Author's Note: OH MY GOD IT'S BEEN SEVEN MONTHS! *faints* I am so, so sorry for keeping you guys waiting for so long. I went through a really long phase of writer's block/laziness. I was really suckish for all that time. And then I rekindled my relationship with SVU and that pulled me away for a little bit. Really, no excuse, but I'm back. Kind of, anyway.

I'd like to thank Dani (pandora147) for putting up with my bullshit for the million years since I last updated and for being such an amazing beta. I know I'm usually not the easiest person to deal with but you put up with me anyway, lol, and I thank you. Love you sister.

Without further ado, here's chapter five :)

Bittersweet Love

FIVE—Determined

…

"You've got to get up every morning with determination if you're going to go to bed with satisfaction."

…

On Thursday, Gabriella woke up to the sound of her alarm clock. She had set it a whole hour earlier so that she could catch the school bus instead of having to wait for Gabriel. She really wasn't in the mood to go with him because he was picking his friends up today and they would be extra obnoxious due to their victory from the previous night that put them in the championship game against East High, taking place the following Friday.

Sitting up on her bed, Gabriella rubbed her eyes. When she got out of bed, she came face to face with the red folder with Stanford's seal on the front sitting on her desk, on top of her laptop. Sighing, she grabbed the item and sat back down on the bed, opening it carefully. There they were; her acceptance letter along with her invitation for the Freshman Honors Program. All she had to do was say yes and her dream would come true - but of course, it wasn't that easy. After nearly seven years of practically ignoring her, her parents had now decided to butt in her life and try to control her and it was frustrating.

She sighed once more before putting the folder down and heading into the bathroom for a shower.

After showering, Gabriella headed out to her room, changing quickly into a band t-shirt, a comfy pair of jeans and her black Vans. She left her curls down since they were still wet from her shower. Once she was ready, she made sure she had all of her things. As she headed out the door, the scarlet Stanford folder caught her eye again. She needed to change her stubborn father's mind.

"But how?" she wondered silently.

She tried to think of a way to change her father's mind but pouted when she came up with nothing. And then she heard something that gave her the clue, her mother's voice faintly coming from the first floor.

"That's it!"

If there was one person that could change Antonio's mind, it was Marisa Montez. Her mother could change anyone's mind. Gabriella hurried over to her desk, grabbed the scarlet folder and practically sprinted out of her room and made her way down the stairs. She saw a light coming from her father's study and heard her mother's voice echoing from the room. Speeding over to the room, she knocked before hearing Marisa's voice call her in.

"Um… good morning Mar… mom," Gabriella greeted timidly.

Before answering, Marisa raised her hand, as if telling her to wait a moment. Gabriella used this time to compose herself and get her thoughts in order before talking.

"Gabriella," Marisa barely acknowledged, not looking up from her paperwork.

Meanwhile, over at the Bolton home, Troy was waking up to his loud alarm clock. He groaned in annoyance when he saw 6:30 flashing in bright green. He was reminded of the harsh greeting he got from his father after his date with Sharpay. Since Troy had steered clear from his father's path Jack hadn't gotten to scold him for missing free period practice. So, when he had gotten in, Troy had been pulled aside and was given the verbal lashing of the year. And on top of it, Jack had scheduled a mandatory meeting for the whole team at 7am.

Begrudgingly, Troy got out of bed and quickly headed into the bathroom. After taking a quick cold shower, he quickly changed into his practice uniform and put his sweat pants and sweatshirt on top. He then packed a pair of jeans and a t-shirt into his gym bag and made sure he had all of his homework in his book bag before grabbing his keys and exiting his room, deciding to grab an apple, a banana, and a water bottle as his breakfast.

When he arrived at the school, Troy noticed he was ten minutes early which gave him just enough time to finish his breakfast. He made his way into the building as he quickly devoured the two fruits and took a gulp his water.

"Morning dude," Chad greeted as Troy walked into the gym.

"Morning."

"What's the deal with the early-ass practice?" Zeke asked.

"I don't know," Troy shrugged. "He flipped a shit yesterday and made me text you guys saying there was practice."

"I think it's coz you missed yesterday. He was pissed as hell when he saw you weren't here," Jason said. "Where were you anyway?" he asked accusingly.

"I went for a walk," Troy lied, subtly scratching the back of his neck as he pretended to stretch. "I didn't feel like coming to practice."

"Yeah, and I'm an Oompa Loompa," Zeke said, his voice filled with sarcasm.

Chad looked in Troy's direction, his expression filled with skepticism. Troy looked over at him and caught his best friend's 'we need to talk' signal.

"Dude, what do you mean you didn't feel like coming to practice? We are one week away from back to back championships," Jason pressed.

"Yeah," Zeke added in agreement. "West won yesterday so think of how sweet the victory's gonna be when we beat them again! We need to practice!" he raved.

"ALRIGHT BOYS, HUDDLE UP!" Jack Bolton's voice boomed as he walked into the gym. The team of eleven boys formed a circle around their coach, awaiting his speech. "I've organized this practice because your lovely captain seems to think it's funny to miss practice when we are one week and a half away from the championship game," he spoke, sending a glare in Troy's direction.

Troy did his best to not roll his eyes at his father and just let him continue.

"And so, since we got a lot done yesterday afternoon, we're going to redo the 25 full court suicides Bolton missed yesterday morning."

The whole team groaned loudly and turned to glare at Troy.

"Today, there will still be both free period work out and practice after school and I expect ALL of you to be there. Understood?" Jack continued.

"Understood," the team answered in unison, their voices down.

"Good, now let's get working on those suicides!"

Gabriella's stomach was churning as she considered her words carefully. "Can I talk to you?"

"If you make it quick," Marisa answered quickly. "I have to finish these proposals for the spa and then I have to go."

"Okay."

There were a few moments of silence before Marisa spoke again. "Well, what are you waiting for? I haven't got all day."

Gabriella cleared her throat, frowning slightly at her mother's attitude. "Right. Um, a few weeks ago, I got my acceptance letter to Stanford University. They offered me a free ride because of my grades and they invited me to their Freshman Honors program this May."

"Congratulations," Marisa said, not looking up from her papers.

For a moment Gabriella felt hope overtake her. "Th…Thank you." A small smile crept up on her features. "Um… the problem is that dad said I can't go because I'm supposed to go to U of A with Gabriel."

"And he's right. Your brother is going to take care of you at U of A."

And then the hope disappeared. "But mom, this is Stanford University," Gabriella pressed, placing emphasis upon the name of the school.

"And U of A is the University of Albuquerque," Marisa countered evenly.

"Mother," Gabriella started again, "Some of the best scholars in the world go there. It's like the Harvard of the west coast. And it's a free ride. That doesn't happen to many people and I really want to do it."

"Gabriella Anne you're going to the University of Albuquerque with Gabriel, end of discussion.

Troy was beyond exhausted. He hadn't slept well, and the morning's training session had been brutal. Fortunately his father had a faculty meeting before class and so there was enough time for him and his friends to shower up, get changed and go by their lockers before homeroom. The looks of exhaustion were mirrored in the faces of his friends and teammates and Troy had enough sense to not complain – it was, after all, his fault that they were going to have their butts whipped.

Glancing up ahead, Troy glimpsed Sharpay where she was just down the hallway, having emerged from the girls bathroom.

"Hey, I'll catch up with you guys later," Troy said. He'd been stewing about the matter for long enough – it was time to just deal with it head on, no point in putting it off any longer.

"Where're you going?" Zeke asked.

"I just have to talk to Sharpay, I'll see you later," Troy answered quickly before jogging across the hall and calling out to capture her attention. "Hey Shar!"

She turned, smiling at the sight of him. "Troy!"

She greeted him with a hug and went to kiss him – he allowed a short peck on the lips but pulled away before the kiss could deepen.

"Um… so, I was hoping… well… can you come with me somewhere?" he asked hopefully.

She looked a little put out. "I don't have much time… so only if it is quick."

He grabbed onto her hand and began to lead her through the corridors. Luckily they weren't too far away. Sharpay was confused; they were going in the opposite direction from their lockers and homeroom.

"Troy, where are you taking me? Sharpay asked annoyed. "I've really got to meet to girls so we can practice the routine we're doing at my party before homeroom."

"That can wait, Sharpay," Troy said as he led her up the stairs.

Just as Sharpay was about to make a comment about how it couldn't, they had arrived at their destination.

"What's this?" she asked, her voice laced with confusion.

"This," Troy started, "is the Garden Club's Roof Top Garden. I like to come up here to think sometimes."

Sharpay took in her surroundings. It was a nice place but if he really brought her up here to show her this, she was going to be pretty pissed. "Why did you bring me here?"

"Because we need to talk."

Sharpay's eyes widened and her body froze. 'We need to talk' were probably the worse combination of four words in the history of word combinations.

"What about?" she asked, her voice shaky.

Troy sighed as he walked over to the shabby-looking bench. Taking a seat, he extended his hand inviting her to sit down. Sharpay tentatively walked over, wrinkling her nose at the raggedy bench. Seeing Troy roll his eyes, she quickly wiped the seat before sitting down.

"What do you want to talk about?" she asked again, smoothing out the wrinkles of her pink bubble dress.

"Why do you want to be with me?" he asked suddenly, his gaze fixed on the clear view of the Sandia Mountains.

"What?"

"Seriously. Why do you want to be with me?"

Sharpay cocked an eyebrow. What the hell? "Where the hell is this coming from?"

"Just answer the question, Sharpay."

Sharpay rolled her eyes and huffed. "Because I like you, like really, really like you. And the fact that we're together makes me really, really happy I can't even explain it," she answered honestly.

"Do you think we'll last?" he asked.

"What? Troy, will you please just get to the point? Is there something you need to tell me?"

"I wanna break up," Troy stated, answering her question.

Sharpay Catherine Evans was not used to rejection. When she started kindergarten, everyone wanted to be her best friend because she had the most sparkly pink shoes and the shiniest blonde hair. In fifth grade, she had been the first up in the auditions for her first play and the drama and music teachers and East Elementary School hadn't even bothered to watch everyone else, she had been given the lead. When she tried out for the cheer squad her freshman year of high school, the cheer captain back then had loved her so much that she had put her on the varsity cheer squad, when a majority of the girls had to wait until their junior year for such a privilege. It was as if the word 'yes' had been engraved in her bones. She was always accepted and always picked.

Until now, anyway.

"Wh… What?" she asked, her voice barely audible.

Realistically, she knew their relationship was far from perfect. That was more than obvious. But she really liked Troy and she truly cared for him, so much that it scared her sometimes.

"I want to break up," he repeated, finally turning to face her.

"You're kidding me, right?" she asked, her voice quivering. Her eyes started to itch as she felt the tears build up in her eyes. "Please tell me you're kidding and that this is all a cruel sick joke."

Troy swallowed. He'd tried to convince himself that Sharpay would've reacted okay, that deep down she would know that it was for the best and inevitable. However, the stricken look on her face and the tears building in her eyes were a wakeup call.

"I'm sorry," Troy said quietly. "But I just… this isn't working for me. And I had to be honest with you."

Sharpay blinked. "You're sorry?" she repeated incredulously. She felt the first of the tears begin to slip down her cheek.

Unless on stage demonstrating her superior acting skills, Sharpay Evans didn't let anyone see her cry – nevertheless Troy Bolton, not in that moment, not after what he had done.

"I can't listen to this," she murmured, rising from the bench, hurrying toward the staircase.

"Shar…" Troy said, also rising, moving to follow after her.

"Don't call me Shar," she snapped, glaring at him accusingly. "You don't get to call me Shar. And don't follow me. Just leave me alone."