To answer some questions, I think I'm having Troy and the gang be sophomores (so they'll be juniors when Mack goes to East High), just so I have a little more time to play around with. Plus the age difference might play into the Mack-Troy sibling relationship, I'm not sure yet. All I know is that they are not seniors this year...
Now, on to chapter 21...
Calum sat on the edge of the pond in the park. He was swirling the water with his pointer finger. He had been outside all night because he hadn't wanted to face his family. It was times like this he envied his friends and Mack Their families cared about them, not their image. The reason that Adam's family pushed basketball was because he needed a scholarship, badly. His family had six kids to send to college and if Adam could get any kind of scholarship, that would help. Teagan's father wanted him to do basketball so he could put it on his resume, but what he wanted more was for Teagan to make friends. He was always a quiet kid.
He turned his head and saw a young man teaching his son and daughter how to dribble a basketball. It reminded him of the Bolton's. "What would Dad have done if I was a girl?" He said quietly. Then he shook his head, "he would have never cared about me then. He doesn't think girls should play. He should see Mack play." He laughed.
"What are you doing?"
Calum turned around and almost fell in the lake. "Gabriella, I..."
Gabriella just laughed and sat next to him. "Do you need to talk?"
"How long have you been behind me?"
"Long enough," she said. "If you need to talk, I'm a good listener. You have to be if Sharpay is your friend."
"She seemed nice."
"After we tamed her, but she still likes to talk. So Calum, what's bothering you?"
"You'd think it was stupid."
Gabriella just stared at him, like she had when Troy had told her about him being "the basketball guy."
He sighed, knowing deep down he wanted to get this off his chest. "I...I wish I had a different family."
"You shouldn't say things you don't mean."
"But I do," he said standing up. "They hate me, I know they do. They can't except me for who I am because I don't fit into their perfect family! They don't understand...and they don't want to. And I don't care what you say in their defense because you don't know them and you most certainly don't live with them!" Calum turned and ran as fast as he could, almost running into the nearby tree. Little did he know, Cam had been behind the tree the whole time and heard every word his little brother said.
Gabriella shut her eyes. Taylor and Sharpay walked up behind her. "How did it go?"
"How did it go Taylor? I think I made it worse! I never knew he felt that way."
Sharpay sat down beside Gabriella. "You know that you didn't have to try and talk to him. So don't beat yourself up over it. Lets go meet the guys at the airport, their flight will be in soon."
The three girls stood up and started to walk out of park. Once they were out of sight, Cam came out from behind the tree. The words that Calum had said were finally starting to sink in.
hsmhsmhsmhsmhsm
Cam walked through the front door. His parents were sitting at the kitchen table, his mother drumming her long blue and gold fingernails. Cam looked at the clock, it was five p.m., he'd been wandering around aimlessly for four hours, ever since he heard Calum talking to Gabriella. "Has Calum come home yet?" Cam asked hesitantly. His father had been very upset the night before when Calum hadn't come home.
"No," said his mother in a soft voice. You could tell she was getting worried.
"Where is that boy!" Daniel said, almost to himself.
Cam leaned against the wall. He didn't want to tell his parents that Calum probably wasn't going to come home, but he really didn't want to tell them the reason. Maybe it was better that Calum hadn't come home.
"Do you think that, maybe, he thinks we don't love him?" Cam was shocked that he actually voiced his thoughts.
"Where would he get that idea?" Mrs. Boucher said. She had an icy look on her face. "Unless that Mack told him so."
"Mom, I don't think-"
"Cam! I thought you agreed with us. Don't tell me that you're going to become best buddies with Troy." Daniel spat out Troy's name as if it was disease.
Cam was taken back. "Dad, I-"
"Cameron! That family has done so much to us. And Mack thought she could apologize, ha!" Mrs. Boucher said.
Cam jerked his head toward his mother, a look of confusion on his face. "You mean they wanted to apologize for whatever they did and you didn't accept it?"
"Cam, there is a fine line between a mistake that you can apologize for and a mistake you can't and what Jack did is flirting with it," Daniel said.
"I don't even know what they did, but I think they've paid for it. I mean think about it, Troy was just in the hospital. They thought they were going to loose him. He couldn't play in that tournament they were in. It had to be pretty serious."
"Cameron Boucher! What have we taught you? You are going back on everything you've learned."
"Dad," Cam said. "I think enough is enough."
"If you think Troy will forgive you-"
"Everything I did to him was because of you," Cam exploded. "You told me to pick fights with him. You praised me when I hurt him badly. When I got hurt fighting you said I got hurt for the cause." Then it dawned on him. Earlier, his father had said 'what Jack did' not 'what they did.' "Were you trying to hurt Troy to get to Mr. Bolton."
So, Cam isn't all that bad...He finally figured it out. Next Chapter the team takes their first steps back in Albuquerque and we find out if they won the whole thing or not! Review!
