Vanessa's POV

I sighed as I pushed open the door to my new house. It had been a long day at work, between rehearsals for High School Musical 4, interviews, and, of course, shopping with my two best friends, Ashley and Monique! We had to pick out an outfit for me to wear tonight. While we were out shopping, though, the three of us were mobbed by a group of teenage girls screaming for autographs. People think the life of a celebrity is all fun and games, but the truth is, it's exhausting!

I collapsed on the couch and looked at the clock. It was almost six. Good. I could catch the end of an old Gilmore Girls re-run and, if I was lucky, the first few minutes of the movie that was on afterwards. It was different every night, and while I could just check the listings to see what it was, I liked to be surprised.

I had told Ashley and Monique to be at my house at five-thirty, so if I was lucky, they would be here by six. I really needed their help.

Gilmore Girls ended with a cliffhanger, like they almost always do, when Lane showed up in Rory's dorm room after her mother kicked her out. I'd already seen the episode about fifty times, but it was my favorite one, and I never got sick of it.

The credits rolled, and I leaned back on the couch as a JoJo music video played. The song ended, and the screen went black, like it always did right before a movie. The title came up in bright red letters: High School Musical 3. What? I definitely didn't read that right. But sure enough, the words transformed into a clip of Monique and me sitting on the bleachers in the East High gym, while Zac and Corbin were running around, shooting a basketball. I was staring into the distance.

"Gabriella," Monique said, waving her hand in front of my face. "Are you okay?"

"What?" I asked. "Oh. Right. I don't know. I guess I'm just a little worried."

"Worried?" Mo pretended to be surprised. "About what?"

I shrugged. "Well, you know our prom is in three weeks."

"Yeah..."

"It seems like everyone else but me has a date," I admitted. "I mean, Sharpay's going with Zeke, Ryan's going with Martha, Kelsi's going with Jason, and you're going with Chad."

"Actually," Monique sighed, "I'm not."

"Oh, no," I gasped. "You and Chad didn't- did you?"

"Yes," she nodded. "We broke up."

"Aww, Taylor," I said. "I'm so sorry."

"Oh, that's all right," Monique shrugged. "It was probably for the better, anyway."

Suddenly, there's a knock on the door. The real door, not the door in the movie. I get up, walk down the stairs, and open it.

"Hi, Mo Mo!" I grin. "Guess what movie's on channel 9?"

"What?"

"High School Musical 3!" I exclaim.

"You're kidding!"

"Nope! Come in and watch!"

Monique and I watch the first twenty or so minutes, up until the part where Sharpay pushes Troy down a flight of stairs and tries to convince Gabriella that it's her fault.

"What a jerk." I shook my head. "I wish I hadn't had to fall for that. It's stupid. Why would Gabriella ever believe that she's the reason Troy hurt his ankle?"

"It's a good thing I'm in the movie," Mo smiled. In the movie, Taylor happened to be walking around school with a video camera (she was filming a documentary about East High) and she caught Sharpay on tape. She told Gabriella what really happened, and at the end, Troy and I are at the prom, held at Lava Springs, and we push Sharpay into the pool, evening gown and all. I remembered filming that scene. It had taken about four takes for me to actually push Ashley into the water. I felt bad! Finally, Kenny had told me that if I didn't do it, he would re-write the script so that it was me, not Ashley, who fell in the pool. After that, I had no trouble. Ashley, however, got really wet. She wanted to keep the dress, too! Luckily, we had several copies of the outfit in our wardrobe department, and she "accidentally" wore the gown home from filming that night.

At that moment, there was another knock on the door. "Come in!" I yelled.

Ashley leaped up the stairs breathlessly. "Sorry I'm late!"

"No, it's all right," I said. "We were just watching High School Musical 3."

"Cool," she nodded. "Are you looking forward to tonight?"

"Totally," I replied with a grin. "Can't wait for the big date with Zac!" Tonight, Zac and I were going to the movies to see the new movie we'd starred in together. I played a college student, Bridget, who was really popular, but she couldn't get Zac's character, Max, to fall in love with her. He's in love with Kaitlyn, played by Alexis Bledel. Kaitlyn's reluctant boyfriend, Chris (Chaning Tatum) is actually in love with Bridget, and he kidnaps her, trapping her in the baggage compartment of an airplane headed to Turkey. While Chris is away, Kaitlyn decides to make her move on Max. At first, Max is enjoying the benefits of having Kaitlyn as his girlfriend (her family is extremely wealthy), but then he realizes that it's actually Bridget he loves. He finds out Kaitlyn was in on the plan to get rid of Bridget the whole time, and he leaves her to go rescue the real love of his life- me! He runs off in the middle of the night to go to the airport and save Bridget from Chris's evil clutches. Kaitlyn finds out he left her, and she gets into her car to go stop him. Bring on the big car chase scene! Kaitlyn's car is hanging off the edge of a cliff, and Max is about to push her over the edge when he realizes the plane with Bridget on it is about to take off. He leaves Kaitlyn there, and he saves Bridget just in time. Chris is left on the plane, and is forced to live in Turkey forever. Kaitlyn's car falls off the cliff, but she survives. Max and Bridget make out for a very, very long time. That was my favorite part to film, needless to say.

So anyway, Zac and I were going to see Lost Love (the movie), and then we were going to dinner at some fancy restaurant Zac heard about from Lucas. But, even better than that, I was finally going to tell Zac I loved him. We had, after all, been going out for almost four years, but it was only recently that I'd felt like we had something really special going. I decided it was about time! That's why invited Monique and Ashley over to my house. I couldn't look my best without help from my best friends!

"All right," I said, "Let's get down to business here. Come into my room." I led them up yet another flight of stairs and into my bedroom. Opening my closet, I said, "I've got it narrowed down to these few."

Monique rolled her eyes. "You've got about twenty different outfits there," she said.

"That's why I need you guys here," I replied. "You guys have all been so supportive of my relationship with Zac. I really can't thank you enough. I want more than anything to look good tonight."

Mo nodded. "I understand." She should. She'd had a boyfriend over the last year (who turned out to be cheating on her with Katharine McPhee, but whatever), and before every date they had, she called Ash and me over to her house to help with her look.

"I can do your hair for you," Ashley offered.

"Aww, thanks, Ash." I gave her a hug.

"I'll work on your nails," Monique volunteered. "But first we have to pick an outfit."

"I like that one." Ashley pointed to a pink dress. It was sleeveless, and a little short, but still casual. Also, very, very sexy. Like me! Haha! Just kidding! It had a little blue design towards the top, and I even had a pair of heels to match it.

"No," I said, "Just doesn't seem right."

"Okay," Mo agreed. "Do you want something a little less dressy?"

"Yeah."

"Well, you know Ashley's really the one with the fashion sense here," Monique said. No offense to Mo Mo, but it was true. Monique really only dressed up for the camera. Right now, she was wearing old gray sweatpants with a faded green tank top.

"Thanks," Ashley giggled. "All right, how about these jeans?" She held up a pair of dark blue jeans. I knew they were by some famous designer, but I honestly could not remember who. There was some black, silver, and gold thread on the back pockets and around the belt loops. There was even some at the ankles, too.

"Ooh, I love those jeans," I agreed. But what would I wear with them?"

Ash searched through some more piles of clothing, and after about thirty seconds, pulled out a cute matching black cami with, you guessed it, gold and silver thread. It was even sparkly (my favorite design). I don't know how that girl does it. I had been looking through that stack for hours before the two of them came over, and I hadn't even seen it! "Do you like this?" Ashley asked.

"Love it," I answered. "Thanks, Ash. You're the best."

She grinned. "I know! Now, do you want to wear silver or gold earrings?"

"Gold."

"Perfect." Ashley opened my jewelry box and held up a pair of (yes, sparkly) gold hanging earrings with black stones in them. "Ooh, these would look great."

"Wow," I said, taking them and removing the pink studs I currently had in, "You are a miracle worker."

"Aww," Ash smiled, "Give it up. You know you're just naturally beautiful."

"You are way too nice," I laughed.

After about an hour, I was finally ready. Just at the right moment, the doorbell rang. I jumped up. "That's Zac! You guys go answer the door. I'll be down in a minute."

"I don't get that, but if you say so," Monique shrugged, and they left the room. I sat there staring at the clock for exactly four minutes and eighteen seconds before I heard Zac knock on my bedroom door.

"Nessa, hurry up!" Zac called. "I miss you."

I giggled. "I'm coming. It took me a while to get these shoes on!" Okay, actually, the black jimmy choos were easy. I just wanted to hear Zac's voice, his adorable voice, begging for me. Me! How did I possibly get this lucky? Zac was the best boyfriend ever! I was barely twenty-two, and already I felt like I had met the love of my life. How awesome is that?

I opened the door. Zac gasped. "Wow, V, you look fabulous," he said.

"Thanks," I said. "You too." He was wearing beige pants with a baggy button-down shirt that was probably once a very nice shade of blue. Now it was old, worn, and faded, but he couldn't have looked hotter in my eyes.

"You ready to go?"

"Yep!" He took my hand, gave me a quick kiss on the lips, and led me downstairs.

"Aww, look at the happy couple," Ashley smirked, and I "accidentally" stepped on her bare foot. "Ow!"

"Well, we'll see you guys in a few hours," I promised them. I took by black zip-up sweatshirt off the coatrack and put it on. "Bye!" And we walked out.

Ashley's POV

As soon as Vanessa and Zac walked out the door, I banged my head against the wall, screaming, "AAAHHHH!"

"Ash!" Mo dragged me away from the wall. "What's wrong with you?"

"You know," I groaned.

"Oh, right." Monique nodded her head knowingly.

Okay, you've all heard of "Zashley." And you all know it's not true. But the truth is, I've had a huge crush on Zac since the first time I ever kissed him on The Suite Life of Zack and Cody. The show was history now, and even though I had the lead role of Kimmy on another Disney Channel show, Kimmy Carson, Future Prez, the fact that Zac played Rick, Kimmy's crush, on the same show, definitely did not help. In an episode we shot two weeks ago, Kimmy's best friend, Jackie, convinved Kimmy that the only way to get Rick to go to the prom with her was to go up to him in the middle of the school hallway and kiss him. Vanessa had a cameo in that episode, and believe me, she made sure I didn't get too out of control. It's taunting me!

"Listen, Ash, if you really loved him, he would love you back," Mo tried to reason with me.

"What makes you so sure?" I snapped. Monique jumped. "Sorry. Not trying to be rude. It's just so frustrating..."

"I totally get it," Monique nodded. "But look at the bright side. For the next four hours or so, V's house is all ours!"

I laughed. "You always know how to cheer me up, Mo Mo!" And we kicked back and relaxed on the couch as we watched American Idol: Season 10.

Vanessa's POV

I knew Ashley had a huge crush on Zac, and I knew friends are supposed to come before guys, but come on. This is Zac Efron, aka hottest guy on the planet, we're talking about here!

Zac and I walked into the movie theater. "Two tickets for Lost Love, please," Zac said, sliding ten dollars in through the window.

"Oh my gosh!" The teenage girl working the counter squealed. She had straight black hair, thick glasses, and a mouth full of braces. Poor kid. "It's Zac Efron and Vanessa Hudgens! It's Zanessa!"

Zanessa? Someone's obsessing here.

"Um, yes, thanks," Zac said. "Two, please?"

"It's your movie!" Teenage Fan exclaimed. "You don't have to pay!"

"The law's the law," Zac insisted. He pushed the money into her hand and she gave him the tickets. "Thank you." He grabbed my hand and pulled me towards the theater.

Alicia's POV

Okay, so I'm not a supermodel. But heck, I'm only fifteen. Does my date, Jeremy, really have to ignore me? He was sitting right next to me, and he couldn't seem to take his eyes off the blondie sitting two rows in front of us. The movie, Lost Love, was winding down, and Bridget and Max were finally together.

"Max," Bridget said, "I love you. I always will, and I always have."

"So have I," Max replied, "I just didn't know it yet."

They laughed, then leaned closer...and closer...until they were finally kissing. I sighed. And right at that moment, I wished that I could see Zac and Vanessa making out in real life. I know, strange wish. I don't know what made me want that so bad, but I did, more than anything. Maybe then, my life could have some meaning. I turned my head to the girl sitting next to me. She and her date snuck in at the last minute, so I couldn't quite see who she was. Right now, her face was buried in her boyfriend's. Great. Looking closer, I realized that this wasn't just any teenage girl. This was Vanessa Hudgens, and Zac Efron, too!

My wish came true.

Zac's POV

The moment Vanessa told me she loved me at dinner, I knew I had to do this.

"Nessa, I love you too," I told her. "And there's something I need to do." I got up off my chair and got down on the floor next to her.

Vanessa's POV

I barged into my house, slamming the door behind me. "Ash! Mo Mo! I have great news!"

"What?" Ashley asked. She sounded like she had just woken up.

"Are you awake?"

"Yeah," Ash yawned. "You're home late."

"Oh. I am?" Not like I was going to tell her, but the reason I was late was because Zac and I were making out on the front porch for about half an hour. Maybe even more. I lost track of time.

"Yes, but forget it," Monique said. "What's the big news?"

I walked over the couch and held out my hand. Monique took one look at it and gasped.

"You're engaged?!" Mo shrieked. "To Zac?"

"Yep!" I nodded happily.

"But aren't you a little young to get married?"

"Hey, I'm a former child star," I reasoned. "I'm supposed to get married at a young age! And besides, when you've found love, age doesn't matter. Zac and I love each other, and we're getting married."

Ashley seemed to have just fully woken up. "What?!" She wailed. She burst out in tears and ran out the door, leaving her purse on the couch next to Monique. "I hate you!" She screamed.

"Come back!" I yelled after her, but it was no use. "No!"

"Nice job, Vanessa," Monique snarled sarcastically. She grabbed hers and Ashley's purses and stormed out of the house.

"Ashley! Monique!" I cried. The door slammed, and I heard the engine from Ashley's car starting, and my two ex-friends left me.

I just stood there, a million thoughts racing through my head. This was supposed to be one of the most special moments of my life! And the two people I thought were my best friends just ruined it.

The End