Absolute Perfection

A/N: So this is my new story, and I am pretty excited for it. I will still be doing the sequel to I Know What It's Like, but I just couldn't get this out of my head. It is based off a sub plot of another story I wrote that I really like. There will definitely be some darker themes in this story.

"Ok start at one! Five, six, seven, eight, one…"

Everyone has that one place. That one place where they feel safe. A place where they can forget all their troubles, their vices, and just feel free. A place that makes you feel like there is nothing wrong in the world. To Gabriella Montez that place was the dance floor.

Whether it was on a stage, in a classroom, or even in her house, there was nothing she loved more than to dance. There was no better environment than one where music blasted through speakers as a teacher stood in front of the mirror yelling out the counts while inspecting every move. There was better sound than the sound of feet hitting the floor after a jump. There was never a place Gabriella Montez would rather be.

"And turn two, three, four…good Gabriella!"

The grace of a ballerina. Attitude of a hip-hop dancer. Technique of a jazz dancer. Stage presence. Passion. Gabriella Montez had it all and it made her the best.


"I'm home!!!" Gabriella called as she walked into the Beverly Hills home. As usual she threw her bags on the counter before grabbing a bottle of water out of the refrigerator.

"Hi sweetie." She turned around to see her father walk into the room and immediately looked at him, genuinely surprised. When your father is a high ranking executive at NBC it is rare for him to be home before 7 PM.

"Hey Dad. What are you doing home so early?"

"Well it's Friday and I didn't have any more meetings today so I decided I could make calls from home," Ed replied and she nodded. "So how was school? Dance?"

"Good. Pretty uneventful."

"Ok. So are you going out tonight?"

"Probably."

"That's a shame." Gabriella looked at her father, utterly confused and he chuckled.

"Why?" Ed handed her a plain white envelope. Still perplexed, she opened it up and removed the two pieces of thick paper. As soon as she did her eyes widened.


Marc Jacobs. Juicy. James Perse. Seven For All Mankind. True Religion. Theory. Louis Vuitton. Gucci. Chanel. Dior. Gabriella had a closet full of it, yet she couldn't find anything to wear.

In any other city the appropriate attire to a sporting event would be a jersey or any shirt that showed team spirit. However, this was Los Angeles, and Laker games were not normal sporting events. There were different rules. Especially if you were one of the lucky few to sit courtside.

"Why don't you wear your new J Brands?" Gabriella looked to her best friend Taylor, who was sitting on the bed, typing frantically on her Blackberry. She placed her hands on her hips pondering her thoughts.

"No they're black, and I wanna wear a yellow shirt, which will make me look like a bumble bee." Taylor rolled her eyes at her friend's complaint.

"Then wear blue jeans. You have like a thousand pairs." Gabriella just groaned before turning back to her walk in closet, leading Taylor to chuckle. "So you know what you are missing tonight, right?"

"A house party that will be no different than the one we were at last weekend and every weekend before that," Gabriella asked back, walking back into the room, now dressed in a pair of True Religion skinny jeans and a light yellow Free City t-shirt.

"Yes, but we both know that you are not one to miss a party."

"I'll survive. Anyway, what do you think?" Taylor looked her up and down, inspecting her outfit.

"Perfect."

"Yay! Now what shoes?"

"What about your white Louboutin peep-toes?"

"To a basketball game? My father will flip out at me." Although he was one of the most powerful men in the entertainment business, Ed Montez tried everything he could to be as down to earth as possible, and raise his kids in the same way. Obviously in many ways it was just flat out impossible, but as long as Gabriella and her 15 year-old brother, Will, weren't acting like spoiled brats, he was happy. "Plus, walking around the Staples Center in stilettos? Bad idea."

"True. What about your Steve Madden wedges?"

"Good call," she replied before going back into her closet.

"Anyway, I have a present for you."

"What?" Gabriella asked from the closet. Taylor grabbed her purse and wrapped her hand around the object, so if someone were to walk into the room they wouldn't see it. She walked into her best friend's closet, who turned to her as she pulled on the wedges. Taylor opened up her hand, revealing a little zip lock bag and Gabriella smiled.


"Sorry sweetie," Ed apologized after hanging up the phone, as he and Gabriella made their way to the Staples Center.

"It's okay," she replied. At this point, she was so used to her Dad constantly being on the phone, it didn't really matter.

"Anyway, I forgot to tell you, I talked to the Dean of New House today…" New House was the communications school at Syracuse, and one of the most prestigious in the country. Ed, being an alumnus, wanted nothing more than his daughter to follow in his footsteps. With Gabriella being a senior in high school this was something her father had been obsessing about over the past few months. "Your application has been flagged special interest." Gabriella's heart sank at her father's excited tone, once again being reminded that this was the reason she had yet to inform him of the multiple performing arts schools that had shown interest in her. She plastered a fake smile across her face.

"That's great Dad."


There are some things in life that never get old. That no matter how many times you experience it, the moment still felt special. For Troy Bolton, getting to sit courtside at a Laker Game was one of those things. Not only was it exciting to have some of the worlds best athletes a few feet in front of you, as an actor it gave you a special feeling. It makes you feel like you've finally made it. That after years and years of failed auditions and guest appearances that didn't help your career at all, you had finally found success. Enough success to the point where one of the biggest talent agencies in the country wants to make you happy at all times so they choose you to go to the event and sit in the seats that many would give their arms and legs to sit in. Getting to sit front row at a Laker Game definitely meant that for Troy Bolton, life couldn't get much better.

To many celebrities it was an opportunity to get seen. To have their picture taken. That wasn't the case for Troy. To him it was a night where he could just have fun. To have the opportunity to spend three hours in a public place without having the paparazzi asking him questions about his break up with his girlfriend of four years. It had been over a month since he and his former love-interest and co-star Lena had announced their split, and even though he was a pretty much over it, it seemed to be that no one else was over the 'Trena' break-up.

Yes, she was his first love. Yes, she would always have a place in his heart. However, she had turned into a diva, and when his career shot up and hers, well, didn't, she had begun to ride his coat tails. He had naturally felt like he was being used so he ended it.

But despite his very public break up, Troy still had many things going for him. Besides the fact that he was gorgeous, he was a great actor. And he was just getting better and better with each movie he appeared in. However, there was something that no matter how many years he would spend in Hollywood, or how old he was, that he would never be good at.

Time management. Which is why he was 10 minutes away from the Staples Center when the game was supposed to start in one minute.


As Gabriella walked on the floor of the Staples Center towards her seat, she couldn't help but giggle like a giddy schoolgirl. Her and her father had already walked by Leonardo Dicaprio, Sophia Bush, and Kanye West, and while Gabriella wasn't one to get star struck, it was still exciting. They finally made it to the baseline and one of the employees gestured to their seats.

"Ed!" They turned to see a man who was sitting in the first two seats of the row. Ed immediately smiled.

"Kevin, how are you," Ed replied, shaking his hand.

"Great, and you?" he asked back.

"Just wonderful, this is my daughter Gabriella." Gabriella smiled politely and shook hands with the man.

"Nice to meet you."

"You too, I've heard so much about you from Chloe." Gabriella's eyes narrowed in confusion, which made him chuckle. "She's on the freshman dance team at Westside." Her eyes lit up, understanding the middle-aged man.

"Oh! Of course! Chloe is great!" She exclaimed sincerely.

"Thank you. I have to say she was very excited when she found out that you were choreographing their dance." Gabriella placed her hand on her heart, genuinely touched.

"Aww that's so sweet. I'm excited too. Tell her I say hi."

"I will." The stadium lights then went out, signaling the team video and introductions were about to start, so they all say down.

"What does he do?" Gabriella mumbled to her father as soon as they did so.

"Agent at CAA." Gabriella just nodded. Considering 95% of the people sitting on the court were in the entertainment business, Ed also knew the man sitting to the left of him. After introducing him to Gabriella, they immediately started talking business. While there were times when this would annoy Gabriella, she didn't care at the moment. All she cared about was the fact that she was sitting courtside at a Laker Game.


Troy was getting impatient. He was late and they wouldn't let him go to his seat until a whistle that stopped the game was blown.

"Please sir…"

"I'm sorry, we can't let you on the floor until the game stops." Troy just sighed. He bounced up and down on his toes until the ref finally blew the whistle. The security guard finally stepped aside and Troy rushed onto the floor. He made his way around the court, people staring, pointing, and taking pictures in the process. Once he finally made it to the baseline, he showed the usher his ticket and she nodded. As soon as he stepped onto the court, Kevin stood up.

"Troy! There you are!" He exclaimed, and the two shook hands.

"Yeah, I'm so sorry, traffic was insane."

As soon as Gabriella heard the voice she froze. She glanced to her right, and sure enough there was Troy Bolton, and he was about to sit right next to her. Her heart began to pound through her chest and she did everything she could to not start shaking.

Now, it wasn't as if she had posters of him all over her walls and she visited his website every day, but that didn't stop her from wanting him. He was Troy Bolton after all. Any girl in their right mind would want the gorgeous 21-year old. The fact that he looked so incredibly sexy in his worn out jeans, vans, and plaid button down t-shirt, did not make the situation any better.

It was official. She needed to calm herself down. So as soon as the ref blew the whistle signaling the end of the second quarter, she informed her father that she was going to go to the bathroom. He just nodded and she grabbed her bag before standing up and walking towards the edge of the floor. As she passed Kevin, she smiled politely and he smiled back, leading Troy to notice the beauty of the girl who he had been sitting next to for the past ten minutes. As soon as he did, his heart jumped. She was probably the most beautiful thing he had ever seen. He immediately leaned over to Kevin.

"She's hot." Kevin chuckled and shook his head. "Who is she?"

"Gabriella Montez," he replied quietly, so her father wouldn't hear. "The guy right there…" Troy glanced at him for a second and nodded before turning back to his agent, "…is her father. He pretty much runs NBC. My daughter goes to her school, she was practically jumping up and down when she found out that Gabriella was going to be choreographing for the freshman dance team."

"Why?"

"Something about her being captain of the varsity team and they won the state championships last year. She must be a pretty nice girl to be a senior and reach out to freshman."

"Wow," Troy muttered. He followed her with his eyes as she made her way to the tunnel, and couldn't help but be completely captivated as she walked with all the confidence in the world. "So she's like…perfect."

Please Review!! I hope you liked it!! I'll give you teeny tiny hint about the direction of the story. The little bag that Taylor gives Gabriella will be very very important to the plot.