Hello, all! I wanted to update even though it's very, very short (not that my chapters are so long anyway) I hope you guys enjoy!
Disclaimer: I don't own High School Musical
This dream is familiar. Not like I've had it before but because I've probably seen it countless times in the movies. Or ,just in the past month, walked into it innocently.
Heat is all I can feel. I don't know if it's the good kind of heat, like after a really cold day you're cozying up by the fire or the bad kind, when you're about to burn your face off and die. But, it's hot. Very hot. A flush of it runs through me and I gasp. There's a layer of giddiness fogging up my brain.
And then, something is on my lips. Gently sucking. It feels good. Really good. So good that I want more. The sensation moves across my jaw and then down my neck. I can feel my mouth drop open, taking in the feeling and my eyes roll back into my head. The muscles in my neck are roaring in pleasure. At last, it reaches the crevice of my neck right above a knot on my shoulder. The massaging caress stops abruptly and a sharp squeeze replaces it just on the knot. Immediately, it's as if the fog in my brain condensed into a giant ocean and a tsunami was occurring.
Before I could stop myself, I become aware of my mouth and I hear myself cry, "Oh!".
Instinctively, my fingers grasp for the closest object as waves of heat flood me. I find one right beneath their tips. It's soft, smooth and molds easily to my touch. Then, another realm of this fantasy opens itself up to me. This is skin!
At once, I'm aware of my body. In a brief moment, I figure: I'm completely bare. Someone is on top of me. They are naked too. I realize that the sensation on my neck and shoulder was not just any feeling; it was the someone's lips. One by one, the waves start to ripple away and I can feel myself becoming more and more conscious of my surroundings. The scorching heat is the last that remains and I remember, at last, that I am dreaming.
Flashes keep appearing behind my eyes as if to signal the brink of my sleep. I fight through them. Thousands of images fly past my brain but I only could grasp the very last one. A pair of strikingly blue eyes.
My eyelids flutter open. I can still feel the heat waves running through my body. But, this is the bad kind. Definitely the bad kind. I can barely move. I know I just woke up but I felt tired as hell. My chest was heaving painfully, too. I look around with just my eyes and then, slowly turn my head to the right. Ugh is all I can think. Then, the last 10 hours hits me although, I only remember the beginning.
I can recall the rain, the roof and Taylor's baby. I can feel the damp spot on my pillow where my hair was dripping but my clothes are dry. I can't remember how I got here at all.
A wet cloth reaches my forehead and I sigh, turning my head in towards the bed. My grandmother is sitting there with a sympathetic look on her face.
"Ay, mija" she coos. "You're burning up"
I remember my mother in her eyes. How she always used to say that same phrase whenever I used to get sick. It's been awhile since I've felt this horrible but so protected in the arms of someone who loves me. At home, on the rare case that I do get sick, I have to pull through it. Then again, it's never been this bad.
"Didn't anyone tell you that sleeping in the rain will give you pneumonia, missy?" she asks. Yeah, someone did unfortunately. That was Mrs. Gladys' last words to me before I left to come here. A small voice went off in my brain: check. Now, all I have to do is get a sun burn.
Pneumonia echoed through my brain. So I wasn't dying. Sure felt like it though. I don't want to think anymore or attempt to go through a full conversation. I close my eyes and rest my body, letting the heat engulf me.
"Oh, no puedes, chica" my grandmother stops me. I blink my eyes open again. "You have to eat something before you go to sleep again. Otherwise, how is your body going to heal?"
Grandma puts both of her hands on my waist and tugs me up until I'm leaning my back on the bed's headboard. She puts a pillow behind my back. Her cold hands are refreshing.
"Your Papi has made chicken soup for you. I'll go warm it up for you, okay? Sit tight and don't fall back to sleep" she orders and then climbs over me to leave the room. I have to take a deep, refreshing breath to carry out her demands.
I shrug off the layers of blankets on me but a few moments later, I begin shivering relentlessly so I have to pull them up. My mind is again in a fog, but not like the one in the dream. Like I'm really sick and I can't stay awake.
My eyes fall on my doorway and I see that my grandmother has left it open just a tad. I can see someone sitting on the couch in the living room from here but I have to focus my eyes for a while before I can comprehend who it is. My grandmother blocks the door way when she enters and suddenly, it hits me. It's Troy.
When she sits down in front of my bed, I have to strain my neck over her shoulder so that I can confirm my eyes. The caramel skin tone and brown hair are undeniably his. It looks like he's snoozing because his head is bent down completely even though he's sitting upright. His long hairs hangs freely to cover is eyes.
In front of me, my grandmother follows my eyes. She smiles widely.
"You owe your life to that boy" she tells me. I meet her eyes at once.
"Hmm?" I manage. She's putting a tray on my lap and laying a napkin across my chest while she explains.
"You don't remember, do you dear? He's the one that got you down from that roof top!" she exclaimed. For a moment, I forget all the fatigue in my bones and rack my brain for some sort of memory of this. I can't.
"Your Papi and I were worried sick. When we called Rob's house, he said that you left about an hour ago. We called the Catons ,too, to see if you went there. We called every house you might've gone to. But it was Troy who showed up at the doorstep with you in his arms" I'm almost choking on my soup as she tells me this. "The poor boy was drenched when he came in, not like you weren't of course but, he stayed here all through Dr. Colton's visit and only left when the doctor said that you'd be fine"
"Such a sweet boy" my grandmother finished. And, I'm dumbfounded. I look back, beyond my grandmother to the knocked out, muscular teenage boy on the sofa. Troy brought me back down? He's the one that stopped me from probably dying? Troy. Troy?
"What's he doing back here?" I say. It must be the soup that's given me the energy to talk.
"He came back about an hour ago; said that he wanted to see you" she explained. "I told him that you were still asleep but he insisted that he didn't mind the wait"
Now, I was even more awe-struck. First, he saves me. Then, he wants to talk to me? This couldn't be Troy. Not the one that I know, at least.
"Do you want me to wake him up?" asked my grandmother.
"No" I say too quickly. She is startled. "I mean, let him sleep" I cover.
"Alright" she lifts herself off the chair. "Eat up" she says before leaving the door and this time closing it fully.
I slurp up the remains of the soup and lick my lips too when it's done. All the while, I can't think of anything but Troy.
Why would he bring me back down? Furthermore, what does he want to talk to me about? I wasn't too sure if I wanted to talk to him, either way. Maybe it was just to say something completely nasty. Or a quick, "Don't climb up on roofs anymore".
I lay down on my bed again after carefully placing the soup bowl and the tray on the ground and force myself back to sleep. I am determined to postpone this confrontation for however long it takes.
This time, I wake up from a dreamless sleep to a knock on my door. My first thought is that it's Troy. But the soft "Gabi" is Taylor's voice. I let her enter. As I sit up, struggling past my weak body I try to glance past Taylor to see if Troy was still on the couch. It didn't look like it. I was relieved for only a second but then Taylor greets me with something else.
"What's Troy doing here?"
I can't muster up the energy to groan or roll my eyes. Instead I just say, "Oh, you didn't hear? He's my hero now"
Taylor laughs. Only she would know the real sarcasm behind what I just say. I wonder if my grandma is in earshot. If she is, I'll be getting it later on for not being thankful enough towards Troy.
Taylor approaches me now and puts the back of her hand on my forehead. It's cold and I love the feeling but I don't like that it's Taylor doing this.
"You're not a mother yet, Tay" I say, annoyed and shaking my head away. In response to what I just said, she flicks my forehead with her fingers.
"On the roof in the pouring rain?" she starts to scold. "What the hell were you thinking, Gabi? You aren't in a romantic comedy!"
I don't laugh even though what she said really fits. Sitting up there with the rain washing me down; yeah, I was being a bit dramatic. Okay, over-the-top dramatic. Like Sharpay. I have to grimace at the thought.
Taylor pauses before saying, "What's wrong, Gabi?". I look up.
I pretend like I don't know what she's talking about. "What?" I say.
"You aren't the type that sits in the rain and waits for your hero to come rescue you. If you do then there's something seriously wrong. And, all I know is that you climbed up there right after leaving my house" explains Taylor. Now, I regret ever feigning my innocence. This was Taylor: the genius of psycho-emotional analysis.
I exhale slowly and wonder if my expected chat with Troy would have been worse than this. What am I supposed to say? That I was actually jealous of her and her boyfriend? That I thought I was losing my best friend to her boyfriend?
I pick a different route. Something way more subtle. "What are you going to do next year?" I asked. This question was the first that was itching me.
"Senior year?" she asked what I was referring to. I nodded. She glanced up at me, more seriously now. "I have enough credits for graduation" she tells me. "And, Chad told me that with my grades and SAT scores I can get a spot at University of Washington in Seattle with him for the fall quarter"
I look away, understanding what she meant. "When are you going to send the application?" I ask.
She bites her lip. "I already…" she starts but then fades away.
"And, you didn't think it was important for me to know?"
"I'm sorry, Gabi. I just..Chad was so enthusiastic toward the idea and I went along with it before I could tell you. He said that they would only accept a few and the earlier I sent it, the better"
"But you didn't even tell me!" I cry.
"I didn't know how you would take it!" she defended.
At this, I stop. Obviously, I was just proving her right for keeping it a secret from me by yelling. Plus, now the pneumonia is catching up to me and I'm breathless.
"Then, what?" I say softly.
"I..I don't know. We just have to see, I guess" replies Taylor. I huff and don't say anything for a while.
"Sorry" I say pathetically after a long silence. "I just..thought it was going to be you and me after high school"
As I say this, I can hear how completely idiotic it sounds. Taylor sighs. "Gabi, we're always going to friends" she tells me. It soothes me a little but not enough.
"I'm always here for you" she tells me. I remember my mother again. She used to come to my room every night and get into the sheets with me until I fell asleep. I think she knew that after she married Noah, I had been butted out of the picture. I guess, those nights were what held me together all those years. Now, I only have the memories.
"I know" I say. I scoot myself down into the bed sheets again and close my eyes. I'm tired again and I can't take any more painful reminders that my world is changing. Taylor begins to make a move towards the door when she sees I'm trying to make an effort to go to sleep.
Before she leaves, I have to say, "This Chad dude better be worth it". Her laugh is the last I remember.
When I wake up again, I am reminded that there's one more person who wants to talk to me. I don't know if I can take it.
"Damn, Montez. You sure do sleep a lot" his voice is lively and playful. I remember my dream from earlier in the morning. It's hard to recall everything. Of course, those vivid flushes coursing through my body are sensations I will never forget. And those azure eyes. There's no mistake they were Troy's but what was he doing in my dream? I've never thought about him that way. I've heard girls at school, though; who fantasize about the day Troy gives up his player character and makes sweet, sweet love to them for the rest of their lives. In my head, I've always been too intimidated by his friends to think of him in that way. He was always the leader of the pack. With just one move, he can have his friends torture me every day. What always hurt the most was that with a similar move, he can make them leave me alone forever.
I cough to distract myself from thoughts of the dream I had. "Pneumonia" I answer. "I heard it does that to you" it seems like a decent reply but I say it coldly.
"Your friend- Taylor's her name?- she left" informs Troy.
"I know" I say. My eyes adjust to the yellow light of the room. It seems like it's already dark outside. Did I just sleep for an entire day?
"It sounded pretty intense from outside" I could tell Troy was really making an effort to make conversation. I didn't give a damn. Even if he saved my life, I wasn't going to try to be nice to him. I lift myself up again into a sitting position and then take the glass full of clear water that my grandmother has kept on my side table. I gulp it down.
"It didn't seem like you were giving her much of a chance" he continues.
"Oh, yeah? And you know a lot about giving chances?" I know I've hit a spot because he glances away, taken aback His face right then makes me want to cringe. It's that same lonely face that I saw the first day he was here and it's literally killing me. I immediately want to take back what I said but his face is too stunned and painful for me to fix up. After a few seconds, I'm seriously worried because by now, I would've guessed that Troy might think of a dirty comment and change the subject but he hasn't. His eyes are wide and he's staring at my stomach. I look down at it and my heart gives out a pounding thud.
My tank top was lifted up, revealing the stained skin underneath. Conveniently, there's a purple blotch right on my pelvic bone for Troy to gawk at. I gasp and quickly pull down my shirt. Instantly, there's just my pink tank top to see but he's still staring.
"I..I guess I should go" Troy hesitates before excusing himself. In swift movements, I'm alone again.
No, scratch that. I'm not alone. There's Guilt. A flood of questions repeat in my brain. First, it's: was what Troy said about Taylor and I true? Was I not giving her a chance? Maybe I wasn't. I was being so selfish and ignorant all day yesterday and you could even say that my passing out on the roof and in the rain was just an act for attention. I was only thinking about how my whole life was changing and never once did I think that Taylor was drastically turning around too. This wasn't a part of anyone's plan. I just made it worse for her.
But, was I the only one at blame? Is it so wrong for me to just want some things for myself here in Morton? I'm bullied back at home. I'm practically no one. Here, I'm not the most important person, but at least I have people to love and people who love me.
Then, it hits me.
I can't just wait around for Troy or his friends to take the blame for my life going so horribly wrong. I don't know Troy. I don't know why he acts one way with me in Morton, one way with me in Albuquerque and another way around everyone else. I don't know why he seems determined to ruin my life. Hell, I can only guess what his favorite color is. Waiting around for someone you don't know is pathetic. You can't know for sure if they're going to come around and when they don't show up, half your life has gone to waste.
What I do know is who I am and what I love. I know that Taylor is going to always be there for me, baby and boyfriend or not. My grandparents have lived a happy life and I can't stop them from moving on. I love the sunsets over the acres of hilly plains. The rain. The trees. The friends. I know that my summers are my time in paradise. And, not even the devil can take them away from me.
This is more of a transition chapter. I hope it didn't suck too much! Thank you for all your support!