Hi guys! So, this is my first fan fiction EVER. I wrote this a while ago, say around October 2011, but I hadn't thought of publishing it. So...drumroll, please...here is the first chapter of my High School Musical FanFiction! :) Hope you like it! Enjoy!

-iloveny1118

Chapter 1

It was a gray and damp morning in Stanford at 6:00 AM. There were dark clouds in the sky, but it wasn't raining yet. Gabriella Montez sat on the front steps of Stanford University and waited. She was waiting for Troy, her boyfriend of five years. Gabriella sighed, thinking back to that day when she and Troy sang together, the minute they met. She smiled, thinking back to the song. She started singing softly to herself,

"It's the start of something new

It feels so right

To be here with you, ooh…"

"And now, looking in your eyes, I feel in my heart the start of something new," a familiar voice coming from her left finished the verse. Gabriella turned around to see Troy, who'd just arrived. He was in his new Toyota, the one he'd gotten the summer after his first year at Berkeley University.

Gabriella ran down the steps with a smile so wide she thought it was going to fall off of her face. She hadn't seen Troy in a year. They were both going to drive to Albuquerque, to visit their parents for the summer.

"I missed you so much," whispered Gabriella as she and Troy hugged.

"Same here," he said, and they kissed.

Gabriella was 22 now and almost done with law school. She only had one more year to go before she got her degree. Troy was 22 as well, and was going to finish school at around the same time as Gabriella. He said he was going to go back to live in Albuquerque, and be a basketball coach and/or a drama teacher at East High. He was going to make up his mind after he was done at Berkeley.

Gabriella wanted to be a lawyer. She thought she could set up her own office in Albuquerque, so she and Troy didn't have to be apart, even when they were working.

Suddenly, Troy said,

"Gabriella…there's something…really important I want to ask you."

"Anything," said Gabriella.

Suddenly, Troy dropped down onto one knee. What on Earth is he doing? Gabriella thought. Just as she was about to open her mouth to ask if this was one of the new basketball moves he was learning, Troy took a small velvet box out of his pocket and opened it, revealing a small diamond ring inside.

"Gabriella Montez…I think you can put the pieces together to realize what I'm about to ask you," Troy laughed, his face turning bright red.

Gabriella's mind was racing. Me? Married? What? Aren't we too young? We're still in college? When? What if I say no? Can we do it later? Do I want to get married now? Will I regret it?

Then she stopped. Every single moment she'd spent with Troy for the past five years—the dates, the kisses, the dances, everything—flashed before her eyes. And she knew what she wanted right then and there.

"Yes, I will." She smiled, and Troy got up, grabbed her, and kissed her. The world had stopped. It was just Troy and Gabriella.

As if on cue, thunder rolled, and it started raining. The box with the ring fell out of Troy's hand, but it didn't matter. It wasn't until somebody said,

"Hey, you dropped something," and handed Troy the ring that they stopped kissing. Gabriella's eyes welled up with tears as Troy slipped the ring on her left hand. Then, they got into the car together, too happy to speak.

About 17 hours later, after many breaks and stops, they pulled up in front of Troy's house.

"Well, this is it," said Troy quietly. "La Casa De Troy."

"I remember this place," said Gabriella, smiling.

They got out of the car, but instead of going up the front steps, they raced to the backyard.

"The tree house is still there!" gasped Gabriella. "Remember when we went up there after your champion game, Wildcat?"

"How could I forget?" he asked, putting his arm around Gabriella's shoulders.

"Well? Do you want to go up?" he asked her. They climbed up the old ladder and up into the tree house.

"It hasn't changed a bit," said Gabriella, looking around. Troy sat down on the edge of the balcony. Gabriella joined him and sighed.

"This is perfect. You and me, the whole world falling into place…I wish everything could always feel like this." They were quiet for a moment.

Suddenly, Mrs. Bolton appeared in the backyard and said,

"There you two are! We were waiting for you!"

Gabriella and Troy looked at each other, and then laughed.

"Well, come on in! You've been driving for so long, you must be starving!"

"Not too much, Mom. We stopped along the way," said Troy, starting down the ladder. Gabriella took his hand and he helped her down.

"You two are still close as ever," sighed Mrs. Bolton, smiling and shaking her head. "Five years together, with 47.4 miles separating you and you act as if you've seen each other every day." Gabriella giggled.

"Mom…we have something to tell you," said Troy, trying very hard to hide the smile forming on his lips. Obviously, his acting lessons weren't paying off at the moment.

"Well, come on in, then," said Mrs. Bolton quietly.

The two followed her inside, into the kitchen, where Troy's dad was waiting for them, sitting on the counter and reading the sports section of the newspaper. After a few minutes of catching up, Troy cleared his throat and said,

"Mom, Dad…we have something to tell you. Gabriella…show them." Gabriella extended her left hand, displaying the ring.

At first, there was dead silence. Then, Mrs. Bolton had tears in her eyes and hugged Gabriella.

"Congratulations," she said, smiling.

Mr. Bolton hugged Troy and offered his congratulations as well. There was a stunned yet excited atmosphere in the room.

"But you're not getting married yet, are you?" asked Mrs. Bolton.

"We're going to finish college first and find jobs before we do," Troy assured them.

That night, they stayed up until one in the morning talking. Then, Troy took Gabriella upstairs and said,

"Well, here's my bedroom. Remember?" Gabriella laughed as they pulled out the trundle bed. She set her duffel bag next to Troy's at the foot of Troy's bed and sighed. She looked at the picture on Troy's bedside table, the one of both of them at Lava Springs.

"Remember that?" smiled Gabriella, pointing to the picture.

"The one with Sharpay and her freaky family?" laughed Troy. "Yeah, I remember."

"C'mon. It's not Sharpay's fault her mom does yoga every day," laughed Gabriella, gently nudging him.

"But who carries a little dog around and wears a pink bathrobe at three in the afternoon?" asked Troy. He started walking around the room, swiveling his hips from side to side, the way Sharpay did back in high school. Gabriella laughed.

"Troy Alexander Bolton…" she giggled, but you could tell she was enjoying the moment.

Troy hopped into his bed. Gabriella leaned towards him and kissed him on the cheek.

"Good night, Wildcat," she said as she climbed into her bed.

"Good night, Gabi," he said. He turned out the lights.

Gabriella closed her eyes, and soon, she was asleep.

That night, Gabriella had weird dreams. In some, she was married to Troy, but she kept failing all of her papers in college and getting everything wrong. In the end, they told her that she wasn't getting her degree, and she was going to have to redo the course for the next ten years.

In other dreams, Gabriella got her college degree, but Troy broke up with her, cancelled their engagement, and got married to Sharpay, with Gabriella watching miserably from the back of the room.

In the morning, she was woken up by Troy, who'd gotten up on her trundle bed and said,

"Come on, Gabi, wake up, it's already 11!"

"What?" Gabriella got up with a start and checked the clock: 11:01 AM.

"Oh my gosh, Troy, I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to oversleep…"

"No, don't worry about it. I was actually betting you wouldn't wake up until the day was over," he joked.

"Ha-ha," said Gabriella sarcastically, getting up and opening her duffel bag. She pulled out some clothes and walked into the bathroom to get ready for the day.

Once breakfast was over, Gabriella and Troy walked to Gabriella's old house, where they were meeting Gabriella's mother—and to tell her the news.

"I remember when my mom called me in October and told me she wouldn't sell the house after all. I was so happy," sighed Gabriella, a dreamy look on her face.

"I remember you calling me that night and screaming into the phone," laughed Troy. Gabriella laughed uneasily, partly because she was embarrassed, and partly because she was still troubled by the dreams she'd had last night.

"What's wrong?" asked Troy.

"It's just…nothing. I just had a rough night is all. Oh, here we are!" said Gabriella cheerfully as they rounded the corner. There was Gabriella's house, completely unchanged.

"This time, I want to be the one announcing the news," said Gabriella with a wink. Troy rolled his eyes but smiled.

Gabriella knocked at the door, and her mother opened it.

"Gabi! What are you doing here?" she said, hugging her tightly. "And you've brought Troy with you! How nice to see you both!" She hugged Troy, then said,

"So, what's been going on? How's college? Is everything okay?"

"Mom…I need to tell you something," said Gabriella, getting closer to Troy. Somehow, it made her feel safer and more confident.

"Go ahead," said Ms. Montez lightly.

"What do you think of the name: "Mrs. Troy Bolton"?" asked Gabriella, hinting her subtly.

"I think it's a perfectly charm—wait, what are you trying to tell me? Oh…wait a second..."

Gabriella grinned and showed her the ring on her hand.

"Well that's GREAT, honey! I'm so happy for you two!" She hugged Gabriella tightly, then shook Troy's hand. "I'm so happy for you two! We should celebrate!"

"Yeah…we were thinking about inviting Taylor, Corbin, Zeke, Kelsi, Martha, Jason, and Ryan over, but…is it okay if we do it here?" Gabriella crossed her fingers behind her back. Troy caught her and smacked her lightly but playfully.

"Okay? It's absolutely fine with me! You're getting married after all, right? Oh, this is so great! You guys are going to wait until after college, though, right?"

"Of course. Career before marriage," said Troy.

"Well…then…I don't see anything wrong with that. You're both two wonderful, talented, happy, loving 22 year olds with bright futures ahead of you."

Hearing this, Gabriella smiled, and that wonderful "everything is falling into place" feeling came back to her.

"Hold on, I'll be right back," said Gabriella's mother, and she quickly left the kitchen to get something.

"I love you," said Gabriella, turning to face Troy.

"I love you too," Troy whispered back, and they kissed.

That evening, Gabriella turned on her laptop to find two people on video chat: Kelsi and Taylor. Perfect, she thought. Just the two people I want to see.

She turned on her video camera and both of their heads popped up in two boxes.

"Hi Gabi!" said Taylor and Kelsi in unison. Gabriella laughed.

"Hi guys! Hey, guess what? I've got some big news…"

She was interrupted by Kelsi's giggles.

"What's so funny?"

"Turn around," said Kelsi, choking back a laugh.

Gabriella turned around, but all she could see was Troy leaning over his laptop on the bed.

"What? It's just Troy," she said.

"No, he was making stupid faces a few minutes ago. Never mind," said Kelsi, blushing. Gabriella smiled knowingly. They both knew that Kelsi had a small crush on Troy, even though she was dating Ryan.

"So, what's the news?" asked Taylor impatiently. Gabriella smiled mischievously.

"Ooh, I don't like that look…" started Kelsi, but Taylor shushed her.

"Oh, quit the suspense, Gabriella. We're getting married!" screamed Troy in the background.

"What? You are?" squealed Taylor.

"Well, I was going to be the one to tell you, but…" Gabriella couldn't hide the smile forming on her face. She loved it when Troy did funny stuff like that, and it was no use hiding it.

"Wow! That's so cool!" said Kelsi, grinning from ear to ear. "When is the wedding going to be?"

"Well, we're waiting until we've got a career for now," said Gabriella.

"Am I invited?" asked Taylor.

"Of course. You're both invited," Gabriella assured them.

"Wow, Gabi! This is so cool. I can't believe that soon, you're going to be Mrs. Troy Bolton!" said Kelsi.

"Then again, I'm not too surprised. I mean, you've been dating for five years. Who goes into a relationship that long and then doesn't get married?"

"Hey, Chad, Zeke, Ryan!" Gabriella turned around to see Troy video chatting with Chad. He smirked at Gabriella, as if to say: Now I'm not lonely anymore. She smirked right back, and he winked.

"I've gotta go now, girls. I'll tell you guys more about this tomorrow. Bye!"

"Bye!" they replied in unison. Gabriella giggled, then turned off her camera and her laptop.

When Troy was done announcing the news to his friends and they were alone (with no video cameras to spy on them), Gabriella approached Troy and hugged him.

"I love you, Wildcat," she said.

"I love you, too," said Troy, kissing her on the top of her head.

Gabriella sighed. At that moment, she knew that everything was going to be alright. Not only because their parents had approved and were eager to help plan everything out, but because Troy was there. Holding her, in his arms. Nothing could ever come between them.

Absolutely nothing.

TO BE CONTINUED…

So, what do you guys think? Good? Bad? Average? Let me know in the comments! I have more chapters written, but first I want reviews. ^_^

Hope you liked it! :)