A little boy's feet carried him across an emerald green schoolyard, scanning the trees for his father. His white tennis shoes shown brightly in the afternoon sun and his backpack, so large on his that it covered his entire back to the ground if he put it on, was trailing behind him.
A man, age 26, sat in the shade of an oak tree, watching his son with a film of tears in his eyes, his shaggy light brown hair flopped over his blue eyes as he shook his head back to loosen the tears. He wasn't go to cry right now.
The four-year-old's brown eyes sparkled in the light as he galloped to his father, a reckless grin spread across his face. Seizing his father's legs, the boy looked up adoringly at him, his hair blowing in the light December breeze.
"Hi, Daddy," The little boy said. "Do you want to see my finger painting?"
"I would love to see your finger painting, Owen," Troy Bolton said, as he scooped his son up in his arms and planted a wet kiss on his cheek.
Pulling the finger painting out of his backpack, Owen flashed his biggest smile yet and handed it to his father.
"Well, it's very pretty," Troy said, as he turned the paper every which way. "It looks like a bird house!"
"Daddy, it's a puppy!" Owen giggled. Troy put him on the ground and stared into the endless Albuquerque sky.
Owen, though young as he was, sensed that something was wrong with his dad. Tugging on Troy's shirt, Owen asked, "Daddy, what's wrong?"
"Oh, nothing. I'm just a little sad right now, buddy," Troy assured his son, ruffling his sandy brown hair.
"Would a lollipop help it? 'Cuz that's what the doctor gives me whenever I feel crummy," Owen told Troy with sincerity.
Troy chuckled. "No, Owen, this'll take more than a lollipop to help."
"Okay," Owen sat in silence for a moment, "Daddy, why are you so sad?"
"Because my heart was stolen, son," Troy answered, not taking his eyes off of the sky. "It was stolen a long time ago and I never got it back."
"Did you call the police?" Owen offered, eyes wide and nervous.
Troy sighed and looked down at the four-year-old.
"You have your mother's eyes, did you know that?"
"But I want my own eyes!" Owen whined.
Scooping his son up, Troy Bolton's mind went back long time ago, when all the wrong things happened, all for the right reasons.
Troy Bolton, age 17, stopped dead in his tracks, beads of sweat running down his face, when the whistle echoed throughout the gym.
"Great drop, team. Good effort. Go shower up," His father called to the basketball team and tossing the ball to Troy. "Go work on some free throws, Troy. They were sloppy today."
Troy stood in his fury watching with hatred in his eyes as his friends filed out of the gym. When everyone was gone, he turned to his dad.
"What was that about?" Troy asked loudly. "Just trying to embarrass me in front of the entire team?"
"You missed five free throws, Troy," Jack Bolton told his angry son, shaking his head.
"Out of almost thirty, Dad! Nothing I do is good enough for you, is it? 'Nice try. Those are looking better.' When can I do enough, Dad? Do you expect me to do a back flip for you to make you happy, because I will!"
Jack stared with a bewildered look at Troy, silence ringing through the gym. Troy's last words seeming to stick to his mind and linger in the air.
"All I want to do is make you proud, Dad, but when I try there's always room for improvement," Troy's eyes welled with tears. "I can't make you happy, can I?" He turned for the door.
Mr. Bolton's face burned with embarrassment. His son was questioning his authority and although no one was around, he never wanted to be challenged by his own son.
"Where do you think you're going?" Jack screamed at Troy.
Troy stopped dead in his tracks and turned around.
"I'm going to go have a life, Dad. Sports may be your life… but they're not mine." With this, Troy walked out of the gym, head held high, a tear dropping out of his eye.
"Daddy," Owen stared at his father from the backseat, feet wiggling in his car seat, "Did you know that it's going to be Mommy's birthday soon?"
Troy's mind made a double take and he looked into the review mirror at Owen. "Yes, I did, Owen. How- how do you remember?"
This seemed to puzzle Owen for a moment. Finally he answered, "Because you're always sad when it's close to Christmas and it's always because of Mommy."
He has his mother's brains.
"Well, Owen, your Mom's a special person," He said, gripping the steering wheel tightly.
"Can I go see her?" Owen asked with a quizzical look on his face.
"Now?" Troy asked, eyes being to blur. "You're going to see her in a couple of days anyway."
"I guess we can wait…" Owen sighed, starting to wiggle with anticipation. "Daddy?"
"Yes, son?" Troy said and with one shaking breath, cleared his head.
"How did you and Mommy meet?"
"Well, Owen, your mom and I went to school together…"
Gabriella Montez strolled out from the classroom, her arms laden with books. Waiting for her at her locker was her best friend, Taylor McKessie, smiling at her from afar.
Gabriella was walking towards her when she slammed into a conceited boy who wouldn't move out of the way for her to get passed, knocking all her books to the ground.
"Oh, I'm sorry. Let me get those," The boy said and picked her books of the ground.
Shaking his shaggy brown hair out of his face and handed her the book and said, "Hi. I'm Troy Bolton.
Gabriella nodded her hello. He was the cutest conceited boy she had ever seen. His eyes were swollen with tears and when the met with hers, her stomach knotted.
"Are you okay? I'm sorry. I didn't see you and I…" Troy stopped in mid-sentence and looked at her. He watched her as she hurried away, brown curls bouncing behind her.
"What was that about?" Taylor asked Gabriella as she piled her books into her locker.
"What was what about?"
"You and Troy Bolton?" Taylor said, rolling her eyes.
"Oh. Well, he bumped into me and I dropped my books. He was just helping me out," Gabriella told her, searching the crowded hallways to find him. "It was nothing."
But he was the only thing Gabriella thought about for the next week.
::: … … ::: … … ::: … … ::: … … ::: … … ::: … ::: … … ::: … …::: … … ::: … … :::
Troy gathered with his friends, having lost all the redness in his eyes. His best friend, Chad Danforth, sat with a basketball tucked under his arm.
"You done with the free throws?" He asked Troy, smile curling on his lips. Although they were best friends, Chad loved it when he did better than Troy. The team sniggered. Apparently, they did too.
"Yeah. I only needed to do a couple," Troy lied, his face burning. "Um… hey, do you guys know anything about the new girl?"
"The new girl? Gabriella Montez? She's in my chemistry class. Man, is she smart " Jason Cross, another buddy of Troy's, said.
"Yeah. I just met her. She seemed nice…" Troy began.
"Finally chosen a girl, Bolton?" Troy cringed when he heard his last name called from behind him. Whirling around, he saw Mack Nixon, the biggest bully in school.
"What's do you want, Mack?" Troy sighed, staring at his feet. Mack Nixon had hated Troy since the second he stepped in the school. Troy immediately started out as the most popular guy in school, not to mention, he was the first sophomore ever on the Varsity team and all the girls in the school loved him. The reason he hated Troy was unknown but he hated him and when Mack Nixon hated you, there was no escaping the torture.
"You found a girl, huh? One of the millions lined up are good enough?"
"Leave him alone, Nixon," Chad snarled at Mack.
"Oh, please, you know it's true. You're angry that Troy gets all the girls, aren't you Danforth?" Mack was fishing for something to get Troy and Chad riled up. Whenever they were angry, he could get them to do anything.
"No, I'm not pathetic, Nixon. Now leave us alone and find a friend your own size. I hear Bigfoot's somewhere near by," Chad spat at him, which got all the team's attention and they started howling with laughter.
"You think you're so cool, Chad. But look around. You have no girl, no friends, no life…"
"That's not true," Troy said quietly.
"What was that, Bolton?" Mack growled at Troy.
"He has friends," Troy said. "He has me."
Mack scowled and said, "Bolton, you'll be sorry that you messed with me. Mark my words…" He stormed off leaving Troy to stand quietly while Chad looked at him with admiration.
::: … … ::: … … ::: … … ::: … … ::: … … ::: … ::: … … ::: … …::: … … ::: … … :::
Gabriella just got out of Science class, smiling, because she had received another one hundred percent on her test. Stuffing the paper into her backpack, she walked right into Mack Nixon, who she sat next to in Literature.
"Oh, hey, Mack," Gabriella said, "How was your Science test?"
"Great," He said absentmindedly, searching for something right above her head. His eyes lit up.
Troy Bolton was walking down the hall right towards them.
"I was wondering if you wanted to go out sometime this weekend," Mack said, casually leaning against the lockers.
"Oh, um… I… wow… um," Gabriella stammered.
Troy didn't even notice. He had bent down to tie his shoe and he couldn't hear them because their words were drowned out by the noise in the hallway.
"You know you want to," Mack said with a gleam in his eye.
"I um… look, Mack, you're a nice guy…but you're just not my type," Gabriella said, staring at the tile floor.
This got Troy's attention.
"Go out with me, Montez," Mac said. "I'm smart, popular, athletic…"
"Oh, just leave her alone, Mack," Troy said, coming behind Gabriella.
"Why should I? She's not seeing anyone. I have ever right to ask her out!" Mack barked.
"I am, actually," Gabriella almost whispered.
"What?" Troy and Mack said together.
"I'm going out with someone," Gabriella said, gaze fixed on Mack's gray eyes.
"Who?" He spat at her in disgust.
"Troy," She said, inventing frantically.
"Me?" Troy asked, astounded.
"Yeah," Gabriella said shooting Troy a furtive glance. "He asked me out yesterday and I said yes."
"Well, let's go, Gabriella…" Troy said, still amazed at what Gabriella was saying. Then Gabriella grabbed his hand, sending butterflies up his spine and into his stomach.
As they walked away, Mack stood watching, open-mouthed.
"Thank you, Troy," Gabriella said when they turned the corner, releasing Troy's hand.
"No problem," Troy said, not taking his eyes off of his hand, which Gabriella was holding seconds before.
"You know," Gabriella said teased, "You aren't a very good date."
"Huh?" Troy was vaguely paying attention. Gabriella had grabbed his hand!
"You didn't take me anywhere," She was still teasing.
"Do you like pizza?" Troy asked.
"Yeah," Gabriella sounded more serious now.
"Well, I know this really great pizza parlor downtown. My buddy's dad owns it. We should go after school," He said, looking at his shoes.
"Yeah, okay. Where do you want to meet?" Gabriella's voice faltered. She couldn't believe it. Troy just asked her out!
"Um… by the Science lab, if that's okay," Troy then saw his father turning the corner. "Okay, well, I'll see you later. Bye!"
He dashed away from Gabriella and flew up the stairs. His heart was racing. He just asked Gabriella out!
Gabriella leaned against the wall and sighed. Her heart was fluttering. She was going out with the Troy Bolton!
"Daddy," Owen was looking out the window, watching the bare trees whiz past him. "Where are we going?"
"We're going to the park, Owen, remember?" Troy said. "With Katherine, Lizzie, and Matthew. Uncle Chad's going to be there with Aunt Taylor."
Troy was with his friends form high school so often that Owen had gotten to know all of them by "Aunt" and "Uncle" and considering Owen had no aunts and uncles it was fine to call them that.
"Yeah!" Owen squealed with delight and Troy's mind subsided a little. A visit with his friend was just what he needed.
Pulling up at the park, Troy saw his friends stand up. All except Sharpay, who was going to have her baby girl, Lily, soon and was just too big to stand up.
"May I go play, Daddy?" Owen asked, looking longingly at the playground.
"Go ahead but be careful and stay warm. I'll be at the benches if you need me," Troy called after Owen who had already started to run to meet his friends.
All of Troy's friends laughed as Troy sat on the bench, his head in his hands.
"I told you parenthood isn't all it's cracked up to be," Chad said, patting his friend's back.
"How is everyone?" Troy asked, looking at all of his friends.
"Great. Taylor agreed to watch all the little guys today so I'm free," Kelsi said. She was always stuck with kid duty.
"I really need a grapefruit," Sharpay said suddenly. Apparently her food craving was grapefruits, although she rather despised them before she was pregnant. This made Troy think of when Gabriella was pregnant with Owen. Her food craving was carrots and peanut butter and with little Caroline-
Troy stopped. He wasn't going to think about Caroline. He had Owen. That's all he needed to make him happy.
"Katherine, we don't put dirt in our mouths!" Kelsi yelled to her two-year-old daughter. Taylor was too busy trying to get her earring out of her three-year old, Lizzie's, hands to notice. "Maybe one parent isn't enough for kid patrol. I'll be right back," Kelsi walked towards the playground saying, "Mommy doesn't like that, Katherine!"
"Maybe they need some help," Sharpay said, watching Ryan's daughter, Heather, and Chad and Taylor's five-year-old son, Matthew start screaming at each other.
"I'll go help them, Sharpay," Troy said. Sharpay was in no condition to go separate screaming kids. When Gabriella tried to separate Matthew and Lizzie while she was pregnant she almost fainted and started screaming that she didn't want her son to end up like them, which highly insulted Chad and Taylor. Taylor understood though. She was very moody when she was pregnant.
Sharpay stood up with some help from Zeke and she briskly said, "Thanks, Troy, but this is a woman's job."
"Amen to that," Jason mumbled when she walked away, which all the guys laughed at.
"So why are you so upset, Troy?" Zeke asked with a smile on his face.
"Oh, God, guys," Troy said, his hands collapsing back into his hands, "Owen wants to know about his mom."
A silence went through the group of boys, which was only broken by the sound of the scraping of leaves on the pavement and the whistle of air through the trees.
"I mean, how do you tell him about his mom? …Ryan, how do you do it?" Troy asked, breaking the silence between them. "How do you talk about Emily like everything is okay?"
"Troy," Ryan said, looking at his friend with a look of true sincerity. "Emily left me. She and I are divorced. I don't have any answers you're looking for. I'm sorry."
"Yeah. I know but…why does this stuff always happen to me?" Troy looked at his friends with tears welled up in his eyes.
Troy's mind wandered all the way back when his fears were faced…
The only noise that was made was the crunch of the dry leaves underfoot as Troy headed towards the woman that he loved. He ragged breathing filled the air and the only thing Troy could seem to find comfort in was the fact that his son was in his arms, fast asleep, without a worry in the world.
Troy wished he could be that lucky as to carried through his troubles but he was older now. He was married and had children. His life could only get harder as he moved on.
His chest was constricted as he stared at the large stone, already covered with leaves and dirt. As the wind blew away the debris on the stone, words became visible.
Written in bold letters on the rock was:
Gabriella Montez Bolton
Loving Wife
Caring Mother
Best Friend
"Live, Laugh, and Love."
Troy read the words as tears leaked out of his eyes and he cried onto his son's shoulder. Maybe he was wrong, he carried his son through hard times and his son carried his burdens and from then on Troy promised himself that he would always love the small boy sitting in his arms with the love of Gabriella. And walking into the sunset, Troy's heart swelled with pain as he remembered the woman who had made his life worthwhile.