Thanks for reading and reviewing the first chapter! Here's chapter two...
Twenty-four year old Troy Bolton took a sip from his coffee, trying to wake himself up before he had to head to work for the day. A sports teacher at a high school in California, he loved his job. But he wasn't an early morning person; never had been. It was approaching eight o'clock in the morning, and he was sitting in his local coffee shop.
His mind began to wander and he thought of someone who, even after almost eight years, still occupied his mind often. Gabriella. He didn't even know her last name, but in just one evening he had discovered that they shared a strong connection. Troy had looked everywhere for her the next morning, but she was nowhere to be found. And soon after, he and his family had left the resort. As crazy as he knew it would sound out loud; he honestly believed that if they had exchanged numbers or met up as planned, they might even have been together right now.
Troy shook himself out of his thoughts, noting that the time had somehow slipped away from him. Draining the rest of his drink, he rose from the table and left before he could risk making himself late. Little did he know that a mere two minutes later, a young brunette would walk into the coffee shop.
.HSM.
At the age of twenty-four, Gabriella Montez was now working as a nurse at a hospital in California. While Troy sat in the shop every morning with a coffee; she would stop by there to pick up her breakfast – always a cappuccino and a bagel. Neither of them had any idea that every day, they missed each other by minutes.
Gabriella had a good half hour before her shift was due to start, so decided to sit on a bench outside the hospital and eat there. This was her usual routine. Although she enjoyed her job, she often felt that there was something missing from her life. She was single, despite having had the odd good date. The truth was, she wasn't really looking. The one person she had ever felt any romantic link with, was the one person she was convinced she would never find.
Troy. The name ran through her mind as though doing so fulfilled some kind of purpose. But really it was because that one word was all she knew about him. Of course, Gabriella had learnt a few personal details about him that night. However, this information would only ever be useful if she were to actually see him again. A surname, address, phone number...those were the things she didn't have. The only things that would allow her to locate him. The one thing he had mentioned was his home town – Albuquerque, New Mexico. But what was she supposed to do with that? With a sigh, she stood up and made her way inside, ready for the long day ahead.
.HSM.
"Troy, its been years. You're just going to have to forget about this girl. You can't resign yourself to being single forever," Chad Danforth said firmly. He was Troy's best friend, and if even he was giving out advice, Troy wondered whether he should just give up and listen to it. It wasn't that Chad was stupid; but he wasn't usually one for wise words, either. The two were sitting in Troy's living room, in the apartment he had lived in for two years.
"I hear what you're saying, man. But it's not that easy to forget her. I can't explain it," he replied. "I date; I try and commit to a relationship, but that's almost impossible when I'm constantly thinking about what could have happened with Gabriella." Troy sighed, fully aware that obsessing over this couldn't be healthy. But it was alright for Chad. He had been with his high school sweetheart, Taylor, since they were sixteen.
"Look, you keep talking about her, and what could have been. In fact, every time you meet someone or go on dates, this dream girl of yours is all I hear about. But have you ever actually done anything about it?" Chad asked pointedly. Troy had to admit that he did have a point there. Except for one thing. "Okay, you're right, no I haven't. But all I have is her first name. And the fact that she'd moved all over America. Who knows where she might be living now?"
.HSM.
"Honey, listen to me," Ms Montez said to her daughter. "I don't doubt that from what you have told me, this young man was perfectly nice, and that you liked him. But you were sixteen years old. The way you're picturing him now is the way you saw him all those years ago. It's unfortunate that you didn't get to see each other again, but you mustn't dwell on it like this."
Gabriella let out a long breath. She should have known that her mother would rationalise her feelings. She had arrived at the old house they had shared together ten minutes before. They had moved out to California when Gabriella had started at Stanford University, and it had turned out to be their final hasty move. Ms Montez had invited her daughter over for dinner, as she only lived a few streets away, in a small but cosy apartment of her own.
"I know, Mom. It's just that even at sixteen, I'm sure that what I felt that night was not just school-girl stuff. It was like we understood each other." She paused for a moment, wondering if what she was about to say was too cheesy. But it was how she truly felt. "Don't you believe in love at first sight?" she asked her mother. She fully expected her to laugh. Instead, Ms Montez put an arm around Gabriella's shoulder. "Oh, sweetheart," she replied. There really was no adequate response to that.
.HSM.
Living in the same proximity were two people who longed to find each other, each with absolutely no awareness that they didn't have to look far. There were still many things that linked them, just as they had first discovered a long time ago. And now, at the very same moment, Troy and Gabriella both pondered with the idea of setting out to find each other.
Please Review! I would love to know what you think so far :)
