The sun was shining its last minutes of the day in Santa Fe, New Mexico, casting an astonishing afterglow together with a light breeze over the lake. The water rippled gently against the rocks, the sound coming off as a comfort. Throughout the comforting noise came a few chuckles, cries and voices from the deeper end of the water. Three towels were spread out over the rocks, bags, half-eaten and empty food cartons lying in a collected heap a bit further away together with three bikes.

The chuckles and cries that came from the water slowly made its way to the rocks again. The three teenagers dropped down on their respective towels and the laughter slowly died out, talk filling the air.

"So Troy, how's it going with Gabriella?" Troy Bolton jerked from the lying position, his azure sapphires glaring at his best friend from as long as he could remember. No one knew about Troy's and Gabriella's 'relationship' except for his two best friends, and there was an unwritten law that they never spoke about it. But Chad had crossed the line, and he wanted to know what was up with his two best friends.

Without showing any kind of emotion that could reveal the secrets, the sandy-haired boy shrugged his shoulders carelessly. "We're best friends, thanks for asking, Chad." On the inside his heart pumped hard against his chest and his stomach twisted. The relationship they had was complicated. While they both knew that they wanted more none of them dared to take the step. Most because of his own reputation and ego.

"Come on, captain. You've been friends for what, hundreds of years? Why won't you just ask her out already?" Troy rolled his eyes at his best friend and turned his head the other way to hide the blush that spread over his cheeks slowly. He'd never really thought about talking with his friends' about it, because it always seemed that it didn't matter anyway. But maybe Chad had some advice since he was together with Gabriella's best friend, Sharpay.

"No." Troy told himself. He was a big boy, and he was known for being the strong one. The one with no emotions. He could not let that guard down because of some girl he'd known since… forever.

When Troy lay in his bed later that night he thought about Gabriella. Her flawless dark hair always had his fingers itching to run through it, and her mocha eyes had him mesmerized whenever they were on his. And her body, her perfectly shaped curves and glowing skin had every guy on East High School staring after her when she walked through the halls. She was totally and completely beautiful, and he knew that. Oh yes, he knew that.

Like many other guys, he wasn't only addicted to her outside, but even more to her inside. Because Gabriella's inside was a complete mirror of her outside. The glowing skin mirrored her strong inside and passion for life. Her dark flawless hair made the perfect mirror for her really smart and fair mind that always had the correct answers. And her mocha orbs had the perfect shape of her diamond heart that was so friendly, that always had a fair picture of situations and the capacity of changing people for the better. Including him.

…

"Did you see Miss Darbus face when I told her I hadn't done my homework? Man, it was totally worth it." Chad Danforth laughed, repeating to his friends' about the action earlier that morning in class. The other four laughed at their friend's weird way of humour but imagined the face of their homeroom teacher when he'd told her about his homework in such careless way that she lost her words.

"I saw the face, dude. It was awesome. Now, if you'll excuse us, Gab and I are going to take off." Troy explained while getting up. He winked at Gabriella as her eyebrows narrowed at him playfully. On the inside she was melting, while his chestnut bangs fell into his fantastic azure eyes (that had the spark and power to make you go weak in the knees), his body was pumped with muscles from his athletic sports and being captain of the school's basketball team. To sum it all together, he was irresistible and unbelievable attractive.

"Are we now, Mr. Bolton?" Gabriella smirked, her insides squirming and screaming at her to pack up and get the hell out of there as fast as her slim tanned legs could. "See you later, guys!" She waved at her friends' before she disappeared around a turn with Troy.

"Eager today, are we Troy?" Gabriella grinned when Troy speed up their walk while they turned their steps towards his house. Usually, she would be nervous but at the same time excited when those times came; with only Troy and her alone. But something was different today, she knew it. It was something that dig deep in the pit of her stomach but she couldn't put any words on it.

"Always," he winked back at her. Despite the odd feeling in her stomach, Gabriella couldn't help but blush when his sparkling eyes landed on hers. She just smiled back and looked down at her walking shoes and kept quiet till they came to his house.

When they got to the house they put their stuff away quickly and Troy dragged Gabriella behind to his room, closed the door and threw her on the bed. He smiled and lay on top of her, his lips were gentle and smooth as always.

When Troy started to kiss down her cheek, Gabriella's senses started to kick in and she pushed him away. He looked confused at her and sat back on the bed. "What's wrong?"

"Everything." She put her head in her hands and sighed. A lump started to form in her throat and she swallowed hard and irritated. "I can't do this anymore, Troy. I just can't." She said, trying not to sob; she couldn't hold it back anymore.

Troy's friendly side kicked in and he quickly sat down beside her, trying to comfort her. "Gabriella, I-"

"Please just don't, Troy." She interrupted and before he could blink, she was out of his room and he was standing behind with a confused look on his face.

…...

The sound of two doors opening had the petite brunette jerking around from her position on the queen-size bed. She got a glimpse of the pouring rain as the person entered over the doorframe into her most vulnerable sanctuary, escaping the filthy world outside. The only light filling the room was coming from the small narrow opening between her curtains, casting a small glow over the room.

A thick atmosphere were slowly spreading through the air, exposing the tense that was between the two teenagers standing only a few meters from each other. The silence was becoming almost unbearable but each dared the other to speak up first; eye to eye.

"Hi." The first word was spoken in silence to prevent the air exploding with the filling tense. Her eyes were filled with something that people would call emotionless. But he knew so much more, no matter how hard she tried to hide the scared expression off of her face he could see right through it.

"How are you doing?" He inquired before he could think of anything else. It was always the words he would first ask when he saw her, it was the question he cared about the most of anything. Was she hurt? Was she scared? Was she sick?

Her reply came as the same quiet voice she'd used earlier, the four-letter word enough for him to decide his next actions. "Fine." She stared at him, watching as he seemed to struggle with himself about whether he should say it or not. Her eyes slowly turned into grey and every bone in her body twisted and went limp, no emotion showing on her normally glowing skin.

A sigh escaped the blue eyed boy's lips when he saw the girl's face again, everything he'd been afraid of perceiving was standing before him and he cursed himself silently for being the one that had brought this act back to her.

"Gabriella." He warned, pleading with her to stand up for him.

"What?" She snapped her voice changed into a cold tone as her eyes narrowed at his. She knew what was to come and this time she would not give in to him. She would not let him have that grip on her tonight or ever again. Everything she'd ever fought against, he'd been the one to break it down time and time again. It was like she'd finally managed to build a tower with her Lego, and he kept crashing it down. He'd learnt how to pass by through the walls she'd built around herself, like a serpent wriggling through the forest. "What exactly do you want, Troy? And what makes you think that you could just abruptly climb up my fucking balcony and storm into my room?"

The coldness of her tone made him cringe a bit but he straightened and narrowed his eyes at her. The black jeans and white cardigan fit perfectly on her slim beautiful figure and her face were washed off all make-up, but she was still glowing with perfect natural skin-tone. Even though she was furious with him and the brown orbs seemed to be grey at the moment, Troy knew the beautiful colour that lay behind them and it never seemed to stop him from staring.

"You didn't complain when I came climbing late the other nights'." He wriggled his eyebrows at her in such annoying way that she just knew that he did it to annoy her more than anything else. She responded with the coldest glare she could muster.

"What do you want?" Her tone was simple and cold, asking him to clarify whatever he was here for.

His reply was simple. "You."

Gabriella snorted. "Me? You're such a good liar, Troy. I even believed you for a second there. You want me? That's why you fuck all those other girls' in school. That's why you and I hook up every once in a while when we get the opportunity to be alone." She breathed slowly, blinking back the tears that threatened to fall. "That's why you make me cry, Troy, because you want me?"

Another pang in his heart and the guilt spread through his body like poison. "I never meant to-" He began but got interrupted by Gabriella.

"You never meant to hurt me. Yeah, yeah I've heard that one before, Troy." Her eyes met his. "But I never really thought you'd be one of them." They were quiet for a while, just staring into each others eyes. Both were trying to tell their real feelings through stares but neither succeed. "Please go, Troy." Gabriella turned around to walk back to her bed.

Troy stared after her and then spoke in a high voice to make sure she'd hear, "So you're leaving it like this. You don't even want to try to fix it. After everything we've been through you're ready to leave us like this?"

Gabriella whirled around. "No Troy, I'm not ready to leave it like this. I'm shattered inside in a million pieces but you don't really care do you? I try my hardest every single day to not be jealous of all the girls' that gets to kiss you. And I'm crying in happiness when I get to be that one for a while alone with you. But you know what?" she paused to take a deep breath after the screaming. "I'm tired of waiting and I know you're not the one I want you to be. I'm sorry that I hoped you'd change, I'm sorry for bothering you."

Silence filled the room for a few seconds before she spoke up again, her voice low and broken this time. "You know, you were like my personal brand of heroine. You were the sun that lit my day. When I fell, you were my rock to lean on. But I can see that it's over now, you have to move on with your life, you can't be my superhero your entire life. I get it, it's okay."

"You really don't understand, do you?" His voice was hard but you could hear the edge with a softer tone in it too. Gabriella looked at him confused.

"I want to try, Sky..." He whispered and took her small hand in his and pulled her closer. "I want to try to be that guy to you. I want you Skylar, all of you; I want to be with you. You're my best friend, my fair chare of what's right and wrong. You make me want to be a better person and I'm ready to give up anything, just so I can have you."

Gabriella took a deep breath, her stomach hurt. She wanted to believe him, her stomach did, it screamed at her to just throw herself at him and never let him go. But her mind told her otherwise. It reminded her of all the things she'd seen other girls go through, all because of him. She didn't want that, she never did and never was going to want that. And so she made her decision.

"You say that now Troy, in the heat of the moment. But you know what? I'm done, I'm so done with all of this, I'm done with you, our fucked up relationship. I just can't take it anymore, I can't take seeing you with other people, I can't take just being your friend. So I'm done. I'm sorry Troy, but I'm done."

She turned around, ready for him to leave, and for her to finally starting the progress of moving on, when she heard him sigh and then speak once more.

"Now, there's a million reasons for you to go. But if you can find a reason to stay, I'll do whatever it takes, to turn this around. I know what's at stake, I know that I've let you down. But if you can give me a chance, believe that I can change, then I'll keep us together, whatever it takes."

But on the other hand, Love is like a roller coaster. The way up is slow and agonizing, and once you've reached the top, for a split second, you can see everything and it's beautiful – so beautiful that when you see that slope where you know you're gonna fall, it's okay, because to feel this feeling of being at the top of the world, you know that the drop is worth it. And when it hits you and your being hurtled to the ground at 70 mph, and you're feet away from dying, you don't, because just before you fall, just before you're about to give in and break&&crash someone will always bring you back up again.

A/N: Yeah I suck, the last thing Troy said wasn't even written by me.