Next chapter is here. Told you guys I had two chapters for you, didn't I? haha. Enjoy the story and please review. Thanks for reading :) AnythingButOrdinaryGirl x

Previously:

Troy knew that he would do anything to protect or help his best friend no matter what while Gabriella knew that Troy really was a gentleman and she couldn't ask for anything more. The duo both knew how lucky they were to have a strong bond but neither could see that the bond they shared was bigger than friendship alone as they continued with the rest of their day, laughing and joking with each other.

Chapter Seven - Friends Day Out

As the sun shone at its brightest in the New Mexico sky it streamed through the windows of one Gabriella Montez's bedroom window and she opened her eyes slowly. Looking at the clock and seeing she would have to get up soon anyway she stretched before heading to her en suite bathroom to shower. Stepping out the bathroom with her towel securely wrapped around her she headed over to her closet and started to look for something to wear.

While silently wondering what to wear she could hear something downstairs. Her parents had gone out early with Lucy and Jack Bolton to some market in the next town so it couldn't be them so she concluded it must be Troy arriving early and being clumsy as usual. What she was not prepared for was for one blue eyed boy to barge into her room while she was still in her bath towel.

Troy was early, a little too early and considering the calmness and quiet of the house he concluded that Gabriella must still be asleep and he smirked at the thought. He would go and wake her up and get to see the cute look on her face when she pretended to be mad at him. Making his way up the stairs as quietly as possible he barged into the beautiful Latina's room only to realise she had just gotten out of the shower.

"ELLA, rise and...Oh. Uh sorry Ells didn't realise you were actually up, thought you were still asleep it was so quiet..." His face was beetroot in colour as he took in her appearance and he let his ocean blue eyes slip to the floor where he found a piece of flooring rather interesting.

Her face too was now turning a shade of red as she looked at the boy in front of her. "It's okay Troy, I woke up early otherwise I still would have been in bed. Give me ten minutes and I'll meet you downstairs"

"Uh yeah okay, though I'll give you twenty minutes because you are a girl after all" He replied with a smirk on his face, teasing her.

"Whatever Bolton, now leave" She said as she shoved him out the door.

Proving Troy to be right, twenty minutes later she appeared in the living room ready to spend the day with their friends.

Without looking up from the TV Troy replied "What was that? You'll only be ten minutes? Yeah right Ells, it took you twenty like I said" He smiled as he stood up and turned his attention to his best friend, his jaw almost dropping.

Gabriella stood there in a short denim skirt which showed off her toned olive skinned legs that made them look longer than they were and a purple flowery cami with flats on her small feet. The outfit was simple but it made her look beautiful Troy thought as he stared at her with her beautiful curly brown locks falling down her back. He snapped out of his trance and coughed.

"You look nice Ella. Let's go, you know Sharpay – if we're late she'll have our heads" He laughed before walking towards the door in a rush, hoping she hadn't noticed him staring.

"Thanks Troy and yeah Sharpay will kill us if we turn up late"

Arriving at the Evans residence the duo headed up the front door were they were greeted by a happy Sharpay who commented on their early arrival before letting them in.

"Okay now everyone is here, I thought we could head to the mall today? We girls were only discussing the other day how we needed new clothes and I need to get something to wear for my pool party next weekend" Sharpay was straight to the point as always and had the day mapped out in her pretty blonde head.

Chad pulled a face at the word shopping and groaned "Argh, no, not shopping please! Anything but that"

"Yeah come on Shar, can't we do something else?" It was Zeke's turn to speak up and he braced himself for the reply to the question.

"Absolutely not, especially not now you just moaned about it. Am I right girls?" She argued.

"Yeah for once you are. I need some new stuff and pronto. Since when are you having a party anyway?" Taylor queried trying to think if she had mentioned it on the phone last night.

"Oh just thought of it late last night and though how wonderful an idea it is but anyway what do you think Gabs, up for some shopping?" The blonde raised her eyebrows as she questioned her friend to signal she expected her to be on the girl's side.

Seeing the looked in Sharpay's eyes she knew what she said wouldn't matter anyway because her mind was set on shopping. "Uh yeah I guess. I do need some new stuff and if you're having a pool party I definitely have to buy some new things"

"Why do we always have to go shopping?" This time it was Troy's turn to protest but he knew he was never going to get far between Sharpay and Gabriella.

"Oh just suck it up Troy and get over it. All of you boys get over it; we girls need to go shopping so that's where we're going.

"But it's not fair" Chad whined as Troy nodded in agreement.

Gabriella knew how to win Troy round and smirked. "Please Troy? I really need some new clothes and I really want you to come with me. Pretty please" Her puppy dog eyes came out as she pouted slightly at her best friend, knowing he was so easy to convince.

Seeing the look on her face, Troy tried to look away to avoid giving in. The girls smiled at Gabriella's actions while the boys groaned, knowing Troy would eventually cave.

He couldn't help it, the look was too cute to resist. "Fine, fine. I'll go shopping with you but you owe me Montez, big time"

"YAY, 4 against 2 so let's go SHOPPING" The perky blonde squealed as she clapped her hands and headed to the large front door.

Heading to the cars the boys shook their heads and mumbled 'whipped' under their breaths at Troy, knowing Gabriella could twist him around her little finger at any point.

As per usual Gabriella and Troy were sent together in one car while the others went in Sharpay's car. The routine never differed whenever they went out because the couple's friends were insistent that there was more than friendship between the two and they would make such a cute couple. Troy and Gabriella just laughed at them and got on with life thinking they knew the truth.

Arriving at the mall they could see it was busy, it was Saturday afternoon after all and the guys groaned silently knowing this could be a long day. Every trip to the mall with the girls and in particular Sharpay was a long enough day but when it was extremely busy and warm it made for an extra long day.

"Hmm okay let's get shopping" Sharpay ordered happily.

"Okay well I really want a summer dress for your pool party Shar" Gabriella verbalised to her friend as she wondered where to go.

"Yeah me too, so how about we try Aeropstale?" Taylor asked as she noticed the shop just across from where they were standing.

"Ooh good idea girls, let's go" The blonde replied as they headed to the shop.

The girls looked around, checking everything out and making sure not to miss anything. They noticed the shop had plenty of new stock in and were pleased while the guys followed them round looking bored and uninterested.

Gabriella had picked several dresses up and held onto them to try them on while the other girls continued to look.

"Troy, I need you to come with me. I need your opinion on which dress is best"

"Ella that's what Shar is for, not me" Troy commented, clearly uninterested in girl's clothing.

"Please Troy, Shar is busy shopping still and I need an opinion" She put the puppy dog eyes on again and looked at his shining blue eyes.

"Ugh fine but don't take forever"

The guys laughed as they noticed Troy had been recruited to help with Gabriella's fashion issues and he scowled at them clearly unimpressed at his latest duty as a best friend.

Several changes of clothing later Troy was becoming more bored by the minute. Gabriella couldn't decide which dress she liked until she noticed one she had not tried on yet. A deep blue dress with flower design around the edgings of the breast area was left to the side and as she slipped it on she smiled, she liked it. Still she wanted her friend's opinion.

"Okay what do you think of this?" She twirled round before looking in the long mirror in the hall of the dressing rooms.

Troy was almost speechless for the second time that day. She looked incredible in the dress she had on and he knew right away she should buy it.

"You look nice Ella. I like that one on you" He replied, sounding genuine.

"Okay this it. I like this one" She smiled sweetly at him before returning to get dressed again.

Heading out of the shop with their purchases the girls discussed what they bought while the boys dragged behind. Troy, catching up to the girls took Gabriella's bag and held onto it for her while she talked with the girls. They shared a sweet smile before they headed to the next shops.

A couple hours later and the girls had plenty of shopping bags and proclaimed they were still not finished much to the boy's dismay.

Chad groaned "Ugh can we go eat first before you continue at least? I'm starved" The bushy haired boy almost begged, thinking of his stomach as always.

Sharpay rolled her eyes. "Typical Chad, always hungry but let's go eat"

After heading to the food court they each got their food and sat down at a long table. Conversation drifted into small groups with Chad and Zeke discussing basketball while Sharpay and Taylor discussed what to do with their hair next weekend. As always Gabriella and Troy were laughing and joking with each other and sharing their food much to the amusement of their friends as always.

"So what else do you need to buy then?" The blue eyed boy asked his brunette friend.

"Just a new bikini for the party, it's a good excuse to buy a new one" She giggled before eating a fry she was holding.

"Uh yeah of course it is. I don't get the fascination with buying new clothes for the party; we guys just wear whatever we have"

"Ah but style isn't as much a problem with guys and you don't care as much, us girls have to look good"

"You don't need a new bikini to look good Ella" A sight blush rose to his cheeks as the words came out. He hadn't meant to say that out loud but girl's annoyed him when they thought they needed new clothes to look good and Ella was already beautiful. Best friend or not he was not going to deny that Gabriella was beautiful.

"Uh thanks Troy but as I said it's an excuse to shop also" She laughed before the conversation turned into a group one once again.

The day continued with more shopping which involved the boys carrying the girl's bags - after Troy had been carrying Gabriella's the other guys had decided to carry the other girls bags so they didn't look bad. After Sharpay had finally decided she had done enough shopping the six friends decided to head to the cinema and go see a movie. Heading to the cinema they found that the only movie they were on time for was an action movie much to the guy's excitement. The girl's decided to let the guys see it after they had dragged them around the mall for the best part of the day.

Through the movie, the girls had been slightly scared if not grossed out by the violence present throughout. Gabriella, to the guys surprise had enjoyed the movie for the most part and only jumped a couple of times at which point Troy had promptly comforted her with his arm around her - pulling her close.

After the movie had ended much to Taylor and Sharpay's delight the gang decided it was time to head home for dinner and Sharpay who continually noticed the close bond between Troy and Gabriella and was intrigued, decided to change the car routine.

"Gabs and Tay can come home with me while Chad and Zeke you can go with Troy, Okay? Got it? Good, now let's go" She ordered dragging the other girls along with her.

Everyone looked confused for a second before shrugging their shoulders and heading to the mall car park to head home.

"Okay Montez spill, what is the deal with you and lover boy" Sharpay asked of her friend as she backed out of her parking spot narrowly avoiding an oncoming car.

"Spill what? And if by lover boy you're referring to Troy then you know we're just friends" She replied, confused.

"Come on Gabs, the chemistry between you is clear to the world. You guys get on so well and you're telling me you two are just friends? You don't like him a little bit more at all?"

"Sorry to agree with Shar, Gabs but you and Troy do have great chemistry and could easily make the best couple ever" The African-American girl agreed whilst nodding her head.

"Seriously guys, we're JUST FRIENDS. Nothing more nothing less now can you please drop this? It gets really annoying when you're friends try to make more out of your friendship with your best friend just because he's a guy"

Gabriella was annoyed, she was sick of people acting like they knew everything and acting as though she and Troy should be some amazing couple. It just didn't work like that all the time. She and Troy were close of course and he was a great guy but that's as far as it went between the two. He was extremely handsome she wouldn't deny but she didn't feel anything other than friendship for him at all and wished people would just respect that.

Sharpay could see Gabriella in her rear view mirror and sighed. Her friend was angry and it was rare she got angry or annoyed with people. "Fine, sorry Gabs didn't mean to upset you or anything" She replied honestly, hoping she hadn't annoyed her friend too much.

"Yeah me too Gabs, sorry" Taylor replied, turning in her seat to look at Gabriella.

The drive continued quietly as they followed the guy's car back home. The guy's car was livelier with talk of basketball and the pool party next weekend before like the girl's conversation; it turned to Troy and Gabriella.

"So Troy man, you and Gabby - sure you two are just friends?" Chad smirked as he changed the conversation.

Zeke shook his head knowing this was not going to go down well. True he could see that the duo were closer than any other best friends and would make a good couple but he was wise enough to know that if they wanted to be a couple they would be. He knew to leave the subject alone unless Troy mentioned it himself but Chad was just stupid at times and couldn't comprehend that it was none of his business.

"Man I told you a hundred times to drop it. I and Ella are FRIENDS. Two people who hang out together and have fun. Just because we're close doesn't mean we need to be a couple. There is only friendship between us and I swear if you keep going on about it I will knock you out" His foot pressed on the gas as his voice raised – the danger in his words evident as his hands gripped the stirring wheel.

Chad glanced at Troy and knew he'd crossed the line. "Sorry man, just curious is all. Didn't mean to make you mad, I'll drop it now" For once Chad sat back in his seat quietly knowing if he opened his mouth again he might send Troy over the edge. Troy was the epitome of calm most of the time and it took a lot to push him to the edge.

Both car journeys continued in silence before they reached their respective houses and said their goodbyes. Troy was beyond annoyed at his friends, why couldn't everyone just understand they were just friends? He didn't understand why this made him so angry either but he just couldn't stand the incessant questioning and comments over his friendship. Pulling into his driveway he spotted Gabriella waiting for him at the door. Watching her lean against the door frame he smiled, feeling his anger melt away.

"Hey Ells, how was the journey home?" He asked as he locked his car and headed towards her.

"Rough. Got mad at the girl's for questioning me about us" She sighed as she ran her hand through her hair.

"You too huh? I got it off the guys too" He remarked as he pulled his friend into a hug.

As they stood their hugging both of them could feel their anger melt away and their patience restored as they felt the warmth and energy of one another. The pair hugged for a while, neither wanting to pull away from the comforting feeling they both felt in each other's arms. Before long they pulled away and smiled widely before Troy let them into his house where they would spend the night laughing and joking with each other before falling into deep slumbers with dreams of one another.

I own storyline only - anything else goes to rightful owners. Don't forget to review - and leave ideas if you wish :)