Gabriella ran into Troy's arms as she saw him waiting at his front door, he instantly became concerned. "What's wrong Baby Girl?"

She closed her eyes and leant into him. "Nothing really, today was just exhausting."

He kissed her forehead. I know, come on, we'll go make it better."

They greeted Lucille and walked up to Troy's bedroom. Dropping their bags to the floor, Troy laid on his bed and pulled Gabriella onto his chest. They laid there, snuggled close together, just holding each other after the rough day.

Lucille and Jack both heard the knock at the door and went to answer it. "Sup Coach, Lucille." Chad greeted, walking in. "I'll just head up to Troy's room."

Both parents panicked but Lucille recovered quickly. "You can't Chad, Troy has a lot of homework so now's not really a good time for visitors."

"I'll just go up and help him."

Jack interrupted. "Chad, stay here. Lucille honey, go see how much Troy's done and send him down."

Lucille took the silent cue and walked up the stairs. She knocked on the door and was met with a sweet sight. Troy was propped up with Gabriella resting on his chest. Her head laid close to his shoulder while her hand rested over his heart, tracing little designs. Troy had one arm wrapped around her waist while the other played with the ends of her hair. Lucille hated to break it up but she knew she had to, she poke quietly. "Troy, Chad is downstairs."

Gabriella instantly paled and he felt her tense. Troy sat up and pulled her into his lap where she instantly buried herself. He wrapped his arms around her tightly and kissed her head, whispering in her ear. "It's ok Brie, he won't get near you. I promised to protect you and I'm not gonna let him hurt you."

"He'll find out." She whimpered.

"Shh Angel, look at me." He felt her face in his hand and kissed her forehead. "Just breathe, you're safe, we'll get rid of him, nothing's gonna happen." She did as she was told and took a deep breath. "Good girl, just keep taking deep breaths, everything'll be ok." He kissed her forehead and turned to his mom. "Can't you just tell him I'm busy or something?"

"We tried Troy, he wouldn't listen. I'll try to get rid of him, if not, give us enough time to get Gabi home." She turned to Gabriella. "I'm sorry Sweetie." Gabriella nodded in response and Lucille walked out. Troy continued to hold her, caressing and kissing her in an attempt to soothe her worries as she still had a tight grip on him. Lucille returned a few minutes later. "I'm sorry guys, we'll have to drop Gabi home, Chad left to get his gear and you'll be having a one on one."

Troy sighed angrily, softening his tone as he spoke to Gabriella. "Come on Brie, I'm so sorry Angel."

"Can I come back after he leave?"

Lucille interrupted. "I don't think it's a good idea Gabi, Troy's friends burst in here all the time. I'm sorry Dear."

"Well if Brie can't stay here, can I stay with her?"

"We'll discuss this after Chad leaves, you two should get going."

Troy and Gabriella stood holding each other, just inside her house. "I don't wanna go back." Troy pouted.

She wrapped her arms tighter around his waist. "I don't want you to go either Wildcat but you have to."

"But I wanna stay with you Baby."

She reached her hand up and stroked his cheek before sighing. "You should probably get going Troy, I don't want you to get in trouble or for Chad to give you the third degree about where you were."

He groaned and buried his face in the crook of her neck. "Can I have one more kiss first?"

"Ok Baby, one more."

He bent down and passionately kissed, lacing the kiss with the love he felt for the petite brunette. After a few minutes, they pulled away. "Alright I better get going now, I love you."

"I love you too."

"Bye Angel."

Troy had been playing basketball with Chad for two hours before finally calling it quits. They were in the middle of a conversation with Lucille and Jack when Chad's phone went off. He pulled it out and laughed, turning to Troy. "Check it out Hoops, Sharpay got the nerd's number from the school, serves her right for thinking she could hang around you and us for the past couple days."

Troy had to control his rage at the messages of abuse, it was becoming a herculean task. Message after message of humiliation, threats and abuse was all he saw from the screenshots that Sharpay has sent to Chad. All about her looks, stereotypes, comments about leaving him alone, threats about coming near the group, anything you could think of, Gabriella received.

Chad responded obliviously. "Sharpay taught her a lesson, serves the loser right, she shouldn't have been anywhere near us."

"Sharpay shouldn't have done that, it was a project for class. We had to and she did nothing wrong." Troy was trying to stay calm but it was becoming increasingly more difficult.

"No one actually did it Hoops so she was being disrespectful."

Jack, seeing that Troy was close to exploding, intervened. "Chad, I set that task and I expected you all to follow it."

"But coach -"

"No buts Danforth, it seems that Troy and Gabriella were the only students who completed the task correctly."

"How did you know we were talking about her?"

Jack narrowed his eyes. "I know who I partnered my son with Danforth, just like you should have been with Miss McKessie."

Chad shrugged, "She's a nerd."

"We'll be discussing this next week in class, but you should be heading home Chad."

"Oh come on Coach, can't Troy and I play some video games?"

Lucille saw the agitation and rage on both her husband and son's face, so she turned to the boy. "Chad, you should get home, Troy's still got homework to do."

Chad huffed. "Ok fine, catch ya some time Hoops."

Chad walked out and Troy started rushing around, gathering his stuff to see Gabriella. Lucille grabbed his arm to slow him down. "Troy, you have to calm down."

"CALM DOWN? Did you hear what they did? Gabriella -"

"You will be no help to Gabi if you're not calm, if you're raging, she'll only become more upset."

Troy nodded and stopped, taking a deep breath. "Brie can't come here anymore, can she?"

Lucille sighed, "I don't think so Bud, those boys walk in here any time they want and we can't risk her getting panicked because of it."

"Can I still go over there?"

"Of course you can, we're not separating you or breaking you up."

Troy hugged both of his parents. "Thank you... Can I go?"

"Yes call us so we know what's happening." Troy nodded in response and ran out the door.