Quick Summary: They've known each other for forever and have nothing against one another. They grew up together and know more about one another than anyone else. But they've since grown up and grown apart, and inside and outside of school they rarely hang out together anymore. Troy made friends with different people than Gabriella, as has she.

School has ended for the year and they're both looking forward to the summer and spending it with their friends. Things turn upside-down though when their parents, who just happen to be best friends, surprise the two of them with three months of unasked for responsibility; raising two growing children. Gabriella's Aunt is sick and dying of cancer and is in the hospital, so her Uncle can't stay home with their children a lot. Follow Gabi trying her best to be a mother, and Troy trying to be a father, all the while realizing that they have a connection unlike any other.

AN: This story use to be called Silent Admiration So I'm picking this story up again, yay! I've just changed the title to something more fitting to the new summary. I'm so excited about it; I've written the first seven chapters so far. I have though edited the first two, so it's a little different, but mostly the same. I'll re-post chapters one and two before I start to post the rest, I hope that's not confusing. It's going to be a long one, like Hidden Desire, and place Troy and Gabi in very grown up situations; sometimes more than they can handle. Please tell me how you feel about this story & review your hearts out! Thanks!

Disclaimer: I own nothing relating to HSM

You, Me and the Stars

Chapter 1 – Dreaming of Summer

They have known each other for as long as they could remember. They knew that the other one existed, and they could recognize them anywhere. Their parents had always been close and loved to travel together, leaving the two teenagers all alone for weeks on end.

Their relationship, if you could call it that, was quite strange. They of course grew up together, and Gabriella's older brother was and still is best friends with Troy's older brother. Both boys have since moved on to college at Boston University where they're having the time of their lives without any family near by. Unfortunately, they only come home on holidays so the siblings don't see much of each other.

The bond of their older brothers helped to bring Gabriella Montez and Troy Bolton together, but it wasn't enough to keep them together.

They both separately made different friends as they got older and they didn't need each other any more. Their bond just wasn't tight enough to keep them together as friends. They did still see each other, and occasionally both groups of friends would even hang out.

Even though life went on and they never hung out with one another as much as they use to didn't mean that they didn't acknowledge the other person's existence. If they were ever walking down the hallway and they were all alone, they would always raise their heads, smile and give a soft "hi." They would never walk past one another and completely ignore them. They always found time for at least a small smile.

They knew that if they ever needed help, one would always be there for the other. If Troy ever saw Gabriella walking home by herself, he would always ask her if she wanted a ride home. It was never awkward between the two of them; a comfortable silence was shared most times. They didn't feel the need to ask the other person all about their day just so they could make conversation.

Gabriella knew a lot more about Troy than most people, and Troy knew a lot more about Gabriella then most people. They would always share that common ground. They had respect for one another and would never talk trash about the other behind their backs. If someone was bothering Gabi, Troy would take the initiative to make sure that that someone realized that they either back off, or they were going to be broken. It was as simple as that.

Thankfully, the school year was coming to an end and both Troy and Gabriella were pumped for another amazing summer with their friends. Gabriella and Taylor were planning on going to the beach basically ever single day, while Troy and his friends were going to sit back and relax all summer long by the pool. No matter what they did, they would be happy because they were with their friends, and that was all that mattered. If you take their separate friends out of the picture, then there is simply no point to summer at all.

Having something like that to look forward to helped out a lot when you also had something to dread. That little something would be the Bolton-Montez Summer Eve Bash that they held in the Montez's backyard every single year. Not only did it suck because they had absolutely no way of getting out of it, and they had to help out with everything, but none of their friends were allowed to come. It was strictly family and close friends of the Bolton's and Montez's.

The two of them would plaster a fake smile on their face every single year, and would get stuck both collecting the car keys when the people entered the house and deciding if they should give them back to the owners by the end of the night. They usually chose not to even though they would have given anything to get certain people as far away from them as humanly possible.

One person in particular would be Gabriella's mom's friend from work's son, Dusty. Dusty was disgusting. End of story.

He ate with his mouth wide open and would always talk with his mouth full. His pants were way to short for him and his shirt always had a stain on it. His hair looked greasy and un-tamed and his breath reeked. Being around him was a very uncomfortable situation as he would always stand too close to you and stare at you very deeply. He would never stop talking and assumed he was right about everything.

Even with all of these weird habits and unattractive features, the absolute worst part about him was that he had a "thing" for Gabriella.

Ugh. It made her want to throw up.

Thankfully, many years ago when Dusty first decided to come to these things, Troy was forced by Gabriella's brother to pretend that he was Gabi's girlfriend and he had to protect her from Dusty at all costs. And thankfully even with Troy and Gabriella's grown distance from one another, every single year, Troy always came through for Gabi and still continues to pretend that they are still dating.

All the while that they do this it is never awkward between the two of them. If Troy ever spots Dusty, he immediately looks for Gabi and once he finds her he makes his way over to her. She then knows that Dusty is in the vicinity and keeps doing what she's doing. The two of them never act all lovey-dovey and show PDA or anything. Troy will simply hold her hand once in a while, wrap his arm around her shoulder, or put his hands on her waist as he watches her cook or do something else. Other times, Troy will find her, grab her hand and bring her inside the house and they will just go up to her room and watch some television. They'll do whatever it takes to avoid Dusty at all costs.

So since the school year was coming to a close that meant that this family party was all ready being planed and the invitations had most likely already been received. Gabriella's house was filled with party decorations and it looked like a tornado had hit it.

It was the morning of East High School's last day before summer vacation and Gabriella was running extremely late. Her alarm clock never went off that morning and Gabi was in a complete panic mode. She had raced through her shower and getting ready and had to settle for less than pleasing. On her body she threw her new Victoria's Secret multi-colored vibrant floral baby doll dress that had a deep v-neck and a red bow tied around her under her bust. Her hair was let down in natural curls and she had very little make-up on. Even though she didn't try, she still looked stunning.

She figured that she had already missed her bus, and was most likely going to have to run to school. She didn't have time to stop for breakfast and ran straight down her stairs. She was almost to the door when her mother yelled over to her to come and get her lunch money.

Gabriella quickly turned and ran into the kitchen completely out of breath.

"Oh Gabs, you need to fix that alarm clock of yours," said Gabriella's mother.

"Trust me, I know! Alright, I'm out of here, bye mom."

"Bye sweetie."

As Gabriella turned towards the front door she heard her door bell ring. Looking at the clock she saw it was only a little after 7:00 in the morning. Who would be visiting them so soon?

"I got it mom!"

Gabriella made her way to the door and swung it open only to be faced with her neighbor, Troy Bolton. In his hands was a box filled to the top with plates, cups, silverware, tablecloths, and who knows what else.

"Good morning, my mom wanted me to drop some stuff off," said Troy kindly to Gabriella.

"Oh, sure. You can just set them down in the kitchen; my mom should be in there. I actually have to run, literally, to school. I'm really late," responded Gabriella.

"I can take you to school if you want. It's no problem. It'll save you from running," offered Troy kindly.

"Are you sure? You don't have to if you don't want to." Gabriella didn't want to be a hassle of anything, even though they were both going to the same place.

"Nope, it's not a problem. Let me just set this box down and I'll meet you out there. The car's open."

'You're the best Troy. Thank you so much.'

With that Gabriella stopped for one second to catch her breath now that she knew she wasn't going to be running anywhere, and went outside to his car. Troy's dad had given him a black SUV Audi Q7 for his last birthday. It was an extremely nice car and Troy was very grateful for it.

She got into his car and moment's later Troy walked out of her house and made his way to the care. Once inside, he turned the car on and proceeded to back out of the driveway.

"So, it's finally the last day of school of our junior year, are you excited?" asked Troy.

"More than you could imagine. I'm so ready for this summer. I just want to sleep in late ever day and head to the beach. Now all I have to do is keep begging mom for the car that I want and I'll be all set." A huge smile graced Gabriella's face at just the thought of how much fun she was going to have in the next three months.

"I'm sure you'll get the car. She can't drive you everywhere for forever."

"No kidding. Do the Bolton's have any big plans for the summer?" asked Gabriella sincerely.

"If they do they haven't told me yet. Right now I don't think anything is going on. So far I plan on sleeping in every day and hanging out with the boys. We'll have fun though."

"We just have to get through the Summer Eve Bash first though. That will probably be a struggle."

"Oh man. Don't even remind me! I was trying really hard to forget about it too. Oh well. You'll have me to protect you though so you'll be just fine. Now I just have to find someone to protect me."

A giggle escaped Gabriella's lips. "I can be you bodyguard if you want. It will be quite the scene."

"That could work; I'm going to hold you to that now," Troy turned to Gabi to flash her his cute smile and give her a sweet wink.

"Maybe we should just let loose this year and join all of the adults in their alcoholic binges. We'll get so smashed we won't even recognize Dusty any more," suggested Gabriella with a serious voice.

"There is nothing that you or anyone in this world could do so that you wouldn't recognize Dusty. And even if we did, he would always find us. That guy needs major help." Gabriella couldn't help but laugh hysterically at this.

It was nice that even though they rarely talked these days, whenever they did it was just like old times. It would feel like they were the best of friends again and nothing had ever changed between the two of them.

After she finally settled herself down, she got some words out. "I couldn't agree any more with you Troy, not one bit more."

AN: So this chapter was just to introduce you to the story and let you get a feel for the relationship between Gabriella and Troy. I really hope it was good and that at least a few of you are excited about it and its future. Don't forget to check out some of my other stories: I'd Lie, Losing Her Grace, and Men or Money. Please, please, please review and help to make my day! I love you all, thanks a million!

FiFi xoxo