Disclaimer: This is a work of fan fiction using characters from the High School Musical world, which is trademarked by Disney. I do not claim any ownership over them or the world of High School Musical. The story I tell here about Troy and Gabriella is my own invention, and it is not supported or believed to be part of Disney story canon. This story is for entertainment only and is not part of the official story line.

Extra Disclaimer: This story is about a writer who writes Fan Fiction for a "Disney Movie" called Maybe This Time. That is a made up fandom by yours truly that is similar to the HSM fandom. The main characters are Michael Hilton and Lauren Hernandez. Please note that inspired by the story FanGirl there will be parts of that fanfic intertwined with this one.

"So, where are you going in the fall?" Michael asked drumming his thumbs against the wheel.

"Purdue University."

"Interesting."

Liar.

No way was she bonding with him. Shifting in her seat she turned her head so she could get a small whiff of her chamomile oil.

They'd been driving for only half an hour without a word to each other. There was not one thing about her that Michael found interesting. He was probably just thinking about Alyssa and Jackie's bikini collection. He wasn't remotely interested in her college decisions.

Boys like Michael didn't think about her, period. It's not like they had anything in common. He was a few months older, and while he hung out with jocks who lettered in varsity, she geeked out in Harry Potter and anything English Lit.

She'd circled the drain about Purdue for a while. At first the idea of applying to college seemed almost impossible. Affording it. Leaving her aunt. The only family she knew.

She never talked about where she came from with anyone, never mentioned her parents or her life before she came to Nevada. What was the point? It wouldn't have changed anything. Growing up with a famous father, whatever the reasons, taught her that the less you told people about yourself the less they could use against you.

"Are you excited?" Michael adjusted his arm on the steering wheel.

Lauren rolled her eyes as she fingered the bottom of her braid looking out the window. Deciding to change the subject she let out a breath, "Haven't seen you around church lately?"

"So?"

Lauren glanced over at him, his left arm hanging out the van as he drove, "Why haven't you gone?"

"Because my father doesn't leash me to the podium," Michael huffed as he flipped the left turning signal.

"That's nice. Now tell me why you really dislike church so much?"

Michael shook his head, "I don't go, okay?"

"Why?"

He shook his head harder. "It's a long story."

"I think we've got plenty of time."

"You wouldn't understand.'

"I'd probably understand more than you think."

Michael laughed. "I doubt it."

Lauren shook her head. "Why am I really here?" At that he looked guilty. "Did your dad make you invite me?"

"What?" His shock was pure façade. "As if you being here isn't punishment enough now you're giving me a hard time because I was just trying to make conversation."

Her lashes fell, screening her eyes as she thought about his answer.

"I didn't mean to imply that spending time with you is a punishment," he clarified. "You're just not my first choice as a riding companion," he winced, "I mean-"

"Michael," she interrupted. "I'm not offended. You're not my first choice either."

-Chapter 2, Cashing Into You by Jabriella

Gabriella parked her yellow Volkswagen Bug in the student parking lot and had barely stepped out of the car when her roommate pounced on her.

"You slept with Troy Bolton?" Taylor jumped up and down in her brown, furry Uggs.

"What?" Everyone in the parking lot turned and stared. Okay, maybe she'd said that a little loud. "I haven't slept with anyone."

"Not according to the word on campus." Taylor beamed proudly. "Everyone's talking about it. They're saying you guys hooked up at the bonfire. This is so exciting."

"Taylor, you know I spent the weekend at my dad's house." Gabriella moved towards her backseat as she pulled out a box of things. "You of all people should know I wasn't there."

As if the sudden truth washed over her she pouted and kicked at some of the gravel. "Well, I thought maybe you snuck back for a while."

"Why do you sound so disappointed?"

"It would be nice if one of us had a sex life."

Gabriella let out a laugh as she kicked the door shut. "Well, I'm sorry to disappoint you. My life is as boring as ever."

Taylor shrugged her shoulders, "That's not true. You're the talk of the school."

And that's when Gabriella noticed the few girls standing off to the side. Whispering and pointing. Just what she needed at the start of her second semester. Gossip. "Maybe it will blow over."

"Maybe," Taylor crossed her arms over her chest as she followed Gabriella up the stairs. "Maybe by lunch everyone will be talking about someone else."

Not likely. How could people believe some silly rumor? Better question. Why would Troy Bolton start a rumor about her? He was a gorgeous, popular, country-club golden boy known for organizing the Golf-a-thon charity event to help raise money for cancer research since his freshmen year. He was a year older, they didn't even run in the same circles.

"What's in the box?"

"Some of Jenny's things." Gabriella said as they started making their way towards the dormitory.

"How was it?"

Gabriella shrugged her shoulders. "Her mom was nice. She gave me this box things Jenny wanted me to have."

Taylor apologized again. She'd been apologizing since Gabriella got the news. Everyone did it. Sorry for your lost. So sorry to hear that. I'm sorry. Our condolences. We send our love. She'd heard it all. Her Facebook was filled with sorry messages. Jenny page was swamped with them. All those loving messages from all those people who had no idea who Jenny was.

It felt like she'd known Jenny forever. Their friendship had been bigger than anyone expected. Gabriella let out a small sigh, five years ago Jenny sent her an email for the first time. That was three years before Jenny got sick.

Jabriella had been Jenny's idea.

They created her in a combination of both of their names. Jabriella was their fan fiction pen name. They wrote stories for the fandom of Disney's original movie, Maybe This Time. It was a movie about two totally different teenagers who meet at a party, Michael Hilton and Lauren Hernandez. One week later Michael goes back to his high school, Rigdon High, in California to find that Lauren is a new student there. They quickly become close friends and accidentally end up on the prom committee together. It was a classic story of two people, who had nothing in common and had everything to learn from each other.

Gabriella's favorite movie. Even now just thinking about it, put a small smile on her lips. It always did.

Sure, sometimes people drift in and out of fandoms, they outgrow their favorite character and sometimes they just pick up other topics to write about just like they drift in and out of any other hobby or interest. But sometimes Gabriella felt like she was in it for life.

There were so many times Jenny thought she was "done" with fan fiction, when really she just hadn't been inspired in a while.

Gabriella always figured that when she went to college or even into her twenties that the desire to use Maybe This Time as an outlet would eventually fade, not even close. She was still deeply emerged in working on stories of her own along with the ones she wrote with Jenny. They exchanged chapters all the time. Gabriella would edit Jenny's work and Jenny would always add that whimsical hope and magic to Gabriella's.

Only they never posted anything Gabriella wrote and that was all because Gabriella didn't believe any of it was good enough. So they always worked on Jenny's pieces the most.

Jabriella was huge. When they'd started this adventure together Jenny and Gabriella hadn't been expecting it to be as big as it became. It seemed like in a years' time the girls went from getting five hundred hits per chapter to five thousand.

Gabriella tried to keep up with comments and questions as much as she could. But there was no doubt about it. Jabriella wasn't just telling stories to friends and family anymore. Not that any of her friends and family ever really read anything she wrote. Gabriella never really told anyone about Jabriella.

Jabriella had an audience, a following. All these people she didn't know, who expected things from them and questioned their decisions. Sometimes they even turned against them. People would trash Jabriella on their fan-sites, saying she wasn't as good as she use to be, that her endings where horrible, her stories dragged on, the characters were too canny, not original enough, not likeable.

But, for every bad review seven good ones seemed to follow.

Gabriella felt closer to Jenny than she'd felt to anyone. They were Math Club buddies, Facebook friends, Instagram friends and twitter friends and fan fiction partners.

Then Jenny got sick.

Jenny had a case of Chronic bronchitis. If you have chronic bronchitis, the lining of the lungs' airways are red and swollen. Over time, the airways become narrow and partly clogged with mucus that cannot be cleared. Chronic bronchitis is a type of Chronic Obstructed Pulmonary Disease, COPD.

These last three weeks after Jenny's death had been hard.

Jabriella hadn't posted.

Gabriella stopped writing.

And now a rumor?

"So," Taylor sat down on her bed as she watched Gabriella put the box of Jenny's things on her desk. "What are we going to do about Troy?"

"What do mean, we?"

"Please, like I'd abandon you now. We can't just let him get away with telling everyone that you guys hooked up?"

"What am I supposed to do about that?"

Taylor stood up, "You have to set the record straight."

"How?" Gabriella tossed her purse off to the side and fell onto her bed where she laid back and stared at the ceiling. Rationally, she knew she should be angry about the rumor that made it sound like her name and number would soon be scrawled on the boys' bathroom wall. Her reputation, not that she had much of one, was at stake.

Try as she might to care. She just didn't.

She had other things to think about.

Like Jabriella. Their last story was still in progress. Their inbox was flooded with emails demanding the next chapter. Gabriella wasn't sure if she had it in her to shut down the account. She wasn't ready to close the door on the last five years.

What other choice did she have?

"I'm going to take a nap."

Taylor's mouth fell open. "Seriously."

Gabriella shifted into her sheets her eyes falling easily, for a moment she allowed herself to fantasize that Troy started the rumor due to his overwhelming crush on her. Yeah. Right. She'd been the one secretly lusting after him since her sophomore year, just like every other female in a fifty-mile radius.

Later that evening she woke up again and found the room empty. Taylor must have been disappointed with her lack of excitement. Her eyes landed on the box of Jenny's things. Not. Ready. There was something about the idea of routing around through Jenny's things that just didn't seem right.

Sitting up she stretched out and faintly heard her stomach rumble in hunger. She should at least get something to eat from the vending machine downstairs. Without another thought she tucked her tousled behind her eyes and grabbed her wallet. She made her way downstairs where a few people were already hanging out in the multipurpose room.

The smell of pizza made her stomach clench. She should walk over to the student center and get an actual meal. She immediately slowed down when she rounded the corner towards the vending machine.

There he was, wearing a crisp blue shirt and khakis. She felt underdressed in her Levi's and the black Talk Nerdy to Me sweatshirt she'd thrown on this morning before leaving her dads.

His brown hair, broad shoulders and perpetual tan seem to make him even more God like. Seriously, how on earth was he able to convince anyone that they would engage in any kind of relation that didn't involve the terms, do you want fries with that, or can I take your order.

He was talking to his friend Chad. Where Troy had the whole tan, blond-ish, blue-eyed thing going on, Chad was fair with dark hair and dark eyes. They looked like opposite sides of the same coin. A really hot, totally unreachable coin that a collector would keep in a special locked case, which normal girls like her were not allowed to touch.

Troy glanced up at her entry and smiled. It wasn't a one those hey you smiles, just one of those nods of acknowledgement smiles. How rude of a greeting for someone you're supposed to be sleeping with. It was probably the first time he'd ever noticed her. Not that Gabriella wasn't attractive. It was just that boys like him normally dated girls with bigger boobs than her head.

Just ignore him.

Gabriella wiped her hand on the front of her pants as she watched her reflection looking back at her in the vending machines dim lighting. She had other things to think about than Troy Bolton. She still needed to get ready for tomorrow. Her first class was at noon. American Sign Language. A sad ping went off in her heart.

It was Jenny's idea to learn sign. Sometimes after all the coughing fits and mucus build up she hadn't wanted to talk. So they learned to sign. She wondered now if maybe she should just pull out of the class.

D2. The tip of her finger felt numb. The machine came to life and the coils began to turn. Then nothing.

"You stupid piece of crap," Gabriella banged on the Plexiglas as she watched her bag of M&M's shift from the coil, but not fall. "Come on."

She didn't need this. Not tonight. She pushed her think black frame glasses up her nose and crossed her arms over her chest. That's it, maybe she could stop her foot too, really show the vending machine whose was boss.

Was it too much to ask for? Just one thing to go right this evening. Even if it was just a lousy bag of chocolate covered peanuts. She banged on the machine again.

Nothing.

The bag just leaned against the glass, suspended in chocolate purgatory.

"You're an evil machine," she said pointedly as she stared at her faded refection. She was a desperate woman. Fighting with a vending machine on a perfectly good Sunday night, for a bag of chocolate. "Don't make me unplug you," she said giving the machine another push.

It stood motionless. Unaffected by her push.

"Nice one."

She jerked as the voice behind her caught her off guard. His blue eyes widen at her reaction and he quickly held up his hands in surrender. Gabriella's shoulders slumped, it was just him.

"Sorry," he said realizing he startled her. "Troy," he held out his hand.

"Right." Gabriella nodded, trying to look angry rather than curious, she did her best hands on her hip maneuver. "I know who you are." For extra emphasis she threw in a glare. "Why are you telling people we hooked up after the bonfire?"

His eyes widen as they roamed from her dark hair down to her pink hello kitty socks and then back up again. "Who're you?"

"I'm Gabriella Montez."

He shook his head. "The Gabriella I hooked up with has blond and red hair."

Gabriella's hands detached from her hips. "Oh," she thought for a moment before she had the courage to look up at him again. "Gabriella Hernandez has blond hair with red streaks in it." She held her hand up six inches above her head. "She's about this tall and wears a lot of makeup."

"That's her," Troy confirmed. "She said her name was Gabriella Montez."

That made no sense. "Why would she use my name?"

"I have no idea." Troy watched her quietly for moment his brows furrowed in confusion.

"Yo Bolton." A familiar voice boomed through the rec room and caused both of them to jump. "Been looking for you douche bag."

They both turned to see the very woman in question hand in hand with a guy who looked familiar. Huge didn't even begin to describe him. He could have doubled for a pro-wrestler.

In an unexpected move, Troy reached for her hand and pulled her to his side. "Play along. We'll straighten this out later."

Great jumping house cats. He was touching her. It almost felt like she'd won some sort of geek girl lottery. Taylor would probably die when she found out she missed this.

"Hey Gabi," The other Gabriella winked at her. "Luis came back from his cage fighting match this morning, and we got back together." She held out her left hand. "Look at my promise ring he gave, isn't totally rocking."

Gabi? Gabriella looked at the ring on her finger. It was nice for a black band with a red and silver heart-shaped stones on it. How the hell had people confused her for this woman. "It looks nice."

"Anyway," she laughed, "someone told Luis I hooked up with Troy after the bonfire. Isn't that ridiculous?"

Imagine that.

Luis came up to Troy until he was toe to toe with him. "Why are people saying they saw you with my girl?"

Troy kept his cool and chuckled. "Do I look that stupid?"

She bit her lip to stop the automatic answer from coming out. Her remarks probably wouldn't be welcomed right about now. After another awkward moment passed she let out a sigh. "We do have the same first name."

Luis turned his attention to Gabriella and it was like he just now registered her standing there and she did everything she could not to look nervous.

"You were in my English Literature class."

Another mystery solved. She nodded.

"You hook up with him at Friday night?" he asked jerking his head towards Troy.

Good lord. "Yeah. That was me." She must be beat red all over and her palm was sweating profusely. Her body was suddenly pressed against Troy's from shoulder to hip. He smelled warm and spicy like the expensive cologne at the mall. So much for her reputation.

Luis seemed to relax little. "Sorry for being so brash about all this." He shook his head. "I hate rumors. People are always in my business you know?"

Gabriella and Troy nodded.

"Hey babe, there's pizza in here." The other Gabriella pouted as she tugged on Luis's arm. "I'm hungry."

"Oh, yeah help yourselves." Troy nodded as he motioned towards where Chad was watching them.

"Thanks man."

And with that, they left Gabriella and Troy by the vending machine. Had any of that been real?

"Well," Troy said letting go of her hand. "I probably owe you my life."

"Don't mention it." she murmured then paused. "Seriously. Stop mentioning it. Not only is the bragging off putting but it's odd that everyone's gonna think we…"

Troy nodded. "Got it."

"Good."

They stood there for a moment.

"So do you need help?" he said shifting his eyes behind her to the vending machine.

She turned her attention back to her candy crisis. She'd almost forgot all about that. "Is it possible to… maybe you could, um… can you get that out for me?" Great she was babbling. Smooth. Why not just paint a big idiot sign on her forehead.

Troy raised a brow and smiled. "Least I can do, seeing as how I've been bragging about our sex life."

Gabriella's eyes widen, "Agreed."

Gabriella watched him cautiously. He pulled his wallet out of his back pocket and pulled out a dollar. He inserted it into the machine and hit a couple of buttons. The M&M coil sprang to life releasing hers and another bag down into the tray. She could have done that.

"Success," he threw his hands up in victory before bending over to retrieve the candy. "I believe this one is yours." He turned and held out bag to her and kept one for himself.

"I can pay you back for that." Gabriella took the offered candy and reached into the pocket of her shorts. "I mean, I'm sure you didn't want M&M's."

He shook his head. "I'm good."

"Right," Gabriella nodded. She should really get back to her room. She still had 3 chapters to Beta read tonight for side project she was working on for someone else. She didn't have time for this. She also just need to scream into a pillow. Decision made. She turned to start walking away.

"So where were you this weekend?" he appeared alongside her tearing open his bag of M&Ms.

Why were they still communicating? "I went back home to visit my dad," she said beginning to climb the stair back to the main floor.

"What's your favorite color of M&M?"

"They all taste the same."

"Well sure, but…" he was at her side once again as they got to the landing. "Everyone has a favorite color."

"That's different," Gabriella shook her head. "M&M's come only 5 colors, whereas someone's favorite color could be anything. What are the odds that out of hundreds of colors, your favorite color is also your favorite M&M?"

"Are you a science major?"

"English."

He didn't say anything after that. He just seemed to be walking her back to her room. Why?

"Red."

Gabriella raised her brow as she glanced at him as he walked beside her. Popping a red M&M into his mouth.

"Favorite color. Favorite M&M."

Gabriella stop in front of her door. "Green. Blue."

Troy made a face, "Wait that's two. Which one's which?"

"Wouldn't you like to know?" she wasn't sure where that came from. Wasn't even sure why she said it. But as soon as she saw his eyes widen she pushed her door open and got the hell out of there.

Troy sat in the second row at the table on his left. He wasn't exactly excited to take this elective, but he needed this class for other reasons. At least he wasn't completely horrible at American Sign Language. He'd taken a few courses in high school.

He leaned back in his seat his eyes scanning the room for familiar faces. Hardly any. Mostly freshmen. Troy let out a long sigh. Freshmen.

His mind wondered to Sharpay. This entire mess was out of control. If he'd known that the other Gabriella was in an on again off again relationship with a bug hulking monster, he never would have touched her. The only perk to this whole spreading his dirty laundry around was that it would get back to his ex-girlfriend Sharpay. He hoped she back off after hearing about his bonfire escapades.

Then he got a text message this morning about her needing his opinion on her underwear selection.

Apparently, his escapades almost got him killed for nothing.

Movement from doorway catches his eye and he looks over to see her. Gabriella. The M&M flirt. Thank god, for a moment he thought he might be bored. He waved in her direction and smiled when her eyes landed on him. She had really cute eyes. Like a baby deer. Wide, brown, innocent. Her hair was in one long braid coming over her right shoulder and she hugged her bag to her chest as if it held top secret information. She wore a pair of those yoga pants, the ones that really shouldn't be called pants but were totally awesome because they qualified for pants these days. If only she would turn around and lift her baggy shirt up a bit. Then he could see what they were working with.

She walked past him, sitting at the third table on the right.

What gives? Troy got up and made his way to her table. He plopped down in the seat beside her.

"I was saving us a spot."

She smiled. He liked making girls smile. It was just one of those things he was really good at. "I don't think sitting together is a good idea."

"Why?"

She rolled her eyes.

Troy smiled. "I guess your spot is better. Just want you to know, I spent a lot of time picking out that seat," he said with mock concern as he pointed to where he'd just been.

"Is this my punishment for saving your ass yesterday?"

Troy brought a hand up to his heart. "I'll have you know spending time with me is considered many things, punishment is not one of them."

"Well you sure do love telling everyone about it."

He dropped his shoulders, "I'm not like that."

"Really, so it's been my imagination that I was propositioned twice this morning because of your raving reviews on my supposed performance."

Troy stilled, "You can't be serious."

"As a heart attacked. And really, thank you again. I was really beginning to worry about social career being nonexistent until you put me on whose-hoeing-map of campus."

Troy chuckled, "None of that was my intention. I'm just trying to end things with my ex and it's not going over well."

"What a shame, because you have such a way with words."

"I do. I've broken up with her three times this month." He held up three fingers. "It didn't take. Every morning she acted like we were still together. She started talking about where we should have our destination wedding and what we should name out kinds. I tried being nice. I tried being mean. Nothing worked. So finally I went for drastic measures. I figured if she heard about my little hook up, she might just take the hint and move on."

One that note, her demeanor changed slightly. "So you're not a man-whore?"

"Excuse me?"

"Nothing." Gabriella shook her head as she let out a sigh.

They didn't talk for a next thirty minutes. Instead they sat through the class introduction. Mr. Stevens, their instructor informed them of what to expect for the upcoming semester in his class. Over all the entire thing seems like an easy A.

His eyes wonder to his assigned partner. She didn't seem too thrilled about that happy little accident. Gabriella was cute in a wholesome-girl-next-door sort of way.

"All right," Mr. Stevens said as he came around his desk. "It's silent time, now. Only communicate through sign. I'll be walking around to check on each of you try to get a gauge on what we're working with."

Troy smiles and looks over at his M&M buddy. Her smile is forced and she starts signing.

I guess we're stuck together. I hope we… Troy frowns as the rest gets jumbled. She's real good. So much for an easy A.

Sorry, go slower.

She smiles wider and emphasizes each movement.

I hope we can move past our sex life and get along. Thank you for the M&M last night.

Right. He suddenly wished he was as good as she was.

You're really good at this. Where did you learn?

Her face dropped just a little and for a moment he thought he said something wrong. Maybe he signed balls instead of learn.

A good friend taught me. We skyped all …bunch of gibberish.

Troy reach out and caught her hands.

S-L-O-W!

We skyped a lot. It was easier for her to sign.

Cool, my nephew is autistic. We're teaching him how to sign.

You have a nephew?

Wait? Was? You don't talk to her anymore?

They signed at the same time and she smiled as Mr. Steven came by to monitor there interaction.

Sorry, you have a nephew?

Troy ran a hand over his hair before continuing. Yeah, he's four. His name is Alex. He's funny.

She scrunched up her nose. Can you be funny at four?

Why not?

Her face get a little red and she looks up at Mr. Stevens who nods and begin walking towards the next table. She take a long breath and looks down at her lap. Troy motions for her attention.

What about your friend?

We don't have to keep this up, the instructor … more gibberish.

Troy grunts as he catches her hands again. They feel kind of warm and she jerks away, going so red he wasn't sure if there was any blood in any part of her body but her face.

Slow, please.

I don't want to talk about it. It's personal.

Troy nodded. Why didn't she just say so? He watched her for a moment and then let out a sign. Seen any good movies?

Her eyes widen and she shrugs her shoulders. Not big on movies.

Troy rolls his eyes unable to wrap his brain around this woman. He wiped his hands on his jeans as he tried to recall some of the gestures for this next one. Let me get this right. You don't think four year olds are funny, you may or may not like the blue M&M and you don't watch… movies?

They both stifle their laughter. Thank god she thought he was funny. The thought did a weird things to his stomach, but in a good way.

I told you. All colors taste the same.

Lair.

That's a fact.

He smiled at her and enjoyed watching her smile back. She was something else all right. He just wasn't sure what. So why don't you like movies?

I just don't get out as much. You know, not really one of those girls.

No he didn't know. He was 21 years old and he still couldn't get his hands on the secret handbook that let him know everything. Girls that like to see movies? He chuckled and so did she.

No. Like I'm not… She stops and does a mock thinking face. It's cute. When she signs this time she goes slowly. I don't get asked out a lot.

Troy raises a brow, not sure how to respond to that. You have friends though, right? He attempts a smile.

He watches as she frowns again. And he wished he knew why she was so sad. Finally, she nods. Back home. They all have boyfriends. Sitting in a theater with a bunch of people making out around me? No thanks.

She attempts another smile. But it doesn't reach her eyes.

Yeah, I can get that. Troy lets out a long breath. At the moment all my buddies always have a date. I'm always a third wheel.

It slaps balls.

Caught off guard Troy lets out a bark of laughter. Did she really sign that, or did he interpret it wrong? But she's laughing too, and everyone was looking at them.

"Do I need to separate you two?" Mr. Stevens asks.

"No sir," Gabriella says as she looks back at Troy with a small smile.

When class lets out Gabriella scoops up her bag and starts making her way out of the classroom.

"Hey, wait up." His voice calls to her as he catches up. She starts to descend the stair case and he maneuvers around three other classmates just to end up on her side. "Do you have a class after this?"

"Not for another hour," she said politely.

"Me too, let's get something to eat."

Gabriella eyes widen. "Why?"

Troy races towards the bottom step pushing the door open and holding it for her. "Because I'm hungry and I hate eating alone."

"Actually I have some stuff to work on," she said cautiously as she stepped towards the door. She took a breath.

"Aw come on it's the first day of classes, what could you possibly have to do that's more important than food."

Chapter seven of Crashing into You. Answering emails from her readers. Coming up with an ending. Not thinking about Jenny. Because Jenny would know what to do. She'd be able to finish the story with the kind of ending that made everyone feel that dopey happy ever after high. Jenny always knew what to do.

The last one hurt. A dull throb melted her chest and she felt a tear forming. "I just do."

"Right," Troy said quietly. He probably thought she was crazy. He probably thought she was weird. Everyone always thought she was weird. Too bad, because even though he was everything she hated about college wrapped up in his cool guy-no one ever says no to me- package, he was still intriguing.

"I guess; I'll see you later then?"

"Bye," she began walked down the path back to her dorm room. Her mind drifted to Jenny again.