Ok, so this is my first story ever!! I'm still not sure what to name it yet, so any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. I hope you all enjoy and read and review please! I appreciate the feedback.

Disclaimer: I do not own High School Musical or any of the actors/character names or places used in this story.

Chapter 1: Ol' Blue Eyes

Beep… Beep… Beep…

It never failed…every morning at 6 a.m., Gabriella Montez was always awakened from her not-so-peaceful slumber to begin another tedious day in what had become her very ordinary life. She could not escape it, not even for one morning…her body was used to its routine, and even on the days she wasn't scurrying from trauma room to trauma room saving people's lives at the local county hospital ER, she still arose each morning faithfully at 6 a.m.

This morning, however, she felt like cursing…and she did.

"Damn…"

She'd suffered through another restless night of sleep and as she dragged herself out from underneath the warmth of her down comforter and felt the biting December cold chill her bare feet, she cursed again. This time for letting herself remember… him.

Yes, him. She couldn't figure out why he kept invading her thoughts or why she just couldn't let his memory die like all the others. It had been over ten years since she'd met him…the one person she ever truly felt herself with. The one person who had allowed her to escape from the monotony of her life as a social butterfly and actually spread her wings and truly fly. He was the first boy she'd ever kissed, the only boy she'd ever really loved, and since him, she'd rarely allowed herself to open up to any man like that again. Except once, and well…let's just say that didn't turn out too well.

Gabriella walked to her bathroom, feeling her feet grow colder with every step she took on the bare hardwood floor of her one-room studio apartment. She turned on the shower and after letting it heat up a moment, she stepped underneath the jets of steaming hot water and allowed it to wash over her… cleansing her, purging her of all the memories of her past life…but there was one that no matter how much the water stung or how hard she scrubbed, she could never get rid of.

She turned around in the shower reaching for her shampoo and lathered the coconut-scented liquid into her hair and closed her eyes, instantly seeing him. She saw him just as he had been in her dreams…his boyish smile, his shaggy blond hair that fell over his face ever-so-slightly, and those eyes…oh those beautiful blue eyes that still after 10 years had the ability to penetrate deep into her soul and captivate her, and even now, the thought brought a small smile to her lips.

"Ol' blue eyes" is what she'd playfully called him sometimes. The nickname had been fitting in more ways than one…it had been hers and hers alone and she only used it when it was just the two of them together. And he was the only one she'd ever allowed to call her by the nickname her father had given her when she was just a tot, and he was still alive… "Gabi." Yep, he was her "blue eyes" and she was his "Gabi" and they had been everything to each other, until…

Gabriella sighed, turned off the taps in the shower, wrapped herself up in a towel, and stood still for a moment in the middle of the steamy bathroom. She had to admit…she really did miss him. She missed all of them: Taylor, Chad, Kelsi, Jason, Zeke…even those pesky Evans twins. And for a moment, she imagined herself walking through those doors of East High School…laughing again, so happy and carefree, uncertain of the future but not really caring, just loving life as it was at that moment with the first people she had ever really been able to call friends…and him. She thought back to the moment she fell in love…that night on that stage when he'd held her hand in front of a theater full of people and sang to her with loving eyes and helped her break free…

Gabriella snapped her eyes open and silently chastised herself for being so childish. She wiped off the condensation collecting on her bathroom mirror and looked at her reflection. She had grown up and no longer looked like the carefree 16-year-old she'd been 10 years ago. No…her chocolate eyes were still chocolate but the life inside them was long gone. She no longer recognized the shy girl who'd let go of her inhibitions and embraced life with eager arms. She was still a bit shy, but she was also sad…and lonely. There was no time for friends or relationships anymore because now, she had responsibilities and obligations, which meant she didn't have time for senseless trips down memory lane, and she soon busied herself getting ready for work. She walked out the door and ran to her car in the early morning cold. She started it quickly turning the heat on full blast trying to warm herself up, but she knew it was useless. Not because of the car, but because she hadn't really felt warm in years and knew no amount of heat could replace the coldness in her heart. The only thing that could do that was…

Before she would let herself utter his name, she pulled out of the parking lot and turned her car down the street towards the hospital, towards another day in the E.R., and another day of "Ol' blue eyes" haunting her thoughts.