Chapter 53

Disclaimer: I do not own High School Musical or any of its characters.

Fri 13th Dec

Gabriella rang her Aunt Ginevra during free period the next morning to make arrangements to meet up at the mall across town that afternoon to tell her about the wedding and that she wouldn't be going to France. She and Troy got there early and waited anxiously for Ginevra to arrive. Both Troy and Gabriella were slightly nervous, Troy because he barely knew Gabriella's aunt and couldn't predict how she would react though he had heard enough to believe that Ginevra didn't approve of his relationship with her niece, and Gabriella because she knew her aunt had been looking forward to having Gabriella stay with her in Europe and would be disappointed that the plan had changed.

Ginevra arrived while they were distracted and stopped a moment watching the two of them talking. She had been concerned when Gabriella asked her to meet again that either Alejandro or one of his men had arrived to make sure Maria and Gabriella didn't disappear again or that Gabriella had been pressured into going through with the marriage Alejandro had arranged. Ginevra knew that her sister still had reservations about Gabriella going to France both whether they'd succeed in escaping Alejandro and if they did what the legal ramifications would be.

Ginevra was surprised and a little dismayed to see Troy waiting with Gabriella. The boy was Ginevra's biggest source of concern for her with the long term success of their plan. They were so infatuated with each other, and Ginevra had hoped that Troy would let Gabriella go without words of enduring love or commitment. She resolved to try to speak to him about the long term sadness that even the most well meant of promises was likely to cause, and the need for both of them to move on and embrace life instead of attempting to put part of their lives on hold for eighteen months. She only hoped he was better at listening to her advice than her niece seemed to be.

"Gabriella, Sorry I'm late" she hugged her niece and turned to Troy "and it's Troy right?" she asked.

"Pleased to meet you again." Answered Troy with a nod and small smile standing up to shake her hand.

"Yes Aunt Ginevra I'd like you to meet my husband Troy Bolton" said Gabriella jumping in before her aunt could try to make Troy feel unwelcome.

"Husband..." Ginevra repeated in shock "Gabriella what have you done?"

"We got married last week Aunt Ginevra." Gabriella explained "I can't be forced to marry Eduardo now, so I can stay in Albuquerque and finish school with all of my friends and then go to Stanford next year like I had originally planned. Isn't that better than spending 18 months in hiding unable to contact anyone?"

But Gabriella you're only sixteen, you are too young to be married!" Ginevra protested.

"Is that why you were so willing to take me away and hide me?" asked Gabriella

"Yes. You are both too young to be making commitments like this. Love doesn't last at your age. What will you do then?" She asked them anxiously.

"I can't imagine ever not loving Troy; he is my best friend as well as my boyfriend and husband. This is not some silly high school crush that might fade away in a few weeks or months. We've been together nearly a year and only had one real fight." Gabriella defended.

"I understand you being willing to do this if it was the only way to avoid being married to a stranger, but I gave you an opportunity to escape that" Ginevra argued.

"I know Aunt Ginevra and it was a wonderful offer, but my heart belongs here with Troy. I couldn't leave him." Gabriella said firmly, she wanted her aunt to understand but wouldn't allow Ginevra to come between Troy and herself.

"You would have gotten over him" Ginevra argued.

"I don't think so, and I did listen to your advice I just didn't react the way you wanted me to. I didn't want to take the risk of growing away from Troy. This way we'll be together and it won't happen."

"You will still both grow and mature in different ways. College won't be like high school and even being together there will be a lot of pressures and experiences pulling you in different directions."

Gabriella looked firmly at her aunt. "I understand that. But at the end of the day I'll come home to Troy and we will be able to talk about those experiences and deal with the pressures together. I love him Aunt Ginevra and he loves me, we will grow together."

"Well the offer to come to Europe still stands if you change your mind, or if things don't work out with Troy like you think they will just write to me and I'll make the arrangements for you to come." Ginevra was clearly upset with her niece's decision to marry her high school boyfriend and wanted her to know she always would have options if she came to regret getting married.

"Thank you for the offer I'm very grateful, but I won't be taking you up on it. I will miss you and mum terribly Aunt Ginevra but I won't change my mind, Troy is my life. I'm sorry to disappoint you when you had made so many plans for me and were looking forward to me coming to Europe with you."

"I was looking forward to having you live with me it gets a bit lonely always moving from place to place on my own. But that's beside the point. I'm far more worried about you than I am disappointed. What will you do if things don't work out with Troy?" It took Ginevra a lot of effort to say 'if' instead of 'when' but she knew that Gabriella would reject her point of view entirely if she didn't at least appear to believe they had a chance at having a successful marriage.

"Marriage is such a huge step even for adults. Where will you live?" she asked.

"We're staying with Mum until she goes to Mexico then moving in with Troy's mum and dad for the rest of the school year. We'll probably visit mum for a while over the summer wherever she's living. Then we'll move in to the married accommodation that is on offer with Troy's scholarship next year."

Troy sat back and let Gabriella do all the talking as they'd agreed. It was difficult not to jump in and defend their love for each other, but Gabriella was doing just fine without his help. He was thrilled by the conviction and passion she was using to support their decision to get married.

Ginevra noticed his quiet support, the way he was paying close attention to their argument even though he was letting Gabriella handle the talking. She was more impressed with the boy than she had expected to be.

"And where exactly is this scholarship. Is it at a school you actually wanted to attend or are you compromising your education so that you can stay together?" Ginevra asked knowing that Troy would receive a athletic scholarship not an academic scholarship and sports scholarships were very rarely offered by the colleges Gabriella had been considering.

"We've negotiated for married housing off campus. It's about sixteen miles from both Stanford and Berkeley" Gabriella replied. "Neither of us will have to compromise on anything." Gabriella replied trying to stay calm.

"Except not being able to live on campus you will miss a lot of the non academic experiences of college life" Ginevra argued.

"Yes, like college parties, drinking way too much and waking up in bed with a complete stranger or someone you wouldn't have looked at twice if you hadn't been drunk" Gabriella retorted scornfully. "I wouldn't have thought you actually wanted me to have those sort of experiences."

"I meant the friendships you make, my college roommates are still some of the best friends I've ever had. Not to mention being part of late night study groups or making the most of some of the many clubs and extra-curricular activities available" Ginevra tried to convince Gabriella that she really would be missing out on a valuable part of the college experience by living with Troy.

"I could still do extracurricular activities and stuff. And I'll make friends in my classes" Gabriella protested.

"It won't be the same. You won't be able to do any of the same extracurricular activities because you'll be on different campuses, and you will find yourself limiting how many you sign up for in order to get home and play house with Troy."

"I'll make time for the activities that are important to me, and Troy is majoring in Theatre so he'll have Basketball training and rehearsals after classes too so I won't be rushing home to be with him. This is what I want Aunt Ginevra! Why can't you be happy for me?"

"This is what you think you want right now. You're very young Gabriella that will change."

"You're wrong Troy and I are in love that will never change" Gabriella yelled as she got up and stormed away.

As Troy got up to follow his wife he said quietly "She's right you know I love her and I'll do anything to make her happy. We're married, you can't change that all you are doing is hurting her with your lack of support."

Ginevra watched him as he hurried to catch up with Gabriella and took her into his arms. The boy had impressed her with his unquestioning support of her niece, his giving her the freedom to try and work their disagreement out without his interference until things fell apart and his insightful comment that her actions were needlessly hurting her niece were right on the ball. She could see why Maria thought well of the boy and had accepted this marriage. It was time for her to do the same and try and patch things up with Gabriella before she lost what little supportive family she had. She walked slowly toward them and waited for Gabriella to calm down a little before offering her a hug. "I'm sorry Gabi, I didn't mean to upset you. I love you."

Gabriella returned the hug "I love you too Aunt Ginevra"

Ginevra smiled "I think you can drop the Aunt and just call me Ginevra now that you're an old married lady. Don't forget to keep in contact now that I don't have to drop off the grid to hide from Alejandro."
Gabriella smiled, "We will" she promised.

A/N: thankyou to Pumpkinking5, Kiara, iminlove13 and Wildcats2016 for your support.