Chapter 9
FLASHBACK
Troy was outside playing basketball against some of his friends from the basketball team. They were about a block away from the NYU dormitory apartments at the park. He looked over and saw some cheerleaders cheering them on from the side of the concrete.
"You're pretty good." Jake said laughing. "I'm glad we're not them." he said pointing to Alex and Matthew who were trying to keep up with them.
"Oh shut up! You guys won't be laughing for so long!" Alex said frowning. Troy looked across the park and saw a brunette girl walking down the sidewalk with a blonde. He looked at Alex watching him with the ball then saw the blonde leave the brunette.
"Troy heads up!" Matthew yelled as he through the ball at Troy who caught it at the last minute.
"Oh my gosh! Troy, you're so good at that!" one of the cheerleaders squealed loudly.
"Thanks." he smirked and bounced the ball cockily smiling at them. Alex started guarding him and Jake yelled for the ball.
"PASS IT OVER HERE!" Jake yelled they heard a scream and looked at a cheerleader who was pointing.
"THAT CAR IS COMING STRAIGHT FOR GABRIELLA!" she started running. Troy looked and saw the brunette crossing the street to get to a taxi, or limo, or car. He ran as fast as he could then grabbed her out of the street and pulled her to the sidewalk tripping over the curb in the process. The brunette watched the car speed by and she let out a breath and bent down.
"Are you okay?" she asked quietly. Troy looked into his eyes and his breath hitched. She was beautiful. She was breathtaking. He could look at her all day. "Mister? Uh, sir? Señor? Um, Monsieur? Oh my gosh." she starts freaking out.
"Oh, no you're fine. I-I mean I'm okay." he says. She smiles at him and puts her hand out and helps him up.
"Thank you, for like saving my life." she says smiling at him.
"You're welcome." he says nervous and scratches his neck unsure of how to talk to such a gorgeous girl.
"Um, I'm Gabriella Montez by the way." she smiles softly. "Is there a way I can repay you for you know, saving me?"
"No it's fine. No charge." he says and Gabriella giggles. "I'd save you any day." he says and Gabriella blushes giggling. His eyes widen when he remembers what he just said. Did that really just come out of his mouth!
"Well, I'll remember that." she says.
"Miss Montez." a man says opening the door of a limo.
"I have to go." she says then kisses Troy's cheek. "Thanks again..."
"Troy my name is Troy...Troy Bolton!" he says and smiles.
"I'll see you around." she says and gets into the limo smiling. The man closes the door and then the limo drives away. Troy watches the limo drive away then jumps in the air and yells.
FLASHBACK OVER The guys were sitting in Red's, Marcos and Zeke where talking while Chad and James. Troy was between them not wanting to talk to anyone but Gabriella. The adults decided to stay home and eat in so their children could have some time to themselves. They had been waiting there for about 30 minutes so far and the girls hadn't shown up yet.
"I think they stood us up." Zeke said laughing.
"Well considering they're with Juliet, Gabriella, and Stella. They're probably just running late." Marcos said and Troy chuckled thinking about Gabriella. She always took hours to get ready. He always had to make her get ready almost two hours before they had to leave so they'd be on time.
"Especially Gabi, she takes so long to get ready." Zeke groans. "I remember senior prom."
"Ah senior prom." Marcos laughs.
"She never told me about senior prom." Troy said.
"Well she was going with this soccer kid who asked her and I was, obviously, going with Sharpay. Well Gabriella had started getting ready at like 3pm and prom didn't start until 7pm we picked them up at 6:45pm and Gabriella still wasn't ready. She took like 30 extra minutes and she was rushing." Zeke laughed.
"It wasn't 30 minutes, it was only 25 Zeke." Gabriella corrects. "I can't go to senior prom looking bad, there was paparazzi outside of prom."
"But still you took forever and you were just putting on jewelry." Sharpay says. "And Dillan was angry."
"He knew what he was getting into when he asked me to prom." Gabriella said smirking.
"She made him pay for her prom ticket." Stella says to everyone.
"That's selfish." Taylor mumbles loud. Casey clears her throat and Stella looks at her. Casey makes a motion toward Taylor and Stella looks at her.
"How was your day, did everything work out?" Gabriella says smiling and kisses Troy. Troy pulls her close and deepens the kiss.
"Um. G. R. O. S. S." Casey sings. Gabriella pulls away from him and he groans mad.
"I missed you." he says.
"I love you." Gabriella says. Troy sits down and she sits on his lap.
"And everything did work out as planned."
"Yep. We had a great day didn't we girls?" Gabriella asked them.
"I surely did, and I must say brother you did good job when choosing girls. Gabriella she's perfect." Casey smiles. "Well she knows how to have a fun GDO."
"I'm saying, now people understand why I love her so much." Stella smiles.
"I wish I got special treatment." Troy whines. "Um, you do." Gabriella said smirking. "You always get special treatment." she says in his ear.
"I-I want more." he cries.
"Well, we're almost married." Gabriella smiles big.
"Ah, here we go. I don't think you should be getting married." Chad says bluntly. "You guys aren't made for each other."
"Chad, obviously they are made for each other." Sharpay snaps across the table.
"Why do you think we're not made for each other?" Gabriella asks.
"You're nothing but a slut-" Chad starts.
"Chad shut your fucking mouth before-" Troy begins to threaten.
"Why do you think I'm a slut?" Gabriella asks.
"Bruce told us about you." James smirked. "I wish I knew you 5 years ago." Gabriella glares at them then gets angry.
"Can you two just leave her alone!" Troy yells and glares. Good thing they were the only ones seated outside or else they might've been kicked out.
"I just want to know why the hell your wasting your time, even your mother thinks you're w-"
"Chad!" Casey looks at him.
"His mom thinks he's wasting his time on you, and honestly I think he is too. You're-" "Chad shut up!" Sharpay yells.
"You're nothing but another slut Troy is gonna be uninteresting with you less than a year into your marriage then he may divorce you." Chad finishes and glares at Gabriella. "Or he may just leave the wedding day. Once a player always a player."
Gabriella looked at everyone starring at her at the table then looked down.
"I-I don't feel good." she says quietly. "So I'm just g-gonna call a taxi or somet-"
"Or you limo." Taylor teases.
"...And go home." she says quietly. She picks up her stuff and gets up going inside the resturant so she could get to the front.
"What the hell is your problem!" Troy hisses.
"You'll thank him later." Taylor says.
Sharpay rolls her eyes and gets up and follows Gabriella with Troy not so far behind her. They see Gabriella sitting on a bench by herself looking down.
"Gabi?" Sharpay says and Gabriella looks up and smiles slightly.
"Oh, uh hey." she says softly then looks back down.
"You know everything he said wasn't true." Troy says hopeful.
"I-I know, I just don't feel good. I-I think I'm sick or something." she says and sees the taxi coming. She gets up and rushes into it without looking back. She closes the door then looks at the driver.
"Take me too the nearest beach." she says. He nodds. Gabriella looks down then tears up the taxi stops a few minutes later Gabriella pays him then gets out. She takes off her heels and goes toward the shore. She pulls her knees to her chest and starts crying silently. She knew what Chad says about Troy isn't true, but what he said about Troy's mom and him. Was he really wasting his time on her? Was she just wasting his time? Did he even want to marry her? She cried harder and put her head on her knees. She felt someone touch her back. She jumped and saw Cat smiling at her with her blonde her.
"Hey Cat." Gabriella says and sniffles.
"Shhh, it's okay. Don't cry." Cat says and pulls Gabriella into a hug. Gabriella always loved that about Cat. She never asked questions she just did what needed to be done and waited for you to talk. It was complete opposite Sharpay, and everyone else she knew.
"W-What are you doing here?" Gabriella asked her.
"Well, I'm kinda married." Cat smiled. "He's a surfer guy, and he's amazing. I met him in New York and then when I disappeared I was here with him. He's everything I want, and I missed you guys like hell. But I don't know, I just never thought about calling you." she says sighing and wipes the brunettes tears. Cat was two years older than Gabriella. Gabriella saw her more as an older sister than Juliet. Cat did what she said. Juliet just kinda did what she think she said.
"Oh." Gabriella says and looks at Cat.
"What are you doing out here? The sun is down and you know creeps come to the beach at night. Are you trying to get date raped?" Cat asked her sarcastically.
"I-I just kinda feel...lost." Gabriella says. "I'm so in love with Troy, and I know he loves me. But our familes are just so..."
"Ahh, I understand. That Romeo Juliet type stuff?" Cat asks.
"Yeah." Gabriella says quietly.
"Hey, lets get to my house and we can have a CGNI?" she asks smiling.
"College Girl Night In." Gabriella laughs. "How do you remember that?"
"It's one of my best memories from college, so yes?"
"As long as you have the truffles, then I'm so in." Gabriella laughs.
"Trust me, Nathan's parents make sure we have a ton of food. Including candy and unhealthy treats." Cat laughs and helps Gabriella up. "Besides you need time for yourself, and away from everyone...at least everyone who's apart of the situation. It'll help you think better."
"Okay. So what do you do here?" Gabriella asked.
"Me? I've been interior decorating resturants, events, houses, everything." Cat smiles. "It's a lot of fun. And you? Have you still been being a kickass heiress?"
"Well, yeah but I think I wanna start my own charity or business or something once I get married, if I get married." Gabriella says and sighs about to cry again. They stop walking at a mansion near the beach. Cat smiles and looks at her.
"This is where I live if you ever need me." she says smiling. She unlocks the door and opens it. Gabriella looks around and smiles. Her house was beautiful it was designed like a beach house but had a modern classic twist to it. "Do you like it? I just redid this room and the family room yesterday? Is it too much?"
"No, Cat this is beautiful." Gabriella smiles.
"I was wondering when you'd decide to come home." a guy with black hair and hazel eyes walks out of the kitchen smirking. He was built, very built and tall. He was shirtless and kissed Cat. "And who's this beauty." he says smiling at Gabriella.
"This is one of my friends from NYU, Gabriella Montez. She's in a bit of a crisis so, we're having a CGNI. No boys allowed, Nate." Cat says smiling.
"It's about time I met one of your friends from your past life." he says sarcastic. "It's nice to meet you, I'm Nathan."
"Nice too meet you too." Gabriella smiles at him.