The One Left Behind

Summary: Ever since her best friend took his own life away, Gabriella had always blamed herself, after all hadn't he told her that he would die for her? And that's when she meets him; him the guy who she desperately wants to love, his half brother. TxG

Author's note: I really don't know what to say to your guys' response to this story. I'm just speechless. Thank you guys so much!

Chapter three: The pictures (to burn)

March 28, 2009

"Hey, I've got something for you," Eric stated smiling coyly, eyes sparkling in excitement, hands behind his back.

"What is it?" asked Gabriella curiously, turning around from her locker to look at his eager face.

He proceeded to show her a black wooden picture frame with her name written nicely on the bottom in purple, her favourite colour.

"Tada!" he declared beaming proudly. "My first ever finished decent product I've ever done in workshop."

"Oh my gosh Eric, it's for me?" she asked incredulously, taking it from his hands carefully.

"Do you know any other 'Gabriella' in this school?" he replied teasingly, raising one eyebrow.

A huge smile crept on her face and she swung her arms around his neck.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you," she said happily bouncing in his embrace while he just chuckled against her hair.

"You like it?"

She pulled back but kept her hands on his shoulders and he felt a swell of pride in his chest as he saw how happy she looked.

"I love it," she admitted sincerely. "But you know what could make it even better and awesomer?"

He shook his head, disappointment building up.

"If I could have a picture of you in it!" she exclaimed, grinning hugely.

She giggled when his head snapped in her direction, confusion written all over his handsome features.

"Why would you want a picture of me?" Eric inquired, curiously.

"Because since you offered it to me, it's only fair if your picture is in that gorgeous frame."

"You don't have to do that, I gave it to you so you could put a picture of the people that makes you happy."

"You make me happy Eric," Gabriella replied cutely.

The smile he sent her just then made her day.

Two days later, Gabriella and Eric were out on their school's empty football field during lunch.

"Pretend like you're scared," Eric said aiming the camera at her face and when she obliged, pressed the button to activate the flash. "Nice one."

"Hey, how come I borrowed Taylor's camera to take pictures of you and I end up being in all of them?" Gabriella remarked.

"That's just for the simple reason that you're far more beautiful and photogenic than me," he answered plainly.

"Can I see?" she asked, palm out.

He passed it to her and waited as she pressed a few buttons to see the pictures he had taken of her so far.

"Ewww! Oh my gosh, I look like a fucking retard!" she exclaimed loudly, outraged. "Marshall, why didn't you tell me I looked like this?" she whined.

"I think you look cute," he answered plainly, laughing at her antics.

"Marshall, how do you delete?" she asked since he was the electronic genius between the two.

"Do you really think I'll tell you?" she nodded enthusiastically. "No way Gab, you look way too cute. It would be a waste to erase them."

"Aw come on, please. I'm begging you, can you please please pleeeaaase erase them?"

"Nope. Sorry, no can do," he answered, amusedly.

"Alright fine then, mister evil," she said trying to act serious, while he just burst out laughing. "Let's see if you're gonna find it funny."

And before he could have made a sense out of what she was saying, she snapped a picture of him.

"Ehm, what was that?" Eric said, blinking.

"I took a picture," she pressed the button. "of you," and again. "like we were," Click. "supposed to." Click. "Remember?"

He raised his hands in front of him trying to block the camera's view but finally ended up running away, while Gabriella's laughter filled his ears as she was chasing him with that outrageous camera held in front of her as if it were a deadly weapon. At one point thought, he clumsily tripped over his own footing and fell on the grass, making Gabriella trip over him in the process, not quite managing to stop in time. After checking the state of the borrowed camera and finding it in perfect shape, they burst out laughing.

"You're such a klutz!" she giggled.

"Who said I didn't do it on purpose?" he joked.

In response she only lightly swatted him on the chest to which he just laughed once again. Taking advantage of the situation, she snapped a picture of him.

This is the picture she put in her new frame. She forever wanted to remember him as he was on that particular day; happy and problem-free.

March 12, 2010

"… and then she was like: I didn't do it! Sharpay did," Taylor told the group as they were all sitting at their usual table during lunch.

Everybody cracked up and Gabriella let out a forced laugh even if she had not heard a single word her friend had uttered minutes ago. For the past two weeks since she had come back to school, she had settled into a routine. During classes she would try to focus on every words the teachers said and write notes, in order to not space out because it would just make her think of Eric. At lunch, she would nod absentmindedly, laugh when everybody else did and stay silent unless when spoken to. By the end of the first week she had mastered the art of fooling everyone. That is, if you didn't count Troy.

Troy. For some reason, that guy seemed to know her perfectly. With his piercing blue eyes he was able to tell if she was lying or not, if she was fine or not at all, if she was spacing out or not and it was seriously starting to piss her off.

As she opened her mouth to ask Taylor to repeat her story, again, Gabriella was interrupted by Eric's half-brother.

"I'm sorry Tay, but can you repeat that? I was spacing out, sorry," Troy said apologetically casting a glance at Gabriella from the corner of his eyes.

"No it's okay Troy, it happens to even the best of us," Sharpay replied, referring to the quiet brunette beside him.

Taylor, with the help of all of their friends, retold the story and Gabriella smiled at Troy softly, thanking him for saving her exasperation from her friends. He just winked at her in reply. For the remainder of lunch, she tried extremely carefully to catch every words exchanged.

HSMHSMHSM

"So what do you do when you're sad?" Troy asked later that day, falling in step with her.

"I run," Gabriella answered plainly.

"Do you mind if someone comes with you?"

"I don't know, I don't think so," she shrugged.

"Alright then, next time you're sad, call me and I'll run with you," he promised.

"Okay, I will."

However she knew in her mind that it wouldn't be happening any time soon. She had pretended that she did not mind but it had been a lie. Fact was nobody in her group of friends knew just how close she was from falling apart. And a few days before, nobody knew about how much she was actually hurting. That is, before Troy came along of course. Running was her escape from it all and most days she would cry while doing so. If the blue eyed boy came, she knew it would not be okay because she would try to make conversation with him and she would feel pressured. Also, Gabriella knew she wasn't ready to get close to anyone just yet. Especially since she still had his half-brother in mind.

HSMHSMHSM

Gabriella finished tying her sneakers' shoelaces and got up. She plugged her ear buds in her ears, brought the hood of her gray hoodie on her head and started running in the dark streets of Albuquerque. With the beat of 'Down' by Jay Sean, she jogged past the school trying to block out the thoughts invading her mind by humming the lyrics of the song.

"Baby don't worry, you are my only, you won't be lonely, even if the sky is falling down," she muttered.

"I love you, I'm so sorry Gabriella. Please don't leave me."

"Eric, you're an amazing guy and I'm not the only girl out there."

"But you're the only one for me!"

"For now maybe, but soon you'll find a girl who'll love you."

"No! I won't let her. I only love you and I always will," he barked.

Gabriella closed her eyes briefly, trying to push away that memory. His voice at that moment sounded so desperate and determined, his eyes had held a hint of insanity in them that even after he was gone, was still haunting her.

"I only love you and I always will."

For some reason, that sentence seemed to flash repeatedly in front of her eyes.

"I ONLY love you and I always will."

She stopped and grabbed her throbbing head into her shaking hands.

"I only love you, I only love you, I only love you. And I ALWAYS will," Eric's voice echoed loudly through her head.

"Hey, are you okay?" a voice asked.

Gabriella looked up and realised her face was strained in tears. But even if her vision was blurry, she knew that, standing in front of her, was Troy Bolton. She felt anger building up toward him.

"You again," she hissed. "Do you feel pleasure out of seeing me weak, huh? Do you hate me so much that you enjoy seeing me cry?"

"Why would I?" Troy asked, frowning confusedly.

"Because you want to humiliate me!"

"I don't, I swear I don't," he declared seriously.

"Then why are you here?"

"Because I saw you come here," he declared softly. "There, I said it. As stalker-ish as it sounds, I followed you."

"Why?" she asked, softly, starting to feel her anger fade away.

"Because I'm worried about you," he admitted. "I see you in class and at lunch, I know you're hurting way more than you let on. I see how you look at me; it breaks your heart because I look like him. It's a stab in the guts to know that my very presence causes you pain, but I bear with it. And despite it all, I try the hardest I can to make you feel comfortable when I'm around."

She did not blurt out the 'Why' that was on the tip of her tongue, for the simple reason that she was afraid of his answer.

"Has anybody showed you a picture of him?" she inquired, changing the subject.

"In the newspaper, yeah."

Gabriella just rolled her eyes in response before fishing into her sweatpants' pocket to take out a folded piece of paper.

"Eric hated pictures, so I guess I can't really blame the media for showing his student ID's one," she stated before handing him the photograph.

He opened it and what he saw shocked him. The guy on the picture was an exact replica of him. The same jaw, lips, nose and form of eyes. Also, the guy on Gabriella's photograph was totally different from what the media had made out of him. That guy looked so… alive. Eric's eyes were sparkling in joy and his whole face was lit up as he was laughing freely.

"That was one year ago, we had just started to hang out and he was happy, as was I," she explained.

"He looks exactly like me," Troy whispered. "What happened to that guy on your picture to land him to the guy on the news?"

She closed her eyes painfully. Somehow she knew that if anybody were to ask her this, she expected it to be Eric's half-brother. It's not that her friends didn't like her deceased best-friend, it was just that in the months she had known him, Eric had always hold back when it came to them. He would sit with them at lunch, but it was only to be with Gabriella.

"I happened," she answered calmly without divulging more.

But before he had a chance to ask her to elaborate, she was already running away, hood back on her head, leaving the picture of what Eric used to be in Eric's half-brother's hands.

HSMHSMHSM

Isn't this story depressing? Anyways, I updated earlier than usual and I hope there aren't that many mistakes in this chapter.

Review please.