I know I shouldn't be starting a new story but sometimes when I'm short ideas for my other stories, I have to write my separate ideas out so that I don't lose them. I'm not sure how long this story will be in total but I'm thinking that generally it won't be too long. Maybe ten chapters at the most, I'll just have to wait and see how it all works out. I do not own any of the characters from Disney's High School Musical. Review if you enjoyed it..or if you didn't. Critique me, please, it helps me become a stronger writer. I do not own Disney's characters or the lyrics to You Me At Six's "Fireworks."

"So this is the end of you and me. We had a good run, now I'm setting you free to do as you want, to do as you please…without me. Remember when you were my boat and I was your sea? Together we'd float so delicately. But that was back when we could talk about anything…"

JUNE 11, 2010
THE MONTEZ HOUSEHOLD,
ALBUQUERQUE NEW MEXICO
8:00 PM

"I'm really just not feeling it, you know?" she sighed as she balanced both freshly washed dishes in one hand and her cell phone in the other. Trapping her phone between her shoulder and her ear, she awkwardly tried lifting her arms so that she could put away dishes into their rightful cabinet. This was a task that she normally did not mind but she was never one to be talented at multitasking.

"I know," came his response, disappointed but also understanding.

"So have fun without me, okay?" Her voice was soft and almost tired. "And I'll try to meet up with you guys some other time."

"You sure?" He asked, trying to sound nonchalant so that he wouldn't convey his true emotions; he desperately wanted her to be there. A party celebrating the end of the school year in which they spent together required her presence. Without her, he knew that it would turn into another boring get-together consisting of teenagers who have had one too many to drink while obnoxious music played, slowly but surely would destroy his eardrums.

"Positive," she answered, sharp and affirmative. "I'm not up for it tonight."

"Damn…well you know I'm not going to be able to have a good time without you."

She let out a long-winded sigh and took in his aloofness while he tried to sound as casual as he could. "Troy…" the terseness of his name on her tongue was enough to let him know that she was about to say something he would rather not hear. For months the two had played a dangerous game, crossing over the line and becoming a little more than just friends. However, they both agreed to end it if their feelings grew stronger for the other.

He cut her off so that he wouldn't have to hear anything she had to say. "Don't 'Troy' me, Gab. Is it so bad that I want to spend time with you?"

"Maybe…it is. You know what we agreed on, Troy," she paused as she chewed on her bottom lip, grateful that he could not see her as her lip trembled and her eyes glossed over with tears. "We agreed to end it whenever it became too much. It's becoming too much, isn't it?"

She knew the answer to her question when she was met by silence on the other end of the phone. Closing her eyes, she cursed inside her mind, knowing that it was all her doing. It was all coming to an end and it was her fault. "Troy?" She spoke his name when she figured that he had hung up, her voice cracking slightly.

"Hmm?" He distantly replied, leaving her to assume that he was already driving and on his way to the party.

"You know what this means, right?" She asked quietly. What we had…it's over, her mind supplied the answer for him.

He cleared his throat, his voice low with need. "It was too much from the start, Gabriella. You knew that. You knew that it would come to this. I knew it, too. But I know that you feel what I feel. It's more, it always was. I…I can't talk about this right now," his voice broke suddenly. "You can call me when you figure it out. Until then, don't bother." The click on the other end initiated her next move as she tore the battery from her phone. Her feet carried her up to her room where she searched desperately for a hiding spot that she could eventually forget about. For just a moment, she wanted to be unreachable.

Minutes passed, turning into hours that Gabriella spent huddled in the corner of her bed, her knees pulled up tightly to her chest. She sat alone, knowing perfectly well that everything was her choice. She had initiated this feeling that made its home deep in her gut. She had chosen to walk down this path of complete isolation.

She wasn't sure when it had began-that was pushing people away from her as if they were infected with a contagious disease. Maybe she had picked up the habit at a young age that was too far back to remember. All Gabriella knew was that the feeling of loneliness was not going anywhere. It marked her just as a scar would- a permanent reminder of her biggest fear that had become her reality. She was entirely on her own in this world and forever she would be misunderstood by the one person she wished would know every last detail about it was all because she was a coward. Like a leader backing down right before the most epic of battles in which her side was outnumbered. She could not face the emotions that she kept hidden underneath the surface of beautifully sun-kissed skin that was only a small contribution that led people to view her as perfection.

A wave of nerves embraced her entirely, her fingertips becoming a scorching fire. Her hands were trying to resist their constant shaking but had no success in doing so.

It didn't take long for her to realize that she had fallen once more. She fell for him each day and it drove her to the brink of insanity. He was her mind, her thoughts, and her heart. He was everywhere, something that she would never escape.

After having difficulty swallowing, she was forced to take note of how dry her throat had unknowingly become. She was not certain of when it had begun to hurt, feeling as if it was lined with coarse sandpaper. Her gaze faltered when her heavy amber eyes drifted back to the dimly lit corner of her bedroom, with little awareness of what she was searching for. Without a single intention, she began to pace back and forth as the anxiety built up inside of her like an unsteady wall that was ready to give way at any given time.

Her mind was a game of "Jenga" and with every pull or push she was coming closer to falling apart. Her heart and mind continued to scream insanities that could not be drowned out by the white noise that enclosed her in the empty bedroom. The walls were closing in- bare and dull, only making her notice that this had to be a cage; her own personal prison. Gabriella's fingers worked to claw at the loose knob of her stereo system. But the music did not have its desired effect- the noises prevailed, like crashing waves continuing to storm the shore even on the calmest of nights.

Brown eyes became transfixed on a bare white wall in an unbreakable stare. "I'm so sorry," She muttered to no one in particular before repeating the phrase until she was unable to comprehend if she was truly speaking or if it was mindless babbling that could only be heard in her troubled head. Finally, her hands sought out the battery where she had hidden it underneath her pillow earlier that evening, smuggling it from the dangers brought on by her words. With shaking fingers, she pushed the battery back into place in her cell phone, watching as it came to life once again. "I'm sorry."

She cursed herself in her mind, knowing that she had never wanted things to turn out this way. She had tried everything to prevent this from happening.

If you did not want this, you would have deleted the contact from your phone and burnt every last letter. Her mind fought to remind her even though she knew that deleting the contact would serve no significance. She had every last part of him memorized, including the ten digits that if dialed, led her to hear the voice that she considered to be her salvation. Her eyes lingered on the highlighted name in the address book of her phone.

And as for the notes...she could not have gotten rid of them even if she had tried. It seemed like she received a new one from him each day. She'd find them in the most random of places; stuffed into her backpack, waiting on her desk in homeroom, or somehow slipped into the back pocket of her denim jeans. They had become a part of her, the crumbled papers with his scribbled penmanship serving as an unspoken lullaby for her on the darkest of nights.

Finally, the voice inside her head became soft, almost as if to be understanding.

You knew that this would happen. It's meant to be this way.

She nodded, complying to her mind before the dial tone shattered the remains of the promise that she had made to herself. At once the voices in her head ceased, her heart stopped beating; he had answered on the other line. The steady silence, just knowing he was there and prepared to listen, put her at ease. When she knew she could not speak, she knew she had made a mistake by calling him. Gabriella's breathing had grown shallow as the two teenagers remained completely in silence, disconnected from the rest of the world. Neither spoke the words that they so badly ached to say.

There was the sound of his breath catching in his throat as if he were about to speak but suddenly stopped himself. She endured the long pause, biting on her bottom lip to stop its constant trembling as her vision became foggy.

His words were rushed and almost unrecognizable. "I'll be right there."

And she knew she had fallen again.

Never in his life had he sprung out of his bed so quickly. After spending a few hours at the party, he became bored, his mind focused on one thing only. His thoughts consisted of her face and he left as soon as he realized that he wouldn't be able to enjoy himself with the feeling of emptiness that had settled in his gut. In the matter of seconds, he had pulled a dirty t-shirt over his head and a pair of jeans he had discarded earlier on the floor. It was late; two o'clock in the morning and two hours past his curfew. But none of that mattered, if she needed him, there was no one that could stop him from getting to her. He crept through his entire house until he reached his back door, slipping outside into the warm night soundlessly. The only noise he could hear besides the light crunch of his shoes in the gravel driveway was the chirping of the crickets that sounded every summer night.

He picked up his pace, trying not to seem all too desperate by sprinting to her house that was only a few houses down the street. Arriving within five minutes that the phone call had occurred, Troy stalled once her house came into view. His eyes took in the dark house, the only light coming from the television on the first floor, blue lights occasionally illuminating the walls.

He didn't bother knocking, there wasn't any need for it and in the matter of seconds he was standing in the entrance of her open bedroom door. There were no words exchanged between the two teenagers as their worlds fell together, like missing puzzle pieces. The second their eyes met, the same undeniable force resurfaced- the same force that scared Gabriella to death. She daringly stepped forward to instigate the first move.

"You don't have to say anything," He reassured her with his words and the pleading that was found in the deep blues of his eyes.

She opened her mouth in an attempt to formulate some kind of sentence but was quickly silenced as he strode forward, closing the distance between them before pressing his lips to hers. His hand was tangled in the long locks of her hair instantly, his other clasping her waist, wanting nothing more than to be close to her. With that, all the words left her, simply escaping her mind, leaving her only with his earth-shattering kiss. His lips worked to melt away her pain and worries, even though the voices in her head were shouting reminders that soon he would leave her and she would be alone again.

But for the time she had, she wanted to just be.

"Gabriella, I lo-"

She effectively ended what he was about to say by quickly pressing her lips to his, pretending as if the words had never been spoken. But when he spoke, his voice was so low and filled with such want that she would have fallen over if it weren't for his hands keeping her steady. Those stunning blue eyes were showing her that she was in fact the only person he would ever desire. She knew that he was the only one who would ever call her by her full name- the only person she would ever want to hear do so.

"I don't have to say it for you to know that it's the truth."

With that, he swept her curls from her neck to find his mark that he had previously left there. As he pressed his mouth to the familiar spot, Gabriella could feel his smile against her skin. The small mark was not noticeable to anyone else but them. It was almost as if it served as some form of a secret, a bond they shared and a hold that only he had on her.

The touch of his fingers tracing patterns on her upper arms caused heat to creep from her heart to her chest and then straight up to her neck. Gabriella felt her senses heightening and there was no denying that she knew exactly what was about to take place in the shambled mess that was her bedroom.

As she looked into those eyes that served as portals to his soul, she knew what he wanted- what he needed. Slowly and carefully, as if he thought his very touch would break her, Troy leaned forward, gently brushing his lips against her exposed shoulder blade. Her breath got caught in the desert that had become her throat just from receiving one look from his baby was like someone had physically knocked the wind out of her. The sudden need for air was a painful twisting in her gut. Troy Bolton would surely be the death of her. There wasn't a single ounce of her that cared even the slightest bit.

His eyes took her in, admiring her as if she was the most fragile being in his world. And he believed that she was, even if Gabriella was not aware of how much he cared. Troy knew he would give his life for her without a second thought. He wouldn't have it any other way.

Troy's hand found her cheek, his eyes holding the focus of her own as his mouth discovered the skin beneath her ear. "I love you, ok?" Troy whispered against the smoothness of her skin, his voice pleading as if he wanted nothing more than to convince her of the sincerity of his words. The phrase would never tire him, it could not be said enough. "No one will ever love you the way that I love you."

She swallowed, trying to sooth her throat as her cheeks went aflame with a shade of red. Gabriella was scared to death. Maybe it was because his words held nothing but the truth...or maybe it was because she knew that he was the only person who could ever get this close. The only person who could ever have her whole heart.

Wearing only her short pajama bottoms and a loose t-shirt a couple sizes too large that hung off her shoulders, Troy had the ability to make her feel like she was the most beautiful girl in the entire world. And to him, she was. She was everything that he found himself craving...over and over again. At night when his mind drifted and prevented him from sleeping, Gabriella was the only person that he saw.

His hand fell back to her waist, slipping underneath the hem of her shirt only to rest on the warm skin that he found there. Troy coaxed her to relax with his eyes as her knees hit the edge of her bed. Shifting his body, Troy followed her lead, his gaze traveling over her body that lay before him. Slowly, Troy began to undress her, letting his hands linger on every inch of skin, letting the sight before him be committed to memory.

With a small clearing of his throat, Gabriella could tell that he was pleased to learn that she was lacking any article of clothing underneath her pajamas. Troy hovered over her form as Gabriella's arms wrapped around his lower back, caressing his firm muscles as she tugged his t-shirt over his head, discarding it shortly after. Eagerly, Troy began to work at the zipper of his jeans, feeling as though he was only wasting time. Any moment now, he was expecting her to change her mind and it would come to a quick end. He was taking it all while the time lasted.

Troy's lips reattached to their spot on the base of her neck as Gabriella's hand traveled to the short strands of hair on his scalp, her fingers threading through. "Please," she croaked, the first word she had spoken since the phone call. The desperation in her voice conveyed that she needed to be with him in every way had to prove to herself that he was worth it. And with that, he broke the barriers between them, burying himself inside of her slowly as his eyes remained on hers for a sign of discomfort or regret before he carried on. But he could barely comprehend what was happening anymore. Troy had slipped into euphoria the moment she had allowed him to take her. He had only dreamed of this moment since he had hit puberty; she was every guy's fantasy and finally she was his reality.

Troy no longer had any form of control as his hands pried hers from his neck, his fingers tangling furiously with hers instead. He squeezed her hands, pinning them down on the pillow space above her head as he felt her inner walls tightening around him. The speed of Troy's thrusts increased as his vision became blurrier, trying to focus on the face of the girl under him in the horribly lit room.

"Troy..." She mewed, the tone of her voice nearly sending him over, pushing him to the edge.

"You are mine," he panted. His normal voice had become husky with desire, his eyes snapping to a close as he released what he was trying to hold back. His movements became slower while he tried to cherish the time that he had with her, attempting to memorize every detail about her. His eyes had drifted closed as he barely managed to keep his exhausted body from crushing her form. Seconds passed, extending for what felt like hours as she didn't make a single sound. "Baby," Troy said, his voice almost a whisper, breaking the uncomfortable silence.

His eyes snapped open suddenly in realization. Why was she trembling? His face contorted with confusion as he removed his length from her warmth, knowing that he would never be able to live with himself if he hurt her. Troy wrapped his arms around her in a tight embrace, refusing to let go until she settled. He felt something wet against his bare shoulder but understood very well that she hated when people saw her cry. So he looked everywhere but in her direction. He had been staring at a spot on her ceiling for an eternity until the trembling began to subside. Only then did he let his thumb brush away any stray tears. His eyes scanned the features of her face, finding her perfection breathtaking. Gabriella's eyelids twitched as she slept soundly, leaving Troy to wonder what could possibly be taking place in her mind. What kind of things did she dream about? What was she thinking about during her last few conscious seconds?

Jerking his head to the left where her nightstand was, he squinted to read the glowing red numbers on the alarm clock. It was nearly four in the morning. He had to work in less than three hours. Troy leaned forward, resting his chin lightly on Gabriella's shoulder, tenderly leaving a kiss on the junction of skin between her shoulder and neck. Even with the knowledge that in the morning he would be completely screwed, Troy felt a smile fight its way on to his face as he drifted into a comfortable sleep, feeling nothing less than the luckiest man in the world.

SEPTEMBER 20, 2010
EAST HIGH SCHOOL,
ALBUQUERQUE NEW MEXICO
8:00 AM

As he sat silently with his gaze fixed beyond the dashboard, staring at absolute nothingness- Troy knew that he had fallen once more. He would spend days, days in which he would be the happiest person that anyone could ever have known. No one would even question that he was sincerely torn up inside. But then there were other days, the ones that completely made the others irrelevant- days like the one he was currently trapped in. It was days like this that reminded people of why he was not the same Troy Bolton whose smile used to possess the power to brighten up any room. His personality used to be able to project the happiness he was feeling and even if only for a little while, he could make the moods of other people progress significantly. When everything first happened, there was no doubting how badly it had affected Troy. Occasionally, he would zone out when people attempted to carry a conversation with him. He would stare as if he were looking through them...because he was. Never was he able to stop himself for looking for more. It seemed to him, at any moment she would reappear again. She would come back, crashing into his life as if she had never left. He could dream.

He had began to take notice of how quickly a summer really passed by; each day seamlessly running together until dates are forgotten. Days of the week became easily confused since each day became the same as the last. The same routine played out until nightfall began to come fast, darkness sweeping over with a chill. Intense heat is was replaced with the coolness of fall and following after, the trees would soon become. An even colder wind would whip the dried and crumbling leaves on the ground where snow would soon lay. And time passed until it meant nothing.

Three months. Over a thousand of hours and over a hundred thousand minutes. Millions of seconds- seconds that Troy had become numb to as they continuously ticked by. Time had lost all of its meaning. Clocks that decorated the walls wherever he went were nothing but a waste of materials and space.

There was nothing he would not give to see the familiar face that at one time in his life, had given him a reason for waking up each miserable morning. Never before had he realized how Gabriella was the one who kept him in check. She had been the reason that he had fallen asleep countless nights with the same cheesy smile on his face, excited for the next day. She had always surprised him, every part of her. When they were only five years old, her bravery when it came to jumping off the swingset had surprised him. Growing up, her relaxed attitude and how she was far less dramatic than any other girl he knew had surprised him. When they had entered their sophomore year of high school, Troy had never expected to fall in love with her.

Every memory of his childhood somehow involved her. Sometimes he would try to think of anything that did not include her just to prove to himself that he had lived without her before so it was possible for him to do it again. But she had always been there. She had been the only girl who chose to hang around with his group of friends that lived in their neighborhood. The group of boys had easily accepted her as being one of them at the young age of five when nothing really mattered and there was not a single care in their world. Years passed and soon the differences could no longer be ignored. Games of hide and seek turned into competitive basketball. And when that soft-spoken girl with frizzy and tangled curls grew up; Troy was not the only person to take notice. From there, he found himself fighting to spend more time with her in any way that he could. Gabriella had easily stolen his heart and that would never cease to surprise him.

As far back as Troy could remember, she had been throwing curve-balls in his direction. But nothing could compare to the astonishment that had racked him when she had disappeared without a single word. Millions of seconds had passed by without a trace of her in his life. She was gone.

He pulled his old and beaten-up truck into the parking lot of East High that had been overtaken by an unusual, eerie silence. Normally, the lot was buzzing with students arriving or being dropped off at the building but there was something about that morning that was incredibly different. Troy could not put his finger on what was obscure, though. As he climbed out of his truck, he chose to literally put his best foot forward. He tried not to take notice that whenever his eyes connected with those of another arrival, the other person would quickly divert their stare as if just one glance of those blue eyes could potentially set their soul on fire. Maybe...I'm crazy, he thought to himself as he trudged lethargically through the main entrance of the school. Troy wanted to believe that it was simply his paranoia getting the best of him. He wanted to believe that the harsh stares and muffled whispers were not aimed towards him. He wanted to...but he couldn't.

Busying himself with the twisting of his nimble fingers on the combination of his locker, Troy could not block out the conversation taking place only a few short yards away. He steadied himself by bracing his rough hand against the cold metal, his eyes becoming a shade deeper before he momentarily closed them tight. No matter how hard he attempted, he could not keep out the whispers and murmurs that surrounded him. With every false rumor that hung in the air, Troy's throat only constricted tighter with each passing minute. Whenever he thought that people were done speaking of the past, her name would be whispered in a deserted hallway or somewhere nearby. Without any warning, he would feel bare allover again, exposed to the rest of the school at his most vulnerable state; he was alone. Troy wished that he would not be reminded of her nearly every day of his life. Whenever he was back on track, finally making progress after pushing her to the back of his mind, her name would roll off of someone's tongue. Or something would remind him of the times they had shared together. Immediately a rush of emotions and feelings would resurface, so intense and strong Troy wondered how he kept himself from falling to his knees.

She was everywhere. Forever, she would haunt him. And it drove him crazy, cutting deep down to his very core.

"I heard her parents couldn't handle her anymore. They had enough of her crazy shit and shipped her off to some mental institution."

"Really? I heard she overdosed..."

"Probably both, she's a basket-case."

Troy was edging closer to a dead-end, a place where he would finally lose control and let his guard down; showing a side that he had worked the last couple of months to keep hidden. He hated the pettiness that filled all of East High, fighting his hardest to ignore the conversation between two girls that were stationed only a few lockers down from his own. He did not believe anything that he heard. Troy had half the sense to shout at them, tell them to stop running their mouths when they truly did not have the slightest clue of what they were talking about. For one, he knew that Gabriella's father was no longer in her life and her mother simply didn't care enough to take notice in her daughter, let alone send her to some kind of mental institution.

Slamming his locker shut harder than he had intended, the loud clatter of metal hitting metal caused the two girls to temporarily pause mid-conversation. He opened his mouth to retort but his mouth hung ajar and speechless. Troy shook his head with a low sigh, figuring that no one was worth his time and he did not need to prove Gabriella's sanity. He could not even do such a thing since he had never been told where she was, where she was going or when she was leaving. Without a trace, a text, a letter, a phone call...the girl who his world revolved around disappeared.

"Maybe someone should let him know the name that institution." They shared a short-lived, exaggerated laugh.

"No wonder she wanted nothing to do with him."

For some, a summer felt like a short time, each day passing by as fast as the next. But for Troy, every day felt the same as the day he discovered she was gone. Every day the emotions were raw and fresh. The wounds were still there. Time meant nothing...but at the same time it meant everything. Time was all he had to hold on to, all he had to remind him of her, each passing day, a calendar building up in his mind. She's not coming back.

"Hey Troy!" The frazzled blonde called out to him from further down the crowded hallway while juggling her multiple books in one hand and a pink tote bag hanging upside down in the other. Since the start of the new school year, she would usually walk with him every day to the homeroom that they shared. Before Gabriella had disappeared, Troy had never gotten along well with the girl who he had once referred to as the "blonde bitch." Now, he could not imagine tolerating an entire day without his good friend, Sharpay Evans.

He would have inflicted harm upon himself a few years prior, if he had found out that he and Sharpay had something in common. Growing up, Troy had never liked her. Her voice had made him constantly want to put his head through a wall while he was stuck sharing a class with her in middle school. From there, he had to learn to tolerate her even more when she had started to date Chad Danforth. There would not be at least one day in the week where he did not have to hear her name brought up in a conversation. It was sophomore year when Sharpay had worked her way further into Troy's group of friends by befriending Gabriella. They were close for a while; nothing short of sisters. Before all of this, Troy would have scoffed if someone were to tell him that he had commonalities with Sharpay Evans. But now it was easily acknowledgeable as it hung there in the air, an unspoken understanding between the two teenagers.

Sharpay was outspoken, dramatic with each flip of her vibrant blonde hair, and a talented member of the theater department of East High. She found herself a friendlier person when things ran smoothly, mostly to her benefit but if she was crossed, she would become someone that even she despised. She had put that person away though, the week that her boyfriend since the eighth grade had left her life without a single word, as if she meant nothing to him. Consistently, Sharpay tried to convince Troy that there were no such thing as coincidences…

"Wherever Gabriella is, Chad is with her," the blonde's words played again like a song stuck on repeat inside of his head.

Though Troy did not question that Chad would stab his back in this way, he knew that Gabriella never would even consider going anywhere with Chad, especially leaving town with him. With each passing day, Troy kept that thought suppressed, building up excuses and logical explanations inside of his head that supported what he believed to be the fact- Gabriella was not in Albuquerque, but she was nowhere near Chad Danforth either. Troy would force himself to remember all the disgusted looks that had crossed Gabriella's face when Chad had not so subtly hit on her. She was repulsed by Chad. She loved me, Troy would shout in his mind. She loves me. Despite all of the trouble Troy went through to convince himself, he still could not help but assume that the two were off together, living in Mexico after having eloped and now were planning on having a family of four; them plus two babies, twins.

The blonde who was now approaching him had fixed her stance, now looking calm and collected after she shoved her books into her bag that matched the outfit she had worn that day. Most students at the high school did not know the real, genuine person that Sharpay kept masked and hidden and most would never get the chance to. And for this, Troy considered himself lucky.

His greeting came as a slight nod of his head, the longer strands of hair falling over his eyes.

Sharpay shook her head disapprovingly, reaching a hand to brush the hair away from his forehead, briefly running her thin fingers through his disheveled hair. "Someone needs a haircut."

"Someone doesn't care," He said with a shrug as his head turned towards his right, noticing more people staring at him as if he were some kind of exhibit at the zoo. He opted to believe that it was his paranoia, once again. Troy was not easily convinced.

"Don't let them get inside of your head, Troy boy," Sharpay offered the advice with a sigh, conveying her hypocrisy since everyone had already began their invasion in her own thoughts. The new school year brought on new interrogations from the curious students of East High. Everyone expected Troy and Sharpay to answer their questions when really they knew just as much as any random student that passed by in the hall.

Groaning with frustration, Troy tiredly rubbed at his forehead, only to cause the pushed back hair to fall back, misplaced. Feeling like a small child, unable to focus, Troy's eyes scanned over the sea of people that filled up the hallway. Most stood around casually, emerged in conversation while looking over at him every so often, making him feel like there was a sign plastered on his face, one that could not be deciphered. No one seemed too concerned with getting to homeroom on time, but after all...this was high school. Troy knew that the people, the ones who insisted on staring, were the same people who only came for the social status. Sharpay was ranting on about something that was incoherent to him at the current moment while he remained trapped in the world of his thoughts, but yet she still kept talking. And people kept staring. Time kept ticking away. Days kept passing.

Suddenly, from the corner of his eye, Troy caught sight of the bouncing of dark ebony curls that hung low off of olive shoulders. Everything around him had become a blur, like a snapshot taken out of focus but none of that mattered to him. He tried to move but his feet remained cemented to the floor, almost as if they were trying to warn his brain and his wildly thumping heart that this was not real. He had to be dreaming or hallucinating. She was gone...

He craned his neck to follow the movements of the familiar head of hair, only to see the girl get tapped on the shoulder and then turn around. Like a deflating balloon, Troy felt the last bit of hope that he had harbored inside of him, leave with his latest exhale. Eventually, he knew that he would have to let go. Troy told himself that eventually, he would not care and she would be nothing but a memory. But then again, most words, just like eventually, had lost all meaning to him. If getting over Gabriella was like existing in heaven or hell, Troy was stuck in purgatory.

"Reality check, Bolton," the blonde's voice drifted back under his radar as his gaze finally returned to meet her own. "You look like you've seen a ghost or something."

He might as well have.

SEPTEMBER 20, 2010
OAKLEY DRIVE,
ALBUQUERQUE NEW MEXICO
4:00 PM

The streets seemed emptier. If he were to really put things into perspective, the whole town felt emptier. Kicking at some dried leaves that had detached themselves from the nearest tree, Troy keep his head down, trained to the sidewalk. He watched as the leaves were forced to move forward as his scuffed sneakers scraped the rough surface of the ground, stopping only when he felt and indentation in the ground with the tip of his shoe. He bent over while he ignored the chilly end-of-the-summer winds lifting his hair in every direction. His fingers cautiously inched lower to the carving that had been left like a permanent scar into the sidewalk, allowing his fingers to finally trace over the lettering. Forever their initials would lay there, side-by-side like nothing had ever changed. Without even hesitating, Troy lapsed into a moment of stupidity as he viciously rubbed at the "GM" with his knuckles, thinking that it was disappear. Instead he was left with a damaged hand; cut badly and scraped by the coarse cement of the sidewalk.

What am I doing? His mind shouted at him as he caught himself barely holding on to the edge of sanity. He could not grasp what had went wrong; when had he let one girl become the totalitarian dictator of his life? His eyes betrayed him, as they glanced at the lateral view of the empty house that was just across the street. There was nothing special or extraordinary about it. The white two story house had shutters that were almost a dark teal color. All of the windows were shut completely, which was an odd sight to see especially in the nice, beginning-of-fall weather. Not a single light illuminated the house in any way and that was the part that left the feeling that someone had slugged him in the stomach.

There used to be one solitary light that had always been left on. The one window, furthest on the right side belonged to her. He never understood her irrational fear of the dark, but did not argue since the light was a signal that he had used to know that she was home. Just a dim light was all he needed for his reassurance.

Troy stared, his gaze so penetrating that his blue eyes looked at though they could burn a hole at the impact point- the window on the second floor of the house. Sometimes, if he stared long enough, his eyes would begin playing tricks on him, the dimness returning to light up the walls of the bedroom that he knew all too well, even for the shortest of seconds. But his mind would correct himself, the light would not turn back on. He felt as though someone had smashed that very lamp that usually sat in the corner of her bedroom over his head at that very moment. He was not sure what this foreign feeling was that had just come crashing into him like a tidal wave. Acceptance.

She couldn't have loved you. No matter what you thought, what you forced yourself to believe, she did not love you. It was not the same for her as it was for you. If it was, there would have been an unspoken understanding. She would have never left. You would be together now. You'd be happy. You could never make her happy. There's something about her that no one quite understands, something you told yourself only you understood. But you were never special. You were no different from the rest. You were a friend. Nothing more than a neighborhood kid she had grown up with. It's over. It's done. Let it go.

His mind bombarded him with the turmoil he had kept locked away but now it was if suddenly the door had been abruptly opened, all of the truths spilling out endlessly.

So maybe I won't wake up when day and think to myself, "I'm over her." Maybe I'll have to work at it. And maybe a part of me will always be in love with her. Maybe this is the beginning of the end. One day at a time.

Once again, Troy had found himself at a crossroad. There was times in his life that he could pinpoint an exact change, such a substantial moment that he knew he would never be able to forget. The letter written in smudged ink was burning a hole into is pocket, weighing him down like an anchor to a ship. With his backpack slung over his shoulder, Troy walked quickly towards the vacant house only stopping once his hand found the cold doorknob. From where he stood, he could see piles upon piles of unread letters specifically addressed to Gabriella in his penmanship. He never used the mailbox since the first day she left, having thought she was simply inside and refusing to come out. His tired fists had pounded the thick door but that was all in the past.

He used his free hand to unzip his backpack, dropping it lightly to the ground afterward. Falling to his knees, the open screen door rested against his back. His shaking but determined hands reached in front of him, scooping up as many letters as he could but the amount was overwhelming. He stuffed them furiously into his backpack, not even once glancing over his shoulder to see if anyone had been watching. Shoving them far into the depths of the bag, Troy had not even noticed how strong his grip on the papers had become, his face red as he bit down on his lower lip.

All traces of Troy caring for her absence disappeared as every last letter he had written became buried away, never to be known to Gabriella. They remained as written secrets; Troy being the only person who would ever know of their existence. Over a hundred letters, and he was the only person to read the haunting words of a broken heart.

SEPTEMBER 20, 2010
THE BOLTON HOUSEHOLD,
ALBUQUERQUE NEW MEXICO
6:30 PM

"Don't get my new bra dirty," she gasped as her palms spread out on his strong shoulders. He rolled his eyes lightheartedly before unhooking the pink lace bra with care. "What is that all over your hands, anyway?" She asked, referring to his soot-covered hands, knowing that Troy didn't mind her constant blabbering whenever they fooled around. Peeling his lips from the base of her neck, his eyes connected with hers.

"My dad and I cleared out the backyard of leaves, burnt them in the firepit."

His answer was short and convincing and was enough of a satisfying answer to the blonde who then took control of the situation. She straddled his lap with a coy smile displayed on her swollen lips, always feeling a sense of power whenever he touched her or kissed her, his lips a blazing inferno. Ignoring the distant look in his eyes, Sharpay allowed her hips to roll back, grinding against Troy's boxer-clad pelvis. She was still half-dressed, her skirt bunched around her waist as Troy made no action to remove the article of clothing.

Cradling his face in her hands, she pressed her forehead to his and sighed as her hazel eyes met dark blue. "What's wrong, Troy?"

"I just don't feel right, today. Like I'm not in one piece," he responded, finding it easy to talk to her since they had grown closer over the summer. She was his closest friend and he was hers; both with one thing in common- they had been betrayed by the ones they loved most.

"It's going to get better…I promise," she spoke surely, her hand snaking its way into his boxers to prove her point. Her hand wrapped around him, only to cause her eyes to snap up to meet his once more. "Why…are you…?"

Troy swallowed the lump that had formed in his throat, trying to shake the image of embers from his mind but all he could see when he closed his eyes was the sight of his letters burning. "I uh…hold on," he stammered as his palm fondled one of her small breasts, his thumb flicking leisurely at her pert nipple while she continued to stroke his length, hoping to stir up a reaction. Kissing down his perfectly sculpted chest, Sharpay tugged at his boxers until his semi-hard member was in her vision, her intent written in her eyes as she quickly glanced up at him.

He felt awkward and dirty, flashing images of dark brown curls splayed on the pillow of an unmade bed cluttering his mind. The way her teeth sunk into her bottom lip as she smiled, the way she tugged his t-shirts over her head until they fell midway down her tan thighs. There they were, on his bed, his fingers digging into her sides unmercifully as the harmony of her laughter carried through the room. As she leaned over, her hair would cascade down, framing her face and brushing against his bare chest.

Troy attempted to clear his throat and focus on the girl whose lips were slowly coaxing his member into her mouth as her hand played with his balls. "Troy." He heard his name the way she had said it that night when he finally claimed her as his. Her hands seared his back, branding him with a feeling he would never have again.

"Fuck," Troy gasped and Sharpay took it as encouragement to continue her minstrations. And then he felt it in his gut, a stirring sensation as his eyes widened. He leaped from his bed, barely giving Sharpay the chance to release him before he darted for the bathroom, his form curling over the toilet until he emptied the contents of his stomach.

"Well…fuck," he repeated himself as his arms fell limply by his sides. How long was it going to take before he stopped feeling like a little school girl who had witnessed her longtime crush push someone else on the playground during recess? He was exhausted, mentally and physically, and tired of feeling hung up on someone when he didn't even know if he ever crossed her mind.

"Troy…I'm going to head home." Sharpay said softly from the other side of the door, not wanting to see him when he left the bathroom to avoid embarrassment for both herself and Troy. "I hope you feel better."

He grunted in response, having nothing else to say as he let his eyes drift to a close. "This is bullshit, Gabriella," he cursed angrily, and wished that she was actually there to argue back.

SEPTEMBER 20, 2010
VENICE BEACH CALIFORNIA
7:00 PM

Bare.

She felt as though she couldn't be covered enough as she pulled at ends of her gray cardigan but no matter how hard she tugged, the shiver that crawled across her skin was permanent. Her hair danced with the wind, the ocean air loosening her dark curls that fell anywhere but perfectly in place. She bit at her lip to cease its trembling but found herself unsuccessful as her eyes glossed over with what she had been holding back. Forcing her eyes shut, she scrunched her face, attempting with all that she could to prevent the tears from falling. A gust of wind was all it took for a lone tear to shed that soon multiplied until sobs racked through her body, causing her to double over. She wished that she could become numb to the guilt that twisted her insides until she felt physically sick.

The worn wood of the old dock scrapped at her bare knees but all the pain she felt was entirely internal as her palms sought out to grip something, anything that could lead her to stability. Get a hold of yourself, her mind shouted its protest and she nodded as if to answer the voices in her head, though they always failed her. Unaware of her actions, she lifted herself from her crawling position on the dock, removing herself from the waters edge for her own safety. Her deep brown eyes scanned over the abandoned beach while her feet kicked at every stone they came in contact with.

Home.

It was a word that she had learned in kindergarten over twelve years ago. She remembered vividly what words her estranged teacher had used to describe it. "It's the where you and your family live. It's where you feel cozy and comfortable; where you are the happiest person you could be." She scoffed as she looked out at the horizon, her head shaking in disagreement to what the wiry redheaded teacher had once spoken with such conviction.

The meaning of family was only clear to her for a certain period of time, back when she was young and naïve. Back when she was the happiest person she could be. She remembered her life as a spiral staircase, starting at the top but transforming into a quick descent downward. And some time on the way down, the word home had lost all meaning.

Her fingers nimbly held on to a smooth stone that she had picked up along her walk, tracing over its surface in a soothing manner while her mind raced.

Home.

She hated that she missed it as much as she did but it wasn't because she missed the family aspect of her previous life. A part of her always yearned for her father but he occupied a private space in her heart, and though he was not around, she felt a deeper connection to him than she would ever feel with her mother. Refusing to admit the real reason why Albuquerque felt like home, Gabriella hurled the stone with all of her strength into the crashing waves of the deep blue sea. She allowed the water to encircle her ankles, the salt invigorating her skin.

Closing her eyes tight once more, she diverted her attention from the rage of the ocean, finding its colors almost too much to bear. There deep blue that stretched on for miles in every direction and the setting sun reflecting the most beautiful shades of orange and pink onto its surface. But in the sight of the ocean and the setting sun, all she could see was him. He was everywhere, all the time, haunting her although his presence lacked. After all the time that passed, Gabriella couldn't fathom how it was possible that not only did the feelings not go away, they felt fresh and brand new with each day. They grew stronger, a force that would never be reckoned with.

But she left. And now she presumed that she meant nothing to him, just a name that was mentioned in heated conversations of disgust and hate. And as chilly water alerted all of her senses, she knew what she needed to feel whole again.

The sand had worked to hide the noise of approaching footsteps but Gabriella was never startled as two obtrusive arms crossed over her rigid chest, entrapping her uncomfortably. The two teenage stood like empty buildings and even the dull-minded Chad Danforth had to have sensed the awkward tension that hung around them as clouds. His grip loosened, his chin falling on to her shoulder as he attempted to somehow understand the inner workings of her. She was a mystery, a challenge. That was the very reason why he had taken this expedition. Now in a small seaside town where his face was not automatically recognized, he felt slight a dent to his ego. But he would never admit that he missed the chanting of his name in the halls of East High.

"I was wondering what you had in mind for sleeping tonight?" He asked her in a hushed tone almost as if he believed if he spoke any louder he would cause her to snap. But her calm demeanor never faltered. To even her own surprise, she had managed to remain almost mute, masking the turmoil inside her head.

She shrugged carelessly. She was exhausted to the point where she thought that if she would simply take a seat in the soft sand, she'd fall asleep right then and there.

Chad's grip on her loosened as he turned her in his arms for direct contact, his eyes situation with a nervous chuckle. "We're practically out of cash."

Numerous motel rooms had wasted away at the account her mother had set up for her for emergencies only. It funded a trip for two to California, where she and Chad spent their days on the beach, eating cheap pizza and drinking cheap booze. Some nights they'd camped on the beaches while others were spent cuddling close in her car for warmth.

"Oh."

"Oh?" Chad questioned her unconcerned tone. He wasn't sure if he still wanted what she wanted. The trip had originally been her idea but he jumped at the invitation and now all he craved was a home cooked meal. He knew that if he didn't return home soon, he would blow every opportunity of receiving a basketball scholarship and he still wanted to graduate and though he wouldn't admit it out loud, he missed school. Getting wasted on California beaches had appealed to him at one point but now he missed the comfort of his bed, his television set, and pretending to watch ESPN late at night while really keeping "skinemax" channels on a low volume.

He sighed when she remained silent. "Don't get mad, ok?" He requested and then exhaled. "…But maybe we should consider using what we have left to get back home."

There was that word again. Gabriella turned away from him, biting her lip as she forced her eyes shut but this time, in deep thought. When she finally reopened her eyes that were once again glazing over with tears that were fighting to pour over her cheeks, she was met by sight of the crashing blue waves. And she knew what she needed.

"Alright." She agreed, leaving an incredulous look on Chad's face since he believed that convincing her to go home was going to require a lot more persuasion.

"Do you think that uh, you're ready to..?" He asked awkwardly, unsure if he had chosen the right words.

Her stare was vacant and unreadable, as her gaze never broke from the sea. "As ready as I'll ever be," she whispered.

"So it's true what they say if you love someone you should set them free..."