Hey guys, this came out a little late. Had loads of stuff to do. I promise to keep updating. :)

By Wednesday Troy still hadn't shown to school. I didn't really know what to think of Saturday night. I had always thought Troy was easily catching colds or was sick more or less, but I would have never guessed that it might had something to do with this guy.

This guy.

British accent. That's all I had gotten that night. Troy was really persistent in not showing him to me or me to him. I was still trying to figure that one out.

I hadn't told Sharpay. I knew she would have flipped out completely. She would have asked me questions that I didn't even had answers to. I knew one thing only.

I felt protected by Troy Bolton.

I just didn't know if this was a good or bad thing. I've never really given much thought about the things that Troy would do in his free time. I always knew that he was popular, but he didn't really care about that. He never showed it off in the hallways or at the pep rallies. Never had he so much as used his power to get something he wanted. He was just..there. Sexy him.

I liked him. I knew that much, I just didn't know what exactly I liked.

Friday after school, before the soccer game, East High had a pep rally and if Troy didn't show by then, he wouldn't play in the game, which wasn't necessarily a good thing for him or East High, since we would be playing West High.

West High was our rival school, but only in everything that involved winning. Which was basically every single thing. We respected each other as students, but the second there was something to win, we didn't know each other anymore.

Which could be good at times. It was just really annoying.

"Okay, you really need to tell me what is bothering you or I might just go crazy. You haven't said one word since lunch. Gab, I love you and respect you, but if you won't tell me I am going crazy bitch on you, like, now," Sharpay's voice filled my ears and I was brought from my day dream.

Oops.

"I'm sorry."

Sharpay threw her arms up in frustration. "What for?" she practically yelled.

I shrugged. My right hand supporting my head. I was picking through my food. Not looking forward to Chemistry, my next class. "I need to get to Chem, I'll see you later," and with that I put my left over lunch in the trash and walked out of the cafeteria.

"You wanna know what I think?"

I rolled my eyes, a slight smile on my face. "Enlighten me."

I was laying on my belly on my queen sized bed. My feet were dangling in the air, my cell pressed to my right ear. It was Thursday night and I had finally come around telling Sharpay about Troy's weird behavior Saturday night.

"He's a bad ass gang member, or maybe even the leader and needed to take care of something," she said and I started to laugh, though I knew she could be on to something.

It was no secret that Albuquerque had gang history. Nobody ever talked about it.

"You watch too many movies, Shar," I told her, flipping onto my back, looking up at my ceiling. "If he's not at school tomorrow, coach won't let him play the game," I told her, but of course, she already knew that.

"Hmm," she started. "I have an idea, G,"

"This can't be good," I said. "Every single time you have an idea, I get into trouble."

"This idea will get you into major hot trouble," she said seductively and I burst out laughing.

"Spill."

"Since you are tutoring after school, you have access to the files, find out where he lives, visit him, confront him and there, you have all your answers."

Hmm, maybe this wasn't such a bad idea after all. "The school isn't opened anymore, though,"

Sharpay laughed. "You can always go to the security guy, show him your student ID and tell him you forgot something in your locker."

"Damn," I sweared. "Shar, I like this idea, but I am not breaking into the school," I told her honestly.

I wouldn't.

"Well then, give me your key to the tutor room and I'll do it for you, you little chicken," she said and I could practically see her grin.

I drew out a long breath, contemplating. "I dunno, Shar," biting my lip. "This could go to your file if they'll find you." I warned her.

She just scoffed. "So? I'm already too excited to back out now,"

I shook my head, knowing this was a done deal for her. "Meet me in the parking lot in 20 minutes."

And with that, I darted out of my room, down the stairs, grabbing my thin brown leather jacket, key and car keys. With that, I ran out of the house and to my car.

Exactly 34 minutes had passed, since Sharpay and I had met up at the parking lot and she was still in school. I was starting to worry. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea after all. Ryan from O.C. California got busted, too when he looked at psycho Oliver's file. I couldn't help but chew on my nails.

Dammit Shar, hurry up!

I heard a door slam and one second later, Sharpay walked up to me, a smug smile on her. "I told you it would work," he sing-songed and handed me a piece of paper. I glanced at it and saw an address on it.

Troy's address.

I hugged her saying thank you and climbed back into my car, hitting the letters and digits into my GPS.

I took a deep breath and closed my eyes for a second, before I started the engine.

I was about to find out what the hell was going on with Troy Bolton, the seemingly normal guy. One thing was bothering me, though.

I didn't know if I really wanted to know.

It wasn't creepy, as I had first suspected it would be. It wasn't even a house he was living in. It was an apartment building that I had never heard of in my entire life. And I have been living in Albuquerque all my life.

Weird. And maybe creepy after all.

I walked into the building and it was quite fancy. There was even an elevator. Maybe it was the wrong address after all.

I looked onto the piece of paper again and found one number: 401. Which meant, 4th floor. What a joy. I hated elevators. I didn't like the way they made my tummy feel. I always felt like I was getting sick. Stepping out of the elevator, I walked was greeted by a circular hallways with 3 doors, one that led to the stairs, and the other's where apartment doors. I knocked onto the door with the number 401 on it and prepared myself for the worst.

I didn't hear anything at all. Not even feet that were slowly making their way towards the door.

Feeling disappointment in my gut, I let my head drop and slowly walked towards the elevator again. Hearing the somewhat familiar ding, I knew that the elevator was on the floor again.

"Gabriella?" I heard. I looked up and met Troy's sparkling gaze. Confusion was written on his face, his eyes said something different though.

"Hi," I said timidly, giving him a small wave with my hand.

He walked closer, closing the distance between us. "What the fuck are you doing here?"

I took a step back. He was pissed. I cocked my head to the side. "I," man this wasn't such a good idea after all. "I wanted to make sure you were okay."

Hearing it from my own mouth, I sounded ridiculous, even to me. This hadn't been such a good idea, at all.

Troy swore under his breath and ran a hand through his messed up hair. "Gabriella, you shouldn't be here," he said, grabbed my lower arm and pulled me towards his door.

If I shouldn't be here, why is he pulling me in his apartment?

Definitely not a good idea to come.

"I'm sorry, I'm stupid for believing you wanted me to-," he interrupted me.

"No, it's not that, at all," he said, opening his door and pulling me with him, closing the door behind us and locking it in the process. "It's not safe for you to come here, especially at night." He explained.

And that was when I first saw the cut that he got on his lower lip. "What happened to you?" I said, stepping forward, reaching up towards his chin, gently touching it. I completely ignored his prior statement.

"Nothing." Was all he said, stepping away from me and my grasp.

"Is that from the other night? Is that why you weren't in school the whole week? Troy, are you in trouble? I'm sure-," he interrupted me again. Gah!

"You don't need to know what happened, okay? I-" this time, I interrupted him.

I threw my hands up in the air. "Do you think I'm stupid, Troy? You left the parking lot on Saturday in a rush, because some British accented guy told you to be somewhere. You told me to go straight home, no detours. Monday you're not in school, and newsflash Troy, tomorrow is Friday, which makes me think that your injuries were way worse than just this damn cut on your lip!" I exclaimed. I was furios.

Troy's eyes narrowed as he took the final steps that separated us. "You don't need to know, Gabriella," he said lowly, dangerously.

I growled in frustration. "But I want to know, Troy."

His blue eyes darkened. "Why?"

I swallowed. "Because I care, dammit." I screamed, which made him take a step back in shock. I've never seen anybody so shocked in my life. "Don't act so surprised, Bolton, you knew that I liked you," I said lowly, humiliated.

He scoffed. "Of course I knew that. But you obviously didn't get the hint that I wanted nothing to do with you,"

Okay, that one hurt. "Why did you offer me a ride then? Several even!" I fired back at him. Fury, frustration and hurt were mixing up to just downright being pissed at him.

He wanted to say something, he needed to say something, but he couldn't. "I- you need to go home, Gabriella. I'm not in your league,"

I scoffed. "You jackass." I cannot believe this. Believe him. "How can you think that you are better than me? I was wrong about you, Troy Bolton. You really are a conceited bastard."

And with that, I left his apartment, slammed his door shut. Not even glancing at the elevator, I took the stairs down, ran out of the building and into my car.

It was there and then when I finally let the tears consume me.

"If I didn't know myself that you were going to East High, I would think you are rooting for West." Lucas told me, when we were sitting on the bleachers in the East High stadium.

I rolled my eyes. "Just because I am wearing a blue jacket doesn't mean I am rooting for West High, Luke."

The little man next to me shrugged and scooted closer to the railing, so he could see more. "Whatever you say, Gabsi."

It was then, that the East High Wildcats came running out of their locker rooms and ran onto the field. This time, though, Troy didn't so much as glance in our direction. Sharpay and Justin joint us 5 minutes later. It was then, that Chad came running towards us. "What are you guys waiting for? An invitation?"

Justin and Lucas turned to each other, immediately huge grins were plastered on their faces. They jumped over the railing, Chad making sure they landed safely on the ground and ran with them onto the field, starting their warm ups.

"This is becoming a ritual, don't you think?" Sharpay's voice filled my ears.

I turned to her and shrugged. "I dunno and I don't care, Shar,"

Sharpay rolled her eyes and nudged my shoulder. "Please, Gab. You may convince Luke of not caring, but you can't fool me and you know it. Look, I know it hurts, but you at least know now that he didn't deserve you," Sharpay tried to lighten my mood.

"Shar, would it be okay for you to bring Luke home? I really need to get outta here," I told her and stood up, looking one last time towards the field.

"Sure thing."

Making my way to the parking lot, I was in deep thought, not knowing what to think anymore.

Maybe he felt caught off guard when I visited him. Maybe he didn't mean any of it, but is just too chicken to walk up to me and apologize. I shook my head.

If this would be a movie, he would be here by now, apologizing.

I didn't see him running after me.

That being said, I was convinced I heard noises though. Rounding the corner, I saw three hooded guys doing something with a blue car. My car.

I immediately saw red.

"What the hell do you think you are doing, you jackasses?" I just about yelled out.

The second my voice filled the air, their heads whipped towards me and their eyes narrowed in on me. It was actually quite a funny scene, if it wouldn't have been me standing there, alone.

Uh oh.

"Did you just insult us?" one guy said, he was wearing a leather jacket, much like Troy's. Coming to think of it, all three of them were wearing one.

And each of them had something yellow bound to their left ankles.

"Get the hell away from my car!" Okay, deep breaths Gabriella, you need to focus on the task here.

Three guys, who are all way taller than you and much stronger. My chances weren't high.

But I did have one advantage.

I was pissed.

"I don't think you quite understand what you are getting yourself into, love."

I narrowed my eyes. I've heard that voice before. My eyes bulged at the sudden realization that dawned upon me.

This dude is the same as in the park.

Shit.

"And I don't think you know who you are dealing with right now." A voice came from behind me that left me spinning around.

Troy Bolton was coming towards us, sweaty and in his East High uniform.

Looking back towards the three guys, I saw how all of them took a step back. I would have done the same if I wouldn't be standing behind him now and if I wouldn't find his growling so damn appealing.

"Dude, T, what the fuck? We just wanted to check out this ride, have you seen it?"

I narrowed my eyes again and crossed my arms. Unbelievable. "So you decide to molest my car? Are you dumber than you look? If I-," I stopped talking because Troy was sending me a glare that wasn't funny at all.

"I told you multiple times to not come around here, it's too obvious and suspicious," he told them with an authority in his voice that I've never even heard from my own father.

"You are not the boss of us if we wanted we could easily take you, T,"

Troy scoffed. "Well, if you're so sure, why aren't you?"

"You damn well know why the fuck we aren't allowed touch you, T."

Troy shrugged. "Doesn't mean you can't."

He was provoking them. Hopefully this will not backfire. I really wouldn't wanna call my dad from a hospital, or even worse, a prison. "Troy, stop, I think they got the message," I whispered to him, sliding my hand towards his fist, he unclenched it immediately and laced his fingers with mine and gave them a gentle squeeze.

One of the guys started laughing hysterically. "So that is what this is all about," he started, whispering something to his friends when he paused. "You like her. It's her car. How could we be so stupid, you wouldn't have given a fuck if we would have gone after any other car, but you didn't like it one bit when we were going after hers," he grinned smugly.

I didn't know if my butterflies in my stomach were appropriate right now.

But I couldn't help it.

"You know it's forbidden, T," the one guy, who hadn't said anything the whole time, finally spoke up. "You're in deep shit, man, her too and you damn well know it,"

"You have nothing on me, you don't know anything." Troy tried to get himself and me out of the situation. He pushed my behind his back, so I was resting my forehead and other hand on his back.

I heard shuffling of feet and three motorcycle engines go off. The next thing I knew, Troy was turning around towards me.

Our hands still intertwined.

"Please don't be mad at me, I didn't know what to do, but nobody, nobody messes with my car, you have to understand that-,"

"Do you see now why we can't happen, Gabriella?" he asked, his voice painfully low.

I swallowed. I shook my head. "Can you be honest with me for one question, Troy?"

He took a deep breath and exhaled, nodding. "Just one,"

"Do you like me?"

He closed his eyes, his forehead coming to rest on mine. "I can't get enough of you. I'm sorry if I ever made you doubt that." He said, pausing. "But we can't be dating or even be together, it would be too fucking dangerous for you, I am not someone you want to be with. I am not a good influence on you or even Luke. I don't even know why the little guy likes me so much, you need to convince him to hate me or even," I put a finger on his mouth, silencing him.

"That's all I wanted to know." I told him and smiled brightly at him. "Do you wanna know a secret Troy?" I asked him and took a step closer towards him.

"Sure,"

"I kinda have a thing for dangerous guys."

And with that, I walked towards my car, got in and left him there standing in all his glory.

I passed him the ball, now all he needed to do was to shoot the goal.

Hope you like it :))

xoxo michelle