Troy locks up his truck and looks up at the pizza place. He feels himself get the slight chills, even though it was sixty degrees and he had a grey zip up sweatshirt on over his plain white t-shirt on. The pizza place was in the middle of town, and everyone knew it was on the dividing line between East High and West High district. This made it fun and scary, because on some Friday nights, both basketball teams would go there to celebrate their victories. This caused some tension. Troy did have some friends from middle school at West, and then again he had some enemies as well. He sighs and walks up into the restaurant to find everyone was already sitting down at a square table. Troy walks over to where everyone else was sitting and doesn't even bother to smile.
"Troy!" Ryan exclaims and everyone looks up at him yelling the same thing Ryan did. He smirks and waves at all of them, trying to avoid looking at Gabriella. An empty spot in between to Chad and Sharpay must have been saved for him. He noticed that Gabriella was two people down, sitting next to Taylor who was of course, sitting next to Chad. Troy sits down in his seat.
"We weren't sure what you wanted, but we ordered a pepperoni and cheese, one with the works, and a sausage one." Kelsi informed him and Troy shrugged.
"That's fine. I'm really not overly hungry anyways." Troy comments and grabs the big pitcher of soda in the center of the table and pours a glass for himself. He noticed how they were all of the sudden a little more quiet than when Troy had first walked in. Just guessing, Troy figures they were probably talking about his behavior lately. He didn't care though. They could talk about him all they wanted and he wouldn't care.
"So wasn't the football game against Slinger amazing last night?" Zeke says, probably trying to get rid of the awkward silence that arrived when Troy did. As the rest of the group becomes excited, he suddenly feels a pair of eyes on him. 'Don't look up Bolton, don't be weak.' He thinks to himself as he can almost feel Gabriella's eyes burn a hole into the side of his head. Troy looks in the opposite direction to try and shake them off, but finds he is unsuccessful.
About ten minutes later, the pizza arrives and everyone stares at it hungrily, except for Troy. He was still trying to avoid Gabriella's gaze. "Oh, knowing Chad's eating habits, I think we need napkins." Chloe jokes and Chad throws a bread stick at her. "Hey!" She says as she gets up to go get them. Troy suddenly remembers what he wanted to ask her and stands up as well.
"Here, Chlo let me help you." Troy finally looks down at the brown eyes with his ice blue ones and smirks. He could see jealously there even though everyone knew that Troy and Chloe were just friends. He follows Chloe to where the napkins are and sighs, thinking it's now or never.
"You know Troy, I'm pretty sure I can handle getting napkins myself." Chloe says jokingly and Troy shrugs.
"I know, but I was afraid you might get lost or something." Troy jokes and sighs. Sure, being an asshole made him feel good. But so did joking around. Wait, no! He had to be mean. It felt better than being nice…right? Of course it did. But maybe he didn't have to be mean to Chloe. Because somehow she always made him feel better. Like a best friend should. Troy decides to add Chloe to the list of people who he wasn't going to be mean to. So that made Chad and Chloe. "Actually, I have to ask you something."
Chloe looks at him strangely for a second and then smiles. "Okay. Shoot."
Troy sighs and smiles at her, knowing that he was making a right choice. "Okay. Since you don't have a date, and I don't have a date. Would you like to go to homecoming with me? Just as friends, but it could be fun."
Chloe smiles up at him and nods. "I would love to go to homecoming with you Troy."
Troy smiles a real smile for the fist time in a long time and gives her a hug. If Gabriella was going to be all over Nate that night, they why couldn't he have fun with a friend? He lets go and looks down at her. "Good. So, what color's your dress? I gotta match you don't I?"
Chloe giggles a little a grabs a bunch of napkins. "Well I guess you have to. It's royal blue. So I trust you to find something that matches." Troy nods. "Oh, and Troy? Look, I'm sorry for what happened with Gabriella, but please just know that she never meant to hurt you. She's hurting just as bad as you."
Yeah, right. Troy sighs and shakes his head. "Look, what's going on with that is between me and her. I really don't want to talk about it." He says and sighs. "But I think we should go tell the gang that we officially have dates."
They walk back over to the table. Chloe throws Chad the napkins and smiles. "We have an announcement to make!" She says and Troy smiles once again, but suddenly it turns back into a smirk when he makes eye contact with Gabriella who was looking up at him.
"I asked her to homecoming. And she said yes." Troy says and puts a friendly arm around her. But his eyes remain on Gabriella as he watches her eyes quickly throw a hint of jealousy. Good, because if she wasn't being stupid and going with Nate, she could have had him. But obviously, Nate means so much more to her than he does. Troy tears his eyes away from her and watches as every smiles and nods.
They all say congratulations to the two. "Good, we were starting to think you guys would never get dates." Chad says and suddenly the table becomes quiet again Troy and Gabriella's eyes connect with each other and he can feel the ice piercing into her. She bites her bottom lip, a habit he knew she did when she was nervous and Troy's eyes narrow once again. "Why don't we eat?" Chad says, probably trying to take the tension off the two and everyone starts to eat the pizza.
About forty minutes later, Troy and Gabriella's eyes never left each, even when they were eating. He continues to give her a cold stare while she looks like she's trying to apologize with her eyes. Troy smirks a little. If Gabriella was in this state, then he was going to mess with her. He could almost feel the bastard part of him seeping out through his pores.
"So… where's your boyfriend?" Troy asks while keeping eye contact with her. The entire table goes silent because they were all surprised that Troy actually said something to Gabriella. She looked just as surprised that he said something to her also.
"I don't have a boyfriend Troy." Gabriella says in a scared voice and Troy smirks at this, He had total control over her now and he knew he could use it to his advantage.
"Ok, I'm sorry. Where's your future boyfriend? I would have thought that he wouldn't leave your side." Troy said with edge. He knew he was picking a scab but it just felt so damn good to be a bastard.
"Troy, stop it." Taylor says and places a hand on Gabriella's shoulder.
"What? Can't a guy ask a single question? I'm just curious about her life." Troy states with his smirk and Chad shakes his head at him.
"Dude, you're acting like an asshole. Stop." Chad states and Troy narrows his eyes at him.
He feels every single eye on him and it made him feel powerful. "I just want to know about the happy couple!" Troy exclaims standing up and Gabriella finally gets the angry look Troy was trying to find on her.
"WE'RE NOT A COUPLE TROY! Stop doing this!" She spits out and Troy's eyes narrow once again,
"Doing what?" He asks innocently, trying to draw more of a reaction out of her.
"Acting like Nate and I are getting married! We're going to a dance Troy!" The whole restaurant was silent and everyone was staring at them. "I'm sorry God damn it!"
They stared at each other for a moment, and Troy wasn't sure what to say. She had just said sorry. But Troy couldn't forgive her, no way. She led him on and now she was going to have to pay for it. She asked for it the moment she said yes to Nate. The door to the pizza place suddenly opens and Troy looks over to see three guys walking in. They each had a blue and gold letterman's jacket on and they walk in and the one in the middle smirks at Troy. "Well, well, well, look what we have here?"
Troy's mind was suddenly wiped clean of everything as he stared at the three guys. Chad stands up with Troy and Jason and Zeke follow soon after. Troy looks over to find Gabriella was still standing but no longer looked angry. Instead, confusion was placed onto her face and Troy, suddenly forgetting everything that had happened in the past two weeks, shoots her a look as if to tell her to sit down. She nods and sits, but still looks just as confused. Chad's eyes narrow along with Troy's as they stare down the three. "Trent."
The center guy, kept his eyes on Troy. He smirks and ignores Chad. "Well, Bolton, don't you think you're stepping out of bounds?"
Troy narrows his eyes even further, feeling the ice coming from his eyes pierce into the tall blond standing in front of the other two boys. "You know as well as me this is our turf too, Brad." Brad Trent was the captain of the West High basketball team. The two guys next to him were Jake and Nick. Jake, Troy and Chad had been inseparable in middle school and they were still friends. Nick, on the other hand, had always been Brad's right hand man and hated East High as much as Brad did. Jake places a hand on Brad's shoulder and shakes his head.
"Dude, just leave them alone." He says and both Troy and Chad give him a small smile, but then return their glares back to the captain.
"So Bolton…" He starts to walk toward Troy and Troy felt himself grip the chair to keep him from saying or doing something stupid. "I hear you're holding preseason practices. That scared that we're gonna crush you this year?"
"Oh, uh Brad, remind me…who beat you in the championship last season?" Chad says mockingly and Brad glares at him, then returns his smirk to Troy.
"That's not gonna happen this year. Coach isn't gonna let that happen again. What is Daddy gonna do to help you guys?" Brad mocks and Troy feels the grip on his chair get tighter. Suddenly, he sees Gabriella get up and stare at Troy. "By the way, I've been meaning to ask you, how does it feel to only wear the captain sign because your daddy picked you?"
Troy feels himself step forward threateningly and then feels another hand on his shoulder. Still forgetting he was pissed off at her, he looks down at Gabriella who was staring up at him. "Let's just go ok?" She suggests and Troy sighs. Still forgetting he was pissed at her, he nods and looks to everyone else. "Let's go guys."
Everyone nods and stands up, since they had already put the money on the table. Brad smirks at Troy again. "Oh, so you're listening to other people's advice now? Can't make your own decisions? Although…" Brad smiles and takes a step forward, looking Gabriella up and down in the process. "I'd listen to a hot bitch like that any day." He says with a wink.
Troy suddenly looses it. He takes four steps forward then feels Gabriella throw and arm out in front of him. "Troy stop, he's not worth it. Let's get out of here." Troy looks around to find that everyone was now standing outside, fleeing from the scene except for Chad, Taylor, Gabriella and him. Gabriella grabs his arm and begins to lead him out the door.
"Hey bitch!" Brad yells and Gabriella turns to look at him with disgust on her face. Troy smirks at little, proud of her evil glare. "When you get bored of little virgin Baby Bolton, you can come fuck with me anytime."
With that, Troy feels the anger release from his body and he throw Gabriella's arm off. Troy grabs Brad by the shirt and throws him outside, watching him stubble a little from shock. Troy then charges after him and punches him square in the jaw. Brad backs up a little, then goes after Troy pinning him against the pizza place's brick wall. "What now Bolton?" Brad mocks and Troy tries to shrug him off.
"STOP IT!" He hears Gabriella scream off in the distance but he wasn't paying attention. Brad punches him in the stomach and knocks the wind out of Troy. He suddenly feels like he's having déjà vu from the night that he and Madison broke up. Troy grabs his stomach with one hand and punches Brad with the other. Brad steps backward again and Troy throws a punch in his face that would probably give him a black eye. "TROY STOP!" He hears Gabriella again but ignores it. Brad comes up again spitting out blood and hits Troy in the side of the face. He steps back and spits out the warm liquid in his mouth. He goes to punch Brad again but he feels two strong hands hold him back. He looks up to find that Jake was holding Brad back and he looked behind him to see Chad holding Troy back.
"Let go!" Troy yells and struggles to break free. Finally, he stops and sighs. "Fine." Chad slowly loosens his grip on Troy who takes a step to the side, as Jake slowly lets go of Brad.
"Let's get out of here Brad." Nick states and Jake looks at Chad and Troy.
"Sorry guys." He says and turns around. Brad smirks a little and walks up into Troy's face, which doesn't flinch. Chad places a hand on Troy's shoulder but he shakes his head and Chad removes it.
"See you on the court Bolton." He states and quickly punches Troy in the gut again. Troy sinks to his knees and hears a soft "Troy!" come from Gabriella who he then feels is kneeling down next to him. He looks up to see Brad smirking and then leaves with the other two. Troy then moans in pain and feels Gabriella grab his shoulder.
"Let me help." She says and Troy, still having forgotten his anger at her, looks up at her with the soft eyes he usually has and nods. He doesn't take his eyes off Gabriella, but he feels everyone else's presence surround him. Chad places another hand on his shoulder and he winces in pain. Gabriella kneels in front of him and looks up into his eyes. "Troy that was stupid."
Troy closes his eyes in pain and nods. "I know, but I couldn't let him get away saying that about you."
She looks up into his eyes once again and smiles a little. She, unlike Troy, was completely aware of what had happened all week and was suddenly hopeful that he had finally forgiven her.
"Guys, let's give him some room." Chad says and he looks up to watch everyone back up slowly, but still around so they could see what was happening.
"Still, Troy you shouldn't have gotten into a fight over me, your hurt." She says and Troy shakes his head.
"It doesn't matter. I'm fine." He says and tries to stand up but winces in pain and she softly smiles at him once again. Her hands come down to lower him again.
"You don't look fine." She says. "Please, let me help." He closes his soft blue eyes and then opens them again and nods.
Troy watches as her hands slip off his grey hoodie which now had speckles of red. She then grabs the bottom of his shirt and lifts it over his head, Troy moaning in pain the whole time. Troy looks down to find that on his perfect six pack, a huge black and blue mark was already starting to form. "Oh Troy." Gabriella releases and then touches his bare shoulder. She softly runs her hand down over his bare chest and Troy suddenly gets the chills. "Gabi." He moans but instead of it being from the pain, it was from Gabriella's fingers. She stops right above his abs and he closes his eyes. He feels her fingers slip lower and lower.
Suddenly, she touches the bruise and Troy's eyes snap open. Every hint of pain, every memory from this week rushes back into his body. His eyes immediately turn back to ice and he slaps Gabriella's hand away and jumps off his kneel to stand. Her eyes grow wide with his and he reaches down to grab the sweatshirt and white t-shirt and slowly backs up. "No." He says and Gabriella gets off her knees also and walks toward him.
"Troy!" She yells and reaches out her hand. Even though his stomach was killing him, he still continues to back up away from her.
"Don't touch me!" He says and runs his fingers through his hair. "I can't do this." He whispers once again and shakes his head. "Just go back to Nate Gabriella." He says and turns around. Throwing his shirt back on. He looks at all of his friends who were staring at the two in horror probably because Troy's actions just took a drastic turn for the worse. He walks right through Kelsi and Zeke who immediately got out of his way and started for his car. His body was aching but he had to get away before he let his wall down again. He heard footsteps running behind him.
"I DON'T WANT NATE, TROY!" She screams and Troy starts to jog to his truck. He couldn't listen to her now. He didn't want her to change his mind about anything. He wasn't weak, he couldn't be. Gabriella had just played with him back there and he wasn't going to do that again. She was lying to him now too; he knew she really did want Nate. He was more scared about his actions than angry and he had to get away from her as soon as he could.
"GO TO HELL GABRIELLA!" He yells back and then hops in the white truck, looking back once more to see Gabriella on her knees sobbing once again.
Troy suddenly feels the hot tears streaming down his own face. He promised himself that he wouldn't let Gabriella take advantage of him again and he just let her walk all over him. About fifteen minutes later, he arrived at his house and parked the truck. Troy turns off the car and suddenly places his head on the steering wheel, letting his sobs escape, knowing that Gabriella was probably doing the exact same thing.
Author's Note: I know this chapter was short but I hope you guys liked it because I really liked writing it. And since you guys have been so patient and great, I hope you liked the little Troyella fluff in there. Oh, and I hope you noticed Brad's initials are Troy's in reverse. Just something I'd add in there. Thanks for reading and reviews are great!