He was invited to a party and she wasn't. That's all there was to it. He was somewhere she wasn't and normally that would be okay with her minus the fact that her bags were packed and she was ready to go.
"Troy!" She yelled over the crowded hallways. "Troy!" It dawned on her that maybe her yelling wasn't too effective and decided that maybe she should walk to his locker where he currently stood.
You see, Troy Bolton was the golden boy. He was the god of East High. There was also a tiny little fact that seemed not to matter anymore, his girlfriend, Gabriella Montez of one year and four months.
Gabriella Montez was a pretty intelligent girl-scratch that- Gabriella Montez, was extremely intelligent. But it didn't take an extremely intelligent person to realize that Troy Bolton was slipping away from her.
So as she made her way over to him she absolutely thought what she was doing was the right thing to do.
Chad, Troy's best friend, was the first one to notice her, "Hey man, your girl's coming." Gabriella smiled half-heartedly to him, "hey Chad." Troy turned around. She looked down for a minute then redirected her gaze to Troy.
"Hey Troy…" She started only to be flung away by Mandy Tessal.
Mandy Tessal wasn't your common backstabbing, conniving bitch. She was THE backstabbing, conniving bitch. Anything Mandy wanted, Mandy got that was the rule. And right now, Mandy wanted Troy.
Troy smiled, "Hey Mands, what's up?"
She twirled her highlighted hair around her pointer finger while she chewed her gum, "Oh nothing. I was just wondering if you and your friends would like to come over to my house on tonight. I'm throwing a party and I want everyone to come."
Gabriella, in an attempt to talk to Troy, said, "Great I'll see you there Mandy!"
Without even looking Mandy said, "Everyone but you. Great, so I'll see you there Troy!" Then she walked away.
Gabriella's mouth dropped to the floor, "Oh! Did you want to talk to me Gab?" As she opened her mouth the bell rang, "Oh shoot! Gotta get to practice! I'll call you!" Giving her a quick kiss on the cheek he jogged over to the rest of his retreating basketball team.
Gabriella turned to the nearest locker and proceeded to bang her head against it. After what she thought was a good half an hour, which turned out to only be a minute, she turned and left the school. Without looking back.
Ring. Ring. Ring…Ring. Ring. Ring. "Hey! This is Troy's phone, I'm either at practice or with my boys or not wanting to talk to you! No I'm playing! Leave a message after the beeeeep!"
Gabriella groaned in frustration. She didn't know what to do. She was currently pacing in her room trying to figure out how she was going to tell him. She sat down and took a deep breath, she looked to the clock, she had exactly one hour.
But then she thought, he wouldn't care either way. So she sighed and continued packing, this was it.
Troy got out of his bathroom wearing just his blue jeans, his towel in his hand drying his hair. He reached down to check his phone seeing that he had one missed call. He flipped it open to see it was Gabriella her smile filling his screen. He smiled softly as his thumb ghosted over the call button, but when he checked the time, he suddenly whispered, "Shit! I'm gonna be late!"
He quickly pressed the end call button figuring whatever it was must not have been important. He threw on a blue and white plaid shirt and black Vans grabbed his keys and wallet then left. He was going to a party.
The last of her suitcases were being pulled into the car, she turned around to look at the house that held so much memory in it. She gripped her phone in her hand tears suddenly gripping her eyes. She let out a heavy sigh and pressed speed dial number four.
She put the phone to her ear and on the fifth ring she finally heard his voice. "Gabs! What's up? I'm kind of busy right now, can I call you back later."
She shook her head no forgetting her couldn't see her, "No Troy, we need to talk now."
Troy bit his lip, but sensing the urgency in her voice he took a step outside, "okay, shoot."
Gabriella ran a hand through her hair and taking a deep, but shaky breath, she told him what she'd been trying to tell him for three weeks.
"Troy, I'm moving." There it was out in the open.
Troy tucked his free hand in his pocket and laughed, "Ha! I almost believed you that time."
More tears began to pour from her eyes and they became more evident in her voice, "No Troy! I'm not joking. I'm leaving! This is it! It's done. I've been trying to tell you for weeks, but you've just never had the time of day."
Troy's fist curled in his pocket and his stomach began to feel nervous, "Gabs, don't play with me. Don't do this to me Gabs." He took a deep breath, "Baby, where are you?"
She shook her head again, she wasn't strong enough. His voice put her to the edge. She quickly ended the call as a sob tore through her.
"Fuck," was all he whispered as he heard the dropped call tone. He dropped the phone from his ear and proceeded to yell obscenities. Chad came out a moment later.
"What in the hell is up man?!" he said as he tried to calm to fuming captain.
Troy's death grip on his phone tightened, "She's leaving. She's fucking leaving!" He felt the tear roll down his cheek. He wanted to punch something.
All Chad said was, "Then what are you still doing here?" Troy looked at him then sprinted over to his car. He didn't even bother to put on his seatbelt, thanking the Lord that Mandy didn't live too far away from Gabriella. A good fifteen minute drive if you stuck to the speed limit, but Troy definitely wasn't.
Troy got there in time to see Gabriella and her mom in the moving truck. Troy pulled over and jumped out of his car, running to catch up to the truck.
"Mom, pull over," Gabriella said as she began to unbuckle her seatbelt. Ms. Montez did as her daughter asked, also seeing Troy's truck.
Troy ran over to her and pulled her into a hug immediately, "I'm sorry," was all he whispered into her hair over and over and over again.
Tears ran down her face as she hugged him, her sobs tearing through her. He kissed her anywhere he could, the shoulder, her neck, her ear, absolutely anywhere. He leaned his forehead against her's as he felt his own tears slip from his eyes. He finally connected their lips as he tangled his fingers into her long hair.
Gabriella kissed back, squeezing him tighter than before. Sobs tore through her whole body as the two month frustration finally came out. Troy opened his eyes painfully.
He shook his head, "I'm sorry. I'm so so so so sorry." He felt terrible. Absolutely terrible. All those times she wanted to talk. He let more tears slip as he realized he could've prevented any of this.
Gabriella shook her head, "It's too late for sorry." Troy sighed, "Don't I know it." Gabriella moved to take her arms from around his neck but Troy stopped her.
"Please don't. Not if this is the last time. Please, just hold on." He begged. He didn't beg, but right now he would do anything to keep her in his arms.
"Troy, I can't. You're too late," she held the back of his neck as she kissed his forehead. She pushed out of his grip.
"No! Please!" he grabbed a hold of her hand. "One more minute. Please, for the two months that I wasted, I'm asking for a minute to make up for it, please." A look of hope and disparity in his eyes. Gabriella took a deep breath, "A minute more."
Troy took a deep breath, "God, I love you." He pulled her to him again and buried his face into her hair. "I love you," he kept whispering into her ear.
The sight was heart-breaking to Ms. Montez, but they needed to go. Regretfully he checked her watch and honked the horn.
The two teens looked at the moving truck. Troy closed his eyes and took her face in his hands kissing her square on the mouth. Another honk.
Gabriella let out a breath, "I have to go." Troy sighed, "Just… just one more thing." He removed her arms and took off his championship ring, "I just, goddamit, I just want you to remember that I love you always." He slid it onto her ring finger then kissed her one more time, remaining there longer than necessary.
Honk!
Gabriella groaned, "I really need to go now."
Troy nodded, "I love you." Gabriella smiled shakily at him, "I love you." She kissed him one more time, then kissed his forehead, "I love you, Wildcat."
That was it. She was gone. His arms were empty and the dreaded moving truck began to drive. It turned on the corner. Troy bit his lip and ran. He ran for the truck stopping in the middle of the street out of breath.
Gabriella cried harder as she saw his reflection in the rearview mirror. Touching his decreasing body she turned around to look back at him.
Troy's world had ended and it was his entire fault. After the truck had turned another corner and he couldn't see it anymore, he began walking back towards his truck. He sat in the driver's seat and looked to his left. That house held so many memories.
He then decided to climb up her tree one last time. So he got out of his truck and opened the back gate. He saw the tree and smiled a little. Once he got to the top he climbed over her railing and lifted one of the potted plants to find the all too familiar key.
He unlocked the balcony doors and just stood in the emptiness of her room. He sighed, it was completely clean. Not even the furniture was in there. He shoved the key in his pocket anyway. He locked the door from the inside and closed it again when something under one of the potted plants caught his eye.
He smiled; it wasn't just a potted plant. It was their potted plant. He took out the paper and turned it over.
Wildcat.
God was he thankful that she was smart. He laughed to himself. He opened the envelope pulling out a picture of them earlier on in their relationship. It was the first time he held her hand. They were both looking shyly at the other as their fingers were loosely intertwined and their bodies were in moderate distance. He smiled gently turning the picture over, it only said one thing:
Love, Bell.
