"What the hell dad! An arranged marriage? I'm only 23!" yelled troy. He had just found out that his father had arranged him to marry a girl he didn't even know.

Mr. Bolton looked up from his paper and looked at troy," troy, this girl is very good, her mother says she can cook and clean and is very caring. We will be meeting them tomorrow so I suggest you go and get your suit ready for tomorrow."

Troy sighed, it was so surreal, it didn't seem like it was happening, it was just plain weird, and Whats worse, is that this girl is only 19! 19! That's barely an age to get married, what about her education?

But even troy knew that arguing with Mr. Bolton at a time like this was useless, so, he just left it at that and let his father take full control of his life.

"whatever dad, I'm gonna go shoot some hoops 'round back" troy picked up the basketball lying close to the sofa and went outside, just to shoot hoops for a while, get over the mess he was in.

-

-

Gabriella, troy's fiancé, knew this was coming, ever since she was 16, her parents had planned her life out and this was exactly what was happening, but Gabriella wanted so much more than that, she wanted to go to university, get a degree, a job and support herself, but her family was very traditional and that just wasn't how it worked.

She carefully slipped on the expensive thai silk dress her dad bought for her, she had dreaded this day ever since she was 16, but now, it was finally happening, and all she wanted to do was to curl up in her bed and cry herself to sleep.

She heard her fathers impatient hollering coming from down the stairs and started her decent down the stairs.

-

-

Troy was nervous beyond belief, he, after finding out his predicament had wondered about this mystery girl through the night and this had given him slightly dark circles and his eyes were more red that usual, what did she look like? Was she nice?

Questions like this kept running through his mind the whole time he waited for her family to arrive.

When the door bell rang, Mr. Bolton was the first one to open it." Ahhh, the Montez family! Come in! come in! how are you guys doing?"

"excellent Jack, I would like you to meet my daughter, Gabriella." Said Mr. Montez as he presented his daughter to her future in laws.

"nice to meet you Mr. Bolton" said Gabriella meekly.

"likewise, Gabriella. I would like you to meet my son, Troy."

Gabriella looked up immediately, only to be hit with the most electric blue eyes she'd ever seen.

"nice to meet you Gabriella" said troy politely.

"you too." Smiled Gabriella.

"troy, why don't you take her to your room, so that both of you can talk." Smiled Mrs. Bolton.

"uh, sure mom." Replied troy before haistly grabbing Gabriella's hand and pulling her up the stairs.

Once they reached troy's room, they both relaxed a bit, happy to be out of their parents eyes.

Gabriella shyly looked at troy and noticed the dark circles and the bags under his eyes.

"you look tired," she said softly.

He whipped his head around a looked at her.

"yea," he breathed," I am."

"oh, well you could sleep, I don't mind really."

Troy chuckled at her thoughtfulness," no, no, its okay, what kind of host would i be if I fell asleep?"

"um, troy, I'm – I'm kinda getting married to you, it doesn't really matter to me, I'll probably see you sleep everyday, but you look really tired, I don't want you to fall sick, you have a game 2 weeks after the wedding right?"

Troy gawked at her," h-how'd you know I had a game."

Gabriella sighed," my dad made me go through it, he said it was all part of being a good wife."

"I – I its okay, I'll uh sleep later."

At this point it time, troy was truly intrigued by the slender creature in front of him. She most certainly didn't want it, but she took it in her stride, as if it was her job, her duty.

"Gabriella?" troy said hesitantly," I, I know your 19 and that means you haven't gone to university yet, don't you want to go?"

Gabriella's eyes snapped up to him," of course I want to go, I've always wanted to go, ever since I was a kid, I wished I be a doctor, or, or a nutritionalist, in one of those bleached white coats and sterilized goves, that's all I ever wanted to do."

"then, why? Why did you agree to this?"

"do you think I had a chance troy? I had known I was getting married at 19 ever since I was 16. My dad told me my fate when I was 16! Do you know what a sweet sixteen really is? Its supposed to be a coming of age, when a daughter is finally fit to be married, that's what sweet sixteen really is. And my parents, my parents decided to wait just because they didn't want to get into trouble with the law."

Troy gasped at Gabriella's complicated life.

They sat in silence after Gabriella's out burst. Suddenly, troy spoke up.

"I wouldn't mind you know Gabriella? I wouldn't mind if you did study while we were married, I really wouldn't"

Gabriella once again looked up at troy," its nice to know troy but, my parents don't work like that, I'm supposed to be a good wife and take care of you not waste my time studying for nothing."

"why is it nothing? Don't you think you deserve it, Gabriella?" troy countered.

"because, because my dad would kill me if he found out, my dad would disown me if I work while I'm married to you. You just don't understand how uptight they really are troy, you just don't understand" Gabriella said, as she willed her tears not to fall.

The tense moment was broken when they heard a faint," dinners ready!" from the bottom of the stairs.

Troy looked at Gabriella once more before getting of the bed and grabbing a coat from his closet.

"come on Gabriella" he whispered as he stuck his hand out towards her.

Gabriella slowly grabbed his hand as she looked up at him.

As soon as he felt her grab her hand he pulled her down the stairs quickly.

"hey mom? Gabriella and I are going out for dinner." Said troy as he slipped on Gabriella's coat for her.

"you can't just take her away like that son!" said Mr. Bolton coming out of the hallway, Mr. and Mrs. Montez, right behind him.

"why not?" troy asked accusingly," she's my fiancé isn't she?"

Troy then grabbed Gabriella's hand and pulled her out of the doorway before slamming the door on their parents faces.

Troy led Gabriella to his car before opening the door for her and jogging around to the drivers side and climbing in himself.

"what was that?" whispered Gabriella as she broke out of her daze

Troy turned to look at Gabriella and smiled," it looked like you have had one too many uncomfortable dinners, I decided that you didn't need that tonight, and so we are gonna get some dinner at one of my favorite diners, call up the dean at UCLA get you in to a univercity and then I'll drop you back home, and you won't say a thing to your parents."

Gabriella turned around and looked at troy," w-what?" she whispered.

" I said we'll get some dinner at my favorite diners." Troy said nochalently.

"no, not that troy, after that, what did you say?" he voice was quiet and desperate, she needed to check if those words really came out of his mouth or not.

"we're gonna call up the dean at UCLA and get you a seat there."

"t-troy, are you serious, you shouldn't toy with someones emotions like that." She whispered tears building up in her eyes.

Troy simply replied by scrolling through his contacts before finding the right one and pressing the green call button.

"hello?... hey Mr. Walters! This is Troy, troy Bolton… yes good to hear from you too. No, I would like to ask you a favor, uh huh…. No no, nothing like that… my fiancé, Gabriella would like to do a course in Medicine or nutrition… you think you could get her in…. uh huh… which one do you think would be more rewarding? Nutrition? I see… I see, yes, I'll send you her grades right away, yes, well thank you Mr. Walters! I guess I'll be seeing you, okay…. Bye bye."

Gabriella stared at troy in awe as he calmly put pressed the red call button to terminate the call.

He looked at her and smiled," your in"

"Oh My God troy!" she whispered through her tears as she pounced on him, hugging him tightly," thank you, thank you, thank you!"

Troy was taken aback at the sudden embrace but slowly wound his arms around her small waist hugging her back," no problem."