Gabriella walked into her house throwing her book bag onto the carpet, looking around and taking it all in. It's been months besides yesterday that she had been in that house. Her father had been caught smoking pot again and had been placed in jail, leaving Gabriella with her mom. She didn't really care though. She liked her mother's method of child care more than her father's. Sure, she loved them both equally, but it was their way of noticing her more than their care in general. Her mother treated them right while her father barely even noticed her most of the time. She loved the feeling of being recognized, especially by someone that she loved the most. Brandon.
She skipped into the kitchen and kissed her mom on the cheek, chirping "Afternoon mom!"
Mrs. Montez, or Gina, replied "Good day at school I take it?"
Gabriella nodded happily and said "Brandon helped me a lot, especially with where everything was and how things worked. Where is he by the way?"
Gina answered "He had to make up a test, but he should be home in a few minutes. Can you help me with the pie for desert tonight? I feel like celebrating!"
Gabriella laughed and agreed. Gina wasn't the only one.
----
25 minutes later, Brandon limped into the house. He crashed onto the couch and groaned in pain. He had yet had another fight with Troy. But this one wasn't normal. This was a whole new problem.
FLASHBACK (15 Minutes)
Brandon walked out of Darbus's room and rolled his eyes sighing. The whole time that he was taking the test, Darbus ranted on about theatre and Shakespeare, distracting him from his work. He was writing the essay, only to find midway that he was answering a totally different question. He tried erasing it, but only succeeded in ripping the paper. His A was now down the drain. Hopefully he would at least get a B.
He strutted out of the classroom, only to feel a fist collide with his cheek. He fell back against the wall, surprised by the smack. When it had fully registered, he didn't even have to look at who had done it. The icy voice was all he needed.
"Well well well. Look who it is. It's the b-ball reject."
Brandon growled "Out of my way Bolton."
Troy scoffed "Or what? You'll get your posse to jump me? Oh yeah! You don't have one! Sucks to be you!"
Brandon glared at him heavily and spat "Out of my way or I'll kick you until you're anorexic."
"That a threat?" Troy asked simply.
"Wanna find out?" Brandon replied, throwing his fist at Troy's face. He succeeded in the attack as Troy fell to the floor, quickly rising again and snapped his fingers.
Brandon gave him a questioning glance before Chad and Zeke emerged from around the corner. They smiled evilly at Brandon and crooned "Problem Troy?"
Troy shrugged "Maybe. Maybe not if he's not unconscious. Hint hint, wink wink."
Chad cracked his knuckles while Zeke gripped Brandon by the collar. Brandon shut his eyes tight. This wasn't going to end well.
END FLASHBACK
Brandon sighed shakily in pain. He had been thrown against a wall, kicked in the stomach, head-butted against a wall, choked, and had been given a swirlly. He could barely walk and it usually took him 5 minutes to walk from home to school and vise versa. Just when he thought that Troy's friends were done, he comes along and beats him for no reason in particular. Little did Brandon know that Troy did have a reason. One that would probably take a while for him to figure out but for now, he didn't really care. All he cared about was his aching joints.
He stumbled into the kitchen where he knew his mother and Gabriella were. Hearing their cries, he fell in a heap on the floor. He was immediately regained from the ground and dragged to a stool. Gabriella cried "What the hell happened?!"
Their mother groaned "Oh no honey, did it happen again?"
Brandon nodded, earning a sharp shooting pain in his neck. He drew a sharp breath and bit his lip, waiting for the pain to subside. When it finally did, he whispered "It was over something... different this time."
Gabriella asked "Like what?"
Brandon shrugged "I don't know. After Troy got done, he said to me 'I'm going to win her no matter how much you try.' I have no idea what he's talking about because Amy just broke up with me and either than her, I don't like anyone else."
Gabriella shook her head in disbelief. From what Brandon had told her, that was just like Troy. She could tell that Brandon couldn't take much more of this, but with her there now, he would at least be a little stronger.
Gabriella's phone suddenly beeped, surprising her. She walked over to it and groaned when she saw what was written across the screen.
"Mall w/ Shar."
It wasn't the fact that she had to go to the mall with her best friend, it was that she wanted to be there for Brandon. He was hurt pretty badly and it would be rude and hurtful if she had suddenly bailed on him.
"Go." a voice suddenly said behind her. Gabriella turned around to look into Brandon's soft brown eyes. She asked "What?"
Brandon smiled "Go with Sharpay. I think you need to catch up with her more than you do with me. Plus I heard that she has a surprise for you when you get there."
Gabriella grinned "You sure? I can always reschedule."
Brandon shook his head and assured "Yeah I'm fine. Go have fun."
Gabriella hugged him lightly, careful not to disturb his bruises. "You're the best big bro ever, you know that?"
Brandon laughed "Yeah, I kinda figured that after you wanted to blow off your friends for me."
Gabriella quarried "Friends? I thought it was just Sharpay."
Brandon grinned "You sure about that?"
Gabriella's eyes widened. She grabbed her purse as though her life depended on it and sped out the door, her heart beating 10 times faster than the speed of light.
----
When Gabriella arrived at the mall, she looked around the food court for her blonde friend. When she saw Sharpay waving at her, she smiled brightly and ran over to her.
"Hey Shar!" Gabriella greeted.
"Hey Gabby! What's up?"
"Nothing. What about you?" She answered, eyeing the person in a brown rain coat sitting opposite from Sharpay.
"Same. Hey, I want you to meet someone." Gabriella smiled weakly. The person looked kind of strange, but looks could be deceiving.
"Gabby, this is my friend, T." The person, with a hood over their head and their hands covering their face, waved at Gabriella.
Gabriella gave Sharpay a skeptical glance. Sharpay said "T, stop being rude and take your hands off your face."
Gabriella asked "T as in..."
T suddenly threw her coat off and stood up to face Gabriella, who stopped breathing when she saw who it was.
"T as in Taylor!" Taylor squealed.
Gabriella finally found her strength and gathered Taylor in a lung-crushing hug, yelling "Tay! Oh my God, you scared me so much! I thought that you were a murderer for a second!"
Taylor laughed "Well, that or a rapist. But I'm just Tay. So how are you?"
Gabriella answered "Ok. But Brandon came home beat up again today."
Taylor darkened and mumbled "3 guesses who caused it."
Gabriella nodded and replied "I still don't fully understand what's going on between him and Troy, but I don't know how much longer he can take it."
Sharpay piped up "Don't worry Gabby. We know Brandon and he's strong, just like his sister," Gabriella blushed at her comment and looked at her feet. "How about we take our minds off of it by heading to American Eagle? I just need that purple cami that I found!"
Gabriella smiled and agreed "Yeah, I want the blue one."
"Green." Taylor chimed in.
The three friends galloped off to their favorite store, arms linked and singing loudly "Best friends for life! Break us up, we'll break your face!"
"Or get Brandon to do it for us." Gabriella thought to herself before heading into the store.
TAKE ME TO AMERICAN EAGLE WITH YOU!!! lol! AE is one of my fave stores, even though I have nothing from it :( I'm hopefully going to the mall either today or tomorrow, so I'll keep you posted. lol! So there's your new chap. Check out my new stories Protected by Heart and The Cool Lie and tell me what you think. REVIEW!!! Thnx :)
Rachel :)