Chapter 4…. Finally! I know the story hasn't been updated in a while, but the next chapter (Chap. 5) will be out by Monday night (At the latest). Please R&R, and keep reading! Things start to heat up next chapter!

Gabriella got the phone call that she was really not looking forward to after ice cream that night. When she heard the phone ring, she carefully tip-toed over to it, careful to not wake her mother, and reluctantly picked it up.

"Hello?" she asked.

"Thank gosh you answered, Gabriella! I've been trying to talk to you alone all night, but that ice cream parlor was just too crowded. I just wanted to know what your plans are for tomorrow night, and, I guess Monday too." Taylor seemed to have a suspicious tone to her voice.

"What you mean is 'Are you going out for pizza with Jacob on Sunday', right?" Gabriella knew what Taylor was up to. Even though they had only been friends for about three weeks, she could read Taylor like a book.

"Well…yeah. I'm sorry Gabriella. I just think that you shouldn't go. I mean, Troy would be really upset if he found out about this. He really likes you. Believe me, I know because Chad is always talking to Troy on his cell." Gabriella laughed. Troy was just too sweet.

"I'm glad you don't think I should go, because I wasn't planning on meeting Jacob. I also wasn't planning on getting a phone call late on Saturday night from my paranoid best friend." Gabriella laughed. Taylor knew it was a joke.

"I'm sorry." Taylor was giggling now, "I know I should have trusted you. Well, that was not the only reason I called. I was wondering about Monday. Chad invited the gang to his beach house near the lake. We would be there all day since we don't have school."

"Right! The parent-teacher conferences. I completely forgot! Sure, I'll go! It sounds like a lot of fun! Troy's coming too, right?" Gabriella felt a little silly saying this, but she knew that she would have more fun if Troy was there with her.

"Of course! Look, I have to go, but Chad and I will pick you up around eight-thirty. Sorry it's so early, but Chad says the rental boats go fast." Gabriella laughed. She knew Taylor wasn't a morning person.

"Awesome! I'll see you then." Gabriella carefully set down the phone and began to get ready for bed. As she was brushing her teeth, a thought occurred to her. What if Jacob wasn't lying and I could've really been on the district academic team? Just to clear her suspicion, Gabriella decided to check the district website for information on their academic team. Sure enough, in bright, bold letters was the name Jacob Sladowski – Team Captain.

"So he wasn't lying." She whispered to no one in particular. Gabriella turned out her lights. Maybe she would meet Jacob for pizza tomorrow after all.

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Chad's alarm clock went off at eight the following morning. He was out of bed, dressed, and had eaten his breakfast by the time he was walking out the door ten minutes later. Today the entire basketball team was going to have a pick-up game at the park, and Chad couldn't wait to catch up with the guys. The crisp morning air hit his face as he rode his bike to Troy's house. Once there, Chad was disappointed to find that Troy was still asleep. Good thing I brought my air horn. Troy had given Chad a blow horn for his birthday to use to wake him up. Troy was not a morning person.

Chad tiptoed up the stairs with the Bolton's permission and carefully crept into Troy's bedroom. He put the air horn right next to Troy's ear and squeezed the tiny rubber ball at the end.

Troy made it out of his bed, into the hallway and had started down the stairs with his eyes half closed before he hit his head on the railing. Chad was laughing so hard that he was beginning to cry. Troy moaned and crawled on his hands and knees toward Chad and punched him in the gut. Chad didn't mind. Troy was useless in the morning. "Good night sleep, Troy?" Chad asked, clearly struggling to hold back his laughter. Troy just hit the carpet with his hand.

"Dude, when I gave that to you, I didn't think that you would really use it. Why am I being woken by obnoxious noises all of the sudden? First Gabriella's scream, then the air horn? What the hell is wrong with my friends?" Troy was almost shouting now. He wasn't mad he was being woken up; it was just the way he was waking up. He didn't blame Gabriella for screaming, but Chad was seriously going down.

"C'mon man! We have to go to the park and meet the team! What do you think it's going to look like when the captain doesn't show up on time? Not good, right… Troy?"

Troy was now running down the stairs. Chad was right. The captain should always be on time.

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Around six at night is when Troy and Chad finally reached their houses. After a long day of playing basketball, Troy decided to skip out on calling Gabriella that night. He knew she would understand that he was tired and just wanted to watch a movie and relax. Little did Troy know that his phone call that night would have impacted a very important decision his girlfriend was having trouble making.

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Gabriella showed up at Antonio's pizza ten minutes after seven. She was always fashionably late, no matter how hard she tried not to be. After spotting Jacob at a table in the back, she strode towards him. When Gabriella sat down, Jacob looked up from the book he was reading and smiled. "I didn't think you would come."

"Yeah, well, I'm here. Sorry for not believing you. I did some research and it turns out that you were not lying. I feel really stupid now." Gabriella blushed. She hoped that Jacob would still accept her on to the academic team.

"Don't worry about it. So, I already know that you are qualifying material. I just need you to take a thirty minute test to figure out your spot on the team. You know, science, math, reading, global issues, that kind of stuff." Jacob looked at Gabriella. She really was an attractive girl. Sadly for him, she had a boyfriend.

He handed her the booklet. "Thanks!" Gabriella said. "Though, I must say that my strength is math and science." She laughed, and immediately started answering the questions in the booklet. Jacob returned to reading A Tale of Two Cities.

Gabriella looked up about twenty minutes into the test when she heard the door to the restaurant open. To her surprise, she saw Taylor and Chad walk over to the pick-up counter. Taylor was glancing around the restaurant, clearly looking for….. her?

"Shoot!" Gabriella whispered, and immediately ducked under the table. Unfortunately for Gabriella, she misjudged the distance between herself and the table and smacked her head on the edge. At this point, Jacob looked up from his book to find his dinner partner with her hand on her forehead while sinking underneath the table cloth. Jacob shrugged thinking that she dropped a fork and went back to reading.

"Taylor, let's go!" Gabriella heard Chad call to his girlfriend. "The pizza will be cold by the time we get back to my house."

"Sorry Chad. I was looking for Gabriella, because I thought she might be here, but she's not." From underneath the table cloth, Gabriella could see a tear roll down Taylor's cheek. "I'm such a horrible person. I couldn't even trust my best friend." More tears flowed as Chad wrapped his free arm and Taylor and escorted her out the door. Once the bell on the door rang, Gabriella shot up from underneath the table. Jacob was eyeing her suspiciously.

"Oh." Gabriella felt like crying now. "Well, I better finish my test." She choked out, and got back to work.

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When Gabriella returned home, she packed all her clothes for the next day in her swimsuit bag. How was she going to be able to face all of them tomorrow? The phone rang causing Gabriella to jump. She hustled over and picked it up.

"Hello?" Gabriella answered.

"I saw you….."

That's it! Sorry, I would have added more but you guys have been waiting a long time for this chapter. Please Review! Tell me what you want to happen, what you feel about the character's decisions, if you like the story, favorite parts. You know… all that good stuff. I LOVE reviews, so tell me how I'm doing! I would love to hear from you!