Band vs. Love
Previously
"Chris…"
"Hmm?" He questioned, his eyes closed and his face inches from hers.
"Can you…can you not kiss me, please."
Sitting back, Chris looked at her confused. "C'mon, don't tell me you don't kiss on the first date?"
"Actually, I think it's time for me to go inside."
He looked back at her as her face fell when he didn't move. "What? I don't get why you're upset with me!"
Turning, she walked back to the car and bent down so she was staring at him directly through the open window. "If you get now, then you won't. Thanks for the realization, Chris."
xx
"Is this your idea of solving the problem?" Troy asked, his focus on Gabriella as he reached the table they occupied.
"Troy it wasn't like that."
"Really? So you didn't go out with my brother last night."
"It wasn't going to be anything like that."
"Really? 'Cause I think it was. What makes you think that I'd want my brothers' leftovers?"
"Stop thinking of it that way," Gabriella protested.
"That's the only way I can see it! You know I thought I had faith in you and I was actually going to apologize, but now you're acting like a slut! You ruined our friendship. I don't want anything to do with you, so by all means if you want to go fuck my brother now, go ahead. I'm happy for you, you can finally get what you want."
Music expresses that which cannot be said and on which it is impossible to be silent.
-Victor Hugo
Chapter 11
Gabriella walked down the hall keeping her head down as she cradled her books to her chest. There were stares and whispers all around her as she made her way to her first class, not bothering to stop by her locker along the way. It was clear by now that word had spread and she was the talk of East High school. And to make matters worse, she wasn't just receiving hate behind her back, but she was getting tweets and Facebook messages about how she was a horrible person and how much of a slut she was for what she'd done to Troy and for what people thing happened with Chris.
Of course, no one knew the truth, but she wasn't about to sit around and argue with people who didn't know her or her life. That would be pointless because they were still gonna talk and say whatever they wanted about her.
Trying hard to avoid actually listening and paying attention to the words being whispered about her, Gabriella ducked and dodged past people, following the floor as her guide to class. And of course that wasn't so successful because minutes later she started bumping into people who didn't feel she was important enough to move, but that wasn't enough for her to life her head and show her face.
Just when she estimated that she was just steps from homeroom, there was one particularly hard hit. Her books slipped and fell out all over the floor as she hurriedly bent down to pick them up, noticing that the person she'd hit just stood there. The familiar looking vans didn't move, but stayed in that one spot, causing Gabriella to lift her head out of curiousity and gasp in terror as well as nervousness.
Gabriella stood slowly, the lip biting starting as she cast her eyes upward beneath her eyelashes to face the face of death. Not really death, but just the last person she wanted to see right now, knowing he didn't want to see her either.
She took in his figure slowly, gauging his reaction as he looked everywhere but at her.
"You okay?" his husky voice asked her as he stared at the poster on the wall talking about prom.
Gabriella couldn't do anything but nod helplessly, still staring at him, hoping, almost willing he would say something else. When he didn't, and they just stood there, she figured she'd take her chance before he did walk away. "Troy, I…"
He instantly shook his head, his cold ice blue eyes meeting hers for a fraction of a section. "Gabriella…no. Not right now."
"I just wanted to explain myself…"
He shook his head again. "I can't," he answered painfully, swallowing and meeting her eyes again. "I'm sorry."
And without another word, Troy moved around her and continued on down the hall. She turned to watch him, the dark wash jeans and gray hoodie disappearing down the hall. As she watched him go, Gabriella noticed their interaction had caught the attention of most of the hall and she sighed before whipping around and quickly bolting into class before she could hear any more worse rumors about herself. There was no doubt in her mind about her long day ahead.
When Gabriella got home that afternoon, she was surprised to see her father's car in the driveway. He usually had 3 days a week he would work late and today should have been one of those days.
"Daddy?"
"In here," she heard from the living room. She walked in to see him in his usual spot in front of the TV, on the couch, game on TV, and a beer in hand.
"Do any work today?"
He shrugged, patting the cushion next to him. "They didn't need me, so I came home early."
She nodded, scooting next to him and staring mindlessly at the TV for a few moments.
"Okay, what's up?" her dad asked.
"Hmm?" Gabriella tore her attention away from the TV to face her father, feining dumb, wondering just how much he thought he knew.
"Don't give me that. I've told you many times before you give that same look your mom does when there's something bothering her. What's up?"
Gabriella sighed. "I'm…having boy troubles."
His eyes widened and he tensed for a second before he relaxed his body back into the couch. "Guess I knew it would happen sometime….what kind of boy troubles?"
"Well…I have feelings for this guy…or at least I think I did. But then I also have feelings for another guy who's really close to the first guy."
She paused to contemplate what to tell him next and he looked at her expectantly. "So?"
"I'm just…I'm not sure how I feel about either one of them, but I don't wanna hurt them. I don't want to choose one guy and be sure about my feelings for him and then hurt his friend. But according to them, that's how they want it to be."
Joe cleared his thought as he thought about what to say to his daughter. "Well…baby I…"
Gabriella noticed the paused and looked to her father's uncomfortable face and smiled. "It's okay Dad. I get it if this is too weird for you."
"No," he protested quickly. "It's not weird, I just want to be able to be there for you. I want you to come to me for advice, to know that you have someone here to listen."
She nodded. "Yeah, but you have to admit, it is a little weird."
Her father nodded in agreement. "Okay, yeah it's weird. I'm just not good with this kind of stuff. I'm supposed to be the one telling you to stay away from boys, not giving you boy advice."
"I get it Dad. You wouldn't be a Dad if you didn't freak about boys."
He chuckled lightly. "I'm glad you get it. I just don't want you to think you can't talk to me."
"I know. You'll always be there when I need you for Dad stuff…but this isn't Dad stuff." Gabriella sighed as her father agreed with her again. "Let's just agree that I won't come to you with this type of stuff, you won't pretend to be interested and know what to say and I won't get mad when you want to do your overprotective Dad stuff, deal?"
Another laugh. "Deal? You know you're a smart kid. I like that."
"Just like my old man," she teased.
"Well," he scoffed. "That also means you're strong and independent too."
Gabriella smiled and stood up to head to her room, stopping briefly when he called out to her.
"El, whatever it is, I know you'll be able to handle it and it'll be okay."
She nodded, biting her lip. "See! I thought you said you didn't know what to say."
Joe smirked with Gabriella smiled, thankful that her father always made things better whether he knew it or not. He just had that fatherly thing about him that made everything so much better.
Surprise! I know. This chapter was definitely not expected, especially not by me, but I had some free time today in which I worked on another chapter to the point where I was comfortable posting the newest chapter for you guys. So hope you enjoyed and don't forget to leave me a quick REVIEW of kind words for my story writing soul.