TUESDAY

Gabriella awoke the next morning feeling like shit! She wanted to burst out into sobs of heartache - but she couldn't. Gabriella Montez never cried! She'd spent four months with him though and to find out that he was cheating on her - and with that slutty slag of a head cheerleader!

Gabriella though, couldn't go and mope around. If she did her guys would know that something was up and would be down at East High beating the crap out of anyone they thought had hurt her. Gabriella smiled as she saw the outfit lying on her chair, the outfit she had picked out to wear last night. It was a strapless sundress, and reached about mid thigh. A pair of black opaque leggings would go under it and she would cover up with a shrug if she got cold. She knew that she looked hot in it. And that was her aim! No one was going to know that in the inside Gabriella Montez was dying. She would show up at school, looking extra hot, oozing confidence… and hell! She might even find a couple of buff guys to flirt with. As long as whatever she did stopped people from thinking that she was hurt, she really didn't have a problem.

Gabriella opened the door, after changing. Danny and Jo were sitting in the kitchen eating breakfast.

"Whoa! Gabs where the hell do you think you are going dressed like that?" Danny asked his protective side coming out.

"Where do you think Dan? To school!" Gabriella responded, rolling her eyes as she put the sliced bread in the toaster

"Like that?" Danny asked

"No - I plan on stripping down to my underwear when I get there…" Gabriella said as she turned around to face him, smirking.

"Fine - sarcasm noted!" Danny rolled his eyes, taking a bite out of his toast

"So Jo… your up early…" Gabriella stated, seeing her younger cousin up unusually early.

"Couldn't sleep…" Jo responded

"Oh right - well I'm going to get going. Anyone going to offer to drive me?" Gabriella said after buttering her toast. She looked at Danny.

"Hell I might as well - I feel like I haven't had a good talk to you in a while!" Danny smiled as he stood

"Thanks Dan. See you later Jo…" Gabriella said giving her younger cousin a hug and walking out of the door, toast in hand.

"Bye Gabs!"


"So… how's school so far…?" Danny asked as he turned on the ignition

"Great Dan…" Gabriella said as she buckled the belt of the passenger seat.

"And how's that boyfriend of yours… Trey… Troy?" Danny asked looking as he turned a corner.

Gabriella tensed at his name. But she knew she couldn't tell Danny about Troy, otherwise he'd be down at the school and hunting Troy down threatening to beat the shit out of him… hell he would actually beat the shit out of him. If there was one thing Gabriella knew it was that Danny was one hell of a fighter; and she really didn't want her ex – boyfriend to go through one of his beatings… even if Troy did cheat on her! Hell Gabriella didn't think that she would want her worst enemy to go through one of Danny's beatings!

"Troy… is great…"

"Good…" Gabriella sighed with relief that Danny hadn't caught on

"So… - you and that girl what's her name? Oh yeah, Hailey - What's up with that?" Gabriella tried to change the subject

"Nothing much - I mean yeah she's got a cool personality and everything, it's just that she's a tad to slutty for me to actually even consider a relationship with…"

"Oh right… well drop me off here…" Gabriella saw the block a few minutes walk away from East High.

"Alright Gabs… I'll see you on later tonight?" Danny said as she got out of the door

"Oh yeah… all the guys are coming over…" Gabriella looked through the passenger window

"You haven't got any plans have you?" Danny frowned

"Nah… don't think so… love you Dan…" Gabriella smiled as she started to walk away

"Love you Gabs…" Danny called out


"Troy come on! Taylor is going to try and speak to Gabi today to find out what the hell is going on. And in the meantime you are going to forget everything and just play basketball…" Chad said trying to cheer up his best mate. Troy had seemed to take the break up really hard and felt terrible. He wasn't in the mood for anything and Chad knew that Gabriella had to have had a damn good reason for causing Troy so much heartache.

"I'm really not in the mood Chad…" Troy said downcast.

--

The girls were all waiting at the entrance of East High. They couldn't believe that Troy and Gabriella broke up… out of the whole gang they were the couple that were most in love.

"Why would she do it though?" Sharpay asked

"Who the hell knows…" Taylor responded.

"Look, we'll just ask her why she did it when she comes by okay?" Kelsi said

"Where the hell is she anyway?"

"Patience Shar… patience!"

Gabriella walked up the steps to East High, her head held high. She was aware of the looks she was getting from various guys and smirked to herself. Her plan was working! And soon operation 'get over Bolton' would succeed! She smiled as she saw Taylor and her friends waiting outside the entrance. Smiling, she walked over to them

"Hey guys… what's up?"

The three girls looked in shock at Gabriella. They had expected to see a girl who had red puffy eyes, dressed in more 'comfort' clothes. And basically look terrible. That is, after all what girls usually look like after a break up. Instead they were greeted by a stunning Gabriella… who seemed completely happy. As if she hadn't a care in the world… not someone who had just gotten out of a four month relationship.

"Um… hi Gabi?" Sharpay said hesitantly.

"Hey… what's up with you guys?"

"Um… Gabi! You do realise that you broke up with Troy yesterday…" Taylor said quietly

"Yeah… I know…" Gabriella said in an offhand manner

The girls were shocked at Gabriella. She didn't seem in any way effected by the break up. In contrast she actually seemed to be happy about it! She was smiling and nodding at people who walked past. She seemed to have more confidence in herself. The normal Gabriella would only smile at the few people she knew and if she did smile at someone else, it would be either because they smiled at her first or it would be a very shy smile, not the confident grins that Gabriella had plastered to her face now.

"Gabi… you do realise Troy is upset don't you?"

"I don't see why…" Gabriella said, looking through her bag

That got the girls confused. What the hell was going on here?

"Gabi…" Taylor started stopping walking. "Troy was really upset when you dumped him by text… I mean it was pretty harsh…"

"Nope… I just didn't feel like talking to the guy…"

Gabriella knew that she was coming off as heartless. But she couldn't make it seem like she cared. Because even though she did, she was hurt and upset. She felt betrayed. And she didn't want to seem all heartbroken. Coming off as if she didn't care, made her feel better. That way she wouldn't break down. That way she could protect her heart.

"So… you decided to dump him by text?"

"Yeah…"

"And you're not regretting it one bit…?"

"Nope…" Gabriella answered truthfully. She didn't regret dumping him because he didn't deserve to go out with her when he was cheating on her. But she did regret their relationship ending. Because she did love him and she wouldn't have wanted it to end. But she's always been told that cheaters weren't worth your time.

The girls looked at each other, flabbergasted. How could Gabriella seem so cruel? They'd always thought that she was the nice one and now she was talking about Troy as if he didn't mean a thing to her.

"Gabriella Montez! How could you? You dump Troy by text and then you don't have any regrets about it…?" Sharpay said louder than she intended drawing a few people's attention

"Sharpay… if I knew I would have regrets about dumping Troy, I wouldn't have done it…"

"Sharpay calm down… Listen Gabi. What did Troy do for you to want to break up with him?"

How should she answer that? She didn't want to tell everyone that Troy cheated on her. That would just be humiliating.

"I don't want to talk about it!"

"Whoa… Gabi! You dump Troy, say you have no regrets, come to school like this and then you tell us you don't want to talk about it! Girl you owe us that much at least…" Sharpay started

"I said I don't want to talk about it…"

"Why not? We were standing by you, when the guys were all trying to hate you for Troy's sake… because dumping someone by text… and especially the way you wrote it… isn't exactly the best thing to do. And now you tell us that you don't want to talk about it?" Sharpay persisted

"Sharpay… why won't you get it into your bloody mind that I don't bloody want to talk about it!!" Gabriella shouted furiously before storming off leaving three flabbergasted girls

--

"Sharpay… why won't you get it into your bloody mind that I don't bloody want to talk about it!!" Gabriella shouted furiously before storming off leaving three flabbergasted girls

Troy, Chad, Jason and Zeke rounded the corner to hear Gabriella explode at Sharpay and storm off. But not before they got a good look at her. Their jaws dropped to the floor at what she was wearing. She looked so different! Troy couldn't believe that she looked that hot! Sure she was always pretty to him but he had never seen her wear anything like that. And now he couldn't even go up to her and tell her how gorgeous she looked.

"There's the girls…" Jason pointed out stupidly as the girls were clearly visible

"Yea we kind of figured that out Jase…" Zeke said, rolling his eyes.

"Just saying…" Jason shrugged, walking up to give Kelsi a hug

"Hey girls… I guess the talk with Gabi didn't go to well?" Chad said kissing Taylor on the cheek and wrapping his arms around her from behind

"You're kidding right? She didn't seem the least bit concerned that she had just ended her relationship, she actually seemed more happy… I mean did you see what she was wearing? And then when we asked her why she broke it off she said that she didn't want to talk about it!" Sharpay said still mad

"Whoa… we noticed that she did look different…" Zeke said his arm around Sharpay's shoulders

Troy felt like his heart was breaking. Was Gabriella happy that their relationship had ended? And what the hell did he do?


Gabriella was angry and as she made her way through the corridors people could tell and immediately cleared parts. She was used to this, mainly because she would mostly be with Troy and everyone cleared parts for the basketball captain. She normally hated it; however, this time she was grateful. She didn't feel like barging through everyone and ending up getting her feet trodden on, just so she could get to her locker. She was already in a bad mood. She couldn't understand why the hell Taylor and Sharpay wouldn't let her be. Why couldn't they just understand that she didn't want to talk about it and just leave it at that? And what the hell was their problem saying that Troy was heartbroken? Wouldn't that bastard know what he would have done? Or was that the normal thing around this rich school? To date someone but still make out with the slutty head cheerleader?

"Whoa… Gabi… Almost knocked me down! You alright?"

Gabriella looked up to find that she had collided with Ryan.

"No… it's just… Ry! I don't know! The gangs having a go at me for dumping Troy but they haven't even heard my side of the story. I told them I didn't want to talk about it but… I'm not ready to talk about it yet. I can't trust myself… and…" Gabriella looked up at Ryan and Ryan could see a hint of a tear in her eyes.

"Don't worry Gabi… Look… I'll take you to the drama office. Me and Sharpay have keys seeing as we're co-presidents. And right now you need to be away from everyone for a while… come on…" Ryan said leading the way to the office.

Gabriella smiled. She could trust Ryan. She knew that he wouldn't tell anyone anything. There was always a chance of Taylor telling Chad. And if she told her boys back home… that could lead to serious consequences. Ryan wasn't about to go blabbing to anyone and he wasn't going to beat anyone up. Maybe he would allow her to vent her problems to him.

Walking into the office, Gabriella looked at Ryan

"Look, I don't know why but I trust you. I really trust you. And I just… I guess I need to get my side of the story off my chest. But I don't want it to spread around… it would be humiliating… So Troy… I know that the way I dumped him was harsh but I couldn't stand seeing him. Or actually talking to him. Yesterday, when I was coming to lunch I rounded a corner and I saw - I saw - Troy was there, making out with Kelly. You know the head cheerleader? And he didn't pull away. I was there for about 10 seconds which is a pretty damn long time when you're making out with someone. And he didn't pull away. And it upset me. And I know - yeah Troy loves me and would never do anything to hurt me… and all that shit everyone tells me. But lately… we'd been getting a bit more physical. More than I would actually like. So I told Troy that I'm not ready to have sex yet and Troy said he was fine with it - but I mean he is a teenage guy. He wants to have sex! And I don't… And Kelly - she's offering that to him. And I guess he'd be stupid if he refused…"

Gabriella had tears in her eyes when she finished the story but she didn't let them fall. After taking three deep breaths like she always did, the tears slowly faded away. Ryan watched her closely and saw that she was really hurt by what Troy did to her. And she didn't want anyone to know. She had a lot of pride in herself and having her boyfriend cheat on her had just damaged it. That would explain why she was dressed so different. Because she wanted to make herself feel better and know that she wasn't unlovable.

"Gabi… don't worry I won't tell anyone. I'm happy that you opened up to me. And I'm not going to sit here and tell you anything because quite frankly I don't think you need that… I know that you probably just want someone to stand by you…"

Gabriella smiled. This was the friend she had been looking for. Someone who wouldn't overreact. Someone who wouldn't try and persuade her. Someone who wouldn't hurt anyone else. Someone who would just be there to support her. Should she say something… something about her past? After all this was the perfect moment and she knew that Ryan was a real friend who wouldn't judge her.

"Ryan there's - there's something else…" Gabriella started nervously

"What?" Ryan asked curious, sure that she had just told him everything about the break up.

"This has nothing to do with Troy… I just want to tell you…"

"Okay…"

"So um… you know that I live in West Albuquerque. And um… I'll start from the beginning. I just need you to swear to not tell anyone. I trust you and I know that you won't judge me. And I haven't told any of the gang yet…"

"What is it?"

"Um… basically…" Gabriella took a deep breath. Relating this story had never been easy – and it had sure been a long time since she had had to do it. "Well I guess it all started when I was 10…"

As Gabriella finished her story Ryan could hear the emotion in her voice. She was so close to crying but she never did. She was once told that crying showed weakness… and Gabriella Montez could not show weakness. If she did she would be taken advantage off. She hated crying and hadn't had a tear drop down her cheeks since she was a 10 year old vulnerable girl. But she was so close now… So close

Ryan stood up and put his arms around her. He was honoured that Gabriella had chosen to tell him first out of everybody. It meant a lot to know that she trusted him like that. He was shocked at her story… but he also admired her. You wouldn't guess that she had had that messed up a life… but she had! And she had come out so strong!

A/N Ok so I know that a lot of you probably want to know what happened in Gabriella's past and are probably pissed off that I didn't tell you when I had the chance to – I have my reasons though and hopefully the explanation chapter will come sometimes soon (can't say exactly when though because I'm not sure how many chapters there are in between)

Also some of you were asking if it was Troy in last chapter – yes it was him…

Anyway thank you so much for your reviews and carry on reviewing – they mean a lot.

Again – updates are going to be a bit weird for the next two weeks until I finish school. I'm really busy now with all the end of term shit but I promise that once schools out I will be free to update better!

XxxNicolexxX