Walk Away

A/N Okay first things first thank you Kessy0105 for pointing out that Gabriella works at a fashion magazine but I forgot to explain that Gabriella only writes articles for the music section of the magazine and isn't very involved with the fashion section. Second of all I forgot to say I love the Boys Are Back as well! Now that I think about it though, I love all the songs. The only one that I'm on the fence about is High School Musical. Oh and just a reminder please check out my new Troyella story Family Reunion and my new Troyella one-shot I Belong To You. Thanks.

It's my birthday tomorrow so I thought I'd spread the joy by updating! I have to go play tennis at 7 in the morning, isn't that a great way to start a birthday! (I'm being sarcastic.) Oh and please if you haven't already, answer the poll I have on my profile and would like to see other than Troyella what couples people like.

Disclaimer: This is really pointless. Me having to confess that I don't own High School Musical and then burst into tears all over again.

Troy awoke to find Gabriella asleep on him. Before he could reflect on their position the sound of his cell phone could be heard.

Hear the crowd gettin' loud
I'm consumed by the sound
Is it her?
Is it love?
Can the music ever be enough?
Got to work it out
Got to work it out
You can do it
You can do it!

Troy struggled to get his mobile phone out of his pocket as it happened to be in the exact position where Gabriella was pressed against him. As he moved his hand in between their bodies he brushed her bare stomach where her t-shirt had ridden up. Troy was getting frustrated at the fact that he couldn't get to his mobile without waking Gabriella up. Just as Troy was about to wake Gabriella up she rolled off him so that he was able to get his mobile but as she was turning Troy noticed that she was about to fall off the sofa and so quickly grabbed her around the waist, once again coming into contact with her bare skin.

I don't know where to go
What's the right team?
I want my own dream
So bad I'm gonna scream!

Oh!
Aahhh! (My favourite part of the song!)

Troy quickly grabbed his phone out of his pocket just before the ring tone was about to end.

"Talk to me," Troy said into the phone as he readjusted his position and gently moved Gabriella so that she wouldn't fall off the couch. Their legs were still tangled together.

"Oh hey coach… we start up January 9th? That's three weeks before you said we would… okay… a raise? Sure… thanks coach, bye." Troy closed his cell phone and sat there in silence for a few minutes reflecting on the phone call. He only snapped out of t when he felt Gabriella's body shift back on to him, her t-shirt riding up a bit more. Troy continued to stare at Gabriella's exposed skin, when Chad came bounding into the room.

"Yo hoops!" Chad called excitedly.

"Shhhhh! She's still sleeping," Troy said indicating Gabriella.

"Oh sorry," Troy whispered in a hushed voice. "Guess what?"

"What?" Troy asked wearily.

"I got a raise! Coach just called and told me. I'm now earning just a couple hundred thousand pounds less than you!" Chad said smugly his voice gradually getting louder. "Wait did you get a raise as well?" Troy looked at Chad before answering.

"No, no I didn't. I guess coach didn't think I deserved it or because he wants us all to earn an even amount," Troy replied solemnly.

"Yeah, it's probably the second thing since you were on fire in the last season," Chad said happily. "I'm gonna go get some breakfast. Do you wanna join me?"

"Sure, as soon as I detach Gabriella from me," Troy joked as Chad left for the kitchen.

Troy sat still for a few seconds trying to think of the cleverest way to dispatch himself without waking Gabriella up. He decided to remove his legs from in between hers and then work from there. He tried to yank his legs away, not too hard but his effort was useless as Gabriella had her legs gripping his quite tightly. Troy decided using his hands would probably do better. He gently placed them on Gabriella's smooth thigh and picked it up and placed it on the sofa so that it was no longer in between Troy's legs. He then rolled them over so that he fell off the couch with a small thud as Gabriella stayed on. Finally Troy got up and made his way to the kitchen.

As soon as Troy left the room Gabriella's eyes fluttered open. Her face contorted with confusion. She had been awoken at the sound of Troy's ring tone. It was a nice but loud ring tone. It had taken all of Gabriella's will power not to ruin her plan of pretending to be asleep whenever Troy touched her especially when he touched her stomach. But what had Gabriella confused was how Troy had lied to Chad about no getting a raise as she was a hundred percent sure that Troy mentioned getting a raise in his phone call.

Gabriella came to the conclusion to just ask him later when they were alone. She sat up and straightened up her clothes. She did not want to know what she looked like, fearing that it would scare the living daylights out of her. She undid her hair from the mess it was in and quickly tied her hair into a messy bun. She got off the couch and was about to go in search of the kitchen when her mobile went off.

It's the night of our nightmares
It's the night of our dreams
It's too late to back out of it.
Hey, makeovers, massages.
Don't know what a corsage is.

Been waiting all our lives for this.

Its gonna be a night (can't wait)
To remember (oh man)
Come on now, big fun (alright)
Its gonna be the night (I guess)
To last forever (lucky us)
Well never ever ever forget

Gettin Ready, Get Gettin Ready

Gabriella quickly grabbed her phone out of her pocket before the ring tone ended.

"Gabriella here, may I ask who's speaking?" Gabriella said politely into the phone.

"Yo Gabster," Dean replied cheerily bringing a smile to Gabriella's face.

"Hey Dean, how was your flight home?" Gabriella asked.

"It was fine, nothing exciting," Dean replied.

"So to what pleasure do I get this call?" Dean snorted.

"Do you always have to be so suspicious? Anyway stop speaking like a freak; I'm not your boss just your brother but then again you don't need to speak as incredibly politely to your boss anymore since he's gonna be your father-in-law…" Dean carried on rambling until Gabriella cut him off.

"Dean, why'd you call?" Gabriella asked again not so polite.

"Can't a brother call his sister without having a reason?" Dean said innocently.

"Yes they can, but that would be Sam calling me, not you. You only ever call when you want a favour," Gabriella replied getting up to find where Troy, Chad and Taylor were.

"Okay fine, I wanted to know if I was allowed to bring a date with me to your wedding."

"You have a girlfriend! Wow and the womanizer has finally decided to settle down!" Gabriella jeered. She then found the kitchen and saw that Chad and Troy were in there eating cereals looking at her weirdly. "Well congratulations anyway and of course you can bring her to the wedding. What's her name?"

"Andrea and that is all the dish you are getting from me," Dean informed.

"Oh, please please please! You know everything about Troy," Gabriella said as she pouted but soon remembered that Dean couldn't see her.

"I am so glad that I'm not there, or else you'll be doing your famous pout that makes anyone succumb to your needs," Dean explained.

"I do not have a famous pout!" Gabriella said in fake horror.

"Yes you do sis, anyway I'll speak to you later. I've got to go to work. Bye!"

"Bye bro," Gabriella replied before hanging up. Gabriella looked up to see Chad looking at her as Troy looked at his bowl.

"Nice ring tone," Chad commented.

"You could hear that from here?" Gabriella asked puzzled.

"Gabriella I'm sure that people all the way from England could hear it," Troy joked.

"It's not that loud is it?" Gabriella asked shocked. Chad simply nodded his head.

"So, who was on the phone?" Troy asked already knowing who it was.

"Dean."

"Who's Dean?" Chad asked.

"Gabriella's brother," Troy answered shortly.

"Why'd he call?" Chad asked curiously.

"He wanted to ask if he could invite his new girlfriend to our wedding," Gabriella explained standing next to Troy who just finished his cereal and moved towards the sink to wash his bowl. The one sided conversation that Troy had been listening in on made sense now.

It was at that moment Taylor came down the stairs holding a tiny baby girl. Gabriella looked up to see the baby and at the sight her face broke out into a smile.

"Oh, your baby is so cute!" Gabriella called out. "I could just eat her up," Gabriella saw Taylor's face and hastily added "but I won't."

"This is Jennifer. Hey Gabriella," Taylor called getting Gabriella's attention.

"Yeah," Gabriella replied her focus still on the tiny baby as she made little noises that made Jennifer giggle.

"Nice ring tone." At that comment both Troy and Chad cracked up laughing.

"You could hear that?" Gabriella asked astounded.

"Yeah, loud and clear."

"Oh Tay, did you hear I got a raise!" Chad said excitedly. As he said this Gabriella looked at Troy who was looking at Chad and Taylor. This was something Gabriella found weird. When people were guilty or lying didn't they tend to look down on the floor?

"That's great Chad," Taylor replied happily.

"Hey Troy did you get a raise?" Gabriella asked suspiciously. Troy gave Gabriella an intense stare before answering coolly.

"No," Troy said shortly. As soon as that was said everyone could feel the thick tension in the room.

"Oh," Gabriella said in response. Troy continued to look at Gabriella before sharply turning his head to Taylor.

"Hey Tay, we've got to go. Gabriella's got wedding planning to do and have a ton of things to do. I'll see you and Chad as soon as possible," Troy said but just before leaving the room he turned to Gabriella, "are you coming?" Gabriella nodded her head in response.

The car ride home was silent. Gabriella could tell that Troy was trying his hardest to concentrate on the roads as his mind was somewhere else. She didn't want to interrupt his thoughts and so stayed silent. However as soon as they stepped into the house and closed the door behind them, Troy turned on Gabriella.

"What the hell was that?" Troy demanded. His sudden outburst had Gabriella rooted to the spot. She could see the fury flashing in his blue eyes that seemed to have gone a darker shade.

"Ww.. what do you mean?" Gabriella stuttered.

"Why did you have to ask the damn question?" Troy shouted.

"What, the raise?" Gabriella asked not sure why Try was so angry.

"Yes, the raise. You had to ask the question so accusingly." Troy snapped.

"I didn't mean to," Gabriella said in a hurt voice.

"For God's sake. You knew I would be uncomfortable talking about it! We spoke about how Chad doesn't earn as much as me and you knew that I didn't like talking about it!" Troy exclaimed.

"That doesn't mean you can lie to your friends, Troy!" Gabriella yelled back, getting angrier by the second.

"How do you know I was lying?" Troy asked suspiciously.

"Because I heard your conversation on your mobile," Gabriella confessed.

"You were pretending to be asleep?" Troy asked annoyed.

"Okay you are wandering off the topic. You lied to your friends and are yelling at me because I wanted you to tell the truth," Gabriella said a little embarrassed.

"I lied for there own good, to save them from a few days of unhappiness because I earn more. Money always causes conflicts Gabriella!"

"Okay I get that now, but you don't have to yell at me!" Gabriella yelled.

"Gabriella! They probably know that I lied to them now and I know that they'll forgive me but they shouldn't deserve to feel as though I lie to them all the time about how much I earn for their sake. They deserve better. You know what I don't know why I was even gentle with you this morning when I didn't want you to wake up. I should have just thrown you on the floor. Note to self: throw Gabriella on the floor next time she is on you," Troy said viciously. That comment stung Gabriella.

"Yeah, well there won't be a next time!" Gabriella screamed before storming off and slamming her door. Troy sighed loudly feeling the smallest twinge of guilt before leaving the house, slamming the front door on his way.

Gabriella sat on her bed thinking about how everything had changed since the evening before. She had that they were making progress but she was wrong. As people always say one step forward leads to two steps backwards. That was where they were, back at square one.

Wow so it's getting some more drama. Who would have thought something as measly as a raise could invoke such a fight! Well, money is the root of all problems. I know that the argument wasn't that great, I just find writing arguments really hard! I see them so clearly in my head but when it comes to typing it up it just goes all wrong. I didn't want to leave you guys with nothing so I decided to just leave it crappy and hope that you get the gist of what I was trying to make the argument like. Please leave a review! I love reading every single one of them. Anyway in the next chapter I'll be skipping to December, straight to their wedding.

P.S Who likes the new fanfiction format? I think its okay but I didn't really see why it had to change.

This chapter is named after the song Walk Away by Kelly Clarkson but I guess you could say it was also from High School Musical 3: Senior Year :D!