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Chapter 10: Just Floating

When Troy got home that day after school, he started freaking out a bit. He had been fine until he got to his room, which was a complete mess. No matter how many times he assured himself that Gabriella had probably seen much worse from him over the years, he couldn't help but feel the need to clean, and he had no idea why.

After a while, his mom walked by with a basket full of clean laundry. She fully passed his room before stopping and retracing her steps. Troy turned down the music he'd been playing when he saw her. "What's up?" he asked.

Mrs. Bolton was about to correct him on his choice of greeting, but figured she'd concentrate on something else instead. "You're cleaning your room?" she asked in disbelief. It was confusing to her, since she always had to force him to clean it in some way or other.

"Uh, yeah." Troy replied. He was slightly pre occupied with picking up dirty clothes and throwing them into the basket in his closet.

"Any particular reason?" his mom asked.

"Gabriella is coming cover tonight." He told her without thinking. "To, you know…hang out." He added, hoping he hadn't given anything away.

With any other girl, his mother wouldn't exactly have been okay with that. "Oh alright." She nodded, still finding it a little odd that he was cleaning his room. She wasn't about to argue though. Instead, she went on with what she had been doing, leaving Troy alone again.

Troy watched her leave. "Oblivious." He muttered, before turning his music up again and going back to cleaning. He picked up a dirty t-shirt he had worn the day before and launched it into his laundry basket, basketball style. It sailed in perfectly. "And that's two points for Troy Bolton."

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Gabriella plopped herself down on the couch in the living room, determined to get the reading she had to finish for English class done. Apparently that wasn't going to happen since her dad came in and sat down on the other end of the couch.

"Hi pumpkin." he said happily, using the nickname he always had, since she was little.

"Hey dad." Gabriella replied in a slightly distracted voice.

Her father let out a little laugh. "Well I know you're busy reading, but I wanted to let you know that your mom and I are going out with the Bolton's tonight, so what do you want to do about dinner?" he asked.

Gabriella put her book down on her lap and looked at him. "Actually I think I'm just going to go over to Troy's, since he's alone too." She told her dad.

"Do you have all of your work done?" he asked in his usual way.

Gabby held up her book. "That's what I'm doing right now." she informed him.

"Oh alright then." Her dad smiled. "I'm happy that you and Troy are friends again." He told Gabby. "It's good to see, even after all of these years."

"Yeah." Gabriella agreed. She didn't trust herself to say anything else, since she and Troy had definitely re-bonded. More then her parents might think.

"I'll let you get back to reading." He got up and left her reading on the couch. Gabriella barely noticed since she had already become absorbed right back in her book.

She finished the three chapters her teacher had set, just in time to rush upstairs and get changed. She knew it was only Troy, but she couldn't help but make sure she looked extra nice. When she was done getting ready she went downstairs, grabbing her purse and keys from where she had left them in the front hall.

"Mom! Dad! I'm going!" she called through the house, figuring they had heard.

Her mom came to the front hall form the kitchen. "Remember, it's a school night, so not too late." She told her daughter.

"Yeah I know mom." Gabriella was used to this.

Her mom smiled. "You look pretty." She noted slightly curiously.

Gabby bit her lip, was she being obvious? She looked down at her new, flowy skirt that ended just above her knees. "Oh well, I went shopping the other day with Taylor…and I haven't worn some things yet." She shrugged.

"Oh, okay." Her mom said. To Gabby's relief, her curious tone was gone.

"See you later." Gabriella told her. She quickly made her way out the front door before any more questions could be asked.

Mrs. Montez shook her head and watched her daughter through the window as she walked out to her shiny red car. About halfway there she stopped and pulled out her cell phone, which she proceeded to open and talk to whoever it was that had called.

"Did Gabby leave?" Mrs. Montez heard her husband ask when he came into the room.

"Yep." She nodded, still watching Gabriella through the window. She had now gotten into her car, but was just sitting in the front seat while she finished her phone conversation. "You know, she was pretty mad when we made her move back here." She told him.

"Yeah I know." Mr. Montez sighed.

"I think she's happy now." She went to sit down beside him, a smile on her face.

"Me too."

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Gabriella was just lifting her hand to knock on the door of the Bolton's house when it swung open. She was slightly shocked to see Troy standing there. "Wow, I didn't even knock." She laughed.

"Well maybe I was sitting by the window, desperately waiting for you to pull into my driveway." Troy joked. Gabriella raised a curious eyebrow and he laughed. "Nah, I just came downstairs and saw your car." He cleared up.

"Good." She stepped in. "So have your parents left yet?" she asked.

"Uh… Troy started.

"Gabriella!" a voice interrupted him. Troy's mom came into the hall. "How are you sweetie?" she asked, hugging her.

"I'm good, how about you?" Gabriella replied politely.

"I'm just fine." Mrs. Bolton smiled. She looked at her son next. "We're leaving so just call if you need anything." She told him, getting a nod in response.

As if on cue, Jack came down the stairs. "Alright, are we ready to go?" he asked.

"Yes, come on we're going to be late." His wife replied. "Bye kids." She told the two teenagers as they went out the front door. It closed with a light slam, leaving the hallway silent.

"Well to answer your question, yes, my parents have left." Troy smirked.

Gabby turned to face him. "I noticed that." She smiled, before leaning in slowly to kiss him. Troy was doing the same. Just when their lips were about to touch, the front door suddenly flew open. They quickly jumped apart, looking to see who it was.

"Forgot the car keys." Troy's dad told them with a little laugh. "Have you seen them anywhere Troy, I can't remember where I put them." He asked.

"Uh…they're right there on the table." Troy told him, pointing over to the small table across from the closet, which held a pretty vase full of flowers on it's surface. He was seriously hoping that his dad hadn't seen anything.

"Thanks." Jack scooped up the car keys happily. "Alright see you later." He said before leaving again.

"That was close." Gabby said after a moment of silence.

Troy sighed. "Tell me about it."

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About an hour later, Troy was busy putting the Chinese food they had ordered onto two plates, which sat on the counter in front of him. Gabriella had tried to help, but he had refused, so now she was sitting at the table, looking out the glass doors, which led to the backyard.

"Hey can we eat out by the pool?" she asked him. "It's really nice out tonight."

Troy finished right at that moment. "Sure." He told her, picking up the plates of food. "Come on."

Gabriella followed him outside and sat right on the edge of the pool. She was happy that she wore a skirt so she could put her feet right in with no worry. The water was nice and warm.

"Here you go." Troy handed her one of the plates of food, before sitting down himself. He rolled up the jeans he was wearing so that he could dip his feet in too.

Gabriella smiled when she felt his foot brush against hers. "This is nice." She told him.

Troy looked over at her. Since the light was on in the pool, the moving water was causing squiggles of light to dance all over her. "Yeah." He replied. "It is."

They ate in a comfortable silence for a while, until Troy noticed that Gabriella had put down her food and was looking at him, a small smile on her face. "What?" he asked after swallowing.

Gabriella shook her head, and looked down at her lap. "I still find this completely crazy." She told him. "I mean, remember when we were little, and all we could do was imagine how things would be when we were older?" she asked.

"Yeah." Troy nodded. He was amazed at the things she came up with.

"Well, here we are. Gabriella shrugged. She swirled her feet around in the water a bit.

Troy nodded again. "Funny, we never imagined this, did we?" he said.

"Nope." Gabby smiled. They were both silent for a while again before she spoke up. "So what has Troy Bolton done for the past seven years?" she was suddenly curious. All she knew was what she had learned from other people, and that hadn't been much. Plus, every time they had hung out there had been other distractions. "Because as much as you're the same guy, you've definitely changed."

"I'd like to ask you the same thing." Troy looked over at her.

Gabriella laughed. "Okay, how about a little game then?" she raised an eyebrow.

"What kind of game?" He asked curiously.

She shifted so that she was leaning back slightly, her hands resting behind her on the pavement. "Well I guess it's not really a game." She shrugged. "We take turns." She told him. "I ask a question, you ask a question." She explained. "One at a time. No more, no less."

"Okay." He replied, slightly unsure. "Go ahead." He told her, leaning back as well.

"When did basketball become your life?" Gabriella asked.

"Basketball is not my life." Troy argued.

She smirked. "Just answer the question." She told him.

"Fine." He sighed. "You know my dad." He shrugged. "He loves it. Him teaching me and coaching me is how I got into it." He told her.

"But do you really love it?" Gabriella asked curiously.

Troy looked at her. "I thought it was one question at a time?" he asked.

"Okay then ask away." Gabriella laughed.

He thought about it for a minute. "Why didn't you want to move back?" he finally asked.

Gabriella bit her lip. "Well, I guess I just hated the thought of leaving my friends." She said. "I just loved it out there, and I forgot what it was like here." She added. "But now, I guess it's not too bad." She looked over and saw Troy nod in response. "So do you really love basketball?" she tried again, knowing it was her turn.

Troy tilted his head back and looked at the dark sky, taking a deep sigh. "You know, sometimes I think the only reason I play is because I'm good." He told her. "Everyone's always telling me that, anyways." He added. "My dad mostly." He paused briefly, noticing that Gabriella was watching him carefully. "But then other times, it's like the one thing I love." He went on. "The best thing in the world," He explained. "Like an escape or outlet or something."

"I see." Gabby nodded, secretly wondering what Troy might need to escape from. "Your turn." She said. Just then, her phone rang loudly, and she winced. "One second." She pulled it out of her pocket and checked the caller ID. "Oh I have to take this." She told Troy apologetically, before lifting the phone to he ear. She didn't bother leaving. "Hey."

"Gabby I did it!" she heard an excited voice come through the speaker. "I told Andy everything!"

"Seth that's great" she said happily, knowing exactly what he was talking about.

"I know." Seth sounded great. "And you know what, I don't know what's going to happen now, because Andy said she was going to think about it." He told her. But you know what, I'm not even scared of her saying no, or rejecting me, or whatever. I'm just glad I got all of those feelings out." He rambled on.

Gabriella let out a little laugh. "See I told you it would work out." She told him.

"Yeah, you were right." He told her. "But enough about me, how are you?" he asked.

"I'm, um…" Gabby started, looking up at Troy sitting close to her. She knew if she said anything to Seth, the rest of her old friends would know is less then a half hour. "Kind of in the middle of something actually. Do you mind if I call you back?" she asked.

"Definitely not." Seth told her.

"I'm proud of you Seth." Gabby added with a little giggle.

"Good, you better be." he laughed back.

"Bye. She said before hanging up. She looked over at Troy, who had a curious expression on his face. "I told you about how my friend Seth is like, completely in love with my other friend Andy right?" she asked him, wanting to explain.

"Yeah." Troy nodded.

Gabriella smiled. "Well, before I left I told him to just go for it and tell her, and he finally did." She sighed happily. "Once they work things out they're going to be the greatest couple." She added.

"That's good." Troy was glad that she was so excited about this.

"But anyways, it's your turn." She didn't want to ramble on too much about Andy and Seth.

Troy decided to take a little risk. "Well, you told me about most of your friends, but I sensed that there was a little something you left out about Logan." He told her.

Gabriella had been afraid he might bring up something like Logan. "What exactly is your question?" she asked. She wasn't about to spill every little detail without knowing what Troy wanted to hear.

Troy shrugged. "What's the deal with you guys?" he asked simply.

Gabriella leaned forward again, playing with the fabric of her skirt between her fingers. "We went out, off and on." She said truthfully. She suddenly smiled. "Logan is a really great guy…smart, funny, polite." She sighed, memories filling up her head. "He was sort of the glue of the group I guess. He held us all together." She finished.

"Sounds like a tough guy to beat." Troy replied after a moment.

Gabriella looked at him. She knew she had probably freaked him out a little there, but it was better to just be honest right? "Hey, you're here." She reminded him. "And you're you." She added with a smile.

"Whatever that means." Troy said.

"It's good, believe me." Gabriella smiled at him.

"Okay." Troy smiled back. "So go ahead. It's your turn." He gestured to her.

Gabriella shook her head. "I don't know, I think I'm good." She told him, to his surprise. I could ask you about girls but that might take a while." She smirked.

Troy laughed. "Oh!" he said. "I don't even know how to respond to that." He told her, watching her laugh too.

"Well, anything interesting there?" Gabby raised an eyebrow curiously.

Troy shook his head. "Nothing serious anyways." He told her.

"Hm." She nodded. "You just like having the girls all over you don't you?" she teased, knowing that is how it was at East High.

Troy laughed again. "Maybe…" he smirked, before turning more serious. "But I guess I've just never found the right girl."

"I see." Gabriella nodded. Then, without saying another word, she stood up, picking up both of their plates and taking them over to the table.

"You know, I could have done that." Troy called over.

She turned around to face him again, and saw that he had stood up too. The light from the pool was shining up from behind him. It gave her an idea. "No, I have the perfect place for you." She told him, walking towards him.

"Oh really?" Troy asked, just as she stopped right in front of him and gave him a soft, quick kiss. "Where is that?" He smiled. Gabriella didn't respond, but proceeded to push her hands into his chest, sending him backwards, closer to the edge of the pool. She laughed and he instantly understood what she was trying to do. "Oh no, you're coming in with me." He told her.

Gabriella laughed some more, and shrieked when she felt his arms grip her tightly around the waist. A spilt second later they were both falling into the pool behind him.

When she came to the surface, Gabriella was still laughing. She saw Troy come up, not too far away from where she was. "Troy!" she splashed him. "You realize these are my only clothes." She told him, moving towards the shallow end so that she could stand on the bottom. There, the water reached up to just above her belly button.

Troy came towards her laughing. "You must have known this was coming when you tried to push me in by myself." He told her.

Gabriella couldn't argue that. She watched him move his dripping hair out of his face, before pushing herself through the water towards him. Their bodies collided and she wrapped her arms around Troy's neck, looking right up at him.

"Hey." Troy smiled at her.

"Hi." Gabby whispered back, standing up on her tiptoes to kiss him. When she pulled away after a while she smiled. "Its actually not to bad in here." She said.

"Yeah." Troy agreed, nodding his head. Gabriella suddenly pulled away from him and swung her feet up from under her, laying herself on the surface of the water. "What are you doing?" he asked softly.

She closed her eyes. "Just floating." She told him.

Troy didn't even have a response for that. He watched her lie there peacefully for a minute, looking like she was glowing from the pool light. It was as if for just this moment, she was forgetting every other thing in the world.

He liked that.

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That night, Gabriella lay in bed, staring up at the ceiling, completely unable to sleep. She was too busy thinking about everything that happened that night. Half of her hated how completely unexpected this was. She had never really liked surprises, since in her experience all surprises had ended up badly. Like, for example, moving away. Twice. But the other half of her couldn't wait to see what would happen next. For the first time in a long time, Gabriella was craving an adventure.

Suddenly remembering something, Gabriella turned on her bedside lamp, quietly moving over to her closet, which she opened carefully. She reached up to the top shelf and pulled down one of the boxes. It was filled with things she had put away. She hadn't wanted to throw them out, but didn't necessarily want them out all of the time.

Gabby carefully balanced the box on her knee and pulled the lid off. She was happy to see that the thing she wanted was right on top. She picked it up and put the box away, before going back to her bed.

She turned over the picture frame she was holding, a smile instantly coming to her face. It wasn't a big picture frame, but was able to hold two photos. The two it was currently displaying were ones that she hadn't seen in a long time.

On the right, there was a cute picture of her and Troy at one of their parent's friend's weddings. They were six or seven years old, and stood hugging each other, but smiling at the camera at the same time. Troy was wearing a cute little tux, and Gabriella had on what she remembered to be her special yellow party dress. She also remembered that for the entire day, their parents had joked about how the two kids were each other's dates.

On the left side of the frame, there was a picture that had been taken a few days after the wedding. She and Troy had been sharing a pack of sour candies, and their mom's had found the looks on their faces when the taste hit them absolutely priceless. In the picture the two kids were posing, but unable to smile properly since they had just popped candies into their mouths.

Gabriella let out a little laugh at that memory. Instead of putting the frame back into the box, she placed it carefully on the table beside her bed. It was right next to the picture she had taken of her and her friends from California. The two settings simply didn't make sense together. They were like two completely different worlds.

She wondered if it would always be that way, and her two worlds would constantly be moving at completely different paces. She knew that she couldn't have both of them, though she wished more than anything that she could.

But for now, Gabriella decided not to worry about it, because for the first time since she had moved back to Albuquerque, she was completely happy.

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Hope you liked it, tell me what you think!

I'll get more up soon.