Going back to school after any vacation is like walking from a dream and into a nightmare. In just one day, everything gets thrown in your face again: homework, stress, work load, boys, girls…..it's difficult as anyone can imagine. That's why Gabriella was late for school on the day back, it was her first time ever being late and she hated it, even if it was school. Gabriella walked into homeroom alone, it was so embarrassing. All eyes were upon her as if she were giving and oral report in front of the class. She didn't like one second of it. Ms. Darbus was no held either. She only started ranting on the importance of being on time for class.

Ms. Darbus may have been Gabriella's homeroom teacher, but she was also the head of the theater department and Gabriella, along with many other students in her homeroom, was not into theater whatsoever. Gabriella took her seat in the back of the room as usual and listened as Ms. Darbus went on and on about a topic Gabriella wasn't even familiar with. In other words, it was a long period. In fact, homeroom always was a LONG period for everyone in the class. Except for Sharpay Evans and her twin brother Ryan, but they were a whole different story.

"Why were you late," Taylor asked when the bell finally rang.

"You would know, the usual having to get up after vacation." Gabriella replied.

"But, everyone else made it and you hate being late."

"Yeah, I put a black mark on my record, but I can handle it. I've got to get to Chemistry; I'll see you at lunch alright?"

"See you then." Taylor said and turned around, walking in the other direction.

Gabriella kept walking in the direction of her destination of her next class. She was humming, she wasn't sure what….

"Remember me?"

That voice. She remembered it quite well. She turned around and he was standing directly in front of her. She didn't know he went to her school. Of course, how could I not know? Troy Bolton…captain of the basketball team, yet a sweetheart as many girls called him. "Troy Bolton, yes of course I remember you. How could I forget?"

"I didn't think you would."

"Well, you gave me quite a scare the night," Gabriella started heading in the direction of her Chemistry class again, knowing the he would most likely follow along like he did New Years Eve and he did.

"I'm sorry about that. I did mean any harm, honest."

"It's alright. I had forgotten that you went to my school."

"I didn't even know that you went to East High until you walked by in the hallway." Troy said with a nervous laugh, "Which reminds me, I never got your name."

"Well, I wasn't about to give up my name to someone I had just met."

"You know me now, don't you?"

Gabriella stopped in front of her next class and turned around to face him once again, "Yeah, I guess I do." She looked him in the eyes and held out her hand the way he had done to her that night, "I'm Gabriella Montez."

They shook hands and looked into each others eyes. For a reason she couldn't understand Gabriella started humming "Love is a Battlefield." She hadn't realized it until he spoke up, breaking the silence, "Nice meeting you Gabriella."

She smiled and watched as he walked into her chemistry class, "You're in this class?"

"Yeah, why?"

"This is the class I have right now." Gabriella was slightly stunned. Why hadn't she recognized him on the beach?

"Really?" Gabriella nodded, "That's funny, I've never seen you before."

"I find that odd as well."

They stared at each other for a good minute or so, each with a strange expression on their face, not even being moved by their classmates who were trying to get through the door. RIIIING! The bell rang, making both of them jump out of their trance.

"I'll talk to you later," Troy said before walking to his seat.

"Yeah, later," Gabriella watched him sit down before walking to her seat, not even realizing that she was singing softly,

We are strong

No one can tell us we're wrong

Searching our hearts for so long

Both of us knowing

Love is a battlefield

Gabriella, finally realizing what she was singing, blushed and sat down, where did that come from? I just met the boy for God's sake!

The rest of the day was slow and uneventful, nothing went wrong, and nothing happened. A typical day at East High, pretty boring, huh? Gabriella was used to it though. After this, she would walk home, be home alone for 6 hours doing nothing. Yep, it was defiantly a typical day.

Gabriella started walking home, not even bothering to talk to Taylor let alone Troy. Home was about 5 miles away. She didn't walk to school in the morning, Madison would drop everyone off, but she had practice for a dance recital coming up, Chloe had choir practice, Hunter was either at softball practice or hanging with his girlfriend, there was no way you could tell with him, and Danielle wouldn't get home until her parents were off of work. Gabriella parents owned a business and they both worked long hours. Gabriella was so deep in her thoughts; she didn't realize a car following beside her until it pulled up in front of her, blocking her path.

"Hey, gorgeous."

Okay. That was not a voice that was familiar to her. She looked up to see a…punk, I guess is what you could call him, he was playing his music ultra loud and she didn't even want to know what he was wearing. So, she decided to pay no attention to him. But, she started to when he got out of the car, along with three other friends and started walking towards her.

"What's your name?" He asked her, walking closer to her. Gabriella would have run had it not been for the other boys who had blocked her in all directions.

"Please move." Gabriella said quietly, looking down.

"Answer my question?" His eyes were threatening; Gabriella refused to look into them, until she felt his course hand grab her chin between his fingers and forced her to look at him. It was the most disgusting feeling to her, but she still refused to look at him, keeping her eyes closed.

"What question?" Gabriella replied as bravely as she could, but she hadn't expected his hand to come in contact with her cheek. The stinging feeling stayed for what felt like forever.

"Looks like we got ourselves a hard one, boys." They all laughed.

Her eyes snapped open at that comment, "What's that supposed to mean?" She said, but neither of them answered, they started pulling as her hair, touching her in places that she wanted to save for someone else in some other place at some other time. She wanted to throw up.

The guy that she had originally seen started pulling at her jeans, unbuttoning them and pulling down the zipper. He started stroking her through her light pink underwear. She was about to scream when a hand covered her mouth and the boys hand moved into the panties and entered one finger, breaking the wall that made her pure, the only thing that she wanted to save. Gabriella shrieked, shuddering, knowing what he was going after. Not only was someone's hand over her mouth so no one could hear her, but her hands were held firmly behind her by the other two. The guys' finger was now pumping in and out of her, the pain was unbearable. She needed to get free, but they were all too strong.

The guy grabbed her left breast and pulled his 'partners' hand off of her mouth. Gabriella kept her eyes on his and he started leaning. She miraculously managed to get her hands free and slap him across the face, "How's it feel?"

Gabriella took off, running. She had only gotten a few feet ahead of them before they grabbed her. They pulled by the arm, she heard a load POP, a surge of pain ran up her arm. They had pullen her arm out of her socket. They started mocking her, teasing her, things that she wanted to leave in the past. One of them started feeling her up, then picked her up bridal style, though it wasn't very as "wedding day glamorous" as it would be on the actual wedding day. It was more like he was picking up a dead body.

She punched him in the face and he dropped her, she fell to the hard concrete, landing on the arm that was dislocated. Gabriella yelped out in pain. She had never felt such pain in her life. She got up as fast as she could and ran again, but they stopped her once more. They surrounded her, not giving her any place to sneak out of. Everything seemed to start moving in slow motion, either that or Gabriella was loosing consciousness from the pain. She started feeling woozy and couldn't quite see straight. She couldn't pass out; she couldn't let them take her. She was stronger then that. They all started slapping her, punching her, feeling her up and down, stripping, pretty much anything you could think of. They got far enough that they managed for get her jeans off. Gabriella found herself falling to the ground, screaming, raising her hands in the air. Praying.

She wasn't sure how long it had been, but before she could comprehend what was happening, the men were being pulled off of her and beaten. All she remembered was feeling herself relax and laying down on the concrete trying to catch her breath. She heard a young boy's voice, but she couldn't tell who it was, she saw his body form, but she couldn't make out who it was. He leaned down in front of her, she saw his eyes, wait…she knew those eyes. Was it possible? No, it couldn't be. How was he here? Where had he come from? She had to be dreaming.

"Are you okay?"

His voice seemed distant. All she could hear was the sound of his breath and the rushing of the air. She felt him being pulled off of her and she watched him fall back to the ground. She saw him getting the wind knocked out of him; blood was oozing out of this mouth. With all the strength Gabriella had left in her, she crawled carefully to her feet, trying to forget about the pain in her arm. She jumped onto the guy who was tackling Troy and that was the last piece of energy she had. She fell back to the ground and laid there unable to move, unable to make a sound, watching the fight happen in front of her.

After a few more punches had been swung and some noses had been broken, Troy was able to get the four men to leave. Leaning down next to Gabriella he lightly stroked her hair, "You okay?"

"There goes a brand new shirt."

Gabriella saw a small smirk appear on his face and he chuckle ever so slightly. But, it was true. She had just gotten the shirt for Christmas, she had never worn it and now it was all battered and torn up. Of course, she was completely oblivious to the fact that she wasn't wearing any pants. This meant that Troy was seeing all of her bare legs.

"I'll get you home." Troy said comfortingly and picked Gabriella up bridal style, but this time, it was a little bit more dreamy for her then the last time it happened. Troy gently put her in his truck, which was only parked about two miles away.

"How do you get here?" Gabriella asked as she made herself comfortable and he strapped her in with the seatbelt.

"I saw what was happening and I noticed it was you."

Gabriella starred at him as they drove off, "You could have gotten killed."

"I know."

They both looked at each other, awkwardness building between them, making the car ever so slightly stuffy, "Music anyone?" Gabriella asked, breaking the silence and not allowing him to answer. She turned on the radio.

But, if we get much closer I could loose control

And if your heart surrenders you'll need me to hold!

Oh yeah!

No one can tell us we're wrong.

Gabriella switched to a different station, trying not to blush.

How can I not love you?

What do I tell my heart?

When do I not want you here in my arms?

How does one waltz away from -

Gabriella changed the station again.

Can't live

If livin' is without you

Can't live

I can't give anymore

Can't…

"Alright, that's enough of that," Gabriella turned off the radio, her cheeks turning bright red, hoping that Troy wouldn't see it.

The car ride was silent and awkward. There was absolutely nothing to talk about. Gabriella rested her elbow on the windowsill and started sniffling. She tried her best not to let it be known, but Troy heard it anyway.

"Hey, what's wrong?" Troy put his hand on Gabriella thigh, which made her blush even more then before.

"It's just that…I honestly can't believe that really happened. If you hadn't been there…I don't know what would have happened."

Troy put his arm over Gabriella's shoulder and pulled her closer, allowing her to rest her head on his shoulder, "You probably would have been knocked out and only God would know where you would be right now."

"Thank you."

"No problem."

They pulled up to the beach that they had first met, "I figured you lived close this beach, considering you walked."

"Yep."

"I'll let you out right here." Troy said, right as he pulled up to the sand and unlocked the door. Gabriella opened the car door, "Thank you again, for saving me."

"Of course."

Gabriella stepped out of the car and closed the door. Troy was going to drive off again, "Wait!" Gabriella yelled at the moving car and ran up to it, going over to Troy's window, "Could you please walk me to the porch?"

Troy only stared at her, his blue eyes connecting with her dark brown ones, "I'm just afraid and I probably will be for a few weeks."

"Yeah, of course."

Troy nearly leaped out of the car and started walking with her. Only looks were shared between the two, no conversations were started, no words were spoken, "Thank you," Gabriella said quietly when they reached the front door of her house, "for everything."

"My pleasure."

Gabriella pulled her house key out of her bag. It was a miracle that she had even held onto it considering what she had been through. She slipped the key into the keyhole and starting turning the knob, but Troy grabbed her hand. They stared at each other for a good minute or so, until Gabriella broke the silence, "You should get going."

"Yeah, I'll see you tomorrow." Troy replied, walking away.

Gabriella didn't respond, she only watched as he walked away, back to his car. As he drove away, he waved to her. She waved back, turned around, and stepped into her house.

Okay, it's all going to get a little bit more dramatic and heartbreaking. But, it's based on a true story so there's not much I can do about it.