I'm holding on for you
Chapter Thirteen
Please Read, Enjoy and Review!
Uhm, remember that Chad's mom is a Doctor, it's on chapter Six 'Forbidden Fruit'.
"Dad! Come on, calm down!" Gabriella yelled at her father, scared out of her mind as he saw him shaking from head to toes.
"Get them out!" he screamed, holding onto his hair as he kneeled down on the floor. "Gabriella, get them out!"
It was getting worse. These past few weeks, it had gotten worse. Gregory Montez continued to not get one single job interview and the stress was bringing out the worst in him; his savings were running out and he just couldn't deal with the pain of watching his daughter wake up every day at 5 AM in the morning so she could go to work at the Flower Shop and then hear her come late at night because she had to work another 5 hours after school. No, he couldn't deal with that anymore, he couldn't deal with the fact that it seemed that Gabriella was the mother and he was the son. He needed a job now.
"Dad, please!" Gabriella screamed, feeling desperate and impotent. She didn't know what to do! She hadn't dealt with one of these attacks before. They only thing she had dealt with before and she had medicine for it, were her dad's catatonic stupor episodes. Should she call an ambulance? They didn't have a medical insurance, so how the hell was she going to pay for the hospital? "Dad!"
"Get them out!" he continued to scream. The annoying voices continuing to yell at him. "Gabby!"
The brunette started panicking. What could she do? What could she do? If only she knew a doctor! Her eyes widened when she remembered that she did. She did! She just hoped that she was home.
"Daddy, w-wait here, alright? I'm gonna go get some help!" she told him. Greg nodded at her, still trying to shut the voices out of his head. Why now? It had never happened to him before. He had never heard voices in his head. Why now? He screamed one more time, trying to silence them, as Gabriella quickly rushed out of her house and ran to Chad's house. She ran up the porch steps and rang the doorbell desperately. Seconds later, the door opened.
Chad looked down surprised when he saw Gabriella, but his expression quickly turned into a worried one when he noticed that she was in the middle of a panic attack. "Gabby? What's wrong?"
"Is your mom home?" she asked, desperation evident in her voice.
"Yes, why? What happened?" Chad asked.
"It's my dad!" she cried, shaking in nerves.
It was Monday morning and Troy was just stepping out the door, with his backpack over his shoulder and helmet tucked under his arm, when he heard a whistle. He frowned and turned back around to watch his father walk down the stairs whistling a happy song. What the hell? He thought.
"Morning, Troy," he grinned at his son and Troy blinked at him shocked. "You already had breakfast?"
"Uh," Troy frowned. "Yes."
"Oh too bad," he smiled at him. "Then maybe I'll catch up with you for dinner, I'll try to get out of work early."
And just as happy as he walked in, he walked off. Troy stared after him with absolutely no idea of what to think, or feel for that matter. Who the hell was he and what did he do with Jack? He continued to stare at the back of his father's head, waiting for him to turn around and yell some bullshit at him and then regret and say sorry; but that never happened. The blue eyed teen shook his head and closed the door behind him. Seriously, what was wrong with him?
"Did you check the playlist?" Kelsi asked perkily at Gabriella, who was slowly taking her books out of her locker.
The brunette nodded her head tiredly. "Yes, I looked it over on Friday with Troy," she answered before letting out a yawn. "It was great."
Kelsi frowned. "Are you alright, Gabriella?"
"Yes, yes," she nodded. "Just uh, a rough night, that's all," she fake smiled at her. "I didn't get much sleep."
"Oh, why's that?" the short girl continued to ask.
Gabriella shrugged. "Just, insomnia," she lied.
"Oh, I get that a lot, too," she grinned. "Sometimes when I can't sleep, I drink warm milk with a little bit of honey. That usually knocks me right out."
"Thanks Kels, I will remember next time," the brunette small smiled at her.
"Okay, well, before I forget, I wanted to give you another playlist," she said, handing her another USB. Gabriella nodded. "So, you guys tell me what you think about it on Wednesday, okay?"
"Will do."
"Great! See you later, Gabs," Kelsi waved before walking away. Gabriella sighed as she closed her locker. She leaned her head over it and groaned. She was feeling like a total shit. The worst of all was that her secret wasn't exactly a secret anymore. She didn't want anyone to know, and now her neighbors knew. Chad knew.
Well, what else could she do? Her dad was in the middle of a crisis and he needed help. The last time she told someone about her dad's sickness, by the next day everyone in school knew and she was the center of their mockery for weeks. It didn't end up good and that was why she transferred to East High at the beginning of the first semester; she was hoping to get a fresh start, find new friends and hope that they turned out different than her other 'friends' from West High. She honestly hoped that Chad kept her secret.
"Gabby?" the brunette looked up when her name was called and she smiled tiredly when she saw Chad. Talking about the devil. She thought.
"Hey," she said.
"How's your dad?" he asked, leaning on the locker next to hers.
"He's alright," she sighed. "Yesterday he finally told me that he forgot to take his pill on Saturday, which explains everything," Gabriella told him. "And he slept well last night."
"Good," he said. "And you? How are you?"
"Could be better," she admitted. "I didn't sleep much last night; I… was kind of worried that he would have another episode, so… I just stayed up."
Chad shook his head and sighed. "Well, there isn't much you could've done if he did have another episode, but to call us again," he told her. "Plus my mom told you that he wouldn't, since he took his pill."
"Yes, I know, I got that," Gabriella nodded. "But, I can't help it. He's my dad and I worry about him."
"I know, Gabby," Chad grabbed her hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze. "I would too if I were in your place."
Gabriella bit her lower lip and looked down at their linked hands before looking back up at him. "Thank you, Chad."
He frowned. "For what?"
"For everything. I don't know how the hell I would've been able to pay the night at the Hospital if it wasn't because your mom talked to her people," Gabriella mumbled.
"Hey," Chad squeezed her hand again. "You don't have to thank me anything, Gabby. I know we've been friends for just like five months, but, you're almost like a sister now, you're my best friend," he smiled.
Gabriella smiled back. "Thanks," she let go of his hand and stepped forward to give him a big bear hug. Chad rubbed her back and then, after a small period of time, they pulled back. "Hey, Chad, do you mind if we… kept this whole thing a secret?"
Chad frowned. "Sure, Gabby," he nodded. "Trust me; I wasn't planning on telling anybody."
"Good," she nodded. "You're great."
"I know," he smirked and Gabriella rolled her eyes before letting out another tired yawn. Chad's smirk disappeared and he let out a puff of air. "Gabby, maybe you should go home and rest," he suggested.
"Nah," she shook her head. "By lunch I'll be okay, I promise," she smiled at him.
"Okay," he sighed. "If you say so."
Entering all the classes was killing him. He was bored out his mind; and hearing Fritch ramble on and on and on about the same subject they had been talking about since the last History class, was making everything worse. He looked up at the clock that was hanging above the whiteboard and sighed. Two more minutes, he only had to endure two more minutes and then he would be able to escape the classroom.
When the bell rang, he was the first one to get out of there, making Mr. Fritch shake his head at him. "That kid will fail History for sure," he said to himself as he sat over his desk and watched the other students exit the classroom.
"God, that class is going to bore me till death," Troy mumbled to himself as he walked up to his locker. Once he was there, he opened it up and took out his wallet from his backpack. Since the last time that he forgot his wallet and he bullied a freshman for money and Gabriella stepped in the middle of the scene, he decided to place his wallet inside his backpack every night to avoid any other 'Pizza-Charity' acts from the brunette whatsoever.
He closed his locker and walked over to the cafeteria with his hands deep in his pockets. Once he was there, he looked around and quickly spotted Gabriella sitting with Chad, Taylor, Sharpay and Zeke. Troy smirked a little. It looked like Hobbs was still a little scared after Troy told him to stop bothering Gabriella; he stopped sitting with them at Lunch and joined the rest of the basketball team after that day. That made Troy feel pretty damn satisfied. As he walked over to the lunch line, a pair of brown orbs followed him.
"Gabriella! God, stop it!" Taylor rolled her eyes, noticing that her friend lost focus in their conversation. "Isn't working with Bolton on the stupid dance enough? Quit staring at him!"
"Taylor, if I didn't know you, and you weren't dating Chad, I'd say you're jealous," Sharpay commented next to Gabriella as she popped a cheese fry into her mouth. Chad chuckled and shook his head.
"I'm not jealous!" Taylor rolled her eyes. "Even after she continues to ignore me completely, I'm still trying to look after my friend!" she explained. Gabriella rolled her eyes, but didn't say anything. She had tried to argue with Taylor before and it never lead to anything.
"Like you looked after her when Austin began stalking her?" Sharpay arched an eyebrow. "Tay, you encouraged him to keep bugging her for two whole weeks."
"I said I was sorry, okay?" Taylor rolled her eyes. "Austin seemed like a good guy, he liked Gabby, was a friend of Chad´s and Zeke's, and he's extremely cute!" Chad turned to her and glared.
"Hey!" he exclaimed.
Taylor ignored him. "I thought he would be a good suitor for Gabby."
"Well obviously he was not," Gabriella scoffed. "And you should thank Troy, because he cleaned after your mess!"
"What!" Taylor gawked.
"Yeah…baby, she's right," Chad said, taking a bite of his sandwich.
"Excuse me?"
"Well, if you haven't noticed, after Troy told Austin to back off, he hasn't come near Gabriella again," Chad said. "Or do you see him sitting here with us, today?"
Taylor narrowed her eyes at her boyfriend before scoffing and crossing her arms. "Fine, I'll give you that one. But still, I believe that Bolton is an asshole! I mean he told me to-."
"Fuck off," everyone chanted at the same time while rolling their eyes. Taylor pouted like a little girl and everyone at the table laughed.
"Well," Gabriella sighed while standing up. "I feel like eating a pudding," she grinned at her friends. "Does anyone want anything?"
"Oh could you bring me a Dr. Pepper?" Zeke grinned at her and the brunette nodded.
"Sure," she grinned back and walked away.
"Am I the only one who doesn't believe that she's just going to look for a pudding?" Sharpay asked, not looking up from her fries.
"Nope," Chad said while Zeke shook his head. Taylor scoffed and rolled her eyes again, before focusing down on her tuna salad.
"That girl should listen to me," the dark skinned girl mumbled to herself.
Troy took out his wallet from his pants and handed the lunch lady a 10 dollar to pay for his lunch. He chose a ham and cheese sandwich with fries to the side and an orange juice box. He turned around and walked over to his usual table. It didn't pass more than five minutes after he sat down, when a certain brunette sat down in front of him. Troy groaned.
"Now what?" he asked, placing his sandwich down on his plate.
"What's your favorite color?" the brunette asked, peeling the lid of her pudding.
Troy arched an eyebrow at her. "Really? You seriously think I'm gonna follow this 20-questions-game-bull-crap?"
"I would say it's black or blue," Gabriella continued to say, ignoring his comment. "Since apparently that's what you always wear."
Troy rolled his eyes. "Go away."
"Nope," she said, taking a spoonful of her chocolate pudding. "I said I was going to get to know you, so that's what I'm doing."
"And I said that you were going to waste your time," Troy responded. "Now, I believe that you were very comfortable with your friends, so why don't you just go back to their table and leave me alone?" he asked.
Gabriella licked the back of her spoon. "Do you know me at all, Troy?" she asked. "Plus, I like to be with you, when you're not all defensive."
"What?" he frowned. When has he ever not been defensive with her?
"I like being with you," she repeated while shrugging. "So am I right? Your favorite color is blue?"
"When have I not been defensive when you're around?" he asked, ignoring her other question.
Gabriella arched an eyebrow at him. "You seriously want to go there?"
"Yes, in fact, I would like to know."
"Okay," she shrugged. "Well, for instance when we almost kissed in your front yard four months ago, when we did kiss in the hallway and you said that I drove you nuts," she said, blushing a little. Troy's eyes widened for a moment before he cleared his throat awkwardly. Damn, she remembered that. "Also in the coffee shop or in your house, when I'm not touching any subjects that have to do with you, you tend to be more relaxed," she said.
Troy looked at her for a moment before shaking his head and looking down at his plate. "If you got me all figured out, then why do you keep trying to interrogate me about my life?" he asked, taking a bite of his sandwich.
"Honestly?" she asked. He looked up at her and she shrugged. "I'm not quite sure," she admitted.
"Oh so you're just pissing me off out of fun?" he asked, taking a sip of his orange juice.
Gabriella rolled her eyes. "No."
"Then why?"
"I said I'm not sure," she repeated.
"Then tell me what you are sure of, Cupcake," Troy challenged her.
Gabriella stared at him, thoughtful for a second, before shaking her head. "No, Cinnamon Roll, two can play this game. You want answers from me? Then tell me what your favorite color is," she said.
Troy scoffed. He wondered what her game-plan was; she was asking just for his favorite color, nothing too complicated, nothing too personal, something that everybody could easily answer. She was willing to give a greater piece of information to Troy, in exchange of his favorite color. What was the deal with that? He eyed her for a moment, as if trying to read her mind.
And boy was Troy smart. He knew that if she got him to answer that small and insignificant question, she would get him to open a crack of the door to his mind; he would give her a piece of the key to his deepest secret.
He smirked at her. She was clever. Information for information. She was working little by little. But no, he wouldn't let her win just like that. It's like she said: two can play this game.
"Grey," he lied.
It was Gabriella's turn to eye him back. She smirked too. "You are bundle full of lies."
He arched an eyebrow at her. "How do you know I'm lying?"
"Because I know you enough to know that you wouldn't give up just like that," she said. "You never answer my questions," she grinned.
"Then how the hell do you expect to get to know me if you know everything I answer is a lie?" he asked back.
Gabriella stared at him, seeing if he was talking seriously. Troy, alone, has told Gabriella little things about himself, little things that didn't have too much importance, like his immunity to caffeine, but yet, it was little stuff like that, that Gabriella loved to make mental note of. She thought over that fact when she was in the hospital with her dad; she actually didn't have to push Troy around to get to know him… she just had to be herself around him; it made him feel not threatened, in her opinion.
"You really haven't noticed, have you?"
"Haven't noticed what?" he asked, frowning. Okay, she was starting to scare him.
The brunette continued to grin. "Well this is great," she nodded, stealing a fry from his plate. He glared at her as she dipped the fry into her pudding and brought it to her mouth.
"You're disgusting," he told her.
Gabriella looked up at him and frowned. "Why? It tastes good!"
"I've heard of Mc Donald's ice-cream and fries, but that is just plain weird," he told her. Gabriella rolled her eyes as she stole another fry and dipped it in her pudding. She stretched her arm in front of her, handing it over to Troy, but he just looked at her frowning.
"Try it," she said.
"Uh, no," he said, going back to his sandwich.
"C'mon, try it, don't be a pussy!" she said. "I promise you'll like it."
"Leave me alone and I may try it," he responded, narrowing his eyes at her.
Gabriella huffed and stood up from her seat, giving Troy a slight hope that she was just going to walk away; but no, she sat next to him and continued to shove the fry into his face.
"Try it!" she ordered.
"No!" he yelled at her, moving to one side to create space between them. Gabriella scooted closer to him.
"I won't leave you alone till you try it!" she exclaimed.
"Gabriella, get that thing out of my face!" he growled at her, grabbing her wrist.
"Eat it!"
By now, half the cafeteria was staring at the couple fight, including Gabriella's group of friends and a very jealous Austin, who was at the other side of the cafeteria. Chad chuckled amused as he watched Gabriella and his old friend interact. It was like watching Troy go back to his old self. That little scene right there, it was what it took to finally convince Chad that Gabriella hadn't come to East High out of pure coincidence. She was there for something.
"I'm going to break your wrist if you don't stop it right now," Troy warned her.
Gabriella glared at him. "Suit yourself; it's your suspension after all," she said, reminding Troy that they were in school.
"Get. It. Out. Of. My. Face," he ordered once more.
"Try it!" Gabriella took the fry out of her trapped hand with her free one.
"No-!" and then she shoved the fry into Troy's mouth, taking him by surprise and making him let go of Gabriella's wrist. The brunette laughed as the blue eyed teen chewed on the fry and glared at her.
"I don't like you," Troy growled at her after he swallowed the fry.
"But did you like the fry?" she grinned at him, still giggling a little.
"No!" he exclaimed on her face.
Gabriella arched an eyebrow at him with a smirk. "You sure? Want to try another one?" she asked, going for his plate, which Troy moved out of her reach.
"Go away!"
"You are just a sore loser," she stated.
"Seriously, Cupcake, isn't it enough for you to go to my house three times a week, and spend your free period with me on Tuesdays and Thursdays, that you also have to come stalk me on my lunch time?" Troy asked, narrowing his eyes at her. "And I'm not a sore loser."
"I do not stalk you and you know it," she said, rolling her eyes. "And yes you are a sore loser, because you won't admit that you liked my fry!"
"I didn't," he growled, feeling frustrated that she was still there.
"Oh you totally loved my fry!" she smirked.
"Go away!" he yelled again. "Go back to your friends; Taylor seems to miss you since she keeps glaring at me," he said, feeling Taylor's eyes drilling on the side of his skull.
"What?" she frowned and turned to her friends' table and saw all of them turn around quickly, except for Taylor, who shook her head at the brunette. She turned back to Troy. "Well, I gave Zeke his Dr. Pepper before coming over here, so I got no business left with them. Well, until later… when they start asking about this," she said, motioning between her and Troy. "Plus Taylor is just being dramatic and stupid like always; she still resents you for telling her to fuck off."
Troy rolled his eyes. "Not surprised," he mumbled, grabbing his orange juice box. "That girl has always been fucked up."
"She's not that fucked up," Gabriella defended her. "She's quite cool… when she isn't scolding you, yelling or calling you stupid," the brunette said. "She's just…"
"Fucked up," Troy finished for her, making Gabriella giggle a little and roll her eyes.
Lydia Frank eyed the menu and pursed her lips thoughtfully, trying to decide what to order and pretending not to notice Jack's eyes on her. When she finally decided between the blue berry pancakes and the cheese omelet, she closed the menu and placed it over the table. She smiled at Jack and tucked some of her blonde hair behind her left ear.
"So," she started, making Jack smile up at her. "Now that I finally agreed to go out with you after your continues and stalking calls, what now?"
"Well," Jack shrugged, placing his menu down on the table as well. "We get to know each other," he grinned at her.
"Okay," Lydia smiled. "What would you like to know?"
Jack bit the inside of his cheek thoughtfully. "Well," he pondered. "How old are you?"
The blonde business woman arched an eyebrow at him. "Really? You really want to ask that?"
"Uh w-why? I-is it a bad question?" Jack stuttered. "I-I'm sorry, u-uhm, w-what's your favorite food?"
Lydia laughed. "How long has it been since your last date?" she asked.
"Uh," the blue eyed man scratched his forehead. "A while," he admitted.
"Come on," she smiled at his shyness. "Tell me."
Jack fiddled with his thumbs over the green table and cleared his throat. "A little more than 18 years," he said.
"Wow," the blonde blinked. "Yes, it has been definitely a while," she agreed.
"Yeah, well," he shrugged, looking up at her. "I've never really been attracted to anyone since then," he said. "Until now," he grinned. Lydia blushed and smiled back at him.
"Well, I'm flattered."
"What about you?" Jack asked. "When was your last date?"
Lydia grinned at him. "A little over 10 years," she nodded, making Jack laugh.
"It seems like we've both been a little bit inactive these past few years," he joked.
"Seems like it," the blonde agreed with a nod. "To be honest, since my husband left me and my daughter when she was just one year old, I haven't been really looking for a relationship."
"I see," Jack nodded. "So you have a daughter?"
"Yes," Lydia grinned. "Her name's Theresa, but she prefers Terry," she said. Jack couldn't help but notice how her eyes lit up as she mentioned her daughter, like if she was the most precious thing in the world. He let out a small chuckle.
"How old is she?" he asked.
"She just turned nine on January," Lydia answered. "She's… my sunshine," she cooed.
"I see. They're cute at that age, right?" Jack commented, smiling at her.
The blonde frowned at him, still smiling. "You have kids?" she asked, cocking her head to one side.
"Uh," Jack nodded. "Yeah… yeah. One boy. His name's Troy, he's 17," he mentioned, obviously not as excited and joyful as his date.
"Oh!" Lydia's smile grew bigger, not having noticed the lack of emotion in Jack's eyes. "That's so nice. He's a junior or a senior?"
"Junior," he said. "He's a clever boy, but he could do so much better if he wasn't such a lazy ass and didn't skip class every two days," he scoffed.
"Well, they say that smart kids tend to get bored in class because they already know their stuff," Lydia said. "So they tend to make disorder in class or simple skip it," she smirked. "Maybe your boy's a genius."
"Yeah, I don't think that's his case, Lydia," Jack rolled his eyes. "He's just a lazy ass."
The blonde laughed and shook her head at him. "You're mean, Jack!"
"I thought we were far done with the music."
Gabriella rolled her eyes as she plugged the USB Kelsi gave her that morning in Troy's laptop. "Yeah well, 30 songs aren't enough for a party, Troy," she explained. "Especially if we do hire the DJ that Sharpay contacted on Friday; he's going mix his songs with Kelsi's and let's just say that he's going to need quite a large list."
Troy sighed. "What about 'Dumb and Dumber' with the theme and shit?"
The brunette shot him a disapproving look. "Don't call them that," she said, turning back to the computer and clicking on the iTunes icon. "And they came up with another two ideas since you also despised their Cinderella theme and the Costume Party theme."
"Well, you can't blame me," Troy said. "It's not Halloween to make a Costume Party. And the Cinderella Theme? Please, just, come on!"
"I know, Troy, I know," Gabriella rolled her eyes, chuckling. "You made that quite clear, already," she pressed the Play button and the first song started playing. The brunette bent over and took out a folder from her backpack and took out two sheets of paper, before handing them over to Troy.
"These are their new ideas," she said.
"Are they even worth reading?" Troy grumbled, arching an eyebrow at her.
"One is a Masquerade theme and the other one is The Last Waltz," Gabriella said, accommodating herself so she was resting on the corner between the arm rest and the back of the couch.
"Oh God," Troy mumbled to himself, rubbing his face. He felt like such a girl doing this. And he didn't want to read about more stupid ideas from stupid people, when in reality he didn't give a crap about the decorations being pink or black! "Tell me again, why am I the one going over this thing? Why can't you decide?"
Gabriella raised her hands up in defense. "Hey, I was fine with the Undersea theme! You're the one who started going all designer on me," she joked.
Troy faked a laugh at her and rolled his eyes. "Last time I recall, you dropped the papers on me," he complained, throwing the papers on the coffee table.
"I wanted your opinion since you're my partner!" she argued.
"And you got it," he said, pushing the papers to her. "Honestly, I don't give a crap about the theme. So, you choose."
"Fine," she gave him a sarcastic smile. "Then I choose the Cinderella theme and you are going as Prince Charming!"
Troy scoffed. "If you think I'm going, you're very brain damaged."
Gabriella glared at him. "Excuse me?"
"Oh, I'm sorry, did I offend you?" he asked sarcastically.
She shook her head at him before grabbing the papers from the table and looking over them. "You're an asshole," she mumbled. Troy stared at the frown on her face and smirked a little; she looked very cute when she was angry. Two seconds later the brunette looked back up, still frowning.
"You know, you better start being more respectful with me, or else I'll tell Darbus that you didn't do a shit and that I did all the work," she said. "And you know that she'll believe me."
Troy arched an eyebrow at her. "Are you threatening me, Cupcake?"
"Yes, indeed I am!" she said, turning back to her papers. "So you better cut it out."
The brown haired boy chuckled amused. "Right, because I take orders from you," he nodded sarcastically.
"You should," she mumbled, passing to the second sheet of paper. "You really don't know what I'm capable of, Cinnamon Roll; I could make your life a living hell if I wanted to," she looked up at him and smirked.
Oh boy, you're wrong. He thought. His life was already a living hell. And she was the thing that was torturing him the most. He smirked back at her. "You're a bundle full of lies," he said, making reference to the comment she made earlier that day in the cafeteria.
Gabriella glared at him. "Hey, repeating your phrases to mock you is my thing, not yours!"
He shrugged. "Does it look like I care?"
"You don't care about anything," she rolled her eyes. "So what does it matter?"
Troy chuckled and leaned back against the couch, crossing his arms. Gabriella stared at him by the corner of her eye and huffed. For a moment, the only thing that could be heard was the party music softly playing in the background as Gabriella read the decorations list for the 'The Last Waltz' theme. She bit her lower lip and grimaced. No, yeah, Troy was right, Jake and Andy were awful. That was a horrible idea for only a Spring Ball; those guys seemed to want to plan a prom. No, she was definitely going for the Masquerade theme. It was the best idea they'd had so far.
Troy stared at Gabriella as she silently read. She was biting her lower lip, grimacing and scratching the little piece of skin between her eyebrows as her eyes roamed over the papers in her hands. He didn't notice when the small smile spread across his face, but he did notice how beautiful she was. And yes, he also noticed that he began letting himself think about her more than he should; yet, he knew that he wasn't able to do much about it. As long as he didn't let those thoughts roll out of his tongue, then there was nothing he really had to worry about.
At the beginning he knew that thinking about her would only cause him to suffer more. The only thing that those thoughts brought was the tiring attempt to control himself harder when she was around.
But, then he thought; he already suffered anyway, and so far, he was doing well at keeping his distance (He hadn't launched himself at her and attacked her lips). So yes; as long as he didn't let his thoughts out of his mouth, everything would be alright.
Gabriella suddenly gasped as one of her favorite songs –'Fireflies' by Owl City– started playing in Troy's laptop and she smiled. She looked over to the boy sitting next to her and he arched an eyebrow at her.
"I love that song!" she exclaimed.
"Yay," Troy exclaimed sarcastically back at her, rolling his eyes. "So? What do you want me to do?" he asked.
Gabriella grinned at him and stood up, dropping the papers on the table. "Dance with me!"
"Ha! No," he shook his head. "You're crazy."
"C'mon!" the brunette grabbed his wrist and pulled on him, making him uncross his arms but not get up.
"No!" he denied again, pulling his arm back.
"Troy, please," Gabriella pleaded.
"No."
"Please!"
"No!"
"Please!"
"NO!"
"Are you gay or something?"
"What?" he frowned.
"Because I honestly don't see the problem in dancing with a girl," she said, crossing her arms. "If I were a dude, would you dance with me then?"
Troy glared at her. "Nice try, Cupcake."
Gabriella rolled her eyes. She grabbed his left wrist again –with her two hands this time– and pulled him up. Troy stumbled forward a little before he regained his balance and looked at Gabriella with a shocked expression. He hadn't expected her to be that strong.
"I have a big brother who's ten years older than me," she shrugged, answering his unspoken question. "I'm strong."
Troy narrowed his eyes at her. "I'm still not dancing with you."
The brunette let go of his wrist and placed her hands on his hips. "C'mon, you just have to move a little," she said, attempting to move his hips for him. Troy pushed her hands away.
"I'm not dancing with you," he told her. He turned around but Gabriella grabbed him by the belt loops of his jeans from behind and pulled him back. "Gabriella!" Troy growled.
The girl just laughed as she went to stand in front of him. "What are you afraid of?"
"I am not afraid," he said.
She shrugged. "Prove it. Dance with me," she requested, grabbing his hands and entwining her fingers with his. Troy opened his mouth to answer but Gabriella cut him off. "Yes, I know, 'I don't have to prove anything to you' blah, blah, blah," she rolled her eyes and Troy narrowed his eyes at her.
"You're not funny," he grumbled at her.
"I wasn't trying to be funny," she smirked at him. "Wait! I'm gonna restart the song," she said, letting go of his hands a moment and jogged back to the laptop.
Troy stood there with a frown adorning his face. What…the…hell? A second ago he wasn't going to dance with her. How the fuck…?
The song suddenly stopped and seconds later it started playing again from the beginning. Gabriella jogged back to Troy, who continued to frown, and grabbed his hands again. The blue eyed boy stared down at her, grimacing, as she pulled him to the other side of the coffee table so they had more space.
"Cupcake, I'm not dancing!"
"Yes you are, Cinnamon Roll, and don't give me that face," Gabriella rolled her eyes. Troy didn't say anything as he watched Gabriella begging to move from side to side. He just stood there, feeling awkward as he didn't know how to dance.
"Come on, Troy, don't just stand there," the brunette scolded him.
"Well, I'm sorry Cupcake, but I don't dance," he told her.
"It isn't that hard," she said. "C'mon, just follow me," she continued to move from side to side in short steps. Troy sighed frowning and started moving with her. Well, one dance couldn't hurt right? Besides, she was just going to continue bothering him until he agreed to. Seriously, why do he keeps letting her win?
"I can't believe you got me doing this," he grumbled again.
The brunette giggled as she raised their hands to their sides. "Well, you're doing it very good!"
The sliding door of the kitchen bar that connected to the dining room suddenly opened.
"Kids-," Annie began to say but her eyes widened when she saw Troy and Gabriella dancing in the middle of the living room. Her Troy; her grumpy, cocky, unfriendly Troy was dancing. In the living room. With Gabriella. Troy was dancing with Gabriella! "Oh my God," she mumbled to herself as a wide grin spread across her face.
Troy was dancing! With Gabriella! Troy was dancing with Gabriella! In the living room!
The honey-colored eyed woman turned to the maids, who were fighting over the last piece of chocolate cake that Annie made for dessert. "Girls!" she whispered yelled at them. They turned their heads towards Annie and she waved them over. Isabelle and Nicole looked at each other before jumping off the tall chairs of the kitchen island and jogged over to the cook. They stood next to her as they both looked out to the living room. Their expressions copied Annie's as soon as their shocker passed; their eyes softened and they both awed in silence, not wanting to interrupt the teens' moment in any way.
"It's hard to say I'd rather stay awake when I'm asleep," Gabriella sang along with the song. "Cause everything is never as it seems, when I fall asleep."
Troy rolled his eyes but smirked at her. "I bet you have really bizarre dreams and that's why you like this song," he said.
How it'd happened? He gave in to her. When it happened? He didn't know. But the thing was that at some point it did. Troy forgot about everything. He forgot about his father, he forgot about him killing his mom, he forgot about his barriers, he forgot about his promise. He just focused on Gabriella.
But he knew; he knew it wasn't supposed to be happening and he knew he was supposed to be distant with her. But it just felt right. That feeling of want to not give a damn anymore was taking control of his body. It had just happened twice, and now, it was happening for a third time. Damn Gabriella and damn the effect she had on him.
"I don't know," Gabriella shrugged. "But if you count hippos eating your big gigantic head, Bolton, then yes, I do have bizarre dreams," she smirked back.
"Funny," he said, sarcastically. He let go of one of her hands and wrapped his left arm around her waist, pulling her closer. Gabriella squealed surprised and giggled stupidly as they continued moving around. Troy smiled down at her.
"Go get my cell phone!" Annie whispered yelled at Isabelle and she quickly ran to get the cook's purse, which was sitting on one of the tall chairs in the kitchen.
"I think I have never seen Mr. Bolton smile like that before," Nicole commented, resting her chin on her hand. "Well, actually I've never seen him smile before."
"Me neither," Isabelle said, handing the cell phone over to Annie. "Isn't it romantic?" she squealed. Annie shook her head at the maids and searched for the camera icon on her phone.
"Look, look," Nicole continued to say. "It's all like 'Houston, we have a problem. We may have just lost contact with the world'," she giggled.
Annie and Isabelle giggled along. "No, no," Isabelle chipped in. "If there were little bitter people controlling his brain they would be like 'No, yeah, we lost him'."
"Shut up you two," Annie giggled. "I need to concentrate or else the picture will come out blurry."
Gabriella grinned up at Troy. She loved the smile that was plastered on his handsome face. "See? Nothing horrible happened," she said as the song came to an end, and along with it, Troy's… 'high state'. They stopped dancing, but Troy didn't let go and he didn't say anything. He just stared at her, feeling utterly weird, like if he had butterflies in his stomach. He also felt confused at the fact that his heart was beating faster than usual. What was happening?
His eyes roamed over her face, studying it carefully. He noticed that she had dark circles under her eyes, but… she was smiling. She looked like she had only a few hours of sleep and yet, she looked happy. He wondered why. Why was she so hard working and dedicated and had two jobs? How did she manage to still look… positive?
And why was she so interested in him? Why did she come into his life and made him… dance?
"Who are you?" he mumbled to her. The brunette frowned, and as she was about to ask him what he meant, a flash flew off and a fake camera sound was heard.
Their heads turned to where the flash came from and Troy narrowed his eyes at the three women who were standing behind the bar. Nicole and Isabelle quickly ducked down to hide, and Annie hid her cell phone behind her back.
"Oops?" she smiled innocently at Troy.
"Okay, that's it!" Troy said, letting go of Gabriella, who was blushing profusely. "You three are fired!"
Gabriella bit the inside of her cheek as Troy pulled over in front of her house. She was still wondering what he had meant with his question. But after Annie took the picture of them dancing, the atmosphere became too weird and awkward; so she really didn't have the guts to ask.
Troy would barely look at her and he would just mumble an 'uh-huh' at everything she asked or said, so she figured that it wouldn't be a good idea to ask. It was obvious that he was angry; probably because the brunette made him dance, or maybe because his maids and his cook took a picture of him when he was dancing. Gabriella winced when she remembered how he stormed into the kitchen to yell at them.
"You're not really going to fire them, are you?" the brunette asked, rubbing her right arm as she looked at Troy.
He huffed and shook his head. "No," he looked up ahead of him and Gabriella continued to bite the inside of her cheek as she saw that his eyes were a little darker than usual. She definitely didn't like that navy blue in them.
"You're still mad?" she asked softly.
"Yes," he grumbled. "So please, don't start with your stupid jokes and… just get out."
The brunette grimaced. "I said I was sorry."
"Gabriella," Troy sighed. "Don't. Please, just… don't."
"If I knew Annie was spying, trust me, I wouldn't have suggested it. I just... I wanted… I wanted for us to have a little fun."
Troy rubbed his face and shook his head. He looked over to Gabriella with his dark blue eyes and sighed when he saw her tired and sorry face.
"I'll see you tomorrow," he told her. "Now get out."
The brunette sighed and nodded. She leaned forward and kissed Troy on the cheek, making him freeze like always.
"Please don't be mad," she pleaded softly and opened her door.
Without saying anything, Troy watched her get out of the car and walk to her house. His eyes never left her until she opened her front door and waved one last time. He sighed and rubbed his eyes with his thumb and pointer finger.
"What am I going to do?" he mumbled to himself. This was some sick punishment from the higher force. He didn't understand what was exactly what she did to make him lose focus, to make him forget that he was a murderer and didn't deserve to even smile. Why had she come?
He knew she was too good to be true. And he also knew that if he even thought about giving her an opportunity, another door would just slam close on his face. "What am I going to do?" he mumbled again.
Who are you? That was his question. Who are you?
What was she supposed to answer to that? She was…well, her. Who else could she be?
Gabriella sighed as she flopped down on her bed and covered her face with her arms. She definitely hadn't pictured that day going as awfully as it did. At the beginning it was… well… going… not so bad. And now, Troy was even more defensive than he was before. She had to make smaller moves, not ask him to dance! Well, force him to dance, actually.
Who are you?
What had he meant by that? Why would he even ask that? One moment they were looking at each other, Gabriella cursing herself because she was playing romantic music in the back of her head, and suddenly… he asks who she was.
She just hoped that he was in the better mood tomorrow, so she could ask him about it.
To be continued.
Hello there my peeps! How are you in this nice, beautiful morning/afternoon/evening?
Good? Great!
Well, last week I finished my finals, on Sunday I made my admission test to college again, which I think I did worse than the last time, so I ask you to PRAY for me! xD
Aaand I just noticed that I wrote July 3rd instead of June 3rd on my last post, sorry, I was sleepy xD
But as I said, I'm gonna start writing my book, so my updates won't be very often. If you want to know what my book is about, you can send me a message! :)
Oh and you're also probably wondering: since when does Gabriella have a brother? Well… since always; remember that he doesn't live with them, that he has his own job and he's saving pennies for his wedding (It's on Chapter four 'Coffee Shop'.) I'll be mentioning him more in the next few chapters.
Love you all!
Don't forget to review.
Lots of Love,
Mary.
PS: SORRY FOR GRAMMAR AND SPELLING MISTAKES! xD