Oh my God, call 911! I actually updated on time???

Chapter 21 – Worse Than Déjà Vu

…One Month Later…

The friends could do absolutely nothing to stop the time from going as fast as it was. The days, as long and gruesome as some could be, seemed to just blend into the next, making the second half of their senior year a big blur. The homework was still piled high to beyond the ceiling, teachers were still as boring as watching grass growing, and the free time kept growing shorter and shorter, rarer. This could be a reason for why Troy, Brandon, and Gabriella almost always slept over at each other's houses. Out of the entire gang, they were the only ones who remained almost completely unscathed by the pressure of the final high school year. If Troy wasn't crashing at the Montez house, the twins found themselves running up the street, their arms full of books and stuffed folders, to the Bolton residence. They didn't even have to knock; they just burst through the already opened door and stampeded up to Troy's room where he was already hunched over a book report, trigonometry questions, or anything else that the teachers decided to throw at them. In the morning, Jack was usually the one to shake them all awake from their late night/early morning studying. He usually found Brandon on the floor, his college level algebra book sitting against his legs and his head thrown backward against Troy's bed. Troy and Gabriella were in their usual sleeping position, cuddling soundly with a packet of papers in Gabriella's hands.

It was nights like those that made them all incredibly aware of just how important free time was and to grab it by the horns when they caught any of it. Brandon was either hung up on the phone with Isabelle, sometimes talking her through her trig homework, or getting some extra dance practice in. He had to cut back on his hours at the ASD in order to fit all of his schoolwork into his daily schedule. Troy was either shooting hoops with Chad at his house or sneaking away with Gabriella somewhere to get in as much physical love as they possibly could. When they returned to Brandon at night, he would just groan, annoyed, at their glowing faces, swollen lips, and marked necks and collar bones. But he never really complained, not finding a reason to blame them for taking advantage of their little private time together.

This was another thing. Brandon couldn't stop thinking about he and Isabelle's conversation about when they were finally going to stop all of the mindless teasing and just give themselves up to each other. It hadn't come up in any of their recent conversations, but he'd hinted to her about it, making his voice a little more seductive when they would play their little flirting games, emphasize his descriptions of his sexy dance moves to her, and always ending their calls with something like "I've got to get a hot shower; my groin's killing me from that split I did." After he'd hang up, he always wondered if she'd gotten the hint or not and if she did, how much longer could he beat around the bush before she finally called him out on it? After all, it took two to make love and both had to be on board. Brandon was mostly all for it, but he still couldn't break down Isabelle's words as a yes or a no. Of course he wouldn't ask; she would most likely think he was begging. And pressuring her was the last thing that he ever wanted to do.

But he didn't mind the confusion as much when Isabelle came down to New Mexico, always savoring their limited time together and not wanting to spend a single second of it worrying about whether or not she was thinking about getting into bed with him. Besides, just walking down by the lake, holding hands, and enjoying each other's company was good enough for him. Despite the distance, they had an amazing relationship with doing what they were right now. Why ruin that with sex?

Brandon and Isabelle weren't the only ones making a great pair. When Troy and Gabriella weren't cramming for a test or showing each other how much they loved each other physically, they would just lie there, Gabriella's head on Troy's chest and his hand gently stroking her soft hair. They usually found themselves doing this large amount of nothing under their favorite oak tree at night, just staring up at the bright stars and not saying a word. This typically happened after a fast-paced headache of a day. They would go home and take a two-hour nap, do half of their homework, and then walk to the park beside the lake together. Time didn't exist during those moments and the only way that they were ever aware of it was when Brandon or a parent would call them back home where they would complete the other half of their schoolwork. When they came back in that complete non-sexual bliss, Brandon would just grin and remind himself that it didn't matter how long they stayed out. If the both of them were this happy with whatever they were doing, they'd be together forever without a doubt. He was sure of it.

Troy knew this too, and one Wednesday when the homework load was unusually light, (letting him get most of it done during the end of class) he found his eyes wondering around the room looking at random things. They eventually landed on Brandon's promise ring and he grinned. He remembered the shine in Isabelle's eyes when she showed him and the smile that seemed to be chiseled onto her lips all day. Even when she leaned on a hot burner later that day, her flushed cheeks didn't budge an inch. That was what he called true love.

This gave him an idea...

Troy tore a corner off of his notebook paper, scribbled a short note, and tossed it back to Brandon. When Brandon picked it up, he unfolded it and read Troy's quick, messy handwriting.

"Do you mind walking home?"

He looked back up at Troy, confused and caught off guard. "Why?" he mouthed.

Troy turned his head and swiftly whispered "Gabby will tell you tonight."

--

After finishing their homework, Troy and Gabriella were walking by the lake like they always did in their spare time, just gazing out at their hometown of Albuquerque, New Mexico. The moon cast a silver-black glow on the water and the pavement in front of them, as if giving Troy permission to use its ground to unleash his idea.

"Gabs," Troy stopped them in their tracks, looking up at her through his curtain of long bangs.

"Yeah?"

He grinned and sighed, taking her hands in his. "Close your eyes."

She looked him over curiously before smirking and doing as she was told, biting her lip in anticipation. "What are you up to, Tr-" Troy cut her off with his soft lips on hers, silencing her. "Relax. And whatever you do, keep your eyes closed until I say to open them."

"I'm scared."

"Don't be," Gabriella giggled a little before taking a deep breath and waiting for Troy to either take her somewhere or do something as stupid as stripping her down right here in public. She internally rolled her eyes at the thought of it. But, she pondered, would she refuse? The tree, after all, was pretty large. And no one really came by the park at this time of night except for them, so…

Gabriella was pulled from her thoughts at the sound of a soft metal sound moving against itself. She frowned when she couldn't place it with anything. She knew that she'd heard the noise before, but her memory was blocked when she felt the cold chain touch her chest. Gasping, Gabriella's eyes flew open and automatically looked down, touching the beautiful necklace that now resided in the middle of her chest, glistening in the late night moonlight.

"Troy, what-" She looked up to look at him, but gasped again when she saw the same necklace around his neck. The chain was a simple white but the charm was what captured the attention. There were two hearts, intertwined at the hump, one white and one black with the designated color diamond filling in the hearts. Gabriella looked up at her boyfriend and, through the tears, saw him grinning and biting his lip, staring at her with complete love and admiration. He stepped forward and took both of her hands in his, whispering "Open them."

"Troy," she breathed, gawking over at his identical necklace and shaking her head slowly. "They're beautiful. But what are-"

"Gabriella, will you promise me something?"

She smiled tearfully. "Anything."

Troy brought her hand up to his lips and kissed it lightly, saying "I know that we've had our share of bumps through the course of this relationship, but I just want to tell you that I'm willing to put all of that behind us because you're the one I want to grow old with. I was an idiot before when I didn't trust you to be there for Brandon, but I've worked on it ever since we got rid of Wolf. And now that it's getting harder for Brandon and Izzy to be together, he's finally understanding how hard it is to carry on a relationship through these times in school. So now that your brother's not as big an obstacle anymore, I want to make us official before any more problems come along."

Gabriella's tears were practically bulging from her eyes as she spoke. "Troy, this is incredible. Are you sure, though?"

He stepped closer to her, leaning their foreheads together. "As sure as I'll ever be. Do you promise to give your all to this relationship until we figure out what we're going to do in the future? Do you believe that there's a future for us?"

Gabriella giggled, nodding quickly. "Of course. All throughout our childhood, I knew that I would never see the last of you. And yes, I promise. You're stuck with me, Bolton, until the day you die."

Troy smiled, leaning their heads together again. "Fine by me."

--

The next day followed the same routine, getting up at six, driving to school, finishing whatever homework questions that didn't get done the previous night, and looking over college applications. Nothing out of the ordinary so far.

But then lunch came.

There was only a few more minutes left in the period and the gang was using them wisely to catch up with each other. The increase of projects and assignments left the entire group very little time to hang out. Plus, they couldn't completely count on the lunch period to give them that time. Most of the time, two or three of them were missing to catch up on missed/uncompleted tests or serving lunch detention with Darbus for gum chewing or texting. But today, they were all free to chat and goof off. It was just like old times.

"So, Shar," Gabriella finished off the last of her water and turned to the blonde. "Did you go dress shopping yet?"

Sharpay shook her head glumly, looking down at her tray. "I can't find time to. Mr. Mallard's Spanish project is taking up most of my time. I can barely even find time to do my other homework. How about you?"

"Same. Darbus is throwing me a ton of extra credit that I'm not even asking for and after I'm done with that, she gives me another college application. By the time I'm done with everything, I'm so tired I can't even sleep. My only free time is Saturday at five, but-"

Sharpay gasped and smiled widely at her. "Yes! So am I! And Taylor was going to visit her grandma, but she decided to go on vacation!"

Gabriella grinned back. "So it's a date?"

"Hell yeah it's a date!"

The warning bell rang and the students began to gather their things, but were stopped by a ferocious crash on the other side of the room. Every head turned to the sophomore section of the cafeteria and gasps floated throughout the air as everyone watched a black-haired teenager plow an unsuspecting blonde right into the wall, kneeing him in the stomach. The defenseless blonde was then thrown to the ground and straddled by the attacker, getting punched in the face over and over until blood was covering the ground. He then shoved his thumbs into the semi-unconscious boy's throat and waited until he was blue in the face and his hazel eyes were rolled into the back of his head.

Just as everyone was sure that he was going to kill him, a brunette shoved the teen off of the injured boy and kicked him in the stomach to keep him there long enough for the blonde to stagger to his knees and, glaring at the boy on the ground, went over and grabbed him by the collar. He shoved him against the wall and started screaming in his face while tightening his grip. "It's not my fault, James! It's not my fault! When are you gonna understand that?! I didn't do anything!"

James pushed him away and punched him in the face again, yelling back with more forceful anger. "You stole her from me! It was too your fault, you did everything! You ruined my life, Gabriele!" He finished with another kick to the stomach, grabbing his head and tossing it into the wall. After a quick second of strangled whimpering, Gabriele's shoulders went limp and his eyes closed, his chest becoming slower and slower until it finally came to a complete stop.

Brandon's mouth dropped at the forty-five second scene that was just revealed to him. Gabriele's friends were rushing over to check his heartbeat and trying to perform CPR, with so success. "Someone call 911!" the same brunette commanded. James and his little posse stood back, gazing down at the damage and getting a little more anxious with every failed attempt at reviving the blonde. A redhead whispered something into James's ear and motioned for the door rapidly. James took a quick look at him before moving his eyes to scan across the room, as if searching for someone. When he reached the gang's table, he stopped and concentrated on a certain pair of brown eyes that were just as confused as everyone else.

Troy leaned into Brandon and whispered "Is he looking at you?"

Brandon didn't answer. He just stared back at James and noticed his mouth softening, even pulling up a tiny bit at the corners. His eyes were questioning, as if asking his permission for something. Brandon had no idea what he was trying to say and even so, why was he asking him?

Footsteps came running down the hallway to the cafeteria, most likely the vice principle and huge freshman science teacher. Brandon turned his head for a quick moment to see if they had come yet before turning back to James, who was receiving more and more tugs to his sleeve from the redhead. "Jay, we gotta go! Now! I'm not going to jail for murder!"

James broke free of Brandon's gaze for a second also before looking back at him, mouthing "Should I run?"

Brandon's eyebrows came together, his breathing increasing. Why was this kid looking at him like he was his father? How should he know? And why the hell was he still standing there?

The doors to the cafeteria burst open and the two men looked over to the bloody corner of the room. Most of James's crew had taken off, just leaving him and the redhead. Brandon took a deep breath and nodded slowly. "Go."

James smiled appreciatively at him and then grabbed his friend's shoulder, running out of the emergency exit to the back parking lot before disappearing around the corner.

The room was left in complete shock at the sudden outburst. Usually when there was a fight, there was some verbal communication before the fists started flying. At least, that's what they had gotten used to with all of Brandon's and Troy's previous battles. No one was whispering about anything; they just looked around at each other with looks that said "Did that just happen?" The only voices that could be heard were the booming commands coming from the teachers and the frail responses from Gabriele's friends. They still hadn't gotten him breathing yet and some were even starting to talk about his heartbeat getting slower and slower. An ambulance siren was faintly firing away in the background.

The vice principle turned around and, red in the face, screamed "If every single one of you isn't in class in the next ninety seconds, consider your spring dance cancelled! Move it!"

That got them pushing and shoving past each other so fast that half of the room was cleared in ten seconds. Since the gang's table was in the very back, they were the last ones out. The girls made a mad dash for the main hallway, but Brandon was just left dragging his feet, the movement only being made because of Troy pulling him along. "Dude, if the dance is cancelled, Isabelle won't come down!"

Brandon shook his head free of most of the lagging thoughts and this time, it was him pulling Troy along. As soon as they were safely in their next class and receiving harsh lectures from the teachers, he just stared off into space with the same question repeating itself over and over in his mind.

"Why did those moves look so familiar?"

--

When school let out, Brandon found himself slowly walking home alone. Troy and Gabriella asked him why he wasn't catching a ride with them, but all he said was "I need to clear my head and think some things over. I'll see you guys at home."

He just didn't understand it. James was looking at him like it wasn't even safe to breathe without Brandon's permission. He'd never even seen him before. How did he gain such authority over some random sophomore?

By this time around, he was a house down from his own and searching for his keys when there came a rustle in the bushes. Brandon stopped, turned around, and when he didn't see anything, turned back to digging into his pockets.

"Brandon, wait up!"

Brandon swiveled around and squinted at the boy poking his head out of the bushes, looking around at his surroundings to see if it was safe to come out. He saw no one else besides the confused senior, so he quickly sprinted up to Brandon. He was breathing hard and staring up at Brandon with wide, excited green eyes. Brandon noticed his flushed cheeks and tussled hair, which was cut into a semi-shaggy style that Brandon guessed was supposed to replicate his own. The jet black color wasn't natural; he could tell that from his bushy blonde eyebrows. His front tooth was chipped and he had a scar leading from the tip of his nose to the inside of his top lip, most likely from a split lip injury. Brandon's eyes shifted for a second before he replied. "Uhh...hi?"

"Hey, I'm James," he beamed back. He looked Brandon over before sighing excitedly. "Wow, I can't believe this…"

"What?"

"That I'm actually talking to you right now!" came James's response. He continued just as jubilant as he started. "Dude, you're my hero! I've been wanting to meet you since the beginning of last year! My friends won't believe this…"

Brandon's eyes flew open, then blinked a little before cracking a grin. "Oh. Well, that's awesome. Tell your friends that I said hi."

This just seemed to make James even more excited, if that was possible. "I will! Anyways, I'm a huge fan of you and your work. A lot of the people that I hang out with are trying to be you and copy what you do, but I think it's all just really pathetic. No one can ever be as good as you, man."

"Cool," Brandon was smiling now. "I've never heard anything like that before."

James pumped a fist into the air, whispering beneath his breath. "Yes, dibs on the first compliment," He then pulled himself together and sighed again. "But I'm not gonna lie: I'm kinda trying to do my thing like you, too."

"That's good. How long have you been dancing?"

James cocked his head to the side, now looking confused. "Dance, what? I don't dance."

Brandon felt the embarrassed heat crawl up on him. "I thought that's what we were talking about. What did you mean?"

The huge smile was back on James's face, spreading from ear to ear. "Oh, no, I meant the way you kick serious ass and then ask questions later! But I guess that's what makes you a good dancer, too…"

Brandon winced and internally jumped five feet into the air, feeling his stomach come into his throat. His breathing cut for a few moments before entering again, ragged and shallow. He had to blink a little and relearn how to work his vocal cords before whispering lowly. "You're…trying to…fight like me?"

James nodded quickly as if he didn't see Brandon's reaction. "Hell yeah! Haven't you ever seen yourself? The way you warn your opponent that they're about to become crippled and then BAM!!! You go right in for the kill! I've been working on it for the past three years, but I know that I'll never be as professional as you are."

"Professional?" Brandon's voice sounded far, far away from his ears, like he was trying to drift away from the conversation.

James smiled up at him again, giving Brandon that same feeling of authority that he wasn't looking for. "I was kinda disappointed when you and that…" He paused to try and think of the name, the grin falling from his face and being replaced with a disgusted scowl. "Troy guy made up. That let a bunch of us down, but since we can't do anything about it, I guess we'll just have to live off of our sweet memories."

Brandon had seemed to find his body again and learned how to cooperate with his voice. "I'm glad you're enjoying them, because those were the worst five years of my life."

James rolled his eyes. "Oh, I'm sure they weren't that bad. He stole your sister away from you and then posted nude pictures of her all around the school? You weren't just gonna take that, right?"

"Well, no, but-"

James cut him off. "I know just how you felt, too. Having someone that you really care about stolen away from you sucks like nothing else. That's actually why I was beating up that guy at lunch. Did you see me?"

Brandon sighed, finally realizing that there was no getting through to this kid about what a huge mistake he was making. "Yeah, I saw it…"

"Great, what'd you think?"

He held his breath, not wanting to crush this little boy's dreams of becoming a cell mate for some rapist and thought hard to choose his words carefully. "I don't know, I guess you did some…pretty serious damage."

James was still smiling, despite all of Brandon's obvious hesitation. "Thanks, Brandon. I don't think you know what it means to me that you just said that."

"Yeah, you got that right...so what exactly happened? Why'd you get so mad?"

James's face finally darkened, letting in the anger that Brandon remembered seeing back at lunch. He took a deep breath and started explaining. "That guy that I was fighting, Gabriele, was my best friend when we were ten through thirteen. Then I met my girlfriend, Crystal, and things were going great until I caught them making out in his room. He was all up against the wall and everything. That's when our fighting started."

Brandon felt something inside of him click and felt his eyebrows pull together again. "He was the one against the wall?"

James wasn't taking the hint. "Yeah, she's always been the one in charge and gets what she wants."

Brandon nodded, deciding to let it go. If James wasn't seeing the obvious truth right in front of his eyes, maybe he didn't have enough trust in Crystal to keep the relationship together. And no trust in her didn't sound like such a bad idea, anyway. "So why aren't you mad at her?"

James shook his head. "Oh, I'm pissed at her, too, but Gabe's been my friend longer than she's been my girl. You understand, right? I mean, you've known your friend since you were, what? Eight?"

"Troy and I met when we were two."

James's eyes widened again, blinking just like Brandon had done when he had heard of James's bad habit. "Oh. You've been friends for sixteen years?"

"Yup."

"Oh, well…I guess that changes some things…"

Brandon nodded. "I guess so."

They stood in a pretty quiet silence while James thought some things over in his head and Brandon just stared down miserably at him, wondering how someone could be so enthusiastic about being in a heated feud with someone that you used to call your brother. Brandon used to cry himself to sleep sometimes because when his wishing and dreaming wasn't enough, the reality of his life just came crashing down on his good memories, battling them out for good and not leaving any scraps of happiness behind for him. All he was left with were his bleeding bruises, never-ending tears, and broken heart.

"Can I ask you something personal?"

Brandon turned his attention back to the distraught teenager in front of him and nodded cautiously.

James hesitated, looking down at the sun-faded pavement before looking back up and softly asking "How did you get yourself to forgive Troy?"

It took Brandon about ten seconds to realize that he didn't exactly know how to answer that. He just simply found himself staring at James with the most dumbfounded look, any words that would've made sense quickly scattering from his conscience mind and leaving him with nothing but air. It had been a while before he had to think about something like that, therefore he never really came up with an answer. He always knew, somewhere in the back of his mind, that the question would come up sooner or later. Here was this little desperate boy who would give anything to be like Brandon, thinking that he was perfect in every single way. How could he answer a question that he knew would have the biggest effect on James's relationship with Gabriele, if he was still alive? The whole friendship lay below Brandon's answer, waiting to be either crushed to death or lifted back to life.

"I don't really know. I guess I just figured that if I was putting that much effort into trying to destroy somebody and then having it all handed back to me with their forgiveness, none of it was really worth anything. I mean, he wasn't in my life for this long for no reason. We weren't meant to be enemies."

"But he hurt you."

Brandon shrugged. "Love hurts sometimes. You just have to learn how to deal with it."

As he watched James's eyes fall to the ground again and swallow the lump back in his throat, he heard his phone beep from inside his pocket. James watched him read the text message and then look back up at him with sympathetic eyes, pointing in the direction to his house. "I have to go, umm…Troy needs help with a college app and God only knows how he'll screw it up on his own, so…"

James shrugged, shaking his head. "Don't even worry about it. I've got to get back to my friends and find them before the cops do, so I'll just see you in school. Maybe, if we don't get arrested." His fake smile faltered even more at the thought of it.

Brandon held out his hand in a friendly handshake, grinning down at James hopefully. "Don't worry, I'm sure you'll be fine. I doubt that Gabriele died."

"Really?"

"Yeah. But good luck, anyway." He smirked at his mini-me and got one back, seeing the thin gloss in James's eyes.

Police sirens suddenly blared from the end of the street, approaching them fast. James turned to his role model and with panic evident in his eyes. Brandon said "Calm down. They're probably going to ask me which way you went, so where are you headed?"

"Back in the direction of the school in the woods. My friend Tommy has a tree-house out there that we're gonna hide out in for the night."

Brandon nodded in approval of the plan, shooing him off. "Okay, good. Go, run!" James gave him one last look of gratitude before darting off into the bushes again.

Brandon spun around and continued to casually walk up his house, digging in his pockets again for his house key, when the cruiser pulled up next to him. All according to plan. Brandon gave the cop a strange, scared look and stopped in his tracks. The cop motioned for him to walk over and Brandon did, all the while keeping his façade up.

"Y-yes, officer?"

Officer Malina, as his uniform stated, nodded once at Brandon with a polite grin. "Hey, son, we just got a call about a hit-and-run. Have you seen a sophomore run by here that looked at all suspicious to you?"

Brandon raised an eyebrow and exhaled, shaking his head. "No, I don't…OH!!! Wait, that crazy kid that ran down here with the black t-shirt and ripped jeans?"

"That fits the description."

Brandon snorted, pointing up the road that headed to the lake. "Oh, that psychopath. Yeah, he was sprinting down here and just about ran into me. I think he went down to the dam by the lake. He was probably he was on drugs or something."

The officer nodded. "Okay, thanks. Was he with anyone else?"

"Not that I'm aware of. But they probably weren't all that far behind. I hope you guys catch him soon; I've got a baby sister at home and I'm really not in the mood to tell my mom that she was kidnapped or killed."

"Don't worry, son, we'll get him soon. Thanks for your help."

"No problem." Brandon told him as Malina started the cruiser back up and sped off down the street, turning the corner in just enough time for Brandon to let out a large breath. He turned around and saw James smiling gratefully at him, mouthing "Thank you so much."

Brandon grinned back, waving. "Good luck." When he blinked, James was gone.

A minute later, Brandon walked into his house to find Troy tapping his foot impatiently and mumbling "What took you so long?"

Brandon set his books on the kitchen counter and kept the grin on his face. "Sorry. I was helping out a friend."

As he took out his own college research, he couldn't help but feet accomplished in some way. Weather he wanted to admit it or not, James came looking to Brandon for help and not to tell him how amazing he was. That, he thought, was why he had asked permission to run at lunch. He was desperate, that was obvious, for someone to tell him that he was right about his views in his fight with Gabriele. Brandon bet that he knew he was wrong. Crystal had cheated on James, but there was nothing that Gabriele could do about it. He was attacked and now he was fighting for his life for no reason. Brandon hoped to God that he would survive the brutal assault. It would give James a chance to make things right with his best friend and cut this road short. Brandon's heart sank even more when he told himself this. James and Gabriele were going down a very similar path that he and Troy had been traveling on for five years.

Yes, he prayed that Gabriele would be alright, for James's sake and Brandon's.

Because Troy and Brandon had come out the other end strong and powerful, but what if the Troy in James's world...didn't?

Now don't you dare lie to me and tell me that you weren't heartbroken at James. And what would've happened to Brandon if Wolf had actually won?

...yeah, think about that while you're trying to sleep tonight lol.

REVIEW!!! Thnx :)

~Rachel :)

Sneak At Next Chapter:

- The Spring Fling grows nearer

- ...As well as the huge, dramatic drama

- ...I'm serious, it's only, like, two or three chapters away