RIIIIIIIING RIIIIIIIING

'Not again' thought Troy.

Reaching around blindly to find the source of his constant annoyance, Troy made a mental note to turn his phone off before he went to bed tonight. Finally reaching it, he flipped it open and was about mutter a greeting when a shrill female voice came from the other end.

"Good Morning, Troy." His name was said with such malice that Troy knew exactly who it was, and what was wrong.

"Gabriella!" his eyes shot open. "I'm so, so sorry baby!" he pleaded.

"Oh, so you're not dead?" she countered. "Because at this point that's pretty much the only way you're going to weasel your way out of missing another date, Bolton!"

"I must have gotten sick or something" Troy tried explaining "I remember being in the locker room…and then…nothing." He ended, more to himself than to his irate girlfriend.

"Whatever," she replied "this is already the second time you've blown me off this week. If you're still too scared about taking our relationship to the next level, then fine. I'll just back off. Just let me know when you're ready to step up and be the man that you've got everyone fooled into thinking you are."

Troy didn't get a chance to defend himself before the line went dead.

---x---

Three hours later Troy finally rolled out of bed. He still wasn't able to remember what had happened after the game, but he figured he would just ask his Dad. He was the one who had brought him home after he got sick, Troy reasoned. That in mind, he quickly got dressed and went downstairs, heading straight for the kitchen.

"Mornin' sleeping beauty!" His Mom jabbed him in the stomach as soon as entered the kitchen. "I left you some breakfast on the table – of course by now it's almost lunch! You must have been exhausted after that game last night! Although you must not have been too tired if you went out with your friends afterwards, huh? Oh well, you deserve a little fun I guess. Your Dad said you played great last night – sorry I couldn't…"

"Good morning to you too, Mom." Troy stopped his Mom's rambling, giving her a kiss on the cheek. He felt like his legs were going to give out if he stood there any longer. I'm gonna go eat now, okay?" he said, as if he were talking to a four-year-old. Mrs. Bolton just smiled and pinched his cheek.

Ignoring the pancakes his Mom had left out, Troy grabbed a bowl, spoon, and a box of cereal slowly walking over to the island to sit down.

As he started eating, the doorbell rang. He didn't bother getting up however, because almost immediately he heard the door open and his Dad talking to the visitor, so he went back to his cereal, suddenly feeling starved. It was only when his Dad came in and set a box on the chair next to him that Troy wondered who had been knocking.

"That was Gabriella," Mr. Bolton said, as if reading Troy's mind. "She said she didn't want to bother you because she knows how busy you are – or something like that. Anyway, she asked me to give you that." He said, gesturing at the box before turning to walk away.

"Thanks, Dad." Troy said to his father's retreating form. The mention of Gabriella's name had reminded Troy of their 'conversation', which his was conveniently trying to forget. He stared at the box, just knowing there couldn't be anything good in it. Vowing not to open it, Troy went back to eating his breakfast. But it was only two minutes before curiosity got the better of him and he picked up the box to carry it to his room – away from any prying parental eyes.

END CHAPTER 3

Not much to say now; just thanks for still reading and sorry I didn't get this postsed yesterday. To make up for it I'm posting another chapter of this up tonight D
PoeticDream