Hey everyone! Thanks so much for all of the reviews! I can't believe I already have close to 400! It makes me happy! This chapter may not be what most of you expect, but I personally love it. It's shorter than most of my chapters too, but it has a lot in it! Oh and a reminder: Mother's Day is on Sunday! Don't forget! Enjoy!

Protecting Miss Montez

Chapter twelve

Nothing like a Fairytale

Gabriella felt like Cinderella as she ran down the hallway, although she was the one who turned the clock forward, leaving way before midnight, and there was no way her strappy designer shoes were falling off of her tan feet. And she was crying, but there was no destroyed pumpkin or mice to talk to, only her closed bedroom door to open, and to slam to release her anger before running over to her large windows, opening one so that she could get some air in the room, knowing that she'd be hyperventilating within seconds.

There was no Prince Charming either, following behind her to look for a lost shoe that wouldn't be there, but if you counted Troy coming in quickly, tripping over all of the shoes that she tried on to find the perfect pair, then maybe you could call him Prince Charming, but he wasn't allowed to be there and he was panting, as if he'd dealt with too much in a few minutes.

Gabriella was fanning her face when he came in, he noticed, and she was standing by her window, trying to breathe calmly as her dress flowed behind her, draping over her body perfectly even as she cried.

"Gabriella…" Troy started quietly so he wouldn't startle her.

Gabriella looked away quickly from the window when she heard him and she felt her lip tremble as he walked over to her, wrapping his arms around her shaking body as her knees became weak underneath her like they always did during panic attacks.

"What were you thinking?" He asked her against her hair as he shook his head.

She looked up from where she was leaning against his chest and shook her head too, wiping her tears away from her face.

"I'm so sorry, Troy." Her voice cracked as she said this, truly sorry. "He threatened that if I didn't kiss him, he'd tell my dad about us."

"I wasn't talking about that… I was talking about the fact that you just punched your dad's campaign manager's son at the ball to raise money for underprivileged girls."

"Well… maybe girls can get the privilege of going to a self defense class." She mumbled, pulling her hand away from around Troy's arm, bringing it closer to her face so that she could see the damage because she could definitely feel it throbbing already.

"Gabs…" Troy gasped in a manly way as he saw her hand, setting it between his as he saw her knuckles bruised and red. Her ring finger especially was purple, swollen already and as he brushed his finger gently across it, she winced, drawing her hand back.

"Why'd you do that?" He asked her quietly, seeing the tears brimming the bottom of her eyes again.

"He was going to hurt you." She said this sadly as if it was hurting her just by saying it. She looked up at him slowly, and let the tears fall freely from her eyes. "I'm not the only one who needs someone to protect me…" Troy looked at her in confusion and still held her hand between his. "So I thought I might return the favor."

Troy shook his head, looking down at her hand instead of focusing on her sad face and beautiful dress.

"Protecting you is my job, Gabs. You didn't have a responsibility to take care of me…"

"So if this wasn't your job… you wouldn't…"

"I never said that." His serious and louder voice startled her, causing her to look into his dark blue eyes with wonder, seeing the realization in his eyes that he'd never raised his voice at her.

"But I do have a responsibility to take care of you." Gabriella said to him. "I promised Sharpay I would when I first met her."

Troy slowly let go of her hand, watching as she rubbed it gently with her other one and she stood tall as she looked up at him, her makeup still the same as it was, only now it was lightly smudged around her eyes.

"You felt something when you kissed Drew." Troy finally said after a few seconds of silence. He watched as she looked offended, hurt by his assumption.

"I did not."

"I saw it." He said with a nod. "For a second there… you were back to your old self… you punched him because you were mad that you felt something again."

"No." She shook her head, mad at him.

"If it's your job to take care of me, Gabriella, just don't lie to me and tell me the truth." He said, feeling a quivering feeling in his chest as he spoke, his hands finding his pockets, causing Gabriella to put her face against her unharmed hand. She looked up at him finally, the tears still falling quickly as she opened her mouth to speak.

"I love you." She said to him, seeing the way he stepped back when she said it.

If she wasn't heartbroken before, she definitely was now, seeing him saying something into his collar as he replied to something he heard in his ear.

"I'm sorry." He said to her finally, looking into her eyes from his spot a few feet away from her. "This wasn't in my job description." She let out a quiet cry as he said this like he felt nothing and she was standing right in front of him, feeling everything for the both of them. "I shouldn't have dragged you into this. It was a mistake."

"A mistake?" She repeated in disbelief. "I was a mistake."

Troy shook his head, like this wasn't how he wanted this to go down.

"I know that we can't take back our feelings for each other or forget about the times we snuck into the bowling alley when your parents weren't home to pretend we were on a normal date, but that's just it… none of this was normal." He told her.

"You can't say anything about this, Troy." She pleaded. "Just let me have this secret… please."

"Drew is going to talk to your dad, Gabriella. He was going to even if you kissed him and didn't punch him." Troy replied.

Gabriella put her hand against her forehead, feeling her head spinning as the loss of breath took a hold of her, causing her to tumble forward and for Troy to catch her just like he always did when she fell.

"Hey, hey." He said quietly, lifting her in his arms, walking her over to her bed and setting her down as she tried catching her breath. He knelt down by her bed, feeling her hand tightly around his own as she looked at him, her eyes watering. "You have to stop freaking yourself out, okay?" He asked, brushing her hair back with his free hand as she nodded, looking at him with regret.

"Can you stay with me until we know he's gone?" She asked him like she had last time, only last time it worked, this time he shook his head slowly.

"He's gone." He whispered. "I made sure of it before I came."

"Troy…" She started as he stood up, releasing her hand. "Why does this have to be over?" The tears falling from her eyes reminded him of the fact that he did a poor job of protecting her because in the end she needed protecting from him, not any outside threat, but the one inside, guarding her door, only letting himself in when he thought he was doing her a favor.

He bent down, pulling her up towards him, his hand resting on the bare part of her back as he pressed his lips against hers, feeling her kissing him back gently, only to be disappointed as he set her back on the bed, leaving her quickly so that he didn't have to say anything else and so she wouldn't ask the question he knew would come next. Don't you love me? Because his answer would hurt the both of them in the long run. His answer was always, and forever: yes.

And now, she felt like Sleeping Beauty, but Sleeping Beauty wasn't put to sleep by Prince Charming. She was woken up by him after he fought off the dragon… But Gabriella felt herself falling asleep as her crying found a way to sooth her and as the dragon made his way to her room, ready to find out why suddenly Cinderella turned into a depressed Princess confined to her bed, she closed her eyes, hoping and praying that maybe the same guy who put her to sleep would be the one to wake her up again from this nightmare tomorrow morning.

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Much love,

unknownbyhim22