"Troy, I'm pregnant."

Troy stared at Gabriella as if her nose had just fallen off her face. "What?" he choked.

Gabriella was crying, "I went to the doctor last Monday. They did a blood test that confirmed it. I have to go see my obstetrician tomorrow to find out how far along I am."

The basketball star crossed to the window and looked out at the slowly darkening sky. It was the Sunday after Thanksgiving and it was quite warm that night. Even warmer now that Troy's head was spinning. He wanted to be sick and jump up and down at the same time. He didn't know what to do. He felt like he was going to turn out like his dad: working multiple minimum wage jobs, trying to finish night school and take care of a family. Nevertheless, Troy was also excited about starting a family with Gabriella. He was going to be a father. All of these feelings overtook his ability to keep his supper down and he quickly ran to the bathroom.

After ten minutes or so, Troy exited the bathroom to find Gabriella sobbing uncontrollably on the couch. "Gabby, come on." Troy helped her to her feet, led her to through the garage, and helped her into his truck. Troy backed out of the driveway and began driving toward her house. After she stopped crying, Troy wondered, "How could this have happened? We were always so careful."

"Troy. It was an accident. I'm sorry." Gabriella started crying again.

Troy reached out and took her hand, "Hey, stop that. I'm not blaming you. I'm not mad either, I just…it's…I'm stunned is all."

Gabriella squeezed Troy's hand as they pulled into her driveway and parked, "What are we going to do? We both have so much we were going to do. What will our parents say?"

"Gabby…I…why don't we talk about it tomorrow? There isn't any school until Wednesday so I can take you to your appointment and we can talk about anything you want." Troy suggested.

Gabriella nodded and got out of the truck. She was going to shut the door without saying anything but Troy stopped her, "Come around to my side." He rolled down his window and when she got there, he kissed her gently, "I love you Gabriella Montez."

"I love you too, Troy. I'll see you tomorrow." Gabriella said with a slight smile.

"Bet on it." He kissed her again and watched her walk all the way into her house before backing out of the driveway and heading for his own home.

As Gabriella entered, she smelled something nauseating coming from the kitchen, "Mom?"

"In here dear," Marissa Montez called from down the hall. "Are you hungry? I'm making your favorite," she added as Gabriella entered the kitchen.

Gabriella shook her head, "No thanks, Troy and I already had dinner." She hated lying to her mother, but she wasn't sure her mom was ready to learn her daughter was having mourning sickness.

"Did you have a good time tonight?"

Gabriella stood, "Yeah, we always have a good time. Anyway, I hate to leave you alone so soon after getting home, but I have some homework to finish for Wednesday and Kelsi wants me to look over a new song she's writing so I should probably get working. I'm going to breakfast with Troy tomorrow, if that's okay with you."

"That's fine honey. I have to work in the morning anyway. Good night. Love you." Marissa uncovered the pot in which she was cooking in, sending Gabriella from the room.

Once she got to the bottom of the stairs, her nausea subsided. "Night, Mom. Love you too." Gabriella called back into the kitchen before heading up the stairs. As soon as she was safely inside her bedroom, Gabriella crawled into bed and began sobbing harder than ever. She finally was all cried out and succumbed to the exhaustion of pregnancy and fell asleep.

When Troy arrived home, he parked his truck next to his mother's car and crept in through the side door, hoping she didn't hear him. He climbed the stairs and made it almost to his room when he ran into his mom, "Hey Mom, when did you get home?"

"Just a minute ago. I was going to warm up some leftovers if you want some." Molly kissed her son on the cheek.

Troy held his stomach, remembering his vomiting episode from earlier, "No thanks Mom. If I never look at a turkey again, it'll be too soon."

"Funny. Anyway, your dad is coming home tomorrow night so it would be nice if you could be here. He really hated having to go to that conference over the holiday weekend." Troy's mother always knew how to make him feel guilty for nothing.

Troy smiled a fake smile, "Don't worry, I'll be here. I'll see you tomorrow. Good night."

"Good night, Sweetie."

Troy finally got into his room and locked the door. Instead of going to sleep, he sat behind his desk, looking at the pictures of him and Gabriella and thinking of everything that had happened in the past hour and everything that would take place the next day.