Author's Note: Aaaaand, here's chapter one! It's not too long, guys, but it's a start. If no one can really imagine Jordan…Well, I'm trying to find a play-by for him. Obviously, it's not working out so well. But thanks for the reviews!

I'm not too fond of this chapter, but here goes. Oh, and heads up, there's one strong swear word at the end of the chapter. But that's why it's rated 'T'.

Disclaimer: Obviously I hardly own anything. Beside Jordan and the plot, of course.

'So you buried all your lover's clothes
and burned the letters lover wrote,
but it doesn't make it any better.
Does it make it any better?'

Chapter One – Surprise?

She was relieved, to say the least.

Within two days, Jordan(after finally convincing Gabriella that it wasn't too show-offy) had hired a private jet, the two had packed, made a few phone calls to publicists and such(to tell them a quick lie about heading over to Europe), and had spoken to Gabriella's parents. Luckily, no one had seemed to recognize the Hollywood couple at the LAX Airport, and now the two were just landing in Albuquerque.

Gabriella sighed as she made her way out of the plane, tucking a strand of wavy hair behind her ear. She shrugged off the thin leather jacket, revealing herself in a comfortable white baby doll top.

"Well, someone looks hot." Jordan whispered teasingly in her ear as he helped her out of the plane.

The brunette rolled her eyes at him, but couldn't suppress a small smile. "I'm in skinny jeans and flats, Jordan. Nothing you haven't seen me in before."

"Ah, but that's just it." He winked at her.

"You make no sense." Gabriella laughed.

They put on their sunglasses and hats respectively before entering the actual airport – it offered a small disguise. It seemed to be enough, however, since they made their way through the airport towards the exit without any disturbances.

Gabriella's phone vibrated in her pocket and she pulled it out, quickly answering it and grinning. Jordan watched her as they stopped walking; only hearing her side of the conversation.

"Hi Mom!" Gabriella laughed. (She had lost her proper knowledge of Spanish some time ago, and didn't even use the most basic words anymore.)

"Yeah, we're in the airport." Pause. "No, we have our glasses and hats on." Pause. "Why would anyone recognize us?" Pause. "I actually have a whole fan club here?" Pause. "Yes, he's fine." Pause. "But he fell asleep in the plane." Pause. "Hey, look, can we talk about this later? Where are you?" Pause. "What? But I thought you said-"Pause. "Ugh. Fine. Bye."

She pressed 'end' on the phone, turning to the smirking Jordan. "I take it something didn't go as planned?"

"No." She pouted, dragging her bag over to a mini airport restaurant and seating herself in one of the chairs. "It seems that my dear mother can't pick us up, because we're having guests for dinner tonight and she needs to finish making it. I mean, honestly. It's still only 1 o'clock. She has plenty of time to make dinner. But she said someone's coming to pick us up, but they're running fifteen minutes late. And apparently they'll be holding a sign with 'Gabriella M.' on it." She huffed out.

Jordan couldn't help laughing, pressing a kiss to her cheek lightly. "Come on, let's just eat first while we wait, okay?"

Gabriella nodded, sighing heavily.

"So, what do you think she's gonna be like?"

"Meaning, what, exactly, Chad?" Troy Bolton lifted an eyebrow as he quickly shot a look at his best friend, before returning his eyes to the traffic light that had just changed from red to green.

"Exactly what I said." Chad grinned from where he sat in the passenger's seat of the car. "I bet you she's even hotter in person. And if you've been reading all the magazines lately, she's still with her boyfriend. But I still can't believe she's coming here out of all places. She hasn't been here since-"

"Chad, I don't even know the girl. All I'm doing is a favour for Mrs. Montez by picking up her cousin from the airport. And besides…Ms. Montez and her cousin have to be around the same age. Which means you just called a forty-three year old hot." Troy laughed, continuing towards the airport.

The man beside him shrunk lower in his seat, mentally beating himself up. Of course-Troy didn't know who he was actually going to pick up. Chad had the sign, and Chad knew about the 'surprise' that was awaiting him in just a moment-the same one that he had spent a few days working on with Troy's family. "Oh, sorry about that. I thought we were still talking about that babe from the movie we saw last night."

Troy rolled his eyes and laughed as Chad heaved a silent sigh of relief. "Of course you were, man. I should have known that you're still just one big walking hormone. Haven't changed a bit since high school."

The rest of the car ride passed in a comfortable silence-with the exception of the radio blaring the latest 'Top 20 Countdown'. As they pulled into the airport parking lot, Chad looked at the time on the car's clock and cursed.

"Shit, man! We were supposed to be here fifteen minutes ago! Why'd it take you so long in the shower?!"

Troy sighed impatiently as he quickly paid for half an hour of parking time and the two made their way inside the airport towards the 'pick up zone'. Chad pulled a sign out and held it up, turning it away from Troy's gaze when he tried to see it. All of the sudden, screaming was heard and both Troy and Chad turned shifted their attention towards the source of the sound.

"IT'S GABRIELLA MONTEZ!"

The sudden scream made the actress jump, and Jordan laughed and quickly caught her as she stumbled slightly, before they both turned towards the sound.

It turned out to be a little girl – she looked no more than eight or nine years old. She ran towards them, followed by what seemed to be her older brother at the age of around nineteen or twenty. Immediately she latched herself onto the brunette actress' leg, and she seemed to be crying.

"Oh my gosh, you're actually Gabriella Montez." She cried, before turning to Jordan. "And you must be Jordan Brady – the other half of America's sweethearts. Is it true you guys are actually engaged?"

As the little girl spoke, both of the couples' eyes widened, and Gabriella made herself busy by signing the piece of paper that the girl thrust at her. Jordan, on the other hand, was left to answer the engagement question.

"Er-Ah-Uh…" He began nervously – looking around for anything that could possibly help him to answer the question. "We-We're not really engaged, honey." He finished at last, causing the little girl to look at him in disbelief while she thrust the paper at him to sign.

"But why aren't you?" She asked, and Gabriella couldn't help but chuckle at her innocence and at Jordan's flustered expression.

"Here, can you do us a favour please, sweetie?" Gabriella asked and at once the girl nodded vigorously. "Well, our visit here is a bit of a surprise. See, we'd really appreciate it if no one knew we were here. Could you keep this to yourself-just for a few weeks?"

The little girl nodded again and continued crying until the man that seemed to be her older brother came over and picked her up, flashing Gabriella an apologetic smile (obviously not realizing who she was behind her glasses) and carrying his protesting sister away from the couple.

After a moment, Gabriella noticed that people were staring at them and whispering. Feeling a sense of panic overwhelm her, she quickly turned to Jordan and spoke loudly.

"Well, look at that, Thomas." She said, still feeling all eyes on her. Jordan himself raised an eyebrow at her questioningly, but she continued on without hesitation. "Isn't it funny that that little girl thought I was Gabriella Montez?"

Immediately catching on, her boyfriend replied smoothly. "Of course, Amanda. Come on now; let's go back to our house. I don't doubt that my sister will be okay getting through security. All the way back to Chicago she goes!"

After the crowd turned their attention elsewhere, Gabriella giggled and punched Jordan lightly on the arm. "Way to not sound suspicious with that last sentence!"

He held his hand up in defense, laughing. "Hey, it worked didn't it?"

Gabriella shrugged and reached into her purse, looking for her cell phone, but stopped as soon as she felt the rough paper against her fingertips. Pulling out the slightly ripped envelope and glancing at Jordan to make sure he wasn't looking at her, she opened the envelope after her eyes passed over her name quickly scribbled onto it. She pulled out the hand-written letter, glancing at the top, right-hand corner of the page to see it was dated about seven years ago.

'Gabriella,

I know that when you read this you're probably going to make a mental note to come and kill me for sending this so late. But hey, you've got to give me props for sending a letter rather than an e-mail. The latter would have been so much easier, but I vaguely recall you once saying that you thought letters were a classier way of communication. So here I am being classy. Shocker, yes. But one as fine as myself is always classy when it comes to the ladies, you know. -

Gabriella smiled fondly at this last sentence. Although Troy had always been the cocky one, he knew how to make her laugh through and through. She could count on him for that.

- Anyways, I just pretty much wanted to check up on you and see how you're doing. I saw a few paparazzi pictures of you the other day. So just a heads up to let you know that you have a few stalkers already.

Oh, and before I forget, I got a job. Yes, that's right, Troy Bolton is officially employed. Mind you, it's only a janitor at some kids' karate school, but it pays pretty good.

I really miss you Gabs, and I'm sorry this is so short, but that's all I can really say at the moment. Damn, everyone misses you. Everyone, and I mean EVERYONE (including Chad) was crying after you left

But keep in mind that I still missed you the most.

So write back SOON!

From,

Troy Bolton

P.S. Hope you like your present! I actually bought it with my own money, instead of stealing from my dad this time. Just joking. But I really did get it for you myself.

Gabriella shut her eyes tightly and reached into her pocket, pulling out the little golden ring that Troy had left in the letter years ago. She pressed her lips briefly to the object, before placing it, and the letter, back into the envelope and into her purse once more.

She didn't need this. She didn't need Troy Bolton, and she wasn't going to think about him – regardless of the fact that she was in both of their hometown. He had hurt her, and she didn't want to relive any of those emotions she had felt when she last talked to him some five and a half years ago.

At the same time, a slight feeling of unease combined with nausea filled her as she glanced around her, suddenly self-conscious.

Jordan's eyes were turned towards a man with a large afro, holding up a sign. Gabriella squinted slightly, and only then did she recognize her name in bold, black letters.

Excitement coursed through her veins as she looked over the man holding up the sign. Without even a second thought she dropped her bags, sprinting towards him and jumping into his arms, her own arms around his neck.

"CHAD!"

She laughed as she clung onto him, him hugging her back. Neither of them spoke, simply savoring the moment. They hadn't seen each other for nearly four years now, and she had missed having him to talk to, as he had with her.

The two only broke apart when they heard Jordan cough politely behind them. As they separated themselves from each other, Gabriella's eyes were starting to well up with happiness. Quite a few people were glancing at them now, but they didn't seem to notice.

"I missed you a hell of a lot, Gabriella." Chad said quietly, with a smile on his face.

"I missed you too Chad!" She beamed, glancing briefly at the person beside him, who seemed to be texting someone on his cell phone. "I didn't know you were coming to pick me up. Much less bring a friend with you!"

"The thing about that is, Gab-" He tried.

"Whatever, it's no big deal." She interrupted him, missing the pained expression that flashed across his features. "Anyways, this is Jordan. He's my…boyfriend." Gabriella said the word slightly hesitantly, but was relieved when the two shook hands calmly.

"Great to meet you, man."

"Likewise, Chad. Although I can't say that I've heard anything about you."

Gabriella blushed at Jordan's comment, feeling slightly guilty, but chose to distract herself by turning to Chad's 'friend', tapping him on the shoulder. "Might as well introduce myself to your friend, then. Hi there, I'm-"

She froze, mouth hanging slightly open as her chocolate gaze met the piercing blue. His jaw was strong, and he had had a dazzling half-smile on his face before he seemed to recognize who she was. His sandy hair fell slightly in his eyes, and she could see that he had just recently shaved, regardless of the slight stubble.

Well, someone had certainly grown up.

And all at once she felt something drive through her gut, and it took all the strength she had not to double over in both pain, and shock. A hole had just entered her that she had not felt in years. She tried to speak, but all that came out of her mouth was something that sounded more like a strangled sob.

What was he doing here? Suddenly she didn't know what to do, didn't know what to say. Anger, sadness, hope, frustration, curiousity, longing. She was caught in a whirlwind of emotions, stuck in a storm that she had never wanted to re-enter. All of the sudden those walls that she had spent years building up around her came crashing down at her feet. Well, his feet.

"Gabriella." He was the first one to speak, his voice sounding hoarse. And yet she couldn't help noticing that it was deeper then when they had last talked, not to mention that it held some sort of hidden emotion that she couldn't quite place her finger on.

"Troy?" Gabriella choked out. He gave her that weak, crooked smile(it seemed more like a childish attempt to make everything better between them), and it reminded her of the ways he had caught so much attention from the girls back in high school.

She felt herself starting to sway under his careful inspection, feeling his ocean-blue eyes pass right through her, reading her every emotion. Her head started spinning and she waved out an arm to grab onto the closest thing to her - which happened to be Jordan's shoulder. Only one last thing ran through her mind as she met those startling blue eyes once more before she passed out.

Fuck.

It was definitely him.

'Well you'd like to think that you were invincible.
Yeah, well weren't we all once before we felt loss for the first time?
Well this is the last time.'

Author's Note: Okay, so the song there is 'The Brilliant Dance' by Dashboard Confessional. I like the lyrics in that song…So….Yeah. But they DO tie into the story-don't worry. You'll see that soon enough, if you haven't already. Oh, and guess what? There's this guy in my school (one of my friends, even though he's like…three or four years older than me) and he's going to be in High School Musical 3! We don't exactly know what part he is yet (he's supposed to keep it confidential) but it was really exciting to figure that out. On top of that, he was/is also in 'Camp Rock', which just makes the whole thing even cooler. I'll keep giving you guys updates! Remember to review!

--Jennie.