Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters, content or anything affiliated with the High School Musical franchise. All work is fictional.

Author's Note: Apologies that this took a bit to get out. I'm trying to be careful and not make these chapters filler and boring. Right now, I know what's going to happen in the story, but it's all about the details in between. So, please enjoy this new chapter!

Chapter Five

Gabriella was not looking forward to tutoring Troy for the next good while. She wasn't given an end date from Mr. Sloane, but she expected this would be until at least the end of the semester in December before exams. The thought of tutoring him for that long made her stomach uneasy, but she couldn't really figure out why. They've studied together before in middle school, before things went south. It was a normal occurrence before tests and sometimes, more than studying happened.

Troy sighed and tossed the pencil on to his textbook, tossing himself back on to his bed and pretending to pull out his hair. He had been trying to work out math problems for the upcoming test for the past hour and he could not catch on for the life of him. The test was tomorrow afternoon and he knew for a fact that his seventh grade math teacher, Miss Cross, was going to make it difficult. She was notorious for throwing curve balls in class and tests were the worst.

Gabriella looked at him from his desk and giggled. "Troy, it's not that bad."

"You have no room to talk. You're passing the class and I'm pretty sure you're her favorite," said Troy, tossing his basketball pillow toward her direction.

She caught it in her hands and watched as he closed his eyes, obviously trying to send himself to another place that didn't involve math problems. She took notice of his shaggy hair, though he recently got a trim a few weeks ago. She always liked his hair and couldn't picture him in anything shorter. His face was slowly clearing up every now and then. Her favorite feature had to be the gap in his teeth. It was adorable and made Troy who he was.

Yes, she'd admit it. She had a little crush on her best friend. She wasn't sure when she realized it, but they always spent so much time together. It was bound to happen. She was closer to him than anybody else and they knew each other's secrets. Troy's mom even commented about their future together as if they were already bound to get married and having kids with a white picket fence. Unfortunately, Troy would dismiss his mother and act like it was a gross concept to marry her since they were just friends.

She brushed it off, though. They were thirteen years old, barely. What did they know about relationships except for what they saw in movies? She was pretty sure the feelings would go away sooner or later. Who didn't fall for their best friend? If you spent a lot of time together, it was just a natural thing.

"We need some fuel," she suddenly said, standing up from the chair and tossing the basketball pillow back at him.

The pillow hit him in the head and he looked up as if he forgot she was there. He furrowed his brows. "Huh?"

"We aren't accomplishing anything here. We need to get you some fuel." She emphasized the last word as she threw on her jacket and put on her flip flops. "You know?"

Troy finally caught on and grinned, leaping off of the bed and putting his shoes on. He glanced at the clock on the wall and cringed. "I highly doubt my mom will appreciate us walking alone in the middle of the night."

Gabriella shrugged as she walked to his window, opening it slowly to avoid any sound. "Since when has that stopped you, Troy?"

He followed her out the window and kept it open a crack so they could get back inside. Gabriella led the way down the sidewalk, scrunching up her shoulders at the slight breeze. Troy's hands reached her shoulders and began massaging them. A momentary flutter went through her stomach, but she ignored it. They always touched each other or held hands, but it was in a friendly manner. At least to Troy.

"Cold there?" he asked her, rubbing his hands up and down her arms vigorously.

Gabriella shoved him and laughed. "Look who's talking. You're in shorts and a t-shirt. You aren't cold?"

"I'm a man. We brave the tough weather," he said, trying to speak in a deep voice. Unfortunately, puberty hadn't hit hard yet. His voice cracked slightly and he covered his mouth in shock.

Gabriella almost tripped over her own feet in laughter as they neared the convenience store at the corner. Troy shoved her and ran ahead, racing her to the storefront that they constantly visited whenever they needed a pick-me-up. It was almost like a tradition if they got bored, were planning to watch a movie marathon, or if they needed a break from studying.

Troy slapped his hand against the brick with a loud smack. "Ha! It's almost too easy."

"You have to run all the time because you are training for basketball, butthead." She rolled her eyes and slid into the store.

Troy followed her and they both greeted the middle-aged lady that was always working the night shift when they came in. They went directly to the candy aisle and got the usual: Sour Patch Kids for Gabriella and berry Skittles for Troy.

He gestured toward her candy as they walked toward the drinks. "The perfect candy for you."

"What makes you say that?" she asked him, pondering between Diet Coke and Cherry Coke.

"They're like you...sour at first and then sweet." Troy grabbed a Mountain Dew and walked away nonchalantly.

Gabriella scoffed as she grabbed a Cherry Coke. This was normal for them. They always made jokes that seemed harsh to a stranger's ear, but it was all in good fun. The level of comfort between them was exponentially higher than other friends had and she was grateful for that.

They paid separately for their items and left the store, already opening their candy and digging in as they made more jokes and talked about the test. The more Troy ate his "fuel", the more comfortable he got about the test and realized his worries were probably a fluke. The whole time, too, Gabriella took the opportunities to admire him. Not just his appearance, but his personality. She did this more often now thanks to her growing crush. It was scary at times when she thought about having feelings for her best friend.

She couldn't do anything about it. That level of comfort they had would be demolished if she revealed her feelings to him. She was pretty sure that the feelings would go away. They were thirteen years old, still babies that knew nothing about relationships or love. What were the chances they'd stick around?

Gabriella remembered, even from that day on, the feelings never went away. They only grew stronger, even more so when Troy's appearance did a one-eighty. He looked good before, but before they went into freshman year, he looked damn good. Even today, it was hard to ignore the feelings she still had for him.

This is what made it hard to tutor Troy. Even after everything that happened between them, she was still in love with him. No matter how hard she tried to make them go away or how much ice she built against him, he was still in her heart. It was annoying, but she welcomed it at times. When he wasn't looking, she would take those rare moments to admire him like she used to as a kid. She'd fantasize in her mind that things didn't get ugly between them, that she told him how she felt and it was all unicorns and rainbows with a perfect relationship. They'd hold hands down the hallway, sneak little kisses, have secret sleepovers and just be in love and happy about their future. It wouldn't be like this.

She missed him in her life and you'd think she would be ecstatic to have this opportunity to tutor him, to reconnect. But, she had to protect her heart even if he was in there. There were so many unanswered questions from that night of the fire, from the days where he would ignore her and blow her off. Until she had some sort of explanation, she couldn't consider even being friends with him again.

That morning, she approached the school with a collected attitude, knowing she had to do what she could to make things civil and drama-free. She walked toward the building, noticing a crowd near the west side of the building. Students were gathered around a brick wall and she could hear the low hum of conversation. Something was going on, but she wasn't interested. More than likely, it was some sort of senior prank and she wasn't into that.

She spotted Taylor running toward her and smiled, ready to greet her best friend with a hug. Instead, Taylor gripped her hand and pulled her toward the wall.

"Whoa, what's going on?!" exclaimed Gabriella, her arm nearly being ripped out of its socket.

Taylor was hysterical, but she had a big smile on her face. She kept pulling her toward the brick wall, pushing people out of the way. "You have to see this!"

When she finally let go of her hand, Gabriella shook out her arm and furrowed her brows at Taylor, entirely confused. "See what? If my shoulder is dislocated, you're getting my hospital bill."

Taylor just rolled her eyes and gestured toward the wall. "Just look!"

Gabriella looked at the wall and it was definitely not some senior prank. It was a beautiful work of art with bright colors. It wasn't basic, though. A pair of dark eyes were staring back at her, a sparkle nonchalantly added to the left pupil. The eyes spoke to her, the lashes brushed out and looked incredibly realistic on the brick. The eyes held a story of passion and longing, something deeper than love. Something was missing, though. There was no...happiness or hope. Not even the sunflowers surrounding the pair of eyes gave off a sense of something light. But, they told a story.

Below the artwork was hardly a signature. All it said was "For Her".

"Yeah, it's definitely beautiful." Gabriella shrugged. "Why is this such a big thing?"

Her friend looked at her as if she were stupid. "Are you kidding me? It's your eyes!"

"Me?" Gabriella looked back at the eyes and cocked her head. Yeah, maybe they looked similar, but she didn't see it. Not really.

"Everyone else seems to know this but you."

Gabriella looked around at the other students who were now staring at her in amazement. Some girls looked kind of jealous and others looked smitten as if she were living in some kind of romance novel. It was weird and she felt like she was in a plastic bubble. She looked back at the art, but she couldn't see it.

"Okay, maybe it looks like my eyes at an angle, but it's nothing to gawk at. We've seen the art around town, anyway. I'm sure it's the same person just playing tricks for attention," she explained, shrugging it off as she walked away.

Taylor didn't even bother to convince her otherwise because she knew that Gabriella would be stubborn either way. She had too much on her plate today and she needed to focus on not making things awkward with Troy.

"If you say so," said Taylor. "Do you want to head out of free period early today?"

Gabriella hadn't told Taylor or Chad about tutoring Troy yet. She assumed Troy had told Chad already, but apparently Taylor didn't know. She reached her locker and tried to stay casual as she opened it. "I have to work tonight, but I can't skip anyway." A pause. "I'm tutoring...Troy."

She said it in such a quiet voice that Taylor had to lean forward. "I'm sorry, what?"

She sighed and turned to face her. "I'm tutoring Troy."

Taylor let out a dry laugh. "How did he con you into that?"

"He didn't," said Gabriella, getting her books together for the next few periods. "Mr. Sloane asked me to and there's definitely a reason. He always falls asleep in that class and his grades are slipping. He can't let that happen with basketball."

"So?"

"Tay, I don't want to see him lose basketball. It's important to him," she said, heading towards her first period class.

"Why should you care, Gabriella? He broke your heart." Taylor threw her hands in the air. "He's an asshole!"

Gabriella stopped walking and stared at her, sighing heavily. She didn't feel like arguing about this. "Taylor, I understand you hate his guts. I'm not a fan of his, either. But, I would rather keep things civil between us than fighting all the time. Nothing is going to come of it, I promise."

Taylor didn't say anything, but she gave her a look as if to say she didn't believe her. Maybe she had a reason to think that. Gabriella did have a weak spot for Troy and, sometimes, it was hard to ignore. When Troy had confronted her at the bookstore, that weak spot had grown bigger and bigger. She felt it when they almost kissed. Then, she came to her senses and cursed herself for being so weak for Troy Bolton. It was embarrassing for her and she knew she couldn't let it happen again.

She was going to make sure that tutoring would go smoothly and then, when it was all over, she wouldn't have to talk to him again. Whether or not they became friends or if they went their separate ways, there wasn't going to be any bad blood. It wasn't worth her time.

The day went on smoothly. Gabriella and Troy didn't interact and she was actually surprised that he stayed awake in class today, though there were definitely some shadows under his eyes. What could have him so tired? Were things still tense at home with his dad? She remembered how distraught Jack Bolton was after Lucille's passing. From what she saw of him in school as the coach, it didn't seem like there was still a drinking problem. But, that could be masked. It definitely wasn't basketball since the first game wasn't for another week. It obviously wasn't schoolwork, either.

As she made her way to the library, she prayed above that things would go well. She was willing to be civil with him, but she definitely couldn't be friends right now. She didn't want people to talk about them "hanging out" in public again, so she chose a table that was secluded behind the shelves in a corner. Nobody ever really came near the cooking section.

As she laid out a few materials to help him study, she thought about how she was going to have to do her homework outside of free period for a while. It made her bitter, taking her off of a normal schedule that she was used to. She'd have to attempt some of her research at the bookstore tonight or at the newspaper office. She mentally groaned at the fact this was going to cut into her reading time, too.

The bell rang and she thought for a minute, as she sat alone at the table, if Troy was skipping and bailing on his responsibilities. The moment the bell ended, she sensed a presence and looked up. She tried her hardest to not appreciate how good he looked, even though he was visibly tired. His ripped jeans looked so good with the faded Redhawks shirt that was a bit too tight on his arms.

"Hey, you're here." He gave her a small smile and flicked his hair out of his eyes.

She had to stop herself from swooning because she used to, and apparently still did, love when he did that.

"I said I would help you," she said nonchalantly, clearing her throat and making the already-neat papers even neater, if that was possible.

Troy just nodded and sat down, getting out his notebook and textbook. He looked at the materials she laid out and smiled. "I appreciate you wanting to help me. You know, after everything."

Gabriella shook her head and held up her hand. "This isn't the time to rehash our past, Troy. Let's just focus on history."

She ignored the irony of the word and began to try and teach him the current lesson Mr. Sloane was going over this week. It was slightly awkward, especially when they both reached for a pencil and their fingers touched. It got less awkward when Troy started to understand a few things and they both contributed to the conversation with ease. Gabriella was starting to feel good about tutoring Troy. Maybe this would be easier than she thought. She was actually disappointed that the free period was almost over.

There was one more topic she wanted to go over as she waited for Troy to finish up with a few written questions. She had been trying to work on some of her homework while he did that and glanced up to see if he was done.

The asshole was dozing off, his questions long forgotten. His pencil was barely hanging on and his head was resting in his hand with his mouth hanging open. He was so passed out that he was near the point of snoring. She shouldn't have had such high hopes for all of this. Did she really think things could be okay between them despite how she felt? That should have been the first red flag.

She slammed her textbook shut, jerking Troy awake. She stood up from her chair and began angrily putting her things away and into her backpack. There were still a few minutes left of the free period, but she couldn't stay for another second.

"You know," she started. "I really thought things would be good between us. Maybe we could be friends again or something. I should have known better. You don't give a shit about working with me or even staying on the basketball team."

Troy stood up and tried to stop her, but she shook his hands off. "Brie, please…"

"Do not call me that," she said through gritted teeth. She didn't want to cause a scene in the library. She put her backpack straps over her shoulders as the bell rang. "I'm telling Mr. Sloane that I can't do this. Find someone else that can stand to be around you."

She didn't bother to see his face or to hear what he had to say. She stormed past him and left the library and any future with Troy Bolton behind.

Gabriella tried her best to concentrate on her remaining homework that evening at the bookstore. She was working behind the front desk, thankfully, so she didn't have to worry about stocking that evening. However, she couldn't get Troy off of her mind. She couldn't forgive how disrespectful he was to her by falling asleep. She didn't have to tutor him, but she wanted to because she knew basketball was important to him. Why would he want to jeopardize his number one priority in life by being reckless and not getting the sleep he needed or not just paying attention?

The newspaper was quiet after school, so she managed to leave early. When she got to the store, it was just her mother and maybe a few customers. Some days were slow and today was one of those days, so that should have made getting her homework done easier. If only she could get that asshole off of her mind.

"Gabi, are you okay?" Her mother came up to her and put an arm around her shoulder, glancing at her homework.

She knew her mom had been keeping an eye on her today. Her mom always knew when something was off and, most of the time, it did have to do with Troy. It's like her mom had a sixth sense about everything. When she had mentioned to her that she would be tutoring Troy during free period, she was a bit surprised but urged her to go in with some positivity. Funny how things work out.

"Just...I don't know." Gabriella tossed her pencil down and sighed, running her fingers through her curls. "Where's dad?"

"Oh, he stayed home for the day." Her mother shrugged and took a pause. "How was Troy today? Did tutoring go over well?"

"I can't do it, mom." Gabriella shook her head. She threw her hands up in frustration. A part of her wanted to cry because of how frustrated she was with him. "He fell asleep during tutoring. He totally disrespected me."

"I'm sure he didn't mean to. Maybe he has a lot on his plate," she told her daughter, rubbing her arm.

"So do I! So does every senior right now!" she exclaimed. "He has to keep his grades good for basketball, but he has been falling asleep in his classes and Mr. Sloane wanted me to help him. I didn't want to, but I did because I know how much basketball means to him."

Her mother let out a small laugh and shook her head. "I remember that boy always being on some kind of court. You two would go back and forth sometimes and I'd have to cross the lawn just to bring you home before dark."

There were plenty of good memories, Gabriella knew this. But, they were in the past. This was the present and, right now, she wasn't interested in rehashing the past. Her mother had other ideas, though.

"I don't understand what happened to you two. We all thought you two were going to be…" She snapped her fingers a few times. "What is that term? Endgame?"

Gabriella scoffed and rolled her eyes, facing the window with the beautiful artwork displaying the store name. She knew what her mom was getting at and, once upon a time, Gabriella thought they would be, too. She couldn't explain to her mom about his lies regarding the fire and how he constantly ditched her, almost as if their demise was inevitable. She wouldn't understand. Her mom would always remind her to find the good in everything.

"Gabi, whatever it may be, I want you to remember. Good things are always meant to be in life and Troy has always been a good thing. The way I remember it, he was your rock."

"Yeah." She could feel the tears building as her voice cracked. "And then he ditched me over and over when we started high school. Clearly, things were different to him."

She didn't want to talk about it anymore, so she tried to send the message to her mom by attempting to return to her homework. Normally, it worked. One thing she loved about her mom is the way she never pushed her to talk about how she was feeling if she wasn't comfortable. Right now, Gabriella was beyond the idea of comfort.

"Hey," her mother started, moving to stand in front of the desk. "We're going to close soon. Why don't you head out early so you can finish your homework? I can close up from here."

"Do you want me to ask dad to help you?" she asked, grateful as she started packing her backpack.

Her mother waved off the suggestion. "No, don't bother him. He might already be asleep. He wasn't feeling too well this morning. You go home. I'll be home in a little bit."

Gabriella slipped on her backpack and grabbed her keys, smiling at her mom. She gave her a quick hug and quietly thanked her for letting her leave and for even attempting to get her to open up about how she was feeling. Regardless if she did or not, she loved talking with her mom about any problems. It was just with this one, if she had continued, she wouldn't have been able to utter a complete sentence without having to catch her breath of tears.

She left the store and headed towards where her car was parked past the abandoned buildings. She just passed the corner of the store when she stopped in front of the alley. On the building neighboring theirs, there was a red heart with the beginnings of a black outline and shadow. It was unfinished, but she liked to stop and look at it sometimes. It was random in the street and it was never covered up by the town, maybe because they didn't know about it or because it was considered too special to cover up.

She took a second look for the first time and squinted her eyes. The style of the art reminded her of the art on the brick at school today. There was no signature, but she got the same vibe as she did from the other art today. Whoever had started this heart obviously had wanted to send a message. But, it was unfinished. Did that mean the message was still unfinished or unclear?

Gabriella shook her head and brushed it off. She needed to get her homework done before she passed out from all her hectic thoughts and the events from today. She turned away from the heart and disappeared to her car.