There wasn't a single man who was worthy of Nicole West's trust.
The only good ones were those with a tombstone marking their resting place, Nicole thought that hot afternoon.
She was sitting on her rickety old rocking chair waiting patiently for her niece, Gabriella Montez, to come home. A soft, hot breeze blew across her porch which ruffled her midnight black hair, but she didn't mind. She'd gotten used to the stifling Nevada heat. Well, not that day, anyway. What she did mind was that boy, Troy Bolton. If only there was some way to intervene between him and Gabriella. But her poor niece was too naïve, like her mother, to notice that all males were selfish pigs.
Just like Maria West, or Maria Montez, Gabriella thought with her heart, not her mind. Gabriella's mother had not listened to Nicole's warnings and she'd proved Nicole right at the time too.
Where the male gender was concerned, Nicole was never wrong.
Nicole picked up her icy lemonade from the table and took a sip of it. She'd had icy lemonade on her wedding day, she remembered clearly. She'd gotten up that morning with a smile on her face. Her mother had placed her snow white dress next to her bed. There was lemonade and a fresh batch of pancakes on her table.
Strange, she remembered that day when she hadn't remembered it in the past twenty years.
It was a good thing she didn't remember the day often because that was the day Nicole had gotten her heart shattered into a million tiny pieces. Looking back, she decided that it had been for the best. That day might have been painful, but her eyes were wide open where men were concerned.
That was a lesson ever woman should learn: A woman should always listen to her mind not her heart. A heart can easily deceit you.
Troy Bolton wasn't any better than Nate Williams. Nate could've at least sent a note, but he didn't, and Nicole was there, at the altar, waiting for him. She'd waited for two hours, two long hours that felt like centuries, before her parents forced her to leave.
If only she could make Gabriella understand. If only Gabriella would understand that men caused nothing but heartache. But Gabriella had that passionate Montez blood running through her veins.
If there was only one way Nicole could get them to break apart. She would do whatever it takes.
"Her mother shouldn't have died. She could've helped Gabriella see what's right," Nicole mumbled.
Maria was the youngest daughter of Michael and Michelle West. She was Nicole's absolute joy. Maria had been very intelligent and didn't care about men as Nicole had taught her. She'd gone to college, all the way to the top. Nicole thought her head would explode the day she saw Maia walk across the stage to get her doctorate degree in architecture.
Then, Dylan Montez walked into her life. He made his way into Maia's heat, she was suddenly thinking with her heart rather than her brain. It wasn't long before they had gotten married and had Gabriella. And no Nicole ended up having to raise Gabriella.
"Why couldn't Dylan have died instead?" Nicole fumed.
Her favorite and youngest sibling, Maria, had gotten diagnosed with breast cancer when Gabriella was just thirteen. Just after Gabriella's fourteenth birthday Maria had died. During her last words Maria had begged Dylan to let Nicole raise her daughter.
Four years of all that hard work and she still hadn't listened to her.
Troy Bolton had weaseled his way into Gabriella's heart. After dating him for a month Gabriella walked around happily in love. Even at the age of twenty, Gabriella wouldn't be able to think with her brain. She would let her heart rule her life and it would end up destroying her.
"Good evening," Nicole's next-door-neighbor came in around the corner. "You think it's going to rain?"
"I wish! Hopefully it rains heavily on the ocean and a whole bundle of men drown!" Nicole exclaimed. "I wouldn't be sorry to lose them all if Troy Bolton would just be gone."
"Still haven't knocked sense into her?" Anne Smith asked.
"She's thick-headed like her father," Bertha rolled her eyes as she set the lemonade down.
"Well, soon she'll be off to UNLV so you won't have to worry about her because she will forget about him. All those other young boys will take her mind off him."
"I don't want that either. She doesn't need a man in her life. She needs to think about her schooling and being independent. A woman doesn't need a man in her life," Nicole said.
Anne just nodded. Nicole had always been kind of strange. Ever since Nate had left her she had never liked the male gender. She'd taught at the school until the school board had made her retire. She even lived in the same house her parents and younger siblings had lived in. She's been a good friend and neighbors all of Anne's life. One thing Anne had learned from all those years was to never mention men around Nicole.
"Well, I just stopped by to say hello. Good luck with Gabriella. Talk some sense into her. Are you going to miss her?"
"Nope," Nicole shook her head. "I did everything to raise her properly."
"Well, I'll come over tomorrow, you make the lemonade, and I'll make the bread," Anne waved and disappeared across the backyard to her own house.
Nicole got up and walked over to the phone as soon as it started to ring.
"Hello," she said into the phone.
"Hi Aunt Nicole," Troy's husky voice made Nicole cringe. "Is Gabi there?" I've got a few minutes before I have to go."
"No, she is not here," Nicole said, and then she smiled as an idea popped into her head. "But she did leave a message for you."
"Oh," Troy sighed in disappointment. "Will she be home in a few minutes? I don't have another break for a few more minutes after this. Did she not get my letter about when I was going to call?"
"Yes, she said you were going to call at six," Nicole replied sweetly as she planned everything she was going to say.
Lying is a sin but God would forgive her when she was protecting Gabriella right?
"Is it six there?" Troy asked.
"No it's five thirty," Nicole told him.
"Well, I'll just go back to work then," Troy said.
"No! Don't do that! I told you she left a message for you. Listen to me," Nicole said sharply. "Gabriella is going to college at UNLV. She's made a lot of changes. I'm sure she's told you in her letters. There is a boy in Vegas that she met when she went to go see her father. Well, she and this boy plan on getting married after college. She also said that she would send her ring back and said that you shouldn't bother calling or writing to her."
"But…" Troy's voice cracked.
Nicole could hear the pain in his voice. Troy sounded devastated but Nicole didn't feel a single ounce of guilt.
"I guess you have to go?"Nicole said.
"I guess so," Troy said. "Would you tell her I love her?"
"I don't think she would like that right now," Nicole said. "She doesn't love you anymore. She doesn't need to hear it coming from you. Goodbye now." Nicole hung up the phone.
Nicole had never told a lie in her entire life. It was surprisingly easy. This was meant to happen since it poured out of her mouth so easily. One minute she was worried and now she was care-free because of two white lies.
Gabriella Montez sang along to the radio as she drove home from the McDonald's on the other side of town in Hawthorne, Nevada. Taylor, her best friend, and she had almost cried when they had parted. But Gabriella promised to come back every other weekend to plan Taylor's wedding. Gabriella being the maid of honor had promised to help out with preparations. And when Troy came back from Los Angeles she and Troy would get married.
Everything was perfect.
Nothing could go wrong.
Gabriella had been in love with Troy Bolton the day she had seen him. It hadn't been easy they'd been wise enough to know they couldn't get married as long as Troy was in LA. So she'd go and finish college while he was in LA. Then, they'd finish their dream, Bolton Architectural Firm, which would be set right there in Hawthorne.
"Aunt Nicole," she yelled as she walked in. "Guess what? I heard it's supposed to rain! Can you believe it? Rain? Here? In Hawthorne?"
"Troy called," Nicole said flatly as if it didn't matter.
"Oh, I missed his call?" Gabriella's voice was filled with disappointment. She sank into her seat across from Nicole.
"Is he going to call back?" He said six, so I hurried."
"He didn't say anything. He was the one who talked the whole time," Nicole said.
"He won't be calling back. He said he found someone else. You can keep the ring though. And he won't be writing any letters. Sit up straight. Don't slouch."
"He said what?" Gabriella's throat felt like sandpaper.
Gabriella knew she wasn't kidding. Nicole never played jokes.
"He said there was another woman," she said matter-of- factly.
"But I loved him," Gabriella whispered. "He never mentioned another woman, he said he loved me."
"I told you," Nicole said. "I've been saying that for the past we months. I told you he was nothing but trouble. Now go get ready for bed, you have a long day tomorrow."
"But Aunt Nicole, he said he loved me as deep as the Walker River runs." Tears started flowing down Gabriella's face.
"The Walker River is dry most of the year, so I guess he didn't love you that much."
"But I loved him so much." More tears leaked out of her eyes.
"No! You don't! Now go pack."
Gabriella dragged herself into her bedroom. As soon as she got to her bed she collapsed onto it. She buried her face into the big brown bear Troy had won for her at the carnival.
Gabriella's heart had been shattered into a million pieces. How could Troy do that to her? Just yesterday she'd gotten a letter from him which told her how much he loved her. How could he change his mind in a day?
Gabriella finally picked up her stationary and began to write a letter to Troy. She poured her entire heart out. The letter was then pages long. Each word made Gabriella's heart break even more.
She slipped the letter into the envelope and put two heart shaped stickers on it. One for Troy and one for Gabriella.
The next morning, after a night without sleep, Gabriella put the teddy bear in the middle of her bead. "I can't take you with me, Bear. Too many memories," she said.
"Keep this for me, Bear. If he calls I'll put it back on." She took her ring off, put it on a gold chain, and then looped it around Bear's neck.
Nicole whistled as she walked around in the kitchen. Should she make oatmeal of fresh toast?
"Don't cook for me Aunt Nic, I'm not hungry. I'm going to go load my things. I hope to be there soon."
"Well, drive carefully," Nicole said but didn't try and hug her niece. She had always thought that hugging someone made them weaker.
"I will, if Troy calls back please give him my number." Gabriella choked as she said Troy's name.
"He won't be calling back," Nicole said. "Now study hard."
"Okay, you have my address. If there's any mail just send it to me."
"Your dad already has your address."
"Well then, I guess I'll leave." Gabriella longed to hug her aunt but she'd learned to never do that.
Nicole ate her breakfast happily. She was glad how everything turned out. If Troy wrote letters she'd just burn them without Gabriella knowing. And if he called? She'd just repeat her story, which was becoming more real every day.
A/N: Well, here's the first chapter! I hope you enjoy it. I worked really hard on it. The reviews for the first chapter were pretty good considering it was just a trailer. Thanks to all my reviewers. Your reviews make me want to make my chapters longer, better, and uploaded faster. I hope to see all the people who put this story on alert also give a review. Once again thanks for all the reviews I've gotten. I hope to read more reviews! Thanks!