Chapter Sixteen

Taylor took a deep breath as she headed to Chemistry the next day. She and Chad had met after the musical practice to try and come up with something that they could do. They didn't want to flat out tell Gabriella that Troy was cheating on her behind her back…they weren't 100 percent positive yet. Chad hadn't managed to get anything out of Troy the day before. Today was her last day to do something and if they didn't…well…then they had the weekend to come up with something else.

So far, the most that they had managed to come up with was for Taylor to talk to Gabriella about Troy and his…lack of interest? She didn't know how to phrase it…she didn't know what it was. Taylor had figured, maybe, just maybe, she could get Gabriella to break it off with Troy first so that her heart wouldn't be broken later. She doubted that Troy would be too heartbroken if Gabs broke up with him, but it would put Gabriella in a world of pain if he did it to her.

Chad was supposed to talk to Troy that afternoon as well during basketball practice. But it was Taylor's duty to work on Gabriella during Chemistry. Today they were paired up to work on a packet to review the lab they had done the day before. It gave Taylor the perfect opportunity to talk to Gabriella without being overheard because everyone would be talking to each other…the only difference would be was that Taylor wouldn't be talking about Chemistry.

"Hey Tay," Gabriella greeted as Taylor sat down. Gabriella already had the packet in front of her and had started as well. Taylor greeted her, looking over at the first page, nearly completely finished.

Taylor smiled softly, Gabriella was her best friend. She was pretty much the only one that she could talk to about anything…she was pretty much the only one who could understand what she said. Especially when she started speaking in scientific jargon, as was her habit. She really didn't want to see her best friend hurt…more so, she didn't want to lie to her or keep secrets from her.

They worked on he packet for a while, Gabriella did most of the work, Taylor only put in her opinion a few times as she tried to come up with something to say. "Hey Gabs…" Taylor started when they were nearly half way finished.

"Uh huh," Gabriella said, not looking up from the packet.

"How are things with you and Troy?" she asked before mentally smacking herself. 'Great,' she thought, 'Now she's going to think something is going on.'

Gabriella smiled softly, "Things are going good," she said, "A little tense, like it was last year with the musical and stuff, but we're good."

"Are you sure?" she asked. 'God Taylor shut your mouth!' her mind screamed at her.

Gabriella looked up, eyeing her friend curiously, "I'm sure…is something wrong Tay?"

Taylor smiled awkwardly at her before shaking her head, "No, nothing's wrong…I've just been…thinking…"

"About what?" she asked, shaking her head in confusion.

"You and Troy…" she started when Gabriella cut her off.

"Not this again," Gabriella mumbled, "Taylor, Troy is not going to take my focus off of the squad. We won the semi finals, we're going to the finals, and I'll be there."

"I know, I know," she reaffirmed, "It's just…you both seemed so distant lately. And I just think that you can…you know…do better…"

"Than the lunk head basketball guy right?" Gabriella asked defensively.

"No! It's not that, believe me it isn't."

"Then what is it?"

Taylor looked at Gabriella, her eyes flashing in anger. Taylor couldn't think of anything to say but… "Maybe he likes someone else!"

Gabriella stared at her, "What?" she asked, shaking her head in disbelief, "You think he's cheating on me?"

"No!" Taylor shouted, trying to cover up her mistake…earning odd looks from everyone else. "I just…"

"Look Taylor," Gabriella said, cutting her off, "I trust Troy. He's a great guy, he would never do that to me." Taylor opened her mouth to say something, but Gabriella continued, "You know what…I think I'm gonna go to the nurse's office. Finish up for me?"

She didn't even let Taylor answer as she walked over to the teacher to ask for a pass to the nurse. Taylor knew that she wasn't really sick, she just didn't want to deal with Taylor right not.

Taylor waited till she was out the door before letting out a sigh; she really blew it this time…

Chad had tried to corner Troy again that day…but Troy had managed to avoid him. He had been wandering the halls for a while now; trying to find Troy in the fifteen minutes they had before heading to musical practice. He was about to round the corner to where Troy's locker was when he ran into someone. Neither fell to the ground, but both had to take a few stumbling steps back.

Chad looked up to see Ryan Evans standing before him, "Hey man, sorry 'bout that." Chad said, holding out a hand to shake Ryan's.

"No problem, my fault too," Ryan said doing one of those guy handshake things. They were about to pass each other when Chad heard Ryan call, "Hey Chad, I've been looking for Sharpay everywhere, do you know where she might be?"

Chad thought about it for a moment…he knew whom she was probably with, but he didn't know where Troy was either, "I might know, have you seen Troy?"

Ryan shook his head before continuing down the hall. 'Wait,' he thought, stopping a moment and staring at the ground in confusion, 'What does Troy have to do with that? Does he know where Sharpay is? But Chad was looking for Troy too…are they both missing?'

Ryan shook his head. All that thinking was hurting his head. "Hey Ryan!" he heard a voice shout from down the hall.

He turned to see Gabriella running towards him, "Hey Gabby."

"Have you seen Troy anywhere?" she asked. He shook his head and she frowned. She had been trying to find him to ask whether he'd like to do something with her after the musical practice that day…or maybe over the weekend. But she hadn't had any luck with that. "I haven't been able to find him all day."

"I know what you mean," Ryan said as they continued to walk towards the auditorium, "I haven't been able to find Sharpay either…and I'm in half her classes!"

Gabriella laughed at that, pushing the small nagging voice that started at the mention of Sharpay to the back of her head.

Ryan held the door to the auditorium open for her as she walked by blushing and muttering a small 'thank you'. Together they walked down the aisle towards the stage…splitting when they reached the last row of chairs to go sit with their friends. Gabriella with Taylor, and Ryan with Sharpay who was talking with Ms. Darbus.

Gabriella looked up when she heard the stage door across the room open. Troy had just entered, their eyes locked for a split second before he looked away, almost as if he hadn't even seen her. He walked towards the middle row of chairs and sat down. He couldn't sit near Gabriella, couldn't look at her...for fear that she would see the change in him. He and Sharpay had ditched the AIM plan...it just wasn't working. They had ended up ending their chat with Sharpay running over to Troy's house to hang out. Seeing the other online, but not able to touch them had been unbearable. So had pretending to not even be slightly interested in the other. They had ended up eating lunch together just to see the other...something that probably wasn't the smartest thing to do because Ryan and Chad had been looking for them all day. He looked up to see Chad heading towards him, knowing full well that he was in for another question/answer session for his where abouts. He groaned inwardly as Chad sat next to him, opening his mouth to begin the questioning...

A/N – Next chapter, Taylor and Chad come up with a plan for Troy and Sharpay while more of Troy's memories start to resurface. This chapter was a little short, the next one might be also…but the one after should be long enough…that one involves someone else finding out about the new couple.