Troy Bolton sat in the room that was once where his girlfriend slept in. Now the room was empty of furniture but was still full of memories. A month ago, his perfect life had been shattered when his soul mate had been ripped from his arms. Gabriella Montez. The name brought a smile to his face. Since the moment they met, they were hardly apart from each other. They were always seen cheering each other on at basketball games for Troy and ballet recitals for Gabriella. They were both happy and very much in love. And then he came back.

Roberto Montez came for his family. Soon, he announced that the family was moving to Santa Fe where he had been living and had a high paying job. Gabriella and her mother, Carmen Montez, had begged with him to allow Gabriella to stay in Albuquerque for school. But Mr. Montez' mind was set. The whole family was moving. The night they left, Gabriella raced to the Bolton home to give one last tearful goodbye to Troy. Jack and Tracy Bolton had offered several times for their son's girlfriend to stay with them knowing that the separation would kill both Troy and Gabriella. But Mr. Montez refused, even after seeing his daughter's distressed tears rolling down her cheeks. Their suspicions grew when they witnessed Mr. Montez actually lift Gabriella away from Troy and forced her into the car. As soon as he was in, Mr. Montez sped the family away into the night.

"I thought I'd find you here." Chad Danforth said walking in from the balcony. "Come on, your parents are worried."

"I love her." Troy murmured as Chad helped him stand back up.

"I know you do." Chad agreed.

"Her dad forced her away. He literally ripped her from my arms." Troy continued. "He picked her up and pushed Gabby into the car."

"Have you tried calling her?"

"Her father disconnected her cell phone."

Five minutes later, amidst the pouring rain, Chad led Troy into the Bolton home. Both looked like they had decided to jump into a pool fully clothed. Mrs. Bolton met them with towels. She then led her distraught son into the kitchen. Coach Bolton and Chad stayed at the front door.

"Where was he?" Coach Bolton asked.

"Where he goes every night." Chad answered. "I'm really worried about him. Should we blame Gabriella for this?"

"No, she's just as much of a victim as Troy is in all of this. It's her father's fault for making them both this way."

"Mom, please stop!" Troy shouted as he walked out of the kitchen. "Don't keep telling me it's going to be alright."

"But it's going to be." Mrs. Bolton said as Troy grabbed his car keys. "Where are you going?"

"To find her! I don't care how far or how long I have to look; I'm going to find her."

Troy then threw the door opened. There standing out in the pouring rain was the love of his life, Gabriella Montez. Her hair was matted to her face and her clothes clung to her small frame.

"Troy!" she exclaimed happily.

Troy wrapped his arms around her and let her cry into his chest. Now it was hard to tell whether it was rain or tears rolling down her cheeks. Troy could head Gabriella's crying over the pouring rain.

"Troy, it was terrible." Gabriella cried. "He joined a cult. The only way he could stay was promising me to the leader's son. He's forcing me into a marriage!"

"That'll never happen." Troy told her. "I'll never let that happen."

Mrs. Bolton quickly ushered Gabriella upstairs to get her in some dry clothes. Gabriella was running a towel through her hair. She could hear Troy pacing outside in the hall obviously not wanting to be apart from her for long.

"Here's some of Troy's sweats." Mrs. Bolton said. "I'm sure they're too big for you, but it's all we have."

"No, it's perfect, thank you." Gabriella said.

Gabriella took her jacket off. Two bruises had formed around her wrists like she had been strapped down. Mrs. Bolton gasped and gently grasped Gabriella's wrists to inspect the bruises.

"Sweetheart, what happened?" she asked. "Did they do this to you?"

"Yes, the other night. Like I said earlier, my father gave me to this cult's leader's son. I was strapped down the very moment we arrived so they could inspect me. They found out I wasn't a virgin and I thought that they would let me go." Gabriella explained tearfully. "But Marco, the son, insisted that I have surgery."

"What kind of surgery?"

"To reconstruct my virginity."

"Gabby, where's your mother?"

"I don't know, I haven't seen her since before I was taken to be inspected." Gabriella answered.

"You're staying here."

"But, I'm putting your family in danger. I shouldn't have come here; this is the first place they're going to look. I have to get out of here…"

"You're staying here." Troy stated coming into the room, obviously not wanting to be away from Gabriella anymore.

Ten minutes later, Gabriella had changed out of her wet clothes. She and Troy were nestled together on the couch as Coach and Mrs. Bolton discussed on what to do about Gabriella. Troy was trying to comfort his frightened girlfriend. The young couple looked up when Coach and Mrs. Bolton came into the living room.

"Tomorrow morning, we're going to the court house to see if we can get emergency guardianship of Gabriella." Coach Bolton said.

"Carmen named the two of us guardians in case something should happen." Mrs. Bolton added as there was a knock on the front door.

Troy tightened his grip on Gabriella as all four of them knew who it was at the door. They walked into the entry way and Coach Bolton opened the door. Mr. Montez and a man with long hair tied back in a low pony tail greeted them.

"May I help you?" Coach Bolton asked.

"Where's my daughter?" Mr. Montez demanded.

"She's here safe and sound, where she's going to be staying. Now please remove yourselves from my property."

"We're just here to bring our wandering lamb home." Palo Santos said making a move inside to collect Gabriella.

"I don't think so." Coach Bolton said stopping him from coming any closer.

"She belongs with us. This man is her father."

"Troy." Gabriella whispered tearfully.

"She's getting married next week next week and all she got was cold feet. Now please, Gabriella's got a wedding to be prepared for."

"She's not going anywhere." Troy said holding her closer to him.

"I'm not asking you again, leave my property." Coach Bolton demanded slamming the door.

A few hours later, Gabriella was sound asleep beside Troy. It was there that Troy saw the bruises around Gabriella's wrists for the first time and he decided if needed to, he would take Gabriella out of the country and they both would go into hiding if kept her safe. He was willing to give up a life he was used to if it meant keeping her safe.

"I won't let anything happen to you, I promise." Troy said kissing her cheek.