GABRIELLA

I cannot believe Troy saw me crying.

My grandma was having a good day today, too! She seemed happy.

It was a good day.

Yet, the minute I left the room, tears started falling down my face and I felt this overwhelming feeling of sadness.

Why did he have to see me crying like that?

I should have lied and said my dad said something to upset me or something. I mean, he works here and his office is in the 5th floor. But what if his parents told him that my dad was in surgery all afternoon and then it would have just been this weird lie that he would bring up when he saw me tomorrow?

No.

I couldn't really have that.

To be honest, if someone had to see me coming out of that elevator crying, I'm glad it was Troy.

He's someone I know can keep a secret and I appreciate that about him.

He's loyal to a fault.

Through Chris, we've become really good friends. And our parents work together in the same hospital. They're all surgeons so they have surgeries together, consults, whatever. I don't know medical terms that well. But hey're friends and they get together here and there and we tag along and make it a family affair. They bond over their work, the fact that they have kids the same age, our moms loving yoga. We just come from very similar backgrounds and it's easy to have a friend like him. And he is loyal to a fault and so I know this whole thing he saw today won't be an issue.

"Gabriella, are you listening to me?!"

"Yes."

"No, you weren't," Nicole laughs, "but that's okay. First day back to school has everyone kind of checked out."

"What's up?" I ask her.

She scoops some frozen yogurt in her mouth before repeating herself. "You know my cousin Jamie? Well, she's been in a funk lately. Probably because she broke up with her boyfriend over the summer. I told her she needs to meet someone else, someone great. And so she told me to hook her up."

Okay.

Is she thinking my brother? Because no. He's away at school.

"I'm thinking about setting her up with someone from our school," she continues.

"Oh, cool, who?" Thank God it's not my brother.

"Troy."

I don't say anything.

I'm not surprised or anything like that. Everyone wants Troy. And Nicole would be no exception if she didn't already have a boyfriend of her own.

Also, Troy kind of makes himself unavailable so no one has snatched him up.

But I don't know about him and Jamie.

"Jamie's kind of outgoing. Don't get me wrong. Troy's popular and all of that, the jock, captain of the soccer team, but he's kind of a little on the shy side."

"What are you talking about?" Nicole laughs, "no, he's not."

"Yes, he is."

She shakes her head as if it's a ridiculous statement, like I have no idea what I'm talking about. "Troy Bolton is the most popular guy in the whole school. Girls hook up with him. If he was shy, he wouldn't get the action like he does. I've literally seen him tongue in mouth with some chick in a bathroom at a party. That's the opposite of being on the shy side where anyone could walk in and see you doing that... at a party."

She saw that? Ew. Gross.

But I'm not lying when I say he's on the shy side.

I don't want to push it and say, I know him better than you, because then it'll just lead into some territory I don't need to be in.

"Well, then..."

"I'm just gonna put it out there," she shrugs, "Jamie's pretty hot."

"Yeah, she is, she can have anyone."

Except, for some weird reason, I'm not about her hooking Jamie up with Troy. I just don't really see them together. I know Troy well and I've been around Jamie enough times to know that I just don't think they're compatible. Despite Nicole's little story, Troy is on the shy side. Is he shy? No. But he's not about attention and being the life of the party. He's not even all that about parties. He comes, leaves early. He comes late, doesn't even drink. It's just not really his thing. But if Nicole wants to do this, she's going to do this. I can't tell her no. And I have no reason to.

It's just weird.

It's weird that in my mind, I want to keep her from hooking them up and I have absolutely no real reason as to why?

They're not compatible?

Sure, but that can't be the reason why. It's lame.

I change the subject because I don't care to hear about Troy's dating life or the possibility of him having a dating life. It's none of my business.

"I should get going, I think Chris is coming over for dinner in a little bit."

"He is?"

I nod, "we're... okay. I mean, we're just in this weird, rocky place. When you hit the one year mark, I think things go a little downhill. But eventually, they'll get back to how things were. I hope so, anyway. I don't really know."

She doesn't really say anything. She takes the last bite of her frozen yogurt and then tosses it in the trash beside her. "I'm not sure, Gabs."

I roll my eyes, "you too?"

"I like Chris. You guys are cute. Things were good. I just think you can do better."

"Like who?"

She shrugs, "maybe you haven't met him."

I don't really have time to think about this. I love Chris. I do.

At least I think I do.

Senior year, day two.

I'm walking into school when I feel an arm around my waist, scaring me half to death.

"Hey, can we talk really quick?"

"No."

"My God, woman, we just got over one fight, let's..."

"Woman?" I laugh in Chris' face, "that is definitely not the way to start an apology or to not want to keep a fight going."

He sighs, running a hand through his hair, something I used to find incredibly attractive. "You never gave me a set time and so when Brian asked if I wanted to grab a bite to eat, I went. It's honestly not that big of a deal, Gabriella. You never really cared before if I went..."

Oh God, here we are.

"It's not about you not being with me. It was about us trying to communicate and hang out to get to a better place, yet you didn't wait around to do it."

"What does that even mean?" He asks me.

"It means you should have texted me and asked if we were still on."

"I would've..."

"I had to text you," I interrupted him, "at 6:30, when you know we eat dinner at 6, I had to text you and ask if you were still coming over. And you said you were at dinner already. If plans were tentative, I get it, whatever. I'm not unreasonable. But come on, Chris, we were trying to get over you lying to me about being late. I extended an olive branch to come to dinner and you didn't take it. You should have just came around 6. But you'd rather grab dinner with Brian and fine, whatever, but don't expect me to not be mad."

He pulled me over to the side so we're not in the entrance way. "Do you want to be mad or something?!"

I look at him as if he's delusional. "What?"

"God, Gabriella!"

"What?" I repeat myself, "why the fuck would I want to be mad?"

He throws his hands in the air, all dramatically, "because it's all you've been lately! I feel like I can't say or do anything and everything is an argument!"

Okay, he's getting loud.

And Bree Turner is staring at us as she walks by.

"Can you lower your voice?" I ask him, "you seriously think that I want to be mad at you?"

"YES!" He yells, coming closer, "I think that's exactly what you want. Every little thing I do, you find a reason to be upset about it! I can't fucking hang out with a friend without you being upset or be a little late to pick you up. God, Gabriella! I don't know what the fuck you want from me!"

All of a sudden, he's being pulled away.

By Troy.

"Come on, man, that's enough," he says, "don't do that, walk away."

And he does. He walks away.

I'm not scared of Chris. I fully know he would never lay a hand on me. But he was causing a scene and yelling and so I'm thankful Troy pulled him away.

I couldn't even really think straight right now.

Fighting with Chris should be the last of my worries. My only worry in life should be if my grandma is going to be okay or not. These last five weeks have been the worst weeks of my life and I really just want to put my energy on her and not have to worry about Chris and I fighting. That's why I let his lying go and wanted him to come over last night for dinner. But he couldn't even show up for that so it's back to square one.

A few moments later, Troy comes up behind me. "You okay?"

"I'm fine."

"What was that about?"

"I was just upset that I invited him to dinner, he said he'd come and then he didn't show up. He went to dinner with Brian instead."

"Oh, he did? With Brian?" Troy asks me.

I nod as we walk into the 400 building where our first period is, "yeah and I mean, whatever, if you want to go to dinner with him, great, do your thing, you know? When have I ever gotten mad at him for hanging out with his friends? It was just the timing. You know what, forget it."

This is his best friend. I forget that sometimes because Troy and I are friends, too.

"Forget what?"

"Nothing, he's your best friend, I shouldn't be venting to you about it," I laugh it off, "but um, thanks for breaking that off. I needed to get to class."

He nods letting me in the doorway first, "yeah, no problem."

Troy's eyes look exceptionally blue today. It's something I shouldn't notice.

But yet, I do notice.

Every fucking day of my life.