Gabriella sat in her kitchen waiting in her crimson Sophia Ponte short sleeve dress, she'd left her hair down around her shoulder. With a sigh she looked down at her leopard printed Luis Vuitton eye lined pump. And arched her foot to get a better glance, she'd spent about two hours putting this outfit together and she was extremely happy with the result. She was sure Troy would be equal as pleased as well once he saw the prefect curving of her ass in these shoes.

Another hour went by and her stomach rumbled. She should eat something here, something light just so she wouldn't be so hungry at the restaurant. She stood wondering about where they were going. Where he would take her? What he wanted to talk about? She glanced at the clock again only to be pulled away by the sounds of the phone ringing.

Reaching for it she answered it on the third ring. "Hello?"

"Hey," Troy's voice came over the phone and Gabriella felt everything inside her beam. Just the sound of his voice did things to her she couldn't understand.

"What's up? Where are we going?"

"Well," Troy said hesitantly, "I got caught up in something at school and I can't get away from it so, I was actually calling to cancel."

"Oh," Gabriella's face fell as she leaned on the counter, "Well that's a relief, I was ready yet anyway," she lied as she reached down to remove her pumps.

"Right," Troy said quietly.

Gabriella arched her brow as she listened to the silence, "Is everything okay?"

"No," Troy said with a grim tone, "No, they're not.

Gabriella stilled as she listened hard to the phone line, "Troy? What's wrong? Has something happened?" the worst possible scenarios started playing in her head, deceased relatives, house fires and other catastrophes.

"No, I mean, not in the way you mean. No one's dead or anything."

"Well," Gabriella said with a sigh of relief, "That's a good start, I always think," she joked, even though her heart was racing. There was something about the way he sounded, so flat and emotionless. "Are you okay?" she asked.

"This isn't going to work, Gabriella. I thought it would, but I'm not up for it. I'm sorry."

It took her a moment to understand he was talking about them. About their relationship, she reached out a hand to steady herself on the kitchen counter.

"Okay. Um… sorry. You've caught me a little off guard here," she said. "Can I ask what's changed? Because this morning I thought things were going pretty well. I mean does this have something to do with you seeing someone else."

"I'm not seeing anyone else," Troy said calmly, "And I don't appreciate you using my co-workers to check up on me. I won't tolerate being treated like a child."

"I don't understand."

"It's hard to explain. I'm just not ready for this. I'm not ready for you."

She attempted to push aside the fear crowding her thoughts and listen to him, to understand. "Because of Lindsey? Because of the divorce?"

"Because of everything. I'm not ready to take anything on faith right now, you know? And I can't handle you."

She was holding the phone so tightly her fingers ached. He sounded so… distant. A million miles away. how could they have gone from him holding her against his heart while he slept to being a universe apart in less than twenty-four hours?

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to hurt you Gabriella."

Tears burned her throat. She tried to find something to say that wasn't a plea.

"Can we at least talk about this?"

"I'm still at school, but maybe I'll call you later tonight when you get home."

"Okay."

"Have a good evening Gabriella."

She couldn't get past the lump in her throat. The next thing she knew she was listening to the dial tone. She stood there frozen for a long moment, utterly stunned by how quickly things had turned. Then reality caught up with her as key parts of their conversation hit home.

I'm not ready for you… I can't handle you, Gabriella… I'm not ready to take anything on faith right now.

Troy was walking away. He'd stormed into her life like a freight train, riding to her rescue, enduring her antisocial rudeness, reminding her that there was more to life than producing her radio show and making others life's easier. He'd made her feel sexy and desirable and alive again. He'd made her feel full of possibilities.

And now he was pulling the pin. Because he wasn't ready for her and because he thought she didn't need him in her life.

"Bullshit," she said the word rising from her belly on a wave of disbelief. She slapped her hand on the counter top hard.

Bullshit he wasn't ready for her. And bullshit she didn't need him. She needed him like she needed air. She needed him like she needed heat and light and laughter. She needed him so much it hurt.

When he called again, she would tell him. She would apologize for whatever happened that made him feel like she treated him like a child and she would let Troy know in no uncertain terms how she felt about him.

Until then, she was somehow going to have to hang on to her patience and her sanity and not panic. Because this was not over, not by a long shot.

Somehow she managed to make it to the station. She been watching his house from her kitchen window all the way until it was time for her to leave for work. She had to tear herself away. She was a mad woman. Like something out of a soap opera. The best she could do was pace and fret and chew her nails down to nothing. Her mother was going to kill her. She was supposed to be getting her nails done for the wedding and she now she had completely chewed them away.

"So what that's it?" Taylor said nervously. "No reason or explanation?"

"He said he couldn't handle me," Gabriella said placing her hands on her hips. It was much easier to be angry than to give into the horrible despair lapping at her ankles.

He'd made promises to her. Not verbal ones, perhaps, but his body had made promises to her every time they slept with each other. He'd made love to her with a single-minded intensity and cradled her afterwards as though she was important to him. He'd told her she drove him crazy and this wasn't only sex and that he wanted them to keep seeing each other.

"What did you say?" Sharpay asked leaning forward and sipping on her frappe.

"I can't even remember what I said, he completely caught me off guard," Gabriella said defensively as she continued to pace the studio. She didn't want this to be the end. How could this be the end? "Apparently he's not ready for me?"

"What about the wedding?" Taylor asked.

"Urg the wedding," Gabriella twirled around picking up a letter opener from her desk. "I am so tired of thinking about weddings! People who get married are not to be trusted. You know why?" she said pointing the letter opener at both of them.

Sharpay and Taylor glance at each other with worry before daring to look back at Gabriella. "Why?" they murmured in unison.

"Because if you were legitimately happy, honestly you wouldn't feel the need to make a big show out of it, you wouldn't have to broadcast it." Gabriella threw her arms up in frustration. "They do it because they're insecure and because they think that getting married is what they're supposed to be doing now. And so they're lying to themselves and they're lying to others."

"Okay, honey," Sharpay interjected slowly coming to her feet. "I'm going to need you to put down the pointy object now. Yeah," Sharpay carefully took the letter opener away from her.

"He's not ready for me? Men are such assholes," Gabriella said as let Sharpay take the letter opener away. "They're just so sneaky, he's trying to make me think that this entire thing was my idea."

Sharpay tossed the letter opener into her purse tucked away safely out of sight, "Well I wish I could say he was original but pulling the whole you're too good for me scheme is a cheap shot."

"Yeah," Taylor said with frown.

Gabriella ranked her hand through her hair, "Sharpay I'm going to need you to suit up."

"Done," she said saluting Gabriella with nod.

"And I need to know exactly what Chad said to him," Gabriella sighed as she looked over at Taylor.

"No problem."

Sharpay let out a sigh, "So what are you going to do now?"

"I don't know, he said he would call later tonight so we could talk about this," Gabriella brought her thumb up to her lips and began chewing on the nail.

"Do you think he'll call?" Taylor frowned not really sure what to say.

Gabriella placed her hands on her hips. She felt awful, she couldn't even bear it anymore. What was she going to do if he didn't call her? What was she going to say when he did? She felt like she was on her death bed. Could he be prosecuted for murder? Cause of death: broken heart. Murder weapon: words laced with bullshit.

"I don't know what to think," Gabriella said finally pulling out her chair and taking a seat.

It was half past two when Gabriella walked in through the door. The show dragged on forever, and no matter how many time she checked her phone all she kept receiving was wedding plans. This was the week before the wedding, everything was happening so fast. Tomorrow she was expected to go to her mother's house to help stuff the little gift bags for the guest.

She wasn't sure what she expected. Part of her wanted him to be waiting on her porch. Sitting there in the dark waiting for her, to tell her he'd been an idiot. As soon as she locked the door behind her she turned on her living room light and made her way into the kitchen. Everything was quiet, no paws scratching at her back door, no lights on from the house next door. With a sigh she walked over to her machine which was blinking. She pressed the answering machine button to hear her messages.

Gabriella this is your mother, don't forget to stop off at the store and pick up three yards of ribbons and remember they have to be egg shell white for the baskets. We also need Troy's number for the bachelor party; your father doesn't have it so we can't exactly call him up and invite him ourselves. It's almost like you're ashamed of us, seriously are we horrible parents? Did we not give you everything you ever wanted in life? I think the least you could do is show a little more trust in us that we won't run him off?

Gabriella bent down to remove her heels as the messages transitioned to the next one.

Hey this is Sam, I like seriously owe you my life for everything you did for us. You totally saved my marriage. Can you believe I'm getting married in just four days! I can't believe it. There were squeals to be heard on the other line. Anyway I just want to make sure you know that the rehearsal dinner is on Friday at 7 if mom hasn't already reminded you like a zillion times. I look forward to seeing you and professor McDreamy there in your formal wear.

Gabriella rolled her eyes. Sick at heart, angry, confused and hurt, she went to bed. She lay awake for a long time, having imaginary conversations with Troy where she said all the right things and he responded in all the right ways and the horrible, hollow feeling in her stomach went away. She didn't want this to be the end. How can this be the end?

It was her last thought before she fell asleep.

The first thing she did when she woke up the next morning was check her phone to see if maybe Troy had called her. But he hadn't. Short of bombarding him with phone calls until he picked up or getting in her car and driving down to the school and confronting him in person, she was out of options.

Looking at the time she let out a sigh, she needed to get to her mother's house before her phone began to explode with phone calls about her whereabouts. Deciding to skip the shower she slopped her hair into a messy bun. She pulled on a pair of yoga pants along with and spaghetti strap top and oversize blue t-shirt than hung off her shoulder. After slipping into a pair of flip flops she was out the door pulling her big sunglasses over her face as she prepared for the long day that lay ahead of her.

Troy sat at his desk quietly as the class silently worked on their short essay answers to the reading question from last night's assignment. His eyes drifted over his students as he watched each one work. In the back of the room Rachel was grading papers from yesterday. He'd been avoiding her for three days. Which with all the wedding crap going on hadn't been hard to do, he'd been watching from his living room window as she came and went. Once with like a million baskets Taylor and Sharpay had helped her load into her trunk.

He hadn't seen her since Tuesday morning, it was already Thursday. He missed Gabriella so much his bones ached with it. It shouldn't have been possible that someone he'd known for so short a time could have such a huge impact on his life. The fact remained, however, that he thought about her, he dreamed about her, he missed her, he craved her…

He'd had her, too, for the briefest of times before he'd screwed it up.

He couldn't think about that night without feeling anxious and panicky and ashamed all over again. He never wanted to be in that place again, so desperate and angry and out of control. He definitely didn't want to inflict that kind of crazy on Gabriella. Didn't want her to know how nuts and scary it was inside his head sometimes.

He wanted only good for her, and he was not good. He was messed up and scared. He had no business getting involved with her when he was so screwed up. He should have resisted the urge of attraction and turned his back on the sense of connection he felt with her. He should have barricaded himself inside his grandmother's house and worked through his crap on his own instead of inflicting it on her.

He tried to re-imagine the past three weeks if he'd done just that. If he'd kept his distance. If he hadn't kissed her. If that night after her parents he let her go. Let her be angry with him, let her think the worst of him.

He couldn't. It was impossible to imagine himself not responding to her. Not being attracted to her. Not wanting her. Maybe he'd always been destined to break her heart, and his own, because he'd met her at the wrong time, because he couldn't handle the way she made him feel and the corresponding fear that came with all the good stuff. Fear that she would betray and hurt him the way Lindsey had. Fear that he would never be able to trust her or anyone. Fear that his divorce had broken something inside him and he'd never be able to repair it.

The bell rang and students got up from their seat each one leaving their paper in a pile on his desk as they made their way out. He clicked his pen as he watched Rachel let out a sigh and pack up her things form the back of the room. He'd been avoiding her as well.

Coming up to the front of the room she dropped the stack of graded papers onto his desk and picked up the new ones without a word she tapped them against the desk straightening them out. Her red hair was pulled back today in a French bun. Her sweater hung open as she reached for a clip from his small cup on his desk.

"Thank you. Miss Galeton," he said not looking up at her.

"What do you know? He speaks," she said with sarcasm as she lifted her bag to tuck the stack of papers inside.

"My apologies," Troy said quietly.

Rachel shifted the bag over her shoulder looking down at him with a frown, "You don't want to talk about it."

"I'd preferred if we didn't, it's personal."

Rachel bit her lip and crossed her arms as she looked down at him, "I thought we we're friends?"

"We're co-workers," he said looking up at her with a deep breath.

Rachel nodded as she raised a brow, "Alright, if you want to be a dick, I guess you have you're right to do so. However if this is how it's going to be you can count me out of helping out with the girls basketball team. I have better things to do with my time than be treated like crap."

"I'm not going to do the girls basketball team."

"What?" Rachel's arms fell, "why not?"

"I don't want people to get the wrong idea. I came here to teach a class, that's what I'm going to do."

"That's not fair. The kids love you," Rachel said placing her hands on the desk. "Girls were excited to join the team. They look up to you."

"Miss Galeton, I-"

"You're an asshole," Rachel said with nod, "I don't know what the problem is, but you need to fix it because this brooding moping Troy Bolton sucks." Without letting him say another word she head for the door and slammed it shut behind her.