Title: The Rosebush

Author: Pixie

Rating: K+

Pairing: Troyella

Summary: A rosebush. It wasn't anything important to a passerby for anything other than glamour. But to one girl, it meant the world. What happens when she finds it gone? Could it mean that the person it represented it gone as well?

Disclaimer: I own nothing but the plot.

The Rosebush

Gabriella Montez ran through the seemingly endless halls of her Albuquerque high school. It was Friday afternoon, and the school was just out for spring break. She finally reached her locker in what felt like twice the time it usually took her to get there.

She quickly dialed in her combination and pulled open the metal door. Reaching in to pick up her math book, a piece of paper came into view. Interested, Gabriella grabbed it instead of the dark blue text and opened it.

Dear Gabi,

Meet me in front of the south door at 3:15. I have something for you there.

Troy

She grabbed what she needed and ran for the door. Knowing Troy, he would be there right now waiting for her and would giver her trouble if she wasn't.

When she arrived in front of the south door, he was already there. And he was holding a bunch of roses, as beautiful as an Albuquerque sunset.

"Hey, Gabriella, what took you so long?" he greeted her just in the way she thought her would.

She tossed her hair and replied, doing her best to sound prim and stuck up, "Well, it's not like I ran here. I prefer to walk leisurely and enjoy…"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. I've heard it all before," he cut her off. Gabriella indignantly tried to answer, but he cut her off with a short, yet sweet, kiss. "These are for you," he said, handing her the roses in a gentlemanly fashion.

"For me? Why?" she said, taken aback.

Troy sighed and then spoke somberly, "Gabi, I'm going away for spring break."

"Okay. That's cool; Troy a lot of people go away for spring break. It's not that big of a deal," Gabriella knew that he could go a little overboard sometimes, but she loved him for it.

He put his hand on her shoulder and looked her straight in the eyes, "Gabi, we might not be coming back."

Gabriella took a step backwards from him, pulling her shoulder away from his grasp, "Why?" she choked.

Troy wrapped his arms around her, "My dad got a job out there. If they can find a school for me over spring break, we're moving," he said, trying, but failing, to sound soothing.

Tears welled up in Gabriella's eyes, "Troy," they began slip down her miserable face, "I thought we were breaking free."

"We still can, Gabi."

Gabriella pulled out of his grasp once more, "Together, Troy. That can't happen anymore," he tried to comfort her, but Gabriella didn't let him get a word out, "Goodbye, Troy. I guess this is the end. I hope you find someone amazing wherever you're going, but it wasn't me," before Troy had time to say goodbye, she was running away; tearing through the grounds of the school in a hopeless attempt to try and run away from her life.

"Goodbye, Gabi. I love you. We'll be together someday. I'm not going to let you slip right through my hands."

Gabriella arrived home, miserable and out of breath. She dug through her things to find the keys to her house, praying that they were still in there. After a little hunting, she found them stuck in between her biology book and a huge notebook. She stuck them into the lock and turned it.

She had just walked into her house when the phone started to ring so she rushed over to the receiver and picked it up.

"Hello?" she said casually.

"Is Mrs. Montez home, please?" came an official sounding voice on the opposite end.

"No, she's not. Can I take a message for her?" Gabriella answered, now in secretary mode. Her mom always needed her to take incoming calls when she was busy.

"No. I will call back later," the person replied a bit rudely and hung up.

Gabriella set the phone back on its cradle, shaking her head dismissively, and scooped up her unusually enormous backpack. She always liked to get a lot of work done over spring break. And this spring break, she would need a lot to do to keep her mind off of Troy Bolton.

…

…

Gabriella awoke to the sound of smoothies being made in the kitchen below her. She slipped out of bed and threw on sweatpants, a tee, and some flip-flops, pulled her hair into a loose ponytail, and headed downstairs to get a smoothie.

"Morning, sleepyhead," her mom called as she ambled into the kitchen.

"Morning, mom" Gabriella said in response, but without her usual fiber and pep.

"Why so glum, Gabi?" her mom asked as she passed a strawberry smoothie to her.

"Troy's moving."

"Oh, honey, I'm so sorry. Why?"

"His dad is getting a job," she said simply. They sat there in silence drinking their smoothies, just thinking about what Gabriella had just said.

"You should go on a walk," her mom suggested a few minutes later.

So she did. She grabbed her cell phone and ran out the door before her mother could say anything more.

Gabriella walked right to East High from her house. It wasn't that far to the high school, the high school that had changed her life… for better and for worse. When she arrived, there were lots of kids and teachers there still packing up for spring break, but she didn't bother going into the building. It wasn't where she was heading anyway. Instead she strolled along toward the south entrance where the rosebush was.

She got there pretty quickly, and once she was right in front of the rosebush, she took out her cell phone. Changing it to the camera setting, she snapped a photo of the rosebush and changed it to the background on her phone.

She visited the rosebush every day that week, but on Friday she didn't get there until later in the afternoon. She and Taylor had dragged Chad to the mall and spent the day there. When she arrived at the south entrance something was missing… the rosebush.

Instead of that beautiful shrub that meant so much to her, there was only a hole, filled up with mulch. It was more than she could bear to see it gone because it had been the only part of Troy that she had left, it had been her only glimmer of hope, so she ran home.

Time seemed to pass slowly for Gabriella as she sprinted home. Nothing was going right anymore, and she began to realize that the saying, "Every good thing must come to an end," was really true because her good times were coming to an end right before her eyes, one after another. And every bit of anything that consoled her was fading away into the past, and there was nothing she could do about it.

But when she got to her house, she saw two things that proved her wrong: the rosebush, planted right in front of her house, and Troy Bolton, the love of her life. She ran up to him, her eyes brimming with her emotions.

"How are you here?"

"I convinced my parents not to move."

"Troy, I, I don't know what to say."

"Say you love me," he said with a goofy smile on his face.

"That will only happen if that stupid grin disappears."

a/n: How did you like my first (intentional) fluff? I'm thinking about writing more, but I don't know. If you are confused (which I hope you're not) just review me and I'll answer. Thanks!

Pixie from CoCoPixie134