A/N: I know I haven't posted anything in not days, not weeks, but months. So when I heard about the ZAAngels Write-Off, I started flexing my fingers. I fell horribly sick today, so I didn't really have the enrgy to throughly check my spelling and grammar. Please excuse all the errors.

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December 31, 2002 7:42PM

Her mom promised, promised, to take her to Switzerland this year so could experience her first ever, real-life, not pretending encounter with snow. But due to Maria's company transferring her for the second time and coping with the recent divorce, booking the air tickets got lost in the deep abyss of things to do.

Gabriella, of course, was not happy when she was told they were going to Albuquerque rather than the Alps. She tried crying, whining, everything, but her mother wouldn't budge.

"Darling, it snows in Albuquerque…" she recalled her mom reasoning with her days ago.

"Occasionally. It snows occasionally. I Googled it." Gabriella's voice was thick with defiance.

Currently, she was sitting on the Bolton's porch swing, arms crossed, grumbling about her mother dragging her to the New Years' Eve party their across-the-street neighbors threw, her mouth was set in a frown. All the adults merely laughed at her attempt to look enraged and call her adorably precocious.

Not the reaction she wanted.

The New Mexican evening breeze was chilly but tolerable, yet the girl wore her matching mittens and snow cap she didn't get the chance to wear, as if she were outside in the snow.

"Hey," a voice broke her angry train of thoughts. "I'm Troy."

Gabriella looked up at a 10-year-old boy she recognized as the boy who stared at her curiously from the top of the stairs when she and her mom arrive at the door. She refused to shake his hand, huffed and turned her head away from him.

Troy was a little surprised. Most girls at school giggled and blushed when he talked to them. However, he was unfazed. "You're the new girl from across the street."

No reply.

"I like your mittens."

Gabriella gave him the tiniest smile. "My mom got them for me 'cause we were supposed to spend winter vacation in Switzerland."

He looked at her blankly. "Where's that?"

Rolling her eyes, she said, "I'll show you where it is if you have a globe."

Troy pondered for a while. "I think I have one of those in my tree house-"

"You have a tree house?" She cut him off, excitement shining in her eyes. Gabriella always wanted to build one with her dad, but ever since he and her dad separated…

"C'mon! I'll take you there if you let me wear your mittens."

"Deal!" she was already taking off her left mitten.

~*~

A half hour after 'Happy New Year's were exchanged, Lucille Bolton got tired of beckoning Troy and Gabriella down from the tree house and finally went up the ladder herself to escort them down.

"So, I guess you had fun at the party." Maria commented on her daughter's mysterious disappearance.

Gabriella confessed unwillingly, "It was alright." She couldn't suppress the smile that lit up her face.

"Care to explain what happened to your mittens?" her mother's eyes zeroed in on her bare hands.

January 1, 2004 12:30AM

"No way."

"Yes way!"

"No way."

"Yes way!"

The two best friends were perched on the edge of the tree house, swinging their legs as they bantered, back and forth.

It was the third year in a row Gabriella spent New Years' Eve at the Bolton's. Spending time with Troy at the party became the highlight of her winter vacation. Nothing beat sneaking food up to the tree house like smugglers crossing the borders and eating all the evidence. But most of the time, they sat and exchanged exaggerated tales of their holidays, satisfied with just spending time together.

"Your dad would never let you drink anything alcoholic."

"Well, he did! He let me drink beer!" Troy insisted.

"Only grown-ups can drink that."

In an attempt to look manly, he puffed out his chest. "He said I was already a man."

"You're not a man. You're only 12." Retorted Gabriella, not easily fooled.

Sure, Gabriella was a smart girl, but even an idiot could see through his bluff. Perhaps it was how he couldn't look her in the eye, or the way his hands were balled into tight fists. Whatever it was, she knew he was lying ever since the topic was brought up. Gabriella loved to debate and she couldn't resist backing down, since it would be an easy battle.

"Oh, what do you know? You're 10. And 12 beats 10. I know 'cause I checked."

"You don't even shave."

"I do so shave!"

"I don't believe you. I won't believe you even if you crossed your heart or your eyes."

Troy searched for a good comeback. He came up short. "… He still gave me beer."

"I didn't see you drink any of it."

"Dad gave some to me before everyone else came. He didn't want to get you jealous."

"Jealous?! I'm not jealous of anyone, especially you, because, you didn't drink beer and it's not even nice." Gabriella wrinkled her nose in the direction of emerald cans in a cooler box of ice, the bright rainbow of party lights above them glinting off their shiny metal surface.

"I had a whole can all to myself. Plus, it was really 'freshening. I can still taste it in my mouth."

"No you can't!" Gabriella rolled her eyes. His lies were getting more ridiculous.

"Yes I can!"

"Nuh-uh!"

"Yea-huh! And I can prove it!"

"How?"

"I bet you could taste it if you kissed me. In fact, I dare you to kiss me."

Troy knew Gabriella loved to take up challenges as much as she enjoyed arguing, so it came as no surprise when she accepted.

Taking a deep breath, he leaned towards Gabriella slowly. He could feel her breath on his face as he prayed that this would be as cool as his older cousin told him. This is it, he thought, watching Gabriella's eyelids flutter close.

"Wait!" her voice broke the spell cast over the atmosphere.

"What?" impatience coloured Troy's words.

"What do I get if I don't taste anything?"

"Err…" he wasn't planning this. "Um… you get to keep Robo Rob for a half a day."

"I don't want your robot!"

"The more important question is- what do I get if I'm right?"

"One, you are not right! Two, you already get to rob me of my first kiss, what more do you want?"

"Wait. Why did you agree to kiss if you knew I was wrong?"

Gabriella shrugged, putting up a nonchalant façade. "I just want to… to-um-to expose you!" She sounded like a cop on the crime shows she watched without her mom's knowledge.

"I bet you wanted to kiss me." grinned Troy.

Busted.

"No, I didn't!"

"Yes, you did!"

"No, I didn't!"

There went another twenty minutes.

Finally, Lucille hollered for them to climb down. It was a signal that their night was coming to an end.

"Whatever." Gabriella stood up and brushed her denim skirt.

Before she could start the descend from the tree house, Troy grabbed her arm and pulled her into an embrace. He ducked his head and kissed her.

It lasted only a few seconds, but it was enough to slap a big smile on both their faces.

They looked at each other for a moment, their eyes hazed with delight.

"Troy! Gabriella! Get down now! It's way past bedtime!"

Chuckling, Troy withdrew his arms from Gabriella's petite frame.

"Back to serious stuff," she said. "I didn't taste any beer, so we'll talk about my reward in the morning."

The smile on Troy's face evaporated.

"Will you settle for an IOU?"

December 31, 2009 8:55 PM

A snow of tissues littered the area around Gabriella's bed.

Sniffing, Gabriella reached for the tissue box on her bedside table. Alas, it was empty.

"Ugh." She groaned. Slowly she creaked off her semi-comfortable position, limbs stiff from a 9-hour-slumber. Sitting up on her bed, she let the world tilt a bit before everything fell motionless.

"Ugh." She reiterated for emphasis.

Gabriella was dressed simply in the white t-shirt and shorts she wore the day before. Unfortunately, the flu bug decided she didn't deserve parole for staying in bed the entire day before. This meant that she couldn't attend the Boltons' Annual New Year's Eve party.

(As her best girlfriend would say) Fabulous.

Maria was insistent that she stay home with her poor daughter, but she was met with an as-strong-as-she-could-muster protest from Gabriella.

As much as she tried to deny, Gabriella knew her mom loved the Bolton family (almost) as much as she did.

So now, she was stuck at home, all alone on New Years' Eve… or so she thought…

"Open up!" a muffled shout rang out.

Startled, she spun around to face a teenaged boy on her balcony.

"What are you doing?" she hissed when she finally managed to trudge to the French window and let the intruder in, her voice horse.

"I'm here to spring you… Boy, your mom wasn't kidding when she said you were sick. You look horrible!" Troy teased.

Gabriella pursed her lips. "Thanks for the compliment." She deadpanned. "But I can't go, I need to rest and try not to spread this virus around. Direct orders."

"Haven't you slept enough, you lazy pig! You're practically cured! Throw on some fresh clothes and let's move! You can put on clothes by yourself right?"

30 minutes later, she didn't know how she did it, but she was in a blue long-sleeved top and jeans. Troy practically dragged her downstairs and shoved her out the door.

Gabriella shuffled at snail's pace behind Troy. Before her, the Boltons' house was adorned with decorations and glowed dimly with colourful strings of light, reused every year.

"Could you move any slower?" commented Troy, pivoting around.

"Well too bad. You were the one who dragged me out of bed…"she grumbled, stopping in her tracks.

"Wrong!" he exclaimed. "I saw you get out of bed, so technically I didn't 'drag' you. And I just thought you wanted to enjoy New Years' Eve with moi. To think, my consideration and kindness went unrecognized…"

She just rolled her eyes. Troy was still as immature as before, though his vocabulary and pronunciation improved quite considerably.

And no, they weren't dating. Bringing up the kiss they shared 5 years ago was like a taboo. They never confessed how they really felt towards each other, though they teased and flirted mercilessly, shrugging it off as 'best friend stuff'.

Chad said they were gross. Sharpay, on the other hand, would coo at how adorable they were and tint their cheeks with blush.

Chad and Sharpay were Juniors-going-on-Seniors. The two of them (and a few others) made up Troy and Gabriella's close knit of friends. They all met when Troy started High School and included Gabriella as 'The Baby Sister' of their family.

Troy assessed Gabriella, narrowing his eyes down to slits as if he were looking at an abstract piece of art. Then, without a warning, he flung her over his shoulder and made detour, running faster than expected with the extra weight.

"Troy! Put me down! Now! What are you doing?" Gabriella pounded weakly at his back.

"If we want to be fugitives, we need to do it right! Evidently, you were walking too slowly and made us very conspicuous."

"Fugitives?!" she cried. "We aren't kids Troy! This isn't a game! Now put me down!"

Her cries were ignored.

After they made it safely to the Boltons' backyard without being spotted by anyone, Troy finally put Gabriella on her feet.

"Thank you. But was sneaking around really necessary?"

"Yes!" he answered like it was the most obvious thing in the world. "We are spies trying to make it alive to our headquarters. Then we'll figure out how to sneak food up there and not make anyone suspicious. As for the rest of the night… We'll figure something out eventually…"

"FYI, you're supposed to be 2 years older than me. And we aren't in Mission Impossible!"

A cheeky smile played on his lips. "You're never too old to have fun! I might act younger than my actual age, but you act a lot older than yours. 20 years from now, I'll still retain my youthful, carefree deposition, while you'll get the Senior Citizens' discount at Yoga class."

"Yoga class?"

They debated the probability of that happening as they sat in the tree house, sidetracking frequently, but never going off topic.

"I'm just saying, you'll never know what gonna happen in the future. I mean for all you know, you could be living in an apartment full of cats on this very day 40 years into the future."

"Very funny, Troy. But I guess you really can't control your future. No matter how hard you try."

"Especially the apocalypse. No one can control when all of humanity will perish."

"Apocalypse or not, I'll be forever grateful that you were part of my life."

"Woah there! I didn't order a truck load of cheese and sap." She caught Troy off-guard, but nonetheless, he couldn't fight the smile that dominated his face.

They smiled at each other, letting a warm silence coat the air.

"I still can't believe we met like 10 years ago…" Troy said.

"Actually, it was 8 years ago." Gabriella corrected. "But I know what you're talking about. It's so surreal. Imagine if I actually went to Switzerland that year. I never would have gotten to know my best friend."

"You probably would've met me at a play date my mom arranged."

"Yeah… But we wouldn't be as close as were are now."

"Exactly!"

"And this tree house wouldn't mean so much to us."

"Remember six years ago? On New Years' Eve?"

Uh oh.

"No?" It sounded more like a question.

This isn't happening! Gabriella thought. It would be so awkward if we talked about it!

"Remember? My dad gave me beer and you didn't believe me? Ring any bells?"

Whew. Crisis averted.

"Oh, that! Yeah… And for the record you didn't drink any beer."

"And we kissed, remember?"

Crisis not averted.

"Um…" Gabriella didn't know what to say. What if one topic led to another and she accidentally confessed her feelings towards him? Things would never be the same…

"Aw! Look at Wittle Brie! Embarrassed by a kiss!"

"Am not!"

All her shyness dissipated and her passion for arguing was revived by Troy's obvious attempt to provoke her.

"Are too!"

"Am not!"

"I can't believe you're blushing at our first kiss!"

"I am not blushing!"

"Do you regret losing your first real kiss to me?"

"No!"

It took her a moment to register why he was grinning like that.

"I mean yes. Yes, I regret giving you my first kiss." A real blush began to creep up her cheek.

"No you don't! You don't regret! Ha-ha!"

"Stop acting so immature! Stop it!"

No matter how much Gabriella pleaded, Troy wouldn't stop taunting her.

"You're so in love with me!"

"I am not in love with you!"

"I bet I had you swooning when we first met."

"Not when we first met…" Gabriella murmured, then instantly regretted it.

"What was that?" Troy cupped a hand around his ear.

Silence.

"You're not sick! You're love sick!"

"Ok, fine!" she snapped. "I'm in love with you! Happy?"

Right after she said that, Troy bent down and captured her lips in a kiss.

Gabriella was shocked when she started kissing back.

When they finally broke apart, they both had smiles wiped on their faces.

"What was that for?" she asked.

Troy shrugged. "Can't blame me! I was over the moon when you said you loved me."

Gabriella looked down and played with her hands. "Does this mean you love me back?"

"What do you think?"

She was about to answer when her cell phone started vibrating.

"Why do girls bring their cell phones along with them everywhere, even while they're half-conscious and sick before leaving the house?"

Gabriella didn't respond and answered her phone.

She didn't get to say 'Hello' before Shapay launched into a monologue.

"Where did you disappear to? I arrived at the Troy's house with my family, fashionably late for the party and offered to check up on you. And when I knocked and nobody answered, I was terrified that some weird psycho barged into your house and tried to kill you. I tried to open the front door, and, guess what, it was unlocked! I thought the killer was already in the house, so I had to get Ryan to go upstairs to your room to check if you were still alive. I mean, for all I know, the guy could've murdered Ryan and no one would bring me my morning Starbucks ever again. And when he got up there, do you know who he saw? No one! He saw no one, because you-"

From the high-pitched, loud screech the phone emitted, Troy knew it was the one and only Sharpay.

He grabbed the phone from Gabriella hands and interrupted Sharpay's rant.

"Excuse me Ms Evans. This is Troy Bolton speaking. Please stop harassing my girlfriend and leave us alone." Then, he hung up.

He handed Gabriella her cell phone and beamed at her. "Now, where were we?"

"Girlfriend?"