Chapter 16

"I'm dropping out."

Those three words made Coach Wu stop in her tracks. Number one, because she didn't even see Gabriella till then. And number two...

Dropping out?

"What do you mean, Gabriella?" Coach Wu asked.

"I'm dropping out of the competition," Gabriella repeated in a firm voice. "I can't do it."

"But, Gabriella, I don't understand. You were doing so well," Coach Wu argued. "And the competition is this weekend. Why are you dropping out now?"

"I just realized that I can't stop lying to myself," Gabriella answered. "I tried to tell myself that I could do this. But I can't. Not while Troy is my partner."

"Is this what this is all about?" the coach said. "Being partnered up with Troy Bolton?"

Gabriella nodded. "Do you think it will be possible for me to find another partner?"

Coach Wu sadly shook her head. "Not this late. It's too close to the competition. Besides, Bolton was my only choice."

Gabriella's eyes, that were just seconds ago, full of hope, were now dull and lifeless.

"I guess that's that, then," she said quietly. "Thanks for understanding." She turned to leave.

"Wait, Gabriella," Coach Wu called out. "You do realize this means you fail gym for the year, right?"

Gabriella stopped in her tracks. She could feel tears welling up in her eyes. Her father's disappointed face, kids talking about how the famous Montez had actually failed something.

And the worst part was...she actually had a chance...

"Well...there's a first for everything," Gabriella said in a stiff voice.

She walked off in silence...

"SHE WHAT?!"

Those words rang clear and loud in the East High hallway before eighth period. Everyone turned to see who the culprit was.

"I CAN'T BELIEVE THIS!" Troy shouted. "THE COMPETITION IS THIS WEEKEND!"

Sharpay glared at him. "Calm down, will you? You'll get in trouble for shouting."

Ever since Sharpay and Gabriella had that talk, the blonde had gotten a much nicer reputation. And her outfits were very toned down and she didn't throw herself at Troy like she used to. But she still had an ear for gossip.

And this was a juicy one, all right!

"How could she do this to me?" His voice was now much lower but there was anger dripping off of every word.

Suddenly two girls walked up to Troy. He vaguely recognized them.

"Janine...and Haley, right?" he said.

"Yeah," Janine said in a cold voice.

Haley spoke next. "Don't bother remembering our names."

"In fact, don't bother speaking to us at all," Janine added. "We heard about what you did."

"Gabriella's bawling in the bathroom now, because of you," Haley jumped in. "Hope your happy. We knew you weren't really happy about having to dance with Gabriella."

"But I'm not anymore!" Troy insisted. "And what did I do?"

"She's not THAT bad, you know," Haley cut in, completely ignoring him. "I know she failed gym and all. But not because she's clumsy. It's just Coach Wu. You know how hard her gym class is and..."

"Oh, shut up, Haley!" Janine exclaimed. She turned back to Troy. "You know, Bolton, I know you're not exactly a warm and fuzzy person and all, but what you did was the ultimate low. Not only that, but you lied to Gabriella. You made it totally seem like you hated Tiffany then you give that bitch your ring--"

"WHAT?!"

Both Janine and Haley flinched. Even Sharpay stepped back a little.

"Gabriella saw you give Tiffany your ring," Janine said, with her eyes down. She looked a lot more timid now.

"It was really low to lead Gabriella on like that," Haley added.

With that, the two girls left for their eighth period, hurrying, partly because they didn't want to be late, but mostly because they were afraid Troy was gonna blow up.

And they did NOT want to witness that.

Sharpay, however, glared at Troy. "You gave that drama bitch your ring? Your Juilliard ring? To Tiffany GREEN?! What the hell, Bolton?!"

"I DIDN'T!" Troy shouted, ignoring all the stares. "She took it from me!"

Sharpay crossed her arms. I was obvious that she did not believe a single word he had just said.

"I was going to give it to Gabriella--"

"Was?" Sharpay cut in.

"Will you let me finish?" Troy shouted angrily. "I was planning to give it to her. At the park. But then I ran into Tiffany--"

"You ran into her or you met her there?" Sharpay interrogated.

Troy stared at Sharpay with pleading eyes. "You don't believe me, do you?"

Sharpay took a small step back. "I'm sorry, Troy, but all this...I mean, I wasn't there so I don't know what happened. But Tiffany did end up getting the ring."

"Against my will!" Troy said. "Do you really think I want that bitch flaunting MY favorite ring?"

"Well, maybe you should've thought of that before you gave it to her," Sharpay shouted back.

"YOU THINK I DID THAT ON PURPOSE?!" Troy yelled. "Why aren't you listening to me? Why isn't anyone listening to me?!"

Without waiting for an answer, he slammed his locker shut and headed down the hallway...away from Sharpay and...and...

I can't believe this is happening, Troy thought. I knew i should have gone to her house instead. Troy! what's wrong with you?

But you can just apologize, another voice said. Yeah! that's it!! Just apologize. Find her and tell her it was all a big misunderstanding. She'll understand...

"Hey! Watch where you're going, Bolton!"

The sharp voice woke Troy out of his mind. That voice...

"What the hell?" Gabriella snapped. "So humuliating me wasn't good enough? Now you're trying to break my foot, too? If you didn't want me to compete, all you had to do was just say so!!"

"What?" Troy said. "No, Brie--"

"Don't you dare call me that!!" Gabriella shouted.

"Look, let me explain--"

Gabriella held her nose up and swooshed past him, saying, "You don't have to explain. I saw everything."

Troy felt like throwing up.

----

The rest of the day was rough for Troy. It was bad enough that Gabriella was avoiding him. But Tiffany kept flaunting his ring and made sure that everyone heard the story about he had personally given it to her. She spoke especially loudl whenever Gabriella was around.

Girls who had admired Gabriella since pre-k hissed at Troy and glared at him with narrow darts called eyes. Guys, espcially football jocks, made threatening and sexist jokes whenever he was around. Even the teachers seemed to have joined against him. He didn't know how many times he had been ignored by a teacher today.

Troy just wanted to go home. Or better yet he could go back to the dance school. Acted like nothing happened.

Oh..wait...Sharpay went there. Never mind.

He slipped into an empty classroom. The only things inside it was an old roll-top desk and a few chairs. He leaned against the door to keep it shut.

"You should've just killed me, Dad," Troy whispered to himself. "You were right. I derserved to die."

"Now you shouldn't be saying that about yourself," an unfamiliar voice said.

Troy looked up. Someone was in here?

A black girl, probably shorter than him, came out from behind desk.

"Who are you?" Troy asked in his rudest tone. "Eacesdropping, huh? Don't you have something better t odo?"

The girl's eyesbrows shot up. "Well, excuuuse me. For your information, I was in classroom waaay beforeyou. So technically, it's your fault."

Troy didn't know what to say to that.

"I'm Taylor," the girl said. "Taylor McKessie. No need to ask who you are. You're that Bolton guy."

"Yeah," Troy mumbled.

"I've heard a lot about you," Taylor went on.

Troy snorted. "That's great. What did you hear then? Pleasant stuff, huh? Or the usual? Pushing girls down the stairs. Oh! how about the latest one..."

"How you gave that Tiffany girl your ring and humuliated Gabriella?" Taylor cut in.

Troy buried his head in his arms, too ashamed to even look up.

"I don't believe that."

Troy's head shot up. What?

"You don't seem like the type of person who would do that," Taylor said. "Besides...I was there. I saw everything, including hte look on your face. And I see the way you look at Tifffany. There's no way you like her. You like Gabriella. I can tell."

Troy's mouth fell open but he didn't know how to respond to that. This girl...this girl that he didn;t even know...believed him?

Taylor smiled. "Yeah, I know. It seems like everyone is against you. But like I said, I was there. I know everything."

"Too bad the whole school doesn't," Troy muttered. "Even Gabriella hates me now. And Sharpay, too."

"Yeah, well, Gabriella's stubborn. And Sharpay...I don't know her too well, but..."

"Well," Troy cut in. "At least someone believes me." He stood up to leave.

"Wait," Taylor said. "Just answer me one thing." Short pause. "Do you really love Gabriella?"

Troy hesitated before turning around and answering..."More then you can imagine."

Then he closed the door shut, leaving Taylor with a surprised look on her face.

Troy trudged down the hall, wandering aimlessly. He didn't know where he was going. He didn't even care. It could lead to the Pit of Doom and he wouldn't care.

"Hey, Troy!" a perky voice said. "I've been looking alll over for you!!"

Troy closed his eyes. Not this...anything but this...

"It's amazing!" Tiffany exclaimed, giving him a huge hug. "You and I are partners for the Annual Dance Competition!"

Troy didn't say anything, hoping she would go away. But unfortunately, she took his silence as a sign of utter excitement.

"I know. It's soo great!" Tiffany said, smiling. "We have to start practicing right away! Not that we need to. That trophy practically has our name on it, but still..."

Troy kept his eyes closed, drowing out Tiffany. He just wanted to get away...he wanted to be anywhere.

Anywhere but here...

Ok...I'm sooooooooooooooooooo sorry. it's been months since i've updated. but i finally put up a chapter. and i made sure it was long!!!