Sh0rty- I play the clarinet too! I'm not very good, but hey, I can play!

Monica7725- Yes, Troy is allowed to, my friend's dad is the math teacher at our school and she has him this year.

Thanks for reviewing! Here is Chapter 25!

"Bye Mack, we'll see you tomorrow!" Keisha said as she and Bailey started to walk away from the school. Mack waved back to them and started to look for someone to walk home with. Calum had a basketball meeting and her friends lived in the other direction. "Macky-Moe are you going to make me wait all day?"

Mack turned around to see Troy leaning up against a tree. She ran up to her brother, who had his arms crossed over his chest and a smile on his face. "Why do you insist on calling me that?"

"Gabriella thinks its so cute," he said, "and its a habit."

She shoved him playfully. He grabbed her backpack and looked at it. It said, "Wildcats Basketball Bolton" in a circle and in the middle was 14. "Isn't this mine?"

"Maybe," she said.

He put the bag on his shoulders before grabbing her and flipping her upside down. "Hey, put me down!" She yelled. He started to walk home with her hanging upside down by her ankles. When the blood had rushed to her head, he put her back on the ground.

"You are so mean," she said laughing.

"Oh really?"

She stopped walking and stared up at him. She couldn't help but remember that this was what her old Troy acted like. The Troy before Gabriella, the Troy before the musical, the Troy before he collapsed. He kept on walking and noticed that she wasn't walking next to him. He turned around. "What's wrong?" he asked.

"Nothing," she said walking up to him. She hugged him and took a deep breath in. Her eyes were closed and she could smell him. The perfect mix of basketball and teenager.

"What are you doing?" He asked. "Memorizing my scent."

She looked up at him and smiled. "No," she said. "I don't need to memorize it, because I'd know it anywhere." He gave her one of his looks that he gave her when he thought she was a little bit crazy, but she didn't care. She remembered the old Troy used to give her these looks all the time, but not because he actually though she was crazy, but because they made her laugh. "I'll race you back to the house," she said.

"Okay, I'll give you a head start," he said confidently. "Because you're going to need one."

"Yeah right," Mack said as she began to run to the house. She could feel Troy right behind her. She ran up to the front door and touched it first. "Ha!" She turned to face Troy who was on the front lawn. He was leaning over with his hands on his bent knees. "Troy, are you okay?" When he didn't answer, she began to get worried and ran over to him. "Troy?"

He looked up at her and noticed her worried face. "Don't worry Mack," he said trying to comfort her. "I'm fine." Now it was her turn to give Troy a funny look. "I just needed to slow down my heart beat, okay."

"Was that because of me?" she asked guiltily.

"No, I felt it before we started running. It comes and it goes, okay," he told her. "Lets go get some ice cream, would you like that?"

She crossed her arms across chest, like Troy had done earlier. "That won't happen again will it?"

"I know it scared you, but I'm okay," he said. "Come on, Chad and the guys will be there. I know you want to go." She still looked skeptical. "Mack, if it does happen, will come right home, I promise."

"Okay, lets go." She smiled as she began walking down the sidewalk. "But, you're paying."

"As long as you don't order three hot fudge sundaes, I'm okay with that."

Mack snickered at the memory. It had been when Troy was a freshman and she had been mad at him, so when he tried to make it up to her, she had ordered three sundaes, with everything on them.

"Bolton!"

Mack and Troy looked around. Troy's eyes immediately narrowed and he pushed Mack behind him. "What do you want Boucher?"

"I heard about your heart-"

"And I don't need your pity," Troy interrupted. "I'm fine. But I'd rather you leave."

"It's a public sidewalk," Cam sneered. He slowly stuck out his hand, as if it were the hardest thing he had ever done. "I wanted to say I was sorry."

"What?"

"Yeah Bolton, I said I'm sorry for every single thing I ever did to you." Mack was shocked at how sincere Cam's voice sounded. 'Either he's really sorry,' Mack thought. 'Or he should be in Hollywood.'

Troy stared at Cam's outstretched hand. "Why the sudden change of heart?"

"Calum." At this point he was looking at Mack, who had her head sticking from behind Troy. "He changed my views, I guess. He made me think." He looked away from Mack to look at Troy. "My dad always said to hurt you so I did. I'm not listening to him anymore. Truce?"

Troy stared at the hand for a few minutes before shaking it. "Except on the court."

Both boys laughed as they let their hands swing back to their sides. "I never thought you'd forgive me. Why did you, I did so many rotten things to you," Cam said.

"My dad told me that if a man's strong enough to admit his faults, then you should show the same strength and forgive him." Troy paused, "and the fact that everything you did, I retaliated against."

"Nice," Cam said. He turned and strode away, satisfied with forgiveness. Mack walked out from beside Troy and stood next to him. Troy looked at her.

"So, about that ice cream..." Mack smiled and punched him lightly on the arm. He threw her over his shoulders and they started to walk down the sidewalk.

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