Hey, sorry ithis has taken a while, but I was updating everything else first, so this sort of got left behind. This is just a chapter to speed the story up, from here on in its short and predictable, just so i can get it finished, which i know is slack, but I'm having to bribe myself to write the chapters for this, and that can't be good.

Disclaimer: if I didn't own HSM last chapter, am I really going to own it this chapter? I doubt it.

Troy sat on his bed deep in thought. Should he call Gabriella? If he did what would she say? What would he say? The thought scared him, why did Gabriella suddenly make him feel so uncomfortable and like he needed to defend himself? Why was he having this huge reaction to her now? Why couldn't he have asked her out two years ago when he knew that all the other guys in the school would beat him to her if he waited? Why hadn't he liked her before… like this?

Groaning, he lay back onto his back, why did Gabriella have to have changed him? He pulled his pillow out from under his head and laid it over his head so that all he could see was the plain black pillowcase, with hints of white light leaking in from around the edges. Why couldn't the world just be black and white? His life would be so much easier.

He started when his phone beeped from his desk and he jumped up and ran over to it, his pillow falling to the floor. Searching through the masses of clothes and paper piled all over his desk Troy took the good part of two minutes to find his phone, quickly opening it and seeing who he'd gotten a message from. Gabriella's name appeared on the screen, along with the words, 'one new message received… read?'. Pressing 'yes' he watched the tiny screen avidly as it loaded Gabriella's message. Why would she be texting him? Not after everything that he'd done.

Then the screen cleared and Gabriella's message came up. It consisted of one word. Dully thinking that they must have a thing for one-word messages Troy read and re-read that word. What did she mean by it? He backed over to his bed and sat down on it, frowning at his phone. What was he supposed to do now? His question was answered when his phone buzzed again, the name on the screen this time been more surprising then the last- if that was possible. 'Josh'… that was confusing… and mildly disturbing.

Trying to remember how he'd even gotten Josh's number, Troy checked that message too. It was substantially longer than Gabriella's. 'Have you talked to Gabriella lately? Normally I wouldn't be asking you but it seems like everyone else who could answer me is avoiding me, including Ella herself. I'm sorry if this is weird, we're not really in the same group, but we both care about my girlfriend, so I was wondering if you'd know. And if you've talked to her or done anything with her I really thing I should know. I deserve to know that at least. Please meet me at the park at 5:00pm; I'd like to talk to you in person about this. And don't ignore me. Ella's always saying you're a better person than that. Then again she would, wouldn't she?' Troy finished reading the message and sat there gaping. Josh was definitely tougher than Troy had thought, if he was willing to accuse the king of the school of doing something with his girlfriend. Nerve… stupid nerve really, who would be stupid enough to accuse Troy of something like that.

Standing, Troy glanced at his clock, it said it was 4:45. Good, he'd be able to make it to the park by 5:00. He smirked and left his room, jogging down the stairs and into the kitchen.

"Hey mum?" Troy asked the woman standing at the stove, stirring something.

"Yeah?" She didn't even turn around.

"Can I meet a few guys at the park and practice a little?" He lied easily, barely computing what he'd even said.

"I guess so, but take your cell with you and be home before it gets too dark." Troy nodded and hurried out of the house, grabbing his phone off the mantelpiece as he passed it. The door slammed shut behind him and he started towards the park. This would be interesting.

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Gabriella sat up on her bed and stared hard at her desk opposite her. Had she really just sent Troy that message? Had she really just replied to him, after everything he'd done? The icon on her phone told her that she had, but every other feeling told her that she hadn't; which should she believe?

Pushing back her sheets, Gabriella swung her legs over the side of her bed and stood. She walked slowly to her desk and, pushing aside a few stray papers, came upon a worn piece of paper. Turning it over, she sighed as a picture of her and Troy when they were children was revealed, a little faded and blurry, but still definite. They were at the beach, both looking serious as they stood in front of a pile of sand that might have supposed to have been a sandcastle, but clearly wasn't anymore. Troy's arm was around her shoulders in a purely friendly way, but nonetheless Gabriella felt her shoulders tingle at the idea of having Troy's arm around them, even if it was 7 years ago.

Dropping the photo suddenly, Gabriella turned around and scanned her floor for some clothes she could put on. Finding none that she liked, she opened her wardrobe and grabbed a top and jeans from in there, pulling them both on quickly. She started towards her door, slipping on some shoes before she reached it then hurried downstairs.

"Mum?" she called out, still moving towards he front door. When she didn't hear an answer, she just dug through her pocket until her hand found a piece of paper and, pulling out, found a pen and wrote a quick note. Hopefully her mum would see it before she started worrying, because Gabriella had no intention of bringing her phone, it'd just be an excuse for to chicken out.

Walking out the door, Gabriella glanced up and down the street, where would Troy be? Her immediate idea was his house, why wouldn't he be there? But something told her that he wasn't, if he got her message he would've wanted to do something, either to get his mind off her or to keep his mind on her; either way he wouldn't be at home. Deciding to start at the school and make her way around to all his other possible hangouts, she began walking down the street, hoping that she'd find him before it got too late. Otherwise her mum would kill her.

Mostly a little filler thing for Gabriella, the bit with troy was just so that I could accomplish two thing in the nexct chapter, then there'll only be about 3 chapters left... so this is going to be around 15 chapters long, which is pretty god for me.