Troy runs down the stairs in his basketball shorts and t-shirt while walking into the kitchen. It was a Saturday, although the Saturday was awful in Troy's eyes. There was rain spilling down the sides of the house as Troy could also see a crack of lightning in the distance. The twelve year old looks outside angrily, knowing that his day was ruined since he was now officially stuck inside with nothing to do. That meant he was stuck playing video games with Aaron unless Chad called him and asked him to go over to his house. This completely sucked.
"Morning Troy." His father greats him excitedly as he sits at the table, dressed in a red, black and white shirt, but Troy was surprised to see that it wasn't a Wildcat's shirt. Instead, it said Redhawks on the front with the University of Albuquerque logo on it. He grabs a bowl and then the cereal and sits down with his father at the table. "How's my Champ?"
Troy feels a glow on his cheeks, remembering the select game he played last night, leading the team in scoring and he was defiantly at the top of his game yesterday. Maybe that was just because for once Aaron didn't have a game that night either, so he was free to receive the full attention from both parents that he well deserved. "Good." He says while taking a spoonful of cheerios into his mouth and chewing slowly.
"Hey bro!" Troy hears his thirteen year old brother walk into the room and ruffle his little brother's hair. Troy glares at him for a moment before fixing it and then returning to his cereal. "You still pumped from the game last night?"
Troy nods slowly. "Yeah." He says while a little bit of food comes out of his mouth, going unnoticed by Coach Bolton, but Aaron made no restraint from laughing at his little brother.
"You played great. For once you actually looked like me out there." Aaron says cockily as Troy could feel the grip on his spoon suddenly become tighter. Why did he ALWAYS have to brag?
"Aaron, come on. Troy played great." Coach Bolton says while flipping the sport's page. Troy looks up to see that his brother was also now wearing a U of A shirt. What was going on? Was it look like your father day or something and Troy didn't get the memo? "You pumped for the game?" He asks Aaron and Troy looks from his father, back to his brother with a confused look on his face.
"What game?" Troy asks eagerly, as Coach Bolton almost looks at him apologetically.
"My birthday present from last week? Remember? Tickets to see the Redhawks?" He says in a way that seemed more to Troy like he was showing off that he was going to be able to go to the game then explaining it to his bother. Troy sighs, suddenly remembering how his brother and father were going to the game and leaving him behind.
"Oh yeah, THAT game." Troy says with edge to his voice, obviously jealous at Aaron always getting his way.
"Don't be pissed Bro." Aaron says while his father glances over the sport's page to give his eldest son an evil look for saying the new word that he discovered once he got into middle school that year. "I mean mad." He quickly covers while grabbing the cereal for himself and just starts eating out of the box.
Another crack of lightning from outside and Troy glares at his bother, who was smirking at him cockily. But he then suddenly hears more footsteps enter the room as he looks up to see his mother's face. "Good morning. How are my favorite boys?" She asks while planting a kiss on both son's head, Troy cringing at the fact that his mother now did that even though he was twelve years old.
"Great… I'm so pumped for the game!" Aaron says while imitating shooting a perfect free throw basket. Troy could feel his eye twitch a little with jealousy as he looks down into his own cereal that was starting to turn into mush.
"I'm just great." Troy says with anger evidently laced in his voice. He finally pushes the bowl away and leans back in his chair with his arms crossed.
"Don't worry sport. We'll take you to a game when your birthday comes around." His father states while finally folding the paper.
"Maybe you could call Chad and have him over." His mother suggests as Troy looks outside with disgust written on his face.
"There's nothing to do!" He exclaims while hearing the thunder roll outside. His eyes narrow at mother nature and how stupid she was for when this was perfect time to go outside and practice, she had decided that storming would be so much fun for him. Stupid weather, it could go die. "What's the point!"
Aaron rolls his eyes as he stands up. Troy could see that his features were starting to become harder as his face was growing longer a little. He was a teenager now, and he defiantly was beginning to look the part, which Troy was also incredibly jealous for. Even though he was a year younger, he was mad that puberty was being nicer to Aaron now, since he was starting to become extremely handsome in a woman's eyes. While Troy felt like he was sitting in awkwardsville, even though most of the girls in his class would protest and say he was the cutest one in the class.
"You'll find something." Aaron almost mocks as Troy angrily narrows his eyes at him. But then Aaron turns to his father who was standing up now.
"You ready to go?" He asks while placing an arm around his eldest son, Troy staring at the jealously, wanting to be the light in his father's eyes.
"No sh…" He starts to say but then glances up to see Lucille was shooting him a dirty look. "Er… of course." He says while Troy rolls his eyes. If it would have been him to almost let the slip out, he would defiantly had gotten yelled at.
"Well then let's go!" Jack says excitedly while turning to his youngest that was glaring at his family members. "We'll go to a game sometime Champ, I promise." He ruffles Troy's hair who looks over at his brother angrily.
"We'll let you know how the game is." He says mockingly as Troy could almost feel his eyes turn green with jealousy.
"Aaron James!" Lucille scolds as Aaron rolls his eyes and then walks up to his mother, giving her a kiss on the cheek.
"Bye Mom!" He calls while Troy watches him glance back. "See ya Bro!"
His eyes narrow at his father and brother as they walk out of the kitchen and towards the front door, laughing and excited about the game. He looks back outside, watching as the rain fall down at a steady pace, not knowing that it was the last time Aaron would ever call him 'Bro' again.
Troy had to think basketball.
The sweat drips down his body as his piecing blue eyes look up to see some of the team running down the court and while passing the ball to each other. They had gotten done swimming about an hour ago and Troy was now thankful they were back to basketball. Not playing was the worst. Not playing meant that he had to think. Not playing meant he had to feel mental pain. And anyone with else would know that Troy Bolton would endure thousands of pounds more of physical pain if it would scratch out one ounce of mental pain.
Seven days had gone by since he last spoke to her. Seven days he had driven himself crazy. He had called, and she didn't pick up. He had stopped by, but Taylor told him with a sad face that she wasn't there, even though he was well aware she was hiding in the bathroom. He had even tried to corner her after dance one day, but he had just missed her instead. His heart was breaking, further and further with ever second that he wasn't with her. Saying he missed her was an understatement. Saying that he was dying without her, was a better way of putting it.
"BOLTON! Come one what the hell is your problem?" Perez shouts angrily as Troy completely misses a pass that was sent towards him. He curses under his breath and then runs over to where the ball was now sitting in the corner. He didn't need Perez on his back right now. What he needed was to work out this pain and figure out a way to get his girlfriend back.
"Dude, come on try to focus." Jason says as Troy jogs back and passes the ball to Tyler. He sprints down the court doing the stupid passing drill until he gets to the other side and suddenly hears Perez's whistle blow, much to Troy's dismay.
"Alright, we'll see you tomorrow." He exclaims while Troy's stomach drops. He didn't want to stop playing, because if he stopped playing then he'd let his mind wander and the pain would hurt so much more. So he walks over as everyone goes in the locker-room and grabs a ball, to begin shooting. No one ever asked why he stayed later lately, because Troy had been in such a bad mood that they all didn't want to get their heads ripped off.
The only sound that was going through the gym was the sound of Troy's ball hitting the hardwood. The sound seemed to echo in Troy's ear, with each bounce reminding him how much of an idiot he was. Why did he lie to her? Why was he so stupid? How did he think that she would never find out? He had no answers to these questions. He was a complete idiot, there was no doubt about that.
"Fuck…" Troy says loudly as the ball bounces off the backboard and completely away from the target. He sighs as he starts to walk over to where the ball rolled to, keeping his head down as though he wasn't even worthy to bring it back up again.
"Shooting like that isn't going to help you this season." A voice enters his ears that makes him cringe. His head looks up to see the Hispanic man bouncing the ball. His face that was normally hard towards Troy was somewhat soft as he passes him the ball and Troy looks away from him, taking a three point shot and watching it miss once again.
"Whatever." Troy says without much care in his voice. He didn't want to have to deal with this guy right now, nor did he think he'd be able to.
"Whatever? It's your senior year boy! You can't just blow it off." Perez says while Troy grabs the ball again and dribbles it from his left hand to his right.
"I'm not blowing it off." He says while taking a shot and finally watching it fall into the basket. He walks over and grabs his rebound to see that Perez didn't look like he was going anywhere right now. Troy sighs and runs a hand through his hair. The last thing he needed was someone riding his ass right now.
"Could have fooled me." The coach says as Troy narrows his eyes at him.
"Did you just come here to ride my ass?" He says, knowing full well he was not showing him any respect, but Perez didn't show HIM any respect, so why should he? "Because I really don't need that right now."
"No." The Hispanic man says as he walks towards Troy. "But you're not going to get better if people just sit there and tell you how great you are."
Troy rolls his eyes while stopping midway in shooting and turns around to look at him, feeling fire rush through his veins. "I know that." He says thinking about how he had gone his first twelve years on this planet with people telling him how great someone ELSE was, but never how great he was. "I don't expect them to." He says while turning back around and takes another shot, watching it go in again and hearing the echo of the ball bouncing on the hardwood. "They just do."
He could see Perez roll his eyes as Troy takes another shot and completely air balls it. He closes his eyes and angrily runs a hand through his hair, starting to feel the pressure from everything build up slowly. "Bolton, you've got talent, there's no denying that. But someday you're gonna have to learn that talent only gets you so far."
Troy could feel his hands starting to tremble. He knew that. He didn't need other people telling him this because he defiantly knew that. "You think this is talent?" Troy asks with venom in his voice, expecting Perez to take a step backwards in shock, but the man doesn't move. "I've worked my ass off to get this far." He says while taking another shot and missing it completely again. "Fuck!"
Perez shakes his head at Troy's anger as he gets his own rebound. "I'm not talking about that." He says which actually makes Troy look up in shock. What? "If you wanna get anywhere with this sport, you gotta learn to work with your team. You're good Bolton; anyone with eyes can see that. But you know your good, so you try to show how good you are. Just being with the team sometimes is enough. You don't always have to be the best."
Troy looks down. All his life he had wanted to be the best. "Yes I do." He responds but stops dribbling the ball and taking shots and looks up into Perez's dark and usually emotionless eyes. But they seemed to have some sort of emotion in them now, whatever the emotion was. At least they weren't bottomless pits of nothing.
Perez sighs. "You not going to be the player you could be if you don't rely on other people. Trust is key Bolton. You gotta learn to trust if you ever want to go anywhere in life."
If only Gabriella was hearing this instead of him. He lost her trust and he knew it. There was probably no way he was going to get it back either. He wouldn't forgive himself. God, why was he so stupid to lie? What was the point of it anyways? Why was he such and idiot? "I know." Troy says while running a hand through his hair again. He takes another shot and then glances up at the clock, figuring he might want to be getting back. He would probably try calling Gabriella again, just to give it one last shot. "Thanks."
Perez just nods as Troy grabs the basketball and looks up at the older guy. They seem to talk through their eyes. Both of them had so much in common that Troy had never realized before. They both loved the game, both were incredible players, and both gave their heart and soul into everything they did. The only problem was that Troy was pretty sure his heart was smashed into a million pieces. "See ya tomorrow Bolton."
Troy just nods and walks to the locker room to grab his bag. Once getting it, he walks down the steps but purposely walks by the dance studios, just on maybe the off chance that Gabriella decided to stay late too. He sighs as he finds it empty and then walks down the stairs. After walking out the door and feeling the blazing sun hit his skin, he begins to walk the familiar route back to his hotel.
The only thing that was running through his mind during the entire walk was how he was going to get Gabriella back. But his mind was drawing a blank. He blew it. Completely blew it. Why the hell wasn't he just honest with her? Why didn't he see this coming?
All these questions continue to circle his head as he suddenly realizes that he was in front of his hotel. He sighs and pulls the bag that was draped on his shoulder up futher before walking up to the main doors. His feet carry him into the lobby where he suddenly sees the one person who was the cause for all this standing next to Dane with a flirtatious smile on her face. His eyes narrow, even though he knew it wasn't Amber's fault at all, but it still was so much better to blame her then to take the blame on his own.
"Troy! Hey!" He hears her say as he starts to make his way to the elevator. "You look depressed." She says while jogging over from where Dane was turning to go out to the pool and smiles at him. Troy continues to have a hard face on as he doesn't wait for her to catch up wit him.
"Really? I had no idea." He says with sarcasm laced in his voice as he glares at her. She raises one of her perfectly shaped eyebrows.
"You and you girlfriend both..." She mumbles while Troy's eyes narrow even more. She shouldn't dare talk about Gabriella when Amber was half the reason he was in this mess in the first place. "She's like someone's died. Maybe they have back home."
Wait, Gabriella was hurting too? Did that mean that he had more of a chance then before? Maybe if she was hurting so bad, she'd be easier to talk to. Maybe now that things have sort of cooled down between them, everything would be ok if he just talked to her and explained himself. Although, he was pretty sure there wasn't much to explain, besides the fact that he completely screwed up and all he had was to just beg her to understand.
"Yeah…" Troy says not wanting to be around this girl anymore as she places a hand on his forearm. Troy looks down at it like it was burning his skin and then looks back up into her piercing green eyes, almost shivering in the process.
"I hope you feel better." She says with one of her seductive smirks on as Troy rolls his eyes and grabs his arm back and then walks into the open eleveator. It shuts and he watches the numbers increase. This was good though, maybe she'd actually let him talk to her. Well, if she ever did want to talk to him again.
The doors open again and he walks down the hallway towards the room. After sliding his card in, he opens the door and he doesn't even bother looking down at his best friend's bed to see that he was cuddling up with his girlfriend. Chad gives him a nod but Troy doesn't even bother looking, since he was feeling incredibly jealous that Taylor was actually talking to Chad, while Troy hadn't talked to Gabriella since she screamed at him in the lobby.
"What's up man?" Chad asks while Troy finally glances over at the happy couple that made him want to throw up.
"What do you think?" Troy asks with anger laced in his voice as he could hear Taylor and Chad sigh at the same time, probably knowing that it was going to be a long night with the depressed Troy.
"Still won't talk to you?" Chad asks as Troy shrugs.
"I haven't tried. I figure I don't want to piss her off anymore by calling a hundredth time." He says while glancing in the mirror for the first time all day, realizing how bad he actually looked. There was a small hint of stubble forming on his chin since he hadn't shaven in at least two days. His hair was somewhat greasy from running his hands though it all day, the piercing blue had left his eyes as they were now a dull blue, with no life present in them along with the huge purple and black bags under his eyes from lack of sleep.
"She doesn't look much better." Taylor exclaims as Troy turns around to look at her.
"Then why isn't she fucking calling me back?" Troy asks while Taylor sighs and leans forward on the bed towards him.
"Because you lied to her Troy. She doesn't even care that you slept with Amber, she just pissed that you flat out lied to her." Taylor explains while moving some of her bangs off to the side of her face. Troy sighs as he runs a hand through his hair again.
"What do I do?" He asks, trying to figure out what a girl would want him to do.
Taylor shrugs and looks down. "I have no idea. If I knew how, I would help you." She says while Troy sighs.
"Could you talk to her? Please?" Troy begs as Taylor glances at her boyfriend.
"I don't know if it's gonna help." She explains as Troy closes his eyes in pain. He needed her to talk to Gabriella. He needed all the help he could get.
"Taylor… I'm begging." Troy says while his eyes were showing the little hope that he had left in them. She sighs and looks back at Chad one more time.
"Fine… but I'm not promising anything." She says while inside, Troy's heart twitches. That was all he could ask for.
A/N: So I know this chapter isn't very exciting, but it's a filler, so I hope you guys don't get too bored. Thanks so much for reading and reviewing! You guys are amazing!