Author's Note: Wow, I'm really happy you guys are excited about the story I'm working on! Thank you so much! I won't post it until I'm done with this story, but thanks! Anyways, thanks so much for reviewing and reading! You guys are amazing!
Gabriella was sitting up on a counter in the kitchen, watching as everyone was sitting there bored, talking. It was around 4:30 PM and the lunch time was over, so now they were waiting for dinner shift to start. Gabriella herself was done for the day but she had to wait until Troy was done at 8 so he could take her home since she drove with him this morning after they ate breakfast together. Not that she minded though, because at the moment she was talking with Taylor, and Cassie. She knew that Troy was on a quick break right now, but while she was working, she saw him walk over in his suit to take a nap on the side of the pool, so she didn't want to bother him. "Earth to Brie!" Gabriella suddenly sees a dark hand in her face and she shakes her head to sees the two of them were staring at her.
"Sorry… I just zoned out." She says and smiles.
"Someone's tired. I wonder why." Taylor says sarcastically and Gabriella rolls her eyes.
"Hey… don't lecture me about it. You and Chad go at it like dogs, I swear." She says and Taylor opens her mouth to rebut, but Gabriella stops her. "So Cas… John was talking about taking you out to dinner tonight."
Troy's cousin nods her head and Gabriella watches as her face turns slightly red. "Yea… he's taking me to some expensive place. I don't know, I'm supposed to dress up though." Cassie explains and Gabriella sees a small smile play on her lips.
"At least John does stuff for you; Chad doesn't do anything romantic anymore." Taylor says with a sigh. "It gets on my nerves sometimes."
Gabriella giggles and nods her head. "That's because Chad had the romantic brain the size of a peanut." All three girls laugh and Gabriella suddenly hears a door open. She looks up to see that across the kitchen, Bradin had just walked in, wearing a West High basketball shirt and jeans. She sighs as he scans the kitchen and then his eyes lock on hers.
"Oh shit… We're gonna go." Cassie says and grabs Taylor's arm. Both of them knew that Gabriella hadn't told Bradin about her and Troy yet, and neither one of them wanted to be around when it happened. "We'll see ya."
Gabriella gives him a desperate look as they suddenly run out of the kitchen into the coffee room. She sighs as she watches as Bradin walks over to where she was standing. She didn't have to tell him yet did she? It wasn't that she didn't want him to know, she was just extremely concerned about Troy. She knew Bradin would flip when he found out, and she'd rather have him not take it out on her boyfriend. "Hey Brie."
"Err… hey Bradin." She says nervously and tries to give him a smile. "How's you're day going so far?"
Bradin shrugs his muscular shoulder. "Alright. I gotta seat people soon." He says and then smiles down at her. She knew that smile. It was that he had something on his mind. "Listen, I was thinking…"
"That's a first." Gabriella teases, trying to make the mood lighter, but it wasn't working. She was still petrified he'd find out.
"Thanks." He says sarcastically and laughs. "No really… I was thinking. Since we haven't done anything in… God like forever… I was thinking maybe we could go out to dinner tonight. I'm done at 7:30, so we can get something? What do you think?"
Gabriella bites her bottom lip. She had to tell him, and now would be the perfect opportunity to. She had to. And he wouldn't do anything to kill Troy, would he? Of course not. They were almost eighteen years old; he should know better then that. "Well… umm… I can't."
Bradin groans. He looks down at her angrily and sighs. "Do you have a problem with me or something? Cuz when ever I ask if you wanna hang out, you always turn me down."
Gabriella continues to bite down on her lower lip. "No, Bradin. There's nothing wrong with you." She says in a small voice.
"Then what IS it?" He asks forcefully. "Huh? I thought this summer we'd get closer, and you're just pushing me father away."
"Bradin…" She starts and watches as his green eyes flash on her the way Troy's piercing blue ones do when he's angry.
"What?" He asks forcefully and Gabriella swears she sees an image of Troy's angry body in front of her. But she shakes her head to clear the thought.
"I can't hang out with you anymore. Not just you ok?" She says and Bradin closes his eyes and opens them back up again, pain filled in them.
"Why not?"
Gabriella takes a deep breath. She didn't want to hurt him, since they were really good friends. But she had to do this. Troy meant more to her then Bradin did. And it was going to come out eventually. "Because I have a boyfriend."
Bradin's body freezes. She watches as his green eyes turn slightly grey from anger. She could see his face harden, but he tries to cover it up. "You have a boyfriend…" He says and shakes his head. "Who?"
Gabriella knew that both of them knew the answer to that question, but Bradin just wanted her to say it. "Um… I'm um…" She sighs and takes in a deep breath. "I'm dating Troy."
Bradin closes his eyes angrily and shakes his head. "You're dating Bolton." He says as if he couldn't believe it. "You've got to be shitting me." Gabriella continues to bite her bottom lip while she watched as anger ran through Bradin's body. Her head shakes slowly in a no and he shakes his head again. She could almost see steam escape from his ears, but he was trying to remain calm. "Why that stupid bastard?"
Gabriella suddenly feels her own anger start to rise. Why the hell would he tell her that Troy was a bastard? Yea, he had his moments, but so did Bradin himself! "Don't call him that!" Gabriella snaps and shakes her own head.
"He's gonna break your heart." Bradin says and shakes his head again. "You know he will."
Gabriella narrows her eyes on him. "No… I don't know that." She says angrily and shakes her own head.
Bradin rolls his eyes. "He's slept with half the chick population at East High! He's the biggest player in all of Albuquerque! What's gonna happen when he gets bored of you… huh? What happens when he gets sick of you? He's just in it to screw you Brie… and you're letting him!"
Gabriella shakes her head angrily again and takes a step forward, narrowing her eyes into snakelike slits. "Yea? And what about you Bradin? You're just as bad! And maybe Troy's different then what you think." She says and watches as Bradin takes a step back from her outburst. "It doesn't matter what you think either! It only matters what I think." She says and angrily turns away from him to walk towards the coffee room. The workers in the kitchen had their attention on the two who were arguing.
"I just don't want to see you get hurt Brie, and that's what Troy's gonna do. He'll play with you until he gets bored, then he'll dump you faster then yesterday's garbage." Bradin exclaims and Gabriella turns around, with fire in her eyes.
"That's a risk I'm gonna half to take." She says and pushes the door open, walking into the coffee room, leaving Bradin fuming.
"Gabi…" Troy moans as Gabriella runs her fingers down his bare chest. Two fingers on each hand slowly go in between the hems of his swimsuit and pull them down, leaving him completely naked. Her hair was wild from the lake still as she kisses around him, teasing him by avoiding his member. "Gabi!" Troy whines and Gabriella's eyes look up with a seductive smile. She places her lips onto him and Troy throws his head back in pleasure…
"Troy…"
"Don't stop…" Troy he moans and grips the sheets of the bed, trying to gain some control, but Gabriella was taking it away from him quickly…
"Dude… dude wake up!" A voice enters his ears as he suddenly comes out of his dream, feeling a hand shake his shoulder and he hears a groan come from his throat. He suddenly flips over so he was lying on his stomach and throws the towel he was using as a pillow over his head. His hands close over his ears as he groans again. He didn't want to get up. He was having too good a dream about what he and Gabriella did last night to get up.
"Give me five minutes." His voice says muffled. Underneath the towel and he hears a sigh come from above him.
"No… you're getting up NOW!" Chad says as he rips the off white towel off of Troy's head. He groans again and flips over so he was staring at Chad, who was smirking like a little kid on Christmas. "And next time…" He says and throws the towel back at Troy. "Make sure you don't keep moaning 'Oh Gabi… Gabi don't stop…' It's kind of disgusting."
Troy rolls his eyes and sits up and straddles the chair. "I can't help it… she's that irresistible." He says with a smirk and Chad rolls his eyes.
"Ok… WAY too much information." He says and offers Troy his hand. Troy takes it and Chad pulls him up. He bends down and picks up his red Wildcats basketball shirt that had "Captain" written across the back. He throws it on and looks down and remembers he was wearing his black swimsuit still. But he stands up and stretches, then sighs. The pool area was mostly empty, aside from the fact that about two young girls were out drying off with their mothers chatting away. John was on the lifeguard chair, looking bored as ever.
"How long do we have til we have to go back to the hell hole?" Troy asks and Chad looks down at his watch.
"It's five." Chad says and Troy groans again. They had to get back to work by five-thirty.
"I hate work." Troy exclaims and then sits down on the beach chair again. He runs a hand through his hair as Chad sits down also.
"Bradin was talking about asking your girlfriend out tonight. He told Zeke and I this morning." Chad explains.
Troy raises his eyebrows. "You told him to fuck off right?" The last thing Troy needed right now was Bradin asking Gabriella out.
"That's between you three. I'm not getting involved." Chad exclaims and throws his hands up. Troy nods and looks down. They were going to have to tell him soon, but Troy didn't want to break his promise to Gabriella. Not on the fourth day that they've been going out. He sighs and suddenly looks up to see Chad looking towards the door. "Speak of the devil…"
Troy's eyes move to where Bradin was marching angrily on the side of the pool towards them, with his eyes locked on Troy's. The piercing blue eyes narrow onto the opposite basketball captain as he stands up from the beach chair, as Chad does too. Uh oh, he knew right away what this had to do with. Bradin finally stops in front of Troy and throws his arms out to push Troy's shoulders, testingly. "What the hell are you playing at?"
Troy stumbles back a little from the shock, but then quickly regains composer. "What are hell are you talking about?" He asks, even though he was pretty sure he had a good idea what he was talking about. And it had everything to do with the gorgeous deep brown-eyed lifeguard he was in love with. He shakes his head and stands up straighter, trying to seem tougher then he was. But his promise to Gabriella was running around in his head.
"Don't fuck with me Bolton." Bradin spits out and takes a step closer to Troy. "You think it's hilarious don't you? You fuck with the queen of West High. I bet it's all just to spite me." Bradin says and pushes Troy's shoulders again, but this time, Troy was ready for it, so he doesn't move.
"Bradin…" Chad starts to say but Troy sends daggers his way as if to tell him to shut up.
"Or maybe it's because she's fucking amazing." Troy says back and shakes his head. "Newsflash Cunningham, I've got better things to do then waste my time thinking of ways to piss you off." He says as he turns to Chad then. "Let's get out of here."
He starts to walk away more towards the pool, when he suddenly feels someone grab his shoulder and spin him back around. Bradin's normally green eyes were grey with hatred as he stared at Troy's piercing blue ones. "You fucking stole her from me."
Troy laughs sarcastically as he hears the doors to the club open, but doesn't turn around to look at them. "She's been mine, always has been. I told you that already." He says and shakes his head. "You never had her. The whole fucking reason she went out with you was to piss me off!" Troy exclaims, knowing it was true, even though Gabriella never told him. It had to have been.
But that was a mistake to say. Troy suddenly feels pain in his jaw as he grabs it after Bradin punches. Troy winces in pain and closes his eyes from the shock. He touches his lip that was already getting swollen and he opens his eyes back up to see Bradin's smirking face. Troy begins to take a step forward at him, to retaliate when he suddenly hears a voice from behind making him stop. "Troy!"
He suddenly feels a soft hand grab his bicep and a smirk grows on his face. He looks up to see Bradin's eyes were narrowed at the site. His head turns to the side to see Gabriella was looking up into his face with concern. Behind her was Taylor, Sharpay, Cassie, and Zeke, who were all standing next to Chad, looking just as helpless as he did. "I'm fine Gabi." Troy says and looks back up at Bradin. "You're not worth this."
"We saw Bradin walk out and knew Troy was out here, so we wanted to be sure everything was alright." Troy could hear Taylor say in the background, probably because Chad must have asked why they were here. But his mind suddenly turns back to Bradin again.
"It will be when I get done with this bastard." Bradin snarls.
That was it. Troy knew he should have walked away at that moment, but something was holding him back. He continues to stare up into Bradin's face that now had his eyes on Gabriella. She was still hanging onto Troy's arm, but her eyes were on Bradin also. "Stop it ok! Fighting isn't going to win me over." She says and shakes her head. "I don't like you like that ok?"
Bradin's eyes were like slits now. Troy knew he was pissed off, and he should have just dragged Gabriella away, but he didn't. Bradin laughs a sarcastic, painful and disgusting laugh. "Yea… cuz you're too busy being Bolton's slut."
Troy suddenly looses it. Bradin could say whatever the hell he wanted to about him, but when he insulted Gabriella, that's when things crossed the line. He could feel fire run through his veins as the adrenaline takes over his brain. Troy suddenly shrugs Gabriella's arm off him and runs over to Bradin, his fist being thrown back in the process. "Don't you fucking call her that!" He yells. Almost as if in slow-motion, Troy's left hand grabs his shirt while his right hand connects with Bradin's jaw. Bradin doubles back for a moment in shock, but then his eyes turn back to grey as he lunges at Troy, his fist connecting with his stomach.
"Troy!" He hears Gabriella's voice echo in his ear as the wind was knocked out of him for the moment, but he drones it out. Right now all he wanted was to cause Bradin pain. Pain for saying that about his girlfriend.
"You son of a bitch!" Troy yells and stands up full length again and tries to punch Bradin in the stomach, but Bradin grabs his arm and punches his jaw. Troy could feel blood pooling in his mouth as he spits out a wad of blood, and attacks Bradin again.
It was six years worth of hatred towards the other that was spilling out now. Neither one of them were going to loose this fight, they had too much at stake. Troy could feel another arm grab his shoulder as he gets Bradin in a headlock. "Troy, Bradin chill!" Chad's voice fills his ears, but he couldn't hear it. All he could hear was the grunts that were erupting from both Bradin and himself.
Bradin's elbow jams upward, hitting Troy in the nose and Troy lets go of his headlock. He doubles back for a moment and Bradin takes that opportunity to charge at Troy and punch him in the stomach. Neither one of them noticed that they had made their way to the edge of the pool, near the slippery corner. "TROY STOP!" Gabriella's screams erupt as Troy could see in his peripheral that everyone was now crowded on his left side, trying to get them to stop.
Troy manages to punch Bradin in the nose and watches as the blonde doubles back. "You don't give a fucking shit about her!" He yells and lunges at Troy again. He could feel a sharp intense pain in his gut as he then tries to rip Bardin off of him, but was unsuccessful. His strength was starting to leave him with each punch that Bradin threw. His adrenaline was wearing off and he could see his vision was starting to get blurry, but he couldn't give up.
"I FUCKING LOVE HER!" Troy yells back and the rest of the gang suddenly stops moving. Bradin freezes and removes his hand from his shoulder and stares at him wide-eye. The piercing blue eyes suddenly meet the deep brown that's owner was standing next to him. He said it. He couldn't believe he just said it but he did. And he meant every word of it. He turns around to face her as their eyes never left each other, a small smile on his lips, with the pool behind him. But that was the last thing he saw.
"FUCK YOU!" Bradin exclaims and throws his arm back and punches Troy in the face.
With almost no energy from fighting and from the fact that he was still staring at Gabriella, Troy slips on the slippery edge of the pool. The angle that Bradin sent the punch causes him to fall backwards at an awkward angle. He suddenly feels his head smack something extremely hard and right before his body crashes into the water, and everything goes black.