CHAPTER FIVE
Troy was healing fast and even though it had only been a couple of days since the incident at school he was happy to be leaving the hospital. What he wasn't happy about though was the fact that Gabriella was still missing. The police had a few leads, thanks to Ms. Montez, but as more days passed the worry and doubt started to grow.
Troy was in his kitchen with Chad, Jason, and Zeke after he got home from the hospital and they were standing around the island having a snack.
"So I was talking to Principal Matsui and he said that graduation is being postponed until the end of June. He wants everything to calm down." Zeke said.
"I haven't even been thinking about graduation." Jason replied.
"We would be graduating tomorrow." Chad said.
"Yeah, and getting ready to go off to college." Troy added.
"University of Albuquerque." Zeke said with a nod.
"One of the best basketball teams around." Jason added.
"And culinary program." Zeke said.
"Math and science program." Troy said as he shook his head as he thought of Gabriella.
The guys were quiet for a minute as they looked at Troy. They watched as he shifted in his spot and now the only sound that they heard was from the dishwasher.
"Hey, man, it's okay." Jason said.
"She's been gone for almost a week." Troy said sadly.
"She'll be fine. We'll get through this." Zeke replied.
"I don't know guys." Troy said.
"Did I just hear Troy Bolton give up?" Chad asked. "Troy Bolton does not give up and we are not about to let him. Did he give up when Jason wanted to buy his mom that diamond bracelet for Mother's day when he only had twenty bucks left after buying that X-box?" Chad asked. "No. He made us stand outside and sell lemonade while hot girls walked by and laughed at us, but you know what? Jason bought that bracelet because Troy Bolton did not give up." Chad stated strongly.
"Did Troy Bolton give up when Ms. Darbus's nephew's birthday party was going to be cancelled because the clowns got food poisoning? No. He made us dress up as clowns and learn how to make balloon animals in less than twenty minutes." Jason said. "And he still didn't give up when we had to figure out how to get the clown makeup off. He called Sharpay and the girls over to get it off of us and even though we are still made fun of today he never gave up."
"And Troy Bolton never has and never will give up on Gabriella or any of us, no matter how much he may want to because Troy Bolton does not give up, right?" Chad asked.
Troy smiled as he remembered all of their fun moments together and nodded slowly.
"Yeah, you're right." Troy said with a small smile.
Troy laughed as Zeke, Jason, and Chad did and then he started to remember when he wouldn't let Gabriella give up earlier that year.
Gabriella was lying on her bed, tears threatening to fall as she squeezed her eyes shut when she heard her bedroom door open. She turned her head to see who it was and saw Troy standing in her doorway with a smile clear on his face. He walked over to her and sat down, looking down at her sympathetically.
"Hey, G." He said with a smile. "What's wrong?" He asked her as he moved a piece of her hair away from her face.
"My mom made my project into a fruit salad." Gabriella said quietly.
"What project?" Troy asked.
"My solar system project. The one I have been working on." Gabriella explained.
"I'm sure you can redo it."
"It's due tomorrow, Troy. It's done with. I'll just fail."
"No, you won't." Troy said sternly. "We can fix this together."
"Troy, it's too late to go shopping for fruit." Gabriella answered.
"We can make it with something else." Troy said.
"Like what?"
"How about out of sports equipment? We can use a golf ball for the Earth and a basketball for Jupiter or something." Troy suggested.
"I don't have sports equipment."
"You're talking to Troy Bolton." Troy said with a smile. "Come on, let's go." Troy said as he took Gabriella's hand and pulled her up.
Gabriella and Troy walked hand and hand down the street towards Troy's house. It was dark outside and the stars were starting to poke through the dark sky.
"Thanks for helping me, Troy." Gabriella said with a smile.
"Don't worry about it, but now you owe me." Troy said with a laugh.
"Oh really? What do I owe you?" Gabriella asked.
"How about Lakers tickets." Troy said.
"Those are impossible to get." Gabriella answered.
"I'm just kidding, Gabi. You don't owe me anything." Troy said.
Troy and Gabriella got the sports equipment from Troy's garage and brought it back to Gabriella's house where they sat in the family room and started putting the project back together. Gabriella smiled as she watched the project come together and she knew that Troy really did care and in that moment she knew that she loved him more than she ever thought was possible.
Troy shook the memory away as the guys continued to talk and before he knew it they were in his backyard shooting hoops, just like old times, only today he was watching and taking it easy. He laughed as Zeke did his victory dance when he beat Chad and Jason in their quick game and they soon called it a night when they knew Troy wasn't having much fun only watching them.
Troy walked into his house and made his way toward his room. His mom saw him from her room and walked out into the hallway. He stopped when he saw her and smiled tiredly with a long sigh. Mrs. Bolton smiled back at him and gave him a long, motherly hug.
"I'm so glad you're okay, Troy." She said.
"Don't worry about me, mom. I'll be okay." Troy reassured her as she seemed to be thinking about the recent events that had taken place that week.
"Alright. Goodnight." She said as she gave him a kiss on the check and went back into her room, where Troy heard her talk quietly to his dad.
Troy went into his room and slowly looked around the familiar, yet distant place. He felt like he hadn't been in his own room for weeks when really it had only been a few days. He looked out his balcony doors and memories of Gabriella came flooding back into his mind. He started to think about when Gabriella had come to his house only a couple of days before the incident at school. He remembered everything so perfectly that he could almost feel the rain that was falling that night.
Troy had just finished a long English paper and it was now sitting on his dresser neatly stapled and placed on the right corner of the wooden piece of furniture. Troy sighed when he saw that it was now night and knew that if he didn't go to sleep soon he would never be able to wake up the next morning. He changed into a navy blue, cotton T-shirt and some basketball shorts and sat at the edge of his bed. He opened his cell phone and checked if he had gotten any new text messages or calls from Gabriella, but he didn't and he started to become uneasy. He was about to call her when he heard a soft knock on his balcony door. He jumped slightly, not expecting the sudden noise and looked toward the window. He couldn't make out the person right away because the rain was hitting the window so hard that it blurred any vision of the outside world, but then he knew it was Gabriella and quickly went over to the door.
"What are you doing?" Troy asked her when he opened the door.
"Standing on your balcony." Gabriella stated.
"Really?" Troy asked with a smile as he took her hand and pulled her inside so that she wouldn't get wet anymore. "I mean what are you doing here?" He asked.
"I couldn't sleep." Gabriella answered.
Troy smiled and nodded.
"Why's that?" Troy asked.
Gabriella paused for a second.
"I'm scared." Gabriella whispered.
Troy furrowed his brow and looked Gabriella in the eyes. She was scared; the way her eyes looked gave it away without a second thought.
"Why are you scared?" He asked her.
Gabriella just looked at him and before Troy could ask again he was being hugged tightly.
Troy moved away from his balcony window as the scared look Gabriella had on her face was displayed in his mind like a black and white picture. He couldn't help but remember the look that she had that night was the same look that showed on her face the day at school, only at school it was worse.
Troy lay down in his bed after getting his pajama's on and the darkness around him made his heart race because it suddenly felt like the janitor's closet at school. He looked around the room at the large and small shadows falling upon the walls and wood floors of his room. Sleep wasn't going to happen for Troy anytime soon and he knew that as he saw Gabriella's image and heard her 'I love you' from a few nights before. Regret, sadness, and disappointment filled Troy's heart as he listened to the soft rain that was just starting to fall. The girl that he loved, the girl that was special to him, the girl that made him whole, loved the rain.
Tear, Tear. Review if you want to! Any suggestions? Thanks for reading...
Much love,
unknownbyhim22