Title: Because I Love You

Author: Emily (xEmilyHeartsx)

Fandom: HSM; Troyella

A/N: So I'm back! With a totally random, out of the blue oneshot! They are the best kind ayee? Haha, so yeah... have fun reading it, I guess haha!

Summary: "Gabriella! You're the one I want! Not any of those other girls! Why is it so hard for you to understand that?" He yelled over the thundering rain. "Because it just is, Troy."

DISCLAIMER: I do not own HSM, I swear! Hence me being here writing about it.

The sound of thunder cracked through the dark, night sky, but that didn't stop the high school teenagers held in one of the houses from partying away. Troy Bolton, being one of the teenagers as well as the captain of the basketball team that had just made it through to the championships, made his way around the drunken teenagers in the Evan's household.

"Troy, mah maaan!" A voice slurred as the sandy haired teenage boy looked towards the direction of the voice. There stood, Brad Peters (looking drunk as ever) the captain of the football team with a scantily clad cheerleader hanging off his arm. "G-good game tonight, man! Awezzome shot at da buzzer!"

Grinning, Troy thanked him as the cheerleaders eyes wandered up and down his own body. Grinning one last time at Brad, he smiled at the cheerleader who gave him a wink before she was pulled along with Brad.

The thunder cracked, as the lightening lit up the sky, the house shaking, not that any of the teenager noticed or for that fact even cared. Making his way through the crowd, Troy walked into the kitchen and grabbed himself a drink as he made his way into the living room.

Upon entering, he scanned the room in search of any one of his friends. Not finding one, he walked towards the door, trying to get past the mob of drunken teenagers. Finally making his way out of the room, he was suddenly pulled aside the entrance of the living room by two sets of hands. He looked up and mentally groaned as he saw Amber Wilson and Grace Pratt standing in front of him, with what appeared to be flirty smiles on their faces.

"Hey, Troysie!" Amber screeched, twirling a lock of platinum blonde hair around her skinny finger. "You played such a great game tonight." She purred as she took a step closer to him as he took one back. "It got me so inspired!"

"Um," He began, looking around the room searching desperately for any one of his friends so he could get out of the hold of the slutty (which would be an understatement) cheer captain and her lost puppy, Grace. "Yeah thanks, Amber. But... I have to go... be somewhere." He said lamely as she just rolled her green orbs.

"Somewhere as in, oh I don't know, maybe your innocent little brat of a girlfriend?" She questioned as she took a step closer to him, him taking one back only to find himself trapped by a wall. Anger boiled in his blood as he went to speak, but was cut off. "You know, Troy. I can give you a whole lot more than she ever could." Amber said in a flirty voice as he mentally groaned yet again and looked forward seeing Grace smirking away.

"Amber, seriously, I have to-"

"Go. Yeah, yeah I know." She stated, taking one more step closer to him. "But why go to Gabriella, when you've got me? I mean, I'm obviously so much more hotter than her..." She trailed off, running her hands up his chest suggestively. "And did I mention that I'm super flexible." She whispered into his ear as he rolled his eyes and tried to push her away.

"Amber, get over yourself."

Blinking at the sight in front of her, she tried to push back the tears that were threatening to fall. It was like this all the time, making her feel useless. Her boyfriend, her boyfriend, always in a not-so-innocent position with a cheerleader.

Pushing herself off the wall, she stalked away, not being able to bare the sight anymore. Pulling out her phone, she texted the only friend she knew to be at this party and not busy. Sending the message, she made her way to walk outside, but remembered it was bucketing down with rain. "Shit." She whispered. Feeling someone tap her shoulder a few minutes later, she turned around.

"Gabs, are you okay?" The blonde asked as Gabriella bit her lip and shook her head. Despite not getting along with the blonde haired 'Drama Queen' when she first transferred to East High in her freshman year, the two had become good friends in their sophomore year. "Oh, honey." Sharpay said soothingly as she brought her friend into a hug.

"He does it every single time." She whispered, pulling away from her blonde friend, tears threatening to fall. "It's like, he doesn't even bother to try and get away, just stands there!" Raising an arm to her forehead, she rubbed and closed her eyes. Sighing, she looked at Sharpay who was frowning. "I think I'll just go home."

"But didn't Troy drive you here?" She questioned as Gabriella groaned and leaned up against the glass door. "Here, I'll come home with you. Is your mom there?"

"Uh, no, she isn't. She's on a business trip, but you don't have to come, this is your party, Shar." Gabriella said as she sighed, trying to figure out a way to get home.

"Gabi, you're my best friend. Of course I have to help you when your boyfriend is being his jackass self!" She exclaimed, as Gabriella smiled a little. "Taylor's probably with Chad and Kelsi's probably with Jason. That leaves me to take you home. Besides, Ryan lives here too? Duh!"

Laughing softly, Gabriella smiled at her. "Thanks, Shar." She said as the two linked arms and walked through the crowd of teenagers.

Nearing the garage, Sharpay stopped and turned to Gabriella. "Gabs, I just have to go get my keys. They're upstairs, I'll be back in like 2 minutes, okay?" She said before disappearing up the stairs.

Leaning against the garage door, Gabriella sighed and ran her hands through her dark locks and rolled her lips together. Closing her eyes for a moment, she felt a tap on her shoulder. Opening them up, expecting it to be Sharpay she sighed.

"Gabster! Troy's been looking for you for ages!" The boy said as Gabriella sighed.

"Chad, tell Troy that Shar's taking me home, okay? I don't feel like telling him." She said as Chad rose his eyebrows. "Just do it."

"Well, why can't you tell him?"

"Chad! Just do it!" She cried as Chad shrugged his shoulders and walked off. Groaning, her head bashed the door as she winced.

"Come on, Gabi." Sharpay said as Gabriella looked up and saw her standing there. Smiling weakly, Sharpay opened the door leading into the garage and shut it behind her.

Blue eyes scanned the room he just walked into as he saw Chad with Taylor clinging onto his arm walking into the same room a few minutes ago. Finally seeing the two sat on a chair, he walked over and stood over them. "Um, Chad, Taylor." He began, "You wouldn't happen to know where Gabriella is do you?" He asked as they both looked up at him.

Taylor shook her head, and frowned slightly. "No, I haven't seen her since she got here with you. Sorry, Troy."

"Um." Chad began as Troy looked directly at him. "I saw her about... a half hour ago or something and she was leaving. She told me to tell you that she was going home with Sharpay and that she didn't wanna tell you that... so I did." He explained as he smiled a tight smile.

"Oh, uh, okay then. Thanks." He said distractedly as he walked away from the two. Pulling out his phone, he flipped it open and immediately smiled at the background picture of himself and Gabriella. Opening his messages, he found no new messages at all. Frowning, he at least expected one from her. Typing in a quick message and sending it, he shoved his phone back into his pocket and walked out of the room, not knowing exactly what to do.

Hearing her phone beep from its place in front of her and Sharpay on her bed, Gabriella reached forward as she opened the new text message, seeing it was from Troy.

Hey, why'd you leave and not tell me? x

Groaning, she threw her phone to the end of her bed as it rolled off the edge and banged against the carpet causing her to cringe. Folding her arms across her chest, her eyes focused on whatever was playing on the tv.

"You know, you're gonna have to talk to him." Sharpay stated softly as Gabriella just shrugged. "You can't just ignore him, Gabriella!"

"And why not?" She asked, turning her body to face Sharpay. "Why can't I just ignore him? He does this all the time! I'm so over it!"

"Well for one, he doesn't know why you're ignoring him. And two, if he does it all the time why don't you just break-up with him? Huh?" She questioned as Gabriella looked down at her quilt cover and began to pick at a loose thread. Hearing Sharpay sigh, she sniffled. "Gabi-"

"I can't do that." She whispered. "I just can't bring myself to it, you know why." She said, looking up at Sharpay's brown, sorry-filled eyes.

"I know, I know, Gabi." She sighed as she ran a hand through her blonde locks.

"Look, I just want to get through this weekend with not talking to him, okay?" Gabriella said as Sharpay watched her friends brown orbs prick with tears.

"I know that's what you want, Gabi. But what if he calls you? Or comes over to your house?" She questioned as Gabriella shrugged. "What would you do? He's your boyfriend for god sake!"

"Yeah well maybe he should start acting like it!"

The stormy weekend passed by in a blur and before anyone knew it, it was Monday.

Troy parked his rusty truck in the East High carpark, sitting in his turned off car for a while. What would he do when he walked in? He usually picked up Gabriella from school and walked in with her, or if he didn't he would go straight to her locker, finding her. But today was different, he tried contacting her all weekend but she didn't return any of his calls, confusing him to no end.

Sighing, he looked out his window seeing it was only spitting. Opening his door, he hopped out of his car and into the gloomy weather as he rushed towards the building, noticing that most of the students were rushing to get out of the rain.

Upon entering, he heard the chatter of the students as they reunited after a weekend. Sticking his hands in his pockets, he casually strolled down the hall smiling and nodding at the people around him. Stopping at his locker, he spun in the code before opening it. Grabbing the books he'd need for his first few periods, he looked at the photo of him and Gabriella plastered on his door. Just looking at the photo, he wondered what he'd done wrong.

Slamming his locker door shut, startling a few people around him, he smiled softly at them in apology as he made his way further down the hall, hoping his girlfriend would be at her locker. Pushing through a bunch of people, he stopped about 10 metres away from her locker, just watching as she looked in her locker, in what seemed to be deep thought. Striding over he stopped beside her and leant against the locker next to her.

"Hey Brie." He greeted softly as she turned to look at him and smiled softly before turning back into her locker, moving a few things about. Sighing in annoyance he grabbed her hand, stilling her movements as he felt her stiffen. "Why did you ignore my calls and texts?"

Yanking her hand out of his grasp she went back to moving items about as she shrugged softly. Sighing once again, he watched as she shut her locker and turned towards him and put on what he could tell was a fake smile.

"Walk me to homeroom?" She questioned softly as he just looked at her confused. One, he always walked with her to homeroom, why would she even bother asking? Two, she had ignored him all weekend and now she was acting fine, something was up.

"Gabriella, what's wrong?" He asked in a tone that caused her to wince and shrink down a bit. That and he never called her Gabriella, so he was mad. "I mean, you leave the party I took you too, without telling me and then you ignore me all weekend? What's up with that?" He asked in the same tone, causing a few passing people to look at them confusedly.

"Nothing's wrong, Troy, just don't worry." She said in a voice that sounded forced. "Just..." She began but sighed. "Just walk with me to homeroom." She asked looking up at him as he shook his head, causing her to groan.

"No, not until you tell me what's wrong!" He argued, raising his voice a little bit as a few people around them witnessed the scene of East High's 'Golden Couple' arguing in the middle of the hall. Something that the two never did.

"Troy! Nothing is wrong! Get that through your head!" She said through clenched teeth as he just shook his head at her. "What? What do you want me to say?" She asked softly as he took a step closer to her.

"I want you to tell me what's wrong." He whispered as she groaned and went to turn away, noticing people around them were now watching. Feeling him grab her wrist and turn her around, she yanked her wrist away and took a step back.

"Troy, people are watching." She said in an almost whisper as she looked to the floor, linking her hands together.

"Tell me what's wrong."

"Nothing's wrong."

"Gabriella!" He yelled as she looked up at him. He took in her appearance for the first time that day, her face bare of make-up, something she never came to school without doing, her hair down in its natural curls, but looked messy and now the tears forming in her eyes.

"Fine, I'll tell you what's wrong." She said, pushing herself off her locker and rubbing at her eyes, not caring that half the senior class was probably watching. "I'm sick and tired of you flirting around with every single girl in our grade." She stated calmly as he narrowed his eyes at her, a confused expression washed over his face. "You wanted to know what's on my mind, there you are."

"What the hell are you talking about?" He questioned, as he watched her sigh, obviously annoyed. Out of the corner of his eye, he just saw an afro, meaning Chad was there and assumed that Taylor was with him.

"Like you don't know!" She stated, throwing her arms in the air. "I'm so over it! I see you basically every walking minute at school with a girl hanging off your arm! Or if you're at practice and I come in, because you ask me to, you'll be standing there flirting with a new cheerleader every week! Or if a girl comes up to you and starts flirting with you, you never push her away. It's like you're cheating in me, right in front of my very own eyes!" She yelled as he just looked at her shocked. "I'm over it, seriously, Troy! When you asked me out did you... just do it just to annoy me, or piss me off? Because it so seems like that's the case to me!" She looked at Troy, feeling the tears falling down her cheeks as he just stood there shocked at her outburst as he went to speak. "Don't even talk to me!" She cut him off through her tears before turning away and facing a crowd of people, wiping at her cheeks, she pushed through them and was out of sight.

Troy just stood there, confused. Did he really do that? He possibly couldn't. Watching the place she just escaped, he saw Taylor and Sharpay tear after her. Biting the insides of his cheeks, he tried to recall if he ever did any of that and couldn't help but soon figure she was right.

The East High senior class stood awkwardly as they had just witnessed, Troy and Gabriella, Golden Couple, fight for what seemed to be the first time and over something huge.

Days passes awkwardly. Sad awkward glances were shared between the friends of the fighting couple as they continued to mope around. Troy doing whatever it took to try to talk to Gabriella, and Gabriella doing whatever it took to ignore his attempts.

Thursday came and the storm had increased dramatically. Thunder and lightening every, what seemed, minute. The leaves off trees being thrown around in the wind, rain hitting hard on the buildings, running down the windows.

Gabriella was sat on a lounge in her house, wrapped up in a blanket watching, or rather not watching, whatever was on the tv. Looking out the window as she heard a crack of thunder, she shivered. It had been raining for the past week, heavily.

Hopping up, she wrapped the blanket tightly around herself as she slowly made her way over to the window, looking out of it, observing the rain.

It wasn't very light, but it wasn't very heavy either. Thunder sounded every now and then and lightening cracked and lit up the dark sky.

Looking down at the silver watch on her hand, she noted it was 4.46pm. Her mother at work late on Thursday nights, and half of her friends studying, working or what-not, she was stuck at home by herself... in her weeping mode. She wasn't in the mood to go out anyway.

Continuing to look out the window, she turned her head slightly to the left and saw a figure sitting on the bench that was placed a few metres down the footpath that ran down her street. Seeing the figure in a black hoodie, with the hood covering their head and from what she could see, denim jeans and black converses.

Confused, as to why this person would be sitting there, she just looked on for a moment. The pitter-patter of the rain suddenly increased dramatically, as it started to bucket down with rain. Still watching, the person, they hopped up, and now Gabriella could tell they were male, and began to walk past her house.

He stopped right at the path that lead up to her front door and sighed, as Gabriella realised who it was. Her eyes widening, she dropped the blanket and sprinted for her front door. Unlocking it, she swung it open violently as she stood out into the pouring rain.

"Troy!" She called, thunder crashing moments after his name left her lips. Watching as he turned around, he pushed the hoodie off of his head, his usually light brown hair automatically turning into a dark brown colour, as it stuck to his face, his light blue eyes turned dark blue. "What are you... what are you doing?" She questioned breathlessly as she slowly made her way up to him.

"I was just walking through."

"In the rain?"

She watched as he shuffled nervously. She sighed, seeing him like this killed her. Vulnerable and not knowing how to act around her. But, he was the one who deserved it after all of the shit he put her through on a daily basis.

"Damn it, Gabriella!" All of a sudden he shouted over the rain as she took a step back, frightened by his outburst. "Why would you even think I was interested in any of those girls?" He questioned, his voice raising over the rain as he tried his best not to crack under the pressure.

"Why would I think it?" She asked before laughing. "Are you really that damn retarded?" She yelled as he just shook his head at her, obviously confused. "You're you! I'm just the transfer student who was lucky enough to gain your attention!"

"What does that even mean?" She questioned, still confused. He watched as she took a few more steps closer to him, being a mere 3 to 4 metres away from her. "I don't get it..." He whispered, looking down at the path.

"You! You're Troy Bolton!" His head snapped back up at her as she licked her lips slightly. "You could have any girl you want, but you ask out me? The girl who moved here half-way through the junior year. The girl whose freakishly smart with a high GPA." She yelled as he stood there clueless. "You asked me out! Me!" She cried, her voice cracking. "You asked me out! So why do you always go and flirt with every other single girl in our grade?" She yelled over the rain, feeling tears coming from her eyes, but it all didn't matter since she was in the rain. "I should be the one 'not getting it', not you, me!"

Taking the few steps to reach her, he grabbed her wrists. "Gabriella! You're the one I want!" He assured. "Not any of those other girls! Why is it so hard for you to understand that?" He yelled over the thundering rain as she just stood there helplessly. She let out a shaky breath before smiling sadly at him.

"Because it just is, Troy." She whispered, looking down at her sock covered feet, mentally cursing herself for running out in the rain in her sweats and not shoes. "You have these moments..." She began, trailing off. "You have these moments... where you are the most amazing guy in the world. You treat me right, make me feel worth while!" She yelled as he just shook his head at her. "But then you go and ruin that by flirting and being suggestive with another girl. I don't get it!"

Yelling, she yanked her wrists away from him as she stalked back down the path towards her house, wiping away at her eyes, but stopped when she heard his voice.

"I asked you out because I saw something with you! Something I didn't see with anyone else!"

Hearing his desperate tone, she turned around slowly to see him walking towards her before stopping in front of her. He cupped her cheeks as she just looked at him, her bottom lip quivering, more tears threatening to fall from her already blood shot eyes.

"Because in those first weeks of getting to know you, you were different than any girl I had ever come across. You were intelligent, and individual, gorgeous!" He calmly stated as he smiled softly at her. "Because when you'd walk into a room, I'd automatically be in a good mood because you knew the right ways to cheer me up. Because when you smiled, I'd smile and get a weird feeling inside of me, one that made me feel good. Because..." He trailed off swallowing as she nodded at him, the tears not being held back for much longer streamed down her face but meshed in with the rain.

"Because..." She encouraged.

Looking at her, he dropped his hands from cupping her cheeks and placed them on her hips, pulling her closer into his body. "Because I love you." He whispered as she sucked a breath in. "Being with you for 3 months and I fell in love you with. I fell in love with your witty behaviour." He joked as she cracked a small smile. "The way you chew your bottom lip when you're nervous or scared. Twirl your hair when you're concentrating, all the little things and all the big things.

I don't even notice that I flirt with those other girls, but having you explain to it me, I can actually picture it, and it makes me feel sick to think that I've betrayed you in such a way." He explained, his grip tightening on her waist as she nodded up at him. "I love you... and that's all I really know."

Letting out a soft laugh, she wove her hands up his body and into his hair as she pressed her lips against his firmly in a passionate kiss. Moving her lips against his, she pulled back slowly before it could get too far as she rested her forehead against his.

"I love you, too." She whispered as he laughed out in joy. "I love you. I'm in love with you, Troy Bolton." She stated as he placed a soft kiss to her forehead. "You're amazing." She whispered, her grip around his neck tightening.

"No, you are." He whispered as she moved his lips down to her neck and placed a kiss there. "Now, let's get you inside before you get a horrible cold and your mother kills me." He joked as she laughed along with him.

"It doesn't matter. I think I'll always remember this day..."

Shitty ending! I didn't know how to end it! Ahh.

So this has been sitting on my computer for quite a while and I got bored today, as it's freezing cold even though its freaking summer here in the land down under, BUT THATS OKAY I LOVE MY SUMMERS COLD -_-

Okay enough of my rant. Did you enjoy it! I enjoyed writing it, I think this i my fave fic I've written so far :D

Soo, review! I want to know your thoughts!

xoxo Emily.