The Definition of Us

Disclaimer: I do not own HSM.

Chapter Ten- Define Limit

limit (noun): as far as something or someone can go.

When Gabriella's steps brought her to the edge of the familiar clearing, she took four steps to the right, out of everyone else's way, and collapsed on the ground. Unused to the extra weight strapped to her back, the ungraceful control of herself caused her to tumble over backwards. Troy's laughter was identifiable as she closed her eyes and refused to move. When a shadow crossed the brightness in her vision, she forced her eyes open to look.

"You plan to get up and help or stay down there and grow grass?" Troy asked, his eyes lit with mischief.

"Staying here," she mumbled, wiggling from the discomfort her backpack and gear was causing to her shoulder blades.

"Yeah, I'm not so sure that's an actual option, Brie," Troy responded, leaning down and gripping her hand in his. "Up you go." Yanking her off the ground, he tried to hide his grin as she wobbled slightly on the spot. "We've got a tent to put up and another two to supervise. Let's go."

"For the record," she told him, walking as far as the pile of counsellor gear at the edge of the clearing and dumping her stuff on top of the heap, "I'm tired."

"Consider the record to be reflective of that fact," he quipped as his gear followed hers after unstrapping both their tents.

It took an hour for all of the campers to get the tents for each cabin up and pegged to the ground. Another thirty minutes were assigned to pitching the counsellors' tent and the one to be used by Pete, Shannon the first aider, and two accompanying park rangers in case of an emergency. Another hour passed before a slightly agitated and grumpy Gabriella shoved a crisply charred grilled cheese sandwich into Troy's hand while he traced the mapped route for the afternoon hike.

"You got it figured out?" she asked, sitting down with her own sandwich as she watched Caleb and Ben sort through the pile of sleeping gear to decipher what went in which tent. "The kids are wondering when you're leaving."

"I figure it will be two hours up and less than that on the way back down. I talked to Brett and the view from the peak is magnificent although I doubt the effects of it will be lost on the kids," Troy told her ruefully, removing his cap with a hand and running his fingers through his hair before resettling it on his head. "In which case, I've been told they may see deer."

"Well, you will just have to take a picture for me," Gabriella said as she stood and picked up both of their dishes.

"You're not coming?" Troy asked, disappointment on his face and she shook her head. "I thought you'd want to see the view." Gabriella gave him an odd look. Was that pleading?

"Troy, it's just a hike. I told Kylie and Jayme that I would stay behind and get dinner going so it would be ready and-," She trailed off and looked away. "You really want me to climb a mountain and see some deer?" she asked sceptically.

"Not if you don't want to," he responded, slightly bitter and wincing when he saw that she noticed. "I just thought it would be cool. Like that time we all hiked to the lake when Chad's dad took us camping and you insisted on forging ahead until we found water even though Chad insisted you were way off course." He gave her a smile as he retraced the route on the map. She sighed, remembering the summer a few years ago. She and Troy had bickered the whole way even though it was Chad who kept saying she was wrong.

"Give me a minute," she told him, leaving the spot to find the girls.

Approaching Kylie and Jayme, Gabriella decided against explaining Troy's request that she go and instead told them that they needed an extra person. Anna, overhearing, gladly begged to be left behind and nurse the blisters on her feet. Laughing, Gabriella grabbed her bag and tossed in a snack, water bottle and a sweatshirt before throwing it over her shoulder and joining the group ready for the hike. She smiled at the grin on Troy's face and for once, refused to argue with herself or feel guilty about the happy feeling she got knowing she had agreed to his request.

Troy wasn't sure why he had wanted Gabriella to go with the hiking group so much. It was true what he had said about the camping trip and hunt for the lake, but it didn't seem like a big enough reason to plead with her to abandon supper duty and go with him. The talk was light and joking on the way up the hill, mainly at Gabriella and Cheyenne's expense as they lagged further and further behind and had to be cajoled and baited into speeding up their pace. Troy felt guilty for convincing Gabriella to come as she drifted further and further back in the group until she was surrounded by the younger kids who were barely placing one foot in front of the other. Although he didn't regret getting her to come, he hoped the view from the top was as worthwhile as Brett kept saying.

It was.

When scrappy, scrubby pine trees gave way to sturdier, leafier trunks of oak, Brett announced that they were getting close. It wasn't a gradual clearing like the one by the camp site or around the lake at Maplevine. It was sudden and abrupt, forcing the entire group onto the ledge of the peak while around them stretched higher elevations and below, spread out in panorama was the valley with the twisting sliver of river running between the ridges. The sun was low, casting golden rays and black shadows in haphazard patterns across the view, glimmering against the water or catching the leaves on their glossy sides. Troy wished he had a better camera than the one on his cell phone.

He stood still, even as the campers and counsellors pushed past to see what had captured his attention, but his eyes never left the unfolding scene before him. He heard a tiny gasp and turned as the last of the stragglers reached him and Gabriella looked up from her sneakers to take in the sight. Troy's eyes roamed her face as she fixated on what was behind him, and he felt his smile grow knowing she would have kicked herself for staying behind if he hadn't brought her.

"I told you," he said quietly, feeling that anything louder would disrupt the perfection.

"My God," was all she could manage, stepping around him with a quick glance at his face and then walking to edge. She set her bag down as she went, pulling her camera out of her jacket pocket and adjusting the dials to suit. "It's indescribable."

Troy watched as she snapped pictures from different angles, remembering some small detail about her participation with the year book committee and the school paper, while he let his gaze slide along the tree tops and down into the valleys and canyons that spread for miles past the direction of Maplevine. He wondered if he could draw it from memory and then realized that it would never be the same anyway.

"Thank you," Gabriella told him, walking back from the edge as she slid the camera into a pocket on her backpack. "It's perfect."

Troy nodded and leaned against a tree while the group rested and admired the scenery. When it was time to head back, he gathered his gear and herded the campers back down the trail. The way down was faster and more easily navigated, with the campers rushing ahead of the counsellors at the mention food. Troy couldn't get the image of Gabriella's smile out of his head as he entered the camp clearing again that day. Searching for her, he had to grin at how fast she tore the camera from its place and rushed to show those who had stayed behind. Despite the noise and the chaos as the campers got ready for supper, Troy could hear the conversation taking place by the pots of boiling spaghetti noodles being manned by Jayme.

"I'm so glad Troy convinced me to go. It was the most gorgeous thing I have ever seen," Gabriella gushed and Troy caught the look she sent him across the open space.

His smile grew and he whistled as he helped Ben set out the dishes for the meal. At some point, making Gabriella smile had become his new goal and at a different point, Troy realized that her smile was often infectious.

Gabriella didn't remember falling asleep. She remembered spooning out ladlefuls of tomato sauce and passing around three containers of parmesan cheese. She remembered silencing complaints about the slightly burnt state of the garlic bread and the lack of variety in the drink selection. She remembered sending ten extremely wet campers to get changed after they overturned two of the basins being used for the dishes. She remembered finishing the dishes herself while Anna dried and Troy stacked. After that had come two hours of cheesy campfire songs, roasting marshmallows and hotdogs, and making sure that no one caught themselves or their friends on fire. Brett's astronomy lesson had been cool given the perfectly clear night sky, but Gabriella had been confused about why Troy had missed it to help set up the kids sleeping bags when he had apparently been interested during the hike up.

When the flames had finally died down, Gabriella remembered following her campers to their tent and holding a flashlight while they hurried into pyjamas before the chill had their teeth chattering. A quick trip to the outhouse located at the back of the camp and a five second brush of their teeth and Gabriella recalled them soundlessly collapsing into their sleeping bags inside the tent as she zipped the flap closed and returned to the campfire. She had felt so exhausted that she couldn't recall snuggling up next to Jayme as they shared a blanket while the last of the campers fell asleep and she didn't remember that Troy had gently shaken her awake less than an hour later and coaxed her into walking to their tent, getting undressed while the guys stood outside, and then into her sleeping bag with Hailey's help.

Just after midnight she woke, slightly disoriented, and freezing. Burrowing deeper into the flannel and goose down folds over her heavy duty sleeping bag and extra blankets, she tugged the hood of her sweater over her head and tried to ignore the bone deep shivers that travelled down her spine and caused her to violently vibrate in her cocoon. Taking another shot at gaining more heat, she tried to wiggle as far from the door of the tent as possible before she hit rock solid objects that registered as people. Giving up, she curled into a ball and tried to fall asleep.

Troy was one of those guys that slept like the dead. The kind of guy who didn't bother to use an alarm clock because he would sleep through it anyway. The kind of guy who could sleep through Miss Darbus' homeroom lecture every morning and gain a few extra moments of rest in the process. Waking in the middle of the night, his immediate thought about what could have awakened him was whether he needed to take a leak. Contemplating that for a moment, his response to himself was no. He also knew that the blowing wind outside was not enough to wake him, and it couldn't have been anything overly loud because no one else was awake except for the obnoxious person twisting and turning in their nylon covered sleeping bag.

Sitting up and pulling the zipper of his sweater higher, Troy tried to squint through the blackness of the tent to locate the sound. The swishing and rustling of the fabric was becoming increasingly irritating to his sleep deprived brain and he ground his teeth as the sound continued. Opting not to turn on his flashlight, he called out softly to the squirmy sleeper.

"Go to fucking sleep," he hissed and the sound stopped for a moment before resuming. He sighed. "It's after midnight and we have to be up at seven. Cut it out." He frowned when something bumped against his leg and beside him, Ben muttered in his sleep and rolled over.

"Freakin' dark" grumbled a familiar voice and Troy rolled his eyes and scrubbed his face with his hands.

"Brie, what are you doing?" He had expected her to sleep through until morning given how soundly she had passed out at the campfire and how much effort it had taken to get her into the tent and tucked in. There had been a brief argument with Caleb over the sleeping arrangements when he saw that those who had laid out the gear in the afternoon had placed Gabriella at the foot of the door to the tent because she was the smallest and the space was cramped. Hearing her twist and turn again, Troy knew he and Hailey had been right about it being a stupid and unkind idea. "What's wrong?"

"I'm just cold," she murmured, her voiced muffled and Troy tried to push past the darkness and find her among the black shadows. "Why am I by the fucking door?"

"Because Brenner is an idiot," Troy responded, knowing she had hit her limit by the amount of profanity escaping her mouth unchecked. "Can you find me without a light?"

"I dunno," she stammered, "Why?" Troy ignored her question as he reached down and tried to figure out where she was in relation to the foot she had bumped. Groping along the edge of a foreign sleeping bag, he heard her sit up. "What are you doing?"

"Getting you away from the door. I need you to slide out of your bag and come up this way. You can fit between me and Ben." He leaned down and unzipped his own bag to allow him to help as he heard her stumble and fall over obstacles until he could make out her silhouette. "Hand me the bag," he instructed and he laid it out in the narrow space beside him. Pulling it open, he straightened out the blanket acting as a liner and pulled her down. "Here, get in."

She obeyed without a word and once Troy knew she was in, he pulled the zipper up as high as it would go and then did his own. He could see that her hood was up as she burrowed into the warmth, lodging herself up against his side. Scooting closer so that she was against Ben's back, Troy pulled the extra blanket he had discarded earlier over both of them to cover the exposed arm he curled around her shaking figure. By the time he dosed off again, Gabriella had stopped shaking and managed to mould herself to the curve of his own cocooned body.

She didn't want to wake up. The burning heat that surrounded her and pressed against her cheek felt like heaven to Gabriella and she pushed herself closer to the source. Around her the others were beginning to awaken as the rattle of dishes and gear outside the tent broke through foggy sleep and stiff muscles. Trying to tell herself that it was too early to be conscious, she kept her eyes closed and tried to hang on to the last moments of slumber before the horribly hushed whispers of her friends ripped that possibility away.

"Hailes, you're supposed to count the campers. I'm sure there are no missing counsellors," Jayme chuckled softly, her voice perfectly clear to Gabriella.

"Where's Ella?" Hailey asked quietly and Gabriella heard a zipper come undone. "Is she up already?"

"She's over here," someone grumbled and part of Gabriella's heat source disappeared as Ben shifted position. "I have no idea how that happened."

"Well, she's jammed under Bolton's arm far enough that she may as well just be in the sleeping bag with him," Caleb observed and Gabriella faintly comprehended what he meant before focusing on Hailey's undignified snort.

"That's because she was fucking freezing last night," growled a voice ridiculously close to Gabriella's ear and she stiffened for a moment before the person beside her shifted and she wedged herself closer. "I'm with Hailey; I swear she has ice for blood," Troy added.

"I do not," she responded from beneath the layers and she felt the person beside her laugh.

"Whatever you say," Troy told her. "Time to get up," he told her, poking her side through the sleeping bag and causing her to groan and curl into a tighter ball.

Too late, Gabriella realized that without Troy, the heat quickly dissipated as he abandoned his bed and stepped outside to hit the outhouse and find his clothes. Without the warmth pressing against her, she groaned in annoyance and pulled herself from her covers. Rubbing her hands against her face, she pulled up the hood that had slipped off and wrapped her arms around herself as she tried to adjust to the temperature drop.

"Come on, Sleeping Beauty, get dressed and you can have coffee." Gabriella looked towards the unzipped flap of the tent to see Troy toss her backpack at her.

Before he left, she caught a quick glance of him already dressed. Sighing, she ignored the amused looks of the girls remaining in the tent as she dug through her bag and pulled out the pants to her East High track suit and matching sweatshirt that she pulled on over a white tank top. Shoving the clothes she had slept in back into her bag, she grabbed a pair of socks and then rummaged around the outside of the tent to find her sneakers. Leaving the laces undone, she finally emerged from the tent and wrestled her hair into a messy bun as she approached the benches surrounding the fire pit.

Her appearance interrupted the discussion taking place between Hailey and Troy. Gabriella tried to ignore the probability of what Hailey had mentioned based on the look of frustration on Troy's face and the smirk on Hailey's. She looked immensely pleased with herself but Gabriella decided not to comment on it as she dropped onto the bench and accepted the mug that Troy thrust into her hands before turning back to the line of campers holding out bowls for cereal like they were Oliver Twist at the orphanage. Wrapping her hands around the hot ceramic, Gabriella tried to channel the heat through the rest of her body.

"Sleep well?" Hailey's sudden arrival beside her caused Gabriella to jump. "Your Troy Boy got awfully anxious when I asked who initiated last night's game of musical sleeping bags."

"Don't call him that," Gabriella replied. The only person who ever referred to Troy as 'Troy Boy' was Sharpay Evans and Hailey's addition of the possessive indication in front of it was too much for 7am. "And I would have agreed to sleep with a grizzly bear last night if it meant escaping hypothermia. He just happened to be the one to wake up and offer to help." She took another sip of her drink and kept her eyes downcast as she remembered how it felt to be in his arms. The warmth had come from more than body heat and Gabriella had no energy or patience with herself to argue against it anymore.

"He was pretty pissed when he realized Caleb had laid out your sleeping bag in front of the door. I knew you'd freeze but it was Troy who kept arguing with him until Pete told us to shut up and go to bed." Hailey swirled the coffee grains at the bottom of her cup before looking at Gabriella. "You know he's pretty protective of you. Friends or more, he seems like the kind of guy to keep close."

"I know," Gabriella told her a few seconds later, staring into her mug, "It's just taken me awhile to realize that." Hailey nodded and let her spot to refill the kettle heating on the propane burner.

Watching her fill her mug and stop to talk to Brett and Anna who were seated at the only picnic table in the clearing, Gabriella let her eyes wander back to Troy as he shovelled cereal into his mouth. His eyes met hers and he shook the box at her, asking silently if she wanted some. Shaking her head, she saw him turn back to his food and she didn't notice the faint smile grace her lips as she watched him. She knew what she said to Hailey was true –that they were friends- but letting her eyes graze across his face with the slight shadow of not shaving in two days, Gabriella admitted that the feelings she was feeling for Troy were not the same as the ones she felt for Chad or Ryan. Not sure of what that meant, she dumped the remains of her coffee on the ground and returned to her tent to roll up her sleeping bag and properly pack up her gear.

Troy watched from across the campsite as Gabriella nursed her coffee. Directing his gaze back to the line of kids in front of him, he continued to dispense Cheerios and Shreddies into waiting bowls as he thought. He couldn't be angry at Hailey for gloating, no matter how annoying it had gotten, since her predictions had come true. He also knew she was teasing and that her comments were not an attempt to force him into admitting something that wasn't already there; they were just candid observations that were uncomfortably accurate. There was something between him and Gabriella, he was tired of denying it any longer, but what that something actually meant was unknown to Troy.

There was friendship, close friendship in the days since understanding the complications between them, but somehow Troy had moved past friendship and into some gray area that only included Gabriella. He had dated before, brief though those relationships may have been, but none of those feelings or situations seemed to apply to Gabriella. So what the hell does that make her? The question had been repeating itself all morning, since Troy had awaken to find her curled into his side and his arm had automatically brought her closer into the protection of his body. If she didn't fall into the category that included a handful of girls from his past, and she didn't fit into the box that included Chad, where did she fit? The corny voice in his head reminded him of how she felt in his arms on numerous occasions and Troy fought the urge to deny that voice and instead seriously considered it. Maybe the voice had a point.

"Who has a point?" Troy jumped at Jayme's voice. Feeling slightly uneasy that he had spoken out loud, he set down his bowl of cereal and faced her.

"Nothing," he told her with a shrug, feeling her eyes sweep over him once before flashing a quick smile.

"Don't let Hailey get to you. She just enjoys having everyone around her happy." The girl picked up a clean bowl from the makeshift table and filled it with Cheerios before adding milk. "Plus she enjoys how flustered you get."

"She's harmless," Troy responded, seeing Gabriella leave her spot by the fire and duck inside their tent.

"Completely. Just don't let what she says about you and Ella weigh on your brain. You guys have your own thing and you shouldn't be over here talking to yourself about Hailey's opinion on the matter." Jayme rummaged in a bag until she found a spoon and began walking away as she took a bite. "Go at your own pace. Every relationship grows, but it doesn't mean it grows in the same direction. Last night, you showed that you care; if that's all it was, you don't have to feel guilty about it."

"Thanks," he told her, staring into the remaining puddle of milk in his bowl.

He didn't look up as she left to join Caleb at the only picnic table in the clearing. Replaying her words, he realized that Jayme had subtly let him know that she wasn't in on the match-making fever that was plaguing the female staff. The problem, he concluded, was that her words didn't make him any less uncertain. Jerking his head towards the tent where Gabriella was laughing as she helped Brett take apart the poles holding it up, Troy understood why Jayme's words had sounded so hollow despite her honesty. The night before had been about more than showing he cared. It had been about making sure he was the one to protect her. No one else; just Troy.

Dammit, Troy thought, letting his gaze slide to find Hailey on the far side of camp, maybe she was right.

They were almost back to the main camp when Gabriella left her spot in the line between Anna and Cheyenne and moved so she was walking beside Troy. The trip back had begun more than an hour and a half ago and the other girls had been discussing nothing else besides the latest movies that they were missing by working miles away from any theatre. After listening politely to their complaints whines, Gabriella excused herself and escaped to Troy and Brett.

"Save me," she ordered them, settling into step on Troy's left while Brett moved over to accommodate her on the path. "I can't take anymore talk about the hottest summer flicks and how the girls at school will apparently quiz me on which main character was played by the hottest guy ever." Troy laughed and Gabriella rolled her eyes.

"Only two more weeks, Brie, and then we'll be back in civilization, listening to our friends whine about Fulton and their jobs and how we were the lucky ones," Troy assured her as she grumbled.

"Ugh, don't remind me. That means three weeks until school starts and I could do without that."

"Come on, now. We'll be seniors. That means a free period plus study hall. That means assigned parking spots and lots assemblies and guidance appointments all organized under the so-called assumption that we need them to prepare for the future. Embrace the status," Troy declared, slinging an arm around shoulder and laughing.

"That also means track and field practice and your dad hounding me to try-out for the girls' basketball team. Miss Darbus will make me stage manager again and Sharpay's understudy while trying to convince me to try out for another part as well. Chad will beg me to tutor him in math because he's too shy to ask Taylor even though that's what he wants to do and Taylor will win in her fight to name me yearbook editor and class treasurer." Gabriella glared when Brett laughed at her pessimistic view.

"I thought you were the drama club treasurer?" Troy asked.

"I am," she confirmed, "And I am president of the prom committee and Taylor asked me to chair the charity ball for Christmas and-," Troy cut her off by clamping a hand over her mouth.

"We are going to have to work on your inability to say no or this year will kill you," he pointed out, taking his arm away and taking her hand instead. "We're going to start with the prom committee. Now, what you need to do is find some recruits so that you can delegate the work. Cheerleaders love that stuff and prom planning is mostly after basketball and baseball season so they should be available. Talk to them. Secondly, the charity ball is easy as a chair. You tell Taylor that you will come up with the idea if she can find people to put it together. Do you have an idea?"

"Yes, but-," Gabriella was getting annoyed of being interrupted.

"Great, now the drama thing will take some willpower but I think you should tell Miss Darbus to shove the understudy and the stage manager bit and try out for the lead," Troy continued.

"I am not playing Maria opposite Ryan Evans," she insisted, "I would spend the entire time trying not to laugh at his attempts to portray a bad boy."

"Well, then, our final thing on this list is to find someone to replace Ryan Evans. What about Marcus Baits? He always gets stuck with the understudy bit and he looks dangerous."

"You want me to kiss Marcus Baits?" Gabriella asked, knowing that Marcus was also a third string linebacker for the football team.

"Erm, no. I'll have to rethink Ryan's replacement. The point is to say no. Let's practice. Brie, would like to carry this propane burner?" Troy asked sweetly.

"No?" she answered timidly.

"With dedication, Brie. With conviction. As if the devil is asking for your soul and you are facing eternal damnation. Now, Brie, would you like to carry this heavy burner?" he repeated and Brett let go a bark of laughter at their antics.

"No."

"Louder."

"No."

"Add some foot stomping," Troy suggested and she hit him across the chest."I'm helping."

"You did help. Actually, you made some good points. Remember, when Chad asks, you have to stick to the truth and tell him it was your idea," she said cockily, letting her gaze slide up his face and then back to the front.

"What was?" He was suspicious now. Something about the way she was eyeing him like she knew he was going to argue.

"Well, as you pointed out, the cheerleaders will be available after basketball season, so I may as well recruit the basketball team," she said with a shrug of her shoulders.

"Oh, no, I didn't say that. I said-," Troy stopped and stamped his foot, "No!"

"Keep practicing and hopefully you'll be successful at winning the argument against Sharpay about making the theme colours pink." Gabriella couldn't help but laugh at the look of horror on his face.

"But, I-," he couldn't get the words out as he stuttered.

It was no good because Gabriella had taken off as the camp came into view. Knowing Troy was still trying to spit out his protests against any involvement, she wove through the campers and rounded up her cabin. Leading them all down the path to unload their gear before supper, Gabriella ran through all the ideas that Troy had inspired. Thinking about the charity ball, she made a note and left it on her desk as she waited for the girls to use the bathroom. She would call Taylor later and ask for her to email the guidelines on school charity functions. She wondered if auctioning off students would be considered against school policy if it was for a good cause. Of course the students involved would have to agree to their participation, but Gabriella was sure she could convince Troy to help. Or go on the auction block himself. Gabriella may have a problem with saying no, but she also had a problem accepting it as an answer. She would wear him down.

AN: So Im glad this chapter was so anticipated. I realize the sleeping thing was forseeable but hopefully it accomplished what I wanted it to and you got your dose of happy feelings inside. Keep up the reviews and those of you who are so dedicated at following along, I apreciate the recognition.

~Van