Disclaimer: I don't own HSM or any songs I mention!

Author: Alleycat

Story: Everybody Knows

Growing up is hard. It's a lot harder when you're in love with your best friend and everyone knows it-except her.

I'm BAAACCCKKK! How ominous! Its summer (even though I'm taking classes) and this has been swirling around my head. Title comes from the Ryan Adams song which was a little bit of an inspiration. I just can't leave these two alone! About the first three chapters span their relationship. The actual storyline starts in 11th grade.

Please give this a chance and let me know what you think.

And we don't notice any time pass
we don't notice anything
we sit side by side in every class
teacher thinks that I sound funny
but she likes the way you sing

Tonight I'll dream while I'm in bed
when silly thoughts go through my head
about the bugs and alphbet
and when I wake tommorow I'll bet
that you and I will walk together again
cause I can tell that we're going to be friends

~ The White Stripes, "We're Going to be Friends"

Chapter 1

The first time he saw her was in the fifth grade.

He had been goofing off with his best friend Chad at the time. They were attempting to play paper football when the teacher's back was turned. A knock interrupted the chatter of the whole classroom.

Troy straightened up. He was sure it was the principal or his dad. He remembered how embarrassing his dad had been in front of the entire classroom. He wished it was the principal.

The door opened and he saw how wrong he was.

She was small with short curly dark hair. Her skin was darker than his and her big eyes reminded him of his mother's expensive coffee or that Disney movie with the deer. She was wearing a dress and tights.

And he was entranced.

His eyes followed her as she walked to the white board and handed Mrs. Swallie a pass.

"Listen up," The teacher said even though the class had gone quiet already. "We have a new student joining us .Her name is Gabriella. Do you want to say a couple things to the class?"

Gabriella shook her head, a light blush showing on her cheeks.

Troy thought she was the cutest thing he had ever seen.

The teacher started muttering to herself. "We'll need to find you a seat and a buddy to help you." Her voice rose. "Any volunteers?"

Troy's hand shot up before she had finished the question. Gabriella giggled and Troy looked over at her to see her smiling at him. He smiled back so brightly it caused his cheeks to ache.

"Thank you Taylor," The teacher complimented, drawing his attention away from the girl."If you want to get in the empty seat in the back-"

"Hey," Troy protested loudly, glaring at Taylor. "I volunteered first! That's not fair!"

"Troy," Mrs. Swallie said warningly. "I picked Taylor already, now if she is willing to allow you to be-"

"No way," Taylor huffed.

Troy wanted to throw something at her. "Please," He asked through clenched teeth.

"Nope," She said popping the "p" happily.

Troy opened his mouth to respond when the teacher interrupted them and continued with the lesson.

He sat stewing in his seat, spending half the time glaring at Taylor and the other turning around and just looking at Gabriella. He completely ignored Chad when he threw a paper football at him.

"What is going on with you?" Chad asked as they got in line to eat at lunch.

"Nothing," Troy muttered distractedly. He was still trying to get a glimpse of the new girl.

"Looking for someone?" A sweet voice asked behind him. He whirled around to see the object of his search with an annoyed Taylor behind her.

"Not anymore," He assured her and held out her hand. "I'm Troy."

"Gabriella," She replied, slipping her hand into his."It's nice to meet you."

He nodded, smiling. Their hands were still bobbing up and down.

"Can you move up?" Taylor snapped and gestured to the space that accrued since he looked at Gabriella.

"Uh yeah," He muttered, completely embarrassed.

"So where are you sitting?"Troy asked her as she paid for her meal. If he had any extra money, he would've treated her. Maybe he could ask his mother for some extra tonight.

"She is sitting with me," Taylor answered with narrowed eyes.

"Well mind if I join you?" He asked ignoring Chad and his attempts to get him to leave the girls alone.

"She's my buddy," Taylor hmmphed. "So no you cannot."

"Just because she's your buddy doesn't mean I can't hang out with her either," Troy argued. "Now where are we sitting?"

Taylor stomped toward an empty table and the twosome followed her. Gabriella sent him a small smile that made everything worth it.

"Where do you live?"Troy wondered.

"We just moved into the tan house on Comfort Street." She said between bites. She ate very cleanly and very girly.

The whole lunch had turned into a Q & A with Troy starring as the interrogator and Taylor inserting snappy comments targeted at him. Chad looked annoyed but Gabriella had a smile on her face as they talked. He listened with an attention that always escaped him during lessons.

"Really? That's the house next to mine," He announced excitedly. "Do you wanna walk home with me and Chad?"

"My mom is picking me up today," Gabriella said apologetically as he visibly deflated. "Perhaps she could take you guys home today since we live so close? Then I could introduce the idea of us walking together."

"That sounds great!" He replied, thrown off by the complicated words she used. She sounded like an adult.

"I wanna walk," Chad said glaring at Troy.

"I would like a ride then," Troy gave his friend a weird look before taking a huge bit of his hamburger and trying to think of more questions.

Troy waved goodbye to his friend before climbing into the backseat of Gabriella's mom's car. He sent a nervous smile to the woman as the introductions were made. She invited him for dinner and he accepted without even thinking about asking his parents.

"I'm going to put my stuff away and I'll be back," He promised before running across the yard to his house. He opened the door and threw his book bag on the floor. "I'm leaving!"

"Hold on a moment," His mom called, rushing down the hallway. "Why are you home so early?"

He huffed, "I got a ride."

Her eyebrows rose. "From who?"

"This new girl's mom. They moved in next door and they invited me to dinner." He turned to leave but his mom restrained him.

"Why did you ride with someone you don't know and without asking me first?"

"Because I wanted to hang out with Gabriella," He said as if it was the most obvious thing in the whole world.

Lucille tried not to look shocked. "It's still dangerous."

"Okay, I'm sorry."He apologized without actually looking like he meant it. "Now can I go?"

She hesitated. "Well, I don't know. These people are strangers."

"Please," He whined "You're always telling me to make more friends outside of basketball. I really wanna go!"

Lucille looked thoughtful for a moment. "How about we both go over there? I just made some cookies that I can bring over to welcome them to the neighborhood."

He nodded but tapped his foot impatiently as she went to the kitchen to retrieve the plate.

Please review! Like should I continue?

If I do then next chapter is going to skip a few grades!

Also, chapters will eventually get longer!