Author's note: Hey, guys, I'm finally updating. Thanks all of you for your reviews, I'm so happy you enjoy my story. It means the world for me. Well, as I promised, in this chapter Troy will meet Gabriella and I really hope you'll like it. And I'm sorry if it's a little bit abrupt in some moments.

Chapter 6

I simply can't build my hopes on a foundation of confusion, misery and death... I think... peace and tranquillity will return again.

Anne Frank

It's been a week, a week when Troy didn't get a new bruise, or a bloody nose, or a split lip. It's been a week since nobody tried to smash him into the wall or kick him or backhand him or even shout at him. And it was really amazing, he already forgot what it was like- to come home without fear. Living with Danforths was so different from living with his dad. But he really didn't know where it left him. How was he supposed to feel if it was better for him to live with his friend's relatives than with his own father? Was he supposed to feel guilty, to feel bad?

Jack was their father, not the best one but still… And he used to be a good dad before… before all this happened. Troy remembered the very first time Jack hit him. It was several weeks after their mom's funeral, Jack already started drinking, drinking hard and it scared both Troy and Cameron. They weren't used to seeing their father so broken, so lifeless. They wanted to help, but just didn't know how. The only thing they could do was watch how everything went downhill, straight to hell. That day Troy came earlier from school; his father was already pretty wasted, empty bottles thrown all around the room. He wanted to clean the mess so that Cameron doesn't see it. He tried to hide some of the alcohol as well, but it turned to be a very foolish move as his father caught him doing that. Screaming at him to leave it, and that all of this was his fault, Jack punched his son in the face bloodying his nose and sending him to the ground. Troy just lay on the floor not moving, his body numb from shock. He couldn't comprehend what just happened. He was so confused and so scared at that moment. He couldn't understand what he had done wrong, what he had done to deserve it. Was it really his fault? And how was he supposed to deal with it? How was he supposed to feel about it? Troy asked this very question so often after that. He couldn't hate his father. Or could he? It was HIS father, the man he loved, the man thanks to whom he and his sister came into this world. But… it was so difficult, so confusing…

These thoughts seemed just to root into his mind. And even though now everything seemed to be ok for them, Troy just couldn't let it go, couldn't just enjoy his life. Yes, Danforths were friendly and just great people. Yes, Chad was really cool, and they became good friends very soon and they played basketball every free minute they had. Yes, Troy found a job and everything was alright with school (they didn't know how, but Mike did manage to get them into East High). It was, like people call it, starting life with a new chapter, but everyone always forgets that starting a new chapter doesn't mean starting a new book. It doesn't mean you would forget everything that happened, because it was impossible. All these events don't just disappear, this pain, these questions they stay with you. And in spite of all the good things, these thoughts, this guilt, it was still there, holding him back, eating him inside.

His brooding was interrupted by a bell ringing indicating that someone entered the café. Troy immediately stopped cleaning the counter and went to their new customer. It was a girl, a beautiful girl, he noted. She was about his age. And, well, she was VERY attractive, Troy didn't know why, but he just couldn't take his eyes off her. Her whole appearance was so gentle, her brown wavy hair was bouncing as she walked, her bright chocolate eyes were shining. Somehow he found himself fascinated by her, though he had no idea why. She wasn't the type he would normally fall for, mostly his previous girlfriends were all reckless, sexy and rather wild. And well, this girl was quiet the opposite, so much Troy could say. Sometimes one look is enough to understand something about the person, even though first impression can be wrong sometimes, but he really doubted it was the case. He just knew she was soft and kind-hearted and reliable.

"Can I get you something?" Troy asked with a charming smile surprised at how dry his throat suddenly became.

"Orange juice, please." The girl answered, her voice was soft just like he expected it to be.

"Here you go." Troy gave her the glass and went back to cleaning the counter still watching her though.

Having thanked him the girl took a book out of her purse and started reading. She was obviously waiting for someone as for the first couple of minutes she kept glancing at the door and when nobody came she plunged into reading. Troy looked curiously at the front page seeing it was "Airport" by Arthur Hailey.

"It's very interesting."

"Excuse me." The girl raised her eyes to look at him.

"The book. It's really interesting."

"You've read this?" She asked curiously.

"Yeah, I like Hailey. His books are always great. But actually, 'Hotel' is my favorite one. Well, in fact, it was the first book by the author I've read. I was really taken aback by it. The way it is written, how action-packed it is, the characters…"

"Wow, I agree with you completely. It's absolutely amazing. What is your favorite moment?"

"Difficult to say… Let me think… I really like when the elevator crashed how worried O'Keefe was for Dodo and how for the first time in his life he didn't know what to say. Maybe I sound like a girl now, but it was … touching."

"You don't sound like a girl, and it's one of my favorite moments as well. What else do you like to read?"

"Well, I like different things, for example, almost everything by Stephen King, I really like Stevenson, Salinger, Jerome K. Jerome, O' Henry, Fitzgerald, Agatha Kristy, Sidney Sheldon. That's who I can remember right now, difficult to say without thinking."

"Wow, I am shocked. It's not very often when you meet a guy who likes to read, and not just read, but classical literature!"

"Well, what can I say? I'm full of surprises." Troy said flashing a smile making the girl giggle. "How about you?"

She was about to respond when the door opened again and some afro-american girl ran into literally falling in the seat next to Troy's client and drinking the rest of the juice in one gulp. His new acquainted looked at new comer with reproach.

"Yeah, yeah, I know I'm late. I'm sorry, stop glaring." The latter ranted. "Let's go, we need to get ready for the party."

The word party definitely caught Troy's attention. What were the chances that they were talking about the party that Chad was throwing at his house? As he explained it was the school's tradition: to have a party on the last day of vacations. Well, this girl was of his age, maybe she was from East High, why not? He didn't know why, but he wanted to see her again.

"It was nice talking to you." The girl said to Troy with a smile and paid for her juice.

Her friend grabbed her hand and dragged her to the exit. In the doors they collided with Chad and judging by their expressions Troy knew he would meet them again and very soon. And again he was surprised that his heart started beating faster at the thought.

"Gabbs." Chad nodded to the brunette. Troy started, did he say Gaps or Gabs? He cursed his stupidity why didn't he ask her name.

"Chad." She smiled warmly, slightly elbowing her friend who didn't even look at the guy.

"Hello, Taylor." Chad addressed to the afro-american girl, who chose to ignore him. "Oh, come on, seriously, now you are giving me the silent treatment. That's not 'mature'."

"Danforth, spare me the being-mature lecture, you're not the one to give it. Besides, I'm not talking to some Neanderthal who can't even read." With these words she stormed out of the café.

"She's still angry with you. But I think she'll come down, eventually."

"Thanks, Gabbs, see you at the party." When she left Chad came up to Troy. "Well, that was my girlfriend- Taylor."

"Does she know that?"

"Oh, shut up, T. We just had a little fight." Troy just smirked at the definition 'little', considering this Taylor girl didn't even want to look at Chad. "Ok, a big fight!"

"And the reason..?"

"Well, Tay wanted me to read her favorite book, and I really tried, but I just couldn't. It was so boring"

"How much did you read?"

"Um, a line, maybe two…"

"Wow, I'm amazed, it must have been terrible for you. Reading a book, yeah, real torture." Troy taunted.

"Not everyone is like you. And I do read books, just not Jane Eyre. And before you say something, I started reading it, because, obviously, Tay will never forgive me if I don't."

"So what are you doing here? I thought you would prepare for the party."

"Yeah, but your sister kept asking 'what girls in your school wear', 'how many guys are going to come', 'what should she wear' and so on."

"That's my sister." Troy chuckled. "So, if I'm correct, you decided to run away. Very brave"

"Very clever" Chad objected. "Anyway, I should go, oh, yeah, today the whole team will be there, I'll introduce you." With that he left.

When Troy came home after work, the party was already in full swing. He decided to go first to his room to take a shower and to change, and then to join the others. When he came to the basement he was very surprised to see Cameron there. It wasn't like her to sit in the room during the party, no, her place was in the middle of the crowd being the soul of the company.

"Hey, sis, what's wrong?" Troy asked her worriedly.

"Nothing."

"Don't give me this, Cam, that's my phrase, don't steal it." He was glad to see a smile lightening her face. "Come on, what is it?"

"I don't know. I haven't been to parties for years, and I really don't know if I can just relax and forget about all of… forget all! And I keep thinking that dad will appear any second, and he would… he would kill us. How is it possible, Troy? How did it come to this? All these people there, they are of the same age as we are, but they will never understand what it is like, what this fear is like. And I know it's selfish, but why us? Why?"

"I don't know, I wish I did." Troy hugged his little sister giving her the comfort she needed so much. "But we are here and we are safe, you are safe, I won't let anything happen to you, you know that, right?"

"Yes, I know, bro, you are my hero. And I'm sorry I act like a complete wuss at times."

"It's ok, but right now, you should go out there and show yourself." But when she didn't make any move, he quickly added. "You didn't torture Chad with all these questions for nothing?"

"He told you that?" This time Cameron jumped on her feet. "I'm sorry, bro, but I need to go and kick someone's ass."

"Ok, I will join you soon." He responded with a smile happy to see his sister in her normal state.

Cameron headed to the stairs but then she turned around and pulled Troy in another hug.

"Thanks, you are the best."

"Yeah, yeah, I know, just leave already, I need to use shower. See you there."

When Cameron left, Troy went to the bathroom. He was glad they had this conversation. They didn't have any serious discussions after that first night here, trying to pretend everything was ok. And everything was ok, but it was just so difficult to believe in it, to forget about fear.

Having put a towel around his hips he left the bathroom and collided with someone.

"Sorry." He apologized when he looked at the person he crashed into he saw the girl from the café.

"It's you again? Are you stalking me or something?" She asked in a joking tone trying to hide her embarrassment.

"Well, considering you came first to the place where I work and now to the place where I live… I think you are the one who is stalking me. By the way, I'm Troy." He decided to make it right this way.

"Gabriella." She shook his extended hand. "You live here? Are you the guy Chad was talking about? The one who is awesome at basketball?"

"I guess that's me." He was glad he finally knew her name, so it was 'Gabbs' after all, but at the same time he felt a bit weird standing here in front of a girl only in a towel. "So, you came here to…"

"I just wanted to use bathroom, if you don't mind."

"Yes, sure."

When the door behind Gabriella closed, Troy quickly put on his jeans and a T-shirt waiting for her to return.

Only when the door closed, Gabriella was able to make a deep breath. She never felt anything like this before, and being so close to this guy, to this almost naked guy, it was… it was…just wow.

"What is wrong with you?" She said to her reflection in the mirror. "Forget about him." She ordered herself, but it didn't help her to put the images of Troy out of her head. His blue eyes, his charming smile, his amazing body… and he wasn't just gorgeous, he also loved reading and they had the same interests. "Stop. You can't be thinking about him."

"So you didn't answer my question last time. What books do you like?" Troy asked Gabriella when she returned from the bathroom.

"Actually, I guess, I like all the authors you mentioned, and some others as well. Ok, and what about movies, what is your favorite genre?"

"I like different movies, but my favorite… probably is action movies."

"Oh, no. I can't agree on this one. I really don't like them. I prefer some romantic comedies and melodramas."

"Oh, come on, you can't be serious! They are always the same. A girl and a guy, they fall in love with each other, but they hide their feelings, then one of them does something stupid, but in the end they understand they can't live without each other."

"Oh, yeah, like action movies are SO different. There is a good guy who crosses the path of some bad guys, they kill someone close to him, and he wants justice, he is one against the whole bunch of people, but still he easily wins. Oh, and by the way, can you explain me this moment I never understood in such movies: so there are dozens of people shooting at one and the same person, and they all miss, but then the good guy takes the gun and puff- one man is dead, then another one… Isn't it ridiculous?"

"Yeah, and how about this: there is always a moment in romantic movies when they have a huge fight, he calls and she doesn't want to answer, she can't just turn off her phone, no, that's too simple, she throws it in the water, breaks it in pieces. Are they all so rich? Or do they know some place where you can get cell phones for free?"

"Ok then, what will you say about this: when the good guy is captured, and the bad guys start beating him up, he starts cracking jokes. What is it, some twisted desire to get hurt? Are they all masochistic?"

"Oh, all right, a girl is in love with the most popular guy at school, who, of course, doesn't even know about her existence, and then something happens and he notices her, but in the end she understands that he's a complete jerk and stays with her best friend, who has always been madly in love with her, but was afraid to confess his feelings. Why, just why does she realize she loves him only in the end? And why these popular guys are always jerks?"

Gabriella was about to say something else, when the door opened and Chad with some other guy entered the room.

"Troy, we are waiting for you, we want to play some ball, what took you so long? Oh, and this is T. J., our captain."

"And the luckiest guy in the school, because this amazing girl is my girlfriend." The guy reached his arm to Gabriella and pulling her closer kissed her in the cheek. "So, Troy, are you going?"

"Yes, sure." He smiled trying to hide jealousy rising in his heart. And seeing how this T. J. embraced Gabriella in some she's-my-girlfriend-so-back-off way made Troy almost growl in frustration. Why was life so unfair?

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