Chapter One

It was her first break from college, and she was heading back to her hometown to visit her parents, but most importantly her boyfriend from since junior year. The first guy she had kissed, loved, and made love to. And boy did she have the best surprise for him yet! She was coming home from college unexpected. She made sure she kept her body in tip top condition, and she looked good just for him. Little did she know that the surprise was on her. She found his front door unlocked and heard sounds coming from upstairs which had to be his room.

She smiled to herself as she climbed up the stairs knowing that he was going to love his present – HER. Turning the knob she pulled the door back. Her smile immediately faded as she saw the back. The back of the person who she thought was her best friend. And the hand. The hand of her boyfriend exploring her best friend's bare back. Chad's movements stopped completely as he watched his girlfriend disappear from the door. Gabriella then grabbed the sheet and covered herself as Chad quickly slipped on his boxers and ran after Taylor.

"Tay..Tay, baby," Chad said out of breath.

Immediately Taylor pointed her finger at Chad, with tears streaming down her face. "Don't you ever call me that again!!"

"Look Taylor..I'm sorry. I really am. We didn't plan this I swear. Things just happened while you were away. I-I fell in love."

"All this time I thought I was in love." Just then teary-eyed Gabriella came down the stairs with her underwear covered by the bed sheet.

"Tay..."

"Chad, tell your girlfriend not to call me that. That name is for people I trust, and surely you two aren't anywhere close to being on that list now."

"Taylor, I understand that, but you have to believe me. We were going to tell you. We love each other," Gabriella said as she took a step forward.

"Gabriella how could you?? You're suppose to be my best friend, and I'm gonna show you what.." Taylor mumbled the rest as she walked towards Gabriella ready to rip the skin off of her. Just then Chad grabbed her and held her back. "Let go of me Chad! Let go of me!!" she screamed as she struggled to get loose.

"Taylor, please..forgive me, forgive Chad, but we are in love," Gabi said as a new set of tears left her eyes.

Taylor stopped moving and Chad let her go. "What about Troy?" she asked softly. "You know he would die for you. He loves you so much, Gabi..Gabriella."

Gabriella just looked away as Chad moved towards her and rubbed her back. Taylor just shook her head in disbelief at the situation she was in. She then picked up her bag, tightened her coat and walked out of the house. She looked no where else but forward although she could feel the gazes of some of Chad's neighbors who heard the commotion on her.

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Taylor woke up and sighed as she sat up in her bed. It was the middle of the night and it wasn't her first time having dreams like that. The worst part was that they really happened and the pain kept coming back every time. She didn't understand because it happened 7 years ago. But the pain felt like it was put there just yesterday. She sighed again as she walked into the kitchen and turned on the night. She poured herself a glass of water, and leaned on the counter. She quickly swallowed it all, turned off the light, and returned to her room and sat on her bed.

"Another bad dream?" her roommate, Stephanie moaned out, stratling Taylor.

"Yeah," she whispered as she laid back down on her bed.

"Don't worry Tay, everything's gonna be alright," Stephanie said quietly as she changed the position on her bed.

"The worst thing to do is lie, Steph." Taylor then closed her eyes and tried her best to picture flowers. She needed to have a positive mind if she wanted a good dream.

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In a way, it worked, but in a way, it didn't. "I guess no dream at all is better than a bad dream," she thought as yawned and stretched as the bright morning sun peaked through the curtains.

"I smell waffles!!" Taylor yelled as she walked into the little kitchen. "Good mornin'," she said sitting down as one of her most trusted friends put a filled-up plate in front of her.

"Mornin' Tay," Stephanie said as she headed to the other side of the table to finish eating her food. "How are you?"

"Okay I guess. You didn't have to do this Steph. I'm not handicap."

"I know but I know you had a bad dream, and I thought I would brighten up your day. You don't cook well anyways," she said giggling as Taylor glared at her. "Just teasing."

"Well thanks for the breakfast," Taylor said as she took her first bite, then got up and went to the fridge.

"No problem, sweetie. Me and Derek are gonna be spending the whole day together today. What are you gonna do?"

"Well I don't have anything planned. So I'll stay home."

"Taylor it's Saturday! Why don't you call up Jay? You should've never turned down his date."

"I'm not interested."

"Oh come on, he's maybe so fine, I won't be surprised to see Derek checking him out."

"That's just nasty," Taylor said as she made a disgusted face to prove her point.

Stephanie just laughed as she stood up to wash her plate. "Look Tay, I'm not saying I'd be cool with it. I'm just saying I won't be surprised," she said turning on the faucet. Taylor poured herself a cup of orange juice and returned to her seat with the glass and syrup.

"This is really good," Taylor said chumming down on the food in front of her.

"Tell me something I don't know," Steph replied with a smirk. "I'm gonna go shower. Got a full day ahead of me." She smiled as she thought about her fiancé, and walked out of the kitchen.

Minutes later Taylor got up and washed her plate. She thought about her dream from the previous night. Her eyes brimmed with tears as she thought about Chad and Gabriella. It hurt her so much because here she was, living her horrible life because of Gabriella, and there Gabriella and Chad were happily married with a little girl and another child on the way, or so she heard. She turned off the faucet and headed to her room. Holding back tears she thought about how Gabi had the audacity to ask Taylor to come to her wedding.

Taylor plopped down on her bed looking at the ceiling with her arms spread out. "Bet if I went she would've just rubbed it in," Taylor murmured. She thought back and remembered as Sharpay told her who all went.

5 ½ YEARS AGO…

"..Ryan, Jason, Kelsi, Martha, Jake, Zeke, Kimberly...Troy. Everyone was there Tay," said Sharpay. "Everyone but you."

"Troy went??" Taylor asked shocked.

"Yup, but he was wayyy in the back. It was hard to notice him. But you know me, I see everything."

"Why would he go?? After all she did to him?!" she asked in disbelief. Sharpay removed the phone from her ear and waited for the shouting to finish. When it calmed, she put it back to her ear and replied calmly.

"Taylor, he did what you needed to do..forgive and forget, that's Troy."

NOW…

"Troy," she said softly to herself. She thought about her old friend. She had a huge crush on him in freshman year up until the beginning of junior year, but she never told anyone. Then she had started to like Chad, and they began dating. She finally forced herself to push off the feelings she had for Troy and give it to Chad, because for one, it wouldn't be fair to Chad, and two, it was her best friend's new boyfriend. She regretted it because she had put her whole heart into Chad just to get hurt.

She remembered going to Troy, who came back for vacation also, and telling him everything. It killed her to see him so heart broken. He cried. Cried like a baby over Gabriella. "Only real men cry," she thought to herself. Troy and Taylor became real friends after the break up. Who would've thought they'd get along so well? The only way they connected previously was by being the best friend of their mate. That spring, they would go out for lunch and chat like they had been friends forever. People who didn't know them would think that they were dating. But their relationship ended abruptly after Troy went back to L.A. and she returned to Florida. Nope, no phone calls, nothing to keep in touch. She only saw him on T.V. occasionally for basketball, and interviews. She heard all about his model girlfriends. That disgusted her to the extreme. She couldn't believe how he treated women, like they were tissues. But Taylor tried to remember all the good times with Troy, like all his unfunny jokes he swore were the best. A smile was slowly placed on her face as she said in her head, "Troy."