Disclaimer: If I owned HSM, I wouldn't be writing fanfics, now would I?

"Hey Gabriella," Troy said.

"Er... so... what are you doing here?" I asked.

"What? It's a free country, I can come here if I want to," Troy replied icily.

"Of course of you can, sheesh," I muttered under my breath, wondering what was wrong with him.

"What did you say, Montez?" Troy asked, glaring at me.

"What's wrong with you, Troy? You've been acting like a jerk to me ever since we broke up. What the hell is your damned problem?" I asked angrily, as I tried holding back tears. "You know what, I don't even want to know!" I yelled at his face as I stormed off as I felt tears slowly started going down my cheeks.

Why was he acting like a jerk? He'd really hurt my feelings when he broke up with me and now, when I was trying to forget all about it, and be NICE to him, he was being rude. Guys... I'll never understand them.

I sat outside on my porch, placing my head down in my lap, as tears kept pouring down my already puffy eyes.

After what seemed like ages, I finally went inside. I HATE TROY BOLTON.... no... I can never hate him. I love him too much. Ugh... this was not helping. But what was really bothering me was that something was obviously bothering him.I was a confused, helpless person. I finally decided to call Taylor. I dialed the number and waited for her to pick up.

"Hey Gabi!! OMG, you will NEVER believe what just happened to me!!" a cheerful voice greeted me.

I giggled at my friend's excited tone. "Hey Tay. What's up?" I asked.

"Chad asked me to the dance tomorrow night!" she exclaimed.

"Wow, Tay. That's great!" I said, truly happy for my friend, "but Chad is kinda late. I mean the dance is TOMORROW, for pete's sake."

"Ya, I know, but still. HE asked ME to the dance."

I laughed and then my voice turned serious. "Tay, are you busy?"

"Nope, why?"

"I need to talk to you. Can you come over?" I asked.

"Sure. Just give me like 20 minutes, 'kay?"

"Sure, no problem. Thanks."

"Anything for my little Gabriella. Now, do you want to tell me what you want to talk about?"

"When you get here," I promised.

"OK, well, see ya in a bit."

I threw the phone on the couch and went upstairs to my room to freshen up. I went into the bathroom and looked at my reflection. I was a mess. My eyes were still red, my hair was messed up and tangled. I sighed and grabbed my hairbrush and started untangling my knots. I cringed at the pain.

Another 5 minutes and 45 seconds later, my hair was back to its normal way and I looked OK.

I went downstairs and sat on the couch waiting for Taylor to come. I turned on the T.V and watched the news for a few minutes before the doorbell rang.

"Hey Taylor," I said to the person at the door.

"Hey, so what was the emergency?" she asked as she took a seat on the couch.

"Well... I went to the park and Troy happened to be there too. I was trying to be friendly, but he was really rude, Tay. I've never seen him act like that before. I got scared so I yelled at him and stormed off. I wish I hadn't. He probably hates me." I said, taking deep sighs every couple sentences.

Taylor was quiet as she processed this information. "Wow, I wonder what's up with him," she said.

"Ya, don't we all," I said leaning back against the couch.

"Gabs, don't worry about it. I'm sure he was just having a bad day or something." Taylor said encouragingly.

"Sure..." I said, sighing for the millionth time that day.

"Look on the bright side, tomorrow's the dance and you get to go with your beloved Nathan!" Taylor said.

"Still waiting for the bright side," I said, "I don't mind Nathan so much, but I just don't want to see Troy with Amanda."

"For god's sake, woman, get over him!!! Maybe you and Troy weren't meant to be. It's not the end of the world." Taylor reasoned, getting annoyed at me.

"Ya, I guess I'm overreacting, sorry." I apologised.

"It's fine. So what dress are you wearing for the dance?" Taylor asked, trying to change the subject.

"Well, Sharpay apparently had a blue dress for me. She said she was going to bring it after school, tomorrow. "

"Sharpay and her surprises," we both laughed.

We sat on the couch in silence. Suddenly, Taylor's phone began ringing.

"Hello?" she answered the caller.

"Oh, hi!" she said.

Taylor covered the mouth piece of the phone and whispered, "It's Chad!". After a few minutes, Taylor hung up.

"Gabs, Chad wants me to meet him at the park. See ya tomorrow."

"Ok, and thanks for coming and talking some sense into me, Tay."

"No problemo. I'll always be there for you. I'm just a phone call away!" Taylor promised as she closed the front door behind her.

It was barely 5 minutes before the door opened again. But this time it was my mom, Anna Montez.

"Hey Mom,"

"Hi Gabi. Have you had your dinner yet?" she asked as I shook my head.

"Well, my friend invited me over for dinner. You can come too, if you like." Anna said, sounding a bit guilty.

You see, my mom wasn't home with me very much. She was always away on business trips or worked over-time. It wasn't that she didn't want to spend time with me; it was because she felt that I should get everything in life. And what I mean by that is....

My father died when I was 5. My mother started working more to try to feed the two of us. She never wanted me to feel the absence of my father, but I guess what she didn't realize was that she was just neglecting me even more.

"Nah, it's okay. I'll just order pizza or something."

"You sure?" she asked.

I nodded.

"Okay, well I'll just go get freshened up a bit. I'll leave some money on the kitchen counter." she said.

I turned on the T.V again. I put on Disney channel, wanting to relive my past, even for a few hours.

I didn't realize, but my eyelids started closing and I slowly drifted off..............

I felt this chapter was really dragging on and on. One thing led to another and it was a little boring. Please give me some feedback of what YOU thought. Reviews make me update quicker. But I love all my silent readers too ;)

Luv,

Krazy-bonker-head12