I do not own High School Musical.

Longing To Break Free

Chapter One

"Finally!" Troy Bolton exclaimed, as he walked out of his last class of the day with his friends Jason Cross and Zeke Baylor, "I thought this day would never end!"

Jason looked at him and laughed, "Me either. I'm so happy that it's Friday!" He twirled around in the hallway.

"Yeah and tonight is going to be extra fun considering that it's Chad's surprise birthday party," Zeke suddenly said to them.

"Hey not so loud!" Troy glared at him. Zeke was speaking rather loudly about it. He looked around worriedly to make sure Chad wasn't near them. Luckily, he wasn't. Everyone had been planning a birthday party surprise for his friend Chad Danforth for weeks.

"Oh sorry," Zeke looked a little embarrassed; "I guess we don't want him accidentally hearing about it, do we?"

Troy grinned, "Nope! So far we're doing a great job keeping it a secret. It's only a few hours away and I'd like to keep it that way!"

"I bet its killing you not to tell him, considering you're his best friend," Jason smiled at Troy.

"Killing me? Nope! It's not a problem at all!" Troy lied. The truth was it had been rather difficult the last few weeks to keep it a secret from Chad, considering he spent a lot of time with him.

"Yeah, whatever," Jason slapped him playfully on the back.

Troy however ignored Jason and suddenly started looking around for some one else, "Okay guys, I need to go find that beautiful girlfriend of mine and confirm our plans for tonight. I will meet you guys in a few minutes though for a quick ballgame."

"Sounds good Troy, see you later!" Zeke quickly said goodbye to him.

He then finally spotted his girlfriend Gabriella Montez waiting for him at his locker. He raced up to her, excited to see her.

"Hey!" He exclaimed.

"Hey Troy!" Gabriella smiled up at him, "So have you or anyone else blabbed this secret to Chad yet?"

"Not yet," Troy grinned back at her as he quickly put his books away in his locker. He didn't have any homework tonight, so he didn't need to bring much home with him for the weekend. "It's getting hard though. Good thing we only have a few more hours."

"Oh! I just can't wait! It's been awhile since you and I have been to a party where we danced the night away!" Gabriella jumped up and down as she spoke.

Troy closed his locker and leaned against it. He looked at her, "I can't wait either. In fact, I wouldn't miss it for the world," Troy told her, before leaning in to kiss her on the lips. They kissed for a couple of minutes before pulling away.

"So what time?" Gabriella asked anxiously.

"Well, we need to be there by six thirty I think, so how about I walk over to your place and meet you at six. We'll walk over together."

"That sounds wonderful!" Gabriella flung her arms around him and they both leaned in for another kiss.

He quickly parted, however, and glanced at his watch, "I really hate to leave you right now, Gabi, but I told the guys I'd meet them for a quick game."

Gabriella looked at him and nodded, "I don't mind you leaving me now, but only because I know we have the night to look forward to."

"Six o'clock, right?" Troy repeated the time to make sure.

She nodded and suddenly went, "Sounds perfect!"

"I know it will be perfect tonight," Troy gazed into her eyes as he spoke. He quickly kissed her one more time, but it was more difficult to part away from her this time. They finally did and Troy quickly started to turn towards the door, "I love you!" he shouted, as he walked away.

"Love you!" Gabriella called after him, as she watched him leave. She leaned against the lockers and smiled. He was suddenly gone. She already missed him even if he had only been gone for a few moments, but she wasn't to sad knowing that there was tonight to look forward to.

It was 4:30, but Gabriella was already pretty much ready to go. She knew she had another hour and a half before Troy arrived, but she wanted to shower as soon as she got home from school, and she started trying on her clothes right away. She wounded up choosing a black skirt with a light purple long sleeve shirt. However, this was possibly the fifth outfit she had tried on before deciding what to wear.

As she sat at her kitchen table she studied the simple silver ring that Troy had won her at a fair about a month ago. It was simple and inexpensive looking considering he had won it as a prize, but it meant the world to her. Since that night, it had remained on her finger and she never took it off. She had also won him a prize that night, which was a silver chain necklace. He always hung it around his neck and rarely took it off either. It was so they could always be close to each other and always have something to remind them of each other when they weren't with each other.

It was hard to believe that they had gotten that close within a year, but she hated it if she went even a day without seeing him. She was constantly with him lately and most of the time she couldn't stop thinking or dreaming of him.

Suddenly she could hear her cell phone ring and she immediately picked it up to answer. She was curious who it was as she doubted it was Troy considering he was out with the team.

"Hey Gabriella!" her friend Taylor McKessie suddenly spoke into the phone and she jumped a little in surprise.

"Hey!" Gabriella spoke into the phone, "Are you getting ready for your boyfriends surprise tonight?" Taylor had been dating Chad for the past few months and the party was at her place tonight.

"That's what I'm calling about! I'm flipping out Gabi!" Taylor exclaimed, "I know I said that I told you I didn't need help, but would you mind coming over and helping me with decorations? I tried calling Kelsi and she wasn't home, so I thought I would try you. Will you please come?"

"Now?" Gabriella hesitated, looking up at the clock on the wall, "But Troy told me he'd walk with me later. I don't know..."

"I'm sorry you won't be able to walk with Troy, but please, I really need your help and you're so good at this stuff! Could you just call Troy and tell him to meet you here? Please?"

Gabriella frowned. She was honestly really looking forward to seeing Troy before the party and walking with him, but could tell Taylor really needed her help. She supposed she could get a message to Troy about why she had to go early. "Okay," Gabriella agreed, "I will be there in about ten minutes."

"Oh, thank you!" Taylor happily thanked her, "You don't know how much this means to me! Okay, I will see you in a few! Bye!" Taylor quickly hung up and Gabriella hung the phone up feeling a bit disappointed. She was really looking forward to walking with Troy, but she supposed meeting him there would be okay.

Gabriella quickly dialed Troy's cell, but to her surprise it wasn't going through. She tried again and got the same reaction. Troy must not have charged his phone which was unusual. She would have to tell him later at the party. Quickly, she found a pad of paper and pen. She quickly wrote down that she had to go early to help Taylor and that she was sorry but asked if he would meet her at Taylor's later. She grabbed some tape and walked up to tape it to the front door where he would be sure to see it. After that she turned to lock the door and started to walk away, looking back to make sure the note was still there. He'd definitely see it there and come and meet her at the party later. She was certain that would work out okay.

After playing a quick game with the guys Troy had gone home, showered, quickly said goodbye to his father and was now heading over to Gabriella's.

Even though he just saw her a few hours ago, he could hardly wait to see her. When he wasn't with her it just felt like forever till the next time he saw her.

Troy suddenly stepped onto Gabriella's driveway and looked at the house. He frowned suddenly as he noticed it looked like there weren't any lights on inside the house. Curiously, he inched up closer to her doorstep. He was about to ring the doorbell when he noticed a note. He immediately recognized Gabriella's handwriting.

Hey Troy! Tried to get a hold of you on your cell, but it's not working. Taylor really wanted my help, so I had to leave early. I am so sorry that we can't walk together but will you meet me at Taylor's? See you there!

Love, Gabriella

"What?" Troy frowned, feeling somewhat disappointed. He was really looking to see Gabriella before the party. Now he'd just have to wait longer till he saw her.

"I guess she's worth the wait." Troy sighed as he pulled away from the house and started walking.

Suddenly he thought about what she had said about his cell not working. He quickly pulled it out and tried to turn it on, but nothing happened. "That's odd, I always charge my phone. Sure would have saved me the trip coming over here if I had this time." Troy then placed it back into his pocket.

He had to admit that even though he really missed Gabriella on his walk it was rather nice out. It was a little bit cold out, but it felt good. He suddenly started to sing breaking free in his head. He was so caught up in singing the song he sang with Gabriella that he was caught by complete surprise when he suddenly felt someone grab him from behind.

He jumped in fright and started to scream but he felt a hand cover his mouth and his screaming quickly became muffled. He struggled to fight whoever was doing this to him, but it was no use. Suddenly though he froze and stopped fighting back, feeling petrified as he felt something get pointed against his back. He had a very bad feeling he knew what that something was and that was a gun.