"Hey, can I talk to you?"

I turn around and see Emily standing there, holding onto her books and looking nervous.

Well, it's about fucking time she asks.

"Yeah?"

"I don't know if I want to do this here, do you want to come over?"

"No," I tell her. Fuck no, I do not want to come over. I'm not talking to Troy, this is the first time I'm talking to Emily. "Talk to me right now."

She looks around the parking lot. There's no one really.

I get that it's not the most ideal place to talk, but if she wants to talk, we'll talk right now. I don't need to drive ten minutes, two miles, one block to see what she has to say. Anything she has to say to me, she can say right now. Or else there's really no point.

"I'm sorry," she tells me.

"Yeah," I laugh. "You really seem sorry."

"I wanted to give you a little bit of space. I know how angry you were."

I roll my eyes, "cut the bullshit, Em. You don't really care."

She looks insulted. "How can you tell me I don't care!? You're my best friend! Of course I fucking care, Gabriella."

"When were you caring, huh? When you hooked up with my boyfriend? When you were so excited I was leaving Ben's party early so you two can hook up, flirt all your want? OR when you were having a pool party because you guys were in the clear?"

"I know, I know, I'm so sorry. It wasn't like this orchestrated thing. It happened and I tried to fight it, I really, really did..."

"You went behind my back."

"It just happened," she repeats, "I didn't..."

I roll my eyes again. I'm more worked up than I think I normally would be.

And it's because other shit is going on in my life. Like the fact that for the past week, I've still been tinkling about her stupid fucking brother.

It's so annoying.

A week and two days have pasted since I found all this out.

"It's not even about Brady. It's not about losing a boyfriend, this great love. It's about me being the best fucking friend to you and you disregarding that. It's about disrespecting me and not even coming to me, feeling like you could talk to me about it," I tell her.

"Oh, so if I would have come to you and say, hey, I like Brady, you would have been all, well, he's my boyfriend, but okay. And be totally okay?"

"Obviously, it'd be a fucking weird situation!"

"THEN!?"

I relax for a minute and take a deep breath to compose myself.

And then I try to talk to her about the way it made me feel. "It really wasn't about him."

"I'm sorry. I really, really am."

"I just don't understand why. I've never done anything to hurt you. I said no to Jason Seller for you. I didn't go to Sasha Pierce's party for you..."

"Oh, do not go there," she says, "don't fucking act like I owe you the world because you did that for me. I was fine. I'm a big girl. It's not about you all the fucking time, Gabriella. Brady liked me too. It wasn't just me coming onto him. And maybe you can't handle that.."

I'm taken aback for a moment. Is she serious?

Really?

"Wait, I'm sorry, are you trying to apologize to me or make me more mad?"

"I really, really am sorry for how things happened and I didn't tell you or talk to you. But I'm not sorry about my feelings. They're so fucking real."

"You waited almost two weeks."

She nods, "I know. I don't know. I just... it's hard."

It is hard.

And I fucking hate this. I feel like I've lost two friends. Her and Troy.

"Maybe we just need a break from each other," I tell her, "if Brady makes you happy then he makes you happy and I'm not going to stand in the way of that, but I can't pretend like you didn't hurt me. I can't pretend like all of this didn't happen. I appreciate your apology."

"Okay, that's fair enough," she says.

I don't really know where to go from here, if we'll ever get back to the place we once were.

But at least we talked.

"I know it's none of my business, but you and Troy... I think if you just have a little faith, go with your heart, it could be this crazy good thing. It could work."

"What?"

She shrugs, "I know you don't think so, but I know."

I'm not sure what that even means. I don't know if I can do that. If I can just have a little faith and get rid of all my doubts about him.

It's really hard to do.

Which sucks.

Because I can't fucking stop thinking about him.

I'm supposed to be having fun.

It's my mom and dad's 20th wedding anniversary and we're having this big party.

But I'm not.

Instead, I'm sitting in the garden of this place on a bench, hoping time goes by faster so I can just go home and go to sleep.

Because when I'm sleeping, I'm not thinking about anything.

Emily's inside. She didn't bring Brady. I know they're officially dating now, but she didn't bring him. And I haven't really talked to her. I said hi, but that was it. Troy didn't come. Which is understandable. Sure, he loves my parents and they love him, but it'd be awkward.

My family's here, a whole bunch of our friends, Morgan's family is here, too.

But I just needed a small break.

For the past three weeks, my life has been such a roller coaster. I was so down about Emily and Brady then I was up about Troy. And now I'm down.

"Do you want some company?" I suddenly hear.

I turn to my left and see Troy Bolton standing there, a small smile on his beautiful face.

Fuck.

Maybe I shouldn't.

"Sure," I find myself saying, scooting over.

"Why aren't you inside with everyone else?" He asks me.

"Why are you here?" I ask him.

I'm not sure how it came out. I'm not sure if he thinks I'm mad he's here or just genuinely asking because it didn't seem like he was coming. I mean, it's good he's here. He could celebrate this night with my parents who love him and stuff. I don't even know how I really feel about it.

I think I'm just trying to distance myself for enough time that our hook up seems like so long ago, it doesn't even seem right to be mad about, you know?

We should get back into a place where we could be the friends we were.

Or at least be able to be around each other.

I don't know, though.

It's fucking hard because of how insanely attracted I am to him. And how I realized these feelings for him were always there. I mean, that's the only explanation for feeling so strongly about him so soon. After one night of being together.

"Your parents invited me," he says.

"I mean, why are you out here?" I reword it so he doesn't think I'm such a bitch for asking in the first place.

"Because I want to talk to you. And you're out here."

I get butterflies.

He wants to talk to me.

We're going to talk about that night, about Pete, about Lindsey probably.

Or maybe we're just going to talk about how this isn't a thing and we shouldn't be so awkward around each other because it barely lasted anything. It was one night where we hooked up and I think we're acting like it was weeks and weeks. It's silly. Maybe we should just get over it.

But like I said, it's fucking hard. I still think about him.

"I'm sorry," I tell him, "I had no right to get mad about Lindsey. You didn't promise me anything and..."

"I didn't hook up with Lindsey."

I stayed quiet. I didn't know what to say. I didn't want to shoot him down because we're trying to move forward right now, I think. SO, I didn't say anything.

And he took it upon himself to say something more. "And I don't want you thinking I did. I'm not mad, I'm not upset about it anymore that you think I did because of how things were, but I really want you to know that I didn't hook up with her."

Looking into his eyes and him looking into mine... I believe him.

I really do.

And now I feel really bad.

"Okay," I say, "but that doesn't change the fact that you and I could very well not work. Our mentalities are different."

"Any relationship could not work," he says.

Which is true.

But I'm talking about this one. I want to know if it's worth fighting for.

And I'm not sure that it really is.

"You know, in 9th grade, when you went to formal with Tim, it was the first time I looked at you and thought, I think I like this girl. My mom noticed and quickly shut it down. She thought it just wouldn't be a good idea. Guys don't date their sister's girlfriends. And then in 11th grade, when we all went to Jenny's 17th birthday party, her golden birthday that she threw a big party for, when you were sitting out here in the garden of this exact place just staring out, I realized that I wanted to be sitting out there with you, giving you my jacket, asking you what was wrong. But I couldn't. No. How awkward would it be? You had so many guys to choose from anyway, everyone was lining up for you. I pushed it away. I didn't think it was these real feelings. And then everything happened and it made sense and it felt right. This isn't... this isn't something that just happened for me and I'm going to roll with it, see what happens. This is something I've known for a while and if I have it, even just a little piece, I want to fight for it. I want you to believe me and I want you to see that I am in this with you."

I feel like I'm about to pass out over what he just said to me. All of it. Every single word.

Troy Bolton liked me.

He still likes me. And I still like him.

And the fact that I never realized I did is making me so upset.

If this is all true, which I actually really believe, it makes sense. Summer before senior year is when he started hooking up with girls left and right.

So much.

But he wanted me first.

And it never happened. I never realized it.

"I didn't even know you were there that night... that night we left for formal," I tell him, "you weren't there..."

"Yeah, well, I was... in the background for a minute or two."

The thing is this...

If Troy Bolton went through on the times he wanted to go through, I would have jumped in his arms. I really would have. Did I realize my feelings up until a few weekends ago? I'm not sure. I think it might have come to my mind that he's hot and funny and what being with him would be like, but until he said something, until something happened, nothing really registered and I think that would have been the case a few years ago. Maybe even before Brady.

This could be something. I know it can.

And sitting here with him right now, all I want is to be together. To figure it all out together.

"I don't care," I tell him.

And by the look on his face, I figure I should finish my thought.

So, I do.

"I don't care if you hurt me or not. I think I'd rather try than not try at all. I'd rather be hurt by you than not. I didn't even know how badly I wanted this. And the fact that you... we could have had something. And I don't care if it's awkward or it ends badly because I don't think I can really fight this any longer."

"I've never had a girlfriend," he tells me, "I'm not sure I'll be any good at it."

"You don't have to be perfect."

He gives me a small smile, "but I want to."

That's more than enough for me, really. The fact that he wants to try.

"You know," I turn my whole body towards him, "these past few weeks, I should have thought about Emily and Brady and how they hurt me and how I felt so betrayed by them, but instead, I was thinking about you."

"You were?"

"Yes," I tell him, "and that was indicative of how I feel, of how badly I just want to try, how I just want to be with you."

Troy smiles at me, coming closer.

It's crazy how this is all happening now

A month ago, I never would have thought this was possible. Ever. But it is.

"Me too," he tells me in a whisper before moving in closer. "so, let's do this. Let's try it."

"Okay," I nod.

And then we seal it with a kiss.

The most perfect kiss.