AN: Thank you to all of you who reviewed for me, I love hearing from you. Here is the chapter I think you have all been waiting for; I hope it lives up to your expectations, but it isn't terribly long so hopefully it won't affect your judgment.

Chapter 10

Gabriella took a deep breath before knocking on the door in front of her. She was nervous like she had never been before. The door that was opening in front of her was the front door to the Bolton household. The woman who answered the door had a resemblance to the boy whom Gabriella had spent so much time arguing with. "Hi," Gabriella said, "Is Troy around by chance?"

"Yeah, he's around back practicing, I can take you out there," The woman said smiling, taking a step back.

"I'll actually just walk around," Gabriella smiled. She didn't want any recognition from today. Ellie could be one to do it, and when walking back, questions could arise from the mother, not to mention the father who surely knew who she was.

"Um, ok, it is just around to the right," Mrs. Bolton said pointing.

Gabriella nodded and stepped off the porch. She prayed silently as she walked that Troy would be out back alone. She walked to the right and back to a place she had been to previously so many weeks ago. Nervousness ran through her body from her toes to her head to the tips of her fingers as she took steps towards the boy shooting baskets. Or rather the boy making baskets, he never seemed to miss. He never noticed her as he continued to shoot. She gulped before making her presence known, "Troy," she said quietly.

He made another basket before turning around to look at her. "Gabriella?" surprise filled his features.

"Hi," she smiled nervously.

"What are you doing here?" He asked her.

"That is a very good question. I really don't know what I am doing. I was just kinda around and saw your house and now here I am looking foolish."

"You don't look foolish, I am just surprised."

"Yeah, you and me both."

"So what now?"

"I really don't know that thought never crossed my mind until just about five seconds before now."

"How are you coming on my dare?" he said idly trying to make some small talk.

"It's coming along, slowly but surely, you know. Nothing was ever going to be fast with it. I think that I finally found the right guy. Now it is the whole thing of letting him know. Which is proving to be quite a feat for me, like the lay-ups."

"That's good," he said scratching the back of his neck, "Do I know the guy?"

"Don't you know everyone Mr. Popular?"

"Are you trying to distract me?"

"Did it work?"

"I'm pretty sure not."

"Then I wasn't."

"Do I hate the guy?"

"I'm pretty sure not," she mimicked him.

"Do I like the guy?"

"Didn't know you swung that way?"

"Shut up."

"I don't doubt that you do."

"Will I get a name out of all this?"

"Nope."

"Why not?"

"Because I don't want you to know."

"Again why not?"

"I don't want to know what you think or say."

"I won't be judgmental, promise."

"Troy Bolton makes promises?"

"Maybe just this once, just don't tell anyone."

"Well I promise to do that."

"You are evading my question again."

"I thought you wouldn't notice."

"You thought wrong. Just tell me."

"No, I can't, I'm sorry."

"Ok," he said with obvious disappointment.

"You want me to go now?"

"Nah, stay around, see if you can still do it," He offered her the basketball in his hands.

"I doubt that I can." She said as she took the ball. She lined up on the free throw line and tried to call back everything he had once told her. She looked at her grip on the ball and quickly corrected it. She lined up with the basket and bent her knees. She took a shot. It bounced off the backboard and then the rim and rattled out.

"Close, I think you still have it," he said, retrieving the ball.

"It took a second to remember everything, but most of it came back."

"Troy!" Came a shout from the porch. His mother appeared there milliseconds later. "Would you and your friend like some lunch?"

"Yeah, sure mom," Troy said trying hard not to laugh. Gabriella had given up and succumbed to the laughter that made her sides hurt. After his mother disappeared inside, Troy gave in too and laughed with her.

"I can't believe your mom thinks we are friends?" Gabriella forced out through her dying laughs.

"Let's just drop the whole shouting and become best chums," he said through his laughter as it started to ebb away.

"Rule the school, attend college together, move in side by side house, name children after each other, just imagine the good life."

"What a sweet dream, come on, my mother is probably waiting for us," Troy said. HE put up the ball and led her inside to the kitchen.

Mrs. Bolton was serving Ellie a grilled cheese sandwich with a small handful of chips on the plate too. "Would you two like a sandwich too?" She offered.

"Yeah, sure mom," Troy said taking his seat at the table. He nodded at a chair and Gabriella sat down in it.

"Do I know you/" Ellie looked at her suspiciously.

"Um, maybe, you will just have to think about it yourself. Then maybe you will figure it out," Gabriella said, not ready to give up her identity yet. She looked at Troy for help, but he was trying to hold in another round of laughter.

"What would you kids like to drink?" Mrs. Bolton asked.

"Water mom, I can get it," Troy said getting up, "Um?" He turned to Gabriella. He wasn't going to say her name understanding her want for not to be known.

"Water is fine," she said.

"Don't you even know the poor girls name?" Mrs. Bolton scolded her son.

"I do, I know her name," Troy defended himself as he grabbed a couple of glasses. He put some ice and then water into them. He set them on the table in front of the places he and Gabriella were sitting.

"What kind of chips would you like honey?" Mrs. Bolton asked.

"Whatever is fine Mrs. Bolton," Gabriella said.

"It's Jenny dear, and how about these?" She said placing a bag on the table.

"It's fine," Gabriella smiled at the woman.

"Here, you go," she set two plates down, one in front of each teenager.

Troy heaped a gracious amount of chips onto his plate. Gabriella expected nothing less from him and waited until after he had finished to put a much smaller pile on her own plate.

Gabriella was nervous of what would happen after they finished the meal. They cleared their plates and rinsed out their glasses. "You wanna come up to my room?" Troy asked her with a nod in the general direction.

"Um, ok sure," she said and they started out of the room.

"Keep the door partway open," Jenny called after them.

"Ok mom," Troy said from the stairs.

"Make you bed this time?" Gabriella teased him in the hallway.

"Hey, I was woken up early that day to baby-sit I wasn't fully awake there for a while."

"Cause that is what happens when you sleep."

"Shut up," He said pushing open the door and allowed her to enter first before entering himself. He made a show of leaving the door slightly open and Gabriella laughed at his antics. "It's partway open," he said. "It's not like we are coming up here to make out or something."

"It would confuse the hell out of our friends."

"Are you saying they would walk in?"

"No, I was just saying, ug," she stuttered.

"It's ok, I was just kidding, I got it."

Gabriella had settled herself on a chair by his desk. She threw a pencil at him. He caught it from his position on the bed. One side of his bed was against a wall, so he was backed against the wall, leaning on it. He caught the pencil and tossed it on his nightstand. "What is up with you throwing pencils at me? That is the fourth one this week."

"If we were in each others positions, it would be a pillow, besides it doesn't matter since you caught it."

"True, but that was out of necessity and experience. That one Wednesday really hurt."

"Go have your mommy kiss it and make it all better."

"Never done that."

"Never?" She looked at him a little shocked.

"Nope, I was a tough little boy"

"And now?"

"I am not a little boy anymore."

"Well..."

"You want me to throw a pillow at you?"

"I am just saying that you have been known on occasion to used such phrases as 'because I said so' and other quite similar," she dodged a pillow, "I am just stating a fact."

"Fact my ass."

"Swearing with a little girl in the house? Is that a smart idea?"

"Probably not," he said.

A silence fell between them.

"God, it's killing me," Troy said suddenly.

"What?" Gabriella asked confused.

"The guy, trying to figure out the guy."

"What guy? Oh, you mean my dare guy."

"Yeah, I can't figure it out, give me a clue."

"I like him."

"An actual clue."

"He's," She stopped to think, "He's unique."

"That is not a clue, I want a different one."

"So picky, ok, he's I guess you don't want me to say he's beautiful, um, let me think, he's, he's got an energy about him that I really like."

"Your clues suck."

"Thank you."

"You can't give me a better clue?" He scooted to the edge of the bed and leaned his elbow on his knees.

"Not with out giving it away."

"It is going to bug me until I know."

"You'll know soon enough, hopefully."

"You can't like show me a picture and block out the face or something?"

"I don't have a picture pf him."

"That's to bad," he looked at her, something was off with her. She wouldn't look at him. "You are a liar, I can see it in your face."

"Ok, well it's not really a picture of him," she said guiltily.

"How can it not really be a picture? It either is or it isn't, there is no in between."

"There kinda is," She said.

"How then, show me."

"Everything is telling me not to," she said digging through her purse until she found what she was looking for. She pulled out a pale pink frame. She set down her purse and got up and handed it to him, face down.

He turned it up, it wasn't what he expected, "Gabriella, this is a mirror," he said as she stood in front of him.

"I know," She said as she turned pink.

It then clicked with him. He was supposed to see himself. He was the guy. He dropped the mirror next to him on the bed as he stood up and kissed her. She was taken back by this for a moment, but then started to react. And relax under his grip.

Her eyes were squeezed shut as her arms snaked up to his neck. His hands moved form her arms and ran up and down her sides before settling on her hips. He pulled her closer to him. He was quickly losing oxygen, but couldn't make himself pull away as he knew reality would come back when he did. The need for air became too overwhelming and he had to let go of her lips. His forehead leaned against hers as he looked at her still closed eyelids. She didn't give him much time to regain his breath before she kissed him. She wasn't ready for reality yet either.

After coming apart for a second time, she opened her eyes to look in his, "So I am the guy," he broke the ice.

"Yeah," she said embarrassed, looking away.

"Hey, look at me," he whispered, turning her face with his hand, "If I answered my own dare, you'd be the girl."

"Really?" she looked at him with surprised, but still happiness slowly started to form inside of her.

"Yeah, you tore down that wall around my broken heart."

"And you grabbed some of mine and smoothed out the edges."

"Look at us being all cliché again."

"I completed the dare of letting someone in, I just don't really know what the guy thinks."

"Trust me when I say that he really likes you."

"Did you just refer to yourself in third person?"

"Yeah," he laughed.

"It's cute," she smiled.

"Don't call me cute."

"I can if I want to, you are undeniably cute."

"Gabriella?"

"Yeah?" He attention caught by the use of her name.

"Did you mean what you said earlier with the clues?"

"I wouldn't have said them other wise."

"Ok, so then I have a question for you."

"I think that I will have an answer for you then."

"Would you do me the honors of being my girlfriend?"

"And that answer is yes, absolutely yes."

"I thin k I like that answer," he smiled a true smile. It wasn't as rare as it use to be, but the ones of this magnitude were still quite rare for Troy Bolton.

"So what are we going to do at school? Everyone thinks we hate each other."

"Let them think what they want."

"Troy!"

"Well I say that we work at being friends at school and then maybe find a time for the truth later. I have never really cared for PDAs or anything all that lovey-dovey. I am just sort of a private guy. I can tell you now that I am not that good at showing that I care. I can feel it, but I can't express it. I hope you still like me after all that."

"I still do."

"That is a very good thing."

"And I am not really into showing either, I am a private sort of girl too. So I get that aspect."

"I don't know how much people will notice but start at friends first, then I can be around you like I want to be. Maybe somewhere down the line it will be more, but not now or in the near future. Maybe make up something about unintentionally meeting this weekend and working out a few of our differences and problems. And we are tip-toeing to and about the line of friends."

"I like it, but we can still argue right? I like that. It does something magnificent to your eyes, they light up and are just stunning."

"I like arguing with you too, you know. Which is why I've put up with you for so long."

She slapped him in the chest, "Thank s lot."

"And that reminds me that I still don't say thank you a lot or I'm sorry. It is just something I can't do."

"I know, I've seen it. I've seen you tell Chad that you are sorry with just a look. You may not know it, but you have really expressive eyes that tell everything you can't say. And a look is worth just as much or more than a word."

"Good, because you just may get that look a lot."

"Think you are going to screw up a lot?"

"Oh, I know I will."

"What happened to all your confidence?"

"Still here, just preparing you some."

"I am well prepared."

"Good, me too," he said before leaning down and kissing her once more.

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AN: Ok, it turned out longer than I thought it was. Please, leave me a review telling me what you think. I hope this chapter lived up to everything you thought it would and should be. I think that I did pretty well on it and maybe served it justice, but only you can tell me if I did. I hope to update again tomorrow night, late again for me. It is almost 1 AM where I am. The next one will probably be around the same time.