la maniera de l'amo
Chapter One
Disclaimer: Disney owns all characters associated with High School Musical franchise. All original characters are mine.
New Story!!!! I decided that maybe a new story and catchy title would interest new readers. Thanks my old ones who I know I'm going to see reviews from!!!! Let me know if you like it so far. I'm hoping to update tomorrow!!! Nuts, right? Back to school craziness, but I love the upcoming chapter.
Warning: This story will be heavy. I don't know if it will quite make you cry, but it is heavy
Enjoy!!!
"Ow! Don't tug so hard next time, please," Gabriella asked her roommate, Clare, as she braided her hair. "I really like my length, thank you."
"You'll also love the curls," Clare retorted, giving the next lock she was french braiding an extra tug for emphasis. "Troy'll go nuts."
Gabriella sighed.
"I doubt Troy will notice my hair anyway," she said somewhat sadly. "It's been a hard day. Plus, my hair is wavy anyhow."
"Now it will curl," Clare said in response to her roommate's second comment. In reference to the first, she asked in a softer tone, "He went to visit his sister, right? The one who went into the hospital?"
Gabriella nodded and Clare patted her shoulder.
"It'll be alright," she comforted. "The Redhawks game is coming up. You said your friend is on the team. Chad, am I right?"
Gabriella nodded. Over the past two months, she and Clare had grown extremely close. Gabriella had even introduced her to Taylor when she had come to visit, the two hitting off. Clare had become her Taylor on the West Coast, her confident. She knew all about the East High years, her friends, and Gabriella in turn learned of her years on the reservation and her relationship with Adrian. Clare was also the only one at Stanford who knew Troy was a Bear, a fact Gabriella was keen on keeping quiet as long as possible. The boys in her dorm liked her boyfriend; she didn't want to ruin that over some silly school prejudice.
"He'll like seeing Chad again," she agreed. "The holidays are going to be rough this year, with his first audition at school and his sister and all."
"When did she go in?" Clare asked. "If you don't mind telling. I don't want to bombard you. Feel free to keep anything to yourself you're uncomfortable with sharing."
"No, I trust you," Gabriella said, patting her friend's knee before returning her fingers to he keyboard of her laptop. "Julie went in about two weeks ago; she didn't want to see Troy but her therapist or doctor insisted."
"It sounds intense, the program she's in," Clare commented, tying off one of the braids. "Scary intense."
"She's sick," Gabriella said with a shrug. "She collapsed during a dance class; a friend had to drive her to the ER. I can't imagine how traumatizing that must have been."
"A friend?"
"More boyfriend, from what I gather. Her heart had stopped. She was in the hospital near home for a few days before a psych consult advised more intense treatment, leading to UCLA."
"And you might be going to see her tomorrow?" Clare asked. "Is that why you're rushing to finish an report that's due in a week?"
"Partially," Gabriella agreed with a small laugh. "I do want to get ahead on assignments, though. It's just what I do."
"Not me," Clare said. Her roommate was studying education and often was finishing homework in the wee hours of the morning. It amused Gabriella, even if it caused her to lose sleep.
"Troy is going to crash here," Gabriella reminded. "Is that still okay with you?"
"For not even knowing the guy for more than two, three, months, I've seen more of him than some of your closest friends, probably," Clare mused. She and Adrian had interrupted the couple many a time since the first time. Troy had dubbed her the 'new Danforth.' "Of course I'm cool with it. I love the boy."
"Good to know," Gabriella said with a laugh. "You done yet?"
"Yes!" Clare proclaimed, tying the second braid off. The swung from Gabriella's head, nearly down to her waist. Her hair had grown long since arriving in California. "I love the shirt, by the way."
Gabriella looked down and blushed; she was wearing a the t-shirt Troy had given her, a navy blue one with UC Berkley, a small bear emblem, and his new number, 65. It was an extra large, swimming on her, so she slept in it.
The sound of breaking glass came from outside the door, but Gabriella and Clare didn't even flinch. They were used to the sound by now.
"Friday night keg parties," Clare mused, stretching her long frame out on her bed. "Got to love them."
"Usually you're out there getting wasted with the rest of them," Gabriella reminded in a teasing tone. "If I remember a particular game of strip poker.."
"That you played!" Clare shot back. "You and Troy were just as bad."
"That was a one-shot night," Gabriella retorted. "You make it a weekly occurrence."
"I'd like to actually remember the sex tonight," Clare explained with no shame. She was very open about her sex life, a trait Gabriella still was growing used to. "Plus, a certain roomy of mine needed some girl time."
"Alright, I'll give you that," Gabriella agreed, closing her laptop with a snap. "I did need tonight."
Clare opened her mouth to reply, but the door to their room swung open with a bang, revealing Adrian and his blond roommate, Tony.
"Hey girls!" he chirped, cup in hand, clearly still his first cup, as indicated by the still understood speech. Tony, on the other hand, looked a little worse for wear.
Gabriella made a dive for her quilt, knowing she was stupid for wanting to cover a shirt, but she wanted terribly to avoid the question that Adrian asked next.
"Hey, Gab, what's on your shirt?" he questioned.
"Nothing?" she tried to lie pathetically. "Can we close the door?"
"Why?" Tony managed a coherent sentence.
"She's not wearing pants," Clare barked flatly. "Really, Adrian, not tonight. She's going through a bit of a rough time."
"I'll say," Adrian agreed. "The shirt's not helping, either. Hey, Mullen, get in here!"
Gabriella groaned, looking to Clare for reassurance. This is what she had been fearing.
The tall, dark form of BJ Mullen, captain of the Cardinals basketball, appeared in the doorway, flanked by to other boys who played forward on the Stanford basketball team.
"What's up, Adcox?" Mullen greeted, the boys exchanged a handshake.
"Take a look at the shirt," Adrian said, waving a hand in Gabriella's direction. BJ lived in the dorm room next to Adrian and Tony, but having not played the Bears yet, he hadn't put two and two together and figured out who Troy was. That little tidbit of information was now going to be revealed, it seemed.
BJ took in Gabriella, his friend whistling lowly. Gabriella rolled her eyes. She was more confident with herself ever since she and Troy had taken their relationship to the next level, but not so far confident as to mind when other boys appreciated the sight of her pant-less. Unless she was drunk and had no memory of the experience.
"Is that...a Bear on your shirt?" he asked slowly. "A Berkley Bear? You do know where you go to school, right?"
Gabriella nodded.
"Yes, sorry if I've broken some unspoken code of loyalty," she snapped. "Can you guys just leave me alone, please?"
"Not until the origin of the offending shirt is found," BJ said, advancing. "It's confusing to-"
"It's mine."
All heads turned quickly to a voice in the hallway, the speaker coming into view. Seeing Troy in his current state made Gabriella's heart ache, pumping painfully in her chest. She pushed her way through the jumble at her doorway and threw her arms around him, her shirt riding up, but she didn't care. The tired, sad, and empty look on her love's face scared her.
"Are you okay?" she whispered as Troy's hug tightened. She stood on her toes, touching his cheek lightly. "Baby?"
"In a minute," he promised, looking over her shoulder at the growing crowd.
"It's mine," he repeated. "Troy Bolton, guard, UC Berkley Bears. Please leave my girl alone, if it's not to much of a problem."
Adrian and BJ stared at him dumbfounded before Adrian recovered with, "Dude, you're a Bear? Dating a Cardinal? Do you have a death wish?"
"Adrian!" Clare's stern shrill came from the room, the tall girl appearing in view. "Who cares where they go to school? They give a fuck about each other and that's all that matters. You all were even beginning to become friends with Troy and if that's going to change of a mascot, you're all bigger asses than I thought." She shot a glare at her boyfriend. "Now come. Leave the two alone and get me drunk. Who wants to see my new undies?"
Immediately, the boys followed Clare down the hall, Gabriella shooting her a thanking look. Clare waved a hand, dismissing it as no big deal. Gabriella nodded and pulled Troy into her dorm room, clicking the lock as she knew Clare would crash in Adrian's room.
"Troy," she said, pulling her boyfriend's coat off of his shoulders when he made no attempt to. "Come on. Get in bed. We'll talk trying to fall asleep, okay? You've had a long day."
Troy nodded and pulled his t-shirt over his head, his jeans off of his legs, Gabriella silently gasping at how hot he looked in his boxers before he picked her up bridal style and placed her carefully on top of her quilt, spreading a hand over the face of the Bear as he did so.
"I always loved seeing you in my gear," he said with a smile as Gabriella pulled the quilt over the two, settling her head on his chest. He supported his head with a hand, offering her the pillow, which she defiantly denied. "You look so sexy in it."
"I'm glad I made you smile," she said softly, turning her body over so to allow her chin to rest on his stomach. "I was worried I wouldn't see one tonight."
Troy put a hand on the small of her back and closed his eyes for a moment.
"You have no idea how hard today was," he said quietly. "Well, you might, but I definitly had no idea of what to expect."
"What happened?" Gabriella asked.
"Not only was I there for visiting hours, but I had to sit in on a therapy session. Apparently her shrink thinks we have some issues to work though," Troy told her.
"And how did that go?"
Troy shook his head. "Awful. She wouldn't talk, just sat there, her arms crossed."
Gabriella pulled herself onto her forearms.
"Is that all that shook you up?" Gabriella asked. "If it is, okay. But you look scared, almost."
"She's skeletical," Troy nearly whispered. "Hooked up to an IV. It's disturbing, seeing my baby sister like that."
Gabriella laced her hand through his and rubbed circles on the pad of his palm soothingly.
"We don't have to go tomorrow," she said earnestly. "Really. If Julie's in no state to see me and you'd rather not go, I respect that. I don't want to intrude, Troy. I'm sure her family should be with her first."
Troy put a hand to her cheek and drew circles with the pad of his thumb, putting the other arm behind his head to support his neck and he looked at her.
"I want you to come with me," he said. "You're support for me and honestly, you are family at this point. If I have my way, Julie will be around you the rest of her life."
Gabriella bit her lip and blushed slightly.
"You've had your way with me on many occasions," Gabriella teased. "I don't see why your new way should be any different."
A low mumur came from the back of Troy's thought as she rolled her over and hovered about her.
"You cannot say that kind of thing," he growled before lowering himself down to kiss her. "I'm upset about my sister and now you've got me horny. Evil temptress, Montez."
"Hm, sorry," Gabriella mumbled against his lips as Troy rolled back onto his back. "I do feel awful when I seduce you."
"So you meant to do it?" Troy asked, pulling away. "I'm emotionally unstable and you totally just planned that."
Gabriella shrieked in disbelief.
"I did not!" she defended. "I would never! I know what is going on for you right now. What I meant by the statement was that I hoped to stay with you as well. You're the one who took it in a sexual way."
"Do you mind that I did?"
"Cocky!"
"Well, do you?"
Gabriella responded with a zealous kiss that pulled another moan from Troy. The continued to kiss a flurry of passion, Gabriella's shirt riding up to expose her stomach as Troy moved to her neck.
"Troy," Gabriella warned. "Don't turn your feelings into a sex drive. Talk if you need to. I am good for more than a screw toy."
"You're not a screw toy. Don't call yourself that," Troy instructed. "And really, what I want right now is you. All of you. Tomorrow you're going to be there for me, supporting me, making sure I don't strangle my sister. You'll take care of me. I want to take care of you."
Gabriella rolled her eyes, but visions of what Troy could be doing at the moment were always on the edge of her thoughts.
"Well, if that's what'll make you feel better..."
R&R!