Title: "T" for Trust

Author: Jade-Max

Summary: Taylor tells Gabriella about Troy's sudden turn around - and returns an all important necklace.

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"T" for Trust

Gabriella was in the middle of reading the want-ads when her cell phone rang in the early the evening the Saturday after she'd quit at Lava Springs, given Troy back his necklace and broken up with him. Taylor's image appeared as she checked to see who was calling and she quickly connected the call. "Hey Taylor."

"Girl, you won't believe it!"

Sharply pulling the phone away from her ear, Gabriella stared at it in surprise for a half second before gingerly moving it back to her ear to hear her friend asking something in a concerned tone.

"-ere Gabriella?"

"I'm here; are you okay?"

"You're not going to believe it when I tell you - where are you right now?"

A sigh escaped. "I'm at home. Nobody's hiring a student this late in the summer and-"

"Okay, don't go anywhere; I'll be right over to see you."

"But-"

"Don't. Just sit tight, okay?"

Gabriella stared at her phone as the dial tone replaced Taylor's excited chatter. Something major must have happened for her to become so unhinged when just days prior everyone had been upset by their sudden ineligibility for the Talent Show. Sharpay's spite had risen to new levels and had driven Gabriella to drastic action - actions that had been slowly building through the Summer days as Troy had grown further and further from his friends and begun to act more and more like Sharpay.

It was an unsettling change and one that no one would have believed possible - until they'd started seeing it happen. Wooed by fancy clothes, high paying jobs, star athletes and the promise of an elusive and much sought after scholarship, he'd changed from the guy everyone loved, to the guy everyone loved to hate. Troy had fallen victim to ambition at the cost of his relationships.

And while a fair share of the blame surely rested on Sharpay's shoulders for initiating the change and continuing to encourage it, Troy had needed to willingly go along with it for it to occur. He'd had to make conscious choices about how and with whom he'd spent his time and those choices had led him away from the Wildcats and his lifetime friends - away from her - on a path none of them wanted to follow.

Placing the paper on the table along with the red marker that had yet to see use that day, Gabriella admitted to herself that her heart just wasn't into job hunting. After the Lava Springs fiasco, she doubted her mother would blame her - when she found the courage to explain. Not that her mother was blind. Gabriella knew she'd noted that the necklace she'd refused to remove, even to sleep, was missing all of a sudden, but she hadn't been able, in good conscience, to keep it.

A shake of her head shook off the thoughts and the sting at the back of her eyes. The Troy she'd become so attached to was changing, had changed, and she had to let him go. Moving from the living room to the kitchen, she poured herself a glass of water and, deliberately shifting her thoughts from Troy Bolton and what could or should have been, took a sip as she considered what Taylor was racing over to tell her.

Could her discussion with Sharpay have done some good after all? Could the spoiled princess have relented and allowed the Wildcats and Ryan a chance at the limelight? Despite how much she hoped it was true, she sincerely doubted that was the case. Sharpay wasn't about to share the limelight with anyone - not family or those she considered friends - and she certainly didn't share it with Troy without an ulterior motive.

If Sharpay wanted Troy, she could have him.

Gabriella's fingers tightened on the glass fractionally, her gut twisting with the image of Troy in Sharpay's arms. No matter the reason, no matter how much she tried to tell herself otherwise, the idea of Sharpay and Troy almost made her sick. The thought that he might give her that "T" necklace instead... it hurt. Not only did it hurt, it was like being blindsided by a bus.

Breathe, she told herself silently, hearing a soft cracking sound as she did. Her gaze was drawn downwards to how she clutched the glass in her fingers - it sported a brand new spider web pattern where her fingers dug in. Consciously easing her grip, she carefully poured the rest of the water from the glass and tossed it in the garbage.

The doorbell drew her attention a moment later and, grateful for the reprieve, she headed in the direction of the door. Her mother was out - working - so she had the house to herself for the hour or so. Checking the peephole, she found Taylor waiting eagerly on her doorstep, practically humming with repressed energy. Throwing the locks, she opened the door to regard her best girl friend drolly. "Do you need to use my washroom?"

Taylor pushed her way in and closed the door behind her, wrapping Gabriella in a huge hug. "I don't know what you did girl, but it worked!"

Gabriella was spun around once before landing heavily back on her feet. "What I did? What are you talking about?"

Grasping both of Gabriella's hands in her own, Taylor smiled the widest smile that Gabriella had ever seen. "What did you do? Are you kidding me - it was exactly what was needed, that's what you did!"

"Taylor, you're not making any sense. I can't believe you drove here without getting into an accident!"

"I didn't - Chad drove."

"And you just left him outside?"

"He'll be fine and we won't be long. You have to come back, girl."

Already having started to feed off of Taylor's infectiously good mood, the words hit Gabriella like a cold shower and the grin that had grown on her face suddenly died. "I can't."

"No no, you can! Troy's back!"

"Taylor..."

"You don't get it; he's really back. He didn't just come in an make some crapshoot excuse for his behavior, Gabriella - he came back and did the one thing that could convince us all that he'd really turned around - he's not singing with Sharpay in the talent show!"

Her battered spirits rose with those words. "He's not?"

"No!" Taylor practically shouted the word. "He told her off and everything. Kelsey saw the whole thing - he even gave up his job as the assistant golf pro and she says he asked for his kitchen job back. He's really back."

Gabriella pulled away. "I don't know Taylor..." Walking away, she wrapped her arms about herself, unable to banish the feel of Troy's from the night she'd left. They'd been so desperate - so... frantic to keep her there; as if she'd been a lifeline and he had felt her slipping away, powerless to hold on. "How do I know he just won't go back to those same tricks if I come back right away?"

Taylor's enthusiasm diminished as she regarded her friend. "It's not the same without you, Gabriella. Work isn't nearly as much fun and everyone's commented on how dismal it is without you and Troy. Troy's back; you should come back too."

"I don't think I can." Whatever Gabriella was looking at, she didn't really see it. Instead she was seeing Troy's behavior, his broken promises - the torment in his eyes when she'd told him she was leaving. "This is his lesson to learn."

"Don't you wanna be there if he's really learned it?"

"I..." Yes. She wanted to be there; yes she wanted to be with him - but she couldn't. Not yet. There was too much between them that needed to be said... "Are the employees allowed to do the show?"

Taylor's smile died a little more. "Not yet, but I'm sure Troy will think of something."

Gabriella laughed softly, once. "Troy will think of something. I don't know how you guys can just forgive him for the jerk he's been these past weeks."

"He's our friend and he made a mistake or two. If Chad can forgive him... don't you think we should be able to?"

"Has Troy actually apologized to anyone or are you just assuming he will?"

"If he's going to come back to work in the kitchen he'll have to - you don't think we'd just let him come back without one, do you?"

"Well..." Looking back over her shoulder at her friend with a half-smile, Gabriella shrugged. "Maybe. Troy's Superstar status lets him get away with a lot."

"Not this!" Taylor was adamant. "Superstar or not, Troy's acted like a real snob. Maybe if he'd realized it sooner it wouldn't have been such a big deal, but this has been weeks in the making. Whatever he's going to say is going to have to be sincere if Chad's going to forgive him."

"I don't know," Gabriella repeated the phrase, hugging herself a little tighter and trying to expel the ghostly feeling that had refused to budge since Troy had hugged her so frantically. Everything within her was screaming at her to say yes, to give him a second chance - to trust him. Except she'd already trusted him this summer - and he'd blown it big time. "I don't think I can trust him again, Taylor."

"No?" Taylor moved closer. "Even if he's really sorry and the great guy we all remember from before this nightmare started comes back? The same guy you sang with in the Winter Musicale? The same guy you met and liked before you knew he was the High School's Superstar? Gabriella, don't you-"

"I can't!" Rounding on her friend, Gabriella was unable to hide the tears shimmering in her eyes, or how badly she was shaking. "Don't you think I want to? I'd like nothing better than to go running back to him, but he... he..." she shuddered, trying to articulate what she was feeling. "Troy knew what he was doing Taylor and he did it anyway. If I come back now... will he really have learnt anything?"

"Don't punish yourself for his actions," Taylor insisted passionately. "Isn't he worth the risk? You're not happy without him, Gabriella."

"I will be - eventually."

"But why now when there's a chance you can still be with him?"

"You can't know-"

"Wrong." Taylor reached into her pocket and hesitated. "Troy asked me to return this to you. You don't have to wear it, but it was a gift and what you choose to do with it is up to you."

Gabriella's breath caught on a sob as the "T" necklace she'd returned to Troy was pulled into view. Throwing her hands up in self defense, she backed away a step. "I don't want it."

"Not even if the boy who gave it to you was able to find his way back to the path we're all walking?" Placing the necklace on the coffee table, Taylor stepped back. "Can you honestly tell me, Gabriella, that you want to walk with us without him?"

"Please don't-"

"Forget it." Shaking her head, Taylor crossed her arms over her chest. "You did what you had to do to get through to Troy and it worked! Don't you see, you trusted him to do the right thing and he's finally figured out what that is; now's the perfect time for you to come back."

"He was going to sing with Sharpay after everything else!"

"That's what this is all about, isn't it?" Shrewdly regarding the smaller girl, Taylor shook her head. "You can't stand the thought of Troy singing with someone else."

"I could handle it if it was you or Chad or even Kelsey, but... Sharpay?" Gabriella sank down into one of the chairs in the living room and cradled her head in her hands. "Why Sharpay - and the song Kelsey wrote for us?"

Taylor walked around the table and crouched in front of Gabriella, planting both hands on her shoulders. "Gabriella, Troy's not singing with Sharpay; he's coming back to work with us in the kitchen, not parading in front of the College boosters."

Slowly, ever so slowly, Gabriella lifted her face. "How can I trust him again, Taylor?"

Taylor's answering smile was accompanied with her reaching back to collect the necklace - and offer it. "Troy did the right thing in the end; all he had to do was figure out what that was. You helped him with that. He's not singing - or rather, he doesn't think he will be."

"What do you mean?"

"Ryan is going to try and convince him to sing with Sharpay and if he's really come back the way we think, he won't if we can't."

Rubbing her eyes, Gabriella regarded her friend shrewdly. "But?"

"We're going to change the song on Sharpay if he does - and sing 'Everyday'."

"The staff song?"

Taylor nodded. "Troy will need to learn it quick, but if he does and he's willing - you'll have your answer. Besides, aren't you the one who once told me that singing with Troy is the only way to know him as he really is?"

"I did say that, didn't I?"

Nodding again, Taylor gripped Gabriella's hands, enfolding them around the necklace. "T is for trust. Trust me; trust that the boy you've been with since New Years has found his way again - and trust that, by the end of tonight, the two of you will have settled the differences that tore you apart. Once the song is over, you and Troy can have your talk if you're not satisfied to his sincerity."

"I'll give him a piece of my mind."

"I think you already did that."

They shared a laugh.

"Maybe." Gabriella admitted. "It'll depend on how things go."

"Then you'll come?"

Nodding, Gabriella clenched the necklace in her fist. "I'll come. But if Troy doesn't sing Everyday, he'll never know I was there."

Pulling Gabriella into a tight hug, Taylor dragged her to her feet. "If he doesn't sing Everyday, I'll drive you home myself."

fin