Chapter 7: Brand New Day

And I, I think I'll change my ways

So all your words get noticed

Tomorrow's a brand new day

Tomorrow's a new day

Maria had a funny feeling as she returned home from work. When she opened the door, she found Gabriella and Troy on the couch with the TV still on. Gabriella's head was resting in Troy's lap, and from the way Troy's hand was in her hair, she decided that he had been playing with it when he had fallen asleep.

"The Nightmare before Christmas" was going through the credits. Gabriella hadn't watched that movie during thunderstorms since her father had died. But her mind wandered to something else. She was touched that Troy was willing to come over to watch the movie with her.

However, a part of her was a little discomforted that he was here alone with her daughter. The other part of her that won, fortunately for them, thought that the scene was absolutely adorable. "That is so cute." She said to herself. She grabbed the camera from the drawer next to the couch and took a picture of them. She was tempted to leave them there and let him stay over, but knowing that his parents would probably wonder where he was she used her better judgment and woke Gabriella up.

"Gabi, Honey, wake up." She shook her daughter gently. "Troy has to go home. The storm's over."

Gabriella stirred and looked up at her mom. She noted her position in Troy's lap and tried not to blush but to no avail.

"Would you mind waking Troy? His parents are probably wondering where he is." Maria watched as her daughter nodded before she turned off the TV and went upstairs.

Although she desperately wanted to stay there all night, Gabriella sat up and tried to wake Troy.

"Troy, Troy. Wake up." Gabriella coaxed.

"Your hair is so soft, Brie." He said not fully awake.

"Kissing up, Bolton?"

"Yes, Montez. Yes, I am."

She was quite amused that he could play their "Kissing up" game while half asleep. Even in his sleep he managed to make her feel like the luckiest girl on the planet. "Thank you for the compliment, Wildcat, but seriously, you have to get up and go home. The storm's over."

"No." He mumbled. "Right here is fine."

She sighed. She tried to think of a way to wake him up. An idea suddenly came to mind. She tilted her head down and placed her lips on his. It took him a few seconds, but he slowly woke up and started to return the kiss. When she was sure that he was awake, she pulled back. He slowly opened his eyes and met her brown eyes.

"I thought that it was the other way around. Isn't it my job to wake the princess?" He asked teasingly.

She smiled. "Well, that would be kind of hard if the prince were having his own dreams."

"I don't remember asking for a wake up call."

"The storm's over."

"Well, I gotta say, if you were my wake up call in the morning instead of my alarm clock, I wouldn't mind getting up for school."

"I agree." She replied.

"Any chance that you could wake up extra early, go to my house, and take the place of my annoying alarm clock?"

"Sorry. I don't think so, Wildcat. Come on. Get up. " She got off the couch and held her hands out so that he could take them. He didn't reach for them right away. "Come on, Troy. My mom found us here, and I'm guessing that she doesn't expect dinner for three. Besides, your parents are probably wondering where you are." He looked at her hand again. Once he grabbed them, she lifted him up.

"Your mom found us here?" She nodded, and he noticed her blush. "What was I doing when she found us?" He asked afraid of what she might say.

"Well, my head was in your lap, and your hand was in my hair."

He breathed a sigh of relief. "Oh. Okay. I thought that I was doing something totally different."

"Like what?"

"Nothing inappropriate per se. But I doubt that your mom would've had an understanding in it. What did she say?"

"She didn't say anything actually. She just told me to wake you up, and she went upstairs. But after she went upstairs, and I was trying to wake you up, in your sleep, you mentioned that my hair was soft."

"It is. Very soft."

They both walked to the front door. "Thank you for coming, Troy. First the talk about my dad and then the movie… Thank you."

"It's no problem. No problem at all. You should expect me here anytime we hear anything remotely related about thunderstorms, because I think that I have a new favorite thing to do. If that's all right with you." He added the last part since he knew that it had been her dad's thing with her.

"I'd like that." She said. And he smiled one of his dazzling smiles. "I guess I have some explaining to do for the rest of the gang. I was pretty weird today."

"Taylor, Chad, and Kelsi all asked if you were okay."

"Did you tell them why?"

"Not really. I didn't exactly know. It was like that time when Taylor and Chad thought that it would be better for everyone if they separated us, only this time, it was in mini form. You were distant in everything. I was really worried."

"I'm sorry."

"It's all right, Brie. You didn't know that you were worrying anyone. You were just thinking about your dad. That's all."

"Thank you for helping me see that it wasn't my fault. I knew, but I didn't want to believe it. I haven't talked with my mom about it. I thought it was because she didn't like to talk about it, but now I think it was because I thought that it was my fault. I haven't been able to talk about it…until you." She repeated his words to him, and a smile went across his face before he pulled her into another hug.

"I'm just glad that you trust me enough to tell me. If you don't want me to tell the gang, then I won't."

"Thank you. But I think that I'll tell them. They deserve it after today."

"It's your decision. Tomorrow's a brand new day."

"Well, maybe I won't give them all the details, but they deserve to know why I was acting the way I was today."

Gabriella's mom interrupted them. "Gabriella, is Troy still here? His mom just called."

"And that is my cue to leave." Troy said.

"Why didn't she call your cell phone?"

"She probably did, but I had my phone on silent just in case Chad decided to interrupt us via phone." He pulled out his phone. "And it's a good thing I did because he called me five times."

"Does he plan these interruptions?"

"I don't know. He probably does. He doesn't care about homework enough. He's been behind since pre-school. He has to do something during the afternoon." He noticed his screen lighting up and answered. "Hey, Mom. Yeah, I'm fine. Yes, I'm still at Gabriella's. Sorry. I didn't mean to worry you and dad. I'll be home soon. All right. Love you too. Bye." He hung up the phone and turned his attention back to Gabriella. "I should get going now. I'll see you at school tomorrow." He opened the front door and stepped outside.

"Okay. See you later." She was just about to close the front door when he interrupted her.

"Wait. Don't I get a goodbye kiss?" She smiled and gave him a quick kiss. "I'll see you tomorrow."

"Okay. Bye." She watched him go to his truck. He smiled and winked at her before he drove away.

"So care to tell me? Or will I have to pry it out of you?" Gabriella turned around and saw her mom standing on the stairs.

"I have no idea what you're talking about." She said trying to avoid the subject.

"You know very well what I'm talking about, Gabriella."

"Nothing happened, Mom. Troy just came over here to talk to me."

"I see. It wouldn't have anything to do with why I found you home yesterday when you were supposed to be with your friends and the way you were acting would it?"

"Maybe." She sighed. She couldn't keep anything from her mom. Her mom went over to the couch, sat, and motioned for Gabriella to take a seat next to her.

"You can talk to me about anything, Mija."

"I know that."

"Then why aren't you doing it now? Just tell me what happened yesterday." Maria urged her.

Gabriella sighed before she started to tell her. "Yesterday, Troy and Chad were saying that Troy hasn't had a girlfriend before me, and they were telling stories about it. Then they asked me about myself. I told them that we've lived in eighteen places, and they started to ask questions. At first, they were the usual ones: 'Have you been here?' and 'Have you been there?'. Then Troy asked about dad." Maria inhaled sharply. "I told them that he died when I was eight. I started to tell them about him. How we were close and everything. I just lost it because I started to remember him. Troy took me home early because I couldn't talk about it anymore."

"You've never had a problem talking about it before."

"That's because whenever we talk about it, it's on the anniversary, and it can't be helped. I didn't tell you everything, Mom." She paused so that she could think about how to tell her mom about her confession. She started to get teary eyed. "Mom, when I was in the hospital after the accident with dad, I heard you talking to the police about the accident. I overheard that with the evidence they gathered dad swerved just enough so that he received most of the impact, and I thought that…"

"It was your fault." Maria finished. Gabriella nodded tears slowly coming down her face. "Oh, Gabi." Her mom pulled her into a tight hug and held her while she cried. She pulled back and wiped her tears. "Oh, Mija. It wasn't your fault. I never blamed you. Your father wouldn't blame you either."

"I know that now. That's why Troy was here. He noticed that I was acting weird, and he came over to investigate." She left the part out about his climbing the tree to get to the balcony. Her mom didn't need to know that quite yet. "I told him everything that I just told you. He listened and held me while I cried. He was the one who convinced me that it wasn't my fault."

Maria made a mental note to thank Troy later. He really was a special boy. "Oh, Mija. I'm so glad that Troy did that for you. He's a special boy."

"I know."

"And the movie?"

"I told him that during thunderstorms, dad and I would watch 'The Nightmare before Christmas'. He remembered and that's what we did during the afternoon."

"All right. I trust you. I'm glad that he did that for you." Maria voiced again. "I love you."

"I love you too, Mom." Gabriella said as Maria pulled her in for another hug.

Gabriella walked into the hallways of East High. The sky was beautiful due to the storm that had just washed away all the polluted air. She loved the feeling that the rain had provided. Not only was the air clean, but she felt like a weight had been lifted off her shoulders. A weight that she had been carrying around for almost nine years. She finally talked to her mom about her dad. She felt like the rain had washed every guilty feeling that she had been burdened with. Troy was right. Today was a brand new day, the first day that she could really start living.

She grabbed her books from her locker and headed over to homeroom. She wanted to talk to Taylor before school started. When she entered, she saw Taylor sitting at her desk no doubt going over some last minute things before school started. She walked over to Taylor a little ashamed of how she had acted yesterday.

"Hey, Tay." Taylor looked up from her text book.

"Hi, Gabi." Taylor said cheerfully. "What's up? How are you?" Her tone held no emotion for yesterday's misunderstanding.

"Much better now." She paused "I um…wanted to apologize for yesterday. I wasn't acting like myself. And I was worrying everyone."

"But you're okay now?"

"I'm okay now." Gabriella confirmed.

"Let me guess. Troy." Taylor could see the faint twinkle in Gabriella's eyes that was reserved specifically for Troy.

"Yeah."

"What happened yesterday, Gabriella?" Taylor asked.

"I was just having trouble with some stuff."

"Is it because we asked about your dad?"

"No, Tay. You guys didn't do anything. It was me. I can't tell you everything, but what I can tell you is that Troy helped me realize some stuff. And I feel like someone took a load off of my shoulders. I just wanted to say that I'm sorry for the way I was acting."

The tone in Gabriella's voice warned Taylor to not pry about the "stuff" she was talking about. For now, she was content knowing that she had her best friend back. "It's all right, Gabriella. I forgive you. I wasn't mad at you. I was just really worried. You looked like someone died yesterday."

Gabriella fought to hide a wince from her face. Taylor didn't know the irony in her statement. "Well, what do I look like today?"

"Well, I particularly like the fact that your dress looks perfect on you." She laughed.

"Thanks."

"You look like what you said. Like a load has just been lifted. You also look like you can handle the next Decathlon competition that we have on Friday against the South High Tigers. Are you ready?"

"Yeah I am." She gave Taylor a high five. "So can we forget that yesterday even happened?"

"Yesterday? What?" Taylor asked.

"Thanks, Tay." She gave her friend a quick hug. They heard the warning bell ring, and Gabriella took her seat. Everything was falling into place.

"Hey, Troy!" Chad called out. He fell into step with him as they made their way to homeroom.

"Hey, Man."

"So is Gabs better?"

They reached the class. "Does that answer your question?" He pointed to a laughing Taylor and smiling Gabriella. Gabriella gave her a high five.

"What did you do?"

"I just talked to her. You can talk to her later. Come on. We'd better get seated before Darbus gives us a tardy for not being in our seats." He caught Gabriella's eyes. He gestured towards Taylor. She nodded. Everything was okay. He winked at her before he turned back to the front of the classroom where Ms. Darbus stated giving the announcements for the day.

"We have a Decathlon competition against South High this Friday. We also have golf tryouts and track and field this week on Wednesday. If you plan on attending those tryouts, and you are a part of the Winter Musicale production, please inform me that you will not be here for rehearsals." She looked at Troy. "That includes our leads."

Gabriella sat down at the lunch table with her friends. Kelsi was working on the music for the musical so she wasn't there. They were talking to her like yesterday never even happened. But she still felt a little guilty about it. "Hey, guys?" She interrupted. They all turned to her. "I just wanted to say sorry for yesterday."

"Hey, it's all good, Gabs. We're just glad that you are you again." Chad said.

"Yeah." They all agreed.

"Thanks." She turned to face Troy and looked at him. "Thank you." She said.

"It's not a problem." He replied.

"Ah. Ms. Montez, it's nice to see that you are well." Ms. Darbus said.

"Yeah. I am. Thanks." She walked over to Kelsi.

"Hey, Kels."

"Hi, Gabriella. You look better today."

"I've been hearing that a lot lately. I wanted to say sorry for yesterday. I wasn't myself, and I didn't mean to make you all worry."

"It's okay. I forgive you. You just focus on doing well during rehearsal."

"Will do." She assured her. Gabriella and Troy did the rehearsals, and it was one of the best rehearsals that they had. They got their lines right, went over some choreography, and did a quick costume check.

Pretty soon rehearsals were done. "That's enough for today. Thank you everyone. You may return home."

Gabriella and Troy walked out to the car. "Are you ready for some intense unpacking?" Troy asked her.

"You say that like it's going to be the most fun thing you're going to do in your whole life. Have you ever moved anywhere before?"

"No." He answered.

"That would explain the eagerness."

They went to her house so that they could get a lot done. They did their homework for a little while. Thankfully, they didn't have much that day, so they were able to finish quickly and start unpacking the remaining boxes. They read the labels on the boxes and carried them to the room they belonged in. There weren't many, but it took them a little while. Gabriella decided that she wanted to unpack all the pictures. They ended up sitting down on the couch looking at the pictures.

"That was you?" Troy asked. He pointed to a picture of her when she was two years old. She nodded. "Even then you were hot."

"Troy!"

"What you were. Look at that smile. It has 'Future girlfriend of Troy Bolton' all over it."

She got up. "I'm going to get dinner ready."

Maria walk in the house to find Troy and Gabriella laughing and looking at pictures. Gabriella looked up when she heard the door open.

"Hey, Mom. How was work?"

"Hello. Work was fine thank you for asking."

"And that is my cue to leave." Troy started to get up when Maria stopped him.

"Wait, Troy. Would you like to stay for dinner?"

"Oh, I couldn't—"

She interrupted him. "Don't be silly. You deserve it. Besides, you can try my brownies. You just make yourself comfortable I have this feeling that you're going to be here often.

Gabriella and Troy blushed.

"Well, all right, but I have to call my parents." Troy said. "I'll be right back."

Troy got his phone and called his parents.

"Hello?"

"Hi, Mom." Troy greeted.

"Hello? How did the unpacking go?"

"Fine. We ended up looking at pictures."

"So are you coming home?"

"That's why I'm calling. Ms. Montez invited me to stay for dinner. Is that okay?"

"Yes. Thank you for calling. Just make sure that you're at home before your curfew."

"Okay, Mom. Tell dad for me. I'll talk to you later. Love you."

"I love you too. Bye."

"Bye." Troy hung up and went back to the other room. "She gave the a-okay. I just need to be back before curfew."

"You should be back before then." Gabriella replied.

"Gabi, could you go set the table?" Maria asked her daughter.

"Yes, Mama."

"I'll help you." Troy offered.

"Hold on, Troy. I'd like to talk to you."

Gabriella looked over at Troy in an apologetic look. He nodded to her as if to say "It's okay. I'll be fine. Go ahead." She was hesitant, but she walked out of the room and left Troy and her mom alone.

Troy suddenly became nervous. Whether it was because Gabriella wasn't there anymore or whether it was because he was scared that Gabriella's mom had found out that he climbed the balcony on two occasions and would make him break up with Gabriella, he didn't know.

"Troy, don't be worried." She said, reading his mind. "I'm not making you and Gabriella break up."

How in the world do moms do that? He thought to himself.

"I'm not really sure, Troy." She said reading his mind again. "Call it a mother's intuition."

Gabriella probably has that. He said to himself.

"Yes, Gabriella probably does have it as does every other girl, but that's not why I wanted to talk to you." Troy tensed. "Relax, Troy. I'm not going to interrogate you either."

If that's not the reason, then why? Troy asked himself.

"I wanted to talk to you because I wanted to thank you."

"Thank me? For what?" As soon as he asked, he knew.

"For what you did for Gabriella yesterday. I didn't know about what she thought and felt about her father's death. And why she confided in you and not me about it was…is something that I wish she'd had the courage to do with me, but at any rate, you have saved her from something that had been haunting her for eight years. And for that, I am thankful."

Troy was taken aback. That was something he did not expect. "You're welcome, but it was absolutely no problem at all. I was worried. I don't know why she confided in me, I mean, I'm me, but I'm glad that she trusted me enough to tell me. I care about your daughter, Ms. Montez."

"I know you do, Troy. You proved that yesterday."

Gabriella walked in.

"Hey." Troy said.

"Hi. Table's ready. So what were you guys talking about?" She asked, curious about the conversation they had been having for the past few minutes.

"Later. Let's go eat. It smells good."

They all went into the dining room and ate the dinner that Gabriella had prepared earlier. Troy talked about the upcoming golf tryouts; Gabriella talked about the upcoming decathlon Friday against the South High Tigers; and they both talked about how well rehearsals were going. They had some of Maria's brownies, and Troy praised them for being the best brownies in the world. He looked at his phone and noticed what time it was.

"Oh shoot. I have to get home. Thank you for inviting me to dinner, Ms. Montez. The brownies were amazing."

"Anytime."

"I'll walk you to the front door." Gabriella offered.

Troy and Gabriella got up and went over to the front door.

"So care to tell me what you and my mom were talking about?"

"She just wanted to thank me for what I did yesterday."

"Ah. Well, I thank you too. You were right. It wasn't my fault."

He smiled at her. "I'll see you tomorrow."

"Bye." Troy intended to give her a quick kiss, but it ended up being a little longer. Longer as in the only reason they pulled away was because Maria came to see what was taking Gabriella so long, and she "cleared" her throat.

"Bye." Troy said. He went out the door and drove away in his mom's car.

Gabriella closed the door, looked at her mom, and blushed. "Umm…sorry?"

Fortunately for her, Maria let it slide.

Author's Note: Thank you for all being patient with me. I will try to update soon.