"I need you to visit me here in Italy to see if I should marry him or not." As ridiculous as the request was, Gabriella wasn't surprised. Only Sharpay, her best friend the last four years, could suggest something so absurd with the confidence of total rationality.

"I have work."

"Take a vacation," Sharpay suggested.

"It's not that easy."

Sharpay rolled her eyes and impatiently sighed, leaning away from the camera until the bedazzled Princess across her camisole came into view. It was only two in the morning over there and Gabriella wondered not for the first time if Sharpay actually owned anything that wasn't hot pink or covered in rhinestones.

Sharpay said, "It'll only be a month."

"Only a month?"

"Yeah, so? What's the big deal?"

"A month is a long time to be away from work."

"I thought you were leaving that job soon anyways."

"You're right, I thought about it. They still haven't paid me for last month, but I don't want to provoke the wife. She seems a little crazy." A loud ring from Sharpay's end rattled the speaker on Gabriella's laptop.

Sharpay lifted her jewel-encased phone and said, "Oo, hold that thought." She rose from the couch and stepped out of frame, showing her long blonde hair and tan legs. It was enough to make Gabriella self-conscious as she hunched over her laptop in a former boyfriend's tattered T-shirt and shapeless sweatpants. As happy as she was for Sharpay, she couldn't help but be envious, too. Gabriella worked her ass off and sacrificed her social life just to live paycheck to paycheck. Meanwhile, Sharpay lived in paradise where she drove luxury cars, wore designer clothes, and found a handsome man who wanted to marry her.

She didn't want everything Sharpay had. She could do without the cars and the clothes and probably the man for a little while. But what bugged her more than anything was that Sharpay had everything Sharpay ever wanted, but Gabriella was working so hard to be nowhere closer to reaching her goals. She hadn't graduated college, hadn't found a well-paying job, hadn't moved out of her hometown. With her exhaustion wearing her down and the news of a possible engagement, tonight was especially hard to see that Sharpay was well on her way to achieving all of hers.

Sharpay reappeared behind the couch said to the camera, "You're in luck. I have to run so I'm granting you one more day to decide. You could spend the next month wiping snot off those spoiled brat's nose. Or you could have the time of your life with your best friend in Positano. Choose wisely. Ciao!" Sharpay stretched over the back of the couch until she could end the Skype call.


The alarm on her phone said it was five in the morning. The sun still hadn't risen, but Gabriella needed to crawl her tired self out of bed, take a freezing cold shower, and get ready for another tiresome day. For this reason, she felt more inclined to accept Sharpay's generous offer. This impulse intensified during rush hour but diminished once she reunited with the kids. She nannied four of them: Michael, Jasmine, Penelope, and Lucas. Michael and Jasmine were talkative, energetic four-year-old twins who entertained each other with tag, nursery rhymes, and sharing Mr. Potato Head toys. Penelope and Lucas, the next set of twins, were only toddlers whose adorable imitations of adult speech were still incoherent babbles. They truly weren't any more snot-nosed than any other kids, even if they were born into a ridiculously affluent and privileged family.

There was so much to do today with potty training, cooking, cleaning, and playing that Gabriella didn't realize that their mom came home. Gabriella gathered her bag, hugged the four of them goodbye, and tracked down Mrs. Collins to her bedroom.

Gabriella knocked on the door and it opened immediately. She wondered if Mrs. Collins had been waiting on the other side this whole time…listening for her to leave. Gabriella brushed off the eeriness and said, "Sorry to bother you. I wanted to know when I'm getting paid."

Karen Collins opened her mouth before a ding interrupted her thought. She took her phone out of her pocket and held it up between she and Gabriella. Uninterested and unconcerned by her question, Karen began texting, and the little clicks of her touchscreen keyboard answered for her. Gabriella said, "Karen?"

"Oh," she finally looked at Gabriella and said, "Thomas should have sorted that out." Karen stepped around Gabriella and walked down the hall towards the kids' playroom.

"I'm sorry, but he didn't. It's been almost six weeks since I was paid."

"Six weeks?" Karen stopped, faced Gabriella, and said, "No, we only owe you for the last cycle and this week. So three weeks."

Gabriella insisted, "Mrs. Collins, I know when the last time I got paid was. I can show you on my bank account."

She dismissed Gabriella's offer, "That wouldn't be of any use since we pay you in cash."

"But I always deposit it the next day. I have no reason to lie about this. I just want what's owed to me."

"Of course, dear. I wouldn't accuse you of such a thing. You're not a swindler. You're just mistaken." In her third attempt to dismiss Gabriella, Karen turned around and walked away again.

"Excuse me, Mrs. Collins."

"Gabriella," Karen spun towards her and said, "my dear, it's late. I'd like to spend some time with my children before their bedtime if you don't mind." She rested her hands on Gabriella's shoulders, and Gabriella felt the hair on the back of her neck stand on end. Something about this woman never sat right with her. Something was off. It was like she wore a mask that never quite fit. And now she was playing the fatigued mother, and again, Gabriella could see the monster through the cracks.

Gabriella said, "I want you to spend time with them, too, but I hope you can sympathize with the fact that I have rent and bills and groceries that I need to keep up with."

Karen took her hands off her and the air suddenly felt bitterly cold. "It's only been a few weeks' delay. If you didn't have the savings to cover a few weeks that's no one else's fault but your own."

Gabriella had watched Karen turn her back on her for the last time. Her seething anger reached from her locked jaw to her clenched fists. She snapped, "Write me a check, now!"

Karen whipped her hair as she spun to face Gabriella and yelled, "Excuse me? What is that tone? I've never in my life heard such vile attitude in my life!"

Gabriella ordered her, "Get your fancy designer purse back in here, take out your checkbook, and pay me the remaining balance or I quit."

"I will not tolerate your hostile demands, Gabriella!" She slowly stepped towards Gabriella with a maniacal smile growing across her face. With a daring, mocking voice she said, "You should have thought long and hard before biting the hand that feeds you."

"Maybe if you listened to me complaining about my missing paychecks the past month, you wouldn't get bit. Where's my money?"

"You're not seeing any of it for a long while. Maybe that'll teach you a thing or two about manners. And if you couldn't tell already, you're fired!"

It took every inch of self-discipline to refrain from spitting on her, from calling her every expletive she could think of, from doing something she'd truly regret. With the evil woman's eyes still on her, Gabriella forced herself to leave the house.


"She's fucking crazy! I swear to God that bitch took sadistic pleasure in the whole situation. Can you believe someone would be so cold and so vile?" Sharpay seemed unphased and even bored of her story. Granted, Gabriella was on her third reiteration, but she finally felt she was getting to the heart of her fury. "God! I want to sue her up the asshole."

Sharpay raised the hand she was dragging across the nail file up to the light and said, "Well as I offered before, I can get you a lawyer."

Gabriella listened and somehow the hope of revenge calmed her. "Are you sure? I don't know how I could pay you back."

She shrugged, "Don't worry about it."

"Thanks, Shar."

Her brown eyes aimed above the camera in thought. "Although, there is one teeny tiny thingy you could do for me."

"Sure!"

A mischievous smile snuck on her face as she said, "It might be positively torturous for such a busy body like you, but Gabriella, please, I'm begging you to get your cute little butt on a plane…"

Gabriella realized where this was going and murmured, "Oh no."

"…sip champagne all the way to Italy…"

"Here we go again."

"…and come relax on the beach with me! I know, it sounds like so much hard labor! We'll go shopping and drink wine and go to parties and pile on the yacht. There'll be fancy art shows and symphonies. I'm inviting so many people!"

"Sharpay, you know that's not my scene."

Sharpay whined, "Do you know how long I've been waiting to introduce you to my other friends? But you're always busy! And you promised me you'd visit here when I moved away, and it's already been a year! With all the marriage talk Ronaldo has suddenly become obsessed with, I need you here more than ever. Please Gabriella. It's all I want."

Gabriella thought about it for a moment, considered the beach she'd seen through the Skype calls and constant tan Sharpay showed off. This vacation obviously wouldn't put her any closer to her goals, but neither was anything she did at home. Maybe a break from it all would be the reset she needed. She'd been tempted to go plenty of times before, and now that she didn't have a job, there really was no excuse. She folded, "Fine."

Sharpay screamed at the top of her lungs and giddily bounced up and down on her couch. "Oh my God it's going to be so much fun!" She clapped her hands together excitedly and said, "I'm going to reimburse you for all the travel expenses!"

"You don't need to do that."

"Don't be ridiculous. You're finally coming! I couldn't be happier to!"


With a couple outfit changes and bikinis packed, Gabriella boarded the next flight to Naples. After a confusing moment in the city with an out of date Italian to English dictionary, she found the train station and set off to Positano. When they turned around the hillside and Gabriella caught a glimpse of the city between old buildings, she thought she had left this world. What she saw with the endless water, sailboats, and beautiful houses belonged to the movies. She never would have thought this could ever be her reality, especially for an entire month.

By the time the cab driver arrived to their neighborhood, the sun was setting. By the guidance of the dim light, she followed the stepping stones through the pebbles up to the tile beneath the arches. She set her suitcase down and knocked on the door when she heard voices from beside the house. She followed the voices around the corner and locked eyes with Sharpay. Sharpay cupped her mouth and said, "Oh my God."

Gabriella parroted, "Oh my God!"

"Oh my God!" She unstuck her stilettos from the floor and ran up to embrace Gabriella. The two squealed and hugged before animatedly talking about the plane ride and boasting about the view. Gabriella slowed her frantic speech when she noticed a tall, tanned man join Sharpay's side.

"Oh!" Sharpay caught her breath. "Gabriella, this is Ronaldo."

"Hi," Gabriella said, "nice to meet you!"

He kissed each of Gabriella's cheeks and smiled warmly at her without uttering a word.

Sharpay wrapped her arm around his and said, "He's a little shy at first."

"That's alright! I prefer the quiet, in fact."

Sharpay laughed and said, "Let me show you around the house! Ronaldo, grab her suitcase." Sharpay took Gabriella's arm and led her inside. "This is the foyer. Ugh, please don't look up. Seriously. Whatever you do, don't look up."

Intrigued, Gabriella looked up and asked, "why?"

Sharpay playfully said, "Stop!" and cupped her hands over Gabriella's eyes. "I hate that fugly chandelier. It's going to go. I can't stand the sight of it anymore." She ducked her head and hovered her hand above her eyes as if she were sheltering them from the sun. "Anyway, on to the second floor." She took her into a bedroom and said, "This is where you'll be staying. We overextended our invitations so one of Ronaldo's guy friends will have to bunk with you. Hope that won't be a problem."

Gabriella looked at Sharpay with a stoic expression, still unsure how to tell if she was serious or not.

Sharpay laughed, "Just kidding. But wouldn't that be so much fun?" She took her into the other guest rooms and opened a couple windows to show her the view. Then she marched her back down the stairs and into the kitchen where all her and Ronaldo's friends were gathered. "Everyone! Let me introduce you all to my best friend, Gabriella Montez." Gabriella glanced around the kitchen at the friendly faces, each of them giving Sharpay their attention for the moment. "She's a nanny, or, former nanny?" Gabriella shrugged and continued to look at the others. "She's between jobs," Gabriella's eyes glanced over one guy and continued across the room "but she's-" Sharpay's words faded away as Gabriella's eyes snapped back to that guy again. She suddenly recognized him, and her expression instinctively changed to mirror his – unpleasant surprise.

This was the man she fell in love with nearly five years ago.


Five Years Ago

When Gabriella had to pick housing for Stanford, she followed the advice of nearly everyone she talked to and didn't room with any of her friends. Something about getting on each other's nerves and ruining friendships was enough to make her refrain from it. Instead, she registered to be randomly matched with a roommate. It's very likely this could have gone well, but for whatever bad karma Gabriella had racked up, she had a terrible, terrible match.

Maybe she wasn't completely awful. She didn't piss in her shampoo bottle or purposely sabotage her in anyway, but they were just different. Too different. This girl, Olivia, was a popular party girl who couldn't respect Gabriella's need to read in silence. The smell of hairspray and a hot straightening iron was constantly in the congested air. She played her music too loudly, and if it wasn't that, she was actively trying to talk to Gabriella.

After a week of this, Gabriella went to the library café, found the last booth in the far back corner, and finally read in the peace and quiet again. This lasted about an hour before she saw someone approach her secluded area. She ignored him as he stood next to her booth and as he turned back around for a moment. But when he took a seat in the bench across the table from her, she was forced to look up at him. He set his backpack next to him and smiled at her.

She snapped, "Jesus Christ, can't a girl find one place where she won't be disturbed?"

"What? I'm sorry, all the other tables are full. I can find somewhere else if I need to."

Shame from her rudeness cascaded over her. "Oh my god, no, that's okay. I'm so sorry. I thought you wanted to talk to me."

He gave a hearty laugh. "You don't have to worry about that for now."

Gabriella tried to get immersed in the world of her novel again, but was a mixture of too embarrassed and intrigued to be able to fully do so. After a couple minutes of rebuilding her confidence, she asked him, "For now?"

"Hm?"

"What did you mean I don't have to worry about you talking to me for now?"

"As in someone else might come up and talk to you."

"Oh, okay that makes sense."

"Why do you ask?"

"I thought you meant you might want to talk to me later or something."

"Oh, well, we can do that later once you're not so busy."

"No, that's okay. Let's talk."

"I guess we're already doing that, aren't we?"

She giggled. "Yeah, I guess so."

They exchanged names, discussed their first week, and discovered they were both going into business. Around the time they realized they both loved to sing, Troy asked her if she wanted anything to drink. When he returned with their coffees, he sat with her on her side of the booth. They talked some more about which artists were the favorite, and some more about popular movies. It took cycling through a few topics for Gabriella to realize she didn't care much what they discussed. What she really cared about was discussing it with him. She wanted to get to know him. She wanted to get to know all of him.

When Troy mentioned his admiration for The Strokes, he turned towards her and rested his arm around her in the booth. Then once he started to talk about Julian Casablanca's solo career, all Gabriella could focus on was how physically close they were getting. She took advantage of a brief lull and intended to quickly peck him, but he adjusted his lips on hers and effectively deepened the kiss. It elicited a magnificent sensation, one like butterflies flurrying up from her belly to her heart. They would talk some more and kiss longer, talk less and kiss even longer, then barely talk before fully making out.

The sensation of his soft lips gliding against hers and the way he occasionally teased her by holding her bottom lip between his teeth sent small waves of pleasure through her body. She grew embarrassed of her obvious inexperience when she realized this alone was getting her wet. She was afraid to give herself up too soon, afraid what her mother warned her about being easy would make him run away. So she told herself that no matter how turned on she got, she wouldn't have sex with him. At least for a while.

A while lasted a full week.

On day two they made out on his bed with Gabriella straddling him, and he got a tight grip on her ass from outside her shorts. Intoxicated by the erotic sensation and knowing that the hardening mass beneath her pelvis was from her own doing, she changed her rule to only as he initiated it. On day three when he lifted her shirt and undid her bra, she proudly arched her back and eagerly welcomed the kisses on her breasts. Day four: his fingers traced the soft skin on her inner thighs until he could pull her underwear aside and put his fingers inside her. It was day five when he introduced rubbing his tongue over her clit until she pushed him off because it got so intense. On day six she took him inside her mouth and messily attempted her first blow job. Finally, on the seventh day, she let him get a condom and push himself into her, break her hymen, and continue until climax.

It turned out her mother's concerns were entirely unfounded. Troy didn't run away from her because of the timeline of what they did with their bodies. In fact, it was Gabriella who would cut things off at the six-month mark of their perfect relationship.


Seeing him now, she drew a blank on anything about him or their experiences together. There wasn't any of the shaggy hair or average build she remembered of her eighteen-year-old first love. He had a short beard and short sides with a head of hair that stuck out in many directions, but mostly up. And she could see beneath his white T-shirt that he had added a lot of muscle. Only his eyes were the same at twenty-three. Still the dreamy ocean blue, but this time as wide as saucers like hers.

She watched him recover first, breaking eye contact by abruptly turning away from her and retreating to the dining room. Sharpay's words finally began registering with her again, saying, "Anyway, that's Gabriella!"

The group welcomed her before resuming their conversation about dinner, and Gabriella pulled Sharpay into the bathroom.

Before she shut the door, Sharpay was already speculating, "What's wrong? Is it Ronaldo? You don't like him, do you?"

"Sharpay, calm down. It's not Ronaldo."

"If it's not Ronaldo, then what is it?"

"There's nothing wrong."

"What? Come on! Obviously something's wrong or you wouldn't have dragged me in here."

Gabriella paced the small room with her arms crossed over her chest and a blank stare penetrating the floor.

"Go on! Spit it out."

Gabriella quietly asked, "How do you know Troy?"

"He's one of Ronaldo's friends. I think they met studying abroad or something. Why?"

"You remember me telling you about that guy I met in college who I lost my virginity to?"

"Yeah, Tr-" Sharpay violently inhaled before screaming, "Holy shit!" Gabriella shushed her, but Sharpay was overflowing with excitement and ideas. "Gabriella, this is so perfect! I'm deciding whether I should marry Ronaldo, and you can rekindle with the one who got away. How cute is that! What a beautiful vacation. God damn, you're so fucking welcome!"

Gabriella gripped Sharpay's shoulders to steady her bouncing and slowly, clearly stated, "Sharpay. I am not getting with my ex. I don't know if you noticed or not, but he and I stared at each other like deer in each other's headlights. We're never getting back together."

"Never say never, darling." She winked with a little curtsy.

Gabriella shook her head. "Never."

Sharpay threw the door open as if she was refreshed and rejoined the friends. Gabriella, however, reluctantly left the safe confines of the bathroom and cautiously stepped out with the others.


It seemed as though Troy was trying just as hard, if not harder, to avoid Gabriella as she was attempting to avoid him. Because by the time Sharpay called the girls together to get ready for dinner, she hadn't seen him since their very tense first encounter.

Sharpay entered the master bedroom (hot pink, of course) and took her seat at the vanity. "Okay, quick introductions. Ivonne, start!"

A tall girl with noteworthy full lips and glistening mocha skin said, "Hi everyone! I'm Ivonne. Sharpay and I met in college."

The girl next to Ivonne leaning against the end of the bed said in a British accent, "Hello. I'm Tiara Gold. I was Sharpay's understudy in high school."

Gabriella said, "Gabriella. I was Sharpay's personal assistant for a couple of months."

Sharpay joked, "I didn't fire her. I just promoted her to best friend!"

A girl with white porcelain skin, but dyed black hair cut into a short bob said, "I'm Jackie. This is Emma and Lea," she gestured to the redhead and the strawberry blonde next to her. "We met Sharpay in high school at the country club."

"Okay." Sharpay grabbed one of her hair brushes and ran it through her locks. "What does everyone think about Ronaldo? Let's start with Gabriella."

"He seems nice."

The room remained silent in anticipation for more, but she silently stared at the rug on the floor and returned to her thoughts. Sharpay said, "Okay? Anything else?" Gabriella never responded. Their voices faded to white noise as Gabriella calculated just how furious Sharpay would be at her for leaving early, and divided that by how many weeks she wouldn't talk to her before she finally forgave her. She ultimately decided not to risk it. Afterall, Sharpay paid for all her transportation. And for all she knew, maybe Troy was coming up with his own excuse to give Ronaldo for his premature departure.

Sharpay's announcement for dinner pulled Gabriella from her thoughts and together with the rest of the girls, she went downstairs.

The center of the massive table sat a display of three different types of pasta – fettucine, mostaccoli, and spaghetti. Little sauce bowls surrounded the heaps of pasta with separate dishes for the meats on either end. The girls started to settle around the table across from the guys lined on the opposite side when Sharpay demanded, "Move, Lea. I want Gabriella next to me." She reached out her arm to welcome Gabriella who obliged, realizing too late Sharpay was purposely doing this to sit her right across from Troy.

Troy was aware of what was happening and said to the guy at the opposite end, "Fabrizio, switch with me. I'm left handed. I need an end seat."

If Sharpay's diabolical plan to get Gabriella and Troy back together included nothing much more than seating arrangements, then she'd have to try much, much harder.

Gabriella was relieved he moved, but it forced her to wonder if he really couldn't stand being near her. She wasn't keen on sitting across from him, but she still could have done it. But could he not? She hadn't considered their break up to be especially messy, but was it really this bad all along? All throughout dinner, she alternated between conversations at the table and the thoughts in her head. She realized at one point that they hadn't said anything to each other at all. It made her wonder what the last thing they said to each other was all those years ago. She knew it, but she didn't want to think about it anymore than she had already recalled.

Troy was the first to excuse himself from the table and retire to his room. Everyone else gradually cleared their spots and while Ronaldo did the dishes, Gabriella volunteered to package the leftovers. Sharpay called her into the living room to meet with the girls, but Gabriella explained she was too tired and went upstairs to her room.

She walked up the staircase and turned around at the top to walk the length of the hallway to her room. When a door opened, she froze and caught her breath in her throat. Troy stepped out into the hallway and looked to her, but the shocked expression from earlier didn't reappear. She dropped her eyes to the floor and began to walk around him. She heard his footsteps continue further towards the opposite end of the hallway before pausing.

"Ella," he called. Ella, she thought. Fuck. She turned to face him and looked at his frown as he said, "It's nice to see you again."

Although he didn't seem any more pleased to be in her presence than earlier, she appreciated his attempt to diffuse the awkwardness, or whatever he intended to do with that comment. At least he was trying to make it better by some measure.

She replied, "You too." With her heart racing in her chest, she rushed into her room. "Whoa," she said to herself. She felt spooked, like she just heard a ghost talk. And in a way she did. They were supposed to be erased from each other's lives. At least, that had been the plan.


AN: The explanation for why Gabriella ended their perfect relationship will be featured in the next chapter. I hope it's alright that goes unexplained for now. I didn't want the present-day story to get too bogged down with their history.

Please let me know what you think!