There are places I remember

All my life, though some have changed

Some forever not for better

Some have gone and some remain

Senior Year

"Psst… Troy…wake up!" When Troy's eyes popped open, Gabriella was standing over his bed, shaking him vigorously on the shoulder. "Come on birthday boy… get up!"

Rubbing his eyes, he looked over at the clock on the desk in the corner. "Gabriella it's 4:30! What are you doing in my bedroom?"

"Come on… we're going on an adventure. Get up." Grabbing the corner of the covers, she pulled the bed sheets off of him and threw them onto the floor.

Troy groaned loudly before rolling over on his stomach and burying his face in a pillow. "Stop it. What are you doing?" Gabriella had already made it across the room to turn the over head lights on and was prepared to pour a bucket of water on him if need be. "Alright, alright, I'm up!" Slowly, he sat up and stretched while yawning like a lion.

"Now, shower up and meet me in the driveway in fifteen minutes." Before he could turn around, she had dashed out of his room and was on her way downstairs. Tremendously confused, Troy looked over again at the clock, which now read 4:31. He just shook his head before walking towards the closet to pick out something to wear.

Thirty minutes later, he found a very frustrated Gabriella sitting in her jeep; radio blaring and the heat up so high the windows were completely fogged. She had a half eaten donut in one hand and a cup of coffee in the other. Yawning, Troy climbed in the passenger's side of the car where a bag was sitting waiting for him. "Please tell me you did not get me up this early to bring me Dunkin Donuts."

"Are you always this mean before dawn?" Troy just rolled his eyes and began rummaging through the bag of treats." What was with the thirty-minute shower? Trying to impress someone?" Gabriella asked, bobbing her eye brows up and down.

"Yeah, you. So maybe we could go back to bed." Settling on a chocolate and sprinkled frosted donut, he took a bite before turning his attention to the thermos of coffee in the cup holder. "You got everything perfect, though. I'll give you credit for that."

As she turned onto the busy highway, she just smiled at his sleepy eyes and chocolate smeared smile. "I'll wake you up when I'm tired of driving." Gabriella turned the volume up on the radio and began humming softly, occasionally taking a sip of coffee or chewing on a piece of gum.

Four and a half hours later, Troy woke up with the sun glaring in his eyes. For a second, he forgot that he was in a moving car and jumped when he saw an eighteen-wheeler zoom past the window.

"Good morning sleepy head." Troy really got to take a look at his girlfriend now that it was light outside. In her big sunglasses, East High sweatshirt and a messy ponytail, he thought she was the most beautiful thing in the world. With one hand waving out the window of the car and the other on the steering wheel, she was completely fixated on the road before her, only taking her eyes off the road for a second. "I thought maybe you were dead over there."

Troy sat up and took in his surroundings. "Where are we?"

"Oh about two and a half hours south of Denver."

"What?" His voice was panicky and he looked at her like she was crazy. "Denver? My parents are going to kill me. Your mom is going to kill me. They'll bring me back from the dead just to kill me again."

"Don't worry. They know." Awkwardly, she dug through her purse with one hand, eyes still on the road, and eventually found her cell phone at the very bottom. Handing it to him, she laughed, "here, call my mom and see what she says."

Troy actually considered calling her mother, but then realized that this was Gabriella Montez, and she never broke any rules. He shifted his body and looked back over at her. "So what's in Denver? Other than mountains and snow."

"Your birthday present." Tossing the freshly chewed piece of gum out the window, she began to dig for another one in her purse. The radio was blaring, two out of the four windows of the car were down and the breakfast trash from early was missing.

"And that is…" He looked down at his feet to find a bag of magazines, his IPOD, cell phone and a few snacks. "Oh my gosh… we're not going on a college tour are we?"

"No. I know you better than that. If you want to know so bad, then you'll have to guess." The way she was teasing him made Troy's heart stop. He looked down at her long, skinny, tan legs that looked extraordinary against her red cheerleading shorts.

He gulped, "I don't know. Mountain biking? Mountain climbing? Skiing? Snowboarding? What?"

"No, no, no and no. No to all four."

"I give up then. Nothing happens in Denver, ever." He was still staring at her when she finally turned her head completely in his direction. Even from behind her thick, black sunglasses he could see her eyes smiling at him.

"Do you feel like driving? I'm exhausted and I thought we could stop at McDonalds and take a restroom break." When the stoplight changed from red to green, she turned her eyes back to the road and slammed her foot gently on the accelerator.

"Um, sure. But why the change in subject?"

"You didn't guess. Could you get something out of my purse for me? It's a long, white envelope." The atmosphere in the car changed as she rolled up the windows and turned down the volume of the Gwen Stefani song.

"Are you sure?" Troy felt strange digging through her purse, even if it was the size of a large backpack. She had everything from books and notebooks, calculators and writing utensils to water bottles, make up and notes tossed around in her satchel. "For such a smart person, you have a very messy purse." When his eyes fell on the envelope she was talking about, he looked down at it and then back at her.

"Well open it. It has your name on it, after all." Smiling from ear to ear, she looked at him in anticipation. Troy realized that they had made it to the McDonald's and were sitting in a space in the busy parking lot. Carefully, he turned the envelope over and began tearing at the lip. As he pulled two small, colorful pieces of paper out, his blue eyes grew wider than she had ever seen.

"Gabriella… these are… these are," holding the pieces of paper in the air, Troy began waving them in the air, while he was bouncing up and down in his seat. "These are Lakers tickets… and good Laker's tickets. Court side seats. Gabriella?!"

"Now don't ask any more questions and just go with the flow okay…" Before she could finish, his lips were up against her and his hands were all over her face. Giggling after they pulled apart, she asked, "what was that for?"

"Well thank you of course." They hoped out of the car and began walking towards the restaurant when Troy grabbed her hand and pulled her back towards him. This time when their lips met, she deepened the kiss and they stayed like that in the parking lot for several seconds.

When they broke apart, Troy smiled down at her, "because you look hott and I wanted to kiss you again." Blushing, she grabbed his hand and turned around inside the restaurant. He was bubbling with excitement, chatting about the game and their plans for the day.

At eleven o'clock that night, Troy had Gabriella on his back, carrying her into the empty hotel room. The couple was decked out in purple and gold Laker's paraphernalia. She even had sparkling confetti coming out of her ponytail. From the hallway, they were laughing and singing a chant song, very loud and off key. Guests would walk buy and just smile, remembering what it was like to be young and in love.

"Oh it's good to be home." Troy laughed, before dropping her onto a bed and rolling on top of her. She squealed and continued giggling as he crawled up to her.

When their faces were inches apart, she huffed "but you're not at home." He leaned forward and kissed her passionately on the lips.

"Nope. But I like being here with you." Another kiss followed and Gabriella moaned under the pressure of his lips. "What about that other bed? It might get lonely."

"Nah." As Troy kissed her neck, his hands fell to the seam of the jersey she was wearing and he was slowly pushing it up to her chest. "I think it will be okay."

"Why does the bed have feelings?" Leaving her neck, he traced kisses down to her naval and bellybutton, continuing to push the jersey closer to her face. Finally, the purple and gold cloth was being pulled above her head, leaving a satin red bra all to Troy's imagination. "Oh my gosh, Gabriella."

Before his hands could fall on her breasts, she sat up, and pushed him off of her. Grabbing the jersey, she threw it over her head and looked at him angrily. "Troy what are we doing?" He looked at her confused and slightly hurt, but came closer and tried to kiss her. "Stop it!"

"Come on Gabriella, just relax." His voice was soft and cool. Gabriella felt his hands crawling up her back towards the clasp of her underwear.

"Troy Stop It!" With force, she put her hands on his chest and pushed him to the other end of the bed. He hobbled back and fell to his feet. "What are you doing?"

"I… I … don't know. I guess I just thought…"

Pulling her knees to her chest, she glared at him and the bulge in his pants. "What? That this was an opportunity for us to have sex?!"

"No… well, yeah. But I mean, I thought you wanted…" When Troy saw tears spring from the corners of her eyes, he pulled his white under shirt on and sat on the other bed across from her.

"No I didn't want… Not like this!" Grabbing the pillow next to her, she wiped the tears from her eyes, smearing her makeup and face paint all over the clean white linen.

Troy looked down at the floor disgusted with himself. Never mind the uncomfortable shaft between his legs, it felt like the walls were closing in on him and that he could feel Gabriella's heart breaking. "I'm so sorry… I shouldn't have…"

"It's okay." Her voice was soft and peaceful again. "I'm not ready for that, Troy. I saw what happened to Taylor." When he looked back up at her, his eyes were blotchy and red. "It's not that I don't want too with you… I love you Troy, I just…"

"I understand," he interrupted her. "I want too, so bad Gabriella. And I guess something just took over."

Now it was her turn to look at the floor. "You're not mad at me are you? That I didn't…"

"No! Gosh please don't think that!" Dropping to his knees, he crawled over to her and looked into those beautiful brown eyes that held the key to his heart. "It's just strange, you know. I mean we're the only ones…" She sent him an odd look, signaling a need for more information. "After Chad and Taylor… we're the only ones that haven't."

"So that doesn't mean we have too!"

He sighed, "I know. I don't want you to think though that I don't love you like that." Redness filled his cheeks, but he didn't take his eyes away from hers.

"Troy! Do you honestly think that I wouldn't love you because you don't want to sleep with me?" As his head nodded up and down, she could not help but let a slight giggle escape her lips.

"It's not funny."

"Yes it is," she explained. "I love you and our relationship. I think if we were to have had sex now, it would have ruined things."

"Me too," he sighed. "I'm not ready to lose you over this…" For a few seconds they sat in silence, letting the awkwardness of the situation tear away at them.

Finally, Gabriella cut the ice, "so Sharpay and Zeke…" Troy just nodded.

"And everyone else you can think of…" He frowned and again looked down at the carpet. "Could you just not tell them about this. I mean, Chad knows, but if everyone were to hear I would never live it down in the locker room. They'd probably think I was less of a man because I wasn't dieing to have sex…"

Gabriella stood up, pulled him to his feet and looked at his brilliant blue eyes. "Troy, I think you are more of a man for what you just did than you can imagine." Leaning in, she kissed him gently on the lips, sending shivers through both of them. "Now I think I'm going to go vending machines and get something to drink, do you want to come?"

Remembering his uncomfortable disposition, Troy blushed a furious shade of red, brighter than the Wildcat mascot and anything unlike Gabriella had seen. His voice was scratchy when he choked out, "no I think I'll uh… stay here and uh… pull the beds down." She looked at him oddly, but decided not to press the issue, grabbed the room key and headed out the door.

All these places had their moments

With lovers and friends

I still can recall

Some are dead and some are living

In my life, I've loved them all

But of all these friends and lovers

There is no one compares with you

And these memories lose their meaning

When I think of love as something new

Senior Year

"So did you enjoy your birthday?" Appearing in the doorway of their bedroom, Gabriella was massaging lotion into her face and arms, wearing a loose fitting nightgown. Troy was already in his usual spot on the bed with his legs on top of covers. "I know it wasn't anything elaborate or special."

He looked up at her and smiled. "No it was perfect." Not even an hour before, the couple was sitting at a restaurant across town, circled by their friends enjoying a meal and celebrating Troy Bolton's 29th birthday. The whole gang was in attendance except one bushy haired best friend. "I just wish Chad could have shown up."

"Yeah. Sorry about that." Climbing into bed, Gabriella noticed her husband's sad demeanor. "I don't know what to say Troy, you know how I feel about Chad right now."

"Yeah I know." He pulled his legs under the covers and slid down so he was able to look at her face. With one arm under his head and the other rubbing her face, he smiled. "Let's just not talk about that tonight."

"Are you sure you okay, birthday boy? I hope it didn't ruin your night."

Troy just smiled before kissing her peacefully on the lips. "It's okay. I'll see him on Thanksgiving." They continued talking about generic topics until after midnight, when Gabriella felt it appropriate to bring up a burning question.

"I'm so sleepy." She buried her face in his chest and looked up at the white ceiling. "So I got a phone call from someone in Ohio this morning wanting to talk to you." From beneath his undershirt, she could feel his heart begin to beat faster.

"Oh?"

"Yeah, Ohio State University… something about a coaching job." He took a deep breath and waited for her to continue. "They said you turned it down. Why?"

Troy looked down at her confused. He didn't understand why she was okay with talking about this. "Because… we've gone over this."

"I know." Sitting up, Gabriella leaned her back against the headboard, pulled her legs to her chest and began playing with her toes. "Troy you love basketball and I know you never really got your chance to shine … so…"

"What are you saying?" He watched her run her hands up and down her soft legs and then down to her red toenails.

"I'm saying… I don't feel like I have to compete with basketball anymore." The way she spoke with such assurance surprised Troy. Especially after the way the last discussion of moving had ended: he left.

Looking down at his lap, he asked, "did you ever feel like you had to compete with basketball?"

Gabriella laughed silently, "duh, Troy. It was always basketball first, Gabriella second in high school. But I didn't mind, that was your passion." If she had ever wanted him to feel guilty before, she just succeeded.

"You really thought that?" He scooted close to her before cupping her face in his hands.

She stared into his blue eyes, "Troy it's fine. I just worked with it. The point is though; it's not like that now. And I know that you aren't happy coaching high schoolers. There's no way to let your talent shine."

He couldn't help but turn away from her, embarrassed from the compliment. "I'm fine with my job here Gabriella."

"Maybe I want to get out of here."

"Huh?"

Elegantly, she climbed off the bed and walked towards the window. Letting her eyes explore the night sky, she whispered back at him "I want to start over somewhere, try something new for a while."

"Why?" Troy flew across the bed and stood next to her. He caught several tears that were dripping from her eyelids. "What's wrong?"

"We sent the adoption papers in and everything… but I can still feel it here. I just want to get away for a while and if Ohio is the place, then I'm okay with that. Do you understand?"

Finally understanding her plight, he wrapped his arms around her for comfort and protection. Soon, she buried her face in his neck and sobbed. "I got it. I'm sorry I should have listened earlier."

When Gabriella pulled away, she wiped her eyes with one hand and looked at him. "Troy we can make a home anywhere, even in Columbus." In one swoop, he picked her up and threw her over his shoulder. Dropping her on the bed, Troy gazed into her eyes and kissed her hard on the lips.

"Should I call them back?"

Nodding, she chuckled as his bangs tickled her face. "So we're moving to Ohio."

"You know what they say… 'Ohio is for lovers'!" They kissed again and Gabriella pushed Troy's white undershirt over his head and onto the floor.

"Yeah well, Happy Birthday lover." A minute later, her night gown fell onto the floor and they made love in Albuquerque for possibly the last time.

Though I know I'll never loose affection

Fro people and things that went before

I know I'll often stop and think about them

In my life I love you more

So pretty much this is definetly NOT my favorite chapter.. it's kind of a filler to give you info.. foreshadow some stuff, etc. I hope you're not too dissapointed. Also, sorry about the sex stuff.. I tried to be as.. obscure as possile.

Thank you soo much for the reviews for the last chapter! There were so many and I was so pleased! Also, you did a great job telling me exactly what you wanted to see! Remember, I'm always taking ideas and would really appreciate some more! (Especially for the flashbacks. Like clothing, school events, etc. Anything at all really!)

Anways, you guys did such a good job reviewing I'll try not being so mean in the next chapter. I promise it will be up by tom. night. But I want to make sure that it is extra good. Just please go ahead and get in this mind set: It's not over until I say it's over.

Have a great day!