What Do You Want From Me?

Disclaimer: We do not own HSM

Chapter Six: On My Own Time

Troy made his way towards the rooftop, down the hallway, after his uncle let him go. He didn't know what was up with Robert right now – he was acting so weird. He wasn't acting like he did all the other days at home, around Troy's mom. Troy didn't get that. It made him feel… Feel all weird on the inside. He didn't know what was up with his uncle now, and it worried him.

What if Jack dying had hit Robert harder than they thought? What if he had just held on strong because he wanted to be there for Troy and his mom? What if he really… What if he was really hurt and broken on the inside, and now he was getting all his frustrations out?

Though that still shouldn't be reason for him to react this way, Troy mused to himself, as he took the stairs, two steps at a time, getting closer to Gabriella each second. He decided that he shouldn't think about Robert. He should forget about his dead father, and his uncle for a few hours, and just spend time with Gabriella. She deserved he gave her some time. He hadn't acted very good towards her since his dad died. He ought to apologise and then just… make it up to her. And he did kinda miss her. It had been too long.

He got there before Gabriella, he realized. She was probably busy doing some science with the Scholastic Decathlon Team. He really loved that about her. She was so smart, but she still didn't come of in a-know-it-all kinda way. She was just really, really cleaver, and he adored that.

He sat down on the bench, and leaned back, letting the faint sunlight hit his face, warming him. This was the life. He realized, he had been needing this. Some time to relax. Just some time to himself, mainly. Why hadn't he thought of that before? Sure, he was glad everyone wanted to make sure he was fine. They all just wanted to take care of him, but it became too much sometimes. This was so nice. Just him and his thoughts.

He smiled when he remembered this morning. How Sharpay had been all nice to him, and then the gang had arrived and ruined it. Now, he knew he didn't know her that well, but she was different than he'd thought – than they'd thought. Maybe if the gang gave her a chance, they could see how wonderful she was as well? She really had been great talking to him. She'd been so considerate. And really, he believed he might find a wonderful friend in her. And when she wasn't bitchy, she was easy to get on board with.

"Hey."

He opened his eyes, and came face to face with the beautiful smile of his girlfriend. He really did care about her. Love would probably be too strong a word for him, but he didn't know what he'd do without her right now. It would do him good; spending some time with her. She always managed to cheer him up when he was down.

"Hi." He replied, and reached his hand out, for her to take. She stood there for a second, before gently placing it in his. He shot her a soft smile, and pulled her closer, sitting her next to himself, their hands still locked, "I've missed you." he told her.

She got a small smile on her face as well, "You have?" she wanted to know.

He nodded, "Yeah." He said, "Sorry I've been such a jerk. It doesn't have anything to do with you. I've been that way towards everyone. I'm sorry, it's not fair to you."

"To everyone?" Gabriella questioned, arching one eyebrow slightly. She almost never questioned what he said or what he did, so if she did, it was usually something she had been thinking a lot about, "What about Sharpay? She's been at your house a lot, right?"

"Well, everyone besides Sharpay." Troy replied, and stroked his thumb across the back of her hand, "Don't think more about it Gab. She was just… there for me. She kinda understood me better than anyone else. Don't take it personally."

"How can I not take it personally?" Gabriella wanted to know, but she didn't sound mad, which made Troy feel better. She was probably just a bit confused about it all, "I mean.. my boyfriend will listen to the school's bitch and not me? How can't I take that personally?"

"I'll listen to you." Troy reassured her, with a chuckle, but then added, "And Sharpay is not really a bitch. She's actually very nice."

Gabriella giggled lightly, but decided not to comment on that. She wouldn't believe that. Sharpay not being a bitch? Sure, they went to see Troy together, but that was a total lapse in judgement from her side. Sharpay could never be nice; she'd been mean since Gabriella arrived here at East High.

Troy didn't speak either. He pulled her closer, letting her rest her head on his shoulder, an arm around her. He let out a content sigh, and they sat there for awhile, just enjoying each others company. It was very nice to be relaxed with her.

She pulled back, and placed a small kiss on his lips, "I've actually missed you too, Troy. It's been so hard around here. I'm really glad you're back."

"Yeah," Troy said, as he nodded his head lightly, "yeah, I'm glad too. It was hard being stuck at home."

"I can imagine." Gabriella smiled, and leaned in to kiss him again. Though this time, he kept her there, wanting more than just a peck. He could feel her smile against his lips, but he didn't let go. He was enjoying this supposed-to-be chaste kiss way too much to let her move away. He trailed her bottom lip with his tongue, and it didn't take her too long to grand him permission to enter her mouth.

Gabriella had always been a shy girl, but she wasn't like that when they were alone. He could kiss her if he wanted to, though it had taken him time to get to that part with her. But it was worth it, because she had such soft lips, and they always tasted so nicely of strawberry from her lipgloss.

She eventually pulled back, and rested her forehead against his. They were both breathing hard, but also smiling. He traced her bottom lip with his index finger, love shining through is porcelain eyes.

"You're so beautiful." he told her, giving her a quick peck, "We ought to do this soon again. We need to spend more time together."

"And now," she said, still breathing pretty hard, "now when everything is settled more at your place, we'll probably have the time, right?"

"Yeah." He agreed, and broke away from her, to check his watch. The time was ticking, and he had to get home soon. His mom would probably have dinner ready in no time, "What do you say I drive you home, and I can pick you up tomorrow before school?"

"Yeah." She smiled, and stood up from the bench, quickly taking her school bag, which she had dropped off earlier when she arrived, "That sounds absolutely wonderful."

Troy stood up as well, and took a good hold of her hand, before they made their way down from the rooftop and towards his car. The events in the gymnasium earlier had completely slipped his mind.

--

When Troy finally arrived at his place, after dropping Gabriella off, he headed upstairs, kind of wanting to avoid everyone at the moment and get some more time to himself. However, one door to a room, made him stop.

It was the room that belonged to his parents. The one they used to sleep in. His mom wouldn't sleep in it anymore. That kind of tore Troy's heart more. Knowing that his mother was so upset about his father dying, that she couldn't even sleep in their room, she slept on the couch now. Troy would find her sometimes in the morning, tangled up in the sheets looking very awkward. Troy wanted to talk to her about it, but knew it wasn't the right time. It was way too soon. Troy would maybe try and talk to her in a few days. When she doesn't seem quite upset. Troy wanted to get what he was thinking, out of his head, at some point. And it seemed like the only person who would understand, was his mom. But like Troy said before, it was too soon.

Sighing, Troy walked away from the room, and headed into his room. He threw his backpack on the floor and plopped down on his bed, phone in hand. He flipped it open and noticed he had one text message from Sharpay. Curious, Troy opened it and read:

Hey, how r u doin? Hope everything is good for you. Ttyl.

Troy smiled. That was so nice of Sharpay to check up on him. He-

"Hey, when did you get home?" A voice interrupted his thoughts.

Troy looked up and his eyes landed on his uncle in the doorway. He suddenly became weary of him. Wondering if his uncle would act like he did at practice…

Troy shrugged, "A few minutes ago."

Robert rolled his eyes, "And you didn't bother to tell us you were here?"

Troy, confused, said, "Uh, I didn't think it was necessary…"

"Hm, well. Come on then. Let's go practice." Robert turned to leave.

This made Troy sit up; he had just come from practice! He didn't think he needed more practice.

"Practice? But we just had practice!"

His uncle came back into his room, looking angry, Troy was extremely wary of him now. Maybe he should have kept his mouth shut.

"Did you just talk back to me?"

"Uh…"

Robert shook his head at Troy. Troy didn't really like the look his uncle was giving him. He couldn't quite point out what emotion it was…it almost looked as if he was disgusted by something?

"God, okay. Just get to the court in less the five. Trust me, you need all the practice you can get. I don't know what's going on with you Troy but you aren't doing too good."

Troy couldn't believe what he was hearing. He thought he was doing good! But maybe his definition of 'good' wasn't Robert's definition of 'good'.

"Okay, I'll be there," Troy said, about to get up.

Robert nodded and left the room.

As soon as Troy made sure he was fully gone, he couldn't help but let out a groan. He wasn't in the mood to play basketball right now. He wanted some time alone but it seemed like that wasn't going to happen. He didn't want to upset his uncle so he grabbed his basketball and headed downstairs.

He walked out onto the court were his uncle stood, arms crossed, looking mad.

Troy gulped.

"Okay here's what I want you to do. I need you to run around the court five times. Then we'll practice your shots because they are horribly sloppy. Now I want these laps done under five minutes. If they aren't, I'll add more on. On the count of three: one, two, three. Go."

Troy stared in disbelief as his uncle pushed a button on his watch- meaning Troy had no choice but to start. However, Troy didn't know how he was going to be able to do all of that in five minutes. It was surely impossible. But seeing as he had no choice in the matter, he took off running.

"Come on Troy, you can run faster then that! Get moving! We haven't got all night you know!"

Troy's breathing was ragged as he tried to run faster. He couldn't be anymore happier when he finally made it to his fourth lap. That meant one to go.

"Five."

Troy stopped. Five? What did that mean?

"Four."

Four? Huh?

"Troy why did you stop! You have four seconds to complete this task! I suggest you keep running!"

Four seconds?? Had five minutes already passed? Jeez. I'm screwed.

Troy kept running, even though he was just now on his fifth. Robert was still counting down. He just now hit one.

"Okay, I know for a fact you are not finished with your fifth lap. Buuut. Seeing as you need to be practicing more on your free throws, I'll cancel that. Now come over here and show me what you got."

Practice continued on like that for the next hour. Troy felt like he was going to pass out at any minute but didn't say anything. He knew that his uncle was only doing this to help him and Troy was grateful for that. Without his dad here he didn't know exactly how he was going to be able to keep up the basketball thing…

"Troy quit zoning out! If you keep going on like that I'm going to have to get tougher on you!"

Troy snapped out of the daze he was in and hastily apologized. The wind blew through his hair as he tried to get pass Robert so he could shoot. Robert however was quicker and managed to grab the basketball as he pushed Troy to the ground and made a shot.

Troy grunted and rubbed his shoulder. It was starting to hurt quite a bit from the fall.

"Troy you did that all wrong. G.d what am I going to do with you. Get your ass up and do it right."

Troy nearly groaned out loud but remained quiet. He got up and did as he was told.