I don't own anything.
A/N: Alright it's another week and time for another update but first off I want to thank my reviewers from last week; OriginallyImperfect, chaylorXtraylorlover, Aipom4, traylorlove, NaeNae1495, javasmoker, Sasural and chaylorfan. Thank you all for the reviews and I hope everyone enjoys the new chapter. Please remember to Review.
Baby S
Chapter Four
Once morning finally came, Taylor called Wilson and asked if he wouldn't mind coming over earlier than he usually did to take her to school. All she wanted to do, was to get as far away from her mother and her crazy-ass boyfriend as soon as possible. Thankfully, Wilson had agreed to do as she asked and promised her that he would be there around seven. As Taylor climbed out of her bed and started to get ready for the day, she thought about her earlier conversation with Wilson. He had tried to ask her what had happened, but she had easily avoided the questions mostly due to the threat her mother had made the night before. She didn't want Wilson to lose his job, so she wasn't going to tell him about what happened. Her mother lied about a lot of things but when it came to some evil promise, Whitney McKessie usually came through. Keeping that fact in mind, Taylor wanted to play it safe.
Around seven, Wilson pulled up outside of the McKessie Manor and frowned as he saw Taylor standing outside on the steps in the early morning cold just waiting on him. Putting the car in park, he quickly hoped out of the car and bounded up the stairs with his eyes locked on hers. "Ms. Taylor," he exclaimed allowing his shock to come out. "What are you doing standing out here like this. . .you'll catch a cold," he admonished with a shake of his head. He then paused to really look at her. "What happened last night, Ms. Taylor?" he demanded now extremely worried especially if Taylor if the need to stand outside waiting on his arrival. He knew the girl didn't like her mother and that the feeling was probably returned, but it had never been so bad that Taylor would rather be outside the house. "What did your mother do?" he asked as he looked over her shoulders at the doors that led inside the manor. Taylor stared up at him for a moment before shaking her head.
"Wilson, I really don't want to talk about it. Please just take me to school." Wilson gave her a quick once over and then reached down for her laptop bag.
"Fine, come along then," he stated softly as he looked one last time at the manor doors and then back at Taylor as he led her down the steps. "As for me dropping you off at school, how about I stay with you until enough students arrive. I won't feel comfortable leaving you there by yourself otherwise." he murmured as he opened up the backseat door and watched as she climbed into the car. He waited till she was seated before closing the door and heading around to the trunk to put her laptop bag up. Once he was done with that, he hurried around to the driver's side and pulled off away from the house and headed towards East High. Glancing into the rearview mirror, he made sure he wasn't driving to fast and spoke up his voice full of concern. "Now that we're away from the house do you mind telling me what is going on?" Taylor crossed her arms over her chest and looked out the window silently before releasing a sigh and speaking.
"I had to suffer through dinner with them last night. I don't want to have to do the same with breakfast." she admitted softly as she looked at him, Wilson could tell that there was more to the story but decided against calling her on it. He didn't want to make Taylor so uncomfortable with him that she wouldn't confide in him again when things got rough again and since Whitney McKessie was home he knew that would be happening sometime soon. Instead he focused on the fact that she hadn't had any breakfast.
"Are you hungry do you want me to stop somewhere for breakfast?" Wilson suggested. "I believe, there are several fast food restaurants along the way." Taylor merely shook her head, she hadn't felt like eating ever since that man grabbed her last night. The whole incident made her uneasy. Wilson took in her response and drove the rest of the way to the school building in silence. A mere ten minutes later, he was pulling into the school parking lot. Turning off the car, he looked at his surroundings and noticed that several students were making their way inside even at this hour. Glancing back at Taylor to see if she wanted to go on in the school, he saw her sleeping across the backseat. Allowing himself a wistful smile, he turned back around and decided he'd wake her up fifteen minutes before eight o'clock. Just in case, she had to do something to her make-up or her hair.
Just before eight o'clock, Taylor felt Wilson shaking her awake. Yawning, she raised her hands above her head and stretched. Silently thankful for the little bit of sleep that she could squeeze in before school started. After her mother's late night visit to her room, Taylor found it quite difficult to go back to sleep. She was worried about her mother coming back or letting her boyfriend come into her room to say something else. Not wanting to be caught off guard, she forced herself to stay up all night. "Wilson, what time is it?"
"It's about a quarter to eight, Taylor." he replied as he looked at his watch again for good measure. "I figured I'd better wake you up so you wouldn't be late for your classes. I know how much you hate being tardy." he stated with a fatherly wink. Taylor smiled back, before yawning again. Rubbing the sleep from her eyes, she reached out and opened the car door and slipped out. Wilson quickly followed behind her and moved towards the trunk to take out her laptop bag. He set it on the ground and handed it to her. Taylor carefully took the handle from him.
"Thanks for picking me up this morning." she stated with a small smile as gave him a small wave before walking towards the school. Wilson walked back to his car door, and called out to her.
"It wasn't a problem Ms. Taylor. I'll see you this afternoon, three o'clock on the dot." with that said he slipped back into the car and drove off. Taylor sighed as she entered the school building and quickly headed for her locker.
Taylor busied herself with putting away most of her books for the day and grabbing her 1st period notebook and textbook. Closing her locker door, she almost jumped back as she Sharpay Evans and Gabriella Montez. Bowing her head, she took a deep breath and pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed.
"What have I told you two about doing that?" she groaned, not really in the mood for her friends' usual antics. Sharpay took one look at Taylor and sighed before moving to her friend's side and slipping her arm through Taylor's arm.
"Something's wrong," she stated bluntly. "Do you want to talk about it?"
"My mother's back in town." Taylor stated with a broken sigh as she took in the looks that Gabby and Sharpay were sending her. "Last night reunion was horrible. She brought home this guy who-." she trailed off and shook her head. "Let's talk about something else. I don't even want to think about that for the rest of the day." Gabriella just nodded her head in agreement as she looked at her friend.
"Fine we can talk about other things like how you know you can't start your day without us popping up on you." she replied with a small smile as she direction the conversation back towards their first topic.
"I agree with Gabby here. Us scaring you in the morning is a tradition."
"One I'm tired off." Taylor muttered under her breath, but couldn't keep the small off her face as she allowed her friends to guide her towards their first period class. Sharpay sent her look before a small devilish smile went across her face.
"Alright let's move on to something else, how is your boyfriend doing?" Sharpay asked while wiggling her eyebrows suggestively, which only made Taylor roll her eyes heavenward.
"He's not my boyfriend. He's my friend."
"Well I wish I had a friend that order his boys to look out for me," Sharpay stated with a shake of her head. "Come on Taylor just admit it. . . that boy got you, bodyguards." Gabriella giggled at Sharpay's statement while nodding her head in agreement.
"You have to admit it's really sweet what he did for you."
"I'll admit that, but I'm sure he did that because he's my friend and he doesn't like the fact that I was being bullied." Taylor stated with a sigh, as she remembered how upset he had been when he had learned that. "He's just a nice guy that's looking out for me."
"Sure whatever if that's what you want to believe." Sharpay stated with a roll of her eyes before reaching out and grabbing hold of Taylor's notebook. "You know you don't need to take any notes, it's just homeroom." Taylor found herself rolling her eyes at Sharpay a habit she was sure she had picked up from her.
"In case you couldn't tell. This is my music notebook. I figured while we were in Mr. Thompson class I could write something, instead of listening to him drone on and on about God knows what."
"Oh a Taylor original huh and will Gabby and I get a chance to sing over music." Sharpay pressed with a smirk. Taylor looked at her notebook for a moment, before nodding her head.
"You two know, you're the the only ones I trust to sing over my music."
"Good, I really can't want to hear it. You always write such good pieces." Sharpay gushed out happily. "Maybe you, Kelsi and Ryan can put your heads together and come up with a good concert for the end of the year." Taylor just raised an eyebrow at that before nodding her head.
"If you think that's a good idea." she mumbled still remembering the last time her, Kelsi and Ryan worked together on a concert back in middle school. It didn't turn out well, they were all good but just couldn't really work together. Sharpay sent her a look as she literally bounced for one foot to the other.
"Are you kidding? It's a great idea, Taylor." Sharpay replied just as two boys came up behind them and draped their arms around Sharpay and Gabriella.
"Hello ladies." The taller one said as he looked down at Sharpay with a smirk before glancing over at Taylor and Gabriella and sending them a nod as his greeting.
"Zeke." All three of them said in unison.
"How are you girls doing today. No trouble I hope." Zeke said as he looked at Taylor who just shook her head. "Good, well you know the drill. Chad and I here, as your official bodyguards are here to walk you and your lovely friends to homeroom."
"Do you have to sound like a game show host."
"What do you want me to sound like." Zeke asked as with a wink. "Just let me know and I'll do it." he replied with a large smile on his face. Sharpay merely rolled her eyes at him and turned away from him with a small smile on her face. Zeke seemed to be the only guy that could get under Sharpay's skin and he knew it. He messed with Sharpay at every opportunity ever since he official met her a couple weeks ago.
"We don't need bodyguards." Gabriella pointed out. "Besides aren't you two suppose to just look out for Taylor."
"Can't argue with that wonderful statement there," Chad replied as he looked over at Gabriella and blew her a quick kiss. "Our boy Troy did phone in the request for Ms. McKessie, but Zeke and I decided to look out for you and Sharpay too. It's only fair."
"Right it's only fair." Zeke replied as he tried to snake his arm around Sharpay's waist only to have her bat his hand away.
"You two should have been here earlier cause then you might have stopped these two from picking on me." Taylor muttered as she gave her friends a pointed look causing them both to gasp in shock at her claim.
"Taylor, we do not bully you," Sharpay stated with a furious shake of her head. "We are merely teasing you and stuff like that." Taylor just nodded her head while sending them both a look that told them she didn't believe a word they were saying as she headed down the hallway only to be hit into the wall by Mark Hudson and his band of followers. Mark glanced over his shoulder at her and chuckled.
"Oops! I guess you better watch where you're going next time huh." he shouted at her before turning around to see both Zeke Baylor and Chad Danforth standing in front of him with their arms crossed over their chest.
"Yo, man that's not cool." Chad snapped out angrily as he looked up at the Junior that had just assaulted Taylor. Mark narrowed his eyes at Chad and then looked back over his shoulder at Taylor who was now being flanked by her two friends.
"What are you going to do about it?" he snapped out, Chad stepped even closer, allowing his temper to rise. He glared up at the older boy, ready to start a morning brawl if he needed too. He may not have known Taylor before Troy called in his favor but now that knew her and consider her a friend. He definitely wasn't going to let some random guy pick on her for kicks because he didn't have anything better to do.
"Do you really what to find out, Mark? Cause I can-."
"Hey!" A deep baritone voice shouted out angrily from down the hall. They all turned and saw an older man approaching them, looking extremely pissed off. He finally made it down the hallway and came to stop right beside Mark and Chad, he looked over Mark's shoulder at Taylor and frowned.
"Mark, let me clue you in on something son. I'm not going to have guys on my team who find it funny to pick on women. Is this what you do in your spare time." he snapped as he stepped into Mark's personal space and stared down at him until Mark shamefully looked away from him and directed his gaze down at the floor.
"No sir."
Then why are you picking on her and then trying to start a fight with two young men that were trying to protect her," he snapped out angrily. "Just so you know. I don't want and won't have that type of attitude on my team. Do I make myself clear?"
"Yes Coach Woodson." Mark stated with a sigh.
"Good, now all of you get to class before you're late." Coach Woodson stood in the hallway and watched the little group of students quickly disperse and head to their classes. Releasing a sigh, he turned on his heel and headed towards his office.
"You know who that new teacher was, he's kinda of hot." Sharpay stated with a giggle as they all settled down at their usual lunch table. Taylor almost snort out her drink at the look that Zeke sent her as he settled down in the chair beside her. "Whew! I just might have to go to some practices and-."
"He's married." Zeke stated with a roll of his eyes. "Did you see his ring?" Chad chuckled then and shook his head.
"What Zeke is trying to tell you is to stop lusting after that teacher and look his way." he quickly ducked down as Zeke threw some of his fries over at him. "What man I'm just telling it like it is." Chad stated with a giggle as he looked at him. "Anyway the Coach that you're drooling over is Coach Woodson, the new. . .," he trailed off and looked over at Taylor for a moment. "He's the new basketball coach. They just hired him a few days ago to replace Troy's dad."
"Oh." Taylor murmured as she thought about how Troy would take the news, not that she was going to tell him. At least not yet. She was sure that the information would cause him pain and that was something she didn't want to be apart of.
"He's alright you know. He's a cool guy but Troy's dad was the best." Chad stated with a sigh as he shook his head as he thought about his friend and what he was currently going through. Taylor just nodded and looked down at her food. Zeke was about to speak up, so he could move the conversation to a topic that wouldn't be so heavy when Coach Woodson walked over to their table. He looked down and settled his gaze on Taylor.
"You're Taylor McKessie right." he asked.
"Yes I am." she stated.
"Alright can you come with me." Taylor sent her friends a lot before getting up and following Coach Woodson. He led her to the gym and to his office. Holding the door open, he waited till she she was seated before walking in and closing the door. "First off, I'm sorry for my player this morning. He will be dealt with, you have my word on that."
"Okay and thank you for doing that."
"You don't have to thank me. I won't stand for that type of attitude in my players and Mark is going to realize that or spend the rest of his high school career watching basketball games from the stands," he leaned back in his chair for a moment and tapped his fingers on the desk. "Well, let me really get down to business. As you know I'm Coach Bolton's replacement. I called you here because in a couple weeks the school will be having ceremony to honor Coach Bolton. I was speaking with some of the teachers and they told me that Troy his son hasn't been in school since the accident."
"He's grieving." Taylor stated simply.
"I know. . .I can't begin to imagine what he's going through," Coach Woodson stated with a shake of his head. "However, the teachers pointed out to me that you were tutoring him and I was wondering if you would tell him about the ceremony. The school wants him and his mother here for the ceremony." Taylor fingered the end of her shirt, and looked at Coach Woodson.
"I'll see what I can do, but you know-."
"I'm not trying to force you to do anything. Just think about it." Coach Woodson stated with a smile as he looked at Taylor who only nodded her head before getting up and walking out.
Troy pushed his book back and stared at Taylor who sat across the table. "Is something wrong?" he asked pulling Taylor out of her thoughts. Lifting her head, she looked over at him and shook her head as she set her pencil down.
"No, nothing's wrong."
"You sure, cause you aren't normally this quiet." Taylor sat back and crossed her arms over her chest as she looked at him.
"Are you trying to tell me I'm to talkative." Troy just smirked at her, his look telling her all she needed to know. "Oh so you got jokes today."
"Plenty." he murmured with a smile. "So are you going to tell me what's got you zoning out today. Cause I miss my study buddy."
"I'm sorry, I just have a lot on my mind." she replied truthfully as she looked at him. Troy didn't reply to her though, instead he stood up and walked over to her side of the table. She watched as he reached down and pulled out her chair. She turned and looked up at him, "What are you doing?"
"Come on we're going in the living room to talk." he stated bluntly. "History can wait. I wanna know what's wrong with you." He stepped back and watched as she carefully stood up and headed towards the living room. Pushing her chair back up to the table, he quickly followed behind her. Once they were in the living room, he sat down on the sofa and watched as she sat down on the other end. He placed his hands on his lap and looked at her. "What's going on, Taylor?"
"Nothing much I just-."
"Have a lot on your mind. Yeah, I heard you in there," he murmured as he pointed towards the dining room. "But I'd rather hear the truth."
"I just had a rough night last night that's all." she whispered not really sure if she should tell him about her mother. Troy raised an eyebrow at that and then just shook his head. He had a feeling that she wouldn't be telling him what had happened last night. He could tell by her face that even mentioning it was to hard for her.
"Well whenever you want to talk about it, just know that I am here for you." Troy stated with a soft smile. "I mean we're friends right."
"Yeah, we're friends." she admitted as she looked away from him. Then she thought about what Coach Woodson had told her. Lifting her gaze back up, she looked Troy in his eyes. "Um, there's something I need to tell you."
"What? Don't tell me you aren't going to be my tutor anymore." he stated with a chuckle, though the light didn't reach his eyes.
"No, it's not that." Taylor reassured him, secretly happy that he didn't want her to stop being his tutor. "It's something else and um, well today at school I was approached by Coach Woodson." she began and noticed that Troy's body had tensed up.
"Coach Woodson," he paused for a moment. "Who is he?" Taylor wrung her hands together as she looked up at Troy. She could see that the current route of their conversation was already taking a tole on him.
"He's the new um. . .basketball coach." Taylor stated with a sigh. "He wanted me to talk to you about coming down to the school when they have the ceremony for your father." Troy clenched his jaw and looked away from her. "I told him I would tell you. . .I didn't think keeping this away from you would be for the best."
"I'm glad you told me." Troy muttered out softly.
"Are you really? Cause you don't sound happy that I told you." she whispered, Troy turned his head then and looked at her before bowing his head and pinching the bridge of his nose. Taylor watched as he continued to hold his head down.
"I. . .I don't deserve to be there." Troy finally said with a shake of his head. "I don't deserve to be at any ceremony my father will have." he finally looked up at her and Taylor could see the tears in his eyes threatening to fall. Taylor quickly moved to his side, and pressed her hand to his arm.
"Troy what are you talking about of course you deserve to be there. He was your father." Taylor whispered as she took in Troy's tears.
"No, I don't." he whispered firmly as he turned to look at her his eyes red with unshed tears. Taylor studied him for a brief moment before shaking her head rapidly.
"I don't know where this is coming from but you deserve to be there. Your father would want you there, Troy."
"He may want me there," Troy stated before pausing and looked down at the carpet. "But I don't deserve to be there, not when I did this."
"Did what?" Taylor asked before covering her mouth with her hand and looking at Troy in utter surprise, she then felt a tear roll down her cheek as she realized why Troy claimed he didn't deserve to go. "Oh Troy." she whispered softly as she looked at him.
"I put him in the ground. . .," Troy whispered as he looked over at her. "If I hadn't bailed on him that night, he wouldn't have driven home so earlier and that drunk driver would-." Taylor quickly reached out and cupped Troy's face between her hands.
"I'm not going to let you place the blame on yourself for your father's accident, Troy. It was that idiot driver's fault. That was the person that took your father away from you. Not you." Troy just shook his head as he thought back to that night. The night that had been haunting him ever since his father passed away.
"Yeah well, the fact that he left earlier is on me." Troy mumbled as he pulled his face away from her hands and turned away from her. "You don't know what I've been living with and-."
"I do know what you've been living with Troy." she snapped out, causing Troy to turn around and really look at her. "You may think that, that you're the only one something like this has happened to but you're wrong. I lost my father in a car accident too, and it's all because I wanted us to go somewhere, to just get away." she paused and took a deep breath. "Well, we left and while we were out driving a car cut out in front of us. My father swerved to miss it, but we crashed instead. I had to sit in that car for over thirty minutes as we waited on the authorities. I watched my father die that day. I held his hand as he died, and you know what I kept thinking about that whole time," she moved away from him then and sighed. "I kept thinking that him dying was all my fault. It took me a while to get that out of my head." she whispered as she looked at him. "That's why I'm telling you that your father's death wasn't your fault and you deserve to go to school and celebrate his life and what he did at East High."
"But I left earlier, he wanted me to stay behind and practice and I just brushed him off like it was nothing and-."
"You could have done that any other day as well. You were the one in that car drunk, Troy. I know that your last conversation with your father wasn't pleasant but I'm sure he died loving you and your mother. I'm sure he didn't blame, and I'm also sure he was probably thanking God you weren't in that car with him." Taylor's words hit something inside of Troy and he leaned back on the sofa and just stared at the ceiling.
"You really are something else, do you know that." Troy whispered as he kept his gaze on the ceiling.
"I'm just trying to help you get that idea out of your mind. Your father loved you," she whispered as she looked at him. "I'm sure he wouldn't want you blaming yourself for something you didn't do." All Troy could do was nod his head.
"I'll think about it." he replied softly. "Maybe it's time I showed my face at East High again." Taylor smiled then and leaned her head on Troy's shoulder, missing the look he gave her out the side of his eye.
"I think that'll be a good thing. I know Zeke and Chad miss you." she murmured as she stifled a yawn while closing her eyes.
"They've been my friends since pre-k." Troy murmured as he continued to look up at the ceiling silently pleased by the closeness that he was currently sharing with Taylor at the moment. "They're good people."
"Oh I know. . .especially since they walk me to class everyday and make sure that no one bothers me. You know they might have a future in the bodyguard profession if basketball doesn't work out." Troy snorted then and shook his head.
"Oh is that what you think," he stated with a shake of his head. "Well, Zeke wants to be some type of master chief if basketball does or doesn't pan out. He's a good cook, loves to keep it under wraps but me and Chad know."
"And what does Chad want to do if basketball doesn't pan out." Taylor asked her voice becoming softer as another yawn escaped her.
"He's not sure. . .but I think he still wants to work in sports."
"And you."
"There's a lot of things I wouldn't mind doing." he stated as he shrugged his shoulders. "I haven't narrowed them down, but just know that I'm going to be very successful in the future." They were silent then. Troy listened to Taylor's soft breathing, and reached out for her hand. "I'm sorry about your father."
"You don't have to apologize about that, Troy.
"I do. I know sharing that with me was hard, and I was just sitting here acting like you didn't have clue what I was feeling and I'm sorry for that."
"I shared my story with you because I thought it would help you. Did it?" Troy lowered his head off the back of the sofa and looked down at the top of Taylor's head.
"Yeah it did."
"Good, I'm glad my story was able to help. Now be quiet, I think I need to take a nap and your arm is proving to be quite comfortable." Troy just chuckled, but did as requested. For the next hour, he just sat on the sofa in silence while Taylor rested her head on his shoulder and slept peacefully. He thought over everything that she had told him that afternoon, but mostly he just basked in the quietness and relaxed.
A/N: I'm a little bit under the weather so please excuse all errors.