Disclaimer: I own nothing

Chapter 3: Excuses and Dancing

Gabriella carefully opened the door to her house and walked inside. She'd never gotten in trouble for a stunt like this before, but she could never be too careful. "Hey sweetie you're home!" She sighed in relief, her mother didn't sound upset.

Walking into the kitchen she gave her mother a grin, "Morning mom."

"You with the girls?" Lucille asked her daughter.

"Yeah, you know how it is, we were just so exhausted we all crashed at Tay's." Gabriella lied cleanly. "We're all going to chill today at the mall if that's okay."

"Of course it is darling." Gabriella turned around and saw her dad, Greg, standing in the doorway with a smile on his face. "How are Taylor and Ashley?"

"They're good, morning daddy." Gabriella skipped over and gave her dad a light kiss before trotting up the stairs in relief.

Gabriella shut her room door and slid to the floor. She put her hands in her head as she thought about what she was about to risk on Friday. Her parents would more than likely kill her if they found out she'd made the sober decision to go out with Troy. They could probably forgive a drunken one-night stand since her judgment would be impaired, but not a date. A date. Gabriella smiled. She hadn't been on a nice old-fashioned date in a long time and the truth was, she wanted to go on one. What scared her though was that she really wanted to go on one with Troy Bolton. He was like a drug, and she was officially addicted.

Shaking her head she stood up and grabbed her phone, sending a text to Taylor she asked if they could meet at 2 o'clock at the mall. In less than a minute she got a response, 'Sure'. Now all she needed was an excuse as to how she got home. She'd have to think that one through…

Taking a deep breath she walked into the bathroom and turned the shower on hot, stripping down, she jumped inside, letting the water relax her aching muscles. It'd been a long time since she'd had sex too. Troy was right, she turned down guys that were only after one thing all the time. Explains the lack of dates.


Troy glanced at his phone again. Everyone was sitting outside in Chad's backyard. The guys had just finished a one-on-one game, while Kelsi, Sharpay, and Ryan watched.

"What's up with you and you're phone?" Sharpay asked, "And where did you disappear to last night?"

Troy smirked, "Where do you think?" He asked. Everyone rolled their eyes.

"Who was it?" Chad asked.

Troy shrugged, "Don't remember, Kelly maybe?" Again he received four sets of rolled eyes. Taking a deep breath he flipped his phone opened and typed a quick text message, 'Did you get in okay? TB'

"Who was that to?" Kelsi asked quietly.

"Dad, wants to practice, I told him we were." Troy rolled his eyes, "With this hangover still slightly here I could do without the intense workout." Chad nodded his agreement taking another sip of water.

"So we were thinking…" Sharpay began.

"No, Shar, please no." Chad begged.

"We want to go to the mall." Kelsi looked at the three guys with big brown eyes.

Troy, Chad, and Ryan looked at each other, knowing they had a soft spot in their hearts for both of these girls and that if they wanted to go to the mall, they'd go with them, "Fine." They succumbed.

"Meet us there at 2." Sharpay instructed as she and Kelsi rose, with Ryan following meekly behind them.

"She's piece of work." Chad sighed shaking his slightly damp Afro from sweating.

"No shit, let's shower and change so we can head over there." Troy stood up, shaking his hair out. He glanced at his phone, no response yet.


Gabriella stepped out of the shower and wrapped a towel tightly around her body. As she walked past her bed she noticed her phone was lit up, indicating that she had a text message. Picking it up she smiled,

'Did you get in okay? TB'

Typing in a reply she sent 'Yeah, thanks for the ride, what about you? GM'

Grabbing a pair of jeans and a t-shirt she quickly got ready to head out to the mall.

Gabriella pulled into one of the few empty parking spots at the mall. Sighing she leaned her head on the steering wheel, "I hate parking at the mall." She moaned before shutting her car off.

As she walked towards the entrance to the huge mall a ringing brought her out of her thoughts of getting an outfit for Friday night, pulling her phone out of her purse she smiled, 'Yup, and I'm hanging with the gang now. TB'.

Her smile widened, 'Me too. GM'. She sent the message just as she heard her name being called, "Bella!" Looking up she saw Zeke flagging her down, with Taylor, Jason, and Ashley at his side.

"Hiya girlie!" Taylor squealed as she gave Gabriella a hug.

"Whoa, Tay, what's going on with you?" Gabriella quirked an eyebrow as Taylor blushed.

"You know Matt?" Taylor asked, twirling her a hair a little bit.

"Football Captain Matt?" Gabriella grinned.

"He's taking me to the party on Friday." Ashley, Gabriella, and Taylor began jumping in circles.

"That's so exciting we have to find you something super cute to wear!" Ashley grinned.

"Totally hot!" Gabriella added.

"And you girls will be there right?" Taylor stopped jumping, a worried look crossing her face.

"Of course." Ashley grinned. Before Gabriella could respond her phone rang again.

"One sec." Gabriella pulled it out, 'Turn around. TB' Frowning she typed in a response while looking around her nonchalantly. Inwardly she groaned, 'No fights, please…GM'. She sent it.

"So you're going right?" Taylor asked again.

Gabriella gave a small smile, "Of course." Taylor let out a relieved sigh as Gabriella inwardly groaned again, now all she had to do was get out of it.

"What the fuck?" The three girls turned to see a fuming Zeke and Jason, "What the hell are they doing here?"

The girls turned, a fight was going to break lose. Leading the way Zeke made his way towards the Wildcats. "Bolton!" He basically got in his face.

"Hey there Baylor. What's cracking?" Troy asked in his cool confident voice.

"What are you doing here?" Jason hissed towards Chad.

"Okay, okay, look." Gabriella stepped between the Wildcats and the Knights, "This is the mall, it's no one's territory, so we're just going to have to get along, otherwise someone's going to either get too hurt to play ball or end up in jail." Everyone scoffed at her, "You idiots do know I parked next to three cop cars right?" She tried to direct the statement towards the Wildcats.

"Look there boys, you're girl has to protect you." Chad taunted.

Zeke took a step forward, "Leave Bella out of it." He towered over Chad.

"Zeke, hone, it's so not worth it. Come on, I want to get an outfit for the party." She rested a hand on his waist. Troy's eyes narrowed and she sent him a small look, saying it was just Zeke, no need for jealousy.

Zeke turned slightly, "We're not finished Bella." He looked straight at Troy.

"Fine, you dumbasses can get yourself beat up, but I'm not cleaning any messes up! I'm going shopping." Gabriella turned on her heel when another voice rang through the air.

"Troy do you seriously want to get hauled off to prison? There are policemen outside!" It was Sharpay Evans.

Gabriella stopped and turned, smirking triumphantly, showing she was right. Everyone stopped to look at her sparkly being. "I thought we came here to shop? And how can Kelsi and I shop if you three boys are too busy fighting and can't carry our bags?" She wasn't in the mood to deal with a fight at this point. "I want an outfit for Chad's party on Friday. And I want to start shopping now."

Gabriella looked towards Zeke and Jason, out of the three girls she was the only one brave enough to face the two angry Knights, "Can we go now?" She impatiently tapped her foot.

Sharpay faced Gabriella, "We'll take one half the mall and you take the other half."

"When we meet in the middle we ignore each other." Gabriella finished.

Sharpay nodded, "This is public territory, no one has claims."

"So no one starts a fight. Understood?" Gabriella faced the five boys who were ready to kill each other. No one responded.

"She asked if anyone understood?" Sharpay repeated. She was much more intimidating than Gabriella.

"Yes." The five reluctantly agreed. Gabriella and Sharpay didn't like each other, but they hated cleaning up the battered bodies of the boys or picking them up from the police station even more.

Sharpay and Gabriella nodded to each other, an almost mutual understanding rippling through them as they each led their groups to different ends of the mall.


"I don't understand how you can agree with her on anything." Zeke basically yelled at a very unfased Gabriella.

"It's easy, I have two options, One: Agree with Sharpay, Two: Deal with your fight, which never turns out well and I always get the short end of the straw. At least with Evans' idea I get to shop. I want to look hot on Friday and I can't do that if I'm too busy cleaning up your mess." Gabriella yelled at him, stomping into a store to find a cute outfit.

An hour and a half later they were at the middle of the mall. Gabriella took a deep breath, "No fighting." They stopped and waited.

As the Wildcats approached they could hear Sharpay lecturing them. "If you so much as try to start something I will castrate one of you. Is that clear? I have not found what I'm looking for to wear to this party and I'm trying to impress Michael so you will let me find this outfit." She paused. "Am I understood?"

"Why do you fucking insist on getting along with Montez?" Chad asked. Troy tried to stay calm.

"I'm not getting along with her, and I'm not trying to be her best friend. I simply want my outfit and this is the only solution." Sharpay argued.

"You could just let us beat the shit out of them, you'd get it that way too." Troy commented under his breath.

"Yeah, with those cops watching," she motioned to the three men watching everything from the corner, "that'd go over real well. Instead I'd be hauling your asses out of prison so your parents wouldn't find out." She hissed. "End of discussion."

They met at the center. The three policemen watched the exchange carefully, ready to break up a fight. Sharpay and Gabriella nodded to each other as the two groups peacefully passed. Well, peacefully for each other.

Both girls breathed a sigh of relief as they finished their hunt for an outfit.


On Friday Taylor was having a nervous breakdown. She was freaking out about her date with Matt, Gabriella, on the other hand, was freaking out how to get out of going to the party.

At lunch Taylor was going on and on about it, while everyone listened and Gabriella didn't eat. "Bella are you okay?" Zeke cut into Taylor's rant, "Cause you're not eating."

An idea sparked in Gabriella's mind, "I really don't feel well, I feel like I'm going to be sick." She sighed, "Sorry Tay, but I don't think I'll make the party. Alcohol and me won't sit well." She groaned as a small scream echoed through their cafeteria, "Loud noises and me won't do well either."

Taylor's eyes grew wide before turning into concern for her friend, "It's okay Gabs, I'll be fine. You just sleep. Maybe you should go home early." Gabriella liked the sound of that. Nodding her head she stood up, "I'll call you on Saturday sweetie, I'm sure you'll have a blast."

Ten minutes later Gabriella was singing along to Disturbia on her way home. Pulling in she smiled, her parents were in Sacramento for a basketball conference. Why her mom went she didn't know, and she didn't really care. All she cared about was that she had the house to herself for the weekend, which meant she could meet Troy without a problem.


"Dude I don't understand, you were excited yesterday!" Chad whined loudly.

"I know, I'm just wiped, and I've got this migraine. I really can't go. I just don't feel up to partying tonight." Troy groaned out the response.

"But Troy, you promised." Sharpay sang out.

"Why does it matter? You break yours all the time." Troy pointed out with an eye roll, "Besides it'll be a hit without me and you know it. I'd only bring you down. I'm staying home, end of discussion." Troy stood up, "Since practice is cancelled cause of that conference in Santa Fe I think I'm going home now. Catch up with you guys on Saturday." He waved a goodbye and left the lunchroom. 'Too easy', he thought as he got into his car.


Gabriella paced her room, it was 6:30, she still had fifteen minutes before she needed to leave for her date with Troy and she'd never been so nervous. She looked at the clock, 6:32. She let out a yell and sat on her bed. This would be the longest fifteen minutes of her life.

Troy glanced over at the clock again. A total of four minutes had passed. He laid back on his bed. Time was dragging on and he still had twenty minutes before he needed to leave. He was a wreck, so afraid that she'd realize that being with a Wildcat was bad or something. He shook his head, he didn't seem to care about the social rules. It would be fine, he just had to keep telling himself that.


She parked her car in the dark lot. Sighing she glanced at her clock, she was ten minutes early, but she just couldn't sit in her room that whole time. She was going crazy.

A light shone across her car and she froze. It was someone who'd bust her for not being at the party and for lying. A car pulled into the spot next to hers. No one from West should be here cause they'd all be at Jason's. And everyone from East should be at Danforth's. There were only two other high schools, well public high schools that would know who they were and that they shouldn't be seen together. North and South. She didn't know if they had parties that night or not. Probably though, it was Friday after all.

Taking a breath she chanced a glance at the car next to her. She sighed in relief when she saw it was Troy. Troy felt eyes on him and looked to his left. He smiled and waved her over. Nodding, Gabriella turned her car off and got out. She looked around carefully before running to the passenger side of Troy's car and getting in.

"Hey." She breathed out.

He grinned, "Hey" he leaned over and gave her a kiss on the cheek. "Ready for a long ass drive."

Gabriella leaned back and closed her eyes, "Yeah." Troy nodded and pulled out.

The two sat in silence for about ten minutes, "So how did you get out of Chad's party?" Gabriella finally broke the silence.

Troy chuckled, "I said I wasn't feeling well and went home early. My parents are in Sacramento at a basketball coaches convention thing."

Gabriella giggled, "I may have said and done the exact same thing. That's where my parents are too. Your name will be screamed angrily throughout my house next week."

Troy smiled over at her, "I'd expect nothing less." Gabriella sent him a grin.

"So where are we going?" Gabriella broke the idle chatter after an hour of driving.

"A long way away to a secret place." Troy smirked as she rolled her eyes.

"I'm dressed okay right?" She motioned down to the bright blue long-sleeved dress that hugged her chest and lightly flared out, still managing to reveal her perfect figure.

Troy eyed her up and down, "Yeah, you look great." He sent her a wink before turning back towards the road again.

Gabriella glanced towards Troy, her cheeks still lightly tinted pink. There was no denying it, Troy Bolton was a charmer. He was sexy and confident and knew how to get anything he wanted. Her eyes grew wide, "Oh my God." She muttered.

Troy glanced at her, "What's wrong?"

Gabriella looked over at him and shrunk into the window, "This, you're playing me aren't you? Troy Bolton the charmer! You get whatever the fuck you want. This is a game isn't it? You're going to rub it into Zeke's face and I'm going to be humiliated, West is going to look terrible." Her voice was steadily rising.

Troy sighed in relief when the restaurant came into view, he turned and took Gabriella's small hands in his larger ones after he'd parked the car, "Look at me Brie." Gabriella did as she was told and was met with the piercing blue oceans that could sweep her under with the current of emotions running through them. "I'm not playing you. I'm not really a player at all, if you asked any of my real friends they'd tell you that. Trust me, tonight it's about you and me, that's it. I'm not playing for high stakes here, I just wanted to take you out. I know we had a few too many drinks, but you can't lie. There was something there. I felt it."

Gabriella looked away and muttered, "I felt it too."

Troy gave her a grin and opened his car door. Before she could react her own door was opened and Troy had his hand out, waiting to help her out of the car. Gabriella couldn't help but to smile at the gesture. It was so perfectly gentlemanly.

Once she was outside and the doors were locked, Troy laced their hands together and lightly led her to the doors of the restaurant. When they walked inside she let out a full smile. They were somewhere between Los Angeles and San Francisco, she knew that. Somewhere along the way Troy had pulled off the highway and onto back roads that led to this adorable restaurant that had dinner and dancing.

"Troy this is amazing." She cooed, looking around at the quaint décor.

"I thought you'd like it." Troy smiled down at her, looking up at the hostess he smiled, "Reservations for Bolton." He told the lady. She nodded and checked his name off the list before grabbing two menus and leading them towards a booth in the back.

"Mark will be right with you." She smiled and nodded her head. As soon as she was gone a man in his 30s came up to get their drink orders.

He returned less than five minutes later, "Are we ready to order or do we need a few minutes?" Troy looked at Gabriella who nodded and the two placed their orders, "That will be up shortly." He gave them a small nod and walked away, leaving them in peace.

Troy glanced at Gabriella, "Would you like to dance?"

Smiling she nodded and watched as he stood up from the corner booth and held out his hand. Sliding around she accepted it and let him lead her out to the floor that was filled with couples dancing.

Troy's hands found Gabriella's waist as he pulled her up against him "This is amazing Troy, how'd you find this place?" Gabriella asked as she rested her head against his chest.

Troy chuckled, "The internet. No joke, as far as I know none of my friends or family know about it."

Gabriella let out a small sigh of contentedness, "Well I love it."

Tory chuckled, "Don't say that until you try the food." Gabriella rolled her eyes and chose not to respond.


As they left, with their hands joined, Gabriella looked up at him, "Thank you Troy." She leaned against the passenger door, "I didn't mean to flip a shit earlier, it's just, this is so," she paused, "bad, but in a good way. It's a good bad. Does that make any sense?" She ran her hands through her hair, causing some of the curls to become slightly disheveled.

Troy grinned and pressed her into the door, "I do know what you mean." He sighed, "We're dead if we're caught, but let me tell you something Brie." He brought his lips next to her ear, his breath tickling her as she arched her body into his, "You're a drug and I don't intend on letting you go just cause this is wrong." His lips trailed from her earlobe, to her cheek, down her jaw line, and up to her lips.

Gabriella brought her hands up to his hair, uncaring of the fact that anyone could see them. She arched her back even more when she felt his hands slipping under her dress.

She pulled back, "Can we finish this at one of our houses?"

Troy nodded, placing open-mouthed kisses on her bare chest, "Mine?" Gabriella let out a moan with her 'yes'. Troy sighed and pulled back, placing a kiss on her lips before opening the car door and helping her in.

Leaving her car at the mall, Troy sped to his house. His hand stayed stationed on her knee, squeezing it slightly every once in a while, a small reminder of what was to come. Gabriella squirmed uncomfortably as heat pulsed between her thighs. Suddenly she cursed how far away they had to go to have dinner.

Gabriella moaned as Troy's hand inched further up her dress, "How much longer until we get there?' She asked.

Troy shifted uncomfortably as his erection grew, "Too long." He muttered, seeing a motel coming up he glanced at her, "Can you get back to L.A. in the morning?"

Gabriella followed his gaze, "Yes, now let's go!" Troy nodded and sped to the exit, pulling off quickly and parking as fast as possible.

The two jumped out of the car and sprinted to the front doors. Troy came to a halt in front of the counter and gave the woman his name and credit card. He wrapped an arm around Gabriella's waist and willed the lady to hurry up. He glanced at the clock on the wall, 11:18, they still had a lot of time left…

After a ten-minute check in, that lasted ten minutes too long, Troy had Gabriella pinned to the back wall of the elevator as they waited it to open up at the fifth floor. When it dinged open, Gabriella drug Troy down the hallway and waited impatiently as he slid the key into the automatic lock before basically sprinting into the room.

Gabriella tossed her dress over her head and to the floor, kicking off her three-inch wedges with it. Troy's shirt was on the ground with is shoes, socks, and pants in a heartbeat. Shoving her back, Gabriella arched her back as she landed on the soft bed with Troy's hands behind her back, fiddling with her bra clasp.

"You were better at that drunk." Gabriella bit his earlobe.

"I wasn't this horny drunk." Troy muttered, finally getting the offensive piece of material off her body. Troy's mouth immediately covered her right breast, tugging at her already hardened nipple. Gabriella gasped as a new wave of heat coursed through her body before dispersing as he lifted his head to switch breasts, allowing it to return as his mouth covered her bare skin.

Gabriella's hands flew to the waist-band of his boxers pushing them down before she lifted her hips, silently indicating what she wanted him to do, "I need you now Troy. Inside of me." She paused, gasping for breath, "Please." She whimpered.

Troy removed his mouth from her collarbone once he'd left his mark and pulled her panties down before spreading her legs and shoving himself deep into her. They both groaned as she wrapped her legs around his waist to draw him deeper into her.


Four hours later Troy stretched as he woke up. He looked down at the figure that was in his arms. She was gorgeous, as if he had his way she would be his and only his.

Gabriella's eyes fluttered open when she felt a pair of eyes boring into her. She smiled, "What time is it?"

"3:30." He kissed her neck, "I was thinking you could sleep in the car if we checked out and maybe you'd still like to come back to my place. We're about half-way there we'd be home by," he paused for a minute, "4:15, 4:30." He responded.

She smiled and leaned up. Kissing his lips she slid out of bed, "Let's get out of here Wildcat." Troy chuckled. Five minutes later the two walked downstairs hand-in-hand. The same woman was behind the counter and she just rolled her eyes at the two.

Gabriella's head rolled on top of Troy's shoulder as she drifted off to sleep. Troy's right hand was clasped firmly in between hers as he drove home. The radio quietly played Nickelback in the background.

At 4 they made it home. Troy sighed as he looked at her sleeping figure. Gabriella felt the car come to a stop and the radio turn off, "We here?" she asked with a yawn.

Troy nodded. Getting out of the car he opened her door and picked her up bridal style, "Wouldn't want my princess walking this tired." Gabriella grinned and let her head rest in the crook of his neck.

Troy opened the door to his bedroom and gently set Gabriella on the bed. "Do you have a spare shirt?" Gabriella managed to yawn out.

Troy chuckled, "Tired much?"

"You wore me out." She muttered with a smile on her face. Troy laughed again and tossed her a t-shirt that said 'Wildcat Basketball' on it.

"The guys would loved this." She grinned as she quickly slid it on, loving the way it was way too big and the way it smelled just like Troy.

Troy slipped out of his jeans and button down, "Well I think you look sexy in it." He kissed her gently on the lips before sliding in the other side of the bed. Gabriella rested her head on his chest, ready for a few hours of sleep.


Five hours later the two were up and getting dressed. "I'll take you to the mall." He offered.

Gabriella looked at him, "Yeah, we should park in South or North's parking lot though."

Troy nodded, "Definitely, neither of us should be seen in each other's lots."

"And then I can walk to my car." She finished the thought.

The two had just made it to the landing when there was a knock at the front door. Both Troy and Gabriella could see the voluminous 'fro through the window in the door. They looked around for a hiding spot for Gabriella when there was another knock at the door. Troy opened the hall closet, "Get in." He shoved her in and shut the door. Taking a deep breath he opened the door.

"Sup dudes." He nodded at Chad and Ryan who stood there with a basketball, well Chad, not Ryan.

"Hoops?" Chad held the ball up.

Troy shook his head as the two walked in, "Come on Troy, you missed an awesome party. I even managed to not get trashed just so I could come over here and tell you about it." Chad whined.

"Yeah both Shar and Kels are at mine sleeping off their drunken night." Ryan laughed.

A sneeze sounded, "What was that dude?" Chad looked around.

Troy scratched the back of his neck nervously, "What?" he asked.

Chad looked towards the closet. He arched an eyebrow at Troy and threw the door open. Troy looked with wide eyes, knowing this wasn't going to go well.

Review!

Mollie XOXO