Chapter 20 - Such A Jerk!
"Chad! Your paddling wrong!" Gabriella shouted at her brother for the fourth time that day.
Chad groaned in frustration and wished, also for the fourth time that day, that he hadn't decide to go rowing in the lake with his sister. He was sure he would enjoy rowing with anybody else, but his sister was just so annoying. She seemed to find fault in everything he did. Nothing seemed good enough for Gabriella Montez. Sometimes people who didn't know they had different parents would say they were similar, but he couldn't see that, they were too different.
"Chad! I didn't say stop paddling all together!" Gabriella's voice broke through his thoughts.
"Oooops, sorry!" Chad had forgotten to paddle.
As he paddled his mind drifted off in all directions. He wondered what his friends were doing. Troy would probably be bored, or playing basketball. Oh how he wished there were hoops here, how he longed for the feeling of the ball falling off his fingertips and whooshing through the net. But no, there was only some logs, and they weren't as fun. Surprise there.
"Chad! Pay attention!"
"Gabriella, this is supposed to be fun, so enjoy it, don't go all manic on me!" Chad groaned.
"Well, it wouldn't be fun if we flipped over, and landed in a lake - with eels!"
Chad gulped. He had forgotten that bit.
"Ok, ok"
Why his Dad couldn't have come rowing with them, he didn't know. But he did know how much simplier it would be if David was there. Gabriella proabably wouldn't moan as much, and that would be a blessing. He couldn't figure her out sometimes.
"Your doing it again!" Gabriella screamed.
"Fine! Look, why can't I just paddle on the side I keep going to, and you paddle the other way?" Chad matched her tone, and tried to reason with her. Tricky business!
"No!"
"Why?"
"Because I said so!"
He tried to maintain his breath, and moved his oar to the correct side, trying to steady the boat into the correct rhythm. Gabriella was a puzzle to him. He had lived with her for over ten years, and he was still trying to get his brain round hers. She never had reasons, and was always secretive. Never had proper answers, always excuses. And she never answered questions directly, always dodging round them. Like if she let away the truth, she'd be hurt, or found out. But as far as he knew, she had nothing to hide. She was Gabriella Montez, a kind... and sometimes moody, very clever girl, 16 years of age, and very popular at that. She had only been at East High for a few months, and already everyone knew her name.
"You need to bond with your sister"
That was what David had said, but bonding wasn't really an option, when his sister wouldn't allow it. She had always distanced herself from him, almost like she didn't want to be related to him in some way. He wouldn't say she was insecure, but she wasn't totally secure. There were secrets in Gabriella Montez's life that Chad didn't know. He had always been curious about the other side of his family, the Montez's. The family tree had always had secret leaves. He just didn't know where to start, and wouldn't want to pry. He tried to stop himself from asking questions, he evidently didn't need to know the answers to.
"Gabriella?"
"Hmmm"
"When are we going back?"
"I dunno, when do you want to?"
"Soon"
"Ok"
Conversation finished. Just like that. There was no structure in any of their conversations. Gabriella didn't talk in much depth to anyone, except the people she was close too. They barely said two words to one another. And it had always been that way.
"Lets go back now"
"Why?"
"'Coz Dad will wonder where we got to"
"A little Daddy's kid are ya?" Gabriella giggled.
They got to the edge of the water, jumped out the boat, and tied it back up to safety. Gabriella started to walk up the bank, but Chad stood still. She turned around and looked at him.
"Were you?" He said, his voice shaking slightly. He didn't know how she'd reply.
The blood drained from her face, turning white. She gulped down the sick that had formed in her mouth, and blinked the tears back from her eyes. Her brother had never seen her cry, and wasn't about to.
"Excuse me?" She whispered.
"I don't know about you dad" He said, walking towards her.
"And your not going to" She whispered, turning away and walking briskly up the bank, Chad following behind.
"Why is that?"
"Because."
"Gabriella, you never talk, I hardly know anything about my sister!"
"I keep myself to myself, Chad, that's all"
She kept walking, not wanting to face her brother, who had just brought up a dificult subject.
"Why'd you never talk about you Dad?"
"Because I don't want to"
Chad groaned, "You never talk about him, it might be good, why don't you utter anything about him?" He slammed his hands to his sides in frustration. All he wanted was for her to open up to him a little.
"Because...he's not here" She whispered, and she stood still, waiting to Chad to bounce back. Her feet stuck to the ground, like bricks.
Chad had never thought about it that way. But he did remember something about her father cheating on Maria and running away with another woman, he was sure of it.
"Don't you hate him?" He spoke again.
Tears burned in anger, "Why would I hate him...Chad, please just stop talking about it"
Chad yelled in anger at his sister, "WHY! You don't wanna talk about it, why? coz he ran away with some tart! That's not much of an excuse Gabriella!"
She turned to him, letting her tears flow freely. How could he say such a thing? He knew nothing about anything to do with her father! He had done no such thing!
"I don't talk about him...because...he's dead"
Her voice was shaking. He'd just got her to open up, and the words she had said made him feel terrible. He didn't know what to do. She turned around her body shaking, and started to run.
"Gabriella!" He shouted.
"Stay away you jerk!"
And she kept on running. She had to get home, home to her mother's comforting arms, where everything seemed to melt away. And Troy, he would make things better.
She had to get home, away from it all. Stuff bonding! Stuff Chad!
Chad! How could he be such a jerk!
Oooooh! I know you were probably expecting something to do with Troy and Maria, but I did this instead :) I have reasons!
1. I want to get the next chapter absolutely right. It deserves to be really good, because it's such a big topic.
2. I need to create lots of tension between Gabriella and Chad for later on in the story.
I realise I have'nt updated in a while, but that's because I've been busy. I've been making videos for Youtube again, I used to do it, but I just got back in the swing to it again. I'll put the link in my profile, and you can take a look if you'd like.
I hope I haven't turned people against Chad. Chad will get better soon, it's just the story worked out that way :)
It's so great you got me over 350 reviews, you guys rock! As I write I have about 365, so that's brilliant. Thank you so much :)
For the next chapter, which will be the big one for Troy and Maria, I'll need nearly 400 reviews, so please spare time to R&R my story, it's really appreciated.
It might take me longer to update, but I'll try really hard to get it up this week :)
Hope you all had a great Christmas and New Year, and have a great week ahead!