Hey everyone! I can't believe that the next time I update I'll already be back to school! I really hate how fast time flys! But I'm sure you won't be able to wait for a week to pass, because this chapter leaves you hanging! haha Well, Enjoy!
Pick Me Up
Chapter eleven
When Mrs. Montez woke up the next morning, she was surprised to see both Brandon and Troy unpacking groceries in the kitchen. Looking at the clock on the wall, she raised her eyebrows. It was seven o'clock; way too early for a couple of young men to be up.
What she didn't know though was that her son recently developed a crush on one of the cashiers at the local supermarket and he got up extra early so that he could see her before she got busy. Unfortunately for Troy, he had been on his way to the bathroom when Brandon got up, and was recruited to help out.
Mrs. Montez spoke softly and slowly at first, hoping not to startle the occupied men with her sudden appearance.
"I hope you took the list," she said, walking over to the coffee maker, which was already boiling with her morning beverage.
"We did," Brandon nodded, scrunching together the few plastic bags that were used to carry groceries. "By the way, Uncle Bobby called me this morning and said he couldn't make it to the party."
Mrs. Montez rolled her eyes obviously, saying nothing as she sipped her coffee. The phone rang in the family room and Brandon left to answer it, leaving Troy and Mrs. Montez alone in the kitchen.
"Those flowers on the table are for you," Troy said to her after surfacing from behind the refrigerator door.
"You didn't have to get me flowers!" Mrs. Montez smiled as she walked towards the table, cupping a flower with her free hand and smelling it dreamingly.
"It was the least I could do after staying here for two weeks," Troy replied, taking a glass of orange juice off of the counter, one that he had poured himself earlier. He took a sip, and smiled at her.
"You're wonderful," Mrs. Montez said, running her hand over the flowers, admiring them. "It's going to be sad to see you and Gabriella go."
"It will be," Troy agreed, nodding.
Mrs. Montez shook her head as if trying to shake out the thought of him leaving out of her mind.
"You should wake Gabriella up. Maybe the two of you can do something together before the Forth of July party," Mrs. Montez suggested.
"Sure," Troy said, turning towards the hallway leading towards the foyer stairs.
"Don't shake her when you wake her up. She'll probably hit you. Be gentle," Mrs. Montez laughed quietly.
"Thanks for the advice," Troy smiled, walking out of the kitchen.
Troy slowly opened Gabriella's bedroom door after an encounter with Mr. Montez on the staircase, which ended with Mr. Montez warning Troy not to be in Gabriella's room for too long.
The sound of the outside floated through the open window as Troy walked over to Gabriella's small twin sized bed. She was wearing a baggy t-shirt that had a university's logo on it, but the letters were faded, and from where Troy stood, he couldn't read it.
He stood beside her for a long drawn out minute, mesmerized by her peacefulness as she slept. After catching himself starring, Troy bent down and moved her hair off of her face, pushing it so that it rested on her back.
She didn't budge and stayed sleeping on her side until she felt Troy kiss her on the forehead. Her eyes opened immediately, bringing her attention to the wall she was facing, but when she saw Troy's arm next to her, she started to turn on her back.
"Morning," Gabriella said with a surprised look on her face as she looked up into Troy's eyes. He had an arm on either side of her and smiled when she did.
"Good morning. Your mom said to wake you up gently or else you'd probably hit me," Troy explained, removing his arms from next to her, sitting by her side instead of leaning over her.
"What time is it?" Gabriella asked even as she stretched to see her alarm clock on her nightstand.
"Seven thirty," Troy answered.
"Why are we up so early?" Gabriella groaned, pushing her face against her pillow in hopes of falling asleep instantly.
"Because your mom figured we could do something together before the party," Troy explained.
"And what would that be?" Gabriella asked.
"Beats me. You're the one who knows your way around this town," Troy said teasingly as he walked towards the door to leave.
"We can go out for breakfast," Gabriella said while turning on her side again, but this time so that she was facing him.
"I'll time you to see how fast you can get ready," Troy said from the doorway. "If you're ready in less that fifteen minutes, I'll pay, but if not…"
"I better fish some money out of my sock drawer," Gabriella smirked, closing her eyes and not opening them again until she was sure that Troy was gone. When she saw that he wasn't around, she got up quickly to see if she could get ready in less than fifteen minutes. She figured she'd save some money and let Troy pay.
...
"This is my last ten bucks so you better enjoy that bagel," Troy said as they sat down at a small table next to a large window that belonged to a diner that sat in the center of the town. "How'd you get ready so fast?"
Gabriella laughed, satisfied that she didn't have to pay for her breakfast and because she had shocked Troy when she came into the kitchen looking perfect in a white sun dress in under fifteen minutes.
"A woman never reveals her beauty secrets," Gabriella answered, taking a bite of her bagel. "Want some?"
Gabriella held out her bagel with another laugh, seeing that Troy wasn't amused. He was currently drinking water because her bagel and coffee cost him exactly ten dollars.
"Thanks, but I'm enjoying my water, I wouldn't want to ruin the taste by taking a bite of your bagel."
Troy eyed her and she gave him a playful smile as she chewed on her bagel. Outside, people passed by on bikes and some were pushing strollers or walking hand in hand. But all of the passing people were barely noticed by the two who sat at the window because they were too caught up talking to each other.
The owner of the diner stood behind the counter, refilling coffees that belonged to the people eating at the counter. He watched as Gabriella threw her head back with laughter and noticed how the guy she was with watched her closely when she did. He hadn't seen the two together before, but he had seen the boy walking around occasionally.
There was something about the way they talked that had the man wondering how long they knew each other because their conversation didn't seem forced at all. Even though he thought they seemed happy, he couldn't help but glance over at the wall behind him, where pictures of customers hung in frames so that he could remember all of the people who ever ate at his place. There was a picture of Gabriella and Kyle right above the coffee maker, causing him to remember that Gabriella had done some heart breaking in her past.
A waitress walked out of the kitchen with a plate of food and made her way towards Troy and Gabriella. The owner watched as the conversation stopped when the waitress appeared at their table.
"New customers eat free," the waitress told Troy, setting a plate of eggs and hash browns in front of him. He raised his eyebrows in surprise.
"Are you sure?" He asked, looking over at Gabriella, who shrugged.
"Yup, all you have to do is pose for a picture," the waitress explained, pulling out a disposable camera from her apron. She snapped a quick picture of Troy, who wasn't expecting it. He looked at the woman with a confused expression on his face as she walked away.
"So, uh," Troy started after he took a bite of his food. "How's the bagel?"
He laughed as Gabriella stuck her tongue out at him because his breakfast looked much better than hers. He tapped on the ketchup bottle in his hand so that a red pool formed on his plate next to the hash browns, and looked over at Gabriella who smiled at him.
"Ketchup?" She asked.
"It's the best addition to a breakfast," Troy explained, taking a bite of his food.
Gabriella shrugged, looking out the window without commenting on his weird eating habits. There was little going on around town. There was a mother and her two kids sitting on a bench while eating ice cream and Gabriella wondered if that was the best choice for a breakfast. The sun was bright and everyone outside was wearing sunglasses. When the door to the diner opened, Gabriella heard the faint sound of a lawn mower roaring on. When she looked further beyond the ice cream eaters, she saw Kyle mowing the small patches of lawn that sat in front of the many stores and businesses. He was shirtless, which didn't surprise her, and his muscles tightened as he curved around trees and bushes.
"How are the lawns looking?" Troy asked, having noticed Brandon earlier when he was cutting lawn behind Gabriella's view.
"What?" Gabriella asked quickly, taking her eyes off of the outside activity. "Oh… they look fine."
Troy nodded, setting his fork down since he was finished with his meal. He set a wrinkled ten dollar bill on the table and stood from his seat.
"Ready?" he asked, holding out his hand for her to take it.
She did before waving goodbye to the owner of the diner. They walked out of the diner, hearing the bells tied to the door chime as it closed behind them. Gabriella wrapped her hand around Troy's arm as she leaned against his shoulder, and he kissed her on the top of her head, noticing how close they were getting to Kyle on their way to Gabriella's car.
Kyle had his back to them as they were passing him and without having to think twice about it, Troy and Gabriella ran quickly down the sidewalk, laughing as they turned the corner so that they were out of his view. They escaped to Gabriella's car that was parked in front of the corner store and started their drive home.
...
When Gabriella and Troy got home, Brandon was edging the lawn and Mr. Montez stood in the backyard, laughing as his wife ordered him around. He seemed to be enjoying setting up for the party and he was wearing a buttoned up shirt that looked as if he was wrapped in an American flag. Gabriella groaned when she saw her dad's clothing choice once she was out of the car and standing on the driveway.
"I thought my mom got rid of that shirt," Gabriella said, realizing now that her dad was most likely helping with the party set up because he had gotten in trouble for wearing the shirt. Mrs. Montez was embarrassed that her husband liked to walk around looking completely unfashionable, but used that to her advantage, insisting that since he was so patriotic, that he'd have to help her with the party.
"It's not that bad," Troy laughed, walking up the driveway with Gabriella, who gave him a you're-kidding-me look. "Trust me, I've seen bad. Chad dyed his hair red, white and blue one Forth of July."
"I guess I'm glad my dad didn't go that far," Gabriella answered, opening the door leading into the garage from the house, and stepping inside.
Troy looked at the clock on the wall in the family room, noticing that it was getting late and he still needed a shower.
"I'm going to get ready," Troy said to Gabriella. "I'll be back in a little bit."
"Okay," Gabriella smiled, making her way towards the kitchen, letting Troy go upstairs without another word.
...
Troy skipped down the stairs after hearing a knock on the front door. A group of people stood on the porch, but none of them were unfamiliar to him. Gabriella's Aunt Karen and family were there, holding bowls of fruit, and luckily for him, none of them had coats this time around. He opened the door, letting the group in as they all talked at once.
"Ignore the kids," Aunt Karen said to Troy. "They're mad because they're not allowed to light any of the fireworks."
"Okay," Troy said with a laugh.
"Where is my sister, Troy, honey, I'm telling her that she needs to fix that broken doorbell. We were standing out there for a good thirty seconds," she said.
"She's in the back. Just set everything on the kitchen island when you walk past it," Troy told her, gesturing hello to Gabriella's Uncle.
Serena walked in before Troy could close the door and she fluffed her long hair briefly as he closed the door behind her. She looked at him, and he could barely look her in the eye because he could only picture her making out with Kyle.
"You look patriotic," Troy said, pointing to her blood red dress. He wondered if she had come directly from a Victoria's Secrets store because her dress did little to cover her body.
"Thanks, Troy," Serena said, causing the hair on the back of Troy's neck to rise because of the way she said his name. She sounded evil.
"Wow, Serena, the least you could have done was put some clothes on," Bethany said as she came down the stairs with Gabriella. She was wearing a blue dress and since Gabriella was wearing a white dress, the three girls completed each other in the sense that they were in red, white and blue.
"And look like you two? No thanks," Serena said, rolling her eyes. "I have a reputation to uphold and starting to look conservative now will damage it."
"God, if wearing that is upholding her reputation, I don't want to know what she's known for," Gabriella said to Bethany under her breath as they neared the end of the stairs and stood by Troy.
"Speak up, Gabriella, I can't hear you," Serena said, glaring at Gabriella.
"Now, ladies, let's try to be cordial," Troy said. "There's no need to ruin a good party."
"Oh, Troy," Serena said, patting him on the shoulder. "Here's a little tip for you, put a bunch of girls in a room, and there will be a cat fight, and Gabriella over here really is as innocent as she looks, so if you want to have some fun…" she ran her finger along his chest and Gabriella gasped while Bethany pulled her sister down the hallway before she could make another move on Troy.
"Are you drunk?" Bethany exclaimed at her sister as they went into the kitchen.
Troy and Gabriella stood in the foyer with their mouths open in shock. Troy looked over at Gabriella, putting his hands on his hips.
"Did she just…"
"Yeah, she did," Gabriella nodded, shaking her head. "If this is any indication of how this night is going to be, I think we should run away now before we witness anything else."
"After you," Troy said, opening the front door, but just as they were about to make a break for it, more of Gabriella's aunts, uncles, and cousins came up the walkway, resulting in Troy and Gabriella sticking around instead of running away.
...
Cakes lined with blueberries and strawberries sat on the patio table and American flags poked out from bowls of chip dip and club sandwiches. A cooler sat open by the door leading into the kitchen and it was filled to the top with Coca Cola, Pepsi, and beer that was held in white cans.
Troy stood poking at meat on the grill after being recruited by the Montez men to be the one to watch the meat. A privilege; according to Brandon, who was happy not to be on meat duty.
Gabriella sat on the deck ledge, laughing as her uncles told jokes while eating food from the table on the deck. Troy's hand rested on her knee, making sure that she didn't fall backwards and plummet to her death.
Below on the lawn, Brandon sat with the cashier who was usually seen at the grocery store, but now she was being grilled by the many women surrounding her. She seemed excited to be there though, and Troy was happy not to be the one who was the center of the family's attention.
Bethany was sitting with her sister at a table with a few of her cousins. After hitting on Troy, Serena couldn't be trusted alone and Bethany assured Gabriella that she'd keep a watchful eye on her cleavage-showing sister.
Mrs. Montez appeared from the kitchen with a camera in her hand, one she promised she'd get out for the get together and the first people she was out to get a picture of were Troy and Gabriella.
"Alright you two smile so I can take a picture," Mrs. Montez said, waiting until Troy was leaning against the deck ledge next to Gabriella and when Gabriella was paying attention. She snapped a picture of the two and looked at the screen that showed the picture as Troy and Gabriella went back to what they were doing before being asked to take a picture.
In the picture, Troy's arm sat securely over Gabriella's bent legs, and Gabriella had her arm linked under Troy's arm, and each of them had giant smiles on their faces, squinting slightly from the sun. In any case, it was a good picture, causing Mrs. Montez to smile, glad to have a good keep sake of the two.
Mrs. Montez scurried around the backyard taking pictures of her family and friends as if trying not to leave out any moment or person. Troy and Gabriella watched from the deck, Gabriella now standing on the deck next to Troy.
"Pretty soon we'll be leaving," Gabriella said, propping her chin in her palm as her elbow rested on the ledge of the deck.
"You're right," Troy replied, not sure if he wanted to get into this particular conversation just yet.
"We might never see each other again after this, you know," Gabriella commented, watching as a few of her younger cousins walked towards the deck stairs, a jump rope dragging behind them.
"You never know," Troy shrugged. "Tomorrow you could be transferred to Albuquerque General Hospital and you'll have to stay with me until you find a place to live. There's a world of possibilities," he said this with a smile, bringing her in for a side hug that lasted until they heard Gabriella's name.
"We need another person to Double Dutch," Melanie, Gabriella's thirteen year old cousin, explained. "Will you play with us?" she asked.
"Of course," Gabriella smiled. "What would Double Dutch be without a pro like me?"
The girls smiled as Gabriella walked down the deck stairs with them, and Troy watched them until they disappeared around the corner on the driveway.
Gradually, people stopped by the grill for a hamburger or hotdog, and Troy would gladly serve them while keeping a conversation going. He enjoyed people watching when no one was ready to eat and even as the sky grew darker, he stayed on the deck. It wasn't until Mr. Montez came to relieve him when he finally got a break.
"I think you're going to have to watch the kids with the sparklers," Mr. Montez had said, taking Troy's spot by the grill without hesitation.
Minutes later, Troy was handing a sparkler over to one of Gabriella's cousins who was too afraid to light the sparkler herself. Bethany and Gabriella were twirling and laughing with the rest of the kids while waving around their own sparklers. Troy watched with a smile and Mrs. Montez took pictures constantly.
"Makes you want to be a kid again, huh?" Brandon said as he stopped next to Troy.
"Yeah," Troy agreed. "Except when I was a kid there were definitely not this many people around."
Brandon replied with a chuckle, knowing that the size of his family was abnormal to most people.
"How's Vivian?" Troy asked, wondering if Brandon was still swooning over the cashier.
"Great," Brandon said with a smile. "Everyone seems to like her. What a relief."
"Yeah," Troy laughed. "Just imagine how relieved she is."
Troy remembered how he had felt once he knew Gabriella's family liked him when they all first met, only the difference was that Brandon and Vivian were actually starting to get to know each other and Gabriella and Troy had been faking it from day one.
"Yeah, well, I came over here to warn you that Kyle just got here," Brandon said. "I don't know why my mom keeps inviting him to these things."
"Maybe she's not," Troy said quietly, eyeing Serena who was casually looking around the backyard.
"I can't believe she's family," Brandon said as he too watched Serena. He shook his head and left Troy alone, leaving to find Vivian.
"Hey, Troy, the fireworks are starting soon," Gabriella said as she weaved through the group of kids with sparklers. "You might want to hide the sparklers now."
"Okay, I'll meet you here after I put everything away," Troy replied, boxing up the leftover sparklers and blowing out the candles used to ignite them.
Gabriella nodded with an excited smile on her face and went with the kids to collect blankets so that they could all lay on the ground during the fireworks.
Troy tucked the boxes of sparklers under his arm as he walked towards the garage solo, stopping on the driveway when he saw Kyle walking away from the porch.
"Is the doorbell still broken?" Kyle asked casually.
"Yeah," Troy nodded.
"Geez, it's been that way since Gabriella and I were in high school," Kyle replied.
"Long time," Troy said uninterested.
"Look, I'm sorry that we got off on the wrong foot the last time we saw each other," Kyle said.
"There's no point in apologizing," Troy said. "I'm dating your ex-girlfriend. It's bound to get awkward."
"Gabriella must have told you a bunch of stuff to make me look bad, because it's obvious that you can barely look at me," Kyle said, watching as Troy set the things he was carrying down on the driveway next to the garage.
"Actually, she didn't have to tell me anything, you did a good job letting me know yourself. After all, you are sleeping with Serena," Troy said, putting his hands on his hips with a pissed expression.
"Lets not get jealous, Troy-boy," Kyle smirked.
...
From her spot on the navy blue blanket spread across the lawn, Gabriella could see Troy and Kyle talking, which was starting to worry her. She didn't mind that they were talking, but she couldn't help but notice Troy's body language. The last time she saw him standing with his hands on his hips while scrunching his forehead together with anger was when Chad told Troy about Caitlyn, and that hadn't gone well.
Troy's face changed into one filled with surprise and shock, and the next thing Gabriella knew, Troy was punching Kyle, and she was leaping up off of the ground as her brother, and a few of her uncles started breaking up the fight.
When she finally got there her brother was shoving Troy into the house as Kyle swore and lunged at him. Gabriella was breathing so hard that she thought she might be hyperventilating, but as she saw the expressions on her family member's faces, she realized she was just embarrassed.
"Kyle!" She shouted, marching over to her ex-boyfriend, who had a bloody lip, one that suited him perfectly. "Get out of here!"
She had his shirt bunch up in her fist and pulled him away from her uncles and brothers down the driveway as he tried to explain himself to her.
"Shut up, Kyle, please," Gabriella said with tears in her eyes, seeing the crowd forming at the top of the driveway. "Don't come back here, ever."
"Come on, Gabriella, aren't you going to patch me up? It's the least you could do after your boyfriend attacked me!"
Gabriella slapped him hard across his cheek, hearing a few murmurs and gasps from her family.
"I'm off duty," she said to him. "Don't make me send my brother after you, because we both know he'd like to finish the job."
Gabriella pushed Kyle away from her, further down the driveway and turned towards her family, walking up the driveway while trying to keep tears of embarrassment from falling. Serena was power walking in the opposite direction, but Gabriella barely noticed as her family started talking all at once. She walked past them though, through the garage, opening the door. She had a few things to say to Troy Bolton.
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unknownbyhim22