(FYI I don't have someone who reads over this to edit and etc, so if I have any grammatical mistakes… I'm sorry! unless someone wants to volunteer? PM me!)

Chapter 3

"You don't know what you're getting yourself into," Allison Edwards was the first to approach her after word got around about people seeing her leave the art room with Isaac that afternoon.

Gabriella smiled as if she didn't know what the school's very on 'Gossip Girl' were talking about, "Hey Ally."

"He's going pull you in with his strong and silent appeal," she informed the girl and linked arms with her, "and then once you've fallen in, there's no way you'll be able to pull yourself out."

All of it really sounded like was a bad break-up to her, "Look, I'm not after Isaac… I know you're trying to mark your territory or whatever but it's just a party-"

"Gabriella," she stopped and tightened her grip around her arm, looking at her in all seriousness, "I'm telling you… as a friend. He's no good."

"I'm just hanging out with him, what's the big deal?"

She answered sincerely, "He hurt me Gabriella, and he'd probably do it again so just be careful."

"Okay."

"Look, I've got cheerleading stuff to go to," the girl brought on a new subject quickly, "any way… just don't get too close."

She pulled up another smile and muttered quietly while watching the girl slip away, "Thanks…"

"Was she spreading more rumors about us?" Troy was behind her, leaning against the doorway with a smirk on his face.

Her smile fell.

Damn, she was still mad. His sly grin faded, "I owe you an apology."

She rolled her eyes and continued walking away, "I don't have time for you to figure out if you want to be polite or talk more trash about me, just stay out of my way Troy, I just want to graduate and leave."

His jaw fell open, "That has to be the longest sentence that you've spoke to me since you came back."

"You're so fake Troy," she spun around, "You act like we're still best friends when no one's around, but whenever we're around our friends everything is a fair game."

He ran his hands through his hair, "I don't mean it."

"What part?" She turned, continuing her walk toward the student parking lot, and searched inside of her cluttered bag for her car keys, "That anyone who's even remotely interested in me is only getting your sloppy seconds?"

"You know I didn't mean that." He quickly followed her.

"Or? Maybe you really didn't mean that I'm a fucking slut for 'fucking around with Grantham'," she could feel the prescription sleeping-pills bottle getting in the way, her cell-phone was vibrating again and she pulled it out, "Even though it doesn't matter that I've been friends with him since before I could walk." She fumbled through the screen looking for the missed call.

He watched her slowly turn her attention away from their argument and back to the Blackberry, "I didn't mean any of it."

"Yeah," her voice fell and she turned away towards her red Mercedes.

His annoyance grew into anger and Troy quickly snatched her phone from her grasp, "YOU AND THIS DAMN PHONE… Listen to me!" He grabbed her waist and pulled her back into the school.

She tried to push him away, and once he set her on her feet, he grabbed her arms and pin them against the cold metal lockers. Gabriella's eyes fell wide open, "Are you insane? Did you seriously just grab my phone?"

"Well fuck, if you just pulled yourself away from your secret Blackberry life, maybe you would understand why," he spat out dangerously close to her soft cheek.

She tried to sink in even further against the lockers, Gabriella turned her head away; he had a strong grip on her arms right above her elbows, breathing against her cheek.

"I'm sorry." He sounded different. Broken.

She lifted her head slowly and met his navy eyes, and for the first time in a long time they shared a sincere understanding. She quickly brushed off the feeling, "You are always going to be sorry, and I'm always going to be hurt."

He bit his lip and lessened his grip on her, Troy gently touched the center of her chin with his thumb and stared at her soft lips. "You know that I lov-"

"That's not right, Troy…" she pulled his hand away, "to me or Vivian." She took her phone back and walked away slowly, stopping in the doorway to look back and see him with his head resting on the space that he'd previously pushed her against.

A while ago, when she could read his every body language she would've known that there was more going on his life than he ever let anyone know. But a lot of things change in year's time, and she wasn't the same Gabriella, just like he wasn't the same Troy.

Gabriella turned away and checked her phone, seeing two missed calls from the people who worked for her Dad.

Everything would've went normal for Troy that night, if it hadn't been for her. He'd have to rough up a few jocks for looking at Vivian the wrong way and show the rest of East High's elite why he was still their Golden Boy, like all of the parties that he showed up to.

But then the lingering cautions for Gabriella's return sat in the back of his head like a migraine, and the thing was that she wasn't even there yet. As a matter of fact, Troy didn't touch an ounce of liquor at all; he wanted to remember what it felt like to beat the shit out of her date.

He spent the night imagining how she'd show up. Perfect, like always… maybe in that bright green one that always cause the other jock's to turn their heads, or even worse the tight little black dress that she only wore once for him when they were dating because he wouldn't allow her to wear it out in public. And then he grew in annoyance when he realized the guy she would be wearing it for was Thornton, the lonesome art druggie who couldn't even man up to take care of his kid. She probably wasn't even aware of it.

So for the rest of that night, Troy sat there alone, occasionally with a group of people but alone in his thoughts as he tortured himself with his own made up images of his ex-girlfriend and her new interest.

"Are you seriously just bumming out in the couch?" Allison Edwards (the gossip mill), flirtatiously ran her hand down his muscular arm and smiled, "Troy, relax, I already told her about Isaac."

He shook himself out of his thoughts, "Who?"

She rolled her eyes, annoyed at the fact that he was playing dumb, "Gabriella? The love of your life?"

"Oh," he muttered unexcitedly, as if she weren't the girl who was haunting his thoughts, "I don't care."

Allison smiled knowingly, "You so care. You care so much, I mean why would you have kissed her in front of everyone the other day then."

He coughed, "WHAT?"

She looked at him impatiently, "You know, it was so romantic… the way you grabbed her in kissed her in front of everyone in the cafeteria… although that is kind of sketchy since you're sort of with Vivian and she is my friend."

"I never kissed her," he informed the mistaken girl.

Her eyes grew doubtful, "Right… that's the story." She laughed and ruffled his brown locks, eventually being swept away by some other group of people who recognized her. Thankfully, they were smart enough to read the look on his face and left him alone.

He wasn't by himself for that long. Vivian greeted him with a kiss on his cheek and slid into his lap, she kissed him again on his lips and pulled away surprised at his soberness, "You haven't had anything to drink?"

He shook his head, "Not yet."

"Well I'll get you a beer then," she started to get up, but he pulled her back down and back into his lap.

"I'm cool," he smiled and fingered the soft locks of her brown hair.

She shrugged, "Okay."

"Kiss me again," he leaned into her and felt her lips against his. In his wandering heart he secretly waited for Gabriella to show up.

Except Gabriella never showed up. It was ten past two when Sharpay got a call from some strange guy that traced back to her number.

Troy with his god given athletic abilities swooped in and snatched her phone as soon as he figured out what was going on. He rushed out of the house party and hastily climbed into his truck to make his way toward her.

She was a beautiful wreck when Troy found her. Gabriella was at the bar laughing freely and coming back with witty remarks while the men around her made their usual harmless sexual innuendos. That was the way it seemed from a couple yards away, but when he stood next to her and glanced down, his heart must've dropped into his stomach, because she took in his presence with her crying eyes and forced a smile on her face.

"Troy," she exhaled in a half-sob and collapsed into him.

"It's her isn't it Shar?" It was obvious that the question had been sitting with Vivian for a while. Her tired eyes never left the door that Troy stormed out of an hour ago.

The blonde shifted in her spot and kept her eyes closed, "Who?"

"Troy's… mystery girl."

Sharpay snorted, "I know that you're supposed to be some kind of a bobble head cheerleader, but I know you're different and that you know about Troy's… wandering interests." She placed it lightly.

Vivian shrugged, "I know… I know he has his random flings or whatever but… I mean. Her."

"Her?"

She explained reluctantly, "The one that he's always thinking about."

"Oh damn," She muttered nervously, "Umm, I'm not the person you should be discussing this with."

"Why? I mean, you can be Gabriella's friend and mine at the same time."

Sharpay sat up and stretched, "Has nothing to do with it, just that… I've never dated Troy. I don't anything about that."

"But just tell me," She insisted, "it's Gabriella isn't it?"

"What makes you think that?" Sharpay shifted her green eyes away.

Vivian rolled her eyes, "I'm not blind… I remember that look he has when he's zoning out and it's the same one he has whenever she's around."

"Then you should also remember what I said about getting too close," She spoke boredly, "I warned you."

"So it is her."

Sharpay looked blankly into the high ceilings, "I'm not saying your right."

"You're not saying I'm wrong either." Vivian bit her lip and leaned back into the leather couch, she let her eyes linger on the front door, wanting desperately for Troy to come back and prove her wrong.

"I'm not sure that vodka and-"

"Shut up," Gabriella muttered and stumbled back into his body on her way upstairs to his bedroom.

He immediately grabbed her waist and held her tightly as he gently led her up the stairs, trying to keep quiet and not wake his parents.

Once Gabriella found herself inside of the familiar room, she kicked off her black heels pulled off her black fitted cropped blazer and climbed into his bed.

"You were crying." Troy stayed back near his door and folded his arms, watching the raw moonlight grace her beautiful face.

She had her eyes closed, but he could still feel the way she probably was rolling them. "Was not," an annoyed answer.

"Liar." He pushed himself off of the doorframe and laid on top of the covers next to her.

"I hope you don't think you're going to get lucky cause I'm just a little tipsy." There was an almost undetectable slur in her comment.

He laughed, "No, not 'just a little tipsy', let's face it… you're wasted."

She pulled off the covers, "Not 'wasted' I only had a couple of shots, what's the big deal?"

"The bartender said you had more than eight shots of vodka," he turned his eyes back to the ceiling, "and some random college guys bought you a few mixed drinks too."

She rolled her eyes, "It's really not that bad."

He was silent for a while.

"What," she studied his profile, finding that his facial features had matured faintly in her absence.

In a hesitant voice, he answered softly, "Don't… don't do that again."

She laughed it off, "I was just having fun…"

"Well it wasn't funny," he clenched his jaw.

"Will you lighten up?" She pushed him, "I'm not an alcoholic."

"I'm not stupid," he shifted to his side, "I found you being suspiciously content one moment and you burst into tears when you saw me?"

"Maybe it's you."

"Maybe it's you," he repeated.

"I just had a moment okay?" In a flash her protest turned into an utter annoyance, "Damn it, and in any case you're always out fucking around with random girls, you're such a hypocrite." She finished her sentence with a heavy sigh and fell back in between the sheets.

He let the silence set for a while, and with his open heart he confessed to her quietly, "Maybe I'm just trying to get over you."

She exhaled in tired breath, "It's been over a year."

"Exactly," he slowly confirmed, "and you haven't forgiven me."

"…Maybe I'm not just waiting for an apology." She turned around and faced the other direction.

He was hesitant, but knew that it was something that he'd left out before. "Then," he sputtered out unsmoothly, "you should know, that I've been tearing myself up about what I did last year."

"That's not an apology," she turned back around and surprised him. She held the side of his face with a gentle hand and kept a firm gaze on his dark blue eyes, "I'm sorry I wasn't emotionally strong enough to share you with another girl," she pulled her words back in quickly, "That's an apology."

He tore his eyes away from her and brushed his hand lightly against hers. "I'm sorry, Gabriella…" he confessed in a pitiful coarse whisper.

"For?" she asked expectantly.

"… For cheating," his voice fell and he bit his lip, "I'm sorry I hurt you."

Gabriella studied him for a moment and then smiled weakly, "Then I forgive you…"

"Just like that?" He looked at her apprehensively, "You forgive me just like that?"

She shrugged. "Yeah… but."

"But?"

The brunette's smile faded and she pulled her arm back and rested her palm against her neck, "But this doesn't change anything."

He reluctantly nodded, his stomach swallowing his heart. "That's fair," he agreed quietly and turned away.

They both stayed like that for a while, both silently still wide awake with empty words and unanswered questions. Mostly, she wanted to know why he would just let her go so easily, without giving himself a fighting chance and he wondered if she still thought about him the same way.

"Gabs," Troy sat up and glanced down at her, "I want to be friends."

After Friday night, part of her wanted to forget everything that happened, and another part of her was sort of relieved that it did.

She was sort of friends with Troy again. The girls didn't really understand why and neither could she, but honestly Gabriella was relieved that they could both move on and let go of their messy past.

But he caught her with her guard down, and the way she cried in his arms that night in the bar might have flawed her set opinion of who his was now. She didn't know how to be his friend anymore.

"Heard you got into a little trouble Friday night," David smirked as he sat down next to her and stole the apple in front of her. He raised his eyebrows suggestively and bit into her lunch.

She was of course deep into her Blackberry, "Kind of."

"First… you threw out his breakfast," he raised a finger up.

"Yeah," she laughed.

He put up a second finger, "Then you have lunch with the stupid loner art boy."

"He's not stupid or a loner."

He ignored her and continued, "Then you spend the night at Golden Boy's house."

She didn't respond this time. Gabriella rolled her eyes, "You owe me an apple, and anyway I have to meet up someone."

"Better not be Art Boy!" He yelled after and finished the apple.

She shrugged him off and headed towards the art room.

"Hey, you alright?" Isaac was washing the paint off his brushes when Gabriella walked in, "Kind of worried me when you cancelled last week."

She smiled at him, "I'm fine now, I just needed time alone."

"Understandable," he shrugged, "Alright, you ready?"

She gave him a look, "I was waiting on you Art Boy."

He laughed and grabbed his car keys, "Very original, Gabs."

"It's Gabriella," she corrected him and pushed him along.

"You are going to love this," he grinned and shuffled along.

"A train track?" She glanced at him in disbelief, "We could get in trouble for this."

Isaac laughed, "It's cool, the cops never come to this side." He grabbed his backpack along and climbed out of the truck, "You ever heard of Banksy?"

"The guy that people are still looking for in London cause of his controversial graffiti?" She got out of his truck apprehensively.

"Exactly," he nodded, "He immortalizes his art by questioning it's whole definition."

"Okay that's nice, but we could seriously get in to trouble for-" She stopped in mid-sentence when her eyes fell on one of the paintings on the box carts.

"It's you," he glanced at her for a second and walked closer to the cart.

She stood in amazement at the mural. There she was a portrait of herself on the side of the cart, he caught line on her face correctly, there wasn't even a flaw that she could find.

"It's not all there yet," he shrugged, "but I thought you'd like to see it anyway, before a train comes and pulls it away.

"I can't believe you did…"

"I can't believe it either," he stood next to her and studied it, "I don't know, you just have a really drawable face."

She snorted, "Is that your way of saying I'm pretty?"

A smile crept on his face, "Maybe."

"I've never had anyone do anything like this for me," Gabriella took his arm and kept her eyes on the box cart, "It's beautiful."

He nodded, "It is pretty damn awesome huh?"

"Very Awesome."

AN:/ so its finally here! Yay! Sorry for taking so long. I added a little bit of Troy and Gabriella time, and finally they are talking to each other now, and I wanted to show a deeper side of Vivian because it's so easy to make her a bitch and etc but that's so like… stereotypical to have that kind of a character so no, she is NOT going to be mean (be nice to her!) lol. Until next time. Thanks for you reviews by the way!