A/N: Thanks for the reviews. Sorry I took a while to update. I'm busy trying to wrap up my other story. Will she tell Troy? Read to find out!

That same night, Taylor walked Gabriella home because she might collapse and start crying if she was left alone. Gabriella was now sitting at her desk, resting her head down on it. She remembered Troy today after school. He was so nice and caring. I should tell him, she thought.

"Gabriella, honey!" Her mom called up the stairs. She groaned at the sound of her mother's voice. Wait-Ms. Montez sounded kind of happy. Maybe they weren't moving after all. She wiped her tears and stuck her head out of the door.

"Yeah?" She asked, waiting for her mom to say 'got'cha' or 'happy April Fools day'. Of course, it wasn't April yet, but it could be an early April Fools.

"Time for dinner," she said, and sprinted back towards the kitchen.

Gabriella slouched onto her bed and cried. She didn't want to eat, she didn't want to talk, and she didn't want to move! She lay on her bed for five more minutes until her mom came up.

"It's time for dinner I said," she said, wearing an apron.

"I'm not hungry," she looked the opposite way of her mom.

"Gabriella, we are not going to get into this right now. I said it's time for dinner, and I expect you to listen to me," she put her hands on her hips, and then left the room.

"Whatever," she muttered, and not long after, made her way downstairs. She sat at the table in front of a plate of food. During the middle of dinner, she had barely eaten anything.

Her mom put her fork down and sighed, "Gabriella, please don't be mad at me."

She rolled her eyes, "How do you expect me to not be mad at you, when you promised your dumb company wouldn't transfer until I graduate!"

"It's not my fault-"

"But you promised. Do you know what a promise is, Mom?" She asked. "It means you mean it, and... you know what? A promise means so much that I can't even find the words to it."

"You know, Gabriella. You know I wouldn't do this move if I didn't have to."

Gabriella didn't say anything. She just took her plate into the kitchen and bolted upstairs. When she got to her room, she jumped on her bed and screamed into her pillow. She hated crying, but it was the only thing that felt good right now. Suddenly, her cell phone rang. She sniffled a few tears before answering it.

"H-hello?" She said.

"Gabi?" A voice asked.

She sighed, knowing it was Troy. She was not in the mood to talk to him at the moment. She wasn't in the mood to talk to anybody.

She held the phone away from her face, as she wiped her eyes, breathed in and out, and sniffled to make it sound like she wasn't crying.


"What's wrong?" He asked, worried.

"Nothing," she blinked to get the tears out of her eyes. She knew Troy would do anything to get down to the bottom of a problem he didn't know.

"Well, you sound like you are crying, and you were crying earlier and didn't want to walk home with me. Did I do something?"

"No," she said. You're perfect.

"Then why were you crying?"

"I... I wasn't."

"Gabriella! What's going on?"

"Nothing!" She yelled, letting her tears fall. "Nothing."

"You're acting... different. Something is wrong. Why can't you just tell me?"

"Because nothing is wrong," she sobbed.

"You're crying! I can hear you!" He said, growing impatient. "Let's meet somewhere. We can talk."

"No. I have to go," she said, and hung up. She wanted to tell him, but... at the same time she didn't. Troy was going to be the hardest letting go out of everybody. She really felt a connection with him that she's never felt with someone before.


The next day at school went by kind of in a blur for her. At least she got to stay the rest of the year. It would be hard to transfer during the school year. Well, that is what she did when she came to East High.

Thinking about it, she was going to miss this school so much. Her and Troy pretty much changed it. Now everybody is friends with everybody. Well, there are still cliques and groups of friends, but there is no limit for what you want to do. This school was where she discovered the best things in life. She discovered that she could be more than just a smart girl that nobody notices. And Troy was the one that helped her change that.

"Hey," Taylor said, putting her arm around Gabriella's shoulders, sympathetically. It was during lunch and they just sat down at the table.

"Hi," she said, softly.

"I heard Troy called you last night," Taylor opened up her bag lunch.

"Yeah, he did."

"Did you tell him?"

"No," she looked away.

"Why not?"

"I can't!" She yelled.

"Can't what?" Troy asked turning towards them.

"Ugh!" She groaned, grabbed her books, and ran out of the lunchroom. The only place she knew was the rooftop. She quickly went up the stairs, and sat onto he bench. She folded her arms over the edge and rested her chin on them. She looked out onto the school grounds. If you looked far enough, you could see the ocean. She would really miss it. Sure, California had oceans, but it just wasn't the same.

"Hi," she heard Troy and snapped her head around to find him coming towards her.

"Hi," she muttered and looked back out to the ocean. She felt this was becoming awkward. He then sat beside her, looking out at the ocean as well.

"It's pretty, isn't it?" He asked.

Did Taylor tell him? She asked herself. That wouldn't be a good way for him to figure out. She was going to tell him... eventually. Why was this so hard anyway?

"Yeah," she nodded.

They sat in silence for a little bit until he spoke, "Listen, Gabriella, I know I've been saying this a lot lately, but what's wrong? Are you okay?"

She nodded, roughly. She could feel the tears coming to the surface of her eye and blinked a few times, trying to dry them away.

"Hey, hey, hey," he said, quietly. "What's going on?"

She shook her head, "N... nothing."

"Are you sure? Why are you crying all the time?"

She couldn't believe what she was doing. She was lying to Troy. Her best friend. She was lying to her best friend. Friends tell each other everything. Why wasn't she saying anything? How hard is it to say 'I am moving'?

"Oh, um... my... um... hamster died," she said, sniffling.

"You have a hamster?" He asked. "I mean had."

"Uh... yeah. I'm sorry I didn't tell you. I've just been... really emotional," she said, as he put his arm around her.

Although he was confused at why she didn't tell him, and walk home with him, he tried to understand. He held her close and let her cry.

Gabriella felt even more terrible. She just lied to him again! And if he found out, this lie was going to turn bad. "I'm sorry."

"It's okay. Pet's can be... very close to us. I just don't remember you having one."

"I did. His name was... Steve."


Just then, the bell rang. The loud noise was shocking to their ears, since they were used to the wind and each other's presence.

After school, Troy had to stay after for basketball, so she walked by herself. She looked around the neighborhood, trying to take it all in. She barely knew her neighbors, but felt she was going to miss them.

As she opened the door, her mom was on the couch, on her laptop. Gabriella hung up her coat on the hook.

"Gabriella?" She asked, as Gabriella was trying to make her way upstairs. She stopped and looked back at her mom. "How was your day?"

"Okay," she said, bluntly.

"That's good," she said, getting off the couch and coming up to Gabriella. Her mom kissed her forehead and walked in the kitchen. She had left the laptop on the couch, facing her way. She walked up to it and looked at the pictures. There were houses and prices. It was all too much. The houses did look nice, but it's not what she wanted.

She peaked her head in the kitchen, "If anybody calls or stops by, tell them I'm busy."

"Okay," her mom said, cheerfully. She was just happy that her daughter had finally spoken to her.

Gabriella ran upstairs and lay on her bed. She couldn't believe that the only person she told was Taylor. She had so many more friends. What's wrong with her?

For about an hour, she sat in her room, doing nothing. Was this what the next couple of months were going to be like? Ignoring everybody, and locking herself in her room, doing nothing?


Ms. Montez sighed looking back at her laptops screen. It was such a hard decision to buy a house. These next three months weren't going to be easy. There was going to be a lot of tension between her and Gabriella.

She didn't want her daughter mad at her. It wasn't her fault. Just then, there was a light knock on the door. She set her laptop on the couch and answered the door. It was Troy.

"Hi, Troy," she smiled.

"Hi, Ms. Montez," he said, playing with his hands. "Is uh... Gabriella home?"

"Well, she's a little busy right now. I can tell her you stopped by."

His hopeful smile, turned flat, "Oh, okay. Um... sure you can tell her that."

"Okay, great."

He walked but before she could close the door he spoke again, "Oh, and I'm sorry about Steve."

"What?" She asked, letting out a laugh.

"Steve..." he said, hoping it would ring a bell. "Your hamster?"

"We don't have a hamster."

"I know. I'm sorry for your loss."

"Um... Troy, we didn't have a hamster," she said, laughing.

"I'm confus-" he said and then stopped. "You know what, never mind."

"I'll see you later," she said.

"Bye," he said, walking down their steps.


Gabriella was sitting on her bed, flipping her pen in between her fingers. She really needed to finish her book report and was late. She usually did it right when she got it, but she was behind on a lot of work lately.

Suddenly, there was a knock on the balcony doors. She turned around and saw Troy standing there. Does he ever give up? She thought, getting up and opening the doors.

"What are you doing here?" She said.

"I came to see you."

"Didn't my mom tell you I was busy?" She said, sitting on her bed.

"Yeah, and she also told me you never had a hamster."

She looked down, "Oh."

"What's up with that?" He asked, sitting beside her.


"So, you just told me you had a hamster that died for the heck of it?" He asked.

She got up and went outside on her balcony, "You won't understand."

He got up and went outside, next to her, "Yes I will!"

She paused and looked at the branch outside on the tree. She could hear Troy coming up behind her.

"You know I will. Gabriella, why won't you tell me? I thought we were friends."

"We are."

"Then tell me!" He begged. "I know there is something going on. You have been ignoring me everyday. On Monday, you were perfectly fine and happy. Now you're different. I don't understand. You pretty much ditched me yesterday after school, and now you're not telling me anything! I guess... I guess I'll just go," he said, walking towards the edge of the balcony.

She grabbed onto his arm before he could swing his leg over the railing. He turned around and she paused before her eyes began to fill with tears. He just stood there, not saying anything. He wasn't going to bother asking what was wrong. Every time he did, it resulted in her being stubborn.

"I'm sorry," she said, wiping her eyes as more tears made there way down. "I'm so sorry I didn't tell you."

"What? You still haven't told me."

"I... I'm moving," she said, looking away.

Those words hit him like a hard brick. They just stood in silence. He didn't know what to say. He managed to repeat what she said. "You're moving?"

She slowly nodded, starting to cry again. She leaned over the railing.

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"I didn't know how. Well, I really like you... as a friend, you know?"

"Yeah, I like you too... as a friend."

"Well, it was just too hard. I mean, it's going to be so hard leaving here."

"I know. When are you going?"

"We're going back to San Diego in three months. It gives me time to finish the year."

"Why are you going?"

"I don't know. I think my mom got transferred back. I'm so sorry," she said, crying.

He looked at the sky, "It's okay. It's not your fault, but... it's just coming as a shock."

"I know," she said. "It came as a shock to me too."

"Well, I'm glad you finally told me," he said, pulling her into a tight embrace.

She wrapped her arms around him tight, "I'm glad I told you too."

A/N: What did you think? Thanks for reading! She finally told him! I bet you guys are happy! Well, please review!