A/N: Quick note. Thanks to BrookeGavin. You don't have a real penname on so I have to thank you this way! I don't know about your suggestion, I was going to have her find out in this one…dunno for sure though! Oh, and two more things (so much for quick). One, thanks to all my reviewers! I didn't know that this story would be so popular. As of right now, I have 40 reviews, 938 hits, this story is on the favorites list of 11 readers, and the alert list of 20. Thanks you guys! The other message will be at the end of the chapter, so start reading!
Chapter 5: The Party
Gabriella looked at the alarm clock resting next to her bed. It was a normal clock (not digital) with music notes all over it. She was supposed to be at Troy's fifteen minutes ago, but she had trouble finding a shirt that she could wear. Without thinking about the fact that her friends would be able to see through it once it got wet, Gabriella pulled a white t-shirt over her bikini, and ran out the door.
Troy was sipping a soda, waiting for Gabriella to arrive. He was worried about her. Not only was it not like her to be late, but she was lying to him. Something was wrong with her, and everyone around them was starting to figure that much out. The doorbell rang, and without waiting for someone to answer it, Gabriella walked in the Bolton household. Jack and Anne had insisted that she was now a member of the family, and didn't have to wait for someone to answer the door, she could just walk in. However, she felt uncomfortable about just walking in, so she rang the doorbell, and entered. Chad would just walk into the house, and make himself at home.
"Hey, baby," Troy
said, wrapping his arms around her waist, and kissing her
passionately. Gabriella began to kiss him back. "What took you so
long?"
"Lost track of time, sorry," she replied. Troy
looked into her eyes. They told him that she wasn't lying about
this, but they still held secrets.
"Why don't you sit down? Hungry, thirsty?" Gabriella picked up Troy's can of soda, and took a drink from it.
"Not anymore," she said with a smile.
"Oh, you're in trouble now young lady." When Troy tried to tickle her again, she immediately pushed him away. "Gabi, why are you lying to me? Why won't you tell me what's wrong?" There were a few seconds of silence, and they could hear shouts and splashing from Chad's house already.
"Because nothing's wrong! Now let's go!" Without another word, Gabriella stalked out the backdoor to Chad's house, leaving Troy alone and confused.
Jason, Kelsi and Taylor were already at Chad's house by the time Troy and Gabriella got there.
"Hey guys!" Chad called from where he was in the pool. It looked like he was trying to get Taylor to put her head under the water, but she kept on insisting that the water was too cold, and she had to get used to it first. "You know what, you're taking too long." Then, Chad grabbed Taylor around the waist, picked her up, and threw her under the water. Taylor surfaced quite wet, and quite pissed off.
"Chad Danforth!" she sputtered. "You are so dead!" Chad swam away before Taylor could get her hands on him. Troy pulled off his shirt, and tossed it on the chair next to Gabriella.
"Aren't you getting in?" he asked her. She shook her head.
"Not right now. Maybe later." Troy kissed her on the lips.
"Sure everything's alright?"
"Troy! If you ask me that one more time, I think I'm going to scream! Why do you keep asking me? Of course everything's alright!"
"I'm only asking, because you're acting different. You'd tell me, right?"
"You just asked me that, and yes, yes I would tell you if anything was wrong." Troy kissed her one more time, and jumped into the pool.
Slowly, everyone else began to arrive. For about half an hour, Taylor sat out with Gabriella, and they talked for a while.
"Are you ever going to get in, woman?" Chad demanded. Gabriella smiled and shook her head. "Come on, for me?" Chad pouted, but that only made Gabriella laugh.
"Why would I do anything nice for you, Danforth?" she asked him. Chad stopped to think. "That's what I thought, I wouldn't." A few minutes later, Troy grabbed Gabriella's arm. "Troy! What the hell are you doing?" she cried out.
"Getting you in the pool," he said simply. Then, Gabriella began to struggle to break free from his grip, but he was too strong for her.
"Come on, Troy. Let me go!" she demanded, but before she could get another word in edgewise, she found herself underwater. Everyone began to laugh and cheer. "That's not funny!" exclaimed Gabriella when she surfaced, making everyone laugh even harder.
"Hey, Gabi. What's wrong with your back?" Ryan asked her. Gabriella looked down in horror. People could see right through her shirt. She immediately swam to the edge of the pool, and hoisted herself up and out of the water.
"I'll be right back," she said as she ran towards Troy's house where she had left her bag with her towel. On her way there, she realized that her dry clothes were at home, and she would not go back there under any circumstances.
Troy looked at his friends and sighed. Maybe now they understood that Gabriella had a secret that she was keeping from them.
"Her back was black, and there looked like there were red lines going across it," Ryan said as soon as he was sure that Gabriella was out of ear-shot.
"Maybe it's her swimsuit," Sharpay suggested. Taylor shook her head.
"No, Gabriella was wearing a two-piece. I remember her going on and on about how she only had one bathing suit and she wasn't even sure if it fit her correctly," she explained. Troy got out of the pool.
"I'm going to go and see what's wrong," he said, and he left. Everyone else tried to go back to having fun, but they were too worried about their friend.
When Gabriella got to Troy's house, both Anne and Jack were in the basement watching TV. She dug around in her bag until she found her towel, and began to dry herself off the best she could. She was fuming. She couldn't believe what Troy had done to her! She didn't want to swim, why couldn't he understand that?
"Hey, Gabi, could I talk to you?" Troy asked from the doorway. Gabriella shrugged.
"I guess so," she muttered with her back to him.
"I want you to tell me the truth. Are you alright?" Gabriella stopped. What was she supposed to say? No, Troy. Everything's not alright. My step-father to be is abusing me, but that doesn't matter, because my Mom's deeply in love with him?
"Yeah," she said. "Everything's great. Besides the fact that you threw me in the pool even though I didn't want to go swimming!"
"Everything alright with school?"
"You should know. You're there with me everyday," she snapped. Troy could tell that this would most-likely end with them getting in a fight, but it was worth it in the long-run.
"Everything alright at home…with Ian?" Gabriella froze. Troy could tell that he was close to finding out. He just had to dig a little deeper. "Why don't you tell me what's wrong, and I can try to help you?"
"This is out of your league, Troy. I don't think you can help me here."
"Try me, Gabi." Gabriella sighed.
"Don't tell anyone this," she begged. Troy noticed that she had begun to cry too. Biting her bottom lip, Gabriella pulled off her shirt. Troy took a step back in shock. He wasn't nearly prepared for what he was seeing. Her whole torso was black and blue; some parts were even a shade of sickly yellow. Slowly, Gabriella turned around. Her back was the same way, only there were deep red welts cutting across it also.
"Who did this to you?" he said through his teeth.
A/N: One more quick note. Since everyone just loves Ian, I have decided that Mrs. Montez will be marrying him. Okay, now peel yourself off the floor, change your pants, and get back here. I was only joking (I'm in a sarcastic mood right now). Anyway, only 2 more chapters left (theoretically). Oh, wait, I just got an idea like 2 seconds ago! Never mind, make that three! My goal is to finish this in the next week. I'll be out of town soon for a funeral (you get used to that kind of stuff in my family), and want to finish before that and my Dad's surgery (in 2 weeks), so this'll be wrapped up pretty soon. Until next time!
Tina101
