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Troy and Chad drive into the East High parking lot together, getting out and pulling their bags from the car. Troy drove today as he had a long rehearsal for the show. Chad figured he could catch a ride with Taylor home.
"I still can't believe you're going to be in the musicale again dude," Chad says, as the two walk to their lockers. "I mean, all the singing and dancing?"
Troy chuckles. "Yeah, well, what was I supposed to do? Let down our friends just because of my supposed reputation? Everyone seemed to have accepted the winter musicale just fine."
"True," Chad says, pulling out the necessary books for this lovely Friday at school. "Have you talked to Gabriella about this change?"
"No, that I haven't even ventured to do," Troy answers, sighing as he finds another picture slipped into his locker, this one on Gabriella's porch. "You know, this doesn't look like the others."
Chad comes over and looks over Troy's shoulder, studying the picture with Troy. "I'd agree," Chad says, looking at the quality of the picture. "I'd say amateur shot, totally. Do you think someone staked out Gabriella's house just to take that picture of them kissing?"
Troy looks at the couple embracing, at least what he could see of the grainy image. "I think so. In fact, I wouldn't put it past a certain cheerleader to start doing this."
"Jasmine," Chad agrees. "Could be man, she's all upset since Monday."
"Hmm," Troy responds, going back into his locker and pulling out his books for math. Chad and Troy make their way down the halls to get to math and along the way spot Gabriella and Taylor, who are walking to their Calculus class. Troy watches her from the distance they are at and sees sadness fill her body, carrying herself not upright and confident but kind of drawn in. "She looks heartbroken over something."
Chad, hearing what was probably meant to be Troy's internal thought, agrees. "She's probably sad that Hunter left. Talk about long distance relationship and the start of trust issues."
Troy smacks his forehead. "Of course, how I could forget that he left last night? I think that I got so wrapped up in my own rehearsal yesterday, I forgot until just now that she probably spent last night saying good-bye to him for a while. Poor Gabriella!"
Before Troy can venture over to where the girls are standing outside their classroom, the bell rings and he feels Chad gently push him into their own classroom. "Later man, there'll be time later," Chad reassures Troy as they sit down for another long math period.
The day finally ends for Gabriella with the bell ringing at the end of Drama. She runs off to her locker to grab her playbook, which she forgot and is about to head back when Jasmine steps into her path.
After looking Gabriella up and down, Jasmine smiles nastily realizing that Gabriella is all by herself. "So, the little innocent is finally all by herself. No Troy or Hunter to save her from this getting too nasty. What are you going to do Gabriella? Your friends aren't here to give you courage and your boys aren't here to defend you. In fact, there are no witnesses to what is about to go down," Jasmine says, taking a step closer to Gabriella.
"What, are you going to slap me? Beat me up?" Gabriella challenges, knowing this wasn't the smartest course of action with this girl. "The school bell just rang, there are still people around. If you want to do this anonymously, this isn't the time Jasmine."
Jasmine looks around and sees Gabriella is actually right. There are too many interested students watching the pair. "Another time then," Jasmine says, turning away to walk away. Before she takes another step though, she swings back around and slaps Gabriella's face, shocking Gabriella. Jasmine, seeing a red handprint appear on Gabriella's cheek, smiles viciously. "We'll just let that be a taste for you as to what is to come."
Gabriella holds her cheek and watches as Jasmine leaves for the parking lot, fighting hard to hold back her tears, knowing other students are watching her. When she is sure Jasmine is gone, Gabriella picks up her bag and runs to the theater, taking a seat against a wall to hide her left profile that has the handprint mark. Ryan looks over curiously over at Gabriella when he notices she isn't in her normal spot but huddled in her seat on the side of the theater. 'Is she shying away from Troy, her new lead man?' he wonders, about to go over when he sees Troy approach her so he decides against it but watches the two from his seat.
"Hey, you okay?" Troy asks, concern in his blue eyes as he takes the seat next to Gabriella.
"I'm fine," Gabriella manages to get out, making sure to keep her head looking straight forward.
Troy studies Gabriella's profile and can tell she isn't. "Is it because we're singing together? I can see if Darbus can switch around me and Ryan or something," he offers, unsure what the problem is.
Gabriella feels a single tear fall down her cheek and quickly brushes it away, unable to hold the tears back any longer at the familiar sound of Troy's comforting voice. "No, that's not it."
"Then are you missing your boyfriend?" he asks, persisting with his questions.
"This isn't about Hunter," she responds. Knowing Troy would not leave her alone, she turns her face towards him, knowing Jasmine's handprint would be clearly seen in the light.
Troy looks at the mark on Gabriella's left side of her face and gasps, feeling his hand clench as he takes in the bright red mark. "Who did this?" Troy angrily asks.
"Our favorite cheerleader," Gabriella gets out. "Just happened in the halls."
"Oh Gabriella, I'm so sorry," he says, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her so her face nestled into his neck. He runs his fingers through her hair as she cries a little more, wishing he could do more than just hold her.
"Mr. Bolton and Ms. Montez, if you are done reuniting, I would like to start rehearsals if that seems to fit your schedule," Ms. Darbus' voice booms through the theater.
Troy looks over at the teacher and nods his understanding before looking down at Gabriella who has now pulled away and wipes her face. "Are you going to be okay to do this?"
Gabriella smiles at his concern. "I'm not going to let Jasmine rule my life. Let's do this," she says, borrowing one of the guys' favorite sayings.
He chuckles and grabs her hand, leading her up to the stage where Ryan and Sharpay see the mark on Gabriella's face for the first time.
"That witch!" Sharpay screams, knowing instantly that it was Jasmine's work. "I swear the next time I see her…"
Ryan places a calming hand on his sister's shoulder. "Shh, calm down Sharpay. I don't think Gabriella needs us to put any more attention on her 'gift' from Jasmine. Let's just go through rehearsal and cross that later, okay?"
Sharpay nods, knowing Ryan is right as Gabriella and Troy had separated, going to their appropriate places to start the rehearsal, Ryan and Sharpay following suit.
They make it up until the second to final song without issues, leaving Gabriella and Troy to sing their final duet of the show together, the song that speaks of love found once again. Sharpay and Ryan watch from the sidelines as Kelsi eyes the pair as she starts the chords to the song.
Troy starts his verse first, unsure of how to handle the situation as they hadn't practiced this together at all. Gabriella is in the opposite corner, with her eyes closed, looking like she is trying to calm her nerves. He decides to make the move and crosses over, taking her right hand in his, startling her for sure, but forcing her to open her eyes and look back at him. As he finishes his verse, he waits nervously until she starts singing her verse, a smile finally gracing her lips as she gazes back at him.
They both get lost in the song, acting out the words, which draws them together into each other's arms. At the conclusion, Troy drops his head down and kisses Gabriella, on the lips, for the first time in weeks, feeling that wonderful feeling course through his body that he had missed so much. She is the first to pull away, taking a step back and smiling awkwardly at the rest of the cast and Ms. Darbus who are applauding.
"Excellent work you two! If I didn't know better, I'd think you were actually back together and in love," Ms. Darbus congratulates. "Now, we do have to map that out a little better later tonight but I think we have a very solid start. Final number everyone!"
Troy breathes deeply, still focusing on Gabriella who is getting a little uneasy under his gaze. "Come on Troy, we have to get ready for the last song!" she says, breaking that look on his face and replacing it with confusion.
He looks around and sees that in fact, the stage crew is setting up the stage for the last song and portion of the musicale, realizing that he had been staring down at Gabriella for quite some time, more than he intended. Troy nods his head and takes off for the opposite wing she is in to clear his mind a little.
They all come out, singing and dancing as they had previously learned. Troy somehow or another manages to pull it together from what crash course Ryan and some other students knew of the character's stuff yesterday, not looking too bad for his first real run through.
Ms. Darbus seems pleased enough as she stands and announces a fifteen minute break before heading into the costume room for picking out proper attire.
Seeing this as his chance, Troy approaches Gabriella before she can escape from the theater. "Gabriella, can we go talk somewhere?" he asks, feeling truly nervous.
Gabriella pauses, contemplating running away, but nods as the two walk out into the halls, taking a seat on the very bench that Troy broke up with her on out on the field. "The kiss?" she asks. "Is that what you want to talk about?"
'All right, she's more to the point now,' he thinks. "Gabriella, did that kiss, well, did that kiss mean anything?"
Wanting desperately to protect herself from any possible hurt from him she decides to lie. "The kiss? Troy, it's called acting. It's all part of the musicale."
"It is? I don't remember seeing it in the notes in the playbook," he says, challenging her claim. "I think you're just trying to hide from me what you really felt. You must have felt that connection between us again."
Unable to keep up with the charade, Gabriella slowly nods her head in agreement. "I did," she whispers back, not wanting to look Troy in the eyes. "It felt like no time had passed, that we were still in love like we were a few weeks ago."
"That has to mean something to you then Gabriella! Please, look within yourself and be honest," he pleads, knowing it was this moment or never. "It felt to me that it was a wake up call, that our feelings haven't diminished as I maybe thought it would after all this time. Gabriella, I can't imagine myself with anyone other than you for the rest of my life."
Gabriella wipes the few tears coursing down her face, unable to hold them back. "Troy, I don't know what to tell you. I have been waiting for this moment, for you to realize all this, for so long but now that it's here, I can't seem to make myself take that step forward with you."
"What? Why?" he asks, feeling as if he was staring over the edge of a cliff.
She stares into his blue eyes finally, seeing his true concern and love for her radiating back and struggles with herself to hold true to her commitment. "First, you have a girlfriend who wouldn't be that understanding of you picking back up with your old flame," she says, hoping he would back off from that point.
Instead, she sees Troy shake his head. "Marlene and I never truly got to the relationship part. I ended it with her before it got to that point on Monday afternoon."
"Over her scheming with Jasmine?" she asks, surprised he wouldn't give Marlene the benefit of the doubt, which is normally part of his nature.
"Well that was a tiny piece of it, but it was mainly over the fact that it just didn't feel right. I really, really tried to date her, to see her as a new possible girlfriend, but I couldn't feel anything remotely close to what I feel when I even just think of you when I was with Marlene. She understands and agrees, it just wasn't the right fit," Troy explains, looking down at Gabriella and holding their gaze. "What else?"
"Second, there's my commitment to Hunter," Gabriella states. "Acting on these feelings now, it just wouldn't be right Troy."
Troy breaks the gaze they held for those few moments and looks away, not willing to let her see how much her answer hurt him. "So, that's the final answer to the test huh? I broke up with you so you could go and live out your life, find out what this was between you and Hollywood hunk Hunter Smith and you are choosing him over us."
Gabriella tries placing her hand on his shoulder but Troy jerks away, unable to bear her touch. "It's not like that Troy, I promise you," she says, taking a chance and stepping in front of him, forcing him to look at her again. "I still care for you the way that I did, but I made a commitment to Hunter that I can't turn my back on. If I did, would you still look at me the same way, honestly? I don't think you would."
Troy searches Gabriella's face, thinking on what she said, and reluctantly nods. "You're right, if you just went and broke up with him, I'd wonder who you have become over the weeks. It's already a shocker to see you being so bold with Jasmine. Maybe you really have gone out to find the true Gabriella Montez after all."
She smiles at that and gives Troy a big hug. "Can we do this musicale without it interfering with our friendship? No matter what happens, remember, I always told you that I wanted you to be in my life, boyfriend or best friend. I can't imagine life without you there by my side, one way or another."
"I feel the same way," Troy confesses, smiling a little back at Gabriella. "You are too amazing to not have in my life. I've honestly been lost not being able to really talk to you with everything that has been happening the past few weeks."
"I feel the same way, like we weren't really even giving ourselves the chance to be friends although, I think it would have been too awkward right away," Gabriella says. "Thank you for understanding Troy, about Hunter, it means a lot."
"Sure," he replies, realizing that he is still struggling with the whole concept of her still choosing Hunter. "Well, we better get back inside. Are we going to be okay with this whole love thing in the musicale?"
Gabriella shrugs, starting to walk in. "I can handle it if you can. We just need to remember it's all acting, right?" she replies aloud while thinking, 'You are such a liar Gabriella, you know it is going to tear you apart to perform with Troy and not be with him. There's nothing else for it though.'
'Well, if that's what she wants,' Troy thinks, following her to the costume room. 'I guess I have to keep trying to hide my real feelings a little better.'