A/N: So, I got the idea for this story off of a song. The song was Hello by Evanescence. I was going to make it a song fic, but then I thought, no ones gonna read a 1,000 word, sad, boring one shot. So I decided to make it into a 5,000 word, sad, boring story with chapters! Hahaha! Please enjoy, and yes after I post this chapter, I will start on my Titanic story again! The character's names are the same and MOST of their personalities are the same, but some aren't. I'm sure that you'll notice which ones aren't the same. I also wrote some dialogue between Gabriella and her mother in Spanish. I will post all of the words and what they mean right after this. (Don't tell anyone but I used Google translator for that part so you can copy and paste to that if you want to!) Anyway, read and enjoy darlin's!

Gabriella, el desayuno está listo! = Gabriella, breakfast is done!

Uno minuto = one minute

Te ves hermosa, Gabriella = You look beautiful, Gabriella

Te ves hermosa también, mama= You look beautiful too, mama

Troy estará aquí para que me recoja pronto = Troy will be here to pick me up soon

ya veo = I see

Confío en ti = I trust you

Mamá, te veré después de la escuela. Te amo = Mom, I'll see you after school. I love you

Chapter 1: Confusion

Playground school bell rings again
Rain clouds come to play again

April 15, 2010-6:45 a.m.

Thunder boomed, and lightning flashed outside of Troy Bolton's window. His alarm clock was blaring Skillet, but still, he didn't rise from his peaceful slumber.

A few minutes later, the teenager's ocean blue eyes opened briefly, and his tan muscular arm flew out from under the covers as he groped for his alarm clock. Once his hand found it, he clicked the one switch on top that signaled the on and off button.

When the song stopped blaring, Troy's face was lit up with a shining white smile of relief. With a sigh, Troy sank deeper into the bed. Unfortunately, his peace was short lived.

"Troy! Troy! TROY! TROY BOLTON!" His mother yelled up the stairs. When his mother heard no reply, she ran up the stairs, and pushed open the door. Once she saw he was still lying asleep in bed however, she rolled her eyes.

"Troy Bolton if you don't get up right now you're going to be late to school." Mrs. Bolton warned, but all Troy did was grunt in response.

"And you're going to be late to pick Gabriella up." Mrs. Bolton said nonchalantly as she exited the teen's bedroom.

Her plan worked and before Mrs. Bolton could shut the door behind her, she heard the shower that connected to Troy's bedroom turn on.

With a self satisfied smile Mrs. Bolton quickly walked down the stairs and started to make breakfast.

Gabriella expertly applied a hint of blush to her tan cheeks. After she was done, she eyed her reflection in the mirror…

And frowned. Gabriella was gorgeous. She had flawless naturally bronze skin, long black curly hair and long black eyelashes to match, (A/N even without mascara they were long), long legs, and (A/N in the terms of one of my best friends) a very nice rack and curves that fit her skinny body perfectly.

For some odd reason though, Gabriella didn't see herself like others saw her. She thought she was average looking, with a dorky sense of humor, and a cheesy smile.

Sometimes Gabriella wondered how she had landed such a gorgeous boyfriend. Troy was the captain of the basketball team, he had the perfect and rich family, all A's, a huge house that was practically a mansion, an expensive car, light brown hair which was styled in a surfer haircut, (A/N That means he flipped it to the side or his bangs always were in his face) and heart stopping blue eyes. Oh those eyes, they were perfect. Gabriella smiled to herself as she remembered those eyes. All guys were jealous of those eyes, his looks, what he had, what he was going to achieve, and the girls that he could get.

Gabriella's smile disappeared as she thought about it. Troy could have ANY girl that he wanted. But yet, he chose Gabriella, a grade grubbing geek, a member of the school competitive math club, (A/N I apologize but I can't remember the name of it) and a girl who wasn't even all that pretty.

'What does he see in me?' Gabriella thought to herself.

"Gabriella, el desayuno está listo!" Gabriella's mother called from downstairs.

"Uno minuto!" Gabriella yelled back as she slipped on a blue jean skirt that went to her lower thigh (A/N or a few inches above her knee), a yellow tank top, and then a black tank top over the yellow, and black high heeled shoes.

Gabriella looked at herself in the mirror and realized that she was missing something. As she glanced frantically around, she realized what it was!

Last Christmas, Troy had bought her a silver heart necklace. And on their anniversary, Troy had bought her big hoop earrings in her favorite color (A/N which would be yellow). Gabriella located them in her jewelry box and quickly put them on before dashing down the stairs.

Gabriella's mom smiled as she watched her daughter descend down the flight of stairs. "Te ves hermosa, Gabriella." Her mom said, clasping her hands together.

"Gracias" Gabriella said as she reached the kitchen. She kissed her mother on the cheek. "Te ves hermosa también, mama." Gabriella complimented, but all her beautiful mother did was blush, and smack Gabriella on the butt with a dish towel that she had in her hand.

Gabriella quickly ate all of her food, and when she glanced up, her mother had her eyebrows raised in question. "Troy estará aquí para que me recoja pronto." Gabriella explained and her mother exhaled.

"Ah, ya veo. Gabriella want ,eh, look nice for her boyfriend?"Gabriella's mom teasingly asked in broken Spanglish. Gabriella shrugged, hoping her mother couldn't see her face turn red as she turned her back and placed her empty dish in the sink.

Her mother had met Troy at least 5 times, and she had said that she liked him very much, and that they were the perfect couple. Even though she said that, she still worried that under Troy's perfect exterior, there might be a monster. A monster that was waiting to hurt Gabriella's feelings and rip out her heart.

"Be safe, Gabriella. Confío en ti." Gabriella's mom said, a warning tone in her voice. Gabriella resisted the urge to be a brat and roll her eyes.

"Mamá, te veré después de la escuela. Te amo." Gabriella said, avoiding the subject, a false smile on her face. Her mother hugged her briefly and then kissed her on the cheek.

Just then there was a polite knock on the door. "Come in." Gabriella's mom said. (A/N They always kept it unlocked when they were both home. My friend does that ish and I don't understand why, but, hey if they're comfortable it doesn't matter).

Troy walked in the door, a smile on his perfect face. His smile widened (which made his dimples easier to see) as he saw Gabriella's outfit.

After Troy observed his girlfriend, he hugged Ms. Montez and made polite conversation for a few seconds, before Gabriella stated that she was ready to go.

After saying goodbye, the couple walked out of the house. Troy opened the passenger side of the car and Gabriella slid in, careful not to put her wet shoes on anything that might be ruined by water.

Once Troy got into the driver's seat, he leaned over and kissed Gabriella's full lips.

"You look beautiful." Troy whispered sincerely, but all Gabriella did was roll her eyes, turn up the radio, and lean back in the expensive leather car seat.

Troy smiled. He always wondered though why she never believed him when he complimented her. He always meant it, ALWAYS! But yet, she never seemed to believe him.

The brown haired blue eyed young man shrugged slightly as he briefly wondered if she thought he was just playing her. He wasn't though.

He truly loved her, even though he was young. And he would never break her heart, no matter what because she was the best thing about him, and she was what he needed in his life.

No matter what happened, nothing would change the fact that he loved her with all he had, nothing.

April 25, 2010- 8:15 a.m.

Gabriella kissed Troy briefly on the lips as she walked away from him.

"I'll meet you by our locker right after the bell rings, Montez." Troy said as he walked away from Gabriella (backwards).

"Ok, wildcat! You need to hurry and get to class before you're late!" Gabriella joked, giggling quietly.

Her boyfriend smiled at her, and then turned around and jogged to his first block class.

Gabriella shook her head and started walking towards her own class. (A/N: Running in high heels=disaster).

As she turned the corner of the hallway that led to her class she saw a group of jocks gathered around Ryan Evans, a boy that was a thespian, and was also involved in showchoir. Ryan was also gay, and someone was always making fun of him about it, even though Gabriella thought that it was none of their business! They shouldn't be able to judge how he felt about other people, even if it was "wrong".

The boys were chanting offensive words about Ryan's sexuality and they were hitting and kicking him as hard as they could. Gabriella felt an unknown anger and almost hatred rise in her and she stomped towards the group.

"Hey! Leave him alone! Don't you guys have better things to do than harass people that you don't even know?" Gabriella screamed at them as she rushed forward and helped Ryan to his feet.

The group of "tough" guys laughed and formed a circle around the duo.

"It'll be just like hitting TWO girls now." One of them said, and Gabriella glared at him, her brown eyes cold and blank.

As one of the guys stepped closer to Gabriella, Ryan moved so that he was in front of her.

"You can hit me all you want, but you will NOT lay a hand on her? You hear me, ass hole?" Ryan yelled, his tone protective.

The boys around him laughed.

"Tough words for a guy that was just lying and gasping in pain on the ground." One of the guys teased, and the rest of the guys laughed.

The guy that was tall and African American (named Zeke) grabbed Ryan by the upper arms and slammed him into a row of lockers.

After Ryan's back was pressed into the lockers, Zeke started hitting him over and over again.

"STOP!" Gabriella shrieked and grabbed Zeke's arm and pulled, trying desperately to make him stop hitting Ryan.

Zeke yanked his arm away. "Guys, get the bitch away from me." He said, chuckling.

Before Gabriella knew what was happened, arms were grabbing her around her slim waist and her muscular arms, and then she was on her back on the ground.

"Leave her alone! Her boyfriend will-!" Ryan started yelling to them, but he was interrupted as Zeke's fist connected to his chin.

"Who's her boyfriend?" A pale Caucasian guy (Jason) asked suddenly.

When no answer was heard, Jason grabbed Gabriella by the hair and forcefully pulled her to a standing position, despite her screams and kicks.

"Answer!" The other guy who had blonde hair and blue eyes (Brad, just a random name, sorry it's stereotypical.) demanded, his voice sharp.

Jason tugged harshly on her hair when she didn't answer.

"Troy. Troy Bolton." Gabriella choked out.

The guys all glanced at each other in alarm. Jason then dropped Gabriella, and Zeke released Ryan, dusting him off. "Sorry about that, man." He apologized.

Brad offered a hand to help Gabriella up, but all she did was slap it away and focus her eyes on the ground.

The guys then jogged away just as the late bell rang, leaving Gabriella sitting on her knees on the ground, and Ryan standing, his nose bleeding.

After the guys were gone, Ryan bent down to Gabriella's level.

"Hey." He whispered, but she said nothing in response. Ryan wondered why, but then he realized that her shoulders were shaking.

Ryan wrapped her in his skinny but toned and strong arms and let her cry. After she had stopped and was only sniffling, he pulled slightly away from her and looked into her chocolate brown eyes.

"You're safe. I won't let anything or anyone hurt you from now on, Gabriella. Today, you're safe. Thank you. I'll never forget you, or what you've done to try to help me. You're so so so beautiful. You're so brave… so brave, Troy would be proud." Ryan said quickly, and pulled Gabriella closer to him.

A chill went down Gabriella's spine at Ryan's words. They were rehearsed, like a line in a homicidal (A/N: But AMAZING!) musical like Sweeny Todd. The words were nice, and sweet but…

She wondered why he said that she was only safe for today, what about tomorrow and the day after that? What did he mean from now on he would protect her? What did he mean by brave? She had only tried to defend him, and had endured some bullies that had pulled her hair and thrown her to the ground. She was so confused.

It wasn't even that bad, it just upset her that they had called her a bitch. They didn't even know her, and she hadn't don't anything to them to deserve the title.

And now, Ryan was talking to her as if she was attempting to be a martyr, a human sacrifice. Something felt wrong, and Gabriella had the bad feeling that something WAS really wrong.

A/N: I hope that wasn't confusing to any reader and I hope that you enjoyed! I know it seems a little weird now but it will make sense later! If you haven't noticed, this story is going to practically be Gabriella's version of what happened with a LITTLE bit of Troy's side thrown in but not a lot. It's gonna center around Miss Montez (Gabriella that is, not Gabriella's mom.) Gosh, I feel like I'm rambling. Sorry! Please keep reading and if you like it, I wouldn't mind some positive reviews or if you REALLY like it, you can favorite it or put me on alert! Love ya! *blows kisses*