Alright, guys, I'm so very sorry for this delay and I know it's getting to be old news, but I really can't help myself. I don't have the time to do anything regularly lately and it's pissing me off, too, but there's nothing I can do about it. Let's just say that this year definitely isn't my year and that I hope that it's going to get better in the last few months of it.

At the moment, I'm also trying to get a piece done for a writing contest over here in Germany and it's not easy, that I can tell you. Especially since the dead line I've got to meet is Friday, the 31st of July and that's in three days… making it hard to not fret over my text, because it isn't finished yet. Nevertheless, I believed you deserve this chapter, so here I am, giving it to you.

It's dedicated once again to my two best friends on here: Kristyna and Nicole (I hope you're having fun over there in India). Thanks so much to you two for putting up with me even now. You both know what happened and I'm so very sorry I stopped writing to you, but I'll take it up again as soon as possible.

Disclaimer: This is a derivate piece of fiction featuring characters copyrighted and trademarked by Disney Enterprises Inc. It is based upon High School Musical, copyright 2006 by Walt Disney Enterprises Inc., all rights reserved; and High School Musical 2, copyright 2007 by Walt Disney Enterprises Inc., all rights reserved and High School Musical 3, copyright 2008 by Walt Disney Enterprises Inc., all rights reserved. The author is not connected with nor is this work authorised by Walt Disney Enterprises Inc., or any other motion picture studios. This work is solely intended for posting on Fanfiction, for the benefit and enjoyment of its intended audience. No commercial or financial benefit accrues or is intended to accrue to the author as a result of said posting. Any unauthorised copying or redistribution of this work might subject the party responsible for such unauthorized copying or redistribution to legal action by the owners of the aforementioned copyrights and trademarks.

Recap of the last chapter:

Amber's eyes widened. Nobody had ever had the guts to say something like that. And she wasn't going to let it go by without doing anything. You could nearly see the wheels of her brain working as she racked her head for an idea. Then a smile went over her face.

"Well, let's say… A contest! A contest between cheerleading and dancing. And the prize for winning is … Troy Bolton!"

Fourth chapter - … comes around

After that announcement, the entire gym fell silent. The girls, that had been cheering only a few moments ago, now let their mouths drop, not believing what they had heard. And the girls that had been standing behind Amber now had satisfied smirks playing in their faces. How was Gabriella going to talk herself out of that one?

At this particular moment it seemed like she didn't even want to try. Opening her mouth and then closing it again, she seemed to be at a loss of words. And she really was. Not that she didn't know how to answer, but she still was searching for the right way to express her anger.

She couldn't believe that Amber could have possibly made such a suggestion. A contest! Okay, maybe that wasn't the worst idea to solve their personal fight, but putting Troy as the prize? Amber had to have lost her mind. It wasn't possibly – and in Gabriella's opinion even shocking – to put a person as a prize.

"Are you nuts?", she finally exclaimed. "You can't just bet on a person! And you can't just put him as a prize without asking him! Last time I checked Bolton was still a person with a free will and his own opinion – though I don't doubt that he hasn't got it anymore if he's really asked you out."

She looked back at Sharpay and Taylor, who nodded appreciating. They, too, couldn't believe what Amber had suggested. And Becky just stood there, eyes wide open and full of disbelieve. Gabriella swallowed hard as she turned to Amber again, awaiting her reply. And it came. But Gabriella didn't like it.

„Ha! You're just afraid that you'll loose! That you'll have to give up any hope of getting him back!", Amber taunted. "Because you're a coward!" There were many agreements from the girls behind Amber, the cheerleaders and those who had come in hope to make their squad. Gabriella threw a helpless look towards her best friends.

There was no way she could back out of this. If she did she theoretically would give Amber the satisfaction of being right. She would admit that she was a coward. And there was no way Gabriella was letting Amber walk all over her.

"Alright! A contest, let's do that! Next Friday at halftime of the first baseball game. And whoever looses admits that the other squad is the better one!" Amber smirked. "Oh no, not just that! Whoever looses gives up any chances with Troy. Whoever wins gets a date with him!"

Gabriella looked at her unbelieving. "Are you nuts? Do you want to torture me for winning? And even if I were okay with that, you can't just ordain about Troy's life. What if he doesn't want to go on a date?"

Again Amber was smirking. "You mean you're afraid that he doesn't want to go on a date with you!" That was the point where Gabriella couldn't take it anymore. "Fine!", she shouted angry. "Whoever wins goes on a date with Troy Bolton! But you're the one to tell him, alright?"

Satisfied, Amber nodded. "With pleasure!", she gave back and turned on her heal to leave the gym. Slamming the door behind her, she didn't care about the girls wanting to follow her, so the first one of them, Amber's best friend Sarah, got it directly on her nose. A loud howl echoed through the gym and Gabriella would have laughed if the realisation of what she had done hadn't just set in.

Speechless, her eyes shot open and she whirled around to see a very shocked-looking Taylor and an equally shocked-looking Sharpay. "I didn't, did I?", she asked, fearing the worst. But it didn't seem as if her friends were in the state to speak. But Becky was. "Oh yeah, you did!"

***

Gabriella was sitting alone in a discarded class room Troy had once shown to her. She didn't have to worry about him coming here, knowing that he had a basketball practice. Otherwise she wouldn't have dared to set foot in it. To be honest, she hadn't since their break-up and she had just discovered that she had missed it, without knowing it.

Gabriella sighed and thought once again about what had happened after Amber had left the gym at lunch time. She knew that she shouldn't have given into her temper, but what had happened had happened and backing out was not an option. At least not for Gabriella, though Taylor had tried to change her mind about that.

All she could do now was to think about the best choreography she had ever made up, because she knew she would need something really special to win the contest. She wasn't fond of Amber and the cheerleading squad, but she wasn't dumb either. Though all despising, she knew that the cheerleading squad was good, too good in Gabriella's opinion if she thought about the contest.

She would be happy about that – it did mean, after all, that she wouldn't have to go out with Troy if she didn't win – if there wasn't the little thing called pride. And Gabriella's pride was all for winning that contest and blowing Amber from her seat as East High's princess. And even if she won – cancelling the date afterwards was a more than inviting option to get out of that one. Amber surely wouldn't complain about her not going out with him.

And the very thought of breaking Troy and Amber up – if they were a couple against all odds – was a very satisfying thought in Gabriella's mind. Not that she was just as vengeful as Amber, but still – the thought brought a smile to her face. Why? She didn't really know.

***

Troy was sitting in the library, because he had figured that there wouldn't be much time for homework if he had to spend the afternoon in detention. So he had decided on doing them now in his free time. Which meant he had skipped geography lesson to hide himself away in the library and finish his German translation that was due to tomorrow.

But the peace and calmness of the library was once again interrupted by loud noises and the banging of doors. Unwillingly looking up from his paper, Troy watched Chad, Zeke and Jason storm in, their faces unnaturally red and their breath irregularly. They looked around the room, as if searching for a certain book – although Troy was sure that they never in their lives had even taken a book in their hands if they weren't forced to do so.

He rolled his eyes, as they finally spotted him one of the darker corners of the room, and shut his books closed, sensing that he wouldn't have any more time to study and finishing his work. And he was right. Not because his friends would take long of his attention, but because he wouldn't be able to concentrate on his work after working out what he was about to hear.

"Troy! There you are!", Chad shouted, sounding relieved. Troy groaned. His best mate would never learn. To his luck, Mrs. Donovan seemed to be away or have gone deaf, because she didn't appear from behind the next book shelf. Hurrying over to Troy's table, his friends exchanged worried looks, trying to figure how Troy would react to their news they were about to break to him.

They really didn't know what he'd do about that and they had no whatsoever intentions on getting on his bad side for bringing such news. Standing in front of him, all of them nervously chewed their lips, eyeing him up and down, trying to find out in which mood he was in.

Chad, being calmed down by the fact that Troy seemed to be relaxed for once – which meant no encounter with Gabriella in the last two hours -, finally opened his mouth, at a time to which Troy hadn't expected from any of them to open their mouth any time soon.

"Uhh, did you already hear the news?" Chad anxiously got out, before letting himself fall into the seat next to Troy. Elated by his example, Zeke and Jason got themselves seated, too. Troy cocked an eyebrow. There was news? This was going to be interesting.

Not even awaiting his answer, Chad had already continued. "I suppose not, otherwise you wouldn't sit here like that." Now it was Troy's turn to get suspicious. That wasn't bad news that Chad was going to tell him about, was it? Because bad news was something he absolutely didn't need at the moment.

"You'll never guess what Gabriella and Amber have done!" Troy's heart leapt. Gabriella and Amber? Doing something? Not together, would they? As long as he knew the two hated each other! Which was mainly the reason why he had made Amber to his weekly making-out partner. And as far as Troy was concerned that wouldn't bring Amber on Gabriella's top-ten-list.

He was brought back from his thinking as he heard Chad speaking again. "They actually have agreed on a contest! And you won't guess what they've set as the prize!" To be honest, Troy didn't have any intentions on guessing. And so he didn't even try to. Shrugging his shoulders, he stood up and gathered his things. Sure, a contest between East High's queen and East High's princess would be very interesting and he'd definitely like seeing Gabriella getting crashed in it, but other than that, he wasn't very interested.

That, however, changed the instant Chad revealed what they were on about. "Whoever wins gets a date with you. And if Amber looses, she dumps you." Chad sniggered. "I bet she wasn't happy about that one!" Troy's head shot up and met Chad's shocked gaze. Not awaiting such a reaction, Chad had just blabbed it all out, without thinking about what effect it could have on Troy.

In Troy's head, all kind of thoughts were thrown together and a wave of feelings washed right through him. Anger. How could they dare to set him as the prize? Last time he'd checked he had been a very living person with own feelings and rights, thank you very much. So it theoretically should be his decision with whom he went on a date, shouldn't it?

Confusion. Gabriella hated him and vice versa. There surely was no way she'd agreed to set a date with him as a prize. Where was the point in that? It would be more of a punishment for her than anything else. And why the hell would Amber dump him? They weren't going out or anything, all they were was two teenagers that had an agreement that they liked to kiss each other. At least he had always thought that.

And not only him, as Chad proved this moment. "What the hell, dude! You asked Amber to be your girlfriend? I thought you had better taste, mate!", he said head-shaking, looking at Troy accusingly. "After all, that chick is known for being easy, if you understand what I mean!" Zeke and Jason nodded their heads in agreement.

Of course Troy did. He wasn't dumb and he had known that before Chad; it was that Amber was easy why he had chosen her for this week. After he ended things with her, she surely would just move on and not complain for two months or more about him "letting her down" or something like that.

But asking her to be his girlfriend? Troy shuddered at the very thought of it. No way! "Are you nuts, guys? I never did ask her to be my girlfriend! We just have … an agreement if you want to call it that way." Chad grinned. He knew the sorts of "agreements" Troy had. But he was relieved nevertheless that Amber wasn't his best mate's girlfriend. Not only that it would have meant to be nice to her, …

… but Chad was sure that Gabriella, if she ever forgave Troy for whatever he had done, would never forgive him going out with her worst enemy. And what that would mean… Chad preferred not to think about that one. "Very good, Troy! You know", he leaned in, so only Troy could hear his next sentence, "Taylor told me that part of the reason why Gabriella agreed to the contest was the news about you going out with Amber."

Troy, having wanted to leave the library with his friends only a few seconds ago, froze dead in his tracks. That was something that wasn't possible. Chad had to be joking, wanting to kid him… But whatever it was, Troy was sure that he was lying.

***

The door banged open. Troy froze. Turning around very, very slowly he came face to face with Gabriella. A very shocked Gabriella. Starring at him and what was behind him, her eyes went big and immediately filled with tears. Troy raised his hand to grab for her arm, to make her stay and let him explain, but Gabriella wasn't having it.

Casting one last look at him, eyes filled with hurt and anger, she whirled around and made a run out of his house. Troy shot one fired look at the person standing behind him and started to sprint after his girlfriend. There was no way he would let her go the way she intended to.

"Gabriella!", he shouted, already out of his house, seeing her running down the street, face in her hands. He knew she was crying, he knew how much she was hurt, because he felt the same pain burning inside him. "Gabriella!" Using all his strength, he managed to get directly behind her, to grab her arm and swing her around, so she was facing him.

Struggling, Gabriella did all in her power to break free from his grasp, but he was way stronger than her. Holding his dead-pan grip around her elbow, he fought to make her stand still, to listen to him, but there was no way the crying brunette was doing that.

"Let go of me, Troy!", she demanded, tears freely running down her cheeks, her voice breaking, but still filled with venom and loathing. "Let me go! I want to never see you again! Search for another girl you can fool, for all I care even Amber or that other bitch, but I'll never care again, I swear!"

***

Troy shook his head. No, she would never care, if it was a lie or not, she would never care. Taylor had to have misunderstood something, or Chad hadn't listened properly – not that he ever did -, but Gabriella had sworn that time back then that she would never care. And Gabriella wasn't one to break any oath she had ever vowed.

But what if… his heart leapt. There was a small chance – a chance so little that he nearly didn't dared to think about it – that they hadn't misinterpreted Gabriella's actions. And that would mean… that would mean… What the hell would that mean?

***

Gabriella was late. And she definitely didn't like that. Especially since she was on her way to dancing practice. The first one since she had agreed to that stupid proposal Amber had made. And she still didn't know what her squad members were thinking about it. What if none of them wanted to take part in that? Amber's cheerleader sure stood behind Amber, and none of them would let the opportunity to humiliate Gabriella go by without grabbing it and making the best out of it.

So there was no other hope for Gabriella than that the dancing members were loyal to her head and would do all that was possible to back her up. Entering the gym, she flinched noticeable as all eyes were being directed at her and an unusual silence came up. Never had she seen the faces of her friends and acquaintances that serious.

Letting her gaze fly over the girls sitting on the floor, she unsurely made her way to the front where Taylor and Sharpay were already waiting for her. She cast them a worried look, but Taylor just smiled at her, while Sharpay shrugged her shoulders. "You're lucky, captain. They all want to participate in that stupid contest.", she answered Gabriella's unspoken question.

A wave of relief washed over Gabriella. Turning to the squad, she smiled brightly and interrogated: "You really want to help me? No one there that thinks this is stupid?" She received shocked looks from her squad. "Thinking that crushing Amber fair and square is stupid? You won't find anybody here with such an attitude. And if she's really dating Troy, then it just gives it that extra something!"

Gabriella broke into a laugh. Of course it had been Becky that had stood up and said that. The girl really was beginning to save herself a spot in Gabriella's heart. "Thanks, Becky!" The younger girl rolled her eyes. "Please, not always my full name. That's nerve-racking! Just call me Bee." Sharpay nudged Gabriella's side. "I like her."

"Mmh, I too, trust me." She turned to Becky and the rest of the squad. "Okay then, but I request that you all call me Gaby in return, alright?" Her answer was a row of agreeing murmurs.

Smiling happily, Gabriella clapped her hands and shouted cheerfully: "Okay then, let's get this started. We need to practice a lot if we want to beat Amber and we need a breath-taking choreography for that." Taylor's eyes went big.

"Gaby, we don't have time for making up a new choreography. We still need to learn one and practice it. That alone will take one week at last, if not more! Making up a new one is impossible! It's nothing you can make out of thin air."

Gabriella swallowed hard as she realised the truth in that. "Shit!", she began to panic. "What do we do now?" Becky, getting the problem, tried to help. "Any old ones we could do?", she asked hopefully, but was cut by Sharpay, who shook her head. "None of them is going to be good enough to beat Amber. We need something really breath-taking, otherwise Amber will win. If she is dating Troy, then she'll have lost of girls behind her back."

Gabriella nodded, as she remembered how it had been when she had been dating Troy. Girls she hadn't even known had taken to greet her in the hallways, and not because they liked her or the fact that she was the reason he was off the market. They just had been trying to come to good terms with her to be nearer to Troy, East High's golden boy. If Amber had told the truth, then those girls would now try to get on her good side. And that meant they'd vote for Amber at the baseball game.

Unless the dancing squad had such a good choreography that it was nearly impossible to vote for the cheerleading squad. Throwing helpless looks at her squad, Gabriella's thoughts were racing through her head, trying to find a solution. "Anybody else with a suggestion?"

She peered at Sharpay, who had gotten a thoughtful look on her face. There the blonde's face lit up. Gabriella's heart jumped. Maybe Shar had a good solution? Well, she definitely had one, but in Gabriella's opinion if wasn't unconditional good.

"How about that routine you've made up with…", she broke up, not knowing if she should actually say it. But it was too late; Gabriella already knew what she was talking about. She could feel a pang in her heart as she thought about Sharpay's suggestion. Never since she had ended things with Troy had she thought about that choreography, never again had she danced it. And now use it in a competition whose prize was Troy? That felt just wrong.

Especially since it meant so much to her. That routine wasn't just only a step arrangement, it was the choreography she had danced with Troy in a not entirely serious dancing competition, as her former dancing partner had broken his leg and was unable to participate. Sensing it meant much to her, Troy had volunteered and after initial doubts Gabriella had taken him up on his offer.

It had been the best decision she had ever made. Being strong enough to lift Gabriella up, they had come up with the greatest choreography Gabriella had ever made. It included some difficult lifting figures, some of them very spectacular. It had been to that time that Gabriella had discovered that she loved Troy. After all, she trusted him enough to do those lifting figures with him.

And that was it what held her now back from agreeing to that composition. "No way! That would definitely not be right. And I really don't want to!", she negated energetically. Taylor and Sharpay looked at each other disappointed. They had hoped that Gabriella would be over that by now. The rest of the squad followed the little exchange with open curiosity.

Taylor took one step forward and grabbed Gabriella's hand. "Gaby! Theoretically we don't have a choice! I've seen you two doing that dance and it was mind-blowing. You didn't win the first prize for nothing! It is perfect for competitions! And we could just leave those lifting figures out. It still would be perfect! And it would have the undeniable advantage that we wouldn't humiliate ourselves in front of the school by loosing against Amber!"

Gabriella shut her eyes. Of course she knew that it would be the perfect dance. But somehow something in her was demonstrating heavily against that thought. And she would really like it to give into that feeling.

She opened her eyes again and let her gaze sway over her squad. Seeing all the hopeful looks directed at her and getting an image of Amber grinning viciously in her head, she finally saw that she was fighting a lost battle. Who was she kidding? They had no other choice. Unless a wonder would happen just in time. But somehow Gabriella really doubted that.

***

After Gabriella had dismissed her squad members, she strolled out of the gym and back into school. Periods had already finished, but she still had a detention to attend to, though she could really care less about that. Being occupied with her own thoughts, she carelessly ascended the stairs, directing to the library.

She hadn't set the choreography as their contest entry in the end, but she had promised to think about it, though she already knew that she'd have to agree in the end. A thought that didn't make her happy and she already feared what Troy would be like if he heard the song, belonging to the composition, being played at the contest and if he saw her and the squad doing the steps he had partially thought up.

Lost in her thoughts, she didn't see where she was going. "Oww!" The pain was growing and she rubbed her forehead that had bumped against something very hard. Glaring, she looked up, only to find herself starring into the face of Troy Bolton. Groaning inwardly, her mouth fell open. That was the last thing she needed right now: Having another row with East High's golden boy wasn't standing very high on her priority list right now.

"Watch yourself!", he hissed in her direction, not even acknowledging her. That brought her blood boiling. How dared he think he was the only one not having to watch their way? It certainly wasn't her fault alone that they had bumped into each other.

"Watch your mouth, Bolton!", she advised him fiery, glaring up at him. Hearing her voice, Troy finally made the effort to properly look at whoever was standing in front of him. "Montez! What are you doing here?" Gabriella was shocked. She really didn't intend on letting him now she had been given a detention.

But she didn't need to tell him, he already had caught on. "Oh no, dear Lord, don't say we've got detention together!" She starred at him unbelieving. He had gotten a detention, too? From Mrs. Donovan? Dear Lord! She groaned audible and replied: "Don't you dare thinking I'm gonna enjoy this!" Troy just shook his head resigned. So he actually had detention with Gabriella.

Which was going to give him an opportunity to talk to her about that contest. He hadn't met Amber for the whole time of school that was left since he had been informed about the girls' agreement – which he actually was thankful for -, and so he didn't know all about it. And he really wanted to know what exactly they had put as a prize. And more important, he'd like to know why the hell Gabriella had agreed to something like that.

However, he didn't have the time to ask her, because Mrs. Donovan poked her head out of the library and said impatiently: "What are you waiting for? Please, come in, we've got a lot of work to do!" Troy and Gabriella both groaned simultaneously and looked at each other surprised. Both of them were tempted to laugh, until they realised that they weren't a couple anymore and not even friends, but sworn enemies.

Gabriella blushed, while Troy was looking away embarrassed. Not even daring to peek at each other, the both entered the library at once and shivered as their hands met for a short moment. But they didn't have time to even think about that, seeing as Mrs. Donovan was already swamping them with work.

Half an hour later, Troy and Gabriella were at their last point on Mrs. Donovan's to-do-list. They had to place borrowed books that had been given back to their original place and until now both of them had worked in complete silence.

The calmness, however, was interrupted, as Troy hemmed. Gabriella looked up, startled, as she had them expected to finish their task and leave school without having another conversation. Troy, however, didn't seem to plan on that.

"So, what about that contest?", he asked in a - what he thought sounded like a – casual tone. Gabriella's head jerked up and her stomach jolted with unpleasant surprise. He had already heard about that. Though, she assumed, she shouldn't be surprised – East High was known for the fast travelling of news and gossip.

"What about it?", Gabriella replied, determined not to talk too much about that topic. Especially since she still hadn't worked out why she had agreed so quickly. Troy snorted. She knew very well what he wanted to know, but he had already figured that she'd be touchy about that topic.

"Why the hell have you two come to such an idea? And putting me as the prize. I'm flattered that you both want me so badly, but last time I checked I was an independent person with a free will. So what if I don't want to go on a date with the winner?"

Gabriella's stomach ached and her heart sank to her knees, but she still managed to shrug casually. "Ask your girlfriend about that one, I wasn't the one to make it up." Troy opened his mouth, ready to explain that Amber wasn't his girlfriend, but then concentrated in the more important things. "But you still agreed to it!", he accused her, eyeing her up and down, enjoying that she squirmed under his intense gaze.

"Does that mean you'd like to go out with me? You actually want to? And you're trying to get that trough a contest? Low, Montez, low!", he teased her, but he didn't smile. He wanted to know why she had done it. It was important to him.

Gabriella's answer though was just what he had expected. Not believing he would tease her about such a thing, she grew red with anger, so Troy could see that she was fuming. Still he didn't stop and put a cocky grin on his face: "What? Speechless because I guessed right?" That was the last straw for the petit girl in front of him.

"I'd never even be thinking about going out with such a dickhead like you! Don't think I was going to take her or you up on that date! I'm already thinking about how to cancel that!" She wanted to scream, but caught herself in time, as she didn't want detention in the library for the whole next month. But that didn't detain her from glaring at her with the fieriest look she had ever thrown at someone.

Troy was impressed. So she had agreed to the contest to shut Amber up, not to go out with him. But that didn't impede him from getting angry with her for calling him dickhead. Starring at her in all her anger and sensing that she was stressed out, all he could think about was pressing his lips against hers, taking his own anger out by kissing her hard and rough.

Troy shook his head as he became aware of his own thoughts. Where the hell had that come from? He hated her; the last thing he should be thinking about was kissing her. Too bad, that his heart wasn't following his mind in this one. Barely able to contain himself, his hand shook as he just turned around to place the last book, not showing that it had hurt him what she had just said.

"Well, then you'll just have to see to loosing the contest, won't you? That shouldn't be that hard, seeing as you're not that good at dancing." These words hit Gabriella like a slap in the face. Dancing was practically all she lived for – since she had blown Troy off anyways – and saying that she wasn't good at it was a plain lie. Not that she was flattering herself over that, but she still knew that she was good at dancing.

And she wasn't the only one to know that. Knowing that Troy had said it to piss her off, she tried to calm herself down, but that didn't work properly. "You know that's not true!", she seethed, watching him carefully to not miss one piece of his reaction. "At least you didn't complain about that when we danced to "Why it's gotta be you"."

She wasn't disappointed by his reaction. He flinched visibly and she saw how he squeezed his eyes tight shut, not believing that she had brought that up. That was definitely something he had wanted to forget. And he had been fairly successful, too. Until now.

Turning around again, he managed to get a smirk on his face, but Gabriella could tell that it was faked. To be honest, it was the fakest grin she had ever seen. Triumphantly she smiled evilly at him, before turning around and attempting to walk away. Troy, not wanting to be left as the loser of this one, tried to think of a come-back and like a bat out of hell grabbed Gabriella's arm to whirl her around again.

Surprised, she had to hold onto him to not fall to the ground. As she had steadied herself again, he already had made a few steps forward and stood now one centimetre away from her. Gabriella's breath was hitched in her throat. They hadn't been that near since that one fateful evening in Sophomore Year. And she didn't know what Troy was up to.

Unsurely she looked up at him, unable to free herself. She couldn't even move, nor could she say something. Her heart began to beat rapidly, and she would've sworn that it had missed one beat, as Troy leaned forward, only to miss her lips by millimetres and whisper into her ear: "Admit it, Montez. You hate that you love me. You're the one asking herself why it's gotta be me you've fallen for. And you just thought I would kiss you. And you liked the thought, didn't you?"

Gabriella was speechless. He actually dared to say something like that? Not admitting to herself that her heart had nearly whished for him to kiss her, she eventually found the strength to struggle free from his grasp and yell at his face: "Are you as dump as you just let me assume or do you just act like that? One and for all, I don't love you. And I certainly didn't whish for you to kiss me. I wouldn't want to puke now, would I? I loath you, just in case you've forgotten!"

Steaming, Gabriella once again turned on her heel and stormed out of the library. Troy wasn't to know what was coming to him, but whatever it was – it definitely wasn't going to be a walk in the park. It was exactly this moment that Gabriella decided on using "their" old choreography for the contest. After all, the contest practically was about Troy. And if their relationship had ever meant something real to him, he'd be hurt beyond belief that she actually used it in a contest against his current "girlfriend".

And Gabriella intended on hurting him. On hurting him more than he had ever hurt her. Oh yeah, Troy Bolton wasn't to know what was coming to him, but it definitely wouldn't be pretty.

So, I hope you liked this chapter… if yes, tell me why, and if not, tell me why nevertheless :) Anyways, I'm going to be gone for a few days - from the 31st of July to the 9th of August – because I'll be on holiday in Spain. I don't know if I'll manage to get another chapter up before I go… but maybe a few nice reviews will be able to encourage me to do it? *wink* Just a suggestion, though :)

Anyways, for the time being: Until then,

xoxo ElextrifyingChemistry

Lena