Chapter 6

Recap

Troy walked away, unconscious of where he was going, suppressing all the current emotions that bottled up inside him or perhaps old emotions that have resurfaced.

"She only has him on her mind…" Troy agonisingly thought.

In order to hide the pain and the heart break that he felt, time and time again, he had once again masked himself with his unkindly character which made him harder for other people to read. It was his only way to conceal what he truly and helplessly feel, in which he gravely suffered from.

Nevertheless he couldn't help but wondered if he will ever be given a chance to express his feelings. Even if it takes cheating fate.

"Maybe someday… but, not tonight…", he continually hoped.

End of recap

The rays of the sun that found their way through the window, on side of Gabi's bed, burned her eyelids, forcing her to wake up from her terrible dream, which she soon realised was far real than just a dream. She contemplated for a moment, about what could have happened if she was to give in to Troy's charm and finally accepted his bittersweet embrace, a few days back.

"Gabi! Breakfast is ready! Hurry down or you're going to be late for school," Carol informed as she scooped up the omelette from the frying pan and on to the dish, then served it on the table.

"Sorry mum but, I have things to do at school this morning. I'll have to skip breakfast but, I promise I'll eat lunch!" she breathlessly said, kissing her mum on the cheek as she hurried out of the door, almost skipping. She struggled to fix her tie in one hand and placing her packed lunch in her bag with the other.

"I need to hurry or I'll never catch him…", she thought as she tripped over her shoelaces that she had obviously neglected to do, on her way out. She looked right at the pavement that she was sure to lie on, in a matter of seconds and readied herself by closing her eyes. But, at the same moment an angel came for her rescue.

"What's the hurry? Did you miss me that much already?" Troy teased as he lifted her back up. Chuckling away, he bended down on his knees to tie her shoelaces, not only to prevent her from getting hurt but, more so, to avoid her mesmerising eyes that he knew would now be filled with questions that inquired about him being there, after what had happened that night.

Before facing back up he collected himself to look as if everything was forgotten and that they are now back to what they were used to be, best friends.

"It is better this way…" he thought. "For now at least."

He wiped the sorrow on his face and with courage gained his composure to face the woman he loves. It was a torture to see her but, as he thought… "I would rather torture myself this way than go through a harsher punishment of spending my days not seeing her."

Gabriella struggled to gain poise after that unexpected meeting. She was shocked but, unexpectedly happy and also speechless. All the things that she had planned to say to him over and over in her head was gone in that split second. Her knees became weak and almost tumbled down again but, even that was not made to happen by Troy.

"Hmm…" Troy said as he shook his head. "You obviously haven't had breakfast. Whatever are you going to do without me?" he commented with a chuckle, trying to ease the atmosphere. He quickly turned back and started for his bike which was neatly parked down the path in front of Gabi's lawn.

Gabi stared at his back profile as he walked away, repeating the scene of her most regretful night. And as if her feet had a mind of their own, they unconsciously started to move forward to his direction and her arm lifted to tap his back.

Without any second thoughts she said, "Troy! Please don't go… about that night, I didn't know what I was thinking… let me expl…" she pleaded, only to be distracted by a paper bag full of freshly baked sweetened buns that Troy held right in front of her face. It smelt delicious, and it was her favourite.

"Here… eat these before you faint of hunger," Troy interrupted, well aware of what she intended to explain and how hungry she might had been considering he himself hadn't eaten much these past few days.

"I'm not hungry! Troy… let me finish…" she said urgently but, her stomach got the better of her, it crumbled ferociously and demanded the steamy buns in the bag. Just then she realised how starved she was.

Troy chuckled and handed her the paper bag. Gabriella initially hesitated to take it, looking down to avoid that casual smirk that Troy would have had fixed on his face right now due to her embarrassing display. However, as she looked up to examine his face all she saw was a gentle smile that melted her heart.

"It's better this way." Gabi thought as she hopped at the back of Troy's motorbike. Any other days she would usually hold onto the handle at the back of the motorbike to keep her balance but, today she decided to lock in Troy into her arms, which gave Troy a big surprise followed by a gentle smile on his face.

RIIINNGGG! The bell rang forcefully, implying a whole day of fun-filled school activities, well at least for some lucky few.

"Gabi! Are you alright? 'cause last night you were…" Taylor, Gabi's lab partner/ friend, worryingly greeted as she examined her friend's unusual expression. "Well… I can see that you are alright. I swear Gabs, you sure are bipolar. One minute you're all upset and now you have that usual beaming smile… tell me what happened?"

"Nothing. Nothing at all…" Gabi said merrily, as they entered the theatre/auditorium, where they have their class with Ms Darbus for the day.

"Class! I know you are all excited as I am about our upcoming musical which will be presented on February. So, to commemorate that month, the theme would be on longing, heartbreak, drama, tragedy and …" Ms. Darbus passionately announced.

"Wait! Shouldn't romance and love be in it… since it's the month of hearts?" Sharpay interrupted, as she impatiently waited for the theme of love to be said.

"Yes, Miss Evans! I was getting there… but, not everyone in this room spends that month getting all lovey dovey, especially if you don't have anyone to share it with!" Ms. Darbus replied, as she realised that she had strayed away from the point of her discussion. Blushingly, she straightened herself up and glared at her class that had started whispering among themselves.

"Silence in my theatre! Since all of you think that you know what the true meaning of that month is, I'm going to let all of you to write the story for the play based on your personal experiences or make believe. I want to see everyone's story on my desk by Monday! And the audition for a role will commence within the same week when I finalise which story we are going to produce." Ms. Darbus concluded. "We've got no time to waste.. so everyone make haste." She demanded.

Everyone pulled out a paper and a pen and started to write their ideas.

Troy being confused with the whole idea of writing stories of love in which he thought he didn't have much of, well aside from her mother who avidly tells him that she loves him, approached Ms. Darbus and demanded to be excused from the exercise.

"Ms Darbus, frankly I don't think I'm cut out to be a writer of love and all those giggly themes that everyone are talking about. It's just not me." Troy stated.

"Mr. Bolton, and just now… what makes you think that you are an exception from the rest of your peers?" Ms. Darbus curiously asked.

"Well… you see I'm not much of a romantic guy to start with and plus, as you always say you need an inspiration to write about all these stuff and I obviously have none." Troy said, disappointedly.

Ms. Darbus laughed theatrically.

"Now, now… you can maybe fool your friends and yourself but, I very well know that you're maybe lacking some confidence to write what you truly feel but, you most certainly are not short of inspiration…" Ms. Darbus noted knowledgably whilst adjusting her glasses as she gazed towards the direction of the chatting girls in the middle of the auditorium, where sat a particular girl with dark long wavy hair. A girl Troy couldn't miss among the crowd even if he tried to.

Hey everyone, thank you so much for continuing to read my story.

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