"I'm sorry Gabs, but I'm not joking. Your mother and I and the Bolton's would like you and Troy to marry." Christopher said with a serious tone.

Gabriella felt butterflies fly through her stomach. Her confused eyes began to dance around the table.

"You want us to get married?" Troy asked slowly, while trying to comprehend what he just heard.

Jack nodded. "Son, you know we're doing this for a good reason. So please don't start yell-" he was cut off by a loud groan.

"What!?" Gabriella yelled, standing up. Anger and sadness flashed through her eyes. "Married? Are you fucking kidding me"
she yelled, to upset to pay attention to the words rolling off her tongue.

Christopher glared at her. "Gabriella Aliana Montez watch the language." he scolded.

She ran a hand through her curls and began to pace back and forth in the dining room. "I'm 17 for god's sake!" she yelled.

Troy gulped as his stomach was in knot's. The word marriage began to haunt him in his head. He was still in a daze.

"Gabriella, we know that, but this is what's best for both of you even though you might not know it now." Sonia explained calmly.
She wasn't as excited about this as Gabriella but Christopher was insistant.

"I'm not ready to get married!" Troy cried, coming out of his daze. "I..I'm 18."

Bethany rubbed her temples softly. "Troy, we've already decided on this. It'll take you some time to get used to I can assume"
she said, walking over to him and rubbing his shoulder.

Troy turned to an angry Gabriella who was mumbling stuff in Spanish. "Mom, no. I'm not getting married." he said, shaking his head.

Gabriella stomped her foot. "What the hell? I'm 17, my whole life is ahead of me and you want me to get married? What the hell is this? The 15th century?" she yelled.

"You're acting childish Gabriella." Sonia said, softly.

Gabriella's eyes began to water. "Mami, please don't make me do this. I'm only 17. I'm not ready." she said as her voice began to crack.

Troy felt sadness wash over him as he saw the hurt in Gabriella's eyes.

Christopher sighed and dropped his napkin. "This discussion is over Gabriella. Troy will propose to you tomorrow at the ball. You two will be married by the end of Spring, just before graduation and that's it. Now, I know this isn't the 15th century but this is my house and I make the rules. I'm not doing this for me because I have just about everything I need right now. I'm doing this for you. You and your future. You either learn to love it or continue to hate it." he explained while rubbing his large USC graduation ring.

A sob escaped Gabriella's mouth. She turned her heel and walked upstairs to her bedroom.

Silence took over the dining room as they heard a door slam from upstairs. "I..I'll go talk to her." Troy said, walking out of room.

Sonia hung her head in despair. "I can't believe this." she said.

Christopher shook his head. "Sonia, this will all work out."

"I didn't like seeing my daughter upset like this Christopher." Sonia said, slightly angry.

Bethany nodded in agreement. "Same with Troy. I don't want either of those kids to be upset. I trusted you Jack and Christopher to make sure that they're not hurt. If they are then you both broke your promises."

"Montez?" Troy said, knocking on her door. He opened it slowly to see Gabriella crying into her pillow. He shut the door behind him and walked to her bed. "Gabriella?"

She turned around showing off her red face. "What?" she croaked out.

He sat on her bed and sighed. "You, um, ok?" he asked, awkwardly.

"What do you think?" she snapped, before standing up and beginning to pace around her room. "My whole fucking world just crashed on me. Do I look like I wanna get married? No. To you? No." she sniffled.

"What the hell to you mean 'to you'?" Troy said, angrily. "You act like I wanna marry you too. This spring I'll be stuck with you for the rest of my fucking life knowing our parent's. Married to you! Gabriella Montez. Half nerd, half bitch."

Gabriella glared at him through her tears. "Fuck you." she spat.

Troy rolled his eyes. "Yeah, fuck me, fuck me." He paused for a moment and observed her. "You know Montez when we were together I don't know what I saw in you. I try to be nice to you and come up her to check on you, but you...you are just a bitch." He shook his head. "Trust me if this marriage includes spending the rest of my life with you then trust me, there's no way in hell I'm excited about this." He walked out of her room, slamming the door behind him.

Tears continued to roll down Gabriella's face. Her chest heaved up and down. She grabbed her blue Hollister hoodie and slowly crept out of her balcony doors.

"Let's go." Troy muttered, grabbing his black jacket as he walked into the dining room.

Jack and Bethany sighed and nodded. "Troy, are you alright?" His mom asked, as she felt the guilt wash over.

Troy just glared at her and slid his jacket on.

Jack shook hands with Christopher while Bethany and Sonia hugged, soon the family walked out of the large Montez house.

"I'm going to go bed. I'm sure Gabriella want's to be left alone right now." Sonia said. "Marie, could you come get the plates." she called out.

Christopher sighed and turned to the mirror that rested on the pale yellow walls of the bedroom. He ran a hand across an old picture of Gabriella. She was six years-old in the picture, smiling brightly with her brown curls in two french braids. Now,
in just about two months and a half months she'd be married.

"What do you mean an arranged marriage?" Sharpay asked as her friend layed in bright pink room.

Taylor who was already there at Sharpay's house looked at her Hispanic and Filipino friend confused. "You and Troy are getting married?" she asked.

A crying Gabriella nodded into Sharpay's pink and white polka dotted pillow. "They said we should be married by the end of April." she sniffled.

Sharpay awed and rubbed her friend's back. "Sweetie, It'll be ok. We have your back."

"I'm not ready to get married guy's. Troy's supposed to propose to me tomorrow at the ball and we just got in this fight. I just want to die right now." Gabriella cried.

"You don't wait to die Gabs. You're just extremely upset." Taylor said, pulling the brunette's damp hair into a ponytail.

Gabriella didn't answer. A silence took her over. Her eyes were beginning to close from tiredness, espcially since she'd been crying so much.

"Everything will be ok Gabs." Sharpay said, softly.

"Marriage?!" Chad cried, while gripping onto his Coke.

Troy sighed and nodded. "Yep." He gulped down a Corona he stole from his dad. "Married."

The two sat in their old tree-house that they built back when they were in 4th grade.

Chad let out a breath. "That's huge. You scared?" he asked.

"I don't know. Marriage has never scared me I guess it's just my age and the fact that it's Gabriella. The Gabriella that I've known since I was six years-old, the girl that I dated for a year back in half of sophomore year and half of junior year. Gabriella who I practically make-out with each day. It's just weird and nervewracking. Then tomorrow I'm supposed to give her my fucking deceased Grandma's wedding ring aka the family ring." Troy said, continuing to gulp down his beer.

"Woah." Chad breathed. "Thank god, my parent's would never do that to me."

Troy nodded. "You're lucky, dude."

Chad nodded in agreement. He thought for a moment and sighed. "Troy, I know it might feel like the world is out to get you, but trust me no matter what happens I'll be right there, for you. You're my soon-to-wed boy."

A faint smile cracked upon Troy's lips. He closed his eyes and fell into a daze with the word marriage still haunting him.

A/N: Thanks super duper much for the reviews. You're all awesome. :) Hope you liked this chapter. I was bored and had nothing else to do so I typed it up real quick. This weekend is a three day weekend for me (thank god) so I'll try to update will I can. Oh, and btw the sequel to 'Holiday Secrets' is on it's way just to let you know. Well, anywho please review!