CHAPTER 11: SHE SHOULD'VE

"Why?"

"Troy..."

"Why didn't you tell me she had a kid, Chad?" The blue eyes man whispered, his head resting on the palm of his right hand as his left toyed with the straw that came with his drink.

Chad sighed, it was after a horrendous practice that their coach had suggested Chad talk to Troy, "Buddy, I don't think you'd wanna know."

Troy sat up straight, his eyes filled with confusion with a hint of pain on the side, "I just found out my ex-girlfriend has a kid... And what confuses me is that she didn't tell me. We were friends after we broke up, right?" Chad nodded, "Well, then, why did she tell everyone, but me?"

Chad stood up and motioned to his best friend to follow his lead. He directed his companion towards the direction in which they came from, back to the black Audi in which they had arrived in. The two men climbed in, the blue-eyed man riding shotgun whilst his "buddy" drove the car speedily through the roads of Los Angeles, the windows down, allowing the cool spring breeze to hit Troy in the face and race through the fibres of his hair.

"Why are we here?" Troy asked, the confusion still in his eyes, as he looked up at the familiar building.

"You wanted answers, answers which I can't provide, but she can." Chad said, motioning upwards, "Go for it."

Troy shook his head and looked down towards his worn-out, off-white sneakers, "But, she hates me. I was an ass and a half to her the other day. I wouldn't be surprised if she bitch-slapped me across the face." He laughed with no humour whatsoever.

"Listen, Troy," Chad said, causing his childhood best friend to turn to him, "You don't have to go, but if you want answers on this specific topic, Gabriella's your girl."

The sandy haired man remained silent for a moment before turning on his heel and sprinting towards the main door of the apartment complex.

"Atta boy." Chad whispered t himself.

... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...

It was nearly five in the afternoon. Who the heck had come to visit her? There she sat, in her bedroom, her lesson plans spread out on the bed. Had being a teacher been Gabriella's ideal job? No. She wanted to be a lawyer. Did she ever regret not becoming a lawyer? Once or twice, but in the year she had been a qualified teacher, she had grown to love the children she taught more than she ever thought she would. Being a mother, was it hard for her to balance being a parent and a teacher? Not when her son was in the class she taught.

"Momma! Door!" Her five year old son shouted from his place in the sitting room, where he had been quietly watching Handy Manny and colouring in a picture of bookshelf.

"Hold on, Baby!" Gabriella said, walking towards the intercom and pressing the button, allowing the person downstairs in. She should've asked who was at the door, but her mind was trying to wrap around the fact that someone was visiting her.

And then someone knocked.

And she looked through the peephole, and there stood Troy Bolton, in all his perfect glory, dressed in a grey, white and emerald green plaid shirt, black jeans and a pair of scruffy sneakers, nervously scratching the back of his neck and biting his lip in an unknowingly enticing manner.

She should've left him outside, but she was too intrigued by the fact that Troy Bolton was nervously waiting outside her door the same way he did when he came to pick her up for prom.

"Troy?" she questioned his identity as she slowly opened the door. Of course she knew it was him, but nothing but his name would escape her lips.

"Gabi..." he breathed, "Umm... Hi?"

"Hey," Gabriella whispered back, "What... Umm... Why are you here?"

"Right, the thing is, we," he said motioning between the two of them, "Need to talk."

Gabriella raised her eyebrows, "We do?"

Troy nodded slowly; not wanting to seem too eager at the fact that she was accepting him a little as the brunette opened the door wider, indicating he should enter.

"Coffee?" she offered, going into host mode.

"No, thank you," he replied fidgeting with the silver band on the index finger of his left hand. From the corner of his eye, he could see his ex-girlfriend staring at it with curiosity.

Troy cleared his throat slightly, "Chad gave it to me." He said, looking at her face of amusement, "It's a promise ring of some kind," he continued as he followed her into the kitchen, and leaning against the island in the middle of the room he carried on, "He gave it to me freshman year or college, UCLA were pushing us so damn hard, so during winter break, after Christmas, we went to New York, and came across these rings. The rest is history." He finished looking up at the beautiful girl turned sexy woman parallel to him. She really did look good, five years and one child had not changed that, she was, if possible, more exquisite than when he had last seen her half a decade prior to that moment.

"What's the promise?" she asked.

"Huh?"

"You said it was a promise ring..."

Troy nodded in understanding, "It's simple. We'll always be brothers, no matter what."

And then they heard the sound of little feet coming towards them, "Momma!"

The only man in the room chuckled as a little boy zoomed past him, with a piece of paper in his tiny hands, towards the brown haired woman, "I finished my picture! See!" he said, thrusting the picture into his mother's hands, awaiting her approval.

"It's lovely Samuel!" Gabriella cooed, ruffling her son's locks, "Sammy, say "hi" to Troy."

And just how the moon takes turns with the sun, a sudden shyness overcame the young boy who stared up at the man opposite his "momma."

"Hi Troy..." he said quietly, nonetheless, a small shy smile played on his lips as he clutched onto the long flowing skirt his mother wore.

Troy grinned widely. He was definitely Gabriella's son, and Troy was certain that he had inherited his sudden shyness from his mother.

And in a soft voice he replied the greeting, creating an almost domino effect as Samuel grinned like Troy, making Gabriella grin as well.

The young boy tugged on his mothers skirt specifying she should bend down to hear his words, "Why is he here?" he whispered loudly, loud enough for Troy to here.

Troy roared out a laugh, "I'm here to talk to your mom," he whispered loudly himself as he watched the child blush slightly.

"Speaking of talking..." Gabriella said, "I kinda have somewhere to be in, about, two hours. So, start talking, Bolton."

Troy nodded and watched as Gabriella told her son to go to his room and play, before ushering him to the sitting room.

"Why aren't you pissed at me? For the summer after senior year? For ignoring you the past five years? For the night I came for dinner?" he asked confused.

"Do want me to be?" Gabriella asked, one of her perfect eyebrows raised.

Troy shook his head, "Of course not! But heck! If I were you I'd be pissed! I am pissed!"

Now both her eyebrows rose, and Troy leaned back into the armchair she had sat him on, "C'mon, Gabi, I'm pissed because during the previous five years, I didn't contact you. Not once. You were my best friend; you should know that that had always come before being my girlfriend. We said we'd stay friends... What happened?"

"I fell pregnant, that's what happened."

He looked at her silently. She should've stayed silent.

AN: I'm a little under a month late... (Not in that sense!) I said I'd update before New Years... And...

ILY, for staying with me. I'll try, but no promises, to get the next chapter up before I go for Spring Break, because, I'm going on holiday to Australia then! Yay! Sooo... Normal points, Zac, Michael and Miles in AWOD! OMG! Fangirlin'! Can't wait to see them three in action... Umm... yeah. SB and AAP trailer... Both, epic.

And, that's it!

Dont forget to check out my tumblr page: amythewriter dot tumblr dot com.

xxx -AJ