A/N I DO NOT OWN ANYTHING! I ONLY OWN THIS PLOT! Thanks to my beta Elena Rain! Now just to give you guys a heads up, I'll be going out of town for a little while so I won't be updating for 2 weeks the longest but I promise when I get back I'll do my best to give you guys another update. On with the chapter:

Monday came quickly and to say Gabriella was scared was an understatement. She was shaking beyond control and all but hyperventilating where she stood in front of the school building. "I can't….I can't go….in…in there." She gasped out.

"Gabriella, Angel, I understand you're scared but you need to breathe. I'm right here. I'm not going to let anybody hurt you." Troy told her.

"He's….he's going to…to kill me."

"No one is going to kill you. Gabriella. I promise you'll be perfectly safe."

"Please don't…don't leave…me."

"I promise, I'm not going anywhere."

He took her hand and together they walked inside. They got their books and everything for the new semester.

"Mrs. Darbus for home room and drama again…great." Troy groaned.

"W-w-we ha-ha- sec-sec-second period a-a-part." Gabriella stuttered.

Troy sighed. The more scared she got the harder she was getting to understand.

"Brie, listen to me, I'm not going to let anyone or anything hurt you. I'll protect you always, I promise."

Gabriella just looked to him his eyes full of fear. Troy kissed her head and pulled her into his arms. He wrapped them tightly and protectively around her waist. She cuddled closer to him and relaxed instantly. She always felt the safest in Troy's arms. It was something she'd never be able to explain but it just happens.

Her breathing returned to normal and she stopped shaking.

"That's my girl, just relax. You're safe now. Nothing can hurt you."

They walked together, like that, to homeroom. Troy sat down keeping Gabriella in his arms. He kissed her head.

"You feel like sitting in your own seat?"

She shook her head.

He chuckled.

"Are you sure?"

She nodded.

"Ok, what about the seat next to me?"

She shook her head. "I'm not leaving your arms."

He smiled softly and kissed her temple. "Baby, nobody is going to hurt you. I promise."

"They will if you're not holding me."

Troy sighed. He loved her and he'd do anything for her but she had to see that she was safe here, even if he wasn't holding her. He stood up and sat her down at the desk next to his. She whimpered. He knelt down by her.

"I'm right here. Nobody is going to hurt you. I promise."

He kissed her forehead and sat back down in his chair. Gabriella started to shake again as her breathing increased. Troy sighed. He forced himself not to take her back into his arms. She had to see that she was safe and she had to realize that nobody was going to hurt her. He stayed strong…until she started to cry. Her tears were his one true weakness. He could never deny her anything when she was crying. He quickly lifted her back into his arms and settled her on his lap. He scratched her back and kissed the back of her head gently until she calmed down. Gabriella calmed down until "he" walked into the room. Gabriella whimpered instantly curling herself into a ball and trying to hide herself in Troy's chest.

"It's ok it's ok. I'm right here, shhh, shhh." Troy soothed. Of course the boy sat right next to him. He looked over at Gabriella and smirked. "Hey, Gabriella, long time no see."

Gabriella actually screamed. Troy growled. He had done that just to upset her. He hugged her close and rubbed her back. "Shhh you're safe. I'm right here, you're safe. I promise. Shh." He cooed.

Gabriella uncurled herself but stayed close to Troy in his arms on his lap. She felt safe as long as Troy's arms were around her.

Mrs. Darbus walked in and sat on her chair. She looked at Troy and Gabriella.

"Mr. Bolton, Ms. Montez I understand you are a couple but there is no need for you two to sit like that. Please move right now."

"No." Troy said firmly. "Neither of us are moving."

"Excuse me? Mr. Bolton do you plan on letting Gabriella sit with you the entire class?"

"Yes, actually I do. Got a problem with that?"

He knew he was asking for trouble but he promised Carlos he'd keep Gabriella safe and comfortable. He would keep that promise no matter what it took.

"Mr. Bolton, do you really want detention on your first day back?"

"No, I don't want detention, but if that's the price I've got to pay for my girlfriend feeling safe and comfortable, than great sign me up."

Gabriella sighed. She slowly stood up and moved to the open seat behind Troy. She didn't want him to get detention because of her.

"Much better, Ms. Montez a reminder you're 17 years old. Not four, you don't need to be held 24/7 like some kind of baby. "

A few kids laughed. Gabriella turned red and buried her face in her hands. Troy growled. So far today was turning out to be a terrible day.

After homeroom was over Troy got up and went over to Gabriella. He rubbed her back; she had spent the entire class with her face buried. She looked up at him with red puffy eyes and tear stains on her cheeks.

"Oh Brie…"

His heart broke. She had spent the entire class crying silently. He took her back into his arms and held her close rubbing her back. She calmed down instantly. She buried her face in his shoulder and clung to him tightly, and wrapped her legs around his waist."

Troy carried her out of the room. He honestly didn't know where to take her. She was supposed to go to math next but she didn't seem to want to leave him, but if he took her to practice there was a sure change she'd see "him" again.

"Baby, tell me what you want to do. I will take you to practice with me if you want or I can leave you at Math with Taylor. She'll look out for you."

Gabriella whimpered and just clung tighter to him. Troy sighed. He kissed her cheek. "Come on, talk to me, Angel, what do you want?"

"I want to stay right here." She whimpered.

"Brie, even if you come to practice with me, I won't be able to hold you."

"Can we go home?"

"Do you really feel that uncomfortable here?"

She nodded. "Please, just take me home."

Troy sighed. "Both our parents are working. You'd be home alone."

"You'd be with me."

"I'd have to come back to school."

She whimpered. Troy sighed. He knew deep down it was best to keep her from the gym. So that's what he would do. He walked to the classroom and went inside. He sat Gabriella down on the stools she whimpered. He smiled softly and started to smother her face with kisses. She giggled and brought her hands up to cover her face when she did that Troy's hands went to her ribs and tickled her.

She shrieked and quickly pushed his hands away uncovering her face allowing him to continue with the kisses. It was an endless battle. When she tried to cover her face he tickled her and when he tried to cover her ticklish spots he's kiss her face.

"Troy, stop it."

He chuckled and stopped. He kissed her forehead just once. "You'll be fine here for an hour. I promise. I'll meet you by your locker after practice all right?"

Gabriella sighed and nodded. He kissed her one last time and left the room. Gabriella inhaled and exhaled deeply.

After class Gabriella went to her locker to get her stuff for lunch. She couldn't wait for Troy to get here. She felt a poke in her sides making squeal and spin around.

"Hey, Beautiful, long time no see."

It wasn't Troy. It was her ex-boyfriend. Peter Johnson. He was about 5'9 very muscular, blond hair, green eyes. He was one of the guys you knew just by looking at him you wouldn't want to mess with him. She gulped.

"Um… Hi-Hi, Peter."

"Good to see you again. I missed you so much."

"Um….Hi Peter…."

Peter laughed. "Say you missed me too."

"I….Peter…."

"Yes? Come on say it. I know you want to."

"I….um…..nice weather we're having." She blurted out.

She was so scared that she could barely speak. She just blurted out whatever came into her head. Peter laughed. "I'm hurt; you can't even say the words. After all I've done for you. You repay me by acting like this?"

"I…..um…I….."

"Oh my gosh! Shut up you blubbering idiot!"

Gabriella flinched back hitting the locker. "Please don't hurt me." She whimpered.

He moved closer to her. He pressed his body to hers pinning her against the locker and put his face so close to hers she felt his hot breath on her face.

"Oh, don't worry; I'm not going to hurt you. I will however make you mine again."

"HEY! BACK OFF JOHNSON NOW!"

Peter was pulled off her and she sunk down to the floor suddenly feeling breathless. Someone knelt down in front of her.

"It's ok, you're safe."

It was Chad, but in all honesty, she didn't want Chad. She wanted Troy.

"Troy?" she whimpered.

"He's just finishing up in the shower, he should be here real soon." Chad said softly and gently so he didn't scare her. "Are you ok? Did he touch you?"

"Troy…" she repeated.

Chad sighed. "He'll be here soon. I promise."

A little later Troy came rushing down the halls. He got down by Gabriella.

"Are you ok, Baby, what did he do to you?"

Gabriella reached out to him. Troy took her without question. She buried her face in his shoulder, clung to his shirt, and wrapped her legs around his waist. Troy sighed. He rubbed her back and gently rocked her. He looked to Chad.

Chad shrugged. "When I got here he had her pinned against the locker and his face was inches from hers but that's all I saw."

"Thanks for helping her out. I'm going to take her outside for some fresh air. Can you save us a seat for lunch?"

"Sure, see you later."

Chad walked off. Troy kissed Gabriella on the head and took off to their secret spot.

Once he reached the top he sat down on the bench. He removed Gabriella's face from his shoulder and made her look at him. She whimpered.

"Tell me the truth, what did he do to you? Did he touch you in anyway?"

Gabriella looked around with her eyes and didn't answer.

"Gabriella, look at me." Troy said.

She locked eyes with his.

"Did he touch you physically or sexually?"

"No, no, He didn't….he didn't touch me."

"He just scared you?"

Gabriella nodded.

"He said something to you. I can tell, what was it?"

She didn't answer.

Troy sighed. "Come on, Brie, you've got to talk to me."

She looked down at her hands. Troy sighed once more. He knew she wasn't going to say anything. He kissed her forehead. "Come on, let's go get some lunch."

She just nodded. They locked hands and went to lunch together.

"So what class do you two have next?" Chad asked during lunch.

"Home economics, sounds pretty boring, but it's a requirement if I want to graduate. Brie and I are taking it together." Troy answered

"Is that with Mrs. Thompson?" Taylor asked.

Troy nodded. "You have her too?"

"Yep, she's new here. This is the first class she's teaching here."

"Oh wonderful, so if she stinks we're the first to know." Troy teased.

Gabriella giggled. "If she's good, we're the first to know too."

Everyone laughed.

After lunch everyone went to their next class. Troy and Gabriella took a seat together in the back. Gabriella seemed to be doing much better than she was before. Troy was glad about that.

Peter walked in and sat down in the front. Gabriella whimpered softly but Troy took her hand and kissed it.

Mrs. Thompson walked in. She was about 6'1 long brown hair, bright red glasses, and brown eyes. She was dressed like she was going to meet the president. Some boys wolf whistled. Gabriella rolled her eyes. Troy chuckled.

"Hello, students, my name is Mrs. Thompson. You are not to call me anything else."

She wrote her name on the board. "Now, I know it's your first day back and most teachers go easy on you because of that, but I'm not one of them. I was going to wait on this assignment, but what a better way to get to know each other than a paired assignment. "

Everyone groaned.

"Don't worry its fun. You will all get to be married."

Gabriella's eyes lit up. She got to marry Troy? This would be the best and easiest assignment ever.

"I'll be pairing the partner for this assignment. Once I say your names there will be no going back, no trading or asking me to switch partners. Now, you will be married for 2 weeks, at the end of the week you will both come up here and give an oral report on your marriage and how you made it through the tough times. Whoever gives the best report is will not have to write a 3 page paper on the subject. Any questions?"

No one said anything.

"Ok, let's begin. Troy Bolton you will be paired with Taylor McKessie…."

Gabriella sighed. If Troy was with Taylor who would she be paired with?

"Gabriella Montez you will be paired with…Peter Johnson."

Gabriella turned deathly white. She felt like she was going to throw up. She couldn't breathe. There had to be a mistake. Her heart started to race and she felt really dizzy. There had to be some way out of this…she'd never survive being married to this guy.

When class was over Troy and Gabriella both went up to the teacher's desk.

"Mrs. Thompson, you can't pair Gabriella with Peter. They tried dating once; he beat her to a pulp. Gabriella won't live long enough to give her report."

"Mr. Bolton, I told you before, all marriages are final. Nothing you do or say will change my mind."

"But…." Gabriella started.

"No, buts, if don't do the assignment or divorce Peter you will be getting an F in my class."

"The semester just started!" Troy said.

"Then she better bulk up and work things out with her new husband. Because her marriage is final."

"Please, I'll marry anyone else."

"I have no more to say to you. Please leave."

"But…"

"I said please leave."

Gabriella sighed. Troy took her hand and they walked out of the room. Gabriella's life was just turned into a total nightmare.

After school Gabriella went home, Peter was with her. The faster they got started on the project the faster they could end it.

Peter sat down on the couch and put his feet up on the coffee table.

"All right, so here is how this is going to work. You're the wife so you stay home and you do all the cooking all the cleaning, all the house work. I'll go out make money and when I get home you take care of me. I'm the man so I'm stronger and more powerful than you. You're weak and powerless against me so don't even try to fight it."

"Peter, this is a marriage, I'm not your slave."

"Actually you are. Women's job in life is to be a slave to all men."

"Excuse me, can you repeat that please? I think I just hard you tell my daughter that her job in life was to be your slave. Surely you didn't say that. You and I both know that isn't true." Carlos said as he walked into the room.

Gabriella sighed in relief. She felt a lot better knowing her father was there.

Peter smiled. "Of course, that's what I said. Look, Dude, you're a guy, you know that woman are weak things that are put on this earth to be our slaves."

"Okay. First of all, No matter what else you do or say in this home, do not call me dude. It's Mr. Montez, and second if that is the attitude you're going to have then, I'm pulling my daughter from this project and you will fail the class. So unless you want that you better treat my daughter right."

"Yes, Mrs. Montez." Peter muttered.

Carlos sat down on the chair.

"UM…don't you have somewhere to be?" Peter asked.

"No, I'm very comfortable right here. But don't let me stop you. Go on and work on your project."

Gabriella smiled at her dad. She knew she was safe now. But how long would that last?

Peter finally went home and Gabriella hugged her father tightly. "Thank you for defending me today." She said.

He hugged her back and kissed her. "I'll always defend you. I promise, I'll always be home when you get home from school so you never have to be alone with him, all right?"

Gabriella nodded. "How did you even find out?"

"Troy called me. He told me what happen."

Gabriella smiled. "He was so great at school today. He really made me feel safe."

"Good, I'm glad. I love you."

"I love you too."

Gabriella stayed in her father's arms. She felt safe with him around, but what about when she was at school working on the project, what about when the two of them were forced to be alone? Would she still feel…or better yet, would she be safe with Peter? Would she be in danger?

A/N ok so who loved Troy standing up to Mrs. Darbus in order to protect Gabby? Am I the only one who squeals like a fan girl when that happen? Haha so what do you think about Peter? Don't you just love him? :P Leave me your thoughts in a review. For updates and sneak peeks, and sometimes even cool pictures FIND and LIKE me on facebook at "hopelessromanticgurl"