A/N: I am currently basking in the warm L.A. sunshine for the long Martin Luther King weekend and got inspired to write a new story. Which I probably shouldn't be starting a new one considering that I still have quite a few chapters of OBYAM left. It will also be quite different than OBYAM and will feature more of Troy's perspective.

Gabriella Montez was pushing her cart down the aisles to Matt's Grocery and Liquor. At the age of thirty-seven she had just moved back to her hometown in New Mexico after living in Connecticut for fifteen years. She had rented a new house that she intended to start her life over in, along with her two daughters Emma and Mia.

It was a difficult decision to make. She just finished divorcing her husband of fifteen years and had almost nothing left. She had eloped with Tom Shwartz, with out a pre-nuptial agreement, at the ages of twenty-two and twenty-four and nine months later their daughter, Emma was born followed by Mia four years later. Her jackass of an ex-husband had at least given her their daughters without a fight. He'd taken just about everything else, their house, their money, and everything in their house except for her and her daughters' clothes and a few of their daughter's possessions.

At this point, her two girls was the only thing keeping her sane.

Picking up a loaf of whole grain bread, she saw her two daughters come down the aisle toward her with some marshmallows, chocolate bars, and graham crackers. "Mama, can we get these? We can make smores when we have a bonfire!" Little ten year Mia asked her.

"Sure honey." She smiled down at the little girl. She was doing well considering she had just moved across the country. Her other daughter, she was more worried about. It had originally been Emma's idea to move. Everywhere they went in their small town, people gave them looks of pity. The divorce had been messy, and the town was quite fond of gossip. It was hard enough for the girl to find out her father didn't want to see her anymore, but seeing the people whisper about her father's affair at school had made things almost unbearable. As if high school wasn't difficult to deal with, this had come along and shaken up their lives. It had become too much for the fourteen year old girl to deal with and she had asked her mom if they could go somewhere that no one would know what had happened and they could start over.

That was how she ended up in Albuquerque. Gabriella had talked to her boss, and managed to secure a job in her hometown. She then contacted her mother, informing her that they intended on moving back. Maria had found a house that her daughter and granddaughters could rent for a few months until they decided on buying a house permanently. The house had a bonfire pit in the backyard which excited the girls because they could all sit around the fire all year round without having to worry about the cold Connecticut winters.

Moving so suddenly had brought many stresses. With the help of her mother and a few friends, she had managed to fill their temporary home with some furniture but they still needed some essentials such as plates and silverware. They had either eaten out or at her mother's house. Gabriella now needed to finish enrolling her daughters in their new schools and meet with her new boss. She was overwhelmed with everything that had happened and moving was difficult.

"Anything else girls?" They were finishing up their trip to the grocery store. "Emma, anything in particular that you want?"

"No." Emma had inherited her mother's looks and her father's stature. She had long brown curly hair and brown eyes, but was very skinny like her father. Not that Gabriella was fat, she was just curvier than her daughter.

"You sure?" Gabriella was really worried about Emma. She'd become very quiet and reserved the past few weeks. She didn't blame her, it was a lot to take in.

"I'm sure Mom." Emma was ready to leave the grocery store now. "I'm hungry and all this food isn't helping much."

"Okay then, let's go." She pushed the full cart toward the check out lanes and her daughters trailed behind her.

The next day Gabriella woke up to the sound of the alarm she had set on her cell phone. An alarm clock was one of those things she had forgotten about whilst she was preparing her move. She rolled over, feeling a small body next to her. She saw ten year old Mia stirring awake. The girl had come into her bed sometime during the night. Smiling at her, she brushed the little girls curls behind her ear. She was desperately trying to understand why she wasn't going to see her daddy anymore and why they had to move out of their home. None of the three girls had seen it coming and the youngest was dealing with it as much as she could.

Today the three girls would head to East Elementary School and East High School, both of which Gabriella had attended in her childhood. She was a bit nervous, she never knew who she would run into whilst walking around Albuquerque. She had yet to figure out what she would say when people asked what she was doing in Albuquerque. She couldn't say, 'Oh, my husband left me for some twenty-two year old, took all my money, and left me with our two kids.' No, she definitely could not say that.

"Mia, wake up sweetie." Gabriella said softly while rubbing her daughter's back. "We need to go see your new school."

"Do we have to Mama? I like staying home with you all day." Mia tiredly asked her mother. The two girls had un-enrolled from their schools a week ago and were dreading starting their new schools in Albuquerque.

"Yes Mia, you can't stay home forever." Gabriella chuckled at her daughter's request. She loved spending time with her daughters, but they couldn't stay home forever.

"What if the kids don't like me?" Of course Mia was scared of the new kids. She, however, would probably have an easy time making new friends. At the age of ten, cliques hadn't really taken over and wouldn't prevent Mia from fitting in.

"Well, you will never know that they don't like you until you actually meet them, will you?" Gabriella knew that Mia wouldn't have too hard of a time fitting in although, it would be a little scary for the little girl.

"I guess not." Mia knew her mom was right.

"Okay, well I have to shower. Will you go make sure your sister is awake? If she isn't, wake her up, nicely though, okay? No yelling in her ear please. And then get dressed and brush your hair." Gabriella knew better than to have her Mia wake up her sister, Emma would not be pleased.

"Okay Mama." Gabriella kissed Mia's forehead and stood up to grab her clothes for the day and walked into the attached bathroom to start the water for the shower.

Walking into East High School with her eldest daughter was something Gabriella had never imagined doing. Not much had changed since she had last been there, there was new tile on the floor and the lockers had been repainted a few times, but everything was in the same place as it had been when she had attended the school. It was like taking a walk down memory lane, as she walked down the halls of her old high school toward the main office. She hadn't been to see the principal many times in her high school career, but she remembered exactly where it was. Walking into the office, she confirmed her appointment with the secretary, who told her and Emma, to take a seat and the principal would be out to speak with her shortly.

She could hear two men conversing as the door that was labeled 'Vice Principal' opened. Looking up she saw a tall man with brown hair and gorgeous blue eyes walk out. She didn't know what they were talking about, but she attempted to make herself as invisible as possible as the man walked toward the door located near the chairs. Obviously, it didn't work too well.

"Gabriella?" She heard Troy's voice. He sounded exactly the same.

"Hi Troy." She greeted and stood up.

"What are you doing here?" He held his arms open to her.

After hugging him she spoke, "Well, we are enrolling that one," she pointed at Emma, "here at the lovely East High School. What are you doing here?"

"I'm a teacher here, and the basketball coach. I can't believe you're back! How long have you been here?" Troy's was excited, his high school sweetheart had apparently just moved back to Albuquerque.

"Following in the footsteps of your father I see. We just moved three days ago." It had only been three days and Gabriella had managed to run into her ex-boyfriend.

"Not exactly. I'm teaching English, ninth grade American Literature and eleventh grade European Classics. What are you doing? Are you a doctor? Lawyer?" Everyone thought great things would come out of Gabriella when she had graduated.

"I'm a bio-chemist." Gabriella smiled. Everyone had thought she'd be a doctor or a lawyer. She had married a lawyer however, a lawyer that was a lot better at his job than he'd ever let onto.

"Impressive. Chad and Taylor will never believe that I saw you." Troy brought up their high school friends. The four had been unseperable when they were teenagers.

"No way! You kept in contact with them? Are they still together?" Gabriella quickly lost touch with her high school friends, especially after her and Troy broke their relationship. They had been in love, but it wasn't their time.

"Yeah, I was the best man at their wedding. Taylor wanted to invite you, but she had no idea where you were. They have four kids now." Taylor and Chad had gotten married when they were twenty-six.

"Your kidding! Four? I can't imagine how crazy they all are." Taylor and Chad had an interesting relationship. They seemed to argue more than anyone else.

"Yeah, it's kind of crazy what's happened with them. I still can't believe that Taylor quit her job to be a stay at home mom and Chad has a job in the corporate world." Taylor had aspirations to be a politician and she had made herself clear that she was going to be the next president.

"Wow, I've missed a lot. How old are their kids?" Gabriella was curious as to what her best friend from high school was up to.

"The oldest is ten, then seven, three, and two months." That was a lot of kids, in not a lot of time.

"My youngest is ten, she's at my mom's. Emma here is fourteen." Emma waved awkwardly. She had no clue who this man was.

"My son is fifteen. Maybe you will be in one of my English classes." Troy spoke partially to Gabriella, partially to her daughter Emma.

Gabriella felt a little bit of a pang in her heart when Troy spoke of his son. There had been a point in her life when she thought that she would be the mother of his kids. Shaking off the thought, she thought she was being immature. That was almost twenty years ago. She noticed he wasn't wearing a wedding ring though.

"You know what? We should get together and catch up sometime. Have dinner maybe." Troy knew he would have to leave soon. Fourth period was almost over and he would have to get back to his classroom for fifth period but he desperately wanted to spend more time with Gabriella. She had mysteriously moved back to Albuquerque and wasn't wearing a wedding ring. Maybe they could stand a chance at having a relationship.

"Umm… sure." Gabriella hadn't done anything social since her divorce but would feel bad rejecting Troy. The divorce was still very recent and she just wasn't sure if she was ready to go out yet. She hadn't even thought about dating. It was too soon.

"Great, uh, one sec." He turned around and grabbed a pen and scrap piece of paper from the secretary. "Do you want to write your phone number down? I'll give you a call with more details."

"Sure." Gabriella hesitantly wrote down her digits. This was moving really fast.

"I'll talk to you later Gabriella." Troy hugged her one more time before leaving the office. Gabriella sat back down.

"Who was that?" Emma questioned in disbelief. Three days in Albuquerque and her mother had already been asked out on a date, in her high school non less.

"Remember when I told you about my boyfriend from high school?" Looking at her daughter, Gabriella saw her nod her head, "That was him."

Emma's eyes widened. Her mother had told her the story of how she fell head over heels for a boy in high school that she thought she would marry.

"Gabriella Montez?" The principal finally came out of his office. The two stood up to walk into his office.

The meeting with both her daughter's principals had gone well. They would be starting school after the weekend. Emma and her were going to Gabriella's mother's house to pick up Mia, who had been staying there while they visited the high school. Walking in, she saw her mother and Mia sitting at the counter making some sort of art project with bendy straws.

"Were back." Gabriella spoke to notify her mother and daughter that they were in the house again.

"How'd it go?" Maria asked. She knew her daughter and granddaughters were going to be in for a rough time.

"It went well. Emma is all set to start on Monday." Gabriella smiled, her oldest daughter was growing up. She had a hard time believing that she was already in high school.

"Well, that sounds great. So, do you guys want to stay for dinner? I can ask Marcus to pick up some Chinese on his way home from work." Maria spoke of her husband. Maria had gotten remarried a few years ago to a wonderful man Gabriella approved of.

"Do you girls want to? We can eat at home if you want or we can stay here." She wasn't sure if her daughters were getting tired of take out or eating out.

"I want Chinese." Mia spoke up. She would eat anything put in front of her.

"That sounds fine with me." Emma said.

"So, do you girls want to go find the take out menu? It's in one of the drawers in the office." The girls stood up and went to decide on what they wanted to eat. "How are you doing?" Maria asked her daughter.

"I'm fine, guess who I saw today?" Gabriella wanted her mother's opinion on what had happened today.

"Who?" Maria was curious. Gabriella hadn't meet anyone since she moved, so it had to be someone from high school.

"Troy. He asked me out." Gabriella bluntly said.

"Really?" Maria was shocked. Her daughter had run into her ex-boyfriend who asked her out. "What did you say?"

"I said yes but I felt like I couldn't turn him down, he was such a sweet guy that I would feel bad if I did." Gabriella continued, "But I don't know if I am ready to start dating. It has barely been a month since the divorce."

"I know, but maybe it'll be good to get out for a little. Troy would understand if you just wanted to be friends." Maria had always been a fan of Troy. He was Maria's favorite boyfriend Gabriella had ever had.

"I just don't know if I am ready to trust someone like that. Tom lied to me for years." It wasn't that Troy was the problem, it was herself.

"Well, just go out, see what happens, and have some fun. All you have done since the divorce is worry about how you were going to make everything work. Go out, have a drink maybe, and have fun Gabriella." Maria felt Gabriella needed to make new friends here in Albuquerque and maybe there was a reason Gabriella had run into Troy.

"Okay Mom." The conversation ended when Emma and Mia walked back into the kitchen with the take out menu.