Need you more than ever

Hey guys this is my first fanfic, so please read and review. Constructive criticism is always needed!!!

Chapter 1

Gabriella's P.O.V

"Ella! Wait up. I need to talk to you!" He yelled as he ran down the hallway towards me.

Inwardly I groaned, this was not what I needed of all things today this was not it. I slammed my locker and tried to run off, before he could catch up with me, no such luck.

He grabbed my wrist and spun me round so that I was facing him. I gulped and looked everywhere but his eyes, my eyes darting around the hallway, trying to focus on anything. Finally I realised that my attempts to distract myself were hopeless and I let out a frustrated sigh.

"What do you want Troy?" I asked softly as my gaze was drawn to his ocean coloured eyes, but I quickly looked away, as looking in his eyes could be dangerous, I realised.

He looked shocked at the sudden change in my attitude and who could blame him? I'd been awful towards all of them lately. He shuffled his feet and his hand found the back of his neck, a sure sign he was nervous. A feeling of dread and panic slowly started to build up in me oh G-d what had happened now?

"Troy?" I asked suddenly scared.

This time it was his turn to feel awkward and look away.

"Look Ella can you just meet me in our place right after school?" He asked.

I eyed him up and down, trying to make sense of him, before asking tentatively, "what about basketball practice?"

"Cancelled," he whispered looking at me; again I looked away, if only I could tell him what was going on. "Will you come?" he asked again.

I thought about it for a minute, closing my eyes, trying to process what I was going to tell him if he asked what had been up lately, before nodding ever so slightly. The nod was so small that I wasn't even sure if I had actually nodded, but he seemed to take it as a yes as he muttered a thanks, before running off down the corridor, undoubtedly late for something or other.

Troy's P.O.V

I had to get out of there. I had planned to talk to Ella right there and then, until I realised that this could be quite a sensitive subject and I didn't particularly want the whole East High student body to know about mine and Ella's conversation, courtesy of Mandy, the head cheerleader, who was skulking around the corner, just waiting for some dirt on Ella. She'd always hated her, even more so since we started to date, Mandy always thought that I should have been going out with her, but to be honest she's a stuck up snob who wants everything her own way. As well as that I realised that I was now where near ready to talk to her yet, I needed to prepare myself for tears from the girl that I love because I have a horrible feeling that this talk is not going to go well.

Ella hasn't been the same lately and I want to know what's wrong with her. In the past 3 and half weeks, she's pushed everyone away, me, Taylor, Kelsi, Jason, Zeke, Ryan and even Sharpay, who she has become really close to after last summer's fiasco at the country club, she tells everything to Shar, but even she doesn't know what's wrong with Ella this time and I am determined to find out. Chad's even been pushed out and that's something that Ella would never do if everything was alright, Chad has become her big brother, he even threatened me, his best friend from pre-school that if I hurt her he'd kill me, he's her protector, but he hasn't been able to protect her in this battle.

My Ella, the bright, bouncy, kind-hearted girl was gone, instead she had been replaced by a girl that none of us knew, someone who shied away from the world and rushed out of school the second that the bell went, she quit all of her extra curricular activities, including scholastic decathlon, with no explanation at all. None of the gang, me included, can remember the last time that they saw her outside of school.

Today I'm going to get it out of her, I'm going to find out what's happened to make the girl of my dreams, the girl I love with all of my heart to disappear and be replaced with someone new.

With that last thought, I let out one last aggravated sigh and headed out into the gym to get rid of my pent up frustration by throwing some free throws… and missing every single one. Only one person can make me so confused and upset that I would miss so badly, and I could feel the eyes of Chad, Zeke and Jason watching me from the gym doors as I yelled and threw the basketball at the wall and walked back into the changing rooms, just one more lesson to go…

Gabriella's P.O.V

My grades had been slipping lately, and that was an understatement, I usually aced every test, but lately the highest grades that I'd been getting had been C's, and that was if I was lucky. I knew that I had more important things to worry about, but it still didn't stop me feeling hurt every time I saw that I had flunked another test, or when I saw the disappointment in my teachers or my friends eyes, and heard tutting from certain teachers as they gave me back exams. I also never failed to see the concern in my friends eyes, but I could ignore that, just by not looking at them, and avoiding them, lately I'd become a loner, I didn't even remember what it felt like to have friends anymore, and it was all my fault.

I sat there during physics, my last class of the day, and possibly THE most boring subject on the planet. I wasn't concentrating again, I knew that and I could tell that Taylor and Zeke could tell as well from the glances they were sending in my direction.

I had a much more important task today. I had to figure out what to tell Troy if he asked what was wrong with me lately, and come up with some more excuses as to why I couldn't go out with my friends at the weekend, I may not have talked to them in ages, but they still asked, no begged me to go out with them, and I point blankly refused every time, coming up with excuses that even I didn't believe half the time, I was just so scared that they'd find out and be ashamed and embarrassed by me.

I glanced at the clock, finally.

5…4…3…2…1…BBBBRRRRRIIIIINNNNNNNGGGGG!!!!!!!

The bell finally rang and I scooped up my books and ran out of that room as fast as possible, before the Mr. Larson had even dismissed the class, but I needed to get this talk with Troy over with.

I threw my books into my locker and slammed it shut, fully aware that everyone in the hall was watching me, my friends included as I ran down the hallway, towards our spot.

I slowed down once I reached the stairs and walked up them, the dread building with every step that I took. I reached out and grasped the handle to open the door…

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