December 31th, 2013

It was New Year's Eve and I was still wandering around thinking of what could I possibly give Troy this year. This was the first year we ever spent apart so when I talked to him and confirmed he would be attending to the Bolton's annual New Year's party I started to slowly panic as I realized I had nothing to give him this year.

Let me explain this for you: Every year Troy and I have this tradition of giving each other something that reminded us our time together during the past year, it started when we were about five years old when he bent down to give me a flower and I in exchange gave him the last cookie, we've been doing it every since. Since this year we were away to college, in two different colleges, there weren't much stuff that I could possibly give him. He was excited to give me my gift so I guess he did find something and I felt as a terrible friend for not having something to give him.

The only thing we did this year was talk on the phone for several hours because we missed each other a lot. Yeah we were friends but we weren't afraid to say that we missed each other.

Just then was when I figured out the perfect thing to give him, and with that I rushed into the shower…I had to get ready soon.

….

I didn't know if I expected the Bolton's house to be any different, I mean yes I've been away for college for a whole year but the Bolton's were very traditional people. Lucille embraced me in a warm hug and Jack did the same just with one arm because he was holding a glass full of whiskey in the other. I smiled at them as I took off my gloves and my scarf.

"I'm so glad you could make it Gabriella" Lucille said, her cheeks were a little red and I couldn't tell if it was because of the cold weather or because of the alcohol.

"Tradition its tradition" I simply said, I held my present against my chest as I walked down the hall with Troy's parents "Are the guys here yet?" I asked. They looked at each other with a smirk.

"Yes" Jack responded "They are in the backyard, setting the fireworks, Troy is upstairs though"

"Oh" Was all I could say.

"Would you mind go tell him everybody is here?" Lucille asked me. I knew what they were doing and I tried hard not to roll my eyes and laugh. I nodded and made my way up the stairs towards Troy's room, he was there of course, putting his shoes on. He didn't notice me at first giving me time to admire what he had become during this year. His hair was shorter but apart from that he looked exactly the same, maybe more muscle embracing his arms, he was also dressed differently, he looked more mature.

Like a man.

"So I heard Sharpay found a new boy toy to bring to this party" I said making him look up at me, his bright and intense blue eyes were glued to mine for a while, a slow smile spread across his face and he stood up opening his arms towards me. I couldn't help the need to jump into his arms like a five year old. Troy's arms embraced me tightly and I felt so different than I used to when he hugged me back in high school, it was like he wasn't the Troy I used to know back then, he definitely changed.

"I could not care less" He kissed my forehead and I felt his lips pressing there for maybe a little too long. I took a deep breath.

"You look great" I said "Different" Troy took a step back and he smiled back at me, he leaned his head to the side studying me.

"You look different too" He replied.

"I don't feel different" I looked down at my outfit, well I got new clothes but I felt exactly the same little girl that left this town to go to college a year ago.

"Trust me" He said as he finished putting on his shoes. "You do" He looked down at the box I was holding and a smirk played around his lips. "Is that my gift?"

"As a matter of fact it is" I smiled. Troy looked over his shoulder and he bent down to get a box just like mine and he pressed it against his chest with this joy sparkle filling his blue eyes, he always had fun when we did this things.

"Want to exchange now?" I asked and he nodded like a five year old. I laughed maybe there was a little of the old Troy inside of him after all. I pushed my box into his arms and he gave me his. Looking up at him one last time I opened my present and looked inside. "Bookmarks" I simply said.

"Twelve bookmarks for every time I stopped by the book store every month, saw one and though: If Gabriella was here she would love this. So I bought them" And he was right I did love them.

"Thank you Troy. It's perfect" I hugged my bookmarks like a child on Christmas day. He then looked down at his box and opened it slowly, just dragging the moment, like he always did. Looking inside he saw all the papers and read them for a while before lifting an eyebrow.

"Phone bills?" He asked and I nodded.

"Those are the phone bills for every single phone call we did this year. Did you know I spent more than three thousand dollars just to talk to you? That just makes me think of how much I just missed you and how important you are to me" His blue eyes were penetrating my soul, he stood quiet for a while and then without a warning or anything…

He kissed me.

December 31th, 2014

I walked down the hallway and into the backyard of the Bolton's house as every year; I could hear the sound of my heels as I walked over the wooden floor. This year was different from every other year I guess.

This year I was Troy's girlfriend.

After he kissed me last year right on this date we've been going out, it could be hard with all the college situation and yes I had to get some girls to back off my man from time to time but we managed to survive and I couldn't be more proud of us. I had my gift in my hand as every year as well and I couldn't wait to give it to him. Our friends were sitting down in the backyard setting the fireworks like every year and eating food like they were starving. Especially Chad, he had a serious problem with food.

"Look who it is" The guy in question exclaimed as I walked towards them "Hey Gabs how are you?"

"Hey Chad" I smiled, his fro was still on point like always, it was a little short but still on point. He had an arm wrapped around Taylor as she checked the food. I kissed her cheek and then I kissed Chad's "I see you haven't changed a bit, you're still very loud"

"Why do I need to change" He pulled Taylor closer to him "My woman loves me either way"

"True" Taylor said and soon smacked her lips against his. It was a cute scene to watch. Ryan and Sharpay were setting the fireworks far away from the food and she kept laughing at Ryan's attempts of pointing them all at the sky. I looked around.

"Where's Troy?" I asked. Soon I felt a couple of strong arms pull me back and I felt his minty breath blow in my ear.

"Right here" He said in that deep very sexy voice of his. I smiled and turned around in his arms before giving him a soft kiss. "Are you ready for your gift" He said pulling up a medium size box and giving me a huge smile. I grabbed mine and showed it to him.

"Only if you are" Everybody stopped what they were doing to see our charade, sometimes our gifts could be funny. He gave me his box and I gave him mine "Open yours first" He did as I said and stared down at what I know was a picture of our hands together the same day he won a basketball game, we went to celebrate at a local diner and I took a picture of our hands intertwined. I proceeded to explain my gift. "From the first time you said 'I love you' the day you won the basketball game"

Troy smiled at me and his eyes sparkled he looked down at my gift and told me to open it, I did just to find a basketball trophy inside. He chuckled.

"From the first time you said 'I love you' back to me the day I won that game" He said and I just knew this was by far the most perfect give he could ever give me.

Ever

December 31th, 2015

To say I was nervous was an understatement, I was almost panicking, this New Year's could potentially change everything I knew, hell my life was already changing forever and there was no turning back. My hands were shaking as I held Troy's gift close to my heart, I didn't know if we were going to be ok after this, this was the most important gift I could ever give the guy.

The most important gift I could ever give anyone.

I sat down in one of the patio chairs as everything developed around me, everything was normal, our parents were chatting on the far end of the backyard, Chad and Taylor were laughing by the BBQ flipping meat and eating some when they thought nobody was watching, Ryan was trying to set the fireworks again even when last year was a complete failure and Sharpay was wandering around him ready to step in if he did something wrong.

I saw Troy coming out of the house, his eyes instantly crashed with mine and he smiled as he walked over to me, I stood up and put the small box on the chair. Troy wrapped his arms around me and lifted me up as he kissed me softly, I felt all kinds of butterflies fill my stomach, and my heart was trying to get out of my chest. Troy bit my bottom lip and groaned when he put me back down. I giggled.

"Want to take a walk with me down the street" He pulled up the box and I knew he wanted some privacy to give me my gift.

"If you got me something naughty I'm going to kick you until next year" I said.

"Well then it's a good thing there are only a few hours left until next year" He grabbed my hand and I quickly took my box before going back into the house and walking to the street, it was cold outside and I could see the neighbors having gatherings or getting ready to go out. Troy walked down the street with a smile on his face; he stopped five houses down and faced me with a serious expression now. I just wanted to get this over with; to get it out so all this anxiety would leave my system.

I softly put my box on his hand and he did the same with me. We stared into each other's eyes for a while. He opened his first. I felt the tears filling my eyes as I started to panic again, I mean, what if he wasn't ok with it? What if this would make him upset? The tears ran down my cheeks as he looked down inside the box, he was completely paralyzed. I didn't know how I managed to speak but as always I had to explain my gift.

"For all the times you showed me what true love was about this year" I said. When Troy looked up I saw the tears in his eyes too. He held the box close to his chest like I did earlier today and wrapped the other arm around me, pulling me closer. He didn't say anything for a while then with his raspy voice he said:

"Open yours"

I quickly did as he said and opened my box, just to find a smaller box inside, my heart literally just stopped pumping blood, the air got stuck in my throat as I looked down at what I had in my hands, I couldn't believe it so I opened the smaller box to find a gorgeous diamond ring inside. I was speechless; the tears just kept running and running down my cheeks like freaking waterfalls. Troy grabbed my face and made me look up at him.

"For all the times I looked at you this year and I thought: 'Will you marry me Gabriella?' hoping every time in my mind you would say yes" I sobbed because there was no way in this world I could ever say no.

"Yes" I simply said. Troy grabbed the pregnancy test, my pregnancy test and pressed it gently against his lips and then he leaned in to kiss me.

We would definitely be ok after this.

After that we only saw fireworks.

Hey, the only thing I can say is: Happy New Year.

I hope you have a wonderful 2016 full of amazing stories.