Title: A Stranger Wearing His Face

Author: Jade-Max

Summary: After leaving Troy and her job at Lava Springs, Gabriella reflects on what's happened and how things are going to change.

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A Stranger Wearing His Face

"Gabriella?"

Ignoring the summons, Gabriella shifted her position on the edge of her balcony, using the nearby tree as a backrest. The sun was coming up after the worst night of her young life - and she didn't feel like smiling.

"Gabriella?"

Her mother's voice drew nearer and finally the genius girl was forced to turn her head to answer. "Out here, mom."

"What on earth are you doing out there?"

Gabriella turned her face away before her mother could see it; she hadn't been willing to explain when her mother had picked her up from Lava Springs the night before, and she was even less inclined to this morning. She'd broken up with Troy; something she'd have sworn would be impossible six months ago. After their rocky start, they'd been inseparable and he was her best friend and confidante.

Or rather, had been.

Another tear slid down her cheek. "I couldn't sleep."

"Gabby, that's the matter?"

The compassion in her mother's tone was the last thing Gabriella wanted at that moment. "I'm fine, mom."

"You don't sound fine." The sound of her mother's footsteps came closer. "And you weren't fine when I picked you up from work last night."

"I told you; I quit my job."

"Was that all? I saw you with Troy, and-"

"Mom." Gabriella almost choked on the syllable, holding up one hand to stop whatever she'd been about to say. It took a shuddering breath and a tough swallow to move past the ache in her throat before she could continue. "Please just drop it."

Ms. Montez paused before answering, her tone full of understanding. "Alright. I'll be downstairs if you need me or if you want to talk."

Gabriella tilted her head back against the roughness of the wood as her mother departed, opening her eyes to the green canopy of the oak that overlooked the balcony outside her bedroom. She well remembered pleading with her mother for the bedroom with the view - and her mother's teasing capitulation about wanting a quick escape route.

A quick escape route. Hardly. The balcony wasn't one she'd dared climb down - but it was one that Troy had climbed to see her on more than one occasion. She'd half expected to find him waiting out there this morning with an apology - while she'd also known he wouldn't be. Troy didn't see what he was doing as wrong.

Green swam before her eyes, blurring as more tears flooded her gaze and trickled down her cheeks where - again - she made no move to stop them. She hurt; her chest hurt, her throat hurt - her heart hurt. Breaking up with Troy had been the right thing to do, but regardless of it, she felt as if she'd forcefully severed a limb. That she'd slowly been losing him to Sharpay and his dream of a perfect future during their employment didn't matter.

Eventually she'd have lost him completely, but at that point it wouldn't have been her decision. It would have been her inability to walk away from a deteriorating situation or to confront him. No. This way was better, no matter how much it hurt, and Troy needed to see that what he'd been doing was slowly alienating himself from his friends and from her.

If he cared.

The sincerity in his gaze - how tightly he'd hugged her - as he'd begged her not to go, not to leave him, had broken her heart - but she had needed to stand firm, for both herself and for him. If she'd let him continue as he had been, he'd have thought it was okay to treat people the way he'd begun with his friends and teammates. If he continued, she knew he wouldn't have any friends left when school began again and the Wildcats' chance for back to back Championships would be shot.

Still, she hadn't done what she'd done for the school. No. She'd done it for herself. Once before in their stormy relationship Troy had made a similar mistake, except this time it wasn't that she doubted what he felt for her. She was sure he still felt the same way; breaking up with him hadn't changed her feelings and nor would they change his. No, in this instance, Troy needed to find and do what was best for Troy and Gabriella was feeling like a lead weight holding him back.

It was only one of the reasons she had set him free. Either he would fly without her, as much as it hurt to consider, or he would come back to her and realize that what he wanted out of life couldn't all be maintained in the fashion he was going about it. He was getting to a point where he would have to choose to keep his friendships or leave them behind and chase a dream for his future.

Or Troy would realize there were better ways of attaining what he wanted - ways that would keep the relationships he currently valued intact.

Her hand absently reached up to her now naked collarbone and flattened over the ridge. Abstractedly she wondered how, despite it only being a matter of short weeks, she'd grown accustom to having Troy's necklace around her neck. The weight had been reassuring and now, suddenly, she felt naked without it. Not just without it, but knowing what its absence represented.

Giving the necklace back to Troy had been more symbolic on her part than anything but it had been fitting all the same. He'd broken the promise that the necklace had represented. They weren't together, he'd broken several of their dates or been abysmally late, skipped out on the activities they'd planned with their friends... the list went on and on. Sure, the Troy she'd met over New Years was still there, but he was changing as she watched into someone she didn't know - and someone she didn't particularly like.

Brushing one arm across her eyes, she slid down from the tree and set her feet back on the balcony outside her room. Her dress was wrinkled and she felt a sudden pang of conscience; she'd told her mother she couldn't sleep - except that wasn't exactly the truth. She hadn't been able to sleep - except it wasn't that she had woken up early; she hadn't slept at all.

Shutting her door behind her, she closed her blinds and undid the ties to her dress, letting it slide off to pool around her feet before stepping free. The feeling of the fabric gliding over her body was almost symbolic. As it dropped, it seemed to carry the weight of her decisions with it - as if changing from the clothing where she'd felt such grief could wash it away.

No - that wasn't completely accurate.

Not wash it away - her chest was still tight, as if the rubber band around it would never let go - but had eased it. In some ways changing had remind her that all things change - especially in the summer time. Summer this year was supposed to have been about constants; about staying in one place with the same people - except no matter how much she wanted that, it had already changed.

Her best friend and boyfriend was no longer the sweet guy she'd begun dating seven months ago, and in his place there was a stranger wearing his face. She would simply have to move forward and trust that Troy would continue to do what was best for him - it simply wasn't what was best for them anymore.

fin