The sun shone through the curtains of Gabriella's room, lighting her up with an almost angelic sort of light. Today was her boyfriend's big day…his sixteenth birthday. She stirred as she heard the birds noisily chirping in the tree right outside her window. As she got up she had to shield her eyes because of the intense light. She loved mornings but hated the light when she woke up. She walked to the bathroom her nightgown flowing behind her as she walked. She looked at herself in the mirror and almost died at the sight. Her hair was knotted and splayed out all over the place. To be honest, she resembled something like a zombie out of 'Night of the Living Dead'. She quickly started the water for a shower, and sighed as she tried to fix her hair somewhat.

"I hope Troy likes what I got him for his birthday," she thought to herself as she turned the knob, starting the shower up.

She got in allowing the warm water run down her body. She put her hair under first, so it would go straight again and not frilly and sticking up. As she washed herself she thought about her gift. She knew Troy would act happy and say he loved it even if he didn't…he didn't have the heart to tell her he didn't like something of hers. After cleaning her hair she cleaned her body off, loving the feeling of the warm water running down her body. Her thoughts wandering off to her boyfriend Troy. She could imagine his sparkling blue eyes like the Caribbean ocean in the morning, his golden brown hair shimmering with light, his perfect athlete built body. She could imagine what his blue eyes would look like if they saw her like she was right now. She smirked at the thought as she turned off the shower and got out, drying herself off with her towel. Then she went to the bedroom, to get some clothes. She opened her drawers and started tossing things around the room.

"No, no, not good enough, to pink, not enough pink, to long, to short," she said pulling out pants, shirts and everything else she owned.

Finally she smiled at the pink hip hugger jeans, the short sleeved shirt that revealed her shoulders and her new pink Adidas shoes. She quickly dressed, wrapping her towel around her hair so her clothes wouldn't get wet. Going to the bathroom again she took a dryer and started drying her hair, while she ran a brush through it. Finally, happy with her hair, she got up and walked downstairs, where her mother was sitting, drinking her morning coffee and reading the paper.

"Good morning mom."

Miss. Montez looked up, as her daughter entered the kitchen.

"Good morning Gabriella, you look very excited today, what's going on?"

"Oh it's Troy's birthday today. I'm getting ready to go over and spend the day with him."

"That sounds nice, tell him I say happy birthday for me will you?"

"Of course mom."

Gabriella grabbed an apple and some juice from the fridge. She ate the apple as fast as she could without hurting herself in the process and drained the juice down. She grabbed her gift and then headed for the door.

"Bye mom."

"Bye honey…have a good time."

Gabriella nodded and ran off towards Troy's house, she couldn't wait to see him again.

Troy woke up to find his room in a slightly better predicament then Gabriella had…well not really. It was messy but no light was killing his eyes. He got out of bed, and navigated his way over to his washroom. Once inside he started the water for his own shower. He sighed knowing today was his birthday…and like every other birthday he hated it. He loved the day of his birth and all…but his family always made a big deal about it, that's what he hated about his birthday. He just wanted to spend it like a normal sixteen year old would…with his friends hanging out or just plain going out for dinner with his family. When the water was finally ready he got in, letting the intense heat of the hot water flow down his body. The feel of the hot water on his cold skin sent shivers down his spine…the same shivers he got whenever Gabriella touched him. His own thoughts going to the dark brown haired girl he loved. Her beautiful brown eyes, tanned Latin skin and gorgeous smile. Her laugh…he always heard it no matter where he was. He sighed as he just stood there allowing the refreshing heat of the water give him a form of therapy. Finally he turned the water off and stepped out, wrapping a towel around his waist. He walked out of his room and looked at the clothes strewn across the floor.

"Well now…good luck trying to find anything in there," he thought sarcastically to himself.

He went to the drawers and started tossing out more clothes, looking for anything that would be suitable for today. He finally found a pair of blue, baggy jeans, his blue and white shirt and his pair of Nike shoes. Cleaning up his room, which surprisingly didn't take as long as he thought it would, he headed for the bathroom again. Drying his hair off fast he quickly brushed it and then headed downstairs for the inevitable situation waiting for him. The shock he received was funny enough to be used for an embarrassing moments type thing. His parents were drinking coffee and eating…without him! He sat down and poured a mug of coffee for himself, looking at his parents oddly.

"Hey," he said, uncertainly.

His father looked up and smiled.

"Morning son, hungry?"

He held up a plate of pancakes for Troy. Troy was shocked…this was never how things happened. His mom was watching him closely.

"Anything wrong dear?" she asked.

"No, nothing."

"Oh ok good…well then happy birthday Troy."

She kissed him on the cheek and…went to get more breakfast! Troy had, had enough.

"Ok what is going on here? You guys are never this……mellow when it comes to my birthday?"

"Well we figured since you are turning sixteen, you'd like for us to give you the space to grow up. We figured you'd want to spend the day with your friends…we can go out for dinner tonight as a family to celebrate."

Troy fell off his chair at this comment. His dream come true. Getting over the shock he quickly got up and looked at his parents.

"Wow…um ok then. This is odd."

"We know…but we did get you something for your birthday."

"Really? Cool…what is it?"

"We were going to wait until tonight but I guess we can give it to you now."

He watched his father go into the kitchen drawers and grab something. He walked back and handed him a set of keys. Troy took them looking at them oddly.

"Keys? You gave me keys?"

"Follow us," said his mom, leading him to the front door.

Troy followed not sure about what was going on. His dad opened the door and allowed Troy to go out first. Troy looked at them with confusion as he was led to the driveway.

"Just tell me what it is?" he asked.

His parents pointed and he turned to look. When he saw it he almost died. The truck…the one he'd wanted since he first saw it three months ago, was sitting in his driveway. He walked to it; open mouthed admiring the beauty of the veichle in front of him, a 2006 Chevy Avalanche.

"Mom…dad…that's…that's the truck I wanted."

"I know son," said Coach Bolton. "It's yours."

He couldn't believe it…his parents got him a truck…correction 'the' truck of a lifetime. He turned to his parents in awe and astonishment.

"You…you got me…a…a truck," he repeated again, in shock.

"Yes honey, we got you a truck," said Mrs. Bolton. "Do you like it?"

Troy could only nod his head, not able to actually speak more than a few words, and those words wouldn't even be able to be strung into complete sentences. He ran a hand down the smooth, black paint of the truck admiring it. He looked at the interior, noticing the leather seats, the electronic windows and the unlock/lock mechanism. He could see a CD player and a ton of other things he could spend days trying to describe. He closed the door to the truck again and finally smiled.

"Thank you…thank you so much."

He hugged his mom and dad and then raced inside again to call Gabriella, he needed to tell her about this. He dialed the number faster than he had ever done before and waited.

Ring.

Ring.

Ring.

Ring.

"Come on pick up," he thought after the fourth ring.

Ring.

Ring.

"Hello?"

"Miss. Montez, it's Troy. Is Gabriella there?"

"Oh hello Troy, no she left. She's actually on her way to see you."

"Oh, ok then. I didn't know that. Thanks Miss. Montez."

"You're welcome Troy. Oh and Happy Birthday."

"Thank you."

"You're welcome. Bye."

"Bye."

He hung up and raced back to the front door to see Gabriella about to knock. She smiled and hugged him, making the shiver run down his back again.

"Happy birthday Troy."

"Hey thanks Gabriella," he said, hugging her back.

She let go and handed him a box, covered with wrapping paper. He looked at her and said,

"Aw you didn't have to."

"I know…open it. I hope you like it."

He smirked and tore the paper off, to reveal a box…a very well designed and very decorative box. He opened the top carefully and looked inside at the gold watch shining back up at him. He gently lifted it out and looked at it. It was completely gold, except the inside it was clear. It looked very, very expensive.

"Gabriella…wow…you didn't…this is awesome…thank you."

He hugged her again, getting the shiver when she touched him.

"Do you like it?"

"I love it Gabriella," he said. "Just like I love you."

She smirked and hit him lightly on the shoulder. He acted like it hurt making her laugh at his childish behavior.

"Troy?"

"Follow me Gabriella, I want to show you something."

She nodded and allowed him to lead her to wherever he was taking her. As she headed back outside to his driveway she thought,

"Where is he taking me?"

He stopped in front of the truck. She looked at it with mild interest thinking it was Coach Bolton's.

"It's a truck."

"It's not just any truck it's a 2006 Chevy Avalanche."

"Ok…so it's a cool truck," she said, till not understanding him. "Why do you care about it so much?"

"Gabriella…it's my truck."

Her mouth opened wide as she stood there in shock. His parents got him a truck! She looked at him not able to say anything.

"Troy…I…I'm sorry…I didn't…oh I'm such an idiot."

"Gabriella it's ok. You didn't know it was my truck."

She nodded as he hugged her. She loved the feeling of being in his arms. She fit perfectly there with him. He looked at her as she looked up at him. They'd been in a relationship for about a year now, but both had agreed to take it slowly. They'd gone out quite a bit and hugged a lot but they'd never kissed yet. Troy was not the type to push to get what he wanted but he'd do anything just to kiss her right now. Gabriella wanted nothing more than for him to kiss her but she knew he'd wait for her to show signs of being ready. She moved closer to his face, almost as if she was going to whisper something to him but Troy couldn't hold back anymore. He'd held on for a year…that was long enough. He gently pushed his lips onto hers as he lightly kissed her. She wasn't shocked and in fact started kissing back. He deepened the kiss with so much passion and need in it that Gabriella could tell he'd wanted to do this for quite some time. Truth be told it scared her a bit. If he could bottle all these feelings up for almost a year…what else could he be keeping secret? Finally, the need for air over took them and they pulled apart. Troy looked down in shame at his actions.

"I'm sorry Gabriella, I just…couldn't wait anymore."

"Troy, it's ok. We waited to long for that. I'm happy you finally kissed me."

He smirked as he kissed her again. She giggled after he pulled away again.

"Now Troy, what exactly do you want to do today?"

"Well I wanted to hang out with my friends and my girlfriend for the day…so let's call everyone see if they're available today."

She nodded and whipped out her cell phone calling all the girls while Troy called the boys.

Sitting in a pizza place Troy was starting to regret his decision. Chad, Jason and Zeke were all doing weird dances and singing happy birthday while Sharpay and Ryan were laughing. Taylor was giving Chad the worst glare ever and Kelsie…well she was sitting there quietly. She still hadn't grasped the fact that she, the nerdy music writer, was friends with the entire basketball team and the scholastic decathlon team. Gabriella was sitting, head against Troy's shoulder giggling at them.

"Guys…please were in a public place, stop embarrassing me."

"Aw come on Troy, it's your birthday," said Zeke.

"Ya man, you need to lighten up," said Chad, laughing.

Troy snorted into his soda when Chad said this. If anything Troy was the most laid back, easygoing guy at East High.

"You ok Troy?" asked Sharpay, looking up from her mirror.

"Yeah…fine," he chocked out.

She shrugged and put her mirror away. Gabriella smiled at Troy. He might look upset but inside he was happier than ever. Finally their 3 party size, 24 slice pizzas arrived. Everyone dove in.

"Remind me not to eat that much again," said Ryan.

"You're telling me," said Troy, burping. "Excuse me."

Gabriella smirked.

"Serves you right, I told you not to overdo yourselves. Let's see five pieces of pizza each plus three pieces of cake."

"I was hungry," said Troy sheepishly.

Gabriella merely looked at him with mild interest. She sighed and said,

"I warned you not to…now you're going to have a stomach ache for the next three hours."

Troy nodded, holding his aching stomach. He got up, slowly and started towards the door along with Chad, Ryan, Zeke and Jason. Sharpay snorted at their idiocy as she walked past them and said,

"Hmm listening to Gabriella seems to work all the time…maybe you should do it more often?"

Ryan shot her a glare, which went unnoticed by Sharpay. Taylor and Kelsie opened the doors for them as Gabriella paid for the food.

"Sorry about that," she said to the cashier. "I warned them not to overdo it."

"It's no problem," he answered. "It's the guys birthday…gotta let him have whatever amount of cake he wants."

"That's for sure."

He rung the money in and gave her the receipt. She smiled, waved and walked out, catching up to them rather easily. She smirked as she saw Troy wave bye to everyone and try to walk home on his own. She walked beside him, holding one of his shoulders.

"Better?"

"Yes, much."

She walked in silence all the way to his home. Finally reaching it, she saw his eyes gleam at the truck as they passed it. She knocked on the door, waiting for Mr. or Mrs. Bolton to come help her. Finally coach Bolton opened the door.

"Thank god…he's gonna crush me in two seconds," she said.

He grabbed Troy and helped him into the house, thanking Gabriella. She explained what he'd eaten so they didn't think he'd gone out partying. They nodded and thanked Gabriella again. She smiled and walked home, thinking to herself,

"I hope he's ok…I mean if I'd eaten that much I would have exploded."

He groaned opening his eyes slightly taking in his surroundings. He noticed that outside had grown considerably darker. He got up and stretched, feeling his stomach growl in hunger again. He looked around wondering,

"How'd I get back home?"

"I see you're up," said his mom from the chair.

"Mom? What happened?"

"Well according to Gabriella you ate to much food for lunch and when we got you in here you passed out."

"Oh…well I'm hungry again."

"I would be to…you've been sleeping since we got you in here…and that was at twelve."

He glanced over at the clock to see it read six o-clock. He groaned getting up and running to his room. He took the quickest shower ever. Then he changed into more appropriate clothes to go out for dinner. Once downstairs he saw his parents waiting.

"Since you've got your license we'll let you drive."

He was so happy he almost cheered but held back the urge to do so. He grabbed his keys and took off for his truck, not noticing the happy smiles his parents had on their faces.

"Really? I didn't know that."

Troy was listening to his parents speak about their days as a kid, while eating his plate of spaghetti. He was really interested in the way they had exams in high school.

"Yeah if you had 60 or higher in the course you didn't need to write the final exam," said his dad.

"We had it a lot easier than you do in high school," said his mom.

"Mmmm, I like the sound of that," he said, his mouth having food in it.

They smirked as he ate. He'd grown so much over the years. They couldn't believe they'd watched their little boy grow up so fast. He, of course was completely clueless to the looks his parents were giving him. The elderly couple sitting beside them noticed though. The lady leaned over and said,

"It's hard isn't it?"

Troy looked up, not knowing what she was talking about, but his parents were nodding.

"Don't worry, they realize it eventually. They have no idea why you are so proud of them for nothing…they will eventually, they all realize eventually."

Troy looked at the old woman in confusion…they? Who was they? And who was proud for no reason? And what would this 'they' person realize eventually? He shrugged and went back to his spaghetti.

He flopped down on his bed, exhausted from the day. Even with that six-hour nap he was still dead tired. He stripped out of his clothes and got into his bed. He clapped his hands shutting the lights off. He turned over and closed his eyes, knowing who his dreams would be filled with.