Dear Mrs. Darbus
Chapter 2: It Was Hard, But We Got Through It
Summary: This is Troy and Gabriella's letter. The regular writing is Troy, the italics Gabriella.
I couldn't believe it. Mrs. Darbus, dying? It just didn't seem possible to me. I thought she was like, immortal or something. Then the fact that she doesn't want to live? That just scared me. Why would Mrs. Darbus want to die? It confused me to no ends. Kelsi told me that we should all write down what had happened to us, after we graduated. She said that if Mrs. Darbus heard that all of us had lived wonderful lives, that maybe she would want to live to see us. I explained this to Gabriella, and we sat down at the computer together, to write down our lives since East High. The letter goes as such:
Dear Mrs. Darbus,
It's Troy and Gabriella. We heard about what's going on with you. Kelsi said we should tell you about us, so here it is:
After we graduated, we went to college, of course. Even though we were still close, I (Troy) still thought Berkeley was too far. I was afraid that the distance would ruin us. One night, while I was stressing about this I wound up at the mall. I went to the Cinnabon place, because I was hungry. The store next to it was a jewelry store. I don't know why I did it, but I bought a ring. I went up to see Gabriella that weekend. I played it cool, like I wasn't about to do the biggest thing I'd ever do in my entire life.
Mrs. Darbus, I'm going to take over now. So I thought Troy came just because he missed me. I'd missed him too, so I wasn't complaining. We were sitting around, watching the Notebook, at the part where Noah is telling Allie it's going to be hard, but they'd get through it. Next thing I knew, Troy was on one knee telling me he loved me and he wanted to be with me always and pulling out this beyond beautiful ring. I almost cried I was so happy. Naturally, I said yes. The thing was he still had to go to Berkeley. It was hard, since we were so far apart but we alternated weekends to drive to visit the other.
I thought it would be easy, but little did I know Noah was right. It was very hard. We fought almost all the time. It was so stupid. He'd say my shampoo was too strong and I'd say all he cared about was basketball. We screamed and one time I actually slapped him (and it hurt, let me tell you. Just a note: do NOT make Gabby mad!). We stormed out on each other constantly or slept in different beds, sometimes we'd go to another person's dorm. On one such occasion where I had gone to another friend's dorm, I went on her computer and looked up the percentage of teen marriages surviving. It said that around 85% failed. That was scary and I realized right then that I didn't want Troy and I to be in that category. I wanted us to be the other 15%. So I went back to my apartment and saw Troy had fallen asleep in the kitchen area, making my favorite cookies. I tasted the cookies and three of the four batches were terrible. I tasted the last batch and it was really good. I woke him up and told him we have to try to fix this. It was hard, but after about two years, it got easier. We fit together again, like in high school.
So about two and half years after we got married I was at Gabby's and I realized something: she hadn't had her period yet. We checked to see if she was pregnant and sure enough, she was. Then her mom came to visit us and we had to pretend like I didn't get her daughter pregnant. Now, before I go on, Mrs. Darbus, don't give me a lecture on safe sex. Believe me, I will pound that lecture into my kid's heads. I mean, they will have it memorized.
Anyways, when Gabriella had the baby, it was a little girl. That disappointed me at first, because, honestly, I wanted a boy, badly. After a while, I loved that little girl to death. We – well Gabriella- named the girl Rocio Alicia Bolton. After that, it just wasn't working with going to school. It would be like we were divorced. I get her one week, you get her next week. So I told my teachers that I had to go. The one teacher really liked me (I know, big surprise right!? Shut up Gabriella WINTHROPA! You ass, you said you wouldn't ever call me by my middle name!) Ignore the parenthesis right there. Like I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted, one teacher liked me and he said he could send me lessons so I wouldn't be behind, then come down to take finals. I could still get my degree. Then, at a game, some scouts were there and said they wanted me to be on a team. Like, in the NBA. Let me tell you, I was floating on air. I was married to the love of my life, I had a beautiful baby girl and I was still going to get my degree. But I had to come down sometime.
I was being an idiot one day and I landed on my foot wrong and broke my leg. The pain wasn't that much it was that the doctors said that I wouldn't be able to play basketball anymore. I was beyond depressed. I didn't want to eat, sleep, or do much of anything for about four months. Then one day, Gabriella came in with Rocio and said that they had a surprise for me. Gabs sat me up then walked to the other side of the room. She put Rocio on the floor then gave her a nudge. Rocio was walking towards me! She finally got to me and threw her arms around me. She started babbling but I swear I heard "Daddy" come out of her mouth. Then Chad walked in and I think I almost cried. I hadn't seen him since Rocio had been born, which was almost six months before.
He took me to the court, and said, "You've gotta try. Even if you fall, you've gotta do it. Rocio wants to see her dad smiling and I want to play my best friend and get some real competition. Please." I'd never seen him look more serious in my life. I took the ball and started to dribble. We stumbled around the court for three hours. I fell a lot, but every time Chad helped me up. I've never loved him more than at that moment.
Troy recovered quickly. I knew he would, he just needed some inspiration and motivation. We finished college and went to graduation. Everyone was there, even Sharpay and my dad. I was bawling and Troy was trying to act tough, but when we were alone, he cried. He's such a softie. I graduated with highest honors. We went to his graduation. Then we moved to a town not too far from Albuquerque. I got pregnant again and this time it was a boy that we named Michael Jose Bolton. By this time we were about 24, Rocio was almost 5.
We've been living quietly since then. Troy plays some minor basketball on the side and every once in a while I mange to talk him into doing some acting on the side with me. I've been doing some research on diabetes and AIDES lately. I think I've found a cure for diabetes, but it's still unstable. I'm working on it, and soon enough, diabetes will be gone. Next, I'll work on AIDES. School for the kids is starting soon. Rocio will be going into the 3rd grade, Michael is starting preschool. We're happy.
The whole point of this letter, and the one saying present in my life is what Noah said during that scene in the Notebook. He said that it would be hard but he wanted to do it because he loved Allie. It's true with Troy and I. We've had a rough life. It was hard, but we got through it. I love Troy and I'm glad that we got married young. (However I will be explaining to our kids that getting married when you're young is stupid. The percentage of teen couples surviving is around 15%. Not good odds.) But yeah, I'm happy I went crazy for a while and asked Gabriella to marry me. If we can get through it then I think you can get through this. We need you Mrs. Darbus. Please know that we care and want you to live.
All our love and respect,
TROY and Gabriella