Jack lead Anna through a wooden door that was known to be the boys locker room to get to his office. He held up his hand to stop Anna before taking one more step in as they heard guy's voices. "Lady in the room guys!"
Anna heard a lot of shuffling, hustling, and lockers closing quickly as it was obvious they had done this before. Jake offered her a nervous smile as Anna didn't really know what was happening. One moment she's in the gym to pick Gabriella up and then next the two teenage kids are going around telling each other that they love one another. It was sweet on so many levels, but also very hazardous as Anna didn't have a very good track record with love either, after all, that's how she became pregnant.
Jack lead her further in to the locker room as Anna saw out of the corner of her that from what she saw of the teenage students, they were all decent and in athletic shorts probably getting ready for practice of some sort.
Jack turned and pushed open an oak door that read his name on it and Anna followed into the cozy looking office that held some trophies in, pictures of his family, papers, and a couple of basketballs. Jack shut the door behind her as he motioned to a seat in front of his desk for her to take.
He walked around his desk and sat down himself as the two parents just sighed. "Did you know?" Anna asked quietly with disbelief still laced in her voice as she knew that was stupid to ask since Jack looked almost scared himself that his son had actually found someone.
Jack rubbed his temples as Anna looked at him with tired eyes. She knew what she had to do. "No, if I did I would've--" He stopped as he trailed off not really knowing what he would've done.
"Same here." Anna added looking back at the door that lead to the boys locker room which lead to the gym where her daughter was with her boyfriend.
She couldn't believe that her only daughter who really never seemed that interested in guys that much, or at least that's what she thought, was already falling in love. And if they were in love then that didn't stop them from doing anything else in their relationship, like having sex.
Anna felt her mouth ajar slightly and her eyes went wide as Jack seemed to be in his own little world. Her daughter could be having sex and she wasn't keeping a closer eye on her. It's what happened to her and her mother, her mother gave her too much freedom and she ended up ruining her career. This could not happen to Gabriella.
She really knew what she had to do now. She had to sit Gabriella down and have that very uncomfortable talk with her child, and maybe talk to her about Gabriella's feelings toward Troy. Maybe try to convince her that spending too much time with just one person at their age could almost possible not be great. Of course it was okay that she had a boyfriend, just as long as she had more than enough time for dance right now.
"I don't want to be a grandfather." Jack blurted out as Anna stared at him and knew that he was thinking the same things as her.
She nodded, that was just not an option. But maybe they were jumping to conclusions. Maybe their two kids were playing it safe and have yet to take their relationship to the next level, after all neither one of them were even adults, but then Anna remembered how she acted at Gabriella's age.
"I should have seen the signs…" Jack said again in a distant tone laced with regret.
"Maybe…maybe we're just thinking too far into this?" She heard herself suggest out loud, but was highly doubting this herself. "Maybe we're just reading too much into this?"
Jack sighed again as he scratched his chin in a hard thinking kind of way. His eyes were in little slits watching his desk intently as he tried to think some logic. He remembered being in high school at Troy's age. He remembered meeting Lucille and how they went through a pregnancy scare at Troy's age. They were on the lucky side as it was false alarm, but one slip up and Troy's and Gabriella's dreams could be put on hold or might not even happen.
"No." He shook his head unconvinced. He definitely would have to talk to his wife tonight about this too. "You saw them kiss. That wasn't an innocent kiss." Jack stated as he shut his eyes and let out another long quiet sigh before opening his blue eyes again.
Anna silently agreed, "I mean, there were signs everywhere that the two of them were getting closer and closer." Jack spoke out loud as he was slowly wrapping his mind around the fact that maybe Troy was caring a lot more about Gabriella then what he expected.
It wasn't like he didn't like Gabriella because he did. He was really surprised and happy when he met Gabriella outside of school as Troy's girlfriend. His son seemed a lot more energetic than usual which was hard because he was usually always in a good mood, but something about Gabriella just brought out an even better Troy.
But it wasn't like his son to have a girlfriend. He had them a couple of years ago, but that was just a puppy crush, and now he actually was depending on someone else at such a young age.
"I should've known something was starting between the two when Troy agreed to letting Gabriella meet us." Anna looked at Jack knowing he was referring to his wife and himself.
Anna nodded as she too agreed. It wasn't like Gabriella to bring home a boy, she should've realized something more was coming between the two. "Me too, and I barely even saw her as she was always out with Troy and their friends."
Jack nodded this time and he crossed his arms over his chest. "It wasn't like Troy to actually care about grades, he usually just winged it and then all of a sudden I see him in the library." Jack's tone was of astonishment as Anna smiled a little. That would be Gabriella's doing. Whenever she had free time which was on rare occasions, she liked to read.
"And the unexplainable sports magazines making their way into my living room." Anna thought back to how sometimes she would find some magazine about sports players on her coffee table with her other magazines and Gabriella would just say she was trying to learn how to play.
"And the lack of sports magazines at mine." Jack rolled his eyes, "If you have the issue about the Lakers I would really like that back." He asked as Anna nodded. "Oh!" Exclaimed Jack. "And Troy started doing laundry by himself."
Anna looked down at the ground worriedly. Their two kids were leaving signs left and right about their relationship and Anna didn't know how she missed the dreamy looks Gabriella has on her face whenever a topic that barely resembles Troy makes her smile.
She wasn't going to break them up, but she would have to talk to Gabriella about this. She needed to know that they were being safe.
"I'll talk to her/him." They both said at the same time and chuckled nervously as Anna nodded approvingly. "Very well, I should um…probably get going before Gabriella suspects anything."
Jack stood up as well and opened his office door for Anna as the locker room was now empty. "Okay then, nice seeing you again Anna."
"You too Jack." She started walking the same way knowing that almost everyone would see her leaving, and hoping that she had luck on her side that Gabriella wasn't still in the gym even though she probably still was.
"There's another door in the back that leads out into the hallway, you can just circle around if you want." Jack saw the hesitation as Anna turned around and smiled thankfully at him.
"Bye Jack." Anna said as she exited with a sigh. How could she talk to Gabriella about love if she was trying to get over it herself?
"You dropped your elbow." Troy wiped the sweat from his forehead, flicking his sweaty hair from his eyes as he turned around panting slightly.
He was in his backyard just shooting around and of course his father just happened to come outside the one time that he actually missed a basket. The light breeze hit Troy, but didn't affect him since he was hotter than normal from just shooting around.
His dad stood at the top of their mini deck and started walking down the deck's stairs, onto the just cut lawn and over to Troy himself who was standing on their mini basketball court.
"Hey son, how long have you been out here?" His dad asked with a smile and Troy eyed him up suspiciously. Usually his dad would just join in, not ask how long he's been outside.
"Um…a while now." He answered as he mindlessly bobbled the ball in between his hands. Something was up as his dad was looking at him as if debating whether or not to tell him what he really wanted to know. "Why?"
Jack shrugged, "I thought since your mom is gonna be gone tonight and if you don't have plans with Gabriella we could go to that one car thing at the park."
Troy felt his forehead cease. This is new. He knew of the car show down at Echo Park. It's where every Tuesday and Thursday night all these old classic cars were showed and people went to watch and admire the conditions they were in. It was kind of fun, but Troy for some reason felt like there was a catch to this. His dad was looking at him weird at practice also after it started later than normal.
"…Okay…" Troy said skeptically as his dad's face lit up and he grinned widely at Troy as if everything was taken care of. "Or you could just tell me what's up right now? You didn't start the stove on fire again did you?" Troy accused thinking back to the time his dad forgot about the macaroni and cheese two years ago. "Or accidentally ruin mom's favorite dress again?"
Jack frowned at his son. "No." He answered shortly with a teasingly glare. "I think I learned not to do those things again…I um…" Jack sighed as Troy switched his weight from one foot to the other. "We need to talk." He blurted out as Troy's eyes went wide.
"I didn't do it." Troy automatically responded quickly, covering his bases.
Jack looked at him confusingly. "What? You did nothing son…at least I hope so." Jack mumbled the last part quietly so Troy couldn't hear. He wanted to build up the inevitable conversation which he put off all these years. After all he was one of the teachers who gave the talks at school and he knew Troy had been in a session already. But if Troy wanted to just jump into the conversation right away, then that was fine too.
Troy coughed nervously now as he scratched the back of his neck and dropped the basketball uncomfortably. "What's up then?"
"I just talked to your mother and we both decided it's past due time since we've had the 'talk', and--"
Jack was cut off as Troy started coughing on air not believing his dad was gonna wait to have this conversation at a car show in public instead of just doing it now. But in their backyard wasn't any better, if Troy had it his way he wouldn't need to talk about it because it would just end up him telling his parents lies. "NOW?!" Troy exclaimed.
Jack sent his kid a warning glance and Troy calmed down. "Yes now. Your lucky I'm just doing it as your mother wanted both of us to talk to you."
Troy's mouth dropped open as his eyes bugged out. This was unbelievable. Why were they all of a sudden doing it now? He already had the talk in school, and if that wasn't bad enough his dad taught that class.
"But I already had the talk." Troy groaned dramatically as Jack rolled his eyes at his son who was acting like a five year old. As much as this talk was uncomfortable, there was no way around it.
"Troy, I know you had it at school, but there's things at school that us teachers weren't allowed to talk about. Like in more details." Jack elaborated as Troy's face scrunched up into disgust. He didn't want to be hearing this from his dad. He didn't want to be hearing this from anyone.
Troy looked around to make sure their neighbors were outside. "Do we have to talk about this out here?" He complained as he looked at his dad who didn't look like he was enjoying this talk anymore than Troy himself.
"Do you want to go inside where your mother is?" Jack asked as Troy shook his head quickly.
"No…here is good."
Gabriella was blinded by the bright lights above her as her right hand was resting on her flat stomach that was moving up and down at an incredibly fast pace, and her breathing was more like a heavy dogs as she was sure that she was in a middle of a heart attack from her latest dance practice.
"Here." Anna's voice filled the room at eight o'clock that Tuesday night. Gabriella sat up slightly on her elbows as her right hand lifted from her stomach and grabbed the ice bag her mother was holding down to her as she took it and gently laid it down on the ground where her shoulder used to be.
Gabriella sighed as she laid down and made sure to get her bruised shoulder on top the ice pack to cool it as she winced a little from laying it down and putting pressure on it again.
She had fallen a lot more times from trying to do a wall flip even though her mom was spotting her most of the time.
"So…" Her mother's voice drew out the word as Gabriella finally looked up and she could only make out her mother's body shape since she wasn't lifting her neck up from the ground. "I hope you weren't bored waiting for me after school today."
Gabriella couldn't help the smile that occupied her face thinking back to what her and Troy did. How his hands were running down her sides, to her lower hips as he whispered in her ear on how to shoot a perfect free throw. The way he would kiss behind her ear, lightly suck on her ear lope whispering "innocent" little words.
"Um…you know, as bored as the gym usually is." Gabriella said trying to make it seem casual while keeping the smile as small as possible so her mom didn't suspect anything.
"Uh huh." Gabriella could almost picture the smirk on her mother's face as she tried to control her breathing so she could talk properly with her mother. "You know you can tell me anything, even if it's bad. You can tell me ANYTHING." Her mother stressed as Gabriella felt her forehead crease.
"Um…Okay mom." Gabriella said in a little awkward voice. Was she missing something here?
"Have I ever told you about my um…" Gabriella could hear her listing off a couple of guys names quietly as if she was counting on her fingers. "My fifth boyfriend?" She finally said. "Aaron?"
"…" Gabriella missed a beat. "No."
"Well…" Anna sat down on the ground next to Gabriella as Gabriella found this as her cue to sit up with her knees bent up a little as she held the ice pack on her shoulder still. Anna smiled at her daughter as she patted her knee. "He was my first."
Gabriella felt her stomach flip backwards as she nearly gagged on the air, but her mom didn't seem to notice as she went on. "We were juniors in high school and we did all this stupid stuff. Which if you bring up in front of your grandmother I'll deny everything." Her mother added as she laughed and Gabriella let out a nervous chuckle.
"You know mom, we should probably be heading home, I kind of wanted to have an earlier practice tomorrow morning so I could meet Troy in the morning before school actually started." Gabriella started to get up but her mother sighed and she knew that it wasn't going to happen.
Gabriella sat back down readjusting the ice pack on her shoulder. "It's just…17 seems like you're old and you're becoming a young adult, which you are, but…in the long run, and when you look back at your life you realize you're still a baby at that age." Anna started with a regretful sigh as Gabriella looked down at the ground. Was she missing something important? It's not like she had hidden drugs in her room that her mom found to make her want to give her a lecture.
"And I know what it feels like wanting to be with this one boy who you think is the one for you, and I'm not saying Troy isn't, but…you are being safe with him, aren't you?" Anna blurted out as Gabriella's eyes went wide and nearly popped out of her head.
She looked at the chatter coming from outside from a young couple as they walked by and felt self conscious as it looked like they didn't hear what her mother just blurted out, which was probably true as they looked like they were too busy talking not to mention a door was in between them.
Gabriella knew this was the only time that she would ever lie to her mother. She was too tired anyways to start bonding with her on this level, so she would put it off like any normal teenager would. "Mom, we're not sexually active yet."
Anna let out a sigh of relief as Gabriella thanked the Lord that she could say that sentence so well. "So I don't need to rush you to the clinic to get birth control?" Anna joked as Gabriella felt a blush erupt on her cheeks. How could her mother be joking at this time?
Gabriella let out a tired yawn as she stretched out her legs, letting the ice pack fall off her bruised shoulder not caring anymore as she was just waiting for her mother to pack up to head home together since her car wouldn't be ready for a week.
"No." Gabriella exclaimed. "Nope, Troy and I aren't…um doing that." Gabriella said awkwardly.
"…but in the near future?" Anna pressed. "Because I want you to consider my--"
"Yes, your past and how I was born. You will never let me forget that, will you?" Gabriella said in a little harsher tone than intended as her mother narrowed her eyes. Gabriella was just tired and now slightly getting annoyed at her mom for keeping up this conversation and always referring back to how she was born.
Gabriella wasn't forgetful, unless it had something to do with things that weren't important. But protection while having sex was important to her so she kept that in mind all the time around Troy. She knew her mom just wanted to make sure Gabriella wouldn't get pregnant around competition or else she couldn't compete, and they wouldn't be having this conversation right now.
"I just don't want to see you get hurt." Her mother's tone contradicted what she just said right now as she spoke through gritted teeth, trying to keep as calm as possible around her daughter right now.
Gabriella started to stand up and her mother followed, "I won't." Gabriella replied shortly. "Troy would never hurt me, he loves me."
Anna sighed as she ran her hand through her hair. This conversation wasn't going as planned. She didn't know Gabriella would get so defensive, and she sure as hell didn't want her daughter to feel like she disliked her boyfriend, she wasn't even implying Troy would hurt her, she was more like referring to her dreams about dance, even though there were no dreams in Gabriella's future.
"I'm not saying that." Anna's tone was sharp, making sure her stubborn daughter would listen. "I'm just saying maybe you two spending all this time together may seem good, but maybe it's getting to be too much? You know?" Her voice was hesitant.
Gabriella turned away from her mother not believing what she was hearing. If she wasn't so tired and was in a rational state, then maybe she would've agreed with her mother, but that was only if Troy and her were spending too much time together, but Gabriella didn't see it like that. She loved him and he loved her and right now they couldn't get enough of each other, they were both happy, why ruin it?
"How would you know?" Gabriella demanded as her little hands curled into fists to try to control her voice. "You go to one guy to the next."
Gabriella heard her mother gasp. She knew that wasn't true about her mother as the last guy before she dated Eric was around three years ago and it also was a low blow since she was still trying to get over Eric.
"I don't know whether I should applaud you for being your famous bratty self again, or yell at you for disrespecting me." Anna's tone cut through Gabriella as she shut her eyes, blinking back the gloss that wanted to coat her brown orbs.
"I'm leaving." Gabriella declared as she started for the door, but stopped once she heard her mother's feet advancing her in a quick strut and whipped her around by her arm.
"And where do you think you're going without a car?!" Anna demanded.
Gabriella shrugged, "It doesn't matter. I'll be back tomorrow morning for practice, but that's all you're gonna see of me until I think about things." Gabriella said as she sighed. She probably had bags underneath her eyes from being tired, but she didn't care. She needed to get some fresh air, clear her mind of her mother's words about spending too much time with Troy.
Anna held Gabriella's gaze as neither one of them wanted to look away first. They rarely ever fought anymore, but now since dance started again this just proved it was nothing but trouble. Gabriella knew that the next morning she probably would regret fighting with her about something she said and taking it a lot more personal than her mother intended, but Gabriella was too tired to even process the other meanings to it.
Gabriella broke eye contact first as she started for the doors again.
"I think Jack and I were right to talk to you and Troy today. It's obvious that you two are getting too wrapped up in each other." Anna muttered as Gabriella froze in the doorway again and looked at her mother. She talked to Coach Bolton?!
"You went to his dad?!" Gabriella shrieked as Anna's eyes snapped up to her daughter's vision surprised that she heard.
"I had too. You were getting distracted and that's something you can't afford right now, especially with the competition a month away." Gabriella almost did a double take at how calm her mother sounded, but that was not fair. How could she just go to his dad, and when? And then it dawned on Gabriella, that's why practice started late because Coach Bolton was talking to her mother.
Gabriella was about to blurt out her feelings on dancing, but stopped herself as the last sane part of her that night reminded her brain that this competition meant one last time in the spot light before retiring.
"Then when is the time to get distracted?!" Gabriella exclaimed with tears prickling her eyes.
"Never." Her mother answered simply as Gabriella wiped furiously at her eyes.
How could her mother have a one track mind like this? Couldn't she see that Gabriella needed a separate life from dance? This just gave Gabriella one more reason to not stay with her mother that night.
"We'll see." Gabriella's voice came out low and threatening as she stormed out of the dance studio unaware of the wind that was picking up and making her get goose bumps on her bare arms, or the way her eyes had to blink every couple of seconds so she could see through her silent tears, or the way her body was just aching to stop moving and just lay down.
Gabriella walked for about 15 minutes before she turned on a street that was familiar to her. She looked at all the old big houses as she passed various shades of colors and finally stopped in front of one that she was always welcomed too.
Gabriella walked up the long driveway before cutting over onto the grass and up to the porch steps.
She hesitantly rang the doorbell as she wiped the remaining of her tears on the back of her hand. Maybe the fight with her mother seemed a little childish, as it somehow started off awkward and then turned into this furious manner, but Gabriella was just sick and tired of her mother thinking that she would turn out the way she did. She wasn't going to mess up her dreams, in fact she was doing the opposite, she was starting new ones.
The door opened.
"Gabriella?"
"Can I come in?" Gabriella put on a small sheepish smile. Maybe this was a bad idea?
Author's note--So I liked the conversation between Anna and Jack. I think it was practical that the two of them were both worried about their son and daughter engaging in 'activities' together, and I'm not gonna have them come up with some plan to break the two up because no matter how mean Anna may seem to you, I just dont' think it's in her character to do that, I actually don't really see her as mean. Maybe a little pushy, and competitive when it comes to dancing, but it was her dreams that she's living out through her kid and no matter if that's wrong or not, she is pretty decent when dance isn't involved.
So what do you guys think? Because I don't want to just be writing crap and not have you guys like it. So tell me what you think and I'll try to have the next chapter up by Tuesday or Wednesday.