A.N:In honor of Vanessa playing Mimi in Rent, I decided to make a troyella one-shot featuring one of the songs. I chose this song because it was the first song of Rent I listen too. I changed the names of Mark and April. I hope the story doesn't bother anyone. I put a few things in the song from the movie and the musical. Also I put it in Troy's point of you'll see a lot of I's and she's. Comment if you see a error that I had overlooked. The story will be a little cute but not g-rated. If you're sensitive to HIV, suicide, and the mention of drugs. Don't read the story. But if you're hoping to read a dark and edgy Troyella, read ahead and enjoy.

A.N:I don't own High School Musical. And I don't own RENT. But wouldn't life be grand if it was possible.

It was freezing outside. Not that it was any better inside. I had just came back from the roof. It's sad that it was the first time in six months, I actually went outside the loft. I was out there trying to find some inspiration for my last and only song. Because of a mistake I made, my life was cut short. I'm really scared of what's going to happen to me when the virus comes. But at least before I leave the world I'll have something to leave behind so people can remember me as the great rockstar I dreamt of being. Instead of the HIV-positive, ex-junkie, Washed up rockstar loser every one sees me as.

I had reached the door to my loft. I went inside and put my guitar down.I saw that thanks to a certain yuppie scum landlord, the power was still out. No need for it, there isn't any creativity in me anymore. I was about to go in to my room with curtains that serve as my door but then stopped when I heard knocking on the door. It was probably Drew.

He must have left his stupid film equipment again. As much as I enjoy his company, I really want to be alone right now. I sigh and went to answer the door. This better not be like last time when Drew forgot his keys and had me help him search for them outside for 2 hours, only to find he left them on the 'kitchen' counter. I finally opened the door.

"What'd you forget?" I was expected to see a pale, scrawny, pumpkin headed, glasses-wearing, scarf-obsessed guy at the door. Instead I saw a small Hispanic girl. She was wearing a white long sleeve shirt, black sweater and tiny blue skirt. It's too cold in the building to be wearing a short skirt. She was confused by my question.

"Got a light?' She whispered and held out her unlit candle at me. I feel like I've seen her before.

"I know you, you're…"The girl had walked past me and invited herself in. She must have been freezing."You're shivering"

"It's nothing they turned off my heat. And I'm just a little weak on my feet." She brushed off the subject like it was meaningless to her. I did something nice for once and put my leather jacket on her so she could warm up. "Would you light my candle?" I took out one of my matches from my back pocket and lit the candle.

There was a little bit of light in the room and I got a better sight of this girl. She had curly brown hair. The moon brought out the shine in her hair. 'Wait, did I just say that?'

"What are you staring at"Dammit, she caught me staring at her.

"Nothing" 'Say something that won't make me sound like a weirdo.'

"Your hair in the moonlight" 'And winner of the lamest pick-up lines goes to the loser in the plaid pants.' "You look familiar" She was walking towards to the window but started to stumble.

"Can you make it" A little part of me wanted to know if she was okay. She adjusted herself and calmly looked at me. "Just haven't eaten much today. At least the room stopped spinning. Anyway"

To reassure she was fine she started to twirl across the room while holding her candle. "What" She caught me staring at her, again.

"Nothing. Your smile reminded me of…"

"I always remind people of…who is she?" There are just some things in my shitty past I don't want to bring up. "She died. Her name was Amy." I looked away in the corner. Whenever her name is brought up or thought about, I can never erase the bathroom incident.

"It's out again" At least one of us is changing the subject. If there's two things I don't need from this girl, it's her company and her pity. "Sorry about your friend. Would you light my candle?" Her candle was unlit. She walked up to me and put her candle close to second match that I pulled out of my pocket. I lit it again. I was waiting for her to leave. "Well…"

"Yeah. Ow!'She must have burned herself.

"Oh. The wax. Its…"The girl really likes to cut off my sentences. She was inching up closer to me.

"Dripping!" Technically she finished up my sentence. "I like it between my…" she said in a seductive tone. My eyes widen when in her tiny blue skirt; her knee was rubbing against my...

"Fingers" That wasn't what she was going to say

"I figured. Oh, well. Goodnight." She was frowning when I finished. She smirked and gave back my jacket and was heading towards the door.

I was headed back towards my guitar but then I heard knocking. It's pretty easy guess of who could be at the door.

The girl came back into the loft "It blew out again?' I was laughing at the thought of us doing this all night. But she wasn't smiling my joke she had a worried look face. She was searching through her pockets of her skirt and then looking at the floor.

"No. I think that I dropped my stash." I was shocked at her comment. She looked way too young to be getting into drugs. I really needed to change the conversation. "I know I've seen you out and about. When I use to go out." Back when I wasn't afraid of going outside.

While she was still looking for her missing stash I saw her candle was unlit. "Your candle out"

She sighed when she saw the candle and continued to walk, "I'm illin, and I had when I walked in the door. It was pure! Is it on the floor?"

"The floor" I was a bit confused at the thought of how it was first in her pocket and then it landing on the floor.

She had lowered herself on the knees and started crawling.

"They say I have the best ass below Fourthteen Street?" She asked me in a flirty tone. While she was still on the floor, she had moved the sight of her backside so I could get a better look "Is it true?"

It was very much true. But I needed to stop myself before I resorted to drooling.

"What"

This girl really likes to make me squirm "You're staring again" When she turned her face towards me I saw a huge grin on her face. Her brown eyes were sparkling at my humiliation.

"Oh, no" I tried very hard to denied it. It also didn't help the situation that I could see her shorts from her skirt. "I mean you do…have a nice…I mean!" She rolled her eyes and went back to looking for her drugs. I got on my knees and crawled on the opposite side to where she was at so I could help her find them.

"You look familiar" I've to start another conversation that doesn't end up of me being a jackass.

"Like your dead girlfriend" She spat out like it was an insult

"Only when you smile, but I'm sure I've seen you some where else"

We both stopped looking and scooted closer to metal table in the middle of the room. "Do you go to the Cat Scratch Club?" She said in monotone. "That's where I work, I dance"Is it me or did it seem that she didn't seem prod of her job.

"Yes" Now I remembered. The dirty club, the hot girls, the sleazy customers. "They use to tie you up" Back when I wasn't scared, sometimes with friends or with drew, we would go to the club and catch a Hispanic girl do a sexy dance in only bubble wrap handcuffed to a lawn chair. I guess I can see why she would be ashamed of her job.

She signed," It's a living"

"I didn't recognized you without the handcuffs"

She pulled out her unlit candle "We could light the candle" She reached out her candle and looked at me with her big brown eyes. "Oh won't you light the candle" I took out another match; she smiled at me when I lit it again.

"Why don't you forget that stuff?' The girl looked like she was still in high school. "You look like you're sixteen." What would she be doing in Alphabet City, Home of the starving and disease artists.

The girls confidently stood up "I'm nineteen. But I'm old for my age. I'm just born too be bad." She playfully bumped me and walked to the left side of the loft so she could find her smack. "I once was born to be bad" She reminds me a lot of how I was like when I was nineteen. The girl had started to shake. "I used to shiver like that" There was a lot of I did when I was doing smack.

"I have no heat. I told you"

"I used to sweat"

"I got a cold"

She was getting pissed at my accustations."Uh-huh. I used to be a junkie" And I'm never going back.

"But now and then I like to…"

"Uh-huh"

"Feel good" There's nothing good about shaking so hard that you feel like your bones are on fire while having your best friend hold tightly on you before you slip into unconscious.

On the floor I spotted a small plastic bag of white powder. "Oh, here it…I tried to pick it up before she could see me "Um.." The girl was smiling at me and walked over so she could claim the bag. "What's that?"

"Candy bar wrapper"

I don't need it and neither does she. So I put it in my back pocket and made a mental note for later that I flush it down the toilet.

She noticed and walked slowly over to where I was standing. "We could light the candle." While the girl was trying to reach over and take hr powder I blew out her candle while she wasn't looking. In a surprised tone she asked, "What'd you do with my candle" To get her to stop I fell back on the couch.

I had more matches, but I didn't want her to know that. "That was my last match" That didn't bother her, she sat on the arm of the couch and put her feet in the middle of my legs. "Our eyes'll adjust. Thank god for the moon."

"Maybe it's not the moon at all. I hear Spike Lee shooting down the street."

"Bah humbug. Bah humbug" She put her small hands over mine.

"Cold hands"

"Yours too. Big. Like my Father's" I look at her face and saw she had a huge smile on her face.

She stood up and grab at my hand to pull me off the couch. Being that she was at least two or three inches smaller than me I got up with her. "You wanna dance?"

"With you?"

She still had that smile on her face. "No'" She gave a twirl around me. "With my father" She giggled and muttered "Stupid boy"

I was smiling along with her "I'm Troy"

She put her small arms around my waist and put her face on my chest. In this position it looked like we were slow dancing. I was actually enjoying myself and started dancing along with her. I put my chin on her head, close me eyes, and put my arms around her. "They call me. They call me" I was so distracted, I didn't feel one of her hands going inside my back pocket and pulling out the tiny bag. She looked up at me with her beautiful eyes and said "Gabi"

She pulled out of our embrace and dangled the powder in my face. She giggled again and winked at me before she exit of the door.

Only one thought was going through my head after she had left.

'I like her.'

A.N-And that folks was 'Light my candle'. I had gotten into RENT two years and loved it ever since. I loved Broadway But RENT will always be in my number one spot. I always imagined Zac and Vanessa singing the song. I know that it won't ever happen but it's nice to dream. Remember people 'No day but today.'