(A/N: This was what my two dreams were circled around. This chapter is what I actually dreamed. I guess you guys could have actually predicted this one, because its so obvious... xD)
Two weeks passed slowly.
Her normal light olive skin hid behind yellow, purple, black, and blue. She gobbed makeup on to cover her black eye. She hid herself in dark jeans and a dark sweatshirt.
Her dad never did that too her before. He hung the belt as a sign of peace in the house, because that belt was the one his father used to beat him as a child.
But never, never did she think he would use it to hit her.
Not in a million years.
But the worst part was that something had went drastically wrong...
She walked into Spanish.
Troy sat across the room in his usual spot, not being able to stop staring at her.
He could see the purple and yellow bruisesspeckling her hand.
"Get a partner, and work on page 308." The teacher said, retreating to her desk.
Automatically, she was tapped on the shoulder by Troy.
"Partners?"
Hesitation built inside her.
"I need to talk to you." He sighed.
She looked up at him with an innocent, helpless, look on her face.
"Alright." She said in such a small voice that it was almost a whisper.
She picked her book up and moved to the back of the classroom, where her and Troy sat.
Silence fell upon their bodies.
Troy's hand slithered over to hers, and he entwined his fingers with hers. She half looked over at him, and then looked back down at the desk.
"Are you okay?" He whispered.
For a moment, she hesitated to tell him.
She didn't want to tell him about how her father beat her two weeks ago, and her bruises were starting to rise to her skin.
"No." Tears fell off her cheeks as her voice crackled, and her voice was beginning to become quieter. "I'm not okay, Troy."
He was behind her, diagonally across. He could see a bruise on the back of her neck. "How long has it been since we last had sex?"
She looked over at their hands. "Two weeks."
He sighed.
Then, the ultimate question was asked.
Securely, he gripped her hand in his, reassuring her as he asked. He didn't want to make her uncomfortable. It was already a bad enough situation.
He looked at the back of her head. "Are you pregnant?"
She bit her lip, holding in a huge sob, and hiccupped once. Her body felt like it was going to shut down, but her mind kept racing.
With pain searing up her spin, she turned her head to look into his eyes. A sea of blue looked directly back at her, knowing the answer, but wanted her to confirm it.
Slowly, she nodded her head.
He rubbed his forehead and stared at the ground, loosening his grip on her hand. He let out a large sigh.
"What are we going to do?" Tears fell off her cheeks.
He rubbed his face a little more and then looked back up at her, gathering his wits together. "Honestly, I don't know... We'll figure this out, though, okay?"
She didn't know how to answer that one.
"I'm such a slut... " She shook her head at herself. "No wonder I'm covered in bruises... "
"You're not a slut, Gabriella." He denied her words and kissed her hand. "You just need someone to love, and someone to love you... "
She couldn't hold her tears back any longers. They began pouring down her face. Troy stood from his seat and walked to her side of the desk, grabbing her up in his arms. She allowed this, finding this to be a little soothing to her aching heart.
"Is she okay?" The teacher looked over at Gabriella.
Troy looked at the rest of the class, all who were staring at them. "Do you mind if I take her outside for a couple minutes to help her gather herself?"
"No, not at all." The teacher opened the door for them as Troy picked her up. She wrapped her arms and legs around him, nuzzling her head into his shoulder.
A freshman stood up. "Hey, Troy, I thought you were dating Ally!" He cracked a grin out of the corner of his mouth.
Troy half turned around, still facing the door. He looked over at the trouble-making freshman. "I was, until I came to this class."
"What do you mean?"
The entire class became silent.
"You aren't dating Gabriella Montez, are you?" One of the freshman girls raised an eyebrow at him.
Gabriella knew exactly what that sentence translated in to.
"You aren't dating that nerdy, ugly, bitchy girl Gabriella, are you?"
Ally's best friend stood up. "He's lying! There's no way that he's dating Gabriella! He loves Ally! Don't you, Troy? Put Gabriella down! You're confusing everyone! You love Ally!"
With pressure surfacing, he turned to the entire class. "I don't know if I can date Ally anymore. I've got another problem at hand."
As he was about to walk out of the class, he turned back around again and faced Ally's best friend. "You can tell Ally that we're over."
He sat her down at a lunch table, sitting beside her as she cried into his arms, feeling her strength as a person fly out the door.
She never acknowledged her strength as a person. She regretted not doing that, because all of it just flew out the door.
And took the other tiny pieces of her broken heart with it.
Troy rubbed her back a little and rested his head on her shoulder. She winced and pulled back.
"Oh, I'm sorry... " He sighed and withdrew his head away from her body. "Your dad should have never did that, no matter how bad the situation was... "
She couldn't help but cry, because all the pain in her life was at its climax. She was beaten by her father, started having sex with someone she met not even two months ago, got pregnant, and now is so heartbroken that she doesn't know what to do with herself.
She wanted her life to end so, so badly...
To just get it over with...
As she started to calm down a little, Troy pulled away and cupped her cheeks in his hands. "You alright?" He caressed her cheek with the tip of his thumb, looking into her eyes.
She shook her head, more tears still pouring from her chocolate eyes.
"I'll get you through this, alright?"
She shivered a little, hesitation building. Without another word, she nodded her head.
He gave her a reassuring smile.
How could he be smiling when a girl he barely knows is pregnant with his child?
Did he plan it?
Gabriella grasped his hand in hers, and rested her head against his chest.
"This is so ridiculous... " Gabriella sighed.
"I should have known better. It's not your fault by any means." He shook his head. "I'm a senior. I've been exposed to this stuff for longer than you have. I should have known to use protection."
"Well, we can't go back now... " She wiped her eyes. "We just have to stick together, hopefully... "
He ran his fingers through his hair. "I don't know how this is going to work out, but I'll make it work. You don't have to worry yourself."
...
As dusk fell beyond the colorful blaze of yellow, green, brown and red leaves and trees, Gabriella listened as her parents fought outside her bedroom about how many bumps (heroine) to buy the next time they went to go get some.
They didn't know about her being pregnant.
They weren't going to find out.
She already had both of her cats in a carrier, ready to looked over at her two beautiful dogs. She bent down and kissed each one of them as they slept peacefully on the floor.
She couldn't do it.
She grabbed two leashes hanging on her door, clipped them on, and both of them jumped to their feet.
She grabbed her suitcase, opened her window and pulled her screen out. She set the dogs outside first, put her suitcase outside, and taped the note to her window. Without another word, she slipped into the night with her dogs and her suitcase, walking along the empty road which was lit by only one flickering streetlight.
A sudden freedom overcame her body. Although she was still just a baby bird, her wings were strong enough, and she had flown away from the jail cell that was her home. The home that she had lived in for 11 years. She would fly away from all the troubles in her life, the troubles that caused her the most heartbreak. Troubles that only held her down from the dreams that she wanted to achieve in life. The only things that ever held her down were her parents and drugs, the fights and the constant rumble of different cars pulling up to her mother and father's house to get drugs, and the lecturing or compromising of her mother and father trying to make a deal on pills, food stamps, or heroine. Now, she was able to go live a life that she never thought she could live. The life that she was meant to live, and the best part of it was that she would never, ever have to deal with the problems that she cried over many times while trying to sleep. She wouldn't lose any sleep over drugs, over her parents, or the problems at home. She was free to do whatever she wanted, when she wanted, and how she wanted. She had the strength to break away from the pain that had been festering inside of her for years.
As she walked down the empty road, her voice, crackling and dry, began to sing one of her favorite songs...
"So don't hold me down 'cause I'm gonna fly and the time has come and I gotta say goodbye to the life that you see me in. Here's where I begin... And I promise myself I ain't nobody's, I just wanna be free. And I promise myself even though it don't always come easy, gonna learn from my pain, never explain, do it my way, that's what I say. Promise myself I'm the only one who will complete me... "
She was free...