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December 31st, 2027 11:00 am Albuquerque
"Hi mom." I said as my mom picked up the phone in Chicago.
"Hi Tess. How's your searching going?" mom asked as I walked around Albuquerque.
"So far, so good. I've met my dad's family and they seem nice enough. I've met some of their friends and all that but I'm still missing one particular person." I told her.
"Have you told anyone that you're Troy and Gabriella's daughter?" Mom asked me as I shook my head, forgetting she couldn't see me.
"Not yet. I still have to find one other person that Troy put as his contact, and then I'll tell them." I told her.
"Be careful and call me when you get a chance." Mom warned as I laughed.
"I will and I love you." I told her before hanging up my cell phone and headed towards Magnolia Court, where this Mrs. Darbus lived.
I found the street before pulling my 4-Runner to the side of the street. I watched an older lady rock in her rocking chair as I got out of the car.
"I don't want any." She yelled as I walked up the sidewalk and looked at her.
"I'm not selling anything. I was wondering if you could point me to East High." I asked.
"Why do you want to go there?" She asked me as I tapped my foot impatiently.
"I'm doing a basketball camp." I said simply as she laughed a little.
"That's where you shoot balls for touchdowns." She said laughing.
"That's where you shoot balls for baskets." I corrected as her eyes went wide.
"How do you know that?" She asked before she stopped rocking back and forth.
"Anyone who knows the game of basketball, knows that." I told her a little too rudely.
"I'm not a sports person. I was a drama teacher for 40 years before I retired." She told me as I smiled at her.
"That had to be an interesting job." I said as she laughed.
"Child, you have no idea. Why don't you come up here and let me tell you some of my stories?" She said patting the seat of the other rocking chair.
"I can't stay long. I've got that basketball thing." I told her as she nodded her head.
"Speaking of basketball, I'll start with a basketball star. His name was everywhere around the school. Everyone knew him and he knew everyone; a popular boy in his own right. The star of the basketball player but he did something that no one would have ever thought of. He tried out for one of my plays." She said shaking her head at the thought.
"What happened?" I asked eager to hear the story.
"He was good. I had to give him and Gabriella, the girl he tried out with, a callback. The Evans' twins didn't appreciate it but Troy Bolton had tried something other than basketball and had succeeded." Mrs. Darbus said smiling.
"That's cool. Did he do a lot of musicals or was that his only one?" I asked her.
"He did that one the winter of his junior year. He stared in both the play and musical his senior year as well." Mrs. Darbus told me.
"That's cool. Did you keep in touch with him after high school?" I asked her as she nodded her head.
"I sure did. He did plays in the community after high school. I was there when he married his high school sweetheart and I was one of the few people who saw his daughter before they put her up for adoption. She was the most beautiful girl I had ever seen. She looked just like Gabriella but she had Troy's eyes and smile." Mrs. Darbus said wiping away a few tears.
"I'm sorry for making you cry." I said saying the same words I had been saying a lot those last few days.
"It's not your fault dear. I told you I would tell you some stories. Now where was I?" She asked as I quickly reminded her.
"Oh yes, Troy. He was a great student. He didn't appreciate the arts at first but after he got the acting bug, he loved it. He split his time equally between basketball and practice." Mrs. Darbus continued as I daydreamed a little.
I guess I was just like my father. I had gained basketball and the acting bug from him. I had a great voice on top of that.
"Dear are you listening?" Mrs. Darbus asked knocking me out of my thoughts.
"What play did Troy and Gabriella put on their junior year?" I asked her.
"They put on Twinkle Towne. It was student wrote play. I think I still have a copy of it." She said hurrying into her huge house.
She returned a few minutes later with a CD and a script. She handed it to me as I smiled.
"That's the play they put on. That's Troy's copy as a matter of fact." She told me.
"What's that?" I asked noticing the CD in her hand.
"That's the two of them singing. I had them record it because their voices blended so well together." She told me handing it to me.
"Do you think I could borrow this?" I asked her smiling a little.
"I suppose you could. Actually you can keep both. I've got extra copies lying around this old house." She told me as I smiled.
"Thank you. My school is looking for a new play to put on and I think this might be it." I told her.
"If you do, let me know. I'll let the student who wrote it know. She'll enjoy that." Mrs. Darbus told me.
"Thank you for sharing those stories." I said standing up and looking at her gratefully.
"It's not a problem, Tess. I hope you find what you're looking for." Mrs. Darbus said as my mouth dropped open.
"How did you know it was me?" I asked leaning against the railing of the porch.
"Troy told me right before he died that he wrote you a letter to be opened on your 18th birthday. It was three days ago so I figured I would be seeing you sooner or later. I pulled those out years ago and promised myself that if you ever came around, I would give those to you." She told me pointing to the CD and the script smiling.
"Thank you. It will help me to remember my parents a little more." I said smiling.
"You are most welcome. I knew it almost instant as you walked up the sidewalk." She said as I tilted my head to one side.
"How did you know, if you don't mind me asking?" I asked her.
"Your skin tone and hair color are identical to Gabriella's; the grin and the eyes are your father's, Troy. When you corrected me about basketball, it was almost the identical answer your dad gave me his junior year of high school." She told me.
"I've heard I look like him. But no one is talking about my mom." I admitted to the older woman.
"I'm going to be honest with you. Your mom had a hard time after your dad died. She didn't want to let your dad go. She wouldn't have been a good mother if she kept you so her and your dad agreed to give you up for adoption. They wrote the letters that you received and picked the right parents they thought you would be good with. Your adoptive parents let your mom and dad pick your name. Tess was your mom's middle name and Alexis was the female form of Alexander, your dad's middle name. That was the hardest thing either one of them did, but it turned out to be their best choice as parents." Mrs. Darbus told me.
"Why are you telling me all of this?" I asked her as she shook her head a little.
"Probably because no one else will. People in this town like to keep the good memories and shut out the bad ones. When everyone sees you, there's going to be a lot of tears and heartache. A lot of people never knew your parents had you. Their close friends and family all knew but a lot of people out of their circle never knew." Mrs. Darbus told me.
"I didn't know myself until 3 days ago that I was adopted. I just want to find out who my family is. I want to know who my birth parents were." I told her.
"And you will, I promise you that. But, remember this, you might not like all the secrets you will find out." Mrs. Darbus told me.
"Thank you for all of your help. I appreciated it." I told her smiling gratefully.
"It's not a problem. As I said before, I was expecting you. Will you come see me again before you leave town?" She asked as I smiled at her.
"I would love to. I would love to hear more stories of my parents." I told her grinning.
"Oh I can think about a few more before you come back. Thank you for stopping by." She told me as I turned and looked at her.
"Thank you for not turning me away." I told her before walking down the sidewalk and headed towards the 4-Runner.
I slipped the CD in the player before putting the car in drive. I continued to drive as my parents' voices came over the speakers. I drove to the local park. I pulled into a spot, grabbed the spare basketball I had thrown in the backseat earlier, and headed towards the basketball courts. I left the car on with the radio blasting my parents' voices.
I played basketball while listening to my dad sing about getting his head in the game. I laughed as I started to shoot three pointers. I watched each of them sail into the net perfectly. I kept count as I continued to sail each one into the net.
"Wow girl, who did signed a contract with?" a familiar voice asked as I whipped around.
I saw Jordan and Jack watching me with identical grins on their faces.
"No where yet. But I've been scouted by Duke, UNC, Boston College, University of Illinois, and University of New Mexico." I told them grinning.
"Wow. You're a natural. Which college are you going to pick?" Jack asked me as I went to turn off the car.
"Have no idea. Any pointers?" I asked looking up at my paternal grandfather.
"You could always go to Duke and follow in your father's footsteps." Jack said grinning as I turned around in shock.
"So you did figure it out." I said stating the obvious.
"You are just like your father; right down to the basketball." Jack said smiling at me.
"I'm sorry I didn't come right out and say it. I had to check all of you out before I stepped in all the way." I told him and Jordan.
"I totally understand. Who else knows?" Jordan asked me as my eyes went wide.
"The only other one who had figured it out is Mrs. Darbus. I don't know why my dad sent me to her." I said looking at the two.
"Oh he did it so she could tell you another side of him. We would have told you about the basketball side, the sibling side, and the son side. She would tell you about the actors' side." Jordan told me grinning.
"So let me do this the right way. I'm Tess Bolton-DeVries, your niece and granddaughter." I said looking at the two.
"It's good to see you, again." Jordan told me pulling me into a hug.
"I knew it was you as soon as you stepped out of your car yesterday." Jack said pulling me into a hug.
"Everyone says I've got my mom's skin and hair color but I have my dad's eyes and smile." I said looking up at my uncle and grandfather.
"Everyone is correct. You look just like Gabriella and you've got very little of Troy. But what you got of Troy, was what everyone remembers the most about him." Jack said shaking his head.
"I'm sorry if I made you dig up painful memories." I said looking at the two.
"It's good that you did. We were all expecting you back. Just before they gave you up, Gabi and Troy told us that they had written you a letter telling you that if you ever wanted to know your family, then to come back to their hometown and we would all be here. We figured with your mom's curiosity, it wouldn't be long until you came back." Jordan told me grinning.
"When was the last time you two saw me?" I asked the two men.
"You were five days old; it was the day before your adoptive parents were coming to get you. Troy and Gabi invited everyone over to their house for a goodbye party. Everyone held you and wished you luck and well wishes. All kinds of pictures were taken and many memories were created that day." Jack said shaking his head.
"I wish I would have known about you guys while I was growing up." I told them shaking my head.
"Well it was Troy and Gabi's wishes that you didn't know about them until you were 18 and able to understand why they did it." Jack told me.
"So I have three aunts, two uncles, a niece, a nephew, and grandparents. Wow instant family." I said laughing a little.
"Yeah it is an instant family. Then Troy and Gabi looked all their friends as brothers and sisters so if you count them, you'll have 4 more uncles and aunts." Jordan said pointing that out.
"Don't intimidate the poor girl, Jordan." Jack scolded his son.
"It's going to be an interesting couple of days." I said looking at the two.
"When are you going to tell everyone that you know?" Jack asked me.
"I haven't thought that far ahead to be honest. I'm in Albuquerque until the 12th of January." I told them.
"Then you've got some time. What about your adoptive parents? Are they here?" Jordan asked me.
"Nope I told them this was something I had to do on my own." I said looking at the two.
"Thursday night the entire group always comes together. Thursdays, for some reason, were Troy's favorite day of the week. So since he's died, we've made a tradition that every Thursday we've gotten together just to hang out. Tomorrow night it's at the restaurant. Why don't you come and surprise everyone?" Jordan suggested as I looked at him.
"I don't want to interrupt anything that is a group thing." I said looking at the two.
"You're my niece, not some stranger. You deserve to be there more than anyone else. Think about it; the party starts at 6 but it doesn't get full swing until 6:30 or so." Jack told me.
"If I decide to come, I'll be there at 7. All right?" I asked pushing my hair off my face.
"That's all I want to hear. I would encourage you to come. It will be a good chance for you to see everyone your parents hung around." Jordan promised me.
"All right. I'll see you guys later." I said jogging to the 4-Runner and jumping in.
I hurriedly sped off; my mind to clogged with so much information. I had gotten myself way over my head. I drove back to the hotel before taking a quick shower.
I called my mom and dad before getting into bed and trying to sort through the things I had found out. I promised myself that I would go play a game of horse before the party tomorrow night just to think it over. I fell asleep for the first time in three days without crying and with a smile on my face.
So will Tess go or not? Sorry you're going to have to wait until I update again. I only have two days of school this week, so I will probably be updating a lot!!! Reviews would be really helpful and apprecaited!!!!