A/N: Sorry it took reeeeeeaaaalll long, again!!!!!!! Really Sorry, but I was busy with the usual, school, mates and life. Yup; it makes you waay more busy than you were, back when you were six. Ya know...I wish I was 6 again, no worried, then..oh well; it's not possible to turn back time, because scientist dudes haven't invented time machines yet. We'll wait.

Hope you enjoy, it's longer, one whole page longer (ya...long...right, i know.) sozz

xx

Disclaimer: Don't own anything but the plot and characters that aren't in the movies, (ie: Vicki, Noel, Nessa...ya,,)

x R && R

Chapter five: Memories, Pasta and a blonde-haired girl

I gave her a huge bear hug, which stopped her waterfall and we carried on towards the school.

We shouldn't have gone any further; because as soon as we saw this one room next to Troy's homeroom, she bursts into tear again, I comfort her and ask, "Why are you crying, Vicki?"

She sobbed, sniffed, then answered; "W-well, I-I was crying a-at the f-front of the s-s-school, b-because t-that w-was where m-my d-d-d-d-dead-" she burst into tears again, I comforted her, while Troy quickly filled me in, "Her boyfriend died two months ago. They were really in love with each other, they'd been dating for the 4-5 years of high school, then that first year of university, they both went to University of Albuquerque, they'd had their whole life planned out together, Mitchell and Vicki; but-" he sighed heavily, before continuing, "-he died in a huge and fatal car accident on Highway 60 two months ago; and Vicki was never the one to let time stop for her, she tried to carry on with life, but it was hard for her." His eyes were tear-filled, threatening to fall.

I started crying too, just at how beautiful and sad Vicki's love story was, how unforgettable Mitchell would be for her, how much she'd loved him…that something only she and Mitchell would know. I cried at how much she missed him; I felt her pain, I turned to Vicki with a sad smile on my face, if anyone could relate to her problem, it would me; or more, my mother; "I know what it's like, I lost my dad, and I've never gotten over it. I was old enough to understand and cry about it, but I missed him, a lot; I don't think I'll ever get over him. But I wasn't as bad as my mom; she didn't take it as…you could call it, well; as I did. She didn't eat for days on end after dad's accident, she wouldn't speak to anyone or do anything, she got a month off work when they'd heard what had happened, but that didn't help; she needed to do things, a lot of things to forget him." I sighed, retelling the memories of my mom, and how she struggled wasn't easy, "I was 12 years old, I tried my best to help; I made lunch and dinner everyday, she'd put it in the fridge, saying she wasn't hungry; I was in middle school, so I wasn't weighed down with work and stuff, but I did get it regularly, so I couldn't spend my whole day tending to mom, although that's what I'd rather do than doing a geology project; but I was great at school too, it's kinda like what happened to mom and work; I go extra time and help at school, so I could stress about life. As weird as it sounds, I didn't even need it, I was top in everything, and I am not being boastful. I didn't need the help they were giving, I did my work in my own time; but the extra time they gave me to hand it in helped, I could do it when mom was asleep or something, because I didn't need to hand it in the next day." I sighed again, school had been hard to concentrate on then, but I slipped past as having the third to top GPA in class; including having all these problems at home, "I figured that I was pretty independent over the time when my mom was…incapable; and mom got better over time and soon started work and completely busied herself, as I'd suggested to help her get over dad, she was building her own, long, bridge. This lasted for 2 years, until very recently that mom and I found out something that flooded all those memories of dad into our home; and of course the news that we were gonna have to move here; we decided that moving here would be he best for us, even though we'd have had to leave our lives behind…our friends and family, our daily routine…but, one thing we didn't leave behind…memories. I am still living in memories, I'll never forget them…but I'm moving on, there are people helping me set my life up together again; namely, my mom, my cousin, Noël and…Troy." He looked up, hearing his name being said, then placed his stare on me, I smiled, and then mouthed a 'thank you'. He smiled in return and I gave Vicki a hug and said, "See? You're not alone at all. Please, Vicki, never feel that you're alone. If no-one understands you, there's no-one there for you when you need them there; I'll be." I nodded, "I'll be there for you, I'll understand you, and I'll be there for you." She smiled through her tears, dried them, then replied, "I know. The funniest thing is that I haven't even known you for a day, but I can trust you with my life." I shrugged, "I have that impact on people, so does your cousin, just ask him." We all smiled and Vicki raised her eyebrows at Troy, he touched his forehead and smiled, "I also do, have that effect on people, I mean." She grinned, "I know."

It went silent for a few seconds, then I wondered what we were doing standing here, I voiced my thoughts, "You guys…What are we doing here? We shouldn't be standing here smiling, let's go look round the school!" Troy grinned and nodded, "Let's go, c'mon Vick."

She shaked her head, "Nah, I think I'm gonna cry again if I go round the place, it will make me relive more memories, and I think one's enough for today! It's given me headache, the crying, I think I'll head to your house, I'll take an aspirin and help Aunt Lucy in the kitchen…see you at home when you guys get there!" she said, and with that, she left.

I smiled at Troy, "Care to give me another tour of the school?" He grinned and nodded.

He gave me another tour of the school, like yesterday; but this time, we went round the school loads of times, we probably went around the whole school 11 times, my head was spinning with information, but if I was asked anything about the school, anything at all, I would give the correct answer!

We were exhausted when we left the school, Troy was still talking though, with little energy left, "It's weird that the school is open during the summer, it's because there are senior students come and go, as well as teachers. So they keep it open; but only students and teachers are told that."

I nodded, that answered my question about why the school was open, I mean, my old high school back in New York wasn't open during summer vacation. Oh well.

Troy's stomach rumbled, I giggled, "Someone's hungry." He nodded, "Famished, aren't you?" I smiled, "Yup, starved. You wanna go home, or to a café?" he grinned, "I'm gonna introduce you to my girlfriend."

I rolled my eyes, "You said you didn't have one." He smiled, "Just wait and see."

He led me down an unfamiliar road; I was confused, but followed him anyway, he stopped outside an Italian restaurant called, La Delicatezza.

I smiled, "The Delicacy." He nodded, yup, "My expensive girlfriend."

I rolled my eyes and said, "C'mon then, let's go in! Aren't you hungry anymore?" He nodded vigorously, "I'm still famished."

We walked into heaven. Literally.

The smell of fried garlic, tomatoes and pasta hit me. Hard.

"Mmmmm…that smells so good, it's making me really hungry!"

He smiled, "Let's go get a seat." He walked up to some dude in a plain white tee and dark jeans wearing a yellow hat and asked him, "Hey, Zeke, dude. You are the last person I'd except to see here!"

He guy, Zeke, shrugged, "I got a summer job; mom said it would look good on college applications; like we need to worry about that now; but she also said that I needed something to do, except laze at home, which I'd been doing all summer, anyway; and I thought, why not do something I liked? Then I found this place and they were looking for student employees because they had too many customers to handle after the extension at the back and the second private lounge being refurbished; so I decided, it's good, it's something I wanna do, let's go for it!"

Troy rolled his eyes, "I see that working here hasn't changed your habit of speaking in long speeches!" Zeke shrugged, then noticed me, yet again, half hiding behind Troy; "Hey Troy…" Troy looked up, "Yeah…"

"Who's that chick behind you, she's pretty hot!" he whispered in Troy's ear, but loud enough for me to hear.

I smiled, Troy turned around and saw that it was me that Zeke was talking about; he wasn't very pleased, for some weird reason…"Zeke, dude, this is Gabi, Gabriella Montez. She moved into Pete's house yesterday…"

Zeke smiled, "Hey. Gabriella…sorry about that, I had no idea who you were, so…"

I smiled back at him, "That's okay, it happens."

Troy's stomach rumbled again, I grinned, "Oh! Someone's very hungry now!" Then I turned to Zeke, "We're absolutely starving, please could we get a seat?" Troy grinned, "Yeah, we've just been round school eleven times! I had to show Gabi everything eleven times!"

Zeke looked…shocked, "Wow. That's a lot of times." We nodded, then Zeke suddenly jumped to motion, "You want seats, right? There's a two seat table right there." He pointed to a secluded part of the restaurant were there were only three or four two seated tables, there were two spared ones, one was a reserved one, and the other was completely empty, so we walked towards there; Troy pulled out my seat, "Thank you." I responded; while he sat down opposite me.

I picked up the menu that was lying beside my hand, I skimmed through it; all the food sounded pretty god; I chose a Caesar salad for a starter and Mountain Dew to drink, while Troy chose cheesy garlic bread and soda to drink.

We waited for a quarter hour for our food to come, because it was so busy, normally it would take five minutes maximum, I was told by Troy.

I grinned; "The food here is delicious!"

It looked like my salad had been professionally hand placed, seriously, each and very bit of vegetable was perfectly ordered, it was like something out of a food magazine or something!

"How's your garlic bread?" I asked Troy; he looked up, his mouth was full, he nodded and put both his thumbs up, he swallowed, took a sip of his soda and said, "Awesome, what about your salad?"

I smiled, "Perfect." I took a sip of my mountain dew, cool and refreshing.

10 minutes later, Troy was done with his Garlic bread, and I was done with my Caesar salad. I'd drunk half my Mountain Dew and Troy decided to order his second glass of soda when we ordered our main meal.

The waiter came by three minutes later, Troy said, "Excuse me? Could we order our main meal?" he nodded, pen poised above paper; he looked at Troy intently, waiting for an answer… "Ummm…What do you want Gabs?"

I glanced at the menu, and then looked up; "I'll have some…Farfalle with Arugula Pesto Sauce…seems different." I shrugged and read the caption with the choice, that would tell you what it was; 'The combination of the green arugula pesto and red sweet cherry tomatoes; this recipe is very pretty to look at, as well as being a great contrast in flavours.'

Like I said, different.

Troy ordered something, different, too; "I'll have my usual, Rigatoni with Zucchini and please could you minus the wine, yeah. Oh yeah, and could I have a glass of soda, please?" The waiter, Josh, I read on his name tag; nodded, "Thanks." Troy said.

I placed my chin into the palm of my right hand and gently rested my elbow on the edge of the table. "So; you're definitely a regular customer here!" he nodded, "And Josh started yesterday." I smiled.

Our food came twenty minutes later, it was Josh who came, again, to deliver it; "Really sorry for the delay, we're pretty busy, so we need time to do everything."

Troy and I smiled, "That's okay, we're local, it's cool." Troy quickly replied.

Josh went away two minutes later, after laying all our food down on the table, including Troy's soda.

I looked at my Farfalle with Arugula Pesto Sauce, cautiously; while Troy was half way through his Rigatoni with Zucchini; I stared at him for a second, then he realised that I hadn't touched my food yet, he swallowed before speaking, "Eat up! It's good!" he smiled; I glanced down at my food, then back up at him, he shrugged and spoke again, "Just try it Gabi. You can't put it down before trying it!" I shrugged,

"I guess…" I took a small forkful of the pasta, put it in my mouth, chewed for a bit; then swallowed.

"Oh My God! This is the best Farfalle with Arugula Pesto Sauce I have ever had!" I grinned; this was a really different dish of pasta, it had really unique flavours in it, more than two or three; but it had this thing about it that made it very appetizing… "It's really good!"

Troy grinned, rolling his eyes, "You weren't even gonna try it five seconds ago!" I shrugged; "I guess I love it now!" he grinned and carried on with his pasta, while I quickly downed it; as well as finishing my Mountain Dew.

Troy had just took his last sip of soda; when Zeke came along; he grinned when he saw our empty plates; "I see that you guys enjoyed it?" we both nodded, smiling.

"So do you want me to get your bill, or do you want it sit here a little longer and have your dessert?" I shaked my head, "No way do I have enough space in me to fit any dessert!" Troy grinned, "Same; I can hardly open my mouth!"

Zeke rolled his eyes, "Okay, I'll go get your bill!" he walked off to get our bill and serving customers on the way.

10 minutes later, Zeke arrived again, but this time, carrying an empty tray to dump our dirty dishes, cutlery and glasses on.

I smiled as I handed him my plate; he grinned back then shifted his gaze on Troy and raised his eyebrows as to say, 'Dude-you're-probably-the –most-luckiest-guy-on-earth-with-her-by-your-side!' I rolled my eyes at the guys' poor sense of security when coding about a girl sitting right next to them.

Zeke handed Troy the bill who said, "Cheaper than I'd have thought!" he grinned and placed a ten dollar note and another five dollar note, and on top of that, a quarter dollar. I grinned at him, then checked the time on my cell phone; 7:30 pm, it said, I bit my bottom lip and said, "Ummm…Troy, we're kinda…late."

He frowned, "I thought it was only six?"

I shaked my head, "Nope, it's half seven."

His eyes got wide, he rushed a bye to Zeke, "Dude, Zeke; you know what mom's like when we're late home! I gotta go. See you later, or if not, on the 30th, school."

He nodded as we got up and left.

He walked outside into the setting sun; I sighed as Troy took me into his arms and pulled me close…I rested my head on his shoulder, feeling a bit exhausted. I yawned, "T-Troy…"

He looked down at me "You're tired?" I nodded, wearily.

He kissed the top of my forehead, "Want me to carry you, again?"

I shook my head, "No, I'll walk…" He shrugged; "Okay…" he gave me a hug by, if possible, pulling me closer.

I smiled and closed my eyes, letting him lead me wherever.

I opened my eyes, we hadn't gone really far; we were just passing the school, when I suddenly saw Troy stop in his tracks, I looked forwards.

I saw a girl, about our age. In the setting sun; I could still make out her features. She had long curly blonde hair, her face was placed in a frown, her hands were on her hips and she was wearing a bright pink camisole and white flares, she looked pretty angry and Troy seemed to recognise her… "Troy…?" I whispered in my ear, he looked down at me, "Remember I was talking to you about that girl who had an obsessive stalker crush on me?" he whispered back, I nodded in reply, "Sharpay?" he nodded his head slowly.

Sharpay stood there, frozen on the spot. Then, as if she was…thawing…she slowly rested her arms down by her side and put a forced smile on her face… "Is that you Troy?"

Troy nodded, slowly. Sharpay grinned; "What have you been up to all summer!? I missed you Troy!"

"Uhhh…Sharpay…?" Troy looked extremely uncomfortable, he looked down at me, "Gabs, this will take two seconds…You could come and meet her; it'll help you avoid her for school…" I grinned, "Okay."

We walked up to Sharpay; who carried on with her one-sided conversation with Troy, completely ignoring me… "So, Troy! How was your summer?" Troy rubbed the back of his neck; "Good, yeah, you?"

"Well, I went to Daddy's place in New York in June, I came back last week, and now I'm gonna go to Lava Springs, Daddy's country club, right here in Albuquerque! Do you wanna come with me? I'm going with Ryan, and then meeting some of my girls there! Do you wanna come?!"

Troy looked…scared…I grinned, "Troy…answer her, do you wanna go with her?" I giggled, I know that his answer was gonna be no; I was just…teasing him.

Sharpay ignored me, yet again; Troy looked down at me, then glanced up at Sharpay, "Ummm…no, sorry, Sharpay. I kinda have stuff to do this month…family stuff…ummm…something with some of my friends too; and I need to hang with this one certain girl…she means a lot to me…"

He grinned down at me; I smiled, but was worried at what Sharpay might say to that… "Troy Bolton! You can't just dump me like that for that little rat, who is called fart-face, but likes to say that she's called…ummm…what is her name?" she grinned guiltily, she needed to update her information about people before she insulted them! I put words to my thought; "Ummm…for future reference, Sharpay; my name's Gabriella Montez. And you really need to update your information about people, before you try to insult them, because they might just end up laughing at you!" I sniggered, trying really hard not to burst into laughter…

Troy grinned at me, obviously finding it hard to contain his laughter, too!

"Well…I…Urgh!" she stormed off, defeated in a whirl of angry murmurs and a sea of blonde fuzz; and a bit of glitter, adds effect.

I raised my eyebrows at Troy, "Stress much?" he rolled his eyes, "All the time; but not that bad…maybe because she sees that threatening competition has arrived in the neighbourhood!" he grinned down at me, obviously talking about me… "Hmmm…I wonder who that competition is…" I grinned; he played along.

"Shall I describe her to you, you might have seen her somewhere…?"

I nodded in response, he carried on talking, "Well…she's exceptionally beautiful…" I grinned, "Yeah…we've seen a lot of beauty round here…carry on…" he smiled, "Okay…she has huge expressive eyes, they're a warm chocolate brown…she has perfect white, straight teeth; and the most amazing smile…she's a curly brunette, hair as soft as silk…her laugh is music to my ears…priceless…she's irreplaceable. She has this small little cute nose-" he tapped my nose, I giggled, "Carry on!"

"Okay…she's…perfect…she's…" I rolled my eyes, "What's her name?"

He grinned, "That's for me to know, and for you to find out." I grinned, "Can I guess?" I asked, he nodded; "Okay."

"Ummm…is her name…-" I stopped myself from saying my own name; I smiled a coy smile, "Alexia? Is her name, Alexia?" He grinned, "Nope. What made you think that?"

I smiled; "Oh! There was this girl who used to go to my middle school; she's a lot like who you described, but she had a huge nose…"

He smiled, "Nope; this girl lived in Albuquerque, well, she hasn't been for long, but, yeah, she lives here." I nodded, then pretended to think, "Okay...she lived here...is it…Marie?" He grinned, "No…but what gave you that idea?"

I smiled, "Marie Kawaski, I saw her name on a notice board in the hallway in school, and I also saw her name on a cheerleading team photo, and I saw a picture of her in an old yearbook, and she looks a lot like the person you described, except she has black hair, not brown."

"Ummm…okay, I give up…it's…the one and only…me!" He grinned, nodding. "Well done! You've won the prize of a walk home…?"

I nodded, "Thanks!"

He lead the way home, well, not all the way; only until the area was familiar once again; basically straight after we passed the school…

"So you really hate Sharpay?" I looked up at him; he looked down at me, wrapping his arm around my shoulder and giving it a squeeze, "Yeah, I really hate her; only because she's been stalking me since we were in 7th grade, when she moved here; from L.A. I still haven't figured why she decided that she wanted to move here from there; I heard from her twin brother, Ryan, that no-one had forced her; she'd just asked, in her way, 'Mommy, Daddy? Can we go live in Albuquerque?' and they were all, 'Sure princess!' and they'd packed and left for here, for no reason; they had to completely re-locate for this one thing Sharpay had seen on the internet; pictures; pictures of Albuquerque on the internet; photo-shopped pictures of Albuquerque on the internet. I know. Very stupid."

I raised my eyebrows; "So let me get this; Sharpay wanted to move here just because she saw some edited pictures of Albuquerque on the net?"

He nodded, also raising his eyebrows, "Well, that's what I've heard from Ryan; Ryan Evans; her twin brother."

'Oh' I mouthed; we carried on walking, again, arm in arm; home.

A/N: Again, soz-boz about the late update! (heyy, that rhymes!!! lol) I left it at a kind-of cliffy,, because they haven't reached home yet and,, yeah. lol.

xx hope you liked that!