It took a couple of seconds for Gabriella's hands to find Chad's in the water. But as her fingertips met hers, and she laced her fingers into his, she almost felt herself jump backwards as what scarily felt like a bolt of electricity flew through her veins. She took a breath, as most of the electricity shot straight to her heart, making it pound more than ever. She struggled still to catch her breath and feelings flowed through to every part of her, giving her the overpowering desire to wrap her legs around Chad's waist.

She fought this desire, however, because she knew how terribly inappropriate it would have been. She smiled, as she scanned Chad's face for some kind of reaction. He hadn't pulled his hands away anyway.

Chad's mind was going though quite a similar struggle. He was trying hard to not make it sound like his breathing was irregular but it was proving difficult. He almost couldn't believe what was happening. Did Gabriella like him? He couldn't be the only one who just felt the electricity between them. And she was holding his hands. She didn't seem like the type to steal someone's boyfriend, and anyway, he wasn't the type of guy to cheat on his girlfriend. Harmless fun, this was, completely harmless. Even if it was extremely difficult to keep his hands from touching her.

"I'm glad I came." Gabriella said in a slight whisper, barely realising she'd said anything.

"I'm glad too." Chad smiled back at her.

--

"I barely even saw you." Troy said to Chad over lunch. "You were off with Gabriella, weren't you?"

Chad looked up at Troy, then back down to his burger.

"Yeah, I was hanging out with her."

"Dude." Troy laughed to himself. "What did you do to her?"

"Shut up, Troy." Chad rolled his eyes moodily, then paused before laughing. "Nothing happened. Just had a bit of harmless fun."

"mmhmm." Troy shook his head at Chad. "I bet Sharpay would be less than pleased to find out you spent the whole day with Miss Einstein-ette."

"Well unless someone tells her," Chad said, glaring at Troy. "There's no reason for her to find out."

As if on cue, Chad jumped at a voice calling his name.

"Chad!!"

He turned round to see Sharpay grinning and walking towards him. He got up to greet her.

"Hey baby." Chad smiled, and kissed her on the cheek.

"Sorry about yesterday, baby. I hope it didn't ruin your day too much."

Troy faked choking on his burger. He mumbled an apology when the couple both turned and glared at him, Sharpay with a little added confusion.

"It wasn't too bad." Chad smiled, and slipped his hand into hers.

As they both sat down with Troy, Chad noticed a couple of tables away, Gabriella sitting down for lunch with Taylor. She was smiling like there was no tomorrow.

She looked over at Chad, and her smiled dropped from her face, looking from him to Sharpay. Chad smiled at her, and she forced a smile back.

Chad couldn't help, for the next ten minutes, glancing over at Gabriella every now and then. She kept whispering to Taylor, as girls do. But when Taylor looked directly at him, he felt a little uncomfortable. And when the bell rang, and he remembered he had History next, he wasn't sure whether he felt the same excited feeling he usually did, or whether he felt awkward and annoyed.

When he arrived at the classroom, and took his usual seat, he couldn't stop fidgeting. He avoided the gaze of Gabriella when she walked in, and took her seat in front of him.

"Hey." she grinned at him.

"Hi." he mumbled, scratching his arm, still avoiding her eyes.

"Are you okay?"

Chad looked up, and all negative feelings drifted away in a second. She looked more beautiful than ever, and as she smiled, all the feelings from the previous day came flooding back to him.

"Yeah!" she grinned. "Um… are you free after school? I was wondering… about… taking you up on your offer for a bit of tutoring."

"Yeah, sure." she nodded.

"I'll pay you of course."

"Oh, no need. We're friends, right? Friends… help each other out."

She giggled, and turned back round. As Chad scratched his head and wondered what he was doing, she turned back around to face him.

"Here's my address." She said, handing him a piece of paper. "How's around 5?"

"That's good."

"See you then." She blinked and grinned at him, before turning round to the front.

--

Chad pulled up outside Gabriella's house. He switched the car engine off, and checked himself in the rear-view mirror. He frowned as he observed his hair, which seemed to have a mind of it's own today.

As far as he was concerned… he was doing nothing wrong. Sharpay knew he was here and why. However… he didn't really believe that. Although it was what he was trying to convince himself of. He knew, deep down, it was a bad idea coming here today. But he didn't care. He wanted to. He shook his head violently to bring him to his senses. He left the car and walked up to Gabriella's front door.

He raised his hand to the knocker, but before he'd even touched it, the door opened.

"Hey!" Gabriella grinned. "Come in."

Chad walked through the door, and turned to face Gabriella.

He then realised she had changed her clothes since school. Instead of a t shirt and jeans, she was now wearing a little white dress.

"Ah, you changed." He said, trying to sound casual.

"I was a bit hot in jeans. It was cold when I woke up at 6 for school."

"Yeah." Chad let out a slight giggle.

Gabriella outstretched her hand towards him. He was starting to see a trend in their relationship. It was some kind of sordid hand-holding affair. It was electrifying enough, without being too wrong.

He took her hand, and she led him up the stairs, and into her room. As he stepped in, he looked around.

"Oh my gosh, Gab. You're secretly a girlie girl!"

Chad was expecting a studious, modest room. But he was met with a cosy, slightly OTT room covered in pink and purple décor.

"It was like this when we moved in. Well, the walls. I thought it was sort of cute."

"It is. In a 9 year old sort of way."

"Shut up!" Gabriella giggled. She removed her hands from his long enough to swat him gently on the arm. She placed her hand back in his.

"We should get started." She smiled, as their laughter died down.

--

A little while later, Gabriella was getting frustrated. Chad didn't really have a head for chemistry. She was making progress, just very little.

"I just don't get it!" Chad whined.

"Let's take a break." Gabriella exhaled, stopping herself from getting irritated with Chad.

Chad nodded, and took his sneakers off. He pulled his legs up onto Gabriella's bed and crossed them. Gabriella left her desk and sat the same way, opposite him.

"Chad…" She started, with an uneasy feeling. "You and Sharpay… how did you get together? She doesn't really seem your type.

Chad frowned to himself at the mention of his girlfriend.

"We were at a wildcat party that Troy's Dad held one night. Zeke suggested we played Spin The Bottle. She spun, it landed on me…" Chad was remembering as he spoke. "A little while after we kissed, she came up to me, all flirtatious, telling me how fun it was. Anyway…"

"One thing led to another?" Gabriella laughed.

"Yeah, something like that. What can I say, these lips enticed her in."

Gabriella laughed, and shook her head. She glanced at his lips. They were parted in a wide grin, baring Chad's white teeth. He looked up to Chad's eyes, which were staring into hers. She looked back down at his lips to see him licking them.

She felt her own lips tremble involuntarily. She had to try so hard to give in and do the thing she really wanted to do. She inhaled a deep breath.

Chad had a similar feeling. And most of all, he was feeling the strain of knowing that the ball was entirely in his court. If anything was going to happen, it was up to him to make the first move. He was the one with the girlfriend. Gabriella would never expect him to cheat.

As he looked into her eyes, his heart skipped a beat. It was then he decided he was sure she felt the same. She kept his gaze, and she reached out and put her hand on his.

"Chad." She whispered.