Chapter 13

The Truth

Troy had the ball, two points down with 12 seconds left on the clock. He dribbled it down the court, easily dodging the defenders standing in his way. Eight seconds left. He had a good shot from the three point line, but his teammate has a better one. Troy passed the ball, but that teammate got covered. Three seconds left. Troy realized that he was open. He yelled for the ball. Two seconds left. The ball was in his hands. He stood at the top of the key. He took the shot. The buzzer rings, ball in mid air. Troy holds his breath.

Suddenly, the entire gym starts shaking. The ball misses. The gym starts shaking harder.

"Troy," he heard faintly.

"Troy." It was getting louder.

"TROY!" Troy jolted out of his dream and sat up in bed, nearly hitting his head with Sharpay's.

"Have a bad dream?" she asks, half annoyed, but partly amused.

"The worst," he muttered. "What time is it?"

"Ten forty five. I would have woken you up sooner, but you looked so dead last night, so I thought I would let you sleep in. But don't worry. I got you some food from the continental breakfast."

"Well, I'm gonna take a quick shower before we have to get out of here. Are you ready to go?"

"Yup."

Troy hopped in the shower. How did he miss that basket? Troy tried to tell himself that it was just a dream, but it was nagging at him mercilessly as he got out of the shower, got dressed, and brushed his teeth.

Sharpay and Troy checked out at 10:59 and then got back on interstate 10.

The two were silent while Troy steered his green jeep towards Los Angeles.

Troy was still in a sour mood. Why had he missed? It was a dream. Would have it killed his mind to make him at least try to believe that he was good enough to make that shot?

"What are you so angry about?" Sharpay asked, breaking the silence. "You've been acting sullen like this since I woke you up this morning. If me waking you up is what put you in this mood, then next time I'll make sure that I don't wake you up and we can to pay for two nights at the hotel instead."

Troy sighed. "I'm sorry. It wasn't you. I just- I didn't sleep very well."

"Does this have something to do with you mumbling, 'no, no, no,' a bunch of times when I was trying to wake you up?"

Troy really didn't want to tell anybody about his dream, or even worse, about what his parents had done. "Just- I'm sorry. Can you just drop it?"

"Troy. You can tell me. Maybe I'm prying too much, but I can tell that you're not happy."

Sharpay was being relentless.

"Fine. I'll tell you, but promise me two things. You won't judge my parents for what they did, and you won't get all sympathetic on me. The last thing I want right now is sympathy. I've had a big enough blow to my ego."

"Okay. Fine," Sharpay said, sounding very curious.

"Okay. I play basketball. Well, I did. I don't know if I will be anymore. Anyways, I was kinda known for being a star on my high school basketball team. We even won the state championship my junior and senior years. It was great. I had scouts checking me out, and I even got offered a full ride to the Red Hawks."

"Um, wait. What's a full ride and who are the Red Hawks?"

Troy laughed. It was so weird and yet almost endearing that Sharpay had never been exposed to any of this before.

"What's so funny?" she asked, sounding rather annoyed.

"I'm just enjoying teaching you about all of the things that you don't know yet. Anyways, a full ride means that a college pays for you to go to school and live there for free. Usually really smart people or really good athletes get them. And the Red Hawks is a college that has one of the best basketball programs in the country. Most of their starters end up in the NBA."

"What's the NBA?"

Troy smiled, but held back his laugh. "It's the National Basketball Association. Basically it's where all of the best basketball players end up, and they get paid millions of dollars a year to play."

"Wow! So by playing on this Red Hawk team, you have a really good chance of making millions of dollars in the future?"

Troy frowned. "Well, I thought so. But then I overheard my parents talking about how they paid the scouts who were checking me out to give me a good recommendation so I could get on the team."

"What?"

"The Red Hawks sent people out to my school to watch me play basketball. They decide if I'm worth recruiting onto the team. But my parents paid the scouts to tell the head coach of the Red Hawks that he should recruit me. Basically, I made the team because of a stupid bribe. How can I go play on that team in good conscience when I know what my parents did?"

"So that's why you left and drove to Nowhere?"

"Yeah. I was so angry. This was my future, and my parents basically destroyed it. I know that they meant good, but what they did was so wrong. So I got in my car and just drove. I drove until the sun was setting and I was running out of gas."

Troy saw Sharpay frown. "That sounds terrible," she said.

"Yeah. But please don't judge my parents. They meant well and I don't want people to hate them just because of one mistake they made. One big mistake, but just one, nonetheless."

"So what are you going to do?" she asked.

"I don't know," Troy replied. "I don't know."

-------

Ryan was tired. He had driven through the night, and it was now the next afternoon. He really needed some sleep, but knowing that his sister was somewhere out there with a man he didn't like kept him going.

He glanced over at Gabriella, who was fast asleep.

Ryan pulled off the highway and into a gas station. The car needed more gas, and Ryan needed something to keep himself awake.

After filling up his car, he went into the store and found the drinks. He pulled out three energy drinks and went up to the counter and paid for them.

When he got back to the car, Gabriella was awake.

"Hey there, sleepyhead," he said as he slid back into the drivers' seat and started the ignition.

"Hey," she mumbled back, her eyes still half closed.

As Ryan turned out of the gas station and onto the on ramp, he wondered how he had managed to get engaged to such a wonderful woman. He almost felt giddy inside, which was not a manly feeling at all.

Ryan tried to put that thought away and focus on the road.

Something had changed between the two of them since Sharpay and Troy had run off.

Ryan felt more relaxed than he had in months. It had certainly been a shot to his ego when Gabriella had told him that he had changed since they became engaged and she didn't like it, but after thinking about it, he started to realize how great Gabriella was at being by his side. The way she had been there for him when they were on the hill after his parents refused to go after Sharpay had been so wonderful.

Gabriella had seemed more and more distant since they had gotten engaged, and it was starting to make sense. Ryan was relieved that she had taken the risk of telling him how she felt because he felt more in love with her now than the day he asked her to marry him.

Ryan glanced over at Gabriella. She looked nervous.

"What's up?" he asked her.

Gabriella looked like she was seriously debating whether or not she should tell him what was on her mind.

"Gabriella, it's me. I know I haven't always been the best listener, but I promise I'll try."

Gabriella sighed. "I- I don't know how to say this," she said slowly.

Something about her tone of voice made Ryan feel very uneasy.

"But I love you too much to not be completely honest with you," she continued.

Ryan was really nervous now. What was she trying to say?

He held his breath. He was sure that he didn't want to hear what she was going to say next, but he felt like he had to hear it.

"Um…Troy and I…we kinda kissed. More than once."

At first Ryan wasn't sure he had heard Gabriella right. Maybe it was a joke. When he glanced over at Gabriella again, her expression made Ryan sure that this wasn't a joke. He felt like a ton of bricks.

Ryan felt totally and utterly betrayed. The person he loved more than life itself had kissed another man.

A million things were swimming through his brain. He wanted to scream and yell. He wanted to curse. He wanted to throw a tantrum and cry. There wasn't a bone in his body that wanted to be near Gabriella, but there he was, stuck in a car just a couple feet away from her.

"Can you say something?" Gabriella whispered. She sounded scared.

Ryan couldn't. He knew that if he opened his mouth something that he would regret was bound to happen. He just stared at the road, a stony glare etched on his face.

He saw an exit for a rest area passing him. He slammed on the brakes and swerved over three lanes, barely making the exit.

He pulled into the first parking spot he could find, jamming on the brakes to make the car stop before it ran over the curb.

He could hear Gabriella sniffing. He knew that she was probably crying, but he couldn't bear to even look at her.

"I'll be back," he grumbled, stumbling out of the car.

Ryan could sense himself picking up speed as he got farther and farther away from his car. Away from her. Ryan couldn't feel what he was doing, though, because he felt totally numb.

He started running. Once he reached the back of the rest area, he kicked the fence as hard as he could. The pain he felt in his foot brought him right back to reality.

Ryan started to wonder if this was his fault. He hadn't exactly been there for Gabriella, and he hadn't exactly listened when she had tried talking to him last week.

Then Ryan thought about Troy. His family had opened their arms wide to him when he needed a place to stay. And how did Troy repay them? By kissing Ryan's fiancée.

Ryan was so disgusted by Troy. He spit into the desert. Just the thought of him disgusted Ryan at the moment. He wanted to kill Troy.

Troy knew Ryan was engaged to Gabriella, and he had kissed back.

Ryan yelled as loud as he could. This was not happening.

He paced back and forth for several minutes, trying to relieve himself of all the adrenaline he felt.

After a while, Ryan got tired and sat down at the nearest picnic table. He looked over and saw a family of four, a mom, dad, and a little boy and girl enjoying lunch at a picnic table in the shade.

That was supposed to be him and Gabriella. Why did she have to kiss Troy?

Ryan could feel hot tears threatening to fall down his cheeks. He willed with all of his might for them to stay in, but to no avail.

Ryan cried for the second time in 24 hours. Except this time, Gabriella wasn't there to comfort him. Gabriella was the reason for his tears, and he hated her for making him cry, but he also hated himself for not somehow preventing the whole thing.

After he calmed down, he realized that his sister was still with this creep. Ryan had to get to her before Troy did.

Ryan got up and found himself running back to his car. Gabriella was still sitting in the passenger side, looking awful.

Ryan hopped into the driver side and started the ignition.

"We have to get my sister away from that pig," he said, backing out of the parking spot and punching the accelerator, making the car skid and the grab the pavement, lurching forward.

Once Ryan was on the highway, Gabriella quietly said, "You probably don't want to believe me right now, but he's not a bad person. I was a horrible person. I made him believe that I wasn't in love with you. I mean, it was such a rough week, and then he just swooped in like a prince charming. We were both so wrong. I'm not asking you to forgive me right now or to ever trust me ever again, but please don't hate Troy."

Ryan found himself glaring icily at the car in front of him. He still felt so angry.

"I think I just need some time to cool off and think about things," he said.

"That's fair," Gabriella said.

The two settled into an awkward silence, filled with tension.

A/N: So...what are you thinkning? How do you feel about the way Ryan reacted to Gabriella telling him she cheated on him? Are you glad she told him?