I'm so sorry for the long wait. And I'm sorry that his chapter kinda sucks, but I wanted to get it up. I'm not sure how long this story will be yet, but it will at least have a few more chapters.

Disclaimer: I DO NO OWN HSM OR ANYTHING RELATED TO THE FRANCHISE.


Gabriella felt her phone vibrate in her pocket and slipped it under her desk to read the text.

-You'd think Amber would get tired of looking at the back of my head. Is it really the interesting? Can't wait for free period.

Troy's message made Gabriella giggle a little too loud and the entire class turned around to look at her. Mr. Baker, her English teacher, was in the middle of one of his never ending speeches and he sent her a glare for interrupting. Before he could continue on with his speech or interrogate Gabriella, the bell rang signaling free period.

Gabriella ran out the door as fast as she could without drawing attention to herself and headed into a stall in the girls bathroom. She was hiding in the stall until the hallway was clear and while hiding she changed. She didn't want Troy to recognize her outfit from earlier so she changed into a yellow sundress and put her curly locks in a high ponytail. She added a touch of lip gloss and stuffed her other clothes into her bag. Once the coast was clear, she put on her mask from the party and headed up the stairs to the rooftop.

Gabriella could see Troy sitting on the bench looking nervous as he fiddled with his hands.

"Hi," Gabriella said quietly.

"Gabriella? Why are you wearing your mask?" Troy asked as she sat down beside him.

"I guess I'm not quite ready to show you who I am," she whispered looking down at the ground.

"You don't have to be afraid to tell me who you really are, but if it makes you more comfortable you can wear the mask. But only if you promise I'll get to see you without it soon" Troy said staring into her chocolate brown eyes.

"All in due time," Gabriella said letting out a small sigh of relief along with a giggle. "So are you going to audition for the musical?"

"I don't know. What if I suck? Not only will auditioning hurt my reputation, but if I do badly I'll be humiliated. Chad will never let me live it down," Troy said.

"You must be good. Why would you consider auditioning if you weren't good?" Gabriella asked.

"Haven't you seen American Idol auditions? Most of the people think they are good and they are horrible," Troy pointed out.

"True, but they want attention so they audition and make fools of themselves. You don't need to audition to get attention. I'm pretty sure you can get attention from just sitting in class," Gabriella said smiling.

"I wish it weren't like that. Enough about me, are you auditioning? I'm sure you must have an amazing voice," Troy said making Gabriella blush slightly.

"I don't know. I'm have stage fright, but I'm also really scared of rejection," Gabriella said. Although being around Troy made her nervous, it also made her feel at ease. Like she could tell him anything and he would understand.

"Is that why you don't want to show me what you look like?" Troy said and Gabriella nodded sheepishly. "I don't care if you aren't popular or if you aren't some anorexic cheerleader whose daddy bought her a convertible and a nose job for her 16th birthday. I would actually prefer someone that is the opposite of the people in my "crowd," Troy said making Gabriella laugh.

"Well I can honestly tell you, I'm nothing like that. You're so much different than I thought," Gabriella said. Troy gave her a perplexed look as if he didn't know how to take the comment. "Different in a good way of course."

"Thanks. And Gabriella, don't let people discourage you from showing them just how great you are. I think you should audition and show up all those drama queens," Troy said. "I really like talking to you Gabriella," he said meeting Gabriella's gaze.

"Me too," Gabriella said looking into his deep blue eyes.

"I like you Gabi and I was wondering if you, you wanted to," Troy stuttered.

"If I wanted to what?" Gabriella asked. Troy was so cute when he was nervous and he was making Gabriella anxious.

"If you wanted to go out with me sometime, just you and me and no masks," Troy said. Gabriella hesitated, but Taylor's words kept echoing in her head. She had to just take a chance and see what would happen.

"I'd love to," Gabriella said and she caught her breath as Troy moved in closer capturing her lips in a sweet kiss As Troy pulled away, he reached his hands up to the mask to take it off just as the bell rang interrupting the moment. Gabriella got up quickly preventing Troy from removing the mask.

"I have to go, but I'll text you," Gabriella said as she grabbed her bag, threw it over her shoulder and gave Troy a quick kiss on the cheek. Troy was a little disappointed that he hadn't got to take her mask off, but had hope he would get to see her face in the future.

Gabriella hid behind the stairs as Troy raced down them off to class. Gabriella stayed there until the hall way was clear and then she went into the bathroom to change back into her clothes from earlier. Gabriella took out her note and headed back to class.


Later that night before Gabriella went to bed, she spent all night deciding what song to sing for her audition. She made up her mind that if Troy auditioned tomorrow then she would too. Before going to bed she received a text from Troy.

-So about that date you promised me, I was hoping you would be available this Saturday. See you at the auditions tomorrow, or I guess you'll just see me since I don't know what you look like. :] Goodnight Gabriella

Gabriella smiled as she read the text and sent Troy a quick reply before drifting off to sleep.

-Saturday sounds good. I'll see you tomorrow. Night Troy :]


The next morning Troy was very uneasy. He was having second thoughts about auditioning and Chad kept questioning why he wouldn't be in the gym during free period.

"Dude here comes your biggest fan," Chad said as they were sitting in homeroom waiting for Darbus to show up.

"Hi Troy, so I'm having a party this Saturday and you are totally invited. It's going to be so much fun and my parents are going to out of town so like we have an unlimited amount of boozes," Amber said.

"Thanks for the offer Amber. But I have plans on Saturday and none of them involve me getting wasted at your house. I'm sure Chad would love to though," Troy said hoping to focus the attention on someone other than him.

"Chad can come if he wants, but only if you come Troy," Amber said hoping that would convince Troy to come.

"Let me take this one buddy," Chad said gesturing Troy to sit down and enjoy the show. "My man Troy doesn't want to hurt your feelings, but he's not interested. He finds spending time with you about as enjoyable as a root canal. And you aren't much to look at either, I think we all know that your boobs are fake and you had a nose job. I'd say you set your standards a little lower princess because I think the only person that is into you is Mr. Baker. I mean how else do you explain that fact that you're passing his class when you have the brain of five year old, no wait, that's not nice. My five year old cousin doesn't deserve to be compared you, I mean what has he ever done to me?" Chad said smugly. He was enjoying letting this blonde bimbo have it. He was tired of her being around all the time.

"Ugh, whatever Chad," Amber said giving Chad a slap before leaving the room.

"Wow, I can't believe that just happened," Gabriella whispered to Taylor.

"I can't believe Troy still doesn't know that you are his dream girl," Taylor said.

"Well he would have if the bell hadn't gone off," Gabriella said not sure if she was happy or sad about that.

"Well at least we know that he'll know the real you on Saturday," Taylor said. "Are you excited?"

"Yeah, but right now I'm just nervous about auditions," Gabriella replied.

"You'll do great girl. And I wish I could go, but I have a science club meeting that I couldn't reschedule," Taylor said.

"I know it's okay,' Gabriella said as she felt her phone vibrate.

-Chad won't stop hassling me about where I'm going during free period and about getting your friend's phone number. Do you think you could help me with either of those?

-Not with the first one, but I guess I could give you my friends number, but why?

-Well, while we were off on our own, they were apparently getting pretty cozy themselves and Chad forgot to get her number.

Gabriella let out a light chuckle and gave Troy Taylor's number. She couldn't wait to see what would happen when Taylor found out her mystery boy was none other than Chad Danforth.


As the bell went off signaling free period, Gabriella took off towards the gym with butterflies in her stomach. She took a seat in the back of the auditorium as students started coming in. The crowd was mostly the drama club with a few new hopefuls and then Troy came in. It was obvious he was nervous and felt out of place. Gabriella headed down towards the rest of the kids and sat down waiting for her name to be called.

"Listen my young thespians. You will come up here and sing a few bars and I will post the call backs on the wall after auditions. Let's get started," Ms. Darbus said. "First up, we have Ms. Sharpay Evans."

After Sharpay sang her song, many followed until the only ones left were Troy and Gabriella. Troy was worried that Gabriella hadn't showed up at all while Gabriella was worried about fainting.

"Next up is Ms. Gabriella Montez," Ms. Darbus announced. "What will you be singing for us?"

"Whatever Will Be by Vanessa Hudgens," Gabriella answered.

"We're short on time so just sing a verse and a chorus, okay," Ms. Darbus said and Gabriella nodded as she took center stage and started to sing.

"Sometimes I feel like I'm a bird with broken wings
At times I dread my now and envy where I've been
But that's when quiet wisdom takes control
At least I've got a story no one's told"

Troy listened to Gabriella sing and was blown away by how beautiful her voice was. He felt in his heart that his was his Gabriella, but he didn't want to be wrong so he just sat there and listened to her performance.

"I finally learned to say
Whatever will be will be
I've learned to take
The good, the bad and breathe
'Cause although we like
To know what life's got planned
No one knows if shooting stars will land"

Gabriella finished singing and got a round of applause from her fellow students.

"Very good Ms. Montez, now for our last performer we have Troy Bolton," Ms. Darbus said a little unsure of whether she was reading the list right.

"Um, yeah. I'm singing Beautiful Soul by Jesse McCartney," Troy said as the Ms. Darbus sat back down.

"Am I crazy for wanting you?
Maybe do you think you could want me too?
I don't wanna waste your time
Do you see things the way I do?
I just wanna know that you feel it too
There is nothing left to hide"

Everyone was shocked that Troy Bolton could sing. Sharpay was worried about Gabriella being competition, but now so was Troy. Gabriella new he must have been good, but she didn't think he was this good. A part of her hoped that they would be cast together in the musical.

"I don't want another pretty face
I don't want just anyone to hold
I don't want my love to go to waste
I want you and your beautiful soul
You're the one I wanna chase
You're the one I wanna hold
I wont let another minute go to waste
I want you and your beautiful soul"

As Troy finished singing, the auditorium gave him a stand ovation. Troy was used to attention but never for his singing which made him faintly flushed. Troy stepped off the stage and went to sit with the rest of his classmates. The drama club kids chatted while Ms. Darbus prepared the cast list while Troy and Gabriella just sat there in silence. Part of Gabriella wanted to talk to Troy, but she refrained from talking to him. Troy, on the other hand, was still wondering if Gabriella Montez was his Gabi.

"Ms. Darbus posted the list guys," a short dirty blonde freshman with way too much enthusiasm yelled encouraging everyone to get up and look at the list. Gabriella was closet to the list so she read it before the crowd could get to it. She made her way to her seat with a big grin on her face. Gabriella had gotten the lead female role and best of all, Troy was her leading man.

"WHAT?! I'm not the lead!" Sharpay screamed so loud that the entire school probably heard it. Gabriella was worried about facing Sharpay's wrath so she quickly started gathering her things.

Troy was so excited that he got the lead. He didn't care that he would probably get teased for this and it would hurt his rep. He had to tell Gabriella the good news. Troy grabbed his cell and dialed Gabriella's number. Gabriella had forgot to put her phone back on silent so when her phone rang she jumped a little and hurried to try to turn it off. Troy heard Gabriella's phone ringing and remembered her ring tone from the party so he headed towards her.

"Gabriella!" He called and ran towards her. Gabriella didn't want them to meet like this so she grabbed her back and ran out the down. Troy followed closely though as she ran down the main hallway and she turned to go up the stairs. Troy was almost close enough to grab her wrist but no quite. Gabriella stumbled over the carpet as she headed right down a semi crowded hallway. Her stumble didn't knock her down, but it gave Troy enough time to catch up to her so he grabbed her wrist and spun her around.

"Gabriella?" Troy said trying to regain his breath.

"Yes?" Gabriella said quietly looking down debating whether or not to try and take off running again.

"Are we still on for that date on Saturday?" Troy said chuckling. Gabriella could feel eyes on her as she slowly nodded. People throughout the hall were all very confused. What was going on? Why was Troy talking to his nobody? And why were they so close? Chad was about to ask Troy what the heck was going on when he did something that surprised everyone. Troy leaned in towards Gabriella and she gladly leaned in too to meet him in the most amazing tantalizing kiss of her life.


Wow that ending wasn't great. I'm sorry for that, but please still review. It means a lot to me. :]