Title: Be Who We Are ( 4/? )

Author: Amazon Ziti

Beta: xBREAKiNGFREE

Fandom: High School Musical

Pairings: Troy/Gabriella, background Chad/Taylor

Rating: Light R to be safe.

Disclaimer: If High School Musical were mine, that scene with Zac Efron shirtless would have been a heck of a lot longer. Also there would have been some proper Troy/Gabriella smoochies. None of this interruption business. Point: I own only my plotline. Disclaimers for any music will be at the end of the chapter, so as not to ruin the suspense.

Summary: Troy and Gabriella prepare for the first round of auditions for Grease.

Word Count: About 3,900 words (11 pages), not counting Author's Notes or lyrics.

Notes: Only the first half of this chapter has been beta-read, so any tomatoes should be thrown squarely at me. Also – sorry for the delay, guys! Thanks for your patience!

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Today had been the longest day ever.

Gabriella sat cross-legged on her bed, scowling ferociously at her Calculus homework. It hadn't done anything wrong – Calculus wasn't precisely easy, but Gabriella understood it and usually enjoyed the slight challenge of having to put some thought into her math homework. No, Calc wasn't the problem.

The problem – well, the problem was Murphy's Law, which wasn't going to be changed any time soon. Gabby hadn't had a moment alone with Troy since homeroom, and while this would have annoyed her enough on any regular day, today was worse because of the whole prom thing.

The second Ms. Darbus had mentioned the date for the prom at the end of the school year, Gabriella had felt positively electrified. She'd been to dances before, of course, semi-formals at previous schools and every week at her summer camps; they'd all been pretty miserable. There was nothing quite like getting dressed up and excited for a dance, and then spending three hours hovering at the edge of the floor alone, watching everyone else have a great time.

Now, though, Gabby was certain things would be different. She'd made more good friends in three months at East High than she'd made in six and a half years at other junior high and high schools, and to top it all off, she had Troy. What would it be like to have a willing partner for every slow song? What would it be like to have a group of girlfriends to whom she could retreat and giggle and dance around with for all the faster songs?

Gabriella was excited to find out. But first, the universe had to give Troy a chance to ask her to go with him to the prom, and that hadn't happened yet.

Five minutes alone with Troy. That was all Gabby wanted. On any other day, they'd have managed it easily. They both had a free period on Mondays after homeroom, as well as the same lunch and a sixth period Global Studies class. Today, though, the free period had been nixed right off the bat; Ms. Darbus had held them late in homeroom, so the boys had had to leave in a hurry to get to their basketball workout. Gabby had managed to snag a seat next to Troy at lunch, but they'd been in the middle of a mob of basketballers and cheerleaders – Troy's typical lunchtime entourage. When Troy had attempted to sneak Gabby away to the roof, all of the Wildcats had followed and steered them instead to the football field behind the school, where they'd all hung out on the bleachers until the fifth period bell had rung.

Sixth period hadn't been any better, because Troy had P.E., which doubled as yet another team practice, during fifth. He had arrived late to Global Studies, dropping into the first seat available – one which wasn't anywhere near Gabriella. Immediately after school the boys had their third practice of the day – the only official one – and Gabby knew better than to put herself in the way of Coach Bolton in a bad mood. Instead, Taylor had driven her home, and after getting herself a snack, Gabby had settled in to do her homework.

Now it was seven o'clock, and all of Gabby's work was done – the Calculus spread in front of her was next week's – and Troy still wasn't here. In theory, the Wildcats' practice was supposed to go from three-thirty until five-thirty, but Coach Bolton usually started practice at three-fifteen, and never let his team out before six. When he was in a bad mood, as the boys had predicted he would be today, he'd push the team until they were on the brink of collapse.

Frustrated, Gabby sorted the pages of her Calculus homework and tucked them away into a folder. She checked her cell phone hopefully – maybe she'd turned the ringer off by accident? – but there were no missed calls, texts, or voicemails.

Gabriella bit her lip and got up to fuss around her room, looking for things to put away. Unfortunately, everything was already neat as a pin. Gabby paced at the foot of her bed, her hands on her hips. "God, Troy, where are you?"

"Right here."

Gabby let out a high-pitched shriek and whirled around. Sure enough, Troy was lounging in her balcony doorway, looking worn but amused.

"Troy! Give a girl some warning next time!" Gabriella exclaimed, padding over to give him a hug and a kiss in greeting.

Troy didn't let her get past the hug, wrapping his arms around her waist and pulling her tight against him. When it became clear Troy wasn't planning on letting go anytime soon, Gabby leaned her forehead on his shoulder and snuggled as close as she could. Troy shuddered slightly and pressed his cheek against her hair. "This is gonna sound so dumb, but I swear to God, Gabby, I thought I'd never see you again."

Gabriella stroked her fingertips up and down Troy's back. "Must have been a hell of a practice."

"You just – have no idea," Troy said. His voice was slightly hoarse. "I'm… I'm so tired, Gabby."

"All right," Gabriella said softly. "Come on inside and lie down for a bit, okay?"

There was a long pause, and then Gabby felt Troy nod ever-so-slightly. Slowly, Gabriella backed herself and Troy into the room and shuffled them over to the bed. Troy came along obediently, his movements clumsy, and didn't lift his heavy head from Gabby's until she said, "Here we go, Troy."

With obvious reluctance, Troy let go of her and sat down. He tilted his chin up to meet Gabby's gaze and she felt her heart contract with sympathy: his usually bright blue eyes were glassy with exhaustion. Gabby bit her lip and reached out, splaying her palm on Troy's chest. It took a moment of gentle pressure before Troy realized what she wanted and let her push him over until he was lying back against her pillows.

"Poor baby," Gabby murmured. She leaned one hip against the bed and bent over Troy, who blinked up at her sleepily.

"That pretty much describes me, yeah," Troy said. "Don't I just make you want to lie down and cuddle with me?" He gleamed a sly, hopeful smile at her.

Gabby smiled back and brushed Troy's hair out of his eyes. "More than you know. Just let me call my mom – and your mom. Let them know you're here."

"Hmkay," Troy sighed. "I missed you all day and I want to spend some time with you, but I'm this close to passing out."

Troy said that with laughter in his voice, but looking at the usually energetic boy collapsed on her bed, Gabriella could tell he wasn't joking. "I'll make it quick, I promise," Gabby said. She got up to fetch her cell phone before settling again at Troy's side. She called her own mother first, and got Carla's permission to let Troy stay the night. "Troy?"

"Hm?" Troy mumbled. He rolled onto his side and wriggled closer to lay his head in Gabby's lap.

"My mom says you can sleep over. 'Just this once'."

"On a school night?" Troy asked, blinking sleepily. Weekends-only was the second rule for coed sleepovers, the first being door-stays-open. "That's nice of her."

"Now I just have to call your mom. What's her number?"

"Hm." Troy squeezed his eyes shut tight and then opened them again, trying to remember. "I have no idea. She's in my cell, though." He dug a hand into the pocket of his track pants and produced his cell phone. "Here."

"Thanks."

Laura picked up on the first ring. "Troy? Tell me your father didn't just let you out of practice."

"Um, actually, Mrs. Bolton, it's Gabriella."

"Oh!" Troy's mother sounded slightly embarrassed. "Gabriella. Hello, dear. I assume Troy's with you."

"Yes, ma'am. Actually, that's why I called. Troy just got to my house, and he's totally exhausted—"

"—I'm past exhausted," Troy called from her lap. "In fact I think I'm progressing towards giddy now."

"I heard that," Laura told Gabby, amused. "You were saying?"

"Um, well, he still has to have dinner and do his homework and everything," Gabby said, "but we don't have much time if he has to be home by ten." That was Troy's school-night curfew.

"I see," Laura said. "Should I infer that you have a solution to this dilemma?"

"Troy and I were hoping he could, um, sleep over," Gabriella said, wincing a little. It was one thing to discuss this with her own mother, but it was a little weird with her boyfriend's. "Um, I already called my mom and she said just this once, so—"

"I see," Troy's mother said again. A pause, and then, "Should I infer too that you'd like me to break the news to Troy's father?"

Ack. Gabby made a face. "If—if it wouldn't be too much trouble…"

"Gabriella," Laura laughed, "you and I both know it will be just enough trouble." She sighed. "Still. I suppose Jack was in a very bad mood all day?"

"That's what I've heard, ma'am," Gabriella said tactfully.

"He's taking that State Championship awfully hard. I wouldn't want to be a Wildcat right now."

"Me neither, Mrs. Bolton," Gabriella said, with feeling.

"I think it might be for the best if we gave Jack a little time to cool down," Laura decided. "Yes, Troy may sleep over."

"Thank you, Mrs. Bolton!" Gabby grinned at Troy, who was peering up at her hopefully. "She said yes!"

"Thanks, Mom!" Troy said.

"He says thank you," Gabby told Laura.

"Yes, I heard. You are both quite welcome. May I say goodnight to my son, please, Gabriella?"

"Sure, Mrs. Bolton. And thanks again." Gabriella handed the phone to Troy, who reassured his mother that yes, he would brush his teeth and that yes, he could wash today's clothes in order to wear them clean to school tomorrow. Then he said his goodbyes and closed his phone with no small amount of relief.

"All set?" Gabby asked.

"You bet. Hey, c'mere. You're too far away."

"Scoot over."

Troy obeyed, moving off Gabriella's lap into the middle of the bed, leaving room for her to lie down next to him. He opened his arms invitingly, and with a sigh Gabby moved into them. She pillowed her head on his shoulder, wrapped an arm across his chest and draped a leg over both of his. "Mm." Gabby tilted her head upward to place a kiss just under Troy's smooth jawline. "I missed you today."

"Me too," Troy said. He sounded exasperated. "We were so close at lunch, too. When the whole team got up and followed us I was ready to scream. I swear they've been taking lessons from Chad." Troy's best friend had interrupted what could have been a fantastic first kiss after the City Championship game. It had taken Troy and Gabriella a little over two weeks more to hook up properly, and neither of them had fully forgiven Chad for this.

"I know!" Gabriella agreed. "So…"

"So," Troy said. "Before we get interrupted, again – Gabriella, will you go to the prom with me?"

Gabriella could have melted where she lay. Troy sounded so hopeful – as if he thought she could ever, in a million years, say no. "Of course I will. I'd love to. I've been waiting all day for you to ask."

"As if I wouldn't!" Troy said fondly. "You're still too far away." He wiggled the arm Gabby was lying on, prompting her to sit up and straddle Troy's waist before lying back down on his chest so they were nose-to-nose.

"Hi, boyfriend," Gabby whispered against Troy's mouth.

"Hi, girlfriend," Troy whispered back, and kissed her. Gabby tilted her head so their noses didn't get in the way and kissed him back.

Oh…

After a long, long day of waiting and worrying, Gabriella finally relaxed. Kissing Troy was better than anything in the world. Cupping Troy's face in her hands, Gabby let her mouth fall open, giving him a chance to take advantage. The tentative touch of Troy's tongue against hers was warm and wet and comforting and delicious.

One of Troy's big hands cradled the back of Gabby's head, while the other meandered down her spine to rest possessively at the small of her back. Gabby wriggled and relished Troy's resulting groan. Troy pulled his mouth away from Gabby's to gasp, "Tease!"

Gabby just laughed and kissed him again.

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Sometime around eight o'clock, Troy and Gabriella came up for air.

Well – Gabby came up for air; Troy let out a breathy groan in protest and reached to pull her back down to him. Gabby wavered, but shook her head and said, "No, Troy. Come on, it's eight already! We have to eat. And – and do your homework."

"Don't wanna." Troy tried his sweetest pout on for size. Gabby swayed to kiss it before she caught herself.

"Troy!" She braced a hand on his bare chest. After a distracted moment caressing smooth skin and hard muscle, she realized this wasn't helping. Reluctantly Gabby dismounted from her comfortable seat straddling Troy's lap to sit next to him on her bed. "Where'd I throw your shirt? Did you notice? Oh!" It was on the floor on the other side of the bed. Rather than risk more temptation by crawling over Troy, Gabriella stood and walked around. "Here – put this on before I pounce on you again."

"Oh, yeah, that's incentive." Troy caught the shirt she threw at him. "You realize that if I put this back on, you won't be able to see my nipple ring any more."

"Could you make 'nipple ring' sound any dirtier?" Gabby asked, refusing to look and be led astray.

"Heh. I should just call it 'my secret weapon' instead," Troy said lasciviously. "Hey, Gabby."

"What?"

"Just don't leave me alone here.

It's cold, baby. Come back to bed."

Gabby shivered, pausing as she redid the buttons of her own shirt. "Troy. That is not playing fair."

"Come back to bed."

"Stop that!"

"Come back to bed."

"I'm going downstairs. To make dinner. In the kitchen."

"Why don't you come back to bed?"

"Because there is no sexiness in the kitchen. Going now!" Gabriella hurried into the hallway and down the stairs to her kitchen, where she stopped to catch her breath and finish buttoning her blouse. Gabby had always taken pride in her responsibility and self-control, but she regularly found herself blindsided by how very much she loved and wanted Troy.

Before she and Troy had met, Gabby had expected that having a boyfriend would be little different than adding a fun extracurricular to her schedule: she'd thought she would find a boy with whom she could hold hands and kiss when it was convenient, and that otherwise life would go on as it usually did. She'd assumed that their physical relationship would be tame, private and carefully paced, and she'd only vaguely considered that she might someday have sex. Probably if things went as they should, Gabby would date during college, start settling during or immediately after graduate school, and get married and have children when she was between twenty-six and thirty-five.

She had not been in the least prepared for loving Troy Bolton.

Gabby thought about him all the time. Even when she was focused on something else – anything else – there was always an awareness of him, somewhere deep inside of her: Troy would like this, or I wish Troy were here with me, or Later I'll get to see Troy. When they were in class together it took all of Gabriella's so-called self-control to stop from reaching for him or sitting in his lap or kissing him. It was difficult to look at their teacher or the blackboard instead of at Troy; Gabriella loved to watch Troy talk and laugh and bite his lip and furrow his brow and roll his eyes. Best of all was when Troy looked back at her, because his eyes would light up and his mouth would curve temptingly, and Gabby could take that smile into her heart and think, That's for me. Just for me.

When they were alone, though – that was when Gabby really had to watch her step. It was frighteningly powerful to have free reign to touch Troy, to hold him, to kiss him. It was a little overwhelming, too, and sometimes – like today – Gabby put on the brakes just to make sure she still could. Otherwise… Gabby didn't know what otherwise. She wasn't quite ready for sex yet and she didn't think Troy was, either, but she found herself looking forward to when she would be. There were things she dreamed of doing with Troy… for Troy…. to Troy. Sometimes she surprised herself with her eagerness. Gabriella had always thought that, when the time came, the prospect of sex would be that of a duty she might eventually grow to enjoy. This was nothing like that. Nothing at all.

"Hey," came Troy's voice. Gabby looked up to see her boyfriend, properly dressed at last, leaning languidly against the doorframe with that smile on his face. "What's cookin', good-lookin'?"

That phrase was so silly Gabby just had to laugh. "Nothing, yet. What do you feel like having?"

Troy raised one dark eyebrow and let his smile turn slightly feral.

Gabby blushed. "For dinner! What do you want for dinner?"

"Oh," Troy said. "For dinner." He shrugged carelessly. "I don't know. Anything, really. What do you have?"

"Let's find out." Gabby beckoned Troy over as she turned to open the refrigerator. Pressed shoulder-to-shoulder, they peered inside.

"Hm," Troy said. "Pickles. Olives. Pitted cherries. Thai fish sauce. Double-A batteries. Yum."

"Shush, you," Gabby said, giving him a gentle shove. "Okay… What's this?" She opened a white cardboard takeout container curiously.

"I think that's leftover moo-shu," Troy said helpfully. He leaned in closer to prop his chin on Gabby's shoulder.

"Is it still good?" Gabby asked, wrinkling her nose.

"Let's find out," Troy said, and before Gabby could stop him he pinched some with his bare fingers and popped it into his mouth.

"Troy! Ew!"

Troy chewed thoughtfully. "What?"

"I don't even know when that's from!" Troy rolled his eyes, and Gabby sighed. "If you get food poisoning and die slowly and painfully, you have only yourself to blame."

"It's fine," Troy said, amused. "Just cold."

"Things often are after they've been in the fridge for a while," Gabby said dryly. "Well, if it's good we'll have some for dinner. I'm pretty sure we're out of the pancakes, though."

"Let's be wacky and have rice, instead," Troy suggested, reaching for another take-out container. "This… is not rice."

Gabriella looked. "That's Chinese broccoli, Troy. It's yummy. And it's good for you."

"Where's the rice?"

"We might be out," Gabby said, shifting things around. "God, I have a big fridge."

"You can't have Chinese food without rice," Troy said plaintively.

"Poor baby, you might have to," Gabby said. Then, "No – wait! I found it. You can breathe easy."

Troy and Gabriella transferred the leftover Chinese takeout to a large Tupperware and heated it up in the microwave. They sat at the island to eat, scooting two stools close together. Gabby relished the warmth of the length of Troy's side against hers as she chased his fork with her chopsticks. Troy put a strong arm around her shoulders and laughed as he battled her for the rice. "Tease! Stop that!"

Tease. Gabby sighed lightly. Troy called her that a lot. He seemed to mean it affectionately, but… "Hey, Troy."

"Hm?"

"Does it, um, bother you? That – that I'm a tease sometimes?"

Troy put his fork down and tilted his head to fix her with a steady blue gaze. "Gabby, you know I'm just joking when I call you that, right?"

"Well…" Gabriella shrugged. "We'll be… making out and, you know, stuff…"

"Oh, yeah," Troy said, his eyes dancing. "I know stuff."

Gabby smiled shyly back at him before making herself continue. "But I'll stop us. And sometimes that's when you call me tease. And I don't – I don't mean to lead you on or anything."

Troy's laugh was comforting, low and gentle. "Gabriella, I don't think you could 'lead me on' if you tried." He leaned forward until he could nuzzle the tips of their noses. "You're too honest. And kind. And sweet."

"Troy!" Gabby protested, feeling her cheeks heat.

"I mean it," Troy said unapologetically. "Of course I like making out and stuff. But I also like that you know what we're ready for. And I think it's good that you stop us, because I don't think I would be able to."

Gabriella stared at him. "You do realize that most teenaged boys don't think that way."

"Yeah, well." With his free hand, Troy clumsily mimed brushing dirt off his shoulder. "I'm not most teenaged boys." He tossed his hair out of his eyes and flashed that smile before adding, "And you're not most teenaged girls. That's why we fit."

Gabby beamed. "Yeah. We fit."

"So, tease," Troy said, "are you gonna let me get some of this rice, or what?"

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After dinner they went back upstairs to Gabriella's room to tackle Troy's homework. At around nine-thirty Gabby's mom came home; Carla came upstairs to say hello and to make sure they'd eaten before going to fix herself a meal. While Troy slogged through College Algebra – a class he'd taken solely to avoid taking pre-Calculus – Gabby sprawled next to him on her stomach with her laptop in front of her, reviewing their options for the upcoming auditions.

"Hm…" Gabby mused, scrolling through her iTunes. "How about something John Mayer? I can personally attest that you make his songs sound delicious."

"Nah," Troy said. He scowled down at his graphing calculator. "He's a little too…" He paused, looking for a word more politically correct than 'girly'. "… Romantic. I'm trying out for Danny Zuko. I need something a more… hip-shaking."

"Hip-shaking," Gabby repeated. "Hip-shaking. Hm. Maroon 5? They can be kinda sexy. Ooh, Marvin Gaye is very sexy."

"Somehow I don't think singing 'Let's Get It On' is entirely appropriate for a high school musical audition," Troy said wryly.

"Point. Oh! How about this?" Gabby double-clicked on a song and she and Troy listened intently. When it was over, Troy smiled.

"I like it," he said. "But… You're sure it's not too… skanky?"

"Like you said," Gabby smirked, "you are trying out for Danny. I'd say it's just the right degree of skank."

"Just the right degree of skank," Troy said. "I like that." He gave Gabby a wink.

"So," Gabby said, turning back to her computer. "Are we still agreed on the song for pairs?"

"Yup."

"And I've got my singles song picked out. We're all set! I signed us up for Thursday auditions after school, since you won't have practice then."

"I can't wait," Troy said, looking up from his homework. "How awesome would it be, Gabby – you and me, Sandy and Danny?"

"Pretty awesome," Gabby agreed, unable to suppress a smile.

"Now," Troy said briskly, "Do a guy a favor and explain this stupid calculator again? I think there are about a hundred buttons more than I actually need."

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FIN

Chapter Four

first posted June 30, 2007

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My heartfelt thanks to everybody who reviewed last time: bombastic-banter. butterflygoodbye, carito06, ChasingGhosts, cher, Finny, Helenilia, Hopeless Wanderer, HSMandChelseaFCFan, HSMCaga15, idolized, Jewel2502, jtaveras, kathyt222, larabaybee, MiZZMoNTez93, Peatrie, Picloute, Purplgurl, sapphiress, soccerfriends118, Sophie220, troyella is my life, weeziebomb, wench, WriteTheScriptToYourOwnLifex3, x-Rose-Tyler-x, x3liveinLOVExoxo, xochrissy, and Zanessa Troyella Perfection. Of course, my faboo beta, xBREAKiNGFREE, gets her own special mention, and also chocolate cake.

I am totally bowled over both by the enthusiasm and the details in y'all's reviews – the enthusiasm provokes me to write more, and the details help me to write better… so by all means, keep it coming! Now, to answer some questions:

As explained in the chapter above, Troy and Gabby are not having sex… yet. But I can pretty much guarantee you they will. When they do, I won't write it in any detail, but I promise they'll both have a very good time. ) I'm not religious, so I don't care much one way or the other about waiting until marriage; I care about waiting until both partners are ready. Troy and Gabby are both sixteen-going-on-seventeen, and they're both mature, and they're in love. When they're ready, they'll know, and so will we.

Gabriella is a bit of a flirt, isn't she? As you know, I was very worried about characterization in that respect. I re-watched HSM (again…) to refresh my memory, and you know what? She's a flirt in canon, too. Not in, you know, a skanky way, but honestly. Have you seen Zac Efron? How could you not be a flirt around him? I have also watched "What Time Is It" about a zillion times on YouTube (purely for research purposes, you understand), and I would like to say that that is what I am officially going for with Troy and Gabriella – a little shy, a little flirty, a little sexy, and totally into each other. Let me know if it's working?

Wow, these Author's Notes are long. Sorry. Almost done.

No, the nipple ring will not die, for those of you who were worried. I love it just as much as you do. Yes, Coach Bolton's a meanie, but he's also a concerned and confused parent. I don't agree with him, but I'm trying to understand where he's coming from. We'll hear more from him later. I know you're all looking forward to auditions… They'll be next chapter, never fear. I'm sorry for the overwhelming amount of fluff, but my beta assured me that you would like it, so I decided to let it stay. Plot will follow, I promise. I have the audition songs picked out, but there will be more opportunity for non-musical singing later, so I'm open to more suggestions, duets especially.

Any more guesses for casting? Nobody's got more than one out of five (Troy, Gabriella, Sharpay, Ryan, and Chad) right yet. If you get four out of five right, you'll get… let's see… an honorable mention, a cookie, and a cameo as a member of your high school clique of choice. So – get guessing!

Oh. "Come Back to Bed" belongs to John Mayer.

There is more to this school than boys in baggy shorts flinging balls for touchdowns!