AN: HAPPY ASH WEDNESDAY!

Disclaimer – I only own the plot and original characters

Chapter 6 – I'm Sorry

Troy walked into the ball room with his parents, Chad and Taylor. He hadn't told anyone about seeing Gabriella, but they all knew about his signing. Lucille hugged Troy, 'I am so proud of you Troy! All this before you finished High School!' Troy smiled and Jack patted his back.

Carlos walked up to the group with Marie and everyone other than Troy and Jack stared at them in shock. 'Hi Troy, Good evening, everyone!' Carlos greeted and Carlos shook Jack's hand.

'Mr…Mrs…Montez!?' Chad and Taylor said in shock.

'Yes?' Marie said.

'You are involved with the Lakers?' Chad asked.

'He was the scout who got me signed, dude,' Troy told him and Carlos nodded.

'Where's Gabi?' Taylor asked.

Marie looked at Taylor and smiled slightly. 'She's coming along later, she has some things to attend to.'

Troy looked at Carlos. 'She is going to be here for the presentation, right?'

Carlos shrugged, 'She should be.'

Gabi walked into the room in her Valentino dress and the photographers took pictures of her until she left the area to find her parents. Troy, Chad and Taylor saw the flashing of cameras and saw Gabriella walking into the room. Troy looked at her longingly as he took in how beautiful she looked. Taylor was about to rush over to see her, but Troy snapped out of his trance and held her back. 'She can't know that none of us are here. I want to surprise her when the presentation starts.' Taylor nodded, slightly upset and as if on cue the coach walked up onto the stage and the presentation started.

'And finally, we have a player starting with us after the school year finishes as he is still only in his Senior Year. Everybody welcome Troy Bolton!' Everybody applauded and Gabi stared in shock as Troy walked up to the stage and shook hands with the Coach.

Gabi turned to look at her father who was clapping. 'You signed him and you didn't tell me?!' She whispered.

'Yes. I didn't want you to pull out of the performance.' Carlos replied.

'What made you think that-' Gabi started to be interrupted by the coach giving her the cue for her to come up.

'And now, another High School Senior, everybody welcome Gabriella Montez!' Gabi composed herself and stood up, making her way to the stage.

She walked up to the microphone and saw Chad and Taylor sitting with Troy. She lost her voice because of the shock. She cleared her throat and laughed slightly. 'Who knew there would be Wildcats here today!' She looked everywhere except towards Troy. 'This song is for them!' She announced and Nobody's Perfect began to play.

About 10 minutes later she had finished two songs and she was about to sing the final song. Mark walked onto the stage and sat down on a chair with a microphone positioned to pick up the noise from the guitar. Mark looked and Gabi and nodded. Gabi nodded back and said into the microphone, 'Now this is for the New Mexico boy who is closer than I thought.' Troy's head snapped up and locked eyes with Gabriella for a second before she looked away towards Mark and signalled for him to start playing.

Vague sound of rain
pierces through my song again
but I get distracted by the way his toes move when he plays
so I let it burn

Gabi closed her eyes and let the music take her over.

I just poured my heart out
there's bits of it on the floor
And I take what's left of it and rinse it under cold water
And call him up for more

And I say baby, yes I feel stupid to call you, but I'm lonely
And I don't think you meant it when you said you couldn't love me

Troy closed his eyes as his mind took him back to the time she was referring to. To the last time they spoke. He felt his heart break all over again.

And I thought maybe if I kissed the way you do, you'd feel it too

He said I'm sorry
so sorry
I'm sorry
so sorry

Gabi opened her eyes and locked her eyes once again with Troy, tears already threatening to fall.

He grabs my wrists
as my fingers turn into angry fists
and I whisper why can't you love me, I'll change for you
I'll play the part

And I say baby, so I feel stupid to call you, but I'm lonely
And I don't think you meant it when you said you couldn't love me
And I thought maybe if I kissed the way you do, you'd feel it too

He said I'm sorry
so sorry
I'm sorry
I am sorry

He said I'm sorry
so sorry
I'm sorry
I am sorry

Gabi whispered 'I'm sorry,' and smiled at the crowd who were applauding her. She thanked them and left the stage with Mark, who put his arm supportively around her waist.

As soon as they were in the wing Gabi started crying and Mark held her. Mark was the first person Gabi had told everything about Troy to, and he knew that that performance was going to be hard, especially as she wasn't expecting him to be there. She quickly recovered and wiped under her eyes to get rid of any eye make up that could have ran. She smiled at Mark then went out into the ball room, to murder her father.

Troy looked down at the table when Gabi had left. He couldn't believe all the emotion she had put into that song. He had no idea that she was still as hurt as he was about what had happened. Chad hit him in the arm and said, 'If you don't go over there and talk to her, I will have to kick your ass, Lakers player or not!' Taylor nodded in agreement and Troy stood up and walked over to Gabriella, who was shouting at Carlos.

'I swear to God, Dad, if you ever, ever do anything like that again I will-' Gabi fumed but stopped when she saw Troy walk over to them.

'Hi,' he said sheepishly. 'May I have this dance?' Troy held out his hand.

Gabi stared at his hand then looked at her father and whispered, 'Do anything like that again, I will buy you the best British sports car in the world.' She then took hold of Troy's hand and he led her over to the dance floor.

Troy wrapped his arms around her waist and Gabi put her arms around his neck and they danced slowly, both getting lost in each others eyes.

They both sighed and Troy said quietly, 'I've missed you.'

'I've missed you too.' Gabi replied in a whisper.

'I want to say I'm sorry, but not for the reason I said it a couple of months ago. I'm saying sorry for not telling you that I love you when I should have, because I did, so much. Because I still do, even more.' Troy stopped swaying and put his finger underneath Gabriella's chin and tilted her head up. 'I love you so much, Brie. I don't know how I survived for the past few weeks.'

Gabi smiled and a tear slid down her face, which Troy wiped away. 'I love you too Troy,' she said and their lips met in the sweetest kiss they ever had in their lives.

They pulled apart and Troy spun her around and dipped her low, with Gabi laughing loudly.

Chad and Taylor looked over and saw their friends finally back together. They went over to them and Taylor and Gabi hugged tightly. Troy and Chad smiled at the two girls and then Chad and Gabi hugged. 'Gab's it's been so boring without you in Albuquerque!' Chad said while they hugged.

Gabi pulled back as smiled. 'I missed everybody in Albuquerque,' she said and Troy wrapped his arms around her waist and kissed her hair.

'May I say, Gabi, your dress is absolutely stunning!' Taylor said and made Gabi turn around. 'Damn girl, we thought your prom dress was amazing.'

'I had a feeling something was going to happen tonight, so I went out on a spree last week to find the dress. I'm only hiring it though. I have to give it back tomorrow.'

A photographer came up to the group. 'Miss Montez? I represent OK magazine…can I have some pictures of you and your friends, please?'

Gabi looked at her friends to make sure they were okay with it then nodded at the photographer. They posed as a group with Gabriella hugging tightly into Troy's chest and Taylor standing in front of Chad with his arms around her waist. Then they all stood in a line with their arms around one another's waists. Then Troy and Gabriella posed as a couple and then Gabriella stood for a few photos of herself. She then answered the photographer's question of who she was wearing and he left, thanking the four. Gabriella looked around the room and noticed a balcony outside the ballroom. She smiled at gesticulated at the group to follow her. They walked out to the balcony and they saw the view of LA. Taylor, Chad and Troy sighed at the view and Gabriella laughed. 'Like what you see?' she asked.

'LA is stunning!' Chad said.

'Yeah, I guess so…but if you are a celebrity, there is never a safe place. I have had to draw out a restraining order against the paparazzi saying that they can only take pictures of me at events.' Gabi explained.

'Why?' Troy asked.

'Cause if I am out in town with my school friends, the last thing I want is a photographer snapping away. It's not fair on my friends.'

'You still go to school?'

'Yeah, I have to. When I made it as a pop star, the students went a bit mad, but they soon got over it…I'm still a girl,' she shrugged, 'I work during the week, and I do the singing thing at the weekends and stuff. I haven't gone on any tours yet, but I'll go on a short one during Spring Break and a longer one during summer.'

'I suppose East High will go insane when they find out about you, Troy,' Taylor said.

Troy's eyes widened, 'I didn't think about that.'

Gabi slithered her arm around his waist, 'Don't worry about it. It will die down after a couple of weeks. It did for me.'

Troy looked down at her and smiled. 'Don't tell me we are going to become a celebrity couple,' he laughed and kissed her nose.

'I'm afraid we will…seeing as we have just kissed in the main room, where photographers were swarming around.' Gabi said. 'But I can get my agent to do something about it…maybe we can confirm that we are dating, but we are not willing to answer any questions.'

'Err, what?' Troy asked.

Gabi laughed. 'I'll get my agent onto it, don't worry.' He smiled and hugged her. 'When are you guys leaving?' Gabi asked.

'Tomorrow,' they all said in unison.

'Wow, talk about a short reunion.' Gabi said.

The next morning saw the four of them saying goodbye at the airport. Taylor and Gabriella were already crying and Gabi promised she would come down and visit during the Christmas holidays. Troy smiled and led Gabi away from the group so he could talk to her in private. They hugged and Troy sighed, hating the fact that they were once again going to be separated, having just got back together. Gabi pulled back and looked into his eyes. 'Troy, if you don't want a long distance relationship, I can wait until you come up here next summer.'

'What? No! What made you think that, Brie?' Troy asked.

'It's just, once people hear about you getting signed, Troy, a lot of girls are going to be interested in you. I don't want you to think that you are tied down to me. You can have your fun.' Gabi looked down. As much as she hated the idea, she didn't want to be selfish.

Troy kissed her forehead. 'Brie, I am tied down to you. But I want to be. I love you, remember that.'

Gabriella smiled and pulled his head down to kiss him lightly on the lips, but Troy deepened it. They resurfaced and Gabi leant her head against his. 'I love you too, Troy. I'm going to miss you so much while you are gone.'

'I'll miss you too. But I'll phone you, and we can see each other at Christmas if you can come down.'

Gabi nodded with tears in her eyes and they kissed one more time before he left to get on the plane.

Over the next few months, Troy and Gabriella frequently talked to each other on the phone and she kept her promise and came down to visit everyone in Albuquerque during Christmas vacation. She actually surprised the whole gang by turning up randomly where they usually hang out the day that they finished school for vacation, but they were all ecstatic to see her again. College for everyone other than Troy and Gabi was beginning to get sorted. Taylor and Chad had been offered scholarships to UCLA, while Sharpay was staying in New Mexico to go to U of A. Zeke was going to Duke and Kelsi was going to NYU. Troy and Gabi were really happy to find out that their two friends were going to be close to where they will be based, however both of them would be travelling around the country for a lot of the time.

As Prom was quickly approaching the Wildcats, Troy phoned Gabi and asked her if she would be able to come down to attend it with him. She sighed loudly and told him that she couldn't make it as she had a gig and her own Prom the following night. 'But, Troy,' she said when she sensed his sense of disappointment, 'you can invite another girl. I want you to have fun, okay? It is your last Prom at high school.'

Troy smiled, 'Thanks, Brie, but I don't want anyone with me other than you. Stop being so selfless. I love you.'

Gabi laughed, 'I love you too.'

They soon hung up and Gabi phoned Mark. 'Hey, Mark. About that gig in New Mexico…'

AN: Oooh. New Mexico? Review!