Going Nowhere Fast © Midnight113.

Disclaimer: I do not own or have any affiliation to High School Musical or any of the brands/names/products/artists/lyrics or references mentioned in this story.

Synopsis:

Driving along contently, Gabriella Montez and her friends were on their way back home from California. It had been a pretty good day so far, that is, up until red and blue sirens started flashing in her review mirror. T&G Oneshot.

A warning to all potential thieves, this work is copyright 2011 Midnight113. Going Nowhere Fast is completely the work and property of Midnight113, to reproduce under any other name is theft!

Going Nowhere Fast

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Let me just start by saying that I am an excellent driver. I have absolutely no record whatsoever. I've never been pulled over, I've never ran a light or a stop sign for that matter. Hell, I've never even killed a squirrel or any other rodent friend on the road and I'll be the first to admit that it upsets me when I hit a fly and its guts get stuck to my windshield. I always end up feeling guilty; what if that fly had a family? I just killed it with my car going thirty miles and hour and what's worse? I destroyed it more by attempting to use my wipers to clean the mess off which only made the bug smear more on the glass. But I'm getting ahead of myself here. Let's start again.

Hello, I'm Gabriella Montez, the best driver in the state of California and New Mexico combined. I'm serious, you can go check. I'll even give you my license plate number if you don't believe me, although that wouldn't do much good since I'm in a rented van at the moment but that's irrelevant. I'm going to assume we're on the same page here then as I continue with the story. Good, glad you agree. Where was I? Oh yes… driving.

So here I was with my best friends, Sharpay Evans (the crazy one) and Taylor Mckessie (the smart one), driving along at an extremely respectable speed if you ask me. Let me digress. We were on an old country road on our way to New Mexico from California where I have been attending Stanford for the past four years. I can finally, safely say that I've graduated and am now pursuing a career in education. Yippee. No really, I'm excited about it. My friends, the aforementioned people, drove all the way out to Cali just to help me pack up and move back home. I was going to be teaching at East High School, the same school I had attended previously and boy was I anxious to get back there and get started with this new page in my life.

Anyway, back to the matter at hand. So as I said, we were driving along on a back road having taken a detour so that Sharpay could go to the bathroom in a more suitable environment than an outhouse, I told you she was the crazy one. So once I found her a Mickey D's and she relieved herself, we were back on the road and already in New Mexico by sundown. This of course was after she insisted we eat at the fast food restaurant as well which was very much out of character for my high class friend but I paid it no mind.

I want to say the speed limit on the road we were currently traveling on was about sixty, sixty-five but don't quote me on that because honestly, I haven't been paying attention to any signs on the road. It was this long stretch of a single lane highway and there were no other cars for miles. I had nothing to worry about. I was too focused on singing along to the tunes that Taylor was blasting through the radio to care about road rules at the moment anyway.

"Just a small town girl, livin' in a lonely world!" I belted out off key. "She took the midnight train going anywhere."

I guess you could say that I was just a tad preoccupied with the song so I wasn't paying attention to the sign we passed that said fifty-five mile an hour speed limit.

"Just a city boy, born and raised in south Detroit. He took the midnight train going anywhere." Sharpay chimed in from her place in the backseat.

"A singer in a smoky room. The smell of wine and cheap perfume." Taylor began as the three of us finished off, "For a smile they can share the night. It goes on and on and on and on." We sang together in horrible harmony. Taylor was busy giggling while Sharpay was being over dramatic with her notes.

"Strangers waiting, up and down the boulevard their shadows, searching in the night." I took a deep breath while tapping my fingers against the steering wheel. "Streetlight, people, livin' just to find emotion. Hiding, somewhere in the night!" I ended with a shaky voice trying to contain my giggles at the craziness that was being emitted into the small van by the three of us singing 'Journey' at the top of our lungs.

Just as a smile crept onto my face, it quickly disappeared at the flashing blue and red lights of a police cruiser reflecting in my mirror, successfully lighting up my vehicle.

"Shit, this could only happen to me on a deserted road at night." I mumbled.

"Maybe he's just trying to pass you so he can get somewhere." Sharpay announced as the cruiser's siren started wailing in my ears.

"I doubt it." Taylor turned down the music as I immediately slowed and pulled over to the side of the road, watching in my mirror as the cruiser behind me mimicked my actions.

"This sucks, I'm not even back in the state for ten minutes and I'm already making new friends." I spoke as I flicked on the overhead light and waited patiently for the officer to approach my window. I watched as the figure exited the car with a search light on that was blinding me from making out whether or not it was a guy or a girl.

Once the person stopped at my window, they tapped on it gently with the butt of the flashlight they were holding and I slowly lowered it with a pleasant smile on my face.

"Good evening Officer." I spoke sweetly as the person continued to block my vision obnoxiously with the flashlight shining in my eyes, obscuring my vision further.

The officer stood there for a moment without speaking a word and then slowly lowered the light out of my eyes. I waited for the annoying dots to clear from my sight so I could get a better look at the asshole. Was it really necessary to blind me? I thought as I registered the large smirk first and then the bright blue eyes of the cop. Yup… I think I preferred the flashlight in my face actually. Come to think of it, I would have rather not been subjected to having that particular face be the first one I see the moment I step back in the state. "Why me?" I mumbled out.

"Why whatever's the matter Gabi?" The unmistakable, annoying, sexy ass voice of my ex-fiancé asked. Yeah I know, shocker right? Let me introduce you. This guy is my old high school sweetheart, we've know each other for years and we dated for the last two years of high school. He's also the guy I was engaged to for a month. That was before I went away to Stanford. We were in love and then I ended it, no need to bore you with any further details. You get the picture right? Let me tell you his name.

"Troy Bolton, what the fuck are you doing here?" I seethed. See? He brings out the worst in me.

"My, my, what a potty mouth on you. I don't remember you swearing like that when we were together. I must bring out the worst in you." He chuckled all sexily. See what I mean… asshole can even read my mind. I bet you're wondering why I keep referring to him as an asshole. I'll explain… well, in a minute. Let me yell at him some more. It makes me feel good to know I can assault an officer of the law verbally and not get in trouble for it. Insert evil cackle here.

"Hi Troy!" Sharpay shouted from the backseat. "Fancy seeing you here." And she's supposed to be my friend. Even after I moved away and everything went downhill, my friends still talked with my ex from time to time. It kind of annoyed me because it's all a question of where your loyalties lie. But in the end I understood that just because things changed between him and I doesn't mean they had to with everybody else. Yup, that's how I justified it.

"Sharpay stop fraternizing with the enemy." I yelled back at her, never once removing my eyes from Troy's. "Why are you pulling me over on a Tuesday night in the middle of nowhere anyway? And when the hell did you become a cop?" What can I say, I wanted answers and I certainly didn't remember Sharpay or Taylor mentioning such things to me in the past. Not that I asked them what was going on in Troy's life or anything. It's not like I cared about him anymore. Nope, not me. I'm just a tad curious, nuttin wrong with that no sir.

"Eh about a year ago, I'm really good at it." Well yippy-freaking-do. Just as I was about to respond, I noticed Taylor had rolled her window down on the passenger side and was in the middle of a conversation with some guy who had a lot of hair. Upon closer inspection I realized it was an Afro. Strange, that's so out of style right now but it does look good on the guy.

"Yo, Tay!" I shouted and waved my hand in her face. "Focus will ya. This is no time to flirt." I scolded.

"Howdy Ma'am, I'm Officer Chad." The dark skinned man tilted his cap in my direction and smiled as Sharpay pushed forward from the backseat.

"Well, well. I like a guy with manners. You don't see that too often. How you doing hot stuff? I'm Sharpay Evans." I watched with an incredulous expression as my other friend (the crazy one) reached forward over Taylor to grasp the officer's hand and he indulged her by lifting her small palm up and kissing it tenderly.

"I'm surrounded by morons!" I screamed and then turned back to face my ex. He had that stupid, sexy smirk on his face again. Boy how I wanted to just smack it right off his beautiful moist lips, but I controlled myself not wanting to see what would happen to me if I physically assaulted an officer, there's a big difference between verbal and physical assault you know. Oh you did? Okay, okay… just checking sheesh. Well either way, I seriously doubt Troy would actually handcuff me and take me in for giving him a good whack on the cheek. He deserved it after all for what he did to me all those years ago. You want to hear what he did? Alright I'll tell you… oh wait, Troy's talking to me. I better see what he wants.

"What?" I asked. Hey, you can't blame me for not listening to the guy. I've got a lot on my mind at the moment.

"I said, were you aware that you were going seventy in a fifty-five?" He asked, the smirk not once relenting.

"Seventy!" I yelled in his face. "You've got to be joking. I was going fifty-five, sixty tops." I informed him.

"Not according to my radar you weren't. I'm afraid I'm going to have to write you out a ticket baby." He pulled out his pad and began jaunting something down.

Oh no he didn't! He did not just call me baby! He had no right, I mean, it's not like we were together anymore. That got messed up a long time ago.

I swiftly grabbed the handle to my door and shoved it open, not minding that I successfully hit him in the crotch and caused him to groan in pain. In fact, I did a little happy dance at the thought. Take that jerk! Gabriella Montez: one, Troy Bolton: zero.

"Look buddy, let's get something straight. I'm not your baby, understand? You relinquished the right to call me that four years ago when you broke up with me and secondly, I was not going seventy! Maybe sixty-five but not seventy!" I shouted in his face. I had to make a stand somewhere right? I know I deserved the ticket but I will not allow Troy Bolton to patronize me, I know how fast I was going. Okay, maybe I didn't because like I said before, I was a little carried away with singing but he didn't need to know that. I'm sure I was going sixty-five though, or was it sixty-seven? Hmm… query.

"Are you even listening to me?" Oh… oops.

"Huh?" I asked him as he raised both his eyebrows.

"I did not break up with you, you broke up with me!" He yelled.

"I most certainly did not." I rolled my eyes and crossed my arms against my chest. Pssh, what did he know. It's not like he can read my mind or anything even though he sorta, already did before... but that's not the point. Besides, we only dated for a couple years before he popped the question anyway so it's not like he knows me all that well. Oh who the hell am I kidding.

"Oh yes you did, don't you remember? I proposed to you right before senior year ended and you said yes. Than a month later you flung the engagement ring at my head and broke it off without telling me why."

Huh, oh yeah. Okay, so maybe he's right. I did break up with him but I had a perfectly good reason.

"I had a perfectly good reason you know!" I spoke my thoughts.

"Really? I'd love to hear it." He cocked his head at me.

Uh oh… mayday, mayday! Danger Will Robinson, danger! Back up real slowly and get back in the van Gabriella, I told myself. Curse me and my big mouth. There's no way in hell I'm going to pour my heart out to this ass on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere.

"Well what do you know, look at the time?" I clapped my hands together nervously. "It's getting really late so how about you just give me that ticket and send me on my way." I mumbled as I grabbed the handle to my car and pulled it open, ignoring the intense looks my friends were sending us. Including Officer Chad.

"Gabi, will you just wait a minute." I didn't even hear Troy's voice anymore as I began climbing into the van which took some effort because, well… I'm really short. It's not my fault though, repressed tall genes or something. I don't know, I didn't do so hot in science. I told you Taylor's the smart one. I only got into Stanford because of a good GPA with all the other subjects. We're getting off topic here though.

Without my consent and very much so against my will, Troy grabbed me around the waist and pulled me back out of the vehicle.

"Hey, let go of me. This is against my constitutional rights! Put me down!" I screamed dramatically.

"Sorry, I don't recognize the constitution when I'm dealing with extracting the truth from my very difficult, ex-fiancé." Troy replied as he dropped me to the ground. "Start talking or else." He demanded. What an arrogant ass, I'll show him.

"Or else what, you gonna arrest me big man?" I folded me arms and laughed sarcastically at my own comment. Gabriella Montez: two, Troy Bolton: zero. Ooh, I'm good. Just look at him, standing there all shocked and quiet. That stupid sexy smirk coming back, ha. Like he can do anything to me, what power does he have anyway? He's just…a cop. Oh no. He's really smirking now.

I chuckled nervously and scratched the back of my head. "I'm such a kidder, come on, laugh with me here." It took me two seconds to realize Troy was not laughing with me, neither was anyone else. Ah crap. "Troy?"

So there you have it, the end. Wasn't that great? I knew I could have been a writer if I wanted. Yeah… I'm joking. Not about the writing thing, I really could have been one. No I'm talking about the story. It's not over yet. I'm actually sitting in the slammer right at this moment. No lie. It's really cool. I'm all alone behind big black iron bars. I feel like Jack Sparrow in the first Pirates. Except this is real life and instead of a dog holding the keys on the other side of the bars, it's Troy Bolton. Ugh, double suck. Could this night get any worse? I guess it could because now I have to give him a point, oh darn. Okay so Gabriella Montez: two, Troy Bolton: one. But rest assured, he won't get another one.

Now I know we left off with me stupidly suggesting Troy arrest me, I say stupidly because I've grown to understand that's exactly what I am. Stupid. I don't care if I do have a degree in education, what the hell possessed me to suggest for my ex-fiancé to lock me up? I don't want to be in jail. It's cold and unfurnished. Well, technically there is this little bench I'm sitting on right now as I watch Troy continue to smirk at me through the bars but in hindsight, I realized that I'm even closer to home than I was before since the station I'm at right now is coincidently located in my hometown of Albuquerque. Odd right? What was Troy doing so far away from his jurisdiction? It's not like he can do much once he's out of the town where he's stationed.

"I have a question." I decided to ask him, it's not like we were doing anything else besides staring at each other.

"It finally speaks." He joked.

"Ha, ha. Yeah, hilarious. That was so funny." I fake laughed as my face suddenly became serious. "So tell me, what were you doing near the border if Albuquerque is your district?" I questioned.

"I don't think you seem to understand the predicament you're in Gabriella. The point of locking you up in jail is to get you to answer my questions not the other way around." He pointed out.

"How about we play a game then." I smiled. "I'll answer your question if you answer mine, deal?"

He thought about it for a moment and then nodded. "Okay."

"Good, me first then. What were you doing by the border?"

"Well, it's simple really. Sharpay texted me while she was in McDonalds and told me where you guys were." He shrugged.

Needless to say, my mouth was hanging wide open at the moment. Rather unattractively I might add. That little jerk I call my best friend, she set the whole thing up. That's why she was being so difficult with the whole bathroom ordeal and she even insisted we order food and eat in the restaurant which is something she never wants to do. I bet Taylor was in on the whole thing too, she's the brains after all. Those little sneaky rats.

"Taylor knew about it too." Troy informed me. I knew it!

"Where are they, the ones I call my friends?"

"I believe they're in the waiting room flirting with Chad. I think Sharpay's winning though, he's new to the force but he's already told me that he prefers blondes to brunettes. I on the other hand feel the exact opposite."

I rolled my eyes; like I give a damn what his preferences are much less Chad's. "Well that's just fine and dandy for you. Now let me out of here so I can go pummel them."

"Ah, ah…you have to answer my question now remember? So start talking Montez."

I sighed and blew a piece of hair out of my face in frustration. Damn him for remembering the deal. Okay, I can do this. All I have to do is tell him why I broke up with him after high school. Shouldn't be hard.

I immediately clasped my hand over my mouth and spoke into it. The resulting words muffled and unclear to hear.

Troy rolled his eyes and shook his head at my antics. "What was that Gabriella; I can't hear you with your hand covering your mouth and all."

"That's the point you fool!" I scolded.

"Look, either you tell me right now or I'll leave you in there for the entire night until someone comes to bail you out, someone besides your friends." He was serious, I could tell because he had his serious face on.

"Fine then… leave me here. See if I care." I folded me arms childishly and watched him from the corner of my eye. He wouldn't really leave me here, Troy may be an ass sometimes but he's not that much of an ass. I began to panic as he turned to walk away from the cell and immediately leapt to my feet like the coward I was. "Wait!" I pleaded with him as I clung sadly to the bars in defeat. "You win, alright. I'll tell you everything just let me out."

I saw him smirk just a little bit and then it faded just as fast as he approached my cell. Arrogant ass. "I can't let you out until you tell me what happened to us." Well he did sound kind of sad just then.

I sighed and leaned my forehead against the cool bars, gaining the courage to speak. "We were young Troy, nobody thought we would last except Sharpay and she's the crazy one." I tried to keep the mood light but I don't think he appreciated my attempts. "I was going to Stanford and you; you wanted to go to New York. I heard you talking to your dad about some basketball program there. What was I going to do, make you follow me to California out of guilt?" I mumbled.

After a minute of silence I finally looked up to see his eyes studying me intensely. "Yes… because I already was going to." He shook his head and moved closer to my cell, pushing his hands through it to hold onto my arms. "What do you mean out of guilt? We were engaged Gabriella, I had every intention of moving with you to California."

"But that's not what you wanted Troy. You wanted to go to New York and I wasn't going to hold you back from that."

"No Gabi, what I wanted was you." He yelled at me and the sound echoed through the empty room.

"Oh so you're telling me that you were just going to give everything up and follow me to California regardless of-"

"That is exactly what I'm telling you!"

"No Troy, that wouldn't have been the smart thing to do."

"You and your stupid conscience. I asked you to marry me Gabi, because I wanted to be with you forever. I didn't care where." He scolded me.

"It wouldn't have been fair to you." I mumbled again, what's with all the mumbling?

I felt his fingers move a strand of loose hair out of my face and slowly brush across my cheek as he tilted my chin up through the bars. "Gabi…" He whispered my name so sensually I felt weak at the knees but it didn't stop my own hand from wrapping around his and squeezing tightly. "I missed you." Somehow he knew that's exactly what I needed to hear.

"Are you telling me you don't have a beautiful girlfriend or better yet, wife waiting for you at home after all these years?" I asked in disbelief.

"I guess I just never got over you." He shrugged but my heart melted at his words. How corny and yet utterly romantic. "Did you miss me too?" Well duh! Of course I did but I wasn't going to admit that to him. Instead I decided to admit something else entirely.

"I still love you." Did I forget to mention that part before? Oh well… yes it's true. I am still head over heels for my gorgeous, handsome, high school sweetheart, ex-fiancé, Mr. …err, Officer Bolton. Weird, I'm going to have to get use to that. Kind of kinky though, I like it.

"You're the best thing that ever happened to me." I averted my eyes from his. "And the biggest regret I've ever had is being too scared to call you and get you back. I just didn't want to be selfish, I'm sorry."

I felt it would be better to just admit that part to him first since it was crucial information for him to know after all and I see I was right in my decision since his eyes were currently popping out of his head. I guess he wasn't expecting that little revelation. Boo-ya! Another point for me.

I was so busy relishing in my win that I didn't notice he was fusing his lips against mine through the bars; both of his hands were now cradling my face as best they could given the situation. I couldn't suppress the content moan that escaped pass my lips and I giggled happily when he pulled away and smiled at me. Okay, this got mushy fast but I can't help it. He has that affect on me, you know how it is. The best part of this is that his lips felt exactly the same as they did before. Boy had I missed that.

"For the record, I love you too. I always have and I'm not letting you go again." His smile made me smile and I realized, I had to give him another point because that was just too cute not to reward him. Suddenly I didn't feel like referring to him as asshole anymore since I was only doing it out of guilt for the feelings he still managed to ignite inside of me and after not seeing him for years, he still looked and tasted the same and my heart still ached for him. Listen to me, I sound like a sappy soap opera.

"Okay." I nodded. What? It's hard not to agree with him, he's a cop for crying out loud. They have their ways.

"And if you ever break up with me again I'm going to keep coming after you even when your friends and family tell me not to, even when you never answer your phone and constantly push me away. I won't let you do that to me, to us, ever again. Understand?" I nodded. "Good. And I never was going to New York Gabi; obviously you didn't hear the entire conversation that day because it was my dad forcing that on me. I was the one fighting him on it." Well that just makes me feel like a complete idiot for jumping to conclusions.

"I made a mistake didn't I?" Yeah I felt it was important that I word my thoughts to him otherwise I might go insane.

"Mmmhmm." Troy nodded. "So why did you come back? You could have stayed in California to teach, why didn't you?"

It's now or never Gabi. "Well I… guess a lot of my decision was fueled by knowing you were still here." I admitted sheepishly. It's true though, I based all of my motives on returning to the place where I had lots of happy memories, specifically with Troy. That's why I was so excited when Sharpay told me there was an opening at East High and I jumped on it. That and the fact that I knew Troy was still living in the area, Sharpay had told me that as well. Yet another reason I justified their continued friendship even after our breakup.

"Do you mean that?" His voice was so soft, I wanted to reach out and cup his cheek through the iron bars that were blocking me from hopping into his arms.

So I did just that, brushing my fingers over his stubble and tracing his jaw line with my thumb, I nodded and smiled when I felt him shiver against my touch. Yay, I still had an affect on him!

"You should have come after me you know, I hated having to find out what was going on in your life through Shar." I know, I'm pathetic but the first step is admitting it to yourself.

"I didn't think you wanted me to." Well I did genius; guys just don't have a clue sometimes. "You could have called me, I would have answered."

"I didn't have the guts and I'm too stubborn for my own good, you know that." Like the scared little coward I was, I focused my attention on the cement floor. "I didn't hurt you when I flung the ring at your head did I?"

"No, just bruised my heart." He had to go and say it like that, because I didn't feel bad enough at how everything turned out.

"I'm sorry. I don't know what else to say." I really didn't.

"I think it's safe to say we're both idiots who are still crazy about each other which is why we never moved on after years of not talking. You agree?" Troy smiled and leaned his forehead against mine as best he could.

"Agreed." I smiled at where this was going.

"So I think it would be best for both of us to start over again, with each other of course. What do you think about that?" His lips were moving closer to mine and I'd never felt happier in my whole life.

"Yes!" I nodded my head a little too enthusiastically and then noticed his growing smirk so I decided to get a grip of myself and reel in my emotions just a tad. "I mean it sounds like a very acceptable offer." Then I realized something. "Wait a minute… how do you know I'm not seeing anybody? What makes you think I just sat around pining for you all these years?" I wondered.

Troy blushed, yes blushed at my question. Interesting.

"Uh… well you see. I sorta kept tabs on you through Sharpay and Taylor." Aw! Award him another point for that. Shit, now we're tied.

"You kept tabs on me?" I tilted my head and stared into his beautiful, magical blue orbs.

"Guilty." He smiled and then I smacked him on the arm, not too hard though because it was so cute and swoon worthy to hear that he never stopped thinking about me.

"You idiot! After I kill my friends I'm coming after you for not fixing this sooner ex-fiancé of mine." Troy just laughed, the nerve of him. I'm removing a point from his score just for that, I can do that you know, I'm the one that created this little game in the first place. I saw him move to kiss me again but I stopped him.

"Uh… Troy. Do you think you can let me out now?"

Final score, Gabriella Montez: three, Troy Bolton: two. I win! The prize? Heck if I know, but I'm pretty content with just getting out of this cell and being back in my man's arms. Yup, what did I tell ya? I knew it was going to be a good day after all.

A/N: So this was my first ever attempt at first-person narrative. I've been meaning to jump out of my comfort zone for a while now and try this so hopefully it didn't suck and was somewhat enjoyable. I'm a little fond of this actually, it's the only piece of work I've ever written that actually elicits a response out of me when I read it other than a smile. I hope I didn't go overboard with the humor though. As always, reviews are greatly appreciated and my apologies for any grammatical errors. Secondary disclaimer: I don't own Journey or the lyrics to 'Don't Stop Believin''