Troy Bolton and Gabriella Montez were best friends since kindergarten. They had been inseparable since then and were rarely seen without each other...until recently.

Troy and Gabriella had started high school together. Everyone assumed that they were a couple, but, they kept insisting that they were not a couple. Finally, the captain of the football team, Lucas Bennet, asked Gabriella out, just as prom and graduation was nearing. Gabriella accepted. Troy found out about this and he was not too happy. He had been planning on asking Gabriella out, but, every time he got close, they were interrupted or Troy chickened out.

On Friday afternoon, after school, Troy was talking to Gabriella outside the school gates.

"So, do you want a ride home?" Troy asked a couple of minutes after the final bell had rung.

"No," Gabriella shook her head. "Lucas said he'd give me a ride."

"Oh, your boyfriend," Troy muttered.

Gabriella frowned. Ever since she had got together with Lucas, Troy had been a bit distant and whenever Lucas's name was mention, he suddenly got really moody.

"Troy, is something wrong?" Gabriella asked.

"No," Troy replied, forcing himself to smile. "Why would you think that?"

"Because, you've been acting really weird lately," Gabriella said. "Are you jealous or something?"

"What?" Troy asked. "Why would I be jealous? Are you saying this because you have a boyfriend and I'm still single? Just so you know, I have girls asking me out all the time."

"I know that, Troy," Gabriella said, patiently. "You're the most popular guy in school and all the girls would kill to go out with you."

"Yeah, well, then, why would you think I'm jealous?" Troy asked angrily.

"What is your problem, Troy?" Gabriella asked.

"My problem?" Troy asked. "I don't have a problem. It's you with the problem. You don't know how wrong Lucas is for you. You deserve better than him. He's just after you because he wants to sleep with you. That's what he does. He goes out with girls like you, sleeps with them, and then breaks up with them."

"Girls like me?" Gabriella asked. Her voice was full of hurt.

"You know," Troy said looking around and lowering his voice. "Virgins."

Troy watched as Gabriella's eyes filled with tears. He stepped closer to her, but, she stepped back.

"Ella," he said using his special nickname for her. "I'm sorry, okay?"

"Why can't you just be happy for me?" Gabriella asked Troy.

"I...I don't know," Troy sighed.

"Hi, Luke," Gabriella said softly.

Troy looked behind him and saw Lucas standing there. He had probably heard everything. Troy glared at him.

"Hey, Gabriella," Lucas said and quickly gave her a kiss at which Troy looked away disgustedly. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," Gabriella said. "Can you just drive me home?"

"Sure, let's go," Lucas said.

Lucas put his hand on Gabriella's waist and led her towards his car. Halfway there, he turned and walked towards Troy.

"Stay away from my girlfriend!" he snapped at Troy who just glared at him. "And, for your information, I'm taking her virginity and breaking up with her tonight!"

"What?" Troy asked, angrily. "Look, man, just leave Gabriella alone, okay? Break up with her now before you sleep with her."

"No way," Lucas said. "That's not how I roll."

"You sick bastard!" Troy yelled and threw a punch at Lucas.

His hand met with Lucas's nose and blood spurted out from it immediately.

"What is wrong with you?" Lucas shouted.

He punched out at Troy, but, Troy dodged it easily.

"Stop it!" another voice said.

Both boys looked around to see Gabriella standing behind them. Her cheeks were wet. Troy knew that she was madder at him than she was at Lucas.

"Ella, I'm sorry," Troy said. "You wouldn't believe the things he was saying."

"Just leave me alone, Troy," Gabriella said, quietly.

"Come on, Gabriella," Lucas said. "I'll drive you home."

"No," Gabriella said. "I'd rather walk home."

"Well, okay," Lucas said. "But, we're still going out tonight, right?"

"Yeah," Gabriella muttered.

Lucas shrugged and walked away, but, not before he shot Troy a devious smile. Troy looked at Gabriella.

"Just let me drive you home, okay?" he said.

"No," Gabriella said and walked towards the direction of her house.

Troy sighed and ran his fingers through his hair.

"Hey, Troy," a shrill voice called and Troy looked around to see Sharpay Evans walking towards him.

"Not now, Sharpay," he said and ran towards his car.

He jumped in and followed Gabriella.

"Ella, come on," he said, driving slowly side by side to Gabriella. "Just get in the car."

"No," Gabriella said.

"I'm sorry," Troy said. "I don't know what came over me. When he said all that stuff about sleeping with you and then breaking up with you, I just couldn't control myself."

"Look, Troy," Gabriella said, stopping and turning to face him. "I want to be with Lucas, okay? If you can't be happy for me, you're not the person who I thought you were."

"Okay, fine," Troy said. "But, you won't be able to walk if you walk all the way home in those heels."

She took off her heels and tossed them at Troy. He caught one, but, the other hit his forehead right above his eye.

"Ow!" Troy said and touched his forehead.

There was a small cut and was bleeding a little. Horrified at what she had done, Gabriella jumped into the car.

"Troy, I'm so sorry," she said wiping away the blood with a tissue.

Their faces were almost touching as Gabriella held the tissue to his face. Troy leaned forward and kissed her. However, he pulled away quickly.

"I'm sorry," he said, hurriedly. "I don't know why I did that."

"You don't know why you did that?" Gabriella asked, feeling hurt.

"No, that's not what I meant," Troy said, quickly knowing that she was hurt.

"Just take me home," she replied looking away from Troy.

Troy sighed. Knowing how much he had hurt her, he did as she requested.

That evening, Troy went to the Montez house. He rang the doorbell. It was late in the evening...almost half past eleven. Maria Montez did not like visitors this late at night, but, Troy and his parents were an exception.

"Hello, Troy," Maria smiled warmly at him. She always treated him like her own son.

"Hey, Maria," Troy smiled. "Is Gabriella home?"

"Yeah, of course," Maria said puzzled. "You know that eleven is her curfew. Besides, she didn't go out tonight."

"She didn't?" Troy asked relieved. "Well, can I see her?"

"She's asleep, Troy," Maria said. "She said that she wasn't feeling well and went to sleep quite early. Why don't you come back tomorrow?"

"Okay," Troy shrugged.

He walked out of the house and then stared up at Gabriella's room for a while. He climbed up the tree as quick as a cat and opened the balcony window. Gabriella's bed was empty and had not been slept in. The room was empty. Troy heard Maria coming up the stairs. Quick as lightening, he shut the balcony window and jumped into Gabriella's bed. He curled himself up and slid under the quilt so that Maria would think that he was Gabriella. He heard the door open and close. Then, he flung the quilt off him and grabbed his cell phone. He dialled Gabriella's number. It rang for a while and then....

"Troy!" he heard Gabriella say softly through the phone. "I'm at the Jumbo Club. Come –"

"Who are you talking to?" he heard another voice say.

Troy froze as he heard Gabriella scream and then he heard a click and the line was dead. He called again and now, the phone was switched off.

Frantically, he climbed down the tree again and ran towards his car. The Jumbo Club was not a good place to be. It was owned by Lucas's cousin, Scott Bennet, and Lucas took all his dates there to sleep with them because Scott always lent him the room at the back. He drove past two stop signs and got there within fifteen minutes.

Troy jumped out of the car and burst into the club. He went straight towards the bar where Scott was serving the drinks.

"Where's Lucas?" Troy asked.

"Why do you want to know?" Scott asked raising an eyebrow.

"Because my best friend is with him and I think she's about to get raped," Troy said grabbing Scott's collar. "I swear to god I'll kill you if you don't tell me where Lucas is right now."

"The room in the back," Scott said. "Wait, he's really raping your friend?"

Troy let go of Scott and ran towards the room. The door was locked. He banged on the door and heard a scream.

"Ella!" he yelled.

"Wait," Scott said. "I've got the key."

Troy was about to body slam the door when Scott opened it.

Troy froze when he saw the scene. Gabriella was naked and her arms were tied to the bed posts. Lucas was shirtless and Gabriella was crying.

"Bennet!" Troy roared angrily.

A second later, Troy had flung himself at Lucas and had knocked him to the floor. He punched Lucas's nose again and for the second time that day, blood spurted out of it.

"Hey, I've called the police, okay?" Scott told Troy. "Let them handle him."

"You called the cops on me?" Lucas asked Scott.

"I had no choice," Scott said. "You were doing the wrong thing."

Scott dragged Lucas out of the room and shut the door as Troy hurried over to Gabriella.

"Ella," he said, softly as he untied the knot and freed her hands.

Then, he grabbed her clothes and saw that they were torn all over. Gabriella would not even be able to wear them.

"Here," he said pulling off his shirt. "Put this on."

Gabriella took the shirt with trembling hands. She put on her underwear and then tried to pull on the shirt, but, her hands were shaking too much. Troy, who had been trying not to stare at her while she was naked, finally reached over and helped her to pull on the shirt.

"You look nice in it," Troy said trying to make her feel better.

Gabriella looked at him blankly. Troy slid his hand under her legs and the other under her back and lifted her up.

"Let's just get you home, okay?" he said kicking the door open with his foot.

Eyes followed him as he carried Gabriella out. He met the policemen at the door and stopped. They took a look at Gabriella and just told him to go ahead. Troy put Gabriella in the front seat of his car and drove her home.

"We have to tell your mother about this, okay?" Troy said and she nodded. "Do you have your keys?"

Gabriella shook her head. Troy nodded and got out of the car. He ran to the door and rung the doorbell a couple of times. When he heard footsteps, he came back to the car and carried Gabriella to the house. Maria stared wordlessly as Troy carried Gabriella up to her room.

"Shower," Gabriella whispered, softly and Troy carried her to the bathroom.

He helped her get into the bathtub. She had Troy's shirt on.

"I'll wait outside," Troy said and Gabriella nodded.

Troy stepped out of the bathroom and almost hit Maria.

"What happened?"Maria asked.

"She was almost raped," Troy said, softly. "By Lucas Bennet. The police are with him, now."

"Oh, Gabriella," Maria said.

"Maria," Troy said. "Don't punish her for leaving the house without your permission, okay? She's been punished enough."

"I know, Troy," Maria said. "It's nice to know that there's someone out there who loves my daughter as much as you do."

Troy turned red. He could not think of anything to say except 'thank you'. Maria walked into the bathroom and shut the door. Troy went and sat down at Gabriella's study table. There were books and CDs all over the desk. In the middle of the mess sat Gabriella's laptop. There was a picture of her and Troy. Gabriella's mom had taken it while they were sitting on the swing in the park when their families had gone on a picnic together. Then, there was a smaller one at the bottom corner. It showed a similar picture, but, Troy and Gabriella were eight years old in the picture. Troy smiled when he remembered the day. He pushed Gabriella's swing as high as he could and then ran to sit on his own swing so that they could swing at the same speed.

Troy was about to turn away from the laptop when he saw a file with his name on it. He opened it and saw that it was a letter to him from Gabriella. She had never sent it to him. It was dated a couple of weeks ago, around the time she started dating Lucas. It said:

Dear Troy,

You know everything about me except for one tiny detail. I must have hid it pretty well. I love you, Troy. And it's not in just friends, or a brother-sister sort of way. I mean, I'm in love with you. I want to be with you. I just didn't know how to say this to you. I was scared that it might ruin what we already have and you might stop hanging out with me. I didn't want that. I guess you must not like me because you showed no hint about that. That's the reason I started dating Lucas. I was hoping you'd get jealous or something. It's a dirty trick to play on him. I don't know why I did it. Anyway, I just realized that I'm never going to send it to you. I just want to hear you tell me 'I love you, too' sometime. I love you, Troy. Always have and always will.

Love Gabriella.

Troy stared at the letter in surprise. Gabriella loved him. He could not believe it. The girl he was in love with loved him back. It was amazing. He heard someone touch the lock on the bathroom door and quickly closed the file. Maria stepped out of the bathroom. She showed Troy his shirt.

"It's all wet," Maria said. "She showered with it on. Somehow, she didn't want to take it off. I'll dry it for you, okay?"

"Yeah, thanks," Troy replied with a small smile.

"Troy, you don't have to thank me," Maria said. "I have to thank you. You saved my daughter from being raped and –"

"Maria," Troy interrupted. "It's okay. I love her and I would do anything to protect her."

Maria smiled at Troy. She took Gabriella's towel and robe to the bathroom. She returned with Gabriella who had her hair in the towel and was wearing the robe.

"I'm going to put Troy's shirt in the dryer, alright?" Maria told Gabriella. "Will you be okay?"

"I'm fine mom," Gabriella said. "I just feel stupid."

"You don't have to feel stupid," Maria said. "He was pretending to be a nice boy. He had everyone fooled. Even I was fooled."

"Troy wasn't fooled," Gabriella said.

"Ella," Troy began.

"No, Troy," Gabriella interrupted. "I should have listened to you. I'm sorry."

"Ella, it's okay," Troy said as he got up and walked over to her.

"I shouldn't have ignored you like that when all you did was try to help me," Gabriella continued.

She did not look Troy in the eye. Troy looked uncomfortable and he glanced at Maria for a second. Maria caught his eye and knew that Troy wanted to talk to Gabriella alone. She was really great that way and both Troy and Gabriella loved her for it.

"Do you want a drink, Gabi?" Maria asked. "Some hot chocolate?"

"Sure, thanks, mom," Gabriella said.

"How about you, Troy?" Maria asked.

"A drink's always welcome," he smiled.

Maria nodded and left, shutting the door softly behind her.

"Ella, I have a question," Troy said and she looked at him. "Why didn't you believe me when I said that Lucas was after you just to sleep with you? We've been friends for so long and I thought that you'd know that I would never lie to you."

"I do know that, Troy," Gabriella sighed as she removed the towel from her hair. "I just don't know."

"Ella," Troy said stepping a bit closer to her. "I saw the letter in your laptop."

"What?" Gabriella stared at him in surprise. "Troy! That letter...you weren't meant to see it. It's just something I wrote because I was bored that day. It didn't mean anything."

"It didn't?" Troy asked. "I was hoping it meant something."

"What? Why?" Gabriella asked.

"Because," Troy said touching her cheek. "I love you, too."

Gabriella stared at him in surprise.

"You don't believe me?" he asked. "How about I show you?"

"Show me?" Gabriella squeaked.

Troy smiled and kissed her gently on her lips. Gabriella felt her knees give away and clutched onto Troy's shoulders. Troy wrapped his arms around Gabriella's waist and pulled her close to him.

"Troy," Gabriella said when they broke their kiss. "Just so you know, I meant everything I said in that letter."

A/N It just popped into my mind...leave a review=)