Cristina plopped down on her bed, "Gabriella has barely spoken to us since we went out to dinner with the Boltons. And that was over a week ago."
Greg put the newspaper he was reading down, "I know. I get nothing but cold glares."
"I think we overstepped our boundaries." Cristina said.
"Gabriella is 16. We can overstep anything we want." Greg replied.
Cristina frowned, "Me and Gabriella are really close. I can't have her hating me. What we did was wrong."
"I know." Greg stated.
Cristina looked at her husband, "I think we need to apologize."
Greg groaned, "Can't we just lay low for a while?"
"I see where Gabi gets her stubbornness. That's why she wont admit she's in love with Troy." Cristina told him.
Greg looked up shocked, "Gabriella isn't in love with anyone. She can only be in love with puppies and Reggie Bush and Kobe Bryant."
~With Gabriella~
Gabriella was in movie room watching The Notebook when Angelo walked in, "Hey sis."
"Hi." Gabriella said, not looking away from the television.
"Can we talk?" Angelo asked. Gabriella just shrugged. "I'm sorry for making up that dare."
Gabriella looked up, "Why'd you do it then?"
Angelo shrugged and sat down, "I don't know. I thought it would be funny. I didn't think you and Troy would fall for each other."
"Apology accepted." Gabriella stated. She gave her brother a hug.
"So how are you and Troy?" Angelo asked.
Gabriella shrugged, "I cant stand him. He just thinks I want him back."
"You do want him back." Angelo insisted. "After all of your break ups, you just move on…with other guys because you're a man-eater. You've been moping around the house crying all the time. You've been listening to depressing R&B songs for the past week. Even I'm depressed."
Gabriella gasped, "I'm not a man-eater. And I don't know if I want him back or not. And my R&B collection is not depressing."
Angelo smirked, "Ok nerdy birdy." He said, using his old nickname for his sister. Then he got serious, "You aren't ok. Stop lying to me. I can tell when you're lying." Angelo saw his sister's eyes getting big, and knew she was about to cry. He should have just dropped the conversation. "Gabi, I didn't mean to make you cry."
"My life is like a fucked up romance novel that cant be fixed." Gabriella sobbed. "I cant do anything right anymore."
"Well what feels right?" Angelo asked.
Gabriella shrugged, "I don't know. Part of me wants to be with Troy, but part of me cant get over the betrayal. I'm stuck in this moment and I cant move." She replied.
Angelo just looked at her, "You are really good with figurative language. No wonder you have an A in English."
Gabriella rolled her eyes and walked to her bedroom. Angelo stood up, "My bad. I'm not the most sensitive person."
~With Troy~
"Hey son." Jack greeted as he walked into his son's room.
Troy looked up, "Hi dad."
"You've spent a lot of time in here. I don't see you at all after basketball practice." Jack said.
Troy shrugged, "I don't feel like talking to people."
Jack sat down, "Why not? What's the matter?"
"Nothing. Just the fact that Gabriella hates me, and doesn't speak to me, and wants to forget the fact that we ever dated." Troy said, his voice full of sarcasm.
"Well talk to her." Jack suggested.
"Dad, I've tried doing that. She doesn't want to listen to me." Troy replied. "Maybe we shouldn't be together."
"Well that's stupid." Jack told him. "You wouldn't be trying this hard if it wasn't meant to be. There has to be something worth fighting for."
Troy sighed, "Gabriella doesn't want me to fight for her."
Jack shrugged, "Maybe she does. If at first you don't succeed, try again."
"I guess you're right." Troy said.
"Since when do you actually fight for a girl?" Jack asked.
Troy shrugged, "Since Gabriella is actually worth fighting for. She's different than the girls I date."
"Somebody's in love." They both heard Marcus sing. "And his name is Troy Alexander Bolton and he is in love with super hottie Gabriella Montez."
"MARCUS IS GONNA GET A PUNCH IN THE FACE!" Troy shouted. "I'M NOT IN LOVE WITH ANYONE." Am I in love with Montez? Troy asked himself. No. I am in deep like with her-not love-deep like. Love is too serious and for old people.
Jack snapped, "Uh, come back to life, Troy."
"Dad, can we talk later?" Troy asked.
Jack nodded, "Ok." Jack got up and left his son's room.
~The Next Morning-Homeroom~
Ms. Darbus paired everyone up for a project. Surprisingly Troy and Gabriella got paired up. "Ok, everyone is getting assigned a scene from a movie to act out during fourth period drama. You and your partners need to know your lines word for word."
Gabriella picked up the piece of paper, "The Notebook. Partner is Troy Bolton. Allie and Noah 2nd break up scene." Gabriella took a deep breath and put her head down. God, why do you continue to torture me?
Sharpay leaned over, "Gabi can we talk?"
"Why?" Gabriella asked.
"I'm sorry. I saw how happy you were and I didn't wanna ruin anything, but that was stupid and now I don't have my best friend." Sharpay apologized.
"You're forgiven." Gabriella said. She knew Sharpay and the others were sorry. She didn't want to bring her mood further down by going into details. "I'll talk to you later chica." She said as the bell rang.
~Fourth Period-Drama~
"Ok now for our final duo, Troy Bolton and Gabriella Montez." Ms. Darbus stated.
Troy and Gabriella stood up and went on stage. They both were dreading this scene.
Dialogue
Troy: What are you gonna do Al?
Gabriella: I don't know
Troy: We're back to that? Are we back there? What about the past couple of day? They happened, you know?
Gabriella: I know that they happened and they were wonderful, but they were also very irresponsible. I have a fiancée waiting for me at a hotel, who's gonna be crushed when he finds out what I did.
Troy: So you make love to me and then you go back to your husband? Was that your plan? Was that a test that I didn't pass?
Gabriella: No. I made a promise to a man. He gave me a ring and I gave him my word.
Troy: And your word is shot to hell now, don't you think?
Gabriella: I don't know. I'll find out when I talk to him.
Troy: This is not about keeping your promise and it's not about following your heart. It's about security.
Gabriella: What is that supposed to mean?
Troy: MONEY!
Gabriella: What are you talking about?
Troy: HE'S GOT A LOT OF MONEY!
Gabriella: Now I hate you, you smug bastard.
Troy: Well I hate you. If you leave here, I hate you.
Gabriella: Haven't you been paying attention to anything that's been happening?
Troy: I guess not. I think I must've misread all those signals.
Gabriella: Yeah I guess you did.
Troy: You're bored. You're bored and you know it. You wouldn't be here if it wasn't something missing.
Gabriella: You arrogant son of a bitch.
Troy: Could you just stay with me?
Gabriella: Stay with you? What for? Look at us, we're already fighting
Troy: Well that's what we do. We fight. You tell me when I'm being an arrogant son of a bitch and I tell you when you're being a pain in the ass. Which you are, 99 percent of the time. I'm not afraid to hurt your feelings. You have like a two second rebound rate and you're back doing the next pain in the ass thing.
Gabriella: So what?
Troy: So its not gonna be easy. Its gonna be really hard. And we're gonna have to work at this every day, but I want to do that because I want you. I want all of you, forever, you and me, every day. Will you do something for me? Please? Just picture your life for me. 30 years from now, 40 years from now. What's it look like? If its with him, go. Go! I lost you once, I think I can do it again. If I thought that's what you really wanted. But don't you take the easy way out.
Gabriella: What easy way? There is no easy way. No matter what I do, somebody gets hurt.
Troy: Would you stop thinking about what everyone wants? Stop thinking about what I want, what he wants, what your parents want. What do you want? What do you want?
Gabriella: It's not that simple.
Troy: What do you want? God damn it, what do you want?
Gabriella: I have to go
End Of Dialogue
Once Troy and Gabriella finished the scene, almost every female in the auditorium was crying. Gabriella was also crying because every word she and Troy said, related to them. As soon as the bell rang Gabriella grabbed her bag and bolted for the door.
~After School~
Chad and Troy were hanging around after basketball practice. They were sitting in the gym.
"So what was with the freaky insane chemistry in drama today?" Chad suddenly asked.
Troy looked up, "So I wasn't the only one who felt it?"
"It was obvious." Chad said. "Even to me and I'm pretty oblivious to a lot of things."
"Because that wasn't acting. It was all real and true." Troy answered.
"Just go up to her tell her to date you." Chad told her.
Troy looked at him funny, "We are talking about Gabriella. She would like beat the shit out of me."
"I'm gonna help you." Chad told his best friend.
Troy groaned, "Oh God."