AN: :) I'm in love with you all, my reviewers. I don't know what exactly caused a ton of people to start reviewing around chapter 26, but I'm loving it.
Also, please nominate your favorites stories and authors in the HSM Fanfiction Awards: Take 3! There's a link in my profile. :)
The chapter title comes from the musical Sweet Charity.
Title: Forget Yesterday
Rating: T
Author: MadiWillow
Summary: The kids at East High are all seniors now, and looking forward to spending every day as if it were their last together.
Genre: Humor/Drama
Chapter: There's Gotta Be Something Better Than This
Gabriella was in her kitchen one Sunday morning, making herself some buttered toast before heading over to Troy's. Her mother was in the living room, blasting Crank That Soulja Boy on the stereo while she dusted, stopping every once in a while to do the dance. Gabriella had long since gotten over the fact that her mother liked to, embarrassingly, listen to modern rap music, but it still made her scowl to see Maria dancing in front of the wide open window.
The toaster dinged, and Gabriella quickly wolfed her food down. "Going to Troy's. Bye, Mom!" Gabriella said to her mother as she strode to the front door. She opened it, but froze when she saw someone standing there.
The man on her front porch was wearing baggy jeans and an AC/DC shirt – he looked as if he wore those clothes in an attempt to look hip. He should meet her mother.
"Can I help you?" she asked.
"Gabi, is someone at the door?" her mother called.
The man smiled widely. "Gabi!" He bent forward and swept her up in a big bear hug, and Gabriella stood rigidly.
When he set her down, she stammered, "Wh-who are you?"
Maria appeared at Gabriella's elbow and gasped. "Nicholas!"
Gabriella whipped around. "You mean my dad, Nicholas!?"
"Gabriella, you don't recognize me?" asked the man called Nicholas.
"Well... I haven't seen you since I was eight," she reminded him, but she was grinning like crazy.
Nicholas sighed. "I know. I guess I share some of that blame."
"Some of the blame?" spat Maria. "You left us."
"I left you, not her."
Gabriella looked back and forth between them. "Uh... Dad..." she stuttered, feeling the word roll of her tongue strangely. "Do you wanna come in?"
Nicholas smiled. "Sure, honey." He side-stepped his ex-wife and entered the house. "Nice place you have here, Maria. Not as nice as our place back in San Francisco, but it'll do."
"Well, with only one income, it's harder to buy a big house," said Maria irritably.
Gabriella ignored her mom and followed her dad into the living room. "Do you want someone to eat or drink?" she asked eagerly.
"Sure, I'll have a beer," accepted Nicholas, and Gabriella bustled out of the kitchen to get it for him.
When she returned a moment later, she caught her mother saying, "... do this to her."
Nicholas looked up when he heard Gabriella's footsteps and cried, "Ah, thanks, honey!" He seemed to take no heed to her mother's words, and Maria glared at him.
"So, Dad, how have you been?" Gabriella, unlike most children would be, had not been angry with her father when he left. She'd instead been mad at her mother because she thought she'd chased him away, something her mother did not deny. She also knew that her mother had refused to let her father have joint custody of her – those two things served as a barrier between Gabriella and Maria, and the two had never been able to break through it.
"You know, working to make ends meet," he said casually. Gabriella nodded interestedly. Everything her father said was like law to her.
"Where are you living now?"
"Down in Santa Fe."
"Really!?" squealed Gabriella. "That's close!"
Her father nodded. "That it is, baby doll."
Gabriella smiled at the nickname her father had christened her with when she was a child. Hearing the phrase made her realize how much she'd missed him over the years. "We have so much to catch up on," said Gabriella giddily.
Nicholas stood up quickly. "Then let's get to it! What do you say I take you out for breakfast?"
Gabriella beamed. "Really?"
"Of course!"
"Okay, then, let's go."
"Wait, Gabi," her mother said, and Gabriella turned around.
She was not interested in anything her mother had to say; the agitation over her parent's divorce had always been there, just right below the surface, and now that her dad was back, it was boiling over.
"I'll call you later tonight," said Gabriella shortly, leading her father out of the house. Once outside and in his car, she remarked on how nice it was. She didn't know anything about car types, but she did know a nice one when she saw one.
"Thanks, she's my pride and joy," smiled Nicholas, starting it and pulling away from their house. "So, where should we go? I don't know the area very well."
"Well, there's a Denny's about five minutes away," Gabriella suggested. She whipped out her phone and began typing out a text message.
"Sounds like a plan." He saw Gabriella texting out of the corner of her eye, and asked, "Talking to a boyfriend?"
Gabriella giggled. "No, just a friend of mine. I'm telling her that I won't be over until later."
"How does my beautiful doll not have a boyfriend?"
She shrugged. "Well, I did have a boyfriend for almost a year, but we broke up. We're still friends, though."
"He still likes you."
Gabriella blinked. "Um. How do you know that?"
"Whenever a guy stays in contact with an ex, it's because he wants to get back together with her. Or he wants to have sex with her. If you're anything like me, you had sex with him."
"Uh – I --" she stammered uncomfortably.
"It's nothing to be ashamed of," said her father. "Don't worry, I won't tell your mother."
"Well, she knew."
"Oh."
They pulled into the parking lot of the same Denny's Gabriella went to on her eighteenth birthday, and she led her dad inside to a booth.
"Kinda dingy place, isn't it?"
Gabriella frowned. "It's not that bad."
"I guess it depends on your standards," said her father off-handedly, grabbing his menu and looking over it. A few minutes later, the two ordered, and then sat in an awkward silence.
Her father finally broke it by saying, "Gabriella, I need to know something."
"Sure. What?"
"Well... what did your mother tell you about me?"
"... what do you mean?"
"About our divorce. You know. I just want to know if she told you any lies," he added quickly. "I don't want you to have the wrong idea of me."
"Oh." Gabriella nodded in understanding. "Well... she just told me that it didn't work out between you two and that you two got divorced."
He sighed, seemingly in relief. "What about the custody situation?"
"She said that she wouldn't let you have me, at all," said Gabriella, scowling at the thought.
"You know I would've fought for you, baby," Nicholas told her. "But after the divorce, I didn't have enough money to take your mother to court. You know that, right?"
Gabriella smiled. "Yeah, I do."
He nodded. "Good."
Gabriella's phone suddenly rang, and she pulled it out of her pocket, seeing Sharpay's name flash on the screen. She excused herself and went into the bathroom, flipping open her phone. "Hel --"
"YOUR DAD'S BACK!?" came a familiar shriek.
"Yes," said Gabriella patiently.
"I thought your dad was dead!"
"Why would you think that?" Gabriella asked, surprised.
"Well, you never talk about him," Sharpay said. "No one knew anything about him!"
"Troy knew about him," said Gabriella.
"You knew about her dad?" exclaimed Sharpay accusatorily to someone, and Gabriella heard Troy's faint voice.
"He wasn't supposed to tell anyone," Gabriella added. "He promised."
"All promises are broken once you break up," Sharpay told her.
Gabriella rolled her eyes. "That's so not true. Tell Troy thanks."
"She says 'thanks,'" Sharpay grumbled, and then to Gabriella, she said, "So!? How's it going?"
"It's good," said Gabriella earnestly. "I'm so glad he's back. I still can't believe my mom didn't want me to see him. I'm so pissed at her."
"Yeah, what's up with that?"
Gabriella shrugged. "I don't know. But maybe now that I'm older I can see him more. He lives in Santa Fe."
"Is he hot?"
"... are you kidding?"
"What the hell!?" came a yell from Chad.
"Sorry, sorry!" said Sharpay exasperatedly. "Geez, it's just a question. Don't freak out."
"Look, I gotta go," said Gabriella. "I left my dad out there. I'll be over later."
"Okay, bye."
"Bye."
Gabriella hung up her phone and slipped it into her pocket as she made her way back to the booth where her dad was. He, too, was on the phone, and, upon seeing Gabriella, he quickly said something to whomever he was talking to and hung up. "There's my girl!"
She smiled bashfully as she took her seat again. "Sorry about that."
"It's no problem," he said dismissively. "Look, I have something to ask you."
Nodding, Gabriella said, "Okay, go ahead."
"I was wondering if you could ask your mother to give me joint custody of you."
She furrowed her brow. "Dad, I'm eighteen."
"Are you? Oh." He paused. "Well, do you think maybe you could call me or something? A couple times?"
"Of course! I can visit you, too, you know," she offered. "I have a car, and it'll be summer soon."
"No, you don't have to do that."
She frowned. "Oh... okay."
"You see, my girlfriend, Kristin – when she found out I had a daughter, she wanted to know why I didn't spend any time with you." He shrugged. "I guess she wants to see my sensitive side or something. So I told her I'd come down to see you," he explained.
Gabriella swallowed. "Why... uh, why didn't she come down too?"
"Oh, she had school."
Her jaw dropped. "School!?"
"No, no, don't worry!" he said quickly. "She's twenty."
Her mouth was still hanging open. "And I'm eighteen. Does she know your daughter is two years younger than her?" she questioned harshly.
He shrugged. "It's not that important."
"It'll be important when I show up to your house!"
"You don't have to!" he assured her. "If you just call and she can see that I keep in contact with you, it should be fine. You may have to come visit if worse comes to worse, though."
"Worse comes to worse?"
"Yeah, you know, worse case scenario," he repeated, misinterpreting her question. "So, what do ya say?"
"Well... I mean, I guess I could ask my mom..."
"Thanks, sweetie!" He took out his wallet and placed a $20 bill on the table.
"Are you going somewhere?" asked Gabriella.
"Yeah, I actually have to go take care of something," he said, standing up.
"But – we haven't even eaten yet."
He waved her comment off. "I'm not that hungry anyway. Do you want me to take you somewhere?"
She shook her head slowly. "No... that's okay."
Nicholas smiled. "Okay." He patted her on the head, as if she was a dog. "I'll come over later?"
Gabriella nodded, and he exited the restaurant.
She stared at the door, long after he'd disappeared through it, her mind blank. She only was ripped out of her reverie by their waitress returning, holding their breakfasts and looking annoyed. "Does that money mean you're leaving?" she asked irritably.
Gabriella looked up at her. "Oh... yeah. Sorry." She stood up and brushed passed her, leaving the restaurant with her hands deep inside her coat pockets.
Gabriella walked the entire way to Troy's house, which was luckily only a few miles away from the Denny's she'd been at, and entered his den quietly.
At first, her appearance went unnoticed, as the rest of her friends were busy stacking empty beer cans into the shape of a pyramid on Troy's pool table. They were all deathly silent – which she didn't mind – and watched on breathlessly as Zeke, the tallest of them, attempted to place the last can on the top. But at the worst possible moment, Ryan sneezed just as Zeke was placing the can. The sudden noise made Zeke jump, which, in turn, caused the entire pyramid to crumble. Ryan grinned sheepishly as everyone glared at him.
"Nice job," said Taylor, swatting him.
"Sorry!" he cried defensively. "I can't control my nose!"
Sharpay rolled her eyes and looked over, finally spying Gabriella. "You're here!" she exclaimed. She jumped over the couch and sat herself down next to her friend. "Sooo?"
"So what?"
"How'd breakfast go?"
"Oh... good, I guess," she said vaguely. "I'm probably going to visit him sometime."
"That's great!" said Taylor, sitting down by Sharpay. "... right?" she asked, eyeing Gabriella's expression.
"Yes!" snapped Gabriella suddenly. "Why wouldn't it be? He's my dad, after all. I'm ecstatic, as would be expected."
Taylor and Sharpay exchanged glances. "Okay..." they said cautiously.
"Is something bothering you?" asked Troy. He was standing behind the couch and leaning forward so that his elbows were supporting him, right in between Sharpay and Gabriella's heads.
She narrowed her eyes. "Why do you think something's bothering me? Does it look like something's bothering me?"
"Yes," Ryan cut in.
She pursed her lips. "Well, nothing is. I'm totally fine. I saw my dad for the first time in ten years today. I'm ecstatic."
"Yeah, you said that already," Chad reminded her.
"Why is everyone on my case!?" she cried, jumping up.
"Whoa, whoa," said Troy, holding his hands up defensively and standing up straight. "No one is on your case."
"Yes, you are! What's with the twenty questions?" She turned on her heel and stormed out of the den, slamming the door behind her.
There was a pause.
"... I think something's bothering her," said Jason.
Gabriella, during her walk from Troy's house to her own, had long since calmed down, and instead despair flooded her body. Her father didn't really want her. She couldn't deny that anymore. He only wanted to see her to please his current girlfriend. She shuddered. Her father was dating a girl two years older than her. The thought almost caused her to keel over and throw up in her bushes.
She sighed as she opened her front door. She didn't want to mess up her father's relationship, so she figured she might as well take him up on his offer. If she was responsible for his breakup, he would hate her even more. She found her mother in the kitchen, for once sitting in complete silence, and said, "I'm gonna call Dad a few times."
"Gabriella!" her mother exclaimed, standing up. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing!" said Gabriella, perhaps a little too quickly. "I just want to spend more time with my father, something you never let me do."
"Something has upset you," said Maria, ignoring her comments. She led Gabriella over to the table and sat her down, before sitting herself in the chair next to her. "Please... just, tell me what your father said." Her lower lip was trembling. "You never tell me anything. Just tell me this."
Gabriella swallowed. Seeing her mother on the verge of tears made her realize how much Nicholas's return had hurt her, but she didn't want to let her mother see her cry. She didn't even know where to start, until someone else's voice spilled out of her mouth, "I thought he wanted me."
Maria let out a sob and gathered her daughter in her arms, hugging her tightly. The lump in Gabriella's throat was painful with held-in tears. "I'm so sorry, Gabi... I'm so sorry."
"It's not your fault," choked Gabriella, pulling back. "It's his. He wants me to start calling him, Mom... to impress his girlfriend. His twenty-year-old girlfriend." She laughed bitterly.
Maria shook her head and rolled her wet eyes to the ceiling. "He's downgrading."
Gabriella blinked. "What do you mean?"
Maria realized her slip-up, and gaped at her daughter. "I --"
"I told you. Now you have to tell me."
The older woman stared at her daughter and saw in her eyes that she was serious. Maria took a deep breath, and started slowly, "Your father and I... we divorced because of his affairs."
Gabriella didn't say anything for a moment. The simple statement caused countless questions to erupt in her mind, but the only thought that made itself heard was, "... affairs? As in plural?"
Maria nodded tearfully.
"But... but why didn't you tell me?"
"Because I didn't want you to hate him," she said in a high voice. "I didn't want you to hate your father... so I let you hate me."
Gabriella suddenly felt horrible. She was at her lowest of lows; the woman that she had blamed for her parents split had only been trying to protect her father's integrity, even though he didn't deserve it at all. "Mom..." she started, before finally collapsing into tears.
Maria hugged her close again and ran her hand over the back Gabriella's head. "It's okay."
"No... it's not, I've been mad at you for ten whole years... and you didn't even do anything wrong..."
"Gabi, it's okay. You're my daughter. I still love you."
Gabriella pulled back suddenly, her cheeks tear-stained, and said, "Is there anything you else you have to tell me?" she asked. "I want you to get it all in the open now. I don't care about Nicholas."
"But – he's your father."
"No. He's a sperm donor."
"Oh, Gabriella... he was such a great father when you were younger."
Gabriella half-shrugged. "I don't care. He cheated on you and then left you to pick up all the pieces. I feel nothing for him. But just... tell me everything else."
Maria frowned deeply. "I don't want to hurt you anymore."
"I don't think I can be."
"Gabi..."
"Tell me, Mom."
Maria gulped. "Well, your father... Nicholas... when he left us... I didn't keep you from him. He signed away custody of you."
Gabriella was wrong; the words sliced a deeper cut into her already fairly large wound. More tears splashed down her face and she put her face in her hands, breathing in deeply. Her mother caressed her arm, whispering, "I'm sorry. I didn't want to tell you. I didn't want you to ever know the truth about him."
Looking up again, Gabriella half-smiled. "It's okay, Mom. I mean, I'll get over it, soon." She took a shaky breath. "And I'm glad I know. I spent so much time and energy being mad at you over this... I'm glad you told me. Now I don't have to be mad at you anymore."
Maria gave her daughter a watery smile. "Oh, Gabriella." She hugged her daughter tightly for a third time, and this time, they stayed in each others arms for a long time, only being broken apart by a knock on the door.
The painful lump returned to Gabriella's throat. "That's D – Nicholas."
"Stay here." Maria stood up and marched to the front door. As much as Gabriella didn't want to see him, she couldn't control herself, and she followed her mom.
Nicholas stood is the threshold, beaming. He caught sight of Gabriella and said, "So, did you two talk it over? Gonna give me a call, baby doll?"
Gabriella's face turned red in fury.
"What makes you think you can speak to her?" challenged Maria menacingly, and Gabriella forgot to be angry for a second. Never in her life had she seen her mother that pissed.
"I have every right to talk to her," Nicholas retaliated.
"You have no right," Maria clarified. "You think you can waltz in here after ten years and expect me to let you use my daughter so you can get a good fuck?"
Nicholas flushed. "How dare --"
"No, how dare you," seethed Maria. "I have spent all this time lying to cover your ass, but I will not stand by and let you hurt her anymore than you already have." She slammed the door in his face so hard that the whole house shook.
"Wow, Mom," said Gabriella finally. "You're a badass!" She smiled slightly as Maria turned around, her eyebrow cocked up. "I love you, Mom."
"I love you, too," Maria said, smiling sadly as she tucked a strand of Gabriella's hair behind her ear. "And I'm sorry you have a father like that."
"Me too."
"But at least you have some great friends," she grinned, looking over Gabriella's head. Gabriella, confused, turned around and glanced out the window, seeing Troy, Chad, Zeke, Ryan, Jason, Taylor, and Sharpay shouting at Nicholas as he attempted to drive away. Once he was finally able to get passed them, Chad threw a shoe at the car.
Gabriella ran outside and called, "What are you guys doing!?"
"We had a feeling your dad pissed you off," explained Sharpay. "And please tell us we're right, because it would be totally awkward at your wedding if we aren't."
"No, you are."
"Have you been crying?" asked Taylor in concern.
Gabriella wiped her eyes. "A little, but I'm good now."
The boys finally reached them, Chad putting the shoe that he'd thrown at Nicholas back on his foot. "Sorry about that."
"Sorry your dad's an ass," said Troy.
"At least, we think he's an ass," Chad added. "We're right... right?"
She nodded again and laughed. "Yeah, you are." She frowned again, biting her lip. Thinking about him caused her heart to sear.
Sharpay saw her expression and grabbed her hand. "Come on, we'll cheer you up."
"What?" Gabriella yelped. Sharpay led her back into her house, up the stairs, and into her room, the other six following.
"Hmm... let's see..." Sharpay browsed through Gabriella's iPod, looking for a song. "Perfect!" She pressed play on the iPod, which, in its stereo, loudly projected the song Sweet Child O' Mine by Guns N' Roses loudly for them all to hear.
"... is this really the song we should be listening to right now?" asked Troy over the music.
"This song can cheer anybody up!" Sharpay responded. She pulled Gabriella up onto the bed with her and started jumping up and down wildly. "Come on, Gabriella!" she urged of the other girl, who wasn't moving.
Gabriella couldn't help but smile at the sight of her blonde friend crazily jumping. "Sharpay, how is this --"
"You won't know until you try it!" she shouted, and sang along, "She's got a smile that it seems to me, reminds me of childhood memories! Come on, everyone!"
Taylor shrugged nonchalantly and clambered onto the bed too, and started to jump and sing as well. "Now and then when I see her face, she takes me away to that special place."
"And if I stare too long, I'd probably break down and cry," sang Troy, climbing onto the bed too. He grabbed Gabriella's hand and started to jump lightly. She giggled at him, and started to jump a little too.
The other four boys looked at each other awkwardly, but a few minutes later Chad was on the bed as well, joining hands with Sharpay. "She's got eyes of the bluest skies, as if they thought of rain!"
Ryan appeared next to Taylor, yelling more than singing, "I hate to look into those eyes and see an ounce of pain!"
Zeke and Jason glanced at each other and sighed, shrugging in a 'what the hell?' sort of way. They managed to squeeze onto the bed too. "Her hair reminds me of a warm safe place where as a child I'd hide, and pray for the thunder and the rain, to quietly pass me by!"
"I feel so gay right now!" shouted Chad.
"Hey!"
"Sorry, Zeke, but it's true."
Sharpay pushed her boyfriend, and he almost fell off the bed. "Shut up! We're doing this for Gabriella!"
Gabriella was, in fact, beaming, jumping around like a maniac. Sure, they were acting like cheesy five-year-old's, but their cheesy five-year-old selves were making Gabriella feel a hell of a lot better. "Oooh, oh, oh, oh, sweet love of mine!" She and Troy were still holding hands, and he seemed unperturbed by the fact that they were jumping around like children.
"I love you guys so much!" shouted Gabriella over the deafening music. "This totally make up for not having a dad!"
"Anytime!" Troy responded.
"Well, I don't know about you," began Chad loudly, "but this is not an anytime thing. This is more like a once-in-a-lifetime thing."
Troy rolled his eyes. "For me, it's anytime."
She smiled at him. "Thanks."
For a group of guys who claimed to only be doing what they were doing to help a friend, they had no problem joining in with the girls, "Yeah, whoa, oh, oh, oh, sweet child of mine! Oh, oh, oh, sweet love of mine! Whoa, oh, oh, oh, sweet child of mine! Ooh, yeah! Oooh, sweet love of mine!"
AN: I think this is, perhaps, my best written chapter as of yet. I really liked how emotional I got – probably the most dramatic and emotional the story has been so far – and the mother-daughter connection between Gabriella and Maria. I also liked giving Maria some depth – she's not just a rap loving striving-to-be-cool mother. The ending was immensely corny, yes. I apologize for that, but I thought it was a cute thing they could do for Gabriella.
Also – God help me – I'm about 70 percent sure that I will write a short follow-up to this story. -deep sigh- Details later, perhaps.
Bee-tee-double-you: I highly recommend the song "Sweet Child O' Mine" by Gun n' Roses. It's one of my favorites of all time.
UP NEXT:
As per usual with the group, Prom does not go as expected.