Gabriella's phone suddenly rang. She picked it up and answered. "Hello?"
"Hey it's Troy," Troy said.
Gabriella smiled. "Hey, Troy, what's up?"
"Nothing much, you?"
Gabriella laughed. "No, really, why did you call?"
Troy laughed nervously. "Um, I was just wondering i-if you w-wanted to you know...hang out tonight?"
Gabriella was shocked. "Hang out? Like the two of us?"
"Like a date," Troy blurted.
Gabriella felt her heart skip a beat. "Wow, I'd love to!"
"Cool! I'll pick you up at 8 o' clock, then?"
Then she felt a pang of disappointment. "O-oh, sorry, Troy. Not tonight. I have plans."
"Plans?" Troy was suspicious. "With who?"
Oh, no! She thought. He thinks I'm flaking out on him!
"Oh, just with Sharpay and Taylor at six," she reassured him.
"Oh, okay, then..." he said disappointedly. "I wouldn't want to intrude on your girls' night out, then..."
Gabriella beamed. "Thanks Troy, you're the best! See you later." She hung up the phone.
--
There was a knock at the door at six o' clock sharp. "Coming!" Gabriella shouted. She ran over to the door. "Hey, Shar! Where's Taylor?"
Sharpay shrugged. "Sorry, I don't know. She didn't come with me, but she said she'd be here right away."
Gabriella nodded. "Oh, okay. Come on in and grab a seat. Are you in the mood for a night of endless popcorn and chick flicks?"
"You know I am!" Sharpay said excitedly. She and Gabriella got started on making the brownies for twenty minutes.
Suddenly, there was another knock at the door. "Oh, that's probably Taylor," Gabriella said, and ran to open the door.
"Hey, guys," Taylor greeted them, handing a tray of party food over to Gabriella. "Did a lot happen when I wasn't here?"
Sharpay shook her head. "Not really, we were just starting on the brownies. Where were you, Taylor?"
Taylor wouldn't look Sharpay in the eye. "Oh...nowhere. Hey, how 'bout those chick flicks, huh, guys?"
Gabriella nodded solemnly. "Yeah, which one do you guys want to watch first? The Wedding Crashers or Failure to Launch?"
"Hey, how about a play-by-play of Thursday night's game?" Taylor suggested, pulling out a DVD from her purse.
"Ooh, cool!" Sharpay squealed. "I bet Zeke scored a hundred points!" The girls watched the game for about ten minutes.
"Oh, look at Troy there! He scored another slam dunk!" Gabriella couldn't help but say excitedly. "He is so good!"
Taylor looked at Gabriella. "Are you okay, Gabby? You keep mentioning Troy."
Sharpay raised an eyebrow. "You like him, don't you, Gabriella?"
Gabriella's cheeks turned a bright shade of red. "L-like him? Why do you think I like him?"
"Maybe because you keep mentioning his name and squealing and turning red like you are right now," Taylor suggested. Her cheeks turned even redder.
"Okay..." she finally gave in. "I like him...and he asked me out tonight," she added quietly.
Taylor and Sharpay squealed. "OMG, OMG, OMG!!!" she shouted. "WHY ARE YOU STILL HERE WHEN TROY BOLTON THE HOTTIE SUPER BOMB OF THE YEAR ASKED YOU OUT TONIGHT?!?!"
Gabriella plugged her ears. "Calm down, you guys! I told him no because we had plans tonight."
Taylor sighed frustratingly. "You should have gone! We would've totally understood!"
Sharpay kept quiet and stuffed her face with brownies.
Gabriella sighed. "Maybe you're right...but I don't think I could. We wouldn't have anything to talk about!"
"You could've talked about anything!" Taylor said. "You have so much in common!"
Sharpay swallowed her brownie. "No, Gabby's right, Taylor. She was being a good friend to not back out of her previous engagements."
Gabriella sighed and laid down on the couch. "See, Taylor? Shar knows. Maybe we should just forget about it..."
--
Troy and Chad were in a bar/grill downtown. "Aw, man, Chad, I totally screwed up with Gabriella," Troy groaned.
Chad took a sip of his drink. "What do you mean, dude?"
"Well...I asked her out tonight...and she told me she had other plans." Troy sighed.
"WHOA, YOU ASKED GABBY OUT?! LIKE ON A DATE?!" Chad exclaimed.
"Don't try to sound so surprised," Troy said miserably.
"Wait wait wait, hold on...she had other plans? What kind of other plans?" Chad interrogated.
"Don't get the wrong idea, man. She on a girls' night out at six with Sharpay and Taylor." Troy explained.
"With Sharpay and Taylor...?" Chad whispered in disbelief.
"What, man?" Troy asked, seeing the look on Chad's face.
Chad hated seeing his best friend get hurt, but he had to tell him now... "Uh, I don't know if you got punk'd, or what, dude, but...Taylor was out with me at six o' clock..."
"What...?" Troy said is disbelief. "She couldn't have...WHAT?! YOU ASKED OUT TAYLOR?!"
"Don't try to sound so surprised," Chad shot back. "And yes, she was. We were at the movies together."
Troy gasped. "Do you know what this means? Gabriella flaked out on me!"
Chad nodded. "I'm afraid so, my friend.
Troy shook his head. "This isn't over, man. I won't be made a fool of by a freaky math girl!"
--
It was the next morning, and Troy still hadn't gotten over the fact that he had been such a fool. Suddenly, his phone rang. "Hello?" he said, picking it up.
"Hi, Troy," said a familiarly sweet voice. "It's Sharpay."
"Hey, Shar," he said. "So what's up?"
She hesitated. "Um, well, uh...I know that you asked out Gabby and all, but..."
Troy's anger welled up at the mention of her name. "No," he said firmly. "Wherever you heard that, it's a lie."
Sharpay was surprised. "What? Really?" she said excitedly. "Well then...I was wondering if you wanted to go out with me tonight to Romano's Italian restaurant..."
This was the perfect payback. "Sure, Sharpay. I'll see you there at seven."
That was easier than Sharpay had even thought. "Okay, then, bye Troy!"
--
"Come on, Gabby," Taylor encouraged. "Do it, just call him already! There's nothing to it."
Gabriella took a deep breath. Taylor was right. By asking her out, he had already admitted that he liked her, so what was the problem?
"Okay, I'll call him," Gabriella decided firmly as Taylor squealed with delight.
She dialed in the numbers and listened intently as it rang. Finally, Troy picked up.
"Hello?" said Troy's voice.
"Hello?" Gabriella whispered quietly. She waited for a while. There was no answer.
A/N: Ooh...what'll happen?? I'm not so sure about the plot...so I'll need at least 5 reviews before I update more. Thanks, luv y'all!
