DISCLAIMER: I do not own High School Musical or any related characters.

A/N: Due to popular demand, and the fact that I'm trying to get my head back into writing, I have changed this one-shot into a two-shot. There's not much I can say, except I hope it lives up to expectations and you all enjoy it!

Graduation

Gabriella paced around her room, rubbing her hands together. She was nervous, hell she was beyond nervous. Every time she thought about what was going to happen tomorrow, a wave of panic would rise and she would begin to hyperventilate before she would manage to calm herself down and then two minutes later she would feel another wave of panic and the process of hyperventilating and calming herself down would begin all over again. She'd managed to work herself past nervous to the point of petrifaction and the fact that she'd locked herself in her room as soon as dinner was over and had refused to talk to her mother and stepfather since, which had been two hours ago. Gabriella spun as she reached her balcony doors and headed back towards her desk, her feet tracing the well worn path again. Why was she so nervous? Why wasn't she excited like everyone else in her year? She was graduating, didn't that call for more then complete and utter petrifaction? It had to call for more then petrifaction. So why was she freaking out inside her room, instead of going out with her friends and celebrating the fact that they were free from high school and about to go onto bigger and better things? Because that was only half the problem and if she could remember the other half or her problem, she'd probably be less petrified.

"Stop it Gabriella, stop it!" She muttered and spun around and screamed. Troy was standing in her balcony doorway, watching her as she paced and grinning.

"You know, talking to yourself isn't a good thing." He commented and Gabriella glared at him, a hand over her heart as she watched him walk into her room and shut her balcony door.

"Don't you ever d-" Gabriella screamed again as a knock on her door sounded.

"Gabi, sweetie, are you alright? I heard you scream." Gabriella rolled her eyes as her mother's voice floated through the door. She rubbed a hand over her eyes as she felt Troy's arms encircle her waist.

"I'm fine mom, I tripped on something." She called back through the door, leaning into Troy's chest and closing her eyes as she felt his lips press against her hair. Opening her eyes, she turned around and circled her arms around his neck and brought his lips down to hers. Calming down more then she thought was possible as his lips met hers.

"Okay. Are you going to come out of your room anytime soon?" Gabriella pulled away from Troy and rolled her eyes at the concern in her mother's voice. Troy grinned and began to kiss down her neck, his tongue smoothly moving over her skin as his hands began to stroke the length of her body.

"No." She replied as Troy kissed her again, his other hand sliding beneath the oversized shirt she was wearing and coming in contact with her warm skin. Gabriella's quick intake of breath had him grinning and running his hand across her stomach.

"Alright, don't work yourself into a panic though." Gabriella bit her lip as her hands slid from his neck, to underneath his shirt.

"Mom…at the moment I really think that I'm about as far away from panic as I can get." Gabriella replied and Troy's head lifted to hers and he kissed her again as they heard her mother move away from the door.

"Okay, spill, why were you pacing and why were you screaming?" Troy said as Gabriella caught her breath and pulled him over to her bed. They landed on it, limbs entwined.

"Ummmm…" Gabriella trailed off and Troy raised his eyebrows at her as his expression suddenly changed to worry.

"Chad didn't do anything to you did he?" He asked and Gabriella stared at him in surprise.

"Um, Troy, I was panicking about graduation." She replied and Troy burst into laughter as she glared up at him. He readjusted his position as Gabriella's eyes demanded a reaction to her confession.

"What about it?" He asked and Gabriella sighed and buried her head in his chest, breathing in his scent she relaxed a little more and then grinned when she felt his hand in her hair, stroking gently. She loved it when he did that, it was his own little thing that he'd developed quite early on in their relationship. When she's asked him about it, he'd shrugged and said that he just liked touching her.

"Our entire life changes tomorrow. I don't want it to change Troy. I don't want to wake up and not have to go to school, don't laugh," Gabriella hit Troy as his chest jerked in an attempt to smother laughter. "Everything changes; everything and I don't know if I want it to change." Gabriella said quietly, the fear in her voice obvious. Closing her eyes; Gabriella closed her eyes and buried herself deeper into his side, waiting for him to say something.

Troy was silent as he continued to stroke her hair, contemplating what he was meant to say to her. He wasn't surprised that this had come up; he'd been expecting it ever since prom, she'd been distracted even then and he'd only been slightly worried about it because she'd shaken it by the after party. He wanted to laugh at her, that was a given, because she looked adorable when she was worrying over something. He wanted to lie to her and tell her everything wouldn't change, just to ease her nerves. Instead, Troy settled for the truth. It was harder to tell her the truth then when he'd had to tell Chad or any of his other friends. Sighing, Troy ran his hand through her hair again and then let it trail down her cheek and to her chin. He gently lifted her face so he could look at her and then gently ran his knuckles over her cheek when she was looking at him.

"Gabriella, everything was going to change anyway, whether it was in high school or in college. You know that. So why are you freaking out? Are you freaking out because we're going to graduate or are you freaking out because tomorrow everyone's going to know Troy Bolton's taken?" He asked and Gabriella stared at him. The other half of her problem clunking into place as she remembered the promise he'd made her over a month ago and the way she'd clung to that promise at the prom as she'd watched him shrug off girl after girl.

"Both." She admitted quietly and Troy grinned at her. Before she could say anything he'd leaned down and kissed her, his lips sliding gently over hers as his hand tangled in her hair. Gabriella giggled as he kissed from her mouth to the curve of her neck and settled his head there. He kissed her skin there, his lips lingering as her arms wound around him.

"Well…I would say you should be, but at the same time I really don't think you should be worried. I mean, it's not like I haven't kissed you before." He spoke against her neck and Gabriella giggled, before her face turned serious as he turned his head to look at her.

"I know. But, what's everyone going to say when the Wildcat superstar kisses the nerdy nobody?" Gabriella asked quietly, the fear in her voice obvious as he raised himself up and looked down at her, his eyebrows raised as he looked down at her.

"Are you seriously worried about that? Brie, come on, when have you ever worried about what everyone else has thought?" He asked, reaching for her left hand and entwining their fingers. His thumb rubbed over the promise ring he'd given her a few months and Troy kissed the back of her hand.

"Since everyone at schools your best friend," She shot back and Troy rolled his eyes.

"Yeah and if my best friends don't like my girlfriend than there not my best friends anymore." Troy stated matter-of-factly and Gabriella burst into laughter as he looked down at her, looking very much like a five year old who wanted a toy right or wrong. "What are you laughing about Miss Montez?" He asked with a grin and Gabriella shrugged and buried her face in his neck, the laughter dying as she sighed.

"Nothing, you just always know exactly what to say to make me feel better." Gabriella murmured and Troy grinned slightly before feeling his pocket vibrate. Rolling off Gabriella, Troy sat up and pulled his phone out. Seeing who it was he sighed and answered it.

"What?" he asked sounding slightly aggravated. Gabriella sat up as well and wrapped her arms around his middle, kissing his shoulder gently once before resting her chin on his shoulder as he listened to whoever was on the phone.

"Fine, I'll be there." He sighed and hung up. Turning his head, Troy kissed Gabriella forehead and closed his eyes for a moment.

"Where do you have to be?" She asked softly, already having an idea that it had something to do with his friends.

"Court at the park. The team wants a game," Troy said and Gabriella carefully avoided looking at him, her hopes of having him stay to watch a movie with her sliding away as he pushed his phone into his pocket.

"Oh. Okay." She said quietly and let him go. Troy frowned when he saw her face and knew that she'd wanted him to stay. Fishing around in his pocket for the long oblong box that was the reason he was there in the first place, Troy leaned down and pressed a kiss to her nose.

"I got you something." He said quietly and Gabriella looked at him curiously as he handed her the box. Raising her eyebrows at him, she opened the box and glanced from his face to what was contained in the box and her mouth dropped open in shock.

"Oh my God Troy," She whispered and gently ran her finger over the sapphires that were linked with white-gold. Lifting it from its box, Gabriella examined the bracelet and then her eyes snapped back to those of her bashful boyfriend who was avoiding looking at her.

"It goes with your ring. I, uh, I kinda want you to wear both tomorrow. Will you?" He asked rubbing the back of his neck as she held back a giggle. Placing the bracelet back down, Gabriella stood and wrapped her arms around her boyfriend's waist tightly. Looking up at him she really did giggle as he continued to avoid looking at her.

"You're cute when you're nervous. Did you know that?" Gabriella asked, standing on her toes to plant her lips squarely upon his jaw. Troy's eyes snapped to hers and he gave her an indignant look that she knew all to well.

"I do not get nervous!" He retorted and Gabriella raised her eyebrows at him.

"Uh-huh. Sure you don't, and you're not human either." She said sarcastically and Troy grinned at her wickedly, causing Gabriella to regret the human comment.

"You're right," he agreed and before Gabriella could pull away from him, he had her pinned to her bed. His mouth attacking the smoothness of her neck as his hands roamed to the hem of her shirt. "I'm not human because I'm a God. A God who's apparently losing all his shirts to his gorgeous girlfriend." He finished, finally realizing that she was wearing one of his training shirts, and Gabriella burst into fresh giggles.

"You're an idiot." She gasped and he grinned and shrugged before kissing her again. Gabriella sank into the kiss as she felt his hand sliding up towards her breasts. "Aren't you meant to be at the park?" Gabriella managed through a moan and Troy pulled away, his hand stopping its explorations as he stared at her.

"Huh? Oh yeah. I am, aren't I? I suppose we'll have to continue this later." He smirked when Gabriella groaned. He got up off her and she sat up. She stared at her hands for a moment and then looked up at Troy.

"Hey Troy?" She called and he stopped and turned to her, his expression quizzical. "I love you." she said softly and he grinned.

"I love you too Brie. I'll see you tomorrow." Troy said and Gabriella nodded and grinned as he disappeared from her view. Flopping back down on her bed, she turned her head and touched the sapphire bracelet he'd gotten her again. Instead of the fear she'd felt earlier, Gabriella now felt excitement; maybe tomorrow wouldn't be too bad after all.

HSM-HSM-HSM-HSM-HSM

Her eyes flicked over the hoards of students and their families as her mother snapped photos of her and Taylor together. She hadn't seen him at all and she was beginning to feel nervous. What if he'd changed his mind? What if they left before she got to see him? She'd spent the entire ceremony sitting between two people she'd never met and wringing her hands together as she tried to imagine everyone else's reaction to her and Troy's secret. Despite the fact that her imagination tended to over exaggerate things, Gabriella had a strange feeling that what she had imagined was in no way an exaggeration. Glancing down at her bracelet, a small smile flitted across her face as she remembered her mother's reaction to it. Her mother had been absolutely ecstatic at the addition to her jewelry collection and immediately announced that Troy was going to make a fine son-in-law, which had not only embarrassed Gabriella, but had her stepfather, Richard, in complete and utter shock.

"Can you believe it!? We actually graduated!" Taylor suddenly squealed and Gabriella jumped a mile at the sound of her friend's voice. Her attention snapped from her bracelet to the dark skinned girl beside her and she smiled and nodded.

"Yeah, it's amazing." She agreed as Taylor hugged her exuberantly.

"We're are off to bigger and better things! Now," Gabriella blinked as Taylor went from overly excited to businesslike and had a strange feeling that what adorned her left hand was going to come into question. "Are you going to tell me who gave you that delightful ring and the bracelet?" She asked and Gabriella blushed slightly.

"Um, well they're from the same person and, uh, he's my boyfriend," Gabriella stuttered slightly as Taylor eyed her suspiciously before her expression turned sour as she saw someone approaching them.

"Why is Troy Bolton and his cronies walking this way?" Taylor hissed and Gabriella's heart leapt as she spun around and saw him striding toward her, followed by what she knew was half her school. Her throat suddenly felt constricted as he saw her and sent her the same grin that had been the start of their relationship. Willing herself to smile back, Gabriella found she couldn't as Troy drew even closer.

Troy saw the nervousness in her eyes from a mile away. He knew for a fact that despite what she said, she was more nervous about this then accepting her high school diploma. His eyes flicked to the girl behind her and knew that she wasn't exactly going to be receptive of her best friend's choice of a boyfriend. Ignoring the shouts of his friends that asked him what he was doing, Troy came to a halt in front of Gabriella and looked down at her wearing a mischievous expression.

"Miss Montez, I believe I made a promise to you." He said and before she could open her mouth to reply, he yanked her up by the waist and closed his mouth over hers while the crowd behind him went silent.

Gabriella's arm twined around his neck as she melted into his kiss, the nerves and questions that had circled her mind during the ceremony silenced as his lips slid over hers and one of his hands tangled in her hair. Grinning slightly as he pulled away, Troy looked at his girlfriend's face and just had to kiss her again, she looked so gorgeously innocent with her eyes closed and her lips slightly parted and then the crowd exploded. Troy dropped Gabriella in surprise, breaking the kiss, as he heard the screeches from behind him. Keeping one arm firmly around her waist, Troy spun around to look at his friends and what appeared to be the other half of their grade. Most looked stunned beyond belief, others looked amazed and the rest looked downright furious.

"Troy, what the hell do you think your doing?" Chad spat at his best friend furiously and Troy felt Gabriella press closer to his side.

"Uh, kissing my girlfriend, what did it look like Chad?" He asked coolly and before Chad could say anything a shriek was heard from behind them and Gabriella blinked when Taylor appeared in front of them.

"Whoa, whoa, wait a minute. You," Taylor pointed at Gabriella, "are dating him," her finger moved to point at Troy, "and you didn't tell me?" Gabriella could tell that Taylor was beyond outraged and had a sudden urge to press her face into Troy's chest and let him deal with their classmates. Instead, she pressed herself further into his side and nodded.

"Uh-huh." She said and Taylor gaped as Chad's face grew redder as Gabriella confirmed what he had been suspicious of for the past eight months.

"How long?" Chad asked through gritted teeth and Troy sent him an appraising look that made his friend bristle.

"How long? Long enough," Troy replied and could have sworn Chad growled as the people around him made shocked noises.

"Dude, seriously, how long?" Chad asked and Gabriella made a nervous sound at how menacing Chad looked. Hearing it, Troy leaned down and pressed a kiss to her forehead before turning back to his friend.

"Since we were locked in the classroom together," Troy replied with a shrug. Gabriella let out a tiny giggle at the look on everyone's faces as soon as the words left Troy's mouth. Especially when Taylor's mouth dropped open as she realized that was why her friend had always been so defensive about Troy since that day.

"You know, that does explain a lot," Taylor announced thoughtfully and a ripple of protest ran through the crowd. Turning to them, Taylor scowled at the group of them and then continued. "Honestly, are you all dumb? When was the last time Troy bragged about hooking up with someone? In fact, Danforth, while I shudder at the thought of talking to you, when was the last time Troy actually agreed that the girl who just walked past you was 'hot'?" Taylor turned her attention to a fuming Chad and he looked at her with an amount of contempt that had nothing to do with her and everything to do with Troy and Gabriella.

"What? Ages ago, the last time he mentioned that a girl was hot was when we were trying to think of smart chicks that were hot and he said Gabriella had to be the hottest of the smart chicks." Chad snapped back and Gabriella let out a mortified giggle at the announcement while Troy rubbed the back of his neck and leaned down to her ear.

"I actually said you were the hottest of the hot; he just didn't hear the last part." Troy whispered in her ear and Gabriella slapped his chest before leaning up and kissing him softly.

"Chad, did that seriously not say anything to you? Honestly, are you that dumb?" Taylor asked incredulously and Chad sent her another venomous look.

"Are you going to get to the original point you were trying to make McKessie?" He shot at her and Taylor glared at him for a moment before folding her arms and turning back to the crowd.

"Returning to my point, how many of you can honestly say that there's been a difference in Troy in the past few months?" She asked and a couple of them nodded. "Right, well I don't know Troy but I do know Gabriella and I can tell you that if any of you had suspicions than everyone would have had to have suspicions." Taylor said and Gabriella rolled her eyes at her friend.

"Tay, you're not making any sense," she snapped and Taylor turned to look at her surprised at her words, ignoring her, Gabriella continued. "Look, Troy and I are together, we have been since we were locked in that classroom together. No-one knew because we-" Troy cut her off.

"No-one knew because I didn't want Gabriella to get hurt. I wasn't about to let the person I love get hurt because you didn't agree with her." Troy announced loudly, his blue eyes flicked over the crowd of students and their now curious families, daring any one of them to argue with him. "I love Gabriella, a lot. Explains why I haven't exactly been willing to hook up with any of you, doesn't it girls? Explains why I always stopped you from doing something stupid around her, doesn't it Chad? Gabriella means a hell of a lot more to me then what you all think about her, so I'm not going to care about what all of you say, alright? So you all have to deal with it." Troy snapped and Gabriella knew just how mad he was by the tenseness in his muscles. Gently, she pressed closer to him and wrapped her other arm around him.

"Shh, baby," she whispered softly and stood on her tiptoes to place kisses gently along his neck. For a moment no-one spoke, the families were much to confused as to what was going on and the students were slowly beginning to process that their basketball captain, most popular guy in school and most sought after guy was completely and utterly taken by a girl they'd all dismissed as soon as she'd transferred to East High.

"You know," Chad started and then stopped when Troy looked at him, his eyes warning him that anything he said that was stupid would more than likely end his friendship with him. "I think…I think I can live with it." The words were spoken almost thoughtfully as Chad suddenly realized he'd never actually had any real problem with Gabriella and the anger that he'd had as he'd watched his best friend kiss her had a lot more to do with shock than any real anger on his part. Everything he'd done in the past, now that he thought about it, had been done because it had seemed to be almost expected of him, and it meant that he hadn't failed biology.

"Really?" It was Gabriella who spoke as Troy nodded his head at his friend. Chad shrugged at her question.

"Well yeah. I mean, I only did half that stuff because you kept me from failing biology," Chad suddenly winced and his expression became comical as he heard both his mother and father cough at his words. "Uh, I never said that. I always did my biology homework." His stricken expression broke the tension, and silence, between the students and suddenly a loud wave of laughter broke through them. The families that had gathered around them, rolled their eyes and left, most with whispers that they'd see them later, while the students nodded their heads and continued to laugh at Chad and the sudden realization that they were leaving school and whatever they had thought before, the cliques, who spoke to who, didn't really matter. In fact, it hadn't mattered as soon as Troy had lifted Gabriella up into his arms and kissed her.

Gabriella looked around at the laughing students and felt a tiny, barely existent knot of worry dissolve as she looked from student to student. Her eyes flicked over Chad who had begun to move closer to them and was grinning like an idiot, before they finally landed on a still shell-shocked Taylor. Untangling herself from Troy, who looked at her curiously before Chad gained his attention Gabriella moved to her best friend and touched her arm. At her touch, Taylor seemed to spring alive.

"I can't believe you never told me!" Gabriella winced at the accusing tone and rubbed Taylor's arms consolingly, already understanding that her friend was more shocked than upset.

"I know and I'm sorry. But Troy didn't want anyone to know because he was afraid that I would get hurt and I promised him that I wouldn't tell." Gabriella replied and Taylor looked at her and shook her head, as if trying to make sense of what Gabriella had just said.

"I really don't want to believe that you lied to me for eight months. I really don't want to believe that," Taylor informed Gabriella and Gabriella sighed.

"Well, believe it. Because Troy and I lied to all our friends about each other, he was trying to protect me Tay." Gabriella said and Taylor just stared at her friend. As she looked at Gabriella, Taylor suddenly realized that Gabriella looked so happy. There was something in her eyes that told Taylor that Gabriella was genuinely happy and it made her soften. She didn't hate the idea of Troy and Gabriella, but she didn't love it either but even she could see that Troy made her friend happy. Swallowing, Taylor smiled a hesitant smile that had Gabriella's eyes shining with sudden hope.

"Alright, I guess I can deal with it, but Missy," Taylor said pointing her finger at Gabriella, "If you even think about lying to me for eight months about something like this. I won't be so forgiving." Taylor warned her and Gabriella laughed before throwing her arms around her.

"Thanks Tay, it means a lot to me." Gabriella said and Taylor laughed a little before pulling away and grabbing her left hand.

"He sure does have taste, doesn't he? I mean, I don't any guy would have been smart enough to buy something as gorgeous as these pieces." Taylor said, examining both Gabriella's ring and bracelet. Gabriella giggled and shrugged.

"I saw the ring in the mall and pointed it out to him one day, that's how he knew to buy it," Gabriella giggled and glanced at Troy who was listening intently to something Chad was saying. "As for the bracelet, he gave it to me last night and said it went with the ring." Gabriella explained and Taylor raised her eyebrows at her.

"Hmm, well, I would say lets go have a chat, but I can see by the look on your face you'd much rather be with Troy. Am I right?" Taylor asked and Gabriella shrugged a blush burning on her cheeks as she glanced at Troy, who was watching her openly.

"Uh, yeah, I'll see you later." Gabriella said and Taylor laughed as Gabriella started to back away.

"Uh-huh, we'll go for coffee later." She called out and Gabriella grinned before turning around and walking towards Troy. When she reached him, Gabriella's arms wound around his neck as she kissed him, his own arms snaked around her waist as he kissed back. When she pulled away, Gabriella felt his forehead rest on hers and kept her eyes closed.

"I love you." She whispered and Troy grinned as he kissed her nose.

"I love you too." He replied and Gabriella giggled as he pulled away and his hand found hers, entwining their fingers. Troy began to pull Gabriella through the crowd of chattering students, just as they reached the edge of the crowd he stopped and turned to her.

"What?" Gabriella asked, staring up at him and he shrugged.

"Nothing, it's just that I remembered to walk right up to you, amazing huh?" He replied and Gabriella laughed loudly at his face before pulling it down to her own. Before their lips met, she paused.

"No, its not amazing. You promised you'd always walk right up to me." She whispered and then their lips crashed together, confirming his promise and her belief in it completely.

A/N: Done! All done, sorry if it was a bit long and totally didn't live up to what you guys might have expected but as I've said, I'm having a glitch with writing and this is just to help it!