Prologue

A twenty-seven year old Troy Bolton ran a shaky hand over his unshaven, stubbly chin. A haunted look clouded his piercing blue eyes.

He sat rigidly on the edge of a king-sized bed in a big, highly decorated bedroom with his elbows resting on his knees and his chin in his hands. He looked down at the cream coloured carpet. He blinked silently; lost in deep, troubled thought.

He wore a light blue shirt with all the buttons done, revealing a rippling six pack and perfectly tanned athletes body with boxer shorts. A strand of his sandy coloured hair flopped down into one of his eyes. He didn't bother to brush it back.

A female hand with all the fingernails painted black stretched out from behind him and placed a possessive hand over his bare chest. Troy barely flinched. He was too immersed in his own problems. The hand travelled lower and lower down his body when suddenly; Troy's hand snapped into action and stopped the woman's hand an inch short of his boxers. He stared down at the hand and then lifted it up to his mouth; kissing it tenderly.

Gabriella Montez's face appeared over his shoulder from behind him, revealing the hands to be hers. She smiled a sleepy smile and wrapped both her arms around her husband from behind; hugging him closely to her chest. She placed a kiss on his shoulder.

"It's 5AM." She yawned. "Get back in bed."

"I can't sleep." Troy replied, not smiling.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Gabriella queried; now frowning a little.

"No."

With that, Troy slid out of her arms and stood up. He began to button up his shirt and deliberately looked everywhere in the room but at Gabriella.

"You're going to see her, aren't you?" She asked, pulling the covers up to her chest to cover herself.

Troy didn't reply but turned around to pick up his pants from a chair. He began pulling them on.

"Troy?"

Troy turned around as he zipped up his jeans and this time; his eyes met hers. She looked at him with a worried expression on her face.

"I-I'll come with you." She stated determinedly.

"Why?" Troy frowned. "She's been back for a week now, Gabriella. She hasn't left her house. She's got paparazzi and fans who've barricaded her in. I haven't had a chance to talk to her alone."

"Why do you need to talk to her alone?" Gabriella frowned this time. A hint of anger was clear in her voice.

"What, you don't trust me?" Troy queried with a grimace.

The morning had started off beautifully. He had woken up in bed with his wife who was loving and attentive. Yet, he had been the complete opposite. He had been cold, complacent and inattentive. To Gabriella, it almost seemed like he had wanted a fight to break out between them. Now, the way he posed that question, that ever important question about trust in their relationship – she was realising that a fight was exactly what he was angling for. He could be so damned stubborn.

"I trust you." She replied firmly. Troy nodded slightly at this.

"Good."

He turned to their wardrobe and slid it open; taking out a black leather jacket and then closed it again. He pulled on the jacket as Gabriella watched. He turned away from her and headed out into the hallway.

"Troy!"

He stopped and turned back to her as she called out to him. She sat up in bed now; hugging the covers around her and looking at him expectantly. He looked back at her; blinking in confusion as she silently continued to stare at him.

"What?" He asked.

"My kiss?" She frowned as she said it; annoyed that she should have to remind him.

"Oh." His expression softened and he walked back into the room. Gabriella leaned up to kiss up. He took her hand into his own, bent down to her face and kissed her cheek and then kissed her hand before letting it go again. Gabriella looked up at him in confusion and disappointment. Troy quickly looked away and then hurried out of the room.

Laying naked in bed, Gabriella decided the only thing worse than being in a situation where you were in a loveless, sex-focused marriage that you were desperately trying to make work was being in a loveless, sex-focused marriage that you were desperately trying to make work but your husband's ex comes back into the picture. That was when you had to realise that it wasn't going to work. That was when you had to realise that you had to let him go. That was when you had to let the only good thing in your life go. That was when you had to admit you had made a mistake. But could she afford more mistakes in her life?

"People Magazine called about your cover shoot for next week and Oprah wants to re-schedule the interview set for next week."

Sharpay blinked at Ella, her publicist; a thin-framed woman with stylishly cropped black hair who sat before her in a white blouse and black skirt with a clipboard in one hand and an electrical organiser in the other. Sharpay sat opposite her dressed in a light pink designer mini dress with a Louis Vuitton bag at her feet which had a small, white fluffy dog inside it. The dog pawed at the sides of the bag; licking the zipper.

"Now, I know you said you wanted to rest up this weekend before you make any public appearances but it is New York Fashion Week." Elle stated firmly. "A red carpet appearance or two at one of the shows might not go amiss, you know."

"No." Sharpay shook her head decidedly.

Ella rolled her eyes at this.

"Why do you have to be so stubborn?" Ella sighed. "I'm paid to do this. I know what's best for you and your image here."

Sharpay's face darkened and a cold look glazed over her eyes at Ella's remark about knowing what was best for her. Ella noticed this change in the blonde girls' demeanour and bit her bottom lip.

"You're not going to fire me like you did with your housekeeper, Henrietta, are you?" Ella half-joked. "It's just, the old Sharpay that I knew never let her feelings get in the way of business."

"My feelings are not getting in the way." Sharpay snapped through gritted teeth. The way Ella talked to her would not be a way many of the people who worked for Sharpay would speak to her mainly because they didn't have the balls to step out of line. Ella was ballsy. It was that pushy and confident trait in her publicists' personality that had ensured Sharpay success. Sharpay needed someone like that on her front lines even if Ella tried her patience at times.

"Really?" Ella raised an eyebrow. "Did you or did you not fire Henrietta because she brought back memories of your senior year in high school? Most pointedly Gabriella Montez's pregnancy?"

"I fired her because she gave me pulp in my juice." Sharpay grimaced. "You make a mistake around me and you're gone. It's how I work."

"Whatever you say." Ella rolled her eyes once again; snapping her electrical organiser closed and getting to her feet. "I'm heading out for lunch. You're welcome to come with me."

"With the camera crews out there?" Sharpay raised an eyebrow. "No thank you. I'll order in."

"Fine." Ella sighed. "Hole yourself away from the world. Make the public forget about you. Become another D-list celebrity who has to resort to reality TV shows for attention."

"Don't be so melodramatic." Sharpay snorted, unimpressed. Ella laughed a little at this and left the room. As she did, Troy Bolton stepped in, passing by her as he did. Ella pursed her lips at him as she walked by but didn't comment. Troy gave her a meek smile before heading into the room. Sharpay was bending down to pick her dog out of the bag. She held the small dog up close to her face; making kissy faces at it as she did. Troy watched her and a smile crept across his face; his eyes twinkling.

"I think that's the most love I've seen you show any creature this year." He mused, breaking the silence.

Sharpay's head snapped up to look at him. Her expression hardened as she placed the dog in her lap.

"Well, you weren't with me for eight of those months." She shot back.

Troy nodded a little in agreement at this as he walked into the room and then took a seat where Ella had been seated before.

"I guess I wasn't." He shrugged. "But it's not like you gave me a choice to be with you. You didn't give anyone a choice. You just left."

"People leave." Sharpay shrugged back. "Deal with it."

Her eyes locked onto his as she spoke these words. The deep-rooted meaning in them sunk in. Sharpay had spent the last week she had been back in her world in Los Angeles thinking about the past. In fact, the past was all she ever thought about these days. The drama, the pain, the mistakes... all of them trapped in the past where she could do little to influence them now. It drove her mad. It made her bitter. All those 'what ifs...' swirling around her head.

Troy had also been having similar flashbacks as he thought back over the years of his turbulent relationship with Sharpay Evans. The night before, he had been remembering what had happened nearly ten years ago at an airport... he had been out of breath, his head had been dizzy, he had felt sick... he had been desperate... the world had been spinning... people bustled past him as they went on with their busy lives... yet his world seemed to stop as he looked out onto the runways and saw her plane take off... The regret, the pain... it was still something he tortured himself over to this day. He understood Sharpay's pain of wanting to turn back time and change the past.

When Sharpay Evans now spoke of people leaving; he knew perfectly well what she was reminding him of.

"So why do people come back?" Troy asked.

Sharpay looked at him and a small smile crept across her face as he waited for an answer. Troy swallowed hard. Was she going to tell him that it was his fault again that she had left? Was he supposed to have stopped her again this time at the airport? Had it been some sick test of loyalty that he had now inevitably failed? Yet, how could he have stopped her leaving this time when he hadn't even known of her intentions to leave? Then again, this was Sharpay Evans. She was a difficult person who demanded difficult things.

"People come back, Troy..." A lingering smile played on her lips. "When they realise that there are some things you just can't run away from."

Sharpay continued to smile as Troy looked at her with confusion.

"OK." He nodded, taking this in. "So tell me, Sharpay, what do people run away from?"

"Oh..." Sharpay sighed, dramatically leaning back on her chair. "People have all sorts of dirty little secrets."

Troy's eyes narrowed in suspicion at this. Sharpay smirked at him; she was clearly enjoying making him wonder what had made her disappear for all of those months. Troy could no longer take the anticipation.

"What secrets did you have, Sharpay?" He asked; narrowing his eyes.

Sharpay's smile disappeared and that cold, distant look snapped into place in her eyes. She frowned a little.

"Who said I had secrets?" She asked innocently. "People have secrets, sure." She shrugged. "But I'm not just another person, am I?"

"When are you going to stop playing these games and just tell me what's going on with you?" Troy snapped; losing his patience; anger blazing in his eyes.

"I'm not playing." Sharpay shot back through gritted teeth. "If I was, I'd be having fun. Believe me; I haven't had fun in a long time."

Troy shook his head; barely listening to her. He got to his feet, overwhelmed by his own emotions. The biggest feeling he had was disbelief. He felt like years of trust and communication had just been destroyed between him and Sharpay. He remembered times when the two were inseparable, when they were so close that they no longer felt like two separate people but rather; one person with one heart, one mind... they used to be so connected and that connection had taken years to establish. Of course, that connection hadn't been there for a long time now. It was like it had been severed over night, it had happened so instantaneously that he felt like he had just blinked and she had changed. Troy hadn't changed. He still felt that connection. He still felt that love. It was her who had changed. He had tried to get her to open up and lend a listening ear but she had just cut herself off emotionally from him, he had tried to give her her space and she had ended up disappearing leaving him and her family fearing something horrible had happened to her.

Why had he married Gabriella Montez? That was a whole other minefield that he didn't want to uncover just that moment but the gist of it was that after Sharpay left without a word; he felt emotionally destroyed, he became vulnerable and Gabriella became a natural rebound – a rebound that hit him so hard it led to marriage. Now Sharpay had suddenly returned and Troy knew the feelings were still there. The first moment their eyes had locked on that red carpet outside her house with the people and photographers surrounding them – that one look told him everything. The Sharpay he knew and loved was still in there somewhere. That was when the weight of his decisions fully hit him. He had married Gabriella Montez. That was why he was having sleepless nights. He was realising that he wanted Sharpay back but he had got himself into deeper problems by marrying Gabriella. He had come here today hoping that the time apart from Sharpay had maybe changed Sharpay. Maybe that old girlfriend of his, the one he had once wanted to marry, the one he had stepped into the limelight of fame with would be there and the cold, unfeeling alien inhabiting her body would be gone. He had been wrong. This conversation was proving it.

"What happened to us?!" He breathed out loud in an incredulous tone. Sharpay looked at him; frowning as she stroked her dog.

"How-how can you sit there and treat me like I'm nothing?" He glared. "I-I've messed up. Senior year, yeah, I know – not my finest hour. But let's not forget that French dick you almost married? Who saved you at the altar that day?"

"He wasn't a dick, he was an artist." Sharpay frowned as the memories returned to her.

"And your first year at UCLA? When you were supposed to be mine you-"

"Supposed to be yours?!" Sharpay's eyes widened in anger. "Don't you dare act like what happened at UCLA was all my fault. Do you know how lonely I was coming to a new town, a new college... While you got to play happy families with Gabriella? I guess history repeats itself because that's exactly what you're doing now."

"You have no idea what I'm doing with Gabby right now." Troy shot back furiously.

"No, I guess I don't." Sharpay nodded; grimacing. "Do you?! I mean, from where I'm standing, Troy, you...you guys are a joke."

Troy's blood ran cold as the sharp truth in her words which he already knew sliced through his heart. Despite the fact that he knew what she had said was true, he still felt angry and unwilling to admit it to her.

"From someone whose repeatedly stabbed me through the heart over the years, Shar... you really do not get to stand there and belittle my relationship with Gabriella." He stated through gritted teeth; shaking his head. "You don't get to say anything. We're done here. I owe you nothing. You don't get a say in my life anymore."

The finality in Troy's words caused Sharpay to falter a little. It had been years... years of ups and downs... years of tears and anguish... but somehow, they both always came back to one another. Not ever had either of them given up on their relationship. Not once had either one of them put their hands up and decided enough was enough. Now, that was exactly what Troy seemed to be doing. Ten years of chasing each other, then getting each other, then having some drama or other crop up, then one of them screwing up... but over that decade they had always ended up back in each others arms. No matter how turbulent times got, they found solace in one another in the end. Tears stung at her eyes as she took in these words.

"We're done then." She nodded, putting on a brave face. "Good."

"I'm sick of this." Troy uttered. "This... it was the final straw. I-I came here today to get some answers, maybe even some closure on our past... I came back for you. I wanted you, Shar."

A tear rolled down Troy's cheek. Sharpay frowned at him; tears running down her own cheeks also but she barely seemed to notice them.

"Then go." She stated through gritted teeth. "I was sick of the drama too. I want out. I want it over. I want it done."

As she spoke the words, she knew she didn't believe them herself. She knew that it was her who was causing this. The pain that she now felt as Troy sadly and silently turned away and headed out of the room was of her own doing. She had made this happen. She had cut him off. She had thrown back his acts of kindness by continuously breaking his heart – not that he had been so innocent himself over the years. Yet, he had always opened his heart to her and laid out his soul before her. He had always been so... approachable. So willing. She had been difficult. When times got hard, she cut herself off. She became the ice queen all over again.

Now, as she sadly ran a hand over her dogs' head; her mind replayed Troy's last words to her. "I came back for you. I wanted you, Shar."

The words made her recall another memory in her past. It was the year she left Albuquerque after graduation. The day before she had taken her flight; Troy had been there in her bedroom telling her that she had to go without him. Telling her those exact same words – that he would come back for her. He would come back for her.

Yet, that day when she had left her hometown for LA still haunted her. It was an important turning point in her life. It was when the feelings of distrust and betrayal cropped back up again within her. She no longer felt willing enough to give a whole one hundred percent of her soul and heart to Troy because she had already done that during high school and in the end; he had ended up smashing her heart and soul into pieces by not being there for her that day. That was the day she put her guard up. That was the day she stopped believing in miracles.

No feeling of pain could quite compare to the one of anxiously sitting in an airport's departure lounge and secretly feeling deep down that your knight in shining armour would come. He would come. Then the call for you to board your flight would come and as you stood in the queue with other passengers; you believed deep down that he was there – somewhere – running through that airport, rushing, frantic and that he would reach you at the very last moment. Then the very last moment would come and you would realise he wasn't going to rescue you. He wasn't going to make everything alright. He was going to leave you there to hurt. To feel that pain that just burrows deep inside of you and never really goes away. Even when he called you a whole week later when you were in LA and told you he had tried to meet you at the airport and that he hated the way the two of you had parted... you didn't really quite believe him. His words weren't as powerful as his actions would have been.

As Sharpay contemplated this; she sighed out loud.

"He did come back for me though." She mused out loud. "He kept his word. Not that it mattered."

It was true. She had gone to LA alone and he had stayed in Albuquerque but he had tried, he had tried and he had kept his word... nine years ago...

Author's Note: So, this is the first chapter. The second chapter will pick up a whole month after Troy missed Sharpay at the airport. The next chapter will focus on mainly Sharpay's first day at UCLA and how she's spent the summer alone in a small apartment in LA, Troy has been at home with his parents and helping out the Montez's in whatever way he can - his own parents aren't too pleased with him - when something unexpected happens with Gabriella. Ryan is in New York with his father and depressed. A few new faces pop up. I hope you'll accept these new characters and welcome them into the depths of your hearts! LOL. Please reviiiiew. Please. Please. -Sobs- PLEASE?! Haha.