Standing on the balcony of Troy's hotel room, Emma didn't know whether to laugh or cry. In one hour, everything she had spent the last few years hoping for had happened, and yet it didn't feel the way she thought it would have. Everything wasn't suddenly ok. There was no hallelujah chorus and elated feeling of contentment. If anything, the world had become much more confusing. She had finally given up, and let go. And just as she did, he came back. Emma had decided that what she and Troy had shared was like a summer romance in the depths of winter. Summer romances begin for all kinds of reasons, but when all is said and done, they have one thing in common. They're shooting stars, a spectacular moment of light in the heavens, fleeting glimpse of eternity, and in a flash they're gone.

The cool breeze whipped around her as she looked out at the stars. Troy came up behind her and placed a jacket around her shoulders, and she smiled gratefully at him. They hadn't spoken since they had left the ice cream parlour. But it was a comfortable silence.

"It all looks so peaceful out there. So ordinary. You'd never guess anything ever changed. Or that tonight was different than any other time."

"Is it different?" Troy asked.

"I'm here aren't I? And if tomorrow brings more heartache and pain, I will remember that we had tonight. And that for this night, I was not alone in the world, and neither were you." Troy looked at her as though he had never seen her before. After all her had done, she showed him a level of compassion and understanding which would remain unmatched in all the rest of his days.

"How can you do that? How can you be ok after everything I did to you?" Emma looked him in the eyes.

"I'm not ok. But if I don't believe I will be, then I don't have anything. You left me yes, but you came back for me. No one has ever come back to me before. We aren't ok Troy. But maybe, some time soon, we might be." Troy immediately crossed the space between them and enveloped her in a hug. He held her as though he would never let go, and he knew that he never would again. She fit so perfectly into his hold, like that final piece of the puzzle that suddenly makes the picture clear. She felt a few tears fall freely down Troy's face and onto her. But she didn't cry. Not tonight. Too long had she cried; tonight was for her to be ok, and hold him as he wept.

Troy didn't know how long they stood there. And he didn't care. He just continued to hold her, rocking gently as he simply took her in and tried to show her he would never leave her again. It wasn't what they once had: He knew they would never get that back. But together they would build something stronger for both of them that would be more beautiful than before. But for tonight, this was enough.

After a very long time, Emma let out a huge yawn. Troy decided to take her home. They walked the whole way home in silence, Troy with his arm around her to keep her warm although she was still wearing his jacket. They reached her window and Troy climbed in first before lifting a very sleepy Emma in after him. He led her over to her bed, and sat her down. He knelt down and took off her shoes and tucked her in under the blackest still in her clothes. She gave him a very sedated smile of appreciation and he returned it before turning to leave. She spoke though as he turned.

"No, don't go."

"I have to."

"I don't want this night to end."

"I don't either baby, but it has to."

"Will you stay with me?"

"I don't know Em."

"Please?"

"Just till you fall asleep ok?" She nodded smiling and shuffled over so Troy could climb into bed with her. Troy climbed in carefully and stayed far away from her not wanting to seem forward, but he smiled when he felt Emma shuffle backwards and curl up into the shape of his body. He rested his arm across her waist and held onto her stomach, hugging her.

"I feel safe. I missed this." Emma said very softly, her voice full of sleep.

"Me too… me too." Troy said stroking her hair and pulling her closer.

"Nite Troy."

"Sweet dreams beautiful." Almost immediately Emma fell to sleep. Troy listened to the calm sound of her breathing evening out. He began to feel very tired and knew he should get up, but he was reluctant to let this moment go, and so fought to stay awake a little long before leaving. But slowly he fell asleep too. He slept better than he had in years, so deeply he didn't even dream. And he slept with a smile on his face.

Emma's alarm went off at 7:30am. Her parents left for work early so she always got herself up. Slowly she stirred as she heard it beep and shut it off (it was on her watch). She lay stiff for a few minutes and then slowly made a move to get up. She felt a warm weight across her and turned to see Troy, still very asleep. Emma smiled, knowing he must have fallen asleep. She couldn't blame him though he looked exhausted. She rolled over in the spot to face him and tried to wake him.

"Wakey wakey sleepy head!" she said softly. But she still didn't budge so she shook him a little. He groaned loudly then reached out for subconsciously, pulling her closer to him. She giggled.

"Wake up Troy. It's morning." Troy turned his face to her and opened his eyes slightly. He smiled at her.

"Good morning sleepy head." She said to him softly. Emma was a morning person, and she knew Troy wasn't.

"Morning." Troy said quietly still smiling at her. "What am I still doing here?"

"You must have fallen asleep." Troy let out a small yawn.

"How'd you sleep?" He asked her softly.

"I haven't slept that well in years."

"Me neither." Emma smiled.

"Do you want some breakfast?"

"Breakfast would be great."

As they got out of bed Emma noticed she was still in Troy's jacket, and smiled to herself. They went out to the kitchen and ate cheerios while watching cartoons. Emma finished off her cheerios and took her and Troy's bowls into the kitchen, then she came back and sat next to him, placing his arm around her. Troy smiled, pulling her closer to him.

"What are you doing today?" She asked him.

"I'm not sure. I probably have training at East High. But I don't know if I'll go."

"How come?"

"Cuz all the wildcats will be there."

"I think you should go."

"Oh yeah? How come?"

"Cuz you love basketball. And you must have friends on your team who you can play with. I mean, the wildcats have classes so they wont be there that much. And then you can have lunch with me." Troy thought for a minute and smiled at her.

"Ok, I'll go." Emma smiled back. Troy turned to the tv and then looked back at Emma with a smirk on his face.

"I can't believe I'm taking advice from someone who watches cartoons!"

"Hey, that's Ren and Stimpy. They are way existential." Troy laughed in disbelief.

"Do you even know what your talking about?"

"No. Why do I sound like I do?" Emma said with a very big grin on her face. Troy smiled at her. She had just woken up and had no make up on or anything, and yet she was perfect. If they had been going out then Troy would have kissed her as they sat staring into each other's eyes. But they weren't so he refrained. But only just.

"Come on." Emma said getting up. "I gotta go to school." Troy got up and pulled Emma into a tight, but gentle hug. After a long moment he let her go.

"What was that for?" She asked smiling.

"It was just something I wanted to do." Emma nodded still smiling. "I gotta go back to the hotel to shower and change. I'll see you for lunch?"

"Wouldn't miss it for the world." Troy gave her one last smile and walked out the door into the sun. It hurt his eyes, but Troy knew that nothing would spoil his day.

Two hours later, Troy walked into East High gym. Fortunately, the wildcats weren't there at the time. Apparently they would come 3 times during the day (morning free period, 2nd half of lunch and after school). The thought just thrilled Troy. He walked over to Jay and began to stretch with the rest of his team. Jay spoke up with a mischievous grin on his face.

"So, I uh, came in to wake you up this morning…" Troy blushed. Fuck. He tried to think of an excuse.

"Yeah, I uh… I was… I… um…"

"Wasn't there?" jay helped. Troy just nodded, avoiding his gaze. "Good night then huh?"

"Jay!"

"What! If you won't fill in the blanks then I will. What's her name?" He asked condescendingly. Troy let out a sigh. God the whole team was listening!

"Her name is Emma."

"And?"

"And nothing happened! Get your mind out of the gutter!" Jay laughed.

"If you insist."

"I do." Just as he said that, Coach yelled at them to start running suicides. After that, there was no breath left him any of them to talk.

When morning free period came up, the wildcats piled into the locker rooms to get changed. As they were getting changed, they were highly amused at the water fight some of the Spurs were having at the other end of the locker room while on a break. The 4 of them were drenched but still throwing water at each other and laughing their heads off. (different voices in different styles. Troy is bold, Jay is bold italic).

"You Btch!!"

"S'matter Trey, can't handle it with the big boys?"

"Hey I've seen you in the shower, no one would ever call you big!!"

"OOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHH hahahahaha."

"Prepare for the beating of a lifetime Trey!!" (Troy and Jay start to run around the lockers as Derek spies a red EHS flag and grabs it and puts on a funny Spanish accent.)

"I am Enrique Juniver Cortez: The Bull Fighter." (He starts doing a funny dance.)

"Those must be some pretty small bulls!" Derek tackled Jay and Troy just stands there laughing.

"Aren't you gunna help?"

"Are you kidding? Trey's to tired from staying up all night having steamy sex." Troy gave him a shocked look and tackled him. The wildcats leave them to it and walk out into the gym to join Jack. Coach Burns sees them enter.

"Where's my team?" Zeke just points into the locker area as he stares at this famous NBA coach who is talking to him. "GET OUT HERE YOU KNUCKLEHEADS!!" Slowly, 4 saturated Spurs members emerge laughing hysterically. Coach, however, does not find it as funny. "Right, recent events call for a slight change of plan. Everyone to the outside court, Wildcats and well-behaved Spurs will play a leisurely game in sun while we watch Calhoon, Brody, Parker and Fitzgerald run laps until they are completely dry."

"WHAT!!" All four boys yelled at once.

Troy was out of breath and sweating, which wasn't helping the fact he was supposed to be drying off. He and his fellow perps were still running suicides while the rest of the players rotated in small teams playing against each other. It had been half an hour. Running was all right for the first 20mins or so, they were laughing around and joking while they ran, but now they were out of breath.

"Oh look at that hot chick!" Derek exclaimed, and the other boys looked up to see. Troy smiled as he saw Emma walking towards them and she smiled back giving him a small wave. He snuck a look at Coach who was currently absorbed in the game and ran over to her, ignoring the cat calls and yells from the other 3 as he did. He came up to her completely out of breath but with a big grin on his face.

"Are you in trouble?" She asked. She knew him too well.

"No…. Ok maybe." She laughed.

"What did you do!?"

"Me n a few of the guys had a water fight in the change rooms. Now we have to run laps until we dry off."

"How long you been running?"

"About 35 minutes."

"Ooh bummer. I just wanted to check if you were here and that we are still on for lunch."

"Of course."

"Troy you're the man! What a pull! WOOHOO!" Troy heard from behind him. He blushed a little and Emma laughed.

"Your partners in crime?" She asked as she saw them continue to run.

"Yeah. He looked at them then turned back to Emma. The blonde Australian one is Jay. The other two are Derek and Jet."

"Your friends I presume?"

"If I must call them that." They laughed. "Nah, they're ok really. They just have a distinct lack of tact… Jay's room is connected to mine so he knew I didn't come home last night."

"TREY PARKER DID I TELL YOU TO STOP RUNNING?" They heard Coach call.

"And that's my Coach. I gotta go. See you at lunch?"

"Bye." Emma said smiling, then turning to walk back to where she came from as Troy went back to running laps.

After another 25mins of running, Coach Burns called the four over to the others. He looked them up and down.

"You're still soaked."

"We've been running suicides straight for 60 mins. It's all sweat." Troy said. Coach looked him up and down and nodded.

"I guess you've learned your lesson guys. How do you fell."

"Oh fabulous! I think I'll go run another few hundred miles actually!" Jay said sarcastically. Coach gave him a glare. "I mean, fit. Definitely fit." Coach nodded again and then walked off yelling for everyone to have recess. Everyone watched silently from where they were standing or sitting as the 2 coaches left. As soon as they had gone inside there was a huge groan from the 4 boys. Jay collapsed on the spot.

"I hurt everywhere!" He whined loudly.

"Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow." Troy was saying as he lowered himself down and lay on the court. There were groans and moans from the others. The wildcats and the other spurs were clearly amused.

"Someone save me from that evil evil man!"

"Shoot him!"

"I'm not paid enough for this!!"

Just then the bell went. The East High students left to return to their classes. The spurs went to find some food. Troy and his mates just lay on the floor feeling sorry for themselves and whingeing.

HEY GUYS I KNOW THIS IS ANOTHER FILLER BUT HEY THE STORY JUST GOES WHERE IT WANTS AND IT WANTED TO GO HERE. NEXT CHAP: SOMEONE SPILLS THE BEANS ON TROY'S PAST TO THE PRESS AND THINGS GET UGLY. XOX