A/N: Ummmm...You might not like this chapter. This kind of gives an insight into Gabriella's life as a princess. As for the ending, remember that her parents have been taken hostage and she's halfway across the world from them. Please remember that it's a big change for her. Don't hate me or her!!!!

Don't own HSM x

After Troy and Gabriella arrived home with Jack, Lucille had asked about Gabriella's first day at East High. Troy had answered, answering truthfully but saving Gabriella from her lunchtime embarrassment. Lucille seemed beyond impressed, along with Jack who was clueless, at how many languages Gabriella could speak and her ability in math and science. Gabriella had blushed profusely and busied herself with getting drinks for both herself and Troy. After breakfast that morning, Gabriella had assumed that Troy's favourite drink was milk and when she asked Troy, she had been proved correct.

Troy had had to confess to his parents about Gabriella's first detention that they'd shared during free period. Jack, of course, knew about it but Lucille expressed her shock of Gabriella getting detention. Troy had, though, explained how it was his fault for talking to Gabriella too long in the hallway. Jack and Lucille had glanced at each other and, after talking in the silent husband-wife language that scared Troy to no end, decided that Troy's week of grounding because of his pop quiz wouldn't be increased and Gabriella wasn't punished because it was Troy's fault. Jack and Lucille had, however, decided that Troy could practice basketball for an hour before dinner has he'd missed practice two days in a row.

Gabriella felt a pang of guilt as she thought about that. Troy had missed basketball during free period because…of her. She was the reason he'd gotten them both detention. She was interfering in his life. Sure, he seemed to have lightened up a little and they'd had a couple of quality conversations but, she still felt like an intruder.

She was positive she was going to get a bruise on her shin in the morning after the amount of times Troy had kicked her to warn her when she wasn't blending in. She had protested, asking him if he could simply cough. But, he'd replied, in a fairly joking manner, that people would think he had a boulder stuck in his throat from the amount of coughing he'd have to do.

After Troy and Gabriella had finished their lunches, she'd asked him if they could visit Jack to find out if he'd found anything out from Ania. Troy had, of course, agreed and led her to Jack's office. He'd felt the need to cover her eyes as Jack's office was in the boys' locker room. The freshman baseball team had been practicing and he was trying to save Gabriella as much embarrassment as possible. However, he couldn't save her completely as a bunch of guys kept wolf whistling at her. One glare from Troy had shut them up, though. Unfortunately, even though Jack had contacted Ania, Ania had received no update from Ricardo or Clarisse.

Troy's friends seemed really nice. She could tell, though, they were a little weary after her episode with the pizza at lunch. But, she picked up that Taylor was on the scholastic decathlon team and a lawyer in teen court, Kelsi was a composer and Ryan and Sharpay were in the drama club. Chad, Zeke and Jason were on the basketball team and Chad, Jason and Ryan were on the senior baseball team.

Gabriella sighed as she stared up the sky. She was lying on the shore of the lake, looking up at the blue sky that was scattered by a few lonely clouds. Her hair, still in the side ponytail, was falling over her left shoulder. She could feel the sand beneath her fingers and her feet and feel the setting sun beating down on her skin. Her shoes were set off to the side and the lower parts of her leg were also exposed to the sand and the sun.

Troy was playing his hour of basketball with Jack and Connor. While Jack had offered for her to play, even Troy had furthered the invitation to being on his team, and Lucille had offered her to watch some TV but Gabriella had declined. She wanted to be alone. She wanted to think without anyone around her.

Gina was a magnificent queen and Gabriella would always see her as one of the greatest rulers of Costa Delta. But, how would she ever be able to match up to her mother. Gina had made it very clear ever since Gabriella had begun learning about her future role of queen that a queen never tells lies. What was she doing? Lying to everyone in Albuquerque. But, she had to admit that it was for her parents' safety.

A head suddenly appeared in front of hers, blocking out the sun. "Hey," Troy said, grinning down at her.

She frowned up at him. She guessed that he was lying on his stomach, propped up by his arms. "What are you doing here?"

"Connor got bored so I decided to come and find you. Would you like some company? I won't even talk if you don't want me to," he offered.

She smiled slightly up at him. "Well, if you're offering my new-student-unworthiness your company, who am I to decline?"

He chuckled as he rolled over onto his back so that their heads were next to each other, both looking up at the sky. "Nah. You'll never be a new student in my eyes. After all, we've been spending Christmas together since we were six," he joked.

She giggled. "Well, I don't know. What makes you think I want you around my royal self?"

"You see, you're wrong. Gabi's not a princess. That's Gabriella." He twisted his head and grinned. It faded when she was silent. "Gabi?"

"That's just it," she whispered. "That's what I've been thinking about." She rolled over to face him, their faces just inches apart. "I know this whole thing is so my parents are safe and I wouldn't have it any other way if it means they're safe. But, I want them back, okay?" She lowered her voice to a whisper. "I want to be back in my country. I don't want to lie. I just…don't. My mom told me that a queen doesn't lie."

"Can I say something?" Troy asked quietly when Gabriella paused for breath.

Gabriella nodded timidly. "Okay," she whispered.

"It'll get better. I know it will. Why don't you embrace this time and just be a regular teenager?" he asked gently.

She shrugged. "I'm not a regular teenager. And how do you know it'll get better? You don't know who has taken my parents hostage."

"I know it'll get better because my dad's involved. It sounds cheesy but my dad has never let things escalate too far. Trust me. He'll never let anything happen to you or your parents. That's how I know. And, besides, I wouldn't let anything happen to you, either. I don't know how long you'll be here but the least I can do is at least be your friend," Troy explained. "Will you let me do that?"

Gabriella sat up and frowned as she twisted to face him as he sat up, too. "You want to be friends? With me? Why? What happened to all of that bitterness yesterday? I'd much rather you be frank than meddle with my emotions."

Troy frowned. "Will you listen to me?"

She nodded slowly. "Yes."

"Yesterday was the worst possible day you could've come here. Mondays are truly evil in my life. I mean, it's the start of the school week meaning I had to wake up early after two days of sleeping in, then I had to face Ms Darbus first thing and I got detention and failed my math pop quiz, not forgetting the chilli incident…I apologise, okay? But, if this is going to work, you staying here, we have to be friends. It's the only way you can survive East High. I mean," he chuckled as he saw the faint blue outline of a large bruise forming on her leg, "think about how many times I kicked you."

"Yeah," she whined. "It hurt."

"I'm sorry," he apologised. "But, you said you were seventeen, but everyone thinks you're eighteen and then started saying how you speak a million different languages in perfect Spanish. Then, at lunch you were eating pizza like you were having tea with the queen of England."

She giggled and looked down at her hands. "Do you honestly think I can be a regular teenager?"

Troy reached for her hand and squeezed it. "Yes, I do. You've just got to…you know, think before you do anything."

She shook her head to herself. "I've got to do that anyway. I'm the clumsiest princess you'll ever meet. My mother was a peasant before she married my father. According to my father, I got all of her genes."

"Is she beautiful, too?" he asked without thinking. His eyes went wide and he took his hand away from hers.

"Ummm…yes," Gabriella answered awkwardly. "She is rather beautiful."

Troy avoided her eyes and scratched the back of his neck. "Ummm…can I ask how many languages do you speak?"

Gabriella nodded. "Nine."

"You only said six in Spanish, though," Troy said thoughtfully.

"Add English, Russian and Latin to that…" Gabriella trailed off and lifted her eyes to look at him. She sighed at his raised eyebrows. "I like to speak the native tongue of my staff. Besides, Costa Delta has many spoken languages. The main is Spanish but it varies with each family."

Troy nodded slowly. "What about instruments? I heard you talking to Kelsi…"

Gabriella laughed gently. "I play the piano, cello, violin, flute and clarinet."

"Wow. I only play the acoustic guitar. It makes me sound inferior," he muttered.

"Do you play well?" Gabriella asked.

Troy shrugged. "I'm okay, I guess. I mostly play Elvis' songs."

"Elvis?" Gabriella asked, furrowing her brow.

Troy's jaw dropped in shock. "You've never heard of Elvis? Elvis Presley," he clarified.

She slowly shook her head. "No."

"Elvis! Elvis with the pelvis! The king of rock 'n' roll! Come on. Is your country dormant or something?" Troy exclaimed indignantly.

Gabriella giggled and nodded. "You could say that. We're just a small island. Not very well known. I'm sorry, I've never heard of Elvis." An idea suddenly struck. "Maybe you could play some songs for me sometime."

Troy's eyes widened with shock and began shaking his head. "I don't sing. I can't sing. The furthest my singing has gone is singing in the shower."

Gabriella looked a little down-heartened. "Oh. Okay." She stood up and brushed the sand from her clothes. She slipped her shoes on and held his hand out. "I just thought your voice sounded like one that can sing."

He frowned as he accepted her hand and got to her feet. "What? You thought I was some closet singer?"

She shrugged innocently. "I don't know. Oh well. Maybe I can ask Kelsi to play me something." She let go of his hand and began wandering towards the house.

Troy hurried after her. "Well, you can listen to my CDs. Well, not my CDs but Elvis' CDs. He writes some cool songs. Well, wrote some cool songs."

"What do you mean?" she asked quietly.

"He died about thirty years back," Troy explained as they entered the house.

"Really?" she asked quietly. "And people still listen to his music?"

"People still think he's alive," Troy exclaimed.

"But, why would they think that if he's dead?" Gabriella asked.

Troy pulled the fridge open and grabbed the milk carton as Gabriella jumped onto the kitchen counter to reach the top cupboard. She pulled it open and placed two glasses on the counter beside her. Whilst getting the drinks after school, Gabriella had struggled to reach the top cupboard and Troy had simply lifted her up onto the counter. Troy walked over to her and poured the milk into the tumblers. "Because," he started as he looked at her, "half of America is stupid and refuse to believe he's dead. (A/N: no offence to Americans) But, he's my idol. Well, one of them."

"Who else?" Gabriella asked softly as she picked her glass up and sipped her milk.

Troy wandered back over to the fridge to replace the milk before taking his place once again in front of Gabriella. "Michael Jordan, John Salley-"

"Who?" Gabriella asked in confusion.

"Basketball players. My final idol? My dad. No contest. Between Elvis Presley and international basketball players, my dad always comes first," Troy said softly.

"You really love him," she whispered.

Troy nodded as he took a few gulps of milk. "I love my whole family more than anything in the world, to be honest. My dad is so amazing. He coaches the team so well at school and he always helps me with homework. Well, not with math and science but… And if I just need to escape and play some hoops, he'll never say no. And the way he's so brave when he goes on the missions to save girls like you.

"My mom…my mom is wonderful. She knows what going on in my life by just looking at me. She says that it's in the eyes. She once told me that it ran in my dad's genes or something and that she learnt how to read his eyes a month into their relationship. It's the same with Connor. If I'm worried about my friends, or nervous about a test, or getting stressed out because Dad's putting too much pressure on me during practice – hey, he gets a little excited and forgets himself. But, she knows. She helps me figure out what to do with my friends, she helps me with my homework as best she can and with my dad's pressure, she just tells him not to. He's so in love with her, he'd do anything to please her," Troy exclaimed passionately, his eyes locked onto Gabriella's.

"What about Connor?" Gabriella murmured.

Troy leaned against the island, his glass now half full of milk cradled in his large hands. "Connor…Gabi, Connor is this shining light in my world. You know, at school, despite how I'm friends with drama people and girls on the scholastic decathlon team, and now a multi-lingual freaky genius girl, I always feel like I'm told who to be and how to act. With Connor, all I have to be is Troy, his big brother. That's all he wants. He wants someone to watch basketball and football with. He wants someone to wrestle with. He wants someone who'll let him win at monopoly. He wants someone to look up to. It means so much to me. He looks up to me. He makes me feel proud to affect his life on such a big scale. You know?" He looked across at her, his eyes sparkling with pride as he talked about his only brother.

Gabriella smiled slightly and shrugged. "I don't know. I'm an only child. To be honest, I'm not even supposed to exist. My mom has this condition. She's not supposed to be able to have children. My dad can but she's a mystery. Everything works but the doctors had told her when she was sixteen that a baby could never grow in her womb. I proved them wrong but all I know is that I'll never have siblings. So, no one will look at me like Connor looks at you."

She sighed and looked into her glass. "But, people do look up to me. They appreciate my charity work and how I take an interest in my parents' work. It's not a secret that I look up to my mom – as a mom and as a queen. But, I'll never meet those people, you know. Not really. They'll never be friends with me, much less be my sibling. It's different when people idolise you because your face is all over the papers."

"Are you usually in the press much?" Troy asked after a moment of awkward silence.

Gabriella lifted her head and smiled slightly. "No. I don't want to be in the press, if I'm honest. I do the stuff I do because I want to help Costa Delta. I'm only in the press because of my coronation," she whispered. Her eyes watered and she took a final sip of milk before jumping down from the counter. She quickly washed her glass out and set it upside down on the draining board to dry off. She dried her hands on a tea towel and breathed out deeply. "I think I need to bathe."

Troy set his glass on the island counter and rushed around the island to stand in front of her. "Gabi, what's wrong?"

She looked down at her feet and struggled when his hands gripped her arms. "Nothing. Please let me go," she whispered.

"Did I say something to upset you?" Troy asked. "I swear I didn't mean to."

"It wasn't you," she dismissed. "Please let go of me."

Troy shook his head. "Please talk to me," he pleaded as he tried unsuccessfully to gain eye contact.

Gabriella lifted her head and glared. "I order you to let go of me."

Troy stared in disbelief and tightened his hold. "You order me?" he asked, laughing sarcastically. "You have no right to order me."

"Yes, I do," she said strongly as she looked up at him. "I want you to release me."

"You don't order me what to do," Troy growled. "Look around. This isn't Costa Delta. This isn't your world. It's mine. It's not your fairytale."

Gabriella rolled her eyes. "Fine. Please, oh great Troy Bolton, release me so I can escape your almightiness!" she said sarcastically.

Troy rolled his eyes. "You know, I told you about my heroes. I told you how much my family means to me because I thought you might understand after today. Obviously I was wrong." He let go of her arms before storming out of the kitchen and stomping up the stairs.

Gabriella sighed and followed him but took the last set of stairs so she was in her room. She took her hair out of the ponytail and ran her dainty fingers through her mass of curls a couple of times as she slipped her shoes off by her dresser. She pulled the hair bobble onto her wrist and then pulled her top off, revealing a plain white bra. She threw the white camisole over to the washing hamper in the corner before she began working on the snap and zipper on her pants. She shimmied out of them, revealing some plain, rather unsexy, briefs, and began folding them neatly before she set them in one of the drawers in her closet.

She walked over to her bed and lay down in just her underwear, feeling like that was the only part of her that still remained unchanged. Except her locket. She still had her locket. But, that was it. Everything she'd learnt and everything that the name Montez stood for and her parents weren't with her anymore. She truly believed that she was 'Gabi Hudgens'. Gabriella Montez was just…a memory. It seemed almost that Gabriella Montez was locked away in Costa Delta with Greg and Gina.

She twisted her head to look out of the window and subconsciously moved her hand to place it over her locket. It all seemed so simple when she looked at the sky. Her parents saw the same sun, the same moon and the same stars. She felt like she had a connection with them. The only connection she had while she was halfway across the world from them.

Her eyes fluttered closed. Despite how she was lying in just her underwear on her bed, she felt remarkably warm. Albuquerque was fairly warm. Not as warm as Costa Delta, of course, but still fairly warm. She could feel the warm breeze envelope her from the open window. She could imagine being in her gardens. Her gardens…Her gardens were so beautiful. She could see it. She was sat on a wooden bench near the palace so that she could see the entire are that the gardens took up and some of the capital of Costa Delta. Such beauty…But, she was alone. Beauty on that scale comes at a price. Such a lonely life. So much knowledge, so many lessons…She remembered her shock when she learned about public school at the age of six. How normal children could go outside and play while she was learning. Always learning…There were always expectations from her parents and her country. But, she'd go back to that, she'd take on that loneliness again, if she had Greg and Gina back.

She felt a hand shaking her shoulder and she sat up, gasping for breath. "Oh, my god!" she whimpered. She kept her eyes shut, holding onto her memory. Her cheeks were damp and she felt tears drop onto her upper chest.

She felt arms wrap around her petite frame and two lips press against her cheek. "Gabi," a familiar voice murmured. It was the last voice she wanted to hear in the circumstances. It was the voice who had told her, rather angrily, that this wasn't her fairytale world. If only he knew what her 'fairytale' was like.

Her eyes flung open and she broke from his arms, stumbling over to her closet. "What are you doing here?" she asked, facing away from him.

"Mom told me to get you down for dinner. You weren't answering so I came up here. Why were you in just your underwear?" he asked, turning to look out of the window to salvage as much of her dignity as possible.

"Does it matter?" she whispered as she pulled on a soft yellow summer dress. It had spaghetti straps and was tight around her breasts and then flared out to above her knees. She walked over to her dresser and slipped her flats back on. She threw her bobble onto the dresser and left her hair in its natural curls. She turned to Troy and bit her lip. "After all, I've came to your world from my fairytale." She shook her head to herself and left the room, leaving Troy sitting on her bed.