Hey guys! I swear i'm trying to get chapters out sooner, but that lazy mode in me is kicking in, so i'm waiting for that sequence to go away and my initiative to move in. Trying! Seriously. I took off alot from this chapter because it wasn't real necessary, and i could use some of it for later. After i post this, i'm gonna go and work on the next chapters, force myself if i have too.
On a sidenote, if you haven't heard Vanessa Hudgen's new latest awesomest album, visit AOL for the newest music releases, cuz it won't let me post it here.
I do like some of the songs, not just because i love Vanessa. So check it out, i believe my fav song was Identified. Ok So please read and review. What will that benefit? Well i suppose my story, it will also make me happier and it will stop global warming.
So please read and review. But if you are technically already reading this, all you need to do is one more simpled action. Love you guys!
Gabriella awoke with a jolt. The shocking impact of the cool washcloth on her forehead forced her into the daylight. It was sunny outside and morning. She was in bed. Under her bed by the likes of it, in Sharpay's bed. Sharpay jumped back in surprise and her face brightened into a beaming smile. Katie lay on the other side, her head in her arms, dozing. Relief and happiness flooded Sharpay's features as she looked about to burst into a million tiny questions when Gabriella spoke first.
"Where is he?" she demanded.
Sharpay grabbed her hand with relief and shook Katie awake. "Oh my god, you're finally awake! It's noon sleepyhead, no it's not morning! And you better start talking lady, That freaking stunt you played last night nearly gave me a heart attack! Start talking!" Sharpay chattered eagerly.
"Where is he?" Gabriella insisted again.
"Who?" Katie asked.
"Where is Troy?!" Gabriella said obviously, as if they could even suggest that she meant anyone else.
"Honey, rest and tell us what happened, please?" Sharpay asked with a winning smile.
"Shar, let her rest! She can tell us when she's good and ready." Katie said with a disapproving glance at Sharpay.
"She's awake though! Do you know how long I have been awake, worrying about her and nearly dying from curiosity! I have nearly been ready to go back home and kill my freaking Fluffball!" Sharpay exclaimed.
"Curiosity killed the cat, not Sharpay." Katie insinuated with a smile at Gabriella.
"Well I'm nearly ready to kill him for it so it will tell me what happened to her!" Sharpay argued. Gabriella squeezed her hand.
"I like that cat. Don't kill it, please?" Gabriella teased.
"What happened to you and Troy yesterday?" Sharpay questioned again.
Gabriella grimaced and fell back again on the comforting pillows. She sighed with a little frustration and looked back at their curious eyes with an unreadable expression. Yesterday was a lot to think about.
"Ok, we went walking for like two miles and after another argument, I ran into a tree branch. I walked away for five minutes to clear my head. When I came back, Troy was lying on the ground. I thought he was faking, attempting some new sick humor, but after awhile he wouldn't wake up and the map was gone. On his head I found a huge bloody welt. So I tried to get him home but it wasn't really working. Then there was a bear." She paused while Sharpay and Katie looked at her with clear horror on their faces. "I thought we were dead but I scared it off. Then I made a very very very primitive sled just adequate enough to pull Troy home. It was only two miles, but it seemed like ten thousand. So I finally collapsed when I heard Kelsi and Jason. Then I blacked out." She finished quietly. Katie and Sharpay's mouths were wide open.
"Now where is that, man?" she asked trying to control her temper. Katie and Sharpay both grabbed her arms to hold her down.
"Gabriella you need more rest! I'm sorry, I mean, I didn't mean to wake you! Food, are you hungry or thirsty? No, sleep! You need to rest!" Sharpay exclaimed with a ghastly face.
"Where is he?" Gabriella asked calmly.
"Gabriella, I'm telling you, we'll take care of Troy, but you need to go back into la-la land cause I know you're still tired! Now go to sleep!" Sharpay commanded. Gabriella looked up into Sharpay's eyes, accusation written plainly across her tired features.
"Take care of him? I'm going to freaking kill him! After what he did, abandoning me there all alone, no map, no him, absolutely no sense of direction, but a big bear! Do you know what I went through yesterday! Oh, and no thank you's either! Now tell me where that, thing, is or so help me I'll go find Smokey again!" Gabriella exclaimed, her nerves running thin from yesterday.
"Look, Brie, he's resting still too. I know you went through much more that Troy yesterday, but his head got something a lot worse. He's still conked out." Katie explained gently.
Gabriella looked at both their faces with disbelief. "You mean he's still asleep?" she asked. They nodded gravely. She looked away for a second, then pushed past Sharpay to get out of bed. She winced a little, as her joints felt rusty but managed to stand, stiffly. Sharpay grabbed her arm as she attempted to stretch.
"Gabs, for once in my life I am probably giving you the best advice you'll ever get. You need rest! For me, the kids, the counselors, everyone! We need you back at camp! We need you to rest because it's your job to watch over us. We need you to be healthy for your job." Sharpay coaxed. "But that stupid Troy needs me more." She thought in her head.
"I'm rested though." She lied and began to walk out of the room. Katie and Sharpay followed.
"Where are you going?" they both asked trying to keep up with her suddenly fast pace.
"If there's anyone taking care of Troy, its me, because I'm the only one qualified. And when he wakes up..." she trailed off.
"You can't kill him!" Sharpay shrieked. They entered the boy's cabin where Chad and Zeke were.
"Oh you do not want to know what I'm going to do to him..." Gabriella breathed under her breath. Troy was right beneath his bed like her, in the one she had slept in. Chad was sitting beside his bed while Zeke was chilling on the desk with a laptop. They both saw Gabriella and jumped up toward her eagerly.
"My gosh Brie! You're ok!" Chad said walking toward her with open arms while holding a washcloth. She only looked straight ahead at the body lying placidly down, still, and stomped past Chad while grabbing the towel from his hands.
"Happy to see you too." Chad said with a fake smile.
"Gabriella you need to rest still!" Sharpay beseeched to the unmoving Gabriella.
"Guys what's going on with them?" Zeke asked pointing towards Gabriella.
Gabriella sat down next to Troy's face. She stared hard into his face, looking the same as yesterday. Her anger melted away as quickly as it had come as she began to worry and that strange unfamiliar emotion crept into her. She felt his forehead, then started to wipe off his dirty face while stroking his cheek gently.
Sharpay and Katie had related what they basically knew of the escapade, slightly exaggerated, to Zeke and Chad. "Is she crazy? We'll carry her back in and force her to sleep!" Chad said horrified.
"And what, she'd be terrified of your terrible counting skills of sheep that she'd willingly fall asleep?" Zeke said, sarcasm laced into his voice.
"Hey now!" Chad exclaimed.
"She's dangerous! Yesterday was too much for her nerves and she is not mentally sound right now. She wants to kill him when he wakes up!" Sharpay said in a loud whisper.
"So how about we take her back now to sleep and then go help the others, because without these two today, we're gonna have to go sooner or later." Chad said.
"She'll come back though! She won't care how tired she is!" Katie insisted.
"Lock her in?" Chad asked.
"Oh so were forcing her to sleep? That sounds civilized! We just need to convince her Troy's fine and she is not. So she needs to sleep." Sharpay planned.
Suddenly a sound reached their ears. Gabriella was humming a soft haunting lullaby. The sweet little tune was as perfect as if she had crooned the words to him. She hummed it over again while watching over Troy and holding his hand. She fussed over his bandage, while cleaning up the wound. She then stroked his pale cheek again. What the others saw was a complete connection, an understanding, of the problems the two had faced. Although Troy was never conscious, he had been there. Gabriella knew that she was the only one who deserved to be there by Troy, even though she would kill him later. They saw tiredness on her face but her hands moved and rocked steadily. There was no tearing her away from what she was doing. The four teenagers looked down shamefully and then up at each other.
"Or we could just leave them." Zeke suggested.
"We'll check in on them of course!" Chad said hurriedly.
"For sure!" Sharpay added. Katie looked back at them.
"I doubt they'll really need our help." She said softly with a small grin.
They softly trooped out so as not to disturb the invalid taking care of the invalid. Gabriella hardly heard them leave. She was completely absorbed in her work. Needless to say, her anger at the unconscious Troy had never truly been born. Her anger lay mainly with the conscious one. So when he woke up, she would be ready to punch him back into unconsciousness. But right now, she was going to take care of him, because he needed her.
Gabriella grabbed his hand while giggling and skipping, and she tried to pull him away. Her face was so happy and bright. It was almost grotesque though still so beautiful. Everything looked so sunny and bursting with light. This strange world seemed full of yellow, orange and pink, and it was just sparkling. She giggled again at his face and her lovely voice called to him.
"Come on Troy!"
He kept hearing laughing and giggling and humming to a strange song he had never heard before. Everything was moving so extremely slow and he felt as sluggish as a snail. He followed her though happily with a sheepish grin.
They skipped over to a glowing yellow brick path where she stopped with an adorable smile gracing her already lovely features.
"Do you have the map?" she practically sang, her voice sounded that beautiful. She smiled up at him with expectancy and her brown eyes, appearing golden, were radiant. He nodded quickly. They started to walk again and the noises suddenly started to get louder. As they skipped along they seemed to be moving even slower and things started to spin. He stopped bewildered as he tried to hold onto her pleasing hand. She slipped from him and twirled around him.
She began to multiply and started to shout random things at him he couldn't understand. Dozens of Gabriella's were skipping around him, their faces all twisted with different expressions. He wanted to stop her but he felt he was powerless. He couldn't move and her shouts filled his head with confusion adding to the humming and the giggles that replayed over and over.
"Troy!" "I'm gonna leave you!" "Wake up!" "This is not funny!" "Its me." "Leave me alone." "I'm leaving!" "You idiot!" "How do I get you home?" "Troy, I need you!"
Her many figures spun faster and faster until the brilliant colors and the wind whipped at and blinded Troy's eyes. The Gabriellas started to merge together and grow. The music was becoming louder and that constant brightness grew even brighter. The heat was insufferable but Troy felt completely helpless, as he couldn't even move from the glowing path.
Gabriella grew and grew until she was as tall as the trees and towered over Troy. Troy shaded his eyes as he looked up at her. She picked him up swiftly and screamed into his face.
"You lost the map!" she glared at him as he squirmed out of her grasp.
"I have it though!" he pleaded.
"We're lost!" she shrieked.
Suddenly, a darkness was shooting towards them, covering the brightness with blackness. It was eating away at the pink world of flowers and trees. Wind was picking up at an enormous pace. Troy looked back at Gabriella and he was standing on the path again and she was normal size. Her angry face had turned into a terrified one.
They looked back at the enclosing darkness and Troy noticed something familiar about it. The swallowing mouth of the blackness resembled closely a crumpled map. The map roared, waving in the air, while eating more of the sunny place. Gabriella looked into his face pleadingly.
"Troy, I need you!" she cried.
He hugged her comfortingly as he looked around helplessly. As the darkness almost ate them up Troy glanced once last time into the air at the bright sun. He looked directly into its brightness and the light faded every so slightly, and he saw a face. Not just any face. A familiar smirking face. The face looked right into Troy's terrified eyes evilly.
"Now get the map." The voice whispered over everything, the laughing, the humming, the wind, the roaring, and the confusing words as the sunny world vanished into darkness.
"I have it. I have it! Gabi! Stop! No I have it!" Troy mumbled in his slumber.
He began to squirm violently and Gabriella roused herself next to his bed from sleeping. Her eyes brightened as she aliveness from Troy. He fell quiet again almost as quickly as he had shook himself. He whispered, "I have it."
"Troy, wake up..." Gabriella coaxed gently while rubbing his arm. Troy's face scrunched up as she tried to ignore her unconsciously.
"Troy..." she hesitated. "I need you." She whispered. His face showed no emotion until he flew up in bed and his eyes burst into life again. Gabriella's own chocolate eyes lit with excitement at seeing those beautiful blue orbs again.
Troy hit his head on the top of the bunk bed and fell back moaning, that adding to his already colossal headache. Those sounds, those voices and that dream had played over and over in his head, making is pound and swell violently with pain. He groaned again and shook his head slowly trying to make the booming in his head leave.
"Troy! You're awake!" Gabriella said excitedly with relief in her voice as she came into Troy's view. He glared at her, finding it much easier than to smile.
"Well yeah, duh miss "I need Troy free air". Why don't you just stay the heck away from me!" Troy said impatiently, more reacting to Gabriella from what he remembered and from his dream. Invading his dreams was a little to close to invading his boundaries!
Her face filled with hurt at his words as the light was rudely extinguished in her eyes. She wasn't able to fully recover from his snap as she stiffly stood up, her anger slowly coming to her rescue. She couldn't respond though. It was just too much. She ran from the room, unable to bear the disappointment and embarrassment she had just felt. Troy was not unconscious Troy. Why did she even expect him to be nice? He was exactly the same. But she had been so happy to see him and Troy had just snubbed her again. Tears seemed to be close at hand.
She ran into Greg at the door. "Hey Gabriella, how's it going? Wait, are you alright?" he asked concerned at her upset face. She avoided his gaze and pointed at the door.
"Troy's awake." She said, quickly exited the scene. Greg entered the room.
"Troy, what did you just do to Gabriella?" he demanded.
"Nothing, except what she deserved. Just told her to clear cut stay the hell away from me." Troy said lazily, looking up at the bottom of the bed above him, with clearly readable pain on his face from his head.
"Dude, do you even know what she did for you?" Greg asked angrily as Chad entered the open room curiously hearing the last sentence. He saw Troy and was about to speak happily when he saw Greg's mad face.
"What, did she fire me?" Troy asked with unconcern for those around him. He got up from bed and walked over to his dresser dizzily not really knowing where he was going. Greg pulled him over to the one solitary mirror in the room, rather roughly. He waited impatiently as Troy's eyes widened at his appearance.
His hair was sticking up in all different places and felt greasy. His face was a little haggard and dirty while there were very many scratches and smudges on it. "Wow. I look like shit." Troy said amazed. He then saw, surprisingly, the bandage he had missed before which had a suspicious red spot on it.
"Anything else?" Greg asked irritated.
"She beat me up?" Troy looked at himself with narrowed eyes. "And why do I have a bandage on my head?" Troy asked stupidly while touching it. His head still hurt but he was striving to ignore it. He unexpectedly hit the bump on his head and shock waves of pain shot through his brain. He winced and touched it much more gently feeling with even more amazement, how large it was.
"Maybe you should go ask her!" Greg exclaimed.
"But she was being a bitch." Troy said lamely trying to figure out why there was a huge bump on his head.
"You're being a fucking bitch. Now go apologize!" Greg ejaculated again. The word apologize flowed slowly into Troy's head. He never said sorry. He just wasn't one of those people. And Gabriella Montez was no exception.
"She can apologize first for waking me up because my head hurts still after that stupid annoying dream." Troy said turning around to go back to bed. He paused, in a stupor, his head feeling as if it were on fire, and his body swayed precariously. Chad rushed over and caught Troy, then dragged him over to a chair. Chad and Greg sat down across from him, Chad very serious and Greg thoroughly annoyed.
"Ok, look Troy, Greg's right. Do you remember anything yesterday?" Chad asked patiently. Troy thought for a moment.
"Umm we had burgers for lunch and kids started to put them on their heads. Robbie and his gang were exploding stuff in Ted's class. Kids practiced for the play and we had an extremely boring game of basketball. Why?" Troy rattled off. Chad shook his head.
"No no, not Monday. Tuesday." He said. Troy gave him a weird look.
"Tuesday is today man, not yesterday." Troy said obviously. Greg sighed and showed him his watch where it indeed proved to be Wednesday. Troy looked at them with shock in his ocean blue eyes.
"So I missed a whole freaking day and no one told me?" he exclaimed.
"Troy, just do you remember anything yesterday?" Chad asked again.
"Would you just call it today? Then I can think better cause I got this thing on my head." Troy grumbled. Both Chad and Greg rolled their eyes.
"What happened today?" They asked. Troy thought about it for a longer moment.
"Well, you guys went on a walk with the bite sized monsters and I went on a walk with "the" monster. Umm, we talked and walked and she kept taking my map away from me, though I always got it back. She also kept hearing things. She tripped over a rock too, which was hilarious, but unfortunately she didn't find it so. Then I asked her what time it was but she wouldn't tell me. I asked her a couple of times, but nothing excessive. She got mad at me, then weird, and then she was leaving me but she hit a tree branch. I helped her up but she said she needed, "Troy free air." So she walked away and as I waited I heard something strange and..." Troy stopped surprised searching his memory for something else.
"And then..." he paused again and looked up at Greg and Chad with a questioning stare. "Then what?" Chad probed gently.
"I don't know..." Troy said slowly. "What happened?" he asked. Chad motioned towards his bandage.
"Do you remember how you got that?" Troy's face rid with confusion as he scoured his brain for an answer.
"Well I remember voices and then my head hurt and I was spinning." Troy grimaced from another pain shooting into his head. "Then, I just don't know." He answered quietly. Chad sighed.
"Well it sounds like you know the least because from where you blacked out Gabriella came back and found you on the ground. She thought you were faking but she soon found the welt on your head, and the map was gone." Chad said.
Troy interrupted hurriedly. "The map was gone? But I had it, I swear!" he said incredulously. Chad and Greg exchanged a look but Chad continued.
"So anyway you guys were like two miles from camp and she didn't even consider leaving you. She tried to move you in a lot of different ways but none were working. So as she was getting slightly frustrated I suppose, she heard another noise. She turned her head, and there was a bear." Chad said and paused gazing deeply into Troy's eyes that had widened considerably in horror.
"Now, all she would say was that she scared it off, but man, it sounds like you guys got real lucky. Especially you." Chad stopped again while looking seriously into his face.
"So then she quickly made a sled of some sort from which she ripped pieces of her own shirt, as was the bandage for your head. She then began to pull you back here to camp. Then it was supposedly around 3:00. We found you guys at seven thirty, just at the entrance of the path, with Gabriella looking more tired than death itself lying on top of you. We carried you guy's back and Gabriella slept till noon till she asked where you were.
We were hesitant though cause she sounded like she really wanted to kill you. She was also extremely tired still and needed more sleep. But she kept asking until she found out and she came in here. Now when that woman walked in here, not one insult or complaint did she utter to your tiny silent face. She has been taking care of you all day, barely taking time to rest herself. And that's a lot more than you deserve." Chad said coldly for one of the rare times that he scolded Troy.
Troy looked down at the floor, then stood up again, determined. Chad stood up ready to help him. "But you didn't know exactly, so I think you should wait till tomorrow." Chad said with worry in his voice, the coldness gone.
"Tomorrow? If I go one more day like this, I'll still think its Tuesday and that dream won't leave me alone. Do you realize how much of a jerk I was?" he demanded from them. Chad and Greg exchanged another look.
"Yes, you were a asshole but Troy she'll understand if you wait till tomorrow." Gerg reassured.
"Guys, if I wait until tomorrow, she'll never talk to me again." Troy said seriously. He ran from the room, his head still throbbing but his heart was racing, so overwhelmed with confusion that Gabriella would do that much for him.
It was already darkening outside and no one was about. He raced out of the grove of cabins and stopped at the water's edge, his head pounding heavily. Where was she? He needed to find her. He had to. He looked into the dark water and saw himself. Such a terrible, mean human. Why did he even deserve to be alive when people like Gabriella slaved to make sure he got back ok? He looked so terrible, but if she hadn't brought him home, he may not have even been there now. She might not have, either. The thought of not being with Gabriella entered his head. Why did she do it? He didn't deserve it.
He looked into the sunset his head and heart aching. Suddenly he heard music. The speakers were announcing to the camp, it was bedtime. Art room. She was in the arm room. He pivoted quickly but slipped to the ground. He wanted to smack his head at his own stupidity, but that would only make it hurt more. He winced, pounded the ground, groaned, then got up and raced over to the building, trying to ignore the lightheaded feeling in his head. He heaved the door open as she was still playing.
"Gabi!" he called desperately.
As soon as the sound of his voice reached her ears her fingers slammed on the keys. She began to strike the keys with deafening blows of unpleasing chords, scales and off key excerpts from many different songs. He winced at the sounds bouncing into his head filling it with even more pain. He had to make her stop. She was putting him in a torture chamber. He had to stop this and make her pain better. This was music was filling him with even more agony.
She magnified the thunderous noise with the pedal as the sounds crashed over the camp. The kids and counselors were not exactly falling asleep to this music. Troy ran over to her and up the stage while covering his ears.
"Stop Gabi! Please Stop!" he shouted, his words being captured by the microphone. She ignored him and intensified her playing. The keys clanged up and down with a vengeance as the piano vibrated from her fury. He stared at her frozen with constricted eyes, as the hideous sounds drifted into his brain. If she was punishing him, it was working. He had to make her stop. He had to make her misery stop. His hand banged over hers, shaking, to make her stop but she slipped out and kept playing.
He sat down next to her and tried to silence her hands, in the process adding to the sonic booms. Even the music was hurting Gabriella's ears now and her fingers weakened from her forceful playing. She was trying to just ignore him. He deserved every bit of this. She was arguing with herself to stop though. This was hurting her and Troy more than need be and they were already so exhausted. She needed to stop but she couldn't. Violence reigned in her broken soul and she couldn't stop.
Troy's hands banged on the piano as if his crashes would make her own quieter. He stopped and stared at her with begging eyes while shouting at her.
"Stop, Please! Gabi, you need to stop!" He yelled at her, his voice cracking. His hands banged onto the piano over hers again. Her breathing increased as he chased her down to the end of the keys. As they both struck the low notes, he made one mad pull for her hands. He grabbed them and roughly pulled them away from the offending keys. His mind was in turmoil, still ringing loudly from the sounds.
They were both panting as he grabbed her shoulders. She looked into his face for the first time. His torture blue eyes met her hurt brown ones. He shook her trying to make the pain leave as water filled her eyes dangerously.
"Please...Gabi... you need to stop...Please..." he said in a very low moan as his head boomed with that noise. He gripped her shoulders tightly as he stared into her chocolate depths. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. Please... Please, don't..." he said in pain as he pulled her into his comforting arms breathlessly. She moved onto his lap and let herself be enclosed by him, not wanting anything right now, but only needing him.
He buried his face in her hair, exhausted and held her close to him. Her head rubbed on his chest as she whispered into him over and over what sounded like his name. He rocked her on the piano bench as it squeaked. "I'm sorry...so sorry..." he whispered over and over into her ear. He soundlessly reached over and turned off the speakers. He held her for what seemed like precious hours, but were only mere minutes.
Suddenly, her face appeared beneath him and rested upon his chest, wearily. Her eyes looked up at him, saying more than meaningless words could. He looked back down at her alluring brown eyes with sorrow and true penitence. "I'm sorry... I'm so sorry..." he faltered.
She looked into his eyes, the light slowly being rekindled in them. Emotions stirred in her soul, that she had not felt for a very long time. She clasped his hand and brushed if over his lips. He moved it to her cheek where he stroked her smooth skin lightly in a circle. She gazed back up at him.
"I'll consider it..." she teased lightly. "But for now," she held his hand that held her cheek.
"We're even."
Troy's eyes filled with hope as his ocean blue waves swept over hers. She smiled and closed her eyes, exhaustion taking over her. He smiled down at her, feeling honored to be near this unearthly being. He felt as is she actually belonged to him. He felt...he felt...tired.
He couldn't try to understand these new and strange feelings right now as his brain couldn't even comprehend what two plus two was. He couldn't understand why he suddenly was feeling much differently toward Gabriella when only minutes ago he was calling her a monster. He didn't want to understand though. He just wanted to be with her, to thank her and to comfort her.
He kept circling her cheek and smiling through another shock of pain hitting his head. He would ask questions tomorrow, but now... He just wanted to hold her and sleep. Comfort her and sleep. Be with her and sleep. Sleep. He leaned against the piano with slow relief, not striking any keys as he held her small body so she wouldn't fall.
They were even for tonight.