DISCLAIMER: Certain characters, themes, and ideas have been taken from the world of High School Musical created by Disney and subsidiaries. No copyright infringement is intended, I claim no ownership of anything you recognize and I am not making any money on this.
A/N: I've decided I was way selfish to keep this story to myself and neglect typing and updating this for the past two years. That being said, my goal is to have the entire story typed and posted by Christmas Day 2008. Thank you, everyone who's reviewed this already. I hope you'll stick with me 'til the end.
Please remember that this story was written over two years ago, pre-HSM 2 & HSM 3, so any similarities to those two movies are purely coincidental.
Chapter Two – Telling the Parents
Troy and Gabriella both celebrated the Christmas holiday with their families, just as they had every year before. However, this year instead of opening all of their presents both teens put most of their gifts aside to return or exchange…they needed baby money way more than a new DVD or X-Box game.
Gabriella's visit to the clinic confirmed her pregnancy; the test results indicating that she was nearly eight weeks along. Though she wouldn't start really showing until 16 weeks, the sooner she and Troy looped their parents in on the situation, the better. Gabriella suggested inviting Troy's family over for dinner the Thursday before New Year's Eve and Troy agreed. After dinner they would tell their parents about the impending arrival of their first grandchild.
Thursday morning both Troy and Gabriella were nervous wrecks. Looking back, Troy wasn't sure how he made it through the day without his parents asking him if he was ill, but somehow he wound up with his nerves intact as he stood on the Montez's doorstep with his parents that evening.
"Hello!" Ms. Montez chirped, opening the front door. "Please come in. Gabriella's just setting the table." As she ushered them in Troy let out a deep breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding.
'This is it,' he thought, stepping over the threshold after his parents. He locked eyes with Gabriella as he walked toward the dining room after their parents, who were happily engaged in their own conversation. Troy could see that she was just as scared as he felt, so he smiled and pulled her into a deep hug.
"Hey you," he whispered in her ear. He felt her sigh into his shoulder.
"Hey yourself. Are you ready for this?" she asked quietly. Troy gave her an extra squeeze as he replied, "As I'll ever be." Gabriella knew exactly how he felt.
"Me too," she whispered, pulling out of his embrace as they took their seats at the dinner table.
Dinner passed seamlessly as the Bolton and Montez families shared a good meal and pleasant conversation. Ms. Montez asked Troy about the upcoming league championship tournament and Mr. Bolton complimented Gabriella on her performance of the National Anthem at the last home game before break. Troy and Gabriella partook in the conversation when necessary, but mostly spent the time pushing dinner around their plates and stealing glances at one another. After the meal Ms. Montez invited everyone into the living room for coffee. Troy grabbed Gabriella's hand to hold her back for a minute.
"Are you ready?" he asked again. Gabriella nodded.
"Do you want to say it or should I?" she asked. Troy was quick to respond.
"I want to say it. My dad's going to blame me anyways, so I'd rather take whatever heat I can sooner rather than later," he explained.
"Ok…We should go do it now," Gabriella replied, nodding as though the physical act of agreement would affirm her thoughts. Troy kissed her quickly before grabbing her hand and following after their parents. They entered the living room to hear both of their mothers discussing Winter Musicale auditions while Mr. Bolton reminded them both about basketball practice and tournament games.
"There are six games in the series and if we make it to all six then we have the championship game. This all happens in the next three weeks though, so there shouldn't be any interference with rehearsal. That's good news, huh Troy?" Mr. Bolton said jovially, directing the conversation toward his son. Troy gulped.
"Yeah, definitely…Uh, speaking of good news, there's something we wanted to tell you—"
"Have you heard back from State about your scholarship?" Mrs. Bolton asked excitedly.
"Uh, no, it's not that…" Troy felt sweat pooling at the back of his neck. Gabi squeezed his hand and gazed at him in reassurance as their parents looked at him expectantly. Troy heard his voice lilt as he continued, "Gabriella and I are going to have a baby."
"I'm eight weeks pregnant," Gabriella added, still squeezing his hand. After a long pause, the room exploded with questions and accusations from all three parents.
"Are you serious?!" "What were you thinking?!" "Are you two insane?!"
"Hija, what the hell do you think you're doing—" "You can't have a baby—" "You're just kids yourselves!"
"Have you thought about what this means?" "Say goodbye to your futures!"
"What are you going to do with a baby?" "You're going to put it up for adoption, you can't raise a child." "…..Do you know what this means?!?"
Troy and Gabriella sat next to each other and took the barrage of questions and criticisms from their parents. However, Troy stood up to respond to the last line of questions.
"We are having this baby and we're keeping it. We know we're young but Gabriella and I love each other, and our baby. I'm going to pick up shifts at Chad's parents restaurant and Gabi is going to apply for a position at the public library. We're both going to finish high school and we're both going to go to college – maybe not right away and maybe not at Duke or Stanford, but UNM is a great school too," he said, quiet passion laced through his voice. Gabriella stood up beside him.
"We're going to do this with or without your help, but we'd rather have your support than not as we navigate through this," Gabriella finished.
"Gabi," Luisa Montez said, reaching for her daughter's hand, "you're 17 years old. Having a baby right now is not what you need. You're supposed to go to Stanford next year. How can you go to school in California with a baby to care for?"
"I'm not going to go to Stanford, Mom, at least not for my Undergrad. The career counselor at EHS said its Grad and Medical school that really matters, so I'm going to go to UNM. If I'm lucky I can get a full scholarship – Stanford wouldn't give me that." Gabriella replied.
"Troy, what about basketball? The scouts from Duke and Chapel Hill have both expressed interest in you," Jack Bolton sighed, the news of his son's situation weighing heavily on his heart.
"And so has UNM," Troy quipped back. "Plus it's in-state, so it will be way more affordable. They might even give me a scholarship to play."
"But what about your future, Troy? You won't go pro from UNM—" Mr. Bolton argued. Troy cut him off.
"You don't know that. And I don't even know if I want to play pro ball. But I do want my degree – and I'll have it."
"How can you kids hope to raise a baby? They cost money like you don't have," Lucille Bolton stated.
"We're going to save as much as possible before the baby is born," Gabriella replied.
"And I can pull in another couple thousand caddying this summer," Troy added.
"But who's going to cover the medical expenses? The delivery alone can be thousands of dollars," Mrs. Montez asked.
"Well, we're not getting married, and we're both going to be in school, so I was hoping you'd let me stay on your insurance. We'll pay the difference, Mom, but staying covered with you would be a big help," Gabriella responded. Mrs. Montez sighed – they had obviously thought a lot about this.
"Of course you can stay on my company's insurance. But Gabi, this is crazy," Luisa said, taking her daughters free hand into her own, "you're both still so young."
"I'm glad you're not thinking of marriage. At least you've had one intelligent thought," Mr. Bolton stated roughly. Troy's brow creased in a pained expression.
"Dad—"
"No, Troy. You screwed up this time. What the hell were you thinking getting your girlfriend pregnant?" Jack asked, visibly upset.
"Jack—" Mrs. Bolton started.
"No, Lucy. He's throwing his future away—they both are. They cannot do this—"
"Dad, it's not like Gabriella and I said, 'let's have a baby!' It just happened. I was shocked at first, we both were, but we're not angry or upset or anything. We know we're going to be good parents," Troy said calmly.
"You're too young to be having sex in the first place," Lucille declared.
"Mom, we're 17! I'm almost 18. We've been together for almost a year now, and Gabriella and I love each other. We both decided we were ready to take that step—" Troy responded in explanation before Ms. Montez cut him off.
"And did you ever consider the possible consequences of your actions?"
"Yes, which is why we were always careful. Nothing's fool proof, Mom," Gabriella countered.
"Obviously," Mr. Bolton sighed, exhaling a long breath. He rubbed his face with the palm of his hand and sat back on the couch, looking slightly resigned. "Ok, so Gabriella's pregnant. What's the next step from here?"
"Well first I need to see a doctor. I've been to the clinic, but—"
"You went to a clinic? Without me knowing?" Luisa asked, interrupting her daughter.
"Yeah. We wanted to make sure I was actually pregnant before having this conversation," Gabriella explained. "That's how I knew I'm eight weeks along." Ms. Montez nodded in understanding.
"Alright, so Gabriella needs to get set-up for prenatal appointments. What else do we need to talk about tonight?" …
… … …
An hour later, the hysteria and shock that resulted from Troy and Gabriella's announcement was finally dying down in the Montez household. Gabriella and Troy explained their plan to their parents and all the adults agreed to help out when possible, but both Ms. Montez and the Bolton's encouraged their children to seriously consider the possibility of giving the baby up for adoption over the next couple months. "If you truly want what's best for the baby, you'll at least consider it," Mrs. Bolton had said.
As his parents were putting on their coats and getting ready to go, Troy pulled Gabriella behind the staircase and kissed her long and hard. "I love you, Gabriella," he whispered, pulling away slightly. "The worst part is over. We can do this."
"I know we can. We are going to do this. And I love you too," Gabriella replied, hugging him tightly. They heard a throat clear from down the hall.
"I'll call you in the morning. Sleep well," Troy whispered, placing a kiss on Gabriella's cheek as he pulled away from her embrace.
"Goodnight Troy," Gabriella replied, walking him toward his waiting parents at the door. "Goodnight, Mr. and Mrs. Bolton."
"Goodnight Gabriella. Goodnight Luisa," Mrs. Bolton replied, her husband nodding in agreement.
"Goodnight," Ms. Montez responded, closing the door behind the Bolton's. She then turned back to Gabriella; the fire from the previous hour quickly returning to her eyes.
"Mi hija, have a seat."
… … …
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