A/N: Hello again you guys! Quick update, huh:-) I really truly didn't want to leave you guys off for awhile, because besides all the talking, the chapter wasn't too exciting. hehe. Things, sorta kinda heat up in this chapter, but not much else. All the action is in the last chapter, which I have decided will have to be split into two different parts. Yay!

I really appreciated the reviews from the last chapter, a lot of you really enjoyed the way I transited Gabriella's character in it. Once again I loved the reviews so much, and I hope you guys are satisfied by this chapter! PLEASE R&R!!!

Disclaimer: I do not own High School Musical or any related characters.

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Chapter 14

"Class, settle down!" Mrs. Brooks snapped at her loud classroom, buzzing with noise, and the room almost instantly silenced. She smiled to herself, and grabbed her attendance list to take roll. "Hmm...ah, Troy Bolton?"

Someone shifted towards the back of the room, and Troy let out a short, "Here" before crossing his arms lightly. Taylor couldn't help but glance at the boy, who let the hair fall slowly into his eyes, pushing it back farther, quite annoyed with it. She also couldn't help but notice how he was trying hard not to stare at Gabriella's empty seat right in front of him.

If all this wouldn't have happened, Gabriella would be sitting here and laughing at Troy poking her in the back, like he always does Taylor thought silently to herself, and cursed for the world being truly and completely unfair.

"Taylor McKessie?" The sharp voice of the teacher stated, and Taylor snapped her head up, to see the whole class shooting her confused glances as to why she wasn't responding. She watched Chad from the corner of her eye, and saw him press his lips together in confusion.

"Oh um...yes, here" She fumbled to respond, and Mrs. Brooks eyed her as if she was wondering something. But none the less, she nodded her head, and scanned the sheet for another name,

"Gabriella Montez?"

The whispers broke out there, and many people seemed to turn around to stare at Troy, most of them thinking that he would be the most likely person to know where she was. Taylor bit her lip, knowing how wrong they were, and her heart broke at the confusion in Troy's face as he stared hard at the back of Gabriella's chair.

Taking a deep breath, Taylor closed her eyes and lifted up her hand, "Mrs. Brooks? Gabriella will be gone for the next few days, but she is being excused from the office, if you needed to know."

Everyone was now staring at her. She strayed her eyes over the curious glances of her classmates, before looking back to Mrs. Brooks just in time to see her nod curtly, and scribble down the name on her absent sheet. Taylor was fighting the urge to look around and see Troy's reaction, but she knew that if she did it would just look suspicious and many of her friends like Chad, Sharpay, and possibly Troy would be coming to her for the answers. And she most certaintly couldn't do that to Gabriella...they never really discussed what people would react to her not being there, but Taylor didn't want to take the chance.

"Troy, where is she?" She heard Sharpay whisper curiously from behind her, and listened carefully, but as she waited and waited, there was no response from Troy. Taylor took this as her cue, to cool Sharpay down before she kept questioning.

"Hey, Shar, uhm...don't worry about it" Taylor smiled at her, and Sharpay just raised an eyebrow. But what was Taylor to say? She might be able to explain things to Sharpay later, but she had to be careful about what she said around Troy. Even though it broke her heart to do so when the thing she wanted to do the most was to confess everything to Troy.

But she just couldn't do that to her friend.

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The two friends, as they held their belongings, pushed open the doors to the large room, laughing as they came in. Gabriella held her Burger King sack closely to her, as she plopped down onto the fuzzy bed and made herself quickly at her.

As she plucked a french fry out of the sack and shoved it into her mouth, she watched as Shelly took off her shoes delicately as she laughed. "Gabi...you just had to stop and get fast food didn't you? I swear, you;ve certainly stretched since the last time I saw you!" She exclaimed, coming down to sit next to her, shaking her head as she sat and watched her best friend stuffing her face with food.

Gabriella shrugged somewhat happily and sighed, as she waited to talk until she swallowed her food. "Hey, I felt like it! I hate the drive up here...it takes way too long" Gabriella excused herself from the reason, chuckling silently.

Shelly raised an eyebrow, and watched her eat for a few more moments, subconsciously playing with the bracelets on her arm. Sighing, she felt obligated suddenly to snatch the bag away from her friend, and hide it behind her back.

"Hey!" Gabriella cried out, making a move with her hand to grab the bag from her, but Shelly only shook her head and tossed it into the plush seat next to her. Gabriella was shocked and confused to why her friend took her food away from her, thinking it was only a stupid reason about not thinking about all the calories she was consuming. But seriously, she had just arrived into New York City, and she was quite hungry.

"Gabriella..." Shelly sighed as she started, staring holes into Gabriella's head, "Fast food is your comfort food" She simply stated crossing her legs on the bed, and tucking her hair behind her ears, and Gabriella knew that meant she was about to talk.

"My comfort, what?" Gabriella asked quizzically, and Shelly simply laughed at her friend. Every once in awhile she would cast her glance towards her food, desperately wanting to eat those chicken fries that she had paid for.

Shelly snapped her fingers, to make sure Gabriella had turned her full attention back to her, knowing very well what she was staring at. "Your comfort food...the type of food that you eat when you are depressed or stressed, that makes you feel better" Shelly defined for Gabriella, and instantly Gabriella looked away. "I'm not an idiot babe...I mean, I haven't heard much from you lately, and you just show up like this almost un-announced...what's going on, huh? Best friends tell all, right?"

Gabriella couldn't help but laugh with Shelly at that statement, trying to avoid the question, but knew she wouldn't succeed. "Well...it's complicated, Shel."

Shelly instantly pretended to sniff the air before adding her prediction, "I smell a Troy Bolton problem...mm...?"

Gabriella chuckled, "Wow...and I thought I only smelled my food from Burger king...ha, yeah actually you guessed correctly." Her tone of voice suddenly turned serious, and Gabriella knew they were no longer joking around. This was game time, and Gabriella knew she would have to confess to a third person. They were silent for a second as they listened to their parents laugh and joke downstairs in the kitchen, before Shelly lifted the conversation again.

"Alright, Gabriella. What's happened?" Shelly got straight to the point, leaning in to show that she was all ears and ready for an explanation.

Gabriella sighed. "Lucas happened...that's what" She confessed and stopped to hear Shelly let out an unbelievable gasp before she continued, "And well...he sort of tried to call me for the first time a few days ago, Troy answered it, and Lucas simply decided that he'd say that I was cheating on Troy with him, and Troy believed him. Guess who got the short end of the stick this time?" Gabriella used hand gestures at the last part, her face completely serious and bitter, as she sighed loudly.

Shelly's mouth awas agape as she took the information in. "Nuh uh...Lucas? Why in the hell would he do that?" Shelly asked, but not like a question, more like a statement that seemed completely unreal to her.

"Are you seriously asking that question, Shel?" Gabriella raised her eyebrows, "This is the guy who completely dissed my family when it was practically falling apart...and God knows he'd try to wreck my relationship too!"

Shelly noticed the anger evident in Gabriella's voice, and felt bad that she wasn't exactly sure on what to say to make her feel better. In the past when Gabriella was involved with drama, she would cry over it, and Shelly would try and soothe her. This time around, things were completely different.

"And how exactly had Lucas known about Troy and you? I mean, I most certainly did not say a word to him...neither has Amber and Brittany, I mean we have completely been giving him the cold shoulder!" Shelly explained quickly, afraid that Gabriella was so silent because she had suspected her.

"Relax Shel" Gabriella shook her head, "I know you didn't do anything. I didn't say a word to him...and the more I think about it, I don't think he knew. I think he intended to having me answer the phone, but when a guy did instead, he jumped at the chance to ruin my life."

The bitterness arrived again at the back of Gabriella's words, and Shelly gulped at the furious state that Gabriella was in. She moved away from the bed, grabbing the sack from Burger King quietly, and bringing it back over to place on the bed beside Gabriella. She saw her friend send her a grateful glance, before putting her hand back into the sack again.

"Gabriella...I know you" Shelly said suddenly, and that made Gabriella lift her head to look at her, "And...I may not know much about this situation. I may have never seen Troy in my life, to know what he's like...and I may have never been there. But I know you. And you're not happy...you hate this Gabriella. No matter how strong you are, you hate it, and you aren't happy."

The seriousness in Shelly's tone overthrew Gabriella, and made her greatly admire her friend. But she couldn't help it, because she knew she was exactly right. Suddenly Gabriella felt the need to fight the urge to just cry out and sob onto the floor. Gabriella nodded curtly, looking down at her feet, and taking deep and slow breaths.

Shelly was uncertain if Gabriella was understanding, and she watched her carefully, and she fiddled with the hem of her pants. The silence seemed to drown on for a long time, and she was afraid her parents would come bursting through the door, demanding to know the reason why the first time since Gabriella and Shelly met back in the first grade, they were completely silent around each other.

The radio was on low, and Gabriella was now silently listening to the music that flowed out of the stereo. "Lately, something here don't feel right...this is just a half-life...is there really no escape?...no escape from time...of any kind."

"You're right, Shel."

Shelly focused her attention on Gabriella again as she spoke. "You're right Shelly, and I can't do this alone. I'm not okay, and I don't know when I will be again" Gabriella looked Shelly straight in the eye, and Shelly's eyes sparkled which meant that Shelly was listening to every word that Gabriella said.

"Gabriella..." Shelly started, but struggled with the words to say after that.

"Shel?" Gabriella interrupted Shelly, and started to ask a very important question, "Would you mind coming back with me for a few days? Please...I need you there" Gabriella pleaded to her friend, and Shelly could see the despair in her friend's eyes.

Once Shelly had nodded almost automatically, Gabriella felt like a huge weight was lifted off of her shoulders. But something...something in the pit of her stomach still felt queezy. Something wasn't right...something didn't feel feel right, and she had to fix it.

The one thing she had learned from Troy, she was completely avoiding.

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The song in this chapter was called "Half Life" by Duncan Sheik. It was on the What A Girl Wants soundtrack, and I absolutely fell in love with it. I thought it was appropriate for this chapter, too.

Sorry it was just basically more talking, but the storm starts next chapter. It's the last one, split into two parts. If you're thinking, how is she going to manage everything at the rate she is taking this story, well I don't know actually. Haha. But I do know that all hell is going to have to break lose, if you know what I'm saying.

Let's review shall we? At the moment we have Taylor the only one who knows where Gabriella really is, everyone else is completely confused and does not even know about the break-up except for Chad and Taylor, Troy is...well we haven't really gotten to how Troy is exactly feeling yet. And we also have Shelly coming back with Gabriella...how is everything going to unfold? Will Lucas make another appearance? How is all hell going to break loose? And no, we haven't seen enough of Gabriella and her mother's newly put-back-together relationship.

Chapter 15, Part 1 and 2 are heading your way. If you review lots, it'll inspire me to go faster. :-) I hope you guys enjoyed this, please review!!!!