An Impossible Reunion
Author's Note: A miracle happened yesterday. I watched High School Musical! I mean, all the way through without stopping! God I swear, I love the movie, but after watching it about 30 times a week, it started getting pretty boring. Now every time I try to watch it, I only get through "The Start Of Something New" before I either turn it off or get distracted. But whatever, here's the next chapter! Thanks for the reviews and I hope you like this one!
--
I'm sorry Gabriella, Troy was saying. He was staring at Gabriella Montez. She was wearing a white skirt and an ice blue blouse that matched her studded ballet flats. Her hair was in a half-ponytail and she was wearing a pair of big, dangling earrings that complimented her blouse. She looked absolutely beautiful in Troy's eyes.
It's too late, Gabriella responded. Her expression was blank and her chocolate brown eyes held nothing but emptiness as she stared at Troy. You did this to yourself.
I never cheated on you, Troy said, his eyes brimming with tears. I love you! Please come back to me, Gabi! He needed her. More than anyone will ever know.
What's done is done, Gabriella told him. She didn't seem at all phazed by his words and the emotion he put into them. She simply shrugged her shoulders, letting him know she wasn't going to repeat those three words he longed to hear come out of her mouth. I couldn't come back to you, even if I wanted to.
Troy did his best to keep his tears from falling. But I love you. He let out a soft sob as he realized she was disappearing. Her blank face became less clear and before he knew it, she was gone. He looked at himself and realized he was fading as well. He sighed and closed his eyes as he started hearing a faint beeping become louder.
Beep, Beep, BEEP! He awoke to find himself in his room, the sun shining brightly through his window. He was disoriented. Sweat was dripping down his forehead and tears were freely cascading down his face, but he didn't bother to wipe them off. He was falling apart. The guilt was slowly destroying him. She was destroying him. And he couldn't do anything about it, no matter how much he tried.
"Gabriella, please help me," he whispered. He slowly got out of bed, turning off his alarm clock. He dragged his feet out of his room and to the bathroom. He stared at his tearstained face in the mirror and sighed sadly. He needed help. For the past year, he's been refusing to really talk to anyone about his feelings. He was a big boy and big boys don't cry. But these days it was getting harder and harder to say he was okay.
"Desperate times call for desperate measures," he said to himself.
--
Gabriella groaned and slowly fluttered her eyes open as she felt someone nudge her repeatedly. She saw Alma staring down at her with a very unhappy face. In fact, she looked completely pissed. She pointed angrily at the clock. 8:35. It was definately not a good way to start the day.
Gabriella threw her bed sheets aside and got up, ignoring how tired she still felt. She quickly looked through her closet and picked out a pink, shirred camisole top with a pair of dark-wash denim with a sleek trouser cut from Kimora Lee Simmons. She forced herself to rush to the bathroom for a quick shower. She changed and put on some dangly kitty hoop earrings and slipped into her Baby Phat sneakers. She grabbed her "T" necklace that Troy gave to her on their one month anniversary. It didn't exactly match her outfit, but she felt obligated to wear it. It was her good luck charm.
"Done," Gabriella muttered, reaching for her Baby Phat sunglasses on the counter. She quickly swung her bag over her shoulder and hurried to the door.
"Finally," Alma responded, rolling her eyes at the sixteen year old in front of her. She grabbed the keys and walked out, closing the door behind her. "Unfortunately, we won't be able to stop by Starbucks on our way to work."
"We can if we hurry," Gabriella said, smiling hopefully. Alma rolled her eyes as she unlocked the car and got in.
"We'll see," she said, giving Gabriella a stern look. "Mind telling me why you decided to hit snooze on your alarm clock this morning?"
"I'm tired," Gabriella said lamely. She looked down at her hands in embarrassment. What kind of excuse was that? There had to be another reason. Maybe like the fact that all I could think about was Troy Bolton last night, which kept me from getting a good night's sleep? she thought miserably. But she couldn't say that to Alma. She didn't know why, but she just couldn't.
"Hey," Alma said, snapping her back out of her thoughts. "Hurry up and get out if you want your frappuccino."
"Yay!" Gabriella said happily, hopping out of the car and rushing towards the entrance of the Starbucks. The bitter-rich aroma of fresh coffee suddenly filled the air as she stepped into the coffee shop. She held the door open for Alma and then hurried over to the counter.
"Welcome to Starbucks, what would you like?" A dark-skinned woman who seemed to be in her early twenties stood behind the counter. She looked kind, but also seemed very tired.
"A Double Chocolate-Chip Frappuccino for her and a Mocha latte for me," Alma said. She rested her sunglasses on her head and started digging through her Coach bag for her wallet.
"And your name?" the woman asked, forcing a tired smile.
"Alma," Alma replied as she took out her wallet and paid for the beverages. She grabbed the two drinks and motioned for Gabriella to hurry out of the coffee shop. They were late and the Commander was not going to be happy about it. He had called last night to let them know they had to see him in his office as soon as they arrived. It seemed urgent.
--
Troy dragged his feet through the doors of East High School, immediately getting greetings and stares. He forced a smile and made his way to his locker. He arrived to see his best friends, Chad, Jason, and Zeke already there.
"Hey Troy," they said in unison. Chad grinned and patted him on the back, sensing that he was too tired to do their usual complicated handshake.
"Hey guys," Troy greeted. He opened his locker and lazily shoved his backpack inside. As he rummaged through it to make sure he didn't forget his homework and notes, he heard Jason finally starting to speak.
"So yesterday was pretty fun," he said with a smile. "It's been a while since we've all gotten together like that. It felt just like old times." He spoke slowly and chose his words carefully, afraid to accidentally set Troy off or just make him feel worse inside. There's been too much of that in the past year.
Troy simply nodded, feeling a small pang in his chest. If it were like old times Gabriella would be here comforting him. Making him feel ten times better with just one smile. Now that would be like old times. "Yeah," he said softly, closing his eyes.
Flashback
Troy's eyes were filled with tears threatening to fall as he stared at a picture of Gabriella Montez while listening to the police officer in the middle of the Montez living room talk.
"I'm sorry guys," the police officer said. "We've looked everywhere. We found her clothes tattered and covered in blood. I'm afraid we have no choice but to close this case and report Gabriella Montez dead." He gave everyone a sincere, sympathetic look before looking back down at his notes.
"No," Troy said softly, his voice just above a whisper. "No, this can't happen. You can't just give up. There has to be something more that you can do. There just has to be. Anything!"
The police officer looked back up when he heard Troy speak. A part of him was almost amused at how this boy who was in no way related Gabriella Montez and had barely met her in the beginning of the year could be so obsessed with getting her back than her own mother, who was still speechless from his announcement.
"Isn't there anything else you could do, Officer Newell?" Chad asked hopefully. Troy was his best friend and he definately wouldn't be able to stand him crying, which he was sure he would, since they were talking about Gabriella. Not to mention he and Gabriella had gotten pretty close themselves. Chad looked at her as his little sister and would do anything for her. He would never be able to accept the fact that she was dead.
Officer Newell shook his head and turned back to Ms. Montez. "There's nothing more to do. Trust me, if there was we would do it. But there's nothing else we can think of."
Troy inhaled sharply, trying to control his sudden anger. He hated it when people were so sympathetic with him when something was wrong, as if they actually cared or could even relate. It just made him feel worse. But right now throwing a temper tantrum was the last thing he or anyone else needed. He had to stay calm and strong for right now. For his friends. For Ms. Montez.
So he just breathed.
End Flashback
Chad just stared as Troy sat in his seat in homeroom, a blank expression on his face. "Troy," he said, tapping Troy lightly on the shoulder. "You alright?"
Troy jumped at the sound of Chad's voice. "Yeah," he answered, his voice shaking a little. He cleared his throat and continued. "I'm fine. Couldn't be better." Yeah right. He scooted forward in his seat and looked down at his hands which were laced together on his desk.
"Troy," Chad said, leaning over his desk, "you have to stop blaming yourself. It wasn't your fault and I know for a fact that she wouldn't want you to spend the rest of your life beating yourself up about it."
Troy sighed. Chad was right and they both knew it.
But it's too hard to move on, he thought sadly.
--
"Ladies," Commander Johnson spoke sternly. "Normally I would give a painfully long lecture on being late to anything - especially my meetings, but we have more important things to discuss." He forced back a chuckle as he saw Alma and Gabriella's slightly relieved faces.
Before anyone could say any more, a petite brunette walked in holding a small stack of papers. "Good morning," she greeted, placing the papers on the Commander's desk.
"Good morning Ms. Rodriguez," Commander Johnson said, thanking her with a smile for bringing in the stack of papers. He gestured to the chair next to Gabriella, letting the brunette know to sit down. "Now ladies, I have a new mission for all of you. After the painful damage we made to Germany, they're finally recovering. And right now they're strong enough to go on with their destructful work. They haven't fully recovered, so that's their main goal at the moment. And there's a certain trinket that could help them." He paused to make sure all three females were following.
"Go on," Alma said with a nod.
"Are you all familiar with the infamous Morretti Amulet?" Commander Johnson asked. Everyone nodded, suddenly very intrigued as to where this was going. "That amulet is ancient. And worth a lot more than just money. It carries a very rare and special kind of Ruby. Who knows what Commander Soric could do with it. We can't take the chance to find out. We have to recover the amulet before he gets to it - "
"But no one knows where it is," Gabriella cut in. "It could take ages just to find the location. Commander Soric could get it before we even get close."
"Actually," Commander Johnson continued, "we've been looking for it for a while now. Ever since we heard about Germany's recover. We have a pretty good guess of where it could be. We had to look through the newest branches of the Morretti Family Tree. It was extremely difficult, but we managed. This family's not under the name Morretti, but they're the most likely out of all the branches. We need you guys to get close to this family. Close to the point where you can retrieve the amulet without any real trouble. You ladies are the most reliable agents I have. I trust you won't fail or disappoint me."
"We won't," Alma said with a smile. She turned to Gabriella and the brunette, who nodded their heads in agreement.
Commander Johnson smiled at the three young women in front of him and handed each of them manilla folders filled with papers from the stack the brunette had brought in earlier. "There's the information you need. The family's name is Bolton. Individual names and other details are inside as well. Anything that will help you ladies. If you have any trouble just contact me." He handed out their plane tickets. "Your flight leaves tomorrow morning at 6 o'clock sharp. Good luck!" He gave them one last smile as they left his office.
"This will be fun," the brunette said with a small chuckle.
"Oh yeah!" Alma laughed as well. "It will definately be a blast, Ariana."
"But where are we going?" Gabriella asked.
"Let's see," Ariana said. She took her plane ticket out of the manilla folder and examined it. Then she looked up at Gabriella with smile. "Albuquerque, New Mexico."
--
Wow, that took a lot of time to write. Sorry for the wait. I just like my writing to be perfect. Or at least perfect in my eyes. And it's not gonna work if I rush through it instead of taking my time. But here it is. It's a little short, so I'll try to make the next chapter longer. I'll get started on the next chapter before school starts next week, that way I'll at least have something.
High School Musical 2. What'd you guys think? Sharpay was a brat through the whole thing. She was hilarious! There wasn't a lot of Gabriella scenes, which is kind of sad. I'm a Gabriella fan and I was hoping to see more of her character. But I was glad that she had a lot more confidence, like when she confronted Sharpay. God, Zac took off his shirt twice! That was definately hott. The Troy and Chad moment where they fought was kind of sad. It left me feeling a little upset and mad at Troy for being so...Sharpay-like. Haha. The Troyella moments were cute, but the whole kiss-interrupting thing got old quickly. I wasn't a fan of it in the first movie and I found it extremely annoying in this movie. Favorite song? It's a tie between "Gotta Go My Own Way" and "Work This Out". The Sharpay Version of "You Are the Music In Me" was weird. Zac and Ashley's voices don't mix well. Troy's voice sounded so deep and not too happy. Sharpay sounded too squeaky and preppy. I'm not a real fan of Ashley's singing. It's alright, but not something to say wow about. But I have got to say she has improved since the first HSM. That's good.
OVERALL...
High School Musical 2 was pretty good. But I can't help thinking it could've been better somehow. Especially after all the hype Disney made about it. It was a lot more colorful, though. Did anyone else notice that? Zac's blue eyes stood out more and Ashley looked...orange. Bad tan, Sharpay? Whatever. The movie was good.
Review pretty please! That would be Fabulous!
Tootles!
Maria♥Lena
