Chapter 6
An orange basketball made it straight into the hoop making a swishing sound for what seemed like the millionth time today.
"Alright…" Chad Danforth said. "So what's the score?"
"I lost count after twenty," Troy Bolton smirked.
"Geez, Troy, catch up."
"Oh… you meant your score…"
He put his hand on his chin thoughtfully.
"Yeah, I'm pretty sure counting even that one basket where you purposely knocked me over… that would be five points for you."
He ducked as his best friend, Chad, attempted to hit him with the basketball on the head.
"I hate you," Chad whined childishly.
"I love you too, dude," Troy chuckled as he ruffled the Afro on Chad's head. Chad swatted the offending hand away.
A vibration was heard, and Troy took out his phone to find a text message from his mother.
"My mom just texted me. Do you want to go to my house for dinner?"
Chad nodded, and they walked to Troy's black Audi. When they arrived at the house, the savoring smell of pasta sauce filled their nostrils. Troy rubbed his hands together and went into the kitchen.
"Smells good, mom," he told her as he kissed her cheek.
"Oh thanks, sweetie," she said beaming at him as she stirred the sauce.
Troy looked around to the living room to find Chad on the couch with the television already on.
"Where's dad?" he asked his mother.
"He'll be in soon. He just went out to the hardware store to get a replacement light for that broken bulb on the Christmas tree."
Troy nodded and went back to the living room to join Chad. The front door opened, and in came Jack Bolton flustered from the cold outside.
"Hey, boys," he waved to the men on the couch.
"Hey, dad," Troy said.
"Hey, coach," Chad said grinning.
"Something smells good," Jack yelled to his wife, Lucille, as he hung his coat in the hallway closet.
"It's ready if you guys would set the table for me, please," she yelled out.
The men set the table as she set the food out. They said prayer, and then ate silently for a few moments.
"Troy," Lucille said. "I forgot to tell you something, but you were already out the door."
"Oh," he said. "What is it?"
"Remember when I told you that Jose and Maria are coming tomorrow?"
He nodded, but then became confused at her suddenly excited face.
"Guess who else is coming," she looked like she was practically buzzing with the news.
"Just tell me, mom," he said.
"Gabriella is coming home for Christmas!" she exclaimed excitedly.
Silence.
"What?" he finally choked out.
"Gabriella is coming home for Christmas," she said. "She's bringing home her new fiancé.
The joy he felt just moments ago vanished and was replaced by a slightly nauseous feeling. Fiancé?
Chad looked confusedly at Troy's paling face.
"Who is Gabriella?" Chad asked.
"Oh, she is my best friend's daughter who used to be a very good friend to Troy when they were young."
She got up quickly and came back a few minutes later with a very large photo album. Troy was still in shock until he saw the album. Any blood left in his face was now gone, and a panic started to rise in his chest. He quickly shot out of his seat so he did not have to endure the torture of wonderful but forgotten memories of his love.
"May I be excused?" he asked hurriedly.
His parents looked at him weirdly but nodded. He had already seen the pictures. Troy proceeded to sprint up the stairs to his bedroom and shut the door behind him. He put his back against the door and slid till he was sitting on the floor.
Gabriella is coming home. And she's bringing her fiancé.
Fiancé.
She is going to get married.
He felt as if the world could have heard the rest of his heart breaking.
(||====:
Gabriella Montez really did not want to go home for the holidays.
She has been able to avoid going back to Albuquerque for six years by somehow convincing her parents to come up to New York. Each year she would somehow be able to convince them, but this year was different. Although her parents begged her that she should come down to New Mexico for Christmas instead, it surprisingly was not the only factor in her reasoning. She looked down to her left hand to find the shiny new addition that gave an added weight to her finger.
She was getting married.
Although both parents met Robert Allen, her new fiancé, on several occasions, she had yet to inform them of the fact that she had gotten engaged. In face, she hasn't told anyone about it yet. Well, maybe except her good friend, Taylor McKessie.
It was a very sweet proposal.
They were having their routine walk around Central Park, and it was a beautiful night. He started comparing her to the stars, and how they could never match her exquisite beauty. There was a strange look in his eye, and she wasn't prepared at all for when he kneeled down in front of her. He asked her then and there if she would marry him. She couldn't help but say yes to the man that saved her from darkened days.
Of course, this was months ago, and she has been stalling. Robert has been patient, but she can see the anxiousness in his eyes. He has already told his family and friends. It is only fair that she return the favor. She's made up many reasons so that she didn't have to go back, but she can no longer deny what is truth any longer. Troy Bolton was the reason she never went back.
A pain shot through her chest just thinking about it.
Now she knows she cannot avoid it anymore… she has to stop avoiding him.
She tells herself that she is going for closure, a goodbye. But she knows the real reason. She needs to see his face one more time before she binds herself to a man that does not have her whole heart.