AN: So as I stated in the previous chapter, I'm freaking excited for this chapter, it's not even funny. I've been planning it ever since I came up with the concept of this story and it's finally here! *squeal* At first, I thought Gabriella and Danielle could fight, but then I decided no. These two have too much history and way too many unspoken words to just fist fight. It wouldn't be as intense, or suspenseful, or dramatic. And then I'd be pissed at myself. So I'm rambling now (blame my stream of consciousness ways) and without further ado, here's the chapter. :)

The cafeteria was bustling about. People were getting food, everyone was talking, people were trying to do homework that was due 5th period, a few teachers were scattered about. All in all, the cafeteria was loud and busy, as usual.

Gabriella looked up and saw Danielle walking towards her. Her hair was tied back, she dressed in Victoria's Secret PINK sweats, and she had huge sunglasses on. Gabriella had never seen her look so casual at school.

"Hey." Gabriella greeted as Danielle stopped in front of her. Danielle grabbed the cup of coffee Gabriella was holding out of her hands. "Sure take some."

"Thanks." Danielle forcefully threw the cup across the cafeteria. The lid came off and the contents of the cup spilled onto the floor. Everyone looked up and turned to Danielle, confused at her sudden burst of anger.

"What the hell is your problem?" Gabriella asked, standing up. She had been craving that cup of coffee all day.

"You really want to know what my problem is, Gabriella?"

"Yeah. It wasn't a rhetorical question."

"My problem is that you're sleeping with the boyfriend!" Danielle answered, her voice slightly elevated. Her eyes narrowed at Troy. "Yeah, you."

That definitely caught everyone's attention. Teachers, students, TAs, lunch ladies, janitors, everyone was looking at the two.

Gabriella's eyes widened. How the hell did Danielle find out? Did Troy tell her?

"What's the matter, Gabriella?" Danielle asked, her voice sarcastic and mocking. "Cat got your tongue? You and Troy did so well lying to me. Sneaking behind my back. But as you guys know, what's done in the dark, must come to the light. I mean, leaving a voice mail on Troy's phone. Come on. That is such an amateur move."

Troy's eyebrow raised, "Voice mail?"

"Oh, Gabriella called you last night." Danielle explained. "She was going on and on about how she was guilty, and she didn't want to 'hurt' me, and that you two shouldn't really talk anymore. Well it's too late for that, Gabriella. Don't you think?"

Troy stood up. He grabbed Danielle's wrist. "Danielle, let's talk about this somewhere else. Somewhere privately."

Danielle snatched her wrist out of Troy's grasp. "No, Troy. Don't you think you've done enough in private? I mean, some things should be done in public, right? I think the school deserves to know the truth about two of the most popular people in school. East High's golden boy, Troy Bolton, isn't so golden. And the perfect princess, Gabriella Montez, is nothing but a lying whore. I mean you even had the perfect excuse. Tutoring. Just how much tutoring was getting done, guys?"

"Danielle-" Gabriella started, but Danielle cut her off.

"Shut up!" Danielle said, sharply. She laughed. "Gabriella Marie Montez. How could you? We spent the night at each other's house. We took baths together. And you sleep with my boyfriend. I mean, you move to L.A., lose a few pounds, and suddenly you're a super slut."

Gabriella bit her lip to keep from talking. She'd let Danielle get this anger out.

"Are you done?" Gabriella asked.

"Am I done?" Danielle repeated. "Am I done? No, I'm not done! God, you watched me freak out over the possibility of my boyfriend cheating on me, when in reality, you were the one he was sleeping with. You were playing both sides of the fucking fence. You are nothing but a trashy whore!"

Gabriella held her hand up, "That's enough!"

Danielle shook her head, "No it isn't enough. I can call you every name in the book and it still wouldn't be enough."

"I can say the same for you." Gabriella said.

"Oh really?"

"Yes, really."

Chad, who was sitting next to Gabriella, touched her arm, "Gabs, you shouldn't be doing this here. Everyone is watching."

Gabriella shoved Chad off of her. "No. Isn't that what you want, Danielle? For everyone to be watching?"

"Yes, I want everyone to see your true colors."

"No, you want attention." Gabriella argued. "Because you are extremely narcissistic. You want everyone to feel bad for you. You want to be the victim. You want to point the finger at me, and make me look like the bad guy, but in reality, it's you."

"Me?"

"Yeah. You."

"I'm not the one who was sleeping with someone else's boyfriend!"

"You don't want to go there, Danielle." Gabriella warned.

"Oh no, Gabriella. I do." Danielle challenged. "I want to go there."

Gabriella nodded, "Fine. Everyone, listen up! Troy and I had sex. And if Danielle wouldn't have called me the other day to say her father was in the hospital, I'm pretty positive we would have slept together again. I am such a bitch. I'm a horrible human being but so is Ms. Danielle Asher."

"Gabriella, what are you talking about?" Danielle questioned.

"No one else knows the truth about you, except for me."

"And what's the truth about me, Gabriella?"

Gabriella walked over to a table of football players. "You guys remember when I got that really bad concussion at Danielle's Labor Day party? Someone hit me with that basketball?" The guys nodded. She turned around so that she was facing most of the people in the cafeteria. "Did you guys know that Danielle was the one that hit me?"

Troy's eyes widened. He turned to Danielle. "Is that true?"

"Oh it's true, alright." Gabriella replied. "Marcus saw her. My own 'best friend' put me in the hospital because she was jealous of me. Why? Because I wasn't the fat girl anymore. Because she wasn't the only girl who looked good in a bikini. Those are reasons, but the main reason was because I was playing a game of basketball with Troy. Completely harmless."

"It wasn't harmless. You were having sex with Troy."

Gabriella shook her head, "No. You put me in the hospital on the 1st of September. Troy and I didn't sleep together until October 19th. You put me in the hospital and then you lied to fucking my face. But that isn't the only thing you've done. You've also been sleeping with Cole." She made sure to yell that last sentence.

"You guys all know Cole right?" Gabriella questioned, looking around. "Smart, good looking, star baseball player. Yeah, he and Danielle have been sleeping together. Did you know that Troy?" She turned to Cole's girlfriend, Sabrina who looked like she wanted to crawl into a whole and die. "Did you know that Sabrina? Your boyfriend has been having a consistent, on-going affair with someone else's girlfriend!"

Sabrina turned to Cole, "No, I didn't."

Gabriella shrugged and turned to Danielle, "Oops! So while Danielle has been screaming at me and calling me a whore, she's neglected to mention that she's doing the same thing I did. What a hypocrite, right?"

"You are such a bad friend." Danielle said.

That comment made Gabriella even angrier than she already was. "Danielle, we haven't been friends since freshman year of high school. I mean, let's not forget the reason we're doing this. Troy Bolton!"

"What about Troy?"

"Why him? I want a real answer from you. Why Troy? Why the one guy I was head over heels for since fucking middle school? Was it honestly because you liked him?" Gabriella shook her head. "No, it was because you could get him. You always had to one-up me. I liked Troy Bolton, so you had to date him. And then you tell me to get over it!"

"Are we still doing this?" Danielle asked, exasperated. "We've been dating for over 17 months and you still are hung up over it?"

"Yes, I am."

"I've said it before, and I'll say it again. He chose me. Get over it."

"You weren't enough to keep him away from me. You weren't enough to keep him from kissing me, and then coming over to my house! You weren't enough for him to want to be honest with you, Danielle. You weren't enough and you still aren't enough for him to want to stop talking to me, hanging out with me, being with me. I'm the one who said Troy and I needed to stop, not him!"

Danielle frowned, sympathetically. "God, you've come in second place to me so many times, you've gotten used to it. He didn't break up with me."

"He didn't break up with me either, sweetie!" Gabriella shot back. "You said out of you mouth that Troy is distant from you. Why? Because he's close to me. You just don't want to accept the fact that you are jealous because you know that there is something between me and Troy. So really ask yourself who came in second place. You said Troy would never want to be with someone like me, remember? You started dating him to hurt me, so if anyone was the bad friend, it was you."

Danielle scoffed, "Please. You loved being my friend. You wouldn't be who you are if it weren't for me."

"You're right. I would probably be a lot happier if I didn't know you."

"Oh?"

"Yes. You degraded and belittled me for almost 9 years. Making fun of my weight, making fun of my glasses, giggling with the other girls behind my back. Because of you, I have hated myself for years. Joining gyms, crash dieting, binge eating, not eating at all, fasting, binge eating again, compulsively exercising, gaining weight, losing weight, gaining more weight, losing more weight. It was an extremely vicious, and exhausting cycle." Gabriella could feel herself crumbling. This is exactly what she didn't want to happen. She didn't know anyone to see her weak and vulnerable, but she was too far gone. Danielle had pushed her over the edge. There was no turning back now. "I had to leave the fucking state because of you, and I probably would have never looked back if I had a choice. So don't stand there and act as if you're God and you made me, when in reality, you have done nothing but destroy me, physically, mentally, and emotionally. If anyone is trash, it's you. You are a horrible person and you deserve every bad thing that will ever happen to you."

Danielle's nostrils flared. "Get out of my face!" She forcefully shoved Gabriella backwards.

Gabriella caught herself on the edge of a table. She turned around and back-handed Danielle, sending her reeling.

It seemed like everyone in the cafeteria gasped simultaneously. A day ago these two were best friends, inseparable, and now they're hitting each other and calling each other every name in the book? When did the shift happen?

"These bitches are crazy!" A freshman said, her eyes not tearing off of the girls.

Her boyfriend nodded, "Yeah. My money's on Gabriella if those two get into a fist fight."

"Please! Danielle is meaner, more vicious."

"It seems like Gabriella's hits are angrier and hold a lot more behind them. She'd do damage."

Danielle charged at Gabriella, but Troy grabbed her arms, keeping her still.

"Kiss my ass, Danielle!"

"I'd rather kick it!"

"And I'd like to see you try." Gabriella challenged, moving closer to Danielle. Before she was within grabbing distance, Chad grabbed her waist. He picked her up and started walking towards the cafeteria doors.

Chad sighed, "Ok, we're going to go."

"Go to Hell, Gabriella!" Danielle screamed.

"Every day I know you, I'm already there!" Gabriella screamed back, as Chad carried her out of silent, awe-struck cafeteria.

"Chad let me go!" Gabriella yelled, kicking her feet against her friend.

"No."

"No?"

"No."

"No!" Gabriella punched Chad's chest. "No!"

"No." Chad repeated, his voice more firm than before. He moved his head to dodge one of Gabriella's hits.

Gabriella hit him again, this time more forceful. Chad grabbed her hands and tried to restrain her, but she was still able to strike him.

Chad forced Gabriella down to the floor and his legs on both sides of her so she couldn't escape.

"Let go of me!" Gabriella demanded, struggling against Chad's strong grip on her hands.

"Why? So you can go in there and kick Danielle's ass?"

"I don't want to kick her ass!" Gabriella replied, writhing, hoping to break free. "I just want to hit her again."

Chad shook his head, "If you go in there and hit her with one-sixteenth of what you just hit me with, then I won't let you go back in there. I can see it now. You will kick her ass, and you will get arrested because Danielle's parents will press charges for assault because you will not stop until someone pulls you off of her."

"I don't care." Gabriella said through gritted teeth.

"You do care." Chad argued.

"I don't!" Gabriella insisted, her voice breaking. "Danielle can't do anymore to me than she already has, and I certainly can't hurt myself anymore than I already have concerning Danielle. I feel like I've destroyed myself enough to the point where nothing else can get to me."

Chad was taken aback by the honesty in Gabriella's voice. This girl really didn't care.

"Well, I care if you don't care. And I'm not going to let you go in there and do something stupid." Gabriella tried to get out of Chad's grip again. "Stop it!"

A teacher walked by and stopped when he saw the two. "Um, guys? What's going on here?"

"Chad, if you don't get off of me, I'll press harassment charges." Gabriella threatened.

"Nothing to worry about, Mr. Pitts." Chad assured. "I'm just doing damage control."

Mr. Pitts nodded, "Alright." He walked off.

After a few more minutes of sitting in silence, Chad noticed Gabriella finally started to calm down. Her breathing slowed, and she stopped struggling. He loosened his grip on her.

"I'm fine."

"No you aren't. You're angry."

"Yeah, I am, but if you don't let me go, my anger will be directed towards you."

Chad sighed, and got off of Gabriella. He gave her his hand and pulled her up. He looked at her. She was doing a good job of holding her composure, but Chad knew better. He could see it in her eyes. She looked upset, angry, hurt, and absolutely exhausted.

He wanted to say something. He wanted to tell her that she would be fine, give her some type of consoling, but he was at a lost for words. Instead, he pulled her into a hug. He ewe shocked that she let him and didn't try to punch him again.

Once Chad did that, Gabriella let out a gut wrenching sob. Chad ran his hand up and down Gabriella's back, trying to calm her down.

Chad gripped Gabriella tighter. He knew a hug wouldn't fix anything, but it was all he had to offer. Whatever strand Danielle and Gabriella's "friendship" was hanging on had snapped and those two were done. Troy and Gabriella? He had no words for that either. That was a problem for another day. "You can't go back in there. I'm going to take you home."

Gabriella shook her head, "My stuff is in there."

"Taylor can get it for you and bring it back to your house. You're crazy to think I'm going to let you go in there."

"My car?" Gabriella said, her voice shaky and uneven.

"Taylor can get it for you, too." Chad pulled away and wrapped his arms around Gabriella, keeping her steady on her feet. "Right now, we're going to your house."

Gabriella felt like her body was full of lead. She just felt heavy, and sluggish as she walked into her room. On her way up, she saw the light on in her mother's home office, and she saw both her mom and dad's cars in the driveway. Good. She wanted to be alone in a house with people, rather than be alone, alone. That would just make her shitty day even shittier.

When she made it to her room, she sat down on the edge of her bed. Removing any articles of clothing, or pulling the covers back required too much energy. Energy she didn't have. Her body was aching, she head was pounding, and she was dizzy. She was shocked that she hadn't collapsed.

What the hell happened earlier? One day ago, her life was fine. She was fine. How did she lose control like that? If there was one thing Gabriella had developed over the past year, it was self-control. Choosing wisely, and not reacting. But somewhere in the middle of the fight, it was gone. Gabriella couldn't control what she said, what she did.

Danielle always knew how to pull out the deep feelings and emotions Gabriella shoved down and toy with them. She never wanted to feel insecure, inferior, or second best again. She never wanted to think about her weight issues again but somehow that demon found a way to rear it's ugly head, too.

"Man, it always makes me sad when two friends can't work it out. Such a sad shame."

Gabriella's head snapped up. What the hell? Who was talking?

"I'm over here." The voice called.

Gabriella turned to her floor length mirror and gasped. She didn't look like herself anymore. She looked like she did two years ago. Thick glasses, fat, mousy brown hair, frumpy clothes.

"What the fuck?" Gabriella whispered.

"God, you look horrible. No, I look horrible."

"Who are you?"

"I'm you, genius. Don't remember me?"

Gabriella rubbed her eyes, "You aren't real."

"I am real. I'm your conscience. And I must say, I think you are pathetic."

"Excuse me?"

"I barely recognize you now. Danielle was right, you lose a few pounds and the rest is history."

"Why am I seeing you?"

"I don't know. You must be projecting your inner voice onto the mirror, or something deep and psychological like that. It doesn't matter how I got here. I am here. And let me tell you, were so much better off fat. At least you had morals."

"I do have morals."

"Really? Did they leave once you set eyes on Troy or once you two were naked?"

"Don't bring Troy into this."

"He's the reason you're in this mess now, right?"

"Yes, but-"

"You have spent so much time hating Danielle, but you are just like her."

Gabriella shook her head, "No. I'm nothing like Danielle."

"Shall we go down the list? Danielle was sleeping with someone else's boyfriend. So are you. She lied. So did you. And when you're upset, you don't care about anything. Just like Danielle. The difference is Danielle knows she's a bitch. You try to cover it up and act like you aren't."

"Danielle is nothing but a two-faced whore."

"And you're better than her how? I really, really want to know why you can't see that you've done the same thing she did. No morals, no standards, nothing."

Gabriella stood up and looked at her...reflection of sorts. "Shut up."

"Why? You don't want to hear the truth about yourself? It's the truth Gabriella. Accept it."

"I don't have to accept anything." Gabriella snapped.

"Fine, don't bite my head off. You continue to pretend to be an oblivious moron, only hurting yourself in the process. I don't care. Your call. You'll find peace once you accept who you really are."

"I'm not a slut."

"Fine, you are so not a slut. You're a tramp, whore, harlot, floozy, hussy, or a trollop. I mean, any of those words work. I personally believe the word slut is overused anyway."

Gabriella's fist came into contact with the mirror. It shattered into a ton of pieces and shards flew around.

"Calm down, psycho. I must've struck a nerve. For someone so smart, you are so effing dumb. I'm in your head, not in the mirror. I'm the thing that's tells you what's right and what's wrong. I know you're conscience is supposed to be nice and all. But you don't listen to me when I'm nice, so I gotta get mean. Some might say I'm mentally torturing you, but I call it tough love. I tell you when you're being smart and when you're being stupid. And hon, you're being extremely stupid! You should have listened to me a month ago, but you didn't. I guess your brain shuts off when a guy is ripping your clothes off. Like I said before, you have no morals. You're just like Danielle."

"I AM NOTHING LIKE HER!" Gabriella's voice boomed off of the walls. The bottles of perfume that were sitting on her vanity shook a bit.

Everything seemed calmer. Quieter. The stupid little voice in Gabriella's head was gone, and it felt like she could start breathing again. She slid down to the floor.

"Gabriella?" Cristina's concerned voice filled Gabriella's ears. "Sweetheart is that you?"

"Gabi?" The door opened and Cristina walked in. She took a look at her daughter and her eyes widened. "What happened?"

"I'm nothing like her." Gabriella repeated, her voice below a whisper.

Cristina crouched down on the floor. She could hear Gabriella muttering.

She gently lifted Gabriella's hand up and inspected it. It was bleeding heavily, and she could see a few shards of glass poking out. Cristina looked at the broken mirror and put 2 and 2 together.

"Gabriella, what happened?"

"She just wouldn't stop talking." Gabriella said, looking at the mirror. "She was mocking me, and she wouldn't shut up. All I wanted her to do was shut up."

"Get who to shut up?"

Gabriella shook her head. Her breathing was heavy, and she was crying. Again. She felt as if she had no control over anything and she was losing her mind. "I'm better than her. I'm better than her. I'm better than her." She repeated over and over again, trying to convince herself that it was the truth.

Cristina helped Gabriella up, "Gabriella, can you hear me?" She asked, confused. Not only was she worried about her daughter's physical health, now she was starting to worry that Gabriella had some sort of psychotic break. She'd focus on that in a minute but Gabriella needed to get her bloody hand checked out. "Gabriella, baby we're going to go to the hospital, okay?"

Gabriella didn't reply. She just let her mother lead her out of the room.

Troy didn't know what to do. He didn't know what to say. He was standing in front of Danielle and he was at a loss for words. Who could talk after such a high energy day?

He stared at Danielle. Her usually bright and gleaming eyes looked dull and cold. She still looked like she was at a 10. Troy also noticed the cut on her lip. Did Gabriella punch her or slap her? Ouch.

"I can't believe you've been sleeping with Gabriella. How could you?"

Troy scoffed, "How could I? Danielle, how could you? Don't act like you're so fucking innocent because you're not. You were screwing Cole!"

"Leave Cole out of this!"

"I'm not going to leave him out of this, Danielle. You were sleeping with him for Christ's sakes."

"You were sleeping with Gabriella!"

"Slept! It happened one time!"

"One time too many."

"And how many times did you sleep with Cole? Once? Twice? Four times? Every time you made some excuse to not see me, was it to see him?"

"No! What about you and Gabriella? Did you ever really need help in physics? Or did you just need an excuse to get into her pants."

"Despite what you think, my intent was never to cheat on you."

Danielle scoffed, "Sure it wasn't."

"I'm telling you the truth. But I honestly don't know why I owe you an explanation, considering you cheated on me too!"

"Of all the fucking people to have sex with, you chose Gabriella!"

"If anything Gabriella said today is true, then please don't act like you give a damn about her, and that she was actually your friend, Danielle."

"Do you even feel bad?"

"Do you?"

"You didn't answer my question."

"I'm not sorry that I slept with her. I wanted to do that. I'm sorry that you're hurt."

"Wow. You disgust me."

"The feeling is more than mutual. Trust me."

Danielle shook her head, "If you didn't know by now, we're done. Goodbye." She walked out of his room, slamming the door furiously behind her.

Troy ran his hand over his face. God, today really sucked. If he could wake up and start over, he would without hesitation.

He grabbed his phone. He had a ton of missed calls and text messages from people, pretending to be concerned but in reality, just wanted to be nosy. He ignored all of them. He only wanted to talk to one person. Gabriella.

"Hello?" A voice said on the other line. It definitely didn't sound like Gabriella.

"Gabriella? Is that you?"

"No, it's her mother, Cristina."

"Oh! Hello, Mrs. Montez." Troy greeted. "This is Troy Bolton."

"Hello Troy. Gabriella can't talk right now."

"Is she alright?"

"We're at the hospital. She punched her mirror and has to get stitches in her hand."

"Is she going to be alright?"

"Physically, yes. Troy can you tell me what happened today?"

"She and Danielle got into a horrible fight."

"You got to be more specific, honey. This seems like a lot more than a fight."

"With all due respect, Mrs. Montez, it really isn't my place to say."

"Troy, Gabriella has been mute for the past 20 minutes. She punched a mirror, and when I found her she was hysterically crying, bleeding, and muttering about telling someone to shut up and that she isn't like Danielle. I'm one second away from sending her upstairs to the psychiatric wing, to get a psych evaluation. If you know anything, please speak, now!"

Troy sighed. This was going to be a long conversation.