ok, i decided to upload the second chapter cuz i wanted to get the story going! this chapter, i feel, is a LOT better than the last one!! more drama kind of crap! lol! hope you like it!!

Disclaimer: ya'll read the last chapter right? lol! i'm still working on the Zac Efron part. anyone wanna hear the plan i have so far? no? didn't think so! lol!

2008

Gabriella sat down in a chair in a therapist's office. The therapist, Doctor Fletcher, sat down in the chair across from Gabriella.

"So, Gabriella, have you been feeling any better?" she asked.

Gabriella shrugged. "I still have nightmares," she admitted.

"That's normal. Gabriella, you had to sit there and witness your mother's death and there was nothing you could do. And then he turned to you and tried to kill you. At such a young age, that will leave quite a mark on your life," Doctor Fletcher explained.

"Will it ever go away?" Gabriella questioned.

Doctor Fletcher sighed. "Honestly, I don't think so," she replied.

Gabriella groaned and leaned her head back.

"But Gabi, I just want you to remember that he's locked away. He's not going to hurt you," Doctor Fletcher reminded.

Gabriella bit her bottom lip and looked out the window at the wonderful summer scenery of Albuquerque.

Detective Samuels sat at his desk, looking over the files of a psycho killer they'd had locked in a psych ward for the past three years.

'Name: Adam Lynch

Age: 43

Sex: Male

Criminal history: None'

"Morning, Samuels," a man with short, dark brown hair and a scruffy beard and mustache greeted as he entered the office.

"That's Detective Samuels to you, Johnson" the detective corrected without looking up.

"What're you up to?" the man by the name of Alex Johnson asked.

"Eh, just checking over this psycho's file," Samuels replied, skimming through the file.

"What psycho?" Johnson asked.

"This high school teacher became obsessed with a female freshman at the school," Samuels explained. "He went psycho because he knew he couldn't have her. He broke into her house and attempted to kidnap her. He killed her parents and then came after her. That's when police showed up. Aside from a small gash in her right arm, she was fine. It's the emotional trauma we have to keep an eye on."

"And the psycho?"

"Been under extreme security for years. The girl's a senior now. We keep a very close eye on her."

"You think she's in any sort of danger?"

"As long as we keep Lynch locked up, she's fine."

Gabriella left the therapist's office an hour later and found her boyfriend's Audi waiting in the parking lot. She climbed in on the passenger's side, closed the door, and relaxed.

"Rough appointment?" came her boyfriend's voice as he took hold of her hand.

"Could've been better," Gabriella replied, opening her eyes and looking over at Troy.

Troy brought her hand to his mouth and kissed her knuckles. "How 'bout we go get some ice cream," he suggested, rubbing his thumb over her knuckles.

Gabriella smiled. He always knew exactly how to cheer her up. Ice cream.

"Sound perfect," she replied.

Troy smiled, started the car, and pulled out of the parking lot. The car ride was silent. Gabriella stared out the window, thinking.

"What's on your mind, babe?" Troy questioned as he turned into the parking lot of Dairy Queen.

"Doctor Fletcher said I probably will never get rid of the nightmares," Gabriella replied.

Troy looked at her. "So you have to deal with that for the rest of your life?" he asked.

"Yeah. Hope you don't mind waking up in the middle of the night because I wake up screaming," Gabriella stated with a giggle.

Troy laughed and they got out of the car. He took her hand, lacing their fingers together, and they walked inside.

"So, what do you want?" he asked as they stood in line.

"I want a cookie dough Blizzard!" Gabriella squealed.

Troy chuckled. "Cookie dough Blizzard it is."

They came to the counter and Troy ordered two cookie dough Blizzards. Once he paid for them, they found an empty table and sat down.

"Troy, you'll always be here to protect me, right?" Gabriella asked without looking up.

Troy looked at her in confusion. "Of course I will. Why would you ask something like that?" he questioned

Gabriella shrugged. "I don't know. I guess I'm just always afraid he might come back," she replied.

"Gabi–" Troy took her hand – "you don't need to worry. He's locked away for good. And I'll always be here for you. No matter what."

Gabriella smiled, stood up, and sat down on Troy's lap, wrapping her arms around his neck. "I love you," she whispered as she played with his hair.

Troy smiled and wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her close. "I love you too, baby."

They kissed tenderly.

Once the two finished their ice cream, they left Dairy Queen and Troy drove Gabriella home. He pulled into her driveway.

"You sure you're ok? You seem pretty spooked," Troy stated.

Gabriella looked at him. "No, I'm fine. Don't worry," she replied. She leaned over, gave him a quick peck on the lips, and climbed out of his car.

"Thanks, Troy."

"No prob, babe. See ya tomorrow."

"Bye."

Gabriella closed the door and Troy pulled away.

The wind whistled, blowing through the trees. Branches cracked. Gabriella's head whipped around. She stared into the darkness. Her body trembled in fear. "Troy," she whimpered. Of course, Troy was already far from her house, and that small whimper could barely be heard by herself, let alone Troy.

Finally finding feeling in her legs once again, she darted into her house, slammed the door closed, locked it, and leaned against it, breathing heavily.

"Gabi?"

Gabriella screamed and whipped her head to the right. Her Uncle David and Aunt Julie walked over to her.

"Sweetheart, you ok?" her uncle asked worryingly, tucking a strand of hair behind Gabriella's ear.

Gabriella took a deep breath and nodded.

"You sure?"

"Yeah. Just a little spooked is all."

"Ok then. You hungry at all?" Aunt Julie questioned.

"Nah. I'm just gonna head to bed." Gabriella replied.

She started walking towards the stairs.

"Ok. I'll leave something in the fridge in case you get hungry later," Uncle David stated as he and Aunt Julie headed back into the kitchen.

"Thanks," Gabriella said before walking upstairs to her room. She opened her bedroom door and the warm summer breeze met her face. She realized she'd left her balcony doors open. She crossed the room and closed the doors, making sure it was locked.

Gabriella headed over to her drawers and pulled out a pair of pajama pants and a tank top. As she was changing, her phone rang.

"Hello?" she answered as she pulled her pants up.

"Hey baby. You sure you're ok?" came Troy's worried voice.

Gabriella smiled lightly. "Yeah. I'm fine," she replied.

"Cause if you're not, I'm happy to come over."

"Are you just saying that so you can sleep with me?"

"No," he replied lamely.

"You're terrible at lying. See ya in ten," Gabriella said and she hung up, hearing Troy chuckle on the other end as she did so. She walked over to her balcony doors and unlocked them so Troy could come in.

She laid down on her bed, staring at the ceiling. Her eyes began drooping. She was incredibly tired. She closed her eyes.

The sound of branches cracking and leaves shuffling could be heard in the distance. The trees whipped around as a strong wind picked up. Branches tapped against Gabriella's windows. Then there came a different tapping. A slow tapping was coming from the balcony doors. Gabriella figured it was Troy so she didn't move. The balcony doors creaked open and closed shut. Footsteps coming towards her bed. Then they stopped. Gabriella could sense someone standing over her. She just knew it was Troy now. She smiled.

"I'm coming to get you."

Gabriella's eyes snapped open. She screamed.

Lynch.

And then she woke up.

She shot up in bed, breathing heavily. She felt an arm draped over her waist. Her hand shot over her mouth to keep from screaming and she looked over cautiously. Now it was Troy who was there.

"Troy," she whimpered and she laid back down. She crawled into his arms. His grip on her tightened and he slowly opened his eyes.

"Hey, baby," he greeted with a smile.

"Troy." Gabriella pushed her face into his chest and began crying.

"Whoa. Hey, hey, hey. What's wrong?" he asked, quickly sitting up.

"He came back. I thought he was you. But…" Gabriella began crying even harder.

"Shhhh…" Troy pulled her back into a hug and held her tightly. "It's ok, Gabi Bear. He's gone, remember? He's not gonna hurt you."

"How do you know? How do you know he's not gonna escape and come after me?" Gabriella demanded.

"Because I just do. And even if that were to happen, I wouldn't let him anywhere near you. You know that. I'll always be here to protect you. No matter what. I promise you that. I love you, Gabi Bear," Troy promised.

Gabriella smiled. "I love you too, Troy."

They laid back down and Troy held tightly onto Gabriella as they both fell asleep.

Julie Rivera was the sister of Roberto Montez. She married David Rivera at the age of 22. Her brother had been 24 and his baby girl, Gabriella, had been a beautiful little infant at the time. Roberto's wife, Maria, had held the baby in her arms, smiling lovingly at her. Years flew by and Gabriella grew more beautiful everyday. On her first day of high school, she'd grown into a gorgeous young woman. Not that that had given that psycho killer any reason to suddenly become obsessed with her.

When Julie had heard of her brother and sister-in-law's death, the first thing that came to her mind was Gabriella. She was only 14. No child should lose their parents at the age when they need them the most. When she found out who had killed them, she was filled with fear and worry. She and David immediately took Gabriella into their home.

For nearly two years, Gabriella woke up in the middle of the night, screaming. Most of the time, she slept in her aunt and uncle's room. Her friends and her boyfriend were always over, trying to calm her. Sometimes, they spent the night, even on school nights, just to keep her calm. At the age of 17, they allowed Troy to start spending the night. Soon after that, the dreams stopped all together. Her friends weren't over as much. She never woke up screaming. She slowly returned to a normal teenager. But there were still pictures in her mind.

Those memories were the things that wouldn't fade. She may have gotten rid of the dreams but seeing her mother die would leave her, no matter what. Sometimes, that's what made her scream.

Recently, the dreams returned. The therapist and doctor said that it was because of her graduation and the very big transition from high school to college that the dreams came back. They said a big transition like that could cause emotions to run high and trigger those old memories. So the screaming returned. But Gabriella never came into her aunt and uncle's room anymore. She felt like she was too old for that. So a lot of the time, one of them came to check on her. She'd either be curled up on her bed, crying, or shaking uncontrollably. It all depended on how bad the dream had been.

So when Julie heard Gabriella scream, she climbed out of bed, slipped her robe and slippers on, and headed down the hallway to her room. She slowly opened the door.

"Gabi?"

She poked her head inside and smiled. No crying. No shaking. No terrified Gabriella. She was asleep, Troy holding onto her so tightly, it seemed nothing could ever possibly get her away from him.

It amazed Julie that two young people could be that much in love. But they were. And she knew that as long as Troy was there, there was really nothing she needed to be afraid of. Gabriella would be fine.

She closed the door and went back to bed.

-

"Ok! Time for school! Let's go! Let's go! Let's go!"

Troy and Gabriella jumped, both waking up.

"Uncle David!" Gabriella whined, turning away from the bright sunlight that was streaming through the windows.

David chuckled and banged the pot he had even louder. Troy and Gabriella covered their ears.

"Come on! Come on! Come on! Time for school! Lots to do today! Gotta get ready for prom!"

Gabriella and Troy shot up. Prom! Their prom was tomorrow! Today was the day they did nothing except get everything ready for it. They'd be running back and forth from East High to the Lava Springs Hotel and Resort, setting everything up for tomorrow night. And then tomorrow, they didn't even have to go to school.

Gabriella loved being a senior.

-

Detective Samuels sat in his office, reading the morning paper while drinking his coffee.

"Sir, I have something for you," Officer Johnson stated as he entered the office. He set a fax onto the detective's desk.

Detective Samuels looked at it and his heart beat quickened.

"Damn it," he hissed as he picked up his phone. "Hi, this is Detective James Samuels of the Albuquerque Police Department. I'm calling about a fax I just received about an escaped prisoner by the name of Adam Lynch."

"Yes, Detective, he escaped about three days ago," the officer on the other end replied.

"It takes you three fucking days to fax me this news!?" Detective Samuels shouted.

"I'm sorry, sir. We'd sent out a search team to see if we could locate him first," the officer explained.

"Damn it, man! I've got the girl this psycho is after!"

"I'm sorry, sir. I didn't know."

Detective Samuels slammed the phone down on the receiver.

"Where was Lynch kept?" Officer Johnson questioned.

"He was over 1,000 miles away in some psych ward in New York," Detective Samuels replied.

"Do you think he'll come this way?"

"If he wants Miss Montez enough, he might."

-

"Oh yeah! I rock!"

Chad did a back flip off the stage at the Lava Springs Hotel and Resort that was set up in the party room. His friends rolled their eyes at him.

"Chad, just don't hurt yourself!" their teacher, Mrs. Montgomery yelled with a smile.

"I'm not gonna hurt myself!" Chad yelled back. He tried doing a cartwheel and as he came up, he hit a speaker. "Ow!"

"I warned you!" Mrs. Montgomery stated.

"I warned you," Chad mimicked under his breath as he pushed himself up.

Mrs. Montgomery chuckled and went to help some of the football players carry more speakers inside.

-

Troy and Zeke hauled the DJ table out of the back of Zeke's dad's car. They set it down on the ground.

"Damn, this thing is heavy," Troy complained as he closed the trunk of the car. Mr. Baylor smiled at the two before pulling out of the parking lot and heading back to East High to pick up more stuff.

"Come on. We gotta get this thing inside," Zeke stated.

Troy sighed before lifting it up and the two boys carried it inside.

-

Gabriella and Sharpay were stuck at school, helping to carry things out of East High and into the parking lot where cars were waiting to deliver it to Lava Springs Hotel, which just happened to be owned by Sharpay's grandparents.

"How'd you convince your grandparents to let us have our prom at Lava Springs?" Gabriella asked as she carried a bag filled with decorations out to the parking lot.

"Hello! I'm their little angel! Plus it's prom. They couldn't say no," Sharpay replied.

The girls giggled as they came to Mr. Baylor's car.

"Hey, girls," he greeted.

"Hey, Mr. Baylor," both girls said together.

"It's scary sometimes how you two can do that," Mr. Baylor admitted as he took the bags and placed them in the trunk of his car.

The girls giggled. They started to head back inside when Mr. Baylor grabbed Gabriella's arm.

"How you holding up, sweetie?" he whispered.

Gabriella shrugged. "Not as completely excited as I wish I could be but, ya know, I'm fine," she replied.

"Troy says you've been having nightmares again. You ok?"

"My therapist says it's cause of this big transition from high school to college."

Mr. Baylor nodded. "But you're sure you're ok."

"Yeah, I'm fine."

Mr. Baylor smiled and allowed Gabriella to run in after Sharpay. Why did he have a strange feeling something was going to go wrong?

-

"Wrong, Chad! Wrong! Wrong! Wrong!"

Chad dropped the table where he was and it landed on his feet. He howled in pain and pulled his foot out from under the table leg. The table flipped over and knocked into a ladder. On top of the ladder was Taylor, who was hanging up decorations. The ladder fell, as did Taylor. As she fell, she pulled decorations down with her. Chad caught her but he lost his footing and both fell to the floor, causing even more decorations to fall down. The ladder had fallen and knocked into a speaker, causing it to fall forward. It, of course, broke.

"CHAD!"

"Way to go, Danforth!"

"What is wrong with you, you asshole!?"

"Mr. Martin, I will talk to you about that language later!" Mrs. Montgomery scolded as she rushed over to Chad and Taylor. Anthony Martin crossed his arms over his chest.

"Mr. Bolton, Mr. Baylor, could you two please pick up the speaker!"

Troy and Zeke nodded and, along with the help of some people around them, lifted the speaker up off the ground.

Some cheerleaders helped Taylor pick up the fallen decorations. One cheerleader, however, rolled her eyes and stormed over to Chad.

"You moron! You always mess everything up!" she screamed.

"Now, Jessie, no need to yell. It was an accident," Mrs. Montgomery said calmly.

"Yeah. Take a chill pill, Jess," Chad stated.

"Why don't you go take a smart pill!?" Jessie shouted.

"Oh good comeback," Chad said sarcastically before walking away.

Jessie shrieked loudly before stomping off.

Chad headed over to Troy and Zeke. "Can you believe that chick?" he asked, pointing over his shoulder at Jessie.

"She's a bitch. I think we covered that a while ago," Troy stated.

"Yeah. The girls pointed that out several times when she beat them for the spot on the cheerleading team back in freshman year," Zeke reminded.

"Wasn't it only Sharpay and Taylor who went out for the team?" Troy recalled.

"Oh yeah! Why didn't Gabi try out?" Chad questioned.

Zeke and Troy looked at Chad in utter disbelief.

"Please man! You are not that stupid!" Troy exclaimed.

Chad thought for a second before a look of realization crossed his face. "Oh."

"Good job," Zeke said, patting Chad's head.

Chad swatted his hand away. "Hey! Sometimes I forget, ok? She's made so much progress, it's hard to remember that ever even happened," he defended.

"True. Sometimes it does seem like it never happened," Zeke agreed.

"If only that were true," Troy sighed.

"Dude, chill. She's fine, is she not?" Zeke questioned.

"Well, yeah. But still…she lost her parents. And there's nothing I can do to help that hurt heal, no matter what I do," Troy confessed.

"Psycho killer go bye bye! That enough to help heal hurt hurt! Gabi fine!" Chad said like Troy was stupid. Troy rolled his eyes.

Chad and Zeke laughed before getting back to work.

-

"And we are…DONE!"

Everyone cheered as the final touch was put on the hotel for the prom. Parents drove the students who had been at the school to the hotel once everything had been delivered there. Now, the senior class at East High stood in the party room that had been magically transformed into the perfect prom.

Mrs. Montgomery was standing on stage with a microphone, talking to the class. "Now, I'd like to thank Miss Sharpay Evans-" Sharpay walked onto stage and waved at everyone – "for allowing us to have our prom here. Is this place not amazing!?"

Everyone cheered.

"And I'd also like to thank Miss Jessie Williams-" Jessie rushed on stage and stood in front of Sharpay. Sharpay rolled her eyes and took a step over. – "for planning everything. Look at everything! It's incredible!"

People cheered again. Only it seemed louder. Even with Chad, Troy, Gabriella, Taylor, Zeke, Kelsi, Martha, Jason, and Ryan remaining silent.

"Now, I want everyone to go home and get a good night's sleep because tomorrow, you're going to have the time of your lives at East High's Class of '08 senior prom!"

Everyone screamed and cheered.

Sharpay and Jessie got off stage.

"Don't think that you'll be the one getting the crown tomorrow. Everyone knows it's gonna be me," Jessie stated.

"Oh, ok," Sharpay said sarcastically. "Keep dreaming, princess. You can't buy everything. And you're gonna learn that tomorrow night when I'm the one wearing that crown."

Jessie glared at Sharpay. Sharpay simply smirked and walked away.

"You told her, Shar!" Taylor exclaimed as Sharpay came over to the group.

"Yeah, well, not even Jessie Williams can ruin this night," Sharpay stated.

"No one can ruin this night!" Chad exclaimed.

Everyone cheered in agreement. Gabriella simply smiled. There was someone who could ruin this night. But he was locked away.

Right?

dun dun dun!! lol! jk! so, Lynch has escaped, prom's underway, Mr. Baylor's worried, and Gabriella has absolutely no idea what's going on! lovely right? lol!
well, i hope you enjoyed this chapter and PLEASE review!!