Troy was sat, in a big coat, next to a big camera, letting out a big yawn. It was a little after sunrise and Gabriella was shooting her video. Troy looked around him at the whitened desert around him. It was much prettier than Albuquerque - so that's why they chose to come all this way. He smiled as Gabriella looked over between shots, completely ecstatic.

He was quite excited when his phone rang. He looked at the screen. Ryan.

"Hey man! What are you doing up so early?"

"Dude, Nevada's three hours behind. I'm on my way to my first class."

"Sorry. I'm very tired."

"You're just.. Not great at geography."

"Whatever. I'm glad you rang though, I'm so bored." Troy whispered.

"Oh, but you're watching your best girl have the time of her life!"

"Shut up, Ryan. Not helping."

"Troy. Seriously though. How are you doing? You still thinking about that JP guy?"

"Only every minute."

"So… are you out of character now?"

"I guess…"

"So do you have something to tell me?"

"Uh…" Troy looked around him. "No."

"What?"

"Dude, I'm surrounded by like 50 people." Troy sighed. He got up out of his chair and walked off into a remote part of the surrounding area, yet untouched by Gabriella's crew.

"Ryan?"

"Yes?"

"I'm there."

"What? Nevada? Yeah, I know."

"No. I got there. I got to that place. And now I can, with ease, tell you… I am gay. There's no point denying it."

"I'm proud of you, Troy. Being true to yourself is the key to happiness."

"Well, I'm not exactly happy. I have to tell Gabriella. I have to tell Chad. I have to tell my Mom and Dad. My team mates. Apart from my Mom… I'm expecting everyone to completely reject me. You're gonna be my only friend. Hope you're prepared for that."

"Troy don't be so stupid. For a start, you and Chad have been friends for almost your entire lives. He's not gonna hate you for being gay. He's my friend. Remember?"

"I guess." Troy glanced back over at the shoot. "I gotta go, Gabriella's on break."

"Okay. Troy?"

"Yup?"

"You have to tell her. Soon. She'll respect you all the more for it."

"You don't understand. I love her. I may be gay but I love her to absolute bits."

"I know, Troy. That's why she deserves to know."

"That's what JP said." Troy smiled.

"You know you have to do it. Remember, I'm just at the end of the phone if you need me."

Ryan hung up and Troy pulled on his hair. He rolled his eyes and ran back over to his girlfriend.

"Hey baby. You're doing great!"

"Thanks! What were you doing over there?!"

"Ryan called me. He was bored before class. Told him where I was, and sent him on his way." Troy smiled.

"Aw. Poor Ryan. Did he say how his date went last night?"

"He had a date?"

"Yeah. I thought he would've told you. You guys have been chatting a lot recently."

"Maybe he…" Troy shrugged. "maybe he doesn't feel comfortable talking to me about guys."

"Oh, well I guess." Gabriella nodded. "I'm so tired, baby. And cold. This isn't glamorous."

Troy laughed and wrapped his arms around his girlfriend, who was covered by a thick blanket.

"It'll be worth it."

---------------------------

One month later, and Gabriella was on her third hour staring at MTV. Troy brought her some dinner in on a tray, and lay it on the couch next to her.

"Thank you Troy!" She said, appreciative look on her face, but still staring at the TV. "Any minute now. They said it would definitely be in this 4 hour time slot, how long's it been so far?"

"Too long." Troy rolled his eyes. "Three hours, baby. I'm just gonna go downstairs and get the mail, okay?"

"Hurry back!"

Troy ran downstairs, and picked up the mail. It was mainly junk. There was a letter in an NBA envelope. His heart jumped. Had he done anything wrong? He couldn't think of anything. He ripped it open. Inside was another letter, addressed to him care of the D-League. He opened it.

"I know it was only one day, but I miss you.

Just in case…

232-0710

JP x"

"Oh my god." Troy sighed. He looked around him, and even at his own body - there was nowhere to stash this so that Gabriella wouldn't see it. Because she would misinterpret this big time. Well… the truth was still pretty ugly, but…

Troy sighed and stuffed the note into his sneaker. He ran back up to Gabriella, who, as he got to the top of the stairs, started screaming. He ran into the room.

"It's my video! Look! IT'S ME!"

"Wow, baby, you look so beautiful! Well, I mean, obviously. Have you pressed record?"

"Yeah, yeah. Oh my gosh I can't believe I'm on TV! Singing!"

"Yeah." Troy laughed. "A far cry from karaoke, huh?"

Gabriella let out a grin.

"Yeah, baby." she glanced at him and kissed him on the cheek.

--------------------------

"Did you see it?"

"Yeah! It was awesome, I'm so proud of her. I take it she's completely buzzing."

"Yeah." Troy laughed. "She is. She's even got promo coming up for the single and stuff."

"You guys and your flourishing careers." Chad sighed. "I need to drop out of college and get a job."

"Don't you dare."

"Oh, I won't." Chad laughed.

"Good. Okay Gabs just came in, I better go. But I'll see you tomorrow."

Troy hung up the phone, and stood up to greet Gabriella.

"Hey baby." She grinned. "Are you busy next week Thursday?"

"Um…" Troy thought to himself. "I have practice. We have a game on Friday."

"What time will you finish?"

"I should be home by about 4. Why?" Troy smiled.

"There's just this, thing…. A movie…." Gabriella grinned. "premiere in LA I've been invited to."

"A movie premiere? Awesome! Which one?"

"Bears 2. It's an all-star cast voicing the characters too. Will you come with me?" Gabriella beamed.

"Sure." Troy smiled, then frowned. "Aw, I'm gonna have to dress up, aren't I? And people will be… looking at me."

"Looking at you, yeah… as opposed to when you play basketball games, no one watches you then."

"It's different!"

"Whatever. I'll book us some flights, just meet me at the airport after practice."

"Okay baby."

-------------------------

The next Monday, Troy was playing a game. Since the whole JP thing, Troy's feelings for Gary had waned somewhat. He still wasn't bad to look at but… Troy had been liberated.

When a time-out was called, something occurred to Troy. JP. JP loved coming to the Thunderbirds games. Was he out there watching?

He looked out briefly to the crowd. No sign of JP. Troy breathed a sigh of relief, but actually felt a little disappointed. As he turned to listen to his team mates, he saw a familiar face in the distance just behind one of his team mates. JP.

He wasn't sure if JP could see him. He seemed to be looking in his direction. Troy stood up straight and threw a smile over to him. Troy felt a flutter in his heart as JP gave a small wave back.

At half time, Troy snuck out onto the stands and approached JP.

"Hey." He gave a small smile.

"Troy." JP nodded and smiled. "How's it going?"

"Good, good." Troy folded his arms, nervously. The two of them sat in a few seconds of agonising silence.

"Um…" JP broke the silence. "Did you get my note?"

"Yeah." Troy nodded slowly, and smiled, looking into JP's eyes. "I did. Thanks."

"I take it, you, um…." JP fidgeted.

"Um…" Troy was equally lost for words. "I'm still… yeah. Actually my girlfriend's here, watching."

"Oh…" JP nodded. "Okay. I get it."

"Just so you know, though…" Troy whispered. "I missed you too."

JP sighed and smiled.

"You're a cool guy, Troy." JP sighed. "But you need to get your life together."

----------------------

Thursday came around, and Troy made his way to the airport. He was crazy nervous - when he was on the court, he was playing the game he loved, the game he was good at. But now he had to put on a suit and stand in front of people while they took pictures of him. Showbiz was scary.

When he arrived, Gabriella was waiting for him.

"Hey baby, our flight leaves in an hour, everything's sorted. Let's go get some food. We can go through to the gate in fifteen."

Troy scratched his arm. As if he wasn't nervous enough about the premiere, he was gonna have to fly as well.

"Eat, Troy." Gabriella said when the two of them sat down for a small dinner.

"I'm too nervous."

"About the premiere or the flying?"

"A horrible combination of both." Troy said, looking a little green.

"I'm here for you." Gabriella smiled at Troy. He weakly smiled back and squeezed her hand.

-------------------

Troy just about managed to get through the flight, but he felt rough. Which made him even more nervous about the premiere, because the whole world was about to see him looking green and unwell.

He finished tying his tie and put his suit jacket on.

"I think I'm gonna be sick." Troy's bottom lip quivered as Gabriella pulled on her dress.

"Baby, you're gonna be fine, I'm here to hold your hand, just smile and you'll look gorgeous."

Troy looked at himself in the mirror.

"I look terrible."

Gabriella grinned and picked up her make-up bag.

"We can fix that."

"Ohh, no no no." Troy shook his head. "You are not putting make-up on me."

"We've got a while, let's compromise - I'll make you up, then if you don't like it, we'll take it all off. No harm done."

"Um…." Troy looked at his face in the mirror. "Okay."

Ten minutes later, Troy looked at himself in the mirror again.

"Oh my gosh, you're right! I look great!" Troy grinned to himself. "My lady, you are certainly an artist."

"Told you. I'm telling you, no one's gonna know. Let's go."

-----------------

The next day, Troy left Gabriella to take the train to his game in Idaho. He picked up a magazine at the train station and eagerly flipped through the pages.

"Up and coming star Gabriella Montez with boyfriend, NBA D-League player Troy Bolton"

Troy didn't even know how they knew his name or who he was. He almost felt upset, though, at the picture of them. Gabriella looked absolutely stunning. They looked amazing together and it was a shame they were soon to break up. Troy's throat tightened and tears pricked his eyes. The thought of breaking Gabriella's heart was too much to even think about.

He was distracted when his phone buzzed in his pocket. He took it out and saw Ryan's name on the display.

"Hey, Ry." He sighed.

"Woah. You sound happy." Ryan sarcastically commented. "For a celebrity."

"So I guess you saw my face plastered somewhere or another."

"Maybe. Are you wearing make up?"

"Oh my gosh! Gab said no one would know."

"Well I guess I'm extra special. Anyway - you two look very happy together."

"Ryan…"

"Are you ever gonna tell her? Are you?"

"Of course I am."

"I just…" Ryan sighed. "I don't want to see you live a lie."

Troy agreed with Ryan, he couldn't live a lie. But the timing was wrong. Gabriella was so ecstatic about her career finally blossoming. But then… would the time ever be right?