"Oh My God! Troy!"

He stopped about 15 feet from her and turned around. "What?" He looked innocently confused.

She stood there screaming on the inside and staring dumbly on the outside. Finally, something broke and she was screaming on the outside too. "Hello!"

He looked at her like she'd lost her mind. "Uh, hello?"

Gabriella felt the tears prickling her eyes, "God! What does it take, Troy? Huh? What the hell do I have to do?"

Troy looked back at her like a crazy person. "What are you talking about?"

She slammed her locker closed and turned back to him. She grabbed her backpack from the floor and walked toward him mindless of the surrounding human beings. "What part of a short skirt and sexy top is confusing? Do I have to hand a sign around my neck that says, 'AVAILABLE'?"

Troy's eyebrows raised and his lips began to curl at the corners. He didn't say anything though, because she was obviously not done with her rant.

"I'VE DONE EVERYTHING I CAN THINK OF! THIS WAS MY LAST THOUGHT! I GIVE UP!" She turned and started walking away.

Calmly he said, "Gabriella."

She shook her head as she walked, "Don't!"

He stood there in the middle of the hallway smiling and shaking his head. Watching her walk away in that very short skirt was almost worth it. He knew her schedule. So, he turned and walked the other direction.

As he walked into their shared chemistry class, he saw that her seat was empty. He hoped that she showed. He had news for her.

Gabriella waited until the bell rang before dashing into the chemistry room and directly to her seat. Mrs. Clawston gave her the eye of disapproval. She could handle that, but small talk with Troy she couldn't. She wouldn't even turn to look at him. She felt like a complete fool for her explosion earlier. It was so unlike her. She had no idea how to handle the teasing and comments from everyone. Now, sitting a few feet from Troy, she couldn't possible believe she was going to make it through this class without having a stroke or something.

Troy smiled to himself. She was fidgeting and she wouldn't look at him. He scribbled something in his notebook and then tore the page out and threw it onto her desk. He watched as she tried to act as though it wasn't there. So, he scribbled out a similar message and threw another one in a sweet arch directly onto her desk.

Mrs. Clawston turned and eyed them. "Is there something you'd like to share with the class, Ms. Montez?"

Chad snickered, "Not that she didn't say this morning."

Mrs. Clawston eyed him with the scowl of discontent and he quieted down.

Gabriella knew her face had to be seven shades of red.

Mrs. Clawston turned to Troy, "Mr. Bolton, stop throwing notes to Ms. Montez."

Troy smirked, "Not going to ask if there's something I want to share with the class?"

Mrs. Clawston looked at him quizzically. "Alright. What would you like to share with the class?"

Gabriella dropped her head onto her folded arms on her desk. This was too much to handle. She was going to cry from embarrassment soon.

Troy smiled, "Allow me." He reached over and picked up one of the notes that had fallen to the floor. He cleared his throat and smiled as he turned to Gabriella. "Gabriella," he read, "did you mean what you said this morning?"

She nodded with her head still resting on her folded arms.

He unfolded the other note, "Do you still feel that way?"

Gabriella shrugged because at this point she just wanted this to end.

Troy's voice was closer than she had anticipated when he spoke again. "Will you go out with me? There's this dance Friday after our game. I was kind of hoping you'd be my date?"

Gabriella felt her chest stop. She couldn't breathe. She felt her heart beat with exceptional volume.

Troy kissed her shoulder and brushed her hair back from the side of her face. He kissed the only skin he could get to on the side of her head. "Gabriella?"

Gabriella lifted her head slightly and met his eyes. She needed to know if he was serious about this or if he was just making fun of her.

Troy smiled and flashed his eyebrows. "Will you go out with me?"

Gabriella took a deep breath and let it out slowly. She sat up and looked at the floor, discretely surveying everyone around them. As she expected, all eyes were on her. She looked back up at Troy, "Um, well, seeing as how you already know that I, uh—"

Troy took her hand and pulled her gently out of the desk chair. "Yes or no, baby."

Gabriella's eyes instantly met his when he called her 'baby.' She swallowed hard and nodded, "Yes."

He smiled, "Now see, was that so hard?"

She felt her chest begin to move again. She let him draw her into his arms for a quick hug. She let her head drop to his shoulder as she said, "Definitely insanely hard." She leaned back and looked at him, "Don't ever do that to me again."

He chuckled, "Hopefully I'll never have to. Just means you can't break up with me."

She shook her head. "Do you know how hard I've been trying to get your attention?"

Troy smiled, "So all that stuff was for me?"

She nodded.

He pulled her in again and whispered into her ear, "I love the skirt and the little touches and the excuse to be with you for tutoring." He smiled and met her eye again, "By the way, I already have an A in chemistry, but if you'd keep tutoring me, I promise I'll keep pretending to be failing."

Gabriella felt her breath catch. "What?"

Mrs. Clawston cleared her throat. "This is nice and all, but it has nothing to do with chemistry."

Troy laughed, "It has everything to do with chemistry, Mrs. Clawston. I faked failing this class just to get her to tutor me."

Gabriella looked at him with awe. "Really?"

Troy nodded, "So, you still think you needed to work that hard to get my attention, baby?"

Gabriella laughed...in his arms in front of everyone.