This story picks up where High School Musical 3 left off. I am not changing anything that happened in the movies except that Gabriella still lives in Albuquerque after graduation. She did go to the Stanford freshman honors program but it finished just before graduation so she has all summer to live in Albuquerque. This story focuses on that summer and attempts to show a realistic take on what might happen. Keep in mind that this story is rated M. If you cannot or would not like to read sexual depictions, you should turn back now. This story has a lot to do with growing up and becoming an adult. Finally, thank you for reading and supporting my work. This is my first High School Musical fanfiction. I hope you enjoy it.

Chapter 1: The Talk

Gabriella sighed as she put her cap and gown on the hanger and placed it gently in the closet. She had just returned home with her mom after graduation from East High. She had made so many friends in the year and a half she had gone to school there. Before East High, she had never really been at a place long enough to establish friendships. Sure, she had hung out with people from her classes and the scholastic decathlon team, but she had always felt as if she were some kind of outsider, looking through a glass window at other people's lives. Troy's speech crept into her head. He had said, "One person, if it's the right person, changes us all." She couldn't help the smile that escaped her lips at the memory from that morning.

Finally, she had really made lasting friendships and memories with some wonderful people that saw more in her than just a brain. For the first time in her life, she actually belonged. She had a best friend in Taylor McKessie and a boyfriend in Troy Bolton. Troy. Just the thought of him was enough to make her feel warm on the inside. He was so caring, so patient, so sweet, so…loving. He was the perfect boyfriend and he was perfect for her. And when she was with him, he made her feel like she was perfect. She knew she wasn't, of course. She could come up with so many things about herself that she viewed as imperfect but when she was with Troy and she saw the way he looked at her, she felt perfect, like there was absolutely nothing in that moment that she would ever change.

She went downstairs and walked over to her mom, who was busy making dinner in the kitchen. Elena Montez turned and smiled at her daughter. "Well there's my valedictorian," she said happily before noticing the slight frown on her daughter's face. "What's wrong, mija?"

Gabriella sighed. "It's nothing, Mom." She paused, seeing the skeptical look on her mom's face, so she continued, "I just feel like everything is happening so fast. I feel like this is the first time in my whole life that I've actually fit in and now I have to leave and start all over again. I guess I just wish that I could I put off college and just live in this moment forever."

Elena frowned and went over to hug her only daughter, and the only immediate family she had left. "Honey, growing up is hard but everyone has to go through with it and you don't have to start completely over." She paused, looking at her daughter carefully before continuing, "Troy sure had an interesting speech."

Gabriella frowned, sensing the direction of the conversation. It wasn't that she and her mom never talked about Troy. They had a very close relationship, especially after her dad had passed away when she was twelve. However, she always tried to steer the conversation away when her mom wanted to talk about anything deeper than the surface of her relationship. "Gabi, you can't avoid the topic forever. I know you don't like to get into the details of it, but the longer this goes on, the more I get worried that you're trying to hide something from me."

Gabriella opened her eyes wide in shock. "Mom, is that what you think? I'm not hiding things. I just feel like as soon as I start talking about how I feel, it'll all slip away. It seems like it's too good to be true and I don't want to jinx it by talking about it. I mean I've never really had the chance to have lasting relationships with anyone and now that I love someone, I'm so afraid that I'll lose that too." She stopped suddenly, catching her breath. That had all come out so quickly that she hadn't really thought about what she was saying until she said it.

"So you love him?" It was more a statement than a question.

"I…uh…well…I mean… yes." She held her breath, not sure what her mom would think about this new development.

Elena sighed and got a look on her face like she had finally accepted some known truth that she had expected for a long time but didn't really want to admit. "Well, I can't really say I'm surprised. The look you get on your face when you talk about him is enough. And, well, he looks at you like, well, like your father used to look at me and it's not hard to guess that he must feel the same way."

"He does." It was so final.

"Well then, I think it's time we had a talk about," she paused, eying her daughter in a new light, "About what it means to be a woman."

Two sets of dark brown eyes met in a heated stare: the older eyes, holding a determined glint of knowledge, the younger set holding a slight fear. But she would not back down. If she wanted her mother to respect her, than she would have to be brave in this moment. She had to let her mother have her piece or she would never be allowed to be alone with her boyfriend again. And Troy was not something she was willing to give up. Elena gestured to the table where they both went and sat down.

"So, first off, I want you to be totally honest with me. I promise I won't get mad but I will be mad if I find out that you're lying to me. Do you understand?" Gabriella nodded. Elena took a deep breath and looked into her daughter's eyes, afraid of what she might find. "Have you been intimate with him?" The question pierced the air like a needle to a balloon.

"No Mom. We've only kissed," Elena let out a breath she didn't know she'd been holding, "but…"

"There's a but?"

It was Gabriella's turn to sigh. "I would be lying if I said I hadn't thought about it. And...and I want to. I don't know when yet but I know that I want to be with him that way. We love each other and I want be able to-to feel it in every way. I love him emotionally and intellectually. I want to love him physically too." There was a moment of silence in which the air could have been cut with a knife it was so thick.

Elena had tears in her eyes as she gazed at her daughter. "I said I wanted you to be honest but I wasn't really expecting that. The way you talk about it…mija, it sounds like you're a lot older than you are. You just graduated from high school. You're still so young but honey, the way you just talked about sex…it sounded a lot more mature than what I would expect from an eighteen year old. But, then, I guess you've always been mature for your age. You were forced to grow up fast when-when your father died." They almost never talked about how Diego had died from cancer, after undergoing multiple surgeries and years of illness. Mother and daughter had both been crushed. They would talk about him sometimes but they generally preferred to focus on the happy memories and not the ones of hospitals and funerals. They missed him terribly and it seemed almost odd that they would talk about him now, when Elena was having the sex talk with her daughter. Both women had tears in their eyes now. The conversation had gotten so personal so quickly. This was far different from the talk about the birds and the bees they had had when Gabriella had hit puberty several years ago. This was more real.

"Well," Gabriella began, finally breaking the silence, "I suppose you're going to forbid me from ever seeing him again now that I've admitted to you that I want to be with him physically."

"I didn't say that. Frankly, mija, I don't think that would do much good even if I did say that. Besides, I would much rather you be honest with me about it than sneaking around, which I am quite sure you would do if I were to try to separate you two. Love is a powerful thing." She gave her daughter a small smile with this and continued, "However, I do want you to promise me that you're not going to do anything until you are absolutely certain that you are ready. Your virginity is the most precious gift you have to give and you can only give it away once. I don't want you to do anything that you're going to regret later on. Also, I expect you to be safe. I am going to schedule you a doctor's appointment so you can get checked out and I want you to go on birth control. You should use a condom too. I don't want to be a grandmother yet. And, I want you to consider all the consequences. Accidents happen even when you're being careful and I want you to seriously think about what you would do if something happened. After you've done all this, you need to talk Troy about it too. And I mean before you have sex. I know it's awkward to talk about but having sex is an adult thing and if you can't talk about it, then you're not ready-end of discussion."

Gabriella was scared. She couldn't remember the last time she and her mom had talked about anything so serious. In fact, she wasn't sure that they ever had. And she was shocked. She had never figured that her mom would basically give her permission to have sex before she was married. She had figured that it would just happen and she would pretend that it hadn't happened and her mom would pretend that she knew nothing about it even though she would have her suspicions. Somehow, having this conversation made the whole thing even scarier. Sure she had planned on using birth control and she loved Troy but now that she had talked about it with her mother, the whole thing just seemed so much more official like her mom would never look at her the same way again. What her mom had said was right. If she had sex, she would be an adult. Through and through, balls to bones. The thought of it was overwhelming to say the least. Her soft tears became heavy tears and she looked her mom in the eye once more. "I'm scared, Mom. I love him and he loves me but I'm still scared."

"Gabi, it's normal to be scared. It means a lot to give yourself to another person and sex is a very emotional experience. That's why I want you to be sure that you're ready because you can't take it back."

"I know mom, but he's the one. I know that we're young and that a lot can change but right now, it feels like forever. I love him so much that it hurts."

Elena nodded understandingly and pulled her only daughter into a hug. They sat there for a few moments, both absorbing the conversation. Finally Gabriella pulled back and looked at her mom questioningly.

"Mom, would you be upset if I did make love with Troy?"

Elena sighed. "Honey, I won't lie to you. The idea of my daughter, my only daughter at that, having sex while she's still a teenager and isn't married doesn't exactly thrill me. I would rather you wait and I'm not just saying that because you're young. I'm saying that because I love you and I would hate to see you ruin your future because of one mistake. You're so smart and beautiful and passionate and I just know that you are going to be so successful in life with whatever you decide to do. I just don't want to see everything you have worked so hard for slip down the drain because a condom broke. You're so much better than that. And it goes beyond getting pregnant. Sex is a big deal, even if you don't get pregnant. I know that you love each other but I'm going to say it one more time. Your virginity is special. His is special too but, as a woman, yours is even more special. Your first time is going to be awkward, uncomfortable, emotional, painful- but, mija, if you are really ready for it and you really love the person and you take your time and listen to each other, then it will feel like it is perfect. I don't want your first time to not be perfect. Do you get what I am trying to tell you?"

"Yes Mama."

"Good. Now having said all that, I won't be upset with you if you decide to do it. You're an adult now and this is a decision you need to make on your own and with Troy. Thank you for being honest with me."

"I love you Mom."

"I love you too, Gabriella. If you have questions about anything or if you need to talk about it, don't ever be afraid to come to me. I promise I won't judge you, no matter what it is."

"Okay." Gabriella nodded, giving her mom a small smile.

"Now, I better finish cooking. That boyfriend of yours will be here pretty soon with his parents and I'd hate for your graduation dinner to be without food. Go upstairs and get cleaned up and then you can come help me with the pie."

"Troy, are you almost ready to go?" Lucille Bolton asked her son, peeking her head into his room. Troy was sitting on the edge of his bed, holding a framed picture in his hand of him and his girlfriend that Lucille had taken of them after the spring musicale. He had a small smile on his face and an almost dazed look in his eyes. She walked into the room and sat down next to her son on the bed. "You really care about her don't you?"

Troy smiled even wider and nodded his head. "I love her."

She gave her son a long look. He loved her. And he had come right out and said it. He was clearly not shy about the subject and it made her wonder if there were other subjects related to his girlfriend that he wasn't shy about. She had grown to care about Gabriella a lot over the last year and a half that she had been dating her son and she thought of Gabriella as one of her children. She had always wanted a daughter but after having Troy, she and Jack had not been able to have any more kids. She supposed daughter-in-law would be the closest she would get and while Troy and Gabriella were still very young and many years away from that sort of thing, his son's girlfriend was the closest thing at the moment.

"Does she know you feel that way?" she asked, trying to get a little more insight into their relationship.

"Yes. And she loves me too." This revelation brought an even bigger smile to his face.

"Troy," she paused, giving him a questioning look. "I hope you're being careful."

The smile fell off his face very quickly and he jumped off the bed, giving his mom a shocked look. "Mom!" She had definitely taken him off guard with that comment.

"Troy, don't look at me like that. You're a teenage boy. I know where your thoughts go and it isn't always to your brain." She gave him a pointed look that suggested she meant business.

Troy let out a defeated breath, realizing he wasn't getting out of this one. "Mom, look, it's not what you think. I mean, we haven't even done anything."

"You say that like it's a bad thing."

"It's not. I just-it's hard to keep myself under control. I mean she's so beautiful and just being around her makes me want to…" He cut himself off there. He had almost forgotten his mom was there but that's what Gabriella did to him. She drove him so crazy that just thinking about her made him forget everything else around him. She was his world. He blushed, realizing that he was about to say something that his mother would almost definitely not approve of. He dared a glance in her direction to see a pointed stare and a raised eyebrow. She clearly was not impressed and he quickly covered his words. "I mean, I just really care about her, that's all and I don't want to hurt her."

That seemed to get him slightly out of the hot seat, if only for a moment.

"Just promise me that you'll show her respect and won't put pressure on her. The first time for a girl is a very big deal and if she decides to share that with you, you need to be gentle and patient. And if you love her like you say you do then you'll wait for her until the next blue moon if that's how long she needs. Do I make myself clear?"

Troy gulped. "Yes ma'am."

"Good. Now that that's settled, let's go drag your father away from ESPN and go over there before the food gets cold." They both got up and started to walk toward the door but just before they got there, Troy stopped walking and turned to his mother.

"Mama, just so you know, she means the world to me and I would never ever do anything to hurt her. Ever."

"I'm glad, Troy. And I'm proud of you. My little boy is becoming a man…finally." She added the last part with a smirk, earning a "Hey" from her son. "Now come on. I'm hungry."