I'm late on my promise, but I did make it happen! I said this story would be out during my Christmas Break, but I just finished it today, during Midwinter break! I'm really relieved to have this story finished- it felt like it never would be done! This actually started out as a one shot, which is why chapter one is so long, but I guess I knew you'd all just yell at me to turn it into a story, so I did!

I hope all of you are doing well! Enjoy!

When Gabriella Montez stepped onto the white sand and rock covered beach she hadn't expected anything other than a tan and a game of beach volleyball to come out of it. She hadn't expected to meet Troy Bolton, the life guard and doer of all odds and ends jobs around town. With each barefooted step, she soon realizes that the life she's living in may not always be permanent and that people are not always who everyone says they are.

Everything to Me

Chapter one

Summers are almost always the same. There's the annual family vacation, the fourth of July party, a million and one pictures of friends piled in a heap at a sleepover and the sick feeling that settles in when school's about to start. But when you finally get the chance to venture out on your own, that's when summers start to look different.

Bikini bottoms tend to get smaller as the summer tan is perfected and you're with people you only met because they shared a dorm room with you, and the music gets louder, and windows stay open longer.

From the green Jeep, summer looked a whole lot better than it usually did to Gabriella Montez. She sat in the passenger's seat; singing along to the latest summer tune with friends who shouted the words instead of sang them. Her hand was kept out of the vehicle, unlike it would have been if she was with her over protective parents, which made her smile as her thick black hair slapped her in the face.

In front of her was a car packed with guys that were going the same place she was. Each of them sat with a case of beer on their laps and the music was blaring as they competed with the girls to get the most attention.

If Gabriella hadn't taken the oath her friends made her take to relax and not worry, she would have been worried that their distracted driving was going to get them killed, but she simply ignored the nagging feeling in her stomach.

The smell of the water and the barely-there view of the beach had the girls in the back seat of the Jeep squealing with excitement, knowing that they were almost there. Waves of heat that could be seen rising from the black pavement and the sweat that was forming on Gabriella's legs made her that more excited to finally reach the lake and just as she was beginning to think the guys in the car in front of her were going to start stripping from the heat, the car was rolling into a parking spot.

"Oh, God, get me out of here, I can feel my makeup dripping off of my face!"

Gabriella laughed as she jumped out of the car, seeing her perfectly primped friends shoving their ways out of the car to get to their beach bags they had stuffed under the seats when they first got in the car.

From where Gabriella stood, she could see the mounds of people on the beach and seagulls flying in the sky above them to see if they could spot a fallen piece of food. Music was carried by the breeze from the beach and Gabriella breathed in the warm air as her friends tossed towels and beach bags around.

"Gabriella, we can't get to the beach if you're standing there staring," Monica said as she locked up her car. She had blonde wavy hair that was pushed back with the pair of sunglasses she had set there earlier to keep her bangs from blowing in her face, and she tossed Gabriella a towel and bag to carry to where the boys were already setting up.

"I'm coming," Gabriella laughed, wiggling further into her flip flops so that they wouldn't fall off when she walked on the sand.

Making her way out of the parking lot, Gabriella could see the worn down wooden fence that separated the cars from the beach and large rocks were the only support for it.

By the water's edge kids walked around with buckets, picking up what Gabriella assumed were Petoskey stones. They were all running around with water shoes protecting their feet from the rocks that lined the water's edge and from the slippery slim that sat on the tops of the rocks.

Across from the beach on the other side of Charlevoix Lake were houses hidden by tall evergreens. Some seemed to be completely made of glass because of the windows that lined the backs of houses, but Gabriella knew otherwise. Monica's summer home was one of them, tucked behind a row of trees.

"Gabriella, your spot is over here!"

Monica and the rest of her friends waved her over to a spot in the middle of the group and Gabriella shimmied against the warm towel once she was seated to get into a comfortable position. Next to her, the guys were already listening to the latest baseball game on the radio while goofing off with a partially deflated football.

"Ooh, hottie at three o'clock," Angela, a brunette swimsuit model and Monica's younger sister, said.

The four girls that were currently lying with their faces facing the sky propped up on their elbows to see who Angela was talking about. Gabriella wondered where her friends were looking, considering three o'clock was to their right, not their left. She assumed Angela only used the positioning terms because it sounded like something out of a movie.

"I don't see anyone," Gabriella said with a shrug, lying back down on her towel, uninterested in the guy who was attracting all of the female beachgoer's attention.

Monica snorted in response as if she figured Gabriella would have responded like she had. Only a few more seconds passed before the rest of the girls had lost interest and were lying back down.

"Girls, we need teams for volleyball!"

Gabriella's eyes flickered open underneath her sunglasses and saw the guys who came with them standing at the foot of their towels. They all seemed to be itching to do something athletic and frowned when the girls whined and complained about their tan being interrupted.

"Come on, Gabriella, we know you'll play," a guy she knew as Connor said, holding his hand out to help her up. Gabriella smiled at him, letting him help her up since she figured he'd eventually pull her away from her spot anyways.

His skin was pale white and he had extra sunscreen on his nose because he burned easily and as he walked next to her, the rest of the guys ran towards the volleyball net so that no one else would take their spot. Gabriella adjusted her sunglasses on her face after wiping her skin free of sweat.

Next to the court was the lifeguard tower and parked just below it were two four wheelers, and in the water across from it sat one unattended red wave runner. Crackles of a radio could be heard from inside the small shack-like tower as Gabriella walked past it towards the guys.

"First to twenty one wins," Connor yelled to the team of three on the other side of the net. Gabriella waited at the edge of the court for the ball to come her way so that she could start off the game with a serve.

"Ready?" Gabriella shouted once she had the volleyball in her hand.

"Bring it on, pretty girl; we know you have no game."

The other team laughed as Connor trash talked them back, and Gabriella smirked while throwing the ball up in the air. The sun beat down on her shoulders as she smacked the ball in the middle, sending it over to the other guys who had come along with her and her friends for their get away.

"Ooh! What was that, huh?" Connor growled at the other team with a smile as the volleyball dropped to the ground after some confused scrabbling of the three muscular guys on the other side of the net.

"Okay, okay, let's just play," Gabriella said with a laugh, adjusting the strap of her red bikini top.

The game continued on for another hour and by the time they were playing for the winning point, Monica and Angela were standing on the sidelines, cheering loudly. Gabriella stood by the net, eyeing Anthony, the guy serving for the last point. Behind her, Gabriella could hear a motor rumbling in the distance and getting louder. Just as the ball sailed over the net, the motor stopped, letting the last three moves be played in near silence.

"Connor!" Gabriella watched as the ball went behind her, over to Connor, who was currently distracted by a blonde walking by.

Gabriella's feet dug into the ground as she sprinted over to him, shoving him out of her way, she bumped the volleyball towards Garret, who went up to spike it, only for the other team to block it.

"Get it, get it!" Monica and Angela shouted together.

Gabriella fell to the sand, reaching out as far as she could to bring the volleyball back towards the sky, but it landed in the sand next to her, ending the game. She slapped the ground with her hand as the other team ran around in excitement, and Connor and Garret joined her on the ground, swearing at each other, trying to put the blame on someone.

"Connor, you just had to check out the blonde, didn't you?" Gabriella asked, looking over at him as she stood up.

"Yeah, man!" Garret said. "You suck."

Gabriella wiped off her forehead with her arm, but pulled away quickly when she felt grainy sand stick to her sweaty forehead. Looking down, she saw that her entire front side was covered with sand from when she dived for the volleyball.

Just as she was grabbing the towel that Monica rushed over to her, she was scooped up into someone's arms, sending the towel out of her grasp. Anthony was laughing in her ear as she swatted at him.

"Losers go in the water!" He shouted while racing toward the dock with Gabriella in his arms.

"Shit, Anthony, put me down!" Gabriella exclaimed, tightening her grip around his neck as he ran down the dock.

"Cannonball!"

As quickly as his voice reached her ear she was shooting through the water and chocking as it went up her nose. She wiggled her way to the surface and grabbed onto Anthony's arm tightly.

"Anthony!" She screamed as she finally opened her eyes, trying to hit him in the water, but he only laughed, sneaking his arms around her to stop her from freaking out.

"Don't worry, your hair looks fine," Anthony said with an eye roll.

"That's not what I'm worried about!"

"You're fine," Anthony said with a smile, moving his free arm side to side to keep himself afloat.

"Seriously, Anthony, let's go back, I don't like being out this far," Gabriella looked towards the shore, which caused her heart beat to quicken when she realized how small the people looked from where they were.

...

Troy Bolton unbuckled his life jacket as he walked up the beach towards the lifeguard tower, and he smiled shortly at two girls who were standing by the volleyball courts after they waved and giggled.

He jogged carefully up the six steps that led up to the tower where lifejackets and fishing equipment were thrown carelessly around.

"Rocket, man, how many times do I have to tell you to stop radioing me to tell me how many hot girls are on the beach?" Troy asked as he took his life jacket off, setting it on the ledge where his friend was staring out at the lake from.

Rocket turned towards him, showing off his crazily tousled blonde hair. His sunglasses sat crocket on his head and he set down the walkie talkie that was in his hand.

"I'm sorry, man, I just love seeing your face when I'm messin' with you," he replied, snickering as if he was the funniest person in the world. "And you should be happy I'm not busting you for being late again."

Troy scratched the back of his head, ruffling his brown hair slightly while he sighed.

"You're right, sorry; the trash took longer than I thought it would."

"Ah, well, while you reminisce about that, I'm going to make sure those girls applied their suntan lotion."

Troy shook his head, watching his friend skip excitedly down the tower stairs to talk to the girls who had waved to him a few minutes ago. Out of boredom, Troy took the binoculars from the ledge and pressed them to his face, looking out at the houses across the lake. Just as he was scanning the water, he noticed splashing water past the docks.

"I see you, I see you," Troy said to himself with a sigh. He set down the binoculars and grabbed his life jacket, throwing it over his arms as he jogged towards his wave runner.

The engine started easily as he turned the key and he pressed the gas quickly so that it made a vroom vroom sound before he moved forward towards the two people in the deeper part of the lake.

...

"What the hell was that?" Gabriella asked, shoving herself away from Anthony, who just made a move on her as his way of rewarding himself for winning the volleyball game. She splashed water at him, dipping under the water briefly because she forgot to concentrate on keeping herself afloat.

"You might want to tread water, Gabi," Anthony laughed, seeing her come up from underneath the water.

"Well, if you knew me better you'd know I wasn't a good swimmer, ass hole!" Gabriella looked up at the sky to keep her head above water, but she could feel herself panicking as she spit water out of her mouth.

She lifted her head quickly though when she heard the engine she had heard when she was playing volleyball. One of the lifeguards was making his way over to them and she glared at Anthony as her way of saying ah-ha! She watched the guy on the wave runner make a U-turn and eventually slow down next to them.

"Is everything okay out here?" He asked, looking down at them.

Gabriella squinted up at him, not being able to make out his face because of the sun behind him. He seemed serious, though, as he waited for an answer.

"Yeah, I was just heading back," Anthony said, dunking underwater.

Gabriella gasped, kicking her legs to keep herself above water. When she saw Anthony finally appear yards away from her, she yelled after him, but she wasn't loud enough.

"Oh my God, I'm going to die," she started to panic as she watched him walk out of the water care free.

"Um, ma'ma, do you need a ride back?"

Gabriella quickly spun around in the water, looking at the lifeguard on the wave runner after forgetting for a minute that he was there.

"Yes, please!"

Troy turned the engine off of the wave runner and swung one leg over the seat before hoping in the water himself. Gabriella closed her eyes when she was splashed with the water that followed his plummet into the water. When he floated back up to the surface, she finally saw his face.

"You can take my life jacket just in case you fall off of the wave runner on our way to shore," he said, sliding the life jacket off of him.

"What about you?"

He seemed amused by her question as she slid the life jacket on, seeming to relax as she felt herself floating.

"I'm a lifeguard, I think I'll be okay," he grinned shortly, causing butterflies to form in her stomach as she saw his white teeth wink at her.

He reached out for the life jacket and buckled the three buckles on the front of the jacket and pulled on the straps to tighten it around her body. Gabriella was highly aware of how close she was to the hot lifeguard and as he treaded water with ease, she found herself staring at his muscular shoulders and shaggy hair.

"It's a little big on you, but I doubt you'll actually fall off," he said to her, glancing into her eyes briefly before holding onto the wave runner and pulling himself up. "Take my hand and I'll pull you up."

Gabriella placed her hand in his as he held it out for her and he pulled her up with one swift movement, waiting for her to sit before turning the engine back on.

"Hold on tight," he said, turning his head to the side so that she could hear him.

"No problem," Gabriella said, putting her arms around his waist, screeching when he pressed on the gas and they pulled forward, almost knocking her off in the process. Underneath her arms she could feel his stomach move as if he was laughing and when she opened her eyes after closing them, she saw that he was smirking, and they were almost to shore.

Monica and Angela stood at the edge of the water with worried looks on their faces and when the wave runner pulled up on the shore their expressions changed at the sight of the guy Gabriella was currently holding onto.

Gabriella scouted off of the wave runner and unbuckled her life jacket as Troy pushed the roaring machine further out of the water. Monica sent Gabriella a look, which was ignored as Gabriella got her arms out of the tight life jacket. Troy walked back towards the girls and took it from her.

"Thanks for saving me…" Gabriella started with a shy smile, watching as the lifeguard took his sunglasses off and hooked them on his shirt.

"Troy," he said, sticking his hand out to shake hers. "And don't worry, it's my job."

Gabriella shook his hand, feeling her friend's watching her every move.

"I'm Gabriella," she said. "And thanks again."

She walked past him, towards her friends so that she wouldn't stick around too long and come off as clingy. After all, she had just clung onto him for a long thirty second time span and she knew he probably didn't appreciate his air supply being cut off.

"Dude, dude!" Rocket rushed toward his friend, grabbing both of his shoulders to give him a serious look. "How do you always end up saving the hotties and I'm the one saving fat dudes?"

"Maybe because you're always too busy applying suntan lotion," Troy laughed, shaking out the wet life jacket in his hands as he moved away from his friend and towards the lifeguard tower.

"Touché," Rocket said as he followed Troy up the stairs and into the tower. "You have the best timing sometimes."

"And other times I'm late," Troy said with a smirk, sinking into a pile of floating devices.

"Hey, dude, I just filled those. You're going to deflate them," Rocket said, kicking one of the inner tubes with his water shoe covered foot.

"Are you trying to tell me something?" Troy said with a serious expression, which changed quickly as Rocket exclaimed something about him having a fat ass. Once Troy was up from his sitting position, he hoped up onto the ledge of the tower and let his feet dangle over the side.

Rocket joined him and twisted the whistle around his neck out of boredom.

"It's a beautiful day out, isn't it?" Troy asked, stretching his arms over his head, holding them there until he felt stretched.

"Filled with beautiful people," Rocket replied.

Troy looked over at Rocket, who was now using their set of binoculars to survey the many girls walking around the beach. Troy grabbed them from him, shoving him in the process.

"You could get into serious trouble for that," Troy said with a shake of his head.

"Oh come on, Troy, like you don't want to watch the girl you just saved apply suntan lotion?"

"What's with you and applying suntan lotion?" Troy asked.

"You know what?" Rocket said as he spun around and hoped off of the ledge. "I'm going to patrol the beach."

"Suit yourself," Troy said, staying in his spot on the ledge while Rocket jogged down the stairs. "I'll be here."

"As always," Rocket sighed, shaking his head at his friend, as if he couldn't understand why someone like him wouldn't be sauntering around the beach to find someone to have a good time with.

...

Everyday, right as the moon was decorating the lake water with it's white glow, Troy sat at the lifeguard tower, eating a turkey sandwich on white bread while sitting on the worn wooden steps leading up to the shack.

Even though it had been hot that day, Troy wore a zip up sweater over his bare chest paired with his swim shorts. He leaned his elbows back against the step behind him and held his sandwich in his right hand, sitting in deep thought as he looked out at the still water.

From next to him, Troy could hear whispering and giggling, and he looked to his left, only able to see someone's bright white shorts and another person's white sweatshirt.

"Shit, Monica, would you stop laughing?"

"Don't tell me what to do, sis."

"How about both of you stop before we're caught?"

Troy set his sandwich down on the step and got up slowly, grabbing the flashlight that had been sitting on the step next to him. He could still hear whispering as he stepped onto the sand and he started to walk their way. Little did they know they were walking right towards him.

"The beach is closed."

Right as Troy spoke all three of the girl's screamed and grabbed onto each other. He held in a chuckle as he shined his flashlight onto them and saw the surprised looks on their faces.

"Would you mind?" Monica asked, putting her hand in front of her face to block the light from her eyes.

Troy lowered the flashlight, keeping it on, but pointing it in the sand to at least give off some light. He noticed the girl from earlier who he had taken in from the lake and she seemed to be embarrassed to be caught with her friends.

"I would assume you ladies know the beach hours, so what brings you here? It must be important considering you're breaking a law."

The girls exchanged looks with each other and then looked back at Troy, who was still trying to hold back his smirk.

"We were just coming back because… uh, Gabriella lost something! Yeah, that's it," Angela said, nodding her head so quickly that her silky brown hair started to loosen from its pony tail holder.

"Huh?" Gabriella said in a whisper.

Troy raised his eyebrow's, noticing how Monica elbowed her in the side.

"Yeah, I lost a silver necklace with a heart on it," Gabriella said quickly. "My dad gave it to me when I, uh,…"

"Got into law school!" Angela exclaimed.

"Law school. He gave it to me when I got into law school," Gabriella repeated, looking at Troy with a nod.

Troy's tongue pressed against the inside of his cheek as he surveyed the three attractive girls in front of him. They were all terrible at lying, but the way Gabriella had rolled her eyes and said she had gotten a necklace for getting into law school didn't seem far from the truth. He took a step closer to them, shinning the flashlight in their eyes again. They all put their hands up to block the light and squinted.

"I guess we better start looking then," Troy said.

Monica and Angela looked at each other and then back at Troy. Troy lowered the flashlight and waited for them to agree with him.

"You know what, Gabriella? We just remembered that our dad wanted us back home by now, so… we'll meet you there. Have fun looking for that necklace," Monica said. She waved quickly at Gabriella and grabbed her sister, turning to go.

"What? Guys!"

Gabriella's hands slapped her thighs as they fell from their annoyed gesture and she turned back to Troy when her friends jogged away from her, giving him an awkward smile.

"So…" she said, forcing a soft laugh.

"The necklace," Troy said, smirking now as Gabriella looked back at her friends, taking a step towards them subtly, but not subtly enough for Troy not to notice.

"You know, I really don't think we'll find it in the dark, so I can come back another day," Gabriella said with another forced laugh, taking another step away from him.

"Oh, great, so are you going to be getting the ticket, or are they?" Troy asked, knowing that he was supposed to call the police when people trespassed after hours. Quite frankly, he just wanted to see her reaction. It ended up being uneventful.

"Are you kidding me?" she asked, crossing her arms over her chest. She seemed to stomp her legs in the sand as she said it and Troy noticed that she had been the one in the white shorts.

"You're causing me a lot of trouble today..."

"Gabriella," she said, raising her eyebrows because he forgot her name. No one usually did.

"Gabriella," Troy repeated. "I think giving you a ticket would lessen my troubles for tomorrow, what do you think?"

She scoffed at him, tightening her crossed arms so that she didn't say anything that would get her a ticket for sure.

"I think we have a necklace to look for," she said, turning away and looking down to the sand.

Troy stayed in his spot, watching as she walked into the darkness and he clicked off his flashlight, letting his eyes adjust to the dark. He could see her white shorts and he walked towards her, clearing his throat once he was walking next to her.

"So, law school, huh?" He said. "Did your friends lie about that too, or is that part true?"

Gabriella glanced over at him, then looked back to the sand.

"That part's true," Gabriella replied simply.

"And…"

"And, what?" Gabriella asked. "Should I really be telling my life ambition to random strangers?"

"I wouldn't consider myself random. I did save your life this morning."

Troy smirked when she sighed, watching as she tucked her hair behind her ear.

"I want to be a lawyer." Gabriella shrugged after saying that, not knowing what more to tell him.

"Want to?"

Gabriella's jaw dropped open half way, surprised that a guy she barely knew doubted that she wanted to be what she was telling him after only a few minutes of talking.

"Yes," Gabriella replied in an offended tone.

"Sorry, it just doesn't sound like you're excited about it."

"I am," she said curtly.

"Fine."

Troy stuck his hands in his sweatshirt pockets even as he held onto his flashlight. He wasn't even looking at the ground where he was supposed to be looking. Instead he was just looking out at the beach while occasionally looking over at the girl next to him.

"What do you want to be, hot shot?" Gabriella asked, stopping suddenly. She poked him in the arm, making him chuckle.

Troy saw that her expression was one of annoyance as he stopped too and turned to stand facing her. Beyond her was the parking lot and only a few cars remained there, but he looked right at her.

"Everything."

"What?" She said in surprise. "Everything?"

"Yup."

"Oh, come on, we've been walking around this beach for a good ten minutes and you've been getting answers out of me, but when I ask you a simple question you can't even answer it?" Gabriella's hands went to her hips and she shook her head.

"I did answer your question," Troy shrugged. "You just didn't like the answer."

"You can't be everything," Gabriella told him.

"It's getting late, I should be getting home. You should," he said.

"I think it's only fair if you answer a few more questions, and besides, we have a necklace to look for…"

Gabriella's sentence trailed off when Troy took a step toward her. Her eyes followed his hand as it reached past her ear and she felt his hand on her neck. The necklace she was wearing moved off of her shoulder as he took it in his hand and his thumb brushed against her cheek when he lifted the necklace from underneath her crisp black shirt.

"Well, look at that," Troy said, letting go of the necklace so that it fell against her shirt.

Gabriella instantly squeezed the heart pendant in her hand, looking up at Troy shyly while nervously scratching her neck with her free hand where his hand touched her. A car horn honked and she looked behind her, seeing that Monica and Angela were still there, only now putting on the headlights so that their hiding spot was given away. Troy and Gabriella stood in the beaming light and now Troy squinted, realizing how annoying his flashlight must have been to the girls.

The lights flicked off when Gabriella sent her friends a shooing gesture and they stood in the dark once again.

"Goodnight, lifeguard," Gabriella said as she stepped away from him, walking up the mounds of the beach to get to the parking lot.

"Night, liar," Troy said back.

Gabriella looked over her shoulder, spitting her tongue out at him when she heard what he called her, but he only laughed. He watched as she ran toward her friend's car, giving him a secretive wave before hopping into the back seat of the Jeep.

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Much love,

unknownbyhim22