AN: I know, I know, I'm sucha dick for not updating in so long. Longer, in fact, then I can bring myself to remember. For some reason this was kind of a hard chapter for me, not to mention I haven't been having the smoothest of rides on the rollercoaster of life recently. And this chapter isn't very happy or juicy, but it contains some much needed details for the story to progress and the thing is I just sort of got to the point where I thought, If I don't update now, then I never will. So I did. If anything, it's like a little Christmas present to myself - and maybe some you guys, too, I hope.

I would just like to take a second to thank Angkeats for helping me out a little with this chapter, it means a lot. And I'll also give a little shout out to cuzimbored, just because let's face it, you rock and I hope you get to read this chapter when you get the chance. :)

Please enjoy guys. Hope I haven't lost too many of you. Especially with the name change and all that.

I'll give you the ending to the last chapter, seeing as it was so damn long ago:

Slowly, tears began to well in her eyes as she looked over his features, re-memorising them in all their perfection.

And then she took one step back and slapped him hard across the face.

Hello, whiteTRASH.

Whether she wanted to feel it or not, the second she saw his face, something happened. It was as if all of the colors that she didn't notice were missing in the first place suddenly all conspired together with added vibrancy. For those few moments, those colors completely overwhelmed the gray.

But, goddammit, he had left her. Part of her wanted to hate him, to hit him again to try and make him feel a segment of the pain that he had caused her to feel. But what are you supposed to do when you find yourself in such a situation? What do you do when that boy is practically all you've got left?

I'll tell you: You wait and see what he says. You wait for his pathetic excuse and then after deliberating on a scale of one to ten exactly how pathetic it is you decide whether or not you're gonna hit him again...

Huh, Gabriella thought, Good plan.

"What the hell was that for?" Troy asked, shocked.

"You know what it was for," she informed him darkly.

Troy frowned in confusion. Where did she go? Where did the small, quiet and innocent Gabriella go? Why was she suddenly acting so out of character? This new character who so quickly managed to hate him with a passion… when just seconds ago she was looking at him like there was no other place that she would rather be. Holding him like there was no other place she would rather be. And suddenly now she was this fierce woman, flames in her eyes and… And... Oh god, Troy finished his thoughts, and tears running down her face like they would never stop.

"Gabriella," he started softly, leaning towards her, "you know that I would never do anything like that to hurt you. Never."

Gabriella frowned harder and shook her head from side to side, taking a step back, "Do you even know how I felt? - Wait! Of course you don't! ...You know, that is so typically male of you to do something like that to me! That is so-"

Troy grabbed the sides of her arms, knowing where this was going, "Look, this is nothing like-"

Gabriella shrugged him off, "'-like what huh?"

Troy didn't rise to the bait that she was throwing and held her gaze steadily in silence.

"Go on, start what you finish," Gabriella almost hissed, her voice still thoroughly riddled with tears.

"Gabriella," Troy warned softly.

"Oh, you mean it's nothing like my Dad? Well guess what, Troy; this was exactly like him, okay? All except... except you know what? You only managed to do one thing differently!" Gabriella could slowly feel the anger and hurt leaving her system as she got it all out. As if these ugly feelings that she pushed back down inside herself were slowly and finally coming to the surface, cold and black and gasping for air. But it wasn't really Troy that she was angry at the most. Really it was the past feelings from what her father did and she hated that it made her weak and afraid and she hated that it was ruining what she had with Troy Bolton.

Gabriella took another breath as she tried to finish her sentence, holding back her tears, "you looked back," she continued, softer than before, but with her new hard edge, "that's what I get, Bolton. One. Last. Look."

Troy flinched as she practically spat her last words, almost mocking him. How could she be like this to him when all he was doing was what was best for her? Why couldn't she get that into her head?

"You know why things turned out like that. If we had both ran that day then there was a small chance that Drew would have caught up with us. I am not willing to take that chance," he informed her hotly, "I could lead him away from you, so I did. And it was the right decision." he concluded.

"But it wasn't just your decision to make!" Gabriella pushed, "That was supposed to be my choice," her voice began to crack again under her tears, "You promised me. You promised me remember? I thought we were in this together goddammit!"

Troy grasped her left arm, "We are!" he insisted.

"So why-?"

"-I was trying to protect you!"

"What is this stupid thing about protecting me?" she began to yell again, "Because I'm just a little girl that needs help? Huh? Because of fucking male egos? Because-"

"Because I love you, Goddammit!"

You could have heard a pin drop in the silence that followed. Troy looked away for a moment, checking that Ronnie and Bobby were still busy before turning back to her, "...I saw a chance that might help you and I took it. Okay?", now that his previous hostile tone was gone and his voice suddenly became quiet and even, it was as if the entire world had agreed with the new volume and turned it down a few notches – even on Gabriella.

Gabriella nodded begrudgingly although her insides were screaming in exultation, contrasting her face and betraying her logic. She tried to let the information go in sensibly, but it simply refused. He loved her. He really did. She had it in writing and now she had it running through her mind over and over again, on a loop and - despite the fact that he yelled it in her face - it became sweet music to her ears, the words raw with emotion, true and crude and not being able to stop themselves from bursting through his lips and she knew he meant it. She believed him.

Silently Troy stepped forwards and touched his forehead to hers.

"Anything else?" she whispered as tightly as possible, determined to show no mercy.

Slowly he began to run his fingers gently through her hair, "And I'm sorry," he whispered back, closing his eyes tightly, "I'm so, so sorry."

The three of them sat in silence.

On the left Jumoke's hand was intertwined with Keri's left hand and Keri's right, was grasped tightly by Dana. No one had heard of Dana until she had come up to them both after a meeting in Drew's house before deciding to take them a couple blocks down the street into her own home and told them that she was his cousin. She was his cousin and she wanted to talk to them. And to warn them.

All three teenagers had tears in their eyes, and in Dana's case, they were also running down her face. Keri couldn't stop thinking about how similar they both were with the exception of Dana being two years younger. They both had similar families and upbringings, and they also previously had similar personalities. It scared her how easily it seemed she could have been born under the same conditions.

"He just lost it one day," Dana sobbed, gripping Keri's hand back for the first time, "I mean, I knew that Drew's dad was weird and I knew that our parents spent a lot of time together but..." she sniffed, took a breath and carried on relaying to Keri what she knew, "my Dad had collected guns before, but my Mum didn't want them in the house, so he just gave them to Uncle Rob and... and he was collecting knives and stuff too, so then I guess Auntie Maya told him the same thing, you know, that she didn't want that stuff in the house no more now that Drew and me were growing up and we understood things. And... Jesus... I didn't realize at first, but he got mad at her, he did. And he hit her and he made Drew think it was normal and – his own mothe!r - I said that it wasn't and he just said I didn't know shit cuz I was younger but..." she took another deep breath, "and his Daddy would hurt animals, too. Believe me, Keri, he did. Stray things, birds, whatever. I'll never forget...

"Uncle Rob, Drew's... Drew's father," she sniffled, recomposing herself before lowering her voice until it was quiet and scared, "he would... I mean, he'd make us... I was just a kid, but I remember. We'd just watch these scary movies Uncle Rob would put on. And I hated them and ran off or... or I'd hide until they were over and I'd cover my ears and I don't know why, but I still think about it sometimes. It was war and blood and guns and gangsters and girls and how was I supposed to react? And I know they're just movies now and they don't mean nothin, but I can't forget, I can't forget... I was too young, too young..." she paused for a moment,

"And Drew would just sit and watch... Because that's all he did: he did what his Daddy told him to and his Daddy told him to watch them movies and they were wrong and not for kids, never for kids... we were only kids..." she shook her head as if to shake away the memories, "and I just... I had to tell someone," she nodded firmly to herself through her tears as if still convincing herself that she was right in doing so, "I knew my Mum would understand and she did and... that's why we have to go someplace else. Living with my grandpops has got to be better than this shit."

Keri had her mouth slightly hung open whilst Jumoke started blankly ahead, his hand still unconsciously holding Keri's. "Are- Are you saying that Drew does that stuff too, I mean," she swallowed, "what you said about hurtin animals-"

"No, no," Dana insisted, her tears beginning to dry against her skin, "but when I see him all I think over and over again is that he's slipping. It's like he losin it just like his Daddy... and I can't deal with that... I'm just glad that Uncle Rob left for good when he did, otherwise, I don't even know if I'd be brave enough to get the hell out of here anymore," she looked into Keri's eyes and gave a sad smile, "I know I don't know you too well, Keri, but someone's just gotta know somethin before I leave and... you seem like a nice person, I guess. You know we're not too different? I don't want you to end up in a bad place. I don't want you to end up like Auntie Maya or, or these kids Andrew brags about… Pawns he calls em, like in chess, can you believe it? And he thinks he can make them move wherever he wants em to. His own army of gangstas and girls all in a war… just like those movies..."

Keri just nodded in silence, terrified of what might be to come. She knew it was too late for her and Jumoke now. If they'd left right then, then there was no doubt that they would be next on the list after whiteBoy... well not just whiteBoy any more, no, there was a small group of them now apparently, all sticking together, so scared of being found that they'd resorted to living on the streets.

Baylor had said it was pathetic, poor and cowardly. 'Pussies' he had spat, before mumbling the new name, 'whiteTRASH, that's what they are. Fucking whiteTRASH.'

And with this new information from Dana – a young woman brave enough to tell her story because she thought it might help a person that she had never even met - Keri was more petrified than ever. She had unknowingly let herself become another of Andrew Baylor's pawns.

"There's just one thing that I want to know right now," Gabriella informed Troy as they stood facing the rest of the small group, "why the hell is he with you?" she asked, staring hard at Keith before facing the pale boy again.

"It's a long story," he began, half relieved that she was thinking about other things apart from the way he had deceived her, but once Troy saw the look that Gabriella was giving him, he knew that he was going to have to elaborate a little more than that, "honestly, I don't think that he's as bad as I thought... now that I think about it. I mean, he's not teaming up with Baylor right?"

"How are you supposed to know that?" she retorted stiffly in a low voice, "how would you know whether or not he's texting Andrew right now just letting him know exactly where we are?"

A part of Troy brightened slightly as he heard her say 'where we are'.

But it slipped without him realizing what he was saying as he blurted out, "Don't you trust me?"

Of course, upon hearing the words through his own ears his first and only immediate thought recurring round and round his head seemed to be 'Oh, shittt!' He just really hoped that it didn't just sound like he was mocking her or something - Because the minimum it sounded like was some kind of attempted jest in bad taste.

Gabriella grated her teeth together in irritation. She knew that inside he would be cringing at his comment but it wasn't quite enough to stop it from aggravating her.

"I don't trust him, "she insisted, focusing her attention on Keith and not their confusing relationship status. They could discuss that later.

Troy tried to recover from him previous falter whilst he filled her in, "Well if you look at it from another angle," he attempted to reason, "as long as he's with us, he's never gonna be out of our sight and start causing us trouble... and just a few minutes back Bobby stole the cell phone that he was carrying so right this second, we don't have too much of a reason to worry about him."

Gabriella nodded as they carried on walking to who knows where - just another place to squat and plan for a night, the cogs in her mind began to turn and refocus as to how Troy's world now worked, "who's Bobby?" she asked, "the brunette?"

"Yeah," he replied, his eye's flicking over to the other girls direction for a second before focusing again on Gabriella, flat out ignoring the questioning looks that Ronnie and Bobby were occasionally trying to send him.

"Know where we're going?" she asked after a moment of silence.

"Not exactly," he replied, continuing when he saw Gabriella's incredulously raised eyebrows, "but he knows" he finished, nodding ahead of them at Ronnie who was leading the group forward.

"Ronnie?" she asked.

"Ronnie," he nodded.

Gabriella kept her eyes focused ahead, not daring to look at the boy walking by her side, no matter how much she wanted to. God, it wasn't her fault. It wasn't. It wasn't. But she could still feel the sharp pang of hurt whenever she thought about what had happened. It was just such a cruel joke. She had given everything she had for the first time to a guy that she really, truly cared about. A guy that she really, truly loved. And more importantly, a guy that she trusted. And what had he done? He had repeated her worst nightmare for the second time, right in front of her eyes.

Of course there was a difference this time, she would try and convince herself. He didn't leave because he didn't love me, quite the opposite; he left because he loved me so much that he was too afraid to risk me being hurt. He was only thinking of what could have been best for me, most beneficial for me. And, not to mention that he was putting his own life at risk to do so and just about saved me from boys under a heavy influence for the second time. And he cares about me, and he said that he loved me and he's so good and so kind and so forgiving...

But it doesn't always make it hurt less, does it?

Their reunion wasn't what she had expected. Really. And she was sure it wasn't what Troy had expected either. Because instead of kissing him, she had hit him. And instead of proclaiming words of love, they had argued over how they had come to be apart. And now they were walking away to god knows where, and she was acting as if nothing was wrong and asking about her new accomplices, doubting them already, too.

As they walked forward down the dusty street together, her tiny hand itched to slip itself into Troy's large, strong one - but her pride wouldn't allow it. Not yet. Not until she could be rid of the nasty feelings crawling beneath her skin.

Troy had better start explaining everything if he wants some full cooperation, Gabriella thought -It was time to resurrect some bridges.

Soon, both Gabriella and Troy became aware that the others had stopped walking ahead of them. Despite themselves, they both turned to look at each other with curious expressions before quickly registering their small faux pas and turning away to begin running ahead to find out what was wrong.

The first thing they heard was Keith.

"Hey! Is that my cell phone?"

Bobby rolled her eyes as she looked at the device Ronnie held in front of them all, "Yeah, shut up," she snapped.

Before Keith could speak again, Ronnie interrupted, "Did'ya get a text?"

"Who from?" Troy persisted.

"You stole my cell phone?"

"Quiet!" Ronnie scolded, "It's from Baylor."

"You sure?" Troy asked, desperately wishing that he wasn't.

"He's called 'Drew' right?" Ronnie checked with him and Troy silently nodded, feeling that same feeling grip the inside of his chest and tie his insides up into a knot of furious nerves. He held his breath as he waited for the message to be opened and the secret revealed.

"Well?" Bobby snapped.

"Well, what?" Ronnie shrugged, turning his gaze away from the tiny screen to look at her.

"Aren't cha gonna read it?"

"I don't wanna read it."

"It's my cell phone," Keith butted in, making a grab for it, only for the tiny thing to be swiftly whisked away from his hand by Ronnie.

"I think Troy should read it first." Ronnie protested.

"Why?" Bobby shook her head in confusion.

"Because."

"Ronnie, just read it!" she rolled her eyes in frustration.

"No!"

"Fine!" Bobby yelled, throwing her hands in the air, "I will read it."

There was a short silence as the group of them huddled in a semi-circle around the cell phone in Bobby's grasp as she slowly, slowly, pressed the center button, ordering the message to reveal itself. It seemed that everyone had held their breath as they read the two words that lit up on the screen.

Bobby squinted her eyes and then took in a breath so that she could speak first, still none of them taking their eyes away from the screen.

"Is that it?" she asked quietly.

"What does it mean?" Ronnie asked quietly also, feeling the tension of the situation.

"What do you think it means?" Bobby retorted as she shook her head slightly at the words in front of her, still confused about their message.

"It fuckin means something," Troy muttered, but still loud enough that everyone could hear.

"And that is...?"

Gabriella slowly leaned forward, brushing against Troy and Ronnie's arms as she did so and closed her hand around the cell phone, causing Bobby to instinctively let go of the device. Holding it as still as possible, they all stared, bewitched by the message still illuminated on the screen.

"You know Andrew Baylor", she addressed them all for the first time, "he loves his labels."

It was as if her words had set off the cogs in the other teenagers minds working. To them all now, the simple text made sense. It wasn't necessarily a direct threat – Not yet, anyway – but more like Drew had made an observation.

Drew was simply telling them what the group of them all were to him now. What they had collectively become.

The message Andrew Baylor had sent merely greeted them with their new name. It read:

From: Drew

Hello, whiteTRASH.

AN: Whey! An update! And I promise that the next one will be much sooner than the length of time it took to get this one out. Thank you all so much for reading :)

- I hope that you guys haven't been to confused about the name change. I don't really like it if I'm being honest because, let's face it, I'm always going to be whirlergirl really ;) Maybe I'll change it back one day, I hope. Lol, this will make no sense to you, of course, but it's no biggie - I just ask that you'll maybe still think of me as whirlergirl lol. Oh, and I hope that you all have a very happy holiday! Seriously, have a great Charistmas and Take a Break, okay. God knows we all bloody need one. ;D

Love, love, love,

whirlergirl (FlakeGirl) .x.