Hey guys. I made it! I know, it's been a while, but I finally got it. I am working really hard on this and I have the feeling that there is another chapter soon to come. Hope you like it!

"Gabriella, honey, I told you to clean the windows in a circle motion not in an up and down motion, don't you ever listen to me?" Anna, Gabriella's mom criticized. This was just a normal Saturday for Gabriella. She had to clean the whole house, clean up after her mom's mess, since once a week she always has a "girls night in" as she likes to call it. She has to vacuum every single room in the one story house, clean the kitchen, the bathroom and do the laundry of her and her mom.

She sighed and nodded, while changing her up and down motion in a circling motion, just to satisfy her mom. "I am heading out now, hun, I'll see you….whenever. Try not to be here around 3ish please, I might have someone come over," she said and winked at her. Then proceeded to leave the house.

Great. 3ish? Was she serious? What was she supposed to do at 3 in the morning? Gabriella shook her head and continued on with cleaning the living room window.

3 hours later, she was finally finished with everything. The laundry was folded and back in its drawers. The windows shined, the bathroom smelled of lemon and the kitchen could finally be identified as a kitchen. The fridge was newly stocked with the main ingredients as was the little pantry.

Gabriella thought about going to the hospital to visit her little sister, but decided against it. She wasn't in the right mood for it. She couldn't handle it right now. So, she decided to go for a run. She changed into her workout clothes and started to run down her street and headed into the direction of the park.

She thought about the study date with Troy. He probably had already forgotten about it. Having her Ipod on full blast, she picked up her speed and let her thought wander. Why did he suddenly change his mind? Why did he defend her? Why was he so amazing to her? Why did they have such a great connection? Why did they have chemistry at all? She was from a whole other world. She didn't deserve one bit of him, she wasn't worth it. She wasn't worth those great feelings that -.

She suddenly felt two strong arms encircle her and pick her up. She screamed and kicked and tried to free herself, when she turned around she saw Troy grinning at her sheepishly. "Hey Gabi, I'm sorry I scared you, but I was yelling for you across the whole park and you didn't hear me, and once I realized that you had earplugs in I just ran up to you," he rambled and scratched the back of his head.

Gabriella was breathing heavily with a hand over her heart. "Dude, don't ever do that again, You scared the shit out of me!" she cursed. One second later, she realized what she said and put her hands over her mouth. "Sorry," she whispered and closed her eyes in embarrassment.

Troy laughed. "That's fine Gabi, I curse all the time, you don't need to be ashamed," he said and winked at her, he took a tiny step toward her, "and besides that, I think it's sexy when you curse," he admitted and made Gabriella blush.

"Study date," Gabriella blurted out. She wanted to change the subject, and that was the only thing that came to mind.

"What's that?"

She cleared her throat. "Didn't you want to study for math today?" she said quickly.

Troy broke out in a grin. "You would do that for me?" he said hopefully.

Gabriella giggled. "Yes, why wouldn't I? I like math and helping people," she confessed.

"Alright," he said, slowly letting go of her arms, "how about we'll meet each other here in an hour since it's such a nice day, we could just study outside. What do you say?"

Gabriella smiled. "I like that," and with that, both of them went back home and got ready for their study date.

An hour later, Gabriella found herself standing on front of Troy, who was laying on a blanket with a basket on it, in which, Gabriella assumed, would be tons of food. "Are you serious? I thought this was supposed to be a study session," she said, her hands on her hips in a accusing manner.

"It is," he exclaimed and got into a sitting position. "I just thought, after we are done with studying we might aswell take advantage of this beautiful day and have a picnic together," he told her, holding his hand out to her. She took it and he pulled her down onto the blanket.

"You surprise me almost every single time I see you, Troy Bolton," she admitted and smiled sweetly at him.

Troy smiled his crooked smile at her and blushed a little. "Why, thank you Miss Montez," he joked and nudged her shoulder. He clapped his hands. "Arlight, let's get this over with."

The next hour was filled with math questions and answers, every other curse word from Troy since he sometimes didn't get the answer right and some slight giggle from Gabriella since she thought Troy looked cute while he was concentrating.

"That's it!" Gabriella exclaimed. "That's the right answer Troy. You got it!"

Troy looked shocked at first. Then astounded and then just broke into a huge smile and hugged Gabriella with all his might. Both were so happy that they didn't even know what they were doing. Both of them pulled back slowly, their faces almost touching. Their noses inching closer and closer. Their eyes focused on each other.

Gabriella was frozen, she didn't know what to do. Should she pull back? Should she wait for him to do something? But before she could really think of something, she cleared her throat and took a deep breath, straightening up in the process and pulling back. Breaking the moment.

Troy took a deep breath and shook his head a little, to clear his head. "So, I wanted to ask you something," he said and looked at her flushed face. He smiled softly and took her hand in his. "There is this bonfire tonight, would you like to join me?" he said in a hopeful voice.

Gabriella didn't have a good feeling in the pit of her stomach. "Bonfire? Tonight? I don't know Troy," she said timidly. "I was never at such a thing before, I don't know if it would be such a good idea if I show up there, especially with you!" she exclaimed.

He squeezed her hands and caressed them with his thumb. "You don't need to worry about my friends or anyone for that matter, really!" he tried to persuade her.

She sighed. She really didn't know what to do or even if this was a good idea after all. Every single time she was near Troy or he was near her, almost everybody in school gave an nasty looks, called her names or even did something to her that would have never crossed her mind in the first place. She didn't know if he was worth it. She didn't know if he was playing with her, or if he really liked her. She sighed. "Alright, I'll be there, where is it?"

Troy broke out into a bright grin. "Awesome, I'll pick you up and bring you back home. Do you have a curfew?"

Try not to be here around 3ish. Her mother's words came back to her mind. "No, not at all. I can stay as long as we want to." She tried to smile.

"Great, so I'll be at your house at 8."

"I am so happy you are finally coming out of your little shell, Gabs," Sharpay exclaimed, while th three of them were hanging at Sharpay's house,

Gabriella smiled at her. "To be honest, I don't really know what to expect. Where is it gonna be again? The Clearing?" Gabriella asked and looked at her History paper again.

Taylor smiled at her, while looking for a cute outfit. She brought more than 4 different outfits to Sharpay's house, since she knew that Sharpay would end up collecting her clothes for her. "You will like it there. It is kinda creepy, since there is not a lot of light, but the bonfire will make the air really warm and there are so many spots where you can make out undetecte-" she was interrupted.

Sharpay held up a hand. "Alright, Tay. Why don't you start telling her that we saw fucking Bigfoot out there?! Do you wanna change her mind? Don't tell her about that!" she exclaimed and threw Gabriella a yellow top on her lap. "Try this on, Gabs."

Gabriella rolled her eyes. " I am not innocent, Sharpay. What do you think of me?" she asked, really curious. She did kiss a guy before.

Sharpay smiled at her sweet, while looking at herself in the mirror. "Oh, so you're telling me that you made out with a guy before, while being pressed against a tree in the dark?" she told her.

Gabriella choked. "No! What I meant is, that I have kissed a guy before!"

Taylor and Sharpay gave each other a knowing look. "Okay, Gabs. Whatever you say." Sharpay said while Taylor giggled.

"What time is Troy picking you up anyway?"

Gabriella looked onto the ground for a second. "Well...since I am already here, I thought maybe you could give me a ride and I will just meet him there." she confessed and looked sheepishly at Sharpay.

Sharpay just shrugged. "Fine with me, as long as you wear what I tell you to!"

Gabriella groaned loudly, which made Taylor and Sharpay laugh. "Kill me now," she said more to herself than to anyone else and the next thing she saw was Sharpay's grinning face closing iin on her. This is gonna be fun.

"I would have never thought anyone for that matter could convince Gabs to ever come to The Clearing, how the fuck did you do that, Bolton? I talk to her more than you do and yet, you ask her once and she seems to jump at that thought." Chad's voice rang in Troy's ears as the bot of them made their way into The Clearing.

Troy chuckled while concentrating oni the road. "Believe me, dude. It wasn't as easy as you think it was. It took me a lot of convincing." he said to him, while Chad only shook his head. He had finally done it. She had finally agreed to come with him to The Clearing. Well, she didn't come with him, but she would meet him there, which didn't really matter to Troy.

"I just hope, West High is not showing up, they should know by now, that The Clearing is our turf, not theirs." Chad said, filling the silence.

Troy exhaled soundly. "Tell me about it, I don't know why those fuckers even bother."

Chad shrugged his shoulders. "Apparently, we are just too much fun, which I can't really disagree with." He joked.

Troy chuckled, pulling up in front of the forest entrance, where already dozens of cars were parked. "Don't get ahead of yourself."

The both of them made their way towards The Clearing. Going further in the woods, they could hear the music getting louder. The laughter of their friends getting more dominant and the bonfire was illuminating the place in an extraordinary manner. "Let's get this shit on the road." Chad said while making his way over to the basketball team, Troy following suit.

It was going to be a long night.

"I am going to freeze to death!" Gabriella exclaimed while the three girls were walking into the woods. Taylor and Sharpay both having a flashlight in their hands, but soon they realized that they didn't really needed them, for the bonfire was giving them enough light, to see the way ahead of them.

"Stop fucking complaining. You look amazing, thanks to me, and because of that Troy will do anything for you tonight." Sharpay replied and

"Would you both shut up. Look at this!" Taylor said and pointed at the East High student body that was dancing, laughing and talking and drinking. Everybody had a smile on their face and was obviously enjoying themselves. It was nicely warm in the whole Clearing, thanks to the bonfire and Gabriella's heartbeat sped up when she spotted Troy talking to his basketball friends. The music was blaring from two huge speakers and there were even some that were already making out against some trees.

Gabriella whistled lowly. "Hellooo bitches, welcome to East High." she said slowly, dumbstruck. She had never seen anything like that before. This seemed more like she was in a movie than. her real life. What has she been missing out on?

Sharapy gave her a little nudge on her shoulder. "Hmm, are you regretting now that you didn't come earlier, Gabs?" she asked knowingly. "Let's go get drunk!"

With that, the three of them made their way towards the basketball team. Having almost reached them, Gabriella saw that Troy turned his head and saw them approaching. He said something to the guy he was talking to and closed the distance to Gabriella. "You made it." he said somewhat relieved. "I was almost doubting you would come," he said earnestly and touched her arm, sliding his hand down. and linking their hands together.

Gabriella smiled up at him. "Sharpay couldn't decide what to wear." she admitted to him. Sparks were erupting from their linked hands. Her breathing was speeding up. "So this is The infamous Clearing, huh? That's what I've been missing out on?"

Troy laughed and pulled her hand, so that she had to take a step closer to him. "I guess so. How do you like it?" he asked, his piercing blue eyes sparking iin the light of the bonfire.

Gabriella shrugged. "I feel like I am more in a movie than anywhere else, right now." she admitted and laughed in embarrassment.

"Come on, I wanna introduce you to some people," and with that, Troy dragged her along the whole Clearing and introduced her to his friends who merely had friendly smiled on their faces and nodded a polite greeting. She didn't know what he had done, but it seemed to have worked.

Accepting the red cup with an unknown liquor in it from Taylor, she agreed with herself to enjoy this night. Who knew when she'd have another opportunity like that.

She smiled sweetly up at Troy from the rim of her cup and took a sip.

The alcohol was going through her system like water. She felt great. Troy and her were grinding with each other. Her hands were around his neck, playing with his little hairs there, his arms were snaked around her waist, keeping her exactly where she was right now. "I can't believe this is happening to me." she whispered into his ear. Her organ was pulsing. She never experienced something like that before.

"Get used to it, I don't plan on letting you go any time soon." was his response, his nose nuzzling in her curls. Tightening his arms around her, he felt brave enough and gave her a peck on her neck. When he felt her giving in and tilting her head to the other side, he immediately understood what she wanted.

She wanted more.

He started to lick her neck, to suck on it and to mark her. She was officially his. She was branded by him. "There's so much you don't know about me, Troy." she said in a fragile way.

They stopped moving with the music, they were just embracing each other and enjoying each other's company. "We have all the time in the world. Do you wanna do something tomorrow afternoon? We could get ice cream or just hang out in the park?" he suggested and caressed her cheek with his thumb.

Gabriella smiled tiredly at him. "I have to work til 3pm, after that I can do whatever the hell I want." she said tipsily.

Troy chuckled and kissed her cheek lightly. "That sounds great, Gabi."

Gabriella winced. "She always used to call me Gabi, too." she didn't give any further explanation for him. And he decided to not push it. She didn't need an emotional breakdown the first time she was in The Clearing.

"Fuck!" Troy heard someone yell. "What the hell do you want here?" he narrowed his eyes at the blue jacket he knew so well. Ladies and Gentleman,

West High had arrived.

Troy swore under his breath and looked for Sharpay and Taylor, he found them almost immediately and led Gabriella to them. "Can you-" he didn't even have to ask them. They took her for him and he went to the other boys who weren't looking very pleased with them showing up.

"Ah, Bolton, almost thought you weren't here, but of course you are." Tom Walker, the captain of the basketball team at West High said.

Troy smirked cockily. "Walker, what the fuck are you doing here? You know this is East High ground, you have no fucking reason to be here." he said dangerously low.

"You see, Bella here, thought she might check in with her sister, you know?" Walker said and looked behind him. Troy saw a girl approaching from behind Walker. She wasn't tall, but she was dressed like a slut. Her mini skirt almost revealed her crotch and her cleavage was showing more than necessary.

Troy narrowed his eyes once again. "What the fuck are you talking about?" Chad spoke up and balled his hands into fists.

You didn't know that you had a traitor in your school? Tsk, tsk," Walker said and grinned evilly. His eyes focusing on Gabriella. "I believe you know her well, Bolton. I think she is your favorite girl at East High, isn't she?"

Troy hears a sharp intake of breath behind him, but didn't dare turn around. "Why don't you go fuck yourself and leave, before I'll give you a black eye." Troy threaded.

Walker put up his arms in defense and started to take some steps back. "Hey Gabi, how's mom treating you?" Bella said and smirked at her. Bella swung her arm around Walker's torso and the two of them made their way of The Clearing, followed by the rest of the West High boys and girls.

Someone turned up the music again and most people started to continue as if nothing had happened. Troy slowly turned around and saw that Gabriella was still frozen in shock. He sprinted over to her and took her face into his hands. "It's gonna be okay, Gabi. Don't worry-" Gabriella pushed him aside. She was running as fast as she could towards the woods.

The second she was there, she started to throw up. The alcohol and the shock wasn't good for her stomach at all. "Gabi, let me bring you home. We don't have to talk about it, now." Troy told her, rubbing her back soothingly.

"Thank you. I am really sorry, Troy." she apologized and put her head on is shoulder.

Troy sighed and kissed he forehead. "There is nothing to apologize for anything alright? Let's bring you home."

Her darkest fear was revealed.

Her sister was about to torment and destroy her life once again.

Thanks for reading. Hope you liked it. :))

xoxo Michelle