LAST TIME-

"Troy!" Gabriella greeted the blue eyed teen quickly.

"Do you know this guy, Gabriella?" Troy questioned, gesturing to the handsome boy standing next to her.

Gabriella, for the first time in her life, was speechless. "Yeah…uh," she mumbled uncertainly. "He's…well he's…"

The emerald eyed teen smiled, enjoying the awkward situation Gabriella was in. "Colt Winchester—," he stuck out his hand in greeting to Troy. "—I'm her ex-boyfriend."

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Chapter Ten:

When Dreams Become Reality

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Troy eyed the outstretched hand hesitantly. Where had he heard that name before?

Finally, he reached forward and gripped the other boys hand firmly. "Troy Bolton."

"Troy Bolton?" Colt asked, a hint of an edge in his voice. "Like, Troy Bolton—East High's Troy Bolton?"

"That's me." Troy nodded, but there was something about the emerald eyed teen that made him edgy. Dammit, where had he heard that name before?

And then, all at once, the answer came crashing down on his subconscious. His shoulders sagged ever so slightly and his chest tightened, his lungs freezing.

"Well, Troy Bolton," Colt let a feral grin twitch across his face. "I am Colt Winchester of the West Haven Warriors, the—"

"—Reigning State Champions," Troy choked out before turning sharply to Gabriella. "You went to West Haven?"

Gabriella opened her mouth to defend herself, but Colt stepped in. "Ah, yes. It was a dark day indeed when West Haven lost its queen." He reached forward towards Gabriella's face but she drew back, eyes flashing like flint. "Many people lost their role model the day you transferred, Gabriella."

"That's heart wrenching," she replied flatly.

"Where is this anger coming from?" Colt asked in sarcastic surprise. "Have you already turned your back on your past?" Here, he paused and his voice turned soft, "on me?"

"Don't pretend like you ever cared, Colt," Gabriella stepped dangerously close to the other boy. "When I first started dating you, you were a nobody," his jaw tightened. "You used me to get to the top. To become popular. Don't, for a second, think that you can turn this around and make it look like you're the victim. I didn't turn my back on you. You turned your back on me."

"Please, explain to me the insanity that's coming out of your mouth," he leaned closer to her, almost to the point where they were touching noses.

"I think you know," Gabriella ground out. "That night, last year."

"There were many night's last year, sweetheart. It'd be difficult for me to remember them all."

Gabriella didn't elaborate. "Do you remember what I said that night?"

Colt, in the first sign of annoyance Troy had witness from the boy, locked his jaw and narrowed his eyes.

"I told you that I wasn't going to drink. That I would only play in that tournament if the cups were filled with water or soda." She kept going and Colt's face grew redder. "And I had my water bottle with me because I knew I would be tempted. And you were nice enough to fill it up for me when I downed the contents. Because that's all it turned out to be. Contents." She dragged in a breath through her clenched teeth, her hands balled into fists at her side. "Because it wasn't water anymore, was it, Colt? After you filled it up the countless times. Tell me, how much alcohol did you slip in there for me to not notice?"

In an instant, every single emotion on Colt's face was gone. Even the anger. He stood there for a second, locked in a heated staring contest, before straitening and taking in a breath. In a split second, a grin spread across his face and he smiled at her childishly. "Man, I knew there was a reason why we called you 'the tank'. It took you an hour and a half to get drunk enough to agree to be my partner."

"Do you have any idea what happened to me that night?!" She growled. "First, I was raped by someone at that party! By someone I knew! And second, I was in a car crash that killed my father! And all of that happened because you slipped alcohol into my drink!"

Colt seemed unaffected by the news. "It's not called 'rape' if you enjoyed it, Gabriella." He shrugged nonchalantly, a sadistic grin on his face. "And the car crash was your old man's fault. You should have told him to keep his eyes on the road."

Troy punched the emerald eyed teen and Colt pitched backwards to the floor.

"Sonofabitch!" he snarled dangerously low.

Gabriella caught him around the arm when he took a step forward. "Stop, Troy. Stop."

"But—!"

"I am not going to let you throw away your spot in States because of me," she pulled on his arm harder. "Please, leave it be."

Troy locked his jaw and turned to Colt. "We'll settle this on the court."

"What makes you think you'll even get that far?" Colt rubbed his red jaw and jumped to his feet, unfazed. "You and your pathetic excuse for a team won't get past the first round."

Troy snarled and if it weren't for Gabriella's hands on his chest, he would have kicked the shit out of the other teen. "Your ass is mine, Winchester." He pointed in a threat to Colt as Gabriella dragged him away.

Colt held up his hands and motioned forward. "Bring it on, Bolton."

-XxX-

"Can we talk about this?" Gabriella broke the silence of the truck cabin.

They hadn't talked since exiting the hospital, and though she wanted to explain herself, Troy didn't look like he was in the chatting mood.

"There's nothing to talk about." Troy replied tightly.

Gabriella closed her eyes tightly and pinched the bridge of her nose with thumb and forefinger. "At least let me explain."

"Honestly, Gabriella, I don't want to hear it." She looked to him, but his eyes were trained forward, hands clenched, knuckled white, around the steering wheel. "There's nothing to explain."

In that instant, she knew she was losing him. Panic clutched around her heart and her brain mouth function shut down completely, because out of all the things she could have said, the worst set of words left her mouth. "You're just overreacting. Look, Troy, I understand—"

"Overreacting!" He bit our furiously, cutting her off. "You!? Understand!?" Letting out a mock of laughter, he swung his head to glare at her and her mouth snapped shut. "You think you understand? Tell me something," his eyes bore into hers, electric blue overpowering chocolate brown. That one look brought tears to the corners of her eyes. The deepest betrayal she had ever seen was starting back at her through those cerulean eyes she had fallen so much in love with.

"Were you ever going to tell me that you went to West Haven?" She opened her mouth to answer but he didn't give her the chance. "Were you ever going to tell me that you dated Colt Winchester, the Kobe Bryant of High School basketball players?"

She opened and closed her mouth before letting an exasperated sigh out through her nose. "I was going to—eventually."

"That makes me feel a whole lot better." Troy rolled his eyes.

"What do you want me to say, Troy?" She demanded. "Do you want me to say that I'm sorry? That I'm sorry I was popular? Sorry that I had another life that isn't the same as the one I have now? Sorry that I got drunk one night and quite possibly raped? Sorry that I got in a car crash that led to my transfer? The death of my father?"

"Don't you dare try to turn this around!" He snarled. "I'm the one that was lied to! I'm the one that was deceived!"

She actually flinched at the word deceived because he put extra emphasis on it. "I didn't mean to—"

"You should have thought about that before you lied to me."

"I didn't lie to you, Troy." She replied in a small voice. "I told you the truth."

"You told me what I wanted to hear," he snapped. "A half truth. "

"I was going to tel—"

"Eventually. I got that."

Gabriella turned her head and looked out the window, sighing deeply. "I'm so sorry, Troy."

"Yeah," the car jerked to a stop as he put on the parking break, "whatever."

Gabriella looked up and was met with the closed garage of her house. Looking to her left, Troy was unmoving in the driver's seat. "I'll see you tomorrow." She said softly.

"I guess," he grunted.

She got out of the car, closing the door softly behind her. He didn't wait for her to step away from the truck. Troy reversed out of her driveway and sped down the street, turning a corner and was gone.

-XxX-

He didn't talk to her all day.

"Damn girl," Taylor looked passed her shoulder to a sulking Troy Bolton. "What did you do to him? He looks miserable."

"Not now, Taylor," Gabriella said softly, shoving her math book into her back pack.

"I'm just saying," Taylor shrugged. "Troy Bolton has never looked this depressed—"

"Taylor!" Gabriella snapped, rounding on her best friend. "Not. Now."

Through her surprise, Taylor watched her best friend haul one more book into her book bag and turn on her heel, heading down the opposite end of the hallway.

"This is so not good." The African America girl mumbled under her breath.

"You're telling me," Chad said from behind.

Taylor whipped around fast, putting up her hands in self defense. Upon seeing Chad, hands over his head, she shoved a sigh of relief. "Don't do that, Chad. You almost gave me a heart attack."

"And you were about to kick my ass, weren't you?" He said accusingly, though there was a small smile on his face.

She shook her head. "You would be joking at a time like this."

He turned serious in a split second. "So it's happening on your end too?"

Taylor nodded her head. "I've never seen her this—" her eyes softened. "—Sad before."

"Same." Chad agreed. "Even though I hate to admit it, they were kind of perfect for each other."

"So perfect it kind of made me sick just watching them." Taylor made a face and then turned to Chad. "Has he said anything about what might have happened?"

Chad, eye squinting, rubbed the back of his head in thought. "The only thing he's said to me is," he straightened and cleared his throat loudly, trying to make his best interpretation of Troy. "She lied to me."

Taylor smacked her forehead. "God, it's worse than I thought."

Chad blinked. "What?"

"She has a dark past, Chad," Taylor shook her head. "Troy must have found out."

"Gabriella? Dark past?" Chad laughed. "You've gotta be kitting me."

"Chad, she hasn't always been the good little girl," Taylor said darkly and the smiled dropped off of Chad's face. "In another life, she was a completely different person."

"And you know this how?"

Taylor, sighing, hooked one of her arms through his. "Because she told me."

When Taylor didn't elaborate, Chad lifted an eyebrow. "And?"

"Shit happened. She transferred."

"Here?" Chad asked. "To East High?"

"No, genius, to West High."

Chad held up his hands in surrender. "Whoa, I just wanted to clarify. You know me and paying attention. I was just making sure."

"Sorry. We just—we just need to do something about this. Do you have any ideas?"

Chad tapped his finger on his chin. "Well, in this situation, there's only one person he'll listen too."

Taylor snapped to attention. "Who?"

Chad smiled. "Obnoxious blond hair and a sweet tooth for pink."

Taylor let out a bark of laughter but when Chad didn't find the humor in it, her face dropped instantly. "Shit. You're serious."

"Talking to her won't be a problem," Chad tightened his hold around one of Taylor's arms and started to drag her down the hallway. "Getting her to see our side will be."

Taylor crossed her arms. "You've got to be kidding me."

Chad just stared at her, face straight.

After a pause, Taylor sighed in exasperation. "Ahh shit."

-XxX-

"Absolutely not."

Sharpay Evans was sitting on one of the circular lunch tables, arms cross defiantly over her chest. Lunch had been over for about fifteen minutes and it was the perfect chance to talk to the popular blond, alone. Talking to her wasn't the issue, getting her to actually listen was.

Taylor threw up her hands in frustration in the background while Chad ran his hands through his curly brown hair.

"But why not?" Chad was on the verge of pleading.

Sharpay laughed, flipping her hair with one swift, but graceful jerk. "You want me to talk to Troy about getting back together with Gabriella Montez?" She lifted her eyebrows in skepticism. "Why, on Earth, would I agree to do that?"

"Stop answering questions with more questions!" Chad threw up his hands and spun on his heels. "Swallow your damn pride and just admit that they were perfect for each other."

"I will not admit it." Sharpay said tightly. "Because they weren't perfect for each other. If they were, you wouldn't be in this situation."

Chad growled. "You know Troy Bolton about as good as I do. He's never been good with people lying to him, even if it was for the best."

Sharpay wasn't buying it. "How is lying to someone you love for the best?"

At this, Taylor stepped forward, voice triumphant. "So you do admit that they loved each other."

Sharpay snapped her mouth shut, blinking. "No." She denied. At Taylor's doubtful look, her eyes grew frantic. "That's not what I meant. You're taking it out of context. God, I hate it when you do that!"

"Sharpay," Taylor sighed. "Why don't you like Gabriella?"

For the first time in her life, Sharpay was speechless. Her mouth opened and closed. "Well—I mean—I just do—don't." She finished lamely.

The two girls stood in silence. Taylor eyed the blond.

"Come on Chad," she turned away, dropping her head, "we're getting nowhere here."

Chad made a face. "But it's the only way."

Taylor shook her head. "She's too self-centered to see through her anger."

Chad opened his mouth to say something more, but figured it was hopeless. He tilted his head towards the ceiling and locked his jaw in frustration. Finally, he looked to Sharpay, his eyes uncharacteristically serious. "This is the sole reason why he chose her, Sharpay. She cares about other people more than she does herself." He stepped forward and Sharpay actually flinched back. "You are nothing compared to Gabriella."

"You think insulting me will change my mind?" she said flatly.

"No," Chad shook his head sadly. "I realize now that no one will be able to do that."

He turned and reached out his hand. Taylor took it in one of her own and the two started walking towards the exit.

"Hold up." Ryan appeared out of nowhere, his tiny phone in his hand. "Unlike my sister here, I know what those two shared."

"Ryan, what are you doing?" Sharpay asked in surprise.

He turned to his sister. "The right thing." He held up the small phone, and Sharpay drew in a sharp breath. "You will talk to Troy," Ryan ordered flatly, "or this picture will be seen everywhere."

"You're blackmailing me?" Sharpay shrieked.

Ryan contemplated the accusation. "I don't see it that way. It's more like 'getting my stubborn sister to see the truth'." Her mouth dropped open and he shrugged.

Taylor laid a hand on the twins shoulder. "Ryan, we appreciate the help, but we don't want this."

"But this will he—"

Chad held up a hand. "We don't want to force her to do anything she doesn't want to do. It's not how we work."

Ryan tilted his head and sighed. "Alright." He shrugged and pressed a button on the keypad, deleting the picture.

Sharpay stepped forward hesitantly. "Okay, I'll do it."

"What?" Taylor's mouth dropped open.

Sharpay rolled her eyes. "Please don't take this the wrong way." She waved a hand. "I don't like you. I don't like Gabriella. But I will—," she sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. "—admit that they had something."

"ohmygod," Taylor breathed. "Did you just—"

Chad put a hand over her mouth. "Baby, just take what we can get."

Taylor eyed Chad and he dropped his hand.

Sharpay shook her head. "You guys are complete idiots."

"Excuse me?" Taylor snapped in surprise.

"Only idiots would give up there only bargaining chip to do," she held up her hands to put her next words into quotation marks, made a face and rolled her eyes, "'the right thing.'"

Taylor laughed, shaking her head. "I was wrong about you, Sharpay."

The blond stepped forward dangerously. "Look, I am not your friend. Like I said before, I don't like you." She stepped back and folded her arms over her chest. "But I am not the cold hearted bitch that everyone makes me out to be."

Taylor raised an eyebrow. "I know. That's the part I was wrong about."

-XxX-

She was in the passenger seat this time, waiting for Troy to pull out of the East High parking lot.

Panic crawled up her spine when she saw him exit from the double doors leading to the gym. He had his gym back slung over his shoulder casually and he was dressed in a wife beater and baggy basketball shorts.

She watched painstakingly as he hoped into his beat up old white pickup truck and pulled out of the parking lot. The sound of the parking brake being released snapped her to attention and the black sedan crawled forward slowly before picking up speed.

Soon, they were following Troy, and she screamed, slamming her fists on the window. She took swings at the shadowed driver, but of course, the blows passed right through him. After all, it wasn't her dream, she couldn't control anything.

She grabbed for the wheel, and though her hands passed right through it, she felt a little resistance. Scrunching her eyes up, she gritted her teeth, starting at the wheel. Imagining that it was some sold thing and not a figment of someone's imagination, she reached for it again.

Her fingers wrapped around the cool leather.

Her eyes hardened and she ripped the steering wheel to the side.

"What the hell!" The figure in the driver's seat growled, his hands fighting for control of the wheel.

Gabriella ground her teeth together, feeling the veins in her neck pop out. There was a force—a strong force—pushing against her chest. Almost instantly, she felt her fingers start to slide through the leather of the wheel. With a growl, she felt the sedan speed up, roaring alongside Troy's old truck.

Gabriella, in a moment of frantic panic—because she was losing her grip on the wheel—looked out the window.

Electric blue met chocolate brown.

She was thrown from the dream just seconds before the two cars crashed together.

-XxX-

With a gasp she sat up, clutching at her heart. Running her hands over her face, Gabriella sighed heavily, glancing down to her math book.

"Time to take a break before my brain shuts down," she pushed her spiral notebook away from her and got to her feet. Heading out of her room, she made her way to the kitchen where she rummaged through the seemingly pointless contents in her refrigerator.

Her doorbell rang.

Sticking her head up over the top of her refrigerator door, she scrunched her eyes up in confusion. Contemplating whether or not to answer the door, a breath stopping thought came to her mind. What if it was Troy?

She was at the door in a second, wrenching it open. The smile on her face dropped when she saw who was standing on the other side of the door.

Colt Winchester, hand's shoved into his packets, was grinning roguishly at her.

"Hey, beautiful." He greeted.

Sighing, Gabriella rapped her head against her doorframe. "How do you know where I live?" She asked sternly. But she knew for a fact that the emerald-eyed boy wouldn't answer her. Hell, it didn't hurt to try, though.

The West Haven Captain ignored her and invited himself in. "You look like you're doing well, Gabi." His eyes scanned around her living room.

"Don't call me that." She replied with a sigh. "You know I never liked it."

Colt turned to her and gave a sly smile. "Oh, but don't you?"

The tone of his voice shifted her on the defensive automatically. Something was wrong. "What are you doing here?"

"Troy Bolton." Colt replied flatly.

Gabriella blinked. "What about him?"

"I want you to stay away from him."

"Excuse me?" She said, offended.

Colt turned to him. "Troy Bolton is being groomed for greatness, Gabriella. You have to understand that he's been a UA Red Hawk since before he was born."

"I do understand that, Colt." She said his name mockingly. "Troy can be whoever or whatever he wants to be. I'm not holding him back."

"You see," Colt stepped closer to her. Too close, "that's where you're wrong."

"Get out of my house." She snapped.

"Troy Bolton lost, Gabriella. Do you know how many times East High has lost when Troy Bolton was on the court?" He paused for dramatic effect. "Never. That game was the first time Troy Bolton has lost—ever."

Gabriella clenched her jaw but didn't look away. He was trying to break her. She wasn't going to allow it.

Colt continued. "His stats are slipping. He's scoring fewer points in games. They lost in the Regional finals, to West High—" he made a face. "But they're still guaranteed a bid in the State tournament—"

"Why are you telling me this?" she interrupted impatiently.

"The quarterfinals for States next week is going to be a battle, Gabriella, and if Troy Bolton is not focused," his voice dropped emption, his words flowing almost like a promise, "WarHill Secondary will murder East High."

"You want me to actually believe that you're trying to be the good guy?" She said in aggravation.

"I don't enjoy the senseless slaughter of good teams, Gabriella. No one will talk about my victory if I don't defeat anyone except for East High." He replied with a lazy shrug.

"That's more like it," she said bluntly.

Colt made his way to the door, knowing the damage was done. "Just remember something, Gabriella. Troy Bolton had a future—," he opened the front door, paused and then glanced back over his shoulder, "—until he met you."

Then he was gone.

Gabriella collapsed onto her living room couch and closed her eyes briefly, groaning. "What did I ever seen in him?"

She reached into her pocket, pulling out her small silver BlackBerry. Thumbing speed dial four she placed the receiver to her ear. "Hey, Taylor," she sighed as her friend started to talk rapidly, mentioning something about 'Troy' and 'love' and 'huge mistake' all in the same sentence. "Taylor, Taylor, look," she spoke sternly into the phone. "I'm going to Cottonwood to get some homework done and to just think about some things. I'm sorry I snapped at you this morning by there's a lot on my mind."

Taylor went on another fast rant and Gabriella rolled her eyes. Though she hated to do it, it was the only way to get her best friend to chill.

Gabriella hung up and got to her feet. Grabbing her coat from the rack next to the door, and her key's from the small table next to the rack, she stepped outside. Her black Honda Civic was parked on the street next to her mail box.

She smiled softly to herself. How Troy had figured out where she parked was beyond her reasoning. He must have paid more attention to her than he had let on.

It was a reasonably quick drive to the mall. And she parked outside the Food Court entrance. She wrapped her jacket around her body as she slid out of her car, the cold January air hitting her body. She entered the glass doors and made her way to Frullati Café.

It was the best place to eat and she needed a good salad. Stepping up to the counter, she faintly recognized the cashier as going to East High. "Hi, can I have a Classic Chicken Cesar salad with a Strawberry Banana smoothie."

The girl smiled faintly, nodding her head. After exchanging money for change, Gabriella made her way towards the back, hoping to get the booth at the far back, but it was already taken by a group of men. She didn't pay much attention to them and instead slid into the empty booth in front of theirs.

"We have to do it soon."

Her ears perked up and she straightened unconsciously. The voice was low, like a hiss, and Gabriella wouldn't have paid much attention any other time. But her ears tended to pick up conversations that weren't meant to be heard by anyone.

"Why don't we just let WarHill take care of them?"

Her heart stopped. She'd heard that name before.

"Because we aren't sure that WarHill will win."

She looked sideways to the full length windows to her left. It was rather hard to read the reflection because there was constant movement outside in the mall, but she caught the group of boys who the voices belong too.

"I don't know man; I have a bad feeling about this."

There was a pause and Gabriella dipped her head closer to the table top. Her heart was pounding almost painfully against her ribcage and she was afraid to breath. Afraid that the smallest of noise would alert them to the fact that she was listening.

"Look, no one will know that it was us."

She recognized the voice, along with the semi-distorted reflection.

Aiden Hensley and a band of West High basketball players were sitting at the table behind her. She recognized the Captain's voice now that she was able to put a name to the face.

"Ben has a huge black sedan and we can take the plates off. The windows are tinted below regulation. We're just ghosting this. No one will know that it was us."

"But we're talking about killing someone."

"We aren't going to kill him, just hurt him enough so he can't play. We couldn't take him down when we played him in Regional's, so we have to improvise."

"East High will win everything. And I'm sick of seeing his face plastered across every single front page sports section. If they win States, he'll be everywhere."

"But West Haven's here again. Who says they won't defend their title?"

"Look, East High will find a way to win. They're the underdogs. And the underdogs are the most dangerous. We have to do this."

There was a pause.

"Alright man, I'm in."

"Me too."

"Same here."

"Ditto."

"Good. So, we'll wait outside East High after his practice, follow him and then see if we can push his truck into the river that runs along that road. You guys know the one. After that, we'll call the cops and leave an anonymous tip about the accident. Whether the cops show up in time, that's up to fate to decide."

Gabriella placed a trembling hand over her mouth, trying to quiet her hard breathing. Every nerve was on high alert, her head spinning. Her hands were numb as she rummaged for her phone in desperation.

Aiden Hensley was planning on hurting Troy.

.-.-.- Insert Dramatic Music -.-.-.

(Review! Uh-oh!)

Author's Note: So, what do you think? Troy and Gabriella got into a fight! Oh no! And I know it's kind of fast, but I wouldn't be very happy if my best friend (possibly girlfriend) lied to me about something like that. But then again, all guys are stubborn, and blow really small things way out of proportion. Which is basically what Troy is doing. And Sharpay helping so fast was because she knew that it was really simple to blackmail her, but the fact that Taylor and Chad didn't chose too kind of made her, impressed I guess. She feels like she owes them.

I know, I know. The bad guy isn't very inventive. I always use West High as the bad guy, but they're in High School, I mean really, not many people would want a High School kid dead. And kids do some pretty amazing, or should I say drastic things just to get noticed or get attention.

So anyways, review, review, review. And the next couple of chapters are going to be eventful.