Graduation Trip

Troy Bolton watched the girl of his dreams board the plane they were getting on that was making its way to Puerto Rico.

East High's senior class graduation trip was under way. The student body of over 200 seniors were departing on a plane from the small Albuquerque airport, off to their tropical island destination.

He watched her sit in her seat next to her best friend in her shorts and t-shirt quoting the song "All You Need is Love", hugging her body's curves perfectly. Her plaid colored sneakers were on her feet and her messenger bag slung around her tan shoulder. Her hair was pulled into a side ponytail and she wore her all white Laguna sunglasses over her beautiful chocolate brown eyes. If Troy looked close enough, he could just about draw out the outline of her white bikini, resting underneath her clothes. Her barely clad skin was turning him on and making him want her more than before. She had exotic blue jewel earrings dangling from the piercings in her ears and a Chanel charm bracelet hanging of her wrist. Not to mention she was still wearing Troy's championship ring on a chain around her neck.

He could still clearly remember the day he gave it to her to wear. They had just gotten together not even a week before and Troy had made it clear to the brunette that she was completely different than all of the others girls he had ever hooked up with. She was special, she was his, and she was unique. Gabriella Montez had stolen Troy Bolton's heart.

And up until about a month ago, things were going strong, but then mistakes were made, hearts were broken and the couple separated. It hurt him to think about the way he hurt her and he couldn't stand to look at her day after day, knowing that deep down inside, she was still broken. He had no clue why she still opted to be 'friends' with him after everything that had happened, but she said that she would never be able to forget anything between them, but she could try and push it aside. And to this day, Troy had never forgiven himself for screwing up the one thing in his life that had ever gone right.

He wanted her back so bad. His want for her had become like a need more and more everyday that she appeared in his sight. He knew that would never happen though. If he were her, he would even take her back. He had done the worst of all things. The mistake no one would have ever guessed he would have made and it had been spoiled. And what was so bad that caused things to turn so sour. Simply to say, Troy Bolton cheated on Gabriella…with her best friend.

--

Gabriella sighed as they got off the plane, finally landing in Puerto Rico. She breathed in the fresh foreign air, happy to get of the stuffy plane once and for all. She pulled her shades off, glancing around at her surroundings as the rest of her classmates filed off the plane, collecting together in a group in the airport.

Her brown eyes searched among her classmates, until she finally caught the eye on the boy who never took a break running through her mind. The blue eyed basketball captain was standing off to the side with the boy with the big bushy afro that Gabriella had loved so much since day one.

She watched the way his hair fell over his perfect face as he spoke to his best friend. She couldn't help but let her eyes travel down to his shirt, where the fabric clung to him , showing off his perfectly sculpted abs through the shirt. The baggy basketball shorts hanging loosely off his legs made her remember the days when she knew exactly what was under them. His long, hard…

"Thinking about the crazy days you used to have?" her best friend asked from her side.

She turned to the African American girl that interrupted her fantasies and sighed softly. "Why can't you just tell him you forgive him?" The girl asked.

"I can't Tay. It's not the point." Her tanned fingers slipped her sunglasses back onto her face as the group started to move toward baggage claim.

"What is the point?" Taylor McKessie asked her best friend of 10 years.

"The point is…." She sighed, looking over at the boy once again before turning back to her friend. "I can't forgive him that easily. You don't usually forgive things like that."

"True, but Gabriella you know how sorry he is," she smiled at the brunette as she tried to avoid the subject by pretending she was looking for her suitcase. "It's obvious he wants you back and you know he can't stop thinking about you."

Her big brown eyes rolled back in her head. "And just how do you know that, Tay?"

Taylor glanced behind her friend discreetly, before turning back smirking. "Because he keeps looking over here every minute. And trying to play it off like he's not by looking away everytime I look his way."

The young girl giggled. That was her Troy. Or her old Troy. Before things had drastically changed.

"Give him a chance, I know you want to. If not…just think about it," the decathlon president said, before walking up and claiming her bag off the moving belt. "I'm going to be over by Chad."

Gabriella nodded. "I'll meet you there when I get my stuff."

The petite girl stood by the belt, waiting for her red suitcase to come moving out. She stood with her arms crossed, waiting and looking around. She noticed Troy standing only a few feet away from her, pulling his bag off the belt with ease and placing it on a cart he was sharing with Chad.

She was so caught up in watching him, she didn't notice her suitcase moving past her until it was halfway across the belt. "No," she murmured, moving after it. She reached her arm out to grab it and pull it off, but being a small girl, she couldn't exactly pull a full suitcase with one arm.

She gave up, hoping to let it go back around and catch it the next time, but a familiar figure stepped in front of her, quickly grabbing the red bag and hauling it off the belt. His built muscles gently set the bag down in front of her feet.

Gabriella stared at her feet for a few seconds before she finally looked up to meet that face; those baby blue eyes that made her fall for him and fall deeper into her emotions everytime she looked in them. He smiled lightly at her. "You need some help getting this over there?" he asked pointing over to their friends.

She stood speechless for a few minutes before nodding. "Uhh, yea thanks."

Oddly, these were the first few words they had spoken to each other since the intense break up between them.

As the four friends stood, waiting for the rest of the senior class to get their stuff, blue met brown and for the first time, neither looked away, but kept staring into each other's eyes.

"Alright already," Chad interrupted their stare. "Quit having sex with each other with your eyes. Trust me when I say, no one wants to see that."

Gabriella blushed, her face turning tomato red and Troy's hand nervously reached back to scratch the back of his neck.

Taylor's hand went up to the back of Chad's head, smacking it hard. "Leave them alone," she said through clenched teeth, then grabbing his ear and pulling him toward one of the vans that had pulled up to take them to their hotel.

--

She stood in the middle of the hotel room she was sharing with her best friend, staring at herself in the mirror. On the brunette's body now was just her bathing suit. Since coming to their hotel, the two friends had unpacked and then decided to head down to relax by the pool for a while. Luckily for Gabriella, she was smart and wore her bikini under her clothes she traveled in making it easier and quicker to change.

She stared at her body in the all white bikini, wondering if she was really seeing herself. She had always been extremely self conscious about her body. The little tiny things that most people wouldn't notice that she fussed over, thinking she was fat when she clearly wasn't, wondering if people were laughing behind her back at her frame, when they were really envying it and wondering how in the world she could look so perfect. Her hands trailed down to the ring resting in her belly button and down to her pelvis line right before the top of her bikini bottoms. Her fingers gently moved the piece of fabric down slightly, revealing the tattoo that rested right above her most intimate place, on her pelvic bone. The tattoo of the number 14 that no one knew she had, not even the person it was gotten in memory of.

"Would you stop staring at your body," Taylor cried, coming out the bathroom in her own bathing suit with a towel resting over her shoulder. "You look perfect alright, stop taunting me."

Gabriella giggled at her best friend. "I'm sorry, I was just…wondering."

"You're always wondering," Taylor rolled her eyes. "What could there be to wonder about? You are perfect. I would kill to have the curves you have. No wonder Troy can't keep his eyes off you. Want to trade bodies by any chance?"

The brunette giggled again, before walking over to the bed, grabbing her towel, slipping on her flip flops and putting her shorts from earlier back on. "Tay, don't stress, your body is great too. I mean Chad sure does like it," she smirked, opening up the door to their room and heading out as Taylor followed her, putting on a look of mock horror.

--

"Come on man," Chad begged the basketball captain, as he lied on his bed watching the hotel TV. The bushy haired boy was standing in his board shorts and wife beater, standing over his best friend.

"Why should I?" Troy asked, shifting his position and resting his arms under his head.

"Because Tay wants me to come, and I can't refuse my girlfriend."

Troy rolled his eyes. "What does that have to do with me? Just got by yourself."

Chad sighed, plopping down on his bed. "I can't. You know Tay and I might get into something later and if we decide to come back to the room; we can't leave Gabi alone with no place to go. Did I mention Gabs was coming?"

Troy popped up at the sound of the goddesses' name. "She is?"

Chad smirked, knowing that he had finally gotten him to agree. "Yep," he nodded.

The boy quickly grabbed his shorts and rushed into the bathroom, causing Chad to smile and lay back on his bed. "Too easy."

--

He sat in a beach chair, watching her one chair over. She was tanning, like usual, her body glistening in the sun. He watched her lie almost completely still and he couldn't help staring at her barely clad body. His eyes started to focus on her covered body parts. Her breasts which were moving up and down slowly with every breath she took and her most private place that was in between her legs.

Troy's mind wondered back to the days where he would touch her in those most intimate places on her body. It brought him back to the days when he was the only one to see her or touch her in those now covered places. He was the one that pleasured her, learned her weak spots and saw her at her most pleasurable moments. He had been inside her. He had been between her legs, in the warmth resting there, not one, but plenty of times. Just thinking about it and looking at her that way made him wish they were still together so he could sweep her off the chair and bring her to his room, doing whatever he pleased to her.

As he looked down, he noticed in the midst of all his fantasies, his 'friend' had gotten very excited. He sighed, getting up and stripping off his t-shirt and preparing to go take a dip in the water, to try and calm himself down. He saw her glance up at his, her ear buds still plugged in her ears, separating her from hearing anything in the outside world.

Gabriella watched him push his shirt up and over his head, giving her a full view of his muscles, almost making her faint right then and there.

She quickly reached over her chair into her back and grabbed her book from there to help distract her and keep from swooning over him. She pulled the book up to her face and discreetly pulled her eyes over the book to watch Troy go in the water. God how she wished she could be his again. She wanted him told hold her in his arms like the old days before things went sour. She wanted him to touch her in those places that she had let him get to know so well. She wanted him. She glanced over at Taylor and Chad playing in the water and sighed, wishing so bad to go back to the days when she and Troy were madly in love like that. She told Taylor that she only thought about him every now and then, but now she was starting to see that It was really Every. Single. Day. She couldn't stop and she knew in order to move on, she was going to have to do something about this.

--

Troy was tired of this now. He was tired not being able to have her and he wanted her. It was dinner now and Chad and Taylor were being all couply, leaving Troy and Gabriella sitting next to each other awkwardly without anything to say to each other. They watched the two interact and thoughts about the other went through each other minds at the same time.

Gabriella, finally having enough, stood up and pushed her chair away. "Excuse me," she quickly moved out the hotel restaurant and into the lobby where fresh air from outside was coming freely through the open space.

Troy stood up after Gabriella, seeing that their friends were too caught up in each other to notice. He moved out into the lobby and found her sitting near the water fountain. He walked over and sat next to her quietly and she didn't look over from where she was staring out into space.

"You ok?" He asked her, unsure of what else to say.

Gabriella looked over at him, as if noticing him there for the first time. She smiled lightly and then looked down into her lap playing with the championship ring resting in her hands. "Yea I'm good."

He looked down at her fiddling hands. "So you still have that huh?"

She glanced at the ring and then back up at his face. "Uhh, yea." She blushed. "It's kind of special to me you know. I mean it really means a lot...unless you want it back or something."

Troy quickly shook his head no. "It's yours keep it."

She smiled. "Actually it's yours."

"But I gave it to you."

She looked back up out at the open lobby. "I still don't get why you never wanted it back, because I know it always meant a lot to you."

"Well," he paused, not sure if he should let the next words he was thinking slip out his mouth. "You meant a lot to me too and you still do."

Gabi blushed lightly. She had always reacted like this when he complemented her. She always had a weakness when it came to him. "We've been doing a suck job at this haven't we?" she asked suddenly.

Troy instantly knowing what she meant, chuckled. "Yea, pretty much."

She smiled, shaking her head and looking back into the open space. "I don't know how we ever got this way. I mean I never imagined feeling awkward whenever I'm around you and not being able to have a simple conversation with each other. It's not supposed to be like this you know."

He looked at her face. "What do you mean?"

"Remember when we first met and we promised to be friends, no matter what? Even if we were to start dating, had a horrible break-up and things got crazy? We were supposed to be there for each other no matter what."

Troy looked out to where she was looking at. "Well I guess we didn't really keep that promise."

She giggled. "Yea we didn't, but I think we should."

His eyebrows scrunched up. "You want to be friends? Even after all this?"

She nodded. "I know it sounds silly, but we can start over. Clean slate. But I just think we had too good of a friendship to let it go all down the toilet because of a relationship gone bad."

He could tell she was trying not to say anything relating to him cheating on her and she was trying to be nice and forgive him, but as much as he wanted it, he didn't think he deserved it. "You sure about this?"

She looked over to him, locking eyes with him and holding them in her gaze. "I forgive you Troy," she said, as if reading his mind. "I really do, I mean I know things were really messy but we all make mistakes….friends?" She stuck out her hand to him.

Troy shook his head and ignored her hand. "Real friends hug."

She smiled and put her arms around his neck, gently pulling him in to her and he wrapped his arms lightly around her waist. She took the time to breathe in his scent, unknowing that he was doing the same, happy that they could finally be themselves with each other again.

--

After talking, Troy and Gabriella went for a walk around the hotel in order to avoid and interaction with the lovey dovey couple again. By the time Gabriella got back to her room it was almost 1am and Taylor was waiting up for her, worried.

When she opened the door, Taylor bolted up off her bed and towards her friend. "Where have you been?" She asked frantically, wrapping her arms tightly around the petite girl's frame. "I've been worried sick about you."

Gabriella giggled, stripping off her dress and tossing it on her bed and grabbing shorts and a tee out of her suitcase. "Chill, you sound like my mother."

Taylor eyes narrowed. "WHERE WERE YOU?" She yelled this time. "How can you just walk in here at damn near one in the morning acting all cool and calm telling me I sound like your mother?!?!"

Gabriella eyes widened at Taylor's voice. "Tay, calm down. I didn't mean to worry you, I was with Troy." She turned around toward the mirror and grabbed the face cloth resting there and brought it into the bathroom to wash the makeup off her face.

Taylor's anger suddenly dropped and she looked at Gabriella confused. Gabriella saw Taylor's face from the mirror and turned around. "What?"

"How the hell did you end up with Troy?"

Gabriella smirked and turned back to the bathroom mirror. "Well you and Chad were too busy caught up in yourself and we left because we didn't wanna watch that and I guess you didn't see us leave."

"So what did you and Troy do?" Taylor leaned against the wall.

"Don't start Tay," Gabi scolded. "We just walked and talked."

"What brought on this sudden friendship between you two though?"

"I don't know," Gabriella shrugged, finally getting everything off her face and leaving the bathroom, turning out the light and climbing in her bed. "I guess we just realized that things between us weren't like the way they're supposed to be so we agreed to be friends."

Taylor laughed as she climbed into bed also. "You're gonna try to be friends again? Do you see where that put you last time?"

"It's different this time Taylor," Gabriella sighed. She pulled the covers closer to her neck and turned on her back staring at the ceiling. "At least I want and hope so."

--

About a week later, the class trip was over, leading the entire senior class to go back home. They gathered their stuff and went to the airport, getting ready for the long plane ride back to New Mexico.

Gabriella had just checked in her bags and made her way back over to Chad, Taylor and Troy, her ticket in hand. "You guys ready?"

Chad yawned, since it was technically 6 in the morning and he hadn't gotten any sleep last night. "Yea to the terminals," Taylor answered for him, taking his arms.

They started walking and Troy draped his arm over Gabriella's shoulders, causing her to look over at him suspiciously. They walked like that through the airport and shortly after boarded the plane, sitting with the same seat partners they had before on the flight to.

In the middle of the flight, Taylor popped a question out of nowhere. "Are you and Troy getting back together?" she asked.

Gabriella's eyes widened and she gaped at Taylor, looking around and hoping nobody had heard her question. "Where the hell did that come from?"

Tay shrugged. "I was just curious because you two seem more...i don't know...couply."

"We are not a couple," Gabriella defended.

"I never said you were," She shrugged again. "It's just that's what it seems."

Gabi glanced over at Troy and he grinned at her and she smiled back before looking to see the knowing look on Taylor's face. "It's nothing alright."

A little while later when the plane landed, the entire East High senior class got off and grabbed their bags most of them catching rides home from their parents or bumming rides off other parents.

Taylor's mom had showed up to pick up the four teenagers, but when she got their Gabriella was nowhere in sight.

"Where'd Gabi go?" Troy asked after helping Chad load the suitcases in the car.

"No idea, she was right beside me in baggage claim."

Troy headed back inside the airport, searching just about every terminal he could think of that she would be in. He was just about to give up when he reached one of the terminals where the sunset could be seen easily from the glass windows. He noticed a girl sitting alone near the window, a suitcases sitting near her, her legs folding against her chest and tucked partly underneath her butt. She was staring out the window and she seemed lost in her own world until Troy walked up.

"What are you thinking?" he asked her, suddenly after sitting down quietly next to her.

She continued to stare out the window, not expression on her face. "What makes you think I'm thinking?"

Troy chuckled. "You're sitting here staring at the sunset, plus you have that look on your face, plus I know you, I can tell when you're thinking about something."

She curled her legs into her body even more and Troy silently moved closer, taking her in his arms and pulling her close, hugging her body to his. "It's nothing," she replied. "I just have a lot of my mind."

Troy nodded slightly. "Does any of this thinking have to do with us...or better yet me?"

Gabriella rested her head on her knee as he held her. "Truthfully...yes it does and it's tearing me up inside and ripping me to pieces."

"Gabi, I wanted to let you know, I'm not forcing you into anything."

She shook her head. "God, I know Troy. And I know I'm not ready for another relationship and especially not with you at this time, but I'm fighting myself in this battle."

"Well what's battling?"

"My heart and my mind," she sniffled, wiping her freshly fallen tears against her sweatshirt sleeve.

"What is your heart telling you?" He asked her slowly, being careful of her emotions.

"To want you and to want to be with you and forget all my morals and take you back right this second," she said, looking up and meeting his gaze.

He nodded. "And your mind."

"It's saying that after everything I've worked hard for, I should be giving it all up for a guy and that I should follow my own path."

"Which do you think you should follow?" he asked her as she moved her head from her knees to his shoulder.

"I want to follow my heart, but I need to be conscious of my brain." She stopped looking up at him. "You're a great listener, you know that?"

He grinned. "It pays off sometimes."

She smiled her first real smile in about a day or two. "I think it's time for me to make my decision."

Troy nodded. "And what would that be?" he asked.

"You," she whispered. "I don't care anymore that you slept with Sharpay, because you can clearly see that you have no feelings for her and I don't know what I was doing thinking I could go this long without you and not going crazy first."

"So you officially forgive me?"

"I did a while ago, but I just needed a chance for my heart to have a chance and kick start itself all over again in the right path." Gabriella smiled. "But there's still one more thing to do to make this official."

"What's that," Troy asked as she lifted her head from its spot. Her face got closer to his and she connected their lips in a heated kiss as the sun set behind them.

"I KNEW IT!" Chad's voice yelled out through the almost empty airport, echoing against the walls. "I just knew you two would get back together."

Taylor smiled. "I see I see, and I like."

Gabriella giggled, moving her face back to Troy's shoulder and hiding it there. As their friends stood discussing their newfound rekindled relationship Troy reached up behind Gabriella's neck.

Her face looked confused as he gently pulled the chain from around her neck and slipped his championship of it and it fell into his hand. Gabriella looked at him a little shocked and surprised, wondering what he was doing with it, but she had a feeling he was taking it back.

She watched him pick up her hand and them slip the ring onto her fourth finger on her left hand. "I want you to wear it on your finger and let everyone know you're mine. And in the hops that one day, I can replace that championship ring with a diamond wedding ring."

Gabriella's face started to swell with tears and she wrapped her arms around his neck before he got a chance to see her crying. "I love you," she whispered in his ear.

"Always and forever," he finished, kissing her forehead. "Always and forever, not matter what the circumstances.

Gabriella took his hand and led him off outside to Mrs. McKessie's waiting minivan, where they started everything over again, but this time being successful in showing their love for each other nonstop, for just about the rest of their natural born lives.

A/N: ok so this just popped into my head the other day so i hope you liked it REVIEW plz