Disclaimer: I do not own High School Musical or any of its characters.

A/N: Ok….so I was about half way through writing this chapter when I realized it wasn't working out. So, I deleted the entire thing and started over. This chapter is all about Gabriella, so we're going to travel back in time a little. This chapter will start just after Gabriella opened the door. Enjoy…

Last Time…

A few minutes later there was a knock on the door. She rolled her eyes, figuring it was Troy. Part of her was annoyed that he'd come back after she'd told him to go to the party, but more of her and happy he'd come back. She hadn't wanted him to go, but she knew that he would be missing out if he didn't go.

She unlocked the door and pulled it open,

"Troy, I told you not to-" Gabriella stopped mid sentence, fear filling her eyes. Her heart stopped. She couldn't breathe. She couldn't move. She couldn't say anything. She didn't know what to do. She was paralyzed.

"Hello Gabriella."

It was definitely not Troy at the door.

Chapter Twenty Two – Departure

Gabriella's first instinct was to slam the door in her father's face, so that's exactly what she proceed to do. However, her father's hand reached out to stop the door before Gabriella could shut it. She tried, desperately, to shut the door against her father's hand but he was much stronger than she and was easily able to keep the door exactly where he wanted.

Tomas Montez chuckled dryly as he pushed the door open, "Now sweetie, you wouldn't want to shut your old man out would you?"

Gabriella tried to push the door one last time with all her might, but her father simply pushed harder and before she knew what was happening, her father was standing in front of her in her apartment.

She took a step back, her body instinctively shaking with fear.

"What…what do you want?" she asked fearfully.

"I just came to find my children. I've missed you so much." He moved closer to Gabriella, trying to hug her. Gabriella put her hands up almost immediately and backed up.

"Don't touch me," Gabriella warned her voice slow and shaky. Her father's brown eyes narrowed as he took yet another step towards his daughter. Gabriella continued to back up until her back hit the wall. She gasped quietly from both shock and fear.

"What did you say?" he demanded in a way that almost gave her a chance to take back what she had said. Gabriella swallowed,

"I said," she paused, trying to regain her confidence, "don't touch me."

Gabriella whimpered as Tomas slapped her across the face.

"Bitch! You have no right to speak to your father like that. I'll do whatever I want." His voice was cold, hard and cruel. "How dare you leave me and take Lucas and Lily with you!" He was angry now. Gabriella closed her eyes, terrified he would strike her again. "Now, are you going to come quietly or do I have to make this miserable for you?"

Gabriella felt a single tear fall from her eye as she nodded her head slowly.

"That's what I thought. Pack up everything and I'm taking you way back home. Don't you even think about making any phone calls," Tomas instructed sternly. "I'll give you, oh about half an hour. Go." He took a step back, so Gabriella could go into the bedrooms to pack their belongings.

She passed Lucas and Lily's room and thought for just a moment about waking them up so they could help her, but quickly shook her head. They deserved just a little while longer of their sweet dreams. Gabriella made her way into her bedroom, stumbling through the doorway. She pulled her suitcase from the top shelf of her closet and dragged it to the bottom of the bed. She grabbed all the clothes from her closet in one sweep and fell to her knees as she pulled the hangers off so she could fold the clothes into the suitcase.

As she folded a sob escaped her mouth. She couldn't believe this was happening. How had he found them? She thought she had been careful in covering her tracks. She'd erased all the history on her computer, she'd taken the map with her. What had she done wrong? How could she have failed? And now what? She couldn't go back to the life she had previously known. She couldn't let Lucas and Lily go back there either. Another sob fell through her lips as she thought about the horrific repercussions of her father's return.

Gabriella dragged the suitcase over to her chest of drawers, so she could simply dump her things into the suitcase. Standing up was not going to be an option, she was far too overwhelmed for that. By the time all her clothing was in the suitcase it was full. She fumbled with the zipper, her shakiness making the usually simple task of shutting a suitcase extremely difficult.

Using the bed, Gabriella pulled herself up so she could grab another bag to fill with her more personal belongings. She started filling the bag with the contents from the top of her chest of drawers. She moved over to her bed and started grabbing things from her bedside table. She froze when her eyes landed on the picture on her bedside table. The picture of people who had become so very important to her: Taylor, Kelsi, Chad, Zeke, Sharpay, Jason, Ryan and most of all, Troy.

That was when she crumbled.

Yet another pain-filled sob radiated throughout the room as Gabriella pulled the treasured photograph close to her chest and fell back on her knees. What was this going to do to them? They would have no explanation for her sudden disappearance. How would they handle that? Surely they would hate her. Her head fell back, trying to stifle another heartbreaking cry as the horrid thoughts raced through her mind.

She shook her head. No. No, she couldn't let that happen. She couldn't do that to them. She just couldn't. But what was she going to do? There was no way she was getting out of here safely. There was no way she'd be able to leave them a note explaining the whole truth. She was stuck.

Gabriella tried desperately to think of what she should do, but there were too many thoughts racing through her brain, clouding her thinking process. Gently, she laid the frame in the bag, as her mind continued to try to clear her brain.

It wasn't working though. Her usual quick-thinking brain was coming up with nothing. Both her hands flew up to her heart as she felt her herself breaking further. It was then that her fingers touched the metal of Troy's ring. She squeezed it tightly, as if by some miracle it would make Tory appear in front of her. It wasn't quite able to do just that, but a sudden wave of calm fell over her. She seemed to forget all the awful that currently surrounded her and was able to think clearly.

If she couldn't leave a note that blatantly explained what happened, she would have to leave one that gave clues as to what had happened.

She quickly stood up, wiping the stream of tears from her eyes and glanced frantically around the room looking for something, anything to write on. She grabbed a piece of paper and a pen from her backpack and quickly started to write. Troy would be the first one in her apartment, so she addressed it to him. She signed her name and folded it once, writing Troy's name on the outside. She placed the note and her favorite book on her suitcase so she wouldn't forget to place them before she left.

She quickly finished up packing her room and made her way, quietly, into Lucas and Lily's room. They were still sound asleep. She had to cover her mouth to prevent a painful whimper from escaping from her lips. In just a few minutes she would have to wake them up and tell them news she knew they never wanted to hear again.

Gabriella managed to pack up all their things without waking her beloved siblings. She dragged their suitcases out into the hallway where hers was. Grabbing the very last suitcase, she began to fill it with all their books and toys, while her father towered over her.

Gabriella watched, terrified, as he went over to inspect the suitcases she had already packed. She closed her eyes tightly when she saw him pick up the note she had written. She prayed he would allow it, that he wouldn't notice the hidden message she'd embedded in it. Her eyes shot open when her father's gruff voice demanded,

"What's this?"

Gabriella stood up very slowly her hands shaking. "It's…it's a note so…so people don't worry something has happened to me," she lied. She watched her father's face, hoping he would allow it, he had to. She hoped her lie was enough to convince him.

"That boy that left not too long ago, was that Troy?" he asked.

Gabriella nodded.

"I suppose then it's best he know it's over. That is, if for some reason he cares about you." Tomas snickered at his last statement. "You have 5 minutes by the way. Where are Lucas and Lily?"

"I'll go get them," Gabriella whispered.

"Good, I'm going to start bringing this stuff to the car. I am warning you though, if I come back and you're not here, I will kill you." Gabriella's father's voice was dead serious. Gabriella felt tears run down her cheeks as she watched him leave. She grabbed the note and the book then placed them on a small wooden table with a potted flower on top.

She took a deep, shaky breath before she made her way into the twin's room. She fiercely fought back tears as she turned on the light. She had to be strong for them.

She shook Lucas first, "Lucas. Lucas you have to wake up." When Gabriella saw he was waking up she walked over to Lily's bed and shook her, "Lily. Lily you need to get up."

She backed away from their beds so she could wait for them to be fully awake before she explained what was happening. She figured it was better she tell them at the same time.

Lucas and Lily soon sat up in their beds, rubbing their eyes sleepily.

"What's going on?" Lucas asked groggily.

"Have you been crying Gabi?" Lily asked, confused. Gabriella looked up trying desperately not to break down again. She looked back at her brother and sister, who were looking at her with big, tired, confused eyes. Where was she even supposed to begin? She took a deep breath,

"He's back," She whispered.

"Who's back? Troy?" Lily asked.

Gabriella shook her head; oh she wished it was Troy who had come back.

"No, Daddy's back."

Gabriella watched as all color drained from her siblings' faces. She watched as pain and fear filled their eyes.

"He's taking us home," Gabriella whispered.

"No!" Lily shrieked jumping out of her bed. "No! How could you let this happen?" Lily ran towards Gabriella, anger filling her eyes. Gabriella caught Lily, before she tried to run out into the hall. Lily started hitting Gabriella absolutely distraught. Soon Lily's hateful words turned to sobs and her hitting slowed. Gabriella pulled Lily close, hugging her tightly.

"I didn't mean what I said. I'm just scared," Lily mumbled.

"I know. I know," Gabriella whispered.

By this time Lucas had gotten out of bed, tears filling his eyes as well. Gabriella pulled him into the hug.

"We're going to get through this," Gabriella promised.

--

It had been 3 days since Tomas Montez had invaded his children's blissful life, dragging them back home. It had taken over a full 24 hours of driving to reach home, so because of the need to rest, the Montez's had walked through their front door on Sunday.

Gabriella had tried to escape up to her room as soon as they'd gotten home, but she'd had no such luck. Her father had been furious with her for leaving him. After pushing her brother and sister up the stairs, Gabriella had received the worst beating she'd received to date. Her father had screamed at her, calling her cruel names. It had been then, as he yelled Gabriella had realized why there hadn't been this outburst when he'd first arrived. People would have heard. The apartments were too close, but here, in their house, no one could her Gabriella's whimpers or her father's angry yelling.

Gabriella was currently lying in her bed, in the dark, staring out her window at the bright moon. It was very late; almost 3 in the morning, but Gabriella couldn't sleep. The Advil she had taken just before going to bed was beginning to wear off. Her muscles were starting to ache again and the bruises on her back started to pang despite being rested on the soft mattress. She daren't move from her position in fear that another pain would shoot through her body.

The physical pain however couldn't even compare to the severity of the emotional pain she felt. She was broken. She had spent months healing, and it had taken only a few moments for her heart to shatter again.

She was so terrified. Her worst fear had come true – she was back at the mercy of her merciless father. Lucas and Lily had already come crying to her and she'd already been beaten more than once. Things had fallen back to, if not gotten worse than the way they had been before she'd run away.

In some ways it felt like her months in Albuquerque had been a dream. But they couldn't have been though; she had so many vivid memories and memorabilia from Albuquerque. Gabriella whimpered as she reached out to grab the framed picture of the gang from her bedside table. She propped it up on her stomach, so she could see the picture clearly.

It had been taken at Sharpay's Christmas party. The whole gang had been dancing when the picture had been snapped so no one was looking at the camera, but that was what Gabriella loved so much about it. She could see the pure joy on each person's face without it being covered by a plastered on smile. Yes, those photo's were nice, she had plenty of posed shots of her and her friends. However, there was just something about the fact that all the people had been completely in their element that made the picture so special to Gabriella.

God she missed her friends. She missed the feeling of going to bed, knowing that in the morning she'd wake up to friends she knew cared for her. She couldn't help but wonder what they were doing, how they were doing. She wondered what they were thinking, if they'd seen the clues.

She let out a sigh when she realized her eyes had been focused on one particular person: Troy. She missed him the most, easily. To be honest she wasn't sure how she had survived before she'd met him. She needed him now. She hoped the separation wouldn't last too long because truthfully she wasn't sure how long she could last without him. It sounded slightly silly when she thought about it rationally. A teenager couldn't need another teenager, especially after only knowing the other teenager for 5 months. But it was true. She had grown so attached to Troy, so very in love with him. So much so that now she felt empty without him. He had become a part of her. She hadn't quite realized how serious their relationship was until she felt the pain of being away from her beloved.

She closed her eyes, trying to pretend that Troy was holding her, comforting her. She thought back to Sharpay's party, where she'd woken up in his warm, strong arms. She remembered opening her eyes that morning only to see Troy's sleeping face just above hers. She remembered feeling his chest rising and falling under her head and his strong arm wrapped around her, drawing her in closer. She remembered being slightly shocked at first, not remembering how she'd gotten into this position, but then she'd realized just how natural the position felt, how lovely it was. She remembered snuggling closer – if that was possible – and falling back asleep.

As she lay in her bed with her eyes closed, she could hear Troy's soothing voice lulling her to sleep. She could feel his gentle touch. She could see his face, smiling at her. Those three things were what enabled Gabriella to fall asleep that night because they provided with the only comfort she could get.

A/N: I hope it didn't confuse you too much. Gabriella's all caught up time wise with Troy and gang. I think I might switch off chapters, one Gabriella and one Albuquerque. Or I could do half each. What do you think? Please review! Thank you for reading!

Happy Easter! I hope you all got lots of chocolate! :D