Title: Misunderstandings

I got this idea from watching an old I Love Lucy episode. I hope you all enjoy it!

Troy and Gabriella were up in her room reading their current reading for English. Taylor and Chad were coming over later on for a double date. Troy was reading aloud while Gabriella finished getting ready. Gabriella was in front of her mirror doing her hair and make up. Troy was lounging on her bed reading. But with the balcony door opened, they did not know that their reading could be heard from down in Gabriella's backyard, where Taylor and Chad were making out under the tree seeing as they had gotten there early.

"Troy, can you read louder?" Gabriella asked. "I can't hear."

"Fine."

"Thank you."

"You are never to see him again!" Troy shouted. "If I ever see him near you again, you will be sorry! You only belong to me! You are not supposed to talk to anyone without my permission." Troy read loudly.

His voice carried down to the yard. Taylor and Chad stopped kissing and looked up at Gabriella's bedroom. They had never heard Troy ever speak to Gabriella like that. He always was the most loving person towards her and was always gentle around her. But then again, they had never been around to hear them when they were alone. Taylor pulled away from Chad to move closer to hear them better.

"I'll kill you before I let you go!" Troy continued. "Do you understand? Answer me when I'm talking to you. You are nothing without me. I made you who you are!"

"We've got to do something." Taylor whispered tearfully. "I can't believe Gabby was keeping this from us! Troy's abusive towards her!"

"I can't believe Troy would abuse Gabby." Chad added. "I thought he practically worshipped the ground she walked on."

"From now on, when you're out in public, you dress how I tell you to dress, you don't speak unless you're spoken to, and you do not dance with anyone but me!" Troy read getting up off the bed. "Answer me!"

"I'm done." Gabriella said. "Are you at a stopping point?"

"Yeah. Where do you want me to put it?"

"Just toss it to me, I'll put it away."

"I don't hear anything." Taylor whispered. "I don't know if that's a good or a bad sign."

"It's a bad sign; I know that when Troy is furious, he talks quietly."

"How do you know?"

"When he hears some of the team talking about Gabriella inappropriately, he tells them to back off and stopped talking about her. Now I know it's just to keep face."

"Ow!" Gabriella suddenly exclaimed from her room.

Taylor and Chad looked at each other in shock and fear. They could never imagine Troy ever hitting Gabriella, not ever. Troy was always the one to protect Gabriella from being hit on by creeps, or other guys who wanted to just get into her pants. Chad had to keep a firm grip on Taylor, partly because he wanted to see what Gabriella would do and partly because he was fearful of what Troy would do to Taylor.

"Here you go." Troy said tossing the book to Gabriella.

"Ow!" Gabriella exclaimed as the book hit her eye.

Troy quickly rushed to her. Gabriella had her hand pressed against her eye. Troy lifted her face to look at her.

"Oh Baby, I'm sorry." Troy said inspecting her eye. "I don't think anything is wrong, just a black eye. Come on, we'll put some ice on to keep the swelling down."

Troy led Gabriella down to her kitchen. He put some ice into a towel and gently placed it on Gabriella's eye. Gabriella flinched when the coldness hit her skin.

"I'm sorry." Troy repeated kissing her head gently. "I should have not thrown it before you said ok."

"No, it's ok." Gabriella told him. "It was an accident."

Just then the doorbell rang. Gabriella and Troy walked to answer it knowing that it was Taylor and Chad. Troy opened the door and opened his mouth to greet them but he himself was greeted with a punch in the face from Chad. Gabriella screamed in surprise when she saw this happen. She went to go help him get up when Taylor stopped her. Gabriella looked at her best friend in shock.

"Why are you helping him?" Taylor asked. "He's abusing you!"

"What?" Troy and Gabriella asked in shock.

"We heard you, you don't have to defend him anymore." Chad shouted.

"What are you talking about?" Troy asked getting up.

"We were down in the backyard when we heard you abusing Gabby!" Taylor cried.

"Him abuse me?" Gabriella asked in disbelief.

"Have you both lost your mind?" Troy asked in anger. "You all should know the last person to ever raise a hand to Gabriella."

"Well, how do you explain the shouting about how you made Gabriella who she was and that she was nothing without you?" Chad demanded.

"I was reading it from the book we had to read for English, which you would know if you were reading like the assignment told us." Troy shouted at his friend.

"Well, what about Gabriella's black eye?" Taylor asked.

"Troy was tossing me the book and it hit me in the eye." Gabriella explained. "It was a complete accident."

"That's the oldest trick in the book." Chad shouted. "Give us one reason why reason why we should believe this?"

"Because it's the truth!" Gabriella shouted tearfully. "You all know that Troy could never hurt me on purpose, and I would never hurt him!"

Taylor and Chad were taken back with how emotional Gabriella was. Troy was trying his best to comfort her. He then carefully lifted her face to inspect her eye once again. He then kissed her forehead gently.

"We're sorry." Chad said quietly. "We heard you reading and well, we just jumped to conclusions."

"We just really care about Gabriella and we don't want to see anything bad happen to her." Taylor said. "We should have talked to you first before Chad punched you."

"Yeah, sorry about that, Man." Chad said to Troy.

"I appreciate you thinking about Gabriella and her safety, but I assure you that I am the last person to ever abuse Gabriella and I am the first person to protect her." Troy said.

"We can't tell you how sorry we are." Taylor said.

"Dinner is on us tonight." Chad stated.

"That's not necessary." Troy said.

"Please?" Chad continued. "I feel terrible about punching you; this is the one thing that will make me feel better."

"Alright." Troy finally agreed.

Chad and Taylor never once thought that Troy was abusive to Gabriella ever again. The next day at school, whispers about Gabriella's eye spread through out the school. Chad and Taylor were the first to defend their two best friends by saying that it was brought on by Gabriella missing the book that Troy tossed her. Nobody really believed them which resulted in Chad trying to prove that it really is possible. This led to him tossing a book to Taylor in a crowded hallway and Taylor missing it giving her a black eye. And this led to the regular argument between Chad Danforth and Taylor McKessie that would last for a week.