Chapter 1: The Start of My Summer
After much thinking about it, I've decided to give "The Great Danforth" another try. The first chapter is very similar to the 1st chapter of the other story. This time, I'm going to use more of the Wildcats. Like the last one I tried to do, this one will be a Chaylor and it is in Troy's POV (like Nick Carraway in 'The Great Gatsby'). I hope you all enjoy it.
DISCLAIMER: I don't own 'The Great Gatsby' or 'High School Musical'. I do own the names of the neighborhoods & the book title Zeke mentions.
My name is Troy Zachary David Bolton. I am 29 years old and I'm from Albuquerque, NM. When I was 15, my father Jack passed away after a long battle with lung cancer. Before his death, he gave me some advice that has been on repeat in my mind ever since.
"Son, I'm going to give you some advice that's going to be very important to you & I know that it will stick with you throughout your life. Whenever you decide to judge someone, be aware that not everybody has had the same advantages that you've had."
There was more that he said, but that was the part that stuck with me. Because of what he said, I've been forced to keep my judgments & opinions about people to myself. When I decided to rent a small house just outside of New York in the summer of 2022, I had no idea that this judgment issue of me would be put to the test as it did.
One reason I moved to New York was so that I could start my acting career. I've always been excellent at sports, basketball in particular and had dreams of playing in the NBA. After I tore my left knee senior year of high school, my dreams of playing in the NBA were over. While in high school, I discovered a passion for acting and decided to pursue that instead. After five years in D.C., I obtained a BFA in Acting. After working a few odd jobs to make ends meet, I decided that it was now or never to move to New York to pursue it head on. I was lucky enough to have come from a upper middle class family that can help me set up in the Big Apple, or else I'd be a homeless bum.
Another reason for moving to New York was so that I could spend the summer with my younger cousin through marriage Taylor Baylor (née McKessie) and her husband Ezekiel 'Zeke' Baylor, whom I attended college with. He is the son of restaurant business giant Christopher Baylor and Illinois senator Brooke Baylor (née Coleman); both of whom came from enormously wealthy families. His attractive looks, strong athletic ability (he was the star basketball player), and family's immense wealth helped him become one of the most popular men on campus. Speaking of wealth, he is set to inherit his father's restaurant company Baylor's Restaurants; the company is worth over $25 billion dollars.
I live in West Harbor, the less-fashionable side of the two harbors. Most of the people who reside here are newly rich. They were entertainers from entertainment industry or recent lottery winners. To the East Harborers, they were called 'new money'. While Taylor & Zeke live in the old money, more fashionable side called East Harbor. The people who lived there were born with silver spoons in their mouths, had just about everything handed to them without hesitation, went to the highest quality schools, & were members of only the most exclusive organizations & clubs in the country.
Throughout the years they've been married, Taylor and Zeke moved around all over the world where people played tennis and sailed in million-dollar yachts. They lived in Hawaii, Dubai, South Africa, and Japan among others. I haven't seen Taylor and Zeke since they got married in 2018, so I decided to visit them at their brand new house in East Harbor. It was a three-storied white palace mansion with a black and gold gate surrounding it. It had a large front yard with a beautiful fountain in front of it. Beautiful, well-trimmed flowers were growing along the beds in front of the house. It was truly one of the most, if not the most beautiful houses I've ever seen. I could only imagine what it looked like on the inside. When I drove up to the front of the house, I saw Zeke standing on the front porch in his tennis gear drinking lemonade.
"Hello there, Troy." Zeke greeted me as we shook hands.
"Hi, Zeke. Long time no see."
"How are things with you?"
"Great. And you?"
"Couldn't be better. Where do you live?"
"I live over on West Harbor. I rented a small house there for about $2,500 a month."
"$2,500 a month?" Zeke scoffed at my rent. "That's nothing. Our apartments back in Prince George were worth more than that."
"You forget I've just started out as a fledgling actor. Trying to get my feet wet and hope to become a big Broadway star." I told him as we walked into his garage. I was surprised at how many cars were in their garage. Some of them go back as 90 years; they were older than my grandparents.
"Are all the cars in your garage belonging to you?"
"Not all of them. Some of them belong to Taylor. Her grandfather had a love for cars, and left his most valuable ones to her when he died. She won't drive them, though."
"Not surprised. She never was a really good driver."
"Don't let catch you saying that." We entered the living room where I saw two women lying on the same sofa on opposite ends of each other. I immediately recognized Taylor, as she was a short woman standing at 5'2" without heels. She wore 4" heels to make herself appear taller. She sat up and rubbed her eyes when she saw me.
"Troy, is it really you?" She said while sitting up.
"The one and only, baby cousin." She stuck out her right hand begging to grasp mine into hers.
"Oh, my blue-eyed baby bear! I'm so happy right now!" Taylor tapped her friend on the leg to get up. "Gabriella, this is my older cousin through marriage Troy Zachary David Bolton. But feel free to call him Troy."
"I prefer Troy anyway." I told the short, black haired girl. I didn't get to take a long look at Taylor's petite friend as she had interrupted me.
"Uh Troy, are we going to kiss, yes or no?" Taylor asked.
"I hope we do." I said before we gave each other a peck of the cheek.
"Zeke said that you have just arrived from D.C. Tell me Troy, do they miss me down there?"
"The whole city's depressed." Taylor started to giggle like a schoolgirl as I told her how all of D.C. society was in tears when Taylor left the area.
"Oh, how wonderful. Let's go back tomorrow, Zeke. I love to see D.C.'s faces when I return."
"Well, I love a drink. Come on, we should all have a drink." Zeke suggested. While he started to head out, Taylor stood up from the sofa and walked towards me.
"I would love to show you our brand new baby girl." I was in shock. I knew she and Zeke traveled all over the world, but I didn't know they had a baby.
"You're a mom?" Taylor nodded in response. "That's wonderful. What's her name?"
"Adrienne. She's three years old and the most beautiful girl you will ever see. I named her after the Black actress from those 'High School Musical' movies. People also said I looked exactly like the actress, but I don't see it."
"But I thought her name was Mo-" I was cut off by Taylor.
"I know her other name, but Adrienne was her first name and I liked that one better."
"When can I see her?"
"Not now, Troy. She's down for her nap. But, I will show her to you later. Let's go get that drink." Taylor said as she started to walk outside. She shouted back, "Get up, Gabriella."
"Oh, God. I've been lying on that sofa for as long as I can remember." Gabriella said as she sat up and stretched her body.
"Well, we would've gone to town earlier if you hadn't been so lazy." Taylor said.
"I wasn't in the mood." Gabriella said before she stood up turned her head to me. "You live across the lake from here. I know someone who lives over there."
"I don't know a single soul." I told her.
"You must know a man name Danforth." Immediately, Taylor turned her head and looked at Gabriella.
"Danforth?" She asked. "What Danforth, Gabriella?"
"Come on, Taylor." Zeke said from outside.
"Why must you light up candles, Jordan? It's not even night yet."
"I'm sorry, Miss Taylor." The short man apologized as he blew out the candles for her.
"It's Mrs. Taylor, Jordan. I'm married." She told him before she looked at the rest of us. "Did you know that June 21st is the longest day in the year? I looked on the computer the other day. It's also the first day of summer, Troy?"
"Well, we should plan something." said Gabriella.
"OK, Gabriella. We'll plan. What do people plan, Troy?" I was about to answer her before she looked at her right hand. "Oh, no. My ring and pinky fingers are all swollen and bruised. I'm not left handed like you are, Zeke. And I know you did it, too. But that's what I get for marrying a strong man. Such a strong, bulky member of the male species."
"Oh, Taylor. I hate that word 'bulky'. Even when you're joking."
"Bulky, Zeke."
"Zeke and Taylor, please don't start arguing like uncivilized children." Gabriella asked.
"Speaking of civilization, this one is going to pieces." Zeke utters out before he turns to me. "Troy, have you read this book called 'The Rise of Foreign Control' by Forte?"
"Oh, no I haven't Zeke." I answered.
"Well, it's a great book and every native-born American should read it. Anyway, some experts point out that if we don't watch out, America will lose control of this world. It's our job and responsibility to make sure these other countries don't gain power over us or Americans will be treated like second class citizens in our own land."
"We need to beat them down." Taylor said before she was cut off by Zeke, who wanted to continue his explanation.
"Look Taylor, the thing is we're Americans. We are the most powerful country in the world. We're the ones resp-" he was cut off by Jordan telling him he had a phone call in the other room. He excused himself from the table before he went back talking.
"Anyway, we're the ones responsible for creating the formation of modern civilization. Art, theatre, science, & technology among others. If it wasn't for us, they wouldn't have anything remotely like modern civilization."
"Zeke's really gotten involved in that type of material." she looks around and sees me staring at her best friend who was staring back at him in a flirty way. "Gabriella is going to be in a tennis match later on this week. Since you two can't stop looking at each other, I guess I'm just gonna have to fling you two together."
"Oh, that's not necessary, Taylor." I told her. She shakes her head no when she hears Zeke laughing from the other side of the door.
"Um, I need to check on something. I'll be right back." She said before abruptly leaving the table to check on Zeke.
"Zeke, who's on the phone?" Taylor say from inside. I soon turned my head to see Gabriella leaning towards the window and putting her ear towards it.
"Aren't you Gabriella Montez, the professional tennis champ-" I was quickly shushed by Gabriella.
"Hush, Troy. I want to hear what happens this time."
"What do you mean 'this time'?" I asked.
"You don't know? I'm surprised not everybody knew." Gabriella said as she hears Zeke and Taylor arguing in the background.
"What are you talking about?"
"Zeke has a woman in the city."
"He does?" I say surprised.
"Yep. Ill-mannered because she can't find the right time to call here. And from what I hear, this woman is-" she was soon cut off by feet walking back to the door. Gabriella hurriedly went back to her seat before Zeke and Taylor came back to the table.
"Wrong number." Taylor said before she sat down. She looked out the window and saw a beautiful bird on their back lawn. "Oh look, everybody. There's a blue bird on the lawn. It probably just came in from the AngelStar Line. He's singing away."
"I'm surprised AngelStar is still in business after 2012 Angelic II disaster." Zeke whispered to Gabriella and me, completely unaware of what Taylor just said.
"It is romantic. Right, Zeke?" Taylor snapped, catching him off guard.
"Huh? Oh yeah, Taylor. Very romantic."
After dinner, I went back to my house at West Harbor. Taylor and Zeke stood on their front porch waving goodbye.
"Good night, Troy!" Taylor shouted. "I'll show you the baby another day."
"Good night, Taylor! Good night, Zeke!" I waved back to them.
"You're welcome back to our place anytime you want!" Zeke shouted.
When I got home, I saw my neighbor Danforth standing at the edge of his boat deck. He was trying to grasp onto something, but he just couldn't seem to get it. Something about this man and his gesture made me attracted to him. It made want to believe he was trying to relive something in his past.
I once thought moving to New York would make me have a fresh new outlook on life; one that I hoped was bright and endless. By the time autumn came, I did see a new outlook on life; just not one that I had pictured. For all I know, Danforth was the only person who would be exempt from this judgment. Since Danforth meant everything that I had an untouched scorn for, he would turn out OK at the end. It was what preyed on him; his dream of achieving what he thought was the American Dream, which became his downfall.
By the end of the summer, I would never be the same again.
There goes Chapter 1. I hope you all enjoyed it. If some of you didn't notice, the Angelic II disaster bit came from my other story Titanic: HSM Style.
Yes, I named Taylor & Zeke's daughter after Monique Coleman's first name Adrienne. The part where she says 'people say I look exactly like the actress from HSM' came from an episode of "The Suite Life of Zack & Cody" where Maddie does the same thing. Again, I don't own "The Suite Life".
You already know Troy, Taylor, Zeke, Gabriella, and a little bit of Chad. Next chapter, I'll introduce you to Jason, Sharpay, and Ryan. As for Kelsi & Martha, I haven't placed them anywhere yet.
If there's anything you would like to add, let me know. I appreciate your advice.
THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR YOUR SUPPORT!!!