Disclaimer: I don't own any High School Musical characters.

A/N: Sorry it took me a while to update. OMG! Did you see the new Say Ok video? It was so adorable! It's on Youtube everywhere in case you haven't seen it yet or if you just want to see it again! Just letting everyone know! Well here's the next chapter of In A Second. ENJOY!

Oh and the music video really inspired me so this chapter will be some-what related to the video in some parts, like bowling and the haircut. And many fluffy Troy/Gabriella moments like I promised! Oh and thank you for all of your reviews, they really encourage me to keep going!

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Chapter Seven: Protecting Me

Dear Gabriella,

I'm sorry it took me so long to get in contact with you and Clara. I know you're worried about me, but I truly am alright. I miss you all so much. We're on a rocky road right now, but I promise, maybe someday, we'll all be together again. But for now…you must stay strong and stay happy. I promise I will see you again. Tell Clara that I love her and I love you too Gabi…never forget that. I'm thinking of you and praying for you, your sister and your mother. I'm always a letter away.

-Papa

Gabriella folded the letter up and placed it in her drawer. She brushed her hair and looked in the mirror. Over the weekend, her mother took her and Clara to get haircuts. They both looked adorable. She looked more beautiful than she ever had. The cut really brought out her eyes, smile and glowing skin. Her head also felt much lighter.

After applying a little more mascara, Gabriella grabbed her bag and headed to school. She hadn't spoken to any of her friends that weekend. She was still hurt and angered by what they did. She spoke nicely to her mother when she took them both to the stylist, but their mother – daughter relationship was still not yet recovered.

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School that day had been a blur. She went to all of her classes and finished her homework at study hall, which she had every other Monday. She avoided her friends, she didn't sit with them at lunch, instead she sat with Kelsi, who she thought she should spend more time with, because she too was her friend, but a bit shyer and distant than the rest. She wasn't with them during free period…instead she was working out in the weight room. She also received many compliments on her hair.

When school ended, Gabriella was at her locker when Zeke sprinted up to her.

"Gabriella, where were you all day?" Zeke asked.

"Around." Gabriella said softly. She didn't meet his eye.

"Well…we're going to the lake." Zeke said. "And we want you to come."

Gabriella stared at the boy in front of her. "R-really?"

Zeke nodded and smiled. "Why wouldn't you? You're our friend. Oh and I really like your hair."

Gabriella was about to say thank you but before she could, Chad rushed up to them. "Come on you guys we're leaving now."

"Wait…and just how are we getting there?" Gabriella asked as she and Zeke followed Chad out the door.

"We're walking." Chad said. "Oh and nice hair by the way."

Gabriella giggled. "Thanks."

"Oh Gabriella you look so cute!" Taylor gushed when she, Zeke and Chad arrived. Sharpay, Ryan, Taylor and Troy were sitting in the park waiting for them.

Taylor ran over and hugged her. "Thank you."

Sharpay slowly walked up to Gabriella, with an apologetic look in her eyes. "Gabriella, I'm so sorry about Friday. I didn't mean to hurt your feelings. I'm sorry for EVERYTHING, if you know what I mean." Sharpay said, glancing over at Troy. "I'll explain everything later."

Gabriella only smiled and to show that she forgave Sharpay, she gave her a huge warm hug. "Don't worry about it; I could never stay upset forever."

"Yeah, I'm sorry too Gabriella." Chad said. He put an arm around her shoulders. "We all are."

"Yeah and we wanted to call you all weekend." Troy explained. "But we figured that you wanted some space."

"No, its okay guys, I was being a little too sensitive anyway." Gabriella assured them. "Thank you."

"Okay, I say we go to the lake now." Taylor linked arms with Sharpay and the two of them started to sprint forward. Chad, Zeke and Ryan ran after them.

Troy stood up from the bench and slowly walked over to Gabriella. He didn't have to use words to apologize. He touched her face gently and wrapped his arms around her. Gabriella responded by lifting her arms slowly and wrapping them around his neck, hugging him tightly. The two stayed like that for a moment, not ever wanting to let go.

Gabriella knew that what happened that day in the dressing room knew that that was something they both wanted to forget about…Sharpay too.

"Hey guys! Are you coming?" They heard Ryan call.

Troy slowly released her. "We're okay right?"

"We always will be." Gabriella simply said.

Troy's soft and gentle eyes sparkled as he smiled. He never felt like this with any other girl he dated.

"We better go." Troy said. And the two ran down the park to catch up with their friends.

The walk to the lake was about two miles long. It was very hot out and they all just went swimming in their clothes.

The sun was very high in the sky and it beat down on them. Ryan was lounging on the grass in-between Troy and Gabriella.

"What time is it?" Ryan asked them.

"It's like 4:30." Troy replied shutting his eyes and laying back and put his hands behind is head.

Gabriella and Ryan were sitting up watching Chad and Zeke show off to Sharpay and Taylor by doing flips in the water.

"Did you know that we had a math test tomorrow?" Gabriella asked.

"What's it even on?" Troy asked, almost dozing off.

"Graphing and…I can't remember what else." Gabriella told them. "I was just thinking I should study tonight. It's Chapters 6 through 8 and that's a lot."

"You don't need to study for a math test." Ryan told her.

Gabriella gave him a "why not" look.

"You never need to study for a math test, it's simple. Either you know and understand what you're doing or you just don't. The only studying you would have to do for math is just paying attention in class."

Gabriella thought about it for a moment. "Wow. You're right."

"Wow Ryan, never knew that you could figure that stuff out." Troy joked.

"I'm just saying…"

Sharpay ran over to them. "You guys, think we have enough time to go bowling?"

Ryan laughed. "BOWLING? Tonight?"

"Yeah why not?" Sharpay said. "So what if it's a school night?"

Troy sat up and began to stand. "You know what? I'm in."

"Me 2." Gabriella told her.

Ryan sighed. "Why not."

Gabriella's clothes had dried off enough, even though they were still a little damp.

They were all exhausted on their way back. The walk was crucially long and Gabriella's feet hurt. She was happy inside though, she had a really good time with her friends that day. But her happiness soon faded when she thought about her dad and her mom. She was also thinking about how much her little sister was suffering. At her age, she was trying desperately to understand everything that was going on.

"Earth to Gabriella." Taylor said.

"What? Huh?"

Taylor giggled. "Are you okay? You seemed to be lost for a minute."

Gabriella smiled. "Yeah, um I'm fine."

Troy, noticing how exhausted she looked, backed up and said. "Here get on my back."

Gabriella jumped on his back and he carried her the rest of the way.

"I wanna piggy back." Zeke whined and everyone else laughed.

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"Lets do girls against boys." Taylor suggested.

"Yeah we can take them." Gabriella said.

"Oh it's on now!" Chad said.

The bowling alley was surprisingly busy that night. It was dark with a ton of cool lights flashing here and there. The music blasted and every single person there was just having the time of their lives. Nothing like a good night of bowling.

Gabriella was retying her shoe, when she looked up, her eyes locked with Troy's. He gave her a small secret smile. She felt a shiver go up her spine, but also returned the smile.

It was now Gabriella's turn to bowl…she held the ball in her hands and studied the bins. After a moment, she chucked the ball down the lane and all three girls cheered when all of the bins fell over.

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It was 7 O'clock when Gabriella got home that night. She was about to go into the living room when she heard voices. Stopping dead in her tracks, she pressed up against the entryway so she couldn't be seen but still hear the conversation.

"Mark, thank you so much for everything." She could hear her mother say. "You're amazing and I love it when we're together, but I just can't commit to a marriage right now."

"I understand, but it doesn't hurt to talk about it." Mark said gently.

"I know. But I promise when I'm more ready, I'll promise to commit myself to you. We will someday."

Peeking her head over the corner, she could see her mother and Mark share a gentle kiss and collapsed in each other's arms.

MARRIAGE?! No! no! NO! She can't just do that!! She can't just get married to him and replace dad!

Without even bothering to argue, Gabriella ran past them. She could hear her mother calling her name. But she continued to go up the stares and into her room. After slamming the door and locking it, she sunk to the floor and cried.

Wow. No one knows how much this hurts.

She couldn't believe this was happening. Why couldn't her family just be normal and back together again?

At that moment, her cell phone rang. It was Taylor.

"Hello?" Gabriella said, not caring whether her voice was shaky and hoarse.

"Gabriella? Oh my gosh, are you okay?" She asked.

Gabriella didn't know what else to say. "No…" She broke out crying again.

"Gabriella what's wrong? Why are you crying?" Taylor asked getting all shook up.

"Taylor can I just call you back later?" Gabriella tired to catch her breath.

"I'm coming over…I'm coming over right now." Taylor paused for a moment. "Well, actually I can't but…I'll call you in an hour okay? I promise we'll work everthing out!"

"Okay." Gabriella hung up the phone and crawled under her covers.

After a moment, she climbed out of bed. She changed into dryer more comfortable clothes. She put on a pair of dark American eagle jeans, converse shoes, a t-shirt and a cute zip-up sweatshirt.

She opened the door to her balcony and climbed down until she reached the bottom. She then, began to walk to Troy's house.

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After knocking three times, Troy's mother came to the door.

"Hi Mrs. Bolton, um, is Troy here?"

"Oh hi Gabriella, yeah he's here. He's upstairs in his room. You can go on up if you want." She told her.

"Thanks." Gabriella went up the stairs and found his door. She softly knocked on the door.

"Come in."

She slowly opened the door. He was sitting on his bed reading a basketball magazine.

"Troy?" She said quietly.

He looked up and saw Gabriella peeking her head through the door. "Hey." He warmly greeted.

Gabriella walked in and shut the door. She went over and sat on his bed. "How's your magazine?" She asked him.

"It's good. This issue has a lot of stuff on the basketball itself. It's pretty werid." Troy said. "What are you doing out so late?"

"I just needed to get out of the house." Gabriella said softly, trying to hide her churning emotions, but that wasn't working too well.

"On a school night?" Troy asked her.

Gabriella shrugged. Troy noticed on her face that she had been crying and that there was something wrong. He put down his magazine and scooted closer to her.

"Do you want to go to the Balcony?" Troy asked her.

Gabriella nodded. "Sure."

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After the long climb to reach the top of his grandparent's rooftop, Troy and Gabriella lay side by side looking up at the stars.

"I think I see that crab." Troy said.

Gabriella observed the sky. "I see the Big Dipper."

"Hey, that's an easy one."

Gabriella giggled. The night was warm and calming. There wasn't even the smallest of winds. The two of them lay silent for a while.

"Troy...you don't mind being out this late on a school night do you? I mean I know you like to be all rested before a hard practice the next day but-"

"Gabriella." Troy cut her off. "I promise its fine. I don't mind at all. You and I don't get to do this often, so it's nice."

Gabriella slowly sat up. "I also wanted to apologize for lying to you…and everyone." Her heart slowly sank.

Troy now sat up and faced her. "Wait…you lied to us?" He was shocked and confused.

Gabriella felt tears torture her eyes. "It was about my dad…he doesn't live with us. I never see him on the weekends." She wiped her eyes but the tears were still coming. Her voice broke every time she spoke. "In fact…I hadn't seen him since the day I moved here."

"People have parents who don't live together all the time." Troy assured her.

"My…parents are divorced Troy." Gabriella confessed quietly. "I never thought that this would happen to them. But little did I know, it did." Her voice was so weak and fragile. "They were so happy together and they just decided to give it all up." More tears were streaming down her face like little rivers. "Ever since my mother got a boyfriend, we've been fighting constantly and now I feel like she hates me, because I've been so awful to her. They're also talking about getting married in the future. I can't believe she replaced my papa….just like that."

She broke into a sob and buried her face into her hands. "I'm so sorry I lied Troy, please don't be mad at me."

Troy's heart melted. "Gabriella I would never be mad at you. I'm so sorry." He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her to him. He held her gently and slowly made comforting circles on her back as she cried. She clung on to him, as if she let go, she would break into a thousand pieces.

After a long time, Gabriella released herself from him. "I'm sorry for not telling you guys. I didn't know how you would react…and you guys had all these perfect happy normal families, and I didn't want it to be another thing for people to make fun of me by."

"Gabriella I promise that I won't tell anyone your secret." Troy gently stroked her cheek and Gabriella closed her eyes at his touch. "And you know what? Everything will be okay."

"Really because I'm not so sure." Gabriella said sadly.

:"I know it will. Just remember, whatever is meant to happen, will happen." Troy told her in a gentle tone. "And always know that I'm here for you, any time of the day." He stroked her hand and interwined their fingers together.

Gabriella smiled. "Thanks Troy.

Troy leaned in and gently kissed her on the cheek. "We better go…"

"Yeah."

Together the two of them climbed down the ladder and headed home.

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Troy walked Gabriella to her door, where she gave him one last hug goodbye for the night.

"Thank you so much Troy." Gabriella said.

"Anytime." He said softly. "I'll see you tomorrow." He whispered.

Releasing her, he gave her one last small wave and headed down the driveway. Gabriella watched him walk away and went inside. She felt so relieved. At that night, on the rooftop, Troy had filled her heart with hope and comfort.

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Wow that took me a really long time! Sorry about the iffy ending. I really hope you guys liked it! Please review when you're done! Thank you! MORE TO COME!!