Disclaimer: I do not own High School Musical or any of its characters.

A/N: Beware, this chapter is mainly angst. Enjoy…

Last Time…

A few minutes later there was a knock at the door. She rolled her eyes, figuring it was Troy. Part of her was annoyed that he'd come back after she'd told him to go to the party, but more of her and happy he'd come back. She hadn't wanted him to go, but she knew that he would be missing out if he didn't go.

She unlocked the door and pulled it open,

"Troy, I told you not to-" Gabriella stopped mid sentence, fear filling her eyes. Her heart stopped. She couldn't breathe. She couldn't move. She couldn't say anything. She didn't know what to do. She was paralyzed.

"Hello Gabriella."

It was definitely not Troy at the door.

Chapter Twenty – The Aftermath

Troy groaned and clamped his eyes shut as the bright sunlight shone in through his window. Rolling onto his back Troy thought back to the day after East High had won the Championship game last year.

Last year they'd won by a landslide and Troy remembered feeling on top of the world afterwards. He remembered thinking that he would never be happier than that one moment in which the final buzzer had sounded, meaning East High had won the game. In that moment he felt like all his dreams had come true and if he had died at that very moment, he would have been ok with it because he would have experienced everything he had needed to.

How naïve he had been.

Yes, Troy still felt on top of the world after this year's championship game, but he certainly would not be ok if his life ended today. He was excited to see Gabriella today, as he was every day. Simply seeing Gabriella brought him happiness that winning a Championship game couldn't even compare. She'd opened up a whole new world of feelings, of possibilities and he never wanted it to end.

--

An hour later Troy was walking down the hall of Gabriella's apartment. It was almost 1:30 in the afternoon, so Troy figured Gabriella would be back from the diner by now.

Arriving at 3B he knocked on the door and waited for Gabriella to answer it. After about a minute with no answer, Troy knocked again. There was still no answer. Troy knocked a third time and this time called out,

"Brie. Brie, it's me, Troy."

When there was no answer yet again, Troy rested his hand on the door handle, so he could press his ear against the door to try and listen for any noise. It was silent.

As Troy pulled his ear way from the door he almost lost his balance because the accidently pushed down on the door handle, which caused the door to open slightly. Troy regained his balance quickly but was nevertheless still startled. Confused as to why the door was open, Troy pushed it open a little further.

"Gabriella?" he called out wearily. Nervousness was evident in his voice.

Troy slowly stepped through the threshold and shut the door carefully behind him.

"Lucas? Lily? Is anyone home?"

He felt his heart beat faster with each extra second he was forced to wait for a response. After what seemed like eternity, Troy admitted to himself that no one was home.

Now the question was where were they? He knew Gabriella wasn't working. She finished up at the diner at around 11 on Saturdays and it was almost 1:30 now. Maybe they were out. Troy nodded, yeah they were probably out.

Pulling out his cell phone, Troy dialed Gabriella's number.

Hi, you've reached Gabriella. I'm sorry I can't come to the phone right now, but if you leave me a message I'll get back to you. Bye.

"Hi Brie, it's Troy. I'm just wondering where you are. Call me when you get this. Thanks."

Troy shut his phone, squeezing it tightly in his hand as he exhaled. Now he was kind of freaked out. The door had been unlocked, no one was home and Gabriella's phone was off. Gabriella never turned her phone off. She didn't always pick it up, but she never turned it off.

As he walked a little further into the apartment he noticed it was in pristine condition. There was absolutely nothing visible in the kitchen, and the family room was spotless as well. Now, Gabriella was neat, but she wasn't this neat. Usually there were a few cups sitting the sink and some snacks on the counter. Normally games were spread around the family room and there were always books sitting on the end tables and under the coffee table. Right now there were no books that Troy could see.

He walked slowly towards the short hallway that led to the bedrooms. As he approached the small wooden table at the beginning of the hallway he noticed something on it other than the potted flower.

A book with a piece of paper folded on top sat right next to the flower.

Curiously, Troy peered down at the note. There was only one word written on the outside,

Troy

Troy's breathing hitched and his heart rate sped up. It was written in Gabriella's flawless handwriting.

Carefully, he picked up the folded paper and opened it slowly. Taking a deep breath Troy read the short note.

1/16

Dear Troy,

I'm sorry it had to End this way, but I had to go Home. I'm ok, so Please don't worry about me. I Love you.

~Gabriella

Troy stumbled backwards, unable to comprehend what the note meant. He couldn't breathe, he couldn't think, he didn't know what to do. His breathing became erratic as he read the note over and over, trying to wrap his brain around the meaning.

Shoving the note into his pocket he ran into the front bedroom, Gabriella's bedroom. He looked through the bedroom frantically, trying to find something, anything, but there was absolutely nothing left, not even a text book.

Bolting back out of the Gabriella's room Troy soon found himself in Lucas and Lily's room searching for any sign that the note wasn't right, that he hadn't read it correctly, but there was nothing their room either.

He staggered back out of Lucas and Lily's room until he hit the wall opposite the doorway. He slid down the wall, placing his head between his knees.

It was true. Gabriella had packed her things and left. She had disappeared without warning. She was gone.

Troy felt his heart breaking. He loved Gabriella. He needed her. What was he supposed to do now? Pretend that she'd never existed? That he hadn't fallen completely and totally in love with her? Was he supposed to go back to his old life, where he hadn't known what love felt like?

He couldn't possibly do that. After experiencing a love so strong with Gabriella he couldn't go back to living the way he had before. He hadn't been living life with all life's wonderful emotions, so now that he'd experienced them how could he go back to living half way.

Troy needed Gabriella now. She had become his everything. It wasn't possible to forget she had existed because she had changed every aspect of his life. His world had begun to revolve around her. She had become a part of him. Losing her meant he was losing a part of himself.

His head fell back, gently hitting the wall behind him.

His heart ached, it hurt so badly. It was like someone had stabbed it with a knife then that person had twisted the knife around, creating a hole. A hole that Gabriella used to fill. With each moment that passed he could feel the hole getting larger. He was sure his heart was going to fall to pieces soon.

Troy was filled with so many different emotions that he wasn't sure how to sort them all out.

He was confused. He didn't know what he had done wrong. What had he done to drive her away? What more could he have given her? He had given her everything, every part of him. What had he done to deserve this kind of pain from her?

He felt betrayed. He had given her his heart and she had stomped on it. He had trusted her and she had run away from him.

He felt anger. How could she have done this to him? How dare she leave him with no explanation? Gabriella knew how much she meant to him. So how could she leave, knowing how much pain it would cause him?

He was hurt. His heart was breaking. He felt a harsh pain, far worse than any injury he'd ever received. An injury hurt for a few days, a few weeks at most, but this pain in his heart felt like it would never go away, like he could never be fixed.

He felt despair. As the pain ran through his blood there was a sadness that went a long with it. He couldn't wrap his mind around the fact that he may never see Gabriella again. That truly was what depressed him the most, the thought that he may never be able to hold her again. Never be able to kiss her again, to hear her laugh, to see her smile. Those thoughts were what made him crumble.

Troy's whole body began to shake and his face twitched as he tried to hold himself together. The pain and despair was becoming too much, he needed a release. He felt hot tears roll down his face and tried to stop them from coming by closing his eyes tightly and letting his chin drop.

It was then that Troy realized he wasn't breathing. He'd been so consumed in his thoughts, he'd forgotten to breathe. He inhaled deeply, but when he exhaled his breath was shaking. He clamped his lips shut again, trying desperately to hold himself together.

He opened his eyes again and looked up the ceiling. He couldn't hold himself together any longer. He was breaking.

The tears began to fall freely from his eyes, seemingly unstoppable. His lips trembled and soon it was too much, he uncontrollably let out a loud sob, gasping for air, for comfort, for anything but this pain he was feeling. His hand grasped his shirt, balling it up in his hand as his body racked with painful sobs. He needed something to hold on to, something to attempt to hold himself together.

How could he have been so happy this morning and now be sitting in Gabriella's apartment with his heart wrenching sobs filling the room?

It had taken Troy and Gabriella months to build their relationship, to fall deeper and deeper in love with each other. But it had only taken a few seconds and exactly fourteen words to bring Troy's world crashing down on him.

"I'm sorry it had to end this way, but I had to go home."

A/N: I know this chapter wasn't as long as my chapters usually are, but this chapter needed to be about Troy and only Troy. I hope it turned out ok. Thank you for reading please review!