Chapter Five
6 Years Later
It's been quiet in Albuquerque since the Class of 2009 had graduated. The year of 2015 had just arrived, and it was a biting winter day that held a blanket of snow as a gift. It was still winter break for all schools.
The town had barely changed in six years. New buildings were built in place of the old worn down ones, but that was it.
A slightly worn but still shiny black Audi was parked in front of a white house with a blanket of snow covering it. The owner of the car was inside the house changing the channels of the plasma screen in front of him.
Troy Bolton is a graduate of the University of Albuquerque with a Bachelor of Arts Degree. In the past six years, he has not only grown older, but he has matured in many ways.
The years did not dim his handsome face and body, but they only enhanced his features. His personality of following the orders of another person's whim has disappeared, and he is his own person now. Once Gabriella disappeared from his life because of his own stupidity, he promised himself he would never do that to anyone again. He still felt that awful guilt that accompanied that night. Someone as beautiful and precious as Gabriella did not have to go through something like what he did. He once promised himself and her that he would never hurt her, and he would always fight for her.
It was a promise easily broken by his pride.
Hoping to forget the aching pain in his chest Troy looked around the room to find a distraction, any distraction.
He spotted his favorite picture. The picture held a girl with black hair and glasses and a boy both looking about the ages of fifteen and sixteen. The pain he felt now was different, and some would say it was a pleasure made from pain. It was that familiar flutter of his chest and tightening stomach whenever he thought about her flawless face and rosy cheeks.
After all these years, he was still desperately in love with Gabriella Montez, a girl he hasn't seen in over six years.
He's tried to forget, but his heart just won't let go.
He's done everything from one-night stands to the yearlong relationships. It still doesn't fill the empty hole in his chest since that day she walked away.
She hasn't visited, not once, since she had left for college. Oh, sure, she would email or call her mother every now and then to tell her she's alive, but his heart was still aching at the distance.
He has heard from many different sources that she is now residing in New York City. It also seemed that she transferred schools to finish her years of pre-med in the United States instead of England. She lives in an apartment there with her boyfriend, apparently.
Troy tried to beat down the raging green fire when he was told this.
His years of college were extremely boring compared to the stories of constant travel that held Gabriella's. He did his homework. He went to class. He stayed up just like every other student in the library at four in the morning to get his papers done. He did just about everything a college kid could have looked forward to in college, yet he didn't find any joy in it. Only when he graduated did he feel great joy.
Troy stepped out of his own musings when he heard the front door open. His mother came in with grocery bags, and he rushed to help her with them.
"Oh thank you, honey," she grunted still lifting some heavy bags and her purse.
"No problem, mom," he grinned at her. He took more bags from her hands and brought the items to the kitchen. Looking inside the bags, he realized there was enough food to feed a small army. He may have realized he was over exaggerating, but still. There was a lot of food.
"Geez, mom," he said smiling. "I know I eat a lot, but even this may be a little too much for me."
She slapped him lightly on his forearm.
"This isn't for you, Troy," she said. "We're having a dinner party tomorrow."
He tapped his chin. "Oh no. You are not going to set me up with another girl again are you?"
"No. No. No. Jose and Maria Montez are coming over with a few of our other friends." She tapped her chin thoughtfully and looked at him.
"Although, if you wanted me to, there was this lovely young lady down at the grocery store-"
"Never mind. I'll be going now."
He kissed his mother on her cheek and rushed out of the kitchen before she could say anything else.
"Where are you going?" she yelled out from the kitchen.
"Going to Chad's," he yelled back.
Troy grabbed his heavy coat, gloves, snowshoes, and his keys, and he headed out into the snow.
Lucille Bolton was still in the kitchen unpacking the groceries when she remembered she forgot to tell her son something.
"I forgot to tell you. Gabriella is also coming tomorrow for the dinner with her parents."
Troy didn't hear her. He was already in his car driving to Chad's.