The title means:
Grandma and Grandpa?
Enjoy!
p.s. translations are in parentheses.
Gabriella's POV (Thoughts in Bold)
Okay, there is a lady here who just gave me a hug and knows my name. She looks like my mom
except in an older version, maybe late 50s. I wonder what she said. I don't think I have ever heard
that language before. Come on Gabriella, think. What do you do when a stranger appears at your
front door and knows your name and speaks a completely different language? I got nothing.
The elderly woman turned to face Troy. "Sino ay ito? (Who is this?)"
Poor Troy. He just came here to eat lunch and now he is being spoken to in an unknown language.
"Ano? Hindi kilalanin inyo lola at lolo? (What? You don't recognize your grandma and grandpa?)" a new
voice asked. Troy and I turned to see an elderly man standing behind the still unknown woman.
Great, another unknown face and more words I don't understand. Now would probably be a good
time to find out who these people are. "I'm sorry but, do I know you?" I asked in the nicest way possible
while stepping closer to Troy.
The elderly couple looked at me like I was from another planet, the woman spoke. "Gabriella Maria
Montez," she paused briefly.
What the hell? She know my full name? That's just creepy. And wow, she has a very thick accent.
The woman continued talking, "hasn't your mom ever told you about us? I mean surely she mentioned her
own parents. After all we were the people who raised her." The woman went on and on about the subject of
the matter. I of course wasn't really paying attention.
Rewind. She said 'her own parents'. If that's my mom's parents than that means this elderly couple
in front of me is…..my, my grandparents. Wow. This is just -
"Ella? You still with us?" Troy's voice pulled me out of my thoughts.
I looked over at him, giving him a small smile. "Yeah I'm fine." I turned back to my so-called grandparents,
still smiling. "Uhmm.. Why don't you come in?"
They smiled at me and walked into the house. The four of us walked into the family room and sat on the
couch, Troy and I sitting on the loveseats whilst the elderly couple sat across us.
"Just out of curiosity, what language were you speaking?" Troy asked.
"We were speaking in Tagalog, the language in Philippines." the man spoke up.
Philippines? Where is that?
Before I had a chance to ask Troy answered my question, "Philippines, that's in Southeast Asia, right?"
The elderly man smiled, "You are exactly right young man."
I sat in shock. How did he know that and I didn't?
The voice of the woman snapped me out of my trance, "Gabriella, did you understand any thing we said
earlier?"
"I'm sorry, I didn't even know what language you were speaking until Troy asked."
"I find that hard to believe. Whenever we speak to Angella she always speaks in Tagalog."
I looked at her with shock clearly written across my face, "Really? I wasn't even aware that my mother is
bilingual."
"Oh yes, she speaks 5 languages; English, Tagalog, Spanish, French, and German."
I guess you learn something new everyday.
An awkward silence fell upon the four of us. None of us really knew what to say. I suddenly found the hem
of my shirt interesting while Troy just starred at his shoes like a hidden message was encoded onto it.
Troy was the one to break the silence, "Are you relatives of Gabriella?"
Wow! Is my boyfriend really that dense?
The woman smiled, "We are her grandparents."
I unconsciously laughed at Troy's shocked expression.
"What are you laughing at Ms. Montez?" Troy asked looking serious but, not succeeding.
"Nothing, it's just, you seem so shocked." my laughter had been reduced to a huge grin.
"And your not?" Troy retorted.
"If you listened to anything she has said then you would of heard her say that she is my mom's mom. Hence
the fact she is my grandmother. " I said with a smirk, knowing I had won our little argument.
Troy rolled his eyes playfully, "Like you're always right."
"I am."
We both busted out into a fit of laughs. I immediately stopped when I felt like I was being watched. I
turned to see my grandmother or whatever I should call her starring at me intensely. "Uhmm… Is
something the matter?" I asked with a look of concern.
"No dear, I'm sorry. It's just that as I watch the two you interact I can't help but feel like this is an all to
familiar sight. Godofredo, don't you feel the same way?" she turned to face her husband.
He nodded in agreement, "I think I know what you mean, Esterlita. It's like an old memory."
Godofredo and Esterlita, I guess that is their names.
Troy spoke up once again, "We remind you of someone?"
My grandmother, I still don't know what exactly what to call her, smiled at us. "Yes you do, but I can't
quite figure out who."
"Now that is interesting." I muttered to myself. "Since we've established that you guys are my grandparents,
what do I call you?"
My grandmother answered, "You may call me lola and-"
My grandfather interjected, "You may call me lolo."
Troy of course had to put his own thoughts into this, "Oh, is that Tagalong for something?" I looked at him
strangely, which he noticed. "What?!"
"You mean, Tagalog?" I pronounced it perfectly and shot him a questionable look.
"That's what I said, Tagalong."
I slapped my forehead with the palm of hand. "Troy, it's not Tag-a-long. It's Ta-ga-log." I was sure he
could hear the annoyance in my voice.
Troy raised his hands in defeat. "Fine! Is that Ta-ga-log for anything?" He glared at me playfully as I just
smiled innocently.
"Iyon!" my lola suddenly exclaimed.
I looked at her strangely, "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine. I remember now who the two of you remind me of."
My lolo spoke to Troy, "Lolo is Tagalog for grandpa while lola means grandma."
Troy nodded and we redirected our attention to my lola.
"Who do we remind you of?" I asked her kindly.
"Alfredo and Angella." she said simply.
"Who?" Troy asked.
"Gabriella's parents."
My jaw dropped. They know my dad?
My lolo decided to put his own thoughts into out conversation, "Yes you're right. It's like watching an old
video of the two. "
"Wait, let me get this straight. So, you know who my dad is?"
My lolo answered, "Yes, your father was a wonderful young man. He was so sweet and caring. Very intelligent.
Great things were expected to come from him. He could of been anything he wanted a layer, a doctor, the possibilities
were endless. We knew his parents for a long time."
Amazing. My lolo makes him sound like this really prominent person. He sounds like a great guy but, that
could have been all an act. I think he's pretty selfish for not helping my mom out. I mean what
kind of person knocks up their girlfriend then just leaves.
I don't know what it was but, something inside of me just snapped. "If he was so great then where is he
now?"
Troy must of sensed the bitterness in my voice because I felt his hand rub small circles on my back. I relaxed, a bit.
My grandparents looked taken back by my sudden outburst.
"Gabriella, if Alfredo could be here he would. I don't know if it was love but, I do know that he really did care about
Angella," my lolo's voice was calm.
"What do you mean 'if he could'?" the anger in my voice was no longer present, it was replaced with
confusion.
If he could? What's that suppose to mean? Everyone has a choice. No one can force you to do something
you don't want to. Sure, your choices all have different outcomes but that's not the point. The point is that
he didn't chose to stay with my mom.
I shifted my attention back to my grandparents who have yet to answer.
"Your father is dead." his voice remained calm.
"What?"
Am I suppose to be sad? Or should I be angry? I don't even know the guy? And how do I know he
didn't get himself killed? What if it wasn't his fault? Come on Gabriella, pull yourself together.
"This was after you were born, I think you were one maybe two. There was a shoot out in Angella's and
Alfredo's school. There was a fight between two seniors. It was nothing serious until someone pulled out a
gun. Somehow your father got caught in the middle. He was killed along with several students."
I sat in astonishment. I didn't even have the guts to look at my grandparents.
I am a terrible person and I am a terrible daughter. It wasn't even my dads fault. He died an
innocent death. Stupid, stupid Gabriella! I mean it wasn't even his fault. I have no right to-
End of Gabriella's POV
Troy looked over at Gabriella's catatonic form. She sat on the couch staring straight ahead. He then looked
over at Godofredo and Esterlita. The elderly couple was conversing quietly amongst themselves. Troy
notice them nod and look over at Gabriella before turning back to face each other. Godofredo and Esterlita
stood up, Troy followed suit at the 3 made their way to the front door.
"I'm sorry about Gabriella. I think she was just shocked about the whole situation." Troy said as he opened
the front door.
"Don't apologize for her. Gabriella's actions were totally understandable. " Godofredo replied smiling.
"Troy take care of our granddaughter, please. With everything that is going on she will need someone to
lean on." Esterlita pleaded.
"Of course I will. Do you need anything before you leave?" Troy asked as the elderly couple exited the
house.
"No we are fine. We are going to visit Angella now."
"I think she will have some very good news for you when you get their."
Instead of questioning Troy, they bid a farewell and made their way to their car. Troy let out a sigh as he
watch the elderly get into their white Camry and watch it drive down the street, becoming smaller and
smaller. He locked the door and walked back into the family room where Gabriella sat, still engrossed in a
deep trance.
"Ella? Gabi?" Troy sat down next to her. "Gabs?" Still no response. "Gabriella?"
"I am a terrible daughter." was the answer Troy finally received.
"Ella your not." Troy placed a hand on her knee.
Gabriella stood up and began pacing back and forth, "Yes I am. I was getting mad at my dad, accusing him
of being this horrible person but in reality he wasn't. Then I go on and accuse him of choosing not to be
with me and my mom and then I find out he was shot for just being at the wrong place at the wrong time."
"Ella it's not like you knew. You just found out like 10 minutes ago. "
"That just makes it worse. That means I judged him before I knew more about him. " Gabriella continued
her pacing.
"Ella? Ella? Ella? " Troy tried to get her attention. "Gabriella!" he finally yelled.
"What!" Gabriella halted to stop and was facing Troy ,who now stood in front of her.
Troy held her by her shoulders "Gabriella." Gabriella attempted to move out of his grip, "Stop." she did as
she was told but, avoided looking into his eyes. "You pre-judging your dad doesn't make you a bad
daughter. Until today you didn't even know his name. I'm guessing your mom told you all sorts of things
about you dad when she was drunk. That means what ever she told you could have been all a lie."
Gabriella finally looked at Troy and sighed, "I guess you're right."
"Wait, can I hear that again?" Troy said with a smirk.
"What?" Gabriella looked at him confused.
"Say what you just said."
"I guess you're right?" she said still not understanding what this all was about.
"Call the press. Gabriella Maria Montez has just admitted that I, Troy Alexander Bolton, am right."
Gabriella wiggled from Troy's grasp and wrapped her arms around his midsection, burying her head in his
chest. "Shut up."
Troy wrapped his arms around her. "Fine. Way to kill a guy's moment." he shot back jokingly. "I have an
idea."
"What?" she murmured into his chest.
"How about you go upstairs and change. I'll put away our leftovers. When you get back from doing
whatever girls do for half an hour in the bathroom we'll go out. Maybe some mini-golfing. "
Gabriella pulled back slightly and cocked her head to the side, "Mini-golfing?"
"Okay maybe not mini-golfing. How about we call the gang and we all do something together."
"Sounds good." Gabriella said, leaning up to give Troy a quick kiss on the lips and heading up the stairs.
Troy watched as Gabriella scurried up the stairs. He followed her until she disappeared from his view.
"It's not even 2 in the afternoon and I already had more than enough surprises. What's next? Chad shaves
his afro?" Troy let out a light chuckle. "Like that will ever happen."
A/N: So how was it? I think it turned out pretty good. It definitely turned out better than I expected.
I wrote like half of it before rewriting it at 12 midnight the other day. It was around two when I slept. I
was gonna finish I thought the rest of the day after I woke up but I had a lot of other things to do. I
finally was able to write it at 12 midnight and it's now 2 AM. So yeah, sorry it took awhile. I hope it was
worth the wait!
I don't know when I'll be able to update it again. I know I'm working tomorrow (which would be today).
Thursday I'm going to this consult concerning my sister's kidney transplant and where staying at a hotel
cause the hospital is 2 hours away and we'll need to go to the hospital on Friday for my sister's dialysis.
Yup I think I told you everything that needed to be said and more. HAPPY 4th of JULY!!!
Lots of Love,
Kae
p.s. i know the layout is wierd, i'm sorry about that. it spaced it out wierd. i started fixing it then noticed it's almost 2:30 AM and i gota wake up later before 10. which is going to be hard. i previewed it, and the whole layout looks creepy. Sorry again. Oh and thanks for reading!