WARNING: This story contains themes of depression, SI (self-injury), and suicide.

Thank you again to the lovely reviewers of the last chapter: bsh, pumpkinking5, Godschildweety, yogaluva, Bluebell140, and Y0uNMcK33! This one's dedicated to you all! XD

It was just one of those days where nothing seemed to be going right. Her first period teacher decided to give the class a pop quiz on the chapter she hadn't had the energy to do the night before. She had two tests that day in her two hardest classes. Deprived of sleep from the night before, she fought to stay awake during her classes through out the day. Progress Reports would come out today, meaning that she would have to race home to make sure her mom won't receive the automated call from the school announcing its arrival. To top it all off, the weather just seemed rather gloomy with gray clouds scattered across the Albuquerque sky.

"Hey Gabriella."

The brunette lifted her head from her desk at the sound of her name and mustered up her best smile to the boy at her right. "Hey Troy," she greeted ever so softly.

"Are you okay?" he asked, concern graced his features as he took in her almost lifeless form.

"Yeah, I'm fine," she said, avoiding meeting his eyes as she sat up straighter in her desk and offered him another night. "I'm just tired from yesterday, is all."

"I know what you mean. I actually read for history and did the crazy amount of homework Mr. R. assigned. Then, my dad wanted me to practice some basketball drills."

A wave of guilt washed over her as she listened to him list all the work he had done last night- all of the work, minus the basketball practice, that she should of done last night. She had intended to do it too but she just lost all of her motivation. Yesterday was just one of those days that she felt tired and laid on her bed doing nothing.

"Look on the bright side," he said, drawing her attention back to him. "After the test, you can just put your head down and rest for a bit."

She tried to laugh a bit and busied her self with digging through her bag for a pencil. "Yeah, I guess you're right."

He offered her one of his charming smile. "So, you think you're ready for the test?"

"Not really, I never do good on these test."

He faked a gasp and smirked at her. "Gabriella Montez isn't good in something? Call the newspaper! This is breaking news!"

"Oh shut up," she scolded with a small smile. "You've seen my grades on the vocabulary quiz. Psychology is just not my thing."

"It's okay, there's like a billion and one things that you are good at," he assured her with another charming smile.

Before she could argue and explain to him that there really wasn't a billion and one things that she's good at, their AP Psychology teacher shushed them and begun to pass out their tests. A silence wrapped around the students as they try to remember everything their teacher taught them in the past two weeks.

Gabriella smiled - one of those rare, genuine ones - as Troy gave her two thumbs up for encouragement.

Why does he have to be so damn perfect? She asked herself as she tried to refocus her attention to the test her teacher set in front of her. But as she looked at the words on the paper, her mind seemed to blank. She thought back to a time when she actually could take a test confidently.

Before:

"Hey, it's Gabriella, right?"

She looks up, only to come eye to eye with the most mesmerizing shade of blue that she has ever seen. The boy in front of her has turn around and now has captured her attention, as well as their surrounding classmates'. "Yeah, that's me," she says with a small smile. "You're Trevor, right?"

"Actually, it's Troy."

Her eyes widen to the size of saucers as she feels the heat rise to her cheeks. She suddenly feels so much more conscious and grips the bangles encaging her left wrist out of habit. "Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry!" she says, squirming a bit in her seat.

"Relax," he says with an easy smile that makes her anything but calm. "It's okay. You got the first two letters right. That's better than nothing."

She lets out a weak laugh. "I guess you're right."

"Wouldn't be the first time," he jokes. "So, how do you like East High so far?"

"I love it!" she says with as much enthusiasm as she could muster. It wasn't a complete lie. The teachers were fairly kind and the students were bearable. But it all felt too good to be true. She has no doubt that soon or later, there will be something that goes wrong.

"That's always good to hear. Do you need help with catching up with any of the curriculum? I can imagine how tough it would be to start school three weeks later than everyone else."

"I think Ms. Montez should be offering you help," their math teacher Ms. Andrews says, suddenly appearing beside them with test papers in hand. "You received a B on your test, Gabriella. Not too bad for only two days of lessons."

Gabriella flips through the test and scolds herself for all the stupid mistakes she made. She could of done better than this. It was all review from last year. I'm such an idiot. She tells herself.

"Very impressive, Montez."

"Impressive indeed," agrees Ms. Andrews. "Principal Matsui informed that you were captain of your previous school's Decathlon Team. You led them all the way to states. Troy, isn't Taylor McKessie the captain of our team?"

"Yeah, I think she is. She's dating my best friend so I think I've heard them mention it a couple of times."

"That's perfect! Maybe you could introduce them?"

"No problem! I was going to ask Gabriella to join us at our lunch table, anyway."

"Excellent! She would be such a wonderful addition to the team!"

"I totally agree, Ms. A. Plus, Taylor will love to have another brainiac at the table."

"Hopefully, some of Gabriella's study habits will rub on you," Ms. Andrews says rather snidely as she hands Troy his test. "Mr. Bolton, you barely received a C minus. I expected better from you."

"Sorry, Ms. A. I'll do better next time. Promise!"

"You better. Son's couch or not, you have to maintain a certain grade point average."

"No worries, Ms. A. I've got this covered. Besides, I'll have Gabriella to help me out, right?"

Gabriella makes some sound of agreement without really acknowledging what he had said. In fact, she stopped paying attention the moment Ms. Andrews brought up her old school. She knows that she couldn't handle that pressure again. She will not go through that again.

She will surely break.

Now:

Gabriella had transitioned into life at East Hugh fairly well with Troy's helped. But prior to meeting his friends, she had offered to tutor him math in exchange for him not telling his friend Taylor about her academic. Ever the gentlemen, Troy agreed to not tell Taylor but insisted that instead of her tutoring him, they would just hang out. Of course, he had insisted that he just wanted to get to know her better.

Conversations between them were easy. It was random and light. But she'd shy away from anything too deep. Never would she reveal herself to him. But every time they'd talk, he would somehow make her heart flutter. Then he asked her out and she had to skillfully decline all three times that he did.

She didn't deserve him. Who would she be fooling? He was too good for her. They remained friends with no bad feelings towards each other. She had to repress any hint of jealousy when she heard any rumors of him and the opposite sex. On a few occasions, she even teased him a few times about it to encourage her feelings of getting over him. He only assured her that the rumors were just rumors and that he had only affections for one girl. She remembered the way her cheeks flushed at the insinuation.

But she reminded herself that she didn't deserve him.

She silently scolded herself for letting her mind wander as she glances back at the clock in the back of the room. Her heart sped up a bit as she realized that she now had 35 minutes to answer 50 questions. She let out a breath of her as she asked herself, "What did it matter?"

She knew that she would fail even if she had studied.

-TWLOHA-

"If I have to write another damn essay for Darbus's class, I'm going to kill myself."

The table erupted into laughter and agreements at Chad Danforth's statement- all except for Gabriella. She knew that he was joking but threats of suicide were not something she took lightly. She thought of the numerous times the same words had slipped from her mouth. She had said them with a smile at it was their turn to laugh. If only they had known that her threats were real and she was simply warning them.

"Gabs, you okay?"

The brunette turns to her right and musters up a smile for her friend. She was the classic example of an All-American girl, with her long, blonde locks and petite frame. Despite being rather materialistic and self-centered, she was talented. Sharpay Evans was going places and she was doing it her way.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Gabriella said in her sickly sweet voice. "Did you do something different with your hair?"

"Finally someone notices!" Sharpay exclaimed as she fluffed her hair and smiled brightly. "Do you like it? I had it lightened just a bit."

"Shar, your hair always looks amazing!"

"Look, who's talking! You don't even go to the salon as often as I do and your hair looks so healthy!"

Gabriella assured herself that Sharpay was just being nice. Her hair was nothing to envy. Nothing about her was. Nevertheless, she smiled easily and turned to look around their group of friends around the table. They all had amazing potential. Among her were the next generation of bakers, actors, composers, NBA stars, and teachers. She could see their futures. Why couldn't she see her own?

"What's that?"

Gabriella tensed as she felt the bangles encaging her left forearm move from their spot. "I-It's nothing, she stuttered as she casually slid the bangles Sharpay moved back to their spot. "You know that I'm a klutz," she said with a forced laugh as her heart began to race.

"I'm not some blonde bimbo," Sharpay said as she gestured toward the brunette's wrist. "That doesn't look like an accident."

"Can you not speak so loud?" she scolds as she glances at their other friends, who are oblivious to their conversation.

"Gabriella, did you do that to yourself?"

"Stop looking at me like that."

"I'm just surprised. Are you okay? Why would you-"

"I'm fine," Gabriella said sharply as she yanked her arm out of her friend's grasp. "Please just stop asking. And stop looking at me like that."

"Should I worry about you?"

"I'm getting help."

"But those are still red," Sharpay argued as she glanced back at her arm. "They must be recent."

"Can we not discuss this now?"

Sharpay stared at her with disbelief before throwing her hands up in mock surrender. "Fine," she muttered before turning away.

Gabriella let out a breath she didn't realize she was holding as returned to her lunch. She looked back down at her wrist and the bangles that were worn strategically to cover them. On one had, she had felt relieved that Sharpay had exposed her to all of their friends at this moment. But on the other, it hurt to know that she gave up so easily.

I wouldn't waste my time on someone like me, either. Gabriella told herself.

-TWLOHA-

The end of the day didn't come fast enough for Gabriella as she stood at her locker to gather her books for the night. She slipped her Psychology book into her oversized purse and tided her locker a bit before shutting it. She walked towards Troy's locker, as she did every day. Shortly after their first encounter, they found out that Troy drove past Gabriella's house everyday on his way to and from school. Troy had somehow convinced her that it was only reasonable that they ride to and from school together.

"Hey," she greeted softly as she approached his locker.

Troy glanced over his shoulder to shoot her a smile. "Hey Montez, how was the rest of your day?"

"Alright. Nothing interesting."

"Do you think you did good on that other test you had today?"

She groaned as she readjusted her bag on her shoulder. "Please let's not talk about it. I just want to crawl it to bed and sleep."

He chuckled as he slammed his locker shut and fell into step with her. He threw a friendly arm around her shoulders and casually nodded to people they knew as they exited the school. The first that he had done this, Gabriella had been stiff. But now, she could lean comfortably into him without a second thought.

For those that didn't know, they looked like the perfect couple. The halls parted naturally as East High's most popular male student walked by with his arm around his girl's shoulder. They'd walk to the parking lot where Troy would open his car door for her and place her bag in the backseat.

Gabriella was very aware that Troy didn't treat every girl like he did her, It made her feel special but at the same time, she felt guilty. She hated that he was wasting his time on someone like her.

"Hey, what were you and Sharpay arguing about at lunch?"

Troy's sudden question had caught her of guard. Despite her better judgment, she turned to look at him with the best smile she could muster. "We weren't arguing. What are you talking about?"

"I don't know, you guys seemed really into it at lunch. I think I saw her grab your wrist at one point."

"She was complementing my bracelets, is all." The words had left her lips without a second though.

"But you always were those bracelets. I don't think I've ever seen you without them."

"Well, yeah. They're my favorite. I don't know. You know Sharpay. She doesn't alway notice the little things."

He chuckled as he pulled into her driveway. "I guess you're right. " Just as he was about to open his door, she stopped him by placing her hand on his shoulder.

"You don't have to walk me to the door. I tell you that everyday."

"And what do I always tell you?"

"That you enjoy doing it for me and that you aren't in any rush to go home," she recited, resisting the urge to roll her eyes.

"Exactly," he said cheekily as he quickly made his way around to her side of the car. He grabbed her bag out of the backseat before he opened her door and helped her out. It wasn't until they reached her front door that he handed over her bag. "Will I see you in the morning?"

"Yeah, of course."

"Maybe you should just skip tomorrow," Troy said as he leaned against the doorframe as she searched for her key in her bag.

"Why would I do that?"

"You've been really out of it all week."

Gabriella froze for a minute and glanced up at him through her thick lashes. She was surprised that he had noticed. Had she slipped up and let him see past her mask? She ridded her mind of those thoughts and quickly stuck her key into the lock.

"I don't think you have any test. Seriously, take a day off Gabriella."

"I'll think about it, okay?" she said as she turned back to him.

"Sounds good. I'll call you in the morning to see what you decide," he said as he took a step forward to encase her in a goodbye hug. "Feel better, Gabs."

"Thanks Troy," she muttered into his chest as she relished in the feel of his arms around her. As always, she was the first to pull away.

Troy bent down to kiss her cheek before he jogged back to his car.

Gabriella watched as he pulled out of her driveway before she shut her front door. She trudged up the staircase, her steps echoing in the house. Once in the confines of her room, she shut the door and threw her bag on the floor. She let her exhausting take over as she changed into more comfortable clothing before collapsing onto her bed.

Outside her window, the day had transformed into night as she simply laid in bed. She had barely moved an inch since she arrived home. She felt exhausted but closing her eyes did nothing to lull her to sleep. Her day plays over in her mind as tears begin to stain her pillow.

She doesn't know what hurts more: the emptiness in her chest that echoed the silence of her house or knowing that her so-called "friend" didn't care enough to ask if she was truly hurting?

She just wanted it all to end.

A/N: I hope you all enjoyed that! I had to build a lot of background because obviously, this isn't the Troy and Gabriella we know from the movies. lol
I'd love to know what you thought of all that's happened.

Thank you for reading and please review!

Much Love,
Kae xx