Chapter 11

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Troy began driving himself home and realized that that little visit had done absolutely nothing. Gabriella still wanted nothing to do with him, she still didn't know the truth, and Sharpay was well, actually maybe something had turned out right. He smiled to himself when he thought of Gabriella pouncing on Sharpay like that. He knew it was wrong to think that it was ok for her to do that, but he couldn't help but feel that Sharpay deserved every punch.

He started to rack his brain on what he could do to get Gabriella to hear him out. He had thought about maybe sending her an e mail, but she just wouldn't even open it. Maybe he could do something to get her attention. But what? He sat there for a minute at a stop sign and was suddenly struck with an idea. He quickly made a U turn and headed in the opposite direction.

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Gabriella ran up to her room and slammed her door. The nerve of him bringing Sharpay to her house. What did he want? Her blessing for their relationship? She knew she was hasty of her to jump on Sharpay like that, but she didn't know what had come over her. She couldn't help smile when she thought of the look on Sharpay's face when she saw Gabriella holding that big handful of hair. She looked down at her hand and noticed that it was all red and swollen. She hadn't realized how hard she had actually hit Sharpay. She started to flex it and decided to go get some ice to bring the swelling down.

Once she had taken care of that, she went back upstairs and grabbed a book from her numerous collection. Reading really helped calm her nerves so she thought that it might be a good idea to do that. She took a little folding chair she had in her closet and took it out to her balcony. Without the shade from the big tree right in the middle, she had to sit in the corner of one side so she wouldn't be sitting in the sun.

She made herself comfortable and began reading. It was really hard to concentrate because of the pounding pain she had in her hand. She tried to keep her mind off of it when she heard her phone start to ring. She had left it inside so she had to go in there and grab it. When she saw who was calling her heart dropped. It was Ryan.

"Hello?" she said kind of scared.

"Gabs?"

"Yeah?" she was a little relieved to hear him call her that, it probably meant that he wasn't holding any grudges for what she had done to his sister.

"So, you did that to Sharpay?"

"How'd you guess?"

"Well, being that you are the only Gabriella I know, I would have to say that it was a toss up between you or a stray, very angry cat."

"A cat?"

"Did you take a look at your handy work?"

"Not really…."

"Well, let's just say you left a few marks."

"I'm going to guess you are being sarcastic."

"How'd you know?"

"Are you mad?"

"I'm not mad, but at the same time I'm not going to side with you. What you did was very wrong." He said in a motherly voice. Right then she knew he understood, even though it was his sister.

"I really don't know what came over me."

"So, is it wrong of me to assume that you didn't talk to Troy?"

"Not at all."

"Gabby….."

"Can you blame me?"

"Well no, but I am still sticking to what I said earlier, oh wait hold on." She heard Ryan put the phone down shouting something back to someone. It was silent for a second and then he got back on the phone.

"Listen, I have "things" I need to attend to. Think about what I said?"

"Alright."

"Ok I will call you later when things calm down."

"Bye Ry."

"Bye." She hung up the phone and sat at her desk for a moment. She felt bad for Ryan, only because now he was in charge of taking care of Sharpay. But, she still wouldn't take back what she did for the world. She looked at the time and remembered that she hadn't eaten all day. She went downstairs to try and fins something but when she thought about it, she just wasn't very hungry. She went back upstairs with a glass of water and an apple that she would try and eat later. That was the only thing she thought that she might be able to eat and not want to throw up.

She closed the door behind her and remembered that she had last her chair and her book on the balcony. She put the water and apple down then headed out to grab her things. She was just about to fold up the chair when she heard a noise from below. She let the chair go, softly and peeked over the railing.

It was Troy, with a small tree. She couldn't help but smile. She watched him without saying anything. He hadn't seen her at all so he didn't know she was watching. He had just gotten there because he hadn't even started to dig yet. He had a small tree, the ones that are in plastic containers. He also had a shovel and a jug full of water.

She couldn't help but stare at him. Earlier that day she was so mad about Sharpay, she hadn't really looked at Troy. He looked different, almost like he was just completely exhausted. He looked like he hadn't slept in days, or eaten for that matter. Right then she couldn't help but think of what everyone had been telling her, well everyone except for Taylor.

Why would they all be pushing for her to hear him out? They all knew that he had cheated on her. But then again, maybe she did need to hear him out. She felt the wall that she had put up around her heart begin to crumble, he was actually planting a new tree. For her. For them.

She sat there for a few moments longer before deciding to say anything. Just as she was about to, she felt herself let go of the booking her hands. She stepped back and heard it land with a loud thump. She was pretty sure it hadn't hit him so for that she was relieved.

"Hello? Gabriella?" she heard him call up. She stood there for a minute and then decided she couldn't just sit there forever.

"Yes, it's me. What are you doing?"

"I'm planting a tree."

"I know that, why are you planting a tree?"

"Because you knocked the first one down."

"You do know that it will take years for that tree to even come close to the balcony right?"

"I'm willing to wait." She couldn't think of a response to the last statement. Why couldn't he just leave her alone?

"Troy what do you want?"

"Two minutes. Please, that's all I need." She sat there for a moment. Maybe she should just hear him out. She had decided a while ago that closure might be the only thing she could do for the both of them.

"If I ask you to leave, can you promise me that you will?"

"Yes, if you hear me out and you still want me gone, I am gone. And you will never hear from me ever again. But please, just let me in." she nodded slightly and pointed for him to go to the front. He dropped the shovel and ran to the front yard. When she got downstairs he was already waiting for her. She opened the door and stood in the doorway.

"Thank you Gabby, I just need to explain things to you." She couldn't help but start to feel all emotional again. Just being so close to him was almost too much for her.

"Ok Troy, just do it then." She hated being so mean, but she couldn't help it. He had already broken her heart; she didn't want to give him the chance to do it again. She could see that he flinched when she said that, but he wasn't about to back down.

"Alright, I am just going to come out and say this, nothing happened with Sharpay."

"What are you trying to take me for here Troy?"

"No Gabriella, I'm not lying. I know you have no reason to believe me, but I am asking you, no begging you to believe me. That is why I brought her over here. She wanted to straighten things out too."

"But you were on the bed-"

"It was all a set up. She wanted to get back at Zeke for breaking up with her. She thought that if she could get me drunk enough I would sleep with her, but nothing happened. I mean, I'm not going to lie, we kissed. But it wasn't me, it was all her."

"Oh yeah Troy I am so sure, she just held you down and forced you to kiss her." Gabriella felt tears coming on. She hated that he had this effect on her. She looked down at the floor and tried to regain composure.

"Gabriella, I know it looks bad, but if I had done anything more with her I wouldn't be here right now. I would have left you alone because I would know that there was no way to get you to forgive me, and I wouldn't blame you. But the truth is that I know we can get past this because nothing happened. I need you to believe me here."

"Troy I can't-"

"No Gabby, please. Yes you can. I love you Gabriella, I love you so much." She caught her breath as soon as he said that.

"What?"

"I said I love you. Look at me and tell me you don't see that." She heard him start to struggle with his words. She looked up into his eyes and noticed that they were tearing up as well. She couldn't hold it in anymore; she began to let her tears flow freely. He reached his hand up to her face and began wiping her tears.

"Please don't cry Gabby, it kills me to see you cry." He said putting his forehead to hers. She closed her eyes and suddenly heard him sob softly. She opened them and found him crying as well.

"Why are you crying?" she whispered.

"These last few weeks have been hell. I don't know how I even functioned before you Gabriella, I never really felt alive till I met you. I need you to be ok. When I lost you I-"

"You never lost me Troy." She said slowly. She let him cup her face in his hands and he began kissing her face.

"Don't leave me Gabby." He said in between kisses. She pulled him into a hug and held onto him tightly.

"I won't ever leave you. Why would I leave someone I love so much?" he pulled away from their hug and gave her the biggest smile she has ever seen. He then began to kiss her as if it was the last kiss they would ever share.

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