Paparazzi

Ashley, Gabriella and Ryan all walked down Sunset Boulevard in the hot sun, Gabriella and Ryan holding hands as they all kept engaged in their conversation. Ashley licked her ice-cream and looked out to the waves smoothly setting against the golden sands, it was such a good sight. Ryan and Gabriella looked really happy too, she was so glad to be sharing their lives with them again.

"Seriously Sh Ash... how did you do it?" Gabriella asked with a smile.

"What do you mean?" Ashley asked from behind her big sunglasses.

"Well how did you keep it a secret?"

"I still am keeping it a secret though… but it has been hard to just not come over and see you guys. But there's always been the fear that Zeke can come find me any minute. Now I know he can't I'm okay." Ashley explained and nodded over to two big burly men on the other side of the street trying to look as though they were doing nothing.

"Who are they?" Ryan asked with a finely raised brow.

Ashley smiled smugly, "My bodyguards." She said with a laugh and Gabriella gasped in amazement.

"That is so cool!" She exclaimed.

They walked along a little further in silence when Ashley noticed something in a nearby paper. The front page of a magazine called Source had her on the front cover with Gabriella and Ryan in front of her. It read "Ashley's brother gets engaged! She is there to witness the occasion." Ashley looked at it and flicked through the magazine. The owner of the small stall walked over to her and she handed him the money for the magazine, knowing she would want it anyway.

"What's that?" Ryan asked looking at the cover.

"Oh my god, I am so sorry…" Ashley began, looking at the one-page spread. "I didn't know, I swear. "

"Are you kidding?!" Gabriella exclaimed, "This is amazing!" She said and looked through it reading the article.

"Ashley Tisdale was spotted looking on with excitement as her brother Lucas Tisdale got down on one knee and proposed to his girlfriend who is currently unknown. She arrived in the States two days ago and has been keeping a low profile, this being her first public appearance since arriving. The girlfriend said yes immediately and Ashley was obviously pleased as she enjoyed a meal and a night at a club with the loved-up couple. Perhaps this will inspire Ashley to find a love of her own after her break-up with British soap star Richard Fleeshman?"

Gabriella shrieked with excitement and laughed, "I'm in a magazine!" She laughed and hugged her future sister-in-law, ecstatic.

----------

Troy was holding the same magazine and gazing at it in shock and dismay, Gabriella had known too? Gabriella and Ryan were engaged? How could people be moving on without him? Sharpay looked happy and he was so jealous they got to share her company and yet he couldn't. But then again… there was nothing stopping him was there? He could just drive up to LA and find her. But how would he be able to find her in LA? It was a huge city and she was just one person. It would take a little more research than… and who the hell was Richard Fleeshman? He decided to go and do some research on this Ashley Tisdale person who he didn't seem to be able to connect to Sharpay, despite the physical appearance.

After around two hours of searching he figured he had managed to scrape up a few links of what 'Ashley's' life was like. He knew that she lived with her mother and had only come into the public eye around a year and a half ago in Britain when she released her first single and has since then been linked with soap star Richard Fleeshman who broke up with her through a magazine interview. Ouch. That would have probably hurt a lot. Then again Troy didn't really have any sympathy for her. She had been living a whole new life on the other side of the Atlantic while here he was stuck in limbo? He was going to confront her.

----------

It had been three days since they had seen the advertisement and Gabriella and Ryan were getting ready to go back to Albuquerque, they kept asking Ashley if she wanted to go back too, but she refused.

"So you and Ryan have different names?" Gabriella asked with a raised brow.

"Yeah Lucas and Ashley, it's easier that way it's like we keep both lives different in a way, right?" Ashley laughed and smiled, "Mine is for other reasons too."

"Well then don't I get a new name?" Gabriella asked and smiled.

"Sure, whatever you want." Ryan said after putting the last suitcase in the car and kissing his fiancée.

"Vanessa. I love that name. Vanessa Ann Hudgens." She said after a few moments thinking.

"Alright Nessa." Ashley said and kissed her cheek, "Look after my brother." She said cheekily.

"Hey I heard that…" Ryan said and hugged his twin, holding her tight.

"Call me when you guys get home." Ashley said as they got in the car and she waved as they drove off onto the busy road. It would be good to go back to Albuquerque but she knew that just wasn't possible.

After a day out shopping for a while by herself, she decided to go back to her hotel room and relax before going out for dinner. Tomorrow she had to start work and it would be good to get a good relaxation night, perhaps she would go for a Jacuzzi, after all she had her own private one. It was of course as she was getting out of her bodyguard's car that she saw the familiar body standing at the other side of the road. The familiar dark hair sweeping across his face, those eyes seeming to have hardened in time, his skin, that perfect tan. How was it possible? He had his arms in the pockets of some baggy jeans and a light blue striped shirt also baggy. There was a moment that seemed to last forever as she stood staring at her first love.

Troy Bolton.

He started moving towards her, walking across the empty street as the car pulled away. She wanted to run into his arms, feel him hold her. Funny how just looking at him now brought all the feelings back that she had once held for him. "Troy…" She said and looked at him as he stood right in front of her. Wanting to reach out and touch him and yet keeping herself under control with all her might.

"Sharpay.." Troy said, looking into her eyes. It was hard not to just kiss her right there, not to just pick her up in his arms and kiss her like he always wished he could. Carry her upstairs and tell her how much he had missed her, how he needed her. How he still loved her.

"Please don't call me that…" She said softly.

"Ashley…Tisdale…" He murmured and gently put out his hand to stroke her cheek. All his angry feelings had washed away for her, and were replaced by nothing but joy that the girl he had been searching for was standing right before him. His heart felt like it was about to explode, he couldn't quite describe it.

With his other hand he held out for her to take. And she did, looking him in the eyes all the time.

And oh, how their hearts did race.

Hye sorry it took so long to update I really have to go so I will reply to the reviews you make for this one in the next chappie. Thanks all for reviewing and reading!