full summary: Chad and Taylor are having problems in their relationship, but can they work together to overcome the obstacles? Can Taylor tell anyone her big secret? When something unexpected happens to Gabriella, can Troy be there for her, even when he's losing his faith? Ryan and Sharpay areexperiencing family problems, plus something happens that will change their lives forever. And Sharpay's starting to developfeelings for someone nobody would expect ..
Chaylor. Eventual Troyella. And more unexpected couples to come!


author's note: hi! please read & review! hope you enjoy!


Chapter One – Love and Everything Else

Troy came up from behind Gabriella and wrapped her in his arms tightly. She squealed with laughter, "Troy, you freaking scared me!" she planted a small kiss on Troy's lips, and he grinned sheepishly, giving Gabriella a big squeeze, as if she were a giant loveable teddy bear. They were messing around in the student library, behind shelves filled to the top with books. Gabriella had been trying to look for a book for her oral report in English, when troy sneaked up her.

She laughed again. "Troy!" She kicked around her All - Star black Converse high tops, squealing. She was in a light blue long sleeve—with a floral design at the bottom—and faded blue jeans to go with it. Around her neck was a silver beaded chain necklace with three hearts dangling from it—a birthday present from Troy.

The librarian, Mrs. Fallfox, appeared out of nowhere, as she usually did. "Keep it down, Mr. Bolton," she hissed at Troy, her face looking stern. "This is a library, not a theme park."

Still grinning, Troy nodded and finally let go of Gabriella. She rested her feet on the ground and looked at her boyfriend of almost a full year. Troy was in an old Abercrombie and Fitch sports shirt that Gabriella was sure she had never seen on him before, and he was wearing his dark red East High gym shorts, which he mostly played basketball in. His hair was a little ruffled and his face was sweaty, but it made him look cute, Gabriella concluded.

"What?" Troy noticed her staring at him.

She cocked her head to the side, smiling. "Nothing," she replied softly, "it's just…you are really great, Troy."

He smiled at that, and then showed his appreciation by playfully tickling her. She squealed and laughed until the librarian had to kick them out for the rest of the day, but they didn't care, as long as they were together.

Troy Bolton and Gabriella Montez were one of East High School's "cutest couples." They looked so great together, they never argued, and they never forgot any important dates, like their ten-months anniversary or Valentines' Day. Troy, who was busy with the upcoming basketball season, always seemed to find time for his girlfriend, even if he had an hour of basketball practice. And Gabriella remained faithful to him, even though about a million guys in their school were chasing after her. Troy was her one and only love.

They had gotten together the previous year, when Troy was a junior and Gabriella had just transferred. They met on New Years' Eve at a ski resort in the mountains and were forced to sing together at a young adults party, and they really enjoyed it. A few weeks later they discovered they both went to the same school, East High, and found themselves wanting to sing more—because it felt great. They tried out for the Winter Musical against the most dominant people in the whole school—Ryan and Sharpay Evans—and, surprisingly, made the cut. The Winter Musical, called Twinkle Towne, was a major success. Also during this time, the East High Wildcats basketball team, led by Troy of course, won the championship and Gabriella won the school decathlon. There was an after-party at Troy's house, and that's where he and Gabriella got together. Everyone thought they were so cute.

Of course, they remained together for the rest of the year, and had a summer romance, up until their final year of high school. They were both seniors, graduating in the class of 2006. They had a lot to look forward to—the new basketball season, more musicals led by Ms. Darbus (the theatre-crazed drama teacher who referred to her shows as, "musicales"), another school decathlon, graduation, and of course, the Prom at the end of the year.

They also had a lot of things to worry about. Troy was seriously considering a basketball scholarship at USC, so he had to play his best in the game. Gabriella also wanted a scholarship to USC—so she could still be with Troy. They worked hard in their studies and games and tried to focus on what was really important—besides their relationship—in order to graduate.

Gabriella considered this as she sat down in the passengers' seat of Troy's black-and-blue Hummer. He hopped in beside her, the drivers' seat, and they sat in the car for a few moments in silence. School had already ended a couple of hours ago, and they were looking for an excuse to hang out together. Gabriella had already finished her homework assignments, and Troy could do his later. Right now was their special time.

"Where to go." Troy leaned back in his seat, easing up. "Hang at my house?"

Still silent, Gabriella nodded. She would go anywhere with Troy at this point.

Troy started up the car and as he backed it up, Gabriella's cell phone rang. She fished it out of her pocket and pressed the talk button. "Hello?"

"Uh, Gab?"

It was Taylor, obviously. Why was she calling right now? What did she want?

Gabriella cleared her throat. "Taylor? Hi, what's up?"

There was a pause on the line, some distant sounds of yelling, and then Taylor spoke in a worried voice, "Gab, I just wanted to check up on you. Are you okay?" She sounded really concerned.

Why does she need to be concerned? Since when was Taylor ever concerned? Gabriella thought, switching her cell phone to her left ear and giving Troy an apprehensive look. He didn't seem to notice. "Um, yeah, Taylor, I'm fine. What's the deal? Is there something wrong?" she asked uneasily.

"No, no," Taylor said, still sounding nervous, "everything's just great."

"Are you sure?"

"Uh." Taylor paused before speaking again. "—Yeah."

Gabriella wasn't sure that was the real truth. She bit her lip, fingering a piece of her dark wavy hair. "Um, Taylor? Are you okay? Is everything all right?" she mumbled.

Troy looked at her for a second; his eyes worried, and then turned them back to the road. They were driving along the Spectrum, a collection of shops and grocery stores and a movie theatre. It was quite sunny for a warm September afternoon in New Mexico.

"It's cool." Taylor sounded like she didn't want to speak.

Still not sure, Gabriella sighed and said in a soft voice, "You know Taylor, if there's anything you want to talk about, I mean anything, you know you can always tell me. I'm here for you, okay?" She was really worried for her friend.

On the other line, Taylor nodded. She felt horrible for not telling Gabriella anything, but she felt this wasn't the best time. "Okay. Thanks, Gab."

"Anytime."

They hung up, Taylor on the verge of tears. Gabriella reached over and squeezed Troy's hand tightly. "There's something wrong with Taylor," she whispered loud enough for him to hear.

He raised an eyebrow. "What's going on?"

"I—I don't know." Gabriella struggled to find the right words to say. "She's breaking down, I could tell. It's as if something bad happened between her and Chad—"

Suddenly they both looked at each other, eyes wide. Had something happened?

Taylor McKessie was one of Gabriella's closest friends. She was smart, maintained a 4.0 GPA since kindergarten, and was also a member of the school decathlon team, like Gabriella. She was an only child, sensitive but strong. She spent her time usually hanging out with Gabriella and the rest of their friends, or writing poetry in the back of her notebook.

Chad Danforth was one of the most popular guys in school, besides Troy, and was also a star on the Wildcats basketball team. He was Troy's best mate and Taylor McKessie's "hot" boyfriend with big hair. Chad was a real man, but he didn't like to admit his feelings. He was strong and tough, but also very friendly. Sometimes he couldn't find the right words to say. Taylor loved him because of his great, funny personality, and his nice smile. Chad always found a way to make Taylor laugh, and he was a loyal, honest boyfriend, everything Taylor had wanted.

They weren't an "It" couple like Troy and Gabriella, but they were still cute. They had their share of fights, but that was normal in a relationship, wasn't it? They weren't perfect.

But now, Troy wondered, how could his best friend do something to hurt Taylor? And what exactly had he done?

There was no time to keep wondering. Troy turned the car around in the direction of Chad's house.

"Where are we going?" Gabriella mumbled.

"Chad's," Troy replied, his face looking grim, "to see what's up."

Gabriella was fearful. "I hope nothing real serious happened to them," she heard herself speaking as they turned the corner toward the Pines, a semi-wealthy neighboring community where Chad lived.

They parked the car under the streetlight in front of Chad's house. Troy abruptly held Gabriella with all his might and whispered comfortingly in her ear, "Don't worry, Gab. I know Chad. We'll fix this."

Gabriella, still looking doubtful, nodded, embracing the warmth of Troy's hug. Together they walked up the steps to the front door, and Troy knocked three times on the hard wooden door. A few minutes later it swung open and out stepped a sleepy-looking Chad.

His eyes widened when he saw them. "Hey—whatthe?" he began, but Troy stopped him.

"What's going on with you and Taylor?" he asked almost too suddenly.

Chad stared at him in disbelief. "I—you—what?"

Troy went on to speak. "Taylor. Why is she hurting? What the heck happened?"

Chad stepped aside to let the two of them in. He went to the kitchen and brought them two glasses of fresh-squeezed lemonade, and then explained his story. "I'll tell you what happened," he muttered. "Nothing happened."

Still, Gabriella wasn't so sure. She managed to choke out, "Then why was Taylor crying when she called me earlier this afternoon?"

"Heck, like I know." Chad took a quiet sip of lemonade.

Troy and Gabriella exchanged hesitant looks, and then Troy said, "Do you even care?"

There was a momentary pause before Chad finally spoke. He sounds so unsure of himself, Gabriella noted. Is he even telling us the truth? "Well yes, I do care," she heard Chad murmur. "I mean, Taylor's my girlfriend, is she not?"

"Yeah, but it seems like you don't really care about what's happening to her."

He protested at this. "I do too!"

Troy sighed. This was useless. "Yeah? Okay. Prove it. Did you even know she was hurting?" he asked doubtfully.

Chad went with the truth. "No," he replied calmly. "I didn't. She doesn't even tell me these things, when I could have helped out."

"But do you know why she's hiding it from you?" Gabriella asked.

"No." Well, it was the truth, Chad thought.

"Do you even care to know?" Gabriella felt like Dr. Phil, asking him all these curious questions.

"Well, technically speaking, not really." Chad wondered if he was being invaded on his private thoughts about Taylor, but whatever. "I mean, I do care and all, but it's not really any of my business. Don't you think?" He took another gulp of lemonade.

Instead of agreeing, Troy just simply looked at Gabriella, then at him, saying, "You're really new to this boyfriend-girlfriend stuff, aren't you?"

Chad gawked at him. What was he saying, that he wasn't a good boyfriend to Taylor? What kind of "best friend" would say that sort of stuff? "Um, Troy, if you didn't know, I do have experience. And I know from this experience that when a girl is hurting, it's always best to back off and give her space—"

Troy laughed. "Space?" he cried. "Is that what this is about? Space?" He grinned at Gabriella.

She didn't laugh, not finding the comment so amusing. "Chad, let me tell you something," she said softly, putting a hand on Chad's left knee. "Now I'm a girl, and I have a boyfriend, and I know from past experience exactly what a girl wants. We want space, yes, but not so much space that our relationship becomes…distant. No, we don't want that." She raised an eyebrow to see if Chad understood, and he nodded.

"We don't want to become so far apart from our boyfriends," Gabriella continued, feeling like an expert on the subject. "Yet we don't want them to be so attached. You know what I'm trying to say?"

Feeling like an idiot, Chad nodded. Maybe he didn't know so much about girls as he thought.

After Gabriella's helpful advice, Troy forced Chad to call up Taylor and ask if she was doing okay. Not wanting to stick around to see what happened, Troy and Gabriella left, feeling like heroes.

"You know what, Gab?" Troy whispered when they were driving away in the Hummer.

"Hm?"

Troy beamed at her. "You are going to make a great teacher," he admitted.

Gabriella laughed playfully, swatting his shoulder with her hand. "Me? A teacher? Nah."

He nodded. "Yeah. Definitely."

They teased each other around for a few more minutes before Troy dropped Gabriella off at her house. Holding hands, they walked to the swinging bench out in the front yard. The sky was already getting dark, and they watched the sun as it settled beneath the low mountains, out of sight. The sky turned a shade of light purple.

Gabriella slipped her hand into Troy's. "This is beautiful," she breathed.

"Yeah."

They were silent for a moment, watching as the clouds disappeared from view and the first stars popped up, little bright lights in the nighttime sky. "I hope Taylor and Chad are okay now," Gabriella mused.

Troy nodded in agreement. Smiling, Gabriella rested her head in his lap and lay there as he quietly stroked her precious brown hair. They lay there, under the stars, and were quiet for the rest of the night as the rest of the world went on around them.