For those of you that are confused, yes, I have changed the name of this story. Risk was only ever a working title, I wanted to wait until I got further with it to settle on a name.

I started this chapter a while ago, then my computer decided to delete it. Literally, it just disappeared. One day it was there, when I went back to it, it was gone. I searched my whole computer, thentried using a program that restores accidently deleted documents and it couldn't find it. So I started again, probably for the best anyways, I was planning on majorly editing it anyway.

This chapter gives away why Troy's reluctant to tell Gabriella about anything. I wasn't going to reveal that so soon, but this story isn't going to be as long as my others and it fits here, plus, I'm hoping if you know why he won't tell her you won't be as mad at him. LOL.

Gabriella glanced across the table at her boyfriend, somewhat put out by his behaviour. Usually, if there wasn't a space next to her when he entered the cafeteria, he'd make someone move. He hadn't even looked at her since he'd got there. Sure, it had only been a few minutes, and he hadn't acknowledged anyone else either, but he never usually failed to greet her.

The ride to school that morning hadn't been much better. He'd been distant. A simple "Hi" and a kiss on the cheek. No hug, no suggestive comments, no attempt at persuading her to ditch school. It was like he'd had some kind of personality overhaul that only seemed to affect the way he treated her. It had been two and a half weeks, and she'd still been offered no explanation for the behaviour, he still wouldn't talk to her. Her patience was wearing thin.

She sighed, pushing her food away from her and resting her cheek on her elbow, no longer feeling like eating, listening to the conversation between her friends.

"... and I'm thinking about auditioning." Sharpay was gushing about, Gabriella assumed, a local theatre that was holding auditions for it's next play.

"Will you have time?" Kelsi questioned. "What with school, and college applications. The musical should be coming up soon too."

"I've been thinking about it. Just trying to figure out which one would be better for me to do. It might look good if I branch out, but I've never missed a musical."

"You still have..."

Gabriella zoned out, usually she'd offer advice, but at that moment she didn't care. They all knew which route their friend would go down anyway. She glanced over at Troy again, looking back down when she only met the top of his head. She knew she should talk to him. Her mother hadn't been the only one encouraging her to do so, but she still hadn't brought the subject up. Three weeks ago it would have been easy, but now she just didn't know how he would react. How did she explain how confused she was? He wasn't avoiding her, but he was almost completely closed off to her. How did she tell him how much that hurt?

"Gab?" She was distracted from her thoughts by the voice of one of her friends, the guy that was like a brother to her. "You okay?"

She nodded. "Fine."

Chad nodded, his expression giving away that he didn't believe her. "Give him some time, okay? You know what he's like, whatever it is, he's probably trying to protect you or something equally cheesy."

"You've noticed?" She queried, turning to face him. "It's not just me?"

"He's been blowing off practice." He admitted. "Coach doesn't seem all that bothered by it. Usually he'd screw or something."

"I just wish he'd talk to me." She frowned. "It feels like he doesn't want me around anymore."

"Gab." Chad sighed and wrapped an arm around her shoulders, bringing her into a hug. "Have you told him?"

She shook her head, glancing up at her boyfriend again, surprised when she met his eyes instead of his crown. She bit her lip upon seeing the look on his face. The possessive glare that had shifted to his best friend. She shrugged Chad's arm off of her. "I'm gonna go and get some air."

He nodded, watching as she stood up and walked away before looking over at his friend, having already noticed the glare. "What the hell is up with you? She's upset. I am allowed to hug her, you know. Just because you're being an ass doesn't mean I have to be."

He was being harsh, he knew that, but someone had to get through to the guy.

"Chad." Taylor interrupted, attempting to stop the war of words before it began. "Maybe yo..."

"She's my girlfriend." Troy put in, trying to maintain the facade of anger that had been replaced with concern as soon as he'd heard that she was upset. "If she's upset, you tell me."

"You want to fucking comfort her." Chad snapped. "Then go after her."

Troy stood up, shooting another glare at his friend before following his girlfriend.

"What the hell was that?" Zeke directed at him as soon as Troy had left the cafeteria.

"He's being an ass." Chad announced. "Nobody makes my sister cry." He glanced around at them all. "Have you not noticed how much he's changed?"

"Of course we've noticed." Taylor admitted. "But it's obvious that he's going through something right now. Even his dad's been a little on edge, and if Gab won't talk to him about it, we can't expect him to read her mind."

"She's my sister and he's treating her like crap." Chad defended. "I'm looking out for HER. Whatever issue he has is only his problem until it starts hurting her."

-FP-

She refused to let herself cry. She'd promised herself that she'd never cry over a guy, and she didn't intend to break that promise. Pulling out her book as she lowered herself onto the bench outside the main doors of the school, she held in the tears, curling her legs up underneath her body before she opened it. She was unable to concentrate on the pages, but at least she looked like she was doing something.

She jumped when she felt someone sit down next to her, frowned when the book was taken out of her hands.

"Baby?"

"Yes?"

Troy sighed. "You want to talk about it?"

Gabriella looked up at him. "I want you to talk about it."

He let out a frustrated groan. "It's better if you don't know."

"How is it?" She exclaimed. "I don't know what's happened but whatever it is has clearly had some huge effect on you. How can you expect me to understand what's going on if you won't talk to me? How can you expect Chad to understand why the hell you were looking at him the way you were? You've never had a problem with him hugging me before. What's happened?"

"All I need you to understand is that I don't want you dealing with this." He sighed, reaching out and pulling her over to him. "I just don't want you getting hurt?" He kissed her forehead lightly after detecting the slight worry that appeared in her eyes. "I'm probably being too protective, but you don't need this right now. Heck, I don't need it right now, I don't have a choice, you do."

She turned away from him. "You say I have a choice, I say I want to know and you still won't tell me." She reached up to brush away a stray tear. "Troy, you're scaring me. Please."

"Don't cry." She barely heard his strangled whisper, but felt the tightness of his arms as he embraced her. "Please don't cry." He started to rub her back. "I'm sorry. I can't tell you. I'll figure it out, okay? I'll try not to let it affect us."

She stayed silent for a while, accepting his comfort before deciding to speak. "I thought you trusted me."

"This isn't about trust." He didn't even hesitate. "I do trust you. I do. I just love you too much to let you deal with this." He sighed. "If I tell you what I'm okay with telling you, do you promise not to ask questions?" He watched as she nodded. "Okay. My cousin's staying with me for a while, Paige, I've told you about her, remember?"

"The one who's mom died?" She asked for clarification. "Your aunt?"

He nodded. "She's staying for a while because some stuff is happening at home that she's better off away from."

"What stu..."

"That's the part you can't know." He admitted.. "I don't know where things stand right now, and I don't even want you thinking about it." He smiled slightly. "How about I make it up to you? Dinner tonight?"

He watched as she closed her eyes, nodding in acceptance. It was enough for her. For now.

-FP-

Chad looked up as his friend sat across from him in the locker room, deciding not to speak until the other teenager did.

"I guess I should explain earlier."

"I guess you should."

Troy sighed. "Paige is in town."

"Yeah?" Chad asked. "What's that got to do with you acting like a dick?"

"If I tell you this, you can't tell Gab."

"Dude, I'm not a twelve year old girl."

"I'm serious." Troy stated. "She can't know."

"You're cheating on her?"

"No!" Troy denied. "What kind of a question is that? I've already said it's about Paige."

"Fine." Chad agreed. "What's happened with Paige that's so bad you don't want your girlfriend knowing about it?"

"Paige's dad." Troy began. "He found out that her boyfriend had been hitting her." He paused, surveying the reaction. "That it had been going on for months."

"Is Paige okay?"

"She's okay now." Troy confirmed. "Really shaken up though. The bastard keeps texting her asking her when she's coming home. She ended it, but he won't leave her alone, won't take no for an answer. That date with Gabs that I cancelled last Friday, he'd texted saying he was going to kill her, I couldn't just leave."

"Understandable." Chad nodded. "What was with that look though? At lunch when I hugged her."

"I guess with what's happened to Paige, I realised that she's breakable." Troy admitted. "Paige is a lot stronger than Gabs, if someone could do that to her, what could they do to Gabriella?"

"You thought I was going to hurt her?"

"No." Troy shook his head. "I guess a part of me doesn't want anyone touching her, seeing you with her then, it made me realise that I can't be with her all the time. What if someone does try something?"

"She's always got someone with her." Chad pointed out. "Us, the gang, and even if she is alone, there's cameras in the hallways at school, and seriously, would you want to go up against her dad and Carlos?"

Troy smiled lightly. "No."

"Troy?" Chad paused. "Why couldn't you explain all this to Gabs? Why's it such a big secret? She'd understand that Paige needs you right now. That you're going to be weirdly protective or whatever."

"Gabriella's mom had a sister." Troy started. "Did you know that?" Chad shook his head. "She cried when she told me about this, you know."

"Told you what?"

"Gabby and Carlos used to spend every day after school with their aunt." Troy frowned. "It was back when their mom was still working." He paused. "Anyway, Gabs said they were really close, her and her aunt, so close, in fact, that Gabriella agreed to keep something from her mom, something important." He flinched, hating that he had to share this part of his girlfriend's past. "She didn't tell her mom that her aunt was a punching bag for her husband. She was nine. All she knew was that her aunt had told her not to say anything. I tried telling her it's not her fault but..."

"Her aunt ended up dead." Chad filled in the blank. "He killed her?"

Troy nodded. "If I tell her about Paige, it'll bring it all back." He sighed. "She wasn't just crying when she told me that, she was almost hysterical. Got worse when Ana came in. Ana, she was named after their aunt."

They fell silent.

"She think's it's her fault?"

Troy nodded. "So does Luca. Her cousin, you've met him." He hesitated. "Don't tell her I told you about her aunt. I'm not sure she ever wanted you to know."

Chad nodded. "You can't protect her from everything you know."

"I can try."

-FP-

"You look happy." Ellen commented as her elder daughter skipped through the kitchen. "Good day?"

"I got somewhere." Gabriella smiled. "He's starting to open up."

"See." Ellen laughed at her daughter's behaviour. "I told you it wasn't that bad."

"I guess I overreacted a little." Gabriella agreed. "We're going out tonight, is that okay?"

"Back by ten?"

"Mom." Gabriella giggled. "Troy's way too scared of dad to bring me back any later."

"That's true." Ellen agreed. "You have fun tonight, okay?"

Gabriella nodded. "I should go and get ready. He said he'd be here at six."

She darted off towards her room, glancing at the clock as she made it there.

Five fifteen.

Just enough time to get ready if she didn't redo her makeup.

After just over half an hour later, she laid back on her bed, waiting for the rest of the time to pass, frowning when she received a text from him when she was expecting him to be at the door.

Sorry babe, something's come up. Can't make it tonight? Tomorrow? Love you, T xxx

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