Author's Note- Hi everyone, this is my first time writing fanfiction about High School Musical. This first chapter goes a little slow because I wanted to set the background of the story for y'all. Please review and let me know what you think : ) Thanks so much for reading!!
"But Troy, you can't leave now! We had our whole summer planned before your senior year starts in the fall. And what about everything we had to look forward to in this school year? Can't you just stay here with your grandparents until you graduate in May?"
Troy Bolton didn't have the heart to look at his girlfriend of three years face, for this was an argument they repeatedly had for the past two months ever since his parents told him that he was moving to New Mexico to finish his senior year of high school before he went off to college the following year. Although it tore him up inside to see Kaci so upset, he knew he had to be mature about the situation, seeing as that he had no choice and it would all be over when left Los Angeles for good the next day.
"I'm really sorry babe, you know I am… and you know I don't want to leave you. But there is nothing I can do about it. You know how sick my mom's father is, and she wants to be with him. It really sucks that I have to leave you and all the guys now, but I can come back and visit over my breaks and stuff. And you can come watch my games! You know I'll always love you and that we'll keep in touch until you graduate in two years and join me at USC right…"
The young couple gripped at each other as they sat in the back of Troy's black Jeep, at their favorite spot on the edge of their local beach. Troy knew that he had to be there for Kaci, as he had been their whole lives, since their parents had introduced them at the ages of four and three. They grew up living next to each other and inevitably became inseparable through their adolescence.
"But what about my cheerleading competitions? You haven't missed one yet. Who am I going to call in the middle of the night if I can't sleep? I was ready for you to leave to go to college because I know I'll be there a year after you, but I can't go through the last two years of high school without you Troy… this is so unfair!"
Kaci started slightly shivering as the sun had long gone down and she was still in her embellished tank top and tiny plaid shorts from working at Abercrombie and Fitch all day until Troy had picked her up so they could have their final night together. She had tied up her long blonde hair into a knot on the top of her head so it wouldn't blow in the cool breeze that had approached the stretch of sand they were parked on, but her bright blue eyes had not stopped crying since the second her boyfriend had come into her work at the end of her shift to say goodbye to all of her co-workers, since they had become pretty good friends since he routinely visited her on his own breaks from working at J. Crew and often dropped her off and picked her up.
'Another change that I'll have to get used to', she glumly thought. Through their three year relationship, that began during his freshman year at Seven Lakes High School while she was in the eighth grade at their local middle school, they had become accustom to many routines. Whether it was their Sunday breakfasts together with their parents at the town diner after church, or how they would meet up after second, fourth, and sixth periods at the locker they shared just for a small kiss before they went their separate ways to class, or in their favorite winter season when she and the rest of her cheerleading team would yell and scream for Troy's championship winning team every Tuesday and Friday nights, silently communicating through a tug of the ear to say I love you frequently through the games.
Troy, noticing her rapidly approaching goose bumps, wrapped his white and red North Face around her that she had gotten him last Christmas. He closed his eyes and said a silent prayer not to break down himself as he saw the streams of tears continue down her cheeks. He knew that they were in every aspect the perfect couple, but he knew what he had to do. He had seen his cousin and his girlfriend attempt a long distance relationship when they had both went off to college the year before, which ended terribly, forcing him to promise himself he would never be involved in something like that. No matter how many times he explained to Kaci that if they were meant to be, they would meet up in two years when she graduated high school and they would pick up where they left off, he couldn't help but have a hard time doubting his decision as he held his tiny girlfriend in his strong arms, often placing soft kisses on her bronzed shoulder.
"Listen baby; let's not make this any harder than it has to be okay? You heard my parents last week; they said that we'll be back here at Christmas to see everyone again!"
"Oh great… six months until I can see you again!," Kaci sarcastically said as her eyes rolled, "will your new girlfriend be accompanying you as well?"
Troy's hands froze in their place of rubbing her arms to turn her around so he could look at her in the eyes.
"How could you even say that?," his own blue eyes searching hers to try to make sense of her previous comment, "do you have ANY idea how hard this is for me Kace? Not only am I leaving you, but I'm leaving the guys, my team, the only place I've ever lived for the last eighteen years. Could you stop thinking about yourself for a second and think about what I'm going through right now?"
Troy and Kaci rarely fought, but their emotions were running so high in the past couple weeks that they had found themselves bickering back and forth over childish matters.
"You're right… I'm sorry babe, I'm being selfish," Kaci, who was now turned around in Troy's arms curled up against his chest with her legs wrapped around his torso, "it's just that I'm going to miss you a lot, you're all I've known."
The two remained in that position in the back of Troy's car, losing track of time just staring into each other's eyes, studying each other's faces and mannerisms since it would be a long time until they were able to see each other again.
At around 2am, Kaci's phone went off with a text message from her older brother Kyle- 'Where are you? Mom and Dad want you home in a half hour, you have practice tomorrow morning."
"No, I'm not going home. I'm staying with you until you leave in the morning. I don't care about practice, I can tumble fine I just need to stay with you," Kaci stubbornly said, trying to burrow farther and farther into her boyfriend's strong chest.
"Come on babe, it's getting late and my family is taking the first flight out in the morning to New Mexico to meet the moving trucks that left yesterday," Troy mumbled, as the pit in his stomach grew larger and larger as their final goodbye was approaching.
He jumped out of the back of the trunk and held his arms out for his petite girlfriend to jump into as he helped her out of the car. As they embraced at their favorite place, where they had spent many beach days, and also where they came every anniversary since it was where he had first asked her to be his girlfriend, their cold bodies were instantly warmed up by the love in each other's touch.
Troy pulled back to look her in the eyes, and softly said, "I love you Kaci Anne Cooper. Always have, always will."
Kaci was crying too hard to answer him, as she just nodded and pressed her lightly glossed lips to his under the bright moonlight shining off the water in the distance.
They put all their pent up frustrations with the situation they were dealt as they dove farther and farther into the kiss. Kaci's hands found their way into his sandy blonde hair as they always had, as Troy pulled her closer with his large hands on her tiny hips, rubbing their pelvises up against one another as he tilted his head and deepened their kiss. Kaci slightly opened her mouth to allow Troy to slip his tongue in, which still tasted like the peanut butter milkshake they had shared as they left the mall earlier that evening, another tradition they had become accustomed to.
Sensing that they were headed somewhere that they shouldn't be, seeing that it was late and they had already said their proper sexual goodbyes the night before in the hotel room Troy had rented for them, Troy pulled back, littering her face with tiny, sweet kisses, and took her hand to the passenger side of his Jeep where he continued to open the door for her and kiss her temple before he shut it to walk over to his own side.
Kaci curled up into Troy's North Face, that was almost down to her knees since Troy's frame was much bigger than her own, letting the comfort of his Abercrombie 'Fierce' cologne surround and comfort her as she pulled her knees to her chest and waited for Troy start the engine and slowly pull away from the beach.
Their hands found each other and Troy rested their union on his leg as he softly sang to her a song on the Jack Johnson CD she had made for him long ago.
'There's no combination of words I could write on the back of a postcard, no song that I could sing, but I can try for your heart…'
Troy's car took the left out of the beach and followed the quiet road to the gated community where they both lived, three houses apart from each other since they both had moved in their respective houses almost fifteen years ago.
'Our dreams and they are made out of real things, like a shoebox of photographs with sepia-toned loving…'
Slowly the Jeep made its way through their town, seeming to be the only car on the road on that sad Sunday night. Together the passed the movie theatre where they regularly caught matinees, most recently when Kaci had dragged a reluctant yet eager Troy to see Shrek 3.
'Love is the answer, at least for most of the questions in my heart, like why are we here? And where do we go? And how come it's so hard?'
They silently drove through the green stoplights in the center of the town, passing by the park where they often went after school to lay out on a blanket and do their homework together. A little while down on the right their heads both turned simultaneously to smile at the Italian restaurant where they had gone a few times to share a brick-oven pizza and piece of cheesecake, and then across the street on the left, the candy store where Kaci went before every one of Troy's games to get him basketball-shaped truffles in all different flavors which she left in his locker with a little 'good luck' note.
"It's not always easy and sometimes life can be deceiving, I'll tell you one thing, it's always better when we're together…"
As they made the left hand turn into their development, and Troy gave a small wave and smile to the man who was working at the front gate that night, Kaci softly spoke up, her voice sounding hollow and hoarse after spending the last eight weeks crying over what changes the next day would bring in both of their lives.
"Are you excited for your Senior prom this year?," she asked sadly, as she was so looking forward to going to the Seven Lakes Senior prom with her boyfriend, which obviously wouldn't be happening anymore.
"Actually, I wanted to talk to you about that," Troy began, as he pulled his car into her driveway and gently turned off the engine, before turning around in his seat and reaching for something in his Nike backpack behind his seat, "I know that we were both really excited to go to prom together this year, but since I won't be here to go, I was thinking maybe you would like to come to mine at East High?"
Troy found what he was looking for and turned around in his seat to face his girlfriend, whose long blonde hair had escaped out of the elastic she had tied it up in and was now framing her face with gentle layers all the way down to the middle of her back. He looked deep into her red rimmed eyes as he presented her with a small, blue, robin-egg's blue box, neatly tied with a white bow.
"You really mean you want me to come to prom with you?!," Kaci exclaimed, not noticing the Tiffany's box he had in his hand, just so excited that she would be able to go to prom with him after all, no matter what state it was in.
"Of course baby, I wouldn't want it any other way. I thought that this could maybe be a symbol of my promise that you'll come with me… and a promise that we'll always be in each other's hearts… and a promise that in two years we can pick up right where we left off at USC…," Troy began with a wavering voice, as he slowly opened up the box to reveal a white gold ring with a tiny diamond, Kaci's birthstone, in the middle.
"Oh my god Troy. That is beautiful," Kaci wept, as he softly kissed her on the lips and slid the ring onto her right hand's ring finger. "I promise too…"
While Kaci admired her ring, Troy got out of the car and opened her door, pulling her into what would be their last hug before he left the next morning for his new life. They held and rocked each other for ten minutes in her driveway as they cried into each other's arms, not noticing the rain that was lightly falling on them, almost as if God was crying along with them.
Troy pulled back and gently kissed her lips for the last time, willing himself to remember her sweet taste, and the electricity between them every time their lips touched. He leaned his forehead against hers and closed his eyes, trying to soak up the last moments he had with her. Tears flowed freely from the corners of their matching blue eyes as they both gained the courage to let go of one another.
"I love you, Troy Bolton. Always have, always will," Kaci quietly said, as she absently mindedly rubbed her promise ring and opened her eyes to see his own staring intently into hers.
"I love you too Kaci Cooper, always have always will," Troy whispered back, before kissing her on the lips for the last time before she began to walk away, their hands gripping each other's before they finally had to let go. He watched
as she retreated up her driveway and slipped into the large pale green door of her immaculate white house, and then he slowly walked back into his car and drove down two houses until he reached his own house.
Sadly, he grabbed his backpack out of the backseat, locked up his car, and walked around the back of the house to let himself into the sliding glass doors of the kitchen, throwing his bag on the kitchen island next to him as he grabbed a water bottle out of the sub zero refrigerator and turned on the television on the granite counter top across the room to check the scores on ESPN of his favorite teams.
The TV seemed to blare throughout his large house, perhaps echoing because it was almost empty; all of their belongings had pretty much already left to go to their new house in New Mexico, leaving them with only the bare necessities.
When he had had enough of the annoying sportscasters, he noticed that it was nearing 4am so he clicked off the TV to make his way upstairs for his last time to sleep in his room that he had since he was four. He dragged his backpack off of the island, finding that he was more tired than he had originally thought. He heard a small 'thud' hit the ground from where he had taken his bag off the table and he turned around to see a small box laying on the ground with a note attached.
He opened up the box first, finding heart shaped truffles from his favorite candy store, all different shapes, sizes, and colors. He softly smiled and ripped open the card, which featured a black and white picture of two younger kids holding hands and smiling at each other. On the inside, in her neat, cursive, handwriting, he began to weep reading her delicate message:
"My Troy, you are going to make me so proud at your new school. I will never forget you, and what we had. You are my everything, and I love you to the moon and back. Always have, always will. Kaci"
Troy slid down the wall until he felt himself hit the cool kitchen floor, gripping the box of chocolates and the note, staring at the picture on the front of the card, which was of them, the first day they had met each other in their local park.
And after leaning his head against the wall, Troy closed his eyes and cried himself to sleep.
