Standing at my front door was Ryan Evans.

"Hi Gabriella. May I come in?" He smiled politely. He was dressed in a light blue dress shirt and he had on gray pants. He also of course had a light blue cap that matched his shirt.

"Um." Was all I could manage to say. His polite expression turned to confusion. He tried to push past me into the house but I blocked the doorway. "I don't think that's such a good idea…" I said slowly. His face looked even more confused.

"What do you mean?" He said and then laughed, "Hah oh, do you not want it to lead to something else." He said winking, " 'Cause I promise it won't." I tried to push that thought to the back of my head.

"No," I said seriously, "I just don't think it's a good idea." He backed up a step and looked around. He shoved his hands in his pockets.

"So I guess I'll just talk to you from here?" He laughed. When he saw that I was still serious he stopped laughing and cleared his throat. "What's going on, Gabi?" He asked stepping closer and putting his hand on my shoulder. I shrugged it off and crossed my arms. I stepped outside and closed the door behind me. I wanted to make sure we were out in the open just in case anything happened.

"… Sharpay came by today." I said looking at the ground. I heard Ryan chuckle.

"Sharpay?" He laughed, "What the heck was she doing here?" He asked smiling. He seemed so innocent. I couldn't believe that someone like him could be so troubled.

"That's what I thought at first… But she came here to tell me something," I said trying not to look at his beautiful, happy, face, "Something about you." I finished. Ryan once again looked confused but I could see him start to fidget.

"About me?" He said looking at his shoes and shuffling his feet. "Why would she come here to talk about me? No offence, but I didn't think Sharpay was too fond of you."

"I didn't think so either," I nodded and continued, "But I guess she really needed to tell me because… It was important for me to know." I could see beads of sweat starting to form on Ryan's forehead. He tried to wipe them away.

"Oh, well… What was it?" He asked nervously. By this time I was slightly angry and fed up with Ryan's constant lying. I walked straight up to him and looked him in the eyes.

"I think you know." I said coldly. I expected to hear a 'gulp' from Ryan or see some sort of terror in his eyes but when I said it he regained his posture and smirked.

"Is that so?" He said sarcastically. It was now me who was starting to feel nervous. He stepped closer to me and I could feel his breath on my skin. "I really don't know what you're talking about." And that was it. I shoved him roughly and watched him fall to the ground. He looked up at me and I saw anger in his eyes. "What the hell?!" He yelled. I walked quickly towards him as he tried to get up and I shoved him again. Something inside of me had snapped.

"Don't even try it, Ryan!" I yelled, "You know what you did! It wasn't Troy who beat you up! You did it to yourself!" I continued to yell. Ryan had lost all colour in his face (though he had little colour to start with) and his eyes were wide. I could see tears forming in his brilliant blue eyes.

"Gabi… I can explain!" He tried but I pushed him again.

"I don't care anymore! You've ruined everything!" I yelled. By this time a few neighbours had come out to see what the noise was. "You made me think Troy did it all! You made me hate him and now I can't fix it! I even lost my best friend because of you!" I cried as I punched him in the chest.

"Gabriella please listen to me," He cried. His face was wet with tears and his hat had been knocked off, "I didn't want you to get hurt. I never wanted that." He said still crying. I continued to beat his chest but he was strong and he grabbed my arms and held them still.

"LET ME GO!" I yelled.

"No Gabi, please you have to listen to me!" He cried and I broke free and slapped him hard in the face. It took a second for both of us to figure out what had just happened. I could see the anger return to his eyes and I felt myself fall hard to the ground and I saw that Ryan was standing over me. I started to cry even more as I curled up into a little ball.

Suddenly I heard some groaning and I saw that Ryan was now too lying on the grass. I looked up and saw a few people crowding around. Most of them were neighbours.

"Get outa here!" One of them yelled at Ryan. He quickly stumpled to get up and he looked at me desperately.

"Gabi…" He said sadly. "I'm so sorry." I got up and started to walk back to my house.

"GABI PLEASE. I love you!" I heard him yell. I stopped and tried to regain my strength but I couldn't. I felt more tears fall and I tried to dismiss the pain in my heart. I love you. I braced myself against me door and looked back. A few guys were pushing Ryan back to his car. I saw his face was red and wet from crying. He looked at me sadly one last time and got in his car and drove away. I continued to cry as I watched Ryan drive away. One of the women came up to me and helped me stand up.

"Are you okay, dear? That gave us quite a fright." She said kindly. I nodded and apologized for the noise. When everyone had left I sat on my front step looking at the sky. When I finally came out of my trance I looked at my lawn and saw something blue lying on the grass. I walked over to it and picked it up. It was Ryan's hat. I hugged it tightly to my chest and walked back inside. I hadn't realized how much time had gone by but it was almost 8:00. I sighed and went to the kitchen to make some food. I checked the messages on the phone and found another one from my mother telling me she wouldn't be home until very late. I sighed again and continued to look for something to eat. All this crying had made me hungry. Suddenly the telephone rang.

"UGH" I groaned and walked over to it. "Hello?" I said irritably.

"Gabriella?" I heard a rushed voice say.

"Yes, who is this?" I asked worriedly.

"Gabriella, it's Sharpay." She said quickly.

"Oh, what do you want?" I asked annoyed. I had to admit I wasn't happy to hear from her again so soon.

"This is serious, Gabriella. Something's happened," She said but she sounded scared. Not like how she normally sounded at all which was obnoxious and harsh.

"What did Ryan beat himself up again?" I said sarcastically.

"Gabriella, stop it!" I heard her yell over the phone and it caused me to jump.

"Okay okay I'm sorry. What's wrong?"

"It's Ryan!" She cried. I breathed in quickly and tried to steady my breathing.

"What happened?" I said nervously. She didn't answer for a few moments and I heard sobs. "Sharpay?" I yelled. "What is it? What's wrong?" I asked. I heard her sniff.

"Ryan…" She started crying again.

"Sharpay? WHAT HAPPENED?!" I cried impatiently.

"Ryan… He's. He left." She cried and started sobbing again. I stood there for a moment, confused.

"What do you mean he left?" I asked. There was another pause.

"I mean. Ryan's run away."