sorry peeps for the long update .. had to go to a wedding and get caught up in school .. but who cares about my life .. on with the story man..

Last Chapter

"Thanks, and I just want you to know that every word in that song is true."

"So, you're really sorry and you still love me?"

"Yes Troy with all of my heart, can you ever forgive me?"

"Look Layla, I don't think I can forgive you. You broke my heart and hurt me and I don't want it to happen again."

Layla was shocked.

"So, you still don't forgive me?"

Troy wanted with all of his heart to say yes but what came out was

"No."

As Layla watched Troy walk away, she started to get dizzy and as she fell to the ground she heard her friends screaming her

name...

Chapter 18

Layla regained consciousness (sp?) to hear the sounds of her friends.

"What do you think happened?"

"How should I know? .. am I a mind reader?"

"Shut up Sharpay."

"Both of you quiet before I slap you."

"Shh-hh .. I think she's coming along."

Layla stirred and opened her eyes to find everyone circling her. As she sat up and looked around she realized she was laying on the

ground backstage. She could hear the music faintly and as she realized what had happened, a lump formed in her throat and fresh

tears sprung to her eyes.

"Layla what happened?" Ryan asked her.

Layla shook her head.

"He won't forgive me. He said no."

Aws were heard all around and she felt Ryan's hand come up to her back and start rubbing it.

"We're never going to get back together. It's over. It's really over."

Layla could feel the tears slide down her cheeks but didn't feel like wiping them away.Layla struggled to get up and when the boys

saw her difficulty, they lifted her up. They let go and she wobbled to the door.

"Guys, I'm so sorry to have ruined your night. You guys go ahead to the dance, I'll go home."

Taylor and Sharpay hugged Layla and walked back to the dance. Chad and Ryan insisted to stay with Layla but she tried to get

them to go back to the dance. After a few minutes of useless arguing, Layla gave up and the three of them went back to the dance

to leave. As they crossed the dance floor, Layla spotted Troy sitting at a table with his head in his hands. She turned away quickly,

not even to be able to look at him. The reached the exit and walked back to the shelter. As they walked into Layla's room, Ryan

sat Layla down on the bed and took her in his arms. She started to sob lightly and she clung to his jacket. Izzy came out of the

bathroom and went to Chad. He picked her up.

"Why is Layla crying Chad?"

Izyy asked in the saddest little voice.

"Izzy, It's not my place to tell you. If Layla wants you to know then she'll tell you."

Layla picked her head up and told Izyy the whole story. Izzy jumped into Layla's arms and Layla cried into her hair. After a while,

Layla stood up and said

"Guys, do you mind if I was alone for a while? I need to think some things through."

Ryan nodded and hugged Layla protectively as if mentally sending a message to Layla saying Dont even think about hurting

yourself. Chad came up to Layla and kissed her on the cheek and hugged her. They both left the room and Layla sat down on her

bed and took out a piece of paper and a pen and began to write ...

School on Monday was hard to face. The good part was that pretty much the whole school forgave her and loved her song. The

bad part was that the only person she wanted to forgive her wouldn't even look her in the eye. It hurt to see him avoiding her at all

costs. Troy looked a mess as well. He all of a sudden didn't care about anything anymore. Of course he was still the most popular

boy in school and all of the girls still loved him, but it looked as if his heart wasn't into it anymore. Layla walked into the office and

unrolled herself out of school. Friday was her last day and it came without her hinting anyone that she was leaving. On Friday

afternoon, she and Izzy were cleaning out her locker when all of her friends came over.

"Hey, you know that we're supposed to do that at the end of school you know?"

Layla took out her biology textbook from the shelf and said

"Well, technically, its the last day for me."

"What do you mean?" Ryan asked.

"I'm leaving guys."

There was an instant uproar.

"Wait. What do you mean you're leaving? you can't go." Chad said.

"I'm sorry guys, but I have to."

Layla finished cleaning out her locker and then pulled out an envelope.

"I need someone to give this to Troy. Ryan, Izzy wants to hang out with you before we leave."

Layla flung her backpack over her shoulders, handed Izzy the letter, and left for the exit.

"Ryan, I need you to take me to Troy's house."

"Why?"

"Just do it." she said touching her backpack.

With Troy

Troy opened the door to his house and flung his backpack on the couch.

"Dad?" he yelled.

No answer.

"No surprise to me."

Troy thinks as he goes into the kitchen and grabs an apple and a bottle of water. He walked back into the living room and picked

up the remote. He was just about to turn the t.v on when he heard the doorbell in the other room.

"Great. Fabulous timing." he thought.

He jogged over to the door and pulled it open. He looked around and saw no one there. He was about to shut the door when he

heard a voice say

"Hey, down here."

Troy looked down to see Izzy standing there waving. He was shocked as he let her in and as he followed her into the living room.

"What are you doing here Izzy, not that I'm not happy to see you."

Izzy sat on the couch, moved Troy's bag and patted the couch.

"I need to talk to you."

Troy sat down.

"It's about Layla, Troy."

Troy sighed and was about to say something when Izzy beat him to it.

"She's miserable without you. She lies awake in bed at night crying softly, whispering your name. She wishes on stars that you will

forgive her. She worked hard on that song she wrote for you for three weeks. She hardly eats anything and her panic attacks are

getting worse."

Troy feels a lump in his throat and blinks his eyes to get rid of his tears.

"I really wanted to forgive her .. but I don't know .. I just couldn't."

"Well, because of all of this, she enrolled out of school and were leaving Alberquerque tonight. And if you would have just forgiven

her we would still be staying here!" Izzy yelled.

She composed herself and said quietly

"I don't want to leave you guys." Izzy stood up and pulled two things out of her pocket: a letter addressed to Troy and a tape.

"Here, these are for you. Layla wrote you the letter. I was taping something on Mr. Kinder's video recorder and I caught something

by accident that I think you should see."

Izzy hugged Troy.

"Bye Troy, I wanted to say it now just incase you didn't come by to the shelter to say it. Layla really needs you now more than

ever. Please go to her." Izzy walked out of the door and Troy sat there frozen. He recovered and looked at the letter and the tape.

He decided to check out the letter first. He twirled it over and over in his hands and smelled it. It smelled like her. He carefully

opened the envelope and pulled out the letter and saw her neat small handwriting. The letter said:

Dearest Troy,

I write this letter as a goodbye. I'm not sure you know, but I'm leaving. I don't want to but I have no choice. It kills me that we're not together and you won't forgive me. Of course I understand your reasons as it was unfair to you to not know the truth. It was my stupidity that you would forgive me as easily as I hoped. I'm tired of chasing an impossible dream. So all I can really do is to tell you that I love you with all of my heart. Love is not a word that I used or heard a lot in my life and my love for you was never expected. I need you to know that my heart belongs to you and only you and I can never give it to someone else and I would never wanted to. You were the best thing that happened in my life and i'm just so sorry it only lasted a little while. You are my true soul mate and If i can't have you then I won't have anyone. My heart is now and forever locked and as soon as I told you that I loved you, the key was instantly yours.I leave with you a picture of us and a key so you will remember the girl who was once your pride and joy. Think of this letter as the memory of what was once something you loved. As I head toward my destination, you will never be forgotten. If anything, I blame myself. Troy, I want you to have a good life and I want you to be happy. My only request I have for you is to never forget me. Keep the picture in you're locker and place the key in your heart so hopefully one day you will unlock my heart from its cold, gray prison. I must leave because I have to pack but I pray that you're there at 6:00 to watch me leave and to say goodbye. I love you Troy, with all of my heart and soul.

Love,

Layla.

Troy read the letter three times. He felt the lump return to his throat and the tears come back. This time he didn't try to hide them.

He folded up the letter and had a little difficulty since his hands were shaking. He found the picture and the key in the envelope. It

was picture of Layla and Troy at the movies in the picture booth. There were four pictures. One of them doing bunny ears, another

fishy faces, another they were doing shocked faces, and the last one they were kissing. Troy noticed that Layla made a big heart

around it. He looked closer and saw that she wrote a little side note. It said You make me soar to the sky and kiss the stars. He

ripped off the last picture from the rest and held it close to his heart and he started to cry. He looked down and spotted the tape. he

put the tape in and pressed play. Izzy's face was in the camera making stupid faces and laughing. Then it cut to an elderly man sitting

in a chair and Izzy introduced him as Mr. Kinder. Then Izzy walked across the hall to Layla's place. She creaked the door open a

little bit for the camera and she stopped as Layla got up from sitting on the bed with Ryan and went to the closert. Troy heard Layla

say

"Actually, I do."

then he heard

"I'm in love with Troy."

Troy's heart leaped and started to pound. She walked back to the bed and then he heard her say

"His smile makes my heart flutter up to the heavens. His laugh makes me want to laugh. His kiss makes my knees go weak. When

he talks to me, shivers go up and down my spine. And when its just me and him, its like time seems to stop and where the only two

people in the world."

Then the tape went blank. Troy just sat there frozen and disbelieving. Troy then shot up off the couch and and checked his watch. It

was 5:00. If he left now, he could still make it to Layla's.

"No way am I letting her slip through my fingers again." Troy thought as he bolted out the door and ran down the street.

With Layla

Layla put the last shirt she owned and looked at the clock. It was 5:30. Her heart was pounding. She would be leaving in a half

hour. Izzy was saying goodbye to Mr. Kinder next door. She just came into the door with red, puffy eyes. She had gotten close to

Mr. Kinder. Layla helped Izzy pack the rest of her stuff. There was a knock at the door and Sharpay, Chad, Ryan, and Taylor.

They had a tiny party but it wasn't much fun since everyone was so sad. At 5:50, they walked Layla and Izzy to the front of the

shelter to wait for the bus that would come to take them away. Layla turned around and said

"You guys are so amazing. I will never forget you."

Then she went and complimented every single person. She did Sharpay first.

"Sharpay, I didn't know you for that long but we were enemies. I want to say that when I got to know the real you, I found out that

you are a great person."

She moved to Taylor.

"Taylor, you're the first friend I've met here and I'm going to miss you so much. You really know how to make me laugh."

She moved to Chad.

"Oh Chad. Those times when I had everyone against me, you were there and I'll never forget that. You were truly my knight in

shining armor."

She moved to Ryan.

"Ryan, you're my best friend. I loved our long chats and I could always speak my mind with you. You're probably the hardest

person I have to say goodbye to. I'm probably going to miss you the most." T

ears moved down Ryan's face and he laughed. Layla started to tear up to and everyone went into a group hug. They broke apart

and Layla said

"Well, I guess that's everyone. Oh, the bus is here."

Layla took Izzy's hand and started to move toward the bus when she heard someone say

"What about me?"

Layla stopped and turned around and looked into the blue eyes that belonged to Troy.

"Troy .. you came."

Layla said breathlessly.

"I know. Look Layla, I'm so sorry about everything that I've done and said and I do forgive you. I"ll do anything just for you to stay

here. I love you Layla and I need you here with me."

Layla started to cry.

"Troy, you have no idea how long I've been waiting to hear you say that."

She dropped her stuff and ran into Troy's arms. He twirled her around and he put her down and pulled her into a kiss. Layla missed

the feeling of his lips on hers. They broke apart after a few minutes and Layla suddenly realized that the other were still there and

they were whistling and clapping.

"I got the letter and the tape and I sat there and I realized that I wouldn't be able to survive if you left me."

"Oh Troy, you saw the letter and the- wait, I didn't send you a tape."

Izzy laughed nervously and said quickly

"Well, I kinda taped you saying stuff about Troy and I kinda haha gave it to him."

"you WHAT? - you little- you know what it's ok. We're going to go inside, unpack and were going to party."

"So, I'm not in trouble."

Layla laughed

"Oh you're in big trouble."

Layla grabbed her stuff and Troy asked

"So you're staying in Alberquerque?"

"Only if you promise to keep the key and be mine."

"Thats a promise that I'm willing to keep."

They pulled into a little kiss and walked back to the shelter hand-in-hand.

so what you think? sucks huh? ya im not good at that fluff crap. lol. well please reviewwwwww