A/N: And oh look, she's back! Just so you know, I am aware that if anyone is reading this they will think I am a horrible person for not uploading and I want you to know that it's true. I'm a horrible person, I'm not gonna lie. But I do have swag so I guess that makes up for it.

Disclaimer: It's not mine, okay? *cries to self*

Chapter 3: Back To Black

TPOV

Have you ever regretted something? Really? You have? That's great you know. I haven't. I don't allow myself to. I spend so much of my life analysing every possible outcome, planning everything and considering the consequences of each action that I don't have the opportunity to regret.

Until today.

I regret lots of things from last night, and since I like lists, I'll make you one.

Going shopping with Gabi - to be fairly honest I don't regret this but I do regret the repercussions!

Letting Gabi wear me down so easily - I knew she wouldn't hang out with me once we got to the party and I couldn't blame her, Troy was cute! But I was mad that she made me come knowing I would have nothing to do. And when I was being ridiculed it's not like anyone of my so called 'friends' were there to help me.

Staring at Chad longer than the time I had allotted myself - 2.5 seconds if you must know

Dancing with Chad - it felt insanely good and he was a great dancer but again, the repercussions

Having fun with Chad - Had someone spiked my Diet Coke? Because otherwise I don't understand how I expected that to lead to anything.

And finally, the trigger, giving Chad the tiniest hole that he could wriggle his slimy head into to jeopardise my life. I mean, he didn't stick up for me either, not that I'm surprised.

I bet it was all planned out in the beginning. Give the geek a false sense of security so you can go and dump her in the shite and laugh about it when she leaves crying, fun times. Honestly, I'm surprised they had enough brain power between them to devise a plan as decent as that.

At this I had a brainwave. I was going to have to see these people again at some point. I was also going to have to turn on my phone at some point. Then again, I was also going to have to die at some point. I think it's safe to say that I want all of these things to take their sweet time coming.

And just as I thought these things, my favourite voice in the whole universe cropped up outside my door, accompanied with a knock that was so timid it was concerning.

"Taylor?"

Maybe if I don't answer he'll go away?

"Taylor? Are you in there?"

No, obviously he didn't get the 'Take a Hint' lessons.
"Taylor don't tell me you've climbed out of the window and eloped with your pillow?"

What an immature boy… Really it almost hurts.

"Awww c'mon that was meant to be funny, give a guy a break."

"Oh my gosh actually shut up Chad, and whilst you're at it, LEAVE!"

"Aaaah… so you aren't eloping and you intentionally ignored my texts."

"I don't know what texts you're talking about."

"How about the ones from last night. The ones that asked if you got home safe this morning? If you had fun? If you were SORE, nudge nudge wink wi-"

Chad was shouting at this point and since my parents hadn't been home last night they wouldn't know when I'd gotten back. I could only imagine the ideas that were formulating in their heads after Chad's little 'joke'. So I opened my door, grabbed his ear and pulled him in with an iron grip, effectively cutting off his incriminating lies in a maneuver that took 5 seconds.

I'll leave you ten seconds to just silently check my swag…

"What was that for?" shouted Chad when the door was closed.

"OK, I get that you want to ruin my life and leave it in irreparable tatters but come on! Was my social life not enough of a victory? Do you HAVE to get me locked in a tower until I'm forty so I can't even leave at graduation? "

As I spoke Chad's face, which had been held in a barely contained grin, dropped further and further down and I almost felt guilty for the hurt look in his eyes until I realised that it was probably just disappointment at the fact that I'd ruined his pathetic scheme.

"Don't pretend you don't know what I'm talking about! I know you were behind the epic fail also known as last night. No thanks Danforth. You're very good at a game that I don't want to play. So you're done here. *** Get. Out."

Speechless, he walked backwards out of the door and almost ran down the stairs before stumbling out the front yard, getting in his car and flooring the gas. He was gone again and I should've been happy. Why then did remorse tug at the frayed edges where my heart used to be whole? And look, wasn't that cliche?

CPOV

I'd never seen her so mad before! It was like she was back to how she used to be until Year 9. When the spark was still there and fire smouldered in her eyes and she was a formidable beast, in a nice way of course. It brought back so many memories…

*flashback*

"Yo Chad, have you seen Taylor?"

"Nah dude, why would I have seen your girl? She's probably with Gabz and all those other chicks as usual." By the time I'd finished saying 'dude' he was gone. As long as I hadn't seen Taylor, he had nothing to say to me…

Ten minutes later, he came back screaming unintelligible gibberish about 'ungrateful bitches'. He was in one of his Henry II rages and I wasn't going to get anything out of him so I went to find Taylor who was sitting with her knees up in one corner of our form room with metaphorical (and probably literal too) steam spewing from her ears. I sat down next to her without saying anything and waited.

And waited.

And waited.

And waited.

And waited…. until after 5 seconds she just exploded.

"He's such a pretentious douche nozzle and he thinks because we're going out he can make me into the female equivalent! Why should I pretend to be stupid just so I can be his damn trophy girlfriend and sit with the other stupid trophy girlfriends and talk about all the other crap that stupid trophy girlfriends talk about which I don't give a damn about whilst sipping champagne because we're trophy girlfriends! And then he has the goddamn nerve to call me ungrateful because I don't want to go to Bristol instead of Oxford, saying I don't appreciate him as a boyfriend! Huh!"

She'd started off hissing maliciously, then she was complaining murderously and it rose to a crescendo at the end, window breaking shouts and potentially dangerous hand gestures - the works…. and then she'd dramatically stormed out of the room leaving the birth of seven thousand stupid rumours and seven hundred thousand slightly less stupid ones.

*end of flashback*

That was one of the last times I remember seeing the flames in her eyes. Soon after that Todd and her had broken up and her social status had left with him. He's started endless rumours and ridiculed her in ways considered impossible until he did them. At the start she fought it. She would kick and scream and wouldn't allow herself to be beat down. She never started relying on her friends more and needing them to boost her spirits, she got her work to do that instead. By the end of Year 9 her levels were higher than even she could believe and her friendship status had been been reduced to a select few of the brave people who could handle her - Gabriella, Zeke, Martha, Kelsey, Ryan. At that point Sharpay was still a bitch - hell she even joined in with the teasing - and Troy hadn't come in yet.

Maybe nobody else could see it but it became clearer to me everyday. She was shrinking into herself. Her posture would get more slumped, her response to any kind of contact from anyone excluding her group of friends was either monosyllabic or awkward and cold, her clothes became more boring and conservative: non complementing woolen jumpers that hung off her figure, baggy jeans that hid her legs, hair either all in her face or scraped back into a punishing bun and only ever dressed in black or extensive shades of grey. And then at the end her eyes died and I knew that she was gone. The fire that had always smouldered there? It had been put out and the soulful brown eyes turned uncaring and almost glassy.

Somewhere in the back of my mind I knew that her friends got to see her animated side away from school and I was jealous and hurt that I hadn't made it into the elite group, but I knew in the same breath that it was my fault. Out of solidarity to Todd and to protect my social status I had abandoned her, left her to the crows. And I spent every day pretending like I didn't regret it.

But I made a decision right then to myself. I would get the fire back and I didn't care in what form. Even if I had to annoy it out of her, that's what I'd do.

TPOV

"Taylor? Could you please come down here? Now?" And here was I, feeling all bad until I realised I was about to have to do some serious damage control about the stupid crap Chad said.

***I totally just ripped off HSM 2 in the worst possible way. All rights to that line go to Dan Schneider or the writers of HSM 2 or whoever. Could even have ACTUALLY been Vanessa Hudgens.

A/N I quite liked this one, I'm almost proud of it. It has more info about the past but I thought the beginning was quite funny. I'm also probably done with A/N's cuz no one reads them anyway so….

-myfriendsrock73