Disclaimer: I do not own High School Musical or any of its characters.

A/N:A big thank you to everyone who reviewed the last chapter!! Some of you were sort of right or really close, but HSMgirl102, Silver Apocalypse and Ginny-and-Draco-fan were the only people who got exactly why Marie was upset. Good job you guys!!! Anyways let's get on with the story because most of you are dying to know what's going to happen.

Last Time…

"Who's dat?" Chris asked blatantly pointing at Marie.

"This is my friend Marie" Troy said. "Marie, this is Chris, he is Taylor and Chad's son."

Troy looked over at Marie, her face was pale and eyes were unblinking, there was something wrong.

"Marie? Are you ok?" he asked genuinely concerned. Marie wrapped her arms around her lower torso

"I…I…I…can…can…I…do…you have bathroom" she stuttered nervously.

"Yes down the hall on the right" Taylor answered.

"Thank you" Marie said quickly before she dashed down the hallway, tears flooding out of her eyes.

Chapter Nine

Pulpy Orange Juice

The three adults stood in complete shock as they watched Marie dash off to the bathroom. Troy tried to make his way towards the bathroom but Taylor stopped him,

"She obviously doesn't want us right now, I think it would be best if we just left her for a while." She spoke softly.

"Does she not like me?" Chris asked tearfully. Troy bent down to Chris's level.

"She likes you Chris don't worry. Marie has just been through a lot." Troy said softly.

"What has she been through?" Chris asked. Troy sighed.

"She had another friend who was mean to her" Troy said, trying his best to explain to the little boy without getting too graphic.

"Oh, so she's sad because of that"

"Yeah, but we don't want to remind of that. So don't talk about it. Ok?"

"Ok!" Chris said brightly.

"Chris, why don't you go back to your room and play for a bit?" Taylor said softly.

"Ok mommy" Chris said happily as he rushed upstairs to his room.

The adults watched Chris as he ran happily up the stairs.

"So, Troy…do you know why?" Taylor asked slowly.

"I have no idea. She's been through so much. Jeff must have treated her like the scum of the earth. She got up at 6:30 just to make me pancakes. When I found her in the kitchen I told her to go into the living and watch TV while I finished the pancakes. Then when she was eating them, she thanked me for making them" Troy explained.

"But she did the hard part" Chad said.

"I know, that's why I was shocked."

"Poor Gabi, she doesn't deserve this" Taylor said softly.

"Nobody deserves to live the way Gabriella has been living." Troy sighed. Chad and Taylor nodded.

"So man how are you holding up?" Chad asked.

"What do you mean?" Troy asked.

"I mean she is staying in your apartment, Gabriella Montez! The girl you've been missing for all these years" Chad explained. Troy sighed.

"I wish I could hold her and touch her the way I used to be able to, but it's too soon. She needs to learn that she's important and not worthless before we can start to introduce Gabriella Montez back into her life again."

"You're right. She needs to learn to trust us" Taylor said.

"I'm going to go make sure she is ok." Troy said slowly.

"Ok, are you guys going to stay for dinner?" Taylor asked.

"Um, yeah unless she wants to go home." Troy replied.

"Ok cool" Taylor said. Troy began walking towards the bathroom, as he approached he could hear sobbing. His heart ripped in two, hearing her in so much pain. Slowly he lifted his hand up and knocked gently on the door.

"Marie? Are you alright?" he asked gently. Troy could hear her sniffling and a few seconds later she opened the door. When he saw her face his heart broke in two again, her eyes were red and puffy and her face was still pale.

"Marie" He whispered softly.

"I'm sorry, I…I shouldn't have run off like that, it's just…I…it hurts" she replied quietly.

"What hurts?" Troy asked. Marie's eyes closed tightly as she attempted to prevent tears from rolling down her face, but she failed miserably, tears began falling down her face as she covered her heart with her hand.

"On the night Jeff proposed, we had sex. It was the only time we ever did it, because he said I was so completely useless at it. Then a while later I found out I was pregnant. I decided to wait until I was 3 ½ months along before I told him." Marie recalled. As the memory came flooding back to her she explained it to Troy.

Flashback

Marie walked into her apartment, slowly and cautiously, afraid of the task she needed to complete. She found Jeff, lying on the couch watching football. Marie walked over to him and tapped his shoulder.

"Jeff, I have something to tell you" she said.

"Ok" Jeff said standing up. Marie took a deep breath.

"I'm pregnant" she said softly.

"You're what?"

"Pregnant, I am 3 ½ months pregnant."

"HOW COULD YOU LET THIS HAPPEN?" he yelled standing up.

"I...I'm sorry"

"YOU SHOULD BE!!!" Jeff screamed as he punched her square in the stomach. Marie screamed.

"No! Jeff, please not the baby, please!" She cried.

"TOO FUCKING BAD!! IT'S YOUR FUCKING FAULT. YOU GOT PREGNANT!" he yelled pinning her against the wall. He repeatedly kicked and punched her in the stomach. Marie just sobbed knowing there was nothing she could do. Finally once Jeff was satisfied with the damage that had been done, her threw her against the wall.

"NOW YOU STAY HERE, DON'T YOU DARE GO ANYWHERE OR TELL ANYONE ABOUT THIS! UNDERSTOOD?" Marie nodded.

"GOOD!" he yelled before storming out of the apartment .

End Flashback

Tears were cascading down her face as she finished explaining her story.

"It…it's m…my…fault" she sobbed.

"Marie it's not your fault, what are you talking about."

"The baby died Troy! And it's all my fault." She cried, sobbing into Troy's chest. Troy wrapped his arms around her body, holding her close she as she sobbed. He rubbed her back, trying to calm her.

"Shhh, it's not your fault" Troy soothed softly.

"Y…yes it is, I killed my own baby. I am such a horrible person" Marie sobbed.

"Who told you that?" Troy asked.

"Jeff, but he's right, it's my fault." Marie whimpered. Troy put his hand under Marie's chin, gently forcing her to look him straight in the eye.

"Marie, listen to me. It is not your fault what so ever. You did nothing wrong. Ok? Don't listen to anything Jeff says anymore. I want you to erase anything bad he has told you." Troy said sternly but gently. Marie nodded.

"Thank you Troy. How do you always know what to say?" Marie said quietly.

"I knew someone who always knew what to say, I guess I just learned from them" Troy explained. Marie smiled.

"Do you want to stay for dinner or do want to go home? It's your choice." Troy asked.

"I think you want to stay, so I think we'll stay, if that's ok with Taylor and Chad." Marie said softly.

"Are you sure?" Troy said.

"Yeah, they're your friends and you want to see them, so I'll stay." Marie replied.

"Ok, but I can see them any time I want so if you really don't want to stay we don't have to." Troy reasoned.

"No, we can stay" Marie insisted.

"Ok" Troy nodded. "Come on then" Troy said motioning for her to follow him into the kitchen. As soon as the pair entered the kitchen Marie immediately began apologizing,

"I'm really sorry I ran off like that, it just brought back bad memories"

"It's fine, please don't worry about it. Would you like something to drink?" Taylor said.

"A water would be nice please." Marie said politely.

"Sure, Troy?"

"Do you have orange juice?" Troy asked.

"Yup."

"No pulp right?"

"Yes Troy no pulp" Taylor sighed walking over to the fridge. Marie gave Troy a confused look,

"You don't like pulp?"

"Yeah, it's so….pulpy and icky and pulpy and yuck and eww and it ruins the juice." Troy said disgustedly.

"Basically he won't drink the juice if it has any pulp, even a minuscule amount" Chad clarified. Marie laughed.

"Wait so if the Queen of England presented you with pulpy orange juice you would send it back?" Marie questioned.

Troy froze, had she really just used those words,

Flashback

The gang was sitting around the lunch table enjoying lunch. Troy sat down at the table and picked up his orange juice,

"No" he moaned.

"What?" Gabriella asked.

"It has pulp."

"Oh no, the world is ending" she said sarcastically. "Just drink it Troy, it's not going to kill you." Troy continued to look disgusted,

"I hate pulp, you couldn't pay me to drink it"

"Wait so if the Queen of England presented you with pulpy orange juice you would send it back?" Gabriella asked.

"Yup" Troy said proudly moving his juice away from him.

"You're kidding right?"

"No, Gabs, you're not going to get him to drink it." Chad interjected.

"Yeah Gabi you could pay me enough money to drink that stuff" Troy agreed. Gabriella grinned.

"Fine, then you're not getting any kisses until you drink a glass of it." Gabriella stated.

"Fine" Troy said. "I can deal with not kissing you."

"Or touching"

"You're on" he challenged.

"Ok" Gabriella grinned. "Everyone has to make sure he doesn't touch me or kiss me or anything ok?"

"Ok" came a chorus of voices.

As the days passed Troy found it harder and harder not to touch her or hold her, but he was strong, he could do this.

He walked into the lunchroom and sat down at their lunch table. His eyes immediately fell on Gabriella, who had tears running down her face. Taylor and Kelsi were sitting next to her trying to comfort her. Without thinking he got up and made his way around the table to where the girls were.

"Baby, what's wrong?" he asked gently as he reached his hand out to try and touch her.

"Ah ah ah, you can't do that Bolton" Hunter Carlton teased as he sat down next to Gabriella.

"What do you fucking mean, I can't?" Troy demanded angrily.

"You have a deal with her remember, no touching" Hunter said.

"How the fuck do you know about that?" Troy demanded.

"I have my ways." Hunter grinned evilly. "Now allow me" he said huskily, as he wrapped his arm around Gabriella. Troy practically exploded with anger,

"Orange juice NOW!!!!!!" Quickly, Jason handed Troy his pulpy orange juice and Troy downed it in a few seconds. Once he had finished he moved back around towards Gabriella.

"Ok, NOW GET THE FUCK AWAY FROM HER!" Troy yelled angrily.

"But I like it here, and I think she does too." Hunter sad seductively moving his hand up her thigh. Troy couldn't control himself, he punched Hunter square in the face, causing him to lose his balance and fall off of the chair on the floor.

"Now STAY THE HELL AWAY FROM HER!" Troy yelled. Hunter quickly got up and stormed angrily out of the cafeteria. Troy turned his attention back to Gabriella.

"Baby what's wrong, I'm here now. It's ok" Troy soothed, hugging her tightly. Gabriella turned and sobbed into his chest and Troy wrapped his arms tighter around her.

"M…my mom was in a car a…accident, m…my aunt just texted me. Th…they won't let me leave school. I…I just want to know she's ok" she sobbed.

"Shhh, baby she's going to be fine, I promise" Troy said softly. "Come on, let's go get my dad, he'll make sure you can get to the hospital." He helped her up and held her hand all the way to his dad's office.

After Troy explained the situation to his father, Mr. Bolton found a way to let the pair leave.

They quickly arrived at the hospital, only to find out that Mrs. Montez was perfectly fine, just a few scrapes and a broken arm. As the pair was sitting in the waiting from, waiting for the doctors to finished bandaging Mrs. Montez up Gabriella suddenly turned to Troy and said,

"You drank the orange juice."

"Yeah well I had to. I couldn't stand seeing you like that and not being able to hold you close." Troy confessed.

"That's so sweet Troy. I love you so much"

"I love you too."

End Flashback

He was in almost the same situation now, not being able to tell her just how much she meant to him.

"Troy" Marie said waving her hand in front of his face. "Hello are you still with us?"

"Yeah. Sorry I was just thinking. And to answer your question, yes I would turn the Queen of England's pulpy orange juice down." Troy said.

"Ok then" Marie said. Taylor smiled she knew exactly what Troy had been thinking about and to this day the only person who had ever been able to get Troy to drink pulpy orange juice was Gabriella.

A/N: So, did you like that. I was kinda on the fence with it. Anyway I really wanted to watch the American Music Awards tonight, but they're on at 11 (and I have to get up at 6 for school tomorrow) so I'll just have to catch the important parts on YouTube another time. Anyway PLEASE review I really want to know what you think or if you have any suggestions!!!