Disclaimer: I do not own High School Musical or any of its characters.
A/N: You guys have no idea how long I've been waiting to post this chapter and the next one. Enjoy…
Last Time…
He smiled at the simple writing on the CD, 'I love you. Merry Christmas'
While shuffling around his room, the CD had played, filling the room with Gabriella's sweet voice. He recognized some of songs she'd mentioned as well as some others which she'd probably forgotten were on the CD. It was obvious which song was the personal one Gabriella had been talking about. The song must have been the one Kelsi and Sharpay had been talking about in Spanish class those months ago. Troy was glad she'd included the song, it made the CD all the more personal.
Troy lay in bed, still listening to the CD as he was about to fall asleep. As his eyes became droopy, sleep overcame him. The last few verses of a song played just before he drifted off to dream land. They became the last thoughts that entered his brain, thus making the last thoughts about his dear Gabriella.
Chapter Nineteen – The Championship Game
The day before the championship game Troy Bolton walked into East High, with his hood up and his head down. If the back of his hoodie didn't read 'BOLTON' in big red letters no one would know it was their basketball team's captain walking down the hallway dejectedly.
He moved quickly down the hallway, avoiding making eye contact with as many people as he could. Luckily, most people were too engrossed in their conversations to notice him walking down the hall.
Troy arrived at his locker, quickly opened it and started trading books he needed with ones he didn't . It wasn't long before a bubbly brunette showed up beside him,
"Good morning," Gabriella greeted cheerfully.
"Morning" Troy mumbled, his gaze avert from Gabriella's eyes.
"Are you alright Troy?" Gabriella asked concerned. Troy's behavior was quite strange. Usually, Troy greeted Gabriella with a good morning kiss and a bright smile. Today Troy seemed to be looking down past Gabriella and his tone was less than cheerful.
"I'm fine Brie. What would be wrong?" Troy tried, unsuccessfully, to convince her. Concern spread across Gabriella's face as she bent down to try and look Troy in the eye. As Gabriella tried to look at him, Troy turned his face directly away from her, seemingly trying to hide something from her. Finally, Gabriella reached her hand out and gently pushed Troy's cheek, so his head would turn towards her. She gasped when she saw what Troy had been trying to hide, a large black eye.
"What happened?"
"It's nothing, I'm fine." Troy tried to assure her.
"That is not nothing Troy" Gabriella said sternly. "What happened?"
"It doesn't matter what happened or how it happened. All that matters is that you're alright and I'm alright," Troy's voice was serious and convincing, but Gabriella refused to back down. Troy had mentioned her; he'd mentioned that she was alright. Did it have something to do with her?
"Did it have something to do with me?" Gabriella asked.
Troy groaned silently, why did his girlfriend have to be so smart? Of course it had to do with her. It had everything to do with her. The question wasn't the hard part though. The hard part was whether or not he should tell her.
If he said yes, it would worry her immensely, but he wouldn't be lying to her face. If he answered no, he'd be lying to her, but she wouldn't be worried. So, that's what it came down to, would it hurt Gabriella more if she was lied to or if she was worried?
"It does have something to do with me doesn't it?" Gabriella assumed.
Damn it. He'd taken too long of a pause and she'd figured it out. Now, the question was how much should he tell her. He couldn't bear to watch her break down the way he knew she would when she found out. Maybe it was slightly selfish on his part, but he just couldn't deal with that kind of pain.
"Yeah" he said quietly.
"What happened Troy?" Gabriella repeated. She was a little but angry he'd gotten into a fight over her and she wanted to know exactly what happened.
"Brie, please don't worry about it. Really it was nothing." Troy explained.
Gabriella couldn't help the sigh that fell through her lips. She knew Troy wasn't going to let on anymore, but that didn't mean her concern disappeared.
"Did you at least ice it yesterday?" she asked, reaching up to gently touch the bruise. Troy winced as Gabriella's finger came in contact with his skin,
"I may have forgotten that" he confessed, trying to look innocent.
"Didn't your mom say anything?"
Troy looked down at the floor, scratching the back of his neck nervously. Gabriella gasped,
"She doesn't know! Troy! But surely she must have seen it this morning?"
Troy cleared his throat, "She may or may not think that I accidently fell and hit my head on a bed post."
Gabriella glared at him, completely speechless.
"I promise next time I'll ice it." Troy tried to stick up for himself.
"I don't want there to ever be a next time."
--
"So dude, are you ever going to tell us what actually happened?" Chad asked as he walked with Troy, Zeke and Jason to lunch after their practice. Troy sighed; the topic of the day had come up again. He figured his best friends deserved to know the truth.
"You really want to know?"
"Yes!" Chad answered quickly.
"Fine. I was out for a run last night and I wasn't really paying attention to where I was running because I was thinking about stuff. Anyway, before I knew it I was near Borders and that Ice Cream Store and um, that other place, but you know the place I'm talking about right?"
His friends nodded and eyed him to continue.
"Oh this is at about 10 o'clock at night, by the way," he added.
"Why were you running at 10 o'clock?" Jason asked.
"I felt like a run," Troy shrugged.
"But couldn't you have just run around the house and called it a night?" Jason pressed. Troy rolled his eyes,
"It doesn't really matter why I was running, that's not the point of the story. The point of the story is what happened while I was running. So, like I was saying I was near Borders, the ice cream place and that coffee shop, I think it's called Small World Coffee or something. Anyway so I was running past there and all of a sudden I see James and a few of his friends walk behind the building."
"What the hell were they doing on our side?" Chad interjected.
"That's exactly what I thought. So, I carefully followed them around the building. I leaned against the wall while they were talking around the corner and started listening to their conversation. At first they were talking about the Championship game tomorrow but then after a few minutes James asked about Gabriella. Max, you know number 29, started talking about how he had just talked to her a few hours ago. Then the whole group of them was talking about her schedule, her favorite things to do. It was so creepy. They've been following her for God knows how long."
"How did they do that?" Zeke wondered aloud.
Troy shook his head, "I don't know, but damn it they've been following her. What if something happens to her? What if something had happened to her?" he questioned, exasperatedly.
"Look at it this way, nothing has happened to Gabi. She will be ok," Zeke tried to assure Troy. "We will all look after her Troy."
Troy sighed, "I would never forgive myself if anything happened to her because of me."
"Nothing is going to happen to her." Chad promised.
"Wait, do they know?" Zeke asked.
Troy shook his head, "I don't know." His voice was quiet, "They heard me before I found that out."
The group fell silent as the other three figured out what Troy meant.
"Why aren't you telling Gabi?" Chad asked after a few moments of silence. Troy paused for a few seconds,
"You know what this would do to her. She would be scared out of her mind for not only herself but for Lucas and Lily," Troy explained. "I can't do that to her."
Troy only had time to take a slight intake of breath before and familiar happy voice caught his attention. He stopped in his tracks as Gabriella approached him.
"Do what to whom?" Gabriella asked curiously. Troy's hand reached up to the back of his neck, scratching it nervously. He could practically see the wheels turning in her head, piecing together his nervousness and the discussion they had had earlier that morning, as he tried to figure out what to say.
"You can't do that to me, as in tell me. Right?" her voice had turned from bubbly to dejected and disappointed. Troy sighed,
"I just don't want you to worry."
Taylor, who had been walking with Gabriella, sensed that Gabriella and Troy needed to be alone for a while.
"Come on boys, let's go to lunch," Taylor encouraged, looking sternly at Zeke, Chad and Jason. Zeke seemed to get Taylor's idea and nodded, while Chad and Jason looked confused. Taylor rolled her eyes and grabbed the two boys' arms, pulling them away from the couple. Jason and Chad protested, of course, but Taylor continued to pull them along.
"Please don't shut me out Troy," Gabriella whispered. The two stared at each other in an intense, but soft eye lock.
Gabriella knew he was hiding something from her, he had practically told her. At first she'd been okay with it, because sometimes – she knew as well as anyone else – if a person didn't want to tell you something you shouldn't pry. However, now it was becoming a problem. She saw that it was eating Troy up inside and that hurt her. Though she was afraid of what the truth might be, she felt she needed to know more than anything right now.
"Please Troy, what happened?" Gabriella was the one who broke the silence, her voice seemingly begging.
Troy sighed, he knew he was going to have to tell her. The majority of him however, couldn't let himself tell her the entire truth. The words just wouldn't form in his mouth to tell she'd been being followed for the past, who knew how long. He decided to say as little as possible.
"West High," he said quietly.
"West High did this to you?"
Troy nodded, "The captain, James Scott and a few of his friends. They were on the East side and I saw them while I was out for a run."
"Why would they do that to you? Gabriella asked in disbelief. She couldn't get her head around the rivalry between to the two schools. Although all of her friends had tried to explain to her the rivalry, she just couldn't understand why. "And why didn't you leave them alone when you saw them? Troy you could have gotten seriously hurt." Gabriella's had changed from compassionate to almost angry.
Troy shook his head, "It's not like that. Listen, I know you don't get this whole rivalry thing and refuse to acknowledge its existence, but it is real. It's real to us and especially real to West High. I just need you to be careful tomorrow at the game."
"What do you mean be careful?" Gabriella wondered aloud.
"I mean, just watch out for the West High players. Just stay with the gang." Troy gently placed his hands on Gabriella's forearms as he saw a flash of fear in her eyes.
"You…you think they want to hurt me?" she stuttered quietly.
"Brie, I'm not going to let them hurt you," Troy assured her. He tried to sound confident for Gabriella, but he was trying to convince her as much as he was himself. He had no idea what West High had planned for them tomorrow night, but he hoped that his team could win the game and get out of there without anything happening to anyone.
--
There were 30 seconds left in the state championship game between East and West High. It had been a rough game, full of fouls and taunting. All the players were exhausted, but the exhilaration of the game kept them going.
Gabriella, along with Kelsi, Sharpay, Taylor, Ryan, Lucas and Lily sat in the third row of the bleachers on the East side, of course, on the edge of their seats.
Gabriella had never been more nervous for another person in her entire life. She knew how desperately the entire school wanted the team to win the game and she knew the pressure that put Troy under. Despite the pressure though, Troy was excited for the game and was ready to win.
With only 30 seconds left the Wildcats were down by one single point. West High was doing everything in their power to prevent East High from gaining control of the ball.
Finally, Jason managed to steal the ball away with only 20 seconds left on the clock. He dribbled down the court, with 3 Knights hot in his trail. Quickly, he passed the ball to Zeke, just before a West High player could steal the ball. Zeke agilely wove through the angry Knights coming at him and quickly passed to Troy, who was on the 3 point line. Troy desperately tried to find an opening to shoot from the line. Unable to, he tossed the ball back down the court to Chad, hoping his teammate would have better luck.
With only 10 seconds left Chad dribbled back to the 3 point line, but like Troy he was surrounded by West High players. Out of corner of his eye, Chad noticed Troy slightly down the court in position to score a two pointer, completely open. Thinking quickly, Chad faked right and then hurled the ball at Troy.
Troy caught the ball easily the ball with less than 5 seconds left on the clock. What happened next seemed to happen in slow motion for the entire gym. Troy raised his arms to make the shot and just as the ball was about to leave his hands, out of nowhere James Scott rammed into him, knocking him to the ground, just as the ball left his hands.
There was a simultaneous gasp in the gym. Gabriella was on her feet in a matter of seconds, trying to see if Troy was ok.
Chad quickly jogged over to his best friend to help him up. Troy groaned as he lay on his back on the floor. He opened his eyes to see Chad standing over him. Chad held out his hand for Troy to take. Grasping Troy's hand firmly, Chad pulled the East High captain off the floor. He patted Troy on the game as Troy tried to gain his orientation back.
"You ok man?"
Troy nodded before he looked up into the East High stands. His eyes quickly found Gabriella's worried ones. With compassionate eyes Troy mouthed, 'I'm fine' to Gabriella. Before Gabriella could respond the sound of the referee's voice caught Troy's attention. He realized he hadn't even noticed the whistle blowing to call a foul. Glancing up at the clock Troy saw that there were exactly 2 seconds left of play. These two foul shots would make or break East High's chance at winning the Championship.
"14, are you ready to take your shots?" the ref asked.
"Let's do this," Troy said confidently. The referee handed Troy a basketball as he stepped up to the foul line. With his teammates on his left side and his enemies on his right side, Troy bounced the ball twice before he raised the ball and effortlessly shot the ball into the basket.
Troy grinned triumphantly and pumped his fist back as the gym erupted in cheers from the East side. The score was now tied, 68 to 68.
Another ball was handed to Troy for him to take his final shot with.
"You know Bolton your girlfriend is pretty hot," James' sick voice came from Troy's right. Troy pretended not to hear it as he stared down at the ball. "So, it was actually very enjoyable following her around."
Troy growled quietly. However because of James' close proximity he was able to hear Troy. James snickered in triumph,
"A little angry there Bolton?" James asked in a sickeningly sweet voice. "I bet your little girlfriend was unimpressed that you couldn't defend yourself. You wouldn't be able to defend her if her live depended on it, just like you won't be able to make this shot." He snickered.
Grimacing at James' cruel words, Troy quickly glanced up at Gabriella in the stands. He couldn't help but smile a little bit. She looked so anxious, despite the encouraging smile across her face. That was all the encouragement he needed to make this final shot. Turning his head back to the basket, Troy let a determined smile spread across his face. Raising the ball up, Troy turned his head to look at James,
"Watch me," Troy said before he turned back to the basket to make the final shot. The ball flew smoothly through the air, landing perfectly in the basket. Just a few seconds later the final whistle blew and the gym erupted into cheers again, this time louder than ever. Red and white confetti came showering down from above. Before he was swept away by his teammates Troy turned to James one last time,
"You go near Gabriella again Scott and I will destroy you. I promise you that."
James grumbled angrily. Unable to think of a clever come back, he stormed off through the crowd.
Troy was quickly lifted into the air by his teammates as teenagers and adults alike jumped up and down in the stands with excitement. Troy threw his head back and threw his arms in the air, letting out a scream of excitement. When the large trophy was passed to him he raised that above his head. The screams of excitement increased as East High celebrated.
Finally his teammates let him down and Troy passed the trophy to Chad, so he could relish in the moment as well. Making his way through the swarm of people was harder than it appeared. Every person he came across was cheering and congratulating him. He was looking for one very specific person though, who he couldn't see anywhere. Gabriella.
He made his way to the bleachers, which was where he'd seen her last. On his way there he came across Kelsi, who was gingerly trying to get through the crowd. Unlike Sharpay and Taylor she didn't shove people out her way to get to her boyfriend.
"Troy!" she cried in excitement, "Congratulations! You did a fantastic job!" She threw her arms around him.
"Thanks Kelsi. Listen have you seen Brie? I can't find her." Troy asked.
Kelsi shook her head, "Last I saw her she was with Lucas and Lily in the stands. She probably had the right idea staying back there for a bit. It's impossible to get through here."
Troy chuckled, "You know it's ok to push right?"
"Yeah, but sometimes I can't. I mean, I'm half the height of some of these people." Kelsi reminded him.
Troy smiled, "If you duck you might able to go under their arms," he suggested. Kelsi grinned,
"I'll try."
"Good luck."
Troy continued past the remaining people until he came to the edge of the bleachers. He furrowed his eyebrows; Gabriella was nowhere to be seen.
He jumped up onto the bleachers so he could get a bird's eye view of the mob of people surrounding the trophy. Scanning it quickly, he couldn't see Gabriella anywhere even though he was able to pick out everyone else in their gang. It wouldn't make sense anyway that Gabriella would go in the mob. He knew she didn't like large masses of people and she wouldn't want to take Lucas and Lily in there either.
Frowning, he looked around the rest of the gym. Where was she? It was then that he realized that all the West High supporters had cleared the gym, including the players.
"Shit" he muttered. His mind had immediately connected the two, a missing Gabriella and no James Scott in sight. For a moment he felt as if he was going to faint. He'd let it happen, he'd let James get her. But he was not about to let James get away with it.
Quickly, Troy scrambled down from the bleachers and ran out of the gymnasium. He looked around frantically, praying that each brunette he laid eyes on would be Gabriella. None of them were.
After he had searched the entire area outside of the gym with no sign of Gabriella, he massaged his forehead trying to figure out what to do next. All of a sudden a worried voice pulled him out of his thoughts,
"Troy?"
Troy looked up and saw Gabriella standing in front of him.
"Brie!" he exclaimed. Gabriella threw her arms around Troy, who breathed a sigh of relief as he hugged her tightly.
"Congratulations! You were amazing wildcat! I was so nervous for you, but you were fantastic! I knew you would be able to do it! And when James Scott knocked you over that time I thought I was going to faint!" Gabriella rambled excitedly, "Oh my goodness I still don't know how you did it. I mean you had the entire pressure of the game on you and you managed to shoot those free throws effortlessly!"
Troy smiled lovingly, cupping Gabriella's cheek with his hand and gazing into her eyes. He was so thankful she was alright. He never wanted to feel the fear he had just felt ever again.
Gabriella cocked her head to the side as she watched Troy stare at her, "What?" she asked softly.
"You were the one person I wanted to see after the game and I couldn't find you. I was worried." Troy confessed.
Gabriella smiled softly. "I'm sorry about that. I think Lucas ate something bad, he was complaining his stomach hurt and he said he felt like he was going to throw up just after the game finished," Gabriella explained. "Which reminds me, I need to go find him; he's in the bathroom."
"Want me to go check on him?" Troy offered.
"That'd be great."
"Where's Lily?" Tory asked as Gabriella and he started to walk the short distance to the bathrooms.
"Oh, she had to use the bathroom as well." Gabriella explained. When they arrived at the bathrooms just as Troy went into the men's room, Lily came out of the ladies' room. A few moments later Troy and a pale looking Lucas came out of the men's room.
20 minutes later, after a short drive, Troy, Gabriella, Lucas and Lily were back at the apartment. Since it was late, the twins went to bed. Gabriella decided that since Lucas was obviously ill, Lily would sleep with Gabriella that night, so she didn't get sick as well. After making sure that both Lucas and Lily were properly in their beds, she turned out the lights and went back into the living room to find Troy on the couch
"So what's the verdict?" Troy asked.
"I think Luca has a bug, because he has a fever as well. He confessed to feeling uneasy the entire game, but he said he didn't want to leave in the middle of it. I think he'll be better by Sunday," Gabriella explained.
"And Lily?"
"She's fine. I put her in my bed, so she hopefully she won't get sick as well."
"Good plan." Gabriella nodded.
The pair fell into a comfortable silence while Gabriella went to get a drink of water. It was only then that she noticed Troy was still in his basketball uniform.
"Oh God! I've stolen the basketball captain of the state champions. The entire team must be wondering where you are. And your dad! Oh, don't even get me started!" Gabriella exclaimed. Troy couldn't help but chuckle,
"Brie, don't worry about it. They'll be wrapped up in their celebrations for a while. They probably haven't even noticed I'm missing."
"Are you kidding? The entire school has been buzzing about this game for weeks and you just won it. They'll want to congratulate you." Gabriella pointed out, "And isn't there some after party tonight? You should go."
"Nahh, the after party is always lame," Troy shook his head, "I'd rather stay here with you." By this time Troy had come up behind Gabriella and wrapped his arms around her.
"Troy Bolton you have talking about this party all week with Chad. I know you want to go," Gabriella said.
Troy groaned.
"I want you to go to the party. I'm going to go to bed anyway. Besides you definitely need a shower," Gabriella giggled.
"Fine," Troy grumbled. "I'll go only because you want me to."
"Thank you" Gabriella whispered, leaning up to kiss his cheek. She turned around in his arms so she could kiss him on the lips. She let one her hands play with his hair as she kissed him passionately. Each kiss was long and soft, but had a fire behind it that made it passionate. Gabriella pulled away gently, placing one last sweet kiss on his lips.
Troy grinned,
"Last chance for me to stay," he said hopefully.
Gabriella smiled and shook her head, "Go to the party Troy and enjoy yourself."
"Fine." Troy kissed her forehead once, "I love you."
"I love you too" Gabriella murmured.
"See you soon."
Gabriella nodded before she shut the door behind Troy. She locked the door behind him, in preparation for the night. Walking into the kitchen Gabriella started cleaning up the dishes that had been dirtied that day. She hummed quietly to herself as she washed some plates from dinner.
A few minutes later there was a knock on the door. She rolled her eyes, figuring it was Troy. Part of her was annoyed that he'd come back after she'd told him to go to the party, but more of her and happy he'd come back. She hadn't wanted him to go, but she knew that he would be missing out if he didn't go.
She unlocked the door and pulled it open,
"Troy, I told you not to-" Gabriella stopped mid sentence, fear filling her eyes. Her heart stopped. She couldn't breathe. She couldn't move. She couldn't say anything. She didn't know what to do. She was paralyzed.
"Hello Gabriella."
It was definitely not Troy at the door.
A/N: Now there's a cliffhanger for you. I hope you enjoyed it despite the fact that I have a feeling most of you are going to want to kill me. Thanks for reading! Please review!