Hey! I hope you guys all had a great Thanksgiving! I am very happy to be back and writing though I still have this weekend and part of next week to finish things up for school. I really had no plans to work on this story until after everything was done but last night I felt lazy and instead of doing my homework I started working on this chapter and was truly and completely shocked when I finished the chapter and was in bed, asleep, before midnight... that never happens! haha but anyway, I don't have a lot of time to talk as I need to end to work then school, so I hope you all have a great day and enjoy this chapter.

Thanks to the lovely peeps that reviewed the last chapter: JennCorinthos, chelle2911, mishyB, daydreamer299, ..Seraphina.x., ZanessaLuvsTroyella and zanessa4evr12

p.s. Just thought I'd let you guys know that there are only two more chapters after this one.

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Chapter 8

After taking Sharpay home after her theater rehearsal, Troy headed home and locked his bedroom door before getting on his hands and knees and pulling a shoe box out from under his bed. With his back against his bed, he opened the box and thumbed through the contents that he had collected over the summer-letters from his parents, a postcard from Chad's trip to Disneyland and a couple pictures he had printed off the camp's website of him and Gabriella.

Then he saw it-the hemp bracelet she had made for him. Well, she hadn't made it for him, technically. It had been the first bracelet she had made after switching jobs at camp and had declared the bracelet ugly and wanted to throw it away. But he had rescued it before she could and then had worn it every day for the rest of the summer. He could still see the smile that had spread across her face when he had answered a camper's question about the bracelet by saying that a very special lady had made it for him.

Now he had completely messed things up, well actually, Sharpay had messed them up, but that was his fault, too. With a sigh he put the bracelet back in the box and slid the box back under the bed. He needed to talk to somebody and to somebody who would give it to him straight.

Pulling himself up, he grabbed his car keys and left his room, yelling to his mom that he would be back later. He drove over to Chad's house and after seeing that no cars were in the driveway or on the street in front of the house, he let himself in using the hide-a-key under the ceramic pot on the back porch.

Having been told numerous times by Chad's mom to make himself at home, Troy grabbed a bag of chips and a soda before going upstairs to Chad's room. He grabbed the remote off Chad's desk and in the process knocked over a stack of papers. Tossing the remote on to Chad's bed, Troy bent down and picked up the papers, but stopped when he saw Chad's name written in the upper corner.

Curious, he carried the stack of papers over to the bed and sat down. Looking at the first paper he saw the date July 3, 2007 printed below Chad's name. Troy let his eyes scan the paper then the next realizing quickly that it was a poem. But who's? As far as he knew, Chad didn't write poetry…did he?

Even though Troy knew he shouldn't invade Chad's privacy, he couldn't help but feel curious about what his friend could be writing poetry about. He found a poem entitled 'Crush' and decided to read it.

I hung up the phone last night

Something happened for the first time deep inside

It was a rush, what a rush

Cause the possibility that you would ever feel the same way about me

It's just too much, just too much

Why do I keep running from the truth?

All I ever think about is you

You got me hypnotized,

So mesmerized

And I just got to know

Do you ever think,

When you're all alone,

All that we can be?

Where this can go?

Am I crazy or falling in love?

Is it really just another crush?

Do you catch a breath when I look at you?

Are you holding back, like the way I do?

'Cause I'm trying, trying to walk away

But I know this crush ain't goin' away

It was obvious that the poem was about Taylor without mentioning her name, but he was impressed by what he had read. If Chad was truly the author of this poem then, in Troy's opinion, Chad was the best poet he had ever read.

Picking up another poem, Troy became so engrossed in his reading, he didn't hear the door open or see Chad standing in the doorway in shock. Chad looked at his desk, hoping the folder of his writings would be there and that Troy was reading something else, but finding the desk void of a folder cemented his worst fears.

"What are you doing, Troy?!" Chad's angry tone brought Troy to the present and he found his best friend grabbing the papers as fast as he could. "You aren't supposed to be reading these!"

"Why not?" Troy retracted his hands as Chad ripped the paper out of his hands. "Did you write them?" Chad didn't answer. "They're really good, Chad."

"What do you know?" Chad's words were snappish. "You think Eminem is a good writer."

"Whoa, Chad, calm down." Troy held up his hands. "I'm sorry for reading them, man. I didn't mean to, I accidently knocked the folder onto the floor when I was getting the remote. I didn't mean to snoop."

Troy's calm tone seemed to ease Chad's jumpiness a little, but he could still tell his friend was mad at him.

"What are you doing here?"

"I need some advice and since you're my best friend, I know you'll tell me like it is."

"I assume you're talking about what happened between you and Gabriella?"

Troy nodded.

"It depends on how you really feel about her."

"I like her a lot and I have liked her since the moment she stepped off the bus with hair pulled back in a pony tail." A smile spread across Troy's face as he remembered that first day. His parents had driven him up to the camp and Gabriella had ridden the bus with some of the other counselors. She had been full of smiles that day even though she seemed to be the prime target of all the insects.

"Troy!"

Troy blinked and saw Chad waving his hand in his face.

"What?"

"You're a total goner." Chad just shook his head as he chuckled.

"So what do I do now?"

"I think it's pretty obvious."

"And that is?"

"Dump Sharpay."

Troy grimaced.

"Dude, if you really like Gabriella and you want to fix things between the two of you then you need to ditch the bitch."

Troy sighed.

"It's not like it's a big deal, Troy. You've been planning on breaking up with Sharpay for months."

"It is a big deal, Chad. Sharpay doesn't know that I've been thinking about breaking up with her and it would be a little weird if I suddenly ditched her for the new girl."

"Then tell Sharpay the truth, tell her that you and Gabriella met at camp and that you guys hooked up and now you want to be with her."

"Yeah right, if I did that who knows what Sharpay would do to me or worse Gabriella."

"Then I guess you need to decide what's more important to you, keeping Sharpay happy or being with Gabriella."

----

By the time Gabriella got home from the library, it was nearly dinner time and she had to make dinner for herself and her mom. With her mom still laid up from her second surgery, she had the kitchen to herself which only encouraged her to think.

She had gotten quite the eyeful that afternoon at the library and had never imagined that somebody like Chad could be so deep. Yet, there was something about the new information she had about Chad that just made sense. She felt guilty for subconsciously labeling him a dumb jock on the basis of him being a basketball player, somewhat of class clown and having a sugar addiction.

It seemed weird that she had been so judgmental about Chad's personality when she had first met him as opposed to when she had met Troy, though she was sure that had something to do with she had met Troy outside the confines of a cliché-ruled school. In fact she hadn't believed Troy was a jock at first, because he seemed so dorky and had a non-competitive nature. Or so she had thought until she saw him playing basketball with a group of guys, though she would never admit aloud that she had been staring at his well defined abs as beads of sweat rolled down them.

Shaking off the unwanted thoughts, Gabriella turned her attention back to cooking dinner. Once it was finished she carried a tray with two plates on it and went into her mom's room. She sat down on the chair by bed and they watched Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy as they ate.

Finished eating, Gabriella waited for her mom to finish eating before she carried their dishes to the kitchen to clean up the dinner mess. Then she gave her mom a goodnight kiss and headed up to her room.

Even though she had homework to do, she laid back on her bed and stared up at the ceiling. As her mind wandered back to camp and she remembered the first conversation she had had with Troy. It had been the second morning of camp and she had been covered in insect bites. He had rescued her by offering to put anti-itch medicine on her back then offered to share his bug spray with her. She had been taken by his kindness and his warm smile instantly and accepted his offer. Thus began their summer of sharing. They shared everything: stories, food, candy, drinks, hugs, kisses and, towards the end of camp, beds.

Gabriella had never planned to be one of those girls who regretted who they gave their virginity to and until she had ran into Troy and met his sweet girlfriend Sharpay, she hadn't regretted it. But now, after learning about the lie that had started all of this, she was regretting that decision more and more.

Hearing the doorbell ring, Gabriella pulled herself off her bed and descended the stairs in no particular hurry since she was sure it would be Taylor. Reaching the bottom of the stairs, she yelled to her mom that she was getting the door then headed towards the front door.

Being a very cautious person, she looked through the peephole and her breath caught in her throat when she saw that the person on the other side wasn't Taylor. It was Troy. Her heart raced as she tried to figure out what to do. Should she open the door? Did she have time to race back to her room without-

"Gabriella, please open the door."

Her heart stopped, he knew she was there.

"Come on, Waterbug, I know you're there. Please talk to me."

With her brain and her heart too frazzled to make a decision, it was her hand that made the decision to open the door. She opened it wide enough to see him standing outside in the dark, his hands shoved into the pockets of his jeans.

"Can I come in?"

Her head nodded without waiting for permission. She stepped out of the way and let him in.

"I'll be right back." Some how she made her legs carry her to her mom's room where she found her mom asleep, no doubt due to the pain pills she was taking. She covered her mom with a blanket then turned off the TV before she slipped from the room and returned to Troy.

She found Troy standing by the mantle looking at the pictures that rested there.

"What are you doing here, Troy?"

He looked over at her then motioned for her to sit down. She shook her head and he sighed.

"I owe you an apology, Gabriella, and an explanation."

"Troy, I told you, I don't want to hear your -"

"Just listen for a minute." His voice ordered in a frustrated tone. "Since the very beginning of our relationship, our friendship, we have always listened to each other and I need you to hear me out. Please, just give me a couple minutes."

"Fine." She sat down on the couch and gave him her attention.

"I shouldn't have told you I was single when I was clearly still with Sharpay, but what you have to understand is that I had been trying to break up with Sharpay for months and it never happened. You've seen how she is, she doesn't let anybody else get a word in and she is very manipulative.

"That was one of the reasons I went away this summer. I wanted to experience life without her for the first time in years. Then I met you and I was drawn to you, because you were genuine and Sharpay's total opposite.

"I guess at first I thought that I could be with you this summer then go back home and be with her. But then I got to know you more and we became really good friends and I realized that I didn't want to be with her anymore, I wanted to be with you. Then you left without saying goodbye and it hurt so much.

"So when I got home I got wrapped back up in Sharpay's web and I thought I'd never get a second chance with you. But now you're here and I know I've already blown my second chance, but I hope you'd be willing to give me a third."

"What about Sharpay?"

"As far as I'm concerned, Sharpay and I are over. I'm going to break up with her, I'm sick of being her puppet." He moved over to her so he was sitting next to her on the couch. "Please give me another chance, Waterbug."

Gabriella sighed and looked into his shimmering blue eyes that reminded her of the lake the camp over looked. She wanted to take him back, she really did, but she was afraid of being hurt again. She felt him put something in her hand and looked down to see the ugly hemp bracelet she made sitting there. Tears pricked the corner of her eyes and she brought them up to look at him.

"Take me back?"

She nodded and placed her hand on his cheek, caressing the prickle stubble that had grown in the course of the day. Then she closed her eyes and brought her lips to his, innocently at first then more intimately as he slid his tongue into her mouth.

Chad's poem is really David Archuleta's song Crush