Lake Mystic

He's too good for her, at least that's how Gabriella feels. The rest of the day had been amazing. She had thought that, after the kiss and everything, that it would be awkward being around him but it wasn't. He continued to make her laugh and feel like the greatest person in the world. She had continued to help him clean things up and help him finish getting dressed, even with as weird as it had been. She still was confused on his mild mood swing. He had been so furious with the whole paparazzi incident but within seconds he was back to the Troy she always knew, well sort of. Since he became, 'Troy Bolton' his personality seemed to have changed a little, but she could still find parts of the old Troy here and there.

The most believable part being when he had asked her if things had been different had he said yes to her. He even looked troubled about the whole situation. Is it a good thing or a bad thing that she's happy that he seemed so troubled? She's not happy that he's troubled, but she's happy that he seemed to be wishing that he had said yes to her. That, to her, meant that he just might have feelings for her. Sure he kissed her, but was it just a spur of the moment kind of thing? She really hopped not. She's in too deep now.

Gabriella sighed as the credits started to roll for the movie they had just finished, 'Fools Rush In'. Her and her mother used to watch it all the time. Her mom would be deep in her cleaning mode, but as soon as that movie popped on she would take her spot on the couch and watch it, Gabriella soon following her lead. There's just something about the weird love story that just catches her liking. Plus, she couldn't help but notice how Matthew Perry's eyes seemed to be just as blue as Troy's was. She was glued to them the whole time.

Troy had wanted to sit on the couch with her so she had helped him lift himself out of the chair and onto the spot next to her. Now, she's cuddled up to his side resting her head on his shoulder. She never wanted to move from this spot, but she really needed to go home and think about the days events. She really really likes Troy, but her thoughts of Chad keep seeping through her and questioning if she should really like him. Though that voice is a quite one, it still seems to bug her.

She sighed again and sat up looking at Troy. He smiled down at her, flashing his amazing crooked grin. "I really should be going."

He frowned. Even with this sad face, his eyes still seemed to sparkle. "You sure? You can stay if you want."

He wanted her to stay. Did that mean he like her? She wasn't sure but if he wanted her to stay, well she'd be dammed if she said no. Just as she was about to open her mouth to say o.k., the sound of a car door being closed and the garage door beginning to close echoed through the house. Maybe she could visit another day?

She gave a small smile and looked back up at Troy. "No, I'm sure. Your mom's home now anyways." She started to get up and reached over for her purse that she had discarded on the other seat.

He sighed and looked up at her. "O.k., can I walk you out?" He asked. He was practically giving her puppy dog eyes. He was soo cute when he did that.

She smiled. "I guess so."

"Cool." He smiled big and sat up a little straighter so she could wrap an arm behind him to help guide him back to his wheel chair. He winced a little bit, but he never said anything about it hurting or bothering him.

"Are you sure you're o.k.? I can take you back to the hospital if…"

He cut her off. "No, no I'm fine. Just a little sore. She could tell that he was lying, but she wasn't going to push him. Getting into an argument was the last thing she wanted to do at this moment.

"Alright." She smiled at him and waited to head outside till he was comfortable in his chair.

"Troy!? I'm home now!" Troy's mother shouted as she made her way inside the kitchen.

"Hey mom!" Troy shouted back. Gabriella could tell by the look in his eyes that he wanted to get her out before his mother noticed. Just as he was about to open the front door, his mother appeared.

"Oh, hi Gabriella. I was wondering if that was your car in the driveway. How are you?" She started to make her way over to her and Troy.

Gabriella smiled. "I'm great Mrs. Bolton, how are you?"

She smiled. "You know better than to call me Mrs. Bolton. Please, call me Lucille."

Gabriella smiled. "Sorry Lucille."

The two women laughed. "I'm good Gabriella. Thank you." She glanced over at Troy and smiled. "Well, at least I know you've been in good hands all day. I had nothing to worry about."

Troy glanced up at Gabriella and they both started to laugh. There had been allot of crazy stuff happening all day. "Yeah, she took real good care of me." Troy smiled again.

Lucille watched the two laugh and smiled. "Well ,I'm gonna make dinner. Gabriella, would you like to stay and have something to eat?"

Of course she wanted to stay. She loved being around Troy, He made her feel like her life was better than it really seemed. Unfortunately, she still had a lot of things on her mind. She needed to figure out if she should really like Troy or not. Plus, he does have a girlfriend. "Actually, I've got some things I have to do, but maybe some other night. I really appreciate the offer though."

Lucille nodded. "You sure? We're gonna have Lasagna?"

Gabriella smiled. "I'm sure. I really need to get going. It was nice seeing you again Lucille."

"You too Gabriella. Feel free to come over whenever. You're welcome anytime you like." Lucille smiled down at her son before heading back into the kitchen.

"Thanks again." Gabriella shouted after her before glancing down at Troy. He smiled up at her before opening the door and heading out towards the driveway. She had to help him, since there were two step to get down, but she didn't mind it. When she made it to her car, she opened the driver's door and looked back at Troy. "I had allot of fun Troy. We need to hang out more often." She climbed in her car before he had time to answer. A part of her felt that he might say no to hanging out with her, and if that was the case, she really didn't want to hear it.

She through the key in the ignition and strapped her seat belt on. When she grabbed for the shift gear, she heard a soft knocking on the window. She glanced at the window and sure enough, there was Troy. She wondered why he looked a little…hurt??

She opened the window and looked at him. He spoke before she could even. "I had a lot of fun too Gabriella." Without thinking, she reached for the gear and pulled it to reverse. "WAIT! Wait! What's the rush?"

She smiled at him, unsure of what to say. "I really have to go Troy."

"Wait!! Umm, when can I see you again?"

She smiled at him and lifted her foot off the brake pulling out of the driveway. She didn't want to admit it quite yet, with her doubts and Chad, but she was falling for Troy Bolton.

TGTGTGTGTGTGTGTGTGTGTGTGTGTGTG

Smiling was all Troy could manage to do as he watched her pull out of the driveway and drive down the street. He couldn't help but realize that he was falling for Gabriella all over again. Sure he never stopped falling, but the feelings were sort of put on hold for a while. She's just too amazing for him to even try to not have feelings for her. She's everything he ever wanted and more.

He continued to watch until her car disappeared around a corner a few blocks down. She didn't live too far away, maybe a mile. He noted to himself that if he ever wanted to visit her, he could, well, maybe. With the previous paparazzi incident, that feat might be a little harder than originally planned. He finally turned himself around and headed back towards the front door. Unfortunately Gabriella had helped him down the steps and he really didn't want to call out for his mom to help him. There was a sort of ramp in the garage so he decide to try and get in that way. The garage wasn't all that big, a small 3 car garage, nothing special. He was, though, confused on why his mother had soo much stuff. Most of the stuff was his fathers, especially the small Malibu. Troy could still remember the last time him and his dad took that boat out.

"Troy. Wake up."

"Huh?" Troy sat up and rubbed his eyes. He glanced over at the clock on his night stand. He groaned and plopped back down pulling the covers over his head. "Dad! It's 4:30 in the morning and it's a Saturday!"

"Oh come on! It's my 40th Birthday and I have a surprise!" His dad cheered as he grabbed the covers and ripped them off the bed.

Troy curled up in a ball since he was only wearing boxers. "Happy Birthday Dad! Can I go back to bed now?"

Jack chuckled and pulled on his 18 year old sons legs. "Thanks you, and NO! Now come on!"

Giving up, Troy sat up and threw his pillow at his overly excited father. "Fine! You win!"

"Alright! Get dressed and meet me downstairs in 10 minutes!" Jack said before heading back downstairs.

Troy was confused on why his father wanted to be up so early. Don't adults want to sleep in on their birthdays? Oh well, he thought as he grabbed a pair of discarded pants off the floor and a shirt. He didn't care if they were clean or not. It was WAY too early to ever care.

10 minutes past and Troy headed down the stairs. When he reached the kitchen he noticed his dad had two fishing poles, a cooler, a fishing kit thing and a basketball."Dad? What's going on." Troy yawned. He was extremely tired still. He had been up till 1 A.M with his best friend Chad Danforth. The two had been friends since pre-school.

"We're going fishing." Jack cheered again.

"Fishing! Dad, it's now 4:45!" Troy whined again.

"I know, I calculated it to take about an hour to get to the lake." Jack seemed to be deep in thought.

"An hour? Dad, the lake is about a ten minute drive!" Troy eyed his dad. He was up to something.

Jack smiled big. "We're not going to that lake, we're going to Lake Mystic." His smile grew at the name.

"Lake Mystic? Where's that?" The idea of going out was getting worse and worse as Troy kept on his 21 questions. It still was way too early to go anywhere.

"Now that's a good question!"

It took them, like Jack had said, and hour to get to Lake Mystic. After about 2o minutes of driving, Troy had begun to realize he had no idea where they were. They had never gone this way for any basketball games and nothing looked familiar for any family trips. When they reached the lake, Troy was immediately astonished. The sun was just beginning to rise so the sky was a beautiful pinkish color. To top it off, the lake was as clear as you could imagine and the grass and trees were a perfect green color. He felt as though he was ion some fairy tale place.

"Wow. This is amazing." Troy smiled big as he walked up to the boat lading and stared at the view in front of him.

Jack walked up behind his son and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Isn't it. I haven't been out here since I was your age. My dad woke me up early in the morning and drug me out here. We fished all morning long." Jack smiled as he remembered his time here with his own father.

Troy could tell his father purposefully didn't tell him what they did all afternoon. "And they afternoon?" He was getting excited now. He almost felt honored to be here with his own father. If his father took him here at 18, well than he was glad to be a part of a new Bolton family tradition.

Jack smiled at his son. "We cooked out and played basketball."

"Basketball? How and where is a court?" Troy was definitely excited.

"I'll show you. It's a surprise."

Troy smiled again and walked back over to the boat. He helped his dad get the boat ready for the water. They washed and polished it before finally putting it in the water and speeding off to the best spot on the lake. When they found the perfect spot, they grabbed their fishing poles and casted out.

They had to have stayed out there for hours before Troy realized what time it was. He was having a great day with his father. The two had never had a day like this one before and he really enjoyed it. Graduation was just around the corner and the championship game was in 3 days. They had just caught, a total, 5 fish. Life was good.

Troy cast out again and looked out at the view in front of his again. It was so quiet and peaceful. With the championship game, Sharpay, graduation and just college issues, he was glad to be able to see that there was a place in the world where things were simple like this. That the real world wasn't just crazy and even a scary place. The world had its moments when things just seemed perfect.

"Thanks dad." Troy said, looking over at his dad and smiling.

"For what?" Jack asked as he cast out again.

"For bringing me here. I really needed this."

Jack reeled in a bit before he set his pole in a holder and turned to look at his son. "When my father brought me out here, I was your age and was having a hell of a time, just like you. Our Championship game was the next night and Graduation was only a few months away. My long term girlfriend had just broken up with me, again, and my mom and I had been arguing for weeks about grades and things. My dad had told me he wanted to take me somewhere special so I could take a breather and just think about what I really wanted."

Troy smiled. "And what did you want?"

"I wanted to win my championship game, graduate, get my girlfriend back and patch things back up with my mom."

"Did that day with your dad help?" Troy asked, hoping he would say yes.

"Actually, it did. We won our championship game and I patched things up with my mom."

"What about your girlfriend?"

Jack chuckled. "We've been together for 26 years and married for 20 years."

Troy smiled. "Mom was your high school sweet heart?"

"You bet she was. We've been together since freshman year."

"That's cool dad."

"Yeah" Jack smiled and looked back at Troy. "So what do you want?"

Troy sighed and looked back out at the water. "I don't even know. I mean, I know I want to graduate and I definitely want to win the game, but Sharpay and I are going strong and everything seems to be o.k."

"What about college?"

Troy sighed again. "I'm going to U of A."

"Is that what you really want?"

"I don't know dad. College seemed like so much fun till I had to choose which one to go to. It's just so hard." Troy reeled in his line before casting out again. "Plus, it all depends on what happens at the game Tuesday night."

Jack smiled at his son. "Everything will be fine. I promise."

"I don't know dad. Things just keep getting more complicated the closer I get to graduation. I mean, mom and I seem to be at our limits with each other."

"She loves you that's all. She has it stuck in her head that something will happen and you won't graduate for some reason. She's just paranoid like that. She wants you to be the best you can be."

"I know, but I just can't take the nagging sometimes, you know?"

"I get it Troy. Just believe me when I say everything will be o.k." He chuckled. "Plus, you'll always have me to help you when you need it."

Troy smiled at his dad. "Thanks dad."

"You're welcome son."

When they decided they had fished for long enough, 4 hours to be exact, Jack choose to show Troy the secret basketball court. It took another 5 minutes boating time to get there, plus they had to hike for a good 10 minutes. It was really deep into the woods.

When they hit the clearing, Troy practically gasped. There was a full basketball court, benches and a camping grill like thing in this beautiful little clearing. It looked as if no one had been there in years since there were weeds growing in the cracks on the court and the benches and picnic tables looked washed out, probably from the rain.

"Woah, this is soo cool!" Troy cheered.

"I know!" Jack took a deep breath and smiled at the sight in front of him. "It's been 22 years too long!"

"You haven't been here in 22 years? Why didn't you ever some back?" Troy was shocked. There was no way he could ever stay away from this place now that he knew it existed.

"I don't know. I guess I just wanted to keep that special day with dad to stay here. I don't know, it's weird and hard to explain."

Troy smiled and grabbed the basketball he had lugged out there with. "Its cool, lets play!"

They played basketball, laughed, and cooked out till the sun started to set. His mom never called to bother them and Troy had even managed to turn off his cell phone. He was sure Sharpay was freaking out about his whereabouts and Chad was probably wondering where he was, but he didn't care. He was having a blast, believe it or not, with his father. Maybe they could do this every year for his father's birthday?

Troy shook his head as he realized where the flashback was going. He would never be able to go there with his father again because three days later his father died, along with all his best friends and half the basketball team in the huge accident that Troy still blames himself for. He couldn't deny that they would all still be alive if he hadn't distracted the bus driver. It was all his fault.

In Troy's distraction, he failed to see where he was going and bumped into a box. The box fell over reveling the basketball him and his father played with that day at the lake. He rolled over and picked up the ball setting it in his lap. There was a back door in the garage that led to the basketball court in the backyard. He rolled out and headed towards the center of the court.

Him and his father had spent countless times out there. Sometimes they would talk about stuff and others they would just play basketball. Troy stared up at the hoop. 'Possibly' The word still haunted Troy. The doctors still tell him that there was a possibility that he could play basketball again. Possibility translated to about a 50 – 50 chance. There was a 50% chance that he would never play his favorite game, or any game for that matter, ever again. There was a 50% chance that he would be able to stand next to Gabriella once again and hold her in a tight embrace. A 50% chance that he could have a life.

In his frustration he grabbed the basketball off his lap and chucked it at the backboard. The ball missed by at least a foot and rolled to the edge of the yard. Troy groaned as he watched the ball roll away. His eyes went wide as the ball hit a human foot. He recognized that foot. He skimmed up the leg and the body till his eyes landed on none other than Sharpay herself.

"Hi Troy."

SOOOOOO what you think??!!! I know it's not a huge cliffy, but I had to do something. If I kept going the chapter would be like 7000 words!! That's allot, though you deserve it. I Apologize again for the long waits. Life's crazy right now. I apologize. The next couple of chapters will be interesting I will say.

If You've been following this story since the beginning, thank you soooooo sooooooo much for even reading this chapter, I've been horrible about updating. Thanks sooo much for the support!!!!

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE REVIEW!!! It helps me build confidence and want to get the next chapter out!! SO please and I apologize again!! Thanks!!!! SuzzieD!!!!