A/N: Two words. Holy shit.

The response for the last chapter was completely unexpected and unbelievable. I'm at a loss for words, but thank you. Thank you so much. I'm completely speechless. Just... every single review and PM was really thoughtful and insightful and just... thank you. I don't think I could ever say it enough times for anyone to understand how grateful I am that you guys are reading this story. Really... (the words of the day) thank you.

I know this chapter is not like the previous one, but I hope you still enjoy it.


It was as though someone had died.

The sullen faces of the select juniors in the halls Monday morning at East High were similar to those as if a tragic car accident had occurred over the weekend. They stared longing at the dividing line between the two vicious sides of the school, praying that by some miracle the mass text message that traveled quickly the previous evening was some sort of masochistic joke. They pleaded sorrow towards the friends on the opposite alliance with depressed glances. For those forty-six who were lost in the transition, school was terrible. The forty-six knew horror had struck in the weekend, and their lives suddenly shattered beneath their feet. There was no light at the end of the tunnel. There was no hope of reconnecting what had been lost.

Yet, for the other two to add up to forty-eight… saying someone had died would have been like a blessing compared to the punished wounds exploding through their hearts.

"Gabriella," Kelsi's soothing voice cut through the silence of the busy hallway like a knife as she placed a comforting hand on the junior's shoulder. The corridor had an eerie mute to it. All eyes seemed to be locked onto her, sympathetically or questioningly. Some may have embraced this attention; others may have cowered from it. But Gabriella was completely numb to the thousand holes drilling into her back. She couldn't feel the stares, nor hear the whispers. Instead she was a walking shell, completely switched onto autopilot. "Gabriella, time for lunch."

Lunch. For a moment, the words did not register of what "lunch" actually was.

Gabriella's stomach was empty, but it reflected the rest of her body. It was as though someone poked a hole through her foot and watched the contents spill out, and all that remained was the exterior of her grey sweats and dark blue hooded sweatshirt. Her stretched waves fell pointlessly around her petite frame. Tasks that were reflexive previously now seemed difficult: such as breathing, talking, and eating. She felt hollow, broken, shattered.

If there was a pre-break up Gabriella and a post-break up Gabriella, the post break up was similar to the walking dead.

"Not hungry." Gabriella mumbled because incoherent sentences seemed to be the only sounds slipping from her throat now.

"You have to eat something." Taylor closed her locker noisily beside her best friend, concern plastered over her dark visage as she glanced warily at Kelsi, as though Gabriella might crumble in front of them. Gabriella simply walked away, forgetting to close her locker in the blankness to the rest of the world.

"I can't eat." Gabriella responded truthfully. She had attempted to indulge in cereal this morning but it ended up in the toilet. Nothing was staying down even if she wanted it to.

They entered a foreign length were a red head suddenly popped out of one of the classrooms, delight over her visage. "Did you hear? I heard she finally found out about the girl he was cheating on her with…" The chipper of gossip danced across the senior hallway as the three girls passed in a daze. Their break up seemed to be the headline of the entire school, even if most of the population had no idea it involved her. Word got out he-who-must-not-be-named and his precious girlfriend broke up during the weekend. However, many believed it was Sharpay who was heartbroken, not Gabriella.

"The dick deserves to get his ass dumped. Even if I hate Sharpay too." Another, more violent, senior snapped as Gabriella gripped the paper bag closely, feeling the lifeless object in her chest crack even further as her hair provided a curtain to hide her swollen face.

"Did you see him today? He looked like he was just diagnosed with cancer." A female on the opposite side of the lockers questioned her friend, and that was all it took for Gabriella's sore eyes to fill with burning tears once again. Would they ever stop?

"Come on sweetie…" Taylor pulled Gabriella quickly through the battlefield, before finally making it through the large doors that opened into the jungle atmosphere of the cafeteria. Students were filing into the large room, and her best friend scurried her over to one of the front rounded tables and sat her down carefully. The scarlet from the surface was all too bright for her sensitive irises. School was the last place she ever wanted to be.

The previous night had been restless. After calming her down, Taylor offered to drive her home from the haven that was once her solitude. She had been silent the entire way, though her best friend had questioned what had happened. Gabriella hadn't wanted to talk, and once she entered the Montez house, she sprinted upstairs and remained in her room for the rest of the day, claiming she was ill. Anna had once been sent to her room to drop off dinner, but did not speak a word. She had expected a glare, but instead Anna had just furrowed her eyebrows curiously, but did not dare motion that she wanted to speak. It only brought even more tears to Gabriella's eyes.

She hadn't seen him once that day. At first it was easier, for someone had whispered in her first hour that her ex was not presently in the school. This had jumpstarted her heart that maybe she had driven him so painfully that he had left completely. But then the gossip commenced third hour when the basketball captain had apparently made his appearance. She suddenly desired just a quick glance; just to be sure he was real. After searching through Heaven when he left, Gabriella found his clothes gone from the dresser, the toothbrush that crossed with hers had disappeared, and the pictures of the happy couple had vanished. Even the waffles in the freezer were taken, as if they might remind her that he had once lived there. It didn't seem real to Gabriella. Now that the evidence had been stripped from her, it seemed as though the relationship had been imaginary. She avoided thinking of his name at all possible costs, for she was certain her broken body couldn't take it.

"Hey." A solemn voice approached the table and Gabriella glanced up to watch Zeke and Jason walking towards them. She felt the pain once again slam to her when she realized these were the "guys" you-know-who hung out with. But would they spend time together anymore? Would she see Chad, Jordan, Sharpay, and the rest of the Bolton friends? Gabriella shrunk in her seat when she realized she hadn't thought of these things previously.

But it was for his wellbeing. That was the only thing that mattered.

"How are you Gabs?" Zeke reached out with his dark eyes asking curiously. But both Taylor and Kelsi sliced against their throats as if to tell them to shut up.

"What's wrong Kels? Do you have something on your neck?" Jason stupidly asked, but Gabriella shook her already vibrating head furiously, attempting to hide the pain that was leaking from her vision.

"It's fine Tay," Gabriella muttered, though she shifted her head to the paper bag once again. The sound of the noisy commons was drowning her. She couldn't take this. Truthfully, she couldn't take much of anything right now. But then suddenly, the idea crossed her mind. Her eyes perked up, knowing the next sentence would be suicide, but she needed to ask. A desire to have knowledge exploded within her. And Zeke and Jason were perfect for the job. "How… um… how is… how is he?" She choked on her words, the empty shell cracking just a bit further.

Jason and Zeke gave each other nervous looks. "You don't want to…"

Gabriella shook her head. "I need to know. Please just tell me." She forcefully pushed, before Zeke sighed heavily, knowing that he would not win this battle.

Zeke stared at his chocolate hands before locking gazes with her. "He hasn't said a word. Taylor's boy was with him all day, and he said it was like he never learned to speak." Zeke replied in a hushed tone, soft enough so no one else could eavesdrop.

Gabriella swallowed the grapefruit sized lump in her throat as she placed her tired head onto the back of her hands, feeling the pulsation. She pulled the navy sweatshirt over her thumbs and closed her scorching eyes. Every inch of her body hurt, but knowing her ex-lover was being tortured this way multiplied the magnitude of her torment. "I…" Before she could say anything, the air in the room suddenly rotated and the excited chatter of the cafeteria was silenced. She immediately felt her eyes widen as she watched the faces of the bystanders, either concerned or snickering. That only meant one thing…

It was as though someone pressed an electric shock to her chest when her heart betrayed her and whipped towards the entrance of the commons. The world around her stopped moving and every single pair of eyes from the balcony above to the round tables below turned in the same direction. Leading the group was the fluffy haired Chad, whose gaze dangerously shifted in threats towards the freshman who began to whisper secrets. Second to enter was a bowed figure with his black hood on his zip up pulled up to shield his face, and finally Jordan followed, almost acting as a body guard to the hidden person.

However, she only could see the middle boy.

Gabriella's breath was stripped from her throat as she watched them enter. Her life, her love, her everything was finally in the same atmosphere as she. The dizzy sensation cast over her once again, and Gabriella felt the unexpected tears linger in her eyes, as if they never left. The last time she had been in his presence they had made love. He had kissed every inch of her body, caressed every cell, and stroked every hair. Suddenly, her olive skin felt acidic, as though it was poisoned by his love. The feeling of dirtiness covered her toes all the way to her part. She didn't belong in this skin. She hurt him; she had never deserved him.

The unnamed basketball captain raised his head momentarily, but refused to look in her direction. She was taken aback by the swollen sapphires that looked as though they had just seen a massacre take place. His pale face was appeared ghostly with the sun spilling in through the glass windows that surrounded the walls and a slim toothpick jutted out from his thin lips. Whatever was left of Gabriella's pathetic heart ruptured into a million little pieces as he dropped his eyes to the floor once again. If Gabriella would have been watching, she would have seen Sharpay narrow her gaze to keep the act up on the opposite table, however the brunette couldn't stop staring as he sat in the center-head table with his ranks on either side of him.

After the crowd became disappointed that Sharpay and the-boy-not-spoken-of would not instigate a heated argument, the crowd seemed to slowly build up to the volume it had previously been at. Yet, this time, Gabriella was certain the topic of conversation revolved around the blonde bimbo and the king of the school's epic break up. Every passerby of the table she was at seemed to have the desire to make a comment.

"Look at him, he looks so broken."

"Ugh… stop crying like a four year old. It's just a girlfriend. They never even kissed in public."

"Sharpay had every right to do it, the guy's a douche."

"I bet I could cheer him up in a way Sharpay never could."

"Make them stop." Gabriella croaked as she slammed her palms to her ears. It was a good thing only Zeke, Jason, Taylor and Kelsi occupied the table with her, for she was certain that even if someone who was not aware of the secret was sitting there, she would not have been able to hide her torment.

"I can't… but it's going to be fine." Taylor soothed while placing a hand on her back. It was shocking that no one else picked up on Gabriella's shrunken face; however the rest of the school seemed too occupied with the basketball captain to notice his enemy was breaking just as much as he was.

Gabriella was not convinced of her words as she silently glanced upwards again, begging for him to steal one look from her. Just to know that he recognized her presence. She knew it was selfish, but she needed to feel that their love hadn't been in her imagination. Gabriella had to know if it really existed, and that she wasn't just stuck in some hopeless dream for the past two years. "Everything's going to be alright." Kelsi promised weakly, but still supporting her friend in the process.

Gabriella sighed before pushing her paper bag away. "No," she replied truthfully before gazing at his dead face one more time. "It's not… and it's all my fault."

No one responded, they didn't need to. Gabriella knew they were all aware how true the statement was.

Make it.

The orange sphere rolled off of his vibrating fingertips and pushed through the dry air with force until it bounced off the fiberglass backboard. The basketball swirled around the metal rim until it dropped through the net with ease. The shot was perfect, flawless. Any athlete worth their sweat would be proud of the fluid basket. Coach Bolton would have been more than proud to admit that his point guard made the three pointer from half court.

It wasn't good enough in Troy Bolton's tear-stained eyes.

"Bolton! Stop, man!" Chad's voice cut through the noisy gym. The squeaks were deafening to all who were listening, but that did not included the tormented junior who was vigorously practicing his shots in PE at the present time. His body was so twisted in agony that he had to continue to practice faster, harder. Even if the upcoming season didn't start for almost six months. Just anything to keep his mind of the excruciating pain helped. Anything to distract him from the writhing snake in his stomach and the feeling of a thousand butcher knives stabbing through his heart would help. It felt as though someone grabbed his nerves and flattened them out with an ironing board before playing tug of war.

To sum everything up, it hurt like hell.

"Troy… man you've been at it for twenty minutes straight… take a breath," Jordan, who approached the captain from behind at the same time that his hand flew through his chestnut hair. Troy weighed the light basketball in his hands, feeling the power of his revealing muscles underneath his heather-gray Nike t-shirt that was cut at the sleeves and his crimson basketball shorts. "Just take a break."

I need to do this, Troy thought and willed for his vocal cords to sound, but ever since yesterday morning, it was as though they had been snapped with a scissors. The last word he had spoken was Gabriella's nickname, and for some bizarre reason, he didn't want to spoil it. Not that he had much of a choice either. His throat would not allow noise to produce.

The heat of the gym was overpowering, yet the tension loomed even more. He had caught a glance of the youngest Montez when he first entered, but he didn't see what he had expected to view. Instead of Anna being furious and announcing to the entire school that Troy and Gabriella are… were… a couple, she tilted her head curiously at his obvious pain. The anger that had been present Friday night seemed to have disappeared. Well, at least suppressed.

Troy shook his head and turned back to the hoop, closing his eyes and attempting to shoot once again. Miss. "Dude… use your knees." Chad mocked, for the phrase was yelled by the basketball captain a million times in practice. Troy glared mercilessly before retrieving his ball.

He bent down to grab it, but felt a sudden pain ripple through his chest. The bruises from Matt's fists still burned, but not as much as the scorching fire that exploded through his nerves from being a single guy now. "I went to the library today…" Jordan began.

Chad snorted. "The library?"

His blonde eyebrows narrowed. "Fuck off man. Anyways… I saw erm… Chad's girl…"

Chad rolled his eye again. "Figures."

"… and she and um…" Jordan's voice dropped in the case of eavesdroppers. "Neilson… were talking about your girl," Troy closed his eyes and felt his heart clench. Ex girl, he wanted to correct. But Troy just nodded curtly, as though to allow him to continue. "She's broken up. I guess they said she hasn't eaten."

No, Troy screamed in his head. She was supposed to be the strong one in this. Wasn't she the one who wanted this to happen? He needed to make sure she was okay. Troy himself could be crucified by the event, but he didn't want her to suffer the way he was. He loved her too much for that.

"What do you mean, 'hasn't eaten'?" Chad carefully asked, Troy knowing that he was just being the protective brother figure she never had. But was he stupid? It meant she was not putting food into her mouth!

"I guess after lunch she threw up in the girl's bathroom," Jordan revealed. Troy felt his broken heart jumpstart into panic. No. The last thing he needed for her was to become bulimic or something of that nature from the stress. Jordan must have noted the terror in Troy's bloodshot eyes. "Not like… that. I guess Ta…erm… her best friend said nothing is staying down. She's not doing it herself or anything."

Troy let out a breath of relief, but was still worried if she physically could not eat. I need to make sure she's okay, Troy wanted to say, but when he opened his mouth, all that came out was hot air.

"God… she's gonna make herself sick." Chad shook his head as though he was useless. For a moment, Troy felt a pang of jealousy. Wasn't she the one that broke up with him? Wasn't this her doing? So if she was so sick, then why wasn't she rushing to him right now and asking for them to just work this out? And what about him? He was hurting just as much as she was, if not more. Why the fuck were they talking about it right in front of him?!

Stop. Troy begged inside his head and he trailed the bumpy surface of the basketball over his fingers. Why didn't they understand this was killing him?

"BOLTON! DANFORTH! FERMAN!" A sudden booming voice echoed through out the gym. Troy had almost forgotten there were others lingering about. They were supposed to be playing field hockey outside with the rest of their class, however being captain of the basketball team and the coach's son came with perks. He hadn't even said anything, but just grabbed a basketball and became engrossed in his shots and the teacher hadn't said a word in protest. A large man with a mustache was calling the three over, and it took Troy a moment before he realized it was the freshman gym teacher.

Chad patted Troy on the back to snap out of his death-like trance. "Mr. Porter! What's up?"

It was just then that Troy realized every freshman's eyes were on them. He felt the burn of two mocha colored orbs, the penetration of Anna's stare was intense. Troy looked at her, finding his heart squeezing mercilessly when he realized how similar to she was to her older sister. Most compared Anna with Adrienne, but Troy could see Gabriella's hints in her as well. It almost made him slip to the floor in agony. This was killing him. Being alive was tearing him apart. He wished he could fall asleep and wake up in ten years without feeling this heartbreak anymore.

For a defining moment, Troy and Anna's eyes met and the world crumbled beneath his feet. She knew. He hadn't even looked at Gabriella yet today, and here he was staring at her sister with his eyes burning from all the tears that had escaped. Yet, they were completely dry now, since he was all soaked up and was certain another tear could not be produced. He didn't have any left. "Well… I was just about to demonstrate a game of Lightning… but you guys might do a better job."

Troy frowned. He couldn't do much of anything right now. "Yeah… I think we can handle that." Jordan replied with fake enthusiasm. Troy could tell they were both hurting as well, but no where near the magnitude that Troy felt even in his left pinky.

Troy finally dropped his gaze from the youngest Montez when Mr. Porter turned to him. "You wanna show us that free-throw that won us State, Bolton?"

I can't do much of anything. He wanted to tell the teacher that his arms were numb, along with the rest of his body, but no words came out once again.

"'Course he will." Chad forced before Troy shook his head and took a huge step backwards. Not in front of Gabriella's sister.

"Ugh…" Luke, whom was standing behind Anna protectively, rolled his eyes.

Troy dropped his head once again before Jordan let out a sigh. "Come on Danforth, I'll smoke your…erm… Do you have a ball Mr. Porter?"

Troy stepped aside, although the freshmen were staring at him obviously. He was unbelievably sick of the looks everyone sent him, as though he was a time bomb about to burst. As the class started, either disgusted member of the "Bolton" side were there or in awe at their amazing skills, Troy snuck away to the edge of the gym and closed his eyes. He leaned up against the wooden bleachers and sank to his butt. The court usually brought him happiness, but it seemed nothing would bring him joy the way Gabriella felt in his arms.

Why me? Troy asked himself as he glanced back towards the freshman to see the dark girl leaning against the wall with her new mocha haired boyfriend standing with her, concern on his visage. He couldn't help but feel jealousy when he watched Luke's hand gently brush her shoulder. He wanted to touch a Montez that way. Troy suddenly remembered that Luke had just asked Anna out on Friday, when all of this shit started.

He shouldn't have been curious, but Troy leaned forward, cringing at his bruised abs, and eavesdropped on the conversation. "You look pale," Luke commented, shifting his weight nervously from left to right on his feet. "Are you sure you're okay?"

Troy noted how tender he was with her, how innocent. The jealous monster in his chest roared and tears once again pulsated in the back of his eyes, but he couldn't be weak that way. "Yeah… yeah I'm just tired… it was a long weekend."

Luke smiled softly at her before brushing away a stray strand of hair that fell out of her ponytail. "Good weekend though?"

She bit her lower lip in the identical way that Gabriella did. "It started great."

Luke's brunette eyebrows narrowed. "Anything you want to talk about?"

Anna looked at Troy once again, and he felt his heart shatter just staring at her. That was her bloodline, they were her eyes. Convolutions began to bubble in his chest right there before he gripped his shag desperately to calm himself down. Troy took buckets full of air. In and out. He couldn't break down here. Not in front of everyone. It didn't matter if he was dying, or if his heart was stopping.

Anna shook her head before tearing her eyes away from the broken basketball captain. "Nope… let's get back to the game."