AN: I know this story is done and has been done for...a while. I've decided that I'm not satisfied with the original and am working to make it better, so hopefully it turns out that way.

Disclaimer: It's never gonna be mine.

Walking through the halls of East High, Gabriella Montez made her way through the sea of people and straight to her locker, gently fingering the ends of her long, brown hair which was pulled into a side ponytail. Suddenly, she felt a hand on her shoulder and stopped, startled.

"Hey, girl, what's up?" Smiling, Gabriella turned to see her second best friend, Taylor McKessie, standing behind her.

"Not much," she lied.

"Oh really? Are you sure about that?" Taylor interrogated, seeing through the lie.

"There's no hiding anything from you, is there?" Gabriella asked, trying not to laugh at her friend's curiosity.

"I'm sorry, but, no," Taylor said, smiling.

"Oh fine. Lance asked me to be his girlfriend," she gushed, a smile spreading across her own face.

"And, did you accept?" Taylor prompted.

"Duh! Of course I did!" she answered excitedly. "I've never had a boyfriend before, and I really like him. He seems like a nice guy."

"What about all the girlfriends he's had in the past? He's probably slept with all of them," Taylor pointed out.

"He swears he's not like that and that he doesn't force girls to sleep with him," Gabriella replied. Although she'd never heard him say it before, she was usually a good judge of character and felt that maybe he wasn't like everyone said he was.

"Well, what about Troy?" Taylor asked her.

Gabriella frowned slightly at the mention of Troy Bolton, East High's golden boy and star basketball player, who happened to also be her best friend. Although, she didn't meet him at school. She met him at a ski lodge over winter break.

Like any normal girl, Gabriella did have a crush on Troy. With his shaggy, light-brown hair, his deep, beautiful blue eyes, his award-winning smile and his strong arms, seemingly every girl in school was vying for Troy's heart. Even though she secretly had a crush on him and they were friends, Gabriella knew that that lucky girl would never be her.

"What about him?" Gabriella said after snapping out of her thoughts.

"You like him," Taylor pointed out. "And, apparently, he likes you, too."

"Troy and I are just friends," Gabriella argued. "But, after we're done with the musical, he'll probably forget I exist."

"I saw him kiss your cheek after you guys sang on stage together. And, everyone saw how comfortable you were with each other while performing. It was breathtaking," Taylor stated. "Then not long afterwards, I do believe it was the two of you who tried taking it even further in the gym."

"Troy said that he was just congratulating me and thanking me when he kissed my cheek," she defended. "And, it was just heat of the moment when we tried to kiss in the gym, and I'm glad Chad interrupted because that would've been awkward."

"Why'd you guys try to again, then?" Taylor questioned, knowing she had her beat.

"Uh…I'm not sure…." Gabriella answered, nervously biting her bottom lip as a slight blush spread across her face.

"Admit it, Gabriella, you like him and you know it," Taylor said.

"Okay, okay! I like Troy! There! Happy now?" Gabriella admitted. "But, please, don't tell anyone!"

"Don't worry, your secret is safe with me," Taylor assured her, smiling triumphantly. "So, by the way, have you talked to him lately?"

Gabriella shook her head sadly. "Not much since Tuesday."

"What happened?" Taylor asked.

"He saw Lance kiss me and has been ignoring me ever since," Gabriella explained.

"He's probably jealous," Taylor assured her.

"Jealous of what? He has everything!" Gabriella cried, although she knew what Taylor meant.

"Everything but you."

Hello, ladies." Gabriella and Taylor turned to find none other than Troy Bolton standing behind them, grinning boyishly at them, although Gabriella noticed it seemed forced. What if Taylor was right? That thought made her feel guilty though she hid it behind a fake smile of her own.

"Hey, Troy," Taylor greeted, but Gabriella stayed silent. Figuring it would be best to give the pair some alone time, Taylor started walking away. "I gotta go. I'll talk to you later, Gabriella."

An awkward silence fell upon Troy and Gabriella, both unsure what to say, but after a few seconds, Gabriella started to walk away. "Uh, I'll see you later, Troy. I've got to get my books."

"Wait, Gabriella, think you could spare a moment?" Troy asked her, his soft blue eyes baring deeply into her chocolate-brown ones.

"Uh, I guess so," she answered, unable to tear her eyes away from his gaze.

"So, I guess you and Lance are official," Troy said, unable to hold in the subject that bothered him the most. He liked Gabriella and thought that he might've had a chance with her, but, apparently, she didn't feel the same way from what he saw. He hadn't spoken to her in four days, after catching her with her new boyfriend. It hurt him too much, and it still hurt to be talking to her now, for the image was still engraved in his mind. It hurt because it was his lips that should've been kissing her and his arms that should've been wrapped around her, never Lance Matthews. He should've never even spoken to her.

"Uh, yeah, why? Do you think I shouldn't?" Gabriella asked him, deep down hoping for him to say yes.

"Uh, no, you can date whoever you want to date. I can't control your life, I'm just your friend," Troy replied, wishing he did have that control. Then, maybe she would've chose him, he thought. However, he knew that, as her friend, he was expected to go along with whoever she chose, even when that someone wasn't him.

"I know, but, Troy, I've been thinking about what happened after the callbacks, when you tried to kiss me and how you reacted to knowing about Lance and I. It's not normal for friends to be like that," Gabriella pointed out.

"When I tried to kiss you, it was heat of the moment and from all the excitement. I was just shocked when I saw him kissing you because I didn't think it would go past that one date," he explained. "I care a lot about you and I just don't want you to get hurt." Troy breathed a sigh of relief, for he knew the question was coming but didn't have a preplanned answer. This answer seemed reasonable enough, however, and it wasn't a lie. It just wasn't the whole truth.

"Oh," Gabriella said, sounding disappointed. She was hoping he would say that he had feelings for her. She wanted him to say he was jealous. Although, Troy Bolton wasn't like that. He would never have feelings for a girl like her, friend or not. He could have any girl in the school in a second, and so there was no way he would fall for the geeky new girl. In fact, she knew if they hadn't met over break that he would've never talked to her once at East High.

"Why so disappointed?" Troy teased her.

"I'm not disappointed," Gabriella denied.

"Whatever, but you know you want me," Troy teased, making Gabriella blush.

"Get over yourself, Bolton!" she scolded playfully.

"It must be true or else you wouldn't be blushing," he pointed out, smirking. "Admit it, Montez. Not even a smart girl like you can resist the Troy Bolton charm."

"No, more like you want me," she teased back. "If you didn't, you wouldn't be teasing me about wanting you, which is so not true."

Maybe I do, he thought, but answered by saying, "If I did, you would know." Her breaths became uneven as he came closer to her, continuing to stare into her eyes only suddenly with an overwhelming amount of passion. Once he was directly in front of her, he locked his hands on either side of her waist and leaned toward her lips. Gabriella gasped in shock and found herself also leaning forward, completely lost in his enchanting eyes.

When their lips were centimeters apart, Gabriella closed her eyes and Troy's head turned so his lips were less than a centimeter away from her ear. "Psych," he whispered, his breath tickling her ear and causing her to shiver with desire.

"Uh, that was mean!" Gabriella complained, smacking his chest.

Troy chuckled, reluctantly letting her go. "What? After all, you don't want me."

Before she could respond, a pair of loud footsteps marched down the hall. Troy sighed, knowing he would have to leave. "I should probably be going. See you later, Gabriella." With that said, Troy started walking away, leaving her to feel the sudden need to have him there again. She didn't understand why, but she had a bad feeling that something was about to happen.

"Bye, Troy," she called before he got too far away. By that time, the hallways were almost empty, leaving just Gabriella and the boy behind her.

"What was that?" the teen snapped once Troy was in homeroom.

"What was what, Lance? I was just talking to Troy. He's my friend," Gabriella replied innocently, turning to face her broad, tall, and dangerous boyfriend. He was much stronger than Troy. He was the captain of the football team, after all. His blond hair was crew-cut, and his green eyes were filled with anger. "We were playing around. He didn't kiss me or anything."

"You're mine now, remember? You shouldn't be 'playing around' with any guy!" Lance snapped angrily, backing her into the lockers and pinning her with his arms.

Fearfully, Gabriella nodded. With his 6-foot, 5-inch height and his broad, muscular body, she found him quite intimidating.

Just then, the warning bell rang, causing Lance to pull away from her.

"Remember what I said or else there'll be hell to pay," Lance threatened, walking away to his homeroom. Pressing her hand over her heart, Gabriella tried to control her breathing but failed miserably. Her hands trembled as she clutched her knees tightly. No one had ever scared her this much before.