Chapter 21
Disclaimer: I do not own High School Musical or any of its characters. The lines in bold are actual quotes from the movie.
"Hey Troy, I thought you were looking after Jakie tonight" Gabriella said.
"I am" Troy said wondering why she thought he wasn't.
"Then what were you doing running around with no pants on in front of a toddler?" Gabriella asked.
"I just got finished bathing Jakie and took of my wet pants to put on dry clothes" Troy explained.
"Is he asleep now?" Gabriella asked.
"Yes finally" Troy said. "He didn't want to go down tonight."
"So did you have a good night looking after him?" Gabriella asked smiling.
"Yeah we always have fun" Troy said happily. He sounded less stressed than he had in days. "I've still got a truckload of homework though so I better go."
"Okay Troy. Good luck with the homework. I'll see you in the morning" Gabriella replied.
"Night Gabriella, Sweet dreams" Troy said before disconnecting the call.
He sat at the kitchen table to finish his homework, and was still working when Debra and Steve arrived home. "You're not normally up this late doing homework?" Steve asked worried as he knew how early his brother forced Troy to get up to run.
"I'm struggling to get it all done with the amount of time Dad has me training and the call-back rehearsals" Troy admitted starting to pack up his stuff.
"I hate to say this Troy but do you really have time to audition for and be in the musical?" Steve asked as he drove Troy home.
"I really want to do it Uncle Steve. Singing feels like basketball used to. Basketball season finishes in less than two weeks and then I'll have time for the rehearsals and stuff" Troy replied.
"Well Deb and I will look forward to coming to see you. We'll have to find a different babysitter for that night" Steve said. "Come on let's get you home. 5.30am is going to come awfully quickly. Has your Mom said anything about the hours of extra practice Jack's making you do?"
Troy sighed "She's not home to notice. I told her about it when she complained about me waking her and Dad up with the washing machine when I put it on before going running the other morning. I don't know that it will do much good though"
Steve laughed "Well that's one way to bring it to their attention" he said. "Have you finished the homework you have to do tonight?"
"Yeah" Troy said tiredly. "Thanks for the ride home."
"Thanks for looking after Jacob. Deb would never leave him without worrying with anyone else."
"I love looking after him" Troy replied.
"I hate to ask you to do it when you're already so busy though" Steve said.
"It's fine. I enjoy it. What night do you want me to look after him next week?" Troy asked smiling.
"You don't want to have a week off for the championships and call-backs and everything?" Steve asked surprised.
"No, looking after Jakie's surprisingly relaxing. I'm gonna need the break from the stress" Troy replied.
"Your game's Friday right?" Steve asked.
"Yeah, and call-backs are Thursday afternoon" Troy agreed.
"Okay what about Monday night then?"
"Yeah pick I'll ring you to me up after training as usual" Troy said smiling.
"See you next week Troy" Steve said gratefully.
"See you Monday Uncle Steve" Troy said getting out of the car and waving to his Uncle as he let himself into the house.
"Where have you been?" his mother demanded. She was sitting at the table eating obviously having not long arrived home herself.
"Babysitting Jakie like I do every week" Troy said tiredly. "Dad knew why didn't you ask him?"
"You should have let me know" Lucille said crossly.
"What? Let you know I wouldn't be home to cook dinner and you had to come home at a decent hour to do it yourself for a change?" Troy asked sarcastically. "It's not my fault you get so busy you can't remember what day of the week it is. Oh and I'm babysitting Monday next week instead because of the championships. Put it in your calendar. I'm going to bed."
Lucille watched Troy walk upstairs in shock. She knew he was somewhat upset about the hours she'd been working but he'd never spoken to her like that before. And to be honest as annoyed as she was with his words and tome of voice she really couldn't blame him.
-o0o-
Gabriella was up early next morning and met Troy at the door ready to go.
"Good morning Troy" she said cheerfully.
"Morning Gabriella" Troy said. He put her bag over his shoulder with his and took her hand as they walked towards the school. "Are you ready to face the hordes?" Troy asked.
"Yeah I'll have to be" Gabriella said. "I'm meeting Kelsi at free period."
"That's good. I have training during free period but I'm meeting Kelsi at lunchtime" Troy said.
"Make sure you both get to eat, that girl strikes me as almost as obsessed with music as your Dad is with basketball" Gabriella said smiling.
"Yeah but at least she doesn't push her obsession onto anyone else" Troy said. "I'll make sure she eats."
"Did you get your homework done?" Gabriella asked.
"Yeah I finished everything due today and got some of my History paper written" Troy said.
"Isn't it shooting yourself in the foot to hand everything in on time" Gabriella asked.
"Yeah but if I didn't hand in the stuff due today Dad would blame Jakie and want me to stop looking after him as often" Troy explained. "The fact I seem to get more homework done when I'm babysitting is what stops him complaining about it."
Gabriella laughed. "And will you hand in all of yesterday's work today as well? Even if you finished it in time to hand in yesterday when it was due?" she asked.
"Yeah" Troy said grinning.
Gabriella shook her head unable to approve of such dishonesty but understanding why Troy felt he needed to do it.
They arrived at school and Troy escorted her to her locker and then to his on the way to homeroom.
-o0o-
Gabriella looked forward to meeting Kelsi during free period. It was good to get away from everyone staring at her.
"Hey Gabriella, how are you coping with all the attention?" Kelsi asked as she looked up from what she was playing when she heard the door.
"I hate everyone staring at me" Gabriella complained.
"Well if you don't want attention you shouldn't be hanging around with Troy" Kelsi said hesitantly.
"Yeah he warned me that I would attract attention hanging out with him before I started here. I just never realised how bad it would be" Gabriella admitted.
"Are you sorry you auditioned?" Kelsi asked hesitantly.
Gabriella shrugged, "No not really" she admitted. "Singing with Troy is amazing, and as you said just being his friend would have got a lot of people to notice me. Hopefully it will settle down after the call-backs and the basketball championships. Until then I can come and hide out with you when it gets too much."
Kelsi laughed. "I'm glad of the company" she reassured her new friend. "And I'm here most of the time."
"Do you bring your lunch from home?" Gabriella asked realising that she hadn't seen the smaller girl in the cafeteria.
"Yeah, I'm lactose intolerant so it's easier" Kelsi said.
"Kelsi aren't you lonely spending all your time in here?" Gabriella asked hesitantly.
"It's worse in the cafeteria. I don't really belong to any of the cliques and I end up sitting with Ryan and Sharpay and the drama club. It's easy to be here on my own with the music but to be in the cafeteria surrounded by people and still feel alone makes me feel sad as well" Kelsi explained.
"I'd want to hide in here rather than sit with Sharpay too" Gabriella agreed shuddering.
"She's really not that bad so long as she's getting her own way" Kelsi said. "If you just agree with anything he says about the drama club and performing she can be quite reasonable about other stuff. I just try to avoid talking about those things."
"Surely you realised that writing the music for the Musicale would have caused conflict" Gabriella said.
"No I probably should have but I didn't. Every other year they've done some famous musical and I guess she had no reason to want to change the pace of the songs. I never realised that she would feel she had the right to change my music" Kelsi explained. "We should get to work" she said starting to play the song Gabriella and Troy would be singing at the call backs.
Gabriella started to sing. It was slow going trying to learn half of a duet without Troy there to sing the other half and Gabriella felt self conscious singing without the magic that happened when they sang together but she persevered and soon she had the words memorised and was able to follow the melody. They were still working when the bell rang and both had to quickly run in opposite directions to get to class on time.
-o0o-
Troy knocked on the music room door at the start of lunch. He's packed some fruit and energy bars in case he didn't get time to get back to the cafeteria.
"Hey Troy I didn't expect you so soon" Kelsi said. "You can eat first you know?"
"I came prepared. I'm used to missing lunch" Troy replied.
"Okay well let's get started then" Kelsi said nervously. She was far more anxious around the basketball star than she had been with Gabriella.
Unfortunately Troy misunderstood and thought she was reacting to the rumours the cheerleaders had started and withdrew rather than trying to put Kelsi at ease. They concentrated on the song and like Gabriella Troy found singing much more difficult on his own. Unlike Gabriella Troy managed to remember the melody but still needed to read the words.
"You have a lovely voice Troy. How come nobody heard you sing before?" Kelsi asked as they hurriedly ate lunch at the end of the break.
"Gabriella and I were forced to sing karaoke together on New Year's Eve. That's how we met. Otherwise I never would even have thought about auditioning" Troy explained. "I've never had time to even think about anything other than sports before."
"We'll I'm very glad you auditioned this time" Kelsi said smiling. "I hope you and Gabriella get the lead roles."
"I thought Sharpay was a friend of yours" Troy asked slightly surprised.
"No Ryan's nice enough when you get him away from his sister though he is a little odd but even if I was good friends with Sharpay and Ryan I would want you to get the lead. Sharpay's would ruin all my songs if she gets it" Kelsi explained.
"I only hope Darbus doesn't decide to do something stupid like give the leads to me and Sharpay" Troy said dismally. 'Or to Gabriella and Ryan' he thought.
"She won't do that. You and Gabriella auditioned as a pair she'll either pick both of you together or Ryan and Sharpay" Kelsi said reassuringly.
Troy made a sound of relief.
"You don't like Sharpay, she likes you?" Kelsi asked surprised. She'd seen the two talking in the corridors several times.
"No she doesn't" Troy argued. "She doesn't know me and I don't think she really wants to either. She just wants to be seen dating the most popular boy in school."
"You dislike her?" Kelsi asked again.
"Honestly I don't like her but I don't know her enough to really dislike her and I have no interest in getting to know her. She annoys me and I'd rather not spend time with her."
"Can we meet again tomorrow?" Kelsi asked changing the subject.
"I have practice at lunch but we could meet up in free period" Troy suggested.
"That sounds good, can you ask Gabriella if she wants to work with me at lunch or after school?" Kelsi asked.
"Sure" Troy agreed. "Have a good afternoon Kelsi."
"Bye Troy"
-o0o-
Troy had art last period of the day and as the art teacher was out sick Ms Darbus took the opportunity to have the class spend the period designing and painting sets for the musicale. Troy got into it and didn't notice the bell ringing to signal end of class. Gabriella turned up to volunteer her time painting sets as well and the two of them exchanged grins as they both concentrated on their allocated tasks. It wasn't until people began to leave that Troy looked at the clock and realised he should have been at basketball practice an hour ago. Panicking he ran to the gym and threw on his practice uniform arriving as the rest of the team was about to leave.
-o0o-
"Let's go, guys! Make it sharp! To the chest, come on! Pop it! Come on, guys, Step with it! Let's go! Come on, move it! Let's go! Come on, guys, focus! Focus! Get your head in the game! Move it!" Coach Bolton yelled at the team as they ran drills. The source of his frustration was the missing team captain. "You seen Troy?" he asked.
"No... Coach" Jason mumbled intimidated and glad he didn't have to lie.
Jack huffed in frustration and started the drill again "Again, let's go! He worked the team twice as hard as normal for the rest of the session and was in a better mood by the end of practice. "That's it, guys, Let's hit the showers. Good hustle, Let's see that in the game" he said enthusiastically.
Troy came in as the rest of the team were leaving having lost track of the time. "I, uh, I think I'm gonna stay a while. Work on some free throws" he said.
"Well since you missed practice, I think your team deserves a little effort from you today" Jack said grumpily. He stalked off towards his office and Troy started to practice, cursing himself for not keeping his eye on the time and wondering how much his father was going to torture him with extra practice that night.
"Wow, So this is your real stage" Gabriella said finding him in the gym alone about an hour later.
"Yeah, I guess you could call it that. Or just a smelly gym" Troy said smiling at his friend, glad she'd come to find him though he was a little worried about his father's possible reaction.
Gabriella stole the ball from him and shot and scored an easy basket.
"Whoa! Don't tell me you're good at hoops, too" Troy said laughing delightedly.
"You know, I once scored 41 points at a league championship game" Gabriella claimed boastingly.
"No way" Troy exclaimed amazed.
"Mm-hm, And the same day. I invented the space shuttle and microwave popcorn" Gabriella said laughing.
Troy chucked realising he'd been had. "Oh! Microwave popcorn, Ha-ha, Funny" he said.
"I've been rehearsing with Kelsi" Gabriella told him.
Troy smiled "Me, too, And, by the way. I missed practice. So if I get kicked off the team it'll be on your conscience" he teased.
Gabriella looked at him alarmed and started to protest. "Hey, I wasn't the one who told you...
Troy interrupted to let her know he was joking "Gabriella, chill!"
Gabriella frowned at him and grabbed the basketball keeping it away from him. Hey, that's travelling. No, that's really bad travelling" Troy protested. Unable to grab the ball he grabbed Gabriella instead, swinging her around making her laugh loudly.
Unfortunately it attracted Jack Bolton's attention and he came out of his office to see what was going on.A small part of Jack was glad to see his son happy but a larger part realised this girl could be a threat to Troy's focus on the championships and he decided to intervene.
"Miss! I'm sorry, this is a closed practice" Jack came over to ask Gabriella to leave.
"Dad, practice is over" Toy protested.
"Not till the last player leaves the gym. Team rule" Jack reminded Troy as if it wasn't a rule that was hardly ever enforced. The cheerleaders and other player's girlfriends were allowed to watch practice all the time so long as they didn't disrupt the practice. Troy knew his father was upset with him for missing practice but he was really pissed that he would take it out on Gabriella.
"Oh, I'm sorry, sir" Gabriella said blushing.
"Dad, this is Gabriella Montez" Troy introduced her hoping his father would understand he was trying to introduce a friend to his father not his coach.
Of course Jack ignored the differentiation. "Ah, your detention buddy" he said disapprovingly.
"I'll see you later, Troy" Gabriella said to her friend regretting coming to visit him and hoping she hadn't got him in too much trouble again. "Nice meeting you, Coach Bolton" she added trying to be polite.
"You as well, Miss Montez" Jack Bolton said insincerely.
"Dad, detention was my fault, not hers" Troy said angrily.
"You haven't missed practice in three years. That girl shows up..." Jack started to yell at his star player.
"That girl is named Gabriella. She's very nice" Troy said firmly.
"Helping you miss practice doesn't make her very nice, Not in my book. Or your team's" Jack argued.
"Dad, she's not a problem. She's just a girl" Troy said disappointed that his father couldn't see how great Gabriella was.
"But you're not just a guy, Troy. You're the team leader. What you do affects not only this team but the entire school. And without you completely focused, we're not gonna win next week. The championship games - they don't come along all the time. They're something special" Jack argued unaware of the hurt he was causing his son.
"Yeah, a lot of things are special, Dad" Troy said upset with his father's single mindedness. Couldn't he see that Gabriella was special to Troy.
Jack refused to listen "But you're a playmaker... not a singer, right?" he asked.
"Did you ever think maybe I could be both?" Troy said despairingly.
Jack didn't answer and Troy after a minute dropped the ball and walked off sadly.
A/N: Thank you to Pumpkinking5, Ceciliaa93, stordec and ENPD for your support.