CHAPTER ONE.
It was a magical New Year's Eve at a vacation resort in the mountains. Gleaming white snow covered the ground, stars sparkled in the crisp, clear air, and everyone was beginning to get in the party mood.
Everyone, that is, except Troy Bolton and his father, Jack, who were still on the basketball court, playing one-on-one. They were covered with sweat, but they were having too much fun to stop.
Troy had the ball, and he was doing a good job of getting around his dad. After all, Troy was on the high school basketball team. Not only that, he was the team captain. He had the smooth moves and explosive action of a real star.
But Jack was more than just Troy's dad. Jack was also the basketball team's coach. So Mr. Bolton gave his son advice as they played. "Keep working left, Troy," Mr. Bolton said. "The guy guarding you in the championship game won't expect that. You'll torch him." Troy nodded, breathing hard. "By going left-" he said. "He'll look middle, you lake it downtown," his dad- and coach- explained. Troy nodded again. "Like this?" He spun past his father, jumped, and sunk a reverse layup. The ball whistled cleanly through the basket. Nothing but net! His father grinned. "Sweet." Troy grinned back. Nothing felt better than playing basketball when you were in the groove!
They could have played all night, but just then Troy's mom walked into the gym. She was wearing a sequined party dress and clearly had things other than B-ball on her mind. "Boys? Helllo?" she called. Once she got their attention, she went on. "Did we really fly all this way to play more basketball?" Troy and his father glanced at each other slyly. They knew she didn't really want an answer to that question, but they gave her one anyway. In perfect unison, they shrugged and said, "Yeah."
Mrs. Bolton gave an exasperated sigh. "It's the last night of vacation. The party....? Remember?" Actually, they had both totally forgotten the big New Year's Eve party that the resort was holding, but they knew it wasn't wise to admit that. "Oh, right, right," Mr. Bolton said quickly. "News Year's Eve." He hesitated, then asked, with some fear, "Do we have to wear funny hats?" "Absolutely," she said firmly. "And we're due in half an hour. Troy, they have a kids' party downstairs in the Freestyle Club." "Kids' party?" Troy protested. That made him sound like a toddler! "Young adults," his mom quickly amended. "Now go shower up."
With heavy sighs, Troy and his father did as she said. As Troy took one last glance at the basketball court, he thought, The championship game is in a couple of weeks! I should be practicing, not going to some stupid 'kids' party'! Besides, how much fun could hanging out with a bunch of kids possibly be..... |
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