"Hey guys, have any of you seen Gabriella?" Troy asked, sauntering up to Taylor and Kelsei.

"I thought she was with you…" Taylor said, confused. Troy sighed and looked questioningly at Kelsei who shrugged as well.

Troy flipped open his cell phone and read his last text from Gabriella in a cloud of uncertainty.

I'm hanging with Tay for a bit, but I'll come find you when I'm done k? G xox

Lunch time was just about over and still Gabriella hadn't come. Now it seemed that she had been lying. Troy's mind was racing, trying to figure out why she would lie to him. He knew that it had to be something serious or else she would have just told him the truth. Gabriella hated lying and Troy was sure that whatever was up with her wasn't going to be good.

"I'm sure she's fine, Troy." Taylor said, realizing that he was worried about their friend. "She probably just had to run out and do something and forgot to tell you?"

"No. Look at this."

Troy passed Taylor his cell phone and the two girls both read the text on the screen. Taylor sighed and passed it back to him, looking confused herself.

"I haven't seen Gabriella since homeroom, I'm not sure why she would have said that. If we see her we'll tell her that you're looking for her okay?"

"Alright, thanks Taylor. See you all later."

With a wave, Troy turned around and began to walk the halls aimlessly again, not understanding why Gabriella was hiding from everyone. Since the concert a few days before Gabriella had seemed happier then ever and Troy had assumed that everything was alright, but obviously it hadn't been.

Troy caught himself as he stumbled over something and cursed himself for being so wrapped up in his thoughts.

"Crap, sorry ab-"

Troy stopped talking abruptly as he met the watery eyes of Gabriella. Troy knelt down beside her and gently wrapped his arms around her, letting her cling to him. He felt her shaking and began to stroke her hair, trying to let her know that he was here for her, but not being over pushy.

"I-I feel horrible, I'm so sorry, I shouldn't have lied to you, b-but I didn't want you to worry, and I was going to-"

"Shhhhhh." Troy cut her off and kissed her forehead. "Forget about it, I'm not angry. What's wrong, Brie?"

"N-nothing, I just got a fright, that's all, nothing to worry about. I'm just calming down."

"What gave you a fright?" He asked, wiping a stray tear from her cheek.

"N-nothing." Gabriella mumbled, resting her head against his shoulder. "It's not important."

"I'll be the judge of that." Troy said, his heart skipping a beat as she managed a small smile. "Now who do I have to beat up?" He added, only joking.

Gabriella didn't catch on that it was a joke and her eyes grew wide in alarm.

"No you can't beat him up! I'm sure he didn't mean it!" She cried, clutching one of his hands tightly.

"Who? I can't beat up who?"

Gabriella shut her mouth and looked down at her lap to keep herself from being persuaded by the emotion and tenderness in his eyes. Troy, however, had a way around that. He pulled her against his chest and rested his cheek on the top of her head, waiting until she relaxed a bit, before leaning down to kiss her gently.

"I'm sorry, Gabi. You don't have to tell me if you don't want to. If you say it's not a big deal, then I'm sure it isn't."

"Don't apologize, Troy, I don't think it's a big deal but that's because it didn't strike me as odd, but I think that you might get mad because of it."

"What happened?" Troy prompted, worry clouding his eyes.

"I was walking to meet you and everyone else for lunch when I ran into a few of the boys on the football team."

Gabriella paused to reach up and touch his cheek lightly with the tip of her finger.

"Don't get angry." She murmured. "One of them started talking to me and I said that I needed to go to meet you and he said 'Why would you want him when you've got me?' a-and he…"

Gabriella trailed off and pressed into Troy once again with a shudder.

"He did some things that we're exactly school appropriate." She finished a second later, glancing up at him.

Troy's eyes darkened to a dark blue and a muscle jumped in his cheek. He clenched a hand into a fist and then unclenched it again, before sighing and tucking a strand of her hair behind her ears.

"Are you okay?" He finally asked, keeping his fury out of his voice. "Did he hurt you?"

"No, just gave me a fright." She replied confidently.

"Why didn't you find it odd?" Troy asked in confusion. "You said that it didn't seem like a big deal to you. Why?"

"Well…they've been eyeing me a few times when I've walked by, but it's always been with you, so they've never done anything."

"I'll make sure that they never do anything again, okay Brie?"

"How are you going to do that?" Gabriella cried in alarm as Troy stood up abruptly.

"I'm going to talk to them." He replied simply, beginning to walk down the hall. Gabriella hurried to catch up to him and grabbed ahold of his arm.

"Troy! No! Just leave it be, please!" She begged, her eyes large.

"I won't allow them to bug anyone, especially you. You don't have to come if you don't want to."

"I'll come." She replied, moving closer to him as they started walking down the hall again.

As they turned the corner Gabriella began to shake and Troy looked at her, surprised when he saw that her face was calm and controlled, somewhat like his own.

"So she returns." One of the jocks commented, staring at her hungrily.

Troy's grip tightened around her waist and he glared at the offender.

"She has a name, though you probably don't know it. I would appreciate it if you kept her hands off of her. She is a human being, not some animal. If I hear that you so much as look at her again I can personally guarantee that you won't have eyes to look through once I'm done with you. Clear?"

Without waiting for a reply Troy turned around and with Gabriella by his side he walked back the way he had come, leaving the football players shocked beyond belief.

They stopped a few meters at Gabriella's locker and she smiled up at Troy. He grinned back down at her, his eyes twinkling.

"Thank you Troy. That was very heroic of you to do." She said quietly, meaning every word.

Troy chuckled and wrapped an arm around her waist.

"Anything for you, Brie." He said, punctuating it with a short kiss. "Anything for you."

AN: Soooo it's done now! That was the last chapter! I hope you all enjoyed the story and thank you so much for sticking with me! Thanks for reading and please review!