Before you start, i would like to thank all those who read the trailer, reviewed, adding it at your Story Alert and to your favorites. That means alot to me that you guys are excited about this story.

To tell truth, i never planned to write the first chapter today but i was so motivated by you guys so thank you! I feel like i won an Oscar or something. haha.

So please enjoy this chapter.


Every family owns a tradition. Whether it's family game night or even something beyond wild and crazy. The Bolton family, like other family, owns a tradition too. But theirs might be mindless and stupid compared to other families. Troy Bolton would know exactly how crazy family traditions could go.

The tradition the Boltons must follow is that: No Bolton (man or woman) must be single upon reaching his or hers mid to late twenties. That means there's a deadline for every Bolton offspring and all of the offspring had never once broke the tradition but it seems that there's one Bolton who refuse to play by the rules and his worried parents are going to put a stop to his nonsense.

Troy Bolton, son and last child of Jack and Lucille Bolton and little brother to James Bolton. The Bolton clan is rather wealthy as they owned a successful law firm in New York City. The reason for the tradition to be written is so that there will be a legacy to take over the law firm no matter what. For the current Bolton legacy, James is entitled to take over the law firm while Troy, who is suppose to be not far behind, decided to have his own passion.

Troy was never interested in being a lawyer like his father and brother. His passion in life, is surprisingly music. He loves writing music and playing his guitar. He is now working in a record label as a songwriter much to his father's objection. Though his rough family ties, Troy still manage to win some awards for his songs he wrote.

Troy's older brother, James, is exactly what parents want their offspring to be. Smart, successful, good-looking, you name it. Troy was all of those too. But he prefers to show use his talents for his passion instead of following his father's passion. James is married to accountant, Jenna Philips, who he met in college. James followed the Bolton tradition and married Jenna before he turned 26 years old and a year later, they had a son, Jeffery. Troy thought it was ironic how their names were all started with the same letter. Troy found it rather stupid and predictable. He vowed to never marry a girl who has the same first letter as his.

Troy has never looked up to his older brother. Mainly because he wanted to be different instead of just being a perfect clone of what every Bolton man should be. His mother doesn't mind but his father found it rather hard to except Troy as he is. James is sometimes disappointed knowing that Troy has a different goal in his life but he is happy that Troy is just being what he is and he will have to learn to accept it no matter how ugly it might be in the end.

On a Friday night, Jack and Lucille had invited their sons to dinner. It is also one of the many Bolton family traditions they had. Sometimes Troy wondered what he did to get sucked into all the traditions chaos. Why can't his family just be normal for once? And as usual, Troy arrived late.

"Where is that boy? I thought we told him that dinner will be at 7pm," Jack said while glancing at the grandfather clock. "He's 15 minutes late."

"Jack, he will be here soon. Maybe he's just running a little late," his wife told him.

"Mom's right, dad. Plus, you know how Troy can be sometimes. I thought you would get use to his behaviour by now," James added.

"I know but for 27 years of his life, doesn't it kill him to at least call to inform that he's going to be late? I don't understand how he could survive in life," Jack said.

"All because he never checks the time?" James asks.

"Exactly!"

"Relax, Jack. After all, this dinner is about him. He needs to be calm if he's going to hear the news," Lucille said. "Still, I don't understand why this is necessary."

"It is necessary, Lucille. Every Bolton has to do this. James did it. I did it. My dad did it. Even my great, great grandfather did it. It's a tradition," Jack said.

"But it's not like he wants to work in your law firm. You still have James, don't you?" Lucille debated.

"What if something happens to him and me and there's no one left to take over the law firm? It's not like we can send Jeffery to law school at his age right now."

Lucille rolled her eyes. Her husband has never lost a fight. Ever. "Forget that I asked."

Ten minutes later, the doorbell rang in the Bolton Mansion and their housekeeper Inez opened the door. There, standing in his casuals, Troy greeted his long time housekeeper with a hug.

"Inez! I missed you so much," Troy said.

"Not as much as I miss those blue eyes of yours," Inez replied. Inez had been taking care of Troy ever since he was just 8 years old. Inez had been there for Troy with every family dilemma he had and stood by his side. "You better get a move on. Your father is not too happy with you being late."

"My father isn't happy with everything I do," Troy pointed out while taking out his clothes. "I'm use to it."

After hanging his coat, he made his way to the dining room to find his family in formal clothes. You would think Troy would feel out of place, think again. There were many family occasion where he didn't follow the dress code. This, of course, bothered his father. Jack was the first one to notice his son's arrival.

"You're late," Jack said with a glare.

"Sorry. Bad traffic," Troy said simply while his mother got up from her seat to hug her youngest son.

"In any case, we're glad that you're here. We have something important to tell you," Lucille told Troy.

"What is it?" Troy asked.

"You better sit down for this one, bro," James told Troy and Troy did as he said.

"Now Troy," his mother started. "Do you remember the Bolton tradition grandpa told you and James when you two were little?"

Troy laughed amusingly, "Which one? There's so many."

"The tradition we are discussing is about the Bolton marriage deal," James informed Troy.

Troy looked blankly at everyone and then turned to his mom, "No Bolton man or woman must be single when he or she has reached his or hers mid twenties."

"What does that mean?" Troy asked.

Jack sighed at his son's cluelessness, "That means that the clock is ticking, Troy. You must find someone you love and to spend your whole life with or you will be forced into an arranged marriage."

"Arranged marriage?!" Troy exclaimed. "Are you kidding me? I'm only 27."

"James got married at 26. I don't see why that is a problem to you," Jack pointed out.

Troy stared at his father as if he is an idiot, "James dated Jenna since first year of college. I'm not even dating anyone right now. It's unfair."

"Well in that case, I guess we should go forward with the arranged marriage," Jack told Troy.

Arranged marriage? They are out of their mind if they think that I would give the time of day to marry some stranger. Troy thought in his head. He must find his way out of the nonsense. But how? Suddenly, Troy thought of something. Something that will keep him out of arranged marriage business. But it's too risky. But also he had no other choice.

"Unless you could tell us why you can't be in a relationship then we have no choice but to-" his mother got cut off.

"I lied. I am in a relationship. A secret relationship. Yeah, um, I started seeing this girl for a while now but we are taking this slowly," Troy lied.

"But I thought you said you're not with anyone?" James asked confused.

"Weren't you listening bro? I lied," Troy covered quickly.

"Well who is this girl?" his mother asked.

"This girl I met at the library," Troy lied again.

"What does she look like? Do you have a picture? Where is she from? Is she nice?"

"Whoa, slow down, mom. Like I said, we are in a secret relationship and we are taking things slowly so we don't really went that far yet."

"Oh, this is wonderful!"

"And also overwhelming," Jack added unenthusiastically. "Troy, you have to understand that you're…you, so we would love for you to introduce to us this girl you claim that you're dating."

"Oh, I don't know," Troy said.

"Please, we insist. Why don't you bring her to Jeffery's birthday party next Saturday? That would be great for you to introduce her to the whole Bolton family," Lucille insisted.

"Yeah, that would be great. I can't wait for you to meet her," Troy said in a fake happy tone. He knew he went too far with this little wide lie.

After dinner, Troy was at the front porch of the mansion thinking of a way to carry on with the lie he told his parents. Not too long later, his brother joined him.

"You really went too far with this one, bro," James said.

"Don't remind me," Troy replied. "What am I going to do? All I want is not to be in an arranged marriage. Why is that so necessary anyways? Why can't a Bolton do what he wants?"

"You already did, Troy," James pointed out. "Maybe dad still wants you to be the perfect Bolton. What's the matter with that?"

"You'd never understand," Troy mumbled.

"Why not?"

"Nevermind. That's not important. What's important is who am I going to find that will agree to be my pretend girlfriend for the sake of avoiding an arranged marriage?" Troy asked.

"You're on your own with this one, bro. I have to leave now. See you next week. Good luck finding your faux one true love!"


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