A/N: I'm so sorry for not posting earlier, but this week was crazy! This chapter is not long, but I hope you guys like it anyways. Again, I'm so sorry for not posting this week, but I had absolutely no time. Thanks for sticking with me, because I know the lack of chapters is not fair. So thank you so much!

"Nice job girls!" Track and field coach Rachael Young's voice shrilled through the noisy gym. "Get some water and then some warm clothes. We're going for a forty minute run."

The lazy sprinters groaned in complaints as Gabriella's dark eyes rolled in annoyance. It was the first day of practice and the sprinters were already complaining about the long work outs. That wasn't going to stop her excitement though. The first day of track or cross country always brought Gabriella to a level of happiness that couldn't be replaced anywhere else. Even if they had only just gotten done with warm ups and stretching, it still brought Gabriella a beautiful high.

Unable to contain herself, Gabriella's wandering eyes locked across the gym to see the sweating basketball captain work his magic when defending Zeke. The basketball boys had to share the first part of their practice with the track athletes, since they only had one gym and indoor overlapped their season. Once basketball was finished, the boys such as Chad who were in both sports would come for the outdoor season. But for now, they had to share the gym. Good thing that Distance was usually running outside, even if it was blizzarding.

"Nice job guys, get some water!" Gabriella's heard the deep voice of Coach Andrews bellow through the gym. He was obviously irritated that they had to give this up for the first part of their practice, but it happened every year.

Gabriella's heart fluttered as her eyes lingered upon her love, who caved to a relaxed position. She couldn't help but feel tiny droplets of drool almost escape from her mouth as he lifted his grey shirt to wipe the clammy forehead. Gabriella could see a peak of his bronze stomach, but felt a bright flush flood her face as the cyan eyes lifted from where he was staring at the floor. He slowly brought two hands towards his slimy lips, Gabriella's stomach summer saluting when they pushed off, blowing her a faint worthy kiss.

"Remember when you told me that you didn't like him?" An amused voice asked her, causing Gabriella to turn around slowly and meet Emily's happy gaze.

Gabriella shrugged her shoulder while watching him inhale the water that was pouring down into his throat. "Things change."

"Like the fact that you're not dating the one no one could get?" Emily questioned as Gabriella rolled her brown eyes, turning on her heels to walk towards the light wood of the locker room. "I guess you fell for the Troy Bolton spell."

Gabriella giggled softly. "The Troy Bolton spell? I guess you could call it that if you wanted to."

She wasn't affected at all of what other people were saying. Of course people questioned it when the two walked to first hour with their hands laced and giggles filling the air. It didn't matter to her, because Troy was finally hers. All hers and people were just going to have to deal with it. She knew more about him than any other girl, so she had him.

"It was just… not unexpected, but like… surprising." Emily commented before walking into the bright locker room and stripping off her light purple t-shirt in the process. Gabriella followed her lead as well.

Before break, Troy and Gabriella hadn't even been a couple. Now, they were shooting "I love you"s to each other. To say it was shocking for Gabriella was an understatement also. It was a good shock though, the kind you accepted with open arms. "It's not that important. So tell me about your break!" Gabriella exclaimed excitedly, attempting to wash the thoughts of her and Troy free from Emily's mind.

"It was great. I'm so pissed it's over though. The best part…." Her voice trailed off when Gabriella got into a lost bliss thinking about the twinkling eyes that lit up when they saw her. She could not believe that he loved her. He had gone from not wanting a relationship to being in love in such a short time. But was it really all that short? Hadn't the two have been dancing around each other for so long, that it shouldn't have been unexpected? Gabriella wasn't quite sure, but all she was certain was that she loved him. Nothing could go wrong. For everything was perfect.

She had no idea what she was in for.

Troy let the hurricane wind slam the black car door shut for him. He could feel the brisk chill of the air slither through the holes of his cozy red sweatshirt as he jogged hurriedly towards the garage. Night had fallen quickly and snow was swirling around as though it had no defined shape. He violently slammed his hand up to close the heavy garage door and sprinted inside to escape the cold.

A forceful wave of heat hit his skin almost causing him to become dizzy. Troy had just gotten done with practice, and now was in the comforts of his home… alone. A distressed sigh slipped through his lips as he gently placed his noisy keys on the table, echoing through the stillness. It seemed so much emptier whenever Gabriella wasn't here with him. And although they didn't hang out at his house everyday, it was still enough to make him miss her terribly and notice the silence when she wasn't around.

Troy shrugged off the red sweatshirt, throwing it carelessly over the wooden kitchen chair. He then glanced silently into the family room to see that Sadie was curled up in a tiny fluff ball, her chest heaving up and down evenly. A small smile coursed his lips just seeing her, lying there so perfectly. The only family he had.

His mind then quickly switched gears for some reason. It was Thursday, and the week seemed too good to be true so far. Just being with Gabriella, being able to prove to everyone that she was his was enough to bring him to a level of content he had never stood on before. It satisfied him that even though they really weren't showing everyone how they acted as a couple, just the way the air changed around them was something to be jealous over. It wasn't like they didn't touch or hug in public, but after going for so long with only showing affection behind closed doors; they somehow didn't have a need to prove to the world that they were together. Just being together in the same room, with stolen glances every couple seconds, was enough to shatter the rest of the world into seeing their love for each other.

The earsplitting door bell sliced through Troy's running thoughts as his eyes narrowed towards the clock. It couldn't have been Chad, for his best friend could barely function over what happened last week with Taylor, and Gabriella had to watch Ari, for her mom was in some meeting which Gabriella was for once convinced was an actual meeting.

After an exhausted sigh, Troy strode briskly through his dimly lit house and found himself at the barrier of the front door. Lazily, his hand reached for the gold handle and opened it, his eyebrows rising curiously as he did so.

"Awe, Sydney!" Troy complained rudely instead of greeting the freezing woman outside in her high black leather boots and professional looking black suit. Her hazelnut eyes narrowed angrily before stomping into the house.

"You need to start respecting your elders more." Sydney complained, resulting in an over exaggerated cyan eye roll.

"You're what… four years older than me?" Troy questioned, immediately heading towards the dark kitchen, not bothering to weight for her.

"Try eight." Sydney returned before swiftly following Troy.

"Soon to be seven," He pointed out before reaching towards the low humming of the refrigerator to grab a red sphere. Out of the little kindness in his heart, he grabbed another and held one up for her. "You want one?" Sydney shook her head, so Troy gently placed the fruit back into the bin and took a crisp bite out of the juicy apple. "So why are you here? I saw overload of you right around Christmas."

A bit of an upset look crossed her face. "I was just trying to make sure you had a good Christmas." Sydney defended unsuccessfully.

"Yeah I know…" Troy mumbled before training his eyes to stare at his white socks. "By the way… I'm taking back that jacket."

His reference was to an extremely expensive black jacket ski jacket that was the upgrade of his already slightly battered old one. But he didn't want Sydney to sped money on him, because he didn't want her to feel sorry for him. That was the very last thing he needed was someone to feel sorry for him.

"You know you want to keep it." Sydney threatened with her strong voice before tossing her midnight hair over her boney shoulders.

"It doesn't matter," Troy mumbled softly. "So what's up?"

Her sudden irritated face dropped to a sad one. It sunk to a low that he was unfamiliar with. Pity trembled in her hands as she looked down. "Um… well… I need to talk to you about something."

Troy' eyebrows furrowed together confusedly. Something in the pit of his stomach told him that there was something wrong, but he attempted to shield that fear by acting confused. "Uh… ok… do I need to sit down or something?"

Sydney bit her puffy lip and let her eyes drop to her shaking hands. Something was definitely wrong, and Troy couldn't help but feel his heart beat in uneven pounds. "I think you'll stand anyways. Please, Troy, know that I'm doing everything I can…"

Everything she could? What did that mean? Did that mean that something was going wrong? Was his mom sick? His stomach smashed to the floor. Was she shooting up again? A million of scenarios were floating furiously through Troy's mind. Just looking at the twenty-five year old's concerned face was enough to make him petrified. What was going on?

"What…" Troy cleared his raspy throat. "Syd… what is it?"

The round eyes shut painfully before she spoke with a voice that was barely audible. "I got a call from the center…" her soft voice bounced off the walls timidly. "Charlie is trying to um… switch centers so he can be with your mom."

Time came to a halt.

He wasn't aware of what was going on, but suddenly the dimly lit room turned midnight. Every object became fuzzy as the words absorbed poisonously into his bronze skin. His voice box must have been shattered as his new found heart was stabbed with a razor sharp needle. Words couldn't be produced from his wet mouth, but the only thing he was aware of was the fact that his eyes glossed over into two colorless pits of light.

"We're fighting it Troy… I already talked to the head and we're trying to fight it. They're defense is that we can't get evolved and they want to help everyone they can." Sydney defended immediately, leaping from the hard chair towards Troy's numb side. He barely understood the language that came out of her mouth.

How could one go so happy in life to feeling like their own was ending just from an ex attempting to get to his mother? The last thing he ever wanted was for her to start up again, for his life would end. He couldn't take the pressure that was threatening to burst from his built chest. Sydney's warm hands wrapped around Troy's frozen figure, in a motherly hug that he was unfamiliar with.

"Troy… please… say something."

He would, if he could. The only images circling his brain were of the sky blue veins bulging though the pale skin, the yellow bruises welded onto her arms, and the hell enclosing him as flames tried to swallow him whole.

"We're gonna win… I promise we'll win ok? He's not good to be around your mother, we just need her and the center to realize that." Sydney soothed uselessly before running a hand up and down his back carefully, as though a mother would to calm her son.

But Troy had no words for her, so instead of saying anything back, he pulled away from her, staring with his snow white eyes for a moment. Then, in a zombie like state, he turned around and strode pathetically towards the stairs to his room. Not a noise coming from his mouth.

"What's going on?"

He was silent, and lately that was completely not normal. Gabriella's head was alert as she was perched on her bed, her hand holding the cold phone against her smooth skin. It scared her. Lately Troy had been so happy, but now, after she had gotten done with track, he seemed to… strange. Almost sad. Not in a mean way, just in a fearful way that made Gabriella's stomach turn.

"I'm fine." Troy replied softly. "Why?"

Gabriella shrugged her shoulders even though he couldn't see her. "Troy, I know you now…"

"Well I'm glad you know me. Cuz that would be weird if you didn't." He attempted to joke, but his try was not well lived.

"Troy." She warned. "You just sound upset."

A small sigh rung in her ear. "I'm just tired. Andrews worked us today. My legs hurt like hell."

It was a lie. Gabriella could tell. Troy was in better shape then the entire team combined. This late in the season, she was certain it would be humanly impossible for him to actually feel pain while playing basketball. It was as though it would have defined the laws of physics. "Is that it?"

"Yeah… that's it."

It was her turn to let a sigh slip through her thin lips. He was hiding something, she could tell. A silence drummed in her ear, making her feel uncomfortable. "So how was track?" Troy questioned quietly, Gabriella figuring it was to break the silence that had overcome them.

"You know… we ran." Gabriella let her shoulders rise and fall.

"Well it is track." He chuckled distantly, Gabriella figuring that his mind was elsewhere.

"Do you want me to come over? I could give you a back massage… or whatever…" Or body massage. If he was stressed out, then she wanted to be sure that this mood would pass. Maybe he was just tired. Maybe being back at school had taken a toll on his body. She had forgotten that they had gone from being able to sleep in to not. Maybe he was just physically tired, nothing to do with basketball. Something in the pit of her stomach told her otherwise though.

"That's ok." His strikingly sad voice vibrated.

"Are you sure? It would probably help if you're sore."

She could imagine him shaking his heavy head. "No… I need sleep tonight."

Gabriella felt a pout stretch across her face. Not only did she want to see him, but she wanted to be sure he was ok as well. Worry was stretching in her blood stream. The need to know exactly what was going on was becoming unbearable.

"I'll just see you tomorrow ok?" Troy's sad voice almost begged, giving her the impression that he was praying the answer was a yes, just incase.

"Yeah…" Her own quiet voice was attempting to search for something that she could say to make him tell her if he was lying or not.

"I love you." Troy's voice strongly stated.

It was the most defined thing he had said all night. That made Gabriella's heart flutter with some sort of happiness. Even if he was being distant, just being able to hear those words from his mouth with such power almost made her body lift happily. "I love you too." She boldly replied.

"Night Gabi." He tenderly let go of her name before a click rippled through her ear drum.

Gabriella bit her bottom lip, a small fear bubbling in her the deep pits of her stomach. A prayer rose from her small chest, praying that he was telling the truth, that he was just tired.

She could hope.