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JUST A REMINDER, I NEED THREE MORE REVIEWS IF YOU GUYS WANT A SEQUEL!

Chapter 29

Emmy closed her eyes as her uncle edged toward her. Her uncle hitting her with a metal stick would not heal her injuries. It would just make everything worse.

But to her surprise, she didn't feel the metal whip against her skin. She opened her eyes quickly.

Coach Bolton was standing in front of her, clutching the stick. He had tears streaming down his face.

"I-- I'm sorry."

Emmy was surprised to hear him say this.

"I didn't hit Sharpay. I threatened to, but I couldn't bring myself to do it. I just shoved her in a closet."

Emmy glared at him. Threatening was any better than actually doing it.

"You should be sorry. After all that you've done to me…. It's not fair."

"I know it's not fair, Emmy. I am sorry."

"Even though I am still extremely mad at you, I do forgive you. I told Troy to tell you that I still loved you, but I don't know if he got the message to you."

"He hasn't really talked to me."

"I can't say I blame him. You have been cruel to a lot of people lately. You never used to be like this. When I was younger, you were always nice. Is something going on?"

Coach Bolton sighed. He set the stick down onto the floor. "I've been stressed lately."

"About what?"

"Everything."

"That doesn't mean that you can take it out on others."

"I know, Emmy. I realize that now."

Emmy looked around. The surgeons were still spread apart, scared of the guy with the stick.

"I think you should leave now," Emmy said. "And even though you know what you did is wrong, you still should go to jail. I mean, you really don't have a choice on that one."

Coach Bolton nodded. "I know. I deserve every minute, day, month, or even year that I'm in that jail."

Emmy also nodded. "You do deserve it."

A noise came from outside the door. Sharpay appeared with a bunch of police.

"There he is!" she said, pointing to Coach.

The police grabbed Coach and put handcuffs on him. "Hopefully this time you won't break out of them," one said.

"I was lucky that the closet wasn't soundproof." Sharpay smiled.

Coach was dragged off by the police without a fight. He looked at Emmy once more, then he was out of sight with the police.

"That loser. He couldn't hit me with this," Sharpay said, picking up the stick. "I know he didn't have the gut to hit a teenage girl."

Emmy nodded, even though she wasn't really listening to Sharpay. She had a feeling that something had made her uncle do what he did, and it wasn't stress. She didn't know what it was, but t was definitely more than stress.

****

Gabriella took out her wallet as she stood at the counter inside of a gas station. She was buying some water.

As she took out her money, somebody tapped her on the shoulder. She turned around to find Ryan.

"Ryan! What are you doing here?"

"Well, if you want the truth, I came out looking for you."

"Oh. But, I could've been anywhere, I was on my way back."

"I know, but I have to tell you something. So, I decided to try. And now I found you. I didn't have to travel far in the end."

"Well, what do you have to tell me?"

"Troy is, um, he's…."

"What?"

"He's going out with someone else!"

"No he's not. I mean, he would never do that to me. He loves me, he told me himself."

"That was before you went to Wisconsin. After you left, he's been going out with someone else."

"I do not believe you. Troy would never ever do that to me. I know him too well."

"Gabriella, you have to believe me…."

"You know what, even though we're not far from New Mexico, you wasted your time to come and find me, because I don't believe you. You aren't telling the truth."

"Ma'am, this water will be one dollar."

"In a second." Gabriella turned back to Ryan. "I don't know what your problem is, but you need to stop telling me these lies about Troy. Okay?"

"But--"

"Ma'am, I need a dollar if you want this water."

Gabriella took out a dollar. She handed it to the woman, grabbed her water, and left Ryan standing at the counter.

****

Velma walked into her house after getting home from the store. She threw her purse on the floor. After two steps, she ran into Bob.

"What do you want, Bob?"

"I'm bored."

"I don't give a damn!"

"Well, you should!"

Velma pushed past her brother. She heard him take something out of his pocket. She turned around and saw him lighting a cigarette.

"You're ruining your life by doing that, your idiot."

"I don't care, Velma."

"Well, you definitely ruined Emmy's, so I do owe you for that."

"Yeah, you do. I hated pretending to go out with such a slut."

"She didn't used to be a slut, you turned her into one. And I thank you for that, because now I'm with Troy."

"Yeah, whatever."

"Well, I'd better go. I need to go dream about my coach of a boyfriend."

Velma went to her room. She took down a blown-up picture of Emmy's yearbook picture. It had dart marks in it. It had been her dart board.

Seeing that it was no good anymore, she threw it out. There was no more room on it for any more dart holes.

She threw it in her garbage. She sighed to herself as she took out her computer. She knew that Gabriella called Troy. She just knew it. She had to get rid of Gabriella.

She took out her computer, typing the following sentence:

GABRIELLA MOTEZ IS THE UGLIEST, RAGGIEST, BRATTIEST SLUT I HAVE EVER MET.