Before you guys all attack me for not posting anything for like two weeks I would just like to say I'm happy to be home after a wet, dark, rainy to the point of zero visibility drive home. Okay.. now you guys can either attack me for not updating or you guys can forgive me and move on to the good stuff (aka the chapter).

Okay before you guys go on to the chapter can I just say I was floored by how many reviews I got for the last chapter? As of right now here on alone I got 15 reviews! That is more than DOUBLE what I got for the chapter before. So a major shout out goes to the following totally awesome, rock my freakin' socks off peeps: .lov3, Jezebel Montgomery, zanessa4evr12, zanessatroyella4evr620, HSMLoverAlways, ScRuPuLoUs, ..Seraphina.x., HERFACE, , shootingforthestars, MUW D'Bellegirl, lilmissmonique, bellatrixvssirius, daydreamer299 and seeleyswifey

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Chapter 6

The first 2007-2008 pep rally had been a success. Troy, with the help of Chad, had introduced the fall sports teams then had hosted a competition that pitted the freshman, sophomores, juniors and seniors against each other and the seniors had been victorious.

After the rally ended and the last student left the gym, the leadership class had to clean up and return the gym to Coach Bolton's high standards.

Clean up took twenty minutes then Troy followed Chad to their lockers.

"So what do you have planned with Taylor tonight?"

"Nothing that I-…Shit!" Chad froze.

"What?"

"She's waiting for me in the library!"

Chad slammed his locker closed and Troy had to run after his friend to keep up. As they neared the library, Chad slowed to a walk and tried to even his breathing pattern before they entered.

But it was Troy that found himself short on breath when he saw Waterbug's dark, curly locks cascading down her back as she sat in a chair. He blinked and she was still there. Then she turned her head looked at he and Chad, looked away then snapped her head back in his direction.

"Waterbug." Her name was a whisper on his lips.

"What?" Chad gave him an confused look.

"That's Waterbug, the girl I told you about." His voice was still just a whisper.

"I dunno who this Waterbug chick is, but the girl with Taylor is Gabriella, the new girl."

Troy felt his heart begin to race as Taylor pulled his Waterbug out of her chair and pushed her in his direction. Seconds later he was face to face with the beautiful girl that he thought he would never see again.

"Troy this is Gabriella and Gabriella this is-"

Troy's blue eyes met Gabriella's and a smile spread across each of their faces.

"TROY!" Sharpay's squeal ruined the moment and earned them all a dirty look from the librarian.

Troy groaned and turned to look at Sharpay who was practically hopping up and down.

"We have to go, right now!"

"Why?" Troy wanted to will her away so he could talk to Gabriella.

"Because daddy got us tickets to a show in Vegas for tonight. The helicopter is waiting for us."

"Shar, I can't-"

"Your dad already said you could." She smiled proudly and grabbed his arm. "Let's go."

Troy looked at Chad for help but his friend just shrugged, there was nothing he could do. Troy closed his eyes and shook his head before allowing Sharpay to pull him away.

The show was a Broadway meets Cirque du Soleil on crack concoction that Troy stopped trying to understand after five minutes. He found his mind wandering to Watererbug, er Gabriella. He had so many questions to ask her: why she left? What was she doing at East High?

Then later, after the show, when he was with Sharpay in her hotel room, all he could he could think about was Gabriella. How soft her kisses we compared to Sharpay's forceful kisses. How delicate Gabriella's soft skin was compared to Sharpay's toned, fake tanned skin.

"What is wrong with you tonight?"

Troy blinked and found Sharpay glaring at him with her arms crossed over her chest as she straddled his stomach.

"Huh?"

"You're like a zombie tonight, Troy. You were zoned out during the show and now you're not paying any attention to me."

Troy sighed. When it came to Sharpay everything came back around to being about her. Waterbug would have asked him if he wanted to talk about what was on his mind-though if he was with Waterbug he doubted that he'd have problems concentrating on her.

"And there you go again, zoning out." Sharpay got off the bed, picked up his jeans and threw them at him. She slipped on her robe before walking over to the door and opening it. "Goodnight, Troy."

Troy went back to his hotel room and collapsed on his bed. It was going to be a long weekend.

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As the weekend passed, Gabriella felt like she was going to go crazy. Her heart had stopped when Wildcat, er Troy, had come into the library with Chad. Then her heart started to race when she had almost gotten to talk to him before that crazy blonde showed up.

Gabriella couldn't help but hope that Wildcat's feelings towards her were as real as the ones she had for him and that the blonde was merely a rebound girl, somebody to help him get over losing her.

With Taylor busy all weekend, Gabriella had had to entertain herself. By five o'clock Sunday evening she had run out of things to do. Her homework (including stuff that wasn't due for a couple weeks) was finished, the house was spotless and she had even mowed the lawn.

She could barely contain her excitement Monday morning when she jumped out of bed. She couldn't wait to talk to Wildcat.

But waiting was what she had had to do. He walked into homeroom right before the bell rang and the school administration had decided to show a mandatory movie on sexual harassment during homeroom and Ms. Darbus had threatened detention to anyone who was caught talking or passing notes during the movie.

Then after class the blonde had attached herself to Troy's arm and pulled him away before Gabriella could say much more than 'hey' to him. It wasn't until she was headed to lunch, that she felt a hand grabbed her arm and pull her into an empty classroom.

"Hey." His smile was warm and his eyes playful. "Just like old times."

Gabriella blushed at the memory of him (and occasionally her) pulling the other into a supply closet at camp. She set her lunch bag on the desk behind her then took a good look at him. He has cut his hair though it still had laziness written all over it and his clothes were as casual as ever.

"Why didn't you say goodbye?"

She looked up and met his emotion-filled eyes. The smile that had been on his face just seconds before was not a straight line mixed with a hint of a frown.

"My mom was hit by a drunk driver, Wildcat. She could have been killed and I needed to get to her. Not to mention that I couldn't think straight."

"But we had a connection."

"We did, but you have to understand I wouldn't have been able to live with myself if I had taken a few extra minutes to say goodbye to you and my mom died because I hadn't gotten there in time."

"But you could have sent somebody to wake me up. I would have come with you."

Gabriella smiled and tucked a piece of his hair behind his ear. "I know, but I couldn't have asked that of you. Besides, it's like what I wrote in my letter, I was on autopilot just trying to survive that first week."

A look of guilt crossed over his face.

"You did get my letter, right?"

He took a few steps back and shoved his hands in his pockets. "I didn't read it."

"Excuse me?"

"I was hurt, you left without saying goodbye. So I burned it."

"You burned my letter?"

Now it was Gabriella's turn to look hurt and the look matched the ache in her heart.

"I didn't think I'd ever see you again and I didn't want to know where you were or who you were because then I'd always wonder what if. I figured burning the letter and always thinking of you as Waterbug would make life easier. You know, remember the good stuff."

They stood in an awkward silence for a few minutes before Gabriella worked up enough nerve to ask the question that his reasoning had proposed. "Is that what you want? To leave our relationship, essentially, at camp?"

Troy looked at the clock on the wall and sighed. "I have to get back to class."

"Answer me."

"I don't know." He didn't wait for her to say anything before he left the classroom and headed for his class.

Gabriella sighed as she grabbed her lunch bag and headed for her locker. She wasn't hungry any more. She tossed her lunch in a nearby garbage can then opened her locker to grab her history textbook-studying alone sounded better than having to explain everything to Taylor.

Closing her locker, Gabriella jumped in surprise when she saw Troy's blonde friend dressed in pink from head to toe, glaring at her. How had she not heard the girl approach?

"I don't know who you think you are, but Troy Bolton is my boyfriend and I don't plan on losing him to a new girl." The girl's words had venom in them to match the dark look that was in her eyes.

"Excuse me?"

"Stay a way from my boyfriend, new girl."

"What makes you think I'm trying to get with your boyfriend?"

"You new girls are all alike and I've been dealing with you all for the last two years and you won't get-"

"Wait, did you say two years?"

"Yeah. Troy and I started dating during sophomore year." The blonde seemed taken aback by Gabriella's question, kind of like she'd been thrown from her 'scare off the new girl' speech, but she quickly recovered. "Just stay away from my boyfriend!"

Gabriella sighed as she leaned back against her locker and watched the blonde march away. Her confusion concerning Wildcat was only getting worse, because when they had met and started talking about relationships he had clearly told her that he wasn't dating anybody. She wouldn't have done anything with him if he had said that he was.

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Dun dun dun....So question.. is anybody curious about how Chad and Taylor got together? Anybody have any theories are you all just interested in what's gonna happen next with Troy and Gabriella?