'A bittersweet summer comes to an end,' Gabriella Montez thought to herself as she lay on the floor of her balcony, staring at the stars. Bittersweet was the perfect word to describe it. Her boyfriend of six months, Troy Bolton, had become such a jerk by July that she could barely stand the sight of him. Thankfully, Troy realized what a tool he was before it was too late. Troy felt so guilty that he spent the rest of the summer making it up to her and their friends. He did little things, like leaving a rose in her locker at work and wearing a necklace that matched her "T" one but with a "G" instead. Tonight, he had cooked Gabriella and her mom dinner and while it was nowhere near as good as Zeke's cooking, he tried so hard and put so much love in to his lasagna that she had no problem choking down his food.

School was starting tomorrow and she would finally be a senior. As excited as she was, she was also afraid. This was the year of college applications, competing for scholarships, meetings with admissions officers and SATs one last time for good measure. Not that her SAT scores were bad, far from it. She just wanted to play it safe.

"Hey, Gabs!" she heard someone hiss from her backyard. She went to the railing and saw Troy climbing up to join her.

"Hey, Wildcat!" Troy hoisted himself over the railing and sat next to her. "Thanks so much for making Mom and me dinner tonight."

"Thanks for not hurling. I could barely eat it and I made it!" They laughed and laid next to each other, looking up at the stars.

"It wasn't that bad," she lied. She snuggled against Troy's chest and pointed up, saying, "Look, there's the Big Dipper!"

"Where's the Little Dipper?" he asked, wrapping her up in his arms.

"Um…" she continued to point at the sky, drawing an invisible line with her index finger. "Right…there!"

"Excited about tomorrow?"

"Yes and no."

"What do you mean?"

Gabriella sighed. She was afraid that he would think she was stupid for saying it but she knew that he wouldn't leave her alone until she told him. "I'm excited for the Scholastic Decathlon and Drama Club but I'm afraid that I won't have any classes with you or that we'll be too busy to spend time together and drift apart again." She sat up and kneeled on the floor as a tear slid down her soft cheek.

"Whoa, Gabs, it'll be okay." Troy sat up and took her into his arms. "I know I was such an ass this summer and I will never stop asking for you to forgive me, but Gabriella, I will always find time for you. I promise you. And if we don't have any classes together, then we'll have Drama Club."

"Thanks, Troy." They kissed, softly at first but soon the urgency to it caused Gabriella to pull away. "I…um…I should go to bed, Troy. It's really late." It was late, Troy's digital watch read 1:27 AM. But that wasn't why she was asking him to go. It was because if they didn't stop soon, she wouldn't be able to stop herself from going further.

Troy nodded. He was in the same position as she was. They loved each other but Gabriella wasn't ready to have sleep with him yet and Troy didn't think he deserved it after how he had acted. He stood up and climbed over the edge of the balcony. "Night, Gabs."

"Night, Troy." She leaned over the edge and kissed him one last time, went into her room and went to bed.