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Before the Sadie Hawkin's dance at the East High gym, the gang gathered at the Bolton household to hang out and have a potluck dinner, mostly provided by Zeke and Gabriella. Everyone had arrived and were sitting around the living room as Mrs. Bolton helped Zeke warm up some of his food.
Taylor looked at Gabriella excitedly. "Did you bring it?" asked an anxious Taylor.
Gabriella nodded her head. "Ready?"
Ms. Montez just pulled into the driveway from taking Gabriella to the doctor's office to have her cast removed when she jumped out of the not fully stopped car. Gabriella had been on pins and needles because it was now the season to find out what schools were going to accept students and which schools would either waitlist or deny a student's application. She rushed to the mailbox and picked up the mail, shuffling through. "OH MY GOD!' exclaimed Gabriella as she saw a large envelope from MIT.
Immediately, Gabriella pulled her cell phone out of her bag and called Taylor, entering her house as she waited for her best friend to pick it up, with Ms. Montez sitting at the table watching her nervous yet excited daughter.
"Did you check your mail?" asked Gabriella, not bothering to greet Taylor.
"No, why?" questioned Taylor.
"How could you not? Go do it, now!" demanded Gabriella as she put the rest of the mail on the table for her mom to go through. She started tapping her foot while she flexed her left arm, getting used to it being free.
"Got it," puffed Taylor as she came back to her house. "The big envelope with MIT on it? Is that what you are talking about?"
"Yup! Truth time, Tay," remarked Gabriella. "I'm a little nervous though."
"So am I," acknowledged Taylor. "I also have one from Dartmouth. Do you want to maybe open them together at the pre-dance dinner? For support?"
"Yeah, that sounds like a great idea," agreed Gabriella. "I'm going to head over there in like twenty to thirty minutes, I want to wash my arm a little bit, been a while."
"Eww," joked Taylor. "That's right, you got the cast off. Feeling good?"
"Weird but as good as can be expected. I have exercises to do to help me get it more active, and of course, PT is going to work not only on my back but my arm now. I guess you could say I'm getting the whole treatment there soon," sighed Gabriella. "All right, I'll make sure I bring mine and you bring yours, ok?"
"See you there," replied Taylor before she hung up.
Everybody looked at the two girls as they left the room to find some privacy, especially Chad and Troy, who had seen the two envelopes but hadn't had a chance to ask about them.
Gabriella and Taylor went up to Troy's room, Taylor looking around and shaking her head at the basketball theme. "I know, basketball freak," kidded Gabriella with a smile.
Taylor sat down on Troy's desk chair while Gabriella sat down on his bed. "On the count of three, ready?"
Taylor nodded as she made sure she had the MIT envelope in her hands. "One, two, three!"
Both girls ripped into the envelopes and squealed as they read that they both got in. It got even better for Gabriella as she read on and screamed again. Troy and Chad heard the screams from downstairs and dashed upstairs to find out what happened.
"What's wrong?" asked a concerned Troy as he found the two girls in the room but knew from the smiles on their faces it was something good they screamed about.
Chad joined Troy in the doorway as the two watched the girls bounce around the room before Taylor realized she had another envelope to open, the one from Dartmouth.
Troy ventured into the room and approached Gabriella, who was jumping around. "Hun, what's the good news?"
Gabriella stopped jumping and outright grinned at Troy. "I GOT IN! I GOT IN! I GOT IN!" screamed Gabriella before she jumped into his arms and kissed Troy soundly.
Troy kissed her back but then pulled away. "To where?" he asked in confusion.
"MIT! And I got a scholarship! How amazing is that?" declared Gabriella before she jumped around some more in her continued excitement.
"Wow, you got in and a scholarship? Gabriella, that's amazing!" exclaimed Troy, who swept his girlfriend up in a huge hug and an even bigger kiss. "That's so definitely great news! Have you called your mom?"
"OH MY GOSH, I forgot! Troy, can I use your phone?"
"Sure," he said as he handed it over.
"Mom, guess what, I GOT INTO MIT! AND, IT GETS EVEN BETTER! ON A SCHOLARSHIP!!!!!"
Troy laughed as he heard Ms. Montez scream from the other side of the phone and grinned at Gabriella as he enjoyed the look of pure joy on her face. He took the moment to also look at Chad, who was watching the same thing happen with Taylor. "Taylor got in too?"
"MIT and Dartmouth, partial scholarship to Dartmouth," answered Chad with a grin. "Pair of brainiacs, I swear."
Troy and Chad laughed until Gabriella got off the phone. She ran right over to Taylor and they exchanged huge hugs. "We did it!"
"We sure did," exclaimed Taylor with a grin that matched Gabriella's. "Still more answers to come though."
Gabriella nodded her head and calmed herself down. "That's true. But, the college acceptance letter season has begun officially today!"
Chad rolled his eyes. "You are such a geek," teased Chad.
Gabriella stuck her tongue at him. "Excuse me for caring about my academic career. Aren't you even excited to find out what school you will be playing basketball for?"
"Oh that's right, those letters also talk about the sports scholarships too, huh?" asked Chad.
"I think so," replied Taylor. "Then again, we brainiacs wouldn't really know would we?"
"We'll just have to wait and see, Chad," returned Troy. "Ladies, today represents the achievement of your academic successes so far. Congratulations."
"Thanks," said Taylor before Gabriella felt herself scooped up into Troy's embrace again.
"I really am so happy for you, Gabriella," murmured Troy. "I can see how happy this makes you."
"It does but so do you," returned Gabriella with a smile. "Come on, we better go back downstairs before the gang thinks we ditched them."
Chad made sure to hug Gabriella and Troy hugged Taylor before the two couples walked back downstairs.
"So, what's the good news?" demanded Ryan as he approached Gabriella.
"Yeah, we heard screams, saw the boys rush upstairs, then more screams," added Martha.
"Well, guys and gals, you are looking at two of the most recently accepted students of MIT," announced Troy with a smile. "No decision has been made on either party, but they are excited nonetheless."
"That's amazing!" shouted Ryan before he engulfed Gabriella into a hug.
"Oh, and Taylor got into Dartmouth too!" added Chad.
The girls were instantly hugged by the entire group as the mood of the party became that much more festive.
It wasn't until later, when the gang finished dinner and he had more time to think about the news more, that Troy realized what this meant. Chad noticed how pale his friend had suddenly gotten and came over to sit next to him with a concerned look. "What's up, man?"
"We both were so excited earlier for Gabriella and Taylor, but did you realize that if they decide on MIT or even Dartmouth for Taylor, that we are going to be hundreds of miles at least, if not thousands of miles away from them? It just hit me, I guess the excitement kind of masked the whole distance factor," explained Troy.
Chad sadly nodded his head. "Yeah, I thought of it earlier, but it's not like they have decided on anything yet. These are just acceptance letters. There are still a lot of schools that they haven't heard from. Well maybe not a lot, but at least the schools we have in common with them. Who knows, maybe they'll choose a school that we will all go to together or something."
"No, I know Gabriella is going to decide on one of the East Coast schools, I can feel it in my gut. Chad, she's just so happy right now, I don't see her turning down the chance of a lifetime for me or for anyone and I wouldn't blame her. It just sucks to know what's coming down the line in the future is all I guess," confessed Troy as he rubbed the back of his neck. "I mean, after all that we have gone through, this school year alone, it's made me realize what a crucial part of my life she is."
"Then don't start to despair now on the maybes of the future and focus on right now. Right now, Gabriella is your girlfriend. Right now, you have an amazing group of friends around you who care about you. Right now, well, right now, you are supposed to be living up senior year with us, not looking into the future, remember?" threw back Chad.
"Yeah, I guess," replied Troy.
Chad shook his head. "No, no you guess. You are going to stay in the moment and be happy and make lasting memories tonight at the dance and for the rest of senior year if I have to whip you every time you look ahead."
"Promise?" teased Troy with a smirk.
"Shut up!" exclaimed Chad, which earned him the attention of everyone else in the room. "Nothing to see here, just Troy being a smartie pants."
"Oh, is that all? You must have rubbed off on him, Chad," stated Zeke with a laugh.
Jason couldn't resist. "Yeah Chad, and in return, Taylor wants to know if you learned any of Troy's romantic ways cause she's tired of her lunkhead's bad poetry!"
"Hey, how do you know about that? Taylor!" exclaimed Chad.
Taylor looked back at him with a defensive look. "I have no idea how he knew about that! I didn't even tell Gabriella about that."
Sounds of laughter filled the room as mostly the guys started laughing at Chad's outing himself as a bad poet. "She's right, Taylor didn't have to say anything. We just knew," teased Zeke with a smile. "It's all right, we know you kick our behinds in baseball."
"You bet!" replied Chad with a serious look before he smiled. "Glad you respect at least that!"
"Sorry to break up the laughs, but we better get changed into the Sadie Hawkin's clothes or shirts or whatever everyone is wearing," said Kelsi as she looked at her watch. "The dance starts in twenty minutes and they close the doors in an hour."
Everyone nodded their heads as they shuffled their separate ways, the girls going into the guest room while the guys went up to Troy's bedroom. The girls exchanged glances at each other to see what they were wearing for the night. Gabriella was wearing the personalized shirt she had made, Taylor a basketball t-shirt for the Lakers, Kelsi a plain white t-shirt with a yellow smiley face, Audrina a Hawaiian shirt, and Martha with a green baby tee. Most of them opted to go with jeans and tennis shoes with a t-shirt while Audrina was the only one with jean shorts.
"Don't ask, Ryan wanted to give it a little kick or something," explained Audrina with a smile. "I tried to get him to do t-shirts and jeans but he insisted on having his own way."
"Hey, it's more original than my plain baby tee that matches close to the color of Zeke, who is wearing a green t-shirt he had in his closest," replied Martha.
Taylor scoffed at this. "I think I have it far worse, I have to wear a BASKETBALL shirt. I think Chad wins for being more basketball obsessed than Troy, despite Troy's bedroom decorations."
Gabriella laughed. "Maybe, but I did pick mine out before I even asked Troy. He could have easily tried getting me to wear a b-ball t-shirt as well, but I prevented it by having these done beforehand."
"Very smart," commented Kelsi with a glint in her eyes. "I should have thought of that, and your shirt is very cute, by the way."
"Well I have to thank the photographer for giving me the picture," remarked Gabriella with a smile at Taylor.
"No thanks needed. I always enjoy seeing you and Troy so happy together," replied Taylor with her own smile.
The five girls left the room and found the guys waiting for them in the living room.
"Always taking forever, girls, I swear it!" exclaimed Chad. "What do you guys do, iron your shirts and gossip at the same time or something?"
"No, we have no need for ironing because we don't throw our shirts carelessly on the ground in our bedrooms unlike guys," retorted Taylor.
Before the discussion could get worse, Coach Bolton came down the stairs with Mrs. Bolton behind him. "Troy, before you guys go, how are you going to get to the dance?"
"Umm, Chad said he would take me and Gabriella so you don't have to drive us, if that's what you are asking," replied Troy.
"Not anymore," stated Jack before he pulled his hand out of his pocket and dangled a key and alarm remote from his right hand. "Your mom and I decided that it was time for you to get back on the road now that your back is much better and everything has been signed off for in regards to your upstairs department by the doctor. Want to take a look?"
Troy's eyes lit up with excitement. "Are you serious? YES!"
Jack led his son out to the garage with Mrs. Bolton, who wrapped an arm around Gabriella's shoulders as they walked together, right behind them. The gang hung back in the living room so that the family could enjoy this moment together, all thanks to the girls holding the guys back.
Once in the garage, Jack flipped the lights on and Troy felt his mouth drop open. "HOW?" he asked in an astonished voice.
"Well, the company that own the flatbed and who employ the crew that didn't tie down the cargo on the back of the flatbed correctly have been in negotiations with our lawyer we hired for you and Gabriella. Ms. Montez has Gabriella's settlement attended to and we have yours. After the medical bills are all paid for, we estimated we had some money left so we put aside half of it towards college and half of it towards this used truck," explained Jack. "Gabriella, I hope I didn't spoil any surprise your mom was intending for you."
Gabriella shook her head. "No, I know about the settlement, I'm just glad it paid for the medical bills. My mom and I talked and the rest is going towards college as well seeing that I don't have a driver's license."
"Yet," murmured Troy with a small smile before he turned back to his new used Tacoma TRD truck in a metallic blue color. "Dad, this is gorgeous!"
"And here you thought you'd be the only thing gorgeous in Troy's eyes," remarked Mrs. Bolton with a smile to Gabriella, who smiled back. "Don't worry, boys and their toys have a deep bond, but you'll always come first in the end."
"I can confirm that for you too," stated Mr. Bolton with a wink. "So Troy, you like it?"
"I love it!" exclaimed Troy. "Are you sure about this though? Shouldn't we save the money to go to college?"
"Well that's why we saved more than half of it for college. We found a good deal on this truck and it is one of the safest in the nation or supposedly according to a lot of reports we read up on. Besides, how are you going to get to school without a car?" asked Jack.
"Fly?" answered Troy weakly as he ran his hand down the hood. "This really is incredible."
"Glad you like it," replied Mrs. Bolton.
Jack handed off the key ring to Troy. "Go ahead and pull it outside of the garage. I'm sure the gang is looking forward to seeing this big mystery."
Troy didn't need to be told twice before he climbed in the truck and pulled it out after the garage door was opened. Gabriella smiled as he climbed back out and jumped into the bed of the truck, looking around at everything. "He seems really happy with it."
"We hope he is. At least you two don't have to rely on us old people to cart you around now," commented Mrs. Bolton as she squeezed Gabriella in a hug before she led her son's girlfriend to inspect the truck.
The rest of the gang came out to check out Troy's new wheels, Jason, Chad, and Zeke running out ahead of the rest. They all agreed, it was a pretty great substitute and yet upgrade from Troy's original truck.
Gabriella and Taylor headed back into the house to grab Gabriella's purse that she left inside while Taylor went to the bathroom quickly. Taylor saw the worried look in Gabriella's eyes though when she came out. "All right, what's wrong now," asked Taylor.
Her best friend looked back at her as she bit her lip. "Nothing," replied Gabriella. "Except that I'm a bit nervous of getting into a truck again."
"Are you afraid that you and Troy are going to get into another accident?" questioned Taylor as she pulled away from the hug she just gave Gabriella.
"Maybe, it's just this feeling in my stomach," returned Gabriella. "I don't want Troy to know because I know the accident wasn't his fault. In fact it could have been a lot worse had he not been such a good defensive driver, but I guess I'm just scared."
"But you've been fine in Chad's car, your mom's van, the Bolton's sedan," reasoned Taylor. "Maybe it's just the fact that it is a truck?"
"I don't know why I'm so worried, it's just this feeling. Probably the memory is still too fresh of the whole ordeal or something," concluded Gabriella. "I'm fine now, really."
Taylor studied her for a moment before she accepted Gabriella's word. "You may be right there, about the memory of the accident still being fresh in your mind and ready to associate itself to any truck ride. If you freak out or anything, you can ride with me and Chad can ride with Troy. I'm sure Chad is dying to get in that new truck anyway."
Gabriella laughed. "I'll keep that in mind, thanks Tay."
When the girls returned outside, they grinned as Chad held open the door for Taylor and Troy stood by the passenger's side of his new truck for Gabriella. Taylor threw Gabriella a look and Gabriella gave her a thumps up sign and a smile before she got herself into the truck with Troy's help.
Troy looked over at Gabriella as she looked around the cab and then out through the front window. "You all right?" asked a concerned Troy.
Gabriella looked back over at him and genuinely smiled as she placed a loving hand on the side of his face. Just by looking into his blue eyes made Gabriella feel that much better about her anxieties already and she knew that was a sign everything was going to be okay. "I'm better than fine, I'm great," she replied before he kissed her softly and shut the door. 'As long as I'm with you.'