Hey everybody! Long time, no update, huh? lol. Well, like I said when I first posted this story: this is not my first priority.
But once I had the chapter ready, the Internet shut down! I was very frustrated. But now it's up so no worries. Enjoy!!
Do not own HSM.
The Pain Never Leaves
I hate Troy Bolton, if you haven't been able to tell. He was taken away from me just like my father was. All because of a stupid cheerleader.
Flashback
Ten-year-old Gabriella Drake was walking through the park with her dad, Theodore Drake, on a Saturday afternoon. It had become their tradition ever since the father and daughter were kicked out of the house two years ago so Maria, Gabriella's mother, could clean.
Little Gabriella looked up at her father, adoration shining in the same brown eyes he had. Theodore then glanced down, catching the young girl by surprise.
"What?" the man laughed. He continued when she shook her head, "Why don't we go swing, pumpkin?" Gabriella soon noticed how close they were to the swing set and she smiled widely, for the swings were her favorite part of the park. She looked up at her father and nodded before starting to run. Behind her shoulder, she shouted, "Race ya, Dad!"
Theodore opened his mouth, but soon obliged and ran after her, causing a squeal to escape her mouth. He scooped her up in his arms and pretended she was heavy, almost dropping her. "Dad!" she gasped. He laughed again and ran her to their favorite swing; second one to the right. The year before, they had even marked it. Underneath the rubber blue swing, Gabriella had written in purple Sharpie "Daddy & Daughter Drake".
"Daddy, will you push me?" Gabriella sweetly asked, sticking her bottom lip out. Theodore grinned and shook his head. "How can I say no to that face?"
After pushing his daughter on their swing for a good five to ten minutes, Theodore suggested they start walking again, which Gabriella agreed to.
"Daddy," Gabriella spoke up, "when do I get to have that puppy you promised me?" Gabriella remained silent and continued walking, her hand gripping her father's hand, while Theodore pondered the question. "We'll see sweetie, maybe in a few months."
Gabriella nodded, but her attention was soon captured by an ice cream truck. But that wasn't the only thing she saw. Coming toward her and her father, Gabriella spotted a blonde lady who looked awfully familiar. When the lady got closer, she tugged her dad's hand.
Theodore turned his head to see what Gabriella wanted, but his eyes caught on the blonde woman. Tearing his eyes off the lady, he said to his daughter, giving her five dollars, "Why don't you go get yourself an ice cream, Gabi?" Gabriella nodded solemnly and stalked off toward the humming truck.
"Hey baby," the blonde cooed once she reached Theodore. Theodore smiled at her gently and took her hand in his. He mumbled sweet words to her for a little while before leaning in and kissing her. When they slowly pulled away, Theodore saw Gabriella standing to the side of the two adults. Tears were already streaming down her astounded face.
Gabriella's lip quivered when Theodore gazed at her, shame filling his eyes. "Why?" she whimpered, "What about Mom?" She hadn't even noticed that her ice cream bar lay forgotten on the ground.
"Gabi, pumpkin, you know that things between me and your mother haven't been working." He paused, and glanced from his daughter's glaring eyes to the woman's loving ones. "This is Rachel. She's a cheerleader for our favorite team. I'm sorry you had to find out like this, pumpkin." He reached out to take her hand, but she tore away from him, backing up.
"Don't call me that! I never want to see you again!" Gabriella took off running towards her house. She stopped a little ways away, screaming, "AND IT'S NOT MY FAVORITE TEAM ANYMORE!!" As she persisted in sprinting to her house, Theodore yelled for her (in worry) to come back, that he was sorry, but she blocked him out.
Maria and Gabriella Drake became Maria and Gabriella Montez a week later. Theodore then moved out of the house, and state, to be with Rachel. That was the last Gabriella had seen or talked to her father and the day she had started to hate all cheerleaders.
End Flashback
I never really got to say goodbye to Troy like I had with my dad, now that I think about it. Granted, it wasn't such a nice goodbye, but it was at least a goodbye. Troy had been over at my house one day, playing video games with me, and the next day he got himself a girlfriend. It wasn't that I stopped talking to him because he got a girlfriend, but it was because of what his girlfriend was; a cheerleader.
I started to think about too many things at once, and I've learned from experience that that doesn't turn out well with me.
"Taylor!" I yelled out when I spotted her on the front lawn of the school. She whipped around to see who was calling her and smiled when she realized it was me.
"What's up?" she asked, jogging over to where I was currently standing. She paused for a moment to pick up the small book she dropped. "Did you have another run-in with Tr-?"
I stopped her right then with my hand. "Don't," I started, "Don't even say that name." She sighed and put a comforting hand on my shoulder. "Gabs, I really think you need to get over this." Oh, great, here comes the speech again. "But, you know what? I'm not going to go into that right now." Did she read my mind? "That's not what you wanted to talk about anyway," she continued, "So what's up?"
"I need to vent…" I watched her nod, waiting for me to go on. I closed my eyes, dreading what I was about to say next, "…about Troy Bolton." Taylor smiled softly and looped her arm through mine so that we could talk in private. I always knew she was a great friend to pick.
--
When we reached the theatre I motioned that we should go in. No one was there at this time, anyway. So I wasn't expecting anything surprising to happen. I stretched out my hand and pulled on the door handle, stepping into the giant room.
"Oh, hey Gabs! Hey Tay!" came the voice of, none other than, Sharpay Evans. Great. Now I have to vent about, well, him to two people. This is going to be a blast! Did anyone seem to catch my sarcasm?
"Shar!" Taylor called, "We didn't know you'd be here." Sharpay laughed, "I'm always in the theatre; it's my 'home away from home'. What're you guys doing?"
I rolled my eyes. Of course she wanted to know what we were doing. I sighed before answering, "We came so I could vent about…" I paused, glancing all around the room, stalling. "About?" Sharpay pushed. I blinked a number of times and then finished, "Someone."
Sharpay, being the kind of girl who needs to know everything, turned to Taylor. "Who's she talking about?" Taylor looked at me to see if I was okay with her replying and I gave a stiff nod. "She wants to vent about Troy," she whispered. That is yet another thing I love about Taylor; she respects everyone's secrets and "problems", I guess you could call them.
"Bolton?" Sharpay spun back in my direction with her eyebrows raised in amusement, a small smirk playing on her lips. "Shh…" I hushed her, "Don't say that so loud." She chose to just wave it off and take a seat on the stage. When Taylor began to follow, I dragged my feet along too so Shar wouldn't yell at me like last time.
"So what about him now?" Sharpay asked once we had all situated ourselves on the stage.
"Well," I looked down at my hands, "I don't exactly know how to start." As soon as I brought my eyes back up, I knew I should have picked a different answer. Taylor and Sharpay both had annoyed expressions on their faces. They hated when I did that.
We spent a minute or two in silence while I tried to come up with a different way of responding and I'm guessing Sharpay and Taylor spent it figuring out what to do.
"Okay!" Taylor and I were both startled at the sudden outburst Sharpay had. "I have an idea!" She is way too excited about this. Taylor sends me a mirror vision of myself, raised eyebrows with a grin. Both of us snap our attention back to her when she clears her throat. (If you don't know her like us, that means, "Listen up or you don't want to know what will happen to you.").
"Anyway," she stressed, "How about you go through a list of things you hate about Troy and explain to me and Tay why it's on your list? We can sit here as long as you want, even all day. I can get Ms. Darbus to excuse us from classes, trust me." We all laughed and I mentally decided if this was a good idea. "Now, I'll go get you a piece of paper and a pen, and you start thinking of those things, Gabi!" Sharpay yelled as she jogged to her dressing room.
I smiled at Taylor. Maybe this could work…
Hmmm... Who else wants to know what's going to be on that list?? I'll accept suggestions!! The next update probably won't be up for a while. Review!! (Please!) (And thank you!!)
Btw, I'm thinking of changing my penname to Little A. What would you think if I did that?