Gabriella was taking in her new schedule. She sighed. Math, English, History, Art, Drama, Spanish and Science. Lunch was in between. She started walking into History. She had Mrs. Walker, who was very old and annoying. Great, just great, she thought.

She walked inside and saw a man. Probably in his mid-twenties. He was built, even though he was wearing jeans and a jacket, it was still visible. His eyes, piercing blue, were covered by his shaggy brown hair.

As the bell rang, Gabriella took a seat next to her friend, Sharpay.

"Hey, Shar, who's the guy?"

"His name is Troy Bolton. He's our teacher. Didn't you hear? Mrs. Walker died the other day.

Gabriella gawked at herself. She had checked out a teacher! That was so not like her. She was 17. It was practically illegal to even think!

The man got up in front of the class.

"Hello, I'm Mr. Bolton. I wasn't supposed to be your teacher, but now I am, so get over it. Everyone laughed. Gabriella knew instantly that they were going to have a good year in the classroom with him.

Troy was calling role. These kids are very independent. I like not having to yell. Plus, they're gifted, right? They should be catching on to everything very quickly.

"Victoria Lombardo?"

"Here!"

"Jason Matthews?"

"Here!"

"Gabriella Montez?"

No answer. Troy looked up at the classroom filled with teenagers.

"Gabriella Montez?"

A petite brunette lifted her head.

"Oh sorry, I'm here," she said, looking straight at him, her eyes boring into his own.

He looked back into her eyes. For a moment, their eyes connected, invisible sparks flying everywhere.

Troy had to look away and continued calling roll. He was too worried it would be obvious to the rest of the class, if they'd seen the way he looked at her. Love at first sight seemed nuts, but it did happen sometimes. And for Troy, it just did.

He wasn't even sure if she had felt it. Probably not. She was only seventeen and he was twenty-six. Nine year difference would not impress many people, especially the police or the government.

Troy walked back to his desk and sat down. The class worked quietly on their portfolios, but Troy was too preoccupied to do any teaching.

As the bell rand, students piled out into the halls one by one. Fourth period was Troy's free period, so he decided he would pull out the novel he was reading and a Coke and started where he had left off the night before.

"Um, Mr. Bolton?"

Troy literally jumped out of his skin when he saw Gabriella still standing there.

"I'm sorry, I just wanted to tell you that everyone calls me Brie, so you can too, if you'd like to."

She looked just as nervous as he did. His hands were a little sweaty. He didn't have a coherent thought within him to conjure up.

As Troy snapped back into reality, he knew that there was no way he could have a relationship with this girl. She was too young. Maybe when she was older.

"Well, that's good to know, Brie," he said warmly. "I'll mark it down in my notes."

He knew he could remember it just find without a note.

Gabriella walked to lunch laughing with Sharpay, though her mind was else. What was that?! Gabriella, get a hold of yourself, it's never going to work out!

"Shar, you go on ahead, let me just go to my locker," she said and the blonde turned away and headed to the cafeteria.

She sighed as she walked right by his classroom. She saw him reading a novel. He looked completely immersed in what he was reading, so she didn't dare walk in to go see him. So she turned and continued walking, but not before the football jocks turned the corner, loudly. They knocked Gabriella against the locker, carelessly, as the locked handle went into her back.

A door opened and a harsh voice spoke to the jocks. They listened in fear. The once-nice-Mr. Bolton had turned bad, and the jocks were scared out of their wits.

While the boys walked away, Troy walked up to Gabriella.

"You alright?" His voice was filled with softness and kindness again.

She merely nodded. "I think there might be something on my back from pressing into the door handle.

Troy took her into his classroom and had her sit down on a desk. His hand ran all over her back trying to locate the cut. When he found it, she took a sharp intake of a breath. It felt deep, so he got a paper towel and wet it with cold water.

He lifted the back of her shirt close to her shoulder bone, placed the towel over the cut, and began massaging her back, trying to rid her of the blood and pain.

She shivered at his touch. He made her feel warm and welcome. She liked the feeling though. She knew it was wrong. She was still curious.

"Mr. Bolton?"

"Yes?"

"I…well…um…I was wondering about this morning in class, when you called roll…"

Troy was startled. So she had noticed. He wasn't sure how he was going to answer her, but he knew he had to.

"So…you noticed, huh?"

She shrugged. "It was kind of hard not to. That was…I don't even know the words to describe it."

Troy nodded. He knew exactly what she meant and agreed.

"Listen, Brie, I don't even know what to think. Not in any point in my career did I expect this would happen with one of my students."

She turned around to face him. "All I know is, there isn't anything I want more than you."

Troy's eyes widened, though he smiled pleasantly. "That could be arranged," he said as he leaned in to kiss her.

Troy was surprised at her reaction. He thought she would push away or be scared or something.

Boy, was he wrong.

Gabriella walked into Troy's classroom the next day with a smile on her face, though her face fell when she saw that he was not in the classroom.

In his place was a woman with thick-rimmed glasses, her hair pinned up tight , who was kind of heavyset.

"Hello, students, I'm Mrs. Barker, and I'm your new World History teacher."

Gabriella was close to tears. She continued to listen to her teacher speak.

"Unfortunately, Mr. Bolton had to go out of town for five months. It was for some workshop for young, new teachers. He will be back later this year. Now, in his lesson plans, you were supposed to complete lesson one, so go ahead, pull out you textbooks. If you have any questions, come up to my desk and ask."

They started their independent work, but Gabriella could not concentrate. Why had he left? More importantly, why had he left her?

Mrs. Barker came over to her desk with a white envelope.

"Gabriella, this was left for you," she said, handing her the envelope.

When Mrs. Barker walked away, Gabriella opened the envelope up.

It was written in a handwriting only faintly familiar.

My dearest, Gabriella,

I'm very sorry I left without a proper goodbye, but I knew this was going to be easier than seeing you in person. As of right now, my emotions are running wild, like horses in a stable race. As much as I would love to be here for you, I'm completely out of it. What transgressed between us shouldn't have.

However, I don't regret anything. I will never forget what happened.

Attached to this letter is my cell phone number and my pager number. Call me at any time you'd like. I'd love to hear from you.

I miss you already. I don't even know how, considering we met for the first time yesterday. I don't understand it, but hey, that's why they call it love at first sight.

So I suppose this is the end of my letter. I hope you understand.

All of my love,

Troy Bolton

Gabriella started tearing up. She got up and asked for a pass to the restroom. As soon as she got inside, she fell to the floor crying. She did in fact understand. How could on guy do this to her? A question she would never be able to answer.

One thing she did know.

He had sealed that letter away with his heart.