A/N: I know this chapter took forever, but what can I say, I've been busy! Had to get through midterms and Christmas first. Sorryyy

oOo

Troy was sinking further and further into his little funk. It had been about two weeks since The Incident, as Troy had come to call it, and he still wasn't sure just what to do. He couldn't look his mother in the eye. Or his father, for that matter. When Troy's mom had come home the night after his little discovery, she had given him a peck on the cheek and grinned.

"Hey boys," She had said, "how was you all's day? I'm gonna go put dinner in the oven. Chicken caserole, your favorite, Jack." She nudged him, before dropping her bags and heading to the kitchen. And he smiled at her. It looked so casual, and normal. Like something Troy'd seen hundreds of times before. How long had this been going on, anyway? And how could he smile at her when he was screwing everything up?

It was then that Troy swore he wouldn't tell her. Couldn't tell her. She was just too innocent, and it would tear her apart. So he tried to pretend that nothing had changed; that nothing was wrong.

This day was just like any other. He was exhausted, having been up almost all night the night before after a grueling basketball practice. He entered the lunchroom and sank down into a seat at the table with all of his friends.

"Hey man, what's up?" Troy's best friend, Chad Danforth, inquired of him.

"Not too much. The usual," Troy shrugged. He shoved his food around on his plate for a while before sighing and pushing the tray away. Recently he just hadn't had that big of an appetite.

He didn't notice Chad exchange glances and frowns with others around the table. His friends, all of them, were worried about him. He'd seemed distant recently, distracted.

"Is everything," Chad started, and bit his lip before continuing. "Is everything okay? I mean, you've just been kinda..." he trailed off, and noticed Troy wasn't paying any attention to him anyway. His eyes were drawn to the new girl walking past with a tray of food, headed to the far corner of the lunch room.

Her head was down, and her curls bounced a little with every step. Troy hadn't really talked to her since those first few days. Sure, he smiled at her occasionally and said hello, but that was about as far as their relationship went. Relationship? Could it even be called that? No, Probably not. Did he want it to be called that? Man, his mind was really wandering.

Troy was snapped out of his reverie with sharp jab from Chad's elbow.

"Ow.." Troy complained, rubbing his side, "what the hell was that for?"

Chad just grinned his goofy grin at him. "Got the hots for the new girl, yeah?" He raised his eyebrows suggestively and Troy shoved him back.

"Whatever, dude. I don't even know the girl." But a smile was plastered on his face, and for a moment he forgot about all of his other issues. All he knew was that he wanted to talk to her. Gabriella, that is.

With that decisive thought, Troy shoved back his chair and stood up, ignoring his friends questions as he headed over towards Gabriella. He slowed a little when he saw she was talking to another guy. Not just any guy, either, she had to be talking to Logan Phillips, the biggest jackass in all of East High.

Her tray was in one hand, and the guy had a firm grip on the other. Troy caught a little of their conversation as he approached.

"You're coming Friday," the guy said, giving Gabriella a little shake, "come on, have a little fun for once, why can't you come?"

Gabriella bit her lip, and kept her eyes focused on the floor. "I-I just."

"She's got plans with me." Troy stepped up to them, glaring. "Get your hands off her." Logan reluctantly obeyed, and seemed to give Troy a onceover.

"What, you two dating or something?" Logan snarled.

"Maybe. What's it matter to you?" Troy shrugged, gently taking Gabriella's hand and leading her away.

"Watch your back, Bolton!" Logan yelled after him, but Troy didn't even glance back over his shoulder, he just snorted. How cliche.

"Hey, are you okay?" he asked, suddenly remembering his hand was still clutched in Gabriella's. He could feel his face heating up.

Gabriella snatched her hand back. "Oh. Um, yeah. I'm fine." She stuttered, looking uncomfortable. "Thanks, I guess."

"Yeah, don't worry about it." They had stopped walking, and reached an empty table in the corner of the lunchroom. Gabriella sat down and set her tray in front of her. "And I wouldn't suggest hanging out with that Logan guy, he's a real jerk." Troy finished lamely.

"I wasn't planning on it," Gabriella muttered, awkwardly picking up her fork. "You can, you know, go back to your friends. If you want to."

"Oh no! I mean, unless you want me to. I've kinda lost my appetite these days anyway. Would you mind if I just sat here with you?"

Gabriella blushed, but nodded her consent, and Troy slid into the seat across from her. He could see Chad flashing him two thumbs up from across the room, but chose to ignore him.

An awkward silence lingered between them, and Troy struggled to fill it. "So," he started, "how do you like it here so far? At East High, I mean?"

Gabriella shifted in her seat. "It's alright, I guess. A little boring, but other than that it's fine."

"Yeah," Troy agreed, "There's not too much to do here except school and sports. Hey, you should hang out with me and my friends sometime. Next time you're, you know, bored."

"Yeah, I'd like that."

They fell back into an uneasy silence. Troy fiddled his thumbs while Gabriella ate her turkey sandwich and chips. Maybe he was a little hungry after all.

Suddenly, the bell rang. Troy jumped and Gabriella gave him a little smile.

"Thanks again," she said.

Troy was just planning on a smooth, 'sure, you're welcome,' but rather unexpectedly, he blurted, "you wanna go out with me on Friday?"

She looked taken aback and her mouth hung open for a moment before she snapped it closed. "Oh. I mean, yeah, I want to go out Friday. But, I don't think it's a good idea, I mean...Maybe another time?" She added hopefully, still looking flustered.

"Yeah, that's cool." Troy shrugged it off, "See you around, Gabriella." He grinned at her.

"See ya."

oOo

Troy trudged through the grocery store muttering to himself. Stupid scrimmage. The basketball team had stayed after school to scrimmage, and he still donned his East High uniform.

His mom had called while he and his dad were on the way home, explaining how she forgot the lettuce for the salad. How do you forget lettuce for a salad? That's kind of the most important part.

She had begged, and Troy now found himself stalking through the aisles. How was he supposed to know his way around a grocery store? It wasn't even the one they normally went to. His dad needed to stop by the post office, so they were on the other side of town. The west. Home of West High, Troy's school's biggest rival.

Troy finally found the head of lettuce, the fresh produce was kind of hard to miss after all, and headed for the checkout. The girl behind the counter smacked her gum, and lazily scanned the lettuce. "2.81," she drawled.

Troy dug around in his pockets for a while and finally produced enough money in change. "Thanks," he muttered, grabbing the bag and heading to the door.

"Hey, wait!" It was the bag boy. Troy turned back around. "You play basketball for East High right?" the guy nodded towards his jersey. Well that much was obvious. "I'm the captain of West High." The kid drew himself up to his full height and Troy noticed that he was unnaturally tall.

"Hey, what do you know. I'm the captain of East."

"Troy, right?" The guy asked. "I'm Mitch. Can't wait to beat yall's ass this year." Troy just rolled his eyes and headed out the door, he could see his dad waiting in the truck outside. "Watch your back, Bolton!" Oh please. Two times in one day.

oOo

"So, Troy, how was your day?" Troy's mom, Lucille, set a freshly made salad down in front of him.

"Fine," he replied, his mind obviously in a different place. "Yours?"

His mother looked pleased that he'd asked. "It was great! I got plenty of errands done and I got your father here," she looked over to Jack, "a surprise." She smiled at him, lifting one eyebrow suggestively.

Jack grinned right back, "And what is this said surprise," he looked genuinely interested.

Troy felt sick. How was he such a good actor? If he didn't know, if he hadn't seen with his own eyes that he was cheating, he wouldn't have believed it himself.

Lucille squealed. "I was going to wait till your birthday to tell you, but I just don't think I can." She walked around the table and sat in the chair across from him. "We're going! You know how you've always wanted to go see the world? Well we are! I mean, not the whole world obviously but a little bit of it. You see, my sister has a good friend in the travel business, and she said-"

"Whoa, whoa, slow down," Jack was laughing, a little twinkle in his eye. "Where exactly are we going? And when?"

"Well, I thought first we could-" Lucille started up again.

"Mom, don't go." Troy wasn't exactly sure when he had opened his mouth or decided that he was going to talk, but apparently he had. His mind was screaming at him, 'don't tell. don't tell.'

Lucille looked confused. "Why not, hun? Oh!" she looked relieved again, "we won't be gone long of course! Just a few weeks. And Aunt Mary has already said it would be no problem for you to stay with her. You'd be alright, wouldn't--"

And then, before Troy even knew what was happening, it just slipped out. "He's cheating on you."

oOo

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