The Gardener

Summary: During that transitional summer from freshman year to sophomore, Troy took the job of gardener to be able to work with long time crush Gabriella. He expected a nice tan, bulging muscles and cash but that's not all he received. Coming back to school, after that disastrous summer how can he pretend nothing has changed when everything had?

Chapter four

October 7th, 2009

Walking into the school gym, I feel myself becoming nervous as I clung onto my girlfriend's hand tightly. The doors close behind us in a loud bang and everyone's heads turn to us. I swallow harshly.

"I'll uh, I'll go change alright," I say to Gabriella my mouth dry.

"Okay, I'm just gonna go sit on the bleachers over there," she replies, not at all fazed by the attention.

I hastily open the door to the boys' locker room and feel relieve. It is finally the day of the try-outs. Truthfully for the past two weeks I haven't really trained or anything like that since I know our school's basketball team will accept anyone as long as they know how to throw a ball and run. For some schools, sports is the way to go to be popular but East High is different I guess since it doesn't change your status if you're on a team or not. Especially if you're on the basketball team. It's not that our team sucks, it's just that they never reach semi-finals and they lose most of the time.

I put on a white t-shirt and blue baggy shorts, tie my shoe laces and I'm ready to go. When I enter the gym again, I look around and realise I have no reason to feel shy since there is only like 12 other guys trying-out (the team needs 6 other players, since all of them graduated) and on there aren't that many people that came to watch either. As soon as she sees me, Gabriella separates herself from a few of her friends on the bleachers and comes toward me.

"Nervous?" she inquires.

"Did you bring anything?" I question.

"Huh?" she retorts, confused.

"If you get bored. Did you bring anything to do if you get bored?"

I kind of feel uneasy about her just wasting her time watching me trying out. It just occurred to me right now that she might get bored but will refuse to leave 'cause she's a good girlfriend.

"I'm not gonna get bored," Gabriella states.

"Well, you might. So did you? 'Cause if you don't, I have my I-Pod in my locker, and uh, some uh, line papers if you want to like draw."

"I'm not gonna get bored," she repeats.

"You don't know that!"

"Troy, I think you need to relax. Your try-outs are going to go well," she says calmly placing her hands on my shoulders. "But if you must know, I have my I-Phone, a book and my homework in my purse."

"Good. Now I think it's about to begin so."

"Good luck," she says reaching up to peck me on the lips.

I take a deep breath and made my way to the circle where the other guys were around the Coach.

"'Kay boys, first of all thanks for showing up. I'm pleased to see so many of you here today. Right now, you'll start warming up by doing 3 laps around the gym and then when you're done, you come back here."

I can tell I'm gonna like this man. He reminds me of my coach from little league baseball. I run easily around the gym and am one of the first to finish. When the last guy arrives, Coach speaks up:

"What you're gonna do next is you guys will all line up in front of that basket over there and one by one you're gonna make free throws. Just to see what you guys are able to do."

That's pretty easy. I honestly thought this try-out thing was going to be way harder than this. As I'm waiting for my turn, I watch in amazement how these guys throw the balls. Man, some just majorly sucks. Even the Coach is shaking his head in disbelief. When it's my turn I catch the ball he's giving me and easily sunk in the ball.

"Good job," Coach praises.

I run back behind the line and we do this for another round before Coach calls it quit. I still am in shock at how clueless these guys are when it comes to throwing a basketball.

"Now, you're just gonna play a game so I can watch how you do with others and stuff."

He then proceeds in dividing the group in two and I notice that the two teams are pretty balanced. I am kind of nervous 'cause I've never played with other guys before. Sure, I know that I'll have to pass the ball and block our opponents, but usually all I'm used to doing is making free throws in my backyard.

I follow the others of my team as they all stepped near the center where one guy from our team and one guy from the other face each other. Coach throws the basketball in the air and my teammate manages to throw it in my direction. I grab it and start dribbling, my knees shaking all the while. What do I do? What do I do? I guess I must've hesitated too long because one guy takes the ball and runs back to the other side. Shit. I sprint as fast as I can, seeing as he's about to shoot. Luckily he misses.

"Rebound!" screams Coach.

Huh? Is that a form of technique or whatever? Either way I ignore him and just grab the ball, running back to the other side. I pass it to Tim, one of my team, because he's available and is actually a good runner. And I sprint to the basket so he can pass it back. He does and I shoot.

"YEAAHH GO TROYY!" All the guys jumps, even Coach, at this sudden outburst.

I turn my head and see my girlfriend standing up on the bleacher, arms in the air. I smile.

I have my own cheerleader.

For the next 15 minutes we continue to play and it's starting to bug me that I don't know the rules because several times the Coach screams some terms and I don't get them and I end up committing errors. I ended up scoring three more baskets though, so all in all, it didn't go that bad.

"Alright, so the list will be posted this Friday, thanks you all for coming."

And we leave to go change and for some of us, to go take a shower. When I walk out the locker room, I am greeted by the awaiting arms of my girlfriend. Who, by the way, has screamed every single time I scored.

"You were so good!" Gabriella exclaims.

"And you were adorable. You made some guys quite envious by the way."

"Well, I couldn't help it. I was just so proud of you, babe," she says, her eyes twinkling in joy.

"I love you, you know that?" I grin before capturing her lips in a sweet kiss.

After a while, someone shoves me a little, making us separate. I grab my girl by the waist to stop her from losing her balance and glance back to see Wyatt, a guy who was on my team, smirking.

"Do you mind?" I question.

"Hey, why you complaining? I was just saving you from getting your ass kicked by Coach 'cause you had sex in his gym," he jokes.

"Get lost," I huff, joking too.

"Okay, fine. I get it. But just so you know, this is the last time I look out for you," he says dramatically, walking away.

I laugh to myself quietly.

"So, you gotta teach me the rules because I really didn't understand anything the Coach was yelling," Gabriella declares.

"Really? But you seemed so aware with all the cheering and stuff."

"Well, I'm not that dumb. I mean, I know I could never go wrong when you scored but my knowledge in basketball stops there."

"Well, I gotta tell you something too. I didn't have a clue what Coach was saying either," I admit.

Her eyes widen.

"Then we should reunite this week-end to figure out the mystery that is basketball. Especially since you're going to be a basketball player."

"I'm not on the team, Gab," I say, amusedly.

"Yet. You're not on the team yet. Just you wait until Friday."

"Alright then, if this happens, it's going to be a date."

October 8th, 2009

I take a bite of my sandwich, bored out of my mind. So, ever since the incident with Chad at the skate ramp, I kind of have no friends. The only kind of contact we've had was when they glared at me the day after and Jason flicked me off. Even if they did not clearly state that our friendship was over, I know it is. I guess it was over since this summer.

So here I am, in the music room, alone. I know it sounds pathetic, but that's what I've been doing for the past two weeks. Oh, I forgot to mention, Gabriella doesn't know. I know, this just adds to the list of things I haven't told her, but I just… don't want to tell her. I have my reasons.

Oh damn, someone's opening the door. I suck in my breath and try to make myself appear invisible. A blonde gets in the room. Hey. I know that blonde.

"Shar? What are you doing here?" I question.

Oh my gosh, I'm soo stupid. Way to give yourself away Bolton.

"I left my notebook last period," Sharpay says slowly. "Wait, aren't you supposed to be with your friends or something?"

"Um, no."

"And why not?" she asks, eyes narrowed. "Didn't you and Gabi established days or something? Like Mondays and Wednesday were spent together and whatever?"

"Actually it's Mondays and Thursdays," I reply.

"Same diff. So, tell me, what are you doing here?"

"I'm eating my lunch."

I hope my answers discourage her, because I sure don't wanna answer. I mean, she's my girlfriend's best friend, not my diary.

"No, really."

"Yeah, really. I'm eating a sandwich," I say, lifting it to show her.

"Does it have anything to do with you punching Chad a couple of weeks ago?"

My stomach drops.

"How… how do you know that?" I ask.

"Well one, words travel fast around this school and two, you had to be blind to miss the black eye Chad had."

"Does… does Gabriella knows?" I inquire, softly.

If she does, I feel like a jerk. I mean, her boyfriend didn't even tell her he had punched his best friend and she had to learn it from the gossip mill? Crap.

"No. Because she doesn't think it's true. Because she believes you will tell her one day when you'll be ready. Because she believes you."

Ouch. Hearing this is like a punch in the guts. Sharpay sure is blunt.

"Gabriella is naïve, people take advantage of her and I look out for her. I know that if you tell her you have two hearts instead of one she'll believe you, without a doubt. Because she loves you and she trust you. And if you have any intention of hurting her, or hiding something, trust me, I won't hesitate in tearing you down, even if it means losing her friendship. So Bolton, you better not be fucking with her, you hear me?"

I nod; my throat is dry. I feel like such an ass.

"Look, if you tell me the reason why you're hiding stuff from her and it sounds right by me, then I won't tell her."

I sigh and close my eyes.

"I don't want her to know that her boyfriend's a loser," I whisper.

There, I said it. All that has been on my mind ever since school started again.

"What do you mean?" Sharpay asks, gently, sitting beside me.

"I mean, I don't have any friends, the sport's team I want to be part of loses most of their games and… I saw Kelsi getting murdered and didn't do anything except call the cops," I end, miserably.

"Troy, he would've killed you even if you would have tried. You couldn't do anything."

"I know but I could've done something! I could've but I didn't."

"This doesn't make you a loser. And I truly believe that Gabriella would understand if you tell her."

"I don't want her to take pity on me," I declare. "I just… I just want to be worthy of her."

I look down, her gaze being too much for me to handle. I don't like showing this side of me to her, to anyone really.

"Do you remember the guys you met this summer? Brent, Mike and the others?" she inquires.

"Yeah."

I'm confused.

"Well, you seemed to like hanging out with them back then, so what do you think of trying it out here?"

Why not?

"Sure, that sounds alright. Better than being here anyway."

"Good. Come with me."

We both get up and I confusedly follow her as she makes her way outside, to the school's back yard.

"I sure can't help you with the Kelsi thing or the basketball, but I think I can help you become less lonely," she declares.

We continue walking toward a bunch of guys playing soccer on the field. I recognise all the popular guys.

"Hey, guys!" Sharpay yells out, attracting their attention. "Mind if someone else joins you?"

"Oh really Sharpay? I never imagined you would be up for a game of soccer!" Scott jokes.

"I'm not talking about me, duh," she says rolling her eyes.

"Yeah, sure. Troy, you're on my team," Mike replies, grinning.

"Awesome," I answer. "Thanks Shar."

"You owe me one," she states, walking away.

I smile before running over to the other guys. They might not be my friends of forever, but for now this is just enough. More than enough actually.

Hi! I'm sorry about the long wait but I just started a new school and wasn't feeling up to updating. Thank you for everyone who has reviewed last chapter and those who have reviewed my one-shot. You guys rock!

Review please.