12 years ago
"Troy what are you doing?" a 6 year old Gabriella Montez asked.
"I'm digging my way to China" Troy Bolton said.
"You're only 7 years old, you don't stand a chance!" she said giggling at his attempt to dig deeply in the yellow sand.
"Of course Troy would attempt to dig his way to China" Mrs. Bolton said as she sat with Mrs. Montez at the top of the beach, "Gabriella has always been so mature for her age" she added
"Here, let me help you!" Gabriella said, grabbing a near by stick and joining Troy to dig their way to China.
"Perhaps not" Ana Montez said, laughing once more.
"Thanks Gabi" Troy said kindly, looking in Gabriella's dreamy eyes.
"That's okay Troy" Gabriella said, continuing to dig.
"When the sand turns brown it means we're almost there" Troy said.
"It's turning brown!!" Gabriella squealed, getting very excited. But what the two children didn't know, was that they had only dug about 80 centimeters. After a little more digging, Troy, as always, changed his tone.
"I'm bored" he said, leaning back and sitting on his behind.
"But we're almost there!" Gabriella said, sounding disappointed.
"Well, there isn't much to do in China anyway" Troy said shrugging.
"You're such a butthead, you're so stubborn!" Gabriella said pouting, and folding her brown arms across her chest.
"Please don't be mad at me Gabi!" Troy said. Gabriella turned away from Troy, not wanting to give in to his 7 year old charm. "We can keep digging, we'll make it to China, I promise!" he said patting her shoulder.
"It's not going to be as fun when you're not enjoying yourself you meany" Gabriella said, now fully facing her back to Troy.
"Well I'm not going to enjoy myself anyway! My bestest friend is mad at me!" Troy said back, mimicking Gabriella's irritated tone.
"Only because you don't want to play with me anymore!" she answered back.
"I want to play with you Gabriella! You're super duper fun, we can play a different game if you wanna?" Troy asked and he noticed Gabriella's tone softened and she turned around slightly.
"Like what?" Gabriella asked.
"I can draw you a picture!" Troy said. He crawled around in front of Gabriella who had immediately lightened up and hugged her knees to her chest as she watched her best friend draw in the sand.
"What is it Troy? Who are these people?" Gabriella asked, smiling happily.
"Well, that is me" Troy said pointing to a stick figure, "and that is you" he said pointing to a stick figure looking exactly the same, just with long hair, "we're holding hands at our wedding!" he said happily. He turned to Gabriella who was smiling madly.
"Wedding?" Gabriella asked.
"Of course! We're going to get married and live happily ever after!" Troy said and Gabriella nodded.
"Ok!"
"Gabriella Stefani Montez, I love you! Will you marry me?" Troy asked taking her hand.
"Troy Alexander Bolton, I love you too! I will marry yout!" she said, kissing him on the cheek, "we're gonna have a super duper fun life together and live in a mansion with 300 maids and 800 butlers!" she asked excitedly.
Meanwhile, Alice Bolton and Ana Montez were chuckling to themselves at how adorable their children were.
"Mummy, mummy!" Gabriella and Troy yelled as they ran up to their parents.
"Yes honey?" Ana asked, pretending as they had no idea what was happening.
"Me and Gabi are getting married!" Troy said happily, while they were both holding hands.
"Oh that's fabulous!" Mrs. Bolton said, winking at Ana.
"Congratulations!" Ana said clapping.
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3 weeks later.
"Mummy no!! I don't want to go to Califyorner!!" Gabriella said, with tears trickling down her cheeks.
"California" her mum gently corrected her, "I know you love Albuquerque, but I need this job Gabi baby, I want this one" she said.
"But I'm going to leave all my friends! I don't want to go, I'll never see Troy again!!" Gabriella said, getting more and more worked up.
"You will see him again Gabriella, lets go over now" Ana said. She wanted to break the news to her closest family friends, the Bolton's. Gabriella nodded, she wanted to see Troy.
30 minutes later, Ana knocked on the Bolton's door with Gabriella holding tightly onto her mother's arm with her thumb half in her mouth. Alice opened the door and noticed Gabriella's red face.
"Gabi honey are you okay?" Alice asked.
"Let's all come and have a chat" Ana said as Alice welcomed them inside.
"I'll get Troy. Troy honey!! Can you come down here please!" Alice yelled, and after a while Troy finally said something.
"I'm playing play station! No!" he yelled back down and Gabriella started crying more.
"Troy!! Gabriella's here!" she said more firmly and soon enough, Troy was heard running down the stairs like a black brumby.
"Gabi!" Troy said happily, but when he saw she was crying, he became sad himself, "Gabi! What's wrong??" he asked giving her a soft hug.
"I'm leaving Albuquerque Troy! In a week, we can't get married! We can't live happily ever after or have 300 maids and 800 butlers!!" Gabriella began to cry more, and so did Troy.
"Why are you leaving?? Why are you all making Gabi leave??" Troy asked, tears now running down his face too.
"Sweetheart calm down" Alice said giving Troy a hug, but he pushed her away.
"I like hugging Gabi better!" Troy said sourly and went to hold Gabriella's hand.
"Come on you lot, into the living room" Alice said and they all went in the living room, Troy and Gabriella sitting on a seat only made for one person. Gabriella's head resting on Troy's shoulder with her thumb in her mouth while Troy was playing with her hair. Mrs. Montez explained the whole situation to the Bolton's before it was time for them to leave and start packing.
"It's not fair mummy! I want live with Troy!" Gabriella said, stomping her foot on the ground. "It's not fair"
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All of the Bolton family was with Ana and Gabriella as they were ready to leave for California. A deep, male voice was heard over the loud speakers, their plane was leaving in 30 minutes.
"We have to get going now honey" Ana said to Gabriella who was playing Snap with Troy. The Bolton's walked Ana and Gabriella to their gate, not feeling too happy, especially Gabriella. Ana, Alice and Troy's dad Jack were talking and saying their final goodbyes, while Troy and Gabriella were talking to the side.
"Here you go Gabi" Troy said grabbing her hand and slipping a plastic ring on her middle finger, "its for you." Gabriella frowned, now she really didn't want to leave Troy.
"It's beautiful Troy! Thank you so much. I'm going to miss you super a lot" Gabriella said wiping a tear from her eye.
"I'll miss you even more Gabi" Troy said, while all the parent's were watching their children, it almost made them cry too. Troy and Gabriella shared one last hug, "I love you Gabriella" Troy whispered in her ear so their parents wouldn't hear.
"I love you too Troy" Gabriella whispered back. Even though they weren't mature enough to truly experience love, they said it anyway. They pulled away and were holding hands still, staring into each others eyes. Troy stepped towards Gabriella and gave her a tiny peck on the lips. Immediately, Ana began to cry.
"It just breaks my heart I'm doing this to my baby"
"Bye bye Troy"
"Bye Gabi"
Troy stared at Gabriella until she was finally out of site. Would he ever see her again?
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8 years later
"Gosh, Albuquerque seems so different since I last saw it" Gabriella said as she was driving with her mother to their new house, not too far from their old one. California had grown on Gabriella, until she started to get picked on when she was about 14 years old. Now she wasn't too sad to be leaving her old school, away from all the bullies, away from all the nasty name calling.
"You're quite right, I don't remember a lot of these places. Do you remember the school East High?"
"Yes mum, that's where I'm going to school" Gabriella said in a 'duh' expression. "Why do I have to start tomorrow? Can't I have a couple of days to rest? And settle in?" Gabriella asked, but it didn't work on her mum.
"I would rather you start at the beginning of the week rather than starting half way through." She said turning to her daughter, who still had a hopeful look on her face, "that means no darling"
"Ugh, fine" she said, folding her arms across her chest, something she always did when she was angry. While they stopped at a pedestrian crossing, she looked out her window, "oh my god" Gabriella said.
"What is it honey?" Ana asked, still focusing on the road.
"Uh, nothing" she said, still staring out her window. But what she saw, was the house she always used to visit 8 years ago. It was Troy Bolton's old house, at least it could be his old house, he might have moved. But he still could be living there. Immediately, she thought back to all the memories she had with him, and wondered what he would be like now. Would he be a hard core skater? A drug addict? A jock? Fat? Gabriella was desperate to know, but she felt she would never find out. She would never see him again.