A/N: I liked this chapter :P lol. I'm glad you all seem to like this story lol. Don't own HSM. Btw, check out 'The American Mall' on youtube. (there's only music videos not the whole movie) it's by the same producers as HSM

Chapter 2 – My daughter

Gabriella pulled her jacket closer around her body as she nibbled on her sandwich. Why was life never fair? All of her life she had had to fight for what she wanted. She had to work in a country club as a lousy lifeguard because she got fired from her job as a doctor! Unlike people like Troy Bolton, she had had to plan her life and work for a living. People like Troy Bolton gladly flew through life without a care in the world, buying whatever caught his eye.

Even though Sharpay, Zeke, Chad and Sharpay were all fairly rich but they donated practically half of their earnings to children's homes around the country and various other charities.

And she didn't have a penny to her name.

"Slagging me off?" A voice asked.

Gabriella jumped and looked up to see Troy looking down at her. "How did you get up here?"

Troy sat down next to her, crossing his legs. "Probably the same way you did. I climbed the tree. What are you doing here?"

"I've worked here since I was fifteen. I know this place inside out and back to front." She smiled slightly. "I didn't think anyone would think to climb a tree to eat lunch on a roof."

"Let's just say… I think more clearly from a height." He said softly.

Gabriella looked at him with raised eyebrows. "No kidding."

"What about you?" He questioned.

"I just like winter skies." She whispered. "A lot to think about and one look at the sky seems to take it all away."

"You know you've still got work this afternoon." He said quietly, eyeing her black skinny jeans and NYU hoody.

She lifted her hoody up to reveal her swimming suit. "I'm not stupid." She whispered.

He held his hands up. "I never said you were."

"So… What did you need to think about?" She asked.

"Huh?" He knitted his brow together in confusion. Gabriella giggled silently at the cuteness of his face, like a little boy who had just figured out that the world wasn't flat.

"You said you think more clearly from a height. Why did you come up here?" She asked. "You don't have to tell me. I'm sorry, Sir."

He smirked slightly and pulled the sleeves of his jacket over his hands. "I'm twenty-five. I'm not a child. You can call me Troy."

"Were you a dork in high school or is it something that occurred after graduation?" She asked, biting into an apple.

He chuckled and shrugged. "Maybe. What's it to you?"

"A curious girl who is on her lunch break." She laughed slightly. "I so shouldn't be laughing." She whispered, staring at a pigeon which landed a few feet away.

"Hey, what's wrong?" He asked softly, moving to sit beside her.

"Everything." She whispered.

Troy was silent for a moment, knowing she wanted some quiet to think things through. "Do you want tomorrow off?" He asked.

She looked at him in surprise. "What?"

"If you want, you can have tomorrow off." He offered.

She stared at him in disbelief and shook her head, placing all of her rubbish into her lunch box and placing the lid on it. "I can't."

"I'm offering you." He protested.

"And I'm declining. I can't afford it right now. Find another girl to have your way with her." She whispered.

"What made you think that?" He asked quietly.

She looked at him and shrugged. "That's not what you meant?"

He shook his head. "No. I wouldn't even see you if you didn't want to. I mean, if you want to go on a date with the handsome me, well…" He chuckled as she shoved him. "I was just looking over your record and I saw that you work every possible hour under the sun. I wanted to give you a break."

Gabriella sighed. "I've already told you. I can't afford it."

"I'll take it out of your sick days. That way you'll get paid." He grinned.

"You wouldn't do that." She shook her head, hugging her knees to her chest.

"Wanna bet? You are officially ill tomorrow." He grinned, standing up and brushing his jeans off. He offered her his hand and gave her a look when she refused. "Come on, I don't bite."

After a moment of consideration, she placed her small into his larger one, allowing him to pull her to her feet, her lunch box grasped tightly in her other hand. They stared into the other's eyes for a few moments before she released his hand, rubbing it on the back of her jeans. "I've, uh, got to go. My lunch is ending."

"Hey, Ella!" A voice called.

Gabriella hopped off of her chair and looked up at Zeke. "Hey, what's up?"

"You okay?" He bit into a croissant, leaning against the tall, white chair.

"Yeah but I'm on duty meaning I can't talk to anybody." She muttered.

"What's wrong?" He asked with concern.

She folded her arms, her eyes glancing at the pool to make sure everyone was behaving. "I talked with Troy at lunch."

"Troy Bolton? Our boss?" He asked.

Gabriella sighed and nodded, pushing a stray curl behind her ear. "Yes, that Troy Bolton."

"Well, what did you talk about?" Zeke asked, flicking some crumbs off of his shirt.

She sighed, rubbing her eyes. "I don't know. I think we were talking about how we think… I'm not entirely sure. And he gave me tomorrow off…"

"He can't do that. What about your pay? What did you say?" He exclaimed, taking another bite.

"Exactly what you said. I said I couldn't because I couldn't afford it and then he did the strangest thing. He said I'm going to be ill tomorrow." She whispered, blowing her whistle loudly and pointing at some teenagers. As it was the start of Christmas break, the schools had been let out and so it was busier. As it was winter, everyone was using the indoor pool for obvious reasons.

"You're going to be ill?" Zeke asked slowly, chewing on the last mouthful and brushed his hands clean on his green apron.

She nodded. "He said that it'll be a sick day. I didn't know what to say." She whispered.

Zeke considered her a moment. "What are you going to do?"

She shrugged. "There's like two weeks until Christmas…"

"But, if it's a sick day, then you'll get paid." Zeke explained.

"I know that." She snapped. She sighed and blew her whistle again, pointing at the same group of teenagers. "Last chance." She warned. She turned back to Zeke and her shoulders slouched. "Why has my life always been a case of me wondering what I did wrong?"

"What makes you think you did something wrong?" Zeke gasped.

She shrugged. "Just look at what happened to me. I must've done something terrible in my past life!"

Zeke hugged his sister close. "Look, I'm going to quote your favourite movie." He pulled back to look her in the eyes, his hands resting on her shoulders. "With no suffering, there'd be no compassion."

"You know, a twenty-five year old guy shouldn't be able to quote 'A walk to remember'." She giggled.

He rolled his eyes and shrugged. "Hey, I've got to get back to work. You'll be okay, right?"

She nodded. "Of course."

He kissed her forehead and hugged her tightly one last time before walking away. "Keep your chin up, Fluffy Glove." He called.

"As always, Muffin Bear." She yelled back, grinning slightly.

"Gabriella!" A voice yelled.

She turned around to see Steph, a sixteen year old girl who work at reception, running up to her. "Steph, what's wrong?"

Gabriella pulled her NYU hoody over her swimsuit and knocked on Troy's office door. She waited a few seconds before knocking again more forcefully. "Troy, open up!"

"What's wrong?" A voice asked, pushing past her and entering the office.

Gabriella jumped and followed Troy inside as he sat down in his large, leather chair. "Listen, I know you gave me tomorrow off but I need to go." She pleaded.

Troy leaned back, folding his arms behind his head. "Why?"

She sighed, not really wanting to say. "I just need to go."

"Tell me why and I'll say yes." He compromised, lifting his feet onto his desk.

She folded her arms and glared at him. "Listen, that isn't and option. I need to go. Can I use your phone? I left mine at home."

"Why?" He asked.

"I need a cab." She exclaimed.

"Tell me why you're going and I'll drive you." He said quietly, picking up his keys and twirling them around his fingers.

She groaned in frustration. "Can I explain on the way?"

Troy let his feet fall to the floor and he leaned forward. "Promise?"

Gabriella smirked slightly and held her pinkie out. "Pinkie promise."

Troy hooked his pinkie around hers and smiled, standing up. "Go on, then."

"Thank you!" She squealed as she hugged him.

He stumbled back slightly in surprise before wrapping his arms cautiously around her. "It's okay, Gabby."

Gabriella pulled back, a frown creasing her brow. "What did you call me?"

"Gabby?" Troy asked slowly. "Is that okay?"

Gabriella swallowed before nodding. "Yeah. Come on." She walked out of his office with Troy following. They headed into the parking lot and she automatically headed to the black sports car right by the entrance.

"How did you know this was my car?" Troy asked as they both climbed in.

Gabriella glanced at the old, beat up cars surrounding them. "It stands out a bit." She whispered, strapping the seatbelt across her torso.

Troy nodded in realisation as he clicked his own seatbelt in place and pulled out of the parking lot, driving down the freeway. "Where am I going?"

"Do you know where the pre-school is?" Gabriella asked quietly.

"Yeah. I think so." Troy said quietly, frowning slightly.

"Just head there. You'll know everything once we get there." She whispered.

Troy threw his head back onto the headrest as he saw Gabriella running towards the school's entrance out of the corner of his eye. What the hell was he doing here? Why had he given her the day off? And why, most importantly, was he paying attention to Gabriella Montez? He had yet to figure answer to any of them out but he knew one thing: she was a challenge. And after years of intense basketball training, he had been taught to thrive when confronted with a challenge.

He had been brought up in Los Angeles – and resulted in him being the city guy people labelled him as – and had, originally, planned on being a professional basketball player. But, after a car accident, he had known before he graduated college that he'd never be able to play professionally. With a fractured knee cap and lower leg, he had been lucky they'd been able to fix with the state it had been in.

Then, he began to study business which led him to owning several sport stores and now a country club. Most of his stores were back in L.A. but he had decided to move to Albuquerque in order to experience the small town life. He had heard stories about it – how no one had secrets – but he had felt pressured to experience it as most of his friends had move away other than Jason and Kelsi.

Kelsi had known him since they were four years old when their mothers had become friends. They had been left alone in the lounge of the Bolton's for half an hour before Kelsi had finally plucked up the courage to ask if they had to watch basketball. Believe it or not, Troy hadn't always been the confident, obnoxious guy people saw today. But, somewhere during high school, the roles reversed and Kelsi became more quiet and timorous.

Jason came into the picture during freshman year when he moved to L.A. Kelsi had tried to date boys throughout the years but had broken up with all of them as none of them understood her relationship with Troy – which, he admitted, he doubted anybody ever would. But, once they met Jason, he became Troy's best friend and because of that, Kelsi felt that he was comfortable with her relationship with Troy. As always, he didn't understand it, but he didn't have to. As long as he didn't question anything, she was happy and so was Troy.

He jumped out of his thoughts when the car door opened and he looked across to see Gabriella climbing in, a little girl nursed in her arms. She had long, dark curls which were parted into two neat plaits, her eyes were closed and obscured from view because she was burying her face into Gabriella's chest. She was wrapped up in a thick, warm coat with mittens on her hand with a scarf to match. She looked about three, four at a push and Troy had to look questioningly at Gabriella as she pulled the car door shut.

"Troy, this is Allie. My daughter." She whispered nervously, hugging the little girl close to her.