"Hey, Troy!"

Troy turned around to see Chad walking up to him. "Hey, Chad."

"Wanna play two on two with me, Zeke, and Jason?"

"Can't. I'm taking Gabby out to dinner in an hour."

"Come on, Dude, don't you have enough time for your brother anymore?" Chad replied with a hint of

annoyance. "For the past week it's been Gabriella, Gabriella, Gabriella. Relax! She's not going anywhere!

I don't have to see Taylor 24/7 and she's my girlfriend!"

"But Gabby's my fiancé, not my girlfriend."

Just then, a blond girl walked up to Troy and Chad. "OH MY GOSH! Is it true that you and Gabriella

Montez

are ENGAGED?" she sounded agitated.

"Cool it, Tiara," Chad said. "Troy's an almost-college freshman, you're only gonna be a junior in high

school!

Do you really think you have a chance with him?"

"Yes, I do," Tiara said rudely and boldly. "I don't even know what you see in that girl. She's a freak."

Troy just looked at hr and said, "Well, you need to get and stay AWAY from ME and OUT of my private

life!"

Tiara put her nose in the air and walked away.

"Well I guess someone has to replace Sharpay," commented Chad.

"Yeah, I guess so," Troy agreed.

______________________________________________________________________________________

____

An hour later, Troy and Gabriella were at an expensive restaurant.

"I'm so glad you're mine now," Troy said.

"I'm glad to be yours, too. I could never be happy with any other guy."

Just then Gabriella's cell phone rang. Seeing that it was her mom, she answered it.

"Gabriella, when are you coming back? You called me a week ago on the day of graduation to say you were

going back to Albuquerque with Troy and were probably only going to stay for a couple days. Now it's a

week

later, so what's up?"

"I'm coming back with Troy when college starts," Gabriella told her mom.

"Where are you staying at?"

"Troy's."

"Gabriella! You know I don't like you staying at boys' houses."

"This is different," Gabriella told her mom. "I'm his fiancé now."

"WHAT? You're not even in college yet! You can't be engaged!"

"I'm a legal adult now-I have been since my birthday which was about 6 months ago. I'm old enough to get

married. I'm in love and I know it."

"Well, I still don't like this," Mrs. Montez said. "But I guess I can't stop you."

"Alright, well me and Troy are eating now, so I gotta go. Bye."

"Bye."

"So, your Mom's upset?" Troy asked.

"Yes. She thinks I'm too young to get married."

"Well maybe you are," said a voice.

Gabriella looked behind her to see Tiara dressed in a pink and silver dress and silver high heels. Her hair

was

in a high curly ponytail, and her pink eye shadow was applied heavily to her eyelids.

"What do you mean?" asked Gabriella.

"I mean, I want Troy since your mom said you were too young to marry." She giggled.

"Tiara, you're younger than me! This makes absolutely no sense!"

"It could happen," Tiara corrected.

"Wow, you're exactly like Sharpay was in her junior year-only a million times worse!" Gabriella said in an

annoyed voice.

"That's right, Tiara, now you leave us alone!" Troy demanded.

"Or I could sit here with you for a while." Tiara sat down in one of the two empty chairs at the table. "What

are you talkin' about?" she asked.

"Nothing you should be concerned with," Troy said. "Now leave."

"Gabriella, where did you get your dress? Always Dark and Boring?" Tiara said with a laugh.

Gabriella looked down at her short-sleeved plain black dress that came just below her knees. "No. Actually

Sharpay gave it to me. It's a designer dress that Sharpay doesn't wear anymore."

"Well Sharpay is an enemy of mine now, so there." Tiara decided.

"Well how about you stay away from us and stop making fun of my girl's clothes!" Troy yelled.

"Well, how about you leave this restaurant- WHICH MY PARENTS OWN before I get them to make you

leave!" Tiara yelled back. "Well, not you, Troy. You can stay her and have a date with me," she added with

a

laugh.

Troy got up and motioned for Gabriella to come with him. "I will not give you the satisfaction of making us

leave. We're done eating anyway."

Troy paid for the dinner and they both left.

"That Tiara is such a rich snob," Gabriella commented on the way home.

"I know, even Sharpay can't stand her."

"Well Sharpay is being nicer now. I'm actually becoming friends with her."

"Well, yeah," Troy agreed. "She has changed a lot."

______________________________________________________________________________________

__

At home, Troy and Gabriella sat down on the sofa in the living room, Gabriella putting her head in Troy's

lap.

"Hey, Gabby," Troy said, taking her hand and pressing it to his lips, "you think you can do without me for a

couple hours? Chad has been wanting me to play a two on two basketball game with Jason and Zeke."

"I guess I could." Gabriella sat up and hugged him.

"Okay. I'm just going to get changed, then leave. I won't be late. It's already 7:30. I don't want to be out

past 9:30."

"You're gonna play in the dark? It'll start getting dark around nine, Troy."

"No! We're gonna go to the gym and play!"

"Ok, Troy. Maybe I'll call Taylor and see if she wants to hang out."

"Okay. Fine with me." Troy walked upstairs.

A few minutes later, Troy was walking up to Gabriella. "See you in a couple hours, honey, I love you."

"Love you, too, Wildcat," Gabriella said.

They kissed, then Troy left, saying a last good bye to Gabriella.

______________________________________________________________________________________

__

That night in bed, Gabriella and Troy were both thinking about what had happened with Tiara.

"You know, she's got to get over it soon," Troy said. "I'm going to be a freshman in college and I love you."

"Don't worry, Wildcat. Everything will work out........eventually. We'll be leaving for college in a couple

months anyways, so we'll be away from her," Gabriella pointed out to Troy.

"Yeah," Troy agreed. "Then we'll be completely rid of her."

Gabriella smiled and snuggled close to Troy, looking up at him with her brown eyes. "So how was your

game?" she asked.

"It would have been better with you," Troy said, kissing her head.

"Well I'm here now." Gabriella hugged him.

Just then, Troy's cell phone rang. He rolled over and picked it up off of his end table. "It's Tiara," he

groaned.

"I'm totally not answering it. In fact, I'm turning my phone off. She doesn't need to bother me-especially this

late

at night."

Gabriella smiled and kissed his cheek. "I think she just wants to copy Sharpay," she commented.

"Yeah, but she's not going to succeed. You're mine and she'll just have to deal with that."

Gabriella laughed a little. "Well good night, Wildcat."

"Good night my love."

They gave each other a good night kiss then snuggled together and were soon sound asleep, knowing that

nothing would ever come between them.