The next morning, Troy woke up to the feeling of Gabriella gently pushing his hair out of his face and kissing his forehead. She was murmuring something in a soft tone, but stopped as soon as she noticed that Troy was awake.

"What are you saying, Brie?" Troy asked as he pulled Gabriella closer to him and nuzzled her cheek.

"Nothing," lied Gabriella. Although she was really close to Troy, she just couldn't bring herself to reveal to him what she had been saying to him while he was asleep.

Troy didn't believe his girlfriend. "I know you were saying something. Brie, we've known each other for almost our whole lives. You can tell me anything you want." He lovingly stroked her dark curls.

Gabriella let out a sigh. "Alright, I will admit that I was saying something, but I just don't want to tell you what it was. It's embarrassing." Her cheeks turned red as she buried her face in Troy's shoulder.

"Then you don't have to," Troy spoke gently, touching his lips to the top of Gabriella's head. "I was just curious, but if you're not comfortable telling me, I won't force you to. I understand that our relationship isn't what it used to be." A slight hint of sadness could be heard in his voice.

"What's wrong? Don't you like being my boyfriend?" Tears filled Gabriella's eyes.

"Oh, Brie, don't cry," comforted Troy as he took his thumb and wiped away the tears as they poured out of her eyes. "I didn't mean it like that. I just want you to be comfortable telling me anything like you were when we were best friends."

"I'm gonna go take a shower now," mumbled Gabriella as she got out of bed, her eyes still moist, picked out clothes to wear that day, and left the bedroom.

Troy felt horrible. How could he have said such a thing to her? Yeah, he was a little hurt that she didn't feel like she could tell him anything anymore, but he loved being able to tell her she was beautiful and holding her tightly in his arms and kissing her. Letting out a sigh, he tried to relax while he waited for Gabriella to be finished in the bathroom.

"Brie," Troy began as Gabriella entered the room.

Gabriella did nothing more than look at Troy, her eyes full of hurt. Evidentially, she didn't want to have anything to do with him at the moment.

"Brie, please," Troy attempted again. "Please just sit down and talk to me. We need to sort this out."

"No," refused Gabriella.

Suddenly, an idea came to Troy. Carefully climbing out of bed, he slowly crept up behind Gabriella and lifted her off the ground and into his arms.

"Troy! Put me down! I said I didn't want to talk to you!" Gabriella insisted.

"Never," came Troy's playful response as he began to tickle Gabriella while carrying her over to the bed.

"Troy, stop that!" Gabriella laughed as she tried to get away from Troy.

Ignoring Gabriella's request, Troy placed her on the bed, then laid down next to her. "I'm sorry for making you upset earlier," he apologized.

"I don't want to talk about it."

Troy reached over and began to tickle Gabriella again. When she started giggling, he pulled her on top of him and wrapped his arms around her waist.

"Let me go!"

Instead of complying to Gabriella's wish, Troy allowed his lips to meet hers in a kiss. However, this kiss wasn't like any other one they had shared. This time, he allowed his tongue to sweep across her lips. When Gabriella opened her mouth a little bit he slipped his tongue inside and began to gently nibble on her lower lip as his hands crept slightly lower than her waist.

"What are you doing?"

Startled, Troy and Gabriella broke apart and looked up to see Jack. After exchanging an embarrassed look with his girlfriend, Troy said, "Um...we were...we were just kissing."

"No, Troy, that wasn't an innocent kiss. Gabriella's was top of you and your hands were a little too low for my liking. I warned you about this! You're only fifteen years old! You shouldn't be kissing like that! It could lead to other things that you are definitely not allowed to do and get away with."

Gabriella, who had already rolled off of Troy, buried her red face in his arm and grabbed his hand, allowing her fingers to lace with his.

Jack looked at the two teenagers for a moment before saying, "It's time for breakfast. Troy, you and I will talk about this later." With that, he exited the room.

"Let's go, Brie," Troy sighed.

"I-I'm not hungry," stammered Gabriella. "I need to just...I need to...I...I just have to go outside by myself for a little while and think things over. I'll be right out back if you need me for anything." In the back of the hotel's yard, there were several tables and chairs set up for eating outside. Since it was winter, no one would be using them, so Gabriella considered that a good spot to go to be alone.

"Why? What happened?"

"Troy, your dad was right. I was lying on top of you and we were making out. This is all new to me. I just need to be by myself." Gabriella let out a sigh as she saw Troy's hurt expression. "Wildcat, it's nothing you did," she spoke affectionately before kissing her boyfriend's cheek. "I just need to think about this whole situation."

"Alright, princess," Troy agreed finally, taking both Gabriella's hands in his and leaning in to touch his lips to her forehead. "I'll be in here if you need anything. I promise I won't go anywhere other than the hotel without telling you first."

"Thanks." Gabriella smiled at Troy as she hopped off the bed. After pulling on her coat and finding a pair of shoes to wear, she headed out of the suite.

Not knowing what else to do, Troy walked into the kitchen for breakfast.

"Where's Gabriella?" Lucille inquired as she handed Troy a plate of scrambled eggs, bacon, and toast.

"She went outside. She just wanted to be by herself for a little while."

"I hope I didn't embarrass her," Jack said. "Because that certainly wasn't my intention. I just was kind of...shocked, I guess, to find you two the way I did and I wanted to make sure nothing else was going to happen."

"No, you didn't," answered Troy as he sat down and began to move his eggs around with his fork. "I think I sort of scared her by kissing her the way I did. She said she just needed to think about what happened."

"Oh, okay. Where'd she go?"

"Just out back."

Outside, Gabriella was sitting at a table kicking the snow that was underneath it around with her foot. What had happened that morning was completely unexpected, but amazing. She had never imagined that it would feel that good to kiss Troy the way she'd kissed him. However, she was also feeling scared. What if Troy started to want more from her? She was determined to wait until she was married-or at least out of college-to do anything with a guy. She was sure that Troy would never, ever hurt her or force her into anything, but for some reason she was still frightened by the idea that Troy could be thinking about going further with her. She hadn't thought about it until that moment, but his hands had been sliding lower than what would be considered innocent.

"Hey."

Startled, Gabriella spun around to face the person she least wanted to see. Chad Danforth.

Okay, so this is a really short chapter. I promise the next one will be longer, but I thought this was a good spot to end. Thanks to hopelessromanticgurl for giving me an idea for this chapter! The idea will be continued in the next chapter, too:) Please leave a review!