It was the day before graduation and while Troy was busy tucking Charlotte to bed, – the girl wanting to give her boyfriend some time alone with his daughter – Gabriella was reminiscing over their memories for the semester. Starting with how the school reacted when they found out about Charlotte at the Championship game.

(flashback)

Gabriella sat with Charlotte on her lap a few seats from the players' bench as they watched Troy in his final basketball game in the red Wildcat uniform. It had been a tight game and Charlotte would bury her face into the senior's chest every time she watched her dad take a fall or a hard hit from the other team with Gabriella trying to reassure her as best she could. It came down to the final few seconds and Troy shot the winning basket for his final game. The Wildcats were declared the winners and right as the crowd was allowed onto the court, Charlotte jumped up from her arms and ran to Troy. She watched happily as Troy caught the running toddler in his arms, lifting her above his head and spinning her, making the little girl giggle. She recognised the silence surrounding them at the gesture in the stadium and slowly walked over to them, aware that they had all eyes on them now. "Congratulations Wildcat, I'm so proud of you."

He kissed her cheek. "Thanks Brie." He directed his speech to both his girls. "What do you say we go celebrate tonight?"

Their response was cut short by Chad Danforth. "Bolton what the fuck is that?"

The boy glared at his teammate. "That, Danforth, is my daughter and watch your language around her."

"Sorry, but since when did you have a kid?"

"Since four years ago, something Jack Bolton did NOT want any of you to know."

Chad seemed to step down a bit. "You know you coulda told us right? I know we've been tough on you but we've been your teammates since middle school, we wouldn't have judged you."

Troy looked at him quizically. "Where the hell is this coming from?"

The boy sighed. "Look, it's our senior year and we've only got a few weeks left and that's put all this into perspective. We've been asses to you and we've treated Gabriella like crap and we're sorry for that. So what do you say? You reckon we can enjoy this win and the remaining term with our team captain?"

"I can agree to that, but only if Gabriella can be part of that and you all treat her properly." They all nodded. "Alright then, we can start all that tomorrow, for now, I'm taking my girls out to celebrate. Great job guys, we played an awesome game tonight and I couldn't think of a better way to end our final year at East High. Enjoy your celebrations."

Gabriella smiled at the memory, remembering how they took Charlotte out for ice cream and had a movie night. The basketball team had kept to their word and she had actually enjoyed spending her last few weeks with her boyfriend and his team. Their actions had inspired her to finally confront Taylor and Nora on why they were treating her so terribly throughout the year. She caught up with them as they were leaving biology – since Troy would be at basketball practice – and she'd get the chance to talk to them on her own.

"Taylor, Nora, can I talk to you for a minute?" They followed her to a less crowded part of the hall before she began. "We're in our last few weeks and I want to put all this drama behind us because we have more important things to focus on. I guess I just want to know what I did wrong for you guys to treat me the way you have been?"

"The thing that's always attached to you Montez, the dreaded boyfriend."

Her gaze hardened. "Troy has done nothing wrong to you guys and you have no excuse to treat us the way you have been."

"You asked why we treat you the way we do, I answered, it's because of your stupid boyfriend." Taylor said before storming off.

Gabriella sighed but Nora spoke up. "I'm sorry about her Gabriella, you deserve an honest answer. Taylor was really pissed at you when you wouldn't join the decathlon and when you started hanging around Bolton - I mean Troy, she pegged him as the reason you wouldn't do it. You didn't join the decathlon and you were hanging out with Troy, which she hated so she started taking out her anger on you."

"But why is she blaming Troy, he hasn't done anything and the decathlon was my choice?"

The girl nodded. "She's difficult to understand sometimes, we've been friends forever and I still can't even give you a straight answer but I can guess that she immediately saw you as part of our group so when you didn't react the way she wanted, she didn't like that. As for Troy, it wasn't anything he's done, more his association. Taylor, Chad and I used to be really good friends in primary school but with popularity and cliques, that friendship disappeared and he started messing with us; I guess we just really miss our friend, that's why she treats Troy that way."

"I'm sorry you guys lost your friend."

Nora smiled. "Thanks and I'm really sorry that we treated you badly, it was really wrong and please apologise to Troy for me. I'll try and keep Taylor off your backs, enjoy the rest of your year."

Gabriella smiled. "You too Nora."

True to her word, Nora had done her best to keep Taylor from bugging them and she'd mostly succeeded despite the odd insult or two. Her mind drifted back to a week earlier when her and Troy had finished their final ever high school exam which was chemistry. They had both worked so hard to prepare for the finals and the relief was clear for both of them as they exited the last exam.

As soon as they exited the exam, Troy pulled Gabriella tightly into his arms and spun her. "No more exams ever!" He set her to her feet and lightly pecked her lips. "How do you think you went?"

"Alright, I answered everything and I put as much working as I could for the questions I was unsure of, so hopefully well enough. How about you?"

"You'll do great Baby, I know it. Yeah I think I did ok, I just tried to answer everything as best I could."

She threaded her fingers through his hair. "You would've done great Wildcat."

"Well we don't have to worry about them anymore, no more finals again. We never have to do a high school assessment again." He held her hand as they walked to their lockers to put their belongings away. "Do you want to go up the rooftop for lunch or hang with the guys?"

"I'd like to go to the rooftop but we can go to the cafeteria with the team if you want."

He shook his head and kissed her lips. "I'm more than happy to spend time with my girl, let's go."

Finally her mind drifted back to a few nights earlier to their senior prom. Gabriella had never been one to obsess over her prom, she didn't feel the need to go overboard with the expensive dress, makeup, nails, hair, transport and everything associated to prom but Troy had made the whole experience amazing. Her childcare class helped with his promposal, the boy had taken her down to the classroom during free period and the kids had signs spelling out 'Will you go to prom with me?' and she – obviously – said yes.

Troy stood at the bottom of the stairs as she came down in her red dress, he looked at her adoringly as she stopped in front of him before he placed the corsage on her wrist, kissing the back of her hand, before whispering. "You look so beautiful Brie."

"You look quite handsome yourself Wildcat."

"The limo's gonna be here in about 15 minutes, so your mom has plenty of time to take as many photos of her beautiful daughter as she'd like."

At that moment, Charlotte ran to them in her dress, the colour matching Gabriella's. Troy lifted her and planted her on his hip. "Very pretty Angel, you and Mommy look very beautiful."

"Thank you Daddy." The little girl looked at her mom. "Pretty Mommy."

The girl smiled. "Thank you Baby Girl, you look very pretty. Do you want to come take some photos with Daddy and I before we have to leave?" The little girl nodded and they all went out to take photos, the teen's parents beaming proudly as they watched their now-grown daughter, before the limo arrived and the two seniors headed off to prom with their friends – their last senior event before their graduation.

"Baby?"

Gabriella turned to Troy. "Sorry, I was distracted, did you say something?"

He threw himself down beside her as she laid on her bed and he moved to rest his head on her chest. "I said that Charlie's asleep. Are you ok, you were really deep in thought, is something wrong?"

She shook her head and threaded her fingers through his hair. "Of course not, everything's fine, I was just thinking about everything that's happened this semester. I can't believe we're graduating tomorrow."

"It's very crazy and getting very real."

"Are you feeling alright about your speech tomorrow?"

He nodded. "It should be fine, I've looked over it enough and I think it's good enough for graduation. Thanks for checking it over for me."

She leaned down and pecked his lips. "My pleasure Baby." She glanced at the time: 10:57pm. "It's getting kinda late, we should probably head to bed, we'll be up early tomorrow." He nodded in response. "I love you so much Troy, good night."

"I love you so much too Baby, good night."