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Prologue
There was a slight breeze swaying in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Trees slightly danced back and forth, and the sound of wind chimes could be heard every so often throughout the streets. Albuquerque was a large sized city. The largest in New Mexico. It was situated in the central part of the state, straddling the Rio Grande, with a population of 545,852 in the city, and 887,077 in the metropolitan population. Albuquerque is home to the University of New Mexico, Kirtland Air Force Base, Sandia National Laboratories, Lovelace Respiratory Research Institute, and Petroglyph National Monument.
Albuquerque was a sunny place with 3,420 hours of sunshine each year. The tallest building in Albuquerque would be the Albuquerque Plaza, where Gabriella Montez's father Dion Montez works. The building is 351ft tall, and has 22 floors. Dion Montez worked on the 22nd floor, as head of the BOK Financial Corporation. It's headquarters are in Tulsa, Oklahoma. BOK has a market value of $3.2 billion.
The University of New Mexico, is where Gabriella Montez's mother Mercedes Montez works, as president of the university. The University was founded on February 28, 1889. The main campus is located on 600 acres in Albuquerque on the heights a mile east of Downtown Albuquerque, and is split in three parts - central, north, and south.
There are eight university buildings. They include Hodgin Hall, the University's first building, and two adjacent structures: the Art Annex and Sara Reynolds Hall. The Estufa, one of the first Pueblo Revival style structures in the country and the first on campus, is also on the list. Other structures on the list are Carlisle Gymnasium, Jonson Gallery, Scholes Hall, and the University House.
The Princeton Review listed UNM as a "Best Western College" and ranked the School of Engineering 14th out of the Top 20 Graduate Engineering Programs. In addition, Times Higher Education ranked UNM at #383-385 on its world university rankings list, while the Academic Ranking of World Universities ranked UNM at #201-302 out of world universities and #91-112 out of universities in the United States. US News & World Report listed UNM as a Tier 2 National University in their 2011 ranking of "Best Colleges."
As of April 2010, the USNWR ranked the UNM School of Medicine 82 in research and 33 in primary care out of 146 medical and osteopathic schools. They also ranked the Family Medicine residency program at 10 and the Rural Medicine residency program at 2. In 2006, the UNM Health Sciences Center's curriculum received the following rankings: 3rd in Nursing Midwifery, 5th in Community Health, 15th in Family Nurse Practitioner, and 23rd in Occupational Therapy.
The University of New Mexico School of Law is currently ranked 68th in the country and has steadily climbed in the USNWR rankings. The Clinical Law program in particular is one of the best in the country according to USNWR, coming in at #5 nationwide. Also according to USNWR ranking the school is the 5th best graduate school in photography.
The University of New Mexico Model United Nations team is one of the top ranked teams in the country, with multiple awards at several different competitions, most notably the Harvard World Model United Competition in Geneva, Switzerland and Puebla, Mexico. They have also competed and won awards at the St. Mary's University Model Organization of American States Conference.
Gabriella Montez planned to go to The University of New Mexico since she was 6 years old pretending to be a doctor when her doll became "sick". Mercedes Montez cheered her on from the doorway, saying "Your going to be a great doctor someday, aren't you Gabriella?", and Gabriella just nodded as she pretended to give her doll some medicine.
Dion Montez new that Mercedes wanted her child to be a doctor, but he wanted her to take over his job. He would watch Gabriella in the kitchen with her homework spread out on the table. Her mind doing nothing but focusing on the math problems. He was always amazed when she never needed help on math that was sometimes hard for him, or when she would get a 101 out of 100 on a math test. Her mind was set on solving problems, and his job was perfect for that. She would take right after him, but Dion loved Mercedes and couldn't say no to her.
They set Gabriella on a path that would lead her to straight success, and nothing below. Dion worried that never failing would not end up the best for their daughter, but Mercedes disagreed. When Gabriella was eight, Mercedes was pregnant with a baby boy. She lost the child, and was never the same. She was more strict with Gabriella, pushing her harder. It was beyond the point where failing was no option in the Montez household, and everyone knew.
When Gabriella turned ten, she was an A plus student as usual, but she wanted more than just homework after school. She watched other kids go play sports, go to dance, or girl scouts. So one day she went up to her mother and asked a question.
"Mamma?" She said tapping her mothers shoulder. Her mother was facing the dining room table with papers scattered around.
"Yes baby girl?" Her mother replied not looking at Gabriella, but continuing looking through papers.
"I was wondering if I could join a sport?" Gabriella asked hesitantly.
"No." Her mother replied, and then chuckled. "Why do you want to play a sport?"
"It looks like fun." Gabriella stated, knowing that she would never say yes.
"Well it would take time away from your studying. Now go get something to eat, put your laundry in the laundry shoot, and start your homework, love you." Mercedes said as she grabbed a piece of paper, then kissed Gabriella's cheek before walking to her study. Gabriella sighed, and walked to the kitchen fighting back tears.
That night Gabriella was laying in her bed trying to fall asleep when she heard loud yelling from downstairs. There was a man's voice and a woman's. Her mother and father were fighting for the first time. Gabriella straightened up in her bed, she never heard her parents argue so she quietly tip toed towards the door listening carefully.
"I just don't want her to!" Her mother yelled.
"She need a life Mercedes! If she's in her room for the rest of her life she'll be lonely and maybe depression! We wouldn't know because she's in her room studying all the damn time." Dion yelled back.
"I said no, Dion, and I mean no! We had a plan, and we are sticking to it! I'm going to bed, and you can sleep on the couch tonight."
"We need to talk about this, for Gabriella's sake." Her father begged in a softer voice.
"I said I'm going to bed, and my decision is final." Mercedes said sternly, as she started walking back up the steps. Gabriella raced back to her bed with her heart pounding, and threw the covers on closing her eyes as she heard the door squeak open.
At the age of 14, Gabriella started to make better friends. She met Taylor McKessie, Chad Danforth, Kelsi Neilson, Ryan & Sharpay Evans, Troy Bolton, Zeke Baylor, and Jason Cross. Gabriella had a hard time getting her mother to except the boys as her friends, but this time Dion won the argument. They all noticed how strict Gabriella's parents were, but always made sure Gabriella had fun.
It was Freshman year, and usually kids have cell phones by then, but Gabriella didn't. Her mom didn't think she was old enough. Her mother finally excepted her friends at the ages of 16. They all started to get protective of Gabriella that year too. It lead to Troy becoming her boyfriend. Surprisingly her mother excepted before Gabriella fit the whole sentence in.
They were now 17 and much more protective as ever. As Dion became older he became more like Mercedes. Gabriella had a curfew of 9:15pm, a tracker phone, and a black Porsche (which she received from her Uncle Pablo who would not take it back.).
As the days went on Gabriella could not help but feel her friends were fake, and her boyfriend a secret body-guard her parents hired. She liked Troy a lot. To soon for love, but he was too protective and controlling. She told her mother one day she was breaking up with Troy, but her mother talked her in to not breaking up with him. Gabriella always knew that deep down her mother must have made them like they are now with a deal, or something. But Gabriella never said anything, because she wasn't raised that way.
So this is just the prologue to see where, and how Gabriella was raised. Not too detailed but you hopefully get the idea. The next post will be chapter one! Please Review and let me know what you think!
Thanks, and much love,
JSPLOVE