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Annette had come home the previous night from work to see her daughter in a very depressed mood. She was naturally concerned for her, especially when Gabriella refused to talk to her or Stephen last night, insisting instead of being locked up in her room with her radio blaring. This morning, Gabriella was not much better, sitting on the other side of the nook table, spinning her milk and cereal around instead of eating it. Annette let out a sigh. "All right Gabriella, speak now or forever hold your peace."
Without even looking at her mother, Gabriella replied, "I'll hold my peace."
Annette rolled her eyes at this. "Not an option, just a figure of speech sweet daughter. So, what happened yesterday that has you this upset, hmm?"
Gabriella stopped playing with her cereal and looked up at her mom, letting her see the tears that were in Gabriella's eyes. "Let's just say these last three weeks have left my life in more of a mess than just moving has done. I know Tessa's upset at me for leaving without a word, along with Beth and Sarah, and to top it off Troy came over yesterday and saw me with Paul and expressed his frustration with my unexplained departure and absence. Mom, he got beat up over me and our relationship and I couldn't even tell him what was going on."
"Oh sweetie," murmured Annette, finally realizing why Gabriella was in her current mood. "How did you leave things with Troy last night?"
"He walked out of the room, telling me to take my time to think and find him when I'm ready," replied Gabriella. "Troy didn't give me the opportunity to even try to really explain things to him but I can't blame him as I didn't even know where to begin. I still can't believe that he put himself in such a risky situation just to find out about me, that kills me even more than anything else could. This is what I was afraid of, that he would get hurt because of me. I don't know if I can do this!"
Tears freely flowed down Gabriella's cheeks now so Annette got up and moved around the table to hold her daughter, letting her cry freely into her shoulder. "Shh, sweetie it's going to be okay. I know you and your father talked about your relationship with Troy. What did he say?"
Gabriella sniffled before she said, "Dad says I have to keep things with Troy very non-committal and that I can't tell him anything about what has been going on. How do I face the guy I care for and lie to him about where I have been these past few weeks and what has been going on?"
"Maybe your dad has it wrong this time," replied Annette, knowing in her heart that lying to Troy and Gabriella's friends would only serve to make Gabriella's life even worse than it already was at this moment. "Let me talk to him about it, okay? Our lives have changed quite a bit in the past few weeks and all I can say is that I admire how much strength you have shown in handling yourself properly and maturely. A lot of other teenage girls I know would have disobeyed her father and would have sulked at not having the ability to talk to her friends and her boyfriend back home."
"Well it didn't help that dear Dad took away my cell phone and banned me from any computers. Mom, I just don't know what to do. I know Troy especially out of everyone is hurting and I don't want to be the cause of that any longer," said Gabriella, letting out a sigh as she pulled back from her mother and wiped her eyes.
"Perhaps you need to take the first step and go talk to Troy," suggested Annette. "You don't have to tell him anything about the last three weeks but be honest about your feelings. See if you can mend this rift in your connection. I'm sure if he is wonderful and is everything you have told me he is, Troy will in time find it in his heart to forgive and understand."
Gabriella nodded her head, knowing her mother was right. With a plan forming in her mind, Gabriella got up from the table, kissed her mother's cheek, and grabbed her backpack to go to school.
Paul was with Gabriella at her locker at the end of the day when Riley chose to make his move again in his little campaign to make Gabriella's life hell. He sauntered over to her locker, completely ignoring the unfamiliar boy at her side, and leaned against the locker next to hers, a smirk on his face. "Well look who is back in school, our dear sweet betraying Gabriella. We all thought Bolton had abducted you and had taken you hostage to reside at East until the idiot stumbled onto our turf in search of his precious girlfriend. I thought you knew better than to cross me for him, I'm disappointed Gabriella."
"Leave me alone Riley," said Gabriella, not even looking at him. "There's nothing going on with me and Troy and I don't appreciate your acts of violence against me or anyone else. Now, if you'll excuse me, Paul and I have somewhere to be."
Before she could leave, Riley grabbed her left wrist while he grabbed her chin and forced Gabriella to look at him. He saw misery in her eyes but was impressed there was no fear. "You don't walk away from me Gabriella, ever, is that clear? And if you and Troy weren't an item, if you weren't at least screwing him, why did he pick you up after the dance the weekend before you left? Why was he here looking for you like a lost puppy?"
"Not that it is any of your business but Troy and I were friends but he isn't talking to me now, all right? You actually stalked me outside of the dance, that's totally unbelievable! I told you I wasn't ready for a relationship," lied Gabriella as she pulled her face out of his grip but was unable to escape the hold on her wrist. "Are you happy now? I'm not your property but I'm no one else's either."
"You shouldn't even lower yourself to be his friend Gabriella," stated Riley. "West High girls in general are too good for the lowlifes at East. You've been a Knight for at least a few months now and you should know that by now. I've had a lot of time to think about how I put you on the shit list at school and I've reconsidered. I'll overlook your behavior at the dance and this stupid friendship you used to have with Bolton if you promise never to see him again and to go out with me this weekend. We are long overdue for a date."
Gabriella glared at Riley, feeling his grip tighten on her wrist again, familiar pain from a few weeks ago returning. "I can't, my parents have me under lock and key. I can't be seen out with anyone."
"Then what are you doing with this dork over here?" asked Riley, motioning with his head at Paul.
"We're at school Riley. Now please, let go of my wrist," said Gabriella, fighting the urge to lash out at the jock.
Riley eyed Gabriella before he shook his head. "No, pay the price first. Give me a kiss and then I'll let you go."
"Riley, please," begged Gabriella, really not in the mood to deal with him right now. She looked over at Paul discreetly and shook her head as she saw movement coming from his direction, which she interpreted as him starting to move in to forcefully separate Riley and Gabriella. As much as she hated Riley touching her, Gabriella knew that she wasn't ready to rock the boat totally with him yet. 'At least not until I figure everything out.'
The moments stretched as Riley and Gabriella continued to stare at each other, neither willing to give way. Riley tightened his grip on her wrist that was still in his hand and smirked when he saw her finally visibly flinch, unable to mask the pain any longer.
"Mr. Sutton, please unhand Miss Montez this instant," requested Principal Martin as he appeared halfway down the hall. Seeing Riley was ignoring him, he put some steel in his voice. "Let her go now Mr. Sutton!"
Unable to ignore the principal now, Riley did what he was told but told Gabriella with his eyes that this was far from over. "See you later Gabriella, and that's a promise."
Gabriella let out a deep sigh as she watched Riley leave, passing the principal without a glance. Her wrist was throbbing and Gabriella knew that she wouldn't be able to keep the pain from showing much longer, forcing herself to drop her arms to her side so no one would suspect.
Principal Martin came approached the two and sadly shook his head. "How long has he been doing this to you?"
"Just once before," relied Gabriella honestly.
The principal turned his attention to the tall red haired student next to Gabriella. "And you didn't step in to help her today?"
Paul shook his head. "She requested I didn't. Although, after seeing what happened today, I am less willing to just stand by now."
"I suggest that you don't but I will not tolerate fighting in my halls either. You two should head home now and Miss Montez, make sure you put some ice on that wrist. It looks like it is throbbing with pain from the discoloration that has already started," said Principal Martin before turning around and heading back to the offices.
Paul and Gabriella left to go to Gabriella's house after that, both unaware that Tessa had witnessed the whole thing and was starting to try to put all the puzzle pieces together as to what was really going on with her best friend.
Gabriella didn't make it to her after school destination for another two hours because of Paul's insistence on taking care of her once again bruised left wrist. 'Why does he have the tendency to go after the same thing to hurt me?' wondered Gabriella before she rang the doorbell to the house she was now standing in front of.
Coach Bolton opened the door and greeted her in a neutral manner, neither smiling or giving her a dirty look. "Gabriella, hello."
"Hi Mr. Bolton. Is Troy home?" asked Gabriella, relieved at the moment that Troy had told her sometime before her disappearance that his dad wasn't one who supported the rivalry but knew the secret nature of their friendship.
Jack hesitated, wondering if he should allow her access to his son's room since he was grounded and had gotten into a fight over her. 'Then again, Troy has been miserable the last twenty-four hours. Maybe she can help.' He nodded his head and opened the door wider to allow Gabriella in. "He's up in his room, second door on your right upstairs."
"Thank you," replied Gabriella in a quiet voice before she steeled her nerves for walking up the stairs and eventually knocking on Troy's closed bedroom door.
"Go away," came Troy's muffled voice through the door. "I told you Dad I don't want to talk!"
Gabriella slowly twisted the knob and entered the room, quickly ducking out of the way as a stuffed basketball sailed towards her and over her head. "Okay, I know you are mad at me but I didn't think you'd ever throw something at me like that," said Gabriella, causing Troy to jerk his head up as he realized it wasn't his dad standing in the doorway.
"Gabriella?" he asked, shocked she was standing there. Troy felt his face flush in embarrassment. "I'm sorry, I didn't know it was you."
"Evidently your dad must be bugging you or something," she replied as she bent down and picked up the stuffed basketball from the hallway. "Can I come in?"
Troy paused for a few moments before he nodded his head. "Sure."
Gabriella entered the room and took a seat at the foot of the bed where Troy was now sitting up against his basketball headboard. She placed the stuffed basketball on the bed next to her before she gathered her courage to look straight into his blue eyes. "Troy, I know you are upset at me, I don't blame you. I know I should have told you before we left and I should have contacted you and the others too while I was gone but I didn't have a choice. As cliché and stupid as this sounds, my hands were really tied these last few weeks. There's too much that I can't tell you but know that if I could have, I would have reached out to you to let you know that I was fine. Everything happened so suddenly the morning after the Spring Fling and I wasn't given that much notice that we would be leaving Albuquerque for some time. I didn't find out until later that afternoon after I talked to you. I truly want to tell you what's been going on but I can't. So why am I here then? To tell you that no matter what you think of me, or however you see us at the moment, I care about you Troy and it hurts me to know that I hurt you so, emotionally and inadvertently physically. Forcing you to go to West and get beat up most likely by Riley and the rest of his bully crew was a consequence I didn't even think about when we left although that has always been a fear of mine. I honestly don't know what I would do if you ever got seriously hurt because of your association with me. Maybe for your health, you should forget about me entirely."
"Brie, no," responded Troy softly before he patted the empty spot on his bed next to him. "Come here."
Gabriella didn't have to be told twice and moved up on the bed to the spot he indicated, promptly tucking her head in the crook of his neck, breathing in his scent that she had missed so much over the last three plus weeks while Troy wrapped his arm around her shoulders, running his hand up and down her upper arm. "I'm truly so, so sorry Troy. Forgive me?"
Troy turned his head to the side and kissed the top of her head. "Of course. Just please, don't do it again. I was worried sick that something happened to you, especially when my calls went straight to your voicemail and then when I found out that you hadn't been to school at all that first week. If it wasn't for Tessa promising to inform me as soon as she saw you or heard from you, I would have been clinically insane. I'm not going to lie, I wish you would tell me where you went and what happened, but I can respect that you need to deal with whatever it is in your own time, you expressed that much last yesterday."
"Wow, my mom was actually really right for once," murmured Gabriella, pulling away so she could look up into his blue eyes that were filled with such genuine care.
"And that would be about what?" questioned Troy.
Gabriella smiled a little, thinking of what she was about to tell him. "She told me that I should be honest with you about my feelings and that if you were the wonderful guy I have painted you to be to her by what I've said that she knew you would understand and forgive me."
He couldn't help but grin at this. "You really talk to your mom about me? About us?"
"Of course, she's my best friend who has been constant throughout all the different moves and she's someone that I know my secrets are safe with," replied Gabriella.
"Well I'd like to be an additional person for you to be able to turn to if you'd let me," said Troy. "So whenever you are ready to talk, let me know. I suspect it involves the sudden appearance of your dad though. Is he back in your life for good?"
"At this point, I think he is," stated Gabriella, thinking about that herself. "Thank you so much for being the wonderful boyfriend you always promised you would be Troy. It means a lot to not have to spend this time fighting with you. I cherish these moments we have together because I know they are too few and far in between for me."
"So do I," murmured Troy before he used his right hand to gently turn her head towards him before he leaned down and softly kissed her, savoring the feeling of their lips touching again.
They continued to share kisses for a while, creating in each other that special feeling they only got when they were together, especially when they were touching. As Troy used both his arms to encircle Gabriella's waist to pull her closer to him, Gabriella wound her own arms around his neck. After a few more minutes, the two pulled away and foolishly grinned at each other, knowing that this was right, the chemistry they had now was beyond deniable. Troy unwrapped his right arm from around her and ran his right hand up and down Gabriella's left arm that was now resting against his chest. He stopped though when he felt her flinch as his hand came in contact with her wrist.
"Brie, what's wrong?" asked Troy, concern filling his voice. "Does your wrist still hurt from that incident all those weeks ago at the Spring Fling?"
Gabriella bit the corner of her lip. "Not exactly."
Troy knew instantly that she was hiding something and he intended on finding out what it was. He took her left hand and laid it on his lap with her palm up and then pushed up the sleeve of her long sleeve t-shirt. She watched his expression as Troy took in the sight of the ace bandage Paul had wrapped around Gabriella's wrist at her house and continued to chew on her lip as he gently started to unwrap it. 'He's going to find out one way or another, maybe it is better that he knows there's still danger.'
Once the bandage was undone, Troy saw there was a rectangle cut piece of gauze on her wrist. He lifted it up and gasped as he saw the discoloration on her wrist, on both sides, through the ointment that was applied. Troy stared at it for a few moments longer and shook his head, feeling anger bubbling inside him. "Sutton did this to you today didn't he?"
Gabriella nervously nodded her head. "Principal Martin interrupted though so it didn't get farther than this, promise."
"Brie, don't you understand? This is far enough!" exclaimed Troy, frustrated that he wasn't able to protect her today when she needed it nor would be he able to while she went to school. "I need to care of that jerk once and for all and that's that!"
"No! Troy, please, fighting him is going to solve nothing, don't you see? He'll only get you in trouble and I don't want you getting hurt, especially to the degree or beyond what happened a few weeks ago while I was gone. I can still see the faint bruises and that means to me that the fight must have been very violent. You have to promise me Troy not to go after Riley and start a fight over this, over me. He's not worth your energy and the amount of trouble you'll get into," pleaded Gabriella. "I let you see the bruising so you knew that there was still trouble with him, to know that we still need to be extra careful about us, not to start a war between you and Riley over me."
"But Gabriella!" started Troy.
"No, promise me Troy, promise me you will not go after him, please! I don't want to have to always worry that something is going to happen to you in a fight especially when I'm not with you," returned Gabriella, desperation clear in her voice.
Troy eyed his girlfriend and realized how very serious she was about this promise and how much it meant to her. With a sigh, he said, "All right, I promise I will not go after Riley Sutton as much as I want to beat his sorry behind for even the mere thought of hurting you let alone actually giving you a bruise. I promise you that I will not start a fight with Riley because I care that much for you Brie to respect your wishes, even though it is killing me."
"Thank you," replied Gabriella, a smile back on her face. "Can you help me bandage this back up? I can't get the ace bandage tight enough around my wrist on my own."
"Sure," responded Troy, placing the gauze back on her wrist and then wrapping the ace bandage around again. "How did you get it so tight before then?"
"I had help. Paul actually did it," admitted Gabriella.
"Wait, Paul witnessed this whole thing and didn't do anything to save you yet was there to bandage you up afterwards? That's unbelievable!" exclaimed Troy. "I know he's a new kid but you would have thought he would have stepped in to help a girl in distress out."
"Shh, calm down Troy. Yes, Paul was there but I told him to keep back. It was my choice because I thought I could handle Riley but I guess I was sort of wrong there," replied Gabriella.
Troy just listened, still annoyed that this supposed new friend of Gabriella's just watched as she got manhandled by Sutton. "You made me promise you something in regards to Riley and now I want you to promise me something Gabriella. If Riley harasses you at all, verbal or, God forbid, physically, I want you to take all the help you can get and to tell me all right? Will you do that for me?"
This time, it was Gabriella's turn to see the seriousness in Troy's eyes as he spoke of his promise he wanted her to make. "All right, if it will make you feel better while we are both at school, I promise that I will never stop anyone from interfering in the Riley confrontations again and I will not hide it from you. I can only hope that he'll back off but my gut tells me that's wishful thinking."
"I hate to agree with your gut instinct but I think it's right, which is why I want to make sure you are with someone at all times. I'd go crazy Gabriella if something happened to you and I wasn't there," confessed Troy. "You mean too much to me already."
Gabriella sweetly smiled back up at him. "That's exactly how I feel about you."
Troy grinned back down at her before bringing her left bandaged wrist up to his lips to place three kisses along the length of the injury. "Have I ever told you Brie how glad I am that Fate brought us together not once but twice in the matter of months?"
"No but I totally agree with you," replied Gabriella before she kissed him soundly, enjoying the feeling of being safe in his arms. She let out a dreamy sigh that caught Troy's attention.
"And what was that little sigh about Miss Montez?" questioned Troy.
"Oh, I was just thinking about how safe I feel being in your arms, being with you. It's a feeling I wish I could bottle up and take with me everywhere," admitted Gabriella with a small blush on her cheeks.
"Well I certainly wouldn't want that. I do want you to feel cared for and protected all the time, don't get me wrong, but if it was bottled I'd never see you again. You wouldn't need me because you would have those feelings in a convenient, portable bottle," responded Troy, brushing back some of Gabriella's dark locks from her face.
"Babe, you can't get rid of me that easily. I'll always come back to you and see you whenever I can. You mean that much to me already," replied Gabriella with another innocent smile.
Gabriella allowed herself to stay for another half an hour before reluctantly leaving the Bolton household, actually getting a smile from Jack as she left once he saw the grin on his son's face again. Troy walked her out to her car, which was parked a block away so it wasn't obvious she was visiting him and kissed her one last time before he closed the driver's door and watched as she drove away.
'God, the amazing things you feel and the things you promise when you really care for someone,' thought Troy before he walked back to his house, thinking of how to restrain himself from going after Riley Sutton for hurting Brie not once but twice in the past month. 'This is going to be the hardest promise ever to keep!'