Hey! I'm glad you liked the last chapter!Some of you were wondering and yes I did intentionally quote part of the song "Gotta Go My Own Way" from HSM2. Speaking of HSM2, for those of you who saw it, what did you think? For those of you who have to wait a little longer before you get to see it, it's definitely worth the wait!
PS- I think this is the longest chapter I have ever written! YAY! Enjoy!
Gabriella walked into school the next morning and was greeted by people giving her sympathetic smiles , some pointing and whispering. That's when she remembered, they all knew.
She didn't like all the new attention especially since it was for a bad thing. Gabriella shook off their looks and walked to her locker; her head held high.
She grabbed the books she needed for her next class and walked down the hall towards her homeroom. She was about to enter the room when she noticed people weren't staring at her anymore. Their attention was diverted by something, or rather someone else.
She followed their gazes and found that they led to a shaggy haired blue-eyed boy. She smiled at him and he smiled back. She looked back at the other kids and noticed they were glaring daggers into Troy's back and if looks could kill well, he would be dead.
Troy walked over to Gabriella and gave her a hug and a quick peck on the cheek. The crowd stood starring , not sure who to look at or what was going on. I wouldn't blame them for being confused, after all the last they saw about the pair was a big fight between them and it looked like what Troy did was unforgivable, apparently they were wrong.
Much to Troy and Gabriella's relief the warning bell rang and kids scattered, running to their lockers or to their classes.
" I thought they would never leave." she said
Troy laughed " Yeah, they were staring for quite a while, but why were they glaring at me?" he asked
"They're probably mad at you because of what Zac did to me." she replied as if it was an obvious answer.
Then he remembered that everyone was there when they had the argument and everyone knew about Zac and Gabi.
"Oh, maybe." he said as he slung his arm over her shoulder and walked into homeroom with her by his side.
The class went by boring as usual. Mrs.Darbus droned on about how the theater was very un-appreciated and how it was cleansing to the soul and what ever else she usually says.
Troy would pretend to be sleeping and then every so often he would suddenly jerk awake and say " What'd I miss?"
Gabriella tried not to laugh for fear of getting detention.
After what seemed like hours the bell finally rang signaling the end of class. The kids couldn't be more eager to leave as they practically stormed out the door like in a mini stampede.
Gabriella walked to her locker and shoved her books in. She felt a tap on her shoulder and quickly turned around.
"Good day my fare lady, my I escort you and your extravagant beauty to lunch?" he asked sticking his arm out for her.
She giggled " Why thank you kind sir." she said and linked arms with him before walking off in the direction of the cafeteria.
" So Troy?" she asked as she pushed her food from side to side with her fork.
"mmhm." he replied while he chewed his food.
"Would you mind driving me somewhere after school?" she asked innocently
"Not at all, where would you be going?" he asked as he opened his pudding cup and shoved a spoonful in his mouth.
Gabriella rolled her eyes and laughed lightly before answering " The cemetery."
His eyebrows rose in confusion.
"I need to visit Zac." she answered simply.
He nodded his head as if he understood but when he realized he couldn't think of any good reason why she would visit his grave he asked " Why?"
She sighed softly " I thought about what you said about how I may never be comfortable around guys and how I may never get over what he did but I figured I have to at least forgive him for what he did and maybe that'll help me get over it." she said
He smiled at her and squeezed her hand softly. She glanced at him warmly and their eyes locked together.
He loved how her chocolate brown orbs seemed to just melt into his ocean blue ones like well, chocolate.
They both subconsciously leaned in until their lips met. Fireworks erupted in their mouths and both enjoyed it until Gabriella fully realized what was happening.
He felt her vibrating next to him, he thought she was laughing so he continued, stopping seconds later when he felt something wet hit his jaw.
He pulled away from her and took a good look, she wasn't laughing she was crying, actually sobbing hysterically was putting it very mildly.
"Gabriella, it's ok." he said. He tried giving her a hug but she just pushed him away before sobbing into her hands.
The other kids stopped their chatting and stared at the spectacle in front of them. Troy noticed this and his face burned with both anger and embarrassment.
"Get lost! Move it there's nothing to see here." he shouted at them while shooing away them with his hands.
Some people walked out of the cafeteria while others just went back to chatting with their friends.
Troy handed her a napkin as she wiped her tears.
"Ahhh!" she exclaimed and her back became tense as he touched her back. He began to rub her back and noticed that she was relaxing a little bit.
"Shhh. It's okay Gabi it's just me, Troy." he whispered softly in her ear.
"B-but Z-zac." she said breathlessly
"Zac is gone, he's dead and he's never coming back. Never to hurt you again." he said softly
She was hiccuping slightly. Troy took a chance and removed her hands away from her face. Her eyes were red and puffy and her nose was pink and she kept sniffling.
He looked at her and put a look of disgust on his face.
She noticed this and asked " What?"
"Wow, what happened! You were so pretty but now you look really bad! No wonder girls wear make-up." he said jokingly
She smiled slightly "Ha Ha!very funny!" she said sarcastically
"Ooh look there's your smile!" he said " Show me your pearly whites."
She laughed slightly
"Ooh look now your laughing." he said as he tried to cheer her up.
She giggled and he noticed the twinkle in her eyes was slowly returning.
He cleared his throat. " No, I was just kidding you really are beautiful." he said sincerely
Gabriella smiled and then sighed loudly. " I'm sorry Troy, I didn't mean to push you away it's just you remind me so much of Zac and I can't forget about what he did." she said softly
He chuckled slightly and Gabriella looked at him, a confused expression on her face.
"Gabriella, Gabriella , Gabriella. When will you learn, I'm okay and I'm not taken aback by what happened because it's your instinct, you've been hurt too much so I can't blame you for what you did." he said.
" But I'm proud of you because you're trying to get forget what he did. You're trying and that's all I ask of you." he said
"Yes, that's why you're driving me to the cemetery after school right?" she asked
"You would be correct." he said and took one of her hands and casually brought it to his lips as he kissed every one of her fingers gently. Gabriella giggled and blushed.
Troy smiled and stood up then he tugged on her arm ushering her to stand up.
The walked down the halls in silence for a few minutes.
"So." he said
"So." she said copying him.
He cleared his throat "Gabriella, where do I stand in your life?" he asked
" Last night when I apologized to you I told you I loved you. I wasn't lying but I want to know how you feel about that. I want to know weather I should keep my hope up that you'll be with me or weather I should find another person." he said
"Well, if this is your weird way of asking me to be your girlfriend then yes I'll be your girlfriend and yes I'll go out with you." she said
He smiled " That's not what I was asking you I was just asking how you felt about me. I may love you but you know Sharpay's kinda cute." he said joking.
She blushed. " Um..."
"I was just kidding " he said " I'm thrilled you'll be my girlfriend."
She smacked him in the arm playfully " Don't do that to me!" she said
Troy laughed and intertwined his fingers with her and snaked his arm around her waist.
She gasp because she wasn't expecting it.
"Sorry." he said
"Yes and another thing, We have to take it slow." she said
He nodded " We're taking it slow."
AFTER SCHOOL
Troy pulled up the the cemetery.
" Are you sure you don't want me to go with you?" asked Troy one more time as she stepped out of the car.
"I'm sure, this is something I have to do by myself." she said
"But if I don't come back in 20 minutes well, you know where his grave is." she said and he nodded
"Bennit, Berts, ah ha Bolton!" she murmured to herself as she found his grave.
Zachary David Bolton
Born: October 18 , 1987
Died : August 17, 2004
A great son.
A great brother.
A great friend.
She keeled down in front of the grave and traced her fingers along his name.
Tears brimmed her eyes as she remembered all the memories she had with him, good and bad. But mostly good, there weren't many bad one's except for that one night.
"Hey Zac, I'm sorry I didn't go to your funeral. I was scared after what happened to me. But I want you to know that I love you and I always will. You were a great person an even better boyfriend but that one night is something I can't forget, at least not yet. You hurt me. You probably have no idea how much, but because of you I find it hard to trust not only me but everyone around me. Because of you, I find it hard to love people, people like your brother Troy, who deserve to be loved. Because of you I'm always scared something will happen, I avoid parties, big crowds of people and for a while I even avoided guys. Do you know what it's like to kiss someone you like but to have it ruined because images of that horrible night flood your mind? I doubt it. Your dead, you have nothing to worry about. I will never fully recover from this, it will haunt me for the rest of my life. Then I feel guilty because I will always be scared of love and I wont be able to fully give myself to Troy or any guy I date in the future. You don't know how many times I cried myself to sleep wishing that it had never happened. You don't know how many times I had to watch my dad cry because I would push him away every time he wanted to hug me just because I was scared of him. If you saw me now you wouldn't recognize me. I'm not the old care free Gabriella you knew 3 years ago I'm tougher I stay isolated from people. I cringe at a guys touch and have horrible memories. But then when I have a happy memory of you I feel guilt wash over me because I thought I wasn't being faithful to you. But now I'm with Troy and it scares me just as much. He's an exact replica of you and I'm scared he'll do the same thing to me. He promised he wouldn't hurt me but then again you did too and look what happened. What were you thinking? Drinking? You were under age! DAMN YOU ZAC! WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING! You left me and look at me I'm a mess. But from this point I'm forgetting everything that happened I forgive you because I realized that if I don't I will never move on and because if it wasn't for you I wouldn't be the girl I am today ; the girl Troy's in love with. You will always have a special place in my heart because you were my first true love and I will never forget you , just everything you did. Good bye Zac." she said .
Tears ran down her cheeks as she pressed her lips to the cold hard stone and sat there sobbing for a few more minutes.
"Gabriella?" she heard him say.
He ran to her " Gabriella it's okay you're going to be fine."
"I did it Troy." she said
"Did what?" he asked as he wrapped his arms around her waist.
"I forgave him and I let him go." she said as a small smiled appeared on her lips.
Troy didn't know what to say he was so proud of her, she was taking all of this so well and she was strong. She was a fighter. He looked down at her a kissed her on the forehead. He helped her stand up and dust her pants off before walking back to the car their hands linked together.
Hey! What did you think? The beginning was sweet and the ending was kinda sad! This chapter was kinda long so I hope it didn't drag on or was too boring. I'm not sure how many more chapters I will have but probably around 1 or 2 more! I need ideas for the ending do if you have any feel free to tell me. R&R – Kiki xoxo :)
