Title: Let's Take It Slow
Author: strangled.hearts
Category: High School Musical
Chapters: 1 out of I don't really know.
Pairing: Troy Bolton/Gabriella Montez
Summary: He wiped her tears and pulled her into an unexpected hug. She tensed before hugging him back. "It's my fault also, I can't let you raise this baby on your own…" Prequel to 'The Way It Should Be'.
Disclaimer: I own nothing ):
A/N: Hmm, this just came to me. Lol. It's like a three shot or possibly two shot… or even a four-shot lol. I've been busy studying as well as being lazy so I apologize. I told myself I was on hiatus but yeah lol that's not going very well… And yes everyone, if you didn't know, I changed my username (:

In all her 18 years of existence, she had only cried 4 times in her life. The first time was when she scraped her knee at the age of 4-years-old and her father had told her she was a strong little girl and that she shouldn't cry. Every now and then when she got a cut or needed stitches or broke a bone in her body, no longer did she cry. The second time she cried was the death of her father at the age of 10. Almost 8 years ago. Her dad was her best friend, her mother's soul mate, and the rock that held their family together. She remembered crying for days after the death and once the funeral came around her tears had stopped flowing down her cheeks knowing that her dad would not have wanted to see her cry. The third time she cried was because of Troy Bolton. Troy had bullied her throughout the whole 4 years of high school, making her life completely hell. He was the East High's "God", the stupid blue-eyed captain of the basketball team, the biggest egotistical jackass in the whole world, and her worst enemy. He was an idiot. A stupid player that only cared about one thing. Sex. He always told her that he would get into her pants but she would always stand her ground. She always fought back. There came a time though, when she was fed up one day but with the help from her best friend Taylor McKessie, she got through it. The fourth time she cried was now.

She had her whole future planned out for her. She was done high school. She graduated two weeks ago. She never had to see Troy Bolton again (she didn't care which University he was going too, she just knew she would be far away from him). She was set to go to the University of California, Los Angeles- also known as UCLA and major in Law (Taylor had suggested Harvard but Gabriella didn't want to be that far away from her mother because her mother was staying in Albuquerque), but now it was put on hold all because of one stupid thick pink line.

Gabriella Montez was pregnant.

Her mind flashed back to the Evans' graduation party two weeks ago after the students of 2008 had gotten their diplomas. She was so wasted and because of her actions two weeks ago she was pregnant. That wasn't the worst part though…

Gabriella Montez was pregnant with Troy Bolton's baby.

Her shut her eyes tightly, furiously blinking her tears away. She regretted drinking that much that night. She wished that she never went to that party or better yet, she wished so badly that she didn't have sex with Troy. She blamed him for ever entering her life. But most of all, she blamed herself. She blamed herself for getting into this mess and getting herself pregnant, even though Troy was at fault as well.

Thoughts of him pushing her up against the wall as he kissed her with passion and them stumbling on the stairs to make it up to a guest room made her sick to her stomach. Remembering how they were both wasted and couldn't stop the raging hormones bottled up inside of them. The hatred they had for each other had become passion and just when she thought she was done with him, she wasn't. She had to tell him.

Gabriella slowly grabbed her cell phone in one hand while holding the pregnancy test in the other and she dialled a familiar phone number. When the person picked up with a soft 'Hey Elle', sobs erupted from Gabriella's mouth as she said the words out loud for the first time since she found out.

"Taylor… I'm pregnant…"

\m/ let's take it slow \m/

He sighed as he placed another of his duffle bags into his authentic black Cadillac CTS V Predator that he had gotten from his parents for graduation. He and his best friend Chad Danforth were driving all the way from Albuquerque, New Mexico to Los Angeles, California so that they could attend University at UCLA. His dad was talking to Chad's dad while both their mothers were crying because their little boys were leaving home. Chad was grabbing another bag from his parents' car to place in Troy's, rolling his eyes at his mother who had attracted attention from the neighbour's with her constant sobbing.

Troy couldn't stop thinking about that night two weeks ago. When he and the one girl that couldn't stand his fucking guts had sex at the Evans' graduation party. He remembered when they both woke up they both had been in complete shock. She totally freaked out as did he and they both vowed to never speak of it again. They both would move on, not knowing where each other was going after high school. They would never see each other again probably for another 10 years when the graduating class of '08 would have a high school reunion of some sort.

He hadn't heard from Gabriella since that night and it bugged him. He didn't want her to be the same as the other girls he screwed. As much as he didn't want to admit it because he had made her life hell in high school, she was different.

To say Troy was confused when he saw Mrs. Montez' black Toyota Camry pull up on his driveway would be an understatement. When he saw Gabriella and Taylor he was really confused. What were they doing here? He watched as Mrs. Montez walked up to his mother and Mrs. Danforth and talked to them quietly before looking at his direction. All he heard was "Gabriella… talk… important."

Looking over at Gabriella he saw her eyes red as well as her cheeks as she walked over to him. At first he didn't know what to say. Here she was, the girl that haunted his mind for the past two weeks, standing in front of him.

"Hi…" she whispered her voice raspy. Troy raised his eyebrow, "Hi…" he said back slowly. She raked a hand through her long curly hair as she tried to hold back a sob.

"Troy… Can I speak to you privately please?" she asked. He nodded and they walked away from the view of his parents, Chad's parents, her mom, Chad, and Taylor. He crossed his arms in front of her waiting for her to talk to him. She looked at him and opened her mouth, "I don't know how to tell you this Troy… because I know that you have your whole life planned out for you but…" Gabriella paused, "I'm two weeks pregnant."

Troy froze and looked at her before laughing, she couldn't be pregnant, not a chance. "That's funny Gabriella, what is this? Some kind of joke to get back at me for what I did to you for the past four years?"

She didn't laugh nor smile and Troy's smile instantly faded when she saw a tear roll down her face, "You're serious…" he said quietly, "But we used protection and everything! Even if we were wasted, you SAW the foil wrapper!" he exclaimed.

"Didn't you ever pay attention in Health class, Troy?!" Gabriella snapped, "Condom's are 98 percent effective." Her voice softened, "Look, I understand if you don't care. I just wanted to let you know, alright? I'm not going to get an abortion because abortion is the cruellest thing you can ever do to an innocent human being so I'll raise this baby on my own and you should take the scholarship to whatever university you got accepted into. You have a good thing going Troy and I'm sorry that I practically ruined your future and-"

She kept talking and Troy just stared at her. He knew that her getting pregnant wasn't entirely her fault, he had fault in it as well. She couldn't have made that baby on her own and their was no way that she would sleep with someone else right after she slept with, it just wasn't like her.

"Gabriella," he interrupted her causing her to shut up, "your mom knows, right?" Troy watched as she nodded, "She even said that she would help me with the pregnancy," she whispered softly. She sniffed trying to hold back more tears as she remembered the disappointed look her mother had given her earlier that day but Mrs. Montez loved her daughter and would support her no matter what, even if she was pregnant.

He noted the scared look in her eyes at the thought of her mother wondering if she didn't have supported her. "You're not in this alone, Gabriella," Troy said quietly and as if instinctively he wiped her tears and pulled her into an unexpected hug. She tensed before hugging him back. "It's my fault also, I can't let you raise this baby on your own…"

The brunette stared at him in shock, "Are you sure, Troy? I mean your scholarship that you got to who knows what university and not to mention you hate me-"

"I'm pretty sure that statement is reversed, Gabriella." Troy chuckled, "You're the one that hates me and besides I'm pretty sure I'll have to pull some strings with UCLA."

Gabriella blushed when he said that she hated him. Sure she did, but ever since that fateful night and right now she wasn't so sure. Her head kept repeating those words 'UCLA' in her head when she heard Troy spoke them. At that point, Gabriella was actually glad she and Troy were both going to UCLA.

"You got accepted to UCLA?" she asked. He nodded, "Yeah, with a full-ride scholarship." Gabriella nodded back about to mention that she got accepted to UCLA as well but he had continued talking, "Anyways, I think we should go tell my parents or well, I think your mother already told them." He offered her a hand and she took it smiling softly when he gave her a gentle squeeze as they walked back to the house, both wondering what the reaction of Troy's parents.

A/N: I'm pretty sure everyone missed the Bolton Family. Well not the Bolton Family yet. It's gonna lead up the the birth of the twins so (:

I hate the document manager thing. I hate fanfiction for changing it and when you use dashes to separate scenes, they don't work anymore but whatever. So I used the rock on sign xD Anyways if I get enough reviews, then there's going to be an update very soon ;)