I own nothing of High School Musical. It belongs to Disney.

A/N: *sigh* All right, you guys. Just so everyone knows, I had terminated the story "The Way It Is"... I'm sorry I didn't send a warning! I know you all were looking forward to it but I just couldn't rewrite the same plot as before. So I decided to write my new Troyella story like this. I wanted to change the plot completely (mind you, this isn't in my original story line but I want to do something different). I am so so soooo sorry about the sudden change and inconvenience. But I'm hoping you all will enjoy this.

Summary: Gabriella Montez, soft spoken, shy and a dedicated student. But when she finds out that she's pregnant, she and her mother move to Albuquerque for her to attend East High, meeting new friends. But only one special friend will stand by her side during this wild change of her life. Troy Bolton.

I stood and watched as my surroundings and the people of it were in motion. Right before my eyes, all I could see were people I didn't know. The picture painted in front of me was of unfamiliar faces. And it felt like everyone was watching me. I didn't know how I was going to adjust to these new faces. This new school. Or even this new town. It didn't really matter if I did anyway. I would just have to move again eventually. Yep. I knew the routine. Don't get too comfortable and don't make any permanent decisions. Although, I seemed to have missed the concept of one. I wouldn't have had to move if I didn't end up making the dumbest decision of my life. Three months ago, I had found out that I was pregnant.

Who am I? Gabriella Marie Montez.

After telling my mother, her first thought was just to forget about it and move. And to make matters worse, this definitely wasn't a planned pregnancy. There wasn't a planned anything. The story on how I became pregnant wasn't just a 'I had sex and that's how it happened' story. I had only known the guy that I slept with for a week. His name was Jules Sanchez. He wasn't my boyfriend or anything. He was just a person I had met at a party I went to with a 'friend' one night. A week later at another party, I had been under the influence of alcohol and I didn't think anything of it. I was carelessly having shot after shot. Before I knew it, I was drunk to a point of being on an unconscious level. That same night, I was taken into a room while that guy had drunken sex with my unconscious body. My 'friend' didn't tell me about it until the day after. I can't say I haven't tried contacting him. But after a while of trying, I couldn't continue. My baby would just never know who its father is and it was all of my fault for being so careless.

I could feel myself slowly dying inside. I didn't know if I were ready to meet new faces or interact with new people. Especially when they would all find out soon what my little secret was. I studied some of the faces of the students passing me by. Same average looking people like the ones at my old school. So how much different could East High be?

"Excuse me, young lady?" an elderly cheerful voice said.

I turned around nervously and instantly became intimidated by the bigger lady standing in front of me. She had an odd style of clothes but seemed very into retro fashion.

"You've got approximately three minutes until the final bell rings. You should be at your class by now. Not standing around in these hall ways" she said.

"Right, um" I stammered. I nervously glanced down at the small sheet of paper I had in my hands.

"Who do you have first, dear?" the lady asked.

I glanced over at the nearest clock and saw that it was almost time for my first class of the day. I looked down at my schedule and read who I had for home room.

"Mrs. H. Darbus" I read softly.

The lady raised her eyebrows slowly and then cracked a small smile of her face. "Wonderful" she commented as she walked away. I looked down at my feet and then shook my head. That was a little bit weird. I guessed that if all of the teachers and students were like that at this school then I should fit in perfectly. I walked to my assigned class room and followed the direction the lady gave me.

East High was definitely bigger than my last school. And there were more class rooms as well. 'Room 30' the red lettering on the door read. I slowly pulled the door open and took a step further into the room. And now I was certain that all eyes were on me. There were so many faces, I didn't know which to look at. My eyes slowly made fair glances at about everyone in the class room. I was unknowingly drawing attention to myself. Well, what would you do if you got moved to a new school and you just found out that you're having a baby with someone you barely know? The older teacher that I had saw earlier was in my sight yet again. She shot a friendly smile at me and then extended her hand out for me to seat myself in the back of the room by the chalk board. All I heard now were the sound of my own foot steps making it to the chair I was assigned to. Eyes were on me for about another minute before the lady spoke up. This time when she spoke, she spoke with a more firm and professional voice.

"Good morning, class. I am your teacher Mrs. Darbus" she said once the class was quiet.

I furrowed my brows and raised my hand shyly. "Yes?" Mrs. Darbus called on me.

"You're Mrs. Darbus?" I asked. A few people snickered at my brainless question.

"Yes, dear. I am Mrs. Heather Darbus. And I am your drama teacher" she said as kind as she could. She had already knew that my pointless question was not needed. She, without causing further disruption answered me straight. I nodded, understanding where I was at now. It usually wasn't like me to ask pointless questions but I was so nervous, I was completely unaware of that if I had continued talking I would just ramble.

"This class is to teach you, not only performing arts, but for you to develop self esteem, discipline, and learn culture. Those three things will be expected of you in this class" she said. I bowed my head and looked down at my flat stomach. I hadn't noticed anything different with it yet. But just knowing that I was pregnant was becoming an issue for me to come to terms with and was unknowingly becoming a distraction for myself.

"Ms. Montez?" she said loudly. I jumped and looked up immediately.

"Yes?" I asked timidly.

"That is your name, right? Gabriella Montez?" Mrs. Darbus asked.

"Yes" I answered.

"Well, I would appreciate it if you stayed with us today and not in la-la land. I do not like to waste my time with students who are too bored and silly to their teacher enough respect to listen to them" she said harshly.

"Yes, ma'am" I said, now my feelings hurt. A few students laughed at me. Now that I was pregnant, my emotions were easily taken on a ride. I kept glancing at the clock, hoping class would end at the time I thought. But it just seemed like first class was taking forever to end.

"And now, my dears your assignment for today is to mingle with your classmates. This is not a compatibility test and you may not talk to anyone you already know. This is to build your social skills and so that you do not have any problems with any of your classmates if I decide to pair you guys up" Mrs. Darbus said.

Great. Now I am being forced to make friends with people that already think I'm weird. I already knew I would probably fail this class. It didn't matter anyway. I didn't even sign up for Drama class anyway!

"Excuse me, Mrs. Darbus. Although, you come up with excellent ideas and you're an amazing teacher but if this the case, I think I should receive an A on this assignment since I, well as you already know, am the most known person at this school and I can get along with everybody" said a voice from the front of the room. I captured the voice's face and it was a girl. She had long and beautiful gold hair, nice clothes and she looked pretty damn rich.

"Yes, Ms. Evans. But the point of this assignment is to try to get along with people you don't already know" Mrs. Darbus said. The girl frowned.

"Well, that's going to be hard. Considering I know everyone in here" she said perkily.

"Well then, for this assignment, you can be paired up with Mrs. Montez. She's new here" Mrs. Darbus said pointing to me. I slumped in my seat as things began to get awkward. I looked over at the blonde and studied her expression as she did mine. I tried to think about what was going on in her mind right now. I wasn't one to judge a book by its cover, but if looks could kill, I would be dead by now. The girl didn't seem to be pleased to be paired up with me for the assignment. Apparently, I wasn't meeting up to her superficial standards.

"Yeah, I could tell" she said arrogantly. Everyone in the class except for three other people laughed.

I looked around the room and saw the people who didn't laugh at Ms. Evans' snide remark. One of them was a girl with a darker complexion sporting a read collar shirt with a white lab coat and had beautiful black hair with an A-line bob. She gave a look of disgust at the blonde. The other whom of which was a boy who was blonde and had an unusual feminine taste to his choice of clothing. He shook his head at the comment and his his face in the palms of his hands. Studying his expression, I guessed that he had some relation to the blonde.

And finally, the other whom was another male. But this one had his head bowed and he was focused on his paper... or at least he acted like he was occupied. He had eyes that were a rare blue and were as pretty as a blue sea. His body was toned perfectly for a seventeen year old. And his hair was nicely combed and styled. From his looks on the outside, I had thought that he had to be a person in Ms. Evans' group of people. If you guessed, I had a huge problem with mentally organizing a group of people into a clique. When Mrs. Darbus began timing us on the assignment, I got up slowly and walked over toward the blonde, and hoped that she wouldn't say anything else embarrassing or mean.

"Hi" I said shyly. She was too consumed in her cell phone to pay attention, or even notice that I was standing in her presence.

"Oh, god, your looks are worse than I thought!" she grimaced at me. I frowned at her comment.

"Yeah, so. I'm Gabriella" I ignored her and introduced myself.

"Whatever. Just act like we're socializing" she said checking back with her phone. Before I knew it, I lost her when she went back to texting God knows who. I sighed and stared at the blank paper in my notebook. I knew now that I was going to fail my first assignment. Just when I thought I was screwed, I heard someone call for my attention.

"Hey, you want to come over here with us?" a girl asked. I was about to answer the girl but then I just looked at my blonde partner and saw that she was still into her cell phone and then looked at Ms. Darbus whom seemed to be into her class work.

"Don't worry, she wont notice" the girl said. I took one more glance at the two and then went over to sit by the girl who called me to her side.

"Don't you worry. Unlike her, I wouldn't want to be responsible for you getting a bad grade on your first assignment because she didn't want to participate" the girl chuckled.

"Thanks" I said simply.

"I'm Taylor McKessie" the girl introduced herself. I smiled at her politely and shook her hand.

"I'm Gabriella. Montez. I just moved here from Phoenix" I said hesitantly. Taylor smiled at me as she flipped through her note book. I glanced a few times at the turning pages and noticed that a lot had been written on them. Taylor happened to stop on a page where a science example was written down. I looked back up at her face and furrowed my brows.

"So, you're into science?" I asked shyly but trying to keep the conversation moving.

"Yeah, I love science" Taylor replied. I smiled a little bit. I guess you could say by now I was terrible with conversation. I looked back at my original partner and saw that now she was leaned against a desk belonging to the boy I had eyes on earlier. She laughed and flipped her blond locks occasionally. Then I looked back at Taylor with a softer expression. Taylor saw what I was staring at and she blanched at the seen.

"Who is that girl anyway?" I asked.

"That's Sharpay Evans. Best student in Drama class, winner of all of East High's talent shows since freshman year, and most popular girl in school" Taylor explained. As she explained Sharpay, I stared at her and locked all details about her into my head. Then I saw another male walk toward her. She had shooed him away and he seemed hurt. It was the male whom seemed to like the color pink more than Sharpay did.

"And that would be her twin brother, Ryan. He's actually the 'good twin'" Taylor pointed out. At first I was in shock. I wouldn't have guessed that they were twins. Ryan really did seem nicer than his twin. I then looked at the male whom looked like he had been enduring the Sharpay's conceited jabber for quite some time. But at the same time, I could tell that he was trying to tolerate her enough to just be polite. Either that or he just didn't want to upset her. Sharpay Evans seemed like the type where if you messed with her, she would come back at you worse.

"Whose that?" I asked.

"That's Troy Bolton. Captain of the basketball team and most popular guy in school" Taylor said. The minute I heard his background, my sudden interest in him went away. I wasn't impressed by pretty boys who were jocks. I knew by now he wouldn't at all be the person I hoped he would be if I ever talked to him. And clearly, he was off limits due to Sharpay's cling to him as if she owned the guy.

"Cool" I replied as I scribbled notes in my notebook. I saw another male walk next to Sharpay and Troy. He had frizzy hair and a nice body himself as well. I guessed that he was a friend of Troy's since he had a basketball in his hands. Then I saw him look my way and wink. I looked over at Taylor and she winked back at him.

"Do you know him?" I asked.

"Yeah, that's my boyfriend, Chad. He's a bit of a dope but you'll learn to love him" she said passionately. I chuckled at Taylor's gaze at the male. I could tell that she really liked him. Overall, it seemed like I were being surrounding by people with their own interesting traits.

"Hey, sexy" Taylor's boyfriend approached.

"Hey, honey" Taylor said lovingly.

"So, did you get done with last night's math homework?" Chad asked.

"I did. Why? What answered have you written down that don't match mine?" Taylor joked. I laughed at her sense of humor. Chad looked at me for a moment and I stopped laughing.

"Oh, hun, this is Gabriella. She just moved here from Phoenix" Taylor said. I smiled at Chad.

"Nice to meet you. Is Phoenix near Australia or something?" Chad asked stupidly.

I laughed. "No its actually in Arizona" I replied. The three of us laughed.

"Well, don't worry, Gabs. Consider East High your permanent home" Chad welcomed. I found Chad's nick name for me cute as well.

"I wish I could say the same" I remarked.

"Why not?" Taylor asked, disappointment being clear in her voice.

"Because my mom's probably just going to make me move again" I replied.

"That's understandable" Chad said. I nodded. I looked back over at Troy once Sharpay had left his side to go back to her cell phone that I heard go off literally every two minutes.

"Gabs?" Chad said.

"Yeah?" I responded with a sigh, letting my thoughts of the basketball jock go.

"Would you like to join us and some of our friends at lunch?" he asked.

I nodded. "Sure. I'd like that" I said absentmindedly. I didn't know what I had just gotten myself into.

After hours of class time I was finally getting a break. I used a few minutes to use the ladies room.

In the ladies room, I washed and dried my hands and went over to the bathroom mirror to examine myself. I tucked in loose curls of my hair and made myself look orderly before accompanying my new acquaintances at lunch. I looked at my stomach in the mirror. It hadn't grown big, but I did look like I had gained a few pounds since I found out about my pregnancy three months ago. I didn't at all feel comfortable about being at a new school with different people and absolutely no one besides my mother knew my secret. I wondered that if I had continued to hang out with my new friends after today, should I feel obligated to tell them about my pregnancy. But then I could only think that I was asking for trouble if I did that. I stopped thinking and went ahead to the lunch room.

"Over here, Gabs!" Taylor called from afar. I walked over toward the table that she and other people were sitting at.

"We thought you forgot about us" Chad pointed out. I smiled at him as I took a seat down. My heart began to pound in my chest when I saw Troy walking over toward our table.

"What's up, man?" Chad said as he greeted Troy with a friendly hug and handshake. I felt a smile tugging at my lips watching the two men goof around.

"Gabs, this is Troy. Troy, this is Gabriella a.k.a. The Gabster" Chad joked while introducing me.

"Hey" Troy said as he smiled his pretty boy smile at me. I smiled back politely while still trying to hide my feelings.

"Hi" I replied in sort of a whisper.

"We have Drama together" he said. I nodded as he stated the obvious. I tried to seem unenthusiastic about his appearance and I guess it was convincing enough to make him not want to say anything else to me. Maybe I was being too serious. It was silent for a moment.

"So, what do you think of East High so far?" Taylor asked.

"It's fine. The teachers are nice... sort of. And the people seem okay. Its nothing different from my last school though" I recalled.

"I gotta tell you. At East High, things never stay the same. Things here change every year" Chad said.

"That must be scary" I commented.

"It's actually exciting for us. But why is that scary for you?" Taylor asked.

I rolled my eyes to think about the comparison between my school and East High school. "I mean at my last school, people were more mean and if there was change, it was usually bad. I just assumed that you guys might go through that" I thought.

"Here, some times its good but then it does have its down moments" Taylor said. I looked at Troy whom said nothing the whole time. He just sat beside Chad and stayed quiet while the three of us mingled.

"I guess so" I said. I was beginning to get hungry so I pulled out a bag of lunch that I had packed. Taylor, Chad, and even Troy were in shock at what I had brought for lunch. I pulled out a plastic knife and a pickle that was sealed in a plastic sandwich bag with a jar of peanut butter.

"So, ugh, what's with the pickle and peanut butter?" Taylor asked.

"I think their good together" I said with a weak smile.

"You'd have to be pregnant to eat something like that!" Chad remarked.

I furrowed my eyebrows and choked back a fake cough. "Why would you think that?" I asked unknowingly making it so obvious.

"I don't know. Because its a weird combination, I guess" Chad said. I chuckled at his wonder.

Lunch time was over. I used my spare five minutes to get a drink of water. I was so happy that I could be able to eat and follow through my day regularly with out the early symptoms of pregnancy stopping me. For the first three months, I was puking up pretty much everything I ate. I felt tired and fatigue every day. I still felt a little bit of everything nowadays but it wasn't as bad as the first three months were. Little did I know, Troy was walking up behind me, waiting to drink at the fountain. I wiped the corner of my mouth and turned around to be startled by the figure in front of me.

"Sorry" I muttered nervously to him as I tried to walk in another direction.

"Hey there, Gabriella" he said with a smile.

"Hey" I said simply as I continued to walk to my next class. I could swear that not even less than a minute ago, he was by my side again.

"Who do you have for your next class?" he asked catching his breath.

I looked confused. "Mr. Logan's science class. Why?" I asked.

He looked like he was thinking up reason. "Just thought I'd walk you to your class. You know, so you don't feel weird walking in by yourself" he said. I immediately felt hurt by his reason.

"Why would you think I need someone to walk me to class? I'm not retarded, you know" I said, my hormones beginning to rage.

Troy was taken aback. "I never said you were. I just thought that it would be nice to walk you to class" he said defensively.

"I appreciate the offer but, I can manage just fine. Thank you" I said as I kept on walking to class, leaving him behind. I know, my attitude was a little out of hand but the way he gave his reason for wanting to walk me to class was, in some way, offensive to me. The last thing I needed was to do was be on everyone's bad side just because I was too insecure and stubborn to admit that I was intimidated by most of the people that surrounded me. And that was exactly what this attitude was going to do for me if I didn't learn to control it. At the same time, it was probably just my hormones.

The next hour went by fast. I had spent the majority of my last class thinking about the way I came off on Troy. It wasn't like me to be defensive. I could really tell that he was just looking for someone to talk to. And I sure wasn't giving him a fair chance. I thought that if I went and found him after class, I could just talk with him then. Once the bell rang and I gathered all of my belongings, I went out to find him. First I searched in the gymnasium. A few players had gotten changed into their uniform and was getting ready for practice. But I didn't see Troy. After finding out that he wasn't in the gymnasium, I gave up on my search, being certain I wouldn't find him anywhere else.

"Troy!" a perky voice called out. It was Sharpay. She walked quickly over toward the lockers where Troy was seen. I had found him. Only, now wasn't a good time to go up to him since Sharpay was there.

"I just know you'll do good at the game next week. So there's no need for me to wish you luck!" she said.

"Sharpay, The game isn't for another month" Troy corrected.

"Whatever. I just want you to win this one for me, okay? Tootles!" she said as she pranced her way out through the exit of the school. Troy slammed his locker closed and rolled his eyes. He swung his gym bag over his shoulder and headed my way. He hadn't noticed me standing by the same fountain we ran into each other by earlier. I wanted to come out and say something to him but I kept thinking that he was still made about earlier. When his eyes went to me, I almost couldn't breathe.

"Hey" I said as I sighed to catch my breath.

"Hi, Gabriella. What are you still doing here?" he asked. He looked beautiful when I saw his eyes up close instead of far.

"Well, um. I just don't go home right away after school" I said. It was the best answer I had.

He chuckled. "Well, neither do I. I pretty much have no choice but to stay after and practice" he said.

I smiled and nodded. He looked down at his basketball and then found courage to speak up again. "I'm captain of the basketball team" he stated.

"I figured that out" I joked with a giggle. Troy giggled with me, making the feeling mutual and less awkward.

"That must be great for you" I added.

"It is great. My dad's got this thing going for me that if I keep playing for East High, I can get a scholarship and I don't even have to worry about paying for college. My dream is to some day play in the NBA" he said as his eyes wandered to the roof as he twirled the basketball with his hands.

I frowned when reality had set in. This days was getting better and better- hint my sarcasm. He was going off to college to play basketball and become rich while I was going to be here, a teenager and raising a child whose father I had no support from. It hurt to think of the way my life was going. But I knew I needed to deal with it.

"What's wrong?" he asked. I was surprised that he even paid enough attention to realize that something was wrong.

"Nothing. Its just that I'm still trying to adjust to a new school" I lied.

"Had you moved schools before?" he asked.

"Practically all of my life" I answered.

"Then how could you not be used to it by now?" he asked again.

I thought for a moment. "I don't know. My reason for moving last time was a little more complicated than the rest" I sighed. Troy nodded and gave a look of sympathy.

"Well, we all have complicated stories, don't we?" he asked.

"I don't know, Troy. Do you?" I asked him. He smiled and looked up to think.

"I have a few. But its personal" he said. I nodded in understanding.

"Well, maybe one day you could tell me about it if you trust me enough" I said as I was preparing to walk away.

Troy stared at me for a moment before replying. He had a look in his eyes that I couldn't apprehend.

"Yeah. And maybe when you feel comfortable enough someday, we could talk about you" he said. I turned around and cocked a brow at him.

"Maybe" I said as I continued walking. I saw Troy smile and wave good bye as I was making my way to the exit of the school. My mother was waiting for me in her van. I got inside and prepared for the many questions my mother was about to ask concerning my day.

"So, Mija, how was your first day?" my mother asked me. I looked at her for a while.

"It was great, Mom" I said sarcastically.

"Great! Well, I'm glad you at least had a good first day" said my mother. I furrowed my brows at her in disbelief. My mom didn't take anything I said or did seriously. I knew she always pictured me to be this perfect daughter but I had been none other than a disappointment to her. I shook my head and then pulled out my cell phone to play a game.

"I talked to your father" she said. My ears instantly picked up at what she said.

"What did he say? Did he talk about me?" I asked, feeling excited that my mother heard from my dad.

"Not exactly, but-" I cut my mom off.

"I'm sorry, Mom. But I don't want to hear anything about Dad unless he wants to speak to me" I said.

"Gabriella, you know he's trying the best he can to reconnect with you but he's very busy lately" my mom said.

"Yeah, he's so-o-o busy, he can barely find the time to pick up the phone and say 'Hey, Maria, let me talk to the daughter I haven't seen in over ten years!'" I said, my eyes filling up with tears. My mom was about to talk again before she saw me put head phones into my ears and listen to my iPod. With my music blasting in my ears, I tried hard to fight by my tears. I felt neglected by my father. I couldn't even call him father. The last time I had seen or heard anything from him was when I was on my seventh birthday. Since then, he had left and I hadn't seen him since. At this point I was growing to hate that man. Because I was lacking a father figure was probably why I always felt like I needed a guy in my life. In result, I ended up pregnant with a stranger's baby. I couldn't help but be bitter with myself and all of the mistakes I had made.

I had never felt so lost and alone in my life. I moved so much, I didn't have any friends to be close to. I didn't have much family with me or even enough to keep me sane. And now I was three months pregnant with a child whose life I had already screwed up. And to make matters worse, now I was crushing on someone at my school that I couldn't have. It felt like my world was crashing down piece by piece. While I sat at home and tried finishing my homework, I couldn't stop thinking of my baby's father. I really wanted him to have some part in my child's life even though I didn't know him well, just so my kid didn't grow up without a father. I searched through my phone to dial his number.

"Jules?" I said with a weak voice.

"What do you want?" his voice said on the other line.

"I just wanted to know. Are you with me or aren't you? I don't mean relationship-wise but are you here for our baby?" I asked.

"No, Gabriella. I am not there for either of you. We had one night. That's it" Jules said straight out.

"Yeah, and that one night resulted in me being pregnant with your kid!" my voice cracked, tears filling up in my eyes.

"Well, you should have thought about things before you got yourself into this mess" Jules said.

"Maybe you shouldn't have taken advantage of me!" I argued.

"Don't even say that, Gabriella. You know that I did not take advantage of you" he said calmly.

"Yes you did, Jules! I was passed out from drinking and you took it away from me!" I said silently, unable to hold back my tears any longer. I sobbed quietly into my pillow. I heard him sigh on the other line.

"I'm sorry, Gabriella. But I meant what I said. I don't want you talking to me anymore. And do what you want with that kid. Its not my problem" he said as I heard the other line hang up. I dropped my cell phone and stared blankly at any object my eye saw. I was emotionally beaten down by Jules' words. I couldn't believe that he wanted my body, got it, and didn't even want to take responsibility for any of it. I couldn't have reported it as a rape when it first happened. But now it was too late to hand that bastard what he needed. I was stuck with a baby whose father didn't even care about it. I broke down and cried. And I cried for a long time.

Hours had passed and I was still hurt about my phone call. But I didn't want to mope around the house for the rest of the night. I wanted to take a walk and enjoy the fall breeze that was present for the night. On my walk, I thought to myself and cried some more. Just when I was ready to give up on walking, I had entered the park near my house for more solitude before returning home. I crouched down by a bench and sobbed into my hands.

"Gabriella?" a voice said. I sniffled and looked up and saw Troy. He still had his basketball uniform on with his gym bag swung over his shoulder. He looked at me with concern and bent down next to me.

"Are you crying?" he asked me. I wiped my tears and sniffled again.

"Why are you crying?" he sat down next to me.

I tried to hold back more tears but I just couldn't. I sobbed again as I let my tears fall freely down my warm cheeks.

"Hey, hey, hey" he said softly as he pulled me into his chest as he stroked my back. I cried harder, feeling worse each second I thought about how my day went. His fingers made their way to my hair and began stroking it as he whispered soothing words to me as I cried. I so badly wanted to tell Troy. But I couldn't put a burden like that on his shoulders. I didn't want to drive him away.

"Gabriella, please tell me what happened? I don't want you to cry anymore" he said. I looked him in his eyes and sniffled. I didn't know how to tell him how I was feeling let alone what had happened.

"I can't even talk about it" my voice cracked, my eyes welling up with more tears.

He sighed. "Brie, what ever it is, you can trust me. You can't keep it bottled up inside you like that" he said, sounding genuine and sincere. I was even softened up by the nick name he had given me.

"'Brie'?" I asked him.

"Yeah. As in Ga-brie-ella" he said. I chuckled softly. I felt myself getting goosebumps when I noticed that Troy was still holding me in his arms. After a moment, he had let go.

"Now, tell me what's going on" he said. He took my hand and pulled me up to my feet. We walked side by side back to our homes.

"First, what are you doing out here walking?" I asked him.

He chuckled before responding. "Some times I like to walk through the park and find a nice tree that I can climb" he said. I gave him a weird look and smiled at his answer.

"Why would you want to climb a tree?" I asked, finding his reason rather random.

"I've always like climbing trees since I was little. I like climbing them especially at night so I can touch the stars"

I laughed at his childish comment. I could see that in Troy's eyes, he was truly a believer. "I see" I said simply. I saw him smile at me. I smiled back, being taken away by his looks.

"Anyway, now do you want to tell me what happened?" he changed the subject. This was it. My chances of becoming good friends with Troy were now about to alter. But Troy seemed genuine. A little too genuine if you ask me. I couldn't keep my secret from him. I felt like I could trust him. But I also knew I were being vulnerable. But I hadn't a friend I could talk to about my situation. Even though my mother knew, I didn't enjoy talking to her about it. Especially now that I had seen that everything she had said before, she was right.

"You really want to know what happened to me?" I asked. He nodded.

I sighed. "I had to move because I got pregnant" I said.

"You have a baby?" he asked casually.

"No, I mean that I'm pregnant right now" I said as I looked at him. He seemed to be taken by surprise.

He tried to think of something to say. "Well, I don't see why you were crying. Having a baby is supposed to be a happy thing, right?" he asked.

"I wish it were a happy pregnancy for me. But the father doesn't want anything to do with it. Or me" I said. Troy really seemed to be taking the news well. Then again, he didn't really know me so there weren't many other ways he could react to my situation.

"Why not?" he asked, sounding surprised.

"He sees it as a one night stand, but I didn't ask for him to have sex with me. I was too drunk to remember anything that had happened" I said as I recalled that night and how it just angered me to think about it.

"So he... raped you?" he asked, now feeling uncomfortable. I looked at him and let my eyes answer for me. It all still hurt to think of the night.

I thought. "I don't know if I would call it 'rape'. But he did take advantage of me" I said, trying hard not to imagine the things that Jules had done to me.

"That's terrible!" he remarked. I nodded.

"So what are you going to do about the baby then?" he asked.

"I haven't given any thought about it. But now that I know for sure that Jules isn't going to be there, clearly I don't need this baby in my life either. I might just give it up for adoption" I said.

Troy stopped me in my tracks and looked me in my eyes. "Brie, I don't think you should give up your chance at mother hood before its happened" he said soft spoken.

"But I can't have this baby grow up without a father, Troy. I just can't!" I said, fighting more tears.

"Gabriella, listen. Just because that asshole didn't want to be in the baby's life doesn't mean that you don't have to" he said with sincerity.

I thought hard for a moment. If I were to give my baby up, I would have to live with the guilt for not being able to raise it for the rest of my life. If I were to keep it, I would be miserable raising it and would have to struggle for the rest of my life. I guess this was pretty much a lose/lose scenario for me. On the other hand, Troy did make a good point. I would feel lost if I tried to give up my child instead of giving motherhood a shot.

"I just want it to have a perfect life" I said as I moved my hand over my flat stomach.

Troy nodded. "I can't argue with that. But not everything can be perfect. If I were in your situation, I would only try the best I can to give my kid the life it deserves, but I wouldn't try to make it perfect" he added.

"I guess" I replied. I wanted it to be perfect. But I realized that it could never be because my perception of perfect was built on my baby have absolutely everything it needed. Including have a mother and a father. Now, my baby would only have one parent that acknowledged and cared for it.

"Its up to you to decide what you're going to do. Just make sure you think hard before you do anything" he said softly. I nodded.

"I think I just realized that no matter what decision I make for this baby, its going to be hard" I said. He looked at me and smiled. I was confused of why he would smile at my statement.

"You'll be fine, Gabriella. And you have my support. And I promise I wont tell unless I have your permission" he said. I trusted him.

"Thank you, Troy. Just don't get yourself too caught up in my mess. I don't want your girlfriend making a big deal out of it" I grimaced.

"Who? Sharpay? No, she's not my girlfriend" he said. I studied his expression and saw that he didn't find Sharpay too pleasant either.

"I wouldn't have known. She seems to follow and run into you wherever you go" I said.

"You're not wrong. One time she actually followed me into the guys' bathroom in the fifth grade" he laughed. I laughed with him. I pictured Sharpay Evans younger and chasing him into the bathroom trying to get his attention.

"That must have been a scary experience for you" I joked. He nodded jokingly. The two of us stopped in our tracks and looked each other in the eyes. I was nervous, and I could tell that he was too.

"I guess I'll see you in class tomorrow?" I asked.

"You can bet on it" he smiled as he turned his head for a moment.

"Good night" I said as I walked back to my house.

I sure wasn't expecting to run into Troy Bolton of all people. But then just running into him made me realize a lot of things I hadn't before. He seemed to understand my situation than anyone else I could imagine. Although I couldn't help but think that I was falling for him. Then again, I had to stay on guard. Mess like that is what got me into this kind of trouble in the first place. But I was surprised that I could trust him. I had, for a while, had trouble trusting others ever since Jules decided not to man up to his responsibilities. But this was different. This was the start of something new. And I was surely going to see this through to the end.