Gabriella stops and parks in the driveway for the second time in the past nine hours. She sighs and looks up at it, scared to get out. Almost immediately after getting inside her room last night, she fell asleep and woke up this morning, knowing what she had to do. She had to talk to him otherwise tonight was going to be awful and awkward and she couldn't let the happen. Gabriella also had to know if everything he said to her last night was true or if he was just drunk. After about three minutes, she finally finds the courage to get out of the car and begins to make her way up the driveway. Finally, she reaches the door and rings it, turning away trying to think of how to start the conversation.

She hears the door open behind her and she turns around to find Mrs. Bolton's smiling face. "Gabriella! Honey it's so good to see you!" She says and walks outside the door to give her a hug. Troy's mom and Gabriella were friends when they were going out and she loved both his parents.

"Hi Mrs. Bolton." She says and Troy's mom lets her go.

"Well come inside." She says and leads Gabriella into the house. She stands in the doorway and the mother smiles. "Let me call Troy down. TROY!" She yells up into the house and Gabriella finds Coach Bolton walk out of what she knew was the kitchen.

"He's not here…" Troy's dad starts and then sees Gabriella in the doorway. "Hi Gabriella, I didn't even realize you were here. Troy's at the school, running on the track. He should be back shortly though." Coach Bolton tells her and Gabriella smiles.

"Thanks Mr. Bolton but I think I'm going to go up and find him." She says and watches the couple nod.

"Ok, he didn't seem to be feeling very well this morning. He said he had an awful headache." Gabriella eyes suddenly grow wide. His parents were completely oblivious to the fact that their son probably had the hangover of the century right now.

"Alright, well I'll go check there. Thanks Mr. and Mrs. Bolton." She says and watches Troy's mom smile.

"Don't be a stranger alright? Jack and I miss you around the house." She says and Gabriella gives them a smile. She was praying that she would be around the house more.

"I miss being here. But thank you so much. Bye!" She says and waves to them and walks back out the door. This might actually work to her advantage, because now they didn't have to hide from his parents while they talked. That is, if Troy wanted to talk to her.

Gabriella gets in her car and begins to drive to her high school. Thoughts were running wild through her head. What if he still hated her? What if he'd ignore her? What if he still never wanted to talk to her? She shakes her head and tries to focus on the road, because she would find out in just a few minutes.

The car finally pulls up to the high school and she parks it. Again, she sits there debating on turning around and just driving home. She didn't want her heart to break any further than it had already broken, and she knew that if he didn't want to talk to her now, it was over. There was nothing left then. She closes her eyes and finally opens the car door and starts to make her way to the stadium. Less than twenty four hours ago, she was going to the same places with the same mission. Only this time, she was praying for a different result.

Taking one foot at a time, Gabriella goes through the gate and looks up to find a figure at the other end of the track, running. She sighs and walks up right behind the fence that led to the football field and the track and waits. The figure was coming closer and she was starting to make out his features. Once he finally crosses the line, he doesn't look up at her but instead places his hands above his head and turns the other way. She sighs and suddenly holds her breath. She closes her eyes for a moment and thinks it's now or never. "Troy."

She opens her eyes to see him freeze for a moment, and then turn around. The breath she was holding releases as she looks up into his eyes and sees the crystal blue, instead of the pure ice she was so used to now. Troy sighs. "How'd you know I was here?" He asks instead of greeting her. Was he not greeting her a bad sign? Well, he was talking to her right? So that was a step forward.

"I went to your house and your parents told me." She says and takes a step toward him, keeping her eyes locked on his so she makes sure that they don't change. "How are you feeling?"

Troy laughs a little then scratches the back of his neck. "I have a headache the size of Manhattan. My favorite long sleeve shirt smells like puke, and all I want to do is sleep... Basically, I feel like shit." He sums up and looks at her again. "But I really don't think you came here to ask how I was feeling."

Gabriella nods and looks down at the ground. This was it, the moment of truth. She had already asked him three times and he had turned her down. This was her last chance. "Troy… I think…" She starts and sighs. "I think we need to talk."

She slowly looks up to find him walking over to her. It was over, he was going to blow up in her face, and she knew it. But surprisingly, he takes her hand and gives her a small smile. "Good, we were both thinking the same thing."

Relief spreads through out her body as she sighs. He laces his fingers with hers and begins in the opposite direction, pulling her with him. They leave the track and walk onto the football field. They sit down on, coincidentally; the fourteen yard line and they turn to face each other, still hanging onto to the other's hands. "Look, Troy..." She starts but he shakes his head.

"No, I need to go first." He says and sighs. "I need to say thank you. For everything you did last night." He says and Gabriella looks at him surprised.

"Troy, you were completely wasted… how did you…" She starts but he smiles.

"I may be a complete asshole with no control over myself when I'm drunk, but I remember everything. Weird huh?" He says and Gabriella suddenly blushes when she thinks about all that was said and done last night. He gives her a small smile and continues. "But thank you. I was a complete bastard to you last night, well for a week and a half and you still took care of me and acted like nothing was wrong. Not many people would do that Gabi." She smiles at the sound of his nickname for her. He breaks the eye contact and looks down, but then returns his gaze with sad eyes. "And I think this is long overdue."

"What is?" Gabriella asks and he continues to look at her with pain in his eyes.

"I'm sorry." He simply states and Gabriella's heart soars. "For last night, what happened with Jackie, I don't even know what I was doing. I guess I only did it to get you jealous. I'm sorry for ruining your night last night because you were stuck taking care of me. But most of all…" Gabriella could see a tear well up in his eye but he quickly blinks it away. "I'm sorry for how I've treated you for the past week and a half. It was stupid and you didn't deserve that. Sure I was mad but I took it way too far." He says and Gabriella squeezes his hand.

"Yea, but I started it." She says and suddenly feels her own tears well up in her eyes, but like Troy, she blinks them away. "I'm sorry too. I'm sorry I ever said yes to Nate. I was jealous and upset and I thought it would be a good idea to piss you off. I wasn't thinking at the time and I'm so sorry."

Troy gives her a soft smile. "It's ok." He says Gabriella could feel the tears coming again but she tries to force herself to hide them. Troy lets go of their hands and holds out both arms. "Come here."

Gabriella smiles and gets on her knees and crawls over to him. She crosses the fourteen yard line and wraps her arms around his neck and she finally knows that he's forgiven her. Her whole body starts to feel happiness as she realizes how long it had been since she had been in Troy's arms. They sit there for about a minute then Troy lets go and Gabriella sits next to him, lacing their hands once again. Troy then lies down on his back and Gabriella follows, as they stare up at the grey sky. "It's supposed to storm tonight." Gabriella says randomly and Troy laughs.

"We just make up and all you can say is that there's going to be a storm tonight?" Gabriella sighs. It was the first thing that had come to her mind. It was true, it was supposed to be one of the biggest thunderstorms tonight and it was their final homecoming. Hopefully it would hold off until after the dance. Troy sighs beside her. "Can I ask you something?"

Gabriella nods. "Anything."

Troy looks over at her. "Why the hell would you think that I asked Bridget to homecoming? You knew I don't like her." She closes her eyes, wishing she didn't have to relive her mistake.

"Because you said you were nervous about something the day Nate asked me to homecoming." She watches as he winces at that last part. "I didn't think anything of it until Chloe and I went into the locker room for gym. Bridget was saying how you had to talk to her about something. She said she though you were going to ask her. I freaked out. And then when you talked to her in gym about them staying outside for practice, it really looked like you were asking her. Chloe even believed it. So when we got inside the locker room, Bridget came running in yelling that you asked her something, and you told her to keep it a secret until the next day because you didn't want anyone to know yet. So I assumed that it was homecoming." She says and watches as Troy shakes his head.

"That bitch." He releases and Gabriella sighs in relief. "I was thinking how weird it was that she was hugging me and stuff, but I tried not to think anything of it." He says and sighs. "I can't believe she would do that."

Gabriella's eyebrow rises. "You can't?"

Troy sighs and shakes his head. "I guess your right. She would do anything. I just don't want to believe someone would to that."

Gabriella nods and looks over at him. She could feel his thumb caressing her hand and sighs, knowing it's her turn to ask what had been on her mind for awhile. "Troy?"

"Hmmm?" He answers and looks at her again. She takes a deep breath and starts.

"Chad said you acted like the way you did the week once before. Why do you act like that?" She knew there had to be more of a reason besides what Chad told her about the older guys talking crap about his game. She watches as Troy closes his eyes, obviously not wanting to tell her. Something was fishy about this, and she really wanted to find out what it was.

"It's a long story." He says and turns away from her. She squeezes his hand to make him look at her once again.

"We have time." Gabriella says and watches Troy look up, fighting with himself about something. Now, she desperately wanted to know. If this was something that was incredibly important, she needed to know what it was. He looks into her eyes and sighs.

"Gabi, it's something I'm not proud of. In fact, I'd take it back in a heartbeat. And maybe someday I'll tell you. But right now, isn't someday." Gabriella feels her face fall a little. But she wasn't going to push him about it since they had just made up.

She nods and looks back up at the grey sky that was starting to turn a little darker. They lay there for another fifteen minutes, not saying a word. It wasn't an awkward silence though. It was comfortable, just being there with each other, for the first time probably since his grandpa had a heart attack, that neither one of them had angry feelings built up about the other. She turns to him and sighs.

"Troy, what happened to us?" She asks as she pops up on an elbow. He looks up at her and scrunches his eyebrows.

"What do you mean?" He asks and she lets go of his hand and begins to trace the pattern of his bicep with her finger.

"After the championship game and scholastic decathlon last year, no drama ever happened to us. It was so calm. So… innocent. What happened? Why has all this stuff happened this year?" She asks and Troy sighs. He looks up at her with pain in his eyes.

"I made us work at Lava Springs." He says and then tears his eye away from hers. "Everything was fine until then. But then I got selfish. That's when this all started." He states and Gabriella sighs.

"I shouldn't have let you go though." She says in almost a whisper and this makes him quickly turn his head and look into her eyes. "I never wanted it to be like this. I thought… I thought that we'd take a break for a couple weeks, and then we'd get back together by the time school started… If I'd have known…" She starts but Troy shakes his head.

"We weren't ready to go back out then. Can you honestly say that you would have trusted me?" Gabriella thinks about this for a moment, and then shakes her head. "Exactly. You wouldn't have been happy if we'd have made up that night. And who knows what would have happened after that." He says and she nods.

Gabriella realized it was the first time they had talked about them breaking up and what would happen if they didn't. She sighs and then Troy sits up, bringing her up with him. "What's wrong?" She asks and he picks up a digital watch he must have been using to time himself before she arrived.

"It's already 1:30. We have to be to Taylor's by 5:15. Don't you have to get your hair done or whatever?" He states and Gabriella sighs. She had completely forgotten about the dance and knew that she had to take a shower, and get ready. But she didn't want to go. She wanted to stay by Troy forever.

"I don't want to go." She whispers and Troy stands up and pulls her up too. Still holding hands, they walk over and Troy grabs his gym bag and continues to pull her out of the track. They leave the stadium and walk over to their cars, since Gabriella parked next to him. They stop and turn to face each other. "Where does this leave us now?" She whispers and Troy sighs.

"You deserve a great guy like Nate." Troy says and Gabriella shakes her head.

"Troy, I…" She starts but he shakes his own head.

"Gabi, I care about you too much to let you waste your time with me. Nate is a nice guy. He really likes you and you need to go for that." He says and Gabriella couldn't take it anymore. She let's go of his hand and throws her arms around his neck, finally feeling the tears roll down her face.

"Don't Troy." She whispers and could feel Troy places his hand on the back of her head, intertwined with her hair. She feels him kiss the top of her head and then rest his cheek on hers.

"You'll have an amazing time with him tonight." He whispers in her ear and she shakes her head.

"You don't get it Troy." He pulls away from his chest but keeps her arms around him. She looks up into his eyes trying to get him to understand.

"Gabi, please. He begs and she could feel more tears roll down her face. "I want you to be happy…"

"I'll be happy with you." She says and he closes his eyes. She could see his own tears running down his face.

"You'll be happy with me as a friend." Gabriella could feel her heart break even further as he says this. She knew he was only trying to do what was best for her but he didn't understand that what's best for her was him. "I've put you through too much."

"Troy…"

"Gabi, stop. Please, don't make this harder for me." He says and she watches larger tears slip down his face. She knew she couldn't change his mind. Troy was too headstrong for that. So Gabriella pulls him closer one more time. "Just have an amazing time tonight with him, and I'll be happy."

"Troy." Gabriella then pulls away and Troy places a hand on either side of her cheeks and kisses her forehead. He finally lets go of her and grabs her hand to squeeze it one more time. Tears were streaming down her face as he opens the car door and looks at her once more. They're hands stay connected for as long as possible and then finally disconnect. She watches as he turns on the engine and puts it in gear, tears streaming down his face.

"Bye Gabi." He says and backs up. She continues to watch the white truck roll away until she couldn't see it anymore before getting into her own car. She knew, at that moment, that tonight wasn't about having fun. Tonight, she had to convince Troy that she wouldn't be happy without him. Tonight, it would be about getting Troy back. And she wasn't going to take no for an answer.