CHAPTER 10: WHO'S YA DADDY?

"This is lovely Gabs, which shop did you get it from?" Zeke asked, his mouth filled with half chewed crab Rangoon.

"The shop down the road, y'know, the red and yellow one..." Tony answered for her, his own food half eaten in his mouth, viewable to everyone on the table.

Sharpay groaned slightly, "Oh Tone, that's horrible," she said, scrunching her nose up in a disgusted manner before allowing the awaiting silence to overcome the table.

"So," Alicia began, "Are you single, Gab?" she asked a minute later, general curiosity etched across her perfect, model-like face.

The comment itself made everyone's head rise, all of their eyes fixated upon the brunette who sat near her son, feeding him small kid-sized forkfuls of chow mein.

Gabriella's gaze rose and scanned across the eyes of her guest before landing on the bright blue pair, the bright blue pair that she could remember staring into ten years prior to the dinner they currently sat at.

Clearing her throat uncomfortably, she quietly whispered her answer, "Umm, no, no I'm not."

"Wh-" Troy started before being interrupted by his ever-so-lovely partner.

"So, is he your son's father?"

In the movies, there is sometimes a moment of silence in which nothing is heard but the sound of the wind. Not even the sound of breathing or slight movement, just wind. And at that precise moment, that silence is what had overcome the Montez dining room.

No one's facial expression was the same except Gabriella and Tony's, which were looks of nervousness and embarrassment. Troy's facial expression, however, was one of hardness and rage and... Upset.

Gabriella cleared her throat slightly, "Um, no, Sam is another man's child. But my boyfriend, Mark, is a good man to him."

And in the moment Troy couldn't help himself, "Do you know who his father is?"

His voice was cold, and it was a tone of voice Gabriella had only heard once in a blue moon, "Yes." She answered him simply. No other words needed to be said as Alicia looked weirdly at her boyfriend for a moment, before allowing her concentration to wonder back to the brunette, mother of one.

"Would you mind telling us, I mean, you don't have to, but it'd be great to know..." Alicia wondered nudging Troy as if to get him to agree with her.

Did he want to know though? Heck yeah he did.

"Yeah, great to know. I mean, it's all part of building a friendship." He echoed.

They had her cornered, guilting her into releasing the truth she had hidden for five years.

"I'd rather not say."

"C'mon Gabriella..." Troy urged, "It's not like it's anyone in the room!" he said, his voice rising.

This triggered something in Chad, "Drop it Bolton, she said she doesn't want you to know." And with that said, he stood up from his seat and walked over to his friend, "I think it's time for you to leave," he hissed at his best friend.

Troy was confused, why the hell was Chad angry? He hadn't done anything. But silently he stood, gesturing for his girlfriend to follow and walked towards the exit of the room, before turning his head in Gabriella's direction, "Thanks for the dinner Gabi, it was lovely. G'night everyone," he said looking at everyone else who had been sitting and eating quietly, and then looking at the little boy next to his ex-girlfriend, "Bye Buddy, I'll see you soon... Hopefully."

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"Chad, what was that?!" Taylor asked as the couple walked into the bungalow they shared.

Chad shook his head, almost disappointed in himself, "He was pissing me off Tay."

"Hun..."

Chad shook his head, cutting off his wife's sentence. "No Tay, I love him like my own flesh and blood, but that girl's like my sisters as well, if he hadn't just left her for a reason like that, then maybe he'd know who the father was! He shouldn't have left her Tay, it was his fault."

Sitting down on a nearby wooden chair in the sitting room, he continued, "They were meant to be together forever, out of all of us, they were the ones that we voted would last the longest, and then they broke up, because of one stupid reason!"

Taylor shook her head, her eyes starting to fill with tears at the memories Chad had brought up.

"Chad, Troy had his reasons, I'm just glad he didn't find out who Sam's dad is, that would've been a disaster."

"World War Three would've broken out!" Chad chuckled, a slight smile grazing his lips.

"But Tony would've tried to stand up for Brie, he's a good guy all in all, stupid, but a good guy."

Grabbing his wife by her hips, Chad pulled Taylor into his lap, "I'm a good guy too?"

Taylor nodded, "Yeah, you are."

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"Heads, shoulders, knees and toes, knees and toes,

Heads, shoulders, knees and toes, knees and toes,

And eyes and ears and mouth and nose,

Heads, shoulders, knees and toes, knees and toes!" Gabriella finishes before tackling her standing son to the play mat she sat on, on her knees, tickling him mercilessly as his toddler-laugh filled the almost silent room. In the corner of the room, a green eyed man sat in an armchair, eyeing the toddler with curiosity.

"You should tell him?" he murmured, loud enough for the only female in the room to hear.

"Tell who what?" she asked, her tickling coming to a halt as she sat her only child on her lap.

"Troy, about Samuel's father."

"You know I can't do that Tony, for reasons that you should understand and respect."

Tony sighed and stood up, making his way towards the mother-son duo, "It'll be lifting a huge weigh off your shoulders, you're a school teacher who's on stress leave, the sooner you get this off your shoulders, and the sooner you can get back to your life."

"I can't tell him." She said, "He's going to be so damn disappointed in me Tone. I'm a people pleaser, okay? I don't like letting people down."

Tony growled, "If that's what you think Gabs, then I hate to break it to you, you let him down ages ago!"

And due to the sudden increase of loudness, the small boy in Gabriella's arms looked up at his mother, before getting up and running to his room.

"Thank you for scaring my son..."

"You can tell him Gabs, have faith in yourself, tell him I'm Sam's father." And with that Tony James, left the room, shouting a "See ya later Sammy!" to the young boy in his room.

LONG, BUT IMPORTANT, AN:

A) I haven't updated in nearly 2 months, and I'm sorry. My friend's Mom died little over a month ago and yah.

B) I love you all, I find it shameful that the last chapter I posted I was telling y'all to read LOVe... And now my girl Ang is on chapter 11 of I Love You More... :/

C) I LOVE ALL OF YOU READING FOR STICKING WITH MEH! I also love Zac Efron... But y'know.

D) AND, BIGGEST NEWS! SAM'S FATHER IS FUCKIN FINALLY REVEALED.

E) Quick shout-out to Hudgens no1 fan for her review, wish you had an account so I could PM you my thanks, I'll try and tone it down... If ya know what I mean.

Last but not least, F) Next update should come before New Years, so belated HAPPY THANKSGIVING, and an early MERRY CHRISTMAS.

-A

ps: I'm thinking of changing my penname, and suggestions.