My first High School Musical fanfic so just bear with me. I'm always up for ideas and constructive criticism, so feel free. But just realize the difference between constructive criticism and a flame before you decide to review.
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the HSM characters.

Chad was on his way over to Troy and Gabriella's apartment. He was returning from a long day of work at a company his father owned. Although he liked working with his father and having a top position, nothing compared to what he felt while playing basketball.

His reasons for not playing were personal and whenever someone would bring it up, he would just change the subject. But everyone knew that it had something to do with Taylor. Ever since he had called their relationship off, neither of them had been the same.

He entered his friends' apartment and was greeted with smiles.

"What's up, man," Troy smiled walking over to his best friend. He gave him a high five before returning to his place on the couch next to Gabriella. Unlike Chad, Troy still continued his basketball career and couldn't picture himself doing anything else.

"I'm good," Chad nodded with a small smile. He gave a small nod to Gabriella.

"Hey Chad," Gabriella said before getting up and hugging him. Gabriella was a hard working chemist. It always amazed everyone that with their busy schedules, Gabriella and Troy still managed to stay together.

"What're you two up to," he asked looking around and finding a chair to sit on. He saw them both looking at a magazine and he already knew the answer to his own question. "Wedding plans, huh? Excited?"

Gabriella chuckled, "Yeah, I can't wait."

"You can make it right," Troy asked his best man.

Chad smiled, "I wouldn't miss it for the world."

Gabriella spoke up, "I hope everyone could make it. We invited the whole crew." Troy had proposed to her during their anniversary and Gabriella just couldn't resist. After all, how could she turn him down?

Troy nodded, "It'll be like a mini high school reunion." Although the whole high school crew still kept in touch, they were all busy with their jobs and families to hang out as much as they did before. Not to mention, they usually tried to make plans that didn't have to do with Chad and Taylor interacting otherwise, things would get ugly.

Chad looked a little uneasy and after a couple moments of awkward silence, he finally spoke up. "Did you… Is Taylor coming?"

Troy and Gabriella looked at each other for a minute before the two turned to face him again.

"Y-yeah," Gabriella answered. "Is this going to be weird for the two of you?" Who was she kidding? She still kept in touch with Taylor and knew that getting over Chad was the second hardest thing she has ever had to do.

"No," Chad laughed, putting on a fake smile. Although he denied it, they all knew he was lying. "We're all friends, right? So Taylor and I knew this would be coming, the day we'd see each other again. It's not going to be weird, guys. It'll be cool." While he was trying to avoid the day that they would meet up again, he was excited at the same time. She was his first true love and he couldn't put these feelings away, no matter how hard he tried.

Troy nodded slowly, why couldn't Chad just be straight up with them?

HSMHSMHSMHSM

When Chad entered his own apartment, he couldn't help but think of Taylor again. It's been such a long time since they had last seen each other, six years to be exact. Six years since their freshman year in college. They both decided that they were going to try their best to stay together throughout the four years of college.

That idea was put down during winter break when Chad had decided to finally end it between them. He remembered the conversation so clearly. There was crying involved, not to mention blows to the head.

"So you just want to end it," She asked after he had broken up with her. Taylor slowly looked up, not wanting to know what he was going to say or do because she knew what the answer was. She shut her eyes, trying to prevent the tears from flowing but she couldn't and she felt the wetness on her face.

"Tay, I'm sorry," he said softly.

She shook her head. "W-why? Why would you want to break up? We were doing so well! I thought we… I thought you were happy!"

At first he had forgotten why he was doing this, why he was causing her so much pain. But then he remembered. All their letters, late night conversations and visits were getting in the way of their schoolwork and their lives. Trying to make them work had grown to be a chore and he knew she felt the same way.

"Taylor," he sighed, "We've been trying so hard to make us work and…and its just not working out. I mean, everytime I call you it takes time away from your studies-"

He was interrupted by her, "Chad, I'm doing fine in school, alright?" She was lying, she was so behind and confused about what she was learning in school from all the time she spent talking to Chad.

"You have a lot going for you, and I'm keeping you from it. I'm just doing what's best for us, Taylor. Maybe one day when we're out of college we can take off from where we left off but not right now… Right now, I-I just think it would be best if we just stayed friends…"

"But-"

"NO," he shook his head. As hard as it was for her to understand, he was trying hard not to just hold her again and take back everything he had said.

"Chad we can make this work," She cried harder.

"No we can't," he whispered. "I can't… Taylor I'm only doing this because I care about you!"

"You care about me," she exclaimed sarcastically. "Really? Cause you have a twisted way in showing up. No, you don't care about me! B-Because if you care about me… you wouldn't be doing this to me. If you care about me, you would try to make it work and not bail out when things get just a little bit hard. Maybe you never cared at all."

"You know that's not true," he said, trying to hold her but she snapped her arm back and slapped him.

"Don't ever speak to me again," she said sternly. "Ever." With that last word, she left his house.

A/N – reviews would be nice, so would ideas. )

Next chapter – Taylor centric; her thoughts on things.