"Hey, Gabriella."

Gabriella Montez turned away from her locker. She blushed when she saw who was standing next to her.

"Hey, Troy." He was leaning casually against the locker, one hand pressed to the locker and the other resting on his left hip.

"So, I was thinking we could hang out after school. Maybe catch a movie or something," he said.

Gabriella studied him for a moment. His blue eyes were watching her intensely, waiting for her response. She turned away from him, pretending to look for something in her locker. The best friend in her wanted to say, "Yes," but the freaky teenage girl in her wanted to ask, "Why?" Why her out of all the girls at East High?

Why did she have to be the freaky teenage girl crushing on her best friend?

It wasn't as if she wanted to feel this way. No. She didn't. She didn't want to be one of those girls. She didn't want to be one of those girls who swooned at the sight of Troy Bolton, Wildcat Superstar.

But she was. She was one of those girls.

"Gabriella? You okay?"

She jumped. "Yeah. I'm fine. Just great." She grabbed a notebook that she needed and promptly shut her locker. Clutching her books to her chest, she turned to face him.

"So, what movie are we seeing?"

Troy grinned, apparently glad that she had accepted his invitation. "Well, Chad wanted to see. . ."

But Gabriella had already zoned him out again. Oh, he invited Chad. That means Taylor's probably going, too. She had hoped that it would be just the two of them, alone in a dark theater together. Preferably with a horror movie, so that she would have a valid excuse to grab onto him.

"Gabriella! Troy!"

Both Gabriella and Troy winced at the intrusion of a certain blonde drama queen.

"Hi, Sharpay," Gabriella said. She waved at her twin brother, Ryan, who was hovering behind in the background.

"Hi, Sharpay," Troy mumbled beside Gabriella. His cool collective manner had faded. Gabriella knew that he would never admit it out loud, but he was a little intimidated by the blonde standing before them. Her bluntness and tell-it-like-it-is attitude was a little too much for him to handle. Gabriella, however, had grown quite fond of Sharpay's . . . unique qualities. In fact, she found them endearing at times.

Now, however, was not one of those times.

"You two are still coming to my pool party on Saturday, right?"

Before either Gabriella or Troy could give her an answer, she continued with her spew.

"Of course you are. Anyway . . ."

Gabriella glanced at Troy who raised an eyebrow at her.

" . . . Gabriella, I was thinking that you could wear that red bikini that I picked out for you last week when we went to the mall. It would look fabulous on you."

Gabriella's face flushed as red as the bikini.

She felt Troy shifting from foot to foot next to her, obviously uncomfortable.

"Um, Sharpay—"

"Oh, I have to go. Ryan and I have a drama club meeting. It's the last one of the year, so we can't be late. Toodles!" Sharpay waved enthusiastically at Gabriella and Troy.

Gabriella watched as Sharpay waltzed off with Ryan trailing behind her.

There was an awkward pause between the two friends as Sharpay's presence left them. Gabriella stared straight ahead, not daring to look at Troy.

"Um, so you want to get some lunch?" Troy said, breaking the silence. He was rubbing the back of his neck in quiet embarrassment.

Gabriella nodded. "Yeah. Lunch is good."

"Gabriella! Taylor's here!"

"I'll be right down, Mom!" she called before turning back to the mirror. She tugged on the red elastic material, trying to cover more of her chest.

Deciding that it just wasn't going to work, she grabbed a T-shirt and some shorts and slipped them over her swimwear.

Five minutes later, she had said 'goodbye' to her mother and was in Taylor's car. Sharpay's house was on the other side of town.

"One piece or two piece?" Taylor asked once Gabriella had buckled in.

"What?"

"Your swim suit," she said, looking at Gabriella over the rim of her sun glasses.

"Um, two." Gabriella didn't like where the conversation was headed.

Taylor shot her a knowing look before starting the car and backing out of the Montez driveway.

"Taylor, I didn't wear this for him."

"Uh huh."

"Taylor!"

"Look, all I'm saying is that you two better get together before senior year or Chad and I will be forced to take drastic measures."

Gabriella frowned. "Taylor, he's my best friend. I can't like him."

"But you do."

"But I don't want to."

"But you do."

She groaned and leaned back against the headrest. "Just drive, Taylor."

Thirty minutes later, Gabriella was feeling out of place in Sharpay's backyard. Taylor had left her alone to go find Chad. So, now she was standing awkwardly by the pool, looking for a familiar face.

She had spotted Kelsi earlier by the Jacuzzi with Jason, but they had gone off somewhere together. Sharpay was over by the refreshment table, arguing with what looked like the head caterer about not enough cheese on the cheese puffs. Of course, Ryan was not far behind her.

Gabriella took a step to the right to allow a couple to pass her. She craned her neck, trying to see over the crowd of East High students.

"Looking for someone?"

She jumped, almost slipping and falling into the pool. "Troy!" She slapped his arm. "You almost made me fall!"

He flashed her his famous Bolton smile. It was the smile that could melt the heart of any teenage girl, including her own. Gabriella blushed.

"Where's Taylor?"

She shrugged. "Probably making out with Chad," she said, eyeing his shirtless chest. He had already been in the pool. Droplets of water fell serenely down his toned body and into the floor.

"Right."

Gabriella tucked a lock of hair behind her ear.

"Hey, aren't you a little overdressed for a pool party?" Troy asked, amusement shining in his cobalt eyes. He tugged on the sleeve of her T-shirt.

"Troy . . ." she warned, but she knew it was too late. The glint in his eyes and his playful smile told her that he had already begun scheming something.

"Troy, don't—"

Gabriella finished with a shriek. She felt Troy's hands on her shorts as he yanked them down, revealing her bikini bottoms.

"Troy!" She shoved him and he fell backwards into the pool with a loud splash.

Realizing what she had done, she pulled off her T-shirt and jumped in, wanting to make sure he was alright.

To her relief and utter annoyance, he was fine. In fact, he was clutching his sides, laughing at her.

"The look on your face . . ."

She frowned. "It's not funny, Troy! What if I hadn't been wearing anything under my shorts?"

His laughter stopped. "Are you telling me that you normally go commando?" he said with as serious a face as he could muster.

"No! I do not—"

"Gabi, relax. I was only . . ." he trailed off.

Troy was staring at her with such intensity that Gabriella felt like a walking zit.

"What?" she demanded. "What are you staring at?" When she didn't get a response, she called his name. "Troy!"

That seemed to snap him out of it. "Uh . . ."

"Why are you staring at me for?"

At her question, Troy turned a deep shade of pink. "Uh, Gabi . . . Gabriella . . . you're, uh, wearing . . ."

Her eyes grew big, finally catching on. They were at the shallow end of the pool, so the water only reached their waists.

Gabriella quickly folded her arms over her chest, trying to hide as much skin as possible. "Stop looking at me like that, Troy!"

He hastily adverted his eyes elsewhere.

A few seconds passed.

"Um, Gabriella?"

"What?"

"Can I look at you now?"

She groaned, knowing that she couldn't hide forever. She dropped her arms. "Fine."

To her immense relief, Troy's eyes were now on her face.

"Gabriella?"

"Yes?"

"I'm going to walk over and kiss you now."

"Wha—"

She was cut off by his lips.

When he pulled away, she unconsciously bit her bottom lip. "Wet."

"What?"

"The kiss was wet."

"You know what else is wet?"

"Troy . . ." The mischievous glint was back in his eyes.

She shrieked as he splashed water on her. Laughing, together they waded out of the shallow end of the pool and into the deep end.