Hey, hope you all had a good Halloween yesterday, yes there's nothing I enjoy more than walking around in a black dress stupidly without a jacket in the cold for around three hours singing the HSM 3 soundtrack. Good times, by the way I wasn't just randomly doing that, I was dressed up as a witch. Anyway this chapter has a bit of drama but the main focus of it is to begin to give you an insight as to how this bitterness all began. How they got into that pattern of harassing each other in the hallways etc. Hope you enjoy!

Grace xxx


"Now I would like each of you to come up here and collect your equipment for the task, might I remind you…Danforth that all equipment must be returned at the end of the project in the same condition." Mrs Darbus finished glaring at Chad suspiciously. Mrs Darbus had never forgiven him after he had broken one of the important props for the fall musical 'Twinkle Town' a year prior.

The class had been lounging around the court area for around fifteen minutes listen to Darbus drabble on about each and every one of the functions and settings of the video recorders they were receiving curtsey of Mr Evans' donation last fall.

Gabriella and Troy had begun bickering around fourteen minutes and 50 seconds ago, once Troy had begun to make snide remarks about Gabriella and the whole task in general. Gabriella of course in response had 'accidently' stepped on his foot with her stiletto's Sharpay had 'insisted' she wear to match her cute button dress ready for the days' activities.

"Now once I call your name collect your camera along with this tripod and protective casing, and then you are free to wonder for the rest of the day and work on the task." Mrs Darbus finished before grabbing her red clipboard, making her way through the list of various couple's set together for the duration of the task.

"Miss Evans and Mr Baylor, Miss McKessie and Danforth…" Mrs Darbus began to read as Taylor, Chad, Sharpay and Zeke began to make their way towards the front and collect their cameras.

"BOLTON, MONTEZ, could you stop bickering for a minute and collect your selected equipment PLEASE!" Mrs Darbus concluded before reluctantly passing the camera to Gabriella, as she did with all the cameras; passing to the girls' rather than the 'responsible' boys.

,

,

Troy groaned in frustration as he followed Gabriella and the gang, after this morning's events he was already in a bad mood and somehow he didn't think walking around in a foreign country filming everything and anything with the one person he hated would exactly lighten the matter.

"Bolton, hurry up" Gabriella's voice echoed through his eardrums, just the words 'Bolton' coming out her lips; the lips he would once treat so tenderly, savoring their unique flavour. He didn't like it, he'd never liked it. He'd seen her with…him and she'd seen him with Stacey. They had gotten into a massive argument and from then on she had begun to call him Bolton, he never even had the chance to explain.

He quickly began to jog up the cold steps, tying his sweatshirt around his shoulders, shielding him from the hot sun. He caught up just able to reach Gabriella's wrist and turn her backwards.

"Listen we're doing this project together, don't you think we've gone past last name terms." Troy howled, his grip firm on her small wrists, their flesh began to burn together.

"What are you implying?" Gabriella whimpered ignoring the stabbing sensation coming from her wrists secured firmly in Troy's grasp.

Troy couldn't ignore the smug grin that ushered its way to his lips, they always went back to this game, taunting, always ahead of each other, never listening always assuming. "That we call each other by our-"

"Yes, I got that what I want to know is why?" Gabriella replied stubbornly as the pain began to numb.

"Because I don't want to spend the duration of this task as Bolton and Montez, at least for this project call me Troy, anything I don't give a fuck just not Bolton." Troy finished his breath suffocating her own. Only she knew the real reason why he'd always hated Bolton, it reminded him of his father, the game, the stress, pressure. He loved his father, he loved basketball but he didn't want to be reminded of the strain that came with it every second of the day. He treasured the moments when he and Gabriella could escape up to the roof-top garden and forget. Forget everything; just be themselves, no reputation, no 'have you thought about your future' talks, just him and her. When they were together they weren't Scholastic Decathlon Team Member and Wildcat Champion they were just Troy and Gabriella.

"No" Gabriella replied before jerking her arms away from Troy's grasp and racing the steps in hope to catch up with the others, who hadn't noticed their missing presence.

"WHY NOT?" Troy shouted from his stood position as he regained his balance to Gabriella who had already recovered a great distance of steps.

"Gabriella stopped and turned around. "Because that Troy is dead to me." She replied before her high heal began tapping against the concrete steps, resuming the steady rhythm.


"So we're going to need a wide-shot of this from the outside, than a close-up of this detail here, fascinating isn't it and then maybe a final camera shot from…right here." Taylor finished before locating a spot in the dingy caves they had entered five minutes former.

"Did you get that baby?" Taylor asked as she began ushering Chad outside the entrance of the caves the gang had decided would be a good idea to start as a location for their project. Taylor had insisted Troy and Gabriella join them as neither member really wanted to leave the two alone...just yet.

"I am Sharpay Evans and today we are here in this cave. Just look how fabulously the colour of these caves compliment my shoes, if you are interested in using me as a young, experienced, extremely talented actor you shall have to get in touch with my agent-" Sharpay began to ramble, as the camera remained zoomed- in at her center…cave.

"CUT, CUT, CUT!" Zeke exclaimed as he stopped the camera rolling, ignoring the shocked glances Sharpay was giving him.

"Listen baby, you know how much I love your…acting, it's just well this has to be about well Kalokairi so not about your shoes or if your available…" Zeke began as he tried to tell Sharpay that this movie would actually had to feature some footage of the island.

"Singing!" Sharpay exclaimed loudly. "You think I should sing about the island as well…I can see it now, a golden spotlight, a dazzling microphone, center stage, I mean cave and a red curtain-" Sharpay began as she began reciting various performances grabbing Taylor's pen attached to her clipboard as a microphone.

"Yeah…sure" Zeke finished as he began rolling the camera at the caves they had entered earlier on.

"The Kalokairi Musicale…featuring Sharpay Evans, oooh I love it." Sharpay exclaimed as she began visualizing her own musicale ignoring the glances she was receiving from the rest of them.

"Look Bolton can you stop messing around for one second and just film with the stupid camera…okay!" Gabriella exclaimed as she pressed PLAY on the camera and resumed her earlier position.

"Sure thing…Montez." Troy finished as he begun adjusting the camera pointing directly at Gabriella. Gabriella was blank, for once in her life she didn't have a clue what to do and she wasn't only talking about the project. Her and Troy were getting nowhere, nothing had been achieved, at last Taylor and Chad had a small bit of footage, Zeke and Sharpay well they had…Sharpay but what did Gabriella and Troy have. A full four minutes of footage involving a small ant crossing the pathway armed with a bit of food.

"Did you know Kalokairi isn't even the real name of this island?" Gabriella begun as the camera began rolling. "It's real name is Skopelos a name giv-"

"CUT, CUT, CUT, right listen Montez we are not starting our film off like that." Troy replied harshly as he stopped the camera and took a few steps closer to Gabriella daringly.

"Why not?" Gabriella whined defensively at Troy as she took a brave step towards Troy.

"Well for one its' B-O-R-I-N-G, like who wants to find out about a name in the opening title." Troy snarled as his met Gabriella's rolling eyes somewhere in the middle.

"Oh sorry I didn't know our task was to produce a multi-award winning block buster!" Gabriella snickered bitterly before folding her small arms against her small dress boldly. "Secondly…" Gabriella replied, her sharp stiletto tapping against the cold interior of the caves.

"Huh?" Troy replied shaken back a little, for once he wasn't one step ahead; he was one step behind.

"Well you said well for one, well for second…" Gabriella replied harshly as she watched the deep blue in his eyes swirl around in confusion. She could always count on staring into his eyes for a direct answer for a question. She never listened to his mouth, his words were pure bullshit; she listened to his eyes. They portrayed how he was really feeling, that day she knew he was hurt, but she couldn't let him win, so she had began to build barrier's up around herself. She couldn't let herself again.

She still couldn't.

"Well…I just don't like it okay!" Troy shouted back 'maturely'.

"Oh I'm sure that will go, sorry Mrs Darbus we couldn't do this stupid project because Troy didn't like it!" Gabriella blurted out before realizing she had done something she swore she wouldn't. She had called him Troy, sure it wasn't in context but it was a Troy none the less.

The way her voice spoke his name, it was so easy, it rolled off the tongue and straight to his heart. It was so…natural. And she wasn't the only one who realized this, the small smile that quickly found refuge in his lips. It wasn't an apology it was nothing of the sort, they were still nowhere near ready to sort out these misunderstandings.

But it was a start.

Silence followed for what seemed like an eternity, neither wanting to break the formation that had recently formed, the atmosphere was tense.

"So why was the name given?" Troy asked as he began making his way back towards the camera.

"HUH?" Gabriella asked, why back down all of a sudden, why surrender. But then Gabriella realized he hadn't. He had won; he was merely celebrating, letting her win too. He got his Troy, she got her intro.

"Well you were about to explain why it's called Kalokairi instead of Skopelos." Troy finished broadly, adjusting his view so he could line up the camera direct with her small figure.

"Well em…basically Kalokairi was just a name the producers of 'Mamma Mia' decided to give the island. It means summer in Greek." Gabriella finished proudly before Troy pressed the STOP button on the recorder.

"Gabs, Troy, you coming?" Sharpay asked Troy and Gabriella whilst the rest of the gang began to exit the dark caves they had entered what had felt like hours ago.

"Yeah…we'll catch up in a minute." Gabriella spoke softly before making her way towards Troy who had began packing the camera away in its case.

Gabriella began to gather the papers attached to the clipboard, helping Troy pack away. He shut the camera screen, whilst she began to open the leather casing, as he directed his next actions she was already one step ahead, fastening the zip. It was like they clicked together, fitted as one, they worked in sync. That was something the others had always been jealous of, even Taylor and Chad who had been dating almost as long as them couldn't even compare to what Gabriella and Troy had. They could tell what the other was thinking, worked together as a team; he was the yin to her yang, the wild to her cat and the key to her heart.

The silence was tolerable; it wasn't awkward more peaceful, content. Though Gabriella needed answers, she gently eased her way into the question; she didn't want a fight more a mere answer. "So…why'd you change your mind?" Gabriella asked softly, cautiously as she continued her actions, no eye contact needed.

"What do you mean?" Troy asked inquisitively, curiously, before zipping up the remaining strap left on the case.

"I thought you hated my intro, too b-o-r-i-n-g." Gabriella emphasized as she stopped what she was doing before meeting his gaze. His eyes were swirling blue and for the first time in months, she saw someone looking back at her.

"I guess changes aren't always bad things." Troy replied as his stood, never breaking the small connection the two were having. And yet the more Gabriella thought about it, the more she realized it was true. Maybe her and Troy working together wasn't exactly a bad change, sure right now it was bad but maybe, just maybe in the long run it would do them the world of good. And maybe, just maybe it wouldn't be such a bad thing to call each other by their first names rather than Bolton and Montez.

Maybe Troy was right, not all changes are bad.

"Yeah" Gabriella mumbled before following Troy in the direction of the steps, they had accomplished little physically and by no means were they even close to becoming acquaintances let alone friends but it was a start none the less. A start that in the long run would work towards achieving and maybe returning the once former relationship they had once shared. And maybe just maybe changes weren't always bad.

,

,

He walked in; his skin was pale, his eyes' red, only she would be able to tell he'd been crying, she being the only person he didn't want to know he'd been crying, Gabriella. His blood pumping venom, fury, he was angry with her and she was angry with him.

Not even that.

Anger couldn't explain it.

No.

Maybe in years it would be just anger but for now it was so much more. Broken trust, betrayal, hurt, hatred, but really it was only a misunderstanding, a web of lies, a foundation of confusion, misinterpretation escalated into so much more.

He slammed his locker shut, ripping out the photo of her, shredding it to pieces. Anyone who was anyone knew he was in a bad mood, the way his form had strutted in, slamming everything around him, pushing freshman kids' out of his way like they were common scum. And then he saw her, looking as angelic as ever, she had been crying as well. Her eyes were puffy, a small stain of mascara from the previous day still remain plastered just beneath her eyes and it was all for him. It was the first time he had seen her in days, she had been mysteriously 'absent' for the past week or so. Only Taylor knowing the real reason why, Sharpay assuming she knew as well.

"Move out my way….Bolton." Her piercing voice echoed through the halls, killing him inside, piercing through the pain. She was back and she wasn't going to let him stop her, for once in her life she was going to stand on her own two feet. Troy was dead to her; however Bolton was a whole new ball game.

He watched her pass, so that was how it was going to be now. Nothing but worthless taunts in corridors, snickers at each other in classrooms. Well two could play that came and two would, until one of them would break.

One of them always had to break; it was the aim of the game.

And one would, but maybe not as quickly as anticipated, maybe it would take more than a few months giving each other hell. Maybe even a trip to Greece.


AN/ Well there you go, I decided to end it with the flashback because I like things mixed up a little. I completely forgot earlier but I'd just like to apologize for the delay it took me to post this chapter. Let's just say this half term has been really hectic, besides seeing HSM 3, three times but I just couldn't resist.

I also spent my time last week writing a one-shot 'Hot 'N' Cold', feel free to check it out, all reviews appreciated. Anyway school begins next week so I'll try and have an update out by the end of the week but no promises.

Please review, it adds a bit of sunshine to my day!

Grace xxx