"Promise is a really big word, Troy." – Gabriella Montez.
'What? No, you can't!' Gabriella fell to her knees in the pain that consumed her.
Troy knelt beside her. 'I have to.' He whispered, stroking her back, letting his girlfriend lean into him.
'B-but…' Gabriella lost control and started to sob, grabbing onto the collar of his V-neck. 'I…I want you to…to stay.'
They were standing on the porch of Troy's house; he'd told her the words no girl ever wanted to hear her lover say.
She got up, Troy following suit. He faced her, looking straight into her eyes; it showed he wasn't lying. 'I'm really sorry…I have no other choice.'
'Yes you do!' Gabriella started to hit his chest weakly, not able to stand the thought of him leaving her. 'You have to stay here; tell them you can't go, tell them you can't!' she hit him harder, the tears escaping her eyes.
Troy grabbed her balled fists and held them tight. 'Please, Gabi, stop. I'm sorry–' A loud car horn cut his sentence off. 'That's them.' He whispered, both of them looking towards the combat vehicle.
'You can't leave me here all alone!' she screamed. 'Please, Troy…I need you…' she murmured.
'I'll be back in a few months.' He tried to reassure her. The car horn went off again, the driver obviously becoming impatient.
'What if you don't come back?! What if…what if they kill you?!' Gabriella was about to hit him again, but he pulled her tensed arms towards him and held her shaking body tight.
'We'll always be together, Gabriella.' Troy took her face in his hands. 'No matter what.'
He kissed her forehead and then her lips, ignoring the horn of the vehicle. 'I have to go now.'
'Promise you'll come back?' Gabriella gulped, watching her boyfriend start to walk away backwards, not able to tear his eyes away from her.
Troy breathed deeply. 'I promise.' He said, nodding.
He finally turned round and started heading towards the car. He climbed on, and sat near the back, watching Gabriella run into the road behind the vehicle and blow a kiss at him with both hands.
'I love you.' He mouthed, as the vehicle got to the end of the road.
Gabriella mouthed it back at him, but it was obvious that by the time the car rounded the corner, he hadn't seen it.
She sat biting her nails in the corner of her room. Sharpay sat near her, not really sure how to handle her best friend's situation.
'Gabi…I…Troy's gonna come back. He promised, didn't he?' Sharpay had really tried to avoid saying this; she didn't know whether he was coming back or not.
Gabriella nodded slightly, closing her eyes. Sharpay sighed and walked closer, standing in front of her. 'Gabriella, please talk to me. I'm so lonely without you.'
Gabriella looked up at her, her eyes snapping open. 'You don't think I'm lonely? The love of my love has left to go to war, and you're lonely?!' she breathed deeply. 'Sorry, Shar. I just…I miss him so much.'
'I know…I know. I'm sorry, I was really insensitive.' Sharpay apologised.
'No, no. It's just –' she was cut off by hearing her letterbox open. She got up and ran outside to the letterbox, reaching inside and grabbing the daily newspaper.
As she walked back inside, she flipped to the page that told her everything that was happening in the war. The first column she looked through – Dead – did not have her boyfriend's name on it, and she breathed a sigh of relief. The Missing column was the shortest, and as she got to the bottom she started to calm down, until that one name she'd dreaded seeing caught her eye. Right at the bottom of the list, right there.
Troy Bolton.
Gabriella collapsed onto the path, crying partly in joy that he wasn't dead, and partly in sadness. What if he was hurt? What if he was lying somewhere dying and no-one could help him? What if he'd forgotten her?
No, don't think any of that. He was fine; he was going to come back home safe and sound.
Sharpay came out of the house and ran over to her best friend, kneeling down beside her. It took one look at the column that Gabriella's thumb was positioned near to realise why her friend was collapsed on the pathway.
Promise me you'll wait for me
'Cause I'll be saving all my love for you
And I will be home soon
Promise me you'll wait for me
I need to know you feel the same way too
And I'll be home, I'll be home soon
Troy stumbled through the clearing, holding his wound. He'd been walking for hours and he'd been shot in his stomach, but the bleeding was slowing with every step. He pulled back some branches to reveal a small town; it must have a police station.
He tripped down the muddy hill, hearing his ankle click every so often, but not broken. He'd got used to most pain anyway. He slipped down the last part and landed flat on his back at the bottom and groaned. He tried to get up, but failed; the pain was immense and blood was starting to come out of his wound again.
A police car drove past and Troy reached out, longing for it to stop for him. He wasn't going to give up, he'd promised Gabriella he'd come home. Suddenly the car screeched to a halt and the last thing Troy heard before everything went black was 'Oh my God…'
Troy tried to sit up but hands pushed him back down. He focussed his vision and everything stopped being blurry. He was strong though and he sat up anyway. 'Where's Gabriella?!'
He looked at a policeman who was standing over him. The policeman smiled. 'She's on her way. We were not able to reach your parents, but we saw her picture in your wallet and found out who it was.'
The only sentence Troy heard of that was "She's on her way." He was going to see his Gabriella again. He'd missed her so much.
Gabriella watched the phone ring for a couple of seconds before tentatively reaching over and taking it off the table and putting it to her ear. 'Hello?'
'Is this Gabriella Montez?'
Gabriella gulped. 'Yes. Yes, it is.'
'We are ringing about Troy Bolton. You know him, yes?'
'Yes.' Gabriella couldn't hear the emotions well in their voice, but from what she could hear, there wasn't much sadness.
'What relation are you to Mr Bolton?'
'I'm his girlfriend.' She whispered.
'Miss Montez, we found Mr Bolton at the bottom of a hill on the border of New Mexico. He was unconscious when we got to him; he was in pretty bad shape. He has a gunshot wound to the stomach and was rather bruised. The good news is he's alive. Do you want to come and see him?'
'Er…y-yes. Yes, please.' Her Troy was alive.
Gabriella was told the address and she put the phone down, grabbing her car keys and running to her car. She slammed the key in the ignition and drove off.
By the time she got there, she was shaking so badly she had a hard time opening the door and getting out.
She locked the car and walked swiftly into the police station, breathing so deeply she thought she was going to pass out.
She went up to the desk. 'Um…is Troy Bolton here, please?'
'Just in there.' The receptionist pointed and Gabriella nodded. 'Thanks.' 'Pleasure.'
She put her hands on the handle and stopped. What would she do? What would she say? Would she cry? Would she scream?
She summoned up all the courage in herself and pushed the handle, opening the door. The minute she walked in, she saw him. He was standing between two policemen and looked up when he heard the door open. His face was covered in dirt still and was topless with a pristine white bandage round his stomach.
'Gabriella!' Troy ran towards her, even though the policemen tried to hold him back. He came right up to her and spun her round, holding her waist.
'Troy.' Gabriella started to cry and Troy put her down.
'Don't cry, baby.' He whispered, brushing her hair out of her face.
'I'm crying because I'm just so happy. Oh God, Troy, I missed you so, so much.' She said, winding her arms round his neck.
'I missed you too.' Troy hugged her close, stroking her hair. 'I missed you too.' He repeated in a quieter voice, starting to cry. He barely ever cried, but he just loved her so much.
'I thought you weren't gonna come back.' Gabriella murmured into his cool chest.
'I promised, didn't I?' Troy said, resting his head on top of hers, kissing it.
'Yeah…yeah, I guess you did.' Gabriella smiled and rested her ear against his chest, just so that she could hear his heartbeat. 'I love you so much, Troy.'
Troy smiled. He finally knew how she felt about him. 'I love you too, Gabi.'
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