A/N: Wow, I'm so sorry that I haven't updated in almost a month, but I've been really busy with school, family things, and just hanging out with friends. My last day of school is Wednesday, and hopefully I'll be able to write more after that. I'm not getting much reader flow, and I don't know if that's because I completely dropped writing six months ago, or because my stories and writing just sucks. I'm kind of leaning toward the second one.

So I'd very much appreciate it, if you guys would tell me what you think. Here's the third chapter, and I hope you guys like it. Expect the third chapter to B&B soon! :)

Disclaimer: I own nothing, but I'm not going to deny the fact that Zac Efron comes to my house at night! :D

SO many thoughts were racing through her mind at once, Gabriella could barely take it. The guy who had held her heart for so long, the guy that had broken her heart, her best friend – ex best friend -, the one boy that she had known since she was in diapers was going to her college, and she wasn't happy about it. Some people would call her insane, but she didn't think it mattered. The guy had broken her heart, shattered her in two, and if anyone thought she was going to drop everything and just…be friends with him again, they had another thing coming.

She wouldn't deny the fact that she missed him, oh no, she missed him dearly. Severely, even. She missed his hugs, she missed the way he'd laugh at her stupid, silly jokes, the way his arms would wrap around her waist when he hugged her. Their fights. Their fights were the best. She hated fighting with him, but loved it at the same time, probably because she knew that every time they fought, she came out of it appreciating him a little more.

She closed her eyes, as the memories of him, once again entered her mind, the ones she refused to let in, they were so vivid, like he was really there. And that hurt her more than she'd let anyone know…

The normal scene of Troy Bolton and Gabriella Montez on a Friday afternoon in seventh period was not like this one. They were usually happy, and just chatting aimlessly about everything, but now, she was glaring viciously at her best friend, her nostrils flaring in an attractive way, Troy noticed.

He thought she was so damn sexy when she was mad.

"You're so infuriating sometimes Bolton!" She spat at him, the red fire in her eyes wasn't going to die soon, and for some reason, it didn't really bother Troy.

"Brie, please, calm down." He crooned to her softly, not for his sake, but everyone was starting to stare at them, and he knew that she'd regret making a scene later on.

"Calm down Troy? Calm down?" She raged on and on, and she and he knew that he had said the wrong thing. "You do something like that and then you ask me to 'calm down…'" She ranted to not only herself, but him too.

"Gabriella," He used her full name, and knew that she'd at least look at him. "It's not that big of a deal, all I did was fight him, I don't see the problem."

She looked at him like he was completely and utterly stupid. "Did you not just hear the words that came out of your mouth?" She asked him sarcastically, the spite in her voice was still there.

"All I did was hit him a couple of times…" He trailed off, really not seeing the wrong in his actions. He had done it for her!

"You don't understand Troy. You don't just go up and punch one of the most powerful students in this school Troy. I don't care what they did, or said to piss you off. They could easily, and I mean very easily, destroy you! You're lucky that you blindsided him, he would've simply demolished you." She told him matter-of-factly, the spite not fully gone, but most of it was now replaced by worry.

"You didn't hear how he was talking about you Gabriella, it was almost unbearable, how he see's you..." He trailed off in disgust, oh how he wished his hands were still on him, hurting him.

Her expression softened immediately. "He…was…talking about me?"

He nodded, his expression serious, he almost looked angry, troubled even. "Yes, which was why I punched him. He was saying horrible things about you Brie, about what he wanted to do to you…I just couldn't take it anymore. I snapped."

She sighed. "While I'm not completely mad at you anymore, I still think what you did was wrong."

He grinned at her, the grin reaching his eyes before he shrugged. "That's better than you being mad at me, I suppose."

She shook her head, but couldn't help but smile too. There was something about him, something about her best friend that made it impossible to stay mad at him for long. And with him fighting for her, physically and maybe even emotionally as well, it gave her hope, that maybe her wishes would come true, and they'd be everything she'd saw them to be.

Gabriella shook her head at her adolescent thoughts that her mind was once filled with. They seemed like a stranger to her now, like the person she had been molded into was no longer the young woman that she was today. Like that had never been her. It didn't seem like she was, she had changed, changed since then. She was more rational now, she knew that life didn't always turn out the way she wanted it too.

Which she didn't like at all.

She hated thinking about her past self, but immediately dubbed it as better than thinking about her and Troy. She thought, knew that if he had stuck around, they would've gone out on at least a date. People had been telling her for years that he liked her. It used to make her stomach swell with hope and love.

But it was now plundered, deep inside the pit of her stomach, for she knew that his 'like' must've not been strong enough. He had the strength to leave her, after all. Without saying goodbye.

A sigh escaped through her lips and her head was starting to ache, and she had decided that it would better herself to go off campus for to her favorite coffee place. A small shop in town that was called Miscela. It was cozy and small, but that's what I liked about it. Big spaces frightened me immensely, and it was comforting to go to this place. Even when I had visited this campus, when I had discovered it, I felt a weird, odd comfort in that little shop.

She went there as often as she could, usually with Chad or Taylor, but now, she went alone.

The less people she went with, the less distracted she'd be, and as much as she hated thinking about this, thinking in general, she knew that she needed to get this done. The more she put this aside, the more it'd nag her.

Grabbing her simple beige cardigan, she pulled it on, and grabbed her purse before closing her dorm door and locking it. College had barely started, and Gabriella being herself had already settled down into the mix of things.

She walked easily to the small shop and grinned as the smell of ground coffee and beans filled her nose. She would never get sick of the place. She couldn't if she had tried.

"Hello, Gabriella," The shop owner, Joe said to her politely, easily. Since Gabriella came here often, the staff had gotten to know her pretty well.

"Hey Joe, how are you?" She asked politely.

"I'm very well!" He told her, smiling brightly as he cleaned off some of the glasses he used to make the blended coffee drinks. Quickly adding, as if he had forgotten his manners, he looked at her expectantly. "And you?"

"I've been okay." She shrugged easily and sat herself down at the bar.

Now, this was surely home to her.

"Just okay doll?" He asked her, raising his eyebrow at her. Anyone that was even slightly component of thought could see that something was bothering the dark beauty.

"Just okay." She confirmed before sighing. "Let's just say a person, I all but expected walked back into my life, not directly even, but I still don't know how to handle it."

He smiled at her reassuringly. "You're a smart girl Gabriella; you'll do the right thing. You always do. But don't worry about that person, if they are meant to be in your life, fate will put them there again."

He always had the best advice. Joe and she got along so easily, which was why Gabriella liked him so much. He was a very intelligent man, Gabriella found that highly interesting. "Thanks Joe." She smiled at him.

"What shall a pretty young girl like you want from the menu today?"

Her eyes scanned the menu, her eyebrows knitting in concentration as she debated between the 'Minty Java Dip' and the 'Chocolate-y Double Chip'. The ding that signaled that the door was being opened filled the small shop and immediately her head whipped around to see who it was.

A gasp escaped her mouth as she saw the one person she really didn't want to see.

It was him. It was Troy. And damn him for looking so beautiful too!

-

Troy was walking around aimlessly, he had just arrived to the University of California, and even though he had met his team – and walked into his former best friend, who resented him for some reason, which Troy still hadn't figured out – and had gotten his dorm assignment and class schedule, Troy found that there was nothing to do.

He wasn't ready to go to his dorm, in fear of the fact that Chad might be his roommate, and he didn't know how well that'd go over. He had missed Chad, he really had, but Chad didn't seem to miss him at all. Troy did notice how his eyes lit up when he called him Danny.

It was only there for a second, but still it gave Troy a small ounce of hope.

Running his hands through his hair, he could feel the girl's eyes on him. Surely they had already heard that he was captain of the basketball team, and it would be just like it was in high school. Girls would be all over him. Which he didn't really mind.

Hearing the countless conversations and the endless chatter, Troy sighed to himself. He was in a sea of people, but yet he felt so alone. Troy was used to feeling alone, he had gotten used to it. Although Dakota was one of his closest friends, he didn't get Troy the way Chad had gotten him.

It frustrated him, a lot.

Feeling a gentle hand clamp over his shoulder, he whipped his body around and faced a girl with dark brown hair, and bright blue eyes. His eyebrows knitted together in confusion.

"Hey," She cooed flirtatiously. He fought the urge to roll his eyes.

He wouldn't deny that she was cute, though.

"Hi." He said deadpan, not really sure what to say to her.

"So you're a freshman, right?" She asked her eyes hopeful.

He nodded, still cautious of her. "Yup."

She smiled warmly at him. "Awesome, so am I." She said to him. "I'm Allie Baker, and I'm assuming you're Troy Bolton." She told him.

He nodded. "Oh alright…" He trailed off, not really catching on to why she was talking to him.

"I'm the captain of the girl's basketball team, and my coach thought that I should talk to you, you know…get to know you." She said it a lot sultrier than her coach probably wanted her too, and it caught Troy off guard.

Did every single whore have to throw themselves at him? "Actually," he began, "I'm busy, but maybe another time, Allie," He said coolly, nodding at her name and then retreating away from her before she could protest.

Walking away quickly, he lost track of where he was going before he ended up outside a small coffee shop called Miscela. It looked nice, and cozy, confined and little which was what Troy needed right now. Without a second thought he walked in, with a soft ding as the bell sounded followed by a loud gasp.

Troy looked up and he looked into the brown eyes that he thought that he had completely erased from his memory.

'Fuck' The words merely slipped from his mouth as a murmur, and he stared at the young woman in front of him.

It was Gabriella, the Gabriella that he had known since child birth, the Gabriella that was his other best friend, the one that he could turn too, lean on, and just care and love, and just be loved by. The one who had been there for him through thick in thin.

She was also the one he thought he had left behind when he left town.

Immediately ten different emotions danced across her face; confusion, fear, anger, sadness, pain, more anger, resentment, regret, pain. Troy felt guilty, he had hurt her, obviously, and he knew that she was still hurting. He could tell.

The air around them was now tense and awkward and the guy behind the counter took obvious note too it, immediately recognition and understanding lit upon his face, and Troy didn't know what to think of that. Had they been talking about him?

Even through the multiple emotions that were on her face, Troy could still notice her undeniable beauty. She had to be even more beautiful than she was which he thought would be impossible.

Troy had dated beautiful girls, but nothing would ever compare to Gabriella. His Gabriella.

The plump man behind the counter decided to break the silence; "So Gabriella, what will you be having?"

At the sound of her name, the brunette's head snapped away from Troy's face, and turned to Joe. She bit her lip, before shrugging. "I guess I'll just be having a Venti 'Minty Java Dip'" She shrugged and offered a small – but fake – smile at Joe.

He matched hers, but his was real. "Sounds good. It's on the house." He told her courteously, before beginning to make her drink.

-

GABRIELLA could feel his eyes on her, waiting for her to turn around and say something to him. Gabriella had read his beautiful chizzled face, but she couldn't see anything that would tell her that he was sorry, or even felt guilty. His face was cool, and she didn't like that.

Troy was always good at hiding his emotions.

"Here you are Ella," She could almost feel Troy wince at the nickname, once; he had been the only one who had called her that. She couldn't help but smile a small smug smirk.

"Thank you, Joe," She told him, and although her ex-best friend happened to be there, she stayed planted on the stool that she was sitting on.

Joe turned his attention to the young man that was just standing there.

"Hello, I'm Joe, the owner of this small, coffee shop. How may I help you?" He asked politely, although Gabriella could tell that Joe didn't like him, he knew that this young man was the reason for Gabriella's distress.

Joe was quickly becoming another father to her.

"Oh, um…" It killed her to hear his voice again, he sounded so put together, although his voice cracked, probably from nerves, Gabriella decided. "I'll have…a Vanilla Cappuccino please."

"Ahh, good choice." Joe sighed, and ringed him up. "What size sir?"

"A medium."

Gabriella rolled her eyes, she knew how much the names that coffee shops used for sizes bothered him, he insisted that they should 'get off their royal asses' and 'just use the English language for the sizes', and obviously he still thought that. (role models!)

Joe sighed, but nodded. "That'll be two dollars and thirty five cents please." Troy handed him a five.

"Keep the change."

Polite and kind as always, he let everyone keep the money he had left over. Troy hated change.

Joe passed him his coffee before looking at Gabriella expectantly, and mending to the other customers that had arrived. Gabriella sighed. She knew that Joe knew that it'd be best for her to talk to him, even if Joe didn't know anything about this man and his past with Gabriella.

She was about to open her mouth to say something, when Troy bit his lip and looked at her, before cutting her off before she could begin.

"Ella." He breathed, and fought the sensation to touch her hair. He had forgotten her and his feelings for her once he moved far away. But now they were back, and even though Gabriella hated him, wanted him dead probably, he would do everything in his power to have her on his side again.

Blah, okay, so this wasn't the best chapter, but I don't think it was absolutely horrid either. I just decided to end it there, because it was intertwining and twisting in a confusing ways, and I think I've already let you in on too much of their lives. My last day of school is tomorrow, and hopefully if I get 15 reviews I'll update tomorrow. So make my day, leave me a review, tell me what you think!

I need some ideas, so if you got any, I'm welcome to them. :)