Chapter 12:

Sympathy

Must I say it?

"Is she going to be okay?" a frantic Rayline asked over the phone. Selena nodded. "Yes, mami. She just needs some stitches on her head and she ruptured her rib in one place. But she'll be fine."

"Oh, I hope so. E! News and everything else is so frantic to seeing you guys rushing her to the hospital. Please call me when everything is cleared."

"We will. Bye, mami." Selena hung up. Troy sighed. "This is my entire fault. If I'd just left her outside, she'd be fine."

"Don't push yourself around," Maxine said. "It's not your fault, really. She's the one who tripped." Maxine grinned. "What were you guys doing up there anyway?'

"Well, we made out and then she left so I could…fix a problem. She fell down the steps, I guess," Troy said honestly. "I wish I didn't bring her up there."

"It's not—is that Reyna?" They all looked up to see Reyna cautiously walking into the hospital. She tightened her bag around her shoulder and went to the receptionist. "What's she doing here?"

"Maybe she's visiting someone."

Reva stood up and followed after Reyna. Selena looked at Troy and Maxine with wide eyes. "Should we follow her?"

"Yeah, come on." All three of them went to Reva and followed after Reyna. Reyna stopped at a door, sucked in a breath then walked forward into a room. They watched in the window. A woman who looked frail and maybe around forty or something, was looking up at Reyna feebly. Her soft green eyes could barely stay open and she tried with all her might to smile at Reyna.

"Mom," Reyna said softly. Reva looked to the door to see it opened a bit. She turned to look at Selena, Maxine and Troy in surprise. "Her mom?"

"Sweetie, how are you?"

"Good. God, you look cold. Michael really misses you."

"I'm sure he does," Reyna's mom spat bitterly. "Is he taking good care of you? If not, I'll file divorce right this second."

"It's fine, mom."

"I'm so sorry for doing this to you, Reyna."

"Drugs are addictive," Reyna said somberly.

"Her mom was a drug addict?" Reva asked Troy and Maxine. They shrugged and Troy stepped back. "Okay, enough. Let's—"

"What are you doing here?" Reyna stepped out of the room and looked at them all. "Did you follow me to the hospital?"

"No," Maxine said. "Gabriella is here."

Reyna looked concerned for a second. "What happened to her?"

"She got a concussion and a ruptured rib cage," Troy said solemnly. "It's a long story."

"Oh, well, good luck with that." Reyna looked them over once more before stepping back into the room and closing the door behind her.

"I think we've found the bitchiness behind Reyna's face," Reva said. "She's probably all mean because her mom is in the hospital and is about to die."

"You know nothing," Reyna said, coming back out of the room. "Why don't you just go to Gabriella? I told you she might drop dead."

"I'm sure everyone would be a lot happier if you'd just drop dead," Troy seethed.

Reyna smirked. "Or, I'm sure everyone—especially your new friends—would be happy to see you drop dead after I show them a certain tape." Troy cringed and Selena and Reva looked at him confusedly.

"Troy, what's she talking about?" Selena asked.

"Nothing, let's go." Troy pulled them away from Reyna who was smirking.

"Tell Gabriella to not get well soon." Selena and Reva flipped Reyna off before turning and following Troy.

"What was that all about?" Maxine asked. "What tape is she talking about?"

"I said it was nothing," Troy said and plopped down on a chair. Rosie came striding over to them. "Hey, where were you guys? We're allowed to see Gabriella now."

"We were just saying hi to someone from school," Reyna lied partially. They did see someone form school, but they so did not want to say hi. Rosie nodded and they all walked to Gabriella's room.

"Ugh, I hate this," Gabriella complained.

"You'll be getting out tonight," Rosie told her.

"Can I see your stitches?" Sammy asked. Gabriella looked at him and smiled. "When we get home. It hurts too much to move my head."

"We saw Reyna," Maxine said after Rosie and Sammy left for some food.

"Why is she here?" Gabriella wondered.

"To see her mom," Selena answered. "We think she's a drug addict. And she was all offensive when we said that about her."

"Yeah, her mom looks so pale," Troy explained. "And terrible. I actually felt bad for her."

"You shouldn't," Selena snapped. "She had said our father was a drug addict when her mom is one."

"Would you all shut up?" Gabriella asked. "Jesus. Ew, is this a porn channel?" Gabriella quickly switched off the TV. "Okay, entertain me."

Reva wiggled her eyebrows. "I think Troy has power over that. We'll be with Rosie and Sam in the cafeteria. TTYL."

"I hate it when you talk in text talk," Selena complained as they went out of the room and closed the door behind them. Troy squeezed in next to Gabriella in the bed, careful not to hurt her. They both lay on their sides so they could face each other.

"This is my fault," Troy said. "I should've kept you at the pool."

Gabriella wrinkled her nose. "Your fault? Troy, I'm just being my clumsy self. I pretty sure I would've fallen down the steps when I went up stairs to change. It can happen anytime, not just when we engage in a heavy make-out session and Troy Jr. is wound up ." Gabriella wiggled her eyebrows for effect and Troy chuckled. "But anyway, I don't really care. Just as long as you're by my side, I'm perfectly fine." She lifted her hand and ran it lightly through his hair.

Troy leaned forward and pressed an avid kiss to Gabriella's lips. Gabriella grinned and pressed her palms to his chest. This detached their lips and Troy looked at Gabriella confused. "I want to sit on you," Gabriella informed him. She sat up and swung a leg over him. Troy helped her sit upright and when Gabriella was sturdy, she placed her hand on his chest and Troy placed his hands on her hips. Gabriella grinned down at him.

"I like this position," Troy announced and Gabriella giggled. She bent down and pressed a hard, sentimental kiss to Troy's lips. "Dammit, Gabriella," Troy groaned as she wiggled above him. He tried to keep her hips in place, but she kept gyrating them in a circular motion.

Gabriella giggled and pushed away from him. "I like seeing you hard for me," she admitted. "So I try myself to make you horny." But Troy wasn't paying attention to her; he was gazing down at her lower half which was still riding his…evident bulge. Gabriella giggled and slid off of him. Troy stared at her. "You like seeing me in pain, don't you."

Gabriella smirked. "No, just bothered. But anyway, let's chat."

"No, no, no, no, no. You can't just leave me like this." Troy pointed to his pants. "without helping me with it."

Gabriella looked shy, a very atypical emotion. "Sorry, boyfriend, but I've never had foreplay before. You can use the bathroom to…fix your problem."

"You've never had oral sex?" Troy's eyes went wide. Gabriella turned away from him. "I'm glad you find it so shocking. I'm not a regular teenager like you, Troy. I don't have anyone besides my sisters and older celebrities to go to and I wouldn't even dare. So no, I haven't had oral sex yet."

"I'm sorry," Troy apologized. Regret was laced in his voice so Gabriella turned to him. "It's fine. I over reacted and it was my fault for you know, making the blood rush to your penis." She giggled and Troy smiled. He loved hearing her giggle rather in person that on TV.

"I love your giggle," he said. "Especially in person."

"I love your eyes." Gabriella sighed. "They're so blue. They're like Zac Efron's eyes. You know, I would think you two are twins. The only difference is the hair and he's a bit more muscular than you."

Troy looked shocked. "Are you comparing me to Zac Efron? Gabriella, I officially don't like you." Troy was the one who turned this time. Gabriella grinned and brushed her hand along his gentile. She felt Troy's body tense up next to her.

"Brie, don't do that," Troy said gutturally. He pushed her hand away from him gently. Gabriella feigned sadness. "Why, Troy? Do you not want me to touch you?"

"No, that's far from it," Troy grunted. "I want you to touch me and me to touch you so badly, but I know you aren't ready."

"I'll be ready," Gabriella whispered in his ear. She sat up and sighed. "Goddammit, I want to get out of this fucking hellhole so badly. I hate hospitals."

"Why?" Troy sat up also and wounded his arms around Gabriella's waist. Gabriella leaned into him and sighed. "It amazes me how I remember so much when I was seven."

"Oh, it's about your father?" Gabriella nodded mutely and Troy kissed her head. "Well, just think of it. Your dad is in a better place. Would you rather have him hooked up to a machine all his life because he could breathe because of the bad air he was inhaling or would you rather have him up in heaven, watching over you and thinking, 'Wow, my daughters have made it so far. If I could, I would wrap my arms around them and give them a speech of how proud I am of them.'"

Gabriella giggled. "You always know how to cheer me up."

Troy shrugged and pressed a wet, sloppy kiss to her cheek. "I try, babe."

G*L*A*M*O*R*O*U*S

"Okay, ready…set…go!" Reva, Maxine, Selena and Sammy all started stuffing their faces with hot Cheetos. All four of their faces were red already as they tried to stuff the whole bag into their mouth. "God, my mouth is on fire!" Selena said, but continued stuffing her mouth. Reva slammed her bag down and jumped up. "Winner! I beat you all!" Selena quickly snatched her water bottle up and gulped it down. Sammy started scraping his tongue with his nails to get the hot. Maxine grabbed the water bottle from Selena and chugged her own amount.

"I'm going to be sick," Maxine groaned.

"Well, you aren't supposed to eat food that fast."

"I only have one Cheeto left!" Sammy exclaimed. "Here, Yoda, have it." Sammy took out Yoda from his pocket and started pushing Yoda with it. Yoda started crawling away and Reva screamed. "Sammy, put it away!"

"Yoda isn't an it, Reva. Yoda is a human being."

Reva pulled a face. "Really? I've never seen any human so ugly before in my life."

"You're being mean. Stop it," Sammy ordered. He scooped Yoda up and put him back in his pocket. "Sorry, Sammy. I'm just bugaphobic."

Selena looked at Reva and shook her head. "Bugaphobic? Seriously, Reva?"

"What? I'm scared of bugs."

"Speaking of bugs…"

They all looked up to see Reyna plopping down at a table. She looked like she'd been crying. "You know, I'm kind of feeling sorry for her, too," Selena said sympathetically. "I don't know what I would do if Mom were dying right in front of my eyes. It happened with Dad."

"Her mom is dying?" Rosie asked.

Maxine shrugged. "Her mom looks really pale and weak."

"Maybe you guys should go talk to her."

"She hates us," Reva said. "And we hate her."

"Okay, well I'm going back to Gabriella," Rosie said, standing up. "Anyone coming?'

They all traveled back to Gabriella's room and as they walked out, Selena couldn't help but to look back at Reyna. Reyna turned and they met eyes for a second. She had a major parent loss when she was younger, but experiencing it when you're older must be hard. You've had so many memories with them and then they're just taken from your hands.

Reva knocked on the door. "There better be clothes on when we enter." She heard Gabriella squealed and Troy laugh.

"Come in," Gabriella giggled. They all came into the room and saw Gabriella sitting up in the bed and Troy sitting awkwardly in the hospital chair. "What were you guys doing?" Maxine asked.

Gabriella giggled. "Nothing. What's all over your face, Max?"

Maxine wiped at her lips and brought her hand down. Her palm was stained with the orange stuff from Cheetos. "We had a contest to see who can eat a whole bag of hot Cheetos first."

"Did Reva win?"

Reva smirked. "Yes, as a matter of fact, I did win."

Troy turned to Sammy. "Dude, you let a girl beat you?"

"I only had one left!" Sammy exclaimed. He held up his index finger for emphasis. "She just won because she had a smaller bag than me."

"You make me laugh, Sam," Reva said.

"Does this make you laugh?" Sammy pulled out Yoda and shoved him in Reva's face. Reva jumped back and hid behind Maxine. Sammy laughed and put Yoda back in his pocket. "Because it makes me laugh!"