Disclaimer: I don't own the character or the movie.
First of all, I was so shocked and excited that this story was really liked; I didn't expect to be asked to do another part. Sorry I haven't updated sooner, but I've just been trying to get my thoughts together and figure out where Troy and Gabriella are in their "relationship" in college. There is going to be at least one more part to this story after this part. Okay, here it is! I hope you enjoy.
Gabriella tossed her long brown curls over her shoulder and put her hand to her forehead. The hardback chair was starting to give her a cramp in her lower back. 'Well I have been sitting here forever' she thought to herself. She began tapping her pen against the desk, causing a groan to arise from the bed beside her.
"Okay, I'm fine with you depriving yourself of sleep to write that thing, but now you are depriving me of sleep. Please, Gabriella, just go to bed…" her roommate begged her while putting her pillow over her head to block out the light of the lamp that was really starting to annoy her. Gabriella laughed at her friend.
"I'm sorry Anna, I just want to get this perfect. I'll be speaking in front of a lot of people…." Gabriella started rambling as her eyes went wide. Anna peeked out from under her pillow with a frustrated look, cutting Gabriella off.
"Who will be more interested in getting their diplomas than listening to you talk about what an educational experience this has all been, Gabriella please. You've got it done already anyway, you just keep wanting to change it. It's fine, leave it!" Anna ranted. Relenting, Gabriella turned off the desk lamp, leaving her speech on the desk.
"Happy? I'm stopping" Gabriella pretended to be mad.
"Extremely. Goodnight" Anna sighed making Gabriella laugh. She walked into the bathroom, grabbing her toothbrush. As she brushed her teeth, she thought once more of graduation. A speech. She was going to have to give a speech at their graduation. Suddenly her stomach lurched, she hated crowds. Especially when they were focused on her. It was only a little something saying what a wonderful experience college had been and congratulating the graduating class on their hard work. She still hadn't forgiven her professor for roping her into this. Professor Swann had been so kind to her though, helping her decide she wanted to teach Calculus to high school kids, so when she came to her with this idea of Gabriella giving a speech, she couldn't say no. After all she'd done for Gabriella, could she let her down? Of course not. Gabriella sighed. 'I wish I had just said no' Gabriella thought to herself, rinsing her mouth out, wiping her mouth, and turning off the bathroom light. She padded across the hard dorm room floor, reaching her bed and turning down the covers. She moved her pillows around until they were to her liking, and climbed in, bringing the covers up to her chin and sighing. 'I'm not even sleepy' Gabriella groaned in her head. 'I wonder what Taylor's doing, maybe she's up still' Gabriella silently wondered. 'Nah, she's probably long gone' Gabriella thought. She and Taylor had been roommates the first three years of college, then for their senior year they were split up. They hated it, but Anna was nice and so was Sara, Taylor's roommate. All four girls got along well, but to Gabriella, she'd still rather room with Taylor. Sighing, she turned over on her side, unable to get comfortable. She was too nervous to sleep, the speech and graduation getting the best of her. Or at least that's what she kept telling herself. Deep down, she knew what was really bothering her, but she wouldn't allow herself to think about it for more than a second. That's how she'd learned to deal with it, by not thinking about it. Because, thinking about it caused too much pain. Flipping over onto her back once more, she imagined those bright shinning blue eyes that she wanted so badly to see. Touching the delicate 'T' surrounding her neck and letting a lone tear slip from her eye and travel down the side of her face and drop onto the pillow underneath her head, she let her mind wonder to her Troy. Laughing at her use of the word 'her', she realized how wrong the word was. He wasn't hers anymore. They hadn't seen each other except for holidays at home, which at first found them flirty and friendly, but never too close. Then after awhile the holidays at home found them acting shy around each other, never as talkative or flirty as they once were. They would hang out with the gang and act as friends, but never more. They hadn't had a conversation alone in about two years. Come to think of it, she hadn't even been home for a holiday in forever. Thinking back to how it got to that, she remembered how she spoke to him on the phone after she first started college every day, and then it grew to every week. Then that became every few weeks, then every once in a while to check up on each other's lives, then it was never. By the end of her sophomore year, she and Troy had become pretty much strangers. Her worst fear had come true, they grew awkward around each other, just like he had promised not to. She couldn't place all the blame on him though, she was one half of the relationship that became that way. She felt like she didn't even know that naive girl that promised to never let go and wait for her love. That girl that tried so hard to hold on to something that was impossible to hold on to. That girl that was just so innocent and blind to the real world. But she would give anything to step back into that naive, innocent, young girl's shoes again. Then she wouldn't be lying in bed wondering how everything went so wrong….how they had stopped talking all together. It just seemed like they were being pulled in two different directions, and the hold they had on one another lessened with each passing day, until it was no more. She hadn't noticed it at first, until that day. She let her mind wonder back.
-Flashback-
Sweat ran down her forehead, her legs burned, but she pushed on anyway. Her high ponytail bounced with each stride she took, the song from her mp3 player blaring in her ears. She loved running, it was a way to get rid of college work related stress that piled up. The breeze blew against her, giving her a much needed cool down as she came to a stop in front of her building. Opening the door, she made her way up the stairs to the 3rd floor to the dorm room that she shared with Taylor. She knocked lightly, just in case. Taylor and Chad had never made a promise to wait for one another, so quite a few times she'd come in to catch Taylor and some guy in a very embarrassing position. She knew Taylor had never gotten over Chad, even though they talked on the phone a lot as friends and Taylor always played it up to him like she was fine with that. But Chad didn't know every time they hung up Taylor went to the bathroom and cried, thinking she had effectively hid it from her roommate. But Gabriella knew better, Taylor was her best friend and she knew her better than just about anyone. Taylor never settled down, it never went past the 3rd date, then she was moving on to some other guy. Gabriella knew it was her way of dealing with her feelings for Chad, and even though she wasn't sleeping with them, she was still leading them on, only to drop them later. In Taylor's mind, they were helping her forget, but Gabriella knew it was only proving she couldn't fully be with someone else. She was hurting them and herself. She never sat Taylor down to explain her destructive behavior but once, and Taylor's retaliation shook her to the core. She'd said, "Gabriella, who are you to tell me I'm hurting myself, you act like you never even knew a Troy! You won't talk about him, you won't tell any of our friends why you never go out with any guys, all they know is you were hurt bad and aren't over it. You think just by acting like it never happened you'll be fine, but at least I admit what happened with Chad hurt me then and still does and that I have a problem". They'd then apologized to the other, only to never bring it up again. Gabriella couldn't listen to something like that again. She was knocked out of her thought by loud laughter. Curious, she opened the door a crack. She saw Anna, Sara, and Taylor, along with a few of their other friends, sprawled out in front of the t.v. with their backs to the door, laughing at a video they were watching. Glancing up to the t.v., what Gabriella saw caught her breath. It was the video Ryan had given Taylor and Gabriella before they boarded the plane. He had taken it over senior year with bits and pieces of the gang and how they spent senior year, telling them when college got lonely they could pop in this tape and remember the "good ole' days". She recognized this part of the video took place in the East High Gym. She felt herself smile as Zeke came on the screen, showing his latest baked goods and explaining how it was made. Chad came onscreen behind him, mocking him as Sharpay slapped his arm, grabbing the cookies from Zeke's hands and walking off camera, an amused Zeke following. Chad got close to the camera and started telling jokes, just before Taylor's voice was heard off to the side telling him to shut-up. The camera panned to her, as she and Chad started arguing. They argued for a minute before they both moved in for a passionate kiss. Laughter was heard on the video and off.
"You guys are a hoot! I wish I could've spent a night with you and your high school friends! You guys seemed to always have fun! Do you still talk to that guy….the one you are making out with onscreen" Anna questioned while laughing, with the other girls looking to Taylor. Gabriella saw Taylor nod.
"Yeah, I talk to him all the time. He actually called the other day to tell me he and Troy have been offered a spot on a professional team! They both accepted for after they graduate. Meaning, they will be playing basketball for a living! And they are on the team together, just like in high school. I am so proud of them too, because they really deserve it. I made him promise to get me tickets to his and Troy's first game. We aren't like we were in high school though, Chad was such an annoying, basketball- obsessed……"Taylor trailed off annoyed and then her tone changed. "….sweet, hot, amazing guy that I just hated to love" Taylor finished off with a laugh. The other girls laughed with her but Gabriella could hear in Taylor's voice the sadness that she refused to let anyone catch on to. But, what was really bothering her was the news Taylor had just shared with the girls. Troy had been offered a spot to play basketball for a living after he graduated? That was big news, why didn't he tell her? Then she realized they hadn't talked in months. Before her mind could continue the thoughts, she heard Sara's voice.
"Hey, look it's Gabriella!" Sara said excitedly, causing the other girls to turn their attention back to the screen. Gabriella's mouth felt dry, she'd never watched this tape so she didn't know what to expect. It was too hard to look back on a time she longed for again, so she just had never watched it. Until now. Her eyes were glued to the screen and she was frozen in place at the door, still unnoticed. The video showed Gabriella standing with Kelsi, who was describing something animatedly to her as Gabriella played with a basketball, trying to do tricks but ending up failing and laughing with Kelsi. Suddenly Jason came up grabbing Kelsi from behind, making her squeal. Jason was heard saying they need to go and stop crashing basketball practice before Coach Bolton came in and got mad. Gabriella was heard saying they had at least twenty more minutes before Coach Bolton arrived ready to start, and until then they were staying. Jason was heard groaning as Kelsi giggled with Gabriella. Anna's voice cut through the silence.
"I had no idea Gabriella liked basketball, she avoids it now like the plague!" Anna said a little confused. Taylor sighed.
"You are about to see a side of Gabriella you've never seen. She never talks about this because…well….you'll see and everything will make sense" Taylor finished, getting curious glances from the girls, who turned their attention back to the video. Gabriella felt herself tense as she realized Taylor was implying they were about to see Troy. The other girls were clueless to this, but Gabriella knew exactly what Taylor meant by that statement. Still, her feet stayed frozen and her eyes were once more glued to the video. Jason and Kelsi had stolen the ball from Gabriella and Jason was trying to show Kelsi how to shoot a basket. Kelsi wasn't good at all and Gabriella stood close by them laughing. Suddenly the camera panned to the other side of the gym. All you could make out was two guys in a serious game of one-on-one. Taylor was laughing off to the side of them, staying out of the way. You could see a few cheerleaders walk by, staring at the two guys and whispering then giggling. You could make out them saying "Troy" and "Gorgeous" before they moved out of the camera's view. Suddenly, Troy stopped, pulling his shirt over his head and throwing it to the sidelines, Chad following suit. They once more became engrossed in the game. Gabriella was seen walking over to Taylor as the two looked on adoringly at their boyfriends. Suddenly Coach Bolton walked in calling out to the group of friends, "Practice starts in ten minutes guys" telling them to wrap it up. Troy and Chad stopped their game of one-on-one and began making their way to the girls. Chad and Taylor smiled at each other and laced their hands together talking, then the camera cut up close to Troy and Gabriella, who were staring at each other as Troy made his way to her, smirking. The love in her eyes shone brightly as he finally reached her, wrapping his arms tightly around her and nuzzling his face in her neck, getting a loud squeal from Gabriella. "You are all sweaty!" Gabriella laughed and Troy laughed with her. "Come on Gabi, you know you love it!" Troy winked as Gabriella's face turned red. They leaned in and shared a kiss, both of them melting into each other and wrapping their arms around each other. Whistles could be heard from the video as all their friends walked over. Gabriella pulled back, glancing at the camera and smiling embarrassed before burying her head in Troy's shirtless chest. Troy was seen looking back at the camera and laughing as he looked down at Gabriella in his arms. Ryan's voice was heard talking just before the scene cut to a basketball game. You could hear cheers and yells and an announcer's voice as the game went on. Just then, there was a yell heard on camera "Come on Troy! Go baby!". The camera cut to the person beside it and Gabriella was seen onscreen. Her hair piled high on her head in a messy ponytail, her curls falling around her face in loose strands. She turned slightly to talk to Taylor, who was on the other side of her and the camera caught the "Bolton # 14" written on the back of the red and white jersey she was wearing. Taylor was seen walking off, and the camera caught her attire too, which was Chad's old jersey. Gabriella's eyes cut to the camera as she smiled sweetly just before turning her attention back to the court, and the video cut to another scene. In this scene you could see everyone at prom, all dancing and laughing with each other. Gabriella and Troy were wrapped tightly together, fast-dancing and staring into each other's eyes. A voice suddenly interrupted the video.
"This is sad. It's like watching one big goodbye. You can see how in love they are. You all called her Gabi, now I know why she won't let anyone here call her that. And it explains the 'T' always worn around her neck. What happened to them?" Sara asked referring to Troy and Gabriella. Anna looked to Taylor for her answer also.
"College, two different sides of the world. They had no choice, none of us did. She's never gotten over him and they promised to wait for each other. But they have barely spoken lately. I think it just hurts her to think about back then and remember how happy we all were. Not that we aren't happy to have friends like you guys" Taylor exclaimed the last part getting a laugh from the girls. "But, it hurt us all to say goodbye. And Gabi and Troy were the couple everyone knew was gonna make it, if they didn't the rest of us had no hope. You know what I mean? So when college came up, and he went to U of A with Chad on basketball scholarships, Gabi and I decided to come here, and pursue chemistry and calculus and things like that. Troy and Gabi didn't want to ask the other to give up their dream, so they were forced to end their relationship. The final dance was pitiful, and they tried so hard to hold on, but life goes on and you get pulled in such different directions, that sometimes you just have to let go. And I think she knows deep down that's what she has to do, but she can't let herself accept it, so by not talking about him or high school, she's pretending it never existed. And by not talking about it, she's not hurting, but she's not healing either. She still wears the 'T' necklace he gave her I think because it's all she has left of him, of their promise. She's never taken it off but a few times since he gave it to her in high school." Taylor finished with a somber expression as all the other girls had tears in their eyes. Suddenly they heard a painful sob, everyone looked in the direction of the doorway to see Gabriella grasping at her heart, sobbing. Taylor stood up with tears falling silently from her eyes and tried to go to Gabriella. But Gabriella turned on her heel and took off running. Taylor rushed out behind her only to see Gabriella rushing back down the stairs, sighing, she walked back in the room to be greeted by a room full of crying girls.
"I didn't know she was watching, I wonder for how long?" Anna cried.
"I think for a while" Taylor said. "I think we should all give her some time, and when she comes back don't question her, just let her be" Taylor glanced once more to the video, before taking it out of the vcr.
-end flashback-
Gabriella felt the tears run down her face faster. That was the day she knew her and Troy were over, they had let go without either of them realizing it. She was angry with herself for a long time for not trying harder to keep him. But after a while she realized it was like just the two of them running against a tide that was pushing against them in the opposite direction. The fight had gotten tiring, and they had given up. She missed him every day of her life, but she didn't talk about it after that day she walked in on her friends watching the video Ryan and made her and Taylor. She didn't even talk about it to Taylor. She thought if she pretended she was fine, after a while she would be. Sure, there were moments like this one that she allowed herself to cry, but never for long and never in front of anyone. And in the silence of her dorm room, with darkness surrounding her, she finally let her heart take over and allowed herself to cry over him and miss him. And she admitted to herself, that she was still waiting to be fine.