Hey guys, sorry this has taken so long to post! I tried to make it longer and more Troy & Gabriella! I plan on envolving the other characters more in future chapters, don't worry! This is just the beginning! Please continue to read and review!! I promise the next chapter will be up faster!

"Troy Bolton, you ass!" Taylor furiously approached the lunch table after discovering the set-up. She had waited outside Coach Wendy's room to find out what exactly was going on with Gabriella. She had overheard the entire conversation, and felt her blood boiling with anger for Troy.

"What, like she was going to eat them?" Troy looked up from Gabriella's deserted chili cheese fries.

"Do you even know why Gabriella was thinking about not trying out for cheerleading? Because of you! She wanted to do it, but she was feeling so much pressure from you that it was discouraging her. And as for your band of cheerleaders, they went against her and lied to her and their coach! Go Wildcats!" It was Taylor's turn to make a scene and then storm out of the cafeteria. Every cheerleader looked shocked and people began to whisper. Laura was not in lunch that day and thankfully neither was Sharpay.

Troy dropped his head in his hands. "Damn." He whispered. Jason put a hand on his shoulder. "Troy, you going to finish those?" Jason pointed to the fries. Troy got up and ran out of the lunchroom. He had to fix things and fast.

"Gabriella! Gabriella!" Troy's voice bounced off the walls of the East High halls. No response. He kept running down corridor after corridor. Then he heard her voice along with two unfamiliar ones. He found her outside the cheerleading coach's room with Christine Jacobs and Missy Adams. She had changed from her jeans and blue tee shirt into a red and white cheerleading uniform. He was no longer worried but just smiled and stared at her. She looks gorgeous. The uniforms were new that year and Gabriella wore it well. She looked complete in her straight red skirt with three pleats on the left side and her red shell with diamonds meeting from either side of the top outlined in white. WILDCATS was printed dead center across her chest. Gabriella had pulled her hair up high and tight and tied a red bow in it. She even had on white socks with red lines circling the rims. Her shoes didn't match Missy and Christine's cheerleading shoes because they were old ones she had decided to wear that morning, to make her remember all the good times she had had cheerleading. She was laughing as Christine and Missy admired her outfit. Coach Wendy emerged from the room handing Gabriella a small red duffle bag, red and white pom-poms, and large white sweater with a giant red 'E' on the front. There you go Bolton, you got what you wanted. Now she's probably not even talking to you. Can you blame her? The bell rang and Missy and Christine were guiding Gabriella in the opposite direction.

"Come on Troy! Cheer up dude." Chad was patting his friend on the back as they turned in their tickets at the first home football game of the year. Troy was not into the wildcat spirit that night though. He dug his hands into his oversized letterman jacket.

"She won't talk to me. I've been trying to call her all afternoon." Troy sighed as they headed to the home stands.

"She's probably coming with Taylor, chill out." Chad rolled his eyes at his best friend. For as much as he freaks out about Gabriella, you'd think they were a couple by now.

"Nope, she's not with me." Taylor and Kelsi came up behind them, overhearing the previous conversation. Troy looked out at the field and somberly watched the football team warm up. Shrieks and yelps came from the sidelines, but the cheerleaders were the last thing on Troy's mind. Before he knew it, Zeke had grabbed a hold of Troy by the collar of his jacket and was pointing at something in the air. Troy looked around at all of his friends whose jaws had dropped and they were all staring at the exact same thing; Gabriella. Christine, Missy, and Sharpay were all beneath her as she did a perfect aerobesc in the air. She smiled and pointed right at Troy. He felt himself blush. "DUDE! That's your-" Kelsi quickly covered Jason's mouth before he could finish his sentence. Troy found himself not even paying attention to anything else but Gabriella. She could flip, she could jump, and she stole the attention away from every other cheerleader. She's so incredible. The cheerleaders jumped and yelled at the end of the game, which East High had won. Gabriella happily joined in as the football players ran through their cheerleader tunnel and then followed them into the school.

Christine grabbed Gabriella's hand as they tried to keep up with the boys who were filing into the back door of the building, "Did you have fun Gabriella?" she yelled still in her cheering voice.

"So much fun!" Gabriella replied with a wide smile.

"Oh my gosh Gabriella, Troy Bolton could not keep his eyes off of you!" Missy squealed as she caught up with Christine and Gabriella. Gabriella blushed and giggled.

"Oh girls that's nothing new!" Sharpay came up behind them, just as cheerful. Why is she supporting this? I thought she wanted Troy? She truly just sounded genuine. The girls made their way to the girls' locker room to collect their things. They ran into Laura, waiting next to Gabriella's gym locker. Coach Wendy had temporarily suspended Laura from the squad and took away her captain title. Sharpay had learned mostly through rumors that she was second choice and offered to give up her spot, but Coach Wendy didn't see that as fair, and decided that Sharpay could stay on the squad. "Hi girls." Laura said weakly. This girl went from lion to lamb in just one day. Christine, Missy and Sharpay all gave an awkward greeting and Gabriella said nothing. She wasn't one for fights, so she just decided to avoid Laura at all costs. "Gabriella, do you mind if we talk in private?" Laura's hands were in her jean pockets, but she was still shaking nervously. Gabriella glanced at Missy, Christine, and Sharpay who were giggling over a note one of them had found in their locker.

"I guess that's okay." Gabriella smiled. What do you have to loose? You're the one that still gets to cheer, not her. What more harm could she cause you? Laura led Gabriella into the back of the locker room.

"I know I have to apologize to you, but I also know you won't believe me when I say that I'm sorry for what I did." Laura started in one breath. That's a typical cheerleader thing.

"Laura, I'm sure you are sorry." Gabriella cut in. "I just don't understand why you did it."

"Are you serious?" Laura looked up at Gabriella no longer shaking, but back to her business-like-cheerleader-captain voice. "You have hardly been here a full year Montez and you have this school wrapped around your finger."

"That's hardly the truth Laura. I'm sorry that you think that." Wait, why am I apologizing to her?

"Hardly the truth? Guys at East High used to fight over us cheerleaders, and now they are lining up to date the National Honor Society? Don't tell me that you didn't have a lot to do with all of that." This is like Sharpay's evil twin, and that's a difficult job to fill.

Gabriella decided to ignore the dating comments. "That still doesn't make any sense why you didn't want me on your squad."

"I didn't want Sharpay on it either, but I could only control one fate at a time. If you weren't on the squad maybe things could get back to normal. And at least Sharpay would fit in with us better." This was all shocking to Gabriella. Some apology.

"You are acting like I took something from you! You are the one who made a mistake and messed up things right now." Gabriella felt sass in her voice, something that she really didn't intend on doing.

"You developed this whole new East High. Before you came, guys like Troy Bolton cared about basketball, and only basketball, and now if your hair is out of place he is first in line to help you fix it!" Troy of course, that's what it always comes down to with some of these girls.

"Laura, I really don't have time for this, but I really hope you return to the squad soon." Gabriella knew that when all else failed, to use the kill em' with kindness method. She proceeded back to her gym locker and took out her red duffle that she had received earlier that day. She watched Laura stalk out of the locker room, not before flipping Gabriella the bird. Gabriella just rolled her eyes. You can't be everybody's friend. She noticed that Christine and the others had left already. Damn, I need a ride, even if it had to be from Sharpay. Gabriella was walking out of the locker room and looking down at her phone that was out of service. When she looked up she saw the end of the hallway crowded with Jason, Kelsi, Zeke, Taylor, Chad, and Troy.

"Gabriella!" Taylor screamed. She was the first to notice that Gabriella was coming towards them. Before she knew it, Gabriella was mauled with hugs and 'I didn't know you could do that!' and 'How do you bend like that?' She just giggled at her friends as they led her out of the school building. There were a few football players' parents hanging around outside, but otherwise the warm Albuquerque night was filled with the seven friends' voices.

"Can we eat, I am starving!" Chad whined.

Gabriella was about to nod in agreement when she felt a warm hand in hers. She turned just in time to hear Troy whisper, "Gabriella, come with me." She was still slightly mad at him from earlier that day, but he had smiled at her throughout the game. Oh man those eyes. How could I be mad at those eyes? They tore themselves away from the group.

"Hey you guys we're going to Pizza Mama! Come on guys it's this way." Clueless Jason was shouting after them. Kelsi and Zeke pulled him away, assuring him that Gabriella and Troy would be there eventually. "I just don't want them to starve." Jason said, looking out for his friends.

Even though they had taken the long way to Pizza Mama, they hadn't said a word the entire walk. Troy finally spoke up. "So, you were really good at that cheerleading…stuff." He was tense and Gabriella could tell, so she giggled.

"Thanks. Did I ever tell you that you're really good at that basketball…stuff?" She mocked him and got him to smile. "S-M-I-L-E! I got Troy to smile for me!" She cheered. He burst into laughter.

"Oh no Gabriella, we've created a monster." His laugh was contagious and Gabriella started to giggle uncontrollably. She sat on the sidewalk, holding her stomach. He sat down next to her and he had stopped laughing. He stared into her friendly brown eyes. "Gabs," He was serious, she could tell. Gabriella stopped laughing.

"I'm really sorry for how mad I got at you and—" She put her finger to his lips.

"Shh. Troy, it's fine, I understand." She smiled. She was willing to forgive him because all she could think about was kissing him. He grabbed her finger and took her hand. He started to lean into her when a loud thud came from behind them. A guy in blue letterman jacket landed near them. Gabriella jumped up and dropped Troy's hand and he followed suite. They looked up to see Chad, Zeke and Jason fighting with two other boys, also wearing the same jacket as the fallen victim. "Damn!" Troy bolted into the restaurant to try and break up his friends and what appeared to be West High jocks. Gabriella looked down at the boy on the concrete, he was carefully helping himself up.

"Are you okay?" She didn't like to see anyone intentionally hurt even if this kid was from the rival high school.

"Oh yeah, I'm peachy." He said sarcastically as he finally stood up. She couldn't help but giggle. "Hey that's a cute little laugh you got there." He started to limp towards her. Hmm, he's a little creepy. She noticed he was eyeing her uniform and she started to back up towards the restaurant. "You're an East High cheerleader? Man, I think I would've remembered you." He stopped walking towards her and that put her at ease. He was probably just trying to walk off his pain.

"I just joined the squad." She smiled. "Are you sure you're okay?" She said pointing to his right side that he was still clenching.

"I don't think this is a band-aid kind of injury." He said walking towards her again. She laughed and then realized he was right in her face. "But it's not something that a little kiss from a pretty cheerleader couldn't fix." She ducked as he leaned into her. He grabbed her by her shoulders to steady himself. She felt bad.

"Sorry, that's not what I meant when I asked if you were alright." She apologized.

"To bad it's what I meant." He grabbed her and she jerked her head as he yanked her into him. He smudged his lips against her cheek and neck just as she raised her knee and got him right in the groin. She turned right into Troy's arms. His pulled her into his chest and then gently pushed her into Chad. Everyone was outside now. Chad had a fat lip and Zeke's eye was quickly swelling shut, but the West High guys looked worse off.

"Don't you ever touch her again!" He pointed at the guy who was still holding himself and moaning in horrific pain. Gabriella freed herself from Chad's grasp and pulled Troy back to her. The West High jocks were running off and there was no need to keep stirring the pot. He pulled her in again, not letting her go.

"Uh, we'll leave you guys alone." Chad smiled and motioned his friends to the restaurant parking lot.

Troy cradled Gabriella's face in his hands. "Gabs I'm so sorry I left you out here, I wasn't even thinking!" He was yelling, but mainly because he was angry at himself, not anyone else, especially not at Gabriella. "Are you okay? Did he hurt you?" She calmly took his hands off her face and into hers.

"I think I did more damage to him." She laughed, feeling pretty proud of herself. I can protect myself, and that wasn't even my high kick! She started to lean up to kiss Troy, but he pulled back.

"Let's get you home Gabs."

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