Hello, all! I'm back! I have a lot planned for this story! It is not Zanessa this time. Troyella all the way. While watching HSM2 for the first time a long time ago, it was evident to me that there were a lot of plot holes left wide open. I hope that this story fills in those plot holes. Not that I'm one to ask for reviews- I don't write for the reviews, I write because I enjoy it- but I did notice that my numbers have gone down in my last story. I hope I can make this one more enjoyable for you.

Thank you Anna for being my ears! I appreciate you! By the way, yall, I don't own anything. Just the movies, cds, and some trinkets.

Chapter 1

She did it. She actually did it. She couldn't believe that she did it and her heart was breaking because of it, but she did it. Gabriella Montez had just broken up with the only guy that she'd ever cared for. Not only was Troy the first one she'd ever cared for, but he was also her first friend here in Albuquerque. Next to Taylor, he was her best friend. As she turned her back on him and walked to the parking lot, she made the mistake of turning around once more, only to see him open his hand to see the "T" necklace sitting in his palm. The look on his face as he lifted his eyes again and caught her looking at him was enough to break her heart all over again, causing even more tears to fall as she turned back around and continued the walk to her mom's van, if that was even possible.

As Gabriella climbed into the Honda Odyssey minivan and shut the door, Maria Montez took in her daughter's obviously upset appearance. She could tell by the look on Gabriella's face that she didn't want to talk about whatever it was that was bothering her to the point of calling her mom to come pick her up instead of sticking to the plan of getting her boyfriend of just over six months to drive her home, so she simply pulled out of her parking space and began the drive back in the direction of town. After riding in silence for nearly ten minutes, Gabriella was the first to speak.

"I broke up with him, Mom," she stated quietly, her gaze fixed on her hands resting in her lap. It didn't go unnoticed by Maria as Gabriella reached up to wipe a tear off her cheek.

"Oh, Mija," she said as she lifted a hand to run it through her daughter's black, curly locks. "I figured something had happened. You aren't wearing the necklace," her mom pointed out.

"I gave it back," Gabriella admitted quietly, looking out the passenger side window and watching the scenery as it passed by.

"What? Why? What happened?"

"I don't know, Mom, that's just it. Troy's changed and Shar-" Gabriella stopped, fixing her lips in a straight line and lowering her eyes back to the hands in her lap, as she realized that she just let something slip out that she shouldn't have. Her mom, despite the fact that she generally liked everyone and worked hard to pass this onto her daughter, had never been a huge fan of Sharpay's and once the story of her involvement in whatever had gone on between Gabriella and Troy became knowledge to Maria, she would not be happy in the least.

Maria raised her eyebrows in suspicion. "Gabi, please don't tell me that Sharpay had anything to do with this. I thought that the two of you had worked out all of your differences after the musical a few months ago."

"Well, she didn't directly have anything to do with this. It was more Troy, I guess. He didn't even realize what she was doing until it was already done. She's just sneaky like that."

"Then why did you break up with him instead of talking to him about it?" Maria asked, still trying to find out all the details.

"Mom-" Gabriella said with a sigh and a roll of her eyes. Her tone told Maria that she had reached her limit on the amount of information that she would find out from her seventeen year old daughter.

"I'm sorry, Sweetie. You don't want to talk about it, I can tell. No more pushing, I promise. But if you do want to talk…"

"I know, Mom. You're here for me. Thank you."

The rest of the trip home was made in silence. When the two Montez women walked through the front door, Gabriella headed straight upstairs, changed into her pajamas, washed her face, climbed into bed, and turned on her television. After watching a full hour of Friends re-runs hoping it would make her laugh and take her mind off her recent breakup- never mind that it was the episode where Rachel decided that she and Ross needed a break and he called the radio station to dedicate a song to her and watching it only caused her tears to fall once again- she turned off her tv and as she reached over to turn off the lamp on her bedside table, her eyes landed on one of her favorite pictures of her and Troy together. It was taken on the last day of final exams about a month prior.

The whole group- minus the Evans twins- had gathered at Troy's house for a post exam celebration, ready to embrace their near freedom as they still had three days of school, two of which were half days. Troy and Gabriella were sitting on the steps leading to the back door of his house- she on the step below him, him above her with his legs on either side of hers and his arms wrapped around her- while the rest of the group was sitting at the patio table, gossiping for the girls and eating the snacks which had been provided by Mrs. Bolton for the guys. Troy had leaned down to whisper something in his girlfriend's ear, causing her to laugh and her cute button nose to crinkle. The two were looking at each other in the candid picture, taken by Taylor just seconds after their laughter subsided. Neither knew that she had taken the picture until she brought it back to Troy's with her later that evening. Having used the excuse that she needed to run home to pick something up that she had forgotten, Taylor printed the picture out on her laptop, grabbed one of her own picture frames with the intent to replace it the next time she was at Target, and made her way back to Troy's to rejoin the rest of the group.

Looking at the picture, Gabriella instinctively brought her hand up to her neck, reaching for the necklace, only to pause with her hand halfway to her neck with the realization that it was no longer there. It was at that moment that she was overcome with sadness yet again. She reached for her phone and called her best friend. Glancing at the caller id on her own phone, Taylor frantically answered.

"Girl, what happened to you? You took off after I showed everyone the flyer from Mr. Fulton and no one's seen Troy, either! What's going on? Is he with you? Is everything okay?"

"Taylor, can you come over for a bit? I'll explain everything, I promise."

Taylor was quick to take note of the hint of sadness in her best friend's voice. "Yeah, I'll be there soon. Let me tell Chad bye and I'll be on my way." With that, the two girls hung up.

About forty-five minutes later, Taylor was pulling up in front of the Montez house. As she grabbed the grocery bag that was sitting in the passenger seat next to her, the dark skinned girl made her way to the front door, and rang the doorbell.

"Taylor," Maria greeted her daughter's best friend as she opened the door. "I was wondering if Gabi would call you."

"Is she upstairs, Ms. Montez?"

"She is. I see you've got reinforcements with you," she said gesturing to the bag in the young girl's hands.

"Ben and Jerry's," Taylor confirmed as she stepped into the foyer of the Montez home, closing the front door behind her, and followed Maria into the kitchen and taking the two spoons that she held out to her.

"Chunky Monkey?"

"The best kind! Thank you, Ms. Montez," she said as she walked out of the kitchen and started to climb the steps. When she reached the third step, she stopped as Maria called out to her.

"Taylor, just a second, please."

"Yes, ma'am?" Taylor asked, turning on the stairs to face Maria.

"Has she told you anything?"

"No, ma'am, not yet. All I know is that we were all in the kitchen except for Troy and I came in announcing that workers wouldn't be allowed to participate in the talent show and Gabriella stormed out. That's the last time any of us saw her."

"What about Troy?" Ms. Montez asked her daughter's best friend, confusion evident in her features.

"Nobody's seen him since this morning."

"Thank you, Taylor," Ms. Montez said with a sigh.

"You're welcome, Ms. Montez," she said as she turned and climbed the rest of the steps and walked down the hall to Gabriella's room. Knocking three times to announce her arrival, Taylor opened the door and walked in without waiting on a response from her best friend. She immediately spotted Gabriella sitting on her bed with a box of Kleenex on the bed side table and holding the stuffed Wildcat that Troy had given her for her birthday that March. Glancing at the tv, Taylor noticed that Gabriella was watching the "Twinkle Town" dvd from about five months earlier. With a sigh, Taylor picked up the remote control and turned off the dvd player and tv.

"Sweetie," she started, sitting down on the bed next to Gabriella and wrapping her arms around the tearful brunette. "What happened?"

"He's changed, Tay. I don't even know who he is anymore. I don't even think he knows who he is anymore."

"Well, we all knew that he was getting all caught up in everything, but why don't you tell me the whole story?" Taylor encouraged, while handing Gabriella one of the two spoons and pulled the pint of Chunky Monkey out of the bag. Gabriella greatfully took the offered ice cream and one of the spoons that Taylor held out to her. She took the lid off the sweet treat and dug into the ice cream taking a bite before filling her friend in on the confrontation that she had with Sharpay followed by the conversation with Troy.

"Wow," Taylor said with wide eyes, once Gabriella finished her story. "I guess that explains why Chad and I saw Troy sitting by himself next to the pool looking pretty upset when we were walking to our cars after you called."

"By himself?" Gabriella scoffed with her eyes furrowed. "You mean there was no Sharpay nearby? No Italian leather shoes? No Redhawk basketball players?" she asked, taking another bite. Taylor couldn't help but take note of the resentment in her friend's actions and words.

"Gabriella, you know I'm, like, 500% on your side, but that's unfair. I mean, yeah, maybe he has changed. But maybe he doesn't realize that he's changed as much as we all see that he has. You told me that he said he never meant to hurt you. I believe that. In all the years that I've known Troy Bolton, I've never seen him even look at anyone the way he looks at you."

"Gee, thanks, Taylor! Way to make me feel better!"

"I'm sorry. That's not what I meant. I'm just playing Devil's Advocate here. I mean, Gabriella, do you really truly in your heart of hearts feel like it's over between you two? Is this really the end for Troyella?"

"Troyella?" Gabriella repeated, with a very slight hint of humor in her voice.

"Well, yeah. Chad was bored one day during our break. He came up with it. Apparently your name is too long for him to say, so he came up with something he can say when he talks about you two without saying your name."

"Yeah, that sounds like Chad!" The two girls shared a very brief giggle on the behalf of Taylor's own boyfriend. The moment didn't last long, however, before Taylor reminded Gabriella of her earlier question.

"Seriously, though, Gab. Do you really feel like this is the end?"

Gabriella let out a sigh and thought about Taylor's question. She thought about all of the good times that the two of them whenever they were on dates. She thought about the way he made her feel like a princess the night of their junior prom about three weeks before school let out for the summer break. She thought about how she felt when Troy put the "T" necklace around her neck on the last day of school several weeks ago. She thought about their picnic out on the golf course. She thought about the two of them singing the song that Kelsi had written for them.

She thought about her feelings when he was over an hour late for their date the night of his fancy dinner with Sharpay and her family. She thought about her feelings when he stood up not only her, but their friends as well, to go play basketball with the Redhawks instead of the staff baseball game with the rest of the group. She also thought about the way her feelings had been crushed when she finally realized what she thought was the right decision. Now, after talking to Taylor, she wasn't so sure. After what felt like an eternity, Gabriella finally answered.

"I don't know, Tay. All I know is that I love him. This was probably one of the hardest decisions I've ever made, which is why this hurts so much." Gabriella's voice cracked as she felt yet another lump the size of her fist and the now familiar tears form once again.

Taylor looked at her friend for a moment, and then wrapped her arms around her. "Hey, everything will work itself out one way or another. I don't know how and I don't know when, but it will. Just give it time."

"Thanks, Taylor," Gabriella said, returning the hug.

"Anytime," Taylor reassured her. Finally, after sharing a long comforting hug, Taylor pulled back and brushed Gabriella's bangs out of her face. "I really wish I could stay, but Mr. Fulton has a meeting with the planning committee for the talent show tomorrow morning and I have to be there. I'd better head home so I can get to sleep. I'll see you tomorrow at work."

"No, you won't. I quit tonight."

"You have got to quit springing news on me when I'm leaving!" Taylor exclaimed, shocked. "You do this all the time! Why did you quit?"

"I'm not exactly sure, to be honest with you. I just felt like it needed to be done," Gabriella told her.

"Well, I guess it makes sense. Okay then. I'll call you tomorrow?" Taylor suggested.

"Yeah, I'll talk to you then. Bye, Tay."

"Bye." Taylor pushed herself off the bed and made her way to Gabriella's bedroom door, turning around when she heard her name being called.

"Hey, Taylor?"

"Yeah?"

"Thank you."

"You're welcome," Taylor said, giving Gabriella a wave and a smile.

Once Taylor left, Gabriella climbed out of her bed and made her way to the balcony, grabbing the blanket off the foot of her bed on the way. Opening the French doors, she stepped outside. As she leaned up against the door frame, she looked out over the backyard. Her eyes landed on the hammock and her mind wandered. Thinking back to just two weeks prior when she and Troy were sitting in the hammock- something that they had done almost every day since they started officially dating- she let out a sigh. She moved her gaze up to the stars. "Oh, Troy. Why did you let her come between us? What else could I have done to make you see that you were pushing me away? I hate that it had to come to this." Gabriella turned to go back inside, shutting the doors behind her.

As she got back in the bed, her eyes landed on the picture once again. She reached her hand out, fingering the frame. Gabriella felt the tears come to her eyes and, with a sigh, picked up the picture. She then burrowed herself further into her covers and held the picture close to her chest while she cried herself to sleep.

Troy was standing in the shadows of the backyard of his girlfriend's- girlfriend? Ex? What are they?- house, praying that he wouldn't make the one move that would compromise his position. He was still holding out hope that he'd get the courage to talk to her and find out the answers he needed as to what exactly happened between them and how did it lead her to break up with him. He was totally blindsided by her announcement, and needed to know why. The decision to go to her house was not an easy one to make.

Once Gabriella turned and walked away, leaving him standing alone on the bridge at Lava Springs Country Club, and climbed in the passenger seat of Maria's van, he too turned and walked back to the pool. As he sat down on one of the chairs and leaned back into it, he brought his right hand up in front of him and opened his palm, looking at the "T" necklace. Feeling the lump form in his throat again, he pushed the necklace into the pocket of his jeans, swearing silently to himself. He leaned his head against the back of the chair, looking at the stars above. He didn't know how long he sat in that position, but the sound of voices brought him out of his thoughts. Lifting his head up, Troy looked across the pool and saw Chad and Taylor walking out of the back door of the kitchen and towards the employee parking lot. Troy sat silently in his chair, hoping that they didn't see him. He was in no way anywhere near being in the mood to answer questions about what happened just moments before. Oh, who was he kidding? They were two of the least likely people to approach him and ask any questions. Their words were enough to peak his interest, however.

"So you're going over there?" Troy heard Chad asked Taylor.

"Yeah. At least for a bit. Hopefully I can get her to talk."

"It's not like Gabs to just walk away from something like she did," Chad told his girlfriend.

"Chad, I think there's a lot more behind what happened before she left than we realize. I hope that between me, Ben, and Jerry, we'll get to the bottom of it."

Troy sat up further in his seat, trying to hear the rest of what they were saying. Unfortunately for him, once they reached the gate, the couple was out of earshot. As he sat up, the chair hinges creaked and he cringed, hoping they didn't hear. Unfortunately for Troy, they did hear and he watched as the two of them paused and Chad took a quick glance over his shoulder. When he brought his head back around, he leaned down to whisper something in Taylor's ear. Once Chad stood back up to his full height, Taylor took a peek over her own shoulder, meeting the blue eyes that were watching them, before breaking the gaze and looking back at Chad and nodding her head. Troy watched in silence as Chad opened the gate and the couple walked out into the darkness of the parking lot.

It didn't take Troy long to make up his mind. As Chad and Taylor both left the employee parking lot and drove in the direction of town, Troy jumped up from his seat by the pool and walked in the direction of the parking lot himself, not really sure what he was going to do once he reached his destination.

Once Troy pulled up to Gabriella's house, he decided to park a little bit down, in case her mom looked out the window and noticed his rusty white truck. He snuck out, praying silently that the driver's side door wouldn't decide that this particular moment would be a good time for it to creak, as it often did. He spotted Taylor's Ford Focus in the Montez's driveway, and he also noticed that the living room light was on, alerting him that Maria was watching tv and he made a mental note to avoid the left side of the house.

This is going to be trickier than I thought, Troy thought to himself. Finally deciding to just do it and get it over with, he took a deep breath and started walking to the right side of the house and around to the backyard. He jumped the white fence, careful not to make any noise, and crept slowly in the direction of Gabriella's balcony. The closer he got, he was able to hear the voices of the two girls up above him, drifting down from the open French doors to reach his ears. He quickly crouched down and hoped he was successful at hiding himself.

"Seriously, though, Gab. Do you really feel like this is the end?" he heard Taylor's voice first, followed after a moment by Gabriella's.

"I don't know, Tay. All I know is that I love him. This was probably one of the hardest decisions I've ever made, which is why this hurts so much."

Troy felt his heart break all over again as he realized how much she had been hurt at his expense. He felt a pang of guilt run through him, still somewhat unsure as to why exactly. He felt himself getting lost in his thoughts, but something that Taylor was saying quickly caught his attention and brought him back to the present.

"…but Mr. Fulton has a meeting with the planning committee for the talent show tomorrow morning and I have to be there. I'd better head home so I can get to sleep. I'll see you tomorrow at work." Feeling like he heard enough, Troy stood from his position and just as quietly as before, started making his way back around to the front of the house. Coming to a stop next to Taylor's car, he waited for the girl who had come to be almost like a sister to him through the relationships she shared with both his best friend and girlfriend. It wasn't but just a moment or two before he heard the front door open and then close, and heard the footsteps as they approached the car where he was standing. As she got closer, Taylor reached in her bag to get her keys out before looking up, and stopped walking when she saw Troy standing there in front of her. The two just looked at each other for a moment, neither knowing who should be the first to start the conversation. Finally Troy broke the silence.

"How is she doing?"

"Troy-"

"Taylor, seriously. I know I've been kind of out of it lately and not paying attention to everyone-"

"Kind of?" she asked. When he simply looked at her and she saw all the pain that was evident in his eyes, she realized that he was being sincere. "I'm sorry. Continue," she told him as she walked closer.

"Taylor, I don't exactly know what happened. I do know that I'm responsible for it, but I don't know how. Would I be correct in assuming that I have some serious soul searching to do and that I need to figure it out on my own?" Taylor didn't respond; instead she just rolled her eyes. "I'll take that as a yes."

"Troy, I know that you're hurting. And while it's not my place to butt in, I will tell you that Gabriella's hurting, too. She's not at her best right now."

"I still love her, Taylor," he told her, searching her dark eyes with his blue ones, hoping that she would believe his heartfelt confession.

"I believe that," she said, after a moment of studying his eyes. "And eventually, she'll know it, too."

"Do me a favor, please?"

"What's that?" she asked, genuinely curious as to what his request would be.

"Don't let Gabriella know that I was here."

Taylor paused, considering his request, and shook her head before telling Troy "I won't."

Upon hearing her confirmation, Troy turned on his heel and walked back to his truck and climbed in. He waited until he made sure Taylor was safely in her own vehicle and that it started before he drove back home. Once he was ready for bed, he climbed in and- for the first time in months- held the stuffed basketball that Gabriella had given him on the day of the Twinkle Town auditions.

It doesn't smell like her anymore… That was the last conscience thought he had as he drifted off to sleep.