Chapter 2

"How can you take a wrong turn in a straight road?" Max asked as they climbed out of the car. Somehow they had managed to get from the little place they were living in into the big city.

"Don't ask me, I'm new in the neighborhood," Gabriella answered, "I've got good news and a bad one. Which one do you want?"

"Bad one," Max said.

"I have no idea where exactly we are and how to get back."

Max smiled wryly, "and the good news?"

"There's a grocery store right next to us," Gabriella gestured to a shop next to their parked car.

"Fabulous news," Max said, giving her thumbs up, "Jeez, I've been living in here for twelve years, yet I have no idea where we are."

"We could ask someone," Gabriella offered, "After we do the grocery shopping."

"We're lost in one of the biggest cities in the states and you're worried about groceries?" Max asked. Gabriella shrugged,

"Somehow we're going to get home. The question is whether I have to do grocery shopping again after we get there."

"You're having me on, right?" Max asked, "Like you're pretending to be lost and you're just doing this to make me nervous? So you'd know, I don't get nervous easily – unless I get a lot of unwanted attention."

"Hey, I had that problem when I was younger," Gabriella said with a smile, "It went away when I started to sing though."

"You sing?"

"Not anymore. I used to, but it was a long time ago," Gabriella answered with a funny look in her eyes that showed that she was relieving a memory.

"Oh come on, let's do the groceries and then we'll drive back the way we came, alright?" Max offered, "I mean how lost can we get."

-30 minutes later-

"Alright," Max said, "If you ever listen to what I say again, I'll have you put into a mental institution."

"Well, it's to trust the word of a fourteen year old, who has lived here for almost whole her life or me, who doesn't know the area at all," Gabrielle answered as the two of them looked around where they ended up, "At least before we had buildings around us."

True, right now, there were just trees and little plants.

"Why aren't you yelling or being mad?"

"Huh?" Was all Gabriella said, as she looked away from the map she had found from her car. "Mad? Why should I be mad? If I would have decided we'd be in Albuquerque."

moment of silence

"That wouldn't be too bad." They both said at the same time.

They looked at each other and smiled. "You've been to Albuquerque?" Gabriella asked.

Max nodded, "Uh-uh; my grandparents live there and dad has some friends who live there as well."

"Cool," Gabriella said with a nod of her head, "Now, if we look at this map this way, we should be here. If we look it that way – we should be… here."

"Gaby?"

"Yeah?"

"Look at this."

Gabriella looked where she was pointing. There was a tiny text, which said, "Made in 1978."

She stared. Max stared. "Damn," Gabriella muttered.

"Didn't know you had it in you," Max said with a smile, "Being all nice to all weird people like Sarah."

"I've had loads of practice," Gabriella answered, "Now… if we keep driving we ought to get to some sign, right?"

"Probably."

"If we find a sign, we'd be able to guess our location.

"Uh-uh."

"You up for it?"

"Let's do it."

After fifteen minutes of driving, Max was happy that Gabriella had done the grocery shopping as she pulled out a big cup of ice cream.

"You're an ice-a-holic," She exclaimed.

"A what?" Gabriella asked, smiling.

"That's what dad calls me, because I never get enough of ice cream," Max explained. "I love that they put spoons with these."

"Yeah, convenient, isn't it?"

"Definitely… Gabriella, do you think I could…"

"Eat my only caramel ice cream? Hardly." She started to slow down a bit and pulled onto the edge of the road. "50/50," she declared as she took one of the spoons.

They ate in silence for some time until Max stated, "You're not like the other grown-ups I know."

Gabriella looked at her, "What do you mean?"

Max shrugged, "I don't know. You're just… more… uh… well, I don't know what you are, but you're different."

"Is that a compliment or an insult?" Gabriella inquired between spoonfuls of ice cream.

"Compliment, definitely."

"So… do you have any kids?"

That was probably a wrong thing to ask, because Gabriella put down her spoon with a tiny click.

"I didn't mean to pry, I just…"

"No, it's alright. You're just curious," Gabriella said with a sigh. "I had a daughter, but when she was two, I had to leave town, because of an illness. When I got better and came back, my fiancée had taken my daughter and left as well."

"What happened to them?"

"No idea. I tried to track them down, but it didn't work very well and back then I didn't have a spare dime. All I earned went to college and I couldn't hire one of those private detectives."

"So you never found your daughter?"

"Nope," Gabriella answered, "And after a while I gave up, deciding that if my fiancée hid then he must have a good reason. Besides I never got to explain why I left, so he might as well believe I just dumped him."

Max offered her the spoon, "Eat ice cream or chocolate cookies; I always do when I'm sad or depressed. That's why our fridge is full of them every time Sarah sleeps over."

Gabriella smiled and Max frowned. "I'm sorry for bringing it up. I'm just a nosy 'geeky math girl.'"

The ice-cream Gabriella had swallowed seemed to go down the wrong way, because she started to cough. When she got over it, she asked,

"Who calls you that?"

"Some students in my class," the girl said dismissively. "They're just damn jealous because I'm so good in basketball and I'm one the smartest soon-to-be eighth grader out there."

She looked so proud saying it, that Gabrielle had to smile. "I was called that, by the way. Look how I turned out."

"If I'm 33 and look like you, I'd be extremely happy. But with Sarah and the ice cream madness, I'll probably be as round as a human can get by that age."

"You won't. I drowned myself into ice cream for years and I didn't gain an ounce."

"You're just lucky with the good metabolism."

"You know what metabolism means?"

"Of course, everybody does."

Gabriella smiled, "Well my boyfriend from high school had no clue and me and my friends tried to explain it to him soo many times that I think even a parrot would have remembered the phrase by the time we gave up."

"Why did you taught it to him anyways?"

"No reason, we just had some fun. I made sure he knew the basics of science and he showed me how to shoot hoops.

"You play basketball?" Max asked, interested.

"Played. I haven't played since I left the town I went to high school in."

"Oh and you haven't sang ever since either?"

"Pretty much," Gabriella said, taking a big scoop of ice cream.

Soon enough the ice cream was gone and the two of them were back in the car. They turned and kept driving. After an hour they managed to end up somewhere in the middle of the city again.

"What's the time?" Gabriella asked, yawning.

"7pm," Max answered. She was feeling hungry and tired. Her rumbling stomach proved the point.

"You eat fast food?" Gabriella asked. Max nodded and Gabriella turned towards the McDonalds. They got their food into the car and then drove for a few minutes, before Gabriella asked Max to wait as she went to a weird place.

Ten minutes later she returned with a map and directions to their home.

"It's so obvious," Max said for the fifth time.

"Kind of," Gabriella answered again. "One thing for sure. Next time I'll take a new map when I go shopping for groceries."

"Still can't believe you took a wrong turn on a straight road."

"Shut up," Gabriella said, grinning. "I've always been badly orientated."

"Badly? You got lost on a one way, straight, road."

"Look whose talking. You got us in the middle of nothingness!"

"And you consulted a map that was made even before you were born!"

The two of them kept it up until they both started to laugh. "We're both pretty pathetic when it comes to orientating," Max concluded.

Gabriella agreed as she came to a stop in front of Max's house. "Here, my number. When you need to get out of the house, give me a call and I'll make sure you can repay for breaking my beautiful vase."

Max grinned, "Thanks. Even though we got lost, it was fun and Gabriella?"

"Yeah?"

"I'm sorry for your… daughter…" Max looked down at her feet, as being embarrassed about bringing the subject up again, but Gabriella was having none of that.

"One day I'll find her, even if I'm eighty by the time it happens. But the main point is that it will – just have to have some faith, right?"

Max smiled, "I'll see you around?"

"Probably."

"Bye."

"See ya."

Then see drove away and Max started to walk up towards the house. As soon as she opened the door, she was swept into a hug.

"Don't ever do that again? Do you hear me? Never, ever run away like that. I was so worried!"

"Daddy, I'm fine. See? Nothing's wrong."

Troy Bolton pulled a brown bang of hair away from his blue eyes and locked them with his daughter's brown ones. They always reminded him of her.

"Please, Julie, promise me that you won't run away again."

"I would, but I can't," she answered, "And call me Max, everybody else does."

"First off your name isn't Max and second, why did you run away. Then of course, where were you the night. Were you safe?"

"Wow, slow down," Max said to her dad, the only family she ever knew. "I was fine last night. Ms. Black took me in for the night and I went to help her with groceries in return. Why I ran away? That's a reeeaaal mystery isn't it?"

"Julie, Sarah isn't as bad as you think she is and yes, I am sorry for not discussing the possible marriage of Sarah and I with you first, but it happened on the spur of the moment."

"Well, me running away, happened on the spur of the moment too. It won't the next time though, because then I plan taking money… Running away is hard without any money."

"Angel, you are not running away from me again! Ever!" Troy said, "I'll postpone the weddings until you and Sarah clear things out."

"So they'll never happen?" Max asked with hopeful tone.

Troy shook his head, "Max you have to understand that I need someone to be besides me and you'll need a mother figure."

"What about my real mother daddy? You never talk about her! What happened?"

"Julie," troy said in a warning tone.

"That's what you always say when I ask about my mother!" Max snapped. "I need to know! Is she dead? Did she run away with the plumber? Did she travel to space? Give me something!"

"Go to your room."

"Daddy…"

"Julie Maxine Bolton, go to your room."

Though his voice was completely calm, Julie knew better than to argue with him and silently went to her room. She sat down onto her bed and she couldn't help but wonder what her mother could've been like and what could have happen to make his father completely ignore the subject of her. Did she cheat on him maybe?

She had done that kind of thinking often enough as she figured what her mother could've looked like and what she might've smelled like. Flowers, fresh pine, anything.

When Troy walked into the room later that night, his daughter was sleeping, sprawled out on her bed. He gently tucked her in and kissed her for good night.

"How did the talk go?" Sarah asked as soon as Troy walked in.

"We didn't talk that much. I just sat in the kitchen," Troy shortly said.

"You said you'd tell me when it was safe to come outside," Sarah said accusingly.

"Yes, well, I forgot," Troy answered taking off his pants, "Could we go to sleep now?"

"Are you sure…" Sarah started in what she thought was a seductive voice.

"Yes."

That ended that conversation and Troy climbed into the bed and as Sarah turned off the lights, he kept staring at the ceiling, images going through his head.

He was singing again and Gabriella was right next to him and he felt truly free.

He was twirling Gabriella around in an empty gym, both of them were laughing.

They were sitting in his secret spot, just talking.

Their first kiss in the hallway.

Them holding hands and going on a summer break.

The two of them swimming in the country club's pool.

The picnic in the golf course.

The song they sang on the talent show.

They taking it all out of the last year as high school students.

Receiving their scholarships.

The news about Julie.

The intense moments while Gabrielle was in labor.

Julie's first words.

Her first steps.

The letter.

Troy gripped the blankets a bit harsher. That letter had basically said for him to grow Julie into a fine woman and take care of both of them, because she is not able to. She had to leave.

She could have explained! She could have given him a reason to wait and he would have. He would have waited as long as she would have needed. But she didn't. She didn't tell him anything. She just left. At first Troy had thought about following her but if she left already, she probably had a reason.

Then he had been angry towards her. Angry for leaving little Julie just to him. Angry for giving him all of this responsibility out of the blue. Angry that she just walked away from his family like that.

After that came the sadness and the feeling of emptiness. He was sad that she didn't tell him what she was up to; he was devastated that she had left without a goodbye; he was crestfallen that Julie had to grow up without a mother, but he was hurting as his heart had gone with her and now, his chest was just plain empty.

And it still was. He had to admit it that Sarah didn't feel like Gabriella had. She didn't even come close.

He never had that warm feeling that started from his toes and went up to his chest which started to beat twice as fast when she kissed him.

He never felt warm over his body when she smiled at him.

He never felt this growing feeling of warmth towards Sarah like he had for Gabriella. It had started to live from the very first moment he laid his eyes on Gabriella on that Teen Party and though he didn't want to admit it, he still felt it when he even thought about her. She still had his heart and it hurt. It hurt, because he had nothing in return.

Not a day passed that Troy didn't doubt his decision to leave Albuquerque. Not a day passed without him berating himself for changing his name when he was a pro basketball player. Not a day passed when Troy didn't hate himself for making it hard for her to find him. Because in his heart, he wanted to be found.

But then again, he didn't know if she was even looking. Maybe she left because she found another love. Maybe she thought that the child was a weight she had to carry around and it was slowing her developing down.

Troy felt moronic even to think about it. Those two years when Gabriella had been around her daughter, she had treated her like the most precious jewel in the world and Troy knew it. He also didn't doubt that she loved him, because she had said it so many times and every time she did say it, Troy felt truly happy.

He pressed his head more into his pillow and willed himself to sleep, but the sleep didn't come. So his mind drifted back to Gabriella like it often did while his mind wasn't preoccupied.

He thought back to the night before she left. He had walked onto her crying, he remembered that clearly.

"What's wrong love?" he had asked, as he sat next to her. Gabriella leant into him and cried into his shoulder. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," Gabriella had answered, her voice shaking just a bit. "Troy, I love you, you know that right? Don't ever doubt that I won't love you anymore. I always will."

He had felt slightly bewildered about it, but had whispered back anyways, "I know, Gaby. I love you too, more than anything in the world. Well, maybe except Julie, but the two of you can share the most loved title."

Gabriella had smiled into his shoulder. He hadn't seen it, but he had felt it anyways. "This is how it should be for good. Julie is ours. She's half of you and half of me. If we love her, we love each other."

"'Course," he answered, his mind a bit foggy as his fiancée wasn't making that much sense right now. "We'll just hope she gets the basketball side of me and knowledge half from you, because if it's other way around…"

"Poor kid," they ended together and Gabriella though, she was still crying ,chuckled, "Troy, I love you more than I'll ever love another guy, remember that."

"I will," Troy promised, "Now would you tell me why you're crying?"

"Hormones," she had answered, "PMS."

She'd lied. He knew that now. But back then he had just smiled and held her until they heard Julie crying, which signaled that she's awake. The next morning, Gabriella was gone.

He quietly rose from his bed and made it to their family safe where he held everything Julie brought home for school and everything else that reminded him family. It was also filled with pictures about Gabrielle and himself. It also held that piece of paper that screwed up his life.

"Dear Troy,"

"I can not stay with you and Julie anymore. I just have to go and I can't explain why. Please don't try to find me, because it's something I have to face on my own. Take care of Julie and if I never come back, tell her about me when she's ready. It's the only thing I can ask from you, since I'm doing this to you.

That Teen Party was the best thing that ever happened to me – You were the best thing that ever happened to me. I never wanted to hurt you, but if I would have told you, it'd hurt both of us even more than it's hurting us now.

Maybe one day you'll understand and forgive me."

"Love Always, Gabriella."

Tears started to appear in Troy's eyes as he reread the letter again and again. He had read it at least thousands of times and the lines were carved into his mind. It didn't make any sense to him. Why would she leave like that? Why would she leave behind everybody she loved?

"Daddy?"

Troy spun around so quickly that a tornado would be jealous. He quickly put back the letter and closed the safe. He then turned to face the small girl in the doorway once again.

"Angel, why aren't you sleeping?"

" I couldn't sleep," Max answered shuffling her feet, "I wanted to say I'm sorry for snapping like you the way I did downstairs. I shouldn't have gone off like that and I'm truly sorry."

Just now did Max see tears in her father's eyes, but he didn't choose to comment. Troy smiled at her and said,

"Come on, I'll walk you to your room and tuck you in again."

Max nodded and the pair made their way to her room. She climbed under the blanket and Troy made sure she was all tucked in. He then closed his eyes.

"Julie, you deserve to know about your mother. You really do," he sighed, "It's just that I'm not very ready to talk about her out in the open. Actually it's been years since I talked to anybody about her."

"Aunt Taylor?" Julie offered, "Or Aunt Sharpay and Uncle Ryan? The three of them always smile fondly when I try to talk about my mum, but they always tell me that it's your story to tell."

"Yes, well," Troy nodded, "I'm not going to tell you a lot, but I'm going to tell you something about your mum…"

"Anything," Max breathed out, her face lit with anticipation.

"Your mother was an amazing woman. She had a beautiful singing voice, something similar to yours."

"I don't have a beautiful voice," Max said. Troy smiled, "That's what your mum said. She even had the same kind of stage fright you get. You know about people staring at you? Well she had the same thing, but she overcame it. She was strong woman and even Sharpay respected her."

"What do you mean even Sharpay? Aunt Sharpay is nice."

"Well, she wasn't that nice back then. To tell you a secret, she had a slight crush on me and your mum and she had quite some word exchanges."

Max smiled.

"Don't ever think that your mother didn't love you. For her, you were the reason to live; you are the only thing the two of us loved more than each other."

"So you loved her a lot?" Max asked, biting her lip as a single tear escaped her eyes.

"I loved your mother more than I loved anything else in the world. If she would have asked I would have stopped playing basketball, I would have run to the end of the world just to get her something she wanted. She always made me feel all fuzzy in he inside and when she was around it was like everything could go wrong and the two of us would still be happy."

Troy sighed as he gently wiped away the tear that was rolling down her daughter's cheek. "Don't cry, love."

"Do you…" Max coughed as her voice was a few octaves higher than usual, before he tried again, "Do you love Sarah that way."

Troy found himself looking into the sincere brown eyes of his daughter and then he shook his head. "I don't think I'll ever love anyone as deeply as I loved your mother. She might have hurt me, but I'll always love her."

For a moment the father/daughter duo just sat there doing nothing. "Can I see some pictures some day?"

"Pictures?" Troy asked with a cough.

"Don't play dumb," Max scoffed, "I know you keep them in the safe you were looking at ten minutes ago. It's just that I never actually had a picture of mum and…" "I'll give you some," Troy answered with a tiny hint of smile, "It's about time you learnt where are your beauty comes from… Certainly not from me. But I'll give them to you when I get back from the business trip. The owner of my team is having negotiations about selling the team and I have to be there."

"What? For how long?"

"Probably two weeks," Troy said, feeling uncomfortable.

"Two weeks?!? You can't leave me alone with all this evil for two weeks!"

"All this evil? Besides Sarah is here with you…"

"Exactly – All this evil!" Max cried out, "Please, daddy, take me along!"

"I can't," Troy answered, "Maybe you can stay over at your friend's house? Bill for example?"

"Nope, Bill went to visit his grandmother in the countryside."

"Karen?"

"Out of town… but… What's the time?"

"It's 11pm, why?"

Max jumped out of bed and grabbed her cell phone, "Here goes nothing."

"Who're you calling? Don't you think your friends would be in bed by now?" Max only shrugged in response.

"Calling… Callin… Hey! Please tell me I didn't just wake you up."

"Good. Listen I know that I've only known you for a short time, but you said you were bored out of your wits and well, my dad is going for a business trip for two weeks and he's leaving me alone with…"

"Yeah you guessed it, that blonde screecher."

"Max!"

Max put a hand on the receiver and said, "Hey, you called me Max – Wohoo! By the way, I didn't call her that. I just repeated what she said on the other side."

She then continued, "So I was wondering if I could…"

"Really?"

"Haha, thought so. So I'm allowed to bunk in just until dad gets back?"

"Well if I had to choose between you and the blonde screecher [Hand on the receiver as she said to Troy – her words, not mine the choice is not that difficult."

"Thanks and I'll pay you back for that vase one day!"

She hung up and beamed at his dad, "I got a place to stay for two weeks."

Troy frowned, "Who did you call?"

"Ms. Black," Max answered, "She was fine with it. She said that having the whole house to herself was starting to creep her out anyways."

"Ms. Black, that's the woman you stayed with last night?"

Max nodded, "She's awesome. She has so much videos and a huge fireplace. It's really warm in front of it – trust me I know. I dried there last night, because she made me. She cooks bacon and eggs just right and she just as bad as I am in studying a map."

"Uh, I'm not sure about this and what about that vase?"

"I broke one of her expensive vase and she has me helping with groceries and cooking in return. Sarah pretty much sold me out."

When her dad didn't respond, she continued, "If you want I can introduce the two of you tomorrow, so you could judge it yourself."

"I can't," Troy answered, "The plane leaves 8am."

"Already?"

"Yeah, I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner, but I just got the announcement and…"

"Dad," Max interrupted, "It's alright. You have an unpredictable job."

Troy nodded and rose, "I think it's alright for you to stay with that lady, but I'll call every night to check on you."

"Alright," Max said with a nod and with a last smile to his daughter Troy Bolton left the room, feeling just a tiny bit lighter than he had when he entered the room. Inside the room Julie Maxine Bolton hit her head against the wall silently, because she hadn't even asked her mother's name or what she did to hurt her dad.

Still soon enough she fell asleep. In the other room Troy Bolton did the same, his dreams filled with a certain girl with chocolate eyes and dark brown, almost black, hair and it certainly wasn't his daughter.

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A/N – I only survive long enough to write more thanks to your reviews. If I starve I can't write :P