Hey ya'll! So I didn't exactly lie this go round, the update is just earlier since I am up earlier, and I can't really go back to sleep. In all honesty, yesterday, I went to the library to find some books to read and came home with six of them. I read one completely all last night and then I fell asleep and for some reason, I'm up early so I decided I'd write this chapter quickly. Anyway, sorry for the delay, but hey, at least you guys are getting about a chapter a week, right?

I realize that it's difficult for you guys to read this story after some of you haven't read it in almost a few months but to be honest, it's hard for me to write it after a few months too so for those of you who DO read it, thank you so much!

Shout-out(s):

Zac is my life: Don't you just love the fact that you're always the first person I give a shot-out to? Ha! I guess that's one of the benefits of reviewing last. Anyways, me too. I tried to get Sam and Kayla to be that for the first part of this series, but unfortunately, they had to add to the drama. And yep! But that's writing for you. Or any type of hobby I guess—except maybe sports. Do you need to be in the 'mood' to play a sport? I don't know. I'm not exactly the sporty-type. Anyway, I take out a lot of my anger out on my brothers too. And I have five of them. Or I take it out on my ears and listen to music loudly. Anyway, I'm so glad you liked that chapter because I, myself quite enjoyed writing the chapter! And this one shall be even more epic! Thanks for reviewing m'lady!

EllaPayneStyles18: Hah, no worries. And well I guess we'll have to see. I think if I have time today, I might just choose myself since a lot of you haven't really given me a voice for what you guys want. Or I might just do two at a time. I really need to start finishing this story….but I don't want to rush it either. Anyway, I'm glad you enjoyed the chapter. I wouldn't Madi is innocent per-say and I wouldn't exactly call her a different type of personality either. Everyone has a different personality and I want a diverse choice of characters, but the point of her character is to show more of Troy's personality if anything. At least, from a writer's perspective—that's how I see it. Thanks for reviewing again!

Sweethappylove07: I believe that Gabriella can move on but I really don't believe she should. I always believe that things get rough and moments are passed but quite frankly, some moments need to be lived and some rough patches need to make you stronger, which means that you don't just dodge the problem. And in the case, I feel like Gabriella really needed that. Thanks for reviewing and I'm glad you enjoyed the chapter.

LivingInMyDream: Well howdy stranger! I believe we haven't talked in over a few months—meaning last October or so. And I'm sorry for the lack of Troyella moments but there will be plenty in this chapter. I thought I'd take a break and start looking at Gabriella and what's going on inside her head. Anyways, glad you enjoyed the chapter and we shall catch up soon! I got a laptop so I really need to download Windows Messenger Live on it. Thanks for reviewing my dear!

MariaTyler: Glad you loved it! Thanks for reviewing!

Yogaluva: I'm so glad that you enjoyed it! Thanks for the review!

Jadiee: I'm glad you liked it! Thanks for reviewing!

Fishing: Apparently everyone is dying to see Madi disappear and see some Troyella action. Hahaha. We'll see some of that in this chapter. Thanks for reviewing!

Chapter 23-Stay

"Uh, no. I was going to go get some fresh air and then I was going to go to bed." I lied through my teeth, trying to stay calm.

"Oh." Troy stared at me.

"I think I'll go, Troy. I'll see you tomorrow, okay?" Madi said, tugging on his arm to go the opposite direction.

"Okay." Troy said, finally drifting his eyes toward Madi, letting her lead him back toward the front door.

I sighed in relief, running toward the stairs and up to my room. I softly closed the door and breathed normally, trying to figure out what all that was.

Before I could even think about any of that, there was a soft knock on my door and I froze. Did I really want to talk to him? Did he even really want to talk to me or did he just want to apologize? My mind was spinning through all the different scenarios.

"Gabi, open up." Troy said, knocking on the door once again.

I slowly turned around placed my hand on the door knob, my breathing quickening. I turned the door knob and opened the door and stared at Troy who didn't look too happy.

"What was that all about?"

"What was what all about?" I said, trying to play dumb.

"You were downstairs, lying to my face."

"I wouldn't technically call that lying…" I trailed off, "I just finished my movie and I was going to go to bed right after that, but since you and Madi came in, I thought I'd give you guys your privacy and go out the backdoor and then back through the front once you guys were in your room." I explained, "Unfortunately, you didn't go straight to your room and the back door was locked so I couldn't get outside before you guys saw me."

Troy stared at me and then walked into my room, sitting down at my desk chair. "Are you trying to avoid me, Gabriella?"

I sat down at my bed, crossing my legs and staring at my oh-so interesting bed spread. "I don't know."

"What do you mean you don't know?" Troy said, his voice sound angrier.

"I just don't. Zak told me to stay home today so—" I stopped.

Stupid Gabriella. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid.

"Zak said what?" Troy said, sound much calmer.

"He just wanted me to stay home. He thinks I need to take things easy on myself. So I took his advice."

"That doesn't explain whether or not you're avoiding me."

"I'm not trying to. I just don't know what to do anymore…" I said, my voice trailing off.

"Well I—"

"Who are we trying to fool ,Troy?" I sighed, "We aren't a couple anymore but you said we were supposed to be friends and all we do is avoid each other like the plague. And don't tell me this is just on me because you do it too."

"I don't—"

"Are we just trying to fool ourselves Troy?" I whispered almost so softly I couldn't even hear myself, "I can't do this anymore. I don't know if I want to stay here. The point of me staying was so we could spend time together and now we just hate each other."

"I don't hate you."

"Well—"

"Don't tell me you hate me because I know that's not true." Troy said, "Gabriella, we broke because you wanted us to. You wanted to take a break and I was okay with that but I can only take so much heartbreak. I decided to date Madi because I needed someone to help me get through it."

"So dating her was going to help you get through our break up?" I almost yelled at him but decided to be nice. "Troy, we were on a break. I didn't think that meant both of us could start seeing other people."

"Well maybe you should have established that before!" Troy yelled at me.

I recoiled looking at him, feeling my heart being ripped into two pieces again. "Get out."

Troy started at me laughed haughtily. "Of course. Whenever you want to talk we talk but whenever I want to talk we can't because everything just revolves around you!"

"I said get out."

"No." Troy said, "I want to work this out and if you're going to push me away, I'm not going to let you do that this time."

"You've already pushed me away, Troy."

"How? I'm the one trying to make an effort here and all you do is just pout in your room!"

"I don't know…" my voice was dripping in sarcasm, "Maybe the fact that you're dating a brand new girl is a good way of showing that you care about me, Troy."

"I didn't realize that I had to run that by you!"

Another punch to the gut. I stared at the wall opposite of him, trying to fight back any of the tears. "You didn't. But you should have known that it was going to hurt me."

I could feel Troy's body grow less tense and a little bit more caring as he crawled toward the bed and sat next to me. "I didn't mean to hurt you, Gabi. I just…I'm stupid. You know that."

"You're not stupid, Troy."

"I didn't like the way you kept hanging out with Luke." He said, "But I should have trusted you."

"Yeah." I said, bringing my knees to my chest.

"I'm sorry, Gabi."

"Sorry doesn't fix anything, Troy." I whispered, "You're with Madi and I guess that's all you have to care about right now."

"Stop doing that!" Troy yelled, his anger getting the better of him.

I stayed silent.

"I care about you, Gabi. I've always cared about you. I care about Madi but she'll never be you. You are always going to be my first love and I always—"

"Don't." I said, my voice cracking.

"Don't what?" Troy said, grabbing my face with his hands, making me look at him. "Look at me, Gabi."

I stared at him, his eyes turned into a light blue. I looked back over at the wall and then the moved my head toward him again. "Seriously, look at me, Gabriella."

I sighed and looked at him, waiting for his answer.

"I will always love you." He said, his voice full of emotion, "I will always love you and I don't want you to forget that. It doesn't matter if we completely forget about each other and date someone else, but I will always love you. You will always be my first love and I will never forget our summer together. You changed me, Gabriella."

Tears filled my eyes because I was so overwhelmed and I looked at him straight in the eye. "Why are you saying all of this?" I said, my voice coming out raspy.

"You need to hear this Gabriella." Troy said, brushing my cheek with his thumb, "I never meant to hurt you. I'm just confused and I thought that this is what you wanted me to do."

"That doesn't change anything." I whispered, tears flowing from eyes down to my chin.

Troy brushed each tear with one of his thumbs, "I know. And I'm sorry. I miss you Gabi and I would never do anything to intentionally hurt you."

"Troy…" I whispered, touching my hand with one of the hands that was still holding my face, "I can't do this anymore. I want to go home."

"You are home." Troy said, "I'll do anything, Gabriella. Just stay. I'll fix things with Madi. I'll end things with her."

"I can't let you do that." I choked out, "I just can't. That's not fair to Madi."

"What I'm doing to you isn't fair." Troy said, "And I can't keep just pretending like what I'm doing is okay. I can't just let you be my friend because that's not good enough for me."

Tears continued falling from my eyes, as I closed my hand around his tightly, truly smiling for the first time in what seemed like years.

"So I take that as a yes?" Troy chuckled, pulling me in for a hug, wrapping his arms around me tightly.

"Take what as a yes?"

"You're staying? And you'll go back to being my girlfriend?"

I smiled, pressing my face against his chest, "Yes."

Okay! There's that chapter. It's not as long as I wish it was, but as I said ,I'll go back and rewrite this story anyways. So, here we are!

So I realize that a LOT of you guys are favoriting me and all that and even though that's really kind of you, I'd really appreciate it if you guys wouldn't be a silent reader. If you are writer yourself, you'd understand the frustration. So please review!

So here's what we have so far on polls:

My Best Friend's Brother's Friend: 2

A Summer With The Boltons: 2

See Me Who I Really Am: 0

A Broken Wing: 0

Bringing Back The Past: 0

Unfortunately, since none of you have actually voted, I'm going to just rewrite See Me Who I Really Am for my own sake. Sorry! So be looking out for that...

On other news, I'm out of school and I'll be updating a lot more. I'm really starting to hate writing this story which is really unfortunate but I think it's my own fault so when I go back and revisit this story I'll be thankful that I'll be making a big improvement.