Title: Picture Perfect
Rating: T
Author: mylifeismine
Summary: Gabriella's being followed, so she does something drastic in order to save her son. She hands it over to the father. Troy Bolton. The NBA star must find Gabriella, though. Life or death. An easy statement, not easy to accomplish though. Troyella.
Genre: Mystery/Suspense
Length: Story
Chapter Five- Sixth Avenue
Troy worked through the night.
He took an old high school notebook, and found an empty page.
He wrote down everything that he knew.
-Gabriella handed her will in on June 9th.
-Gabriella handed her will in at 4:00pm
-Gabriella (faked?) her death on June 16th.
-Accident happened at 4:00pm
-Gained custody of Nick on the 23th.
-Someone was stalking Gabriella
-I love Gabriella
As Troy re-read his short list, he quickly erased the last one out of embarrassment.
If Gabriella had known and planned all the dates, then there had to be something special, or something that would help him.
June seemed to be pretty special.
But why?
Troy thought about another way to write June.
The six month.
69?
616?
623?
Troy sat there, staring at the three sets of number.
He fell asleep not long after.
He had a flashback of something with Gabriella.
Troy and Gabriella were walking down Sixth Avenue, when they were in LA with Troy's family.
"Why does this line of houses start with nine?" Gabriella asked curiously.
Troy shrugged, "Maybe it's got nine criminals in it," Troy joked.
Gabriella giggled.
Troy woke up three hours later, with his face pressed against the notebook.
Sixth Avenue. House number nine.
69...
69.
Troy looked out the window.
The sun was already up.
7:30am.
Troy threw on a clean t-shirt and jeans.
He'd shower when he'd get back.
Troy tore the sheet out of the notebook, and stuffed it in his back pocket, along with the purple sheet of paper.
Troy decided to drive over to Sixth Avenue.
He parked in front of it, along the road.
He walked up the steps to the house, and rung the doorbell.
Troy could hear the echo of the doorbell.
As Troy rung the bell again, the door opened slightly.
Troy looked around him, Sixth Avenue was a busy street.
No one would notice him.
Troy slipped through the door, not fully-closing the door behind him.
He could tell that the house had been lived in not too long ago.
As he walked through the house, something caught his eye between two floorboards.
A purple note.
Troy gently pulled it out.
As he was about to unfold it, the front door burst open.
Troy's eyes grew wide.
He saw a closet, and wrenched the door open, slipped inside, and closed it quietly.
Troy sat in the darkness, as he heard two guys talk loudly.
"Did you find the girl?" one guy asked roughly.
"Yeah. Relax, Tim."
"I won't relax 'til I know she's dead, Paul," Tim said angrily.
"When do you say we shoot her?" Paul asked, as the two walked towards Troy's hiding place.
Tim was quiet then said, "Twelve days. Fourteen max. Make sure no one remembers her, and everything's calmed down about her."
"What if they don't?" Paul asked bravely.
"I don't know! We'll shoot her right then, and we'll prove she's dead! Geez." Tim yelled frustrated.
Troy looked through the small gap between the door and the wall.
Tim was a big guy, and Paul was a small, thin guy.
Tim was in his forties, and Paul was in his twenties.
Troy held his breath as the two walked closer.
A mobile let out a shrilling ring, Tim reached into his jacket pocket, and jabbed the green button on his cell phone.
"Hello?...Really, huh?...We'll be there."
As Tim put his cell phone away, he said with a smile, "Change of plans. Five days. Seven max."
And the two went out the front door, slamming it behind them.
Troy began to breathe again, but continued to sit there for another five minutes, to make sure Tim and Paul weren't gonna come back.
Troy stepped out of the house and got into his car.
His cell phone rang in his back pocket, and Troy jumped.
Thankful he hadn't been driving, he reached for the phone, and flipped it open.
"Hello?"
"Hey, man!"
"Hey, Chad. How's it going?" Troy asked, as he started his car.
"Good. Where are you?" Chad asked.
"I'm on Sixth," Troy said, as he turned on his signal to get on a lane.
"Why are you on Sixth?" Chad asked with confusion.
"Erm. I had to run an errand," Troy lied.
"What errand?" Chad asked curiously.
"Chad!"
"Fine fine fine. It's not my business," Chad huffed.
"Where's Nick?" Chad asked.
"I don't know."
Troy saw a Drive-Thru McDonald's ahead, and decided to get some breakfast.
"What're you doing today?" Chad asked.
"Hold on," Troy said, as he ordered his breakfast, and also a Happy Meal for Nick.
After he had gotten his food and paid for it, he reached for his cell phone again.
"I'm not doing anything today, probably gonna play basketball with Nick," Troy said, as he exited the drive thru, and got back on the streets.
"Uh huh. I'll swing by your place. I have nothing to do today."
"I thought your plans were full after the game," Troy joked.
"Eh, change of plans."
Troy chuckled.
"I'll see you later, man. Bye!"
"Bye."
Troy flicked his phone over to the passenger seat, and entered the highway.
But his mind wasn't fully on driving.
It was on Gabriella.