Author's Note: Hey everybody! So, I want to apologize for it taking me this long to post chapter 7. I've been so busy lately! Trust me, I know how it feels to be anxiously waiting for the next chapter of one of your favorite stories, so I'll try my hardest not to keep you waiting that long again, but I can't make any promises. Also, I can't BELIEVE this story has gotten fifteen reviews so far. You guys are so great, please keep it up! Your reviews are what motivates me to write. On to other news, Sophbells, your namesake character will be appearing for the first time in this chapter! I hope you like her. ValzBrownie, I can't say for sure when your character will come into the story, but I promise she will come in at some point. Anyway, enjoy chapter seven!

"I'm sorry Stephen. But I can't do this." I released the breath I had been holding and relaxed for the first time all day. At least now it was out there.

Stephen stared at me. "What are you talking about?"

"I'm sorry, I can't go out with you today." I twisted my hands together awkwardly, then folded my arms, trying to appear firm and decided.

"Why?" Stephen looked dumbstruck.

"It's not you," I said, falling back on tried and true words to pull me through, "it's me." Stephen raised his eyebrows. "See, I had this fight with a... a friend. And I really don't think I should be going out right now. At least not until I deal with it?"

"What happened?" Stephen put his hand on my arm, his face concerned.

"It's personal." Without thinking I brushed his hand away. Realizing that sounded harsh, I continued. "I mean, it really involves some personal stuff with this friend of mine, so I don't think I should tell you. I'm really sorry, I know this sounds lame..."

Stephen shook his head, as if trying to clear it. "No, no, it's okay. I mean, this has never really happened to me before. I'm not usually the type to get stood up while standing on a girl's porch. But," he stared at me, a faint smile on his lips, "if there is any girl I have to have new experiences with, I'd love for it to be you."

I laughed. "Thanks for understanding."

Stephen glanced behind him at the car in front of the house, it's engine still running. "I guess I'll have to tell my Uncle we're going home instead of going out to lunch."

"Your uncle?" I said, surprised.

"Yeah, he was going to drive us." Stephen awkwardly looked away. "I don't really, uh, have my license yet. Plus my mom always insists on a chaperone." He flushed.

I smiled. "I get it. My dad's the king of parental supervision."

Stephen turned to go, then paused and turned back, grinning. "You know, Uncle Ryan knew your dad in highschool. I think he was actually kind of looking forward to seeing him again. You think it would be okay if we just came in to see him?"

I avoided getting lost in Stephen's mischievous eyes with effort, and smiled. "I'm sure he'd love that."

"Alright then." Stephen walked down the porch steps and out to the car. After a few moments of conversation, the car engine shut off and they both walked back towards me.

"Hey! I'm Ryan Evans, Stephen's uncle. You can just call me Ryan though." Ryan put out his hand for me to shake, his smile warm and friendly.

I took it, amazed. He seemed so nice and genuine. Totally unlike Sharpay or Michelle. Or even Stephen, I had to admit. The Leveretts looked airbrushed. But Ryan looked real.

"It's nice to meet you." I smiled back at him. "I hear you used to go to school with my dad."

"Yeah, he's a great guy. We didn't really run in the same circles until junior year though. After your mom started going to our school though, everything changed."

I stared at him. "My mom never went to East High. She didn't even live here till she came here with my dad after they were married in college."

Ryan looked startled. "Wait, your mother isn't Gabriella Montez?"

I barely held in a gasp. So what I had thought was the truth. My dad's mystery girl, the Gabriella in the letter, WAS Miss Montez. This was a huge development. But all I said was, "No."

"Wow." Ryan looked completely surprised. "So Troy didn't marry Gabriella. I thought they were meant for eachother."

Stephen elbowed Ryan in the ribs and said in a loud whisper, "Her mom died."

"Oh." Ryan turned red. "I'm so sorry."

"It's okay. She died when I was just a baby. How could you have known?" I smiled at him, and he smiled back.

"Ryan? Is that you?" I turned to find my dad standing at the door.

"Troy! Hey!" Ryan moved forward and stuck out his hand. My dad swung open the door and shook it.

"Wow, I had no idea you were in town! Oh, that's right the great East High reunion. For a moment I forgot." My dad grinned.

"Yeah, thought I should come home, awkwardly talk to some people who don't really remember me at all from highschool. You know how it is." Ryan chuckled.

"You're preaching to the choir. Why don't you come inside and we can all sit down and visit. You too Stephen." My dad included him in his smile.

"Well actually..." Ryan said, glancing at Stephen and I, "the kids were going to go out to lunch but I understand something came up..." I looked down, but didn't comment. "So," Ryan finished, "maybe we could all go together?"

"That sounds great Uncle Ryan." Stephen grinned at me than nodded respectfully at my dad. "If you have time sir."

"Yeah sure, sounds great. Just let me go grab my jacket..." my dad disappeared, then returned holding his jacket and a red leather book.

Ryan glanced at it. "The East High Yearbook: Class of 2008! I can't believe you still have that!"

My dad grinned. "How could I throw away all of these priceless memories. Not to mention the blackmail." He locked the door and then opened the book, skimming through the pages till he found what he was looking for. Ryan looked at the page he pointed to and cringed, even while he laughed.

"What is it?" Stephen reached out to take the yearbook from my dad but his uncle swatted his hand away.

"We should get to the restaurant. Plenty of time to see my most embarrassing photos collection then."

I laughed. "That bad, huh?"

Ryan smiled at me. "You have no idea."

I smiled back at him as we all headed to his car. He seemed nice, especially compared to Sharpay. But even so, should I go out to dinner with them? After what had happened with Nate? I remembered talking with Alex and his final words on the situation as we stood on my porch. "Look, I know you may not like Nate in that way, but you've got to allow him some time to heal. Then you guys can talk and work everything out. But right now what Nate doesn't need to see is you heading out to dinner with some guy like everything is fine. If I were you, I wouldn't go."

I shook my head. Alex had been surprisingly sweet and understanding, even if his blunt speeches stung a little bit. But this isn't a date, I reminded myself. We're all just going to lunch together. It's not the same thing.

But as Stephen opened my car door for me and grinned, I had to wonder if he knew it wasn't the same thing...

...

"Are you alright?" Stephen stared at me. "You've been acting kind of weird ever since they seated us."

I forced myself to look at him and smile. "Yeah, sorry, everything's fine." I'm just feeling incredibly guilty for sitting here with you, at our own private table, while my best guy friend is sitting at home with a broken heart. I glanced over at my dad and Ryan, who were sitting at a table across the room. It had been pretty crowded when we arrived and the waitress had been forced to seat us at two seperate tables that were no where near eachother. They were laughing and talking easily. At least they're having a good time.

"Alright, if you're sure." Stephen leaned back in his chair, and smiled his adorable smile at me. "Did any one ever tell you you look great in yellow?"

I looked down at my lacy yellow tank top and blushed. "No, but thanks. You look great too." I started to feel a little bit better.

Stephen laughed. "I hope so. My agent is always getting after me to work out and use the latest care products and stuff."

"Wait... your agent?"

"Yeah." Stephen stretched casually and tossed his hair. If it had been any other guy I would have laughed at his self-absorbed expression, but Stephen could pull it off. "I'm a model."

"Oh my gosh." I tried not to sound as impressed as I felt, and failed completely. "Really?"

"Yeah." He reached into the pocket of his jeans and pulled out a folded clipping from a magazine. He unfolded it and pushed it across the table at me. "See?"

I picked it up and tried not to gasp. The picture was of Stephen standing shirtless in front of a red brick wall. His blue eyes gleamed at me from out of the photo. I swallowed hard. He looked G-O-O-D.

Stephen grinned. "You like that? Here," he took the picture back and pulled a pen out of his pocket, "I'll sign it for you."

"Uh, okay," I said, still a little bit shellshocked.

He finished writing with a flourish and pushed the picture back over. I looked at what he had written.

Ella,

You wouldn't believe what that looks like in person;)

Love,

Stephen Leverett

I blushed. Stephen laughed. "It's okay babe, I make everybody a little starstruck."

I started to laugh too, then realized he was serious.

"Good afternoon, I'm Alex, and I'll be your waiter today." A slightly bored voice said above my head.

I jumped and looked up. "Alex?"

He blinked, surprised. "Ella? Hey!" Almost immediately he turned to Stephen. "Hey, I'm Alex. I'm a friend of Ella's. And you must be Na-"

"This is Stephen." I said quickly.

Alex turned his head and raised an eyebrow at me, then shook Stephen's hand. "Hey Stephen."

"Hey, Alex." Stephen smiled good naturedly. "Any friend of Ella's is a friend of mine."

"Ah, right." Alex's mouth twitched, as if hiding a smile. "And, uh, what can I get for you two today?"

"Well, uh," I laughed nervously, "really there's four of us here. My dad and Stephen's uncle are over there at that other table. We're just here for kind of a.. reunion lunch. Then when we got here they didn't have enough seats so they seated us at these two tables and we didn't want to cause trouble so we just sat here even though we all came together so it isn't just us two at all. At all." I sat back suddenly, realizing I had been babbling. Stephen was staring at me. Alex looked like he was about to laugh aloud.

"Uh, I mean... I'll have a chicken sandwich please. Extra mayo. And an iced tea." I said softly, feeling myself flush.

"Ummm... yeah. I'll have the same. Only no extra mayo and bring me a diet coke." Stephen said slowly, staring at me as if I were insane.

"Got it." Alex coughed/laughed and moved away from our table.

"What was that all about?" Stephen asked.

"Um. Nothing." I said, glaring at Alex's retreating back.

"Right. Okay. Whatever." Stephen smiled. "You know, so far, everything about you has been so... unpredictable."

"Yeah." I bit my lip. "Sorry about that."

"No, it's okay. I like it."

"Aw, thanks." I said quickly. I was looking around for Alex so I could really explain why I was here with Stephen and not Nate. I spotted him standing by the counter at the front and glanced at Stephen. "Would you excuse me a minute? I've got to run... uh, use the restroom."

"Sure." Stephen nodded. "I promise not to eat your fries if our food comes."

I laughed and rolled my eyes. "Yeah right." I pushed back my chairnand walked quickly toward the bathrooms. At the last second I turned and almost ran into Alex.

"Hey!" He said, then saw who it was and smiled. "Oh, you again. Why are you always running into me?"

I rolled my eyes. "I'll ignore that ridiculous statement for the sake of time. Stephen's waiting for me."

"Oh yes, Stephen." Alex studied me. "I get the idea that you're not overjoyed to be here with him."

"Well, I'm happy to be here. I just feel like I shouldn't be here." I sighed. "I cancelled our date, but then we were all going to go to lunch together, and then there were no free tables..."

"Yeah," Alex laughed. "I got that part from your awkward babbling."

I glared at him. "Oh, shut up. You need to say something incredibly helpful here."

"I don't know what I can say. It's none of my business, you didn't need to explain it to me."

"Oh, and have you standing here, judging me from afar."

Alex's eyes darkened for a moment. "I wouldn't judge you. That's not me."

"Oh." I stopped, surprised at his serious tone of voice.

Suddenly I heard a voice behind us. "Alex? Alex! Tables 3, 8, and 1 need fresh drinks and dessert menus. You can talk on your own time." I turned to see a slightly angry looking middle-aged woman glaring at Alex.

Alex sighed. "Sorry Mary, I'll get right on it."

Quickly I said, "I'm sorry, it was my fault. I just needed to talk to him for a second. I should have realized he was busy."

Suddenly a pretty blonde waitress who had seen what was happening piped in, "Mary, I can cover Alex's tables for awhile if he needs to talk to his friend."

Mary frowned and Alex said quickly, "You don't need to do that Sophia. We were just finished."

"It's fine." Sophia smiled at him. "I'd love to do it."

Alex smiled back at her, almost shyly. I tried not to stare.

"Well, hurry up anyway." Mary said and turned away.

Sophia walked over to us. "Don't mind her, she's just stressed, as usual." She put out her hand to me. "I'm Sophia by the way."

"Hey!" I smiled. "I'm Ella."

Alex looked embarrassed. "Hey, you really didn't have to cover for me. We really were about done."

"Hey." Sophia put her hand on Alex's arm. He stared down at it, his cheeks turning a little red. "I'm happy to do it."

"Uh, well, okay but I-I owe you one." Alex said, slowly.

Sophia laughed. "How about you buy me a milkshake tomorrow and we'll call it even, okay?"

"Uh, sure." Alex smiled.

"Well I better go before Mary has a seizure. It was nice meeting you Ella!" Sophia turned and walked away.

"Woah." I said, staring at Alex.

"What?" he said, sounding a little annoyed.

"You like her! You totally beyond a shadow of a doubt really really like her!"

"SHUT UP!" Alex turned beet red and stared down at his feet.

"Alex! She seems like a great girl. Why don't you just ask her out?" I smiled at his awkwardness.

He sighed and shrugged. "She goes to a really nice college in the area."

"So? What's the problem?"

"So the problem is that we're both nineteen and we live in two completely different worlds. I'm not even in college. While she's writing papers, I'm skateboarding. She wouldn't go out with me if someone paid her to do it. And I don't blame her."

"Oh." I said softly. "But Alex," I insisted after a moment, "she's into you. I can tell."

Alex raised his head a bit, smiling slowly. "She is?"

"Yes!" I paused a moment. "Why aren't you in college?"

His smile faded. "It's complicated. My mom... well, she was sick for awhile. We didn't have a lot of money to begin with and doctors bills cost a lot. We're pretty strapped for cash right now, at least until my mom starts her new job. I want to go to medical school, but my grades aren't good enough for a full scholarship and we can't afford anything else." He sighed. "I'm just trying to save up enough. But I can't worry my mom about it. She's had enough crap in her life already."

"Oh Alex..." I bit my lip. "I'm so sorry."

"It's alright." Alex shrugged, obviously uncomfortable. "I gotta get back to work." He turned to go, then stopped. "Here," he said, writing something down on his order pad and then handing it to me, "here's my number. I have unlimited texting, so, you know, text me if you want."

I smiled at him. "Okay. Here's mine." I recited it off to him then impulsively reached out and hugged him. He pulled away, looking surprised, and a little embarrassed.

"Take care of yourself Ella. Bye."

"Bye, Alex." I said. Thoughtfully, I walked back to our table. Stephen sat there fiddling with his food.

"Hey, did you enjoy your chat?" He looked a little annoyed.

I blushed. "Sorry, but I needed to talk to him for a minute."

He shrugged. "It's okay." His goodnatured smile reappeared. "I just don't like having all this competition."

I almost laughed out loud. "Alex? Competition? You're way off. Alex is just a friend."

Stephen's smile grew. "That's the best news I've heard all day."

I smiled back at him and took a drink of my iced tea. Just then I saw Stephen glance over my shoulder and stare towards the doorway of the restaurant. Confused, I glanced behind me and then gasped. Standing there in the doorway, his arm casually draped around Michelle Leverett's tanned shoulders, was, of all people, Nate.

AN: So what do you think so far? Please review and let me know!