It's been so long, so long, so long. Ok, not really.

Finals have been killer this week, that's why this chapter is kinda crappy, in my opinion.

I swear, today when I took my last final, I felt like getting up and screaming the lyrics to High School Musical 2 'What time is it?'

Besides that, the heat was so unbearable. But here's a new chapter, it's nothing special.

review anyway?

Disclaimer I do not own some of the characters from Highschool Musical, so what's new?

I Can Face the Truth

Honesty is always a great quality to have. It makes trusting someone a whole lot easier when they're honest. Another great quality is being able to trust someone. That can be difficult though once a certain point is reached. If someone gets hurt multiple times they may never be able to trust someone again. That's where the honest people come in and save the others.

"I cry all of the time."

Gabriella almost laughed. Sharpay, crying? Yeah right, she was so headstrong. She still remembered the way that Sharpay had stood up for her on her first night in Florida. A girl like that never cries. Gabriella studied her blonde friend and noticed the sincerity in her eyes. She was being completely truthful. Gabriella wondered why, though. How could someone like Sharpay let her guard down? She was the strong one out of the both of them. Over the last couple of weeks they'd grown to be good friends, Gabriella knew that Sharpay didn't let anyone tear her down.

"Why? I mean I know people who cry sometimes but I can't.." Gabriella started to confess.

"Can't what?" Sharpay asked, confusion noticeable on her features.

Gabriella munched on some more popcorn to fill in the silence. Sharpay was spending the night at Gabriella's and basically they were just talking about everything. Boys, clothes, beliefs, you name it. She was afraid to tell Sharpay some things because she wasn't sure how she would think about her. "Cry."

Sharpay laughed, "Of course you can cry, everyone does. I cry when I'm happy, mad, or watching the Notebook." She paused, "Gosh that movie is so sad."

Gabriella was laughing now, too. "But it has a happy ending. Anything with a happy ending cannot make me cry." Sharpay's eyes widened. She couldn't believe that Gabriella was being serious. How could someone not cry? Crying is an instinct for some people, afterall.

"That's insane…"

There was three sharp knocks on Gabriella's bedroom door.

"Dad?" She questioned and watched at the door creaked open just enough so he could poke his head through the door.

"I'm about to go to bed so I'm just reminding you girls to keep the volume down."

She rolled her eyes. "We'll be quiet, Dad."

Daniel nodded and closed the door. Sharpay sighed dreamily. "He's so fine."

"Shar!" Gabriella's mouth gaped wide. "That's gross."

"Oh c'mon! I'm a girl, I have eyes, I'm allowed to admire."

Forty-five minutes passed, and Sharpay had convinced Gabriella to watch the Notebook, trying to find someway to get her to cry. She told her that they weren't putting their heads on any pillow unless a tear was shed. Truthfully, Gabriella couldn't remember the last time she had cried. Suddenly Gabriella heard the sound of footsteps moving on the staircase and the sound of the front door closing.

"Did you hear that, too?" Sharpay asked her friend after pausing the Notebook. Gabriella nodded. It couldn't have been her father. He had told them that he was going to bed. He was sleeping…right?

Before Gabriella could think about it anymore, Sharpay scrambled for her bed then looked out the window. All that she saw was a familiar car and Daniel getting into it. She just couldn't think whose car it was. Nothing was making sense.

Gabriella's face read confusion, worry, and a trace of hurt. She didn't understand why her father would lie to her. He'd never felt the need to lie to her before. Sharpay noticed the look on her friend's face and decided they both needed to do something to cheer her up.

"Hey…" Sharpay said softly, "If your dad can sneak out…so can we," Sharpay smiled with mischief. Usually Gabriella would never do anything against her father's rules but now she wasn't quite sure he was being completely honest with her. Hiding-the-truth. Gabriella nodded eagerly.

"Let's get out of here."

"Chad, wake up!" Troy shook his friend who was one of the heaviest the sleepers that he knew.

Chad mumbled something and rolled over, ignoring Troy completely. Troy knew that nothing would be able to wake him up. Well, almost nothing.

"I think your mom is making brownies."

That was all it took. Chad's head snapped up, alert, his nose searching for the heavy aroma that he could usuallysmell whenever Haley made her famous brownies. With a messy afro from sleeping, Chad plopped down once again.

"You're a liar, Bolton."

"Yeah so maybe I am, but I think someone is breaking into your house."

Chad sat up straight again. "What do you mean?"

Troy just stayed quiet, holding a finger to his lips. "Can't you hear that?"

Chad heard what sounded like someone downstairs on the first floor of his house. He shrugged. "It's probably just my mom."

Troy shook his head, and opened the bedroom door so that Chad could see across the hall into his mother's room whose door was wide open. Her bed was empty. "I saw her leave a little while ago, I don't know where she went. She looked like she was sneaking out."

"Pft. My mom, sneaking out?" Chad chuckled but his mind was wandering away from him. If his mom wasn't sleep and was out, who was in his house? He opened his closet door and rummaged through it until he found what he was looking for. When he pulled out, he was holding a shiny metal baseball bat, one which he barely ever used. He also was holding an old hockey stick. Tossing the stick to Troy, he exited his room.

"Are you crazy?" Troy asked in bewilderment.

"Actually… I think I might be," Chad said slowly when he saw Gabriella at the bottom of his stairs, decked out in her pajamas. "Am I dreaming?"

"This better not be what you dream about," Sharpay's voice rung throughout the house.

Troy followed Chad so he could see where the voices were coming from. "Wow," He quickly hid the hockey stick behind his back.

"What were you planning to do? Slap shot the shit out of us?" Sharpay asked and Gabriella giggled. Troy smiled upon hearing the sound, like music to his ears.

"Hey Brie," Troy said sheepishly.

"Are you both just going to stand down there or are you coming up?" Chad asked pointedly.

"We're coming, we're coming," Gabriella said, tiredly trudging up the stairs. "Troy?"

"Yeah?"

"Nice boxers," She told him, biting back a giggle. Everyone took the time to look down at Troy's Spongebob Squarepants boxers. Troy could feel his cheeks redden in embarrassment. Chad laughed but was cut off by Sharpay.

"I wouldn't be laughing, Spiderman's not too hot either," She said with a knowing smile, looking directly at Troy. This time both he and Gabriella's cheeks reddened.

"Spiderman's the most awesome dude I know," Chad said, patting Troy's back for reassurance. Troy simply rolled his eyes and shrugged Chad's hand away. "Anyways, enough criticizing our undergarments. Was my mom downstairs when you came in?" Chad asked, trying to see if Troy had been correct about Haley not being home.

Sharpay shook her head, "Nope, her car is gone, too."

Gabriella's eye brows rose to the top of her forehead. "Interesting…" She muttered with suspicion.

Their hands were joined in the middle of Chad's bed. Well…not their hands exactly, more like their thumbs. Troy victoriously captured Gabriella's thumb beneath his once again while playing the game Thumb Wars. Chad snored loudly on the floor with Sharpay leaning against him since the two had fallen asleep while watching TV. Gabriella was restless though because she couldn't stop worrying that her father might notice her absence at home. But he wasn't there so what did it matter? Since Gabriella was staying up, Troy couldn't make himself fall asleep knowing that she would be awake by herself.

"One, two, three, four, I declare a thumb war…" Gabriella mumbled for what seemed to be the hundredth time. She was growing bored of playing the game and having Troy beat her every time. She glanced at Chad's alarm clock that sat on a table beside his bed. It was 3 AM. Stifling a yawn, she returned her attention to the game.

"You're bored."

"No…" Gabriella yawned again.

"Tired?" Troy asked, smiling at how adorable he thought she looked.

Gabriella shook her head, looking into his blue eyes that appeared tired.

"Then let's do something," Troy suggested.

Gabriella's eyes opened in awareness. What could they possibly do, she wondered. It was late, every store was closed, Jacksonville was dead at night.

"What could we do?" She asked with curiosity, laughing quietly when she heard Chad let out a deep snort.

"We can leave this animal alone to sleep in peace."

"How can you talk about Sharpay that way?!" Gabriella joked, knowing that Troy was referring to Chad. Troy chuckled but stood up from the bed anyway.

With his eyes urging her to follow him, Troy said, "Anything would be better than getting beat in thumb wars for the fiftieth time."

"Fine but we're not doing anything stupid."

"How could I, Troy Bolton, do anything stupid?" He asked with a smirk.

Gabriella rolled her eyes but smiled, "Oh trust me, I bet it's possible."

"Are you sure Haley won't mind?" Gabriella asked while treading water in the Danforth's swimming pool that was in their back yard. Troy had threw her in even though she was wearing her pajamas and even though she had protested many times. He followed in after her and now they were just swimming around and talking to each other.

"Has anyone ever told you that you worry way too much?" Troy went underwater before he could hear her response.

Gabriella's mouth hung open. She didn't understand why Troy had to be so full of himself at times and why he acted like he had everyone figured out. After their "date" she'd left Troy outside of her house once he delivered his Spiderman speech. He'd done nothing so far to prove that she had been wrong about the judgments she made about him. Maybe after everything, Gabriella had been right.

"Has anyone ever told you that you're one of the most self-righteous people in the world?" Gabriella asked with a glare once Troy returned to the surface.

Troy's smug look on his face disappeared. "Actually, yes," He mumbled. He remained silent and there was a look on his face that Gabriella never saw before. Hurt, disappointment. Feeling slightly guilty for making his face that normally resembled perfection look that way, Gabriella swam closer, putting her hand on his upper arm.

"Sorry," She said sincerely, her eyes boring into his own.

"It's fine, really," Troy assured her but made no move to shrug her off his arm. "You were right." Troy was shocked at his own words. He never admitted to anyone that they were right. In his world, he was right about everything and no one could make him change his mind.

"I'm cold," She said out of nowhere, resisting to shiver. Troy leaned against the edge of the pool, taking Gabriella with him while folding her into his arms, rubbing her arms for warmth.

"I'll go get some towels."

Putting her hand on the side of Troy's neck, Gabriella made him pull his head from where it rested on her shoulder. "Don't leave me," She fake pouted. "Can't you just wrap us up in a web or something?" She asked, now she was the one who was smirking.

"Oh would you be quiet?" Troy joked but tensed when he saw car headlights and heard the crunch of the gravel in the Danforth's driveway.

Gabriella noticed this and squinted her eyes because of the bright lights. "Do you think…?"

Before he could even answer her, the back gate flew open and two people stumbled through. Troy immediately moved to hide Gabriella from view and remained hushed so that whoever was in the Danforth's yard could not hear or see them. Too late.

One of the people stopped dead in their tracks, moving closer to the pool ledge. "Troy?"

Troy released a sigh of relief. "Yeah, Haley. You scared me."

She laughed a little. "What are you two doing? You know it's around 3:45."

"Wow, really? I should be getting Miss Montez home," He said playfully. Now the other person who had walked through the gate stepped out of the shadows.

"Gabriella?"

"Dad?" Gabriella asked in shock.

"What are you doing here?" Daniel snapped upon seeing his daughter against a teenage boy that he had no knowledge of.

"I think the question is, what are you doing here?" She asked with just as much force.

Honestly, Gabriella didn't know how she was going to get herself out of this one.