Disclaimer: I own nothing associated with the HSM franchise. All I own is the original writing and storyline of this fic. I make no money from the writing of this story. No copyright infringement is intended. Later chapters of this story will utilize scenes, moments, or lines from HSM3. I do not claim to own those ideas and use them only as context for the original content surrounding them.


Senior Year: Graduating Childhood

Chapter One


The seniors' last semester at East High began and it was the most hectic time Troy and Gabriella could have imagined. On top of incredibly difficult classes (Gabriella's college prep and AP classes and Troy's standard, but still senior level, classes), it seemed like every other day was filled with meetings during home room about last minute college acceptance or cap and gown orders or financial aid. The seniors had given up suppressing the groans that echoed through the drama classroom each time Darbus announced all seniors needed to go to the auditorium for an "informational meeting."

Luckily, there was a lull in "information" once February hit. Troy and Chad wouldn't have had the energy to pay attention anyway. Coach was drilling them hard every day after school and every free period to prepare for back-to-back championships. And what was more exhausting than the physical exertion was the lack of time Troy had for Gabriella after New Year's. He was glad they had taken the opportunity to be together when they could because there was little relief in sight.

They were a little over a month into their final semester of high school, and Gabriella was feeling the strain too. She was a smart girl, no one would argue that, but something felt off and Gabriella couldn't quite put her finger on it. It just all felt… too much. The endless hours of homework that kept her up late each night, the design work for the yearbook layout, the lack of time to curl up in Troy's arms and just breathe for a few minutes - it was all weighing on her. Troy could see that, too, and he worried for his girlfriend. She was the strong one. She was the one who could stand up to Sharpay. She was the one who could correct teachers. She was the one who had her future all planned. And even she looked stressed. And, though Gabriella hadn't admitted it to Troy (or anyone else for that matter), the stress seemed to be affecting her physically. She felt tired all the time - even more tired than her late night studying should have caused. She even had an uneasiness that had settled into her body… and into her stomach. She wasn't eating like she used to in hopes of keeping the sick feeling at bay, but Troy was worried. He may not have known the details, but he knew something was off. But no matter how often he asked, she would always assure him she was okay. And how could she not? She and Taylor were the ones who were the most prepared for the next step after high school. How could she tell him that the stress was getting to her just as much as it was for him?

But still they went on, trying to take it day by day, class by class. But one day, for some reason, it all seemed to come to a head for Gabriella. That uneasiness filled her body and went straight to her stomach, right in the middle of homeroom. But she couldn't manage to suppress it this time and panic spread over her body as she shot her arm in the air to interrupt Ms. Darbus's announcements. But when her teacher didn't notice her arm in the air, she spoke to get her attention, hating to talk out of turn but lacking another choice

"Ms. Darbus?" Gabriella asked, causing their drama and homeroom teacher to look up from the announcement sheet she had in her hands. "Can I be excused? I don't feel so well."

Troy's head snapped up and turned around to see her. She was pale, her face void of emotion except… was that a hint of panic in her eyes? Troy mouthed to her, "Are you okay?" but she didn't answer. She barely looked his way.

Ms. Darbus seemed to be taking her time in her decision to let Gabriella leave the room - that or it simply felt that way to Troy who was incredibly worried about his girlfriend. "Yes, Ms. Montez, but I'll need to -" But before Darbus could finish her request to fill out a hall pass, Gabriella was up and running for the door.

The room chattered with concern and curiosity. "Hoops, is Gabster okay?" Chad asked Troy, who was staring at the door where Gabriella just left.

"I don't know, man. She seemed a bit off this morning when I picked her up for school, but I don't -"

Darbus cleared her throat, bringing the class back to order and cutting off the boys' conversation. But Troy had very little ability to pay attention to the long list of announcements and deadlines his teacher was rattling off. He was antsy and concerned. With Darbus's face buried the in the announcements, Troy snuck his phone out of his pocket and typed a quick message to Gabriella. But when he heard the faint buzzing come from her bag still beside her desk, he knew there was no hope in hearing from her. Luckily Ms. Darbus didn't hear the vibrations or they would have all been subjected to "was that a cell phone?" again.

The longer the class period went on with no sign of Gabriella, the more Troy felt like he too might be sick. Something wasn't right. By now, Darbus had retired to her desk and left the rest of homeroom as a much needed study hall for her seniors. But Troy wasn't accomplishing anything. He was anxiously staring at the classroom door, hoping to see his girlfriend reappear.

With class more than half way over, Troy was fearing the worst. He reached up and smacked Chad's arm, startling him from the nap he had drifted into with his basketball as a pillow. "Hey. I'm going to go check on Gabi," Troy whispered to his best friend, letting him know the plan.

"She's still not back?" Chad asked, a bit dazed. He glanced around and saw Gabi's still empty seat. "I hate to break it to you, Hoops, but Darbus isn't going to let you go traipsing off to find your girlfriend in the girls' bathroom. I'm not teacher, but that whole plan sounds sketchy, even to me."

Troy muffled a swear word as his leg started bouncing in agitation. He glanced around the room, hoping to get another idea when his eyes fell to Taylor. But no matter how hard he stared at her or thought "please look over here," she kept her focus on her schoolwork. Adjusting the plan, Troy ripped part of a piece of notebook paper from his binder and scribbled his message on it. Then he whispered the plan to Chad to set it into motion.

Chad took Troy's note before glancing over at Ms. Darbus's desk where she was buried in Shakespeare essays. Then he picked up the basketball from his desk and chucked it against the blackboard before it bounced across the room, scattered student papers from a couple of desks. The sudden commotion sent the room into dismay as Darbus snapped at Chad. "Mr. Danforth, I understand that your main concerns may be on the basketball rink, but this is certainly no time to practicing shooting touchdowns!"

Chad had rushed from his seat at that moment and went to gather the ball, which had landed toward the back of the classroom near Taylor's desk. He suppressed his eye roll at Darbus combining football, hockey, and basketball and half muttered, "Sorry, Ms. Darbus, ma'am." Taylor looked up at him with a glare as he stood up with the ball in his arms. Her eyes were wide and disapproving. But, with his back to the teacher's desk, he dropped Troy's note on her desk before going back to his seat.

As Ms. Darbus called the class back to order, Taylor watched intently for the teacher's gaze to be diverted so she could read the note. She kept glancing over at Chad with confusion written across her brow, but she continued to meet Troy's gaze instead. Another glance up to the teacher's desk confirmed that Ms. Darbus was back at work; this gave Taylor the chance to unfold the note and read:

Something's wrong with Gabi. Phone in her bag. Can you go check on her?

-Troy

She looked up again and saw the concern on Troy's face and the pleading expression he was sending her. Taylor gave him a small nod and straightened the things on her desk before standing and approaching Ms. Darbus's desk. On her way, she checked the time on the clock and Troy thought he saw a moment of concern flash across her face, too. Luckily Ms. Darbus didn't put up much of a fight when Taylor asked to leave the room. Taylor gave Troy a reassuring nod before disappearing through the classroom door.

Troy watched the clock, holding his breath. As each minute ticked by without word or sign of Taylor, he got more and more nervous. He sent five separate texts to Taylor. No response. Something was definitely wrong. Neither of the girls returned for the rest of class. Troy had a knot in his stomach the size of a basketball. He had to get to Gabriella.

As soon as the bell rang, he sprang from his seat, startling Chad who had fallen back asleep. He rushed to gather Gabi and Taylor's things, slinging Gabriella's bag over his shoulder and piling his own books on top of Taylor's before tucking them under his arm. Chad didn't even have time to locate Troy before his friend had rushed from the room to find the nearest girls' bathroom.

But once he got outside the door, Troy froze, staring at the odd stick figure with the triangle "dress" on the door. He couldn't go in there. And while his fear for Gabi probably would have overridden that in most cases, it was passing period. It was likely that several other girls were inside other than Taylor and Gabi. He shifted uncomfortably in his spot. He edged his way closer to the door and pushed it open a crack with his foot, the bright pink tile of the wall inside practically blinding him. He nervously cleared his throat and spoke through the crack, keeping his eyes on his shoes. "Um..Tay-Taylor? Gabi? It's Troy. I have your books…." He heard a shuffle and some mumbled speech before footsteps approached. Troy's heart dropped a little when Taylor appeared around the corner rather than his girlfriend.

Taylor met Troy at the door, coming out into the hall with him. She looked a bit… frazzled. "What's going on, Taylor?" Troy demanded. But before Taylor could answer, there was a faint retching sound from behind the door. Troy pushed the door open again and called out, "Gabi?" but Taylor responded for her.

"She's been throwing up off and on the whole class period," Taylor explained.

Troy's eyebrows pressed together in concern. "Is it the flu? Or food poisoning?"

"She's not sure. She was doing a bit better and there's probably not much left for her to throw up now. She just wants it to stop so she can go back to class."

"Class? Are you crazy? She needs to go home and go to bed!"

"I know that, Troy, but have you met Gabriella? She doesn't want to miss class, especially with it being our last semester."

Troy groaned and rubbed his hand over his face in frustration because he knew he wasn't going to win this. "Right…." he admitted, "But I'm not leaving until I see her and know she's okay…."

Taylor couldn't help but give him a small, soft smile. "I didn't figure you would. But it may be a bit," she warned, catching another worried look for Troy before she clarified, "Her shirt is drying."

"Drying?"

"Yeah… It had a couple of spots of vomit on it. I couldn't do much except rinse it in the sink, but it was something…. She doesn't have an extra in her locker or anything, does she?"

Troy thought for a moment. "No… I don't think so. Her locker is basically strictly books. She doesn't use it as a wardrobe like Sharpay." They both chuckled. Troy sighed a bit, trying to come up with a solution before it clicked. "Here," he said, tossing his books to the ground and pulling his baseball-tee over his head. He fought to keep his undershirt down but inevitably flashed his abs to the hallway. A stray cheerleader and a couple of underclassmen fangirls happened to pass at just that moment with a wolf whistle and appreciative stare. Taylor glared back on behalf of Gabi and Troy couldn't have cared less in his focus to help Gabi. "Give her this to wear," Troy told Taylor, handing it to her and pulling his white undershirt down into its proper place.

Taylor raised her eyebrows a bit and gave him a questioning look. "You do know what that's going to look like, right? It's a pretty clear statement of 'I sleep with the guy who owns this shirt'….."

"Yeah, and?" To be honest, it wasn't the whole school's business what he and Gabriella did within their relationship. Troy did his best to keep their relationship out of the trap of the high school rumor mill - and that wasn't an easy feat. The razzing from the team when he was mute in "locker room talk" was bad enough, but then add in shutting down Sharpay's advances at every turn and cheerleader jealousy of the "nerdy girl" being with the basketball captain… it was a full time job. But he did that for her sake. He honestly couldn't care less what other people thought, so long as he had Gabi. And, in the case of her wearing his shirt, their assumptions wouldn't be wrong for once….

Eyebrows still raised, Taylor told him, "Okay then," and turned to go back into the restroom with a bit of a smirk.

A few minutes later, decidedly after the tardy bell, Gabriella emerged wearing Troy's shirt with her head hung low in embarrassment, Taylor right behind her. Taylor and Troy met gazes that clearly said they were both worried. He then took in the sight of his girlfriend. She looked tired, her shoulders were hunched, and she looked a bit pale. But he liked that she was wearing his shirt. It gave off the aura that he was protecting her, wrapped around her. "Hey you," Troy greeted softly gathering her into his arms. He leaned down to give her a peck, but she put his hand to his chest, halting him.

"No, Troy. I've been throwing up. Rinsing my mouth in the sink only does so much without a toothbrush…."

Her eyes were glued to the floor. He could tell she was embarrassed. He leaned down and gave her a kiss on the top of her head instead, keeping away from her lips only to appease her. "How are you feeling?" he asked as Taylor kept a close on eye the exchange.

"I'm fine, Troy. But we're all late to class….." She reached for her bag that was still slung over his shoulder.

"I've got it," he assured her, brushing a stray curl behind her ear. "I'm worried about you."

"I'll be fine, Troy!" Gabriella snapped, causing Troy and Taylor to share a look over her shoulder. "Can I have my books, please? We need to get to class." Troy gave her a wary look as he handed her bag over. "Thank you. Now, maybe Ms. Darbus will give us tardy passes to our next class. I don't want either of you in detention because of me," and she turned, taking off back down the hallway.

Troy and Taylor trailed behind, watching her carefully. "What is going on with her?" Taylor asked Troy, the one who knew Gabriella better than anyone.

"Stress maybe? I really have no idea. But we need to keep an eye on her." Taylor nodded her head in agreement as she took her books from Troy's arm and they picked up the pace to catch up with Gabriella.


A/N: I hope you're intrigued! I will say that this opening is very different from what I had intended through much of my writing process, but I settled on this so that later events can be more of a surprise reveal. So, I will say I am content rather than happy with this moment as the opening. I am more enthused about my writing later in the story, so I hope you will stay tuned. Please consider leaving me your thoughts on what we have here. I appreciate any feedback I get!

This story follows a timeline that is slightly extended from HSM3. We start a couple months or so before the movie and then follow our characters through graduation. My original intention behind this story was to give Gabriella a stronger motivation to feel the need to go to Stanford early (because it felt so forced in the movie to me). So you'll see events you recognize turned on their heads a bit throughout (that's just sort of my style). I look forward to taking this journey with you! Thanks for reading!