A/N: And again sorry for the delay! I've worked so hard all day with the worst hangover you could imagine to get this done! Because it was my sisters wedding yesterday, which was absolutely amazing! So I hope you guys like it! I know people hate Troy, but seriously I'm just trying to portray Troy as what asses guys really are! Wanting the 'best of both worlds' and not wanting what they really want and stuff. So I hope you guys like this chapter!

"See this is the kinda weather we needed for the camping trip."

Sharpay's head leaned backwards as the sun beamed down onto her skin. It was the first day of spring. There were barely any clouds in the blue sky but the air was still a little cold. Causing Gabriella to wear a tight coffee brown hoodie that hugged to her flat stomach and the curve of her breasts. And a pair of skinny jeans and a pair of brown flats. Her knees were hugged to her chest as her hand ran through the raven curls of her hair.

"Yeah... it's too bad we didn't have it. Isn't it? Blondie..." Chad insulted her playfully as he beamed at her.

It was a Saturday afternoon and despite all of the studying that should have been happening for midterms, the gang had decided to take time out to spend together. At the park, as cliché as it sounded. It was nice for Gabriella to take time out and just spend time with her friends. Before her father died she would be with him constantly wondering if that would be the last time she would see him, about what was going to happen, weather it would be the next day, the next week or even the next month when he would die. She wanted her time with him to last. But now she had no worries, no nothing. She could just concentrate on her friends. And being happy of course.

"Fuck off." Sharpay growled.

Sharpay had removed the jacket from her shoulders and was leaning back angling her whole body towards the sun. Even though it was still cold. And the goose bumps were visible on the brunette's skin. "Nah, Shar I think you should go blonde again. It explained a hell of a lot more." The two playfully insulted each other. They did get on fine. They weren't exactly the bestest of friends like Chad and Gabriella were but they still were good friends who liked to insult each other once in a while.

"And again, fuck off." Sharpay pondered sarcastically. Her eyes pointed to the sky as if she was in deep thought. Her white veneers were scraped against her lower lip and her pointer finger was pointing to the sky. "I've never liked you."

Chad snickered. "God Barbie. You used that joke in sophomore year. I remember it was in Calculus and I stole your compass and you said it. 2 years later... Come on Shar you can do better than that." He almost sung in a baby voice causing Sharpay to scowl.

"Oh and that's a hat trick. Fuck. off." Sharpay punctuated. Gabriella had to laugh a little at how irritated Sharpay was becoming and the nastiness that was in her voice. "You know what. You're not worth this. My therapist has been teaching me some very good breathing techniques..."

This caused Chad to burst out into a fit of laughter. "You're therapist? Breathing techniques.... Oh fuck... I seriously have heard it all now..." He said through his laughter, his hand cradling his stomach to halt himself from going into hysterics.

"Oh bite me Danforth..." Sharpay said and then sighed.

"Gabriella you're quiet..." Gabriella had almost forgotten that Taylor was sitting there over the distractions and the almost tennis match of Sharpay and Chad's voice. She had almost forgotten that the tall dark haired boy with the stunning azure pools was there too. "What's the matter?"

"Nothing I'm fine..." She smiled reassuringly.

"Why aren't you sunbathing?" Sharpay asked accusingly her body shooting up to stare at Gabriella.

"Because it's cold?" Gabriella asked more of a question than a statement and added a slight giggle on the end of it. And then ran her fingers over the brown material of her coffee brown hoodie trying to create warmth through friction.

"Oh you pussy it's not cold..." Sharpay insulted again.

"Somebody's in a bad mood today..." Gabriella smiled at her friend, her eyebrows raised and her eyes staring at the milk chocolate brown.

"Sorry.... Zeke and I had a fight last night. I jumped on the aggressive band wagon..." Sharpay pleaded her brown eyes at Gabriella. It was her way of apologizing. Gabriella just silently nodded and shrugged telling her that she was forgiven. Gabriella had noticed Zeke hadn't been there but she thought he might have just been working with his dad or something like that so he could earn the money to pay for Sharpay's high maintenance and to go everywhere in their demanding relationship.

"Oh yeah what about?" Taylor asked, clearly intrigued. But Sharpay just shook her head. "No no... Come on girlie tell..."

"What about Gabriella huh? Nobody's asking her if she has any guys lined up" Sharpay exclaimed.

Gabriella closed her eyes painfully. Why would she possibly do that to her? Just because she didn't want people probing? Now Gabriella had two choices. One she could be totally honest like her mom and dad had brought her up to be, and just say that she hadn't got her eye on anybody and she didn't plan too for a while or, number two... she could lie. She could do the bad thing and say she had met somebody. But then everybody would know she was lying. Gabriella was never really a good liar. "No. There's no guy or guys." Gabriella admitted and pulled at the grass beneath her feet.

"Not even one?" Sharpay asked, silently pleading with her eyes to get her out of the situation.

But Gabriella wasn't prepared to lie. "Nope nobody. Not one..."

"He'd have to get my stamp of approval first. Ain't that right Gabs?" Chad asked jokingly.

But Gabriella didn't even look up from where she was sitting. She felt weird. She felt as if she was in a dream. Like everybody was talking and having a good time and she was just watching. If she could pick up her limbs and move them then they wouldn't move. It was a weird sensation she'd never felt before. "Yeah that's right Chad."

"Troy where's your amazing girlfriend today?" Sharpay interrogated Troy, probably knowing that Gabriella wasn't in the right frame of mind to be interrogated about her nonexistent love life. "I'm missing her so much!" Sharpay added sarcastically causing Gabriella to giggle a little, but as soon as she did she felt the azure pools burning a hole in the side of her head.

They had barely spoken since they had gotten here. She had actually barely spoken to him since two weeks ago when he came to her house and held her as she slept. She had of course awoken the next morning to see him gone. No thanks to her mom. But she shouldn't have been thinking things like that because he had a girlfriend! She didn't know whether he had been embarrassed or weather he felt guilty. But she knew that she wasn't giving Demi much reason to like her after she had let him do that. But she didn't invite him to her house. She didn't ask him to hold her and let her go to sleep in his arms. But she also hated Troy for it. How was she meant to get over him when he was doing things like that?

"She's out of town. Visiting her grandparents or something. I don't know..." Troy said quickly with annoyance laced into his tone. Wait? Wasn't he missing her? He should have been.

"Are you not missing her?" Sharpay asked voicing Gabriella's thoughts.

"Its two day's Sharpay. What's the big deal?" Troy asked, again annoyed by her. Gabriella rested her head on the top of her knees and turned her head to the side so she was faced away from everybody else.

But there was almost a magnetic pull drawing her head upwards. All of the voices droned and again it was like a dream. Only like she was a thousand miles away but could still hear their voices talking, arguing. But what caught her vision was the small girl and what looked like her father further down the hill they were sitting on. But then realization hit Gabriella.

The little girl was her. Her raven black hair was just above her shoulders resting on it, with her curls like a big mass of frizz. She was wearing a cream dress that had a net band around it with flowers on the material. And a cream headband in her hair. And the man was her father. He looked well. Healthy. Healthier than the last time she had seen him and he was playing with the younger Gabriella. He looked around 14 years younger. Making the younger version of Gabriella around 3.

"Dad?" Gabriella frowned. This couldn't be happening. It wasn't real. It couldn't be. She closed her eyes to shake off the mental images but when she opened her eyes they were still there.

"Gabriella?" Taylor called her name.

"Gabs?" Chad did also.

The calls of her name were oblivious to her. She was seeing her dad. It was her dad. And then he turned around and faced her. He must have seen her because his face turned up in a grin and he almost waved.

And then they were gone.

What the hell was that? Gabriella couldn't make a head or tale of it. She had just seen her father. She had she had just seen him. "My dad..."

"Gabriella what are you talking about?" Chad asked her, concern written all over his face as he stared at her. Confused also. But Gabriella was as confused as hell. She couldn't have seen it. Her head was telling her she hadn't seen it. But her heart was hanging on to it. She had just seen her dad. She had hadn't she? She wasn't crazy.

"My dad... he was there..." Gabriella mumbled, so quiet that Chad volunteered himself to stand up and walk towards her. He sat down beside her and Gabriella turned to see that he had horror written all over his face. Like he had seen a ghost. But funny enough Gabriella just had, hadn't she? "I swear he was there..."

"Gabi...." Chad began.

"No he was, he was stood there. And he smiled and he waved at me. Oh my god..." Gabriella moaned. The moisture filling her eyes and it being released from their prisons making its way down her face. She could feel Troy's eyes burning a huge hole in the back of her head. Concern written inside of them. But she could feel everybody's eyes on her. Probably thinking she was crazy.

"Gabriella. Hey look at me..." Chad coaxed her. Her big brown eyes staring at Chad who was biting down on his lower lip. His hand rested on the top of her knees where her head had previously been. "Gabriella you know that wasn't real right?"

Gabriella shook her head, closing her eyes in annoyance. Why wouldn't he believe her? "What? No he was there. He was standing right there. He waved and he...." Gabriella shook her head unable to comprehend what was going on. It had to be a dream. It really did. She was going to wake up soon and everything would be fine. It had to be. "He was right there..."

"Gabriella...."

"Are you saying I'm crazy or something?" Gabriella immediately jumped the gun and Chad's whole face narrowed together in confusion.

"What? No... I'm not saying that..." Chad defended.

"So you believe me then?" Gabriella had totally forgotten that everybody was there. She had forgotten about Sharpay and Taylor and she had most certainly forgotten about Troy. The only person that had mattered to her then was Chad and how he was looking at her like she was an alien. But Chad just hung his head down low. "Chad he was there. He really was."

"Gab... I know you miss him." Chad began to try to calm her down; Gabriella didn't realize her whole body was shaking. His large arm encircled her shoulders that were hunched over.

"So...." Gabriella spoke in more of a rude tone than she had intended.

"Gabriella...."

"NO! NO!" Gabriella screamed. "DON'T" She shrugged off the arm that he had around her. "JUST DON'T TALK TO ME. LEAVE ME ALONE"

And then her legs took off. It reminded her so much of the night where she had found out that her dad had terminal cancer and she had just run away. She had run to Troy's. Hoping that Troy could make it better. Then was the time when she had thought there was a chance for the two of them. It was really once upon a time when she had thought that Troy could make anything better but that night he had completely shattered her dream. Completely shattered it when he had walked through that door with Demi. Inevitably making her realize that there wasn't a chance for them and there never would be again.

She didn't know how long she had been running, but the calls of her name where inaudible to her. But she felt her chest become tight, like a rubber band was being constricted around her chest. Her body was hauled over; she didn't know that she was still violently trembling.

"GABRIELLA!"

And then she heard the footsteps echoing behind her as she fell on the floor, trying to catch her breath. But then the footsteps became faster and then they stopped right next to her. She then felt a large hand on her arm. But the feelings that originated from that touch, she didn't even need to turn around to see who it was who had touched her. "Troy..."

"I thought you could use someone..." He smiled at her as he sat down. "Chad's pretty upset..."

"Troy what is this?" Gabriella asked bluntly, her breath had almost evened out as she stared at his confused features. "This. Me and you." She used her hand to point between the two of them. "I mean you say we're friends but you come to my house and comfort me while I cry and you can hold me while I go to sleep and now you're chasing after me. But if Demi were here you know you wouldn't have been doing any of that Troy."

"Gabriella...."

It finally felt like she was getting closure. Like she was finally getting control. She was confronting him. She didn't know what had told her to do it. She had planned to do it for around 2 weeks but the thought of losing him as whatever he was to her at the minute was scaring her more than anything. But now. It was all different. It was like she was fearless. "I'm just confused Troy. We broke up. And for 6 months there were signs. Signs that we were going to get back together and then you just start dating Demi. Which I don't have a really huge problem with. But then you were totally cold with me and now. You've got enough moods to give me whiplash."

"I don't know." He sighed.

"Well I have to go..." She commented before she rose to her feet and began walking away.

There was something about shopping that made Gabriella happy now. The thought of buying things that made her happy. So with the shopping bags in hand she walked out of the shop that late Saturday afternoon with her head held high and a smile on her face.

That was until she saw Taylor walking in the shop with distress, concern and worry all over her small face. "Don't worry I'm not gonna ask you about anything I just wanted to check that you haven't overdosed." The end of the sentence was added with a closed mouth smile.

Gabriella smiled. "I'm fine. Just needed some time to figure some stuff out."

"Yeah you certainly did. How much money have you spent?" She joked with a giggle at the end.

"I don't know..." She replied holding up the small piece of plastic. "Credit card."

"Ah." Taylor nodded. "So Troy seemed pretty beat up after you'd left. What did you say to him?"

It was then that Gabriella actually remembered what she had said and how rude she had been. But she had spoken the truth right? He was sending her so many signals that it was giving her whiplash. One minute he was here. The next he was there. He was like a one man circus. "I um...." Gabriella began. "I told him the truth. Troy doesn't like the truth being thrown in his face."

"Never has." Taylor agreed.

"Never will." Gabriella joked.

It was the truth. Troy wasn't one to see the truth until it hit him slap bang in the face. And Gabriella had always been afraid to hurt his feelings. But she had told him the truth and clearly she had hurt his feelings. And now she felt incredibly guilty for it. She had never meant to hurt his feelings. But it was like somebody was controlling her. She had felt like she was in a dream. And she had said things that she didn't mean.

"Gabriella Montez...." An unfamiliar voice came from behind her.

Gabriella didn't have a clue what was going on. Her face had scrunched up in confusion as both she and Taylor turned around in unison. Gabriella immediately recognized who he was. He was tall. Around more than a foot taller than Gabriella. His hair was jet black and spiked. His eyes were a pea green, they were bright, and illuminated. He was built and had taut muscles. He was dressed in a white polo and black jeans.

"Clarkson..." Taylor began.

Bradley Clarkson.

"Bradley?" Gabriella questioned and then smiled. "Wow didn't expect to see you here."

She wasn't oblivious to the fact that his eyes were trailing hungrily up and down her small body. But she would have been totally lying if she didn't find him attractive. He wasn't as attractive as Troy but he was really attractive. "Hey..."

"Hi." Gabriella greeted with a huge smile on her face.

"How are you doin?" He asked.

Gabriella felt a genuine smile on her face. Maybe it was because of the attention she was getting from him. But she could get the attention from any guy, although she was oblivious to that. "I'm good. How are you?"

"I'm good..." Gabriella once again became oblivious to other noises and people around her. She didn't feel like Taylor was there and she didn't know that Sharpay had joined the two of them and was giving Bradley evil looks. "So you've been shopping?"

Normally Gabriella would hate the idea of someone using small talk to come onto her. But there was something about Bradley that intrigued her. She had heard stories about him before, Troy had told her about him and Chad also. That he was a bad guy. But that didn't matter to her at that minute. She lifted the bags up symbolizing that she had indeed been shopping. "Yeah..."

"So what did you buy?" He asked. His smile smug on his face.

"Um shoes. Shirts, jeans. Jackets Everything really..." Gabriella responded.

"Are you done Clarkson seriously because as nice as this is we need to get going?" Sharpay expressed in a monotone voice.

"Evans? Holy shit. The last time I saw you, you had a head full of blonde hair. Still plastic as ever I see..." The fact that he was insulting her friend didn't appeal to her. Everyone insulted Sharpay. It was fine.

"Oh fuck off Clarkson." Sharpay insulted.

"Anyway as I was saying Gabriella. I saw Bolton's new chick. Gotta say she's not a patch on you." Bradley complimented her and Gabriella suddenly felt her cheeks flash crimson. But he spat out Troy's last name almost venomously. "Seriously what happened there? I thought you guys were like a fairy tale and gonna grow old together."

Gabriella smiled. She had thought that too. She thought they were going to get married and she thought they were going to have kids or whatever. But she was too naive for that. "You don't wanna know." She responded in the best way she could.

"It could kinda workout for me then." He responded smugly. "I um... think you dropped your receipt."

Gabriella instantly became confused as Bradley bent down behind her and picked up a piece of paper that must have been her receipt. He handed it to her in her hand and as she looked at it she frowned. "What?"

"It's my number..." He told her cockily.

Gabriella immediately felt stupid. Her cheeks flashed crimson for the second time. And she broke out into a giggle. She didn't hear Sharpay's mumble of 'typical'. Or the roll of Taylor's eyes. "Oh... Thanks..."

"So um. You're friends look like they're gonna flip a shit so call me..." He smiled smugly at her and then turned and walked away with his two friends. But Gabriella couldn't control the smile that came onto her face and wouldn't go away.

"Oh my god." Sharpay complained.

"You're not gonna call him are you?" Taylor asked her quickly.

"I might..." Gabriella chuckled. Staring down at the phone number. "Why?"

"Because he's a dick!" Sharpay almost shouted.

"I kinda think that's the East High basketball team talking there..." Gabriella replied.

"No honey it's not. He's a bad guy...." Taylor began but Sharpay's voice cut her off.

"What would Troy think?" Sharpay instantly asked her.

Gabriella hadn't thought of troy for all of the time that Bradley had been around. But that was a good thing wasn't it? "I don't care what Troy would think. Shar you seem awfully unable to let go of my relationship that ended over 7 months ago..."

"She's right..." Taylor shrugged.

"What? Taylor..."

"What she is..." Taylor almost surrendered.

Gabriella had found it a progress. The afternoon at the park almost seemed like a different life time to her at that moment. She felt almost happy. Earlier on in the day she had felt confused she had felt like she wasn't really there. But she had gone out and made herself feel happy. Maybe she was at a turning point in her life. A point where she could finally say she had made progress. She didn't want a serious relationship that was for sure. And a part of her finally wanted to find somebody to see what Troy's reaction would be. Would be jealous? Definitely not. But would he be pissed? She wasn't doing it to test Troy's reaction. That wasn't the main reason. She wanted to find somebody. Maybe this would help her move on?

"What are you thinking?" Taylor asked.

"I'm thinking that I shouldn't have to consider Troy in any of this. We're over. That's it. Do you want me to wait for him to tell me that I can date? I don't think so. I told Troy what I thought. That's it. Period." Gabriella explained.

But what she didn't see were the worried glances that Taylor and Sharpay were sharing.

Gabriella was finally moving on and it was a feeling that she would never get again.