Here it is guys, the next chapter, enjoy!
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A Place To Escape To
Friday; a day everyone loves, mainly because tomorrow they haven't got to get up early and they can do whatever they want, Troy was no different. He was looking forward to not getting up too early, even though he knew he'd still be woken up early, and being able to spend the whole weekend with Jasmine, something she hadn't let him forget, especially his promise to take her to the zoo.
Because of their promised outing at the weekend, Jasmine had happily run into nursery and had decided to paint Troy a picture of all the animals they'd see at the zoo.
It was because of his daughter's happy mood that Troy's smile hadn't left his face since he'd dropped Jasmine off. His first week at East High had been amazing, he hadn't expected to fit in straight away, but he had and he couldn't be more thankful to Gabriella and the others for accepting him like they had.
Troy's smile had stayed on his even through his first and second period lessons, but they had quickly left when Chad's comment about spending the weekend with Taylor's family, had caused Gabriella to get up and leave their table in the canteen at break time.
Chad had immediately gone after her and apologised, and although she accepted his apology and hug, she still hadn't returned to the table and had told Troy she'd see him in their family living class at the end of break.
Chad had returned to the table feeling bad about upsetting Gabriella and with much persuasion had managed to get Troy to go find her and make sure she was okay, he really didn't want her to be alone right now, even if that's what she wanted.
So, Troy was now entering the library, making his way to the bean bags, where he knew Gabriella would be.
Sure enough, as Troy turned the corner to the bean bags he saw Gabriella curled up on the same bean bag as before, staring out of the window, tears slowly trickling down her face.
"Brie?" Troy tried to get her attention, but she just kept staring out of the window.
"Brie? Is it okay if I sit down?" Troy knew he was being a bit stupid asking if he could sit down, but Gabriella hadn't even turned to look at him today, and he was worried that what Chad had said had affected her more than she had let on.
When Gabriella didn't answer him again, he moved forward and sat down on the floor in front of her, hoping to grab her attention this way.
It worked; she looked him in the eye and saw the worry and concern that was coming from his blue orbs.
As Troy looked back into her brown eyes, he saw hurt and upset coming from them and knew that Chad's comment about families had really gotten to her.
Troy smiled gently at her, as he held open his arms, in the hope she'd accept his offered gesture of comfort.
She did, she moved forward leaning her head against his left shoulder and hesitantly wrapping her arms around his body. She pulled back quickly as she started to feel the tears stinging her eyes again, he didn't need her to cry on him again, he'd offered her that comfort yesterday. Surely he'd just think she was a weak school girl who needed to grow up and accept that adults argue.
She pulled right the way back and curled back into her bean bag, facing away from Troy and staring out of the window, as the unwanted tears started to cloud her vision.
Troy sighed, she was starting to pull away, something he knew wouldn't be good, he just wanted to help her, he didn't like seeing her cry and right now, he'd do pretty much anything to cheer her up.
"Gabriella please turn round." He pleaded, as he sat down on the bean bag next to hers, so that he was now looking at her back. "I just wanna help you, I hate seeing you cry. Chad's really beating himself up about what he said, he just wasn't thinking. He was the one who made me come find you, we all knew you wanted to be alone, but he was really worried, Brie please look at me."
Slowly Gabriella turned round and fell into Troy's awaiting arms, as the tears began to pour from her eyes. He held her close, something he'd done a lot in the last week, but something that neither of them minded, they both rather enjoyed the comfort the hug offered them.
"I'm sorry." Gabriella said a few minutes later, pulling back slightly to wipe away the tears. "It seems all I've done since I met you is cry on you, can't be a good impression to make."
Troy laughed slightly. "Its fine, I'm just glad I could be here to help, especially after only knowing you a week and because you have all your other friends to look after you, I feel privileged."
Now it was Gabriella's turn to laugh. "I'm not sure what to say to that, other than the others don't really know everything about me, they know my parents argue, a lot, but they don't know how much it affects me, it's only really started coming out since you came to East High, you bring out strange feelings in me Troy, but I'm kinda glad you do, I'm not sure how long I'd be able to last without your hugs right now, Mum and Dad's arguing is getting a lot worse."
"Is that why Chad's comment about Taylor's family upset you so much, because your family life isn't exactly great right now?" Troy questioned, pulling Gabriella back against him, wanting to offer her as much comfort as he could, feeling she'd need it.
"Yeah, they're always worse at the weekends. We're together more so there's more for them to argue about, I hate it. I know hate is a strong word, but I really do hate it, it's just horrible to see your parents marriage fall apart around you, I find it really hard to handle, especially when they just start arguing in front of me, just forgetting that I am actually there."
"What do you do? When they argue?"
"Sometimes, if I can't get away, like at dinner or in public I have to stay there and listen. But, if I can get away I go to my room, watch the telly, put on music, do homework, anything to try and block it out. Sometimes, when I know the argument is going to be a long one, I leave and go swimming, sometimes I go to Chad's, but most of the time I go swimming, it's just so peaceful, so different to being at home."
"Gabriella, I wish I could make this go away, but I can't, I can offer you an escape though. Anytime it all gets too much for you, anytime, after school, middle of the night, whenever, call me and I'll come get you to take you away from it. If I don't answer then I'll be at work, so come swimming and ask for me, I'll take my break and we can go somewhere quiet so you can think, or you can come swimming and we'll talk, I don't mind, the choice is completely yours, just please take me up on the offer Gabriella."
"I will, thanks Troy, it means so much that you'd do all that for me, thank you." Gabriella said sincerely, as she looked Troy straight in the eye.
"It's not a problem, I promise, just please don't keep things bottled up, talk to me, or one of the others, just lease talk to someone."
Gabriella nodded silently, as the bell signalling the end of break rang and the pair got up and headed to their family living class, both knowing they'd found a great friend.
TGTGTGTG
"Okay Jazzy, dinner time, what do you want?" Troy asked, as he put down the dolly he was playing with and stood up to make his way to the kitchen.
Jasmine shrugged. "Not hungwy."
"You must be hungry sweetie, come on what do you want." Troy said, as he made his way back over to where Jasmine was playing on the living room floor and knelt down in front of her. "Tell you what, we'll have take out, tell Daddy what you want and he'll order it, then we'll sit on the living room floor and have a picnic, what do you say?"
"Rosie come to picnic?" Jasmine asked, as she cuddled Rosie close to her chest.
"Yes Rosie can come to picnic, but you need to tell Daddy what you want for dinner so we can have a picnic. So, what do you want?"
Jasmine looked thoughtful for a second before answering."Pizza pwease."
"Pizza it is, you can play again now while I phone them up, okay?"
"Okay Daddy." Troy ruffled Jasmine's hair, as he stood up and made his way back to the kitchen where he phone was lying on the counter.
He placed their order and was told it'd be about forty five minutes because they were busy, but any longer than that, then they would take money off of the bill.
As Troy hung up and put his phone back down on the counter to go back and play with Jasmine, it started ringing, he thought it'd be the delivery company wanting to confirm his address, so he completely ignored the caller id, but when he answered he realised it was someone way more important.
"T-troy, is that you?"
"Gabriella? Yes it's me, are you okay? What's wrong?"
"My Mum and Dad, they were arguing really bad, they started throwing things Troy, I was so scared. I told them to stop, they just got angrier with each other, blaming the other for upsetting me, I couldn't take it so I just went to my room, packed a bag and left, they really scared me Troy."
"Gabriella it's gonna be okay, where are you now? What are your parents gonna do when they find out you've gone?"
"They don't care, they're away on work things from tomorrow anyway, they probably think I'm at Chad's or something."
"Okay, but where are you now? I'll come and get you, you can stay at mine, just tell me where you are Brie, please?"
"I'm in the park, opposite the school, I didn't know where else to go, Chad isn't at home, he's with Taylor and her family."
"Okay, just stay where you are and I'll be there in twenty minutes, keep your phone in your pocket in case you need it again, it's gonna be okay Gabriella, I promise."
"Thank you Troy."
"Anytime, I'll see you in twenty." As he hung up Troy knew that tonight would be when Gabriella and Jasmine met, he just hoped Gabriella got on as well with Jasmine, as she did with him.
TGTGTGTG
After running next door and asking Jenni to look after Jasmine for a while, he grabbed his car keys, left Jenni some money for the pizza and then headed out of the door, knowing Gabriella was waiting on him.
Fifteen minutes he pulled his truck into the park's car park and immediately started looking for Gabriella. He ran to the top of a hill, which over looked the entire park, and from there he spotted Gabriella.
She was sat under a tree, her knees pulled to her chest, her bag next to her, as she sat sating off into space.
Troy quickly made his way down the hill, as he headed towards Gabriella. He knew she was scared, so he approached her cautiously, not wanting to scare her more than she already was.
"Gabriella." Troy called her name, as he got closer, pulling her from her daydream back into real life.
"Troy, you came." Gabriella's voice was soft and quiet, and Troy had to strain to her what she was saying.
"Of course I came, I told you I would, so I did, you okay?" Troy asked, as he knelt down in front of her.
"Yeah, I think so, thank you for coming."
"It's okay, how about we head back to mine? I've ordered in pizza, and there's someone there who I want you to meet." Troy said, as he lifted Gabriella's bag onto his shoulder and then pulled Gabriella up.
"I thought you lived by yourself?"
"I lied, I know I shouldn't have, but I did, just come home with me, let me explain and then you can judge me all you want."
"I'd never judge you Troy, you've done too much for me, for me to want to do that." Troy smiled, as he wrapped an arm round Gabriella's shoulders and led her back to his truck, knowing things could be about to get interesting.
TGTGTGTG
They had arrived back to a seemingly empty flat, but when they discovered the pizza boxes on the kitchen counter, they knew there were indeed people here.
Troy had told Gabriella to make herself comfortable in the lounge and that he wouldn't be a minute. She sat on one of the couches, as Jenni came out from another room in the flat, shot her a quick smile, before grabbing her stuff and leaving, Gabriella was now truly confused.
She sat there for a couple of minutes, taking in her surroundings. It was doing this she noticed the children's toys on the floor and packed away neatly in boxes against the wall opposite her, she'd been wracking her mind trying to figure out who Troy lived with and now, all her theories had gone completely out of the window.
It was a few minutes after Jenni left, that Troy appeared from the same part of the flat that Jenni had, the only difference was that Troy wasn't alone.
"Brie, this is who I'd like you to meet, this is my daughter Jasmine."
The apartment was silent for a few minutes while Gabriella took in what Troy had just told her. She watched, as he walked over to where Jasmine had left her toys and knelt down with Jasmine still in his arms as she started to play again. Once she was settled Troy made his way over to where Gabriella was sat and took a seat next to her.
"Troy I really had no idea, I really don't know what to say. A lot of things raced through my mind, but never that you were a Dad."
"It's okay, not many people guess that, it's kinda why I never say anything, that and people look at me differently afterwards."
"I don't wanna impose but, where's her Mum?"
"It's okay, I want you to know. Jessica died giving birth to Jasmine a little over two years ago now. It was a big shock to know I was gonna be a Dad, let alone a single one. My parents and Jessica's they don't wanna have anything to do with us now, Jasmine reminds them to much of their daughter, or in the case of my parents, I'm too much of a disgrace for them to be around. We moved here from West Albuquerque to start a fresh, to get away from everything that happened there, and to hopefully find people who'd except me as a single Dad at seventeen, I understand if you wanna judge me now."
"Troy I told you before I wouldn't judge you and I'm not going to, ,besides, you seem like a great Dad, Jasmine seems happy enough."
"Yeah I hope so, Jessica's parents moved away from Albuquerque and mine disowned me, so I was kinda by myself from day one, I had no one to turn to, I just had to do things and hope I was doing it right. Like you say, Jazzy seems happy enough. You wanna meet her?"
"Yeah, why not?"
"Jazzy sweetie, can you come here a sec please, then we can have our pizza picnic, I Promise."
"Okay Daddy." Jasmine collected Rosie in her arms, before getting up and making her way over to Troy and Gabriella.
Troy had told her there was someone he wanted her to meet and she was okay with that, but it didn't stop her from being a little weary on her approach to this new person.
"Jasmine come on honey, come sit on Daddy's lap and meet his new friend." Troy tried to encourage his daughter, as he held out his arms, ready for her to walk into and be lifted onto his lap.
Jasmine walked the last few steps a little quicker and soon made it to Troy's arms, where she was scooped up and sat comfortably on his lap.
"Jasmine this is my new friend Gabriella, Gabriella this is my two year old daughter Jasmine."
The sat and looked at each other cautiously, neither knowing what to say to this new person in front of them, but Gabriella decided, that being the adult in the situation, she should speak first.
"Hey Jasmine, It's nice to meet you, you're a little cutie, aren't you?"
Jasmine smiled shyly at Gabriella. "Thank you Gabwiella."
Troy smiled at the interaction between his daughter and new friend, he was pleased how well they seemed to be getting on already, but he was pulled from his daydream when Jasmine started poking him in the stomach."
"Jazzy don't do that, it hurts, what's the matter?" Troy asked, as he caught his daughter's poking finger and kept it trapped in his hand.
"Daddy." Jasmine said, as she moved herself so that she was leant right in against Troy. "She's pwetty."
Troy smiled down at his daughter, as he ran a hand through her wispy hair. "I think you're right there Jazzy, she is very pretty."
Troy knew Gabriella had heard everything that had been said between him and his daughter, but he didn't mind, not one little bit.
"Jazzy, before we have our picnic Daddy needs to ask you a question, Gabriella is going to be staying here for the weekend, is that okay with you?"
Jasmine looked thoughtful for a minute, before turning back to Gabriella. "We go to zoo, Gabwi come?"
Troy smiled, as he hugged his daughter close."Yeah sweetie, Gabi can definitely come."
TGTGTGTG
"She is finally asleep." Troy later in the evening, as he plopped down on the couch next to Gabriella.
"I think we may have worn her out." Gabriella said, as she finished running a brush through her hair.
"Ah well, that doesn't matter, 'cause that way I can talk to you without having to play with her at the same time."
"Talk to me about what?" Gabriella knew in her heart Troy would want to have this conversation, she'd just been having so much fun with Jasmine that she hoped he'd forgotten the real reason why she was here.
"You know what Gabriella, what were your parents arguing over that made them want to throw things?"
Gabriella looked down at her feet and started to play with the draw strings on her hoodie, which she'd changed into, along with her PJ's, when Troy had been putting Jasmine to bed.
"Brie please, I just wanna know what was going on that made you want to leave home without your parents knowing and phone me."
"I can't take it anymore, they've gone too far this time and I'm scared. I'm really scared Troy." Gabriella broke, as the words came from her mouth and tears started to fall from her eyes. Tears she'd been doing pretty well at holding in, 'til now.
"Come here." Troy said, as he moved along the couch and pulled Gabriella into his arms. Not caring that she had a death grip on him, he rocked her back and forth to calm her, and although the tears didn't stop, he breathing did come back to normal.
"I-I don't know what they were arguing over, I d-didn't stay round long enough t-to find out. When they started throwing things I left the kitchen, ran to my room, got some stuff together and then left through the front door, they didn't even here me do that. They were that engrossed in arguing with each other, they didn't even notice their own daughter leaving the house with an overnight bag, it just upsets me so much. The worse bit is, they're arguing more now, than they ever have before."
Troy tightened his grip on Gabriella and cuddled her closer. "Thank you for telling me, I really wish there was something I could do, but unfortunately there isn't, I'm sorry. But I can offer you a weekend away from it all, what do you say?"
"Are you sure? I mean Jasmine won't mind will she? It's always been the two of you and then suddenly I'm here, won't she mind?"
"Brie, she loves you, she wants you to come to the zoo with us tomorrow, she's had great fun playing with you tonight, and even if she didn't like it, which she does, she would have to deal with it because I'm in charge round here, and I say she's gonna have to get used to you being here because I really want to get to know you a lot better, especially because you've also excepted Jazzy."
Gabriella lifted her head from Troy's shoulder and gave him a teary smile, as she looked him straight in the eye. "Thank you, thank you so, so much, no one has ever treated me this way before."
"They should've, you're a great person, people must be mad not to want to look after you and get to know you better."
Gabriella snuggled back against Troy, as she let a small yawn escape from her mouth.
"I think we better get you to bed, or to sleep, on the couch because you're too polite to sleep in my bed for the night, while I sleep here, but noooo, couldn't do that, could you?"
"Troy I told you earlier, you've been polite enough to let me stay here for the weekend, the least I can do is let you sleep in your own bed, I'm fine."
"Okay, okay, but you have to let me tuck you in."
Gabriella laughed, as Troy got up from the couch and allowed her to lay down, before grabbing the spare blanket he'd found and gently laying it over the top if her.
"I'm the last room on the right, so if you need anything, and I mean anything, that's where I'll be, okay?"
"Okay, thanks Troy, night."
"Night Brie." Troy said, as he watched Gabriella situate herself comfortably on the couch, before he turned off the light and headed down the corridor to his own room.
TGTGTGTG
Troy didn't usually wake up at two thirty in the morning, but when your daughter is jumping on you, you have no choice at all.
"Jazzy, what are you doing? It's the middle of the night."
"Gabwi awake, come see."
Jasmine pulled on Troy's hadn't, giving him no choice but to follow. Once in the living room area of the flat, they found Gabriella awake, sitting there, staring off into space. Troy walked over to her, took her by the hand and led her back to his bedroom, where Jasmine had run back to when they'd reached Gabriella.
"Don't say anything, just lay down and go back to sleep. You little missy, budge over."
Jasmine moved over to the far side of the bed, allowing Troy to slide into the middle, pulling Gabriella with him. Troy wrapped an arm around each girl, before softly kissing them on their foreheads and allowing them both to head off back to dream land, somewhere he wasn't far behind getting to himself.
TGTGTGTG
There it is guys chapter three, hope you liked it.
Hopefully it'll be set out okay, I'm using my new laptop and I'm not used to the up to date software yet.
PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE REVIEW! THANK YOU!