipper of their tent. The twins looked at the sleeping figure of Gabriella Montez. She was stretched out in her air mattress and slept like the dead. They had no trouble of waking her up.
"I hope that one large sleeping pill worked." Paige whispered as she stared at the prone figure.
"You take that side." Chloe instructed and Paige nodded as they both held one end of the air mattress. Gabriella snored heavily and gave no sign that she knew she was being carried off.
"Oh gosh, she's heavy!" Paige exclaimed in a whisper and thankfully, it didn't tip off either Troy or the still slumbering Gabriella. Suddenly, the Latina moved and for awhile, the twins were frozen on the spot but she just mumbled something incoherent and went right back to sleep.
The two dragged the air mattress out and onto the edge of the lake where they pushed her off. They watched as the water took her away and Paige put an arm around her sister's shoulder and held her close as they giggled at their latest trick.
"Sweet dreams, Mommy dearest." Chloe said as Gabriella drifted away into the night.
=:=:=:=:=:=:=:=
The morning was as peaceful as the evening and Gabriella came to terms of being wide awake when she felt a soft pecking on her neck. She smiled thinking it was Troy giving her a good morning kiss.
"Mmm, that feels nice," she murmured.
She smiled and enjoyed the sensation for a moment before realizing that it wasn't a pair of lips that were attacking her neck. It felt more like a pencil stabbing her to death and she hurriedly opened her eyes to see a bird resting on her chest pecking away at her neck.
She started to scream a very shrill scream as she frantically waved her hands in front of her and the terrified bird flew off. Gabriella sat up and looked around at her surroundings then realized that she was on water in the middle of the lake and this made her screams more high-pitched than ever. Her mouth started to form words as the one person who could save her entered her mind.
"TROOOOYYYYSSSSIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
It was just like Sharpay when she found out that Gabriella and Troy stole her music show and when Troy quit her talent show later that summer. The birds in the trees all took off in flight and if the animals could talk, they'd swear that it was heard for many miles around. Even the mountain lions had a say in it.
Troy was sleeping peacefully until he heard that shrill scream that was his name. He groaned and sat up then his mind registered that Gabriella wasn't beside him and that she may be in trouble. He hurriedly looked out of his tent only to see his fiancé standing over her air mattress and attempting to balance herself and thrashing wildly when all of a sudden, she fell backwards into the water with a loud splash.
"Oh man…" he muttered.
Glancing at his daughter's tent, he saw their amused faces before they noticed him and turned grave. At that moment, he could see Sharpay; her scheming ways her clever ruses. Gabriella stormed over to him and she was dripping wet and angry. She kicked a coffee pot out of the way as Troy got out of the tent to face her.
"What's going on?" he asked and Gabriella's eyes popped madly.
"Here's what's going on… buddy! The day we get married is the day I ship those brats off to
Switzerland. Get the picture? It's me or them. Take your pick," she snarled into his face. The moment she said those words, Troy had an instant epiphany as he glanced at his daughters: Sharpay is better. He looked into her eyes and saw that all Gabriella ever wanted in him was the chance to, once again, return to the reputation of being one of the popular girls going out with the great Troy Bolton.
Sharpay may have had that notion years back but he swore that when she married him, she did it because she loved him and that made his heart ache for her and he realized that he wanted to be with her, now more than ever.
"Them," he answered the fuming Gabriella.
"Excuse me?" she snapped, not believing this at all.
"T-H-E-M – them," he leaned in, "Get the picture?" he asked. Gabriella, in her sheer frustration and anger only managed another shrill scream as she stomped her foot in aggravation and felt her face tense up and lock into another horrid look as the twins laughed and high-fived.
=:=:=:=:=:=:=:=
Sharpay was reading her favorite magazine when she heard a jeep beeping in the distance. Realizing it must be Troy, she hurriedly went out and sure enough, there was the jeep, her daughters and no Gabriella.
"Hello, you're back so soon?" she called out, "Did you have fun?"
"Well, I wouldn't go right to…fun." Paige answered her as she started to get her bag.
"You wouldn't?" Sharpay asked curiously as she watched them unload the jeep.
"We've been punished to the end of the century." Chloe answered.
"Starting now… Go." Troy said much to the shock of Sharpay and she watched her daughters trudge into the house.
"Where's Gabriella?" she asked although she had a feeling that she knew.
"We played a couple of harmless tricks on her and she kinda freaked out a little." Paige explained nonchalantly.
"A little?" Troy blurted and held up a ring at Sharpay's face, "She threw this at my head. At least it's smaller than a hairdryer."
Sharpay smirked, "Boy, you're head does catch a lot of things as well as you do in basketball. Especially with scorned women," she quipped and Troy gave her a sarcastic laugh.
"Oh Troy, this is all my fault, if I hadn't suggested that she go…"
"Or tricked. Tricked would be more like it. Like mother like daughters," he said with a smile.
"I really am sorry." Sharpay said with an innocent look and a pretty smile.
"We are too, Dad." Chloe added and her sister nodded.
"Yeah, really." Paige said sincerely.
"Up to your room…now." Troy said sternly and looked pointedly at his daughters who glumly went inside the house.
"I gotta remember to thank them one day," he said when they were out of earshot. Sharpay gave him a curious look then a smile.
"So where's Kelsi? I'm starving." Troy said and cockily leaned on the railing.
"Well, she and my brother went off for a picnic around noon… yesterday." Sharpay explained imitating his position on the railing.
"And I thought she wasn't your help?" she asked.
"She isn't – you know I can't cook." Troy said with that cute boyish grin that made his eyes twinkle, "But what do you say? I'll whip us up something to eat."
"I thought you said you can't cook." Sharpay asked pointedly.
"Oh yeah, but I can do simple meals. Like pasta… and pasta… and uh…"
"Hmm… pasta sounds good."
"Pasta it is!"
Sharpay giggled as she followed Troy into the kitchen.
I know it wasn't much... Gabriella bashing.
But I hope its alright - you know it would've been really hard to evade Troy after playing too much harmless tricks on Gabriella (wink!)
Anyway, I LMAO when I was writing about her falling into the bog. Didn't she say it? Right over a cliff they'll help her, well they just did. I was researching about bogs since I didn't really plan on making it too morbid and having her suffer something dangerous.
I found the lizard part funny and I hope that I was able to give it some justice... it was funny in the film and it would really be funny if it happened for real - to You-Know-Who!
And if you ever wonder about the floating BlackBerry - I have no idea how to do it. But what the hey, it's FanFiction so don't bust my ass about it! LOL
As always, please do leave a review - it makes my day and urges me to write faster.
Yet in just a few more chapters we're done, but still...
