A/N: Hey this is a new story. I hope you like it.

Prologue:

Have you ever looked into the mirror and asked your self ' Is that really me?' I have. Me, Gabriella Montez.

It all started around the time of my 15th birthday. I made one wrong decision that steered me in the wrong direction, which later lead me down a long winding road of never ending mistakes; mistakes that I can safely say I can never make right.

It's funny how people always say "It' ll never happen to me". But your wrong, because it can, and it did; at least to me it did. I was only fifteen when my world came crashing down, it's been ten years since then and it's still rebuilding its self; all because of one stupid mistake.

This is my life, told by me and best friend Troy Bolton.

Troy -

I was supposed to be doing my homework, but that wasn't going to be happening any time soon. I was too busy thinking about the last dance. I'm thinking really far into the future because that's not supposed to happen until June, and it's not even November yet. But there I was, thinking about it.

I was awakened from my day dream because my cell phone was ringing.

"Hello?" I answered

"Troy?" The voice sounded vaguely familiar but I hadn't heard that voice in years so I could be mistaken.

" Ga-Gabriella ?" I stuttered.

"Yeah, it's me . Can you come pick me up?" she asked

"uh, where are you?"

"In jail," she whispered.

My breath caught in my throat. I knew this was coming, she'd been missing for a while and even before she ran away she would do petty crimes.

"What'd you do? This time I mean?" my voice sounding icier than intended. I didn't need to see her to know that she was crying. I knew from her silence.

"Alright look, I'm on my way, but you better have a damn good explanation for this when I get there," I said

"Thanks Troy, you're the best!" she breathed out a sigh of relief.

I rolled my eyes. "Sure, bye," I said and hung up.

I sighed and looked at the picture frame on my bed side table. It was a picture of me and Gabriella. She was nine and I was ten. We were both laughing and playing at our annual barbecue. I smiled as I thought how care-free our lives were, how naive we were, thinking that life was easy and fair. It was 8 years since that day and it surprised me how different our lives had turned out to be. How different we had become. How much harder life really is and that every action, good or bad, has an equal and opposite reaction. I glance once more at the picture before pulling on my jacket and grabbing my keys. I crept down the stairs, careful to not startle my parents who were fast asleep.

"Troy Bolton do you have any idea what time it is?" yelled my mother from the top of the stairs.

I looked at her tired eyes and glanced at the clock on the wall. "12:30" I answered.

She spotted the keys in my hand "Where are you heading off to?"

" I'm going to pick up Gabriella, she's in trouble again," I whispered.

She sighed as she walked down the stairs. I noticed how tired she really was. She had dark circles under her eyes and she had lost weight. She wasn't just tired from work but because she was tired of looking after me, this wasn't the first time I had to go out in the middle of the night to get Gabriella.

She cupped my face in her hands and kissed my forehead. She gave me a sympathetic look and a soft smile.

"You're a good boy,always looking out for her no matter what stupid thing she does," she said

"I'll let you go but you need to get your priorities straight, school first then your best friend," she said

I gave her a soft smile.

" I never thought I'd say this, especially not about Gabriella, but she's a bad influence on you, don't get sucked in, look out for yourself," she pleaded. I merely nodded my head.

"She was such a sweet girl, always doing what she was told, but then when she turned fifteen everything went haywire. What happened?" she asked and stared out the window. I could tell she was thinking about Gabi.

"O.K., you're tired so why don't you head up stairs, I'll be back in an hour or so," I said and directed her towards the stairs before heading out the door.

I hope in my car and drive to the jail. I watch her take her mugshots; her turning before they tell her to, just like a seasoned criminal. I watched her wondering how many times she'd been incarcerated since she ran away, and who the lucky guy who had to bail her out was. I thought back to the girl in the picture, she had the same curly hair except it had grown a bit longer and her eyes were the same , just a bit blood shot ,but the girl, the actual girl I called my best friend was no where to be seen. It was as if some dissident had taken over her body, turning her into a rebel. This time it had gone too far, she was back in town and she was depending on the people she hurt the most. The people who loved her and would give their lives to her. Well if she thought she could just waltz back here and have everything go back to normal automatically then she has another thing coming.

I paid her bail and directed her towards the car. I got in and clicked my seat belt shut, I could feel her eyes on me; she was staring as if waiting for me to say something, but when I didn't she just kept staring at me. I didn't bother turn around or even acknowledge her presents. I was too busy thinking of what we said when we were at the barbecue almost a decade ago.

"Troy what do you want to be when you grow up?" she asked me, her brown eyes wide and curious.

"I don't know Gabs, probably a pro basket ball player or something," I said, brushing off the question like it wasn't important. Only to learn later that it would be the most important question of my life.

"I want to be the first female president!" she announced happily.

"No, you can't! Then you'll move to Washington, which is all the way across the country and I wont ever get to see you!" I whined.

"No silly, Washington D.C., not the state. Besides you'll be my personal assistant!" she replied happily; easing my worries.

"So what else are we doing when we get older?" she asked

"My older brother Tyler says that in high school you have to have a girlfriend or boyfriend depending on weather you're a guy or a girl. That's why he has Lindsay," I answered.

She was quiet for a few seconds, then I heard sniffling.

"What's wrong Gabi?" I asked concern filling my voice.

" All the boys at school make fun of me, I wont have a boyfriend at high school," she said

"Don't worry Gabi, I'll make you a promise. If you don't have a boyfriend by the time we get to high school then I'll be your boyfriend!" I said, eager to make her smile.

"But, you're already my boyfriend," she said puzzled.

"No I'll be your real boyfriend, with all that gross kissing and stuff they do," I said giving her a disgusted face.

She laughed "Promise?" she asked.

"We'll shake on it!" I said. We both spit on our hands and shook them. A couple days later we were both sick.

I sighed. What happened to the Gabriella who wanted to become president, the Gabriella who didn't care what people thought,and vowed never to do anything rebellious, what happened to the Gabriella who thought that girls who did bad things were stupid! She was gone.

"Troy, say something?" I heard her, but chose not to answer. I was too mad to even look at her.

"Fine,I guess I deserved that," she said. She guesses!

We got to her house and I turned to look at her.

" It's been great seeing you Troy, gosh it's been like two years since we've last seen each other. Thanks for picking me up tonight. Goodnight." She whispered. She reached for the handle to open the door but I locked it.

"What's wrong Troy?" she asked me.

"Answer me this question, why did you do it? Why did you run away? I haven't seen or heard from you in two years! We all thought you were dead! I don't know which one your mom will do first: hit you over the head with a frying pan because what you did was so stupid or if she will hug you and never let you go! She was crying her eyes out for the first year and when we finally convinced her that you probably weren't coming back she got depressed and started drinking."

Her eyes were wide and her mouth opened like she was going to say something but shut it when she realized she didn't have a valid excuse.

"That's right you don't know what to say because what you did was foolish and stupid!" I yelled. She refused to make eye contact with me.

"Promise me this, Promise me that you wont do anything bad, stay out of trouble so you don't cause your mother anymore grief, please!" I begged.

"Or," See how nice I am I'm giving her a second option. "You can go and run away and screw up again but promise me you wont ever come back!" I exclaimed.

She nodded. " I chose the first one" She said " I promise I'll stay out of trouble, I'm back and I'm staying for good!" she exclaimed.

I haven't really smiled since she left so smiling was a bit of a challenge. The corners of my mouth twitched up slightly forming a small cracked smile, though I'm sure it looked more like a creepy grin.

"O.K. I'll see you?" I asked.

" Definitely," she answered and reached over to hug me.

"Work on that smile," she whispered in my ear.

"You promised!" I whispered back. She nodded her head. I unlocked the door and she walked towards her house. I saw her knock on the door and her mom open it and ambushed her with hugs and kisses. Then I saw her mom hit her on the arm a few times probably scolding her for running away, only to be ambushed with kisses and hugs again. I sighed at least things were looking up. She just better not do anything to screw it up.

Gabriella -

I was walking in a dark alley behind a run down restaurant that had been out of business for a while. I saw a man in a dark sweatshirt approach me.

"G.M?" he asked me. I nodded my head. G.M were my initials. Gabriella Montez. He handed me a bag with white powder; it looked like sugar, only it wasn't. I slipped him a 50. We nodded at each other before walking away, in separate directions. I shoved the bag into my back pocket and walked out of the alley.

"Gabriella Montez! Get on the ground! Put your hands on your head !" yelled the police officers.

"Not again!" I whined as I shoved my hands behind my back so they could put the hand cuffs on easier.

They shoved me into the car got in the front. Believe it or not, I was at peace. There was something about being in a police cruiser that was strangely calming. Like I was safe from harm. It was quiet and bullet proof and it gave me time to think. It let's me think about my life and what I'm going to do next.

I don't know why I did it. I don't know why I decided to run away two years ago. I don't know why I decided to do drugs and rack up more D.U.I.'s than Paris, Lindsay, and Britney combined. I don't know why I do anything anymore. I'm just lost.

Why'd I get arrested this time, I'm sure my friends would like to know. I was caught with possession of cocaine. I really have to stop, but I can't; I'm addicted.

There's a few really sucky things about jail. Every single time I've been arrested they've found my gun. The first time it was in my hand, the second time it was in my shirt. The third time it was in my back pocket and this time it was strapped to the inside of my thigh. I really must do a better job of hiding it. I should swallow it or something but they put you through a metal detector so that wouldn't stay hidden very long .

Then when they let you out, they don't let you keep it. They don't give it back, so then you have to spend more money on buying a new one. I wonder if you can arrest a cop for not giving me my gun back, I mean technically it's called stealing. Something I know about really well. The other bad thing about jail is that they take all of your I.D. Including your license. I have to go and take my drivers test again and do you know that gets harder every single time because of all my D.U.I'.s. I'm lucky if I'm even able to get a buss pass after all this mess.

I went into the jail and they stripped searched me. I didn't freak out when they did like I had in my first incarceration. I didn't smile into the camera when I took my mug-shots like I had during my second incarceration. I didn't try and hide my face with my number like I did during my third. I just looked into the camera wishing the police would just leave me the hell alone. I stared at them with bored eyes.

Only this time I did something I wouldn't have even thought about doing until I was in jail in the town of Albuquerque, my hometown, where I grew up. I called the one person who would do anything for me no matter how mad at me he was. Troy Bolton.

He payed my bail and drove me home. I tried talking to him but he wouldn't answer me. I knew he was pissed off at me. He hadn't seen me in two years. Everyone thought I was dead. Then two years later I show up like nothing happened . Of coarse he's pissed;I would be.

Right then and there I promised I wouldn't do anything rebellious again. I think I'm getting tired of being chased by police, getting strip searched ( even if the police officers are hot), having to take my drivers test and all the other stuff I had to do.

I'm glad Troy didn't answer me when we talked in the car because it gave me time to think. I never thought I'd say this but I'm glad I'm back home. I missed my mom and my friends. I missed spending Christmas and my birthday with people. I miss going to school;yes I miss school, you got a problem with that? I miss my teachers and most of all I miss my life. I want everything to go back to how it was before all this happened two years ago. I wish I could take back all the bad things I said about my friends.

I start school in a couple of weeks. I can't wait to see everybody again. I got home and my mom showered me in hugs and kisses and then she started hitting me on the arm for running away. I was fine with that. She could have kept hitting me and I would still be fine. I was just glad to be back. She served me dinner. I had been in jail so long I forgot what actual food looked and tasted like. I thought green mush from a can was the best thing ever. But no she cooked my favorite, spaghetti and meatballs.

She told me to go take a shower and that there was clothes in the bathroom I could use. I walked up the stairs and turned left down the hallway. I was walking to the bathroom when I noticed a door that was slightly ajar. I recognized the 'Do Not Disturb' sign on the door. I smiled, it was my room.

I walked towards it. My hand trembled as I reached for the knob. It was the first time I would see my room in two years. Had anyone missed me? Did my mom turn my room into a gym for her own personal work out sessions like they do in movies? Or was it exactly the way I left it? I opened the door and sighed in relief. I noticed most of it was exactly the same.

My walls were still pink but covering the walls were posters of sports figures. My clothes was all in the closet but my drawers were filled with boy clothes. Jearsy's,sweatshirts, basketball shorts, and sneakers. Did my mom adopt a son while I was gone?

I walked over to my night stand and picked up a picture. It was me and Troy at my 15th birthday party. That was the same day I decided to run away. I looked so young and immature making funny faces for the camera. I saw another picture of me and Troy with cake splattered on our faces. He was holding me bridal style and spinning me around. I frowned, I gave all that away for nothing.

I looked around the room and saw East High banners and a lot of red and white streamers. Troy had probably been here. I yawned and headed out the door to the bathroom. I took a shower letting the water soothe me. I took the sponge of it's holder and began to scrub my body.

Hoping to scrub away the last two years of my life. So I could be squeaky clean and have a fresh start. I stepped out of the shower and saw clothes sitting on a shelf on the wall. I took the shirt off the shelf and was about to put it on when I noticed some writing on it.

East High Basketball

T. Bolton

Captain.

Not only had Troy made the basketball team he was the captain. A lot had changed in two years. I didn't see much of him in the dark car earlier this night but he had grown; a lot. His voice was deeper. I couldn't see his face all that well in the moonlight but what I could see was that he still had his piercing blue eyes. His features were bold and carved into stone. I guess basketball practice served him well. When I hugged him good bye he practically crushed me with his huge arms. I pulled on his shorts and walked back down stairs into the kitchen.

"Mom, does Troy ever sleep over?" I asked

She smiled, " Tons, so do the girls" she answered, pointing to a stack of ' chick-flicks' on the coffee table.

I nodded my head. " Do you think I can call Troy and congratulate him for getting captain?" I asked pointing to t-shirt I was wearing.

She smiled " Gabi, honey, it's 4:30 am"

I blushed " Oh, yeah, so later?" I asked

She nodded. "Mom, can I invite the girls over and Troy?"

"Yeah, I think that's a great idea. Catch up with them. Have fun!" she said before kissing my forehead and walking up stairs.

I pored myself a glass of milk and headed up stairs to my room. I snuggled under the covers and fell asleep.

So what do you think? Should I continue or just delete it? Be honest!

Kiki xoxo :)