Alright, here's Chapter 25. Sorry for not updating the other day, I didn't feel like splitting this into two chapters, and I've been working on my other story that'll be out soon. Soo yeah, this is one of my lonnnng chapters. haha. See you at the bottom!
Troy and the guys fell asleep early watching television in his room. The next morning Troy woke up early to a reminder he set on his cell phone since he put it underneath his pillow. He'd been waiting for this day to come. He had everything planned out. To calm himself down, he jumped into the shower and got ready, it was only 5 o'clock in the morning but he had to pick up Gabriella before 7 or his reservations for 7 o'clock would be given away.

After he got out of the shower, he grabbed his cell phone to call Gabriella and walked into his walk-in closet so he wouldn't wake the guys as he got ready. He noticed a flashing envelope on his screen meaning he had a new voice mail. So he put his phone up to his ear and listened to the message as he looked for something perfect to wear so he could impress Gabriella.

"Hey Troy, its Gabby..." He heard her say and couldn't help but smile at the fact that she called.

"Uhm, I know we had plans to hang out tomorrow, but something came up." He smile instantly became a slight frown. "I hope it was nothing special or anything, I mean it's not like we said it was a date or anything..." He heard her pause and sigh, and he did the same. He planned it to be a date, but didn't want her to know in case she didn't feel the same way. Then he heard her continue, "but yeah, this is kinda important. It's a long story. I'll explain it to you later. I'm really sorry, soo uhm, just call me back when you get this alright? Okay, bye."

"I'm sorry too." Troy said softly as he hung up, let out a sigh, grabbed some sweats instead of jeans, and a plain white tee. After changing he pulled out his phone again and made another phone call.

"Hi, this is Troy Bolton, I had a reservation for this morning at 7. Uhm, I'd like to reschedule it please." He spoke into the receiver.

"Okay, Mr. Bolton, and when would you like to reschedule the date to?"

"Uhm, what days do you still have available for the same time?"

"Let's see, there's an opening on this coming Thursday, Friday, and Saturday for 7 am."

"Great, I'll take the Saturday at 7am please."

"Okay, so Monday 7am switching to Saturday 7am."

"Yep, that's correct."

"And under the name Troy Bolton was it?"

"Yes."

"Ah, here it is, okay, got it. Thank you Mr. Bolton, we'll see you Saturday."

"Thank you. Bye." He hung up. It was only 6:30 and the other guys were still asleep, so Troy decided to dry his hair and go back to sleep as well.


"Mrs. Montez caught an earlier flight and left the night before. She arrived at the house around 6 and walked into a quiet house, just as she predicted since it was still early. So she walked into the kitchen and started up some breakfast for the girls.

Gabriella woke up to the sounds of some pots and plans downstairs. This scared her a bit, and the other girls woke up to the noises too. Martin was still asleep so the girls cautiously went down the stairs to see what was going on. They smelled the aroma of eggs and bacon as they came into the kitchen and saw Mrs. Montez cooking.

"Mom?" Gabriella asked.

"Hmm? Oh, hey girls, I'm sorry did I wake you?" Mrs. Montez asked.

"Oh, no it's fine Mrs. Montez, we should be used to it anyways since we normally have school on Mondays." Taylor said.

"Hey, why are you home so early, I thought you wouldn't be home until the afternoon?" Gabriella asked as she hugged her mom.

"Oh, I caught an early flight last night, and got in this morning. Why, you don't want me home?" Mrs. Montez laughed.

"No." Gabriella said sarcastically. "Anyways, Mom, uh, we need to talk to you about something..." She started.

"Okay," Her mom said placing the food onto the table for the girls to eat. "What about honey?"

"Well, we.." She was cut off by Martin entering the kitchen.

"I smell food." He mumbled and walked over to Kelsie and Sharpay.

"Wow, you already act like a typical guy." Sharpay joked and all the girls laughed.

"Hmm, so who's this?" Mrs. Montez asked as she saw Martin in his pajamas.

"Uh,that's what we wanted to talk to you about Mom." Gabriella turned back to her mother. "Martin is staying with us for a little bit." She said. Mrs. Montez was shocked, and looked back at the table where the girls were helping Martin put food on his plate.

"Gabby, can you help me bring my bags up to my room really quick." Mrs. Montez asked and Gabriella followed her mother, and brought her bags upstairs.

"Gabby, please tell me why there is a young boy staying with us." Mrs. Montez demanded, but in a polite way.

"Mom, he's a sweet kid. And... and.. See, his mother has a boyfriend, and he's got a temper. So his Mom asked Taylor to take care of him, but Taylor doesn't have any room at her house, so I was thinking he could stay with us."

"Oh my gosh. Is his mother okay?"

"I'm not sure, I've never met her, only Taylor, but we were gonna go over there when her boyfriend isn't there to see if everything is okay, and that if she needs, Martin can stay with us. Is that alright Mom?"

"I don't know, sweetie. I mean.." Mrs. Montez was cut off by a light knock on the door. It was Martin who had some juice spilled on his shirt.

"I'm sorry if I'm bothering you, but, uh, Gabby where's my stuff?" He asked. "Taylor said you put it somewhere."

"Oh. Yeah, just a sec, but Martin" She said walking over to the door, grabbed his hand, and led him to her mother. "This is my mom. Mom, this is Martin."

"Hello uh..Gabby's mom!" He smiled and waved.

"Hello there Martin." She smiled. "you can call me Mrs. Montez"

"Okay."

"C'mon let's go get you changed, then finish eating." Gabriella said holding out her hand again.

"Okay." He replied, taking her hand as she led him out the room, Mrs. Montez followed and went downstairs.

"These girls grow up faster than I thought." Mrs. Montez thought to herself and smiled as she saw Gabriella and the girls take care of Martin. Mrs. Montez told the girls that Martin could stay if he needed to, only if it was okay with his mother.

After they all finished eating breakfast and helping Mrs. Montez clean up so she didn't have to do so much since she just came back, they all went upstairs to get ready. The girls took their showers and all that while Martin waited and watched cartoons in Gabriella's room. Once all the girls were all dressed, they dragged Martin away from his cartoons to get him ready.

"C'mon Marty" Taylor said turning off the television.

"Who's Marty?" He asked getting up.

"You. We thought it was a cute nickname for you." Sharpay smiled.

"Uh, okay, my mom just calls me Mart sometimes."

"Well, we're not your mom, so we're calling you Marty." Taylor laughed.

"Here's your clothes I picked out from what your Mom left." Gabriella said handing him clean clothes, and just as he was about to speak she cut him off. "Yes, everything is there. I double checked." She winked.

"Thanks Gabby!" He turned and ran to the bathroom.

"Wow, you're really good with him." Kelsie said.

"Yeah, he's a sweet kid." Gabriella sighed.

"Yep, which is a good thing since he can't stay at my house, at least you two get along pretty well." Taylor said. "You're mom is so great and understanding."

"So are your parents." Gabriella laughed.

"Yeah, but not as cool as your mom." Taylor smiled.

"Hmm, my parents don't really care what Ryan and I do. Or well, most of the time." Sharpay said looking at herself in her compact mirror.

"Wow, you actually said it right this time." Kelsie smiled

"Said what?" Sharpay closed her compact and looked at Kelsie.

"You didn't say 'me' and this person or however you explain it."

"Really? Wow, I guess with all your corrections on my grammar are finally starting to show!" Sharpay grinned. Then Martin entered the room dressed.

"I'm ready!" He said.

"Great, well let's go, it's 9:15 and we need to get their early to let Mrs. Siggs know." Taylor said. "Let's take two cars, just in case something happens to the bus again." Taylor suggested.

Gabriella and Kelsie drove their cars; Sharpay riding with Keslie, and Taylor and Martin with Gabriella. They got to the park, they made their way to the same place where Chad and Taylor met with Mrs. Siggs, and sure enough she was already there.


At Troy's house

The guys woke up to Chad's cell phone ringing; Taylor was calling him.

"Hello?" He said.

"Hey Chad! It's Taylor."

"Yep, I know who you are babe, why are you calling so early though?" He said sitting up.

"Oh, well the girls and I decided to take Martin to the park today, like yesterday."

"There's another one?"

"Yeah, we're here already, and Mrs. Siggs just wanted me to ask you if you wanted to help out again. She was kinda glad that Martin pulled us all along since she's short on volunteers again."

"Oh. Uhm yeah, I'll be there soon I guess."

"Great! I see you in a little bit."

"Yeah. Hey Tay?"

"Yes Chad?"

"I'll only help if you're my partner again." He smiled.

"And why wouldn't you be?" She laughed. "Anyways gotta go. Bye"

"Alright bye." Chad and Taylor hung up their phones. Chad looked up to see all the guys looking at him.

"Dude, can't you put your cell phone on vibrate or something?" Zeke asked.

"Sorry."

"So what did Taylor want?" Ryan asked.

"Oh, she wanted me to go help Mrs. Siggs again since she and the girls took Martin there today. You guys wanna come? It's at that big park with the lake in the middle.

"Yeah, sure, I'm in." Troy said.

"Yeah" the rest of the guys agreed.

"Hey I thought you had your big plans today with Gabriella?" Jason asked.

"Yeah, well, she called me last night and canceled. I didn't find out until this morning when I was getting ready."

"Ouch. I'm sorry dude, well I'm sure it was something important. I mean, Gabby likes you." Jason said.

"How do you know?" Troy asked.

"Oh my gosh, how do you not know man?" Chad exclaimed. "Don't get us started on this again. So you think Brad will wanna go to?"

"Uh, I don't know, I don't wanna just leave him in the house alone. Let me go ask." Troy said getting out of bed, and walked over to the guest room. He knocked on the door.

"Come in." Brad said looking up from his book.

"Wow, you're awake early."

"Yeah, I've been up since 6:30. I'm used to it since we usually have school on Mondays... and I heard someone in the shower."

"Yeah, that was me, I was supposed to go out early but something came up. So anyways," Troy said trying to forget about his plans being canceled. "The guys and I were wondering if you wanted to come with us to go help out an old teacher Chad and I used to have. It's kinda like community service; we need the hours anyways so it looks good on college apps."

"Yeah, sure. I need more hours anyhow." He smiled and closed his book. "I'll get ready."

"Alright." Troy said leaving the room, and walked back to his. Chad was already in the shower, and so was Ryan in the downstairs shower. Once everyone else got the chance to shower and change, they left. Ryan finished getting ready early so he drove his car so he could pick up Camille since Chad said it was okay that she went too.

Ryan got to Camille's house and rang the doorbell. Camille answered the door and let him in.

"I'll just be a minute. You kinda called last minute." She laughed.

"Yeah, sorry about that" Ryan said taking a seat on the couch.

"Oh, it's no problem, hey do you mind if my brother comes along? My mom says he doesn't get out enough."

"Of course he can. I don't think anyone else would mind. They're short a few hands anyways, so that's a good thing." He smiled as he saw her coming back downstairs.

"Great. You're so sweet." She hugged him.

"Anything for you." He grinned, "So where is Jeremy?"

"He should be down here any sec. Hey Jeremy! Get down here already!"

"Alright, alright, geez Cam, don't have to scream so loud." He said running down the stairs. "Hey Rye. What's up?"

"Nothing much, but we should get going soon."

"Then shall we?" Jeremy opened the front door.

"We shall." Camille said leading the way to Ryan's car and they were off.


After Taylor called Chad;;

Taylor hung up her phone and went to site with the girls and Martin at a table. None of the other kids were there yet, so they were waiting.

"Hey, can I go play on the playground since we're waiting?" Martin asked.

"Yeah, sure," Sharpay answered. "Just make sure we can see you though."

"Okay." And he ran off towards the playground.

"Hey guys.." Gabriella sighed. "Uh remember yesterday, when we saw Marty walk into the room naked."

"Yeah.." The girls said in unison. "Awkward moment." Kelsie added.

"Yeah, well, since you guys were more like in front of him, and I was at his side, I saw him from a different angle." Gabriella spoke.

"What do you mean? When a person is naked, a person is naked" Sharpay started.

"Sharpay, let me finish. Well, I didn't want to tell you guys at first until I was positive."

"Okay, Gabby, what are you trying to say?"

"Guys, Martin's mom's boyfriend hits him." She said quietly.

"What!" They all gasped together as if they practiced.

"Are you sure?" Kelsie asked. Gabriella nodded.

"We talked when I took him into the bathroom after he came into my room."


Flashback.

Gabriella waited for Martin to finish brushing his teeth, the loud vent was still on to clear up the foggy mirrors. Once he finished, he sat on the counter as Gabriella leaned against it.

"You saw it didn't you?" Martin looked down at his dangling feet.

"Hmm?" Gabriella hadn't been paying attention.

"You saw it, right?" he said softly again. Gabriella nodded.

"Martin, what happened? You don't have to tell me if you don't want to, but just know that you can trust me.." She said.

"My mom's boyfriend hits me when he has to take care of me when my mom works sometimes." he started. Gabriella gasped in shock of how a person can treat such a young kid like that.

"I didn't bother telling my mom. It would just worry her more. I hear them fight a lot. I don't think she knows that I know though." He said, with a tear falling off his chin. "I know my mom asked Taylor if I could stay with you guys so I wouldn't get hurt."

"You've known this entire time?" Gabriella asked looking at him. He nodded.

"Yeah. I thought it would be better if I didn't worry you guys either. I doesn't hurt a lot anymore" he said pointing to his back where Gabriella saw the huge bruise. "It only hurt for the first few days. He didn't hit me since then." He admitted.

"Are you sure?" She asked looking at him in the eyes. He nodded, looking straight back at her.

"Well, if he ever hits you, or even comes close, I want you to tell me. I don't want it happening to you, again, ever. You don't deserve it, and neither does your mom." She pulled him into a hug, which he accepted and hugged her back. After a few seconds, they let go and headed back to Gabriella's room.


"Wow." was all the girls could get out after Gabriella finished telling them what she and Martin had discussed the previous night.

"So that's why you turned all motherly-like." Sharpay added.

"I have not." Gabriella argued.

"Yes you have Gabby, but no worries, it's sweet. I mean, if I knew that when we first met him, I probably would've acted the same naturally." Kelsie said.

"Same here." Taylor finally chimed in. "You are probably the most mature one out of the group."

"Ew, no I'm not. I always thought you were." Gabriella said.

"I thought you both were!" Sharpay and Kelsie said in unison.

"Whatever." Gabriella and Taylor said together.

"Anyways you guys, it's a good thing though." Kelsie added.

"Yeah I guess." Gabriella said. "Hey look, it's Ryan and Camille." Gabriella said looking up and pointing to Ryan, Camille, and Jeremy. "And some other guy." She added. The girls turned around and waved.


Okay, so to me this was just a bunch of fluff. LOL. but i thought it was too important to skip. The next chapter(s) will be even more interesting, well, because they're gonna be the last. I think i'll only have 3 more, 5 the most. Soo hope all you guys Review! Because the fun is almost over... until the sequel. I prolly won't get the next chapter up until wednesday because we're back in school, but i'll try tonight or tomorrow! Okay, now go review, or else i won't update. LOL.