Back to the Dream Page
Gabriella looked around at the place she and Troy had ended up hiking to that morning, having planned a real secret getaway where they could picnic and talk in peace. They were now on top of a cliff that overlooked the beauty that was nature down below, making her feel like she and Troy were the only people in the world at that moment. She heard a soft clearing of the throat and turned around smiling at Troy, who was looking up at her from where he was seated on the blanket he had spread out with some sandwiches and fruit. Quickly, she sat down on the blanket and took a bite out of the peanut butter and jelly sandwich he made her and gave him a smile to let him know that she enjoyed it.
The two talked for what seemed like hours before they cleaned up and laid down on the blanket together, resting in each other's arms, sharing some kisses here and there, just enjoying each other's company and the serenity that this spot offered.
"I KNEW IT! GET YOUR HANDS OFF MY GIRL BOLTON!" demanded an angry voice from behind them, causing both Troy and Gabriella to sit up immediately, both spotting Riley, who was now standing right behind where their heads had been laying a second ago. "DID YOU HEAR ME? GET AWAY FROM HER!"
Troy scrambled up and pulled Gabriella with him, pushing her behind him as he squared his shoulders and returned Riley's glare. "Sutton, I don't have to do anything you say. I am my own free person as is Gabriella. She doesn't want to be with you, don't you get it? Please stop embarrassing yourself and walk away now."
"That's it Bolton, you are going down!" screamed Riley before he launched himself towards Troy and tackled him to the ground.
"TROY!" yelled a concerned Gabriella as she watched the two boys wrestle each other, rolling around in the dirt, getting dangerously close to the edge of the cliff. 'Oh my God!'
Gabriella followed their movement as if she could somehow stop this madness but she couldn't think of something fast enough to prevent what happened next.
Riley got in one solid punch into Troy's gut before he pulled himself and the other captain up by the collar so they were standing, face to face, Troy at Riley's mercy. "You really should have stayed away from her like a good Golden Boy would have," sneered Riley right before Troy managed to loosen Riley's grip on him by punching the other guy on the lower part of his neck, effectively hitting Riley's throat. Troy turned around to walk back to Gabriella, who looked so worried, alarmed himself when he saw terror cross Gabriella's face in an instant. He turned back around to see Riley rush towards him with a knife in his hands, which never made contact with its target because Gabriella ran past Troy and pushed Riley, with all her might, causing the West High basketball captain to fall over the cliff. Both Gabriella and Troy ran close to the edge of the cliff to see what happened and saw that Riley's broken body was now lying on the ground, a long distance down, meaning he would never hurt them again.
Gabriella sat up straight in her bed gasping for breath, instantly realizing at once that she was safe, that Troy wasn't in danger, and that she hadn't really pushed Riley off over the cliff. "Drats," murmured Gabriella, immediately placing her right hand over her mouth in shock at hearing herself expressing out loud her wish of seeing another human being harmed. 'That isn't like me at all yet why is the prospect of pushing Riley over a cliff so delightful to me?'
It was lunchtime at East High and as usual, Troy was sitting and eating lunch with Chad, Jason, Zeke, and a few other basketball guys. Despite the season change of games, the basketball team's bond seemed to trump all the other sports' teams when it came to friendships. Troy had just finished his first half of his roast beef sandwich when he felt a buzz from his cell phone in his pocket. He fished it out and flipped it open to see a text from Gabriella that made him half choke on his sandwich before he was able to swallow it.
I pushed Riley over a cliff last night.
'What in the world? She couldn't have, could she?' he wondered, his heart speeding up at the possibility while his curiosity was piqued as to how that would have come about. He received another text and read it, suddenly realizing what was going on.
Too bad it was a dream. Is there something wrong with me when I want to hurt a human being without any guilt?
'Thank God,' thought Troy as he let out a little sigh of relief that Gabriella was fine, that she had just dreamt it.
Only if there's something wrong with me too. I think I can say that I've had violent fantasies of what I could do to him ever since he laid a finger on you but for you, I've behaved in reality.
Troy pushed send and closed his phone only to look up and see three pairs of eyes staring at him. "What?"
"You all right? You got sort of a scared and worried look on your face just a second ago," answered Zeke, concern in his eyes.
"Yeah, everything is fine. I was just shocked at something Brie texted is all, looks like she had a bad dream last night," responded Troy.
"Who is Brie?" questioned Jason, getting a roll of the eyes from Chad and Zeke both.
"Gabriella? Troy's crush?" replied Zeke. "Seriously J, when are you going to catch onto things?"
Troy and Chad both chuckled a little as they saw Zeke's comment didn't faze Jason one bit. "So Troy, is Gabriella cool now or what?" asked Chad.
"I think so," answered Troy before he felt his phone vibrate again. He flipped it open and read the newest text.
And I appreciate that. I can't believe a little Knight girl actually tamed the big bad Wildcat. If only the girls at East knew that my Wildcat has a sweeter purr than a loud roar.
Troy chuckled and sent a message right back, ignoring the fact that Chad was looking right over Troy's shoulder.
I would never call you little, you are too much of a young woman for that title. And this Wildcat can still roar, just chooses not to around his girl. See you tonight at dinner with the fam at your house.
"Dinner at her house with her family I'm guessing? Dude, I think you and I need to talk," said Chad, getting a sneaky suspicion that there was more to this crush than Troy was letting on.
Reluctantly, Troy grabbed the remainder of his lunch and walked out with Chad to a set of benches far away from any other East High student. When they sat, both finished their sandwiches before Troy found himself getting a serious "tell me now" look from his best friend since preschool. "All right, you know I can't stand that look. What do you want to know?" gave in Troy.
"This isn't a crush between you and your Brie anymore is it?" questioned Chad, straight to the point. "When did you two get together?"
Troy let out a sigh. "The night of West's Spring Fling, the same night that Riley laid a hand on her for the first time. We got together that night, as odd as that may seem, but it had been building to that for a long time before she actually allowed us to have a status."
"Status of girlfriend and boyfriend? I can't believe you dude! I'm your best friend and you didn't tell me after a month of being in this serious relationship that you had a girl?" exclaimed Chad before he took a big bite out of his apple. "Dude, what's wrong with you!?"
"Look, I would have told you sooner but I didn't know really how you would take it and things haven't been all that smooth for me and Brie, okay? I wanted to try to work everything out, make sure it was real, and then tell you. I trust you with my life Chad, honest, but the less people knew, the better it was for us. Riley has been a huge threat since before we got together and Brie won't let me lift a finger to set him in his place," explained Troy. "That's why I've been tiptoeing around, so I didn't stir that up and she ended up having a very good sense as to predicting his reaction based on what's happened already, especially earlier this week."
Chad gave Troy a confused look. "What happened earlier this week? Does this have to do with why you were so out of it on Monday?"
Troy nodded his head. "Exactly. Tessa texted me and Taylor to tell us…"
"Hold up! Taylor McKessie? Are you talking about Taylor McKessie knowing about you and your girlfriend and not me?" pushed Chad, unable to believe this.
"Well there is only one Taylor here at East High so yes. Look, please stop getting all offended here Chad. Taylor knows about the relationship because she is super tight with Tessa and Gabriella but those two girls are it. Sarah and Beth, Paul, and especially the rest of my close friends only know that we are really good friends who share chemistry to be more. Yes, I bet a few have guessed already at our change in relationship but no one has it confirmed except those two girls. I'm sorry Chad, all right? Just trust me, I wasn't ready to say anything until now. There has been quite a bit to overcome," said Troy, trying to convey the truth of his words to Chad verbally and through his facial expression.
Chad studied Troy's body language, something he actually had been paying attention for many years in all his scoping out of girls but also general people watching, and realized that Troy was a bit tormented over not having told Chad before now. Chad nodded his head, signaling all was forgotten. "All right, forgiven and forgotten but never again, you hear me Bolton?"
Troy chuckled a little. "All right, agreed, never again. Anyway, long story short, Riley confronted Gabriella over a rumor of the two of us being together and she ended up never confirming it but got assaulted for her efforts. Her friend Paul bailed her out, he was the only one out of the huge crowd watching. How sick is that?"
"Just is par for West High Knights. They look out for their own but when their leader does or says something, his will is golden," responded Chad. "So is she okay now?"
"She's stronger than most girls I know, that much I give her. It also helps that Riley has been suspended from West and there's rumors around West that his parents actually took him to his grandfather's house up in Colorado as a type of rehab or something. I guess he's supposedly doing manual labor on his grandfather's ranch or something. All I care about though is that he is long gone from Albuquerque right now and that his friends haven't stirred any trouble yet. I am worried about her being over there right now without me. I don't know what I would do if something ever happened to her," confessed Troy.
Chad just shook his head at this. "Man, you really do have it bad for her. I'm sure she's aware and appreciates it. If you ever need a backup against Riley or his crew or whatever, you know I'll back you up in an instant, right?"
Troy smiled at his best friend. "I do, that means a lot Chad. Same here for you, I'll always be there to support you."
The two shared a "manly" hug before pulling away quickly, both coughing out of embarrassment, looking around to see if anyone had seen them before they got up and went back into the cafeteria, throwing away their trash.
"You may be embarrassed by showing that little affection between two guys but your little slut of Knight girlfriend is going to be feeling way more than that if I have anything to do with it," murmured Alicia from where she sat behind the planter, only a few feet away from where Chad and Troy had been sitting on the bench a few moments earlier. She had started to sit there randomly at times ever since Troy very publicly shunned her all those weeks ago when Alicia wanted to be alone at lunch, away from the eyes of East who looked down at her for losing the Superstar as her boyfriend. "Whether it be physical or emotional, I can promise you Troy that you and your stupid girlfriend aren't going to be the better for it when I'm through with you."
Annette brought out the platter of brownies she had made the night before for dessert and smiled wider as she saw the identical hungry looks on Stephen's and Troy's faces as soon as they saw the brownies get set on the table. 'If only Stephen knew how very similar he really is to Gabriella's boyfriend,' thought Annette before she turned and took the carton of vanilla ice cream from Gabriella. "Vanilla ice cream?"
"Yes please," answered Troy while Stephen got up and offered to scoop it for his wife.
Gabriella smiled at her boyfriend as she took her seat across from him again, smiling a little more as Troy brushed his foot lightly across her ankle as he had been doing through a good portion of dinner. She saw his blue eyes twinkle a little and barely stopped herself from letting out a dreamy sigh, a bad habit she had developed whenever she was around Troy.
Annette caught the wistful look on her daughter's face though as the two teenagers stared at each other and just shook her head. 'Young love. I can only hope that this really lasts for them.'
Stephen wasn't busy enough scooping the ice cream into the four bowls to miss the little exchange either between his daughter and her crush. 'That look between Troy and Gabriella is more than enough to panic any father. I thought I made it clear that Gabriella wasn't to get too serious with him when we got back those few weeks ago.'
Any further thoughts on the matter though were pushed aside as Annette gently elbowed him in the side, letting him know that she could almost read his thoughts and disapproved of his thinking. He sighed and passed her the bowls so his wife could put the brownies in them before she gave them to the two teenagers, breaking that little look they shared as they looked up at Annette and murmured their thanks before Annette took her own bowl and started eating the dessert.
The four talked in between bites as they had during dinner, Annette making sure that she led Troy onto topics that would help Stephen see what his daughter already saw in Troy. 'If I can help by at least getting Stephen to not be dead set against Gabriella's boyfriend, that's a start,' thought Annette as she saw Troy and Stephen start to talk about basketball while Gabriella looked on with an excited look on her face. 'Even Gabriella knows how important tonight is for her and Troy in the eyes of her father.'
When everyone was done, before Annette or Stephen could get up to clear the table, Troy stood up and started to collect the plates, bowls, and glasses. Before Annette could actually protest, Troy shook his head. "I know I'm the guest but it would be my honor if you would allow me to clear the table and wash the dishes. It's the least I could do for such a wonderful tasting meal," said Troy, earning a big smile from Annette while Stephen gave him a nod of approval.
'Ooohhh, brownie points for Troy right there,' thought Gabriella with a grin before she got up herself and followed Troy into the kitchen with her own stack of things to wash.
Troy and Gabriella worked together in washing the pots and pans after they loaded the dishwasher with the dirty plates, bowls, glasses, and utensils from dinner. When Troy handed Gabriella the last pot to dry, he turned his attention to feeling around the sink for the plug to drain the water. After finally pulling it and hearing the loud gurgle of water go down the drain, Troy gave in to the urge and took some of the bubbles and put it right on Gabriella's nose after she had set the pot down on the dish rack.
Gabriella squealed in protest but managed to get a dollop of bubbles from the almost drained sink, which she immediately dumped on top of Troy's head. "Oh, you are so going to get it Brie!"
She giggled before he made an attempt to lunge at her but missed as Gabriella ran out of the kitchen. Troy took off right after her, making sure to turn off the kitchen light on his way, and chased her into the living room where he softly tackled her onto the floor, mercilessly tickling her until she was laughing really hard. He grinned down at her as Gabriella continued to laugh and squirm a little as Troy slowly eased off the tickling and leaned his head closer to hers, first wiping away the remainder of the soap bubbles from her nose. Troy watched as her laughter turned into soft giggles while she gazed back up at him with her brown eyes. Before he even knew it, he finally confessed to her his true feelings, something had been wanting to say for a while now. "I love you Brie," murmured Troy, instantly panicking as he saw the smile falter on Gabriella's face. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said that."
Before Troy could pull back from her like he wanted to, Gabriella reached up a hand and softly took his chin into her grasp and made him look back at her. "Don't be," whispered Gabriella. "I love you too Troy."
Both felt their hearts flutter at this exchange, words that neither of them ever thought they would find the guts to actually say to each other yet were there for anyone to hear and see by just looking at them. Troy leaned down and angled his head so that he was softly kissing Gabriella's lips, avoiding the tender part where she still had a cut from earlier in the week, deepening it for only a moment before he pulled away, knowing somewhere in the back of his mind that her parents could walk in at any moment. After getting up himself, Troy extended a hand down to help Gabriella up before they moved over to the couch where they both laid down in such a manner that they were cuddled together with their arms wrapped around each other and were still able to look each other in the eyes.
"I know we've talked about love between us before but those three words, they mean just so much being said like that huh?" stated Troy, running his fingers through some of Gabriella's dark brown locks.
"They do mean a lot but they mean that much more coming from you Troy. I really do feel so lucky to have you in my life, especially now," answered Gabriella. "Troy, you mean so much to me already, I'm actually kind of scared what will happen to these feelings a month from now or a year from now or even more. These feelings are so powerful that I can't imagine feeling anything more yet I know that I will."
"As I will for you. Nothing is ever going to change that Brie, nothing," promised Troy as he leaned his head towards hers for another kiss, this time letting himself linger for a few moments longer, memorizing the feel of her body against his, his lips on hers, and the genuine loving emotions the two shared at that very moment for each other.