Note: thanks for reviewing, keep them coming and I'll update faster. I love reading what you think so thank you to whoever has reviewed in the past. And if you haven't read, I started a new story that I update when I'm not busy with this story, it's called Distractions and I personally really like it. Check it out and tell me what you think too.

Troy had his eyes closed as there was chatter going on around him. He self consciously pulled the hat he was wearing farther on his head as if it was about to slip off. He was wondering if he was going to regret the decision he made. He barely had time to think clearly, but one look at Gabriella was all that he needed. He knew that Gabriella had made sacrifices for their relationship already if it was just simply cutting back on the recording time in the studio to catch lunch with him or canceling meetings with her people so that they could have dinner together so that it fit around his schedule.

Troy felt Gabriella's sleeping body snuggle deeper into his chest as he pulled her closer with his arm around her shoulders. They both had sun glasses on with hats as Troy couldn't help the smile that came onto his face as he saw Gabriella wearing one of his beanies with her black curls flowing out under it which framed her face. Troy kissed the top of Gabriella's head as he looked behind him to see that not too many people were actually on this plane in first class. A lot of business men, a couple of elderly people and two families that consisted of two parents and two kids each.

Troy turned forward again and saw that they had a half an hour left before they would land. It was 4 in the morning and Troy was surprised that they found a flight that was so soon, but they did. Troy knew that Taylor's and Chad's wedding meeting would have to go on without the two seeing as their flight wasn't coming back home for another week. Troy knew that he would be missing five practices and two games and no one knew where they were, which now since he had time to think about, could be an even better thing than what he thought.

Now he had some time away from basketball, even though the Coach might never trust him, but Chad would cover for him. Troy also knew he would have to give Chad a call soon, but probably after the wedding planning or else he would get yelled at by Chad for not going, although Troy wasn't sure if there was a way to get around that. He still remembered a couple of hours ago when everything seemed much harder.

"Will you Troy?" Gabriella asked as Troy looked from Gabriella to the basketball that sat in the corner of his living room.

Troy swallowed hard as he looked at Gabriella's wondering eyes. Troy felt like he couldn't breathe. Basketball or Gabriella? Wasn't there a way that he could do both.

"Troy?" Gabriella asked.

"I…Brie…No--" Troy breathed out as he sat down on the couch and buried his head in his hands just trying to think straight. Go to Georgia, or stay there?

"No? Okay…whether you come or not, I'm going." Gabriella said sadly as Troy snapped his head up and looked at Gabriella.

"No, I mean…you didn't let me finish." Troy said looking at the ground now as Gabriella walked over to him with excitement building as she knelt down to his level and put both of her hands on his cheeks as one hand then trailed down to his neck to massage it. "No way can I let you go by yourself."

"What?" Gabriella asked wondering if this is what she thought.

"I'm going to go. I'll call the airport while you pack and we'll leave first thing." Troy said.

Gabriella broke out into a smile, she hadn't been back to her hometown since the day she left with her mother. "We can't tell anyone." Gabriella said abruptly before she let Troy up from the couch.

Troy looked at her with confusion. "Why can't we tell anyone?"

"Because they'll ask questions, and we'll have to answer and then they'll tell us not to go and then we'll just back out. And I don't want to back out of this Troy." Gabriella pleaded with him.

Troy nodded his head knowing Gabriella was probably right. "Okay."

Gabriella started to stir as the flight attendance voice was heard on the speaker telling them to fasten their seat belts. "Hey. Sorry." Gabriella said as she rubbed the sleep from her eyes. "Didn't mean to fall asleep."

"It's okay. I like to watch you sleep." Troy said as they shared a quick kiss. "You ready to land?"

Gabriella nodded as she looked out the window. This is where she grew up. This was her childhood for 13 years before she moved to New York with her mother. Gabriella knew Taylor was going to probably come close to having a heart attack when her and Troy don't show up for the wedding meeting. Gabriella must of spaced out because before she knew it Troy was gripping her hand and leading her off the plane. They had only brought two big suitcases as they both just threw in whatever clothes they could reach, and for Troy it was whatever clothes were on the ground whether they were clean or dirty.

Troy waited in the small dingy lobby of the motel, if you could even call if that, it was more the size of a bathroom with a desk that was being worked by an overweight, beer bellied, balding man that should've been in his forties but actually looked like to be in his sixties. Troy had no idea what Gabriella was doing seeing as she told him to wait there while she took care of everything. Gabriella convinced him that the only way no one will recognize them is if they stayed at this run down motel that didn't have a TV, radio, and Troy was pretty certain that they shouldn't drink the water.

Troy's head snapped up from looking down at the ground as he heard the guy speaking to Gabriella. "Here you go Miss. Shirly. Room 5."

"Thanks." Gabriella said quickly as she walked over to Troy and practically clutched onto his arm and dragged him outside to go alongside the building and looking for the door that would be their next room for a week.

"Miss Shirly?" Troy asked as they stood outside their door in the heat of Georgia.

"Fake I.D." Gabriella muttered as she showed him the picture of her that actually looked good. But it also said she was 21. "Tay and I made them back in our college days."

"Now remind me again why we're staying here?" Troy asked looking around with disgust as he was sure that he saw the garbage bags moving in the corner over by the dumpster.

Gabriella sighed, she knew Troy wasn't use to this and in all honesty Gabriella wasn't sure if she was ready for this also, but she could deal with it. She thought she got over places like these 6 years ago, and she did, it's just now here she was.

"Because if we're staying at a fancy hotel and we're on the news with stories going around that you're missing games, then the hotel will be able to I.D us, and this guy has no clue who the hell we are." Gabriella explained as she looked at the used to be gray door that was no slowly turning a sickening yellow.

Troy nodded his head as he put his hand on the rusted door handle. "You ready?"

"Yeah." Gabriella said as he opened the door and Gabriella walked in first. The carpet was a washed up used green color, there was one bed that took up nearly all the room with bed covers that Gabriella didn't want to think about since she didn't know when the last time they were washed, the ceiling was cracking, along with some of the walls that had huge crack marks down the side and the wall paper was ripping right off the wall.

Troy walked in farther now as he walked to where the bathroom was attached and saw one toilet with a sink that had rust stains all over the place, he turned on the water and swore he saw it first run with a tint of yellow in it before going clear, and the shower which was small and had mold growing in the cracks and crevices.

"Well I can safely say you can take the first shower." Troy tried to lighten the mood which Gabriella was thankful for.

Gabriella walked over to where he was and couldn't help but drop her mouth. "Well…this is going to be fun." Troy could sense the sarcasm in Gabriella's voice.

Troy turned around and caged Gabriella in the doorway. "It depends what your definition of fun is." Troy connected their lips for a short time before pulling away.

Gabriella smiled, "I think we're on the same page." Troy went to kiss her again but Gabriella slipped out of his arms.

"Hey!" Troy called with a laugh.

"Sorry, it's just, I want to show you something…or actually meet someone." Gabriella said. "Get your hat and sun glasses." Troy nodded watching Gabriella readjust the hat on her head while putting on her sun glasses again. She flashed a smile in his direction as she tossed him his hat. "Ready?"

"What do you mean they never showed up?" Kelsi asked being the next leveled headed person in the gang besides Gabriella who probably was the one that thought the most rationalist.

The gang all sat in Taylor's and Chad's living room as they all gathered together right when Chad and Taylor got home from the wedding planner meeting.

"What else could it mean?" Sharpay asked in her snobbish tone that only came out around people she hated or she was just nervous and worried. Sharpay and Taylor were alike in this situation, they always seemed to snap at people as Jason and Zeke were the ones to just stay quiet and absorb things, and they also were the ones to hold back Chad and Troy seeing as they were the ones that would automatically jump into physical situations.

"Well I don't know, it's just…they're Gabi and Troy, they're the ones that always show up late to things, so maybe…" Kelsi trailed off as she sat back against the couch rubbing her temples.

"No, they were never late for this. They're…God when I see them I swear that they're gonna be in for it." Taylor said as she breathed out heavily.

"Did you guys try calling their houses?" Zeke asked from the chair he was sitting in.

"Oh wow!" Chad exclaimed. "I never thought of that. And I'm only his best friend, why wouldn't he want to talk to me." Chad's voice was dripping with sarcasm.

"Maybe they're sleeping?" Jason suggested pathetically as Sharpay and Taylor rolled their eyes.

"Yeah, and maybe my hair isn't naturally blonde." Sharpay flicked her hand as everyone cringed at her tone that was laced with sarcasm to match Chad's perfectly.

Before Kelsi could say anything to Sharpay's statement there was a knock on the door. Taylor let out a groan as she picked herself up off the floor and walked to the front door only to come face to face with Justin.

"Hey Taylor." Justin said with a fake smile on his face.

Taylor rolled his eyes, couldn't he see that it was only them two in the entry way and the others were two rooms away? He didn't have to pretend to be nice. Taylor looked him over with narrow eyes.

"What are you doing here, Gabi isn't here." Taylor said as she went to shut the door, but Justin stopped her as he held out a white envelope that had Taylor's name across it. Taylor looked at it weirdly like it was a bomb and it was going to explode and he was just handing it over. "What's this?"

Justin sighed, "I went over to Gabriella's this morning and no one answered, and this fell out of the door. So here you go." Justin said practically shoving it into her hands.

"Tay, who's at the door?!" Chad called as his voice became nearer and then all of a sudden he appeared by Taylor's side. "Hey Justin, what's up?" Chad asked as he tried to catch Taylor's eye, but she was busy reading the letter that was in it.

"Gabi left Taylor a letter, so I'm the delivery guy." Justin said as Chad stepped aside and offered him to come inside.

"Tay, are you okay?" Chad asked as Taylor sighed, she was no longer mad but worried for her friend. She had never done this before and Taylor was worried about how Troy would react.

"I know where Gabi is." Tay said as she abruptly walked away and into the living room.

"You coming Justin?" Chad called as he left Justin in the entry way having no choice but to follow.

"Oh. My. God." Sharpay said slowly as she gave the letter back to Taylor and everyone by now had read it. They were all in shock, why the hell would they go to Georgia? Of course they all knew that was Gabriella's hometown, but why go there now?

"Shar, just…" Kelsi didn't get to finish.

"What the fuck are they thinking? Troy has basketball and Gabi has a concert coming up." Sharpay snapped as she was breathing heavily and glaring at the ground now.

"Shar, they probably have a good reason." Zeke soothed as he rubbed her back up and down until Sharpay eventually became untense.

"What the hell is in Georgia that isn't here?" Jason asked curiously.

Everyone looked at Taylor as she looked down at the letter in her hand. It was brief and didn't give her too much detail, but from what she read she knew Gabriella was going to tell Troy about her past. "I don't know." Taylor said distantly as her eyes stayed glued to the letter with the neat handwriting sprawled out onto it.

Tay--

Don't worry. Troy and I are fine, we're actually in Georgia right now.

I'm gonna tell him Tay. I'm gonna tell him everything.

Gabi--

"So I have a confession." Gabriella said as Troy and her walked down the sidewalk that was in a suburb. The sky was blue, white fluffy clouds filling it, and the sun shining brightly. It was a perfect day in Gabriella's opinion as she felt Troy's hand interlace itself with her own hand. They had been walking for five minute so far and it amazed Gabriella that that was all it took to get away from the rundown motel and enter one of the perfect neighborhoods.

Troy looked over at Gabriella curiously as he still had his sun glasses on with his wildcat baseball hat on. "You know how we decided that we wouldn't tell anyone that we are here?" Gabriella asked as Troy nodded. "Well…I told Tay." Gabriella blurted out.

"I told Chad." Troy said quickly and they both sighed. At least they couldn't get mad at each other now.

"Okay, good." Gabriella breathed out. "At least now they know and they won't send out a search party." Gabriella said.

"Yeah." Troy agreed as he looked around and saw kids playing in their front yards, the sprinklers running, dad's mowing the lawns, mothers gardening with their little kids running around acting like kids. This was the life Troy knew he wanted if his basketball career all of a sudden ended. This was the life Troy grew up thinking he wanted to have until playing basketball professionally became a reality. He used to be one of those kids playing in the front yard with Chad by his side while his dad did outside work and his mother was shopping or cooking in the kitchen.

"You know, I haven't been back here for over ten years and it hasn't changed." Gabriella said with a softness in her voice as Troy knew that this must be hard on her. He just hoped he could make this easier for her.

"Is that a good thing or a bad thing?" Troy asked with a smile on his lips.

Gabriella glanced at him for a quick second. "It's a good thing, a very good thing." Gabriella said as they turned the corner and came to a black fence that was pointy at the top. Troy looked beyond the fence to see gravestones after gravestones for what seemed to be going on for miles, even though it was barely even one. The grass was a perfect green, perfect cut, and there were gray stones scattered everywhere while every once in a while your eyes would scan over a statue set up.

Troy gripped Gabriella's hand tighter wondering why they were at the cemetery as Gabriella turned and he followed closely one step behind her. He looked around and saw hundreds of people's names and then one stood out to him. Gabriella lead him to it as they walked up the slight hill and came to a dark gray marble gravestone. Gabriella knelt down by it as she let go of Troy's hand and he swore he saw a tear in Gabriella's eye.

"Troy…" Gabriella breathed out as one of her hands rested on top of the gravestone. She let her small finger trail down the stone and trace the carved letters one by one as her eyes never left the name branded into the stone. Gabriella bit her bottom lip seeing as this was the first time in over ten years that she would meet him again.

"Troy Bolton…" Gabriella started in a sturdy voice that was slowly breaking as her vision blurred with tears that she quickly blinked away only to have them trail down her cheeks slightly. "Meet my dad Carlos Montez." Gabriella sniffled as her other hand that wasn't resting on the gravestone wiped her cheeks to get the tears off. "Daddy, meet my boyfriend Troy Bolton." This was it, Troy was going to find out Gabriella's whole past, no going back.