Chapter 20
Disclaimer: I do not own High School Musical or any of its characters.
Troy woke his father half an hour earlier than normal the next morning and Jack cursed quietly when he saw the clock as he got dressed.
Knowing that it was earlier than normal Troy had put the kettle on and handed his father a cup of coffee in silent apology as he entered the kitchen.
"Trouble sleeping?" Jack asked sympathetically.
"Yeah. It just doesn't feel right" Troy admitted.
"How long were you up talking last night?" Jack asked without condemnation.
"Only for about half an hour after you left" Troy replied.
"Are you ready to go?" Jack asked as he drained the last of his coffee.
"Yeah round towards the river?" Troy suggested.
"Sure but I hope you're not planning on running all the way to the river and back" Jack protested.
"Nah let me know when you're ready to turn back" Troy said amiably.
They ran for a while in silence enjoying the freshness of the early morning. "Is there something you wanted to talk to me about?" Jack asked realising that Troy was having trouble bringing up whatever was bothering him.
"Do you think I'm being unfair on Gabriella asking her to live off campus with me? Would she be better off living in the dorms at Stanford?" Troy asked quietly.
"Are you rethinking wanting to live together?" Jack queried.
"No I still want to live with Gabriella. It's just everyone has made such a big deal over these next three weeks being Gabriella's only chance to experience living in the dorms and how much easier it will be to make friends while living on campus that I'm starting to worry. Am I asking too much asking her to give that up?" Troy said worried that his actions were hurting his wife.
"I can't answer that Troy, you need to talk it over with Gabriella. One thing about these next couple of weeks is that it will give Gabriella the experience of being away from you and of living on campus and making new friends. She'll be able to tell you what she wants to do. You need to think about what you want. You've already admitted that living with Gabriella will be a lot more work with cooking and housework not to mention the travel time involved. And you're aware that these issues with Gabriella will be the same for you. Do you really want to live off campus" Jack answered wanting Troy to think about his own wants as well.
"What do you think I should do?" Troy asked.
"I would have liked to see you spend at least the first semester living in the dorms like a normal freshman, but that will only be beneficial if you don't spend every spare moment driving to Stanford to see Gabriella and to be honest I really can't seeing you doing anything else" Jack said bluntly. "Gabriella left yesterday morning and you talked to her four times."
"Are you saying I shouldn't call her?" Troy said half worried and half angry at the suggestion.
"No Troy I don't want you to feel you can't call or for Gabriella to feel that she shouldn't be calling you. I certainly don't want Gabriella feeling alone and not wanting to call for fear of upsetting you or letting us down. I'm just pointing out that there would be very little advantage in living on campus if you both spent every night in your rooms on Skype with each other anyway" Jack said calmly. "You'd be happier actually being together."
Troy sighed but didn't say anything else.
"Talk to Gabriella about how you're feeling Troy" his father encouraged. "You can't make decisions like this on your own."
They realised they'd run further than they intended and picked up the pace as they turned towards home. "I'll talk to Gabriella while I'm at Stanford" Troy decided.
"You could leave the decision until she comes home after the honours program" Jack suggested.
"I have an appointment with the housing officer to look at flats in Haywood on Friday" Troy replied.
"I guess you better talk to Gabriella before Friday then but remember that you probably don't have to commit to a decision until August" Jack said puffing slightly. "Troy trust Gabriella, she'll tell you what she wants to do."
Troy brushed his hair as he changed after free period practice later that day noticing how long and scraggly it was getting. Making a quick decision he pulled out his phone and made an appointment for a haircut that afternoon.
He showed up for his appointment and hesitantly sat in the hairdressers chair when asked.
The hairdresser made idle conversation. "Hi I'm Joan. Are you getting your hair cut for a particular occasion?" she asked while setting up.
"I'm going to visit Gabriella on the weekend and I want to look good" Troy replied.
The hairdresser looked at him for a moment then asked. "Is Gabriella a current girlfriend or potential girlfriend? Or perhaps an ex-girlfriend you want to show what she's missing?"
"Current Girlfriend she's at Stanford for the freshman Honours program" he replied proudly, not wanting to deal with this gossipy stranger making a fuss about him being married at his age.
"So you want to make a good impression to compete with the college guys she's met?" Joan guessed.
Troy shook his head earning himself a frown. "I just want her to be proud to introduce me to her new friends" he said. "I don't want to embarrass her by looking like..." Troy shrugged not able to put his insecurities into words.
"Don't worry honey any girl in her right mind will be proud to be with such a gorgeous looking guy" Joan said reassuringly. "Do you have a particular look in mind?"
Troy shrugged "I want to look smarter" he said.
"You should be careful what you ask for. I could make you look geeky smart or did you mean you wanted to look scorching hot and sophisticated?" Joan teased as she started cutting.
"I don't want to look like a geek" Troy said quickly.
"Don't worry honey with that face I doubt you could even if you wanted to" Joan said reassuringly.
Troy sat quietly while Joan finished up her work and turned him back toward the mirror. He looked in the mirror and smiled. He looked much tidier and more mature just like he wanted. He hoped that Gabriella would like it.
He arrived home and went straight upstairs to finish the assignments and catch up work he'd been given by his teachers that day once he'd told them he'd be away.
Lucille looked up as he walked past "Do you want something to eat Troy?" she asked already reaching for the stuff to make him a snack.
"Sure Mama I'll just grab my books and come down and sit with you" Troy replied smiling.
"You've had your hair cut" she noticed smiling when she brought his snack into the dining room where Troy had spread out his books. "It looks lovely" she added running her fingers through it.
"Thanks Mom" Troy replied blushing slightly.
"Did you talk to your teachers about missing a couple of days school?" Lucille asked.
"Yeah most of them said they'd have the class work I'll miss for me to collect tomorrow. I got a couple of homework assignments already" Troy said gesturing to the pile of papers and books in front of him. "I've almost finished the work due this week so I can hand it all in early on Wednesday before I go."
"I'm so proud of the way you're taking responsibility for your work" Lucille said. "Gabriella has been a good influence on you."
Troy blushed slightly and nodded returning to his work to end the conversation.
That night Troy thought about putting on a beanie to hide his haircut so he could surprise Gabriella with it when he arrived in California but decided he'd rather show her straight away so he could stop worrying whether she'd like it.
He connected and found Gabriella already on-line.
"Hey Wildcat" she greeted him smiling.
"How was your first day?" he asked.
"Exhausting" Gabriella said sighing. "I'm so glad I did all of the pre-reading the classes were demanding and we have a lot of topics to research and read up on for tomorrow"
"I should let you go so you can do it before it gets too late" Troy said trying to be considerate and hide his disappointment that Gabriella didn't have time to talk to him. "Call me back when you get into bed, no matter how late it is. I'll leave the line open so just shout and wake me up" he added hopefully.
At first Gabriella was worried that Troy was making excuses not to spend time with her but when he asked her to call back realised that he was worried about her being able to get her work done. "It's okay Troy I've already done a lot of the work, it will only take me another hour" (or so) she added silently.
"So did you meet any new friends?" he asked glad she was willing to put off her work to talk to him.
"To be honest I spent most of the day with my room-mates Alia and Casey. We met a couple of other people in the library when we were researching though" Gabriella said.
"You didn't hang out with Sophia?" Troy queried.
"We walked across to class with her, but she sat with Ben and Stephen once she saw them" Gabriella replied laughing. "We had lunch with them but most of us wanted to hit the library so we didn't talk much"
"Gabriella I know you want to do your best and get perfect marks for the honours program and that you want to get your homework done early so you can spend time talking to me each night but you need to try to take advantage of living on campus too. You won't get another opportunity if we move in together next year" Troy said quietly.
"When we move in together next year" Gabriella said firmly.
Troy smiled "When" he agreed.
"You sound like my mother" Gabriella complained.
"I'll take that as a compliment" Troy teased. "You're mother is a very smart person" Troy said cheekily.
"Troy" Gabriella said crossly.
"I don't want to nag you. I'm just worried that you're going to regret agreeing to live off campus with me, I want you to be sure that you really want to" Troy said anxiously.
"Did your Mom and Dad put you up to this?"
"No I spoke to Dad. He said that he would like us to experience living on campus even if it was just for a semester but he didn't think it would do any good because we'd spend all our spare time visiting each other or in our rooms talking on Skype" Troy said.
"He's right Troy. I want to stay with you" Gabriella said gently.
"Okay but please try to enjoy living in the dorms for the next few weeks and spend some time with your new friends" Troy said pleadingly.
"Okay Troy I'll try" Gabriella promised.
"Okay I'll let you get your work done. I'll leave the link open on my side so we can talk when you're finished" Troy said.
"I'll talk to you later Troy" Gabriella said smiling.
"I love you Gabriella"
"I love you too" Gabriella said.
Gabriella looked at the Skype screen for a minute, she could see Troy sitting writing determinedly not looking up. She got out her reading and settled to work.
A/N: Thank you to Pumpkinking5, Wildcats2016, Kiara and Guest for your support.