Five Months Later.

Gabriella closed her eyes, leaving her hands around the pallet, and she focused her brain on the image in her head. His image. As if it was a camera lodged in her brain, she zoomed in, directly onto the eye, and she almost gasped at the memory of such beauty. Opening her eyes, the image fading away, she realised the outline she had sketched was correct, the shape very well done. She sighed contentedly.

For the last three or four months she had been painting in any spare time she could find. It relaxed her, eased her aching bones, and while sitting she could completely forget about her current situation. The current small bump that was resting on her usually flat stomach, and the future she would have to build for that little baby inside her.

But most of the picture she had painted, sketched, or drawn had been of the one guy she was missing terribly. Troy. And she found that sometimes it was nice to be able to paint him, to have such a vivid picture in her mind that she didn't need him to sit for her to get an accurate painting. Then other times she'd have to stop for her eyes would have clouded with tears and she could no longer see. Those were the darker days. But, like everything, there was always, somewhere along the way, a plus sign. And she couldn't have been happier that the morning sickness had stopped.

And now all the little one could do was kick.

Like it was doing right now.

Gabriella clutched onto the side of her stomach and she could feel the tiny foot press gently against her palm. A smile spread over her face, and even though it was kicking and a little painful, she felt happy that it was in there, moving and hopefully happy. "Ouch, watch it down there! I'm trying to paint." She whispered often to her belly, now very round and noticeable. She still found it irritating when people she hardly knew, or even a person she'd only seen a few times at the restaurant, would come up to her just grab her stomach. It was unsettling when men would do it, women not so much. Just a gender thing. But Gabriella knew they were looking for that kick, the kick that let them knew the baby felt a connection with them. And so far, every person who had tried to find it had failed, which made Gabriella secretly pleased. The only other person the little baby had kicked for was Sharpay.

Gabriella laughed as she remembered the way Sharpay had knelt before her, closing her eyes and chanting a little nursery rhyme as her hands touched Gabriella's stomach. Gabriella had had her mouth clamped shut so she wouldn't laugh, and then she gasped. She'd felt the kick, and apparently Sharpay had too. She had shot up, standing above Gabriella, clasping one hand over her mouth in awe and the other pointing to Gabriella's enlarged belly. Shaking with excitement, she'd staggered back, muttering about the baby kicked for her! For her! Then the squealing, high pitched and annoying, had began, along with the jumping on furniture. That was something she wouldn't mind forgetting.

Now, with the pallet resting idly on her stomach, holding its own with no support, she spread many different shades of blue directly onto the wooden painting surface. Smearing over her fingers, but she didn't care, was every shade of blue paint she thought she'd ever see, and she felt herself smile. Being an artist, there was always something so wonderful about new paint, the smell, the dazzling colour and the texture on your fingertips. Closing her eyes and letting her mind wander back to that mental image, she began brushing strokes of blue on the canvas.

"Gabriella!"

Gabriella heard Sharpay shout from downstairs and now her feet walking along the corridor, her footsteps getting louder every second.

"In here!" She replied, still painting.

Sharpay knocked on the door, but didn't wait for it to be opened. She knew by now that Gabriella wasn't going to let her see her paintings, and would wait until she'd at least left this level of their apartment before opening the door and leaving. Sharpay thought this strange as she'd seen almost all the painting and works Gabriella had done since college, but for Gabriella these were much more personal.

"I'm just about to rush out the door, but I thought I'd tell you that you need to go out to work in 20 minutes to be there on time, and that I'll meet you outside the gym for your first childbirth class!" Sharpay shouted through the door, excitement oozing from her voice.

Gabriella smiled before replying. "Okay, thank you. See you then."

With Gabriella's ears now on alert, she waited until she couldn't hear Sharpay any more and laid down her pallet onto the table, wrapping a piece of cling film over it to keep the paint moist. Standing up, with support form the back of the chair, she rose, one hand firmly on her belly like she was worried it would fall off. She didn't know much about having children and the pregnancy process, but she knew that her bump wouldn't be going or falling off anywhere for a little while. Unfortunately.

To others, she might have sounded like she was dreading having a child. But that was completely wrong. Now, she was much more excited than when she'd first found out. Being around Sharpay only meant that her enthusiasm would rub off easily. Yes, she was still nervous and anxious, but that was normal. She was happy, still in wonder of how such a thing could be growing every second in her stomach, and still amazed that this was happening to her. Even with the circumstances.

And Gabriella had learnt to live with the fact that Troy wouldn't be around. Well, nearly. She still wished dearly that he could be there, holding her hand through it all. But she had friends around her that would support her, and she was thankful for that. It would possibly be hard on her child not having a father, but hopefully someone would come along to take his place. And she had to accept that finding a Troy in this world wouldn't happen fast. Nobody could compete with the likes of him. He was in a league of his own completely. And if she was ever to find him again, she'd have questions and want answers, obviously. But for now she was happy at being on her own. She saw it as a challenge, one she hadn't exactly wanted in the first place but was now taking on. It would strengthen her.

Leaving the room, her wandered to her bedroom to find some suitable clothes. Ugh, maternity clothes. Everybody went on about how 'comfy' they are and how you can find 'fashionable' maternity clothes now. Gabriella had to disagree. She couldn't wait to be able to fit into normal clothes again, and get out of the horrible curtain material. She was seriously sick of the granny floral patterns. She'd decided to burn them afterwards. And whoever said they were comfy was clearly wearing them non-pregnant. It was all lies.

After struggling into those uncomfortable maternity clothes, she made her way, slowly, downstairs, huffing once she was at the bottom. It wasn't easy climbing and carrying this load with her. Grabbing her bag and shoving on her coat, which could no longer zip up, she checked her watch. Good. She wouldn't be late today. Jay wouldn't be so antsy now.

After locking her door, she waved to her neighbour, who, she noted, didn't look at her face the whole time. That was the thing about being pregnant. People seemed to look at your enlarged tummy all the time, making her feel quite self-conscious.

Her neighbour, Mrs Hurst, started a small conversation. "How are you feeling today, then?"

Gabriella smiled appreciatively. Even if she didn't always look at the face, she was kind and always offered to help her with taking the shopping in when she was struggling. "I'm okay today, Mrs Hurst. Yes, this little one,' she patted her stomach comfortingly, 'seems to be moving lots today. It'll be a dancer of a football player, I'm sure."

Her neighbours gaze went to the surrounding area. "Well, it'll be nice to have some young blood in the area. I miss seeing the children."

Gabriella laughed. "I'm glad I could help out the community that way, then. Sorry, I have to shoot off to work, but we'll talk soon, I'm sure."

Mrs Hurst waved her away. "Have a nice day. Don't work to hard!" She warned.

Gabriella smiled. "I'll make sure I don't. Bye."

Wrapping her coat further around her, she let the now spring air whip around her face. Over autumn the weather had been sunny, if a little chilly and the snow that fell during the winter was very think. But now, in the height of March, the world seemed a brighter and happier place. Turning corners, she exchanged small smiles with passers-by, who checked out her stomach as she went. But it no longer bothered her, she was used to it now.

Tonight would be… interesting. She knew that Sharpay would be overly excited about this, and throw herself into it wholeheartedly. But Gabriella was a little more concerned about this. She didn't want to seem like a fool, who knew nothing about being pregnant and the goings on of pregnancy. She was sure the people who ran this would be nice and kind, reassurance was all she needed. A helping hand. But not knowing what went on in these courses didn't help. She really should have researched.

"Gabriella!"

She heard someone call her name, and her head snapped around her to try and find the person. The bushy afro was a give away and Gabriella felt herself smile as she saw Chad, her old friend who acted like a brother to her in high school, run up to her.

"It's great to see you, Chad."

Chad stood a little away from her, looking in awe at her stomach. His let his eyes linger there for a second longer, and when his head rose she saw the biggest, most encouraging smile. "Gabs! You're pregnant! And you're glowing. When did this happen?"

After hugging Chad hello she answered. "Thanks. I'm nearly into my third trimester. Expecting in May or June."

Chad took her hand and led her in the direction of her work. "And who did this, lovely, lovely thing to you, Gabs? Where is he?"

This was the question she dreaded most. Having to tell people that she was virtually on her own, with no man beside her. He just left.

He looked down, embarrassed. "He'd not here, Chad."

He stopped her and got her to look him in the eye. "It's not…"

She nodded. "Yes." And a stray tear slid down her cheek. Before long she was embraced by Chad and her sobs stopped. Yep, she was so late for work.

"Do you know where he is, Chad? Has he been I touch with you?" Gabriella asked desperately.

She watched him shake his head gravely. "No, I've not seen him since he left with you at the reunion. Where no doubt he did this, and was gone."

She nodded again and they continued talking for a few minutes. Gabriella answered all Chad's questions truthfully, knowing that Chad wouldn't judge her. Parting, he said he'd try to keep in touch and if he saw Troy, he'd get though to him.

As she walked away and got nearer her work, she felt like a little weight had been lifted from her shoulders. There was hope that Chad would find him, run into him accidentally. She wouldn't need to send out a search party now, she supposed, laughing inside.

Opening the doors, she found it surprisingly quiet, with no-one there. Hanging up her coat, she stepped in further, to find an anxious Jay sitting at one of the tables.

"Jay?"

He looked up to her. What was going on?

A/N; So, I'm a little evil! What do you think will happen? And what's up with Jay? Find out in the next chapter.

For now, please review. It's really helping me update more quickly if you do!

:D