The air was warmer than usual. There was no wind or breeze from the dark night sky with the billion of stars shining up above. The street lights dimly outlined the streets and beach as the moon shone the brightest out of all three.
His hair was slightly matted down as it was drying quickly from the quick shower he took after the basketball game. Troy was slowly coming down from the high of the game after he had the assist to the winning basket Chad scored. He gave Gabriella's arm a slight squeeze as he pulled her closer to him and shut his eyes briefly.
It was ten o'clock and he just picked Gabriella up from her late night practice session which she successfully finished without falling this time and getting a brand new bruise which was a good thing all in all. Although he knew Gabriella was still having trouble with the routine as she couldn't make it out of her jump and go into a wall flip, but he wasn't complaining if that meant that she still could be with him now.
"So what are you doing this weekend?" Gabriella's soothing voice floated through the air and into his ears as his mouth goes upwards at just thinking about what he was doing.
Most teenagers would rather avoid their parents at all costs and do as little as possible with them, and even though that was Troy's case during school hours he didn't particularly mind doing things with them on the weekends that he had nothing else to do. And it wasn't like his mom asked him to do a lot of things with them so he really couldn't complain.
"My dad and mom wanted to go out for a family dinner tomorrow night at that new restaurant that opened an hour out of town to celebrate our win tonight." Troy vaguely remembered seeing an advertising commercial for this supposedly 'hot' new restaurant that was opening, but as long as it had food he was there.
"That sounds nice Wildcat." Gabriella murmured as she nuzzled her head closer into his chest and his fingers absentmindedly threaded through her curls.
"And then if you weren't busy on Sunday I was thinking we could see a movie, but if you are then Chad and me were gonna find something to do."
Gabriella was silent for a moment as Troy already knew her answer. She obviously had dance again since it wasn't likely her mom would give her time off on the weekends, on the week nights that might be a possibility, but on the weekends when Gabriella was sure to not have homework that wasn't even an option.
"I think you should do something with Chad. You haven't seen him outside of school and basketball for a while now." Troy nodded his head as he had to agree with that. It was very rare that it was just them as most of the time if they did see each other outside of school and basketball they were with other people too.
Troy sighed as he knew that was Gabriella's soft way of telling him however that she had practice without actually saying it out loud. "Okay." He whispered as if they were trying to be secretive when in reality they were the only ones on the beach again probably due to the fact almost all of East High juniors and seniors were at Zeke's house for the after party for winning the first playoff game.
"So how are your parents doing?" Gabriella asked after a moment of silence as Troy opened his eyes for the first time in a while. By now his body was starting to feel the after effect of the game and burning of the energy.
Troy loved Gabriella for being her caring self. Not a lot of people would ask how his parents were doing, and not a lot of girls got to meet his parents properly. "They actually had something they wanted me to ask you." Troy let out a small chuckle as Gabriella stirred in his arm and twisted her body so she was laying on her stomach with her side sill glued to his side and looked at him as his fingers reached out and played with a curl.
Her forehead creased with confusion. "And what's that Wildcat?"
Troy smiled at her, "There's this golf thing at Sharpay's parents' country club and they're doing some couple thing there and somehow I got dragged into going as I have to help caddy or something and they wanted to know if you wanted to come along?" Troy suggested as he remembered his mom say that Gabriella could caddy for her as he could caddy for his dad and they could make it a mini girls against guy competition.
"I've never golfed before" Gabriella pointed out with slight amusement and a twinkle in her eye.
Troy shrugged, "Doesn't matter."
"I've only seen a couple of games of golf."
He shrugged again, "Doesn't matter."
"And I need to know the date."
"Doesn't--Hey, you almost got me." He chuckled again as Gabriella just grinned at him. "Next weekend on Saturday. It starts around noon I think and would probably go until dinner…Do you think you could miss some dance?" Troy asked as Gabriella avoided eye contact.
He wouldn't be mad if she couldn't go, but it could a whole lot better if she came along. He liked that his parents and Gabriella got along so well. When Gabriella didn't speak for a couple of seconds, Troy started up again, "I mean technically if you start at 5:30 like you do everyday and you go until 11 that's…five and a half hours of practice right there. That's about the same amount of time that you do during the weekdays." He pointed out smartly as Gabriella nodded her head slowly. He knew that he was slowly winning her over into asking her mom.
"And it sounds like it could be fun." His hand gently moved down from playing with her curl and ran his hand softly underneath her chin, making her look up at him.
"Alright, it does. And my mom might fall for the school day thing." Gabriella smiled sweetly at him as Troy turned his body so he laid on his side and inched his face closer to Gabriella's. He could feel her warm breath on his face and it almost made him shiver as her delicate hand reached up and moved to the back of his neck, massaging it slightly.
"I think we need to finish what we started in the locker rooms Monday." He whispered against her lips as he finally connected them and Gabriella reacted with such intensity as her fingers threaded through his hair, pulling him closer than before.
He maneuvered himself so he was straddling her, his hands running down his sides, playing with the hem of her shirt. He smirked down at her. "What are you thinking about Miss Montez?" He questioned with mischief in his eyes.
"I'm thinking…" She drew out the words as her hands moved from the back of his neck to the front of his shirt, slowly slipping under. "that you're right. It's not good leaving business unfinished."
He crashed his lips down on hers, his hands wasting no time sliding under her shirt, feeling her smooth skin. Gabriella let out a small moan as he swallowed it, her tongue asking for entrance to his mouth.
"…Troy…" Gabriella moaned as his lips ran across her jaw line, down to her neck, his hands sliding up further and caressing her clad covered breasts through the thin material of her bra.
Troy felt her hands tugging at his shirt as he wasn't making it easy for her to take it off of him. He was beginning to get hard as he ripped his mouth away from Gabriella's neck and quickly maneuvered his gray t-shirt over his head as he threw it forward towards the corner of the back of his truck.
He wasted no time in connecting their lips again, plunging his tongue into her mouth to explore the crevices of her mouth that he would never get sick of. "You're. Wearing. Too. Much." He mumbled as he licked his way down her neck again, to the base of her throat.
"Fix it then." Gabriella saucily demanded as she sat up a little so he could pull her shirt up smoothly.
"As you wish." He hissed in her ear, giving her earlobe a flick of the tongue. His hands brought up her shirt, his head dipping lower to trail hot kisses up her newly exposed flesh. He heard Gabriella's breath hitch in her throat as he finally tore the shirt over her head, his hands gripping her back tightly, massaging it between his rough fingers.
She trembled beneath him as the night time air nipped at their exposed bodies, but things were starting to heat up between them and nothing was there to disturb them now.
Her nails scraped down his back as he suppressed a moan and tried to keep his mind on task; pleasing Gabriella as he didn't know when they would have time like this together again.
His fingers found her bra clasp and ripped it away from her. Before his mouth could connect to it's desired location Gabriella's hands started undoing his pant button as her lips caught onto his.
Gabriella's hands pushed his jeans down his hips as he helped her get them off all the way. He was all the way hard now as he smiled down at Gabriella.
"What are you doing?" Gabriella asked as he looked at her deep chocolate brown eyes, her rosy cheeks, bruised lips, and heaving chest as their heavy breathing was the only thing that could be heard around them. Her small hand reached up gently as she brushed aside his bangs that were starting to mat down to his forehead.
"Just remembering." An innocent smile took over his face as Gabriella looked up at him strangely.
"Are you--um, are you okay Wildcat?" Gabriella asked as he knew that he probably was freaking her out that he just kept staring at her with this weird smile, but he couldn't help but not stare, he was in love with her and he just wanted to remember this moment. Everything was perfect with them right now, everything was going good as he had just won his first playoff game as Captain and Gabriella was almost through with dance, all she had to do was tell her mother that this was her last competition.
"You're beautiful, you know that, right." It came out as a comment than a question as Gabriella's cheeks flushed a slight pink and she rolled her eyes, playing it off.
"And now you expect a compliment, but you're not getting one so easily." Gabriella teased as Troy smirked down at her, lowering his head to near hers and his hands gliding down her bare torso, finding her button on her jeans.
"We'll see about that baby." He whispered huskily against her lips as he bit down on her lower hip making her cry out with pleasure.
She shimmied out of her jeans showing off her wet black thong. "I need you." Gabriella said seductively in his ear.
Troy kissed down her breasts as his hands played with her erect nipples while he got lower and lower. "You sure you don't have to go run off and dance?" Troy joked as he kissed around her thighs thinking back to the locker room.
Gabriella shut her eyes from the pleasure and pressed her back firmly into the bed of the truck, "Keep going."
"As you wish." Troy bit down into her skin, leaving his mark present with a smirk.
"Gabriella." Her mother's voice was like sharp glass, cutting through the thickest material as Gabriella winced a little and turned around. She had just come out of the bathroom from getting ready for school that Wednesday.
"Yes?" She asked meekly as she wasn't mad at her mom and her mom wasn't mad at her, but something was bothering her mom and Gabriella had a hunch it had something to do with a phone call she got the previous night. It upset her mom so much that they ended practice early, and Gabriella had to silently thank Eric that he picked that night to call since Gabriella had unfinished homework to do.
Her mother put down her clip board and turned off the stereo that was playing soft music in the background. She looked up and her eyes were drained from her original light brown color, her hair was in a messy bun, and she had bags underneath her eyes. Gabriella couldn't help but feel sorry for her as she heard her mother trying to talk reasonable to Eric as he tried to convince her to come out to Paris again, and from what Gabriella could hear from her mother's side of the conversation, it was her that was holding her mother back. Her mother wanted to be so badly here in town for the competition, and it was all for her.
"Clair is going to be at this competition and from what I was told, she has a pretty decent routine already worked out." Gabriella nodded as she thought back to the blonde who made her blood curl from just looking at her. "We have to work harder." The sentence was simple, it was intended for Gabriella to follow without questions asked, but that just wasn't happening.
Gabriella sighed, "Easier said than done." She mumbled as her mom did a double take and looked at her weirdly as she was oblivious to what Gabriella just said. Gabriella straightened up as her mother gave her a look that told her to repeat what she just said and Gabriella just shrugged, maybe this was the moment that she was waiting for. She had been chickening out since Friday when Troy asked her to the golf outing on Saturday, and now kind of felt a better time than any other time because if she waited any longer her mom was sure to say no since it would be too late of a notice.
"Hey mom." Gabriella said softly as her mother's eyes snapped up from looking down at a packet that was probably some dance competition rules and regulations.
"Yes Gabi?" Her mother's tone was short and Gabriella reminded herself that she had to stay calm to persuade her mother.
Gabriella swallowed hard out of nerves and took a deep breath. "Troy and I were talking about the weekend and…well he um…" Gabriella stammered as she didn't know why this was so hard to ask, it was only for a couple of hours that she'd miss.
Her mother looked at her curiously and pushed back a stray piece of hair from her own face. She put down her clipboard and concern took over her body as she watched Gabriella fidget in front of her.
"His parents are doing this one golf thing at this one country club that Sharpay's parents' own and I'm sure you remember her. She and I were in drama together two years ago and she has bright blonde hair and was the star of the show." Gabriella rambled. "And well his parents golf and somehow Troy said that he would go and his parents invited me too and it starts in the afternoon so we can still get in 5 and a half hours of practice and then I'll be home by dinner." Gabriella said real quickly and she had to take a long, slow breath afterwards to calm herself as her mother was quiet.
Anna nodded her head slowly as she was deciphering what Gabriella had just told her. Gabriella bit her bottom lip as her fingers played nervously with each other and she rocked on the balls of her feet.
"I'm sorry but we need to practice. We don't' have that many weekends left to practice and from what I heard there is huge competition in this one." Anna said as Gabriella's heart sank. She was looking forward to spending time with Troy.
"But mom, we can still start practice at 5:30 and go until 11." Gabriella pointed out with a little more attitude than intended as she cursed herself mentally. She had to remain calm and not over react as she knew she would get no where with her mother if she did.
Anna shook her head reluctantly. "I'm sorry, but we have to practice. We've been cutting corners too much as it is when it comes to dance, and part of it's my fault, but you'll just have to do it some other time." Anna looked at one more thing on the stack of paper as Gabriella glared at her.
Why did her mother always put dance in front of her? She wished they could just go back to how it was a month ago when Eric was here, her mother was happy and never crying, there was no dance, and she and her got along great.
Gabriella let out a huff as her fists closed tightly to let out the anger she was slowly building up. She had to say something or else she knew that she wouldn't be able to go any other way.
"Now…" Her mother looked up as if nothing just happened and she probably was hoping that Gabriella would just drop the subject as Gabriella knew that her mother knew exactly what she was doing as Gabriella could see the uncertainty in her mother's eyes. If she just persisted with the subject, maybe her mom would cave in?
"We have to start practicing harder." Anna walked over to the coat rack as she kept talking. "Clair is our biggest competition and we have never lost to her before. So I was thinking we rethink the whole half of the routine and go for the big points."
Gabriella looked at her mom like she was crazy as Anna carried on as if it was nothing. She went to get her purse. Opened it and made sure she had her wallet with money, drivers license, and credit cards and shut it again before stuffing them away in her purse. If this was the reason why she couldn't take extra hours off on Saturday then she wasn't going to stand for it. It wasn't fair.
"Mom." Gabriella said sternly. "We can't do that. I can't do that." Gabriella stressed. It was crazy. "I just nailed your hectic routine and I'll be damned if you change it, it's already hard enough." Gabriella said as calmly as possible and her mother looked taken aback that her daughter just swore, but Gabriella didn't care right now. It wasn't like it was her first time and it was true. She wasn't going to change her routine.
Anna clicked her tongue in distaste as she picked up her keys and carried on as if this little argument wasn't going on again. "That's nonsense Gabriella. We'll just push it a little bit more and work harder and we'll be all set." Anna twirled around and looked at her daughter with a pleasant smile as Gabriella could see right through her mask and see the uncertainty, see the hurt that she was hiding beneath the dancing.
"So you get your car back today. We'll drop you off at school and I'll go to work, and after schoold today we can pick your jeep up. How does that sound?" Anna asked in an unusual chipper voice that Gabriella knew she was using to cover up her other feelings. "Let's go honey. You can even drive." It was as if she was trying to silently persuade Gabriella with little things so that Gabriella wouldn't bring up anymore of this dancing stuff.
Gabriella felt like she was going crazy. Like she was in an Utopia and everything had to be perfect when obviously her and her mother had to talk about things. Now was as good of a time as any to tell her mom that she wouldn't dance anymore. Gabriella had enough of putting up with a smile on her face. She just couldn't anymore.
"I CAN'T DO THIS ANYMORE!" Gabriella screamed as it surprised them both and Anna covered up her surprise with a small smile that looked like she was holding back a laugh, but she wasn't.
"What are you talking about, just get your dance stuff and let's go." She said trying to hurry her daughter up.
"NO MOM! Can't you see that I just can't anymore. I'm never going to be good enough for you, am I?" Gabriella asked as she managed to not yell anymore. But it was true, everything was true. She would never be able to dance 24/7 like her mom wanted her too.
"Don't be silly Gabriella, let's go, we're already late." Anna said as she looked at the clock and they only had 15 minutes to get to Gabriella's school when it was at least twenty minutes away. But Gabriella didn't care, she needed to tell her mom this, and if her mother chose to ignore it for now, at least Gabriella knew that she tried telling her mom and it would sink in sooner or later.
"This isn't what I want mom! I don't want to dance!" Gabriella said in an angry tone. Why couldn't she just understand? But then again both she and her mom were dancers too.
Anna was puzzled, "Then what do you want?" Anna asked in a stern voice not expecting Gabriella to answer.
"I want my life back!" Gabriella screeched as both of them were silent. They were both staring intently at each other. Gabriella looked at her mom in a disappointed way as Anna sighed.
"Let's just get going. We'll talk abut this more later tonight." Anna started walking out of the studio as Gabriella looked at her retreating back like she was crazy. How can she act like nothing just happened?
Gabriella let out a little growl as she felt her blood rushing through her, boiling over as she held back a scream. She just needed Troy and he would just somehow make everything better if she was around him. Everything would be okay.
Gabriella saw her mom in her car sitting in the passenger seat as the car was already started and she made her way to the drivers seat, not even bothering to go back into the studio to get her dance duffel bag that also held her school work in it. She just wasn't in the mood.
Gabriella slammed the door shut behind her as she pulled out of the parking spot and started down the road that wasn't too busy. Her mother was just sitting silently in her seat, occasionally looking at her daughter.
Gabriella rolled her eyes as she drummed her fingers against the steering wheel impatiently knowing her mother was annoyed with that. Gabriella smiled inwardly as her mother shifted in her seat as she let out an agitated breath. Emotions were running high and Gabriella kind of liked it that way as the light turned green and she waited for the cars in front of her start moving.
"Gabi, you know I want the best for you right?" Anna tried again as Gabriella narrowed her eyes on the road.
She didn't want to talk to her mother anymore. If she was going to act like nothing happened and forget that she even told her mom that she didn't want to dance anymore, then why should she talk to her now?
Gabriella stopped at a red light again as she was the first one in the lane and waited patiently as ever for it to change as there was barely anyone around except for a couple of cars going past them.
There was a silence as Anna turned to look at her daughter with almost pleading eyes. "Say something Gabi."
"Right now I don't like you." Gabriella's voice was low as the light changed color again and Gabriella gripped the steering wheel tighter so her knuckles turned whiter, she couldn't even look at her mother's face as she would just be reminded that her confessing that she didn't want to dance anymore didn't even worry her mom.
Gabriella's eyes went wide as Anna seemed to react first and nearly jumped across Gabriella and turned the steering wheel as a swerving car came straight at them. The last thing Gabriella remembered before tossing and turning in the car with her mother was her mom turning the car so the passenger side got hit instead of the driver's side.