The Gardener

Summary: During the summer between freshman year and sophomore, Troy took the job of a 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? TxG

Chapter Eleven

July 24th, 2009

"And then I swear the rabbit was making his way toward me. Hadn't it been for that loud truck, I would've come back with a pet rabbit."

I chuckled as Gabriella finishes her story. Since I'm trimming one of her numerous bushes my back is to her, but I'm pretty sure right now her eyes are all wide and sparkling in excitement.

"Rabbits are wild creature, they don't care for humans," Kelsi retorts.

Oh yeah, have I mentioned that she's babysitting Kelsi again today? It's not that I mind her but, you know, my gardening time has always been me and Gab's thing.

"Oh trust me, Gabi's so cute, even the most vicious bear would fall at her feet," I interject.

"That's right. That rabbit would've so followed me home hadn't it been for that truck," Gabriella adds. "Oh Troy, you know what I just realized?"

"What?" I ask, curious about her sudden change of topic.

"We never took a picture together!"

"Huh?" I reply confusedly, turning my head around to look at her.

"I'll be back guys," my friend announces before making her way back inside her house.

"That was random," I state once the door closed shut.

"You should ask her out," Kelsi suddenly declares.

"Ask who out?" I question going back to working on those bushes.

"Gabriella, duh."

Huh? Did I just hear her right?

"Wait, what?" I stop cutting and turn to face the eleven year old girl lounging on one of the chairs beside the in ground pool.

"Oh come on. I mean you're heads over heels for her and it's quite obvious she's pretty smitten by you too."

Smitten? Who says that? This girl is too smart for her age. And man, even if she is smarter than she's supposed to be, she's dumb for thinking Gabriella likes me.

"Gabriella doesn't like me like that. We're friends. Besides, she's so out of my league."

"Why would you say that?"

"'Cause she's gorgeous, super smart, has a big heart and she's funny. Who wouldn't want her? With so many attractive guys out there, why would she want me?"

"You know what you need? A reality check! Look at yourself in the mirror Troy. You're smoking hot. And Gabi obviously notices 'cause she's always checking you out."

"Is not."

This can't be right. I mean, it wouldn't make sense.

"You need to be more confident. Girls like confident guys," Kelsi declares.

"I beg to differ."

I feel my stomach drop when Gabriella comes out, camera in hand. Oh no. Please, let her not have heard our conversation.

"I personally don't like confident guys. Because then, they think they can act like jerks and get away with it," my girl continues looking at me. "Whereas less confident guys they are sweethearts because they don't think they're good enough. That's my personal opinion though," she continues sending me a big smile.

I shyly smile back; a little relieved she does not seem to have heard our previous conversation.

"Kelsi, can you take a picture of us please?" Gabriella asks.

"Yeah sure," the young girl responds taking the camera from her.

My crush then makes her way toward me with a glint in her eyes.

"Do you want me to put a shirt on?" I inquire.

"Do you want me to cover up?" she retorts.

I quickly glance down her bikini-clad body.

"No, definitely not," I respond shaking my head.

"Then, that's my answer to you," she grins coming to stand beside me.

She places an arm around my shoulders and I, around her waist. We both send big grins in Kelsi's directions and I try to ignore the tingling feeling I have where our skins are touching. Finally the camera flashed and she disentangled from me. It was all too soon.

"Let me see, let me see," Gabriella says scurrying over the younger girl eagerly.

I sigh. She's so cute and she'll never be mine.

"Oh my gosh profile pic!" she exclaims. "This is so going on Facebook."

"Someone's a little obsessed," I tease.

"No, seriously this is such a good picture. Look," she says showing me the screen of the camera.

It is pretty great. And, maybe it's because I'm biased but, we look good together.

"It's nice," I nod.

"You guys are both so gorgeous that I'm just itching to send this picture to all the magazines out there," Kelsi interjects.

"We do look good together, don't we?" Gabriella agrees, winking at me playfully.

"You two should date," the young musical prodigee quipped in, sending me a meaningful glance.

I coughed in my hand awkwardly, attempting to hide the redness creeping upon my cheeks.

July 25th, 2009

It's the weekend; Gabriella and I are going to the skatepark. Correction: I'm going to skateboard and she's just going to hang out with Kelsi (whom she's babysitting again) and Sharpay.

"The picture got 22 likes since yesterday night, and most of the comments are either asking who you are or if that really is Troy Bolton," Gabriella tells me as we are walking. "And obviously, they're all saying that we look super hot together."

"'Course we do. When you're standing next to a smoking hot girl, it automatically raises the hotness level," I respond, nudging her.

"Oh yeah and the fact that you're shirtless has nothing to do with it right?" she retorts.

"Okay, that might have had an impact, but not as much as you being in a bikini."

"Gabriella!" a loud voice breaks our playful moment.

"Sharpay!" my girl exclaims cheerfully, running towards her best friend.

They meet up halfway and hug fiercely, squealing very loudly.

"How was Cancun?" Gabriella questions.

Sharpay's been gone for the last two weeks which has been a blessing since I could hang out with Gabriella more.

"So, did you ask her yet?"

I jump not having noticed Kelsi was even standing beside me.

"No, and I'm not going to," I reply dropping my skateboard on the ground. "She's just a friend."

"That you like a lot, if not love," she persists.

I pause for a moment thinking of the perfect way to explain to her why she'd never say yes.

"She's just a friend," I end up saying.

I don't feel like explaining myself. And so I placed on foot on my board and rolled toward the ramp. For a few minutes I was in the zone, all I thought about was my board and to keep my balance. It felt great. Rolling up and down a half-pipe was one of the greatest things.

"No way! Is that you Bolton?"

Briefly I look sideways and recognizes Jensen Anderson. I haven't seen that guy in forever and so I stepped off the ramp.

"Hey Jensen," I greet slapping hands with him.

"Where you been man? Haven't seen you around since spring," he inquires. "Where's the rest of your crew by the way? Haven't seen them in a while either."

"Chad's at a wildlife camp for the whole summer 'cause his parents thought he needed a break from videogames. Jason's at his grandparents all the way in London. And Zeke went on a road trip with his cousins," I reply.

"Wow. And you're the unlucky dude who got stuck staying in this boring-ass town all by yourself," Jensen comments.

"I'm not bored though. I'm making money this summer."

"For real?"

"Two jobs actually. Little league and gardening."

"No way; you took over Coach Rivers?"

In this town, all the boys have played in Little League baseball at one point or another. It's just cheaper and gives something to do.

"Yeah, but only the youngest ones."

"You know, you should really change your profile pic man. It's fricken misleading. I mean, you look like a fricken actor in person, and on FB, you look like your ill, no offense."

"Gee thanks man," I reply sarcastically.

I haven't changed my profile picture in forever. I never go on so what's the point?

"Oh dude, don't turn around but there's a smoking hot babe at ten o'clock," he states looking over my shoulder.

Ignoring his warning, I turn my head to my right and am met by the sight of Sharpay, Gabriella and Kelsi sitting on the bleachers, talking amongst themselves. I look around and don't see any other 'smoking hot babes' so I figure he's talking 'bout Sharpay or Gabriella (since Kelsi is too young looking).

"Oh, you mean Sharpay?" I ask.

Jensen is not at our school so he doesn't know them. His parents send him to a boarding school during school year.

"If that's the brunette's name, yeah," he nods.

My stomach drops. He means Gabriella. Of course he means Gabriella.

"No actually. The blonde's name is Sharpay. The brunette is called… Gabriella," I clarify in a tense voice.

"Gabriella huh? That's a pretty name. She taken?"

I rub the back of my neck, uncomfortably. Am I really doing this? Am I really encouraging him to pursue her?

"Ohh. She's yours isn't she?" Jensen says knowingly.

I pause. I could lie and say that yes she is mine. But that would be bad wouldn't it? I would be a bad friend to both Gabriella and Jensen.

"No. She's just a friend. Come, I'll introduce you to her."

"You sure man? You look pretty shaken up when I even mentioned her. You sure you don't want dibs?"

"Yeah, yeah I'm sure. Gabriella and I are just friends."

I march over to where the girls are standing before I could change my mind and decide to selfishly keep her for myself. As I am approaching, Gabriella stands up and meets me in front of the bleachers where she had been sitting.

"I didn't know you were this good on a skateboard," she declares with a big grin.

For a moment there I forget to breathe. She is just so beautiful when she's smiling at me like that.

"There's a lot of things you don't know 'bout me, Montez," I respond, faking arrogance which made her giggle.

"So who's your friend?" Gabriella inquires looking at the boy next to me.

My heart drops.

"Oh, Gabriella this is Jensen. He's an old friend of mine. And Jensen, Gabriella is a girl in my class," I say attempting desperately not to sound heartbroken.

"It's nice to meet you Gabriella," Jensen declares softly, sending her a nice smile.

"Likewise. I've never seen you around though, which is weird 'cause it's such a small town," she replies.

I can't do this. I can't stand there and watch helplessly as they flirt. And so I retreat back to the skating ramp, heartbroken.

As I embark on my board, I don't feel the same thrill I felt a few minutes earlier. I'm not in the mood to stay here and pretend like my heart isn't shattered.

"Troy!" Kelsi exclaims attracting my attention.

She motions me to come to her, so I do. I cast a small glance to Sharpay who is next to her. Behind them, on the bleachers are Gabriella and Jensen. I quickly avert my gaze elsewhere.

"Are you stupid?" the music composer snaps. "What are you doing setting up the girl you like with another guy?"

"Yeah, I gotta say, that's pretty stupid," Sharpay agrees.

"Jensen's a friend of mine. He asked me to introduce him to her, so I did. What's the big deal?" I explain, trying to convince them that it did not affect me quite as much as it does.

"The big deal is by attempting to convince yourself that you don't like her, you're hurting yourself and her in the process," Kelsi continues. "For some twisted, stupid reason you think she's too shallow to want to go out with you."

"She's not shallow. She's just too good for me…"

"Oh my God are you blind? She's crazy 'bout you!" the younger girl exclaims.

"Yeah, I gotta admit. Every time I talked to her on Facebook or on the phone she always mentions you in the fondest of ways. She only does that when she's really really into a guy," Sharpay interjects.

"Exactly! She's been giving you hints for weeks now, why can't you just see that?"

"Oh yeah. I remember at the beach, she brought him as her date," the blonde girl mused.

"Has she ever flat out said she liked me as more than a friend?" I interrupt.

"No…"

"Then, that's that. Her and I are just friends and it'll always be like that. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm gonna head home to prepare for Little League practice tonight," I say curtly.

"You'll regret it Troy. If you don't tell her, you'll regret it!"

I try to block out the words as I walk away from them, skateboard under my arm.

"Troy!" I feel a hand grabbing my elbow. It's Gabriella. "You're leaving?" she asks in a small voice.

"Yeah, I have to get ready for baseball practice tonight," I lie easily.

"It's not until 4 hours, though," she retorts confusedly.

"Yeah well, I'm kind of tired so I might take a nap, then I have to shower, eat and plan practice." It's scary how easy it was to lie.

"Oh okay," she reply, apparently not convinced. "Do you want me to come with you?"

"No. Stay here with Sharpay, Kelsi and… Jensen. I'll see ya tomorrow."

I'm pleasantly surprised when she hugs me.

"I'll call you tonight 'kay?" Gabriella declares pulling away.

"Okay."

And then I bolted out of there. How am I supposed to survive this summer by just being her friend?

-HSM-

It's been too long, but I'm back and determined to finish as many stories as I can. This chapter may not have been that interesting, but to make up for it, next chapter will be another summer flashback.

And if you log on and leave a review, I'll give you a sneak peak of the next chapter. This is to apologize for the long wait.