OK. I'll level with you. I love story trailers. Not that every story should have them, of course, you'll notice that none of my other stories have them, but this story felt a bit movie-like anyway, so I thought a trailer might make sense. Plus, I loved writing it.
Anyway. Sorry if you don't like trailers, I hope it doesn't put you off reading this story. Just skip forward a chapter and pretend it never happened!
Shows a TV screen.
TV Announcer: And now for Good Morning Albuquerque with Gabriella Montez.
Wife, dashing to the foot of the stairs: Honey, it's GMA!
On-screen, Gabriella Montez, in jeans and tan corduroy jacket: I'm here at Popejoy Hall, with members of Eisenhower, Desert Ridge and Hoover Middle schools, who are all taking part in the city-wide Thanksgiving Pageant. [Checks her watch It's 8:03, I'm Gabriella Montez...
Wife and Husband chant along: Good Morning Albuquerque!
In Albuquerque, Gabriella Montez was a household name.
Girl in East High cheer-leading uniform: Did you see GMA this morning?
Friend: Of course! She's like, my idol. Did you see her shoes?
Other friend: OMG, they totally rocked.
Shows jock's locker open,and Gabby's picture taped up.
Man playing chess in city park: That Montez girl sure looked pretty this morning.
Friend: She opened the fair at my grandson's school yesterday. Turned up half an hour early, and stayed to help tidy up at the end, my daughter said.
She had a great job...
Shows Gabby entering the TV studios.
...A great guy...
Shows Gabby knocking on door that says Elliot Hunter, Studio Executive, and kissing the handsome man who opens it.
...A great life...
Shows Gabby jogging through city park in early morning.
Shows her in a bar, laughing with her friends Taylor, Chad, Zeke, Ryan, Jason, Kelsi and Sharpay.
...That is, until, Troy Bolton came into her life...
At a cocktail party.
Elliot: Honey, I want you to meet the guy who's come all the way from New York to present GMA with you.
Gabby: I'm sorry Elliot, I must be having some kind of break-down, I thought you said he was co-hosting GMA with me.
Troy, holding out his hand: Troy Bolton, Miss Montez, good to meet you. I watched your show this morning. You have a real folksy charm.
In a café, the next day.
Sharpay, Kelsi and Taylor: He said WHAT?
Sharpay: What did you do?
Cut back to cocktail party.
Gabby looks blankly at her boyfriend, before tipping her red wine down his shirt: Oh Elliot, I appear to have spilt a little wine on your new suit. I do apologise. Did I accidentally get any on you, Mr Bolton? I'm just too, too thrilled to finally have someone to show me how to present local TV, I've only been doing it for FOUR YEARS.
She walks away, leaving both men dripping red wine.
Troy: I like her.
...And everything changed.
Shows TV screen.
Gabriella in jeans, jacket and cowboy boots: I'm here...
Troy in sharp, city suit: We're here in the Sandia foothills for the switch-on of the second-largest wind farm in New Mexico, supplying Duke City with clean, reusable energy. I'm Troy Bolton, and...
Gabby: And I'm Gabriella Montez.
Both, trying to say it before the other: Good Morning Albuquerque!
Shows Sharpay, Kelsi and Taylor watching the TV.
Kelsi: This is bad.
Gabby, marching out of her office: This is WAR!
This fall, the biggest news story in Albuquerque...
Shows various clips of Gabby and Troy reporting together from places in and around the city.
...Is happening behind the cameras...
At Sharpay's house.
Sharpay: Maybe you should give him a break, Gabs.
Gabby: Are you kidding me? He's trying to take my show away from me and I should give HIM a break? He's just so...so...
Cut to office, Gabby looks up from her work and finds Troy looking at her. They hold their gaze.
Cut back to Sharpay's house.
Taylor: You like him, don't you?
...And morning television will never be the same.
On a pier, just before going live.
Gabby: You've gotta lose the suit! You look ridiculous!
Troy: I look ridiculous? You're the one who looks like she turned up for a day at the fair!
Gabby: I thought that was part of my folksy charm.
Troy: Well you look like a college graduate.
Gabby: And you look like a bank manager.
Gabby elbows Troy in the ribs and he overbalances into the lake.
Troy, in the water: What...how...you...
Gabby: Mmm, folksy, and yet...street smarts.
Troy climbs out of the lake, and squeezes water out of his jacket.
Director: Guys? You're on in 5.
Cut to...
Director: Action!
Shows Troy in borrowed jeans, T-shirt and jacket, and with wet hair: We're at the Rio Grande Botanic Garden, home to the largest cottonwood gallery forest in the world. [Checks watch, finds it not working and glares at Gabby
Gabby, checks her watch: It's 8:02, I'm Gabriella Montez...
Troy: And I'm Troy Bolton.
Both: Good Morning Albuquerque!
Good Morning Albuquerque.
Coming soon.