Disclaimer: I own Mystery and that's about it besides plot ideas and such.
Chapter 10: Trouble
Just as their lips were about to touch, Mystery froze. Her body grew tense and she pulled back. Ryan sat up again and asked, "What's wrong?" Mystery could tell he was hurt inside, but something was really bothering her. "I heard something strange." She told Ryan, "I'm sorry, but it really freaked me out." It had sounded like her name. Then, it occurred to her. "He's here." She mouthed in shock.
"Who?" Ryan asked curiously, hoping she didn't have an angry boyfriend, "Who's here?" Mystery looked straight past him in a dazed shock. This couldn't be happening. Not here; not now! "Tell me." Ryan pleaded in deep concern, "What's wrong? Are you okay?" Mystery looked at him in fear. Why did he have to come now? "I'm sorry, Ryan." She apologized before standing up, "I have to go." Ryan stood up and grabbed her wrist before she could run. "Where are you going?" he asked in a pain-filled voice, "Is there something wrong?"
"I don't know." Mystery responded, "But I know I have to go now."
"Will I ever see you again?" Ryan questioned, looking agonized for some heart-breaking reason that made Mystery want to stay with him, but she knew she couldn't. It would only hurt him. More than she already was by leaving him. "Maybe." She finally told him, fighting to keep the pain out of her eyes, "Good bye." With that, she ran off in the other direction as Ryan's arms dropped to his side. What was going on? He turned around and walked back towards the picnic table, but stopped halfway there. Wasn't that where all the trouble started? Yeah it was.
He saw that Sharpay was there, talking to Chad. God only knows how that girl could rush over in a moment's notice. Then, he realized Troy was missing. He almost worried about Troy's safety, but quickly reasoned he didn't care. After all, it was his fault. As he turned around, Troy ran up to him looking frantic. Ryan sighed in aggravation and balled his hands up into fists. Troy stopped in front of him, breathing heavily. "What happened?" he panted, trying to steady his breathing.
"I don't know. Why don't you tell me?" Ryan responded angrily. Troy stared back at him in confusion, "I don't know what you mean."
"You told me to go back over to the tree and I did. I found Mystery, who you ditched there and we talked." Ryan began in a loud voice, "You set me up and then she ran away."
"Where did she go?" Troy asked, suddenly worried about Mystery's strange actions.
"I don't know where she was going or why." Ryan growled, "All I know is that it's all your fault! You knew I was having problems and you put me in a situation that made it worse despite that little piece of information." There was a short pause in which Troy gathered his thoughts. "Look, I'm sorry about this, Ryan." He apologized, "I don't know what's gotten into her. If you want I could try to figure out what's going on and –"
"Just keep out of this, Troy." Ryan retorted, "It's none of your business. You've already done enough." With that, he pushed passed Troy and ran in the direction of the park's back exit away from everything else. Troy stood there in shock. Now, what could he do? There was no way he could find Mystery if she'd gone to the future…or gone wolf. He ran back to Chad and Sharpay, who were talking about date plans. "Hey, you two. Cancel all further plans for tonight." He called as he approached then panicking, "Mystery ran off, so now Ryan is upset and he's run away."
"Why?" Sharpay asked in concern, "What happened?"
"I don't exactly know." Troy sighed, feeling guilty as he thought about Ryan's reasoning.
"Well, we'll just have to find them to get their stories." Chad suggested, "Which way did they go?"
"Ryan headed for the back exit." Troy answered, his mind still rushing with possible explanations for what was happening, "Mystery was gone before I saw anything."
"We should split up." Chad stated sure of what they needed to do next.
"No!" Sharpay refused as she grabbed Chad's hand, "I'm not going to split up! I might get lost or something. We should stick together." Chad sighed a little as he put on a small smile. "All right, then. We'll do it this way." He explained as he gave Sharpay's hand a little reassuring squeeze, "Troy, you can search for Mystery I'm guessing near the front entrance and work your way from there. Sharpay and I will look for Ryan in the direction he ran off in. Is that okay?" Troy nodded in agreement, "Let's go."
"Call us if you find either of them." Sharpay told him before side-tracking, "I wonder where Ryan would go."
"Don't worry." Chad reassured her, "We'll find him. We'll find both of them."
"Right." She smiled back at him, "Come on." They turned to go. "Wait." Troy stated and they stopped, turning back to look at him questioningly, "Sharpay, where would you go, if you were this upset about something?" Sharpay thought about it for a second. "I guess I'd go somewhere I felt safe; somewhere nice; somewhere I'd go when I wanted to be hard to find – I'd go to the mall." She answered thoughtfully before turning to Chad excitedly, "I know where Ryan might be."
With that, she dragged Chad toward the back exit with her purse tucked neatly under her arm. Troy grabbed his pack and headed for the main entrance, praying that he'd find Mystery before anything happened to her. Just before she'd disappeared, he'd seen a large storm cloud forming in the sky where she'd been sitting with Ryan.
Meanwhile…
Mystery ran, tears spilling down her cheeks. She hated making Ryan feel bad like that. He was the one she was supposed to be with; she could just feel it in her bones. Werewolves had a way of finding their life long mates. Supposedly, a werewolf will know they've found their mate when they feel a binding attraction with the one whose love line matches theirs. Normally, a werewolf wouldn't mate with a human, but some things just couldn't be helped. Ryan was definitely her mate, but now he was probably mad at her. Truth be told, she really wanted him to kiss her. The voice she'd heard had ruined all of it. It had to be someone from the future. How else would they be able to communicate with her through her mind?
But who would want to ruin her life? Not paying attention, she ran into another girl who had been walking down the sidewalk. "Sorry." She muttered to the girl, who stepped to the side in shock. Mystery looked up and realized why the girl was so shocked. They looked almost exactly alike. Mystery continued running away from the other girl, who she recognized immediately. All she could think about was going somewhere safe.
Meanwhile…
"Found you." Troy breathed a sigh of relief as he saw Mystery standing a bit confused on the sidewalk only a few blocks away from the park entrance. He ran over to the disgruntled girl and grabbed her by the wrist. "Come on." He muttered in relief as he started pulling her towards his house, "Let's get you safely inside." The girl seemed too frightened to object as Troy led her up to his house, opened the door, and brought her inside; sitting her on the couch before he went to lock the door.
Troy pulled out his cell phone to call Chad with the news as he returned to the living room. The girl was staring at him in fear and confusion. Troy put his phone back in his pocket and dropped his pack next to the couch before sitting across from the terrified girl. "Don't worry, you're safe here." He told her, reasoning that he'd calm her down before calling, "What's wrong?" He was still confused about the park incident. "What do you want from me?" the girl asked in a small trembling voice, "Who are you?"
Troy's brow creased in confusion. Why didn't Mystery know who he was? Something wasn't right. Troy looked at the girl in deep concentration. He needed a clue as to what was going on. The girl's chocolate brown eyes widened in fear. Hey eyes! Troy realized this girl wasn't Mystery. Mystery had piercing green eyes that were hard to miss. These girl's soft brown eyes were the unmistakable eyes of Gabriella Maria Montez, his future wife.
"Oh my gosh." He whispered in realization, "What have I done?"
"What?" Gabriella asked him, curiosity finally overpowering fear, "What did you do?"
"I'm sorry." Troy apologized quickly, "I thought you were someone else."
"Oh, that's okay." Gabriella muttered in embarrassment, "I understand. I thought you were one of those guys who go around kidnapping girls and using them for –"
"I get it." Troy interrupted, understanding that she meant personal pleasure, "But I'm not like that at all!"
"It's my fault for suspecting you in the first place." Gabriella apologized immediately, "I'm Gabriella Montez." She held out her hand politely and Troy took it. "I'm Troy Bolton. Nice to meet you." He introduced himself, "This is my house, in case you were wondering. Uh…my parents are away at work right now, but they usually stay out late."
"Oh, well I live close by actually." Gabriella beamed at him, "My house is only a few blocks away. You know, close to the school."
"Yeah, um…Wildcats." Troy said distracted by Gabriella's perfect smile, "East High is the school I'm going to now…in case you wanted to know." Gabriella laughed at his quirkiness. "I just moved here with my mom, so I don't know where I'll be going to school." She explained, "But I will consider East High."
"Aw, you should." Troy enthused, smiling back at her, "It's so much fun. There's a lot of really nice people."
"I'll definitely think about it." Gabriella said softly as she focused on Troy's blue eyes, "I'll try to keep it in mind." Troy sighed already forgetting about the stress he was under a few minutes ago.
Meanwhile…
Mystery ran until she was clearly out of any heavily populated area in town. She stopped and looked around. Where to hide? "There is nowhere you can hide." A voice called. It was the same voice from the park. "Who are you?" she demanded, "I know where you're from!" A dark storm cloud formed in the sky above her. "You're a smart little Wolverine just like your parents." The voice spoke from the cloud, "Too bad Troy will never have the chance to meet them."
"What have you done to my parents?" Mystery exclaimed in fury.
"Nothing yet." The voice responded, "But once I'm through with you, Troy will be forgotten the way he forgot me!" Mystery thought about it. It was someone Troy knew, but who had Troy forgotten?
(A/N) Oh my gosh. Chapter 10 already? Wow, I'm not the reader – obviously I'm the writer – and even I'm surprised. I apologize for any spelling errors in any of my stories. I put them through spell check, but sometimes it messes up and I don't catch the mistakes right away until after it's posted. So just a heads up. I'm trying my hardest. Thx so much for reviewing and still reading. Plz review more often all of you. Plz. I want at least 5 for this chappie before I make the next post. PMs count of course. Thx loads! Plz do this for me! And who could be behind this? Yes, it is a character you all know about from the movie. No, it shouldn't be obvious. Yes, the person was mentioned earlier on in this story, but hasn't shown up in a while. No, I will not tell you anymore. You will just have to review to find out and tell me what you think. Thx loads more! Authoress has high hopes… =D 3