Disclaimer: I Do not own High School Musical in any way shape or form!

Chapter 4 - Look My Way

Gabriella's POV

I ran. It was the easiest thing for me to do. The memories of that horrid night came back to haunt me at full speed.

As I turned to look back at east high before getting into my car, I almost felt a sense of guilt for just freaking out at Troy like that. I mean he didn't know what I had been through; it wasn't his fault that something that he said which was so innocent had caused me to think about my worst nightmare.

I was tempted to go back and apologize. Gosh, he must think that I'm some sort of freak who just cry's all the time.

The first time I get Troy Bolton to look at me and I go crazy.

I cant even imagine what it would be like in the gym right now, people would be talking about this for days now, great, all that I need, another trip on the rumour mill.

I was grateful that he didn't follow me, or anyone else for that matter. I don't know how I would have reacted. I bet Sharpay is having a spastic attack right now, and I am fairly sure that I should be expecting a phone call within the next ten minutes demanding to know my where-abouts. Just when I thought my life was getting back on track, and the constant fussing over me had finished; this incident brought me right back to the place I was six months ago, having my two best friends treat me as if they were my body guards, shielding me from the real world and all the bad things that happen around me. I knew as soon as Chad found out, which I am positively sure he will, with the amount of cheerleaders in my class who love to talk about everyone else's business but their own, find him, he will be on my case constantly trying to be the 'big brother' that he feels the need to be.

Back with Troy & Sharpay

"Bolton WHAT did you do to her?!" Sharpay screeched from across the gym, coming at him like a hurricane releasing its fury.

Troy stood shell shocked, confused beyond belief. The only words he could process leaving his mouth,

"Nothing, I did nothing."

This obviously wasn't an adequate answer for Sharpay as her eyes almost turned to slits and her hands curled into fists, her voice raising about five octaves.

"Girls don't generally run away crying from you over nothing Bolton, do they?!" She hissed

"You better tell me the exact words that you said to her in three seconds or I swear to God you will never be able to produce children for the rest of your life!" Sharpay continued

Troy stood there bewildered, firstly a girl had just started crying pretty much over nothing, or so he thought, and then proceeded to run away, and now her crazy glittery friend is threatening to hurt injure him, which with no doubt in his head was sure that she would if he didn't spill the information she wanted fast.

"Look Evans, I don't have a clue what happened, she was just saying she was bad at sport, then I threw the ball, she caught it, and was excited and jumping around and said something like 'Omg Troy' and I said something back, and then she just started to cry! I have no idea what happened."

"Think harder Bolton, what were your exact words to her, I swear Troy you better freaking remember. That girl means more to me than anyone and it is my job to protect her and I have no hesitation in physically endangering your safety right now!"

--

Sharpay was no force to mess with, once in second grade a girl borrowed her favourite pink glitter, and when Sharpay saw, lets just say the girl had a nice trip to the hairdresser trying to get the glue and gunk Sharpay had poured all over her, out from her hair, and when she returned to school the next day, she looked lot less like a girl, than she did a boy.

People knew ever since then not to mess with Sharpay Evans and her glitter. She was always protective of the things that she loved the most, and ever since Gabriella and her had become best friends, she became extremely protective over her as well, not to mention the incident that happened to Gabriella, which only sparked an overdrive into Sharpay's protective mode.

--

"Wow Evans I haven't seen you this worked up over something ever since that girl in second grade who stole your glitter"

Troy obviously thought that this was the time to joke, but what he didn't realise was that not only was he going to have to deal with Sharpay, but as soon as Chad found out that something had happened to Gabriella, there would be hell to pay.

"You do not want to get on my bad side Bolton, I know for sure that a certain mutual best friend of ours will be less than impressed to find out that the girl he thinks of as a little sister was put in any harm, especially from the likes of you!"

--

Troy knew that this was true. He never knew why Gabriella and Chad had such a strong friendship, or how they managed to keep close when Chad had so much other stuff going on in his life, but he did know that Chad and Gabriella had a bond that could not be messed with, and he didn't want to risk loosing his friendship with his childhood friend over something that seemed so minuscule to him.

Troy always wondered about Chad and Gabriella's friendship, it seemed foreign to Troy to have such a strong bond with a girl, let alone a girl who wasn't even in the same grade, although he knew they had been neighbors since they were born so that gave them some reason to hang out together.

Before Troy went away he never found the need to mix into the other side of Chad's life, the side with Sharpay and Gabriella, only because he didn't fully understand it, but now after coming back he noticed something new about Gabriella, or Brie as he like to refer to her as.

There was something different in her eyes, she always looked confident on the outside, but her eyes read something much deeper, like a sense of worry, or stress, she never seemed fully content unless she was with her two core people in her life, Chad and Sharpay.

He wondered why that was, was there some reason behind Gabriella's attachment to those two people? But that wasn't the only thing that had changed about Gabriella, and he was sure that he wasn't the only male in East High to have noticed, well he clearly wasn't, he saw the way that Shane and Warren were looking at her, almost as if she was prey and they were going in for the kill. She had definitely grown up during his absence, she turned from his best friends 'little sister' type girl, who still hadn't developed any womanly shape, to a stunning woman whose body looked like it could rival a pageant queen.

--

"Ok, no need to get Chad involved, we all know where that will go, and I really do not want to have to deal with that after I have just gotten back."

He paused to think back to the conversation that he had with Gabriella only five minutes earlier, trying to replay the exact words that left his and her mouths.

"All I remember was that she was excited because she said she sucked at sport and then she caught the ball, she said 'Omg Troy', as I told you before, and then I said something funny like 'that's what they all say'. I don't know why that is important I was just joking around with her."

Sharpay's face paled, she knew that what Troy had said would have been with innocent intentions, but she also knew how sensitive her best friend was about anything that was remotely sexual. She seemed to calm down after the words left Troy's mouth, knowing the cause of the problem now.

Sharpay's face softened and her voice lowered to almost a whisper, her eyes turning a dull shade of grey blue, hurt and sadness evident,

"Uh that's all that I needed to know Troy, thanks, um I'm really sorry for going all ice queen on you, but its just that Gabi is like a sister to me, and when she is hurt I will find any way to make it better, but just so you know, whatever you said it probably wasn't what made her get upset, she is just having a bit of a hard time at the moment, okay?"

Troy was taken back by the sudden change in Sharpay's attitude; very rarely did anyone see Sharpay in such an emotional state.

"Look that's fine, if you talk to her just tell her that I'm sorry for whatever I did, but I really didn't think she would get all upset over something like that."

--

The soft side of Troy came out when he could tell that there was obviously something a lot deeper to the situation that had just occurred than anyone was ready to share. After all he was human, he did feel emotion. Although people put him on a pedestal and treated him as a living God, he had his fair share of problems and knew that the issue that wasn't being addressed was obviously better left unsaid, if no one was willing to say more than what had already been told.

Troy couldn't say that his curiosity hadn't been struck though, the need to find out what had just occurred seemed overwhelming, he wanted to know how such small words could effect someone who always was so sure of herself could crack like that. He wanted to know more about the girl who had caught his attention instantly the morning that he came back, the brown eyes that he only fully appreciated one he had returned.

In his mind, Troy decided that there was no way he was going to give this challenge up, his mind was set. Gabriella was the one person he wanted and needed to know about, the one person that he needed to save.

AN: So there you have it, chapter 4, I decided to update fast! There wasn't that much of a focus on what was going on with Gabriella, but I wanted to establish how much Sharpay cares for her and feels the need to protect her, and also this chapter shows the spark of interest that Troy has towards Gabriella. Lots of Troyella and Chadella friendship moments coming up in the next few chapters! Reviews help heaps, and thanks to those of you that took the time to review for the last few chapters, so once again pretty please review and the chapters will come faster! :)