And voila the second chapter!! So sorry I didn't update yesterday. I was planning to, but I didn't have the time to finish it...

Credits for some of the dialogues goes to Kellie aka Corbin's Girl

Original plot idea from my site: .com

I do not own any HSM just the plot of this story

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Gabriella had returned to Albuquerque a few days ago, and she was still settling with the whole being back thing and the arrangements of moving into her old house. She was incredibly thrilled when the reel estate agent told her that the house was available for her to take again. She had spent two of her happiest years in that house, and how things turned out next didn't really mattered... So she moved back in and she was currently in the process of decorating and moving her things in. She was going to live there alone for a period, since her mother's job wouldn't allow her to transfer again and be with her, and Drake, her fiance, was working on an important law firm that wouldn't allow him to take time off, or leave the main offices in California. And that's why Gabriella moved from California back to New Mexico alone. But she would probably be seeing him during the weekends...

Apparently things with East High were more serious than than she originally thought they were. They were planning on building a mall where the school was now built. A mall! They were sacrifising the education of the students, the school spirit, the history of the school, the Wildcats (!) for a new mall! Like there weren't enough of those already... No! They had to demolish a school in order to satisfy their overconsuming obsessions. And of course she wasn't planning on letting them do this! Gabriella was going to get to the core of the case. She was absolutely sure that this was forbidden by law. And that's why she had already started a research on the case, pushing the other cases she was currently handling aside, so she could focus and have all her attention on this one. She was sure that there was something fishy going on eith the whole thing. That's why she had arranged an initial meeting with the administration of the school...

First thing in Monday, and after doing some chores around the house, Gabriella got dressed, got into her car and drove towards the familiar direction of East High. The only one who knew that she was back in Albuquerque was Taylor, but they had only talked to the phone, since her friend was currently too busy for them to arrange a meeting. Taylor had studied politics, so she was trying to do something for the whole case too from her side... Gabriella was going to ask for informations for the whole demolition thing. Probably she could do something legally for the whole matter. They couldn't just close down the school and build a mall in it's place! It just wasn't right! That school meant a lot to a lot of people. And she was one of them. The sure thing was that she had to meet with Taylor as well at some point. First of all she had missed her best friend incredibly! The last time she saw her was at hers and Chad's wedding a year ago! Plus two brains were better than one! And she knew that she and her friend united, were going to work miracles! They always did whenever they were together!

Gabriella parked her car at the parking lot and got out, heading to the entrance. She climbed the front steps and sighed as she walked through the familiar doors, a small smile gracing her face as she did. Gabriella headed to the Administration Area and asked to see the principle, but apparently he was currently busy, so his secretary told her to wait. Gabriella thanked the woman and gave her her cell phone number to call her as soon as the meeting was over. She was going t stay at the school since the hole thing was urgent, but she wanted to walk around the school for a while, see how things were around there now, instead of staying at the administration, waiting for the principle to finish his current obligation... She was going to use the waiting time in her favor... She had some of her best memories around that school so she wanted to see how it was now, what changed and what remained the same!

Gabriella walked out of the building again, and after wandering around for a while, visiting almost all the familiar places in East High, like the laboratory, the music room and the auditorium she found herself in the courtyard. She had avoided the rooftop for a reason. It wasn't worth to remember the times she spent up there with a certain company... Especially since that company had hurt her so much three years ago and made her lose her trust towards everyone... The one person she thought that would never betray her, hurt her in the worst way possible, by lying, cheating and deceiving...

She took a seat at one of the benches, across of the fountain, and took out a brief from her purse, from a case she was currently working on. It wouldn't hurt her to study for a while as she waited for the secretary to call her... She knew that her prime concern had to be the school right now but this was her work after all, and it wouldn't hurt her to be prepared just in case!

Parking at his parking spot at the school's praking lot, Troy Bolton walked out and made his way straight to the administration area to inform them that he was here and sign in, and after he was done, he headed straight to the gym and to his father's old office. After a recent injury at his leg that was going to keep him away from the court and his basketball career for at least a year, so he could recover properly before returning back on court. So when his father retired early the year before Troy offered to take his place until the school found someone else to take the job.

He checked his schedule and when he saw that he was free for the first two periods, he sighed in relief taking a sip from his Starbucks coffee. He left it on the office and he walked out, after he stretched out a bit. He was going to take a walk around the courtyard and maybe check out the field. If the day was good enough, which it was, he was going to have them run outside instead around the gym. Whe he walked out he smiled softly. September was one of his favortie months. It still had something from the summer but it also had something from the fall... It was something in between... He absently wondered where Chad was... His friend was taking a year off from basketball as well, so he could settle and get used to the whole marital life thing. That's why he was now asistant coach... They were both planning on going back at the same time once Troy's leg was completely healed... They were like brother after all!

Troy looked around and noticed someone sitting on a bench. Someone awfully familiar... Troy looked closer and realized it was indeed Gabriella. Troy walked hesitently towards her, "Brie?" he asked calling her by her old nickname that he called her, the one that he gave her. The one that he and ONLY he used... His voice was a mixture of disbelief, shock and... fear.

Their last encounter was at his best friend's wedding. He had tried to talk to her again then, but just the murdering look she gave him that night when he opened his mouth to talk, made him change her mind... And then she simply disappered... But now she was here... More beautiful, radiant and breathtaking than ever!

Gabriella moved to the bench across the fountain and she took a seat, placing her purse next to her. Se took the brief of the case and siged as she opened it and then took the silver pen Drake gave her as a gift for her first day at work... In her opinion that thing was far too expensive and fancy for her, and so was the engagement ring, but Drake bought them especially for her with so much love that she simply couldn't deny them. So now she was carrying the pen around with her, wherever she went. She underlined some things on the paper. This thing was stupid. The whole case was stupid in her opinion... The two sides could easily come to a settlement, without lawyers getting involved, but no! They just had to choose the hard path and go to court!

Her eyes fell on her engagement ring, on her finger and she sighed before she returned back to reading the case. When she suddenly heard someone calling her by her old nickname "Wow, no one has call me this since..." she looked up to see that the person that talked to her was none other than Troy Bolton... The one she didn't want to see in her eyes EVER again, and now he was there standing in front of her. Last time she saw him was in Chad's and Taylor's wedding, and she left immediately after the ceremony because she had a plane to catch to go back to California. Not that she had a problem with that. He had the nerve to try to talk to her... But she put him in his place alright Troy... she said simply as she looked at him, after she closed the folder, a slight tone of sarcasm in her voice...

This was NOT going to be good...