"You look sick, is everything ok?"

The soft waves of Gabriella's hair shook before she looked up through the darkness. The outline of Taylor's body was ghostly through the black air of Zeke's basement. It was one of the few actual dance parties of the year, which would usually be one of Gabriella's favorites, but now? Now all she wanted to do was go home, put on one of Troy's oversized gray sweatshirts, and crawl under her covers. Not stand in an overly drunken party since the Wildcat's win was just an excuse to get wasted.

Before she might have been happy to drink away her sorrows. Now she couldn't stand it. At all costs she avoided looking across the room to where the hard figure was. She hadn't actually looked at him properly at all since music pro this morning. She didn't have the courage to break down in front of everyone. Even during the game she trained her eyes to stare at his muscular legs instead of his face. It broke her heart to do, but her heart would break even more if she would see his pain.

"I'm ok." Gabriella responded in a quiet voice in contrast to the loud music that boomed through the living room. Good thing Zeke's parents were in Aspen skiing this weekend, or maybe it was a bad thing. Gabriella had no idea. All she knew was that she just wanted to go home.

Kelsi sighed defeated and folded her tiny arms to meet Gabriella's gaze at the horny teenagers in the middle of the room. She saw a clear view of her best friend laughing and taking Chad's arms to be pulled tighter around her waist. They looked so damn happy. So innocent. Why couldn't she be like that again? Why couldn't everything just slip away and they could go back to the week she got her tattoo? Nothing would have been any different. It was perfect. They were perfect.

But there was no way one could have a perfect relationship if both were shattered with hate.

"Kels!" A high voice called as both girls turned their head to see Ryan walking swiftly towards them. Kelsi's face brightened like a newfound sun and her leapt delicately to him, throwing her arms around his neck. The two really weren't into public display of affection, but it seemed that all barriers were broken down in celebration. With every couple. Except her and Troy. Nice.

Gabriella watched enviously as Ryan's tender lips dropped down to Kelsi's short head and gave her a careful kiss. Damn love. Were other people like this when she and Troy were together? Probably not, because they didn't feel robbed from the one thing that kept them sane. "Gabs!" He announced after blushing vigorously and smiling at his ex. Gabriella gave him a half smile that looked more like a frown than anything.

"Hey Ry." She mumbled before feeling the small pressure build up in her chest.

"Where's Troy?" He questioned curiously, Gabriella actually feeling her black eyes shoot fury through them. That was a really good question.

"Over there." Gabriella shoved her thumb behind her, still too fearful to look at him. She wasn't angry, she was just tired. Tired of everything. She was tired of just living in this hell that some people called life. She pulled the snow white zip up sweatshirt tighter around her body. The whole game she kept it on, unconsciously covering the number fourteen stationed on her back along with "BOLTON" written on his home jersey. She felt like she didn't belong to him anymore.

"Is there something going on?" Ryan asked concernedly. Was it that obvious? Gabriella became jealous of Troy who could normally master hiding the pain on normal occasions, minus since he got into his funk. She profusely shook her head before lifting the bright red and white plastic cup to her lips and inhaling the water that sloshed around.

"Nope. Everything just fantastic." The sarcasm bled through her tone. Her dry voice cut through all other sounds and Ryan almost took a step backwards to try to avoid her bitterness. Was this really that hard? Not talking to him? She lived seventeen years without him! How could she not even last one day without some sort of contact with him?

"Are you…" Kelsi began to question, before Gabriella's beady eyes sent her a look of death that shut her up completely.

"Atte…Can I have you're…" Someone began to yell, causing Gabriella to meet what everyone was beginning to look at in the dark. An outline of someone, male, was standing on the chair in the corner, attempting to gain the attention of the obnoxious teens. It was extremely unsuccessful. "HEY PEOPLE!"

The music was murdered, causing the dancers to frown in anger. Gabriella glanced back to see that one of the junior basketball players had put the stereo on pause. Grumbles came violently at the speaker, but the drunken guy standing just waved it away. "WHAT THE FUCK BAYLOR?"

"Give me like… two minutes and like… twelve seconds." Zeke slurred stupidly before lifting up the half empty dirty brown beer bottle he was holding.

"Oh boy," Ryan rolled his eyes at his drunken best friend causing Kelsi to laugh. Gabriella found herself wishing now more than ever that she would just go home. But something was holding her back. Maybe some wishful thinking that staying here would cause a certain someone to be brought out of his funk which would help her grasp reality again. She had been stuck in her egg shell for five days too long, and right now it seemed as though the shell was cracking. "Think he's had enough?"

"He'll be fine." Kelsi responded gently and let Ryan put a thin, yet comfortable arm around her. Gabriella's jealousy was surging inside. Not that she was jealous it was Ryan, but she was jealous that Kelsi was getting the attention from her boyfriend that Gabriella craved from Troy. Just as her eyes scanned the still irritated dancers to see that Taylor was laughing blissfully with Chad's hands resting on her waist. Weren't they supposed to be taking things slow and not torturing Gabriella mercilessly?

"I just wanna… errr… Thank yous all for coming…" Zeke spit out, loosing his balance slightly on the chair he was on. His tall figure now towered over everyone like a giant. "And I wanna make… what's it called… Bolton! What was I gonna shout out?"

Gabriella's heart somersaulted at the six letter name. Unable to control her betraying eyes, she glanced towards the back corner to see another dark figure with a plaid button up that was rolled up at the sleeves lazily. She couldn't see any of his face, but she could tell his body immediately tensed as soon as the attention was all brought to him. His muscular shoulders shrugged his hiding visage. She forced herself to tear her eyes from her boyfriend's body, afraid that the tears burning in her eyes would rebel and trickle down her face. "Uhh…"

"Oh yeah!" Zeke smacked his head a little too hard, shutting Troy up. Gabriella was thankful, for the rasp in his voice almost caused her to sprint to him and make him promise that he would never leave her. "My ballers!" He stupidly imitated shooting a free throw. "We kicked ASS tonight!"

Finally, the dance floor irrupted in cheers. "WILDCATS!" Someone screamed.

"And of course… you're smokin' captain…" He pointed over to a corner where Gabriella knew Troy was not lingering. Who said "smokin'" anyway? Zeke quickly recovered and jerked his head back around towards the boy in the shadows. "Dude… ass… up here… now!"

"What the hell is he doing?" Another voice from behind Gabriella questioned. She tore her eyes from the black scene unfolding to see that Emily's long blonde hair fell loosely on her shoulders as she approached her friend from behind.

"Thanking Troy I think?" Kelsi responded slowly, obviously embarrassed for Zeke.

"Is someone shy…" He started to taunt before something stopped him mid sentence. Gabriella knew what it was; it had to be the deadly look on what she imagined Troy's face looked like. "… okay, well let's give it up for number 14!"

Jeers and sighs screamed through the house as Gabriella couldn't contain her anger to all the other carnivorous girls who were drooling over her boyfriend like he was a piece of meat. Her tiny hand flew to her mouth and violently began to rip and the short nails with her teeth. With that Zeke rose his beer bottle and practically crashed to the ground before the music started up again, giving the room a green eerie glow. "Someone has a date tonight with the toilet." Emily joked before her shining smile slipped into a concerned frown. "What's wrong Gabs?"

"Nothing." Gabriella grumbled once again for the night as Kelsi and Ryan gave each other knowing looks. She assumed they were "don't mess with her right now" kind of glances.

"We're gonna go dance." Kelsi stated more like asking if it would be ok if they left.

"Okay." She muttered lowly, her eyes green as Ryan took her hand and led her to the sweaty dance floor.

"Awe, cheer up Gabs! The first meet is on Monday, how can you not be excited?" Emily practically bounced off the walls in happiness as her ivory eyes dances with delight.

The memory that the first indoor track meet was on Monday flooded her brain. How could she forget that? In previous years, that seemed to be the only thing she would ever look forward to. Right now though, the only things she looked forward to were sleep. "Right…"

"You're mile is going to kick ass… don't worry." Emily confirmed happily, causing Gabriella to give her a half smile in response.

"We'll see how it goes." She responded honestly, knowing that by Sunday hopefully she'd be somewhat pumped for it. It was her event, wasn't it? Maybe if she could just keep her mind on that, it would draw out all the other things swimming inside.

Emily smiled brightly at her with her blonde hair bouncing. "You will."

"Thanks Em…" Gabriella took a tiny sip of the clear water inside her cup before scanning the room again. Faces were still blind to her, but she now saw the blue and red plaid shirt facing his back towards her. She could almost make out from her the tense muscles in his defined shoulders. A defeated sigh slipped form her lips. What was she doing here anyways? It wasn't like he was going to come over here any time soon. The microscopic hope that maybe, just maybe he would talk to her tonight was smashed. "Look, I think I'm gonna head out."

"It's like eleven! You can't leave yet!" Emily begged while letting her warm hands connect with the toasty olive skin. She almost jumped back as though it burnt her.

Gabriella's cascading black locks swung from side to side as she shook her head. "I'm just… not feeling the 'let's get wasted before a meet' thing going on," she replied somewhat honestly, she didn't want her mile to suffer. She also wasn't to STOP suffering from the lack of her love. It was too painful to be in the same room with him when he wasn't talking to her. "I'll just see ya later."

After giving her friend a hug, Gabriella squeezed through the outer edges of the dance floor that reminded her much of prom. The sensuality of the room heightened to enormous levels, almost making her skin crawl with a trickle of desire. She wanted to feel the sticky sweat tinkle down the back of her neck. The touch of a course hand on her waist and the erotic sound of heavy husky breathing in her tender ear. She wanted to feel Troy. All of Troy just to know he still cared.

The multicolored winter coats were tossed carelessly into a pile on the floor next to a wall and a white table of drinks. Even as she made it there, bodies were still grinding against hers, it was that tightly crunched. She had to press herself to a thin piece of paper against the wall until she assumed that she would be away from all the high energy dancers. The course bumps plastered on the wall began to scratch at her skin uncomfortably, making it difficult to bend down.

That wasn't an issue though when she felt an unknown presence behind her. Someone was now hovering over her personal space, yet it was so comfortable that for a second she almost believe it was…

"Holy shit!" Gabriella screamed surprised as her tiny body spun around violently. Without a moment to take her breath, the curves of her hips were slammed up against the dark wall behind her by another rough pair. She was unexpectedly caged in by two muscular arms. But that wasn't what sent her into shock. The rough desire was normal; the feeling of his passion was like an old lover coming back from war. It was greeted with open arms and felt familiar. What did throw her off guard was the flash of cyan lightning that bolted through his orbs as he first laid eyes on her, then quickly disappeared to mutate to lifeless grey.

Troy leaned towards her, breathing in her scent as Gabriella took in his intoxicating musky smell. Wow did she miss it. What was going on though? Wasn't he staying away from her? Didn't he say he couldn't do it now? Why was he holding her now like he used to? What was going on? "I need you to know that I love you."

Gabriella sucked in the thin air as though she needed to grip onto what he was saying. Passion oozed through his tone, it was almost frightening. She felt her knees shake just at the icy touch of his fingertips that now tickled the hairs on her right arm. "Wh…what?" Her throat was dry.

Through the sexual beat of the music, Gabriella heard Troy swallowed forcefully above her. "If I've done anything to make you doubt how much I love you… then I don't deserve you."

That sent her into panic mode. She reached up to grip each side of his hard bronze face, forcing their eyes to lock together. Inferno roared through her black orbs, forcing him to understand. He had to. "Don't ever say you don't deserve me." Normally, the whisper of her voice would have been drowning by the music, but this was louder and more powerful than any band could make.

Troy violently shook his perfect head. "No. Gabriella. I don't."

The burning tears that had lingered in her eyes all night burned through the black pits. "Troy, yes you do."

His lips curved into a pained smile, twisted as he flipped his brunette hair out of his murky eyes. "Just tell me you know I love you."

She knew where this was forming from. In the past two days, Gabriella had questioned his love for her twice. She didn't believe it would have taken so much of a toll on his body, but it was as though he freezing to death in his pain. She would have done anything in her power to take it away, if she had the strength herself. "I know you do."

Troy closed his orbs and scrunched his face like he was being stabbed by a pointed object. "You don't…" His voice trembled as it spoke.

The first time she said it, she didn't sound convincing. That would probably be because her tongue was completely numb right now. "Troy…"

There was something different about him, minus the part that his eyes were a darker shade of grey. Desperation tangled in the strands of his chestnut hair. Desire tickled her face with his icy breath. But most of all, determination stretched over his skin, causing the euphoric passion to seep through her own skin and into her body. He was on a mission; he had a purpose in life again.

What scared her was that she didn't know what that purpose was.

"Troy, look at me," Gabriella forced his eyes upon her again, sending another blaze to him. Her normally gentle face contorted to her own determination. A tiny hot tear sprinkled down her soft cheek. "I know you love me. And I can't live without you. I love you more than anything."

She meant every word.

Troy's eyes closed, this time like he was savoring the moment for later use. The rigidness in his expression vanquished before he lifted his head up again and let fire and ice dance as his forehead connected with hers. "Then you trust me."

Gabriella nodded without skipping a heartbeat. "With my life. If this is about your mom, I don't care…"

"But I do…" Troy sucked in a terrifying breath. What was he saying? "I care. I'm tired of living like this Gabi."

Gabriella bit her puffy bottom lip, seeing her father's image blind her from Troy for a moment. Her hands gently caressed the smooth side of his neck. "Me too," She whispered like Jose would pop out through the crowd. "We can help each other."

Troy nervously gazed down at the ground again before pulling her hips tighter to him, as though he would never touch her again. Panic rose through his system. "I need to do this on my own Gab," he begged her to understand desperately, the blue in his eyes threatening to come out as he lifted his head against her again. "I can't depend on you…I need to do it without you."

Gabriella's heart shattered. No. Not when she needed him most. The tears now flowed steadily down her face. "Troy, please don't do this."

Realization that she believed he was breaking up with her dawned in his face as he shook his head violently. "No! Gabriella please don't think that way. Ever. I can't live without being with you. I would never…" He trailed off as if the words were too horrible to say. Troy's shoulders shuttered uncontrollably.

A sigh of relief released her tense stomach the slightest bit. He wasn't breaking up with her. Then what did he mean he had to do something without her? "I need to know I'm strong enough without you. I can't count on you to save me anymore."

Gabriella nodded her head, trying to make him see her side. "Yes you can."

Troy nuzzled his cheek against hers, sending rounds of fireworks through her body. She hadn't felt this kind of affection in so long. His mind was set, but Gabriella now felt helpless. If she couldn't save him anymore, would he still be around her save her? She needed him more than ever right now, and he was attempting to do whatever he needed to on his own. Why was this such bad timing? "You gave me strength, now I gotta use it and walk on my own."

Gabriella stared down at the floor, feeling her heart break. It wasn't over between them, but she felt so alone. It seemed to her that he wasn't going to come to her until he fixed whatever it was he was going to fix. What could he fix? He couldn't force his mother to stop being an ex drug user. So what was he thinking anyways? "What do you…"

"You deserve a whole man Gabriella. Not a broken one," his frozen lips rubbed against his forehead as he spoke. Determination again ran through his spine. "I'm gonna find you Troy again. But I gotta do it on my own."

She got it. She had given him the wings and it was his turn to fly. Why now though? Why did he have to be noble now when she was dying inside? "Troy."

"I love you," He mumbled before pressing his icy lips to her fore head. They then danced along the top of her head and to her temple, before pulling away reluctantly. "Know that."

Gabriella nodded, her heart still aching. "I do. I love you too."

Another sparkle of crystal blue water in his eyes before he nodded and painfully let go of her waist. Gabriella watch with tearstained eyes as he took a step backwards, never breaking her gaze. This was what he needed. To be able to solve his pain, on his own. Without her. Had to be strong. She knew that. She knew he would never get better if he didn't do it on his own. Whatever it was he had to do.

It was just too bad that this was when Gabriella needed his touch the most.

Troy took steady steps backwards until the grinding drunken teenagers swallowed him to shield him from her. This would be the last time Gabriella would stare into the gray eyes until they turned back to cyan, and she knew that. She knew he would be able to do it. The only question was…

Would she be able to survive him saving himself if she was tearing up inside?

A/N: I hope everyone understands this chapter. They did NOT break up, if that's what you guys thought. I just wanted to clear up any confusion. Thanks so much for reading and reviewing!