NOTE: Here's an old story of ours.
"I hate the stars because I look at the same ones as you do, without you."
Counting Constellations
Introduction
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Troy Bolton and Gabriella Montez were odd.
The both of them were oddly in love.
It was as if the two of them spoke some language that didn't even exist to the others. Many of them didn't understand Troy and Gabriella. But they, however, thought that those who didn't understand them didn't know how it was to be in love. And so when word got out at East High that the two of them began to date, it was, as expected, pure havoc. Good thing that Troy and Gabriella were the odd ones, for they had managed to get past the havoc that was sent forth from the school, and had just managed to find pleasure in each other.
Gabriella Montez had little blue envelopes in her locker every Friday morning.
It was another thing that people found odd, for very few knew what those little blue envelopes contained. People who were, needless to say, not very fond of the relationship, had just guessed it was some stupid love note. Well, they weren't wrong, in fact, they were somewhat right. Each one of the envelopes contained some of man's famous quotes about this strange little thing called love. All of what Gabriella was familiar with. Yet, it seemed odd that Troy would know of it himself. Little did they know that their star captain Troy Bolton had a romantic side within himself.
Actually, even his best friends didn't know he had it within himself. Troy Bolton himself didn't know he had it in himself. As far as Troy knew, it wasn't a side of him he had known about until Gabriella brought it out. Troy Bolton also wasn't corny…until the new girl had come to East High. From then on he was chewing on corn every possible moment of his life.
Troy Bolton and Gabriella Montez had special remnants of each other within their rooms. The very special of them were penguins.
Gabriella had a somewhat fat stuffed penguin. It had an orange beak, orange flipper feet, blue oval-shaped eyes, and a few shaggy light brown strings at the top for the hair rather than it being bald. The penguin had worn a red-suit with 'Wildcat' printed in black bold Comic Sans typing.
Troy also had a penguin. This one was smaller and not as chubby as the one Gabriella had. It had a yellow beak, yellow flipper feet, big bug-eyed almond colored eyes, and long wavy strings of dark brown for the hair. This female penguin had a cute sundress with the word, 'Smarty' printed on it with bold Verdana typing.
To Troy Bolton and Gabriella Montez, these penguins were the most treasured and meant the world to them, as did their relationship.
To Chad Danforth, the stuffed animals were nothing more than demented and weird-looking hairy penguins that looked like they were on crack. His idea of a remembrance gift was one of his many basketball black-and-white photos where he was making a half court shot. Chad Danforth just didn't understand.
Troy and Gabriella's myspace names were odd. Their headlines also consisted of many quotes that normal students of their age, just didn't comprehend to; only they did, and that was enough. And every single one reminded them of each other.
They both had each other on the top of their friends lists. Troy had Gabriella's as his top (this annoyed Chad to the millionth degree) and Gabriella had Troy as her top. Although their layouts were very different, Gabriella's being powder blue with tiny butterflies circling the top, and Troy's being red and white WILDCATS ROCK on the bottom, they both had one thing in common, one icon. Stars.
Chad Danforth didn't see why this was necessary. He, like many of the students at East High, just didn't understand.
But Troy and Gabriella did. And it was their thing.
The two rarely fought; it was actually some Disney fairytale romance. Of course, many people who realize that life just cannot have a fairytale ending recognized this. Many made bets on the two: on when the two would split or have a huge blowout fight.
But they never did.
They never did.
Sure, the two quarreled there and then, but usually they would laugh it off and Troy would give Gabriella a kiss on the cheek and all was well again. But the two never had a huge fight, aside from the brief breakup at Lava Springs.
But Lava Spring was past them.
Way, way, past them.
It was just…simply in the past and something that if it was brought up, it would quickly be shot down and laughed upon as how silly the two teens (and now seniors) were being.
Aside from that, the two were picture perfect, alpha teens, the perfect couple, the envy of all the cheerleaders and science nerds, absolutely in love, and they just didn't care what others thought of them.
And that worked for them.
One of Troy Bolton's favorite quotes is from William Blake, and is often highly misunderstood. (He had of course been browsing through Gabriella's mini-library in her room and had actually read some of the books.) His friends don't get it, classmates don't understand, even some teachers seem to be befuddled by it, but Troy Bolton knows. Troy Bolton knows what it means:
"To see a world in a grain of sand, and a heaven in a wildflower... hold infinity in the palm of your hand, and eternity in an hour..."
One of Gabriella Montez's favorite quotation from Charles Caleb Colton has always been (and still is), "True friendship is like sound health, the value of it is seldom known until it be lost."
One of Chad Danforth's favorite quotes was by the beloved basketball player Shaquille O'Neal, "I can't really remember the names of the clubs that we went to," He said when asked if he had gone to see the Parthenon in Greece.
When he told that to Troy and Gabriella, they didn't laugh. Chad had learned that day that quotes were serious business for the two of them. He had shrugged it off as another mysterious aspect about their relationship that he did not understand.