"Troy, Troy, Troy!" Holly came tearing through the busy kitchen, narrowly avoiding bumping into Sharpay.
Troy scooped his sister into a flying hug.
"What are you doing in here?" Troy asked Holly
"Gabi said you'd be in here." She smiled
"Honey, you can't be in here when I'm on my shift!"
Gabriella came running into the kitchen, much to the cursing of Chad and Zeke, who were carrying a particularly big pot of soup through the kitchen.
"Sorry, Troy." Gabriella panted, clutching the stitch in her side, "she just ran off!"
Troy frowned at Holly
"Holly, don't run away from Gabriella-promise?"
"Yes Troy." Holly looked at the floor, ashamed
"There's my girl." Troy gave Holly a quick hug and went back to work.
"Thanks for dinner, Sir, but I think I should probably be getting back to the kitchen now." Troy pushed his seat from the table, and was getting ready to stand.
"No so fast Mr. Bolton. Sit." Mr. Montez spoke firmly.
"So, Troy." Mr. Montez looked sternly over his glasses at Troy from the dinner table. Stern was a good word to describe Mr. Montez, from his crisp Armani suit, to the creases in his forehead, which must have developed from the years of frowning towards his staff, and in particular; Gabriella. "Why do you like my daughter?"
Gabriella opened her mouth, shocked that her father could ask such a personal and embarrassing question. Troy's cheeks glowed, while Mrs. Montez looked up from her coffee and half-eaten soufflé.
"Excuse me, sir?" Troy coughed
"It has become clear to me that the time you are spending with my daughter has gone past a servant's relationship. Why?"
"She's very likeable. Gabriella is intelligent, beautiful, sings like an angel…my sister loves her, and we click." Troy smiled at Gabriella, sure that his answer would have impressed Mr. Montez.
"You mean you have great sex."
Troy choked on his final mouthful of soufflé, resulting on a smack on the back from the waiter refilling Gabriella's espresso cup.
"Sir, that's not what I mean at all-,"
"Daddy-,"
"I don't care what you see in her, Mr. Bolton, you are to stay away-otherwise your job will be non-existent. You may excuse yourself from the dinner table and get back to the kitchen."
"Daddy!" Gabriella squealed, tears in her eyes.
"Be quiet, girl." Troy heard as he shut the dining room door.
Later that night, Troy crept out of bed to visit Gabi. He walked (crept) down the oh-so-familiar corridor he walked down every day, and tapped on the door in front of him. There was no answer, so Troy opened the door himself…
The curtains by the French windows were flapping in the gentle breeze. Gabriella was sat in an armchair, looking out at Albuquerque whilst sketching. There were several smudges on the page, which looked like tear drops. The tear drops had fallen on the smooth outline of Troy's shirt.
"Am I really that hot?" Troy asked playfully. Gabriella jumped.
"Troy-what are you doing here? Shouldn't you be in the servants' quarters?"
"You say that like you don't want me here." Troy was disappointed, he'd been hoping for a quick cuddle before he went back downstairs.
Gabriella sighed, and walked to her stone balcony, leaning out towards the town she'd someday be the representative of. Troy put his arms around her waist, and breathed in the citrus smell of her soft hair.
"I love you, Gabriella." Troy whispered in her ear.
Gabriella pulled away, and took Troy's hands from off her waist, but still held them. "Troy, we can't be together, Daddy won't allow it. You're too…poor! He wants to marry Lord Pryor's son."
"I'm not going to give you up Gabi!"
Troy put his hands to cup Gabi's jaw. "I mean it-I love you, and I won't give you up-never!" Troy tenderly kissed Gabriella's lips. "But if that meant nothing to you, then fine-I'll go now."
Tears trickled down Gabriella's face. "That meant everything to me. And I love you too." Gabriella kissed Troy back, but more passionately. She put her arms on his shoulders, and in the moonlight they kissed for what seemed like hours. When they finally broke apart, the tears had stopped streaming down Gabriella's face, leaving no visible trace, and both were beaming.
"I'd better go." Troy breathed. He kissed his love goodnight and walked back to his room…
As he lay on his bed that night, it suddenly dawned on Troy how badly the first meeting with the parents had actually gone. With his eyes shut, the darkness began to clam in on Troy…such an insufferable darkness...he'd not had such darkness since the night…since the night…something was wrong…so very wrong…there was a smell he hadn't smelt since…since the night…
"Fire!" Troy sat up immediately.
"What?" Sharpay murmured through the darkness. But as Troy's eyes adjusted to the chink of light coming under the door into his, Sharpay's and Taylor's room, he could see a thin fog. He was right.
"FIRE!" Troy roared, leaping out of his bed, grabbing his precious photo album out of the drawer…
To be continued
