Chapter 1:
Chapter 1:
Gabriella Montez was standing in the dimly lighted auditorium at East High, waiting for her boyfriend Troy Bolton, to finish detention with Ms. Darbus. It was a cloudy Friday in late September and Gabriella was anxious to get home before it started raining. But Troy was her ride home and so far, he wasn't anywhere on the stage.
"Hey, Chad," Gabriella called to Chad Danforth, Troy's best friend. Chad smiled his ear to ear grin and walked over. "Have you seen Troy?"
"Hey," Troy whispered in Gabriella's ear. Chad nodded, with a playful grin on his face and went to join Zeke taping paper leaves to a cardboard tree. "So, my parents are away for the weekend," Troy whispered, still in Gabriella's ear. Gabriella giggled. Troy was always trying to come up with ways to get his parents to leave town, so they could be alone.
"Oh really?" Gabriella answered, putting on a playful smile.
"Yeah, I was wondering if you wanted to come over?" Troy asked, intertwining his fingers into Gabriella's. "You can sleep over, if you want. My bed is big enough." Gabriella averted her eyes. Whenever she was about to say no to something, Troy used his amazing blue eyes to break her.
"Well, Troy," she said to the red seat behind him, "My mom really wouldn't let me, if she knew." Troy lowered his head and tried to catch her eye.
"You don't have to tell her," Troy said, angling his head, so it was hard not to look at him. "Tell her you're sleeping over Taylor's house." Troy put his hand under her chin and gently lifted her head up to meet his. Gabriella raised her eyes and made the mistake of looking into Troy's eyes. She sighed and smiled.
"Fine," she said, "I'll be over at around seven."
Troy walked around Gabriella and slipped his hands around her waist and murmured in her ear, "Can you come earlier? I'm a good cook." Troy's lips were lightly pressing against Gabriella's ear as he spoke and Gabriella had a hard time saying no.
"Alright, fine." Gabriella sighed, amazed at the spell Troy had on her. Troy smiled and kissed Gabriella on the cheek. Gabriella smiled and grabbed Troy's hand.
"Let's get out of here." Gabriella let Troy lead her to his car. When Troy dropped Gabriella off at home, she packed a pair of pajamas and clothes for the next day, and her hygiene products. Since it was only late in the afternoon, Gabriella laid down on her bed and flipped through the channels.
"Hey, Mom," Gabriella called, searching for her mom. "Mom!" She found her mom cooking in the kitchen.
"Ooh," Gabriella said, feeling a little guilty at the sight of her mom cooking for two, when only one was eating. "I hope you are going to be able to eat that all by yourself, Mom," Gabriella said, breathing in the smell of her mother's home cooking. "Tr—Taylor invited me to s-sleep over hi—her house." Gabriella hoped her voice didn't sound as quivery to her mom as it did to her.
"Oh, no problem." Her mom waved Gabriella away, not suspecting anything. "There'll just be more for leftovers. Go! Go, have fun! Call me tomorrow morning." Gabriella waved goodbye to her mom and walked out. She drove to Troy's house and was there in a few minutes.
She knocked on the door and Troy answered quickly. He pulled her in and she inhaled deeply. It smelt like Italian food and brownies. Gabriella giggled. Only Troy would think a romantic dinner would include brownies.
"So what do you want to do now?" Troy asked, after dinner was over. He slipped his hands around Gabriella's waist and kissed her on the cheek. Gabriella blushed and turned around. She slung her arms around Troy's neck and kissed him.
"I don't know," she said, checking the clock on the microwave. It said 7:45 PM. "I guess we could just watch a movie." Troy unraveled himself from Gabriella and walked into the living room to pick out a movie. Gabriella followed and stood by as he sorted through the stacks of movies. When he finally picked one, he stood up and led Gabriella to his room.
In Troy's room, Gabriella sat down on Troy's bed as he inserted the movie into the DVD player. As soon as the movie was all set up, Troy climbed across his bed and laid his hand on Gabriella's back. He lay down in the middle of the bed and Gabriella followed and snuggled up to him. He put his arm around her and she laid her head on his chest.
Gabriella raised her eyes up and looked at Troy, who lowered his eyes from the screen. He smiled at her and leaned in to kiss her. She met his lips and pulled away. She laid her head back on his chest and relaxed.
Beep, beep! Troy's alarm clock went off. Troy wiped his eyes quickly and silenced it before Gabriella woke up. She stirred beside him and he smoothed her hair.
"Go back to sleep, Gabbie," Troy murmured into her ear and kissed the top of her head. He dressed in his work out gear and poured himself a bowl of cereal. He carried the bowl back to his bed and turned on the T.V. He finished quickly and when he came back from putting away his bowl, Gabriella was await and sitting up.
"Hey," Troy said softly, crawling across the bed and kissing Gabriella on top of her head. She smiled softly and cuddled up to Troy.
"Gabbie," Troy began, softly, "I have basketball practice." Gabriella hugged him and sighed.
"On a Saturday morning at 8:30 AM?" Gabriella moaned, squeezing Troy slightly. Troy chuckled softly.
"Well, we're serious about winning. We want to win for the second year in a row," Troy said, wrapping one arm Gabriella and squeezing her back.
"But it's not even basketball season yet," Gabriella giggled-moaned. "Besides, your dad's out of town, whose running practice?" Gabriella unwrapped herself from Troy and pulling her bag out from under the bed.
"The assistant coach is—"
"Troy! Where are you?" A deep voice interrupted him. Gabriella whipped her head around and locked eyes with Troy. He widened his eyes with panic and surprise.
"I thought you said they'd be gone the whole week!" Gabriella panic-whispered. Troy shrugged his shoulders and began helping Gabriella throw her things into her bag.
"I thought so too!" Troy exclaimed as Troy's dad called again. "Uh, one second Dad!" Troy called back. Gabriella looked around the room to make sure there was no evidence she was there, while Troy frantically searched the room for somewhere to hide Gabriella. He looked at the part of his bedspread that hung over the side of his bed and flipped it up.
"Under here!" Troy urged, beckoning Gabriella under his bed. Gabriella tucked her long curly hair behind her ears and crawled under Troy's bed. Troy dropped the comforter back down and flopped on his bed before he called his dad in.
"Come on," Mr. Bolton said, rubbing his hands together excitely. "Practice is strating soon. Let's go!" Mr. Bolton stepped into the room and peered curiously at the floor near the bed.
"Son?" Mr. Bolton leaned over and picked up a black ballet flat "Why is Gabriella's shoe here?" Troy leaned over the side of his bed that didn't face his dad, pretending to tie his shoe. Gabriella widened her eyes and panic-blinked. Troy winked, trying to calm her down.
"Troy." Mr. Bolton's voice was laced with anger and suspicion. "Is Gabriella here right now?" Troy looked around the room trying to think of an excuse.
"Um, well," Troy began a smiled forming on his face as an idea formed in his head. "I bought a present for Gabriella. But I accidentally lost the other shoe." Mr. Bolton chuckled.
"Do you want me to help you find it?" Mr. Bolton said, moving towards the bed. "We can look before—"
"NO!" Troy cried and dashed in between his dad and his bed. "I mean, we'll be late. We should go." Mr. Bolton rasied his eyebrows and some susipicion returned to his eyes.
"No, no," he began, lifting up the comforter. "It's fine. I'm a coach. We can be late." Troy swore under his breath as his dad bent over and examined under the bed.
"Well, hi there. Gabriella," Mr. Bolton said, leaning over and pulling Gabriella out.
"Hi," Gabriella mumbled, flustered, brushing her hair out of her face.
"I think you should go now." Mr. Bolton pointed to the door. Gabriella nodded and ran out the door without looking back.