I'm just gonna shut up...

Chapter 16 – Over Your Shoulder

"Troy!"

Chad took another look around the giant room, feeling confused and slightly stood-up. He took out the folded piece of paper from his sweatshirt pocket and opened it again.

Meet me in the library at lunch.

- Troy

Chad sighed and sat down on a computer chair as the impatience crawled its way into his brain. This had better be good, he thought to himself. Taking me away from taco day in the cafeteria. And why the damn library? He knows that this is one of Taylor's favorite places in the whole stupid school. Is he trying to kill me? He's officially strangled when he gets here-

Footsteps sounded through the ghost-town that was the hallway. Chad's head snapped up and he listened closer, wondering if Troy had finally decided to show up. He was already ten minutes late and was always on Chad's back about it being him that was late. The little hypocrite.

"Troy?"

"Gabriella?"

Chad's eyebrows came together. Since when had he started sounding like Gabriella in any way? He stood up and took a few steps over towards the door. "Troy, is that you?"

"No, it's-" The person finally stepped through the doorway and froze in her tracks, making Chad stop breathing as well. The two stared at each other for what felt like hours and forgot all about their past confusion about their missing friends.

"You're not Troy…" Chad whispered.

Without saying anything else, Taylor spun around on her heels and made a mad dash for the door. But rejoining basketball must have done well for Chad for he caught up to her easily, even from halfway across the giant room. He quickly wound his arms around her waist and pulled her as close to his body as he could, relishing every second. He missed holding her like this.

His moment wasn't even ruined when her desperate shrieks rang in his ears. "Chad, please, let go!"

He held her even tighter and calmly whispered into the side of her head. "Taylor, no. I'm not letting go of you again. Never again."

The thickness in her voice was now evident as the tears involuntarily pooled to her eyes. "Chad, I'm begging you, let me leave! Now!"

Chad spun her around so that she was now facing him dead in the face. Their eyes were both terribly intense, wishing that this whole fight would just be done and over with. Chad especially since he had absolutely no idea what started it in the first place. "Not until you hear what I have to say. I've been holding this in for a week and I'm not about to let this chance go. After I'm done you have all rights to run away and never speak to me again, deal?"

He waited for her to answer, loosening his grip on her arms by just a fraction of an inch, but it was enough to let Taylor see that he was actually giving her a choice. Her eyes still remained averted from his eyes, but she nodded unsteadily.

He followed her actions and, in a strong voice, told her "Taylor, you were always the one to call the shots in this relationship and I've never objected because I knew that you were just doing what was best for us. You've always led us in the right direction because of all your hard work and that's probably the reason that I fell for you in the first place. When I saw you blow a fuse last week, I didn't know what to think at first. The whole time that Gabriella was gone talking to you I was trying to come up with reasons that all ended up being my fault as to why you were so angry.

You're this perfect, confident, independent woman so I knew that it couldn't be your fault. Even if it really was, I knew that you would somehow turn it all on me but you know what? I'm okay with that. I always was and always will be willing to take the blame for you because I know that I wouldn't be able to live with myself if one of those mistakes that were your fault caused you to leave me. I love you, Taylor McKessie. The arrogant, air-headed Chad Danforth is whipped for the first and hopefully only time and I'm just asking you to please tell me what I did that could cause you to act like this. Please, just tell me."

Chad's words seemed to have stunned Taylor into a state of surprise. Her eyes had trailed up to his sometime after his first sentence but she didn't have the heart to regret it. The whole time that he was speaking to her, she searched for any indication of him feigning that amazing grouping of words, but failed to find anything. She was shocked. Completely and utterly shocked and no amount of screaming, physical contact, or the door opening and quickly shutting behind her could make her come back to life.

Once she found her vocal cords, she stuttered in a whisper "D-do you really m-mean that?"

"Every word," Chad immediately answered, trying to put off the need to blink for as long as he could.

Her bottom lip began to quiver, the tears rushing to her eyes as the chilling guilt dragged through her system. If only he knew, she thought to herself. He shouldn't have said that, it's only going to get him hurt. I have to hurt him again.

"Chad," she started, her eyes dropping down to his chest again. "Chad, I-"

The pressure released from her wrists, but they dropped to her sides anyway as she watched Chad back away from her slowly. His head was slowly bobbing up and down while he said "I get it. I just had to get that off of my chest before forbidding myself to ever see you again. Sorry."

Immense terror flooded Taylor when she saw his retreating figure push past her gently and pull open the entrance doors to the library. He was really doing it. He was leaving her for good when it should have been her to make that speech. He was turning the tables on her for once and actually succeeding this time.

She couldn't do this. Letting him slip through her fingers the first time was hard enough, but it would just crush her further if she let it happen again now. And this time she feared that it would crush her beyond repair.

About a second had passed since these thoughts had entered her mind, but it was enough for the decision to make itself for her. Her feet ran forward and her arms reached out for his, pulling him back and spinning him around to face her. His eyes were damp and soaked. This only motivated her brain even more.

"Tay-"

Taylor's forceful lips covered his after her hands grabbed his face to lock him in place. Her eyes squeezed shut and she inhaled the average, yet delicious scent that she missed so much, which caused her to push herself even closer to his shock-frozen body.

The majority of Chad's brain told him to stop this, to push her away and run out before she had the chance to open her eyes again but then there was the smaller portion. The one that screamed for him to trap her in his arms and never set her free of his love and affection. It was that part of his conscience that he usually listened to and he had no intensions to quit using it now. It was probably the reason he got in trouble so often.

Taylor tightened her hold on Chad's soft cheeks and, whimpering in between kisses, told him "My…parents…made…me…do it," Another deep kiss. "I'm…sorry…Chad…I…love…you."

Chad quickly reached up to grab her hands away from his face. "What?"

He took note of the slippery surface of her face from the tears and held her head in his large hands. "What do you mean 'they made you do it'? They forced you?"

Taylor nodded and inhaled sharply. "They came up to me after you dropped me off last Tuesday and saw my left arm."

"So?"

Taylor backed up by just a slight inch and rolled up her left sleeve, holding it up for Chad to see the almost faded bruise that was in the shape of Brick's hand…and his.

Taylor took his shocked silence as a sign to go on. "I tried to tell them that you just caught me from falling, but they saw the rest of my cuts and bruises and I couldn't make any more excuses. I screamed and cried and told them that they were wrong, but they didn't want to listen. They finally found their excuse, Chad."

"Th-they think that I…beat you?"

Taylor shrugged "They don't think anymore. They know. And no matter what I say, they still won't allow you within 50 feet of me. They said that if they ever saw you around my house, they'd have you arrested and possibly have us relocated."

"Relocated?" His eyes widened. "As in you're moving?!"

Taylor shook her head "That's only if I ever 'accept my fears and want to take precautions'. They think that I'm in denial."

Chad's back hit the wall and he slid down a little bit, staring straight ahead out the window. The only feeling in his body was the lingering tingle in his lips from Taylor's amazing kisses.

"Chad?" She knelt before him and took hold of his shoulders. "I'm not moving."

"How can you be so sure?" His eyes lifted to meet hers and what he saw made him gain another thundering feeling in his heart. Taylor's eyes, glowing with relief and adoration, stared straight into his. She was finally his again.

"Because," she answered "I'll just continue to mope around and pretend as though I hate my parents for being so close-minded, hoping that I can pull it off long enough for them to realize that I'm right. They'll have to cave sometime."

"And what if you cave first?" He rebelled, feeling the fear seeping into his already tired features.

Taylor immediately replied "I won't, sweetie." She scooted closer to him and grinned "I have you to motivate me."

Chad gave a small smile as well and let his forehead fall against hers, whispering "I'm sorry."

"For what? You didn't do anything."

Chad shook his head while pulling it back, explaining "Exactly. I should never have left you alone in that hallway in the first place. I should have-"

Taylor interrupted "You should stop blaming yourself, that's what you should be doing. You had no idea that it was going to happen, and what's done is done. In all seriousness, I think it helped us a little."

"How do you figure?"

Taylor shrugged and lay her head on his shoulder while moving into his lap. "I don't know, I guess it finally let my parents off the hook so they can stop tearing their hair out to get rid of you, and it really made us stronger, theoretically."

"How we totally fall apart if we're not together?"

Taylor giggled and nodded, kissing his nose quickly. "Exactly. So the question now is," She took his hand in hers. "What do we do now?"

Chad took a deep breath and dropped his gaze to the ground, skimming through his mind for something, anything that could help make the situation better or easier on their part.

"The only thing I can think of," Taylor sighed dejectedly "is for us to talk to my parents."

"What?" Chad, alarmed, sat straight up, almost knocking her off of his lap. "Are you crazy? Do you want me to go to jail?!"

Taylor quickly reassured him with a smooth stroke of his arm. "No one's going to jail, honey. Except maybe, hopefully, Brick, but we'll talk about him later."

Chad huffed and got to his feet, holding his hand out for Taylor. "I'm serious, Tay. You know your parents. The second they spot me at the door, they'll grab you, your dad will choke me against the wall, and your mom will call the cops. There won't be any time for an explanation. Face it, we're screwed."

Taylor rolled her eyes and crossed her arms. "Well, do you have any better ideas?"

Chad was only a millisecond away from saying "Not even close" when something that Troy had said to him earlier that week came rushing back into his head. They had been sitting in front of the TV at Chad's place, moping as usual, when Troy suddenly jerked up from his spot on the couch and exclaimed "Duh!" After explaining himself to his friend, Chad told him that it was probably the worst idea that he'd ever heard in his entire life, even worse than some of his ideas. After a few more words of wisdom to Chad, Troy gave up and continued wallowing in his friend's grief.

Chad grinned "Actually, I think I do. What do you think about pulling a Romeo and Juliet for a while?"

"Excuse me?"

"A secret relationship. Just until we're ready to come out with it again."

Taylor's jaw dropped about ten feet, making Chad's smile falter a little. He knew that there were major flaws in that idea, but he figured that since she was one to love solving mysteries, she wouldn't mind trying it out for a test drive first.

Apparently, he forgot that she was also one to think rationally and follow her brain first, other than her heart. "Chad, are you insane?!"

Chad sighed, trying again. "Tay, just hear me out for a sec. It could work. We could meet up every free period, walk to school together every morning, and sleep over at Troy or Brandon's houses on Fridays."

"What about the sleepovers?"

Chad rolled his eyes. "Have I taught you nothing at all? Sharpay and Gabriella would be happy to be lies for you."

"You want me to lie to my parents?!"

"Like you haven't ever done it before."

They stared each other down for a few minutes, Taylor with hard eyes and Chad with eyes that spelled "You know I'm right." It was finally her turn to roll her eyes, huffing "Fine. You really think that it's going to work?"

Chad encircled her in his embrace, kissing her cheek while murmuring "The only way it won't is if we don't try or let our guard down. And I'm not about to let you go without another fight. Never forget that I love you, alright?"

Taylor turned her head to the side, her response speaking for itself in a sweet, long over due kiss.

--

Lunch was just ending, the students emptying their trays and gathering their books for their next class. The usual conversations swam around the light atmosphere as the different cliques headed off in their separate groups to get as much conversation in as they could before the bell rang. No one noticed the four missing members of the head clique that sat at the longest table near the huge window in the wall, it's members heading out in the usual pack. The only ones who noticed the absence were the members themselves, who understood the excuse of two of the four but were confused as to the disappearance of the other couple.

Ryan sighed "Guess Troy and Gabriella decided to ditch, too."

Sharpay shrugged "Yeah, wonder where they went."

Brandon's face scrunched into a look of pure disgust and its slight overprotective fence that had been filed down since the previous year. Under his breath, he muttered "I think I've got a pretty good idea…"

Troy and Gabriella sat invisible to the outside world in the empty, darkened corner of the music room. They knew that the period was just about over, but they decided to stretch out their time together for as long as possible and head out a few moments after the bell rang. For now, they just rested silently in each other's arms, Gabriella leaning on her boyfriend's chest and looking down at the hem of his shirt, tittering with it between her small fingers. Troy, on the other hand, draped his arm gently around her shoulders and cradled her head in his muscular arm, stroking her hair absentmindedly. The only noise that could be heard was their soft breathing and normal heartbeats. The silence wasn't uncomfortable, as they'd quickly admit, but it was unusual. Troy and Gabriella would usually quietly chat and laugh about whatever was on their minds until their time ran out. But this was different. Troy didn't move. He just fell lazily against the wall without a care and stared ahead at the old acoustic guitar in front of him. Gabriella eventually looked up at his beautiful blue eyes and followed his gaze to the instrument that stood before them.

Her whisper broke the comfortable atmosphere that floated around them. "You're quiet."

Troy blinked out of his daydreams and looked down at the angel in his arms, the corners of his lips pulling up in a small, reassuring grin. "Sorry, just drifting, I guess."

Gabriella snuggled closer into his relaxed body, wrapping her arms around him. "Where'd you go this time?" she joked.

"Back to last week," he answered "after we told your mom about us."

"The note?"

Troy nodded, his eyes returning to the guitar. "Yeah, I've been thinking about it a lot these past couple of days."

Gabriella sighed, closing her eyes and inhaling his scent. "What about it?" she wondered.

Troy's lips pursed, trying to word his explanation in a way that they both could understand. "I don't know. Something just doesn't add up right. Why would Brick give up on us so fast? Certainly he can't think that he's done enough to us yet. He didn't even do anything serious to me or Brandon like his uncle did."

Gabriella shrugged, opening her eyes and, without thinking, replying "I don't know, Troy, he beat us up pretty badly. There was the mall blowing up, taking me, taking Sharpay, Taylor, and now breaking up her and Chad."

Troy's hand froze, his head spinning around to face her below him. Confused, he said "Wait, what? Breaking them up?"

"Huh?"

Troy asked "How does he have anything to do with that? I thought that Taylor just didn't love him anymore."

Gabriella, just now realizing what she said, gulped and avoided all eye contact with him. Eventually she sputtered "Uhh…yeah, think about it. They're always fighting, which is never good. Plus, it's obvious that she's the head of the relationship and takes everything more seriously than he does."

"So how does Brick have anything to do with that?"

Gabriella rolled her eyes and lied "Troy, isn't it obvious? Brick's attacks are obviously taking the biggest toll on their relationship. They probably have different views on what's going on and can't reach any common ground on who's right. Face it. Brick's doing that on purpose."

Troy's hand started back up again, his breath coming out regularly now. He shrugged and thought aloud "I guess that makes sense. But how does he know all of those little key points that set them off and make them fight?"

The lying, physically, was becoming a little easier for the brunette but her internal organs were beginning to twist and contort into what she felt was the word "liar". She felt terrible about hiding the truth from her boyfriend, but knew that protecting her friend was the right thing to do. Sure, Troy would have helped majorly, but she figured that he must have been tired of always worrying and helping out his loved ones in a situation that he felt he was the cause of. Giving him a break just felt right. And Taylor would figure something out sooner or later. She always did.

"How could he not know their key points?" she giggled, trying to hide the force from her voice. "They have one of the most predicable relationships that I've ever seen."

Troy laughed a little, agreeing "Yeah, sometimes I just count down the seconds until Taylor complains about something Chad's doing."

"Like the time he spent twenty minutes in the mall checking out his facial hair to see if every hair was even?"

Troy nodded with a smile. "And he counts each hair every day to see if anything's falling out. He was late for one of their dates because of that."

Gabriella gave a high-pitched laugh and then sighed. "Oh, Chad Danforth. The most anal man I've ever met in my life."

She looked up at Troy's calm, angelic face and he looked back down at her, his already relaxed eyes softening at the sight of his girlfriend of a year. "Troy Bolton," she whispered "The most lovable man I've ever met in my life."

Troy's only response was a gentle kiss on her lips. She grinned against his and, very reluctantly, they both pulled away from each other, Gabriella letting hear head fall into his chest again and closing her eyes, relishing ever second of this amazing moment.

That moment came to an abrupt end when the door to the room swung open and a familiar figure casually stepped through, heading over for their corner. His footsteps slowed as his approach grew nearer but once he saw the innocent position that the couple was in, he sighed and said "I knew you'd be here."

Troy rolled his eyes. "Of course you did. We spend way too much time together and you've gotten inside my head."

"Please, I got inside your head when we turned four." Brandon walked over to a stool and sat down, looking down at the couple. "We missed you at lunch."

Gabriella shrugged "We weren't hungry."

"For food?"

Troy's eyes narrowed into annoyed slits. "There's your first warning."

Brandon cracked an amused grin and then sighed. "So why the music room?"

"You're in my head, bro." Troy smiled. "You figure it out."

"That's not fair."

"Neither is having your moment interrupted by your girlfriend's nosy brother, but you don't hear me complaining now do you?"

Brandon rolled his eyes, giving Troy the easy win without trying any further. He sighed and got to his feet before turning to head out the door. "Fine. Class starts in two minutes, just so you know."

Gabriella nodded "Thanks. We'll be out in a sec."

On Brandon's way out the door, his eyes landed on the wooden instrument that stood in front of him. He cocked his head to the side as his girlfriend's voice entered his brain, reciting a conversation that they had a few days ago.

"Oh please, Izzy. You said it yourself that I'm practically flawless. There couldn't possibly be anything more that I can do that could turn you on right now."

Isabelle giggled "The only thing more that you can do is play me my favorite song over the phone on an acoustic guitar. I love musicians, you know."

A sly smile crossed his handsome features, his eyes beginning to glitter with a brilliant plan forming in his imagination.

"Brandon?" Gabriella called in an annoyed tone, causing Brandon to snap out of his frozen trance. His cheeky grin took the place of his suspicious smile and he turned around, facing Troy and ignoring his sister.

"What?" Troy asked.

"You still play the guitar, right?"

Troy nodded slowly, surveying "I'm getting better since Jason's been teaching me. Why?"

"Jason's up for teaching?"

Troy and Gabriella both arched an eyebrow. "What's up, Brandon?"

Still paying no attention to Gabriella, Brandon said "I need you two guys to do me a favor…"

--

"Brandon Joseph Montez!"

"What?!"

Isabelle's humored, yet irritated voice exploded from the phone again. "Do you realize how dangerously close I am to losing half of my respect for you?"

Brandon chuckled and threw his head back on his pillow. "Izzy, I'm sorry but I just don't see how you can find their music even remotely enjoyable. I mean, have you seen their video for When I'm Gone? It makes no sense!"

Isabelle huffed and crossed her arms. "The song's about leaving behind all the extra baggage in your life and that girl is his ex. She's trying to forget him and keeps seeing him everywhere she goes while he's out living his life to the fullest. Is that a good enough explanation to get through your thick head?"

Brandon paused and slowly smiled. "Sorry."

"Uhh! Come on, Brandon!" He could hear her flopping down on her bed as well. "Simple Plan are geniuses and you know it! Haven't you heard Untitled?"

Brandon shrugged "Yeah, and that's one of their few good songs, but the whole band is just a big turn off for me. They seem too popish for me."

"Fine, then you have no taste in music."

"Hey, that hurt!" he teased "And you said it yourself, you're starting to get a little more into real rock music because yours truly introduced to you to the amazing, uplifting world of Three Days Grace."

Isabelle sighed "Yeah, I'll admit that, but Brooke showed me Simple Plan first and I've had a longer time to fall in love with them. And besides," she grinned to herself as her retort flowed off of her tongue slowly "Never Too Late is soo 2006."

Brandon suddenly sat up straight in his bed. "You will take that back right now!"

She giggled evilly. "Sorry." She quoted.

"Isabelle Marie Johnson!"

"What?" He could hear that she was clearly having too much fun with all of his quotes.

"That song never dies! I've listened to it over 1,000 times and my play count on my computer proves it!"

"Same with me and Untitled. Made me cry the first fifty times."

"Made me cringe the first time."

She gasped, but it was quickly followed by a quick laugh. "You heartless monster! I faintly recall you saying that you started to tear up when you first heard Riot because you 'couldn't see how anything could be so perfect'."

Brandon replied "And I faintly recall doing that same thing when we went on our first date. Remember? We had our first kiss in the rain."

Isabelle immediately calmed down, sinking back into her mattress and relishing the ancient, yet youthful memory of the first time they had made that first connection. Her smile grew even wider when she remembered the first time that they exchanged those three magical words right after. "Of course I remember," she whispered, closing her eyes and sighing. "I'll never forget it."

"Me neither," he said softly. "You're the highlight of my high school career."

Isabelle giggled "If you ask me, I think that getting your best friend back after five years, killing your gym teacher, and getting shot in the arm would top little old me, don't you think?"

Brandon looked down at his left forearm, the dark scar from the metal weapon still obviously noticeable on his skin. He closed his eyes. Never before had he ever felt such physical pain. Nothing could hurt as badly as an unexpected gunshot.

"Other than an unexpected stab at the heart." His conscience barked at him. He sighed. He would never forgive himself for what he did to Troy and wished that no one else had. He didn't deserve it. It didn't matter how pissed off he was at the moment. No one deserved that, especially just if they were just trying to protect you from your own death.

Brandon sighed again. "Okay, they all happened at around the same time in the same year. How about just one huge highlight, deal?"

Isabelle smiled "Deal. So how's that new job of yours going?"

Brandon grinned in satisfaction as he remembered the last time that he stepped into the dance studio. 20 young dancers that were only a year, at the most, younger than him sat and gabbed with their classmates about one thing and one thing only: who the new dance instructor was. Most had mixed looks of sadness and suspicion, probably because they were going to miss their old teacher. Alex told Brandon that the former instructor had quite a connection with the kids. Jared, he remembered his name to be. Alex had walked in and gave Brandon a formal introduction, telling the students that he was a passionate, skilled teenager who was a lot like Jared so that should take away some of the homesickness. Brandon walked in and immediately felt a surge of relief, even when no one said anything to him yet. The kids spent half of the session questioning Brandon on his dancing past and what his plans for the future were. A few jokes were thrown in here and there and by the time they were done, Brandon witnessed all of the satisfied smiles and nods that went around the room. He smiled along with them.

By the time he finished explaining all of this to Isabelle, Brandon added "I feel like I'm really connecting with them, you know? Even though I've only worked for three days, I think they're starting to look up to me. One girl even called me Jared by mistake."

"That's great, sweetie. What are your hours?"

"On Tuesdays and Thursdays I work from five to seven and on Saturdays it's from one to three thirty. Seriously, babe, by the end of the week I'm drained."

Isabelle let out a loud laugh, joking "Holy crap, you dance from Monday to Saturday?"

"Yup, school is on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday during ninth period. Crazy, right?"

The blonde giggled one last time before groaning "Damn, I have to get back to work on my stupid English project. We're supposed to research three occupations that we're interested in and write an eight page report comparing the pros and cons of each choice. I think we've done this for the past four years."

Brandon nodded "We did something like that last year after you left. What are your choices?"

"I don't know yet, it was just assigned to us today. Brooke's coming over in a few minutes so that we can brainstorm and as of now, I'm totally stumped. I'm thinking of high school lacrosse coach and the owner of a music store, but that's all I've got. What do you think?"

Brandon paced the ideas around in his head, knowing that she'd be an excellent coach for her favorite sport, but she also loved the music business as well. He finally replied "What about owning your own clothing boutique? You love that stuff."

Isabelle said "I'd only do something like that if Sharpay were in it with me. I can seriously see her becoming the owner of a store that only sells stuff in pink."

"Me too. The girl needs some serious physiological help with that color. You'd be good with that."

Isabelle shrugged "Ehh, I guess. I'm not really all that good with people, though…"

"Yes you are!" Another voice squealed over the phone. Brandon laughed. The obvious Australian accent brought one name to his head.

"Tell Brooke that I said hi."

"Hi, sexy!"

"Brooke, what the hell?"

"What? He is! Look at that picture on your bedside table! He has the most amazing six-pack I've ever seen!"

"…okay, he does, doesn't he?" Isabelle gushed.

"Hell yeah he does! And look at his arms! I swear, he can carry me and Aunt Katrina!"

"He can carry me and Gabriella all the way from his parking lot to his kitchen!"

"Izzy, you lucky little bitch!"

"I know, right?!"

"Girls! I'm still here!" Brandon finally interrupted, still cracking up.

Isabelle laughed along with him "Oh, sorry, babe. We better go before this gets too out of hand. I'll talk to you tomorrow?"

Brandon nodded "As soon as I get out of school."

Brooke called from what seemed like the other side of the room "Can't wait to meet you at the dance competition, Brandon! You better be good for as far as we're going!"

"Brooke!" Isabelle barked.

"Can't wait to meet you either, Brooke. And I don't think I'm too terrible."

Brooke, distracted again, said to Isabelle "You better keep a good hold on him, Blondie. Whenever he comes up here, the girls are gonna eat him alive and won't puke him back up."

Isabelle replied "If that were to happen, I'd let you get the biggest share. I don't trust those girls with him…" Click.

Brandon hung up his cell phone confused. "Huh," he mumbled to himself "you think I'd be used to that kind of stuff by now…" Gabriella and the girls always gushed over how gorgeous their boyfriends were and how they'd always dip them in chocolate and eat them for dinner. The guys would always just look at them awkwardly and then break into a sudden conversation with each other to try and forget the lust building in their systems.

Brandon swung his legs over his bed and grabbed his gym bag when he felt a chilling gust of air hit him on his bare arms. He looked to his right and rolled his eyes once he realized that he had stupidly left the window open. After closing it tightly and locking it, he crossed the room and reached for his doorknob. As he twisted the door open, a faint rustle of leaves came from somewhere behind his head. Spinning his head around and peering out at the wall, his eyebrows came together as he thought to himself "Wait, didn't I just close that?"

Brandon's bag slid from his shoulder and he absentmindedly let it, not being able to tear his eyes away from the open window. He blinked once. If there was one thing he knew it was that he wasn't crazy, he swore to it. He slowly walked to the other side of the room and stared at the lock which could only be used from the inside. He traced his finger over it and looked outside again, seeing nothing but the gentle breeze tossing around the tree branches hanging from the huge tree that could also be seen from Gabriella's balcony. Everything was perfectly normal. Maybe it was just a faulty lock. His hands came up and slid the window down again and locking it, tighter this time. He sighed. Maybe he was going crazy without Isabelle.

Before reluctantly turning his head once again to head out, his eyes caught something unusual. A dark figure, a shadow most likely, standing frozen under the willow tree out in his backyard. He looked a little closer and blinked, but by then it was gone. His head cocked to the side, and then backed away from the window.

Maybe he was going crazy…

Okay, how was that? I was really struggling with this chapter for some reason, I think it was just the Chad/Taylor talk that I couldn't get right. I hope it's okay.

REVIEW!!! Thnx :)

~Rachel :)

Sneak at Next Chapter:

- We skip ahead a few months

- More Troyella

- Some major foreshadowing for what's to happen in later chapters

Trivia:

- I just had to put in Brandon and Isabelle's conversation about Simple Plan. I LOVE them!

- If you're confused about Brandon coming in and asking Troy for that favor, don't worry, it'll be explained a little furthur next chapter.