Head On Collision
Gabriella held the heavy white house phone to her ear, hearing it ring.
Voicemail.
She hung up.
Gabriella tried again.
"Hello?" A man's voice blared from the other end.
She quickly pressed the END button.
I can't do this… Gabriella thought, wiping her sweaty palm on the back of her brown leggings.
She took a deep breath and pulled out her pro's and con's list.
Reasons to go to NYC:
Snow : )
Visit Dad (????)
Get Mom, Troy, and Taylor souvenirs
See the sights!
Reasons NOT to go to NYC:
Will miss Troy : (
Intruding on his new family
Will miss Troy!!!!
Will miss Troy!!!!
Uber Cold
She decided to scratch out the last two "Will miss Troy's", telling herself that he'd be fine.
"Hello?" The man's voice rang out again.
"Hi…Roberto? I-It's Gabriella…"
"Ah, Gabi! Mija, how are you doing?" Gabriella could hear a girl screaming on the other line.
"Um, good…thanks. Uh, listen. Um, I…uh...talked to Mamá. And…she, uh, said it would be a good idea if I came to New York. You know, to visit and all. So, uh…yeah."
"Hold on a sec," Roberto said, as Gabriella heard him calm down the little girl, calling her princess, "Yes, Gabriella. I am so happy that you want to come to New York!"
"Uh, yeah. I guess so…" Gabriella said, awkwardly, staring straight towards the door to her room, seeing her penguin that reminded her of Troy; she always looked at it when she was nervous, for she believed that the memory of him helped calm her nerves.
"This is great! I have your tickets! They would be for next week. You can get off school, right mija?"
"I guess I could with a note. But not for too long…"
"Of course, your academics always come first, dear! The flight is on Wednesday. And you'll be back in time on Monday!"
"Alright, uh…thanks…dad."
"You're welcome mija," He said; Gabriella could hear someone screaming on the other line, this time, the voice sounded much older. Soon after that she heard a woman scream, "You know how I feel about separate languages in this house!"
"I'm sorry, but I must go now. Thank you once again mija! Muchas gracias! You won't regret it! Take care, Gabriella!" He said, before hanging up.
Gabriella sighed, listening to the dial tone. She hung up the phone, and went towards her comfortable bed, staring up towards her ceiling, "The stars," She said to no one, but herself, "I won't see them in New York."
-----
Getting tired of lying around, Gabriella went towards her desk and opened up her laptop, logging on AIM. She saw she had some offline messages
Bball_T-star: [Offline IM sent 3 hours ago] Wats goin on G?
Bball_T-star: [Offline IM sent 3 hours ago] Y r u ignoring my calls?
Bball_T-star: [Offline IM sent 3 hours ago]: is something rong? r u mad at me? wat did I do
Bball_T-star: [Offline IM sent 3 hours ago]: r u hurt? plz plz tell me. im worried.
Gabriella sighed; she knew she couldn't keep it a secret from Troy that she would be going to see her dad. After all, he would notice she wasn't in school on Wednesday. She knew not telling him would only make matters worse.
Suddenly, another IM from Troy popped up.
Bball_T-star: Gabi?
Gabriella wondered if she should answer or just ignore him. She sighed, and just looked around to see her friend's statuses for the meantime. She saw Taylor's and Chad's away messages and laughed to herself.
McKTAY_89: hangin with chad at his housee. gonna watch a movie. call the cell if ya need me.
BballAfroHottie: Hot-Tay's in my room. ; ) don't disturb us bitchezz, we be busyyy.
Gabriella chuckled knowing that if Taylor ever saw that, Chad Danforth would be a dead man. The IM screen with Troy's IM popped out again. Gabriella sighed and read it.
Bball_T-star: Ur ignoring me, aren't u?
Gabriella sighed and decided it would be best if she just replied to this one.
GaBIbaBe: No, I'm just busy.
Gabriella could tell Troy was raising an eyebrow right now; she could predict what he was going to say now. She looked at her screen and her suspicions were confirmed.
Bball_T-star: Doin WHAT?
GaBIbaBe: Stuff
Bball_T-star: okay…what kind of stuff?!
GaBIbaBe: Just stuff, ok!?!
Bball_T-star: fine
Gabriella could tell she had hurt him with her answer. But right now, she didn't need this. She sighed and went back to looking over at her buddy list. She saw Kelsi online and decided it would be good to confide in her and tell her about everything.
GaBIbaBe: hey kelsi
ComposerKels_22: hey gabs! whats up
GaBIbaBe: nm. my dad came back on fri. he invited me to NY.
ComposerKels_22: oh wow
GaBIbaBe: yeah
ComposerKels_22: gabs, troy IMed me. he's rlly worried. u should talk to him
GaBIbaBe: idk. Im not sure I want to talk to him rite now.
ComposerKels_22: omg im srry. he imed me b4 nd asked if I was talking 2 u nd I said yea.
GaBIbaBe: its ok, don't worry. i'll handle it.
Suddenly, as if on cue, another IM screen popped out with Troy's IM. Gabriella sighed, knowing she was confusing him beyond belief right now.
Bball_T-star: Gabi wats goin on. srsly, r u mad?
GaBIbaBe: no
Bball_T-star: then y r u acting that way
GaBIbaBe: I'M NOT ACTING LYK NE THING!!!!
Bball_T-star: ok calm down. geez im srry
Gabriella sighed; she hadn't meant for the caps lock to slip, but it did. Suddenly, she saw Troy's status message changed. It had now said:
to whom it may concern: im sorry for whatever i did. ily
Gabriella smiled thinking of how sweet Troy could be at times. He would put that up as his status message everytime the two had a fight. She desperately wanted to IM him right then and there and reply, 'ily 2' to him, but she knew it was impossible.
Sighing, she went towards her buddy list and blocked Troy. She needed some time to think right now; she would unblock him later. She then received an invitation for buddy chat, but she quickly declined it. Several minutes later, an IM from Zeke popped out.
Baking_roxx_mi_soxx: Yo, yo, yo, sup Gabriella-ella-ella-eh-eh-eh!
GaBIbaBe: hi zeke
Baking_roxx_mi_soxx: yo wats goin on wid u nd captain?
GaBIbaBe: nuttin
Baking_roxx_mi_soxx: liar
GaBIbaBe: shut up
Baking_roxx_mi_soxx: Sweet, innocent Gabriella lies? oh my creme brulee!
GaBIbaBe: zeke, leave me alone
Baking_roxx_mi_soxx: oh, uh, ok.
Gabriella closed her eyes as she exited the IM screen, knowing she shouldn't have blown him off like that. Zeke was a nice guy and he was just joking around as usual. Deciding she had enough for today, she made up an away message, and got up from her seat by the computer, grabbed her book Pride and Prejudice, and went towards her balcony to sit outside, enjoy the fresh air, and read her book.
---
Gabriella sighed, walking inside her house. She called out to her mom, hoping she would be home. Gabriella was determined to spend as much time as possible with her mom, in fear of missing her or not remembering her when she went to New York. She knew it was ridiculous since she'd only be gone for a week. She had no idea why she kept it from Troy; he would understand, wouldn't he?
Her mind went on to wonder about Troy. She hadn't spoken to him all day. He had attempted in homeroom, but thankfully, the bell rang before he could. Then he tried again after homeroom was over, but Gabriella was fast enough to get out of the classroom and go on to her regular AP classes. Then in fourth period they both had Choir, so it was almost impossible to avoid him. Nevertheless, she did by sitting with Taylor in the front far away from her usual seat with Troy in the back. She knew he was watching her in puzzlement, but she made sure to avoid him.
She went towards the kitchen drawers and pulled out a bag of chips for her to have as a snack. She sat on her chair at the table, opened the bag of potato chips and ate them. She felt guilty as she remembered how she and Troy had decided to take choir together just so they could have a class together and hence why it was one of Troy's favorite classes. After Choir, they'd usually walk to lunch together, and that was the only time they would see each other until P.E. period.
After having her snack, Gabriella trudged up her room. She sighed as she slipped out of her pink corduroy blazer and put her book bag on her bed, looking around and seeing her suitcase already packed for everything she would need. She padded over to the suitcase and opened it, tearing the clothes out of their neat, color coordinated stacks.
Gabriella looked down at the mess she had made and slowly began refolding the different clothes; American Eagle shirts, Hollister tank tops, PINK sweats, Old Navy blazers, polo shirts, Delia's jeans, cords, silky pajamas, and a few designer handbags. She stopped folding and began to lay down in the mound of items she had put together.
Ugh…She thought as she threw the remaining clothes haphazardly into her suitcase, zipping it closed.
She sat down at her desk and took out her pen and continued with her Pro and Con list. Even though she had already agreed to go, she still felt like she was making a wrong decision.
Reasons to Go to New York
Always wanted to see the city of light!
I get to explore NY
Taylor is practically making me go; it's almost like her dream to go
Broadway Shows! In The Heights! West Side Story!
Snow in NY! Celebs! Those cool hotdog stands! It might be exciting…
Reasons to NOT Go to New York
Will miss Troy : (
Dad…enough said
Will miss Troy : (
Libby Belle.
And I already screwed enough up with Troy
Stupid blonde Tiffany-Claire the homewrecker.
And if I go I'll screw it up even more
And Troy won't talk to me
And that'll be the happy ending!
WILL MISS TROY!!! : ( : (
It was pretty clear that the Con list overshadowed the Pro list, but by now, there wasn't much that she could do. Gabriella sighed, and decided to log onto her myspace and saw a couple of photo comments and regular comments. She clicked on the photo comments first and, much to her dismay, it was some more cheerleaders commenting on how hot Troy was in a picture she had of the two of them sitting on top of an apple tree in the park.
She clicked on the comments and saw a couple from Taylor, some more worried comments from Troy, and one from Chad saying, 'Taylor told me.'
Crap, Gabriella thought to herself, Now that Chad knows, Troy's bound to know, too.
Gabriella saw that Chad was online and immediately responded to it, 'Does T know?' A minute later she received a new comment from Chad. He said, 'No worries. Just J and Z. It's safe.'
Gabriella sighed, logged off, and shut off her laptop. She took out her homework and began to do all the work she was going to miss. Some of her teachers gave her extra stuff to do in advance so that she wasn't too lost when she came back.
The fact: Gabriella Montez was going to New York City with her estranged father to visit his replacement family.
The fiction: Troy would be fine with it.
Gabriella could only think of one word: Screwed.
I've never seen this side of you
Another tragic case of feeling
Bruised and broken
From our head on collision
I've never seen this side of you
Another tragic case
Then you were gone
You were gone
All this time you just didn't know it yet
You were gone