So, I have absolutely no excuse for not putting this on here earlier, because when I updated the last chapter it had already been written… But, well, I've been busy and a lot of things are going on right now so fanfiction is not really among my priorities right now.

Enjoy the chapter!

A Lost World

"Are you completely utterly sure?" Chad nodded, and Sharpay squealed. "That's amazing…" She grabbed her bag and jacket. "C'mon, we've got to get going, everyone's already there." Chad nodded, following behind her, not sure if he'd done the right thing, but knowing it was too late to turn it around.

In the car Sharpay put the radio loud, and hummed along with every song. Quite honestly, it scared Chad. He hadn't seen Sharpay this happy in ages, and times he had seen her this happy, hadn't ended pretty. Sharpay was still in a brilliant mood when they got to the Starbucks, and didn't even curse when someone stole their parking space. As they walked, Sharpay skipped every other step, which could not be easy with the heels she was wearing. The doors were thrown open, making every customer look around as she skipped on to the counter, where she patiently stood in line, ordering with a huge smile on her face and tipping 100%. When she got to the table, Taylor, Kelsi, Zeke, Jason and Ryan were just as scared as Chad.

"So… Why are you so happy again?" Sharpay smiled brightly at her brother, taking a small sip from her coffee.

"Because," She said, drawing the word out. "I've come a long way in finding out why our good friends hate each other so much…" They looked at each other, and Taylor carefully cleared her throat, not able to suppress her curiosity. After all, she'd wanted to know why almost as badly as Sharpay, for an even longer time.

"What is it?" Sharpay smiled smugly, taking another sip of her drink, nut hurrying to answer the question.

"Well, we now know that they were friends for a long time, from their fifth to probably around their twelfth or thirteenth…" She took another sip off her drink, making sure to do it extra-slow. Taylor clacked her tongue impatiently. She wasn't exactly known for her patience.

"And after that?" Sharpay smirked smugly, putting down her cup and leaning forward over the table.

"After that… they dated." The reactions around the table varied. Jason spit his coffee in Chad's hair. Zeke dropped his. Ryan burned his tongue as he took a way to big gulp in surprise. Chad cursed as Jason spit the coffee in his hair. Kelsi looked at Sharpay open-mouthed. Taylor looked at her suspiciously.

"How certain is that information?" Sharpay grinned, grabbing her purse and getting her phone out. With a few clicks she found the picture she was looking for. It was the picture that hung in the basement, the favourite of Troy and Gabriella, the one with their lips barely apart. She looked at it for a second, before handing the phone to Taylor.

"100% certain, I'd say." She passed the phone around the table. Kelsi finally shut her mouth. Chad already knew the picture. Ryan dropped his coffee. Zeke almost dropped the phone in the pool of coffee he'd created on their table. Jason spit more coffee Chad's way, who'd seen this coming and ducked.

"You know, sometimes you people are unbelievable…" Sharpay rolled her eyes, grabbing her phone back. "Oh, and just to be clear, we don't talk about this to either Troy or Gabriella." Taylor nodded, Chad looked doubtful.

"Why?" And Jason was stupid.

"Because, one, they'll kill you," He gulped. "two, I'll kill you," He adverted his gaze the table. "and three, we don't want them to distance themselves from each other, now they're finally sorta getting along." He carefully glanced up. "I don't know what happened when they dated, but it killed their relationship, and their friendship with it…"

"What happened, though?" They all looked at Kelsi. "I mean, from that picture it doesn't seem like it would just be a small thing, would it?"

"Not really." Zeke agreed. "Looking at that picture, it'd have to be a pretty damn huge thing." Sharpay snorted slightly, everything became huge when the two of them got in an argument.

"And you haven't seen those other pictures yet…" They looked at Chad in surprise. "One of them is just of Gabriella's face, another one of them when they were about five and eating ice cream, and than one where they're nine or so and on the swing set… something they apparently used to 'love'."

"They said that?" Chad nodded.

"Yeah. Why?" He looked suspiciously at the thoughtful expression on her face. In, say, 99.99999% of all cases that expression had meant a new scheme was in the making. New schemes, equalled new trouble. Especially now he'd provided her with so much more information.

"No reason." A small smile formed on her lips. "No reason at all." Chad gulped.

T_&_G

"So… How was practice?" It was hard, Gabriella decided. It was really hard to talk to Troy. Now they weren't screaming their conversations were increasingly awkward. That could be because they never looked each other in the eyes, that could also be because they really didn't have anything to talk about, that could also be because there were too many things they were avoiding talking about… Some subjects were just better to be left in the dark, stuffed far away.

"It was… good." Awkward. Troy definitely thought it was the word to describe this conversation. Awkward. It was funny, how the person he'd once been able to tell everything to, had turned into the person he couldn't have an ordinary conversation with. The person he couldn't give a normal answer when she asked about his practice.

"That's… good." She almost wished they could just go back to screaming. Screaming was easy, it didn't even require thinking. She'd managed fighting with Troy on auto pilot ages and ages ago. "You hungry?"

"A bit, actually." Troy hadn't noticed before she asked. Actually, he was really, really craving-

"Do you want me to make some pancakes?" –pancakes. That would've been scary, had it been anyone but Gabriella. Gabriella knew what he liked after practice. Gabriella knew what he liked whenever. Gabriella knew him. It truly seemed as if he hadn't changed for the last ten years of his life.

"Sure." But he had. If he hadn't, this conversation wouldn't have been this awkward. They would've never gone through this ten-year stage of hating each other. Not that they no longer hated each other. Or perhaps they didn't. He didn't really know, actually. After Gabriella saw the pictures, everything had just gotten so confusing. As if she couldn't scream to that nine year old who swung higher than she did. The way he couldn't scream to that five year old that liked strawberry ice cream better than chocolate ice cream.

Gabriella had walked to the stove, and was slowly putting all the ingredients together, searching to find everything. It was odd, to make pancakes for Troy. The last time she'd done that had been over ten years ago. That was a long time. She paused for a moment. It really was a long time. Could they really overcome that, by just being nice to each other? Could they forget all the hard words, ignore all the hatred, and leave that what they'd never managed to discuss between the two of them? Only time could tell.

"Here." She put the platter down in front of him. He looked at it for a few seconds before looking up again, a grin on his face.

"You remembered." She grinned back. She'd made his favourite pancake, the way he'd always wanted, but hardly ever was allowed to. A stack of five pancakes, covered in chocolate sauce, on top two cherries for eyes, a dot of whipped cream as a nose, a row of M&M's as a mouth, and the whole thing covered in sugar.

"'Course I did. I'm a genius, remember." Troy chuckled, before starting on his pancakes. As he relishes at the sweet taste melting on his tongue, he realized he'd really, really missed her pancakes. There was no one who made pancakes quite like hers. He took another bite, and glanced at Gabriella. She was sitting on the island, swinging her feet back and forth as she stared at them.

"Want a bite?" She glanced up, to see Troy holding a bit of his pancake towards her on a fork. She hesitated before grinning and jumping off the island.

"How'd you know?" He smirked, feeding her. She grinned at him, unaware that there was some stray sugar left beside her mouth.

"You've got some…" He moved his fingers to his mouth. "Some sugar… wait, let me-" He moved his fingers from his lips to hers, slowly wiping away the sugar. As he did so he looked up at her. Without warning the tension stormed into the room, leaving him to stare into her eyes breathlessly. The urge to kiss her shot through him so suddenly, he almost complied. Instead, he pulled his hand away quickly. Gabriella looked at him with wide eyes for a few tension filled seconds, before jumping up and quickly leaving the room. Troy sighed, looking at his plate before pushing it away, and staring into space.

Gabriella leaned against the door of her bedroom, having fled there immediately. They should've known. It was the same thing that happened when they were last friends. They crossed borders they shouldn't have. They disregarded rules they should've kept to. They tried to discover a new world, and lost their old one. And as it seemed right now, they could never get it back. Friendship was officially off limits.

She sighed, making her way to the bed. The tension had been unbelievably. It wasn't like the whole awkward thing that had been there before, it was more of a I-so-desperately-want-to-jump-you thing. Which really explained the tension. She lay down on her bed face down. The urge to kiss him, to kiss Troy, had been almost irresistible. Almost. But if he'd kissed her, there and then, she was convinced she wouldn't have fought him. Couldn't have fought him. A small beeping came from her right, and she turned her head. With another sigh she grabbed her phone, only Sharpay would text at moments like this.

Heeey hun!

How r U? Jumped T yet?

Talking about him, can the two of you come to the Starbucks?

I've got a surprise trip planned! (Don't worry, it's for the whole gang.)

Pack for a few days away, we'll be staying in a small beach house. (Don't worry, girl's room, boy's room.) So, we'll be at the beach, you know what to pack, for the rest of it I'll be leaving you in the dark.

Love you!

Pay

That simply could not end well.

Review…?

xoxo

Naomi