Two weeks went by, the time for presentations in history class drawing closer, and Thursday morning had Gabriella in a mess. She had been up most of last night with a stomach ache, and had even gotten sick once. She was exhausted and kept forgetting where her book bag was, running out to Troy's truck and rummaging around under the seats until Troy finally found it, lying in plain sight on his bed in a patch of sunshine. They ate a quick breakfast and were out the door by 7. Coach Bolton had already left for the school, and, since they lived only ten minutes away from East High, they were there fairly quickly.

As they pulled up the school's street, Gabriella put a hand on her stomach. "I don't feel so good, Troy."

He took his eyes off the road for a second to examine her, concerned. "It's probably nerves. Where doesn't it feel good?"

"My head hurts and my stomach…". She closed her eyes.

Troy turned into the student parking lot. "Well, I have some tylenols and ibuprofen in my gym bag. I can give you some of those when we park."

She nodded, swallowing hard.

Troy brought the truck to a stop and hopped out, reaching into the back for his gym bag. He brought it to the front seat and began to hunt through his things. He pulled out two rattly bottles, opened them, and handed one of each pill to his girlfriend. "Here. Take these, and we'll see how you feel at lunch." After handing her his water, he dropped the bottles back, and slung the bag over his shoulder.

"Ready?" he asked, walking around the truck to open her door. Handing her her backpack, he pulled her into an embrace. "You'll be okay," he mumbled in her ear. "You always crush these presentations."

She murmured something into his chest.

"What was that?"

She pulled back. "You always know how to fix things. You being in my history class would make things easier."

He chuckled. "I know. I wish we shared that class, too." He kissed her head and they began to walk towards the front doors with the rest of the surging students.

History class awakened the butterflies in her stomach again. Her mind was going on overdrive, which it never did, and her headache was getting worse. The room seemed to occasionally get lighter or darker even though there were no clouds outside. She was hungry…so hungry…

"Miss Montez, you're up." Mr Reini stepped aside for her.

Taylor watched carefully as her friend slowly stood and walked to the front with her papers. She knew that Gabriella hadn't been feeling her best and was concerned for her. She glanced at Ryan across the room. He shrugged.

After taking a moment to organise her thoughts, Gabriella began. "Aristotle's Golden mean is described as the middle ground between the excess and the defect of something. In virtue, Aristotle says…"

She delivered perfectly. Not a fault, not a stumble. Another A.

As she returned to her seat, she felt almost more sick. She sat and closed her eyes, trying to control her breathing. But no. It only got worse. She had to leave. She stood from her desk and ran out of the classroom.

Both Taylor and Ryan leapt up, too, following her into the hallway. She grabbed Ryan's arm. "Go get Troy," she ordered. "He's in math. Go!"

"What do I say?"

"Go!"

She dashed to the girl's room.

Ryan sped down the hall as fast as he could, clutching his drivers cap to his head. Skidding to a halt in front of classroom 9b, he took a few deep breaths to calm himself, and poked his head in.

"Excuse me, Mrs Hamilton," he said in a very calm tone. "I'm sorry to disturb, but Troy Bolton is being summoned by Mrs Darbus."

Mrs Hamilton was hard of hearing, so after the message was patiently repeated a couple times, Troy was released.

He stepped out into the hallway. "What does Darbus want with me?" He was confused.

"It's not Darbus. It's Gabriella." Ryan adjusted his hat.

"What's wrong? Her presentation? She wasn't feeling too great last night." Now he was concerned.

"No, no. Hers was the best as usual. But after she sat down, she suddenly ran out of the classroom. Taylor followed her to the girl's room."

Troy gasped slightly and bolted down the hallway, Ryan hot on his heels.

He arrived at the girl's room, fortunately avoiding any teachers, and knocked on the doorframe. Ryan waited next to the wall.

Taylor appeared from a stall. "Come on in, there's no one here."

"What's going on?"

Taylor went back in, crouched next to Gabriella on the floor, and rubbed her shoulder. "Hey, it's okay. Troy's here."

Troy stepped into the tight quarters, and knelt next to her. Taylor moved to the door to be out of the way.

"Heyyy, baby what happened? Are you okay?"

He could tell she had been crying as she reached for him.

Taylor responded gently. "After her presentation, she ran here and was pretty sick. Poor thing."

Pressing a kiss to her head, he gathered Gabriella in his arms. "Ohhhh Gabby, what am I going to do with you?"

She buried her face in his shoulder and sighed.

He slowly rubbed her back. "I heard your presentation was outstanding again. That's amazing."

To Taylor, he said quietly, "She was sick last night, too. But the funny thing is she doesn't have a temperature or anything."

Taylor frowned.

"What's going on in here?" Mrs Darbus' voice echoed in the bathroom as she came into view. "Mr Bolton, what are you doing in here?" she demanded incredulously. "And Miss Montez, what's wrong?"

"She was sick, Mrs Darbus," Taylor intervened.

"Ah." She adjusted her glasses and fixed her scarves. "Well, in that case, Mr Bolton, you should take her to the nurses office. Taylor, Ryan? You must return to your classes posthaste."

And with that, she bustled out of the girl's room.

Taylor rolled her eyes. "Well, that was helpful."

Troy turned his attention back to Gabriella. "You gonna be okay?" He pulled her to her feet, holding her steady.

She blinked. "I feel normal." Glancing around, she brushed some hair out of her eyes. "We going back to class?"

Taylor and Troy exchanged glances.

"You feeling okay, honey?" Taylor questioned?

"Yeah, I feel fine. I'm just hungry for lunch."

Troy adjusted her shirt for her, just as the bell rang for lunch. "Well, I guess that's where we're heading." He grabbed her hand. "C'mon, crazy."

But Taylor wasn't so sure. Something strange was happening to Gabriella. She followed them to lunch all the same, with an unusual feeling in her gut… and it wasn't because she knew chilidogs were on the menu.

Almost as soon as they walked in the door from school, Mrs Bolton was on Troy in a frenzy.

"Troy, honey, would you please run to the store? I'm taking dinner to the Danforths' neighbours, the Reynolds, and I'm missing some of the ingredients for garnish."

Troy spun on his heel and walked right back outside, pressing a quick kiss to Gabriella's cheek. "Be right back. Try to rest, okay?"

After he left, Gabriella brought her backpack to the living room, setting up her homework on the coffee table. The time ticked by slowly. She still had a splitting headache, but she wouldn't let that stop her work. She had too much to do. Humming one of the songs from their senior musicale, she pulled out her math book, and began reading.

Eventually, Troy returned. The sky was already dark, as it did when the school year pressed on, and Mrs Bolton was able to get her dinner finished. Troy disappeared into his room for a minute, but no one noticed. When he came back, he flopped onto the couch with Gabriella, and gently pulled the book out of her hands.

"Oh no no, Troy, please give it back."

He placed it far away from her. "You have been doing too much," he said, playfully poking her nose. "Come on. We can relax while Mom takes dinner over to the Reynolds—"

A call came from the entryway. "Troy, will you help me take these out?"

He pursed his lips. "—as soon as I get back."

Gabriella giggled as he hopped up to help his mom. She pulled her knees to her chest and leaned her head against the back of the couch. Everything was so strange. Why was nothing right? She never got sick at school, and never felt like she was losing her mind like that morning. And her stomach…

As she lifted her head, she noticed Troy leaning against the doorway, concern evident in his crystal blue eyes. Wordlessly, he crossed the room and helped her off the couch, guiding her to his bedroom. They sat on his bed, Gabriella pulling her knees up again. He flicked on a lamp.

"Gabriella," he said gently. "What's going on?"

She closed her eyes. "I don't know," she whispered.

Slipping his hand into hers, he stroked her knuckles with his thumb. "Are you on your period? It's usually around—"

She shook her head. "No, and I'm never late, so…" She trailed off, raising her eyes to his. "I'm… never late. Troy, it should've started three days ago."

Troy shut his eyes. "Gabriella, I need you to do something. I don't want to scare you, but we have to do it."

She dropped her knees, a question in her eyes.

Troy stood from the bed and went into his bathroom. The sound of him opening a drawer followed, and he emerged with a plastic shopping bag wrapped around something. He sat back down and slowly unwrapped it.

A box with two pregnancy tests.

Gabriella felt the room begin to spin. No. "Troy…"

"I grabbed them when mom sent me to the store. I knew some strange things have been happening the last couple days, and we have to be sure." He reached out and rubbed her back, seeing the look on her face. Terror. "Gabriella. Hey, look at me."

She did.

"Please. We have to be sure."

His eyes pled with her. How could she say no? She knew it had to be done. She took a deep breath, picked up the box, and locked herself in the bathroom.

When she came out, she set the test face-down on Troy's desk. Troy was lying on his back, his hands in his hair as he stared at the ceiling. When she sat down, he pulled her into his arms.

"We need to talk."

She inhaled. "Yeah. We do."

"We don't know what will happen," he said softly. "But know this. Whatever happens, I will be right there with you. I won't leave you. If you're not pregnant, then that's good." He took a deep breath, choosing his next words carefully. "If you are… well, let's not consider that as a bad thing. It will make some things difficult, but we will make a plan. Don't worry. Our parents will help."

"Troy, my mom doesn't even know we've had sex yet."

Troy shut his eyes. "Shoot, that's right."

Gabriella played with the soft hair behind his ear. "But I think she's coming back on a break. We could tell her then."

They were quiet for a while, holding each other, their future in front of them going two different paths. Troy kissed her sweetly.

Gabriella's timer went off.

They slowly got up and went to the desk. Gabriella reached for it, but pulled back. She couldn't do it.

"You do it," she whispered.

She was scared. So was he. He took a deep breath and picked it up.

Gabriella watched his face. It was unreadable. Finally, he set it down.

"You're pregnant."