My computer has risen from the dead. We were getting a new hard drive on our computer and my mother went without consulting me first, so I had no way of saving my chapters to FanFiction. Well, I'm really dissapointed in myself... I became the writer who waits forever to update; my truest petpeeve... so I'm sorry for that.

Previously on LL: Troy and Gabriella broke up and went back to their old ways after Troy was punched by Chad.

Loving Love

Chapter fifteen

Fighting

Gabriella didn't know how to feel after her break up with Troy and to be honest she was happier that their breakup wasn't a traditional screaming match, one that always ended in tears. Thankfully for her, their relationship ended in an agreement that going back to their old ways would be for the best, but deep down inside, Gabriella knew otherwise.

Working with a broken heart, some say, is a bad idea, but Gabriella would deny any assumptions that her heart was ever in the relationship. Unfortunately though, Gabriella wasn't good at hiding anything, whether a bruise on her arm or in her current case, a broken heart.

The diner was full and Stephanie had thankfully brought along a new waitress to help both herself and Gabriella out. The customers that had the unwanted task of trying to cheer Gabriella up frowned each time she came over and tossed a plate on their table without asking if they needed anything else.

There were a few West High Knights sitting in the corner of the diner by the bathrooms and they were noticeably checking Gabriella out as she visibly fumed with anger. Obviously, when Gabriella was hurt in any way, she responded with anger instead of tears or sadness, although if you were close enough to her, she'd admit that she wanted to cry her eyes out until she couldn't any longer.

"Gabriella," Karen, the owner of the restaurant, said as she walked out of the kitchen over to where Gabriella was setting George's meal down. "Why don't you take a break?"

"I don't need one." Gabriella replied as she pulled a straw out of her apron and tossed it onto George's lone table.

"Please take a break." Karen said more sternly.

Gabriella exchanged a look with her, wanting her to let her know where-the-heck she should take her break at in the crowded restaurant.

"You can keep me company, Miss Gabriella." George said with a smile, patting the other side of the table with his wrinkly hand.

Gabriella sighed as she hesitantly sat down in front of him, watching as Karen went back into the kitchen after seeing that Gabriella wouldn't be doing any more damage to her customers.

"God, it's like she thinks she owns this place." Gabriella grumbled, crossing her arms over her chest angrily.

"She does." George smiled, sprinkling some salt into his chicken noodle soup.

"Yeah, well." Gabriella sighed, not sure how to respond to the comeback to her tantrum.

"So, what's happened with you lately?" George asked curiously as he sipped the soup from the pool of liquid on his spoon.

"Well, to be quite honest with you, I've been having a really bad week." Gabriella told him with a nod, rubbing her forehead as she leaned against the table now.

"I wouldn't have been able to tell." He said sarcastically, smiling at her when she looked up at him in disbelief. "Why has your week been bad?"

"My boyfriend and I broke up, which, is somewhat of a relief, you know because it was a total waste of time and he came here all of the time and just sat here to keep me company, God. And then his sister was always so happy to see me when I went to his house… now I don't have to see her ever again… or his parents because they were always looking at me like they were so proud. But! They didn't even know me! And at school, God, at school everyone can just go back to normal and I don't have to be such a liar to all of my friends!"

George's spoon rested above his soup as he stared at her in surprise, wondering if she realized that she was rambling, which she soon figured out as she came to a stop, blinking a few times when she noticed that he was watching her.

"Sorry." She said quietly.

"Looks to me like you liked this boy a lot." George assumed.

"Not anymore. We're going back to our old ways." She explained with an eye roll as she thought of Troy.

"You're going back to fighting and hurting each other?" He asked somewhat sadly.

Gabriella drew back in surprise, leaning against the booth behind her as she looked at him suspiciously.

"How do you know that was our old ways?" Gabriella asked him.

"I live next door to a very verbal Wildcat." George explained.

"Who do you live next door to?"

"It's confidential." George smiled at her, adding pepper this time into his soup. "If you don't mind me asking; what was the cause of your break up?"

Gabriella ran her tongue over her front teeth, thinking momentarily about the memories that she wanted so badly to forget. She shook her head, not really wanting to say it, but when she looked at the old man, something about the way he wanted to know made her explain.

"His best friend and I hate each other. There's a lot of bullying that went on before Troy and I started to date. His best friend tormented me and my friends because we weren't on the same popularity level as he was and surprisingly, my boyfriend did too."

"That's too bad." George nodded in understanding. "My advice would be to talk to his best friend and figure out your differences."

Gabriella shook her head, smiling softly at the old man who was just trying to help.

"I wish I could." Gabriella nodded. "It would be worth it to get Troy back, but at the same time; I'm done fighting with these people." There were tears in her eyes as she told him this, but she quickly blinked them back as George said his last piece of advice.

"Sometimes fighting one last time for the things that made you stop fighting in the first time is worth it in the long run."

Gabriella nodded softly, taking a deep breath as she scouted out of the booth and back into the walk way of the rush of the customers. She tucked a piece of her hair behind her ear and looked down at George.

"Can I get you anything else?" She asked him quietly.

"Just one of your smiles." He said with a smile of his own, wanting to see the bubbly waitress that he usually saw.

Gabriella smiled her usual smile for him, walking away quickly after seeing he needed nothing more. Sadly, she faked it.

***

Troy ran a towel through his damp hair as he walked out of his bathroom, tossing the towel onto his floor carelessly when he heard his mom call him down for dinner. He had been avoiding everyone but his dad since his break up with Gabriella and his encounter with Chad and as he walked down the stairs he knew why he had been avoiding his family.

"Troy! What happened to your eye?" Mrs. Bolton asked frantically as he appeared in the kitchen, walking towards the table lazily.

"Nothing." He replied in a monotone as he sat in his usual seat across from his sister.

"That doesn't look like nothing. Tell me what happened!"

"It's nothing to talk about during dinner." Mr. Bolton interrupted, taking his seat at the head of the table as his wife sat across from him.

Mrs. Bolton kept her eyes on her son as he got his food without saying anything else and she shook her head as she saw that the side of his face was badly bruised, although the small bandage on the side of it made it clear that Troy, or even someone else, had already cared for the brunt of the damage.

"How was everyone's day?" Mr. Bolton asked with a smile, glancing momentarily over at Troy who didn't respond at all to his question.

"Boring." Bailey answered to her father as she speared a cooked carrot with her fork.

"There were a few young boys who came into the emergency room today." Mrs. Bolton added. "They got into some kind of fight… you wouldn't have anything to do with that, would you?" She asked Troy.

Troy sighed, rolling his eyes since it had been a few days since his injury had been inflicted upon him and he would obviously have nothing to do with a bunch of punks coming into the ER today.

"Are you going to answer me or are you just going to ignore me?" Mrs. Bolton asked her son somewhat angrily, wanting to know what exactly was going on with him.

"Mariah, leave him alone, he doesn't want to talk." Mr. Bolton said calmly from the other side of the table.

"There has to be something wrong with him." Bailey said suddenly, looking over at her brother. "He was singing 'Don't Forget' by Demi Lovato in the shower today."

"I was not!" Troy said loudly to his sister, seeing her spit her tongue out at him because of his loud objection.

"Were too!"

"God, from now on, we're listening to my music when I pick you up from school!" Troy said angrily, as he shook his head at his mocking little sister.

"Ha! You admit it!" Bailey spat.

"Will you just freaking shut up, Bailey?!" Troy yelled even louder at her, causing her to coward back in her seat slightly as Mr. Bolton yelled at him about using that tone of voice with his sister.

"Troy." Mrs. Bolton started quietly. "Just tell us what happened."

"I broke up with Gabriella, OKAY?" He announced loudly to his family, seeing Bailey's eyes darken with anger as she dropped her fork onto her plate, crossing her arms over her chest in protest.

"Why'd you do that? Too afraid of commitment?" Bailey teased him.

"Shut up." Troy growled as he too dropped his fork onto his plate.

"No!" Bailey shouted. "You're the dumb ass that can't even say the word love without cringing!" She said, getting scolded by her parents, only to continue seconds later as her anger rose. "What'd she do that was so bad, huh? Admit that she loved you?"

"Come on now, Bailey, you don't know what your brother's relationship with Gabriella was like." Mr. Bolton said to his daughter quietly.

"I do know that my own brother is a big coward, though!" Bailey said angrily. "So tell us all what happened, bro." She spat. "Or are you too good for the truth?"

Troy's anger crept further up his throat as he tried to find a way to calmly explain the decision to break up with Gabriella. He looked down at his food in disgust before he looked back up at his sister, noticing now that the kitchen was extremely quiet.

"No, Bailey." He said through his teeth, trying to be nice. "I told her that I loved her and she didn't say it back, and then I was punched by my own best friend after I told him the truth about me and Gabriella." Troy said. "So don't go around saying that I'm the God damn coward, because I'm the one who tried to fix this instead of giving up on us! I'm the one who fell in love, not Gabriella!"

Troy pushed back his chair angrily, roaring with madness as it crashed forcefully onto the ground as his sister insisted that she hated him even more now because Gabriella was the victim in the situation.

"Troy, sit back down!" Mrs. Bolton said to him loudly as he began to walk across the kitchen to get out of there.

"I'm not hungry." Troy replied as his footsteps were soon heard going up the stairs, and then as the rest of his family sat quietly, the sound of his door slamming forcefully was heard clearly.

Bailey stood up quickly as tears appeared in her eyes, pulling the back door open before running out into the backyard, towards her brother's tree house, and up the ladder swiftly as she disappeared in the large wooden house to think about how mad she was.

***

Gabriella had thought a lot about George's advice to talk to Chad, but until now she hadn't acted on it. She was currently sitting in her car, staring out at the colorful children's play area of Chucky Cheese's where inside she could see her target of interest in his corny purple t-shirt, trying to get the screaming kids off of his legs. She couldn't help but smile at the sight, knowing that some how Chad couldn't be as bad as he seemed, but at the same time, she couldn't make herself go in.

As a mother with two kids came out of the play area and into the parking lot, Gabriella was still trying to get herself to open her car door to make her way inside, but as her hand was pulling on the handle of her car, Chad came out of his work place, calling after the family as he waved a lost shoe in his hand.

The oldest kid smiled at him thankfully as his shoe was returned to him and as Chad began walking back to work, Gabriella finally stepped out of her car, shutting her door loudly to maybe get his attention.

Chad glanced behind him when he heard the slamming door and was unpleasantly surprised to see Gabriella Montez walking towards him, nervous as she should be.

"What are you doing here? This is a bitch free zone." He grumbled as he entered back into the building with her following quickly behind.

"I was hoping I could talk to you for a second." Gabriella explained out-of-breath already as he weaved easily around the many kids.

"I'm working." He replied as he caught a flying plastic ball easily that was close to hitting his head, tossing it back to the brat who was brave enough to throw it at him. "Throw it at her next time, buddy." Chad smiled as he pointed to her, giving the boy a thumbs up.

"Hey, dude, your break started ten minutes ago." A guy in a similar t-shirt said to Chad with a cheesy smile.

"So you have time to talk." Gabriella said to him, getting an annoyed glare from him.

"Not really." He said as he began to walk away from her.

"I'll buy you a pizza." She offered, seeing him turn back her way slowly.

"If you throw in a soda, I'll consider it."

"Deal."

At first, Chad barely looked at Gabriella as they both sat in the booth in the eating area where his co-workers walked around with happy smiles and with kids hanging off of their every limb.

"So, what do you want to talk about, Montez?" Chad asked with a full mouth of pizza a few minutes after they had sat down.

"I was hoping we could talk about your friendship with Troy." She said persuasively, clearing her throat awkwardly as she set her hands in her lap.

"That's easy. We're not friends any more." Chad answered. "Now you can leave because we had our talk."

"Nice try." Gabriella replied. "Listen, Chad. You and Troy have been friends your whole life and it would be stupid of you to throw that away."

"Are you calling me stupid?" Chad asked with a raise of his eyebrows.

"Yes!" Gabriella exclaimed with a sigh. "You have to forgive Troy."

"Why should I? He lied to me."

"Like you've never lied to him before?" Gabriella said as she crossed her arms over her chest.

"I have once, but that was because his parents were throwing him a sweet sixteen party and I had to pretend I knew nothing about it, but Troy lied to me about something bigger than a stupid party." Chad explained, causing Gabriella to smile softly at the boys' friendship.

"What's bigger than a stupid party?" Gabriella asked him, wanting to know why he was so mad.

"You." Chad said quietly.

"Chad, Troy broke up with me." Gabriella said just as quietly back, seeing the somewhat guilty look appear on Chad's face.

"When?"

"Right after you punched him he came over and broke up with me. He said it was easier that way." She said as she swallowed roughly, glancing down at the half eaten pizza.

"Gabriella, I hate you, okay? More than anyone ever will and I like hating you… but fighting over you with my best friend just seems stupid now." Chad said to her. "And he shouldn't have broken up with you just because I hate you."

"But you didn't give him any other choice, Chad." Gabriella said in a pleading voice as if trying to get this information into his brain.

"Yeah, but he loves you."

Gabriella breathed deeply as she glanced again at the pizza in between them. Every time she heard that, she had a hard time believing it.

"How do you know that?"

"Because my best friend wouldn't have lied to me about you if he didn't love you." Chad replied as he crossed his arms over his chest.

"Well, I didn't come here to hear that. I came here to make sure that in the next hour he has his best friend back." She smiled softly, feeling herself relax slightly as they became more comfortable with being by each other with out trying to kill each other.

"I can't promise anything, but I'll talk to him again." Chad replied. "I actually have something for you." He said as he opened the backpack that he had brought with him to the table. He pulled out a large pile of books and papers and set it in front of her. "Coach made me hand dry everything with a hair dryer." He explained. "Not everything got wet."

"Thanks." Gabriella nodded.

"So, what now?" Chad asked. "What happens with you and Troy?"

"We stay the way we are." Gabriella replied.

"Is that what you want?"

Gabriella shrugged, sighing.

"It's what needs to happen." She nodded as she stood up from the booth, picking her books and papers up with her. "Oh, and Chad…" She began, causing him to look up from the pizza in front of him. "Maybe if you feel like changing the status quo at school, Taylor will give you a second chance."

Chad's mouth fell open in shock, clearly not expecting this.

"Did he tell you?!" He asked somewhat angrily.

"No. I was in the tree house when you came over."

"Did you sneeze?" Chad asked in surprise, knowing that he wasn't hearing things that night.

"No, that was Bailey."

"Damn."

Like it? Review!

Much love,

unknownbyhim22