Author's Note: Even though most of you probably know already, Zac Efron was put into the hospital yesterday because his appendix had to be removed. He's probably going to be fine but just make sure you give him your full support. Get well soon Zac! Anyways, thanks so much for reading and reviewing!

3:50 PM. She only had ten minutes left until she could go with Bradin. The pool was extremely full, so Gabriella sits in her lifeguard chair, extremely bored. The days went by quickly when she had to teach a swimming class, or there was an activity that day or something. But unfortunately, nothing had gone on today and she was extremely bored. She had no idea where Bradin and she were going to go to have their picnic, but he had to have some place in mind. Bradin had to seat tables at five thirty, so they really couldn't go anywhere else. But the problem was if they got caught, she knew Fulton would flip.

"Wow." She hears someone say behind her as she stands up and turns around. Standing down below was a guy that looked to be around her age. He had bright blonde hair that was a little longer than Troy's. His eyes were brown and he was wearing what looked to be an expensive polo and shorts. Gabriella could tell automatically that he wasn't a worker there. He dressed too well for that. "You know, if you ever want to give me mouth to mouth for practice, I don't think I would mind."

Gabriella giggles. "Is that the best pick-up line you have?" She asks and he laughs back.

"Well… it was the only thing that could come to my head, since your beauty just blew my mind." He says and Gabriella rolls her eyes. She had heard all this before, and got it quite often actually. Cheesy pick-up lines that were so stupid, but they made her laugh.

"Do I know you?" She asks, trying to be polite, but he shakes his head.

"No… I'm Chase. One of Ryan's friends here." He says and holds out his hand.

"Well, I'm Gabriella." She says and he nods.

"I know… I asked Ryan." He says and smiles at her. "You also go to West High."

She nods. "And you go to…"

"A private school." He responds in a cocky manner. But the strange thing was, it wasn't Troy or Bradin's cockiness. Their cockiness was that they were hot and all the girls loved them. But this guy, it was like he liked to show off how much money he had, or material items. Sure, both ways were bad, but this was defiantly more of a turn off then Troy and Bradin's.

"Cool." She says, since there was nothing else to say. She looks over his shoulder to see John walking over toward her and she feels a smile break out onto her face. "Hey John!" She exclaims and John looks at Chase with his eyebrows raised. He walks next to Gabriella and puts an arm around her.

"So.. Brie… who's your friend?" He asks with a cocked eyebrow.

"This is Chase." She responds and Chase nods.

"Well… I better get going." Chase responds, obviously uncomfortable with another guy standing around her.

"It was nice meeting you." She says while he walks away. Gabriella laughs and turns back to John.

"He seemed like a prick." He says and Gabriella laughs.

"Yea… he just came up to me and tried to flirt with me… it didn't work." She says as John looks down at his watch.

"Speaking of flirt, don't you have a date at 4? Cuz it's 4:05 now." He says and Gabriella rolls her eyes.

"It's not I date. We're just hanging out as frien…" She starts and suddenly she fully comprehends what John just said. "Fuck! I got to go." She says as she starts running in the direction of the building.

"Have fun on your non-date! And don't get caught by Fulton!" John calls back after her as she sprints to reach the doors, praying she wasn't leaving Bradin waiting too long.

Troy sits down at the table and rests his head in his hands. He was exhausted. After babysitting the kids while they attempted to play basketball, he returned back to work and had been waiting tables for four hours. The lunch rush was extremely busy and it finally just ended. He looks up to see Chad standing over him. "Dude… you don't look so good."

Troy yawns. "I didn't sleep much last night." He responds and Chad rolls his eyes.

"Dude… I don't want to hear about some other chick…" Chad starts but Troy shakes his head to try and shut him up.

"No… it's not like that. My parents finally sealed the deal on the whole vacation thing last night. They came home and wanted to talk about when they're leaving and shit like that." He says and sighs. "They got done talking at like 11 and then I didn't fall asleep until like 2. And then I woke up like about four times…"

"Ok, ok I get it." Chad says. "You didn't sleep well. So when are your parents leaving?"

"July 2. And they'll be back on July 26." He responds.

"Why aren't you going with them?" Chad asks and Troy shrugs.

"I don't want to." He responds and sighs. "My Grandpa might stop by like… once a week to check in on me. Plus Mrs. Montez offered to bring me whatever I need." He says and thinks about Gabriella getting him stuff. She would probably end up coming by once in a while. But he shakes his head. Why the hell did he care if she came by?

"Dude… that's amazing! House for yourself for like a month!" Chad says and Troy nods again.

"Yeah." He responds and then sighs. "Hey... are you signing up for the staff baseball game?" The Lava Springs staff baseball game was annual. They got out of work early to go play. It was usually divided between East and West High, so it would be that way again. Even though some of the members were older or didn't go there. Chad nods excitedly. He was captain of the East High baseball team and Troy knew it was his favorite sport, next to basketball.

"Hell yea. Ryan and I are gonna lead us to victory against the stupid Knights!" Chad says loudly as Zeke turns around and points his spatula at him.

"I heard that!" He responds and then returns back to cooking.

Chad looks up at the clock. "But I gotta go. Taylor wants to uh… spend some time together." He says with a smirk and Troy rolls his eyes. No one in the kitchen or the waiters had to work again until 5:30.

"Make sure you listen for the lock in the fucking room!" Troy calls after Chad as he makes his way out the door. "Fulton has a set of keys."

"Thanks man!" Chad says as he leaves the kitchen. He looks around to find that he was the only one in there. He sighs and gets up to walk into the locker room. After changing into his swim trunks, he walks back out and grabs a towel and leaves the building. While taking the long way through the courtyard, since he didn't want to run into Chad and Taylor in the fucking room, he sees a figure sprinting into the kitchen. But he shrugs the thought off and makes his way to the pool.

Troy looks around to sees Sharpay and her four friends smiling at him. He groans, since he didn't want to deal with any of them right now. Especially London. He makes eye contact with Sharpay, and while London gets up, he tries to beg the blonde through his eyes to make them leave him alone. Sharpay nods and places a hand on London's shoulder and says something to her. He just wanted peace and quiet for once instead of messing around. So he walks over to the far edge of the pool, right in front of the golf course. He lies down and strips his shirt off and lies down. What he needed right now was a nap.

But he suddenly hears giggles and looks over to see Gabriella and Bradin walking with a bag in their hands. God, did he ever mention how much that made him sick? Well, it did. He hated it. He didn't even know they were dating. Wait, they couldn't be. He knew Gabriella didn't like Bradin that way. They were just going somewhere as friends, and nothing else. She looks over at Troy and smiles. "I found our solution." He hears her say, then walks over to him. What? Why was she walking to him?

"You can't be serious!" Troy hears Bradin yell back and Gabriella looks back to glare at him.

"It's our only option!" She yells back to him and Troy could see him sigh angrily. "Hey Troy, I need a huge favor." She says and Troy cocks his eyebrow.

"You need a favor… from me?" He says slightly confused. Was she actually serious? He didn't think she trusted him at all. But maybe she was desperate. "Are you joking?"

"No. Look, Bradin and I are going on a picnic over there." Gabriella points to the golf course behind him and then continues. "Fulton can't find out. So if he comes… I don't know… you have my number right?" She asks as if they didn't even know each other before.

"Yea." He says and she nods.

"Ok… call if you see him coming… please Troy?" She begs and he sighs. They weren't even friends and she was asking him favors. What the hell?

"Ok…" The voice comes out of his mouth that he couldn't control. WHAT? Did he just agree to help her with something? That was insane! She was a bitch, so why did he just agree to help her with something? What was wrong with him lately? He didn't like her, and enjoyed pissing her off. Why the hell was he acting like this?

"Thank you so much." She says as she runs back to Bradin. He glares at the sight of them. He hated Bradin, so much. But he was still extremely confused. Why did he just do that?

His mind starts to wander as he shuts his eyes. Sure, he was starting to feel more positive toward Gabriella, but still. He went from annoying the shit out of her four days ago, to doing her favors! And it was such a drastic change. A wave of tiredness hits him while he starts to drown out the rest of the noise that was around the pool. He could remember Bradin trying to get Gabriella ever since Troy first met him. It was irritating at the time, and still was. A memory of one time after her and Bradin had hung out swirls around his head. It was a memory he thought about a lot. Troy suddenly feels himself disconnect with the rest of the world and his breathing becomes regular…

Eighth grader Troy feels breeze hit his body as he lays down into the grass. He had just been practicing for an hour and a half by himself. He didn't have basketball today since it was Saturday but figured that he had to practice. If he didn't, then he wouldn't be as good as what he was now. Most of the guys on his team spent their Saturday evenings playing video games since they were only in eighth grade. Troy wasn't like that, and maybe half the reason was because his father was the coach for the high school team. He felt that he had to practice harder and longer. Troy was special and he knew it. But it worked for it; it wasn't something that was handed to him on a silver platter.

But his mind was elsewhere. He was thinking about her. God, she was all he ever thought about lately. Ever since he started middle school last year, she was always on his mind. That was insane though. But they were best friends! Closer than close. She was like his sister for God's sake! How could he go from being so incredibly comfortable with her, to feeling like an idiot every time she was around? She was really probably the best looking girl in the eighth grade class. Maybe all that did was open Troy's eyes up that he was going to have to work for her, unlike the other girls who were starting drool over him.

"Hey." Troy hears a voice from above and looks up. Gabriella was wearing tight jeans, and a tank top that showed her newly developed breasts that she was showing off more of lately. She sits down next to him and sighs. "You look tired."

"I am tired." He says back and sits up next to her. "How was your date?" He asks with jealousy swirling in his stomach.

Gabriella shakes her head. "It wasn't a date Troy. We went to play mini golf with Sharpay and Joey." She responds and looks down at him.

"Well… They're going out… so technically it was a double date." Troy says again with jealously. Ever since Gabriella had met Bradin Cunningham, all he did was talk about her. Troy hated him for this. Gabriella was HIS best friend, and he didn't want to share her. Especially with someone who wanted to go out with her too.

"Don't be stupid Troy… you know I don't like him." She responds and Troy looks up at her and smirks.

"Yea. But you never answered my question yesterday." He informs her. He was always asking who she liked because he was praying one of these days she would say him.

"What question?" She asks, trying to play dumb but Troy knew better.

"Who do you like?" He asks and she shakes her head.

"I don't like anyone." She responds and Troy's face falls.

"Oh…" He responds disappointed.

"Who do you like?" She asks him with a sparkle in her eye.

"No one." He copies her answer and she rolls her eyes. Gabriella suddenly shivers from the night breeze. He looks at her and she sighs. There was a silence, and Gabriella shifts next to him as if she was debating to say what she wanted to next.

"The tests come back next week." She says in a small voice and Troy looks over at her. Gabriella, who usually had such tan skin, was a little pale and she wouldn't look him in the eyes. For someone who was so confident, she really didn't look it now. But Troy understood.

"How's he feeling?" Troy asks softly and Gabriella sighs.

"Not good. He's throwing up blood contently… and… and he's lost a lot of weight." She says softly and Troy could see that tears were welling up in her eyes. But she quickly blinks them away and sighs. "He'll be fine. The test will come out perfectly normal and everything will be ok… right?" She says as she looks up at him as if he would answer her problems.

"Of course." He lies. He didn't want to let her down now. She was counting on him to stay positive, so that was exactly what he had to do. "I'm sure it's nothing."

Gabriella nods and puts her head down. "Mom mentioned cancer last week."

Troy's heart drops. He knew Mr. Montez had been sick for the past three weeks and it kept getting worse. He was always tired now and Troy knew Gabriella was worried about it. No one else besides him knew though, not even Chad. He sighs. "I'm sure it's not." He says and Gabriella nods.

"You're right… it's nothing." She states and looks down at the ground once again. She and her dad were close… extremely close. Troy knew that. She was his princess, and nothing would ever change that. A moment of silence goes by again. It wasn't awkward like he had with some girls. This was more that they didn't need to talk, because they both were so comfortable with each other.

"Gabi…" He states and Gabriella looks over at him.

"Yea?"

"If something happens…" He starts and she shakes her head.

"Nothing will happen because he's fine." She says in denial and Troy sighs.

"You're probably right. But I'm just telling you." He says and looks up into her gorgeous brown eyes. "If something happens, you know I'm always here for you right?"

"Troy…" She says and shakes her head.

"No matter what happens, ok? I'll always be here. Even if the world falls apart… you know I'll be there for you."

Gabriella stares at him for a moment. "Promise?" She whispers and he smiles softly at her. He wraps his arms around her body and nods.

"Promise."

"Sleeping on the job…" A voice rings in his ears and Troy opens his eyes, causing him to wake up from his nap. He looks up squinting to see that a man with graying hair and glasses was pulling out his small black book again. "I believe that's three strikes…" Fulton starts. Troy goes into a panic mode. He needed this job, so much. This was where all of his friends worked and it would look amazing on college applications. He needed this. Troy looks down at his phone to read the time was 5:10. Wait a minute.

"Mr. Fulton, I'm on break." He says and Fulton shakes his head.

"No you're not. It says here that all waiters report to the kitchen at 5:30 and it is now five…" He trails off as he looks at his watch and a frown forms on his hard lips. Troy triumphantly smirks and sighs in relief. "Well… I guess you got lucky this time. But I'm watching you Bolton." He says threateningly and walks past him toward the golf course. Troy rubs his eyes and sighs.

"Prick." He mumbles under his breath. His mind was still wrapped around what he had just dreamt. Why did he always dream about her? They weren't like actual dreams either; they were more like memories that replayed in his head over and over again.

Troy finally gets up and stretches. He grabs his shirt and returns it back onto his body. He grabs his phone and everything and leaves the chair. Suddenly, he remembers he's forgetting something, so he goes back to look around the chair, but there was nothing there. That was weird. He shakes his head and then walks back inside through the dinning room to get to the kitchen. People were slowly starting to file in and Troy swears he forgot something out by the pool.

After changing, he walks out into the kitchen and looks to see Chad was already there. "Hey man." He greets him and Chad waves back.

"Hey." He says and Troy grabs a plate.

Troy looks up as he watches Bradin walk in with an angry look on his face. He glares at Troy and then walks into the men's locker-room. Troy's eyes suddenly grow wide. He finally remembers what he forgot, and it wasn't anything at the pool. He forgot to warn them about Fulton.