Gabriella chanced a look at Taylor. She was asleep on the couch, finally looking relaxed after a couple of hours of being tense. Gabriella paused the movie, and walked into her bedroom. She strode purposefully to her closet, standing on the very tips of her toes to reach a box on the highest shelf. She blew some dust off of the box and looked at the label, which read simply, "Troy."

Gabriella took the box to her bed and opened the lid. Lying on top was a picture of her and Troy at senior prom. She looked at the picture and immediately felt tears welling up in her eyes. She hadn't looked at this box in at least three years.

She wouldn't let herself chicken out, and kept looking through the box. There was a CD of her and Troy singing in their first ever musical together-Kelsi's "Twinkle Towne." There was a rose from their first Valentine's Day together. There were notes, emails, and postcards from the many vacations Troy had been on with his family. At the very bottom, there was a picture that Kelsi had taken right after Troy and Gabriella had won the basketball championship, the Scholastic Decathlon, and the lead roles in the musical. Gabriella held the picture up, half wanting to rip it in half and half wanting to frame it. They looked so happy.

Gabriella pushed the box to the side and flopped down onto her bed. She lay on her side, hugging her pillow, feeling oddly comforted. For the first time in at least four years, she allowed herself to think about Troy.

It was so unexpected. When she'd met Troy for the first time, she'd felt that instant connection that before, she'd only read about. She'd never expected to see him again, but when she did, she decided that maybe she did believe in fate, and the whole idea that there is one person on Earth for everyone.

Troy had increased her faith as he risked everything for her. His spot on the team, his popularity, his friends. He had risked all of those things for her. He was someone she came to believe she couldn't live without. He was the most dependable person she'd ever met.

Their breakup shocked everyone, most of all her. Gabriella had been confident that even though Troy would be at Duke and she at Stanford, they would survive. Troy had obviously felt differently. The day after graduation he had come out with it. He felt they were moving on to bigger and better things, and that they needed to see the world and live life to its absolute fullest. That was what hurt the most, that he didn't see living with her as living life to its fullest. That day changed Gabriella immensely, and her outlook on life. She vowed never to get her heart broken again.

Gabriella shook herself out of the past and looked around her, only half realizing that her cheeks were wet with tears. She shook her head, as if hoping her thoughts would just leave her. She looked at the clock, and saw that it was past two in the morning. She slipped under the covers, anticipating a long, sleepless night.

HSMHSMHSMHSMHSMHSMHSMHSMHSMHSMHSMHSMHSMHSMHSMHSM

Taylor cautiously rolled over and saw that Gabriella was gone. She could see a light on in Gabriella's room, and knew exactly what her best friend was up to. She shook her head sadly, thinking about the heartbreak Gabriella had endured.

Taylor walked into the kitchen and started heating up some water for hot chocolate. Sure, it was the middle of the night, but chocolate had never failed Taylor yet. She sat down at Gabriella's kitchen table with a mug and thought. She didn't know what to think. Chad? In Santa Fe? What was he doing here? And with Troy, no less?

Taylor didn't know what he was doing here, but she did know one thing. There was no way that he would ever break her heart again.

HSMHSMHSMHSMHSMHSMHSMHSMHSMHSMHSMHSMHSMHSMHSMHSM

"So, what's the next move?" Troy asked Chad.

Chad thought for a minute. "I don't know, dude. Clearly they still haven't forgiven us. Did you see Taylor's face?"

Troy nodded. "Man, if they knew what we'd been through trying to find them! Searching countless newspapers for Gabriella's name..."

"...Looking through millions of school websites for Taylor's..."

"...And searching through every Starbucks in the damn city!" Troy finished.

It was true. Troy and Chad had been looking for their ex-girlfriends for months now. They had several things working in their favor. They knew Taylor and Gabriella, which meant that they knew Taylor would be working as a teacher, knew Gabriella would be working at a newspaper, and knew that they would be together. Other tidbits that they knew, such as the two girls' shared love for Starbucks, also ended up helping them.

College for Troy and Chad should have been glorious. They were starting players on one of the best college teams in the nation, and led their team to victory game after game. But something was always missing. Finally, one day Troy turned to Chad and said, "Man, I miss high school."

Chad agreed. Maybe basketball players were worshipped, maybe they had a very bright future ahead of them. But the two friends agreed (in a slightly drunken state, if truth be told) that they would somehow find the two people who had made their lives truly happy, wherever they may be.

As soon as they had graduated from college, they began searching, spurning several offers each for a place on an NBA team. They stayed in their shared apartment, looking for a clue as to where the two girls went after graduating from Stanford. Finally, Chad found a website that listed a Ms. Taylor McKessie as a newly hired teacher at Santa Fe High. The next day, Troy found an article by a Gabriella Montez in the Santa Fe Times. Santa Fe it was. Troy and Chad packed up and moved there immediately.

The next step was the right Starbucks. Troy and Chad knew their exes well enough to know that they wouldn't stay in the house in the evenings. Given Gabriella's love of vanilla bean frappucinos, and Taylor's love of caramel macchiatos, they decided that searching through Starbucks was as good a place to start as any. The first they visited was near Gabriella's workplace. It was far too crowded, and Gabriella and Taylor were not fans of crowds. The next was near the high school at which Taylor taught. It was full of high-schoolers, with next to no adults in the shop.

"The third time's the charm," Troy had thought. And indeed it was. The third location they tried was in a shopping center, next to a Target and a dry cleaner's. It was big and busy, but the atmosphere was friendly. Troy and Chad had sat at a table in the back and began searching for the two girls. They had looked at every single person in the place, and were just leaning back, frustrated, ready to leave, when the door opened and Taylor and Gabriella walked in.

They were unmistakable. Hadn't changed at all. Troy had looked at Chad, not sure what to say. Chad simply grinned. The two friends raised their coffees up in a mock toast, and waited for the girls to notice them.

Surprisingly, it had taken a week. Troy and Chad tried everything to make themselves more obvious. They showed up after the girls, walking within 5 feet of them. They sat at tables where they would be in plain view. The girls had never seen them, not until tonight.

Chad grinned. 'But seriously, dude. What do we do next?"

Troy thought for a moment. "Okay, how about this..."