AN: Thank you to everyone who reviewed, and thank you especially to Dragon Pants for betaing this. All of you are awesome.

Ch. 3 Detention

The next day in school, Troy found himself paying attention even less than he usually did. All he could think about was Ryan, and how he had actually been alone with him for over an hour. Sure, he had failed his first lesson horribly, but still, he got to be with Ryan! Troy had practically skipped home after Sharpay came back from her date with Zeke, and Ryan pronounced the lesson done for the day. Lost in thoughts of Ryan, Troy didn't hear Ms. Darbus calling him until she was standing right over him.

"Mr. Bolton, since you seem to feel that my class is not important enough to pay attention to, you can join me after school in detention." With that, she stalked back up to the front of the class amidst a chorus of sniggers.

Feeling a nudge against his arm, Troy looked down and saw that Chad was passing him a note. Attempting to be discreet, Troy opened the note and read it. Dude, where were you? You were totally spacing out, there.

Troy was extremely glad at that moment that he didn't blush easily. Thinking quickly, he wrote the first thing that came to mind. I was thinking about Gabriella. Rehearsals for the musical start next week, and I was just thinking about how that means we'll get to spend more time together.

He passed the note back and hoped that Chad accepted his explanation. When he got the note back, he had just begun reading it when he was interrupted by Ms. Darbus' voice.

"Note passing shall not be tolerated in my classroom!"

Troy looked up and shoved the note in his backpack, hoping she wouldn't ask to see it. He started to stammer out an apology, when he realized that she wasn't talking to him.

"Mr. Evans, you have earned yourself a place in detention alongside Mr. Bolton. The next person I find not paying attention will find themselves with two detentions!"

Troy immediately stopped paying attention, although he was careful to keep his eyes facing forwards and an interested look on his face, this time.

He had detention with Ryan! A whole fifteen minutes of detention with Ryan! He smiled.

Later, in detention

Troy's happiness had evaporated by the time his detention rolled around. Gabriella had insisted on coming with him, and when he got to the auditorium, he saw that Sharpay had accompanied Ryan. They were talking together and working on making some paper machè scenery at the back of the auditorium.

Troy was waved over to another part of the auditorium by Ms. Darbus, where she instructed him and Gabriella to paint the scenery that had already been made and stacked up a fair distance from where Ryan was working.

As he painted, Troy's attention continually wandered over to Ryan, and he found himself smiling whenever Ryan would laugh or smile and wishing that he was the one who made Ryan smile. Gabriella chatted next to him, and he would occasionally smile and nod in her direction, but then his attention would once more be captured by Ryan's voice as he spoke to Sharpay. After a few minutes, it seemed that Ryan was done with one of the things he was making, a rather large star that Troy supposed served the same purpose as the giant moon that he and Gabriella had danced around for their audition. Watching Ryan struggle, Troy got up and grabbed a part of the star right before it could fall.

"Thanks," Ryan said gratefully.

"Sure, no problem." Troy smiled at Ryan, and was thrilled to see Ryan return the smile, albeit hesitantly.

When they got the star back to Gabriella, she took it and gave Troy a curious look. Shifting uncomfortably under her gaze, Troy accidentally bumped into Ryan.

"Sorry," he said, looking at Ryan.

"It's okay," Ryan said, but Troy had seen him grimace in pain, as though he had already been hurt before Troy bumped into him. He was unable to think on this for very long, though, because Gabriella chose that moment to say something.

"Troy, can I ask you something?"

Nervously, Troy responded with, "Sure, what is it?"

Pulling him aside, Gabriella turned to Troy and asked, "Troy, do you have a crush on Ryan?"

Troy started and stammered out, "N-no, of course not! Why would you think that?"

"Well," she replied, "I've actually had my suspicions about you for a while. I mean, you never once kissed me when we were trying out for the musical, and I've noticed how you never respond to Sharpay's flirting, and I haven't seen you flirt with any of the other girls in school, so… do you have a crush on Ryan?"

Troy was caught. It was true that they had never gotten together, even though almost everyone expected them to, and Troy didn't flirt very often. "Well… maybe."

Gabriella squealed, surprising Troy, and hugged him. "Aww, that's so sweet. Are you going to ask him out?"

To say that Troy was surprised would be an understatement. He had not expected her to act like that at all. Thankful for her positive reaction, he replied, "Not yet, but I have asked him to teach me how to dance for the musical."

"Well, if you need any advice, I will be here for you, Troy."

They walked back over to the objects they were supposed to painting, and this time Gabriella was fully aware of the looks that Troy gave Ryan.

AN: So, Troy's getting a bit obsessed and Gabriella's nice. Love it; hate it? I'll never know if you don't review.