Hey Guys...please keep reviewing. I really really appreciate it! But please if you read this do review cos it makes my day! Its nice to know when people are reading this! Izzy xx

"My father died. Five years ago today.."

"Oh Gabriella, I'm sorry-"

"Don't be. He wasn't worth it. But I don't want to talk about it anymore, if that's okay?"

"Of course it's okay. What do you want to do now then? I think we could find another disgustingly sweet chick flick in my sister's room. Or we could watch something scary or we could-"

Chad was cut of by an urgent knocking on the door. It sounded as though who-ever it was, was trying to take the door off. Not giving time for Chad to say 'come in' the person burst through the door. It was Troy. He looked really worried about something.

"Chad, have you seen Ga-"But then he noticed Gabriella and Chad on the couch underneath Chad's 'Noddy' duvet. "Oh, there you are Gabby, when you ran away like that earlier I thought you were ill or something. What happened?"

"Nothing Troy. I just felt slightly sick" Well it wasn't a lie. She had felt sick. Sick with jealousy. "Then I ran into Chad and he said we could skip class and hang out here until I was feeling better."

Troy's eyes narrowed in suspicion. He looked at Chad and then back at Gabriella.

"You two weren't, ya know...were you??"

"Ewww no! That would be like having sex with my brother! No way! No offence or anything Chad" Gabriella squealed.

"None taken Gab, Troy how could you think that? Gabriella is like my sister."

Troy smiled. A small monster had roared up inside him at the thought of Gabriella with some-one else. But then he thought of Mia. He had met her at the fair a few weeks ago when he had to sit next to her on the ghost train. She had been scared and so had spent the entire ride clutching on to his arm. They had been friends ever since. It was obvious from the start that Mia had a thing for Troy but he had refused all of her passes until she had cornered him in school earlier that day. Knowing that he had no chance with the girl he loved, he had agreed to go out with her.

"So Gabby, what did you think of Mia?" Asked Troy, smiling.

"She was great Troy, real pretty." Replied Gabriella. At the mention of Mia Gabriella's stomach had dropped several inches and her hands suddenly got clammy. Chad noticed the sudden change in Gabriella.

"So, Troy, did you see the game last night?"

"Yeah it was totally awesome." Troy was immediately distracted.

"I'm off now. Thanks for everything Chad, bye Troy" Gabriella walked out of the room and broke down on the steps. She just sat there and sobbed for a few minutes until she composed herself enough to walk home.

A week went by and Gabriella kept out of Troy's way as much as possible. She went to library at lunch, using the excuse that she had loads of homework, she rushed off as soon as the bell went at the end of the day. She now took her own car to school, telling Troy that she had to go to the library in town straight after school, and telling her mother that Troy had to do something after school, so he couldn't take her. Taylor and Sharpay had noticed that Gabriella was quiet, but hadn't confronted her about it. Taylor had been slightly distracted, her and Chad had broken up on Wednesday. They had decided that it just wasn't working. They were still friends but it had been slightly awkward for a few days. It was starting to get back to normal now, so Taylor was starting to notice that Gabriella was becoming more and more withdrawn. On Saturday morning she decided to try and cheer her up a bit, with some retail therapy.

"Hey gabby, do you want to come shopping with me and Sharpay later?" Taylor said on the phone

"Errm..I don't really feel like it today-"

"Tough, we'll be there in fifteen minutes" Taylor interrupted and slammed down the phone. She looked up at Sharpay, who was sitting on the bed beside her. "I'm a bit worried about her. I mean I know she's a strong girl and all but..." Taylor trailed off, not being able to think of the words to voice her concern.

Two hours later found three girls walking round the mall arm in arm. Gabriella had been tense and quiet at the beginning but had loosened up considerably. She was back to her old self. Almost. The only thing that was wrong was the absence of a certain blue eyed boy. She shook her head and tried to concentrate on the conversation that her two best friends were having.

"So I saw these really cute pair of jeans in a shop back there but I don't know if I have enough to get them and those cute shoes." Taylor was saying.

"Oh go for it honey, they looked absolutely fabulous" Sharpay replied

Gabriella rolled her eyes, her friend had no concept of what it was like not to have money rolling around the place. Sharpay took money for granted the way most people took air for granted. It was as though money was just a leaf blowing in the wind.

"But they were 100. And i only have 120 left. The shoes I liked were 50" Taylor complained.

Gabriella tuned out. It had been a week since the day but she still woke up with that familiar nightmare┘

Flashback

The hands were around her throat. There was nothing she could do. He was going to get her again. Going to make her do things that she didn't want to do...she couldn't escape.

Gabriella came out of her reverie when she heard someone calling her name. She turned and gasped. "No, it can't be..."

A/N: I bet no-one can guess who it is!p Izzy xx