Hostage:

Introduction; Normal Day

Today seemed like a complete normal day to Troy Bolton. He got up at a reasonable hour. Brushed his teeth. His Hair. And, overall prepared for the day's events.

Today was supposed to be the best day of his life. And it couldn't have started out more perfectly. As soon as he arrived at East High, where he attended high school, it seemed like the heavens had opened up to see Jesus himself. But they hadn't. It was Troy. Troy's life had always been like that. Ever since he was a kid, as soon as he would enter a room, people would stare and smile at him. Completely halting what they were doing so they could turn to see him perfectly. And today was no different.

When he walked through the halls people greeted him with cheerful smiles plastered on their faces, always saying 'good morning' or simply offering him a good old handshake or pat on the back. And he returned it graciously.

You see, Troy had always been the popular guy in school. The one who everyone likes and gets along with. The one that girls are madly in love with and would die to have. The one who guys envied like mad and wanted to hate him terribly. But they couldn't. He was just too likeable. From his irresistible 'Bolton' charm, his contagious laugh and smart yet child-like wit. Everything about Troy was enchanting.

"Hey hoops!" came in all too familiar voice.

Troy turned and gave his friend a winning grin. "Hey Chad, what's up?"

Chad smiled and spun the basketball that he was holding close to his chest on his fingertips like it was the easiest trick in the book. "What's up? I'll tell you what's up! My algebra score, that's what!" He through the ball up in the air in triumph.

Troy laughed. "Glad to here it, dude. I knew you could if you just applied yourself."

"Apply myself? You sound like-"

"Hey," came a seductive but sweet voice from behind them.

Troy's smile immediately got wider.

"Speak of the devil" Chad muttered to himself.

"Hey yourself." He tried to sound sexy, but came out sounding awkward and flimsy. He laughed at himself and Gabriella laughed along with him. He smiled at her and sweetly pecked her on the lips.

"How are you today babe?"

"I had to stay up all night to finish my English homework, and now I'm dead tired." She whined and placed a hand over her eyelids.

Troy smiled at her sweetness. It was just like Gabriella to stay up all night with homework. For a grade she probably doesn't even need to worry about. Ever since he had met Gabriella in middle school, they had been inseparable. They spent almost every waking moment together. Whether it be shopping, schoolwork, watching movies, or just being with each other. It didn't matter, as long as they were together. Then, in the summer before tenth grade. Troy had took a huge step. He asked Gabriella to be his girlfriend. He had been so nervous about it too. Rehearsing for weeks, going over in his mind what he would say to her, Chad even had to come over to his house to help him rehearse a few times. Which, to say the least, Chad was not proud of. But it had all worked out in the end. Gabriella had happily agreed and they had been a match made in heaven ever since.

Gabriella met his eyes and they shared a cute stare at each other.

But then Chad cut in. "Hey, lovebirds. Uh, there are over six billion other people on this planet you know. So why don't you spend a little bit of time looking at someone else for a change." Chad smirked to himself at his witty remark.

"Someone else like you Chad?" Gabriella asked hesitantly.

Chad shrugged, but he knew that was what he was referring to.

"We would, but your hairs too big, it would blind us, and then we would never be able to look at the other six billion people." Troy said as he gave his afro-friend a pat on the back.

Chad glared at his best friend while Troy and Gabriella chuckled to themselves.

"Hey, your just mad cause you don't have "The Fro." He said using the nickname he had called his wild strings of hair since the fifth grade.

"Well, "the fro" better have his Math homework done or "The Fro's" master will be screwed." Gabriella warned.

"Don't you worry your pretty little head about it Gabs, I got it done." He smiled smugly at them as they stood waiting in front of him, as he fished for the paper out of his backpack. He pulled out the paper smoothly looking quite self-confident.

Gabriella took the paper from his hands and scanned it over carefully. She nodded approvingly and smiled to herself that Chad had finally gotten his homework done on time-for once.

Her eyes widened in fear as she looked at the top of the paper.

"Chad!" she yelped.

Chad turned from his cocky pose to look concerned at Gabriella.

"What?" he asked hurriedly.

She shoot him an annoyed look and shook the paper in his face.

"Chad" she said exasperated, "we were supposed to do problems 1-14, not page 114!"

Troy burst into laughter and Gabriella couldn't help but smirk. Although she was quite disappointed that Chad didn't do the right assignment. She wanted him to succeed, and by him getting detention every single day was not the way.

Chad took the paper in his hands and looked at it in horror.

"Oh my God! Now Mrs. Pingilton is gonna kill me!" he stared into the distance in horror.

"Well, she won't do anything she doesn't normally do. You know just the normal lecture and detention after school." Gabriella tried to be positive, but by the look on Chad's face, it obviously didn't help much.

Troy decided to steer the conversation in the way he really needed to focus on, because it was the most important-and hopefully the best- night of his life. Tonight he was going to tell Gabriella they had both gotten into Yale.

Ever since the beginning of senior year, that's all she had been talking about. It meant so much to her. Ever since she was a little girl, her and her mother had talked and talked about her attending Yale. The greatness of the school, its history, the place, everything about Yale she loved. So he wanted to be the one to give that to her. In January they had both applied together, praying that they would be accepted together. It didn't have to be said that they both knew Gabriella would be in for sure. She had the highest GPA in the school, was on the honor society and never was late in turning in an assignment. She had been waiting anxiously for the letter of acceptance, and after awhile, started to doubt that it would ever come. Secretly though, Troy had taken the acceptance letter with the okay from her mom, so he could tell her tonight that they had both gotten accepted-together.

He could barely contain his excitement. Each day he got closer and closer to spilling the beans. And each time he bit his tongue. This was just a testament to how hard it was for him to keep a secret from Gabriella. She knew something was going on that she didn't know about, but she didn't know the extent of it. And for that Troy was thankful.

He carefully switched the conversation to the topic of tonight, trying not to be obvious.

"So, Brie, have you heard about Yale yet?"

She huffed. "No, I'm starting to think that they're just not going to accept me, I mean come on, and if I had gotten in they would have told me already." She sighed looking depressed and hopeless.

Troy tried to be hopeful, he didn't want to spill his secret to Gabriella, but he really didn't want to make her feel hopeless or inadequate for Yale.

He signaled Chad from behind Gabriella for some help, because he had told Chad about all of this 2 weeks ago.

Chad thankfully caught his message before Gabriella turned to give them a confused look.

"No, no Gabs I'm sure that's not it." he tried to be reassuring.

Gabriella looked at him. "Oh, yeah? And how would you know?"

He quickly searched his brain for the words to explain, but unfortunately, with such a little head, comes slow speed.

"Uh, da…I, you know, know that, you know, your smart and everything, so I just figured that smart people go to smart colleges so, you know, you'd go too I guess…" with each word his voice got lower and lower until it was a mere whisper.

Troy gave him a stone-cold glance and looked back at Gabriella with a smile plastered on his face.

"Baby, I'm sure everything will be fine. I mean, why wouldn't they take you? Those people at Yale probably are just taking longer then usual, that's all." he quickly lied. Thank God for his acting skills.

"Really?" she looked a little bit more hopeful, but not yet content.

He smiled sweetly at her. "Yeah."

She broke into a smile and leaned up to kiss him gently on the lips.

"Thanks babe." With that she pranced off to her locker, for which they were walking by at this very moment.

Troy smiled at her until she was completely out of earshot. Then he focused his attention on the idiot standing in front of him.

He smacked him upside the head, which didn't really do anything because it was padded by his afro.

"What the hell is your problem dude?" he muttered angrily, "You almost let it slip!"

Chad rubbed his head even though the blow didn't really cause him any pain. "I know, sorry. I fumbled. You know me, when I have to think on the spot I don't do so well."

Troy looked at him exasperated "Duh, you think!?"

Troy sighed. "Well, thankfully the dinner is tonight so you can't ruin it for me, this has to be perfect." He sent Chad an evil glare. "Which means you can't mess it up."

Chad raised his hands up in defense. "Hey, alright, alright. I can do this, okay? I'm not like the biggest idiot on the face of the-"

Unfortunately, Chad and Troy had been in so deep in their conversation that they didn't notice they were being steered away from the crowded hallway and closer to the side, where the lockers are. And just as Chad had said that, he had run straight into an open locker. At least now Chad knows the definition of irony.

After Troy helped his friend up and dusted him off, they continued their conversation.

Later, as Troy was walking to his last class of the day, his stomach suddenly became a pile of raw nerves. He kept thinking the worst possible scenario. Maybe he should buy here something just in case she is mad, Troy thought. That wouldn't be a problem, he knew for sure. His family had a ton of money. They were actually one of the richest families in Albuquerque. Thankfully for Troy though, they had become rich after he was in high school, that way he had already established real friendships and not just people who wanted to get with him because of his money.

You see, Troy's father, Jack Bolton, was a major stockbroker. He brought in the cash for himself and his family and took it from other people. Some would call him greedy, some would call him trash bag, and some would call him the smartest person in the world. It didn't matter to him, as long as he was providing for his family. And what didn't matter to him didn't matter to Troy. After all, it was his father's business, not his. Who was he to go digging around in his father's personal matters?

So, for Troy, considering getting Gabriella a gift such as diamonds or pearls, was not a problem. And by the time he pulled up to the Montez's household to pick up Gabriella for dinner, where he would drop the bomb, he felt as though he might puke.

'Hold yourself together Troy' he silently urged himself. What's the worst that could happen?