On Friday afternoon, Troy stepped off the team's chartered plane with Tomas by his side, the two men heading to the bus that would take them back to the arena where most of their cars were parked. The two teammates were close and had gotten even closer after Troy confided a great deal about Troy and Gabriella's situation to Tomas, relieved that Tomas proved to be a wise choice in a good friend and confidant when nothing really did not go further than Tomas' ears.

"What do you have planned for the rest of the day Bolton?" asked Tomas, smiling as he had a feeling he already knew considering the number of times he had caught Troy smiling like a fool at his digital camera, gazing at a few different pictures of a certain princess.

Troy met his gaze and rolled his eyes as he saw Tomas wiggle his eyebrows at him before they both got onto the bus and took seats in the back. "Probably will just settle in back at the apartment and take it easy for the rest of the day. Not much else to do."

Tomas was momentarily confused before he realized that Troy was usually free during most of the nights in the week due to Gabriella's ballet performances. "Hey, before you know it, that show of hers will wrap up and then you can see her whenever you want."

"Oh, I'll see her more but I just don't know if I'll see her as much as I truly want, whenever and wherever I want," returned Troy, sighing a little as he thought about it. In truth, as much as Troy told Gabriella he understood, knowing that Gabriella was still seeing other men made Troy not only uncomfortable but definitely threatened. 'Sure we have our history but these other guys, they have the power, the history here in Copanvy, and the money. All that has to happen is that one of them offers her so much more than I ever could, be better looking, capture her heart, and I would be a goner. Then what?'

"You're getting that frown in your forehead. What are you torturing yourself with now?" asked Tomas, watching as Troy immediately cleared the expression from his face. "You know you can talk to me."

Troy nodded his agreement before he looked around the bus, seeing everyone settle down before the bus started moving. "I know but there are a lot of ears right now. I can't dude, too risky."

"Then dinner and some beers! You have no plans and I don't either. Come on, a night out with just us guys. It'll be good for you," offered Tomas, smiling encouragingly. "Come on!"

"Well we are doing pretty well as a team so far this season," replied Troy, actually liking the idea of hanging out with Tomas instead of by himself at his apartment. "What about your girlfriend?"

"Oh her? She was a goner last week. Too demanding of my time. That's one thing you are lucky in, not having someone who is so free with her time that she would demand so much out of you. Some of these women, man, it's like they want your head on a platter at all times or something," responded Tomas with a shake of his head. "So it's settled. I'll take you home and then we can meet at our favorite pub in downtown Louvis around 6?"

After just a few more moments of consideration, Troy agreed. "Sounds like a plan man."

Once Troy had showered and unpacked, he allowed himself to relax for a little while before getting dressed again to head out. He managed to find a prime parking spot only a block away from the pub and suddenly found himself with forty minutes on his hands, realizing that Troy had overestimated his traveling time due to light traffic and the parking gods smiling down on him. After locking his car, Troy meandered down the streets for a few blocks, stopping occasionally to take pictures with avid basketball fans, enjoying the weather for what it was, feeling a positive attitude take root once again.

That all came crashing down though as Troy passed a newsstand, his eyes automatically scanning the headlines of all the newspapers, magazines, and tabloids. He stopped his walk and zeroed in on one newspaper that was opened up to the Society section, his cobalt eyes narrowing on the headline before he dared to look at the pictures. Troy read the headline out loud in a low but almost growl-like voice, daring himself to make this more real by hearing the words reach his own ears. "Royal Engagement? Is Patrick Diaz the next Prince of Copanvy?"

His heart sped up much faster than he had ever experienced as Troy stepped closer to the paper, picking it up with shaking hands as he saw the grainy and dark pictures that were enough to paint quite the picture for Troy. The first showed Patrick on one knee in front of Gabriella with her hand in his, offering her a ring, Patrick's face seen more clearly than hers in the moonlight, while the second showed the two with their lips pressed together in a kiss. Troy forced himself to breathe, despite the pain it caused, as his heart slowly began to crumble, not knowing what to do or what to feel. The pictures alone were enough torture for Troy, who felt like the rest of the world had gone black, leaving him to look at those pictures only, feeling the full implications of what it meant for him, for what it meant for him and Gabriella. 'How could she?'

His thoughts and brewing pot of emotions were interrupted when he heard a distant voice ask, "Mister, you going to buy that?"

Troy automatically pulled some money out and handed it to the newsstand owner, taking a few steps away with his eyes focused on the pictures, hoping as he searched Gabriella's face in the first picture to see some type of resistance, some type of denial, but felt his heart and hopes crash down as her face, from what could be seen in the darkness, seemed to only show happiness. Tears pricked his now dull blue eyes as he forced himself to read the story, Troy comprehending just enough at that moment to understand that Patrick had apparently proposed to Gabriella on Wednesday night out on the coast. A nagging feeling swept over him though as he read what night it happened, remembering suddenly Gabriella's words to him earlier that day.

"It will Troy, much sooner than that, I promise. After tonight, I think it will be clear as to what my intentions are. You'll have the answer as to where we stand after tonight."

Barely resisting the urge to crumple the paper in his hands, Troy closed his eyes and focused on trying to even his breathing out, hating the conflicting yet extreme emotions raging inside him. 'Could she be really so cruel? To lead me along all this time only to accept a proposal from Patrick? Was that what she meant by knowing her answer as to where we stood that night? That she knew he was proposing and was going to accept?'

Troy somehow managed to make it back to his car while still shifting through all the emotions and thoughts running through his mind. Time passed quickly, not that Troy noticed, but soon Tomas was in front of his teammate, about to crack a joke about Troy's paleness when Tomas realized something deeper was going on. Tomas himself felt pale as he scanned the headline upside down from where he stood in front of Troy, glancing up immediately and seeing the tears in the other man's eyes, tears that didn't come easily.

"Troy, man, you want to talk?" he hesitantly questioned, taking in a sharp breath as Troy slowly raised his head and met Tomas's eyes with his own. Tomas saw the anger there in his eyes first but was more caught off guard with the raw pain and misery residing in the greater depths, a reflection of Troy's very soul, Tomas was sure of that.

Troy just shook his head, finally releasing the newspaper from his grip, throwing it down on the hood of his car. "I knew it was too good to be true! I kept telling myself if I continued to hang in there, if I continued to fight, we would make it out together. That it was Fate's grand scheme for us to be together, why we were brought together so many times. For her to accept Patrick's proposal so quickly, so easily, not giving me a real chance, I just, I don't know what to make of it. Gabriella mentioned that she was going to tell me something but then we got interrupted and then I overheard how distressed she was and told her she could wait. Could she have known then that Patrick was going to do this and she'd say yes? How could she withhold that from me even if I told her it was okay, knowing what this would do to me, what it meant to us?"

Tomas sighed, seeing a single tear slip from Troy's eyes before it was angrily wiped away, Troy's eyes turning into a cold steel-like blue as he blinked away the rest of the tears. "What are you going to do?"

Moments passed while Troy thought of this, a range of ideas passing through his mind from leaving Copanvy all together and starting anew to staying and fighting for Gabriella, the latter not having much appeal to him at the moment. 'If you are going to get hurt even worse, watching as she marries another man, why stay? Why put yourself through that torture? Because, as angry as you are, you still love her, that's why.'

Troy ran a frustrated hand through his hair, pushing his dark strands back before his hand unconsciously rubbed the back of his neck, trying to sort out everything, to see a reasonable response to this all. Knowing though he wouldn't be able to figure it out on his own, Troy concluded the only logical thing to do would be to talk to Gabriella, tonight.

"I'm going to ask her point blank if this is true," said Troy finally, indicating the discarded newspaper on the hood of his car with his hand. "Nothing else to do but that."

Tomas nodded his agreement. "Best know it all now, from her own mouth. Do you want to skip the dinner and beers then?"

"No, I can't talk to her now anyway. A beer or two will do me good so far as my mood right now. If you don't want to stick around doom and gloom though I understand," stated Troy, taking in a deep breath and letting it out slowly in an attempt to ease the tightness in his chest that still lingered. Troy knew that if he allowed himself to hide in his apartment, he may never come out, grasping onto the world there where he could imagine that everything was smooth sailing with Gabriella, that she wasn't engaged to some well off son of a noble family.

"Are you kidding me? This is what teammates, better yet friends, are here for," returned Tomas, slapping his hand on Troy's shoulder, sending what encouragement he could to the other man. "Come on, first round is on me."

Troy managed to give him a grateful smile before following Tomas's lead and walking into the pub, leaving the society section of the paper sitting on the hood of his car, some naïve part of his mind thinking that if he left it there to be taken or blown away that the hard truth of the situation would disappear with it.

Gabriella took in a deep breath once the curtain lowered for the last time at the end of yet another successful performance. Each night so far had been a complete sell out, which was attributed in large part to Chris's and Gabriella's performance, at least the way Rodger saw it. Even after so many performances and knowing she could dance through the entire ballet in her sleep by now didn't take away from the adrenaline Gabriella felt after every single performance, a feeling that she knew Chris shared with her. They shared their usual hug with each other and some of the other dancers before Chris and Gabriella walked to their respective dressing rooms, knowing they would have more time to talk after they both stepped out of their costumes and freshened up.

As soon as Gabriella closed and locked the door to her dressing room, the façade of a happy woman crumbled as Gabriella recalled the past 48 hours despite the brief high from performing she experienced earlier. A number of things had happened so quickly that Gabriella didn't even know where to begin sorting it out. She had finally made a choice, what her future would be, but the satisfaction she should have found in such an important decision was never realized. Gabriella had been kept so busy since then with the performances, royal events, and discussions with her family that she'd been unable to call Tessa, Sharpay, or Taylor, let alone Troy, to discuss everything. Only Emma and Chris really knew what happened and what she was going through and that was only because of the therapy sessions and performances.

Gabriella quickly took off her costume and cleaned her face of all her makeup, welcoming the feel of her comfortable jeans and t-shirt. When she reached for the hooded sweatshirt with the words East High and a basketball graphic under it, seeing Troy's name and number on the sleeves, Gabriella paused for a moment, running her fingers over his name, wishing she could capture that happiness she felt back in high school, before she knew what the true meaning of royal duty was. She slipped the white sweatshirt over her head, smiling for the first time since she entered her dressing room as she thought about the day years ago Troy was told that Gabriella had Chad smuggle this very article of clothing out of his room along with two t-shirts. 'Those definitely were the times…'

Her thoughts were interrupted though with a familiar knock on the door. "Come on Ella, you are taking forever tonight!" complained Chris, causing Gabriella to roll her eyes despite the fact she knew he couldn't see her. "Hold your horses, I'm almost done!" she called out, looking around and turning off the vanity lights before grabbing her purse with her left hand, some part of her thinking about how light her wrist felt with the absence of the bracelet it used to wear religiously before two nights ago.

When Gabriella finally threw open the dressing room door, she saw Chris leaning up against the opposite wall, his right leg bent at the knee while his foot rested against the wall. "Wow, declaring to the world what your decision is huh?" smirked Chris, thinking how proud he was of her at the moment. "Nothing screams it to the world like that. I mean, the varsity jacket was a bit pushing it at the game but that sweatshirt, knowing full well that there are people out there waiting for you, that's going to cause gossip. Love it Ella!"

Gabriella just shrugged, knowing it would probably get her in trouble but needing the comfort of wearing Troy's sweatshirt just then. "It's not a huge rebellious action like you make it out to be Chris. It was a subconscious choice today but I'm glad I made it."

Chris just nodded his head, pushing off the wall to walk with Gabriella down the hall and to the double doors that led outside. "Have you told him yet? About your decision?"

"Haven't had the chance. Things have been so chaotic since Wednesday, well you know what I've been going through. It's almost like I cut off the right arm of my Grandmother or something," murmured Gabriella, thinking of the trouble Wednesday night had started within the palace walls. "I'm only grateful that they deem it necessary to act like nothing is wrong in public. Gives me and my parents too a break from it all."

The two suspended their talk as soon as they were outside and greeted with fans who wanted autographs and pictures. Gabriella saw Paul waiting for her a few yards away while he watched from a distance to make sure nothing out of hand happened. The security team had gotten used to the fandom that usually waited outside of the stage exit in the past weeks, mostly little girls and their parents. After the usual fifteen minutes, Paul approached the crowd and started working at freeing Gabriella with Chris right behind them.

This time though, instead of walking straight from there to the parking lot a few blocks away reserved just for theater employees and the dancers, Gabriella stopped, feeling his presence before actually seeing Troy watching her from the shadows of a nearby building. Her heart sped up in excitement and she took off running towards him, coming up short when Troy stepped into the light from a nearby streetlamp and she saw the hard angles of his face, the sharp gaze of his cobalt eyes.

"Troy?" she asked hesitantly, not knowing what was wrong, all excitement in unexpectedly seeing him gone.

There was an involuntary hiss that passed through Troy's lips as his eyes took in what she had the nerve to wear when she was engaged to another man. "How could you wear that, after what you've done? That's one of the biggest slaps in the face you could give me Gabriella! Or is that your goal? To torture me with the memories of what was once upon a time?"

Gabriella blinked several times, trying to push aside the shock and surprise at hearing Troy's words. "What are you talking about? I'd never want to torture you. That's the last thing I'd ever want to do."

"Then why Gabriella? Why did you do what you did on Wednesday night?" demanded Troy, letting his anger finally have the outlet it needed, not caring that he saw Gabriella take an involuntary step back from him as she sensed the anger roll off of him.

"You know about Wednesday?" she asked, frightened by Troy's behavior that seemed to take over his usually calm personality. "Aren't you happy?"

Troy let out a harsh laugh. "Happy? How the hell could I be happy about this? Why didn't you tell me? Did you not have the guts to do it? I talked to you on the phone hours before but you didn't tell me. Why Gabriella?"

Gabriella felt her heart speed up as she became more and more uncertain about what was going on. 'If he knows about Wednesday night, why is he so angry? And how did he find out?'

When only silence answered him, Troy growled in frustration, his fury building with each second that went by that she didn't tell him the truth. "God damn it Gabriella! The least I would have expected you to do was to tell me to get lost to my face! How could you let me find this out through a newspaper?"

This caught Gabriella's attention, realizing in that moment that Troy knew about Wednesday but didn't have the right idea about it. "What did the newspaper say?" she whispered, dread filling her soul as the pieces of the puzzle began to come together.

"You were there, why don't you tell me? Never mind, I'm not one for games so I'll just tell you. The newspaper declared that you were proposed to on Wednesday night by Lord Patrick Diaz or whatever his title is. Do you deny that?" asked Troy in a harsh voice, his eyes boring into hers.

"No, that's the truth. Patrick did propose to me on Wednesday," answered Gabriella, knowing that if a newspaper published it that things back at the palace would only get uglier for her, a thought that passed quickly through her mind before she refocused on Troy. "What else did it say?"

"It didn't have to say anything else. There were pictures Gabriella, of you and that guy! If you were getting so serious with him to know that he was going to propose and that you would accept him, why did you have to string me along? Why couldn't you just have told me to take a hike?" questioned Troy, hating the misery that was currently taking a hold of him, pushing aside the anger he was desperately clinging to because it was much easier to handle with anger in his veins instead of heartache. "Why didn't you just let me go?"

The shakiness and vulnerable tone in Troy's voice now ripped at Gabriella's heart, pulling at her conscience that had been telling her to be truthful with him for a while now. Seeing the sharpness of his facial expression fade only to be replaced by a sad dullness in his eyes only added to Gabriella's guilt. "I couldn't Troy, I couldn't let you go. I tried, I did, but I was too selfish. I couldn't lose you! You're the most amazing thing that has ever happened to me. I did what I did on Wednesday for us. You must know that, despite what you think happened on Wednesday."

As quickly as it had left him, some of the anger returned just then, hearing Gabriella claim that she cared for him. "What I think happened? For us? Gabriella, there were fucking pictures for the world to see, of Patrick on his knee proposing, of you kissing!"

This tidbit caught Gabriella completely off guard, her mind racing back to the memory of Wednesday night, trying to remember if she spotted anyone else nearby. When she failed to remember any flashes of light or any signs of people out there on the field with her and Patrick, Gabriella pushed aside the wonderment on how the pictures were taken to focus on how to handle Troy now that she understood what exactly he was talking about now. "Yes, Patrick proposed expecting me to say yes on Wednesday but…"

"No, no 'but' from you. Gabriella, I love you, so much that it hurts. How can you do this to me? To us? You know we are meant to be together, that we are so good together. What could possibly make you do this?" interrupted Troy, not wanting to hear any excuses but just the reason as to why Gabriella decided to break his heart.

"I didn't do what you think I did Troy," Gabriella informed him. "I could never! Do you really think I could be that big of a bitch and accept Patrick's proposal and then wear your sweatshirt to feel closer to you days after? Do you have that low of a regard for me to think me capable of that?"

Her genuine sounding denial made Troy pause, wondering if maybe things were different than he thought they were, but he pushed it aside in the end as visions of the pictures in the newspaper came back. "Just tell me the truth Gabriella! Tell me to my face that you are now engaged, after everything I have done for you, to be with you!"

She heard his demands but wanted to believe he couldn't really be this enraged, this irrational. "Troy, this isn't like you! Why won't you listen to me? I didn't accept the proposal, I told Patrick no!"

"Stop lying!" yelled Troy, feeling fury return yet again at her denial. "I saw the pictures! The media are a slick bunch but a reputable newspaper like that wouldn't risk its reputation on some computer altered pictures. I know what I saw! Just fess up, you're caught. Just tell me, let me hear it from your mouth!"

"I can't do that Troy, I'd be lying to you then! Why do you not believe me? What have I done to lose your trust so suddenly?" begged Gabriella, anger and hurt mingling in her own veins now. "Patrick did propose but when it comes down to it, I would never be able to live with myself if I married him when my heart and soul belong to you! I didn't know he was going to propose that night!"

"Have you changed so much since being a princess that you can't even own up to one simple truth? Why can't you tell me the truth that you are Patrick's fiancé, that you chose him over me, that we are no longer dating!" exclaimed Troy, fueled so much with his frustration with the situation and hearing all of Gabriella's denials that he flew right by the gut feeling he had that he had it wrong.

"Because I didn't accept!" screamed Gabriella, tears of frustration and misery filling her eyes. "I couldn't Troy! I wish you'd believe me!"

Paul, seeing the heated argument attracting people's attentions, decided it was time to step in. He quickly approached the feuding couple and in a hushed voice said, "Look, I know this is really important for you two to talk about but I highly recommend moving this somewhere else like the palace or Troy's place."

Troy spared Paul a quick glance before focusing again on Gabriella's face, wondering how she could lie to him and still stare him in the eyes. "No, forget it. This isn't worth it. If Gabriella won't own up to her new status then there's no use. I just want you to know Gabriella that you've broken me, completely. I hope you're happy."

As Troy spun on his heel and stalked off into the night, Gabriella lost all anger towards the assumption Troy had held onto so tightly. Instead, the need to comfort him, to make Troy see the truth, took root causing Gabriella to start following him, the glimpse of a broken Troy breaking her heart. Paul and Chris both stopped her, neither of them wanting to see where the rest of this argument would go if given the chance at the moment.

"Just let him go Ella. Troy isn't seeing straight right now, neither are you," stated Chris, giving Gabriella's shoulder a squeeze with the hand that rested there. "Let him cool off, let him think about things. I'm sure he'll come around to realize later his mistake in not listening."

"Chris is right. Troy is just hurt Gabriella, as I'd imagine I would be too if I thought Emma was engaged to someone else and not married to me," added Paul, seeing where both Troy and Gabriella were coming from at that moment. "Let's not give the media and public at large any more fodder to make your life worse at the palace okay?"

Gabriella sighed, the rational part of her brain seeing the logic in Paul's words. "I guess I have no choice. The Troy tonight though, he was so unlike himself."

Chris readily agreed, unable to recall when he had seen the other man lose his cool so badly. "It's just the pain Ella, the shock. He'll see in time that you were telling the truth, especially as the news begins to circulate that you aren't even seeing Patrick anymore. Troy's smart, he'll have everything worked out in no time and will be begging for your forgiveness."

Gabriella shook her head though, immediately disagreeing. "No, it's me that should be apologizing to him. I need to tell Troy about everything, about Wednesday and about this stupid ancient royal tradition I've honored until two days ago. He needs to know it all and if Troy still won't listen or have me then, then I'll have my answer as to whether or not we really are fated to be together."

When the first tear rolled down Gabriella's cheek, followed shortly by another, Chris enveloped her in a crushing hug, feeling awful for her and Troy both. Eventually, all three walked together to the parking lot where Gabriella got into the passenger's seat, allowing Paul to drive her back to the palace. Gabriella spent the entire ride there wondering what she should do now and how she could have stupidly allowed for things to get so bad between her and Troy, knowing then that Gabriella may have very well lost the one man that meant the world to her.

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