"Troy? Honey, what are you doing?" Mrs. Bolton asked her son, who was running as fast as he could on a treadmill.

Troy panted, "Oh you know…staying busy to keep my mind off of…off of…"

"Oh no," Mrs. Bolton muttered, knowing a stream of tears was underway. "Troy sweetie…"

"GABRIELLA!" he finished. He powered off the treadmill and dropped onto his bed. "I didn't even do anything wrong!"

Mrs. Bolton sighed and sat down at the end of the bed, "Troy, we both know Gabriella was just jumping to conclusions. Just talk to her and it will all work out."

"Are you kidding me?" Troy questioned. "That's what I've been trying to do all week! All she's done is returned the shirt I left in her room two weeks ago."

"You know all this relationship stuff is new for her. Maybe she was just nervous that you two were caught by the news—what were you doing in Gabriella's room that caused you to leave your shirt there?" his mother asked suspiciously.

Troy's eyes widened, "Nothing."

Mrs. Bolton squinted at him, "Since you're already upset enough, I'll let that one slide. But only this one time, understand?"

"Yeah," said Troy. He covered his face with his pillow.

His mother stood up and headed for the door, "Remember honey, just keep talking to her. Everything will be fine."

"Uh-huh," he mumbled as she left the room.

The next day at school, Taylor was waiting for Gabriella in the parking lot. She looked at her watch, "Come on Gabby, you were supposed to meet me here five minutes ago." She looked across the lot and spotted Gabriella getting out of her mom's car.

"Bye Mom," said Gabriella, waving as her mom drove off.

"Gabriella!" Taylor hollered, running up to her best friend. "Hey. Wait a second, why did your mom just drop you off? You have your own car."

Gabriella nodded shyly, "I gave it back to Troy."

Taylor's jaw dropped, "Gabs, I know it's the right thing to do by returning all of your ex's things but returning the car he bought you? That is crazy."

"What's so crazy about it?" asked Gabriella.

"He bought it for you." Taylor reminded her. "That means it's yours, not his."

Gabriella bit her lip, "Well, I feel bad keeping something he spent so much money on. And since we're not dating anymore, he should keep it."

Taylor rolled her eyes, "Sometimes you're a bit too nice Gabriella."

Sharpay pulled into the spot Taylor and Gabriella were standing next to, nearly running them over. She hopped out of her pink convertible and tossed her hair. She took a whiff of the fresh Albuquerque air and turned to Taylor and Gabriella, "Oh! Good morning, ladies." she said with the fakest smile on her face.

Taylor crinkled her nose, "I smell a fake." she muttered under her breath. She fixed a smile on her face, "Hi Sharpay."

"Mmm," Sharpay replied. "It's a wonderful day today, isn't it Ryan?" she asked as her brother was working his way out of the car.

Ryan slipped on his sunglasses, "Yeah, sure."

"Ah," Sharpay said, exhaling. "Come on Ry, East High awaits!" she announced, strutting out of the parking lot.

"Looks like someone's happy that you and Troy broke up," Taylor told Gabriella.

Gabriella opened her mouth to speak when she saw Troy walking by them with his hands in his pockets, looking at the ground. He didn't say anything, even when Chad bounced up to him. Gabriella sighed, she missed him. She missed fighting over the remote at his house, then ending up on the floor, giggling. She missed making fun of his stuffed animals, ending up with him kissing her to shut her up. She missed everything she used to do with Troy. Maybe I was a bit too hard on him, she thought. No Gabriella, you have to be strong.

"Dude, what's wrong?" asked Chad, placing his hand on Troy's shoulder.

"What do you think is wrong with me?!" Troy asked angrily.

"Ouch," Chad mumbled. "I know this is tough for you man. But we're guys, we get through these things! Come on, be a man!"

"A man is nothing without a woman by his side," Troy recited monotonously.

"Okay now you're scaring me." Chad remarked. "Come on man, be strong! Get over it."

Troy stood up, "I don't want to get over it okay?!" he fired. "I don't want to just drop everything and act like I don't want to fix anything. I don't want Gabriella to think that I'm perfectly fine with us being broken up when I'm not!"

Chad had forgotten how emotional Troy could get, "I'm sorry, dude. Sometimes I forget how sensitive we men can be."

Troy sat back down, then faced Chad, "Do you realize it's been four days since I've stared into her gorgeous brown eyes? And that was the time where she was giving me back my shirt, so it still meant nothing!"

"…To her? It probably meant everything to you." said Chad.

"I guess you're right," sighed Troy.

"Hi Troy!" Sharpay giggled, skipping up to him.

Troy rolled his eyes, "Oh. It's you again."

Sharpay gasped. No one had ever talked to her like that before. "Hmph. I will talk to you when you have a better attitude." She stormed off.

"In that case, I won't change my attitude. I am in no mood to talk to her." Troy shared.

"You're on live with 'He Said, She Said.'" Troy said dully.

Gabriella sighed at him, "What's your name?" she asked the caller.

"Adam," he replied.

"What's wrong Adam?" Troy asked monotonously.

"Well, my girlfriend broke up with me. But she was just jumping to conclusions." Adam explained.

Troy shot up, "Really?"

Adam sighed, "Yeah. She saw me laughing with another girl and automatically assumed I was cheating."

"Don't worry; I know exactly how you feel." Troy said, glaring at Gabriella.

Gabriella shook her head, confused. She had no idea what Troy was talking about. "So, have you called her? Have you tried talking to her?"

"Yeah, I have. She won't listen to me. I keep trying to tell her that I'm not cheating, but she just walks away. How can I get her to listen to me?" Adam asked, desperately.

"Try another form of communication, like writing. Write her a note and see if that works." explained Gabriella.

"But what if she throws the note away before reading it?!" Troy asked angrily, referring to the twenty-seven notes Troy had written to her, all ending up in the trash.

Gabriella sighed, "Maybe talk to her parents and explain that you weren't cheating. Maybe they'll be on your side, and tell her that it was all a misunderstanding."

"Maybe," said Adam. "Should I give her something special to show her how much I love her? She really likes music."

Troy sniffled, "You should write her a song. That's what I would do."

Gabriella looked down at her lap, Troy did write good songs. She remembered the one he wrote for her one weekend. "That's a good idea Troy," she said shyly.

"Yeah, whatever." he said, looking in the opposite direction.

"Thanks!" cried Adam. "I can sing it to her outside her window. This way, she'll have to listen to me!"

After Adam hung up, Troy got up and left. "Mr. Matsui, can I talk to you for a second?" he asked.

The principal nodded, "Of course Troy, what is it?"

"I don't think I can do the show anymore." Troy confessed.

"What?!" shrieked Principal Matsui. "Why not? You and Gabriella are doing great!"

Troy sighed and wiped an incoming tear, "It's something personal. It's just too awkward being around her now. I can't even look her in the eyes without losing it."

"Well, I don't really understand." said Principal Matsui. "But I do understand that you teenagers go through some pretty tough times, so I guess I understand. Why don't I tell Gabriella, and we'll try to work things out, okay?"

Troy nodded, "Sure. I'm going to be in the gym if you need me." he said as he took off.

"Gabriella! Could you come here for a second?" asked the principal.

Gabriella got out of her seat and made her way to Principal Matsui, "Yes?"

"Troy won't be doing the show anymore."

"What? Why not?" Gabriella asked, panicking.

"I'm not sure," he said. "He said something about feeling awkward around you and not being able to look at you without going crazy."

"Oh," muttered Gabriella. "Well who's going to replace him? Are we going to cancel the show?"

"I'll leave that up to you." said Principal Matsui. "Either you get Troy back, find a replacement, or no show." He nodded before walking away.

Gabriella brushed one of her brown locks out of her face and sighed heavily. This breakup stuff obviously wasn't easy. She missed Troy…a lot. But how would she survive in the world of relationships if she kept crawling back to the same guy over and over again? Gabriella breathed deeply and headed to the gym. "Just politely ask him to come back to the show." she told herself. She opened the door to gym. Sure enough, Troy was there. But he wasn't shooting baskets, he was doing yoga poses. "Troy?" she asked, confused, "What are you doing?"

Troy immediately broke out of his pose and picked up a basketball, "Nothing."

"Yoga?" she asked, taking the basketball from his grasp.

He nodded, "Yeah. I do it when I'm…stressed. Or when I'm heartbro—sad."

Gabriella pursed her lips, "I see." she shot the ball through the hoop. "Why aren't you going to do the show anymore?" she asked.

"Mr. Matsui told you?" inquired Troy.

She nodded, "Yeah."

"I don't know," he shrugged. "It's too…complicated. It just doesn't feel right anymore."

"Oh," Gabriella said sadly, tossing him the ball. He took a shot and sighed. "So how'd you do on your last test?" she asked, trying to change the subject.

"Um, I failed." admitted Troy. "I guess I haven't been up for studying lately."

"I'm sorry to hear that." Gabriella replied.

"Yeah…I should go." Troy dropped the ball and went out the door to the locker room.

Gabriella huffed and attempted to shoot the ball. It missed. There were so many times when things were awkward between them, and Troy had done his best to fix it. But now, she knew it was her turn to make things right.

A/N: Yeah, I'm sorry this chapter was so boring. But the good news is I'm already working on the next one! So, if you're really good and review, I'll update today. So review, and remember: No Flames! And this my friends, marks the end of part two! Part three, here we come!

--Kayslee