Disclaimer: I do not own HSM

A/N: I'm going to start a new story and I'm really not sure what to call it. The two titles I've narrowed it down to are "Accidentally on Purpose" and "A Blessing in Disguise." And I'd like to know which one you like better. Please put it in the review. I really want to know otherwise, I'm just going to pick it myself, and there's never any fun when your readers don't have a say in it. Thanks. (I'll post it at the bottom for those of you who read the story first)

Chapter 13: Protecting Me

You, you're always there for me

When I need you most

Day and night you're by my side

Protecting me

Troy walked into the school the next day. He walked into homeroom to wait for Taylor to get there. He was surprised to see her already sitting in her desk apparently studying for the calculus test they had later today. He walked up to her desk.

"Hello, Troy." She said coldly without looking up from her book.

"I take it that you're still mad at me." He said.

"What was the first clue?" She responded looking up at him from her book.

"Listen…about that, I just wanted to apologize."

"Don't even try to weasel out of it. Gabriella could have—" She stopped surprised. "Huh?"

"I wanted to apologize." He repeated. "I should have taken what you said to heart. It could very well have been Gabriella, and the situation could've been worse than it was, and you were just looking out for her so I apologize for snapping at you."

He watched as she took in what he said. Her eyes softened. "Well, I guess that I did overreact. I'm sorry too. Don't tell Gabriella this, but I don't really like Ashley."

"Really?"

"Yeah, when she came into class yesterday, she was judging you, and I didn't think it was fair considering she didn't even know you. It just annoyed me that she thought that she knew everyone already. I don't think that she knows that this school is different from others."

"You can say that again." Gabriella said approaching them. "I only heard the last part. What are you guys talking about?"

"Oh, nothing. Just how different this school has been since the beginning of the year." Troy said kissing her on the cheek. "Hey. I thought that you'd be with Ashley."

"No. She said that she wanted to do something really quick. I don't know what it was. Were you talking about Ashley?"

She looked at their faces and saw that she had guessed right. "Can't you give her a break, Tay? I trust her, shouldn't that be enough for you? Can't you try to make an effort for me?"

Taylor sighed. She didn't want to do this, but this was Gabriella. "Oh. All right. I'll try. But just for you." Gabriella gave Taylor a hug. "I'll even go look for her for you."

Ashley weaved in and out of the crowds trying to spot Sharpay. Pretty soon, she found a locker that was painted pink. This must be it. She waited. Pretty soon, a pink clad Sharpay came waltzing up to her locker staring at her phone. She didn't really notice Ashley standing there until Ashley cleared her throat.

"Yes? Do I know you?" Sharpay asked.

"No, but—"

"Then bye-bye."

"Wait, I just wanted to compliment you."

"Oh?" Sharpay seemed surprised.

"Yeah. That jacket is really great for your figure, and your hair is so shiny and healthy."

Sharpay tossed her hair. "Why yes it is. Thank you…"

"Ashley."

"Thank you, Ashley. You have a wonderful sense of style."

"Thanks. I also wanted to apologize." Ashley thought about all the information she had gotten from various students about Troy and Gabriella. "I wanted to apologize for your tragedy."

"My tragedy?"

"The winter musicale should've been yours. I saw some of the older posters of you and your brother, and I think that you should have gotten the part instead of Gabriella."

Sharpay smiled. She was starting to like this girl. "I'm glad that you see it my way. It still mystifies me how she got the part. When she did the callbacks, she wore a lab coat!"

"No!"

"Yes!"

"Wow. She needs more help on her style that I thought." Ashley caught a glimpse of someone that looked like Taylor, but the person walked away before she could decide.

Taylor stormed back into homeroom. She had been right. Ashley was no friend of Gabriella's. She insulted her behind her back! That was low.

"Hey, did you find her?" Gabriella asked. She was confused as to why Taylor looked so steamed.

"Oh I found her all right, and you won't believe it."

"Judging from the look on your face, it wasn't very good." Troy said.

"Gabriella, she was talking to Sharpay and insulting you along with her." Taylor accused. "I don't think that you should hang out with her anymore."

"What? Tay, be realistic. Why would she say that?"

"Gabi, listen. She. Was Insulting. You." Taylor emphasized each word.

"Taylor, I don't think—wait." Gabriella paused. "Tay, you're not jealous are you?"

"Why would I be jealous of her?"

"Well, I've been spending a lot of time with her."

"You think that this is about me?"

"Now that I think about it, yeah, I do. You can't tell me who to hang out with." Gabriella retorted.

"Gabi, I'm not jealous. She's bad news. I've been your friend for months; she's been yours for one day. Why would I lie about this?"

"It all goes back to being jealous." Gabriella said cooly.

"I'm trying to protect you!"

"I don't need protecting!"

They glared at each other. Troy didn't know what to do. Fortunately for them, Ms. Darbus decided to start class early.

"Can you believe what she said about Ashley?" Gabriella asked Troy still mad after her little quarrel with Taylor.

"Actually—"

She cut him off. "I mean, why would Ashley ever say that? She's got no friends and I was just showing her around."

"I—"

"It just doesn't make sense. Ugh!"

"Brie, calm down. Taylor doesn't lie. I've known her since elementary school."

"But it doesn't make sense, Troy."

"Brie, just settle down. Maybe she's telling the truth. Taylor's never given you reason to doubt your trust."

"Oh, yes she has. You of all people should remember—"

"Besides that time has she ever given you reason to doubt her?"

Gabriella sighed. "No. Neither has Ashley."

"Yeah, but Ashley's never given reason not to."

He left the subject open for her to think about.

Ashley kept up her secret visits with Sharpay.

"I hope that you're not planning on staying friends with Montez." Sharpay expressed to Ashley.

"Oh, don't worry. I'll break the news to her soon enough."

"You know, you might just have an invitation to my party of Friday. But don't get your hopes up. Given your current popularity status, you're still a loser, but we can work this up to our advantage. Who do think would be worthy of the party from a non-popular point of view."

Ashley was going to tell Sharpay that Gabriella was quite popular and that since she's been hanging out with the gang, she's actually been introduced to a lot of people, but she decided to not tell her that. "Well, obviously there's Jessica Childress, David Hartley, Amy Locke, I guess the football team, oh and there's Troy."

"Ugh! That means that I have to invite Gabriella."

"Why?"

"Because if I don't invite her, there's no way that Troy will ever come. Ah, Troy." Sharpay sighed with a dreamy look in her eyes. "Yes, another one of my many unanswered questions: how did Gabriella manage to snag the hottest boy in the universe?"

"I really have no idea."

"He should be with me."

"Exactly. He should be with me."

"With you?" Sharpay said.

Ashley saw that her plan had a fault in it. How could she be so stupid as to not think that Sharpay would be in the competition to catch Troy's eye? Well, she would just have to stick with what she had now. "No. Don't be silly. I said you."

There would have to be something done about this little hiccup.

For rest of the week, Taylor and Gabriella didn't speak to each other. The gang was sort of torn over this. Nobody really knew what had happened, just that they were fighting. Gabriella kept hanging out with Ashley. Nobody really noticed how she was disappearing more often.

On Thursday morning, Sharpay handed out all of the invitations for the next day. People weren't surprised when the usual crowd of popular people were invited; Ashley's invite surprised everyone. Of the gang, only Troy, Chad, and Gabriella were invited. Chad decided not to go because Taylor wasn't going.

On Friday morning, Troy was in the gym shooting hoops when the gym door opened. Ashley walked in.

"Hey." He said putting up a shot. Ever since Taylor and Gabriella's argument, he wasn't feeling that friendly toward Ashley for causing a little crack in their group.

"Hey. What's up?"

"Oh, nothing. Just playing around."

"Excited about the party tonight?"

"Yeah. I guess. It really isn't that big of a deal to me."

"So do you want to go with me?"

"What?" Troy missed his shot. He got caught off guard.

"I said do you want to go to the party with me?"

"Um…I'm not really—I'm taking Gabriella."

She stepped closer to him. "Come on. You know that you want to. You've been looking at me all week."

"That's because you caused Taylor and Gabriella's fight, and I was trying to guess if she was right!"

"Come on, Troy." She leaned forward to kiss him, but he sprinted out of the gym in search of Gabriella when a thought stopped him in his tracks.

If he told Gabriella what had just happened, chances were that she would react the same way she had reacted to Taylor, and that wouldn't help anyone. He spotted Taylor.

"Taylor!" She turned to look at him. "Taylor, you were right about Ashley. She just tried to kiss me."

"What?! Are you serious?!"

"Yeah. She asked me out to the party tonight and tried to kiss me."

"What did you do?"

"I ran for it of course."

"Aren't you going to tell Gabriella?"

"I figured that she'd react the same way towards me as she did with you, so I still haven't told her yet. We're going to have to think of another way to do this."

Taylor took a moment to think. "Can you get Gabriella to go to the gym after school?"

"I can't. I'll be getting ready for the party."

"Well, tell her to meet you in the lobby of the hotel half an hour before the party starts."

"Why?"

"We're going to show Ashley's true colors."

That evening, Troy went to the hotel as he had been instructed by Taylor. She had explained the rest of the plan to him at lunch. If everything worked out, everything would be all right.

Troy looked at his cell phone. Ashley should be meeting him there right about…

"Troy!"

Right on time. He hoped that Gabriella was here right now. He had told her to meet him.

"Hey." He greeted with a fake smile. This is where his acting skills kicked in.

"Taylor said that you wanted to see me before the party."

"Um…yeah. I just wanted to talk to you really quick. I just wanted to tell you that I'd be happy to take you to the party."

"But what about Gabriella?"

"What about her?"

"I thought you said that you were going with her. Isn't she your girlfriend?"

"Well, that can be rearranged." She took a step closer and leaned forward to kiss him, but he kept on talking and took a step back. "Anyways, like you said her sense of style has been well…short of yours and Sharpay's."

"Well, I'm glad that you understand."

A voice came from behind her. "Me too."

Gabriella parked the car in the parking lot and made her way to the hotel. Troy had said that he wanted to meet her in the lobby. She walked in there and saw Troy talking with Ashley. She overheard them talking. She watched as Ashley tried to kiss him, but he took a step back from her.

"Anyways, like you said her sense of style has been well…short of yours and Sharpay's."

"Well, I'm glad that you understand."

Her hearing must have deceived her. She thought she just heard that Ashley agree that she had insulted her. Taylor had been right.

Taylor. Gabriella didn't feel like a good friend. She had just been trying to protect her from getting her feelings hurt. She stepped out.

"Me too."

They both turned around. Troy's face was ecstatic; Ashley's was shocked.

"Troy! How can you even try to kiss me? Gabriella's my friend!" She pushed him.

"Save it, Ashley. I heard everything and don't you dare touch him."

"But-but I thought—"

"Just get away from me right now."

Troy watched. He had never seen Gabriella this angry before. Ashley walked briskly away.

"Wow, remind me never to make that angry ever." He teased.

Gabriella sighed. "Troy, please."

"Sorry. This probably isn't the time to joke around."

"No, probably not." She took a deep breath. "Gosh, I feel like such an idiot."

"Don't feel like that. She's a good actress."

"And I should've seen that. I couldn't look past the good that I tried to see. My fault."

He stepped closer to her and grabbed her forearm. "Seeing the good in people isn't a fault. It's just the way you are. It makes you you, and I wouldn't have you any other way."

She smiled. He always knew how to make her feel better. "You really think so?"

He leaned down and kissed her.

"So you want to head over to the party now?" He asked when he pulled away.

"Nah. Let's ditch. I don't think they'll miss us. Let's go have some pizza. There's someone that I'd like to talk to."

Troy obliged, and they left the hotel.

Ashley walked away from Troy and Gabriella. This was not what she had been expecting when Troy had told her that he wanted to see her. She was planning more of a sweeping her off of her feet scene. Not angry current girlfriend comes in and rips her head off. She turned the corner and ran into Sharpay.

"Hey, Sharpay!" Ashley said instantly hiding her discouragement.

Sharpay stood with one of her arms on her hip and one to her side; her foot tapped the floor impatiently. She dressed for her party.

"I saw what happened." Sharpay told her.

Ashley paled. "It's not what it looks like. That was just a plan to make Troy fall for you." She tried to excuse herself.

"Save it, Appleton." Sharpay said holding her hand up.

"Please, I didn't mean any of it. Troy is all yours. I promise." Ashley begged her. Ashley knew that if Sharpay had the chance, she would make her life a living nightmare.

Sharpay loved this part. She loved it when people begged.

"Oh all right. Let's get to this party." Sharpay smirked as she walked towards the party room.

Taylor and the rest of the gang sat at the pizza parlor. The others were laughed and doing imitations of Sharpay and her party. Taylor was wondering whether her plan had been successful.

"Hey, guys."

Taylor turned around and saw Troy and Gabriella in their party clothes walking towards them.

"Hey." Taylor replied coldly. All laughing had stopped when they encountered.

"Hey, listen, um…I just wanted to apologize. I um…yeah just wanted to apologize."

"What ever are you talking about?"

Gabriella sighed. Taylor needed a proper apology. She had acted like a jerk to her all week. "I'm sorry that I didn't believe what you said about Ashley. You were right, she wasn't the nicest person."

Taylor smiled at her. "I forgive you, Gabriella." Taylor turned her attention towards Troy. "So it worked?"

He nodded, and Gabriella's gaze darted between both of them. "This was planned?"

"Of course it was planned. We needed to show you some way or another." Taylor said.

"You're just as devious as Sharpay!" Chad said. They all laughed.

"Yeah, she tried to kiss me twice today." He shuddered. "I don't think you would've believed me if I told you, so Taylor came up with this little plan of hers. I didn't like the bit where I had to pretend to ask her to the party, but it worked like a charm."

Gabriella sighed. "Well, thank you for protecting me. It's great to have such a great friend." Gabriella hugged Taylor. Troy cleared his throat. "And such a great boyfriend." She hugged both of them.

"Aw…we need to get into this group hug." The rest of the gang followed Chad and hugged them.

"Wait, so Ashley was the reason you and Tay were fighting, Gabs?"

"Yeah. Taylor tried to tell me that Ashley insulted me, but I—"

Chad cut her off. "What? She insulted you?" She nodded. "Oh, no one does that to my little sis. Guys, I think that it's time we crashed a certain party and paid Ashley a little visit."

"Chad, I've put it behind me. Let's just go with the first part of your plan." Gabriella suggested.

They all smiled and piled into their cars and headed for the hotel. When they all arrived, the party was in full swing. It seemed more people showed up than who were invited. Not sticking to Gabriella's orders, Taylor left the group and sought Ashley.

She found her talking to some guys at the refreshment table. "Hey, Ashley."

Ashley turned around. She didn't seem to mind hiding her disgust for the person in front of her. "What do you want, Taylor?"

"I just wanted to warn you. If you mess with any of my friends again, you will wish you were back in Michigan. And don't you dare come between Gabriella and Troy. Troy has made it clear that he doesn't want anyone but Gabriella, but it seems that half of the school doesn't seem to acknowledge it, and it only adds to the drama. I really don't like drama, so I just wanted to tell you to back off. Okay?"

Taylor smiled at herself and walked away. She had been waiting for a while to say that. It wasn't in her nature to confront people like that, but this was a special thing. Gabriella was the closest friend that she had; and looking out for your best friend is what a true friend is.

A/N: I know that I ended it really corny, but I didn't have any other way. Oh well. Thanks. And please review.

I'm going to start a new story and I'm really not sure what to call it. The two titles I've narrowed it down to are "Accidentally on Purpose" and "A Blessing in Disguise." And I'd like to know which one you like better. Please put it in the review. I really want to know otherwise, I'm just going to pick it myself, and there's never any fun when your readers don't have a say in it. Thanks.