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

A/N: Hiya! I'd like to start out by apologizing for my lack of updating. I'm a terrible updater and I know it. I really can't thank you guys enough for sticking with me!

I'd also like to send a very special belated birthday wish to Brie! This chapter is for you! Happy Birthday!!

Enjoy…

Last Time…

She couldn't breathe, she felt like she had lost a part of herself. In some ways she really had. She had let go of some of the people who were most important to her. It hurt so much more this time than it had when she'd been taken from Albuquerque because this time she felt like she was losing them forever. She also knew that this would hurt them probably just as badly as it hurt her. That, in turn, killed her inside because the last thing she wanted to do was hurt her friends.

Gazing back up at her broken eyes she prayed that she had made the right decision. She was confident however that he had done just that. That she was, in fact, protecting her family.

Chapter Twenty Six – Now What?

Damn it!

Troy pounded his fist of his desk. He had just read the e-mail Gabriella had sent that afternoon. The e-mail that explained Gabriella's wish to be left alone.

Troy hadn't wanted to believe Sharpay when she came marching down the hallway after school with her blackberry in one hand, the other on her hip and an angry expression on her face. She had shoved her bedazzled blackberry at Troy while she dramatically expressed her shock. He hadn't wanted to believe her right then and there because he was fairly certain he wouldn't have been able to hold it together in school.

So instead of staying with his friends to discuss the latest development he'd gotten into his car and driven home, the long way. Truthfully he'd been afraid of reading the e-mail again. He'd known what it said, but sitting at home reading it for himself would have brought a whole new perspective to the e-mail.

However, he had finally trudged up to his room and turned on his computer. He had opened his e-mail and read the e-mail slowly and carefully, hoping to catch a mistake within the document. After 20 minutes of reading and re-reading the e-mail he had finally decided that there was nothing cryptic about the e-mail and that Gabriella truly did just want to be left alone. This realization brought Troy to his current state.

He had his elbows on his desk as he rubbed his forehead with his fingers.

Now what?

He knew he had to do something. Right? If he did as Gabriella had asked him and left her alone, then she would be "safe". According to her note, letting her be would keep her safe, but how could she be safe with her father still keeping her under his watch?

He didn't know if he could handle forgetting Gabriella and leaving her be. On the other hand, he couldn't be selfish. He needed to do what was best for Gabriella. If he just had ten minutes to talk to her about what was going on he could figure out what the right thing to do was.

Troy let out a long, frustrated sigh. He was so confused. What the hell was he going to do? With his head in his hands, he let his brain mull through all the information he'd been given as he sat in silence.

He groaned, however, when he felt his phone buzzing in his pocket. Pulling the phone from his pocket he groaned again when he saw it was his brother calling. Opening it up he answered soundly slightly annoyed,

"No, I haven't watched the Suns game yet. I've only just gotten back from school."

"Well aren't you just Mr. Happy this afternoon," Alex responded sarcastically.

"Alex I'm really not in the mood," Troy sighed, "What do you want?"

"Can't a brother just call his only brother to say hello?" he asked innocently.

Troy snorted, "Yeah, but this brother's brother never does that. In fact, the brother I know hates it when certain siblings cough, cough Nora, call just to say hello."

"Touché. Well I wasn't originally calling because of the Suns game, but dude since you brought it up, you have to watch that game. Shaq made this amazing shot. It was gold. You should watch it like now," Alex rambled.

"Ok. Ok. I'll watch soon as I get the chance. Why'd you really call?"

"Well, yesterday Cassie and I went to visit her parents in Charlotte. Cassie of course wanted to go to her favorite restaurant in this town like 20 minutes away. We decided to meet her parents at the restaurant, so we were walking down the street and you'll never guess who I literally bumped into."

As if Alex could see him, Troy shrugged his shoulders, "I don't know. Who?"

"Come on Troy, guess." Alex encouraged.

Troy groaned in annoyance. "I don't know, Obama?" he guessed randomly.

Alex snorted, "Obama? Seriously? No. I told her she'd knocked some sense into you, obviously I was wrong though because you still don't have any sense."

"Dude what are you even talking about?"

The older Bolton brother chuckled, "You just proved my point with that last question. Gabriella. I saw Gabriella."

Troy couldn't breathe. A wave of emotion came over him that he wasn't really prepared for. He was jealous, jealous that his brother had gotten to see Gabriella while Troy was without her.

What was he supposed to say? Obviously he wanted to know every detail of their encounter down to the pitch of her voice. The problem arose, however, when he tried to figure out how he was going to ask his brother about it without telling him what was going on.

"Not so fast with the comebacks anymore are we?" Alex mocked.

"Ha. Ha. Funny," Troy laughed dryly, snapping out of his thoughts. "How was she?" he asked curiously.

"Well I didn't talk to her for very long, we had to go and she had to go and we just didn't talk for very long. She said she was ok though," Alex answered.

Troy sighed, what Gabriella said wasn't always how she felt.

"Did she look happy?" Troy asked anxiously.

"Uh…yes?" Alex offered.

Troy sighed, he could tell Alex had absolutely no idea what he was saying and was just trying to please Troy. It was then that Troy heard rustling and annoyed muttering from the other end of the line. Furrowing his eyebrows he waited for a few moments until,

"Troy? Are you still there?" a feminine voice came over the phone, "It's Cassie."

"And I'm still here" Alex cut in, reminding his brother of his presence.

"Hey Cassie," Troy greeted.

"What your brother failed to notice was that I thought Gabriella looked not only surprised to see us, but also relieved in a way. I mean she seemed really genuinely sweet, but she also seemed to be stressed out," Cassie explained. "Have you talked to her lately?" she asked.

"Uh, we e-mail mostly," Troy admitted, though he was getting more and more concerned as Cassie presented him with more information. "Why? Did she seem ok?"

"Truthfully Troy, she looked exhausted. It might just be that she has a ton of work at school, but you should really give her a call. It's much easier to hide your feelings through e-mail. If you talk with her for a while you'll be able to get some things out of her. Besides that's what boyfriends do, they call their girlfriends," Cassie encouraged.

"You really should listen to Cassie man, she's pretty smart when it comes to people. And come to think of it, Gabi did look a little frailer than the last time I saw her," Alex said.

Troy sighed. That hadn't quite been what he'd wanted to hear, but what else was he expecting?

"So, we gotta get to an evening class tonight, but don't worry too much about Gabriella man, I'm sure she's fine. Just give her a call. Maybe she just got sick," Alex suggested.

"I will. Thanks for the call," Troy responded, trying not to sound too upset about everything.

"No problem. Say hello to mom and dad for me, will you? I'll talk to you soon man. And watch that game!"

Troy chuckled slightly, "Will do. Bye."

"Adios."

Troy pressed the end button and closed his phone, squeezing it tightly in his hand.

Shit.

--

"There is no way we are just leaving her there with that monster!" Taylor argued.

"What if what Gabriella says is true? What if there are lives at stake here? We can't risk getting involved," Kelsi retorted.

The entire gang was sitting in Sharpay's fully furnished basement, arguing about what they wanted to do next. After a whole day to mull over everything no one could come up with a solution that would please everyone.

"She's already unhealthy Kelsi! I spoke to my brother yesterday, he saw her, frail was the word her used. Frail!" Troy fired back. "How can we just sit here when we know she's miserable?"

"At least she's still alive Troy!" Ryan countered. "There is no doubt in my mind that if Mr. Montez has threatened Gabriella's life, he will follow through."

"So are you suggesting we just leave her be. We just forget about Gabriella?" Taylor asked angrily.

"No, I'm not saying that. I'm saying we need to find a better way. We need to do what's best for Gabriella," Kelsi replied calmly.

"And how do we know what that is?" Zeke asked rhetorically.

The group paused for a second, Zeke's question had struck them in their cores. How were they going to figure out what was best for Gabriella? There were so many paths to be taken, so many obstacles to overcome, so many outcomes. Which one was best?

Sharpay suddenly got up and grabbed a pad of paper.

"Ok we're making a list," Sharpay announced.

"A list of what?" Ryan asked.

"A list of what Gabriella wants," she answered, putting her pen to the paper, ready to write, "Go."

"Well, she wants us to leave her alone," Jason recalled.

"Does she really though?" Taylor challenged. "Or does she just want to keep her siblings safe?"

"If she wanted to be left alone she wouldn't have been e-mailing us all this time," Troy pointed out. "She definitely just wants to keep Luc and Lily safe."

"So, she wants to keep Luc and Lily safe but she still wants us to help her?" Sharpay clarified before she wrote it down. "What else?"

"She is terrified of being separate from her brother and sister. We need to make sure that whatever happens, they are all kept together," Troy reminded the group.

"Well then, that's eliminates foster care as a possible solution," Taylor pointed out. "The foster care system usually separates siblings, not always because it wants to, but because people can't usually take in too many children."

"Woah! Wait, slow down." Chad held up his hands, "I think we're moving a bit fast here. Were you seriously considering the foster care system?"

"Yes, the foster care system is definitely an option. In Gabriella's case it's not the best one, but it is an option. Something drastic has to happen in order to fix this," Taylor explained seriously. "We need to figure out 3 things. First, how to get Gabriella out of the situation she's in. Second, what to do after that. Like, where she'll live, who she'll live with. And third we need to figure which one makes Gabriella the happiest and safest."

"So if foster care is out of the question, what else is there?" Chad wondered.

"Oo! Oo!" Sharpay exclaimed, banging her pen in the air, "What about that thing, where a minor can file to by herself. Like Nathan on One Tree Hill! Oh! Student emancipation!"

Chad rolled his eyes, "Are you kidding Sharpay? That show is all made up. I mean come on, what about the psychotic Nanny who was chasing Jaime through that corn field? What the hell was that? Oh and then when Deb killed her with a beer bottle. I don't think anything ever happens like that in real life."

The gang stared at Chad with their mouths open.

Sharpay laughed disbelievingly, "You watch One Tree Hill? Chad Danforth, Mr. I hate drama."

Chad turned red very quickly and stuttered as he tried to cover his tracks, "No. I don't watch it. I, uh, Taylor makes me watch it!" he pointed to his girlfriend quickly.

Sharpay scoffed, "Right, ok. I don't see why you wouldn't like it though, there's a lot of basketball stuff in it. But for your information student emancipation, as it's called, is actually possible. I would know, I tried one when I was in 8th grade."

"But would a court really give a sixteen year old girl custody of her two siblings? I have no doubt that if anyone could get student emancipation, it would be Gabriella, but I think it would be tough for her to get custody of her brother and sister," Taylor reasoned.

"Well then that puts that in the no pile, Gabriella would never forgive herself if she let her brother and sister go," Troy sighed.

"So no foster care system, no student emancipation. Where else can she go?" Zeke questioned.

"What about her extended family?" Kelsi suggested, "Aunts? Uncles?"

Troy shook his head, "She doesn't have any Aunts or Uncles, both her parents were only children. The only relative she has ever spoken of is her grandmother."

"That's perfect!" Ryan exclaimed, "Where does she live?"

Troy winced silently. "She lives in Spain. I don't even know her name," he trailed off wearily.

A frustrated silence fell over the gang again as they hit another wall. On top of all that, they were out of ideas. Where else could Gabriella realistically go?

"Wait…" Sharpay tapped her pen against her cheek as she thought something through, "Ah ha!" she exclaimed, lifting her pen in celebration. "So, we're pretty much decided that the best option would be for Gabriella's grandmother to gain custody of her grandchildren. Right?" Sharpay looked around the gang for reassurance.

"But Shar, we're been over this, Gabriella's grandma lives in Spain. I don't even know where in Spain she lives. And on top of all that, I don't even have a first name," Troy reminded Sharpay dejectedly.

"Don't worry about that for just now, we'll get to that. For now though we have to be sure that that is the best option," Sharpay clarified. She looked around the group to make sure they all seemed to think it was. When the group nodded their heads, she continued, "Ok. So all we have to do is call her." Sharpay shrugged her shoulders as if it was simple.

Zeke, who was sitting next to Sharpay, placed his hand on her forearm, "Sweetie, Troy just reminded us, we don't have a way to contact her."

"Oh we will though," Sharpay grinned. "You see, a while back Daddy needed a PI to investigate one of his business partners. And she did such an amazing job that anytime we need anything found out discretely she helps us out. So I'll just give him a call and he'll get us a name and a number." Sharpay explained happily.

"Are you sure PIs can do that? I mean find people we pretty much have no idea about?" Chad questioned skeptically.

"Let's find out" Sharpay smirked, scrolling through her contacts. After finding the number, she put the phone on speaker phone so the whole group could hear.

Ring…Ring…Ring…

"Kate Beckett."

"Hi Kate, it's Sharpay Evans"

"Oh Sharpay, it's lovely to hear from you. How are you?" Kate asked enthusiastically.

"Fabulous, as always. And you?"

"I'm well thank you. What can I do for you today?" she asked.

"Well, I actually have someone I need you to find for my friends and me."

"Ok." Kate seemed shocked by Sharpay's request. "Who?"

"My friend's grandmother," Sharpay answered succinctly.

"If she's your friend Sharpay why don't you just ask her yourself?"

Sharpay sighed, "It's a really long story, but basically I don't have contact with her anymore. I just really really need to get a hold of her grandmother's telephone number and name. Is that possible?"

"Anything is possible Sharpay. I'll do my best. How much do you know?"

"Let's see, I know she lives in Spain. Her granddaughter's name is Gabriella Montez, who currently lives and has lived in Belmont, North Carolina. Um, Gabriella has a brother and sister, Lucas and Lily. Oh! And her Dad's name is Tomas," Sharpay recalled.

"And is this her father's mother or her mother's mother?" Kate asked.

"Uh…" Sharpay trailed off, looking around the group for help.

"Her mother's mother," Troy answered quickly. "And if it helps I know her grandmother bakes delicious mantecados," he added.

"And what's her mother's name?"

"I don't know," Troy replied softly. "Gabriella's mom left them when Gabriella was 10. She doesn't really speak much of her mother."

"Oh dear," Kate murmured. "I'll do my very best to find her. Just a warning though, it may take a while," she warned.

"We understand. Thank you Kate," Sharpay said.

"I'll be in touch." Kate stated before she hung up.

Sharpay pressed the end button and looked up around the group. There was a mix of emotion in the air: elief, concern, anxiety, helpless.

"Now what?" Chad wondered.

"Now we wait." Sharpay answered simply.

A/N: So I hope you all enjoyed this chapter even though it was kind of a filler chapter. I'm really excited for the next chapter! Like really excited! Hopefully you'll all enjoy it!

Do I have any Castle or One Tree Hill fans out there? If so, I hope you enjoyed the references!

Thank you for reading! Please review!