I can't begin this chapter without a big hug and thank you to every single one of you

I can't begin this chapter without a big hug and thank you to every single one of you!! We've passed the 1000 mark! You guys are absolutely amazing and I truly can't ask for better readers than you guys, thank you so much for making this such a successful story! I couldn't have done it without you guys, so thank you so, so much!

Also, as mentioned in the previous chapter, I had uploaded Here's to right now so everyone can continue reading. Unfortunately, the site I had chosen to use is to shut down…so I am once again lacking a place to upload the story. If anyone knows of any good sites that allows stories about real life people, please feel free to offer up suggestions!

Vanessa's new commercial for the new Sears back to school line, 'Arrive' is now out. She's featured in three different and totally awesome outfits so go check it out!

Ashley celebrated a belated 23rd birthday with a party by Malibu beach. She kept the gathering small, inviting only close friends and of course, the HSM3 cast. The party was kept low key with tacos and machos and chocolate cupcakes. Zac, being the sweet person he is, complimented Ashley by calling her 'sweeter than the cupcakes'.

Apparently Vanessa has a new car now. She's no longer driving her Audi Cabriolet, but is driving a hybrid Lexus SUV. It looks really nice! She recently used it to go to the airport and picked up Zac while trying to dodge paparazzi.

Vanessa will be beginning her August state fair tour real soon, so if you live near the area she'll be performing, go on out and support her!

Congratulations to Vanessa who won this year's Teen's Choice Award for 'Choice Female Hottie'! Unfortunately Zac didn't win Male hottie (that went to the Jonas Brothers) but he was there to back his girl up! The two went together as a couple.

Zac, Vanessa and Ashley also did a very sexy photo call with Elle magazine. They were dressed similar to John Travolta and Olivia Newton in Grease. There were a lot of cute pictures with just Zac and Vanessa being very affectionate and passing flirty glances.

A Pinkie Promise

Chapter 21: Five days

'Good luck on your game.' Good luck on your game? That was the best she could come up with? Gabriella groaned into her pillow. If her pillow could talk or some how miraculously sprouted arms and legs, it would've ran off three hours ago, when she had finally decided to go to sleep, only to twist and turn around in insomnia, thrusting her face into her pillow more than fifty times, while her mind went through the ridiculous phrase she had sprouted out seconds before leaving Troy at his car.

Those words formed and left her mouth before she had a chance to think them through, some how she saw those words as a passageway to grasp what was left of her normality. Ever since Troy was in a basketball team, Gabriella had always uttered those exact words to him a few days before the actual game. She didn't know why she did it or if it helped at all. She just did. The first time she had said it was during his first game as captain of the East High basketball team. It was their Grade Eleven year and Troy, being the youngest Captain of the team, had managed to reduce the napkin he had been using at lunch into shreds and created the perfect white confetti should they ever need any.

"Troy calm down, you're getting napkin pieces in your macaroni," Sharpay had said in an amused voice. Out of the four basketball players at the table, Troy was the most nervous, his blue eyes unfocused and his hands fidgety. Even Jason, Chad and Zeke had ways of managing their stress. To be honest, no one had ever seen Jason too stressed up, the black haired, occasionally dense student was more like comic relief than someone pent up with nervousness. Zeke had his cooking interests to divert any sort of nervousness- and believe them they knew when Zeke was nervous. The chef had once brought an entire meal (spaghetti, garlic bread and crème brûlée) five minutes before the start of the game. No one was entirely sure if Chad actually got nervous before a game, seeing as he lived and breathed basketball (but Taylor spilled that Chad had quite the artistic flare when need be).

"Sorry…just nervous," Troy had chuckled sheepishly. He placed his napkin (or what remained of it) down onto the table and preoccupied his hands with more fidgeting.

"Troy?" Gabriella had called, and her best friend turned to face her. She offered him a gentle, soft smile and placed a comforting hand over his fidgety ones, "Don't worry," he nodded but Gabriella had known he really didn't take it seriously. So when the school day finally ended and his first game was coming up in mere minutes, Troy was reduced to a walking ball of nerves. Gabriella had caught up to him before he entered the change room, and grabbed him for a hug,

"Good luck on your game," she had whispered in his ears. She pulled back, gave him a brilliant smile, before heading to join the gang in the seats on the bleachers. That night, the East High Wildcats won the game by a landslide with a whooping twenty-five point's lead and the school cheered on as a smiling, relaxed Captain Troy Bolton led on the cheers with his team.

Gabriella shook her head. 'Normal' wasn't going from liking your best friend as a best friend to wanting something more. Instead of a brief hug, it'd be a hug where she would be clearly aware of how his arms would twist around her waist, how close they would be how her heart would flutter and how she would hope she could hear his.

Gabriella definitely didn't want just a 'normal' relationship with Troy. But it was a huge jump from being best friends of nineteen years to something more…something closer…something more intimate than best friends. Nineteen years of friendship would end there, and a new timer would start…and this time it wasn't something a quick apology would fix should anything go wrong. It was taking their relationship to a whole new level.

"Just sleep on it…sleep on it and you'll figure it out tomorrow," her mind chided her. Gabriella groaned, if only she could actually sleep. Her eyes opening once more (and meeting the same darkness she had faced for the past three hours, Gabriella realized there really was something she could do…maybe something she should've done a long time ago.

-

-

Gabriella wouldn't have had a hard time believing Troy had spent most of his night doing the exact same thing she had.

Twisting and turning in bed, sleep eluding him and staring at the same spot on the ceiling for hours on end. He couldn't get the scene from the car out of his mind. Throughout the day his mind had worked tirelessly on hundreds of different ways it could've turned out. He could've apologized and blame the heat (although the sun was hidden behind clouds and the car was air conditioned), or he could've pulled her back into the car and lock the door and explain everything at once, then let her leave and drive off to wallow in the consequences. He could've followed her, and maybe allow both of them to explain-after all, she did kiss him back.

Troy could've done a lot of things…too bad he couldn't turn back time.

Every time he closed his eyes, he could see Gabriella's face as clear as he could see his game plan on the basketball court. He could also see the hundreds of different ways his confession could backfire and smack him right back in the face.

"Suck it up and take it like a man," Chad's voice said from his mind. Great…now his inner voice sounded like Chad too.

"Just focus on the game…semi-finals…yea that will take your mind off of it," he reassured himself. Troy nearly scoffed at himself at the idea. Like thinking about the game would get his mind off of Gabriella. Every single detail of his life had Gabriella in it…heck his life was Gabriella. His life is Gabriella. Since when did how he live… how happy his life was depend on one single person? How could one single person have such an impact on his life like that? It wasn't like something huge like a bulldozer slamming into him, it was gradual. Gabriella had slipped through the cracks and seeped her way into his life. Her presence was gentle, her impact was soft. It was like a feather hitting the still water surface, and the ripples that followed the impact were the consequences… and as time went on, the ripples grew bigger…and the water wouldn't be the same again.

Troy shook his head. He had to get his priorities straight. Get one thing over with first, and then deal with the second. And at the moment, the semi-finals were the most important thing (not to mention it was something that he could easily get over first). After he finished that (and the championships won't be until a few weeks later) he could think about what to do with the situation he had placed himself in. After all, Troy convinced himself, he had all the time in the world with Gabriella after.

Five days after the confrontation in the car, neither Troy nor Gabriella had the courage to call one another. Instead, they tried to fall back into their normal lives with Troy going to training and Gabriella continuing her internship. When they thought about it later on, they would've realized it was a fairly stupid move, as they had already realized that there was no way to achieve a normal life (by their standards) without one another.

Gabriella went into work around noon, an hour earlier than her intended shift. Maybe it was good luck or maybe it was just coincidence, but once Gabriella had signed in and got to her desk next to Rachel, her supervisor had came out,

"Oh so you got my message," Rachel smiled, her way of saying good morning…or rather good afternoon. Gabriella blinked a couple of times before took her cell phone out to reveal the fact that she indeed had a text message from the older woman in front of her, "I take that back," Rachel smirked, Gabriella grinned sheepishly, opening the text to find out she had been requested to get to work an hour early,

"Guess I was lucky," Gabriella shrugged, still smiling softly, Rachel's eyes glistened the same way Troy's would when he had finished a successful game (Gabriella blushed when she realized the last time she had looked into his eyes was seconds before they had leaned in for their second kiss). "You're happy about something," Gabriella guessed,

"How'd you know?"

"You're easy to read… like a…friend…of mine,"

"Sure it's just a friend?" Rachel winked and Gabriella cursed herself. She should've known better…Rachel was a family friend of the Bolton's.

"So why am I here?" Gabriella hastily changed the subject, making the older woman smile at the popular and well used antic.

"I think you might like the opportunity I'm-that is to say the hospital-is about to offer you." When Gabriella didn't answer, and waited for Rachel to continue, she added, "I know your internship with us is about to end…come in Miss. Montez, we've got a lot to talk about."

Half an hour later, Gabriella exited Rachel's room with a dazed look on her face, her mind acting like a teeter totter, weighing the possibilities, and a stack of paper that was half the size of her university text books.

-

-

It had been when Sharpay was in her senior year of high school did she experience her first bitter taste of her own plans backfiring on her. Sharpay and her brother had grown up in a well off family, owning several country clubs around the area. By the time she was three; people had already begun praising her for her beauty and poise something 'no other three year olds had'. By the time she was seven, Sharpay and Ryan had already starred in several community theatre productions, and even at that age, Sharpay had grown use to succeeding in everything she did, and when things didn't go her way, she made it go her way. Simply put, whatever Sharpay wanted, she had.

So when Troy Bolton was the one thing that East High prized over everything else, Sharpay was determined to win him over. Of course outwardly it sounded terrible, essentially she wanted Troy Bolton as a prize, a trophy to show to the world that she could get anything she wanted. Her plans had been flawless up to her senior year. Even when she had planned to only have Troy work in her country club and ended up getting all the Wildcats, she was still well on her way to winning Troy Bolton…except for one minor fault she had carelessly over looked.

She had over looked Gabriella Montez, a factor that had already been there, but had been put aside. So after that one summer, and the beginning of their senior year rolled around, Sharpay arrived at school with the bitter aftertaste of a broken plan. Of course it was only after that, Gabriella had extended a hand of friendship, and invited both Evans to join the group. But at least even at that point, Sharpay knew where she had gone wrong.

So where had she gone wrong this time?

If it weren't for the fact that Zeke had made Sharpay promise to not cook up any more schemes, Sharpay would've made a detailed, step by step plan of her plan in detail, and access it from all situations. She thought it had been a good plan. It was pretty cliché too… girl gets asked out by another guy, main guy gets jealous, then another girl comes out and the main guy seems to be paying attention to her instead, and the main girl gets jealous. Then eventually it'll wear both of them down and they'll break down, and confess their feelings for one another and live happily ever after forever thanking Sharpay for bringing them together…

Sharpay had to laugh at the last bit, so they won't be forever thanking her, but at least they'll be together, right? But once again, Sharpay had managed to underestimate Gabriella's stubbornness, and Troy's ability to withstand murdering all the guys that came up to his brunette best friend.

"Please tell me you're not scheming again," Zeke came up next to her with a semi stern look on his face. Sharpay tried to smile innocently up at him, but failed. She'd have to get use to him being able to read her so clearly, especially when they'll be living under the same roof soon,

"I'm not scheming…"

"Then you're analyzing your plans," he countered,

"How do you know?"

"You have this look on you every single time you try to do something," Zeke smirked, "Ryan use to say if you put a quarter of your energy in scheming to school, you might actually be par with Gabby and Taylor,"

"You actually agreed with that?" Sharpay gasped in a mocked hurt voice, Zeke smiled, and sat down next to her, and encased her small white hands in his,

"I know you really want the two of them to be together, and don't think I didn't know it was you who tried to pair Alex and Gabby up together. Believe me for a while I'm sure it was working, but now you've got to let them solve their own problems," Zeke said, he shook his head when she made a move to interrupt, "They're adults now, sure they don't act like it when it concerns one another, but that's how they are. You have to trust them to be able to solve their own problems. You should know by now their reactions are never normal when it considers one another,"

"They're just so stubborn," Sharpay grumbled,

"I know they are, the gang knows they are. But I think you just have to let them deal with it. It'll come when it comes, and when it does happen, it'll be because it's on their own time, in their own terms and it'll have nothing to do with us," Zeke said the last part slightly more strictly than the rest, but had a soft smile on his face that made the blonde squeeze the life out of him,

"Now I know what went wrong with my plan," Sharpay grumbled a few minutes later, Zeke grinned amusedly,

"What's that?"

"You must've said something similar to them before…I didn't count on you being such a good shrink,"

"Troy…Troy…psst Troy!"

Troy snapped out of his day dream and looked to his left to see Chad nudging him, discreetly giving a pointed look from him to their coach in front of them who was currently making his annual pre-semi finals speech. The words had went in one ear and left the other, leaving room in Troy's mind for day dreams and wonders.

"—and best of luck to each and every one of you, we've trained hard, we've had a successful season, let's make it a Lakers year!" their coach pumped his hand up in emphasis and the team cheered, the coach stuck his hand out to the middle, "Champions on three!"

Troy had the feeling of being squished between Chad and another member of his team, and followed the others and placed his hand on top of someone else's, and shouted the word just like everyone else. When he was dismissed, he walked back with Chad,

"What's with you man, you're everywhere today and not in a good way. You nearly missed that pass I gave you, you're lucky coach was out that time," Chad said, Troy sighed,

"It's been a long day,"

"Long day or girl troubles?" Chad smirked and Troy glared at him, "Hey don't look at me like that, you're lucky it's me doing the asking and not the girls, they would've just tied you to a chair and stuck a flashlight in your face like they do in movies when they interrogate someone," Whether or not Troy agreed, he didn't say, but decided to take advantage of the rare moment when Chad was actually listening,

"I sort of…well I kind of told Gabby," Troy mumbled,

"Told Gabby what?" Chad asked, and Troy cursed his friend's denseness,

"I told her I liked her alright? Hell I probably told her I loved her and I couldn't live without her happy?" Troy exploded, his hands flinging in the air and his voice vibrating in the gym. He realized a second too late and blushed slightly, looking down and finding extreme interest on the wax floor of the gym. Chad looked around and was glad everyone had left,

"Dude, you and I are going to sit down and have a long talk,"

-

-

After getting changed and a quick shower, Troy and Chad drove to a close by café and settled in a secluded booth area. After Troy's dark coffee and Chad's double, double arrived, Chad initiated their conversation,

"So you told her…then what?"

"We kissed,"

"Ok you kissed—what you kissed?" Chad stumbled slightly,

"Yea…"

"But it's the first kiss between the two of you,"

"Second,"

"Second kiss?"

"It's our second kiss,"

"Wait, your second kiss? So you had a first? Damn Troy how come no one tells me these things?" Chad grumbled, "Wait does Shar know? Does Taylor?"

"No…maybe…I don't know! Maybe…Taylor might…" Troy mumbled, "I screwed it up big time didn't I?"

"No, screwing up would be skipping a date for a basketball game and leaving your girlfriend at the restaurant alone," Chad said knowledgeable, "Did she slap you?"

"What?"

"Did she slap you after the kiss?"

"No…she kissed me back…both times," Troy said and had a flit of a smile when he recalled the memory,

"Man if you weren't my best friend, I would've straight killed you when you told me you kissed our Gabby," Chad said, "Look Troy, you've been with us long enough to know what we think about you two…if you asked me I think the kiss was a pretty good step forward to how you feel about her. And besides, she hasn't called you to tell you she hates you yet… so that's got to be a good sign,"

"Thanks man, you're a real motivational speaker," Troy said rolling his eyes sarcastically, "Chad…it's wrong, she has a boyfriend,"

"Uh dude?"

"She's dating someone…and even though I hate him it's wrong for me to do this to her when she already has a boyfriend,"

"You mean that boyfriend?" Chad's voice sounded oddly pissed and serious, "that 'boyfriend' who is currently with a girl who is not our Gabby?" Troy's head shot up, and looked towards the cash area where-just like Chad had said-Alex stood with a blonde next to him who was definitely not Anne, and most definitely not Gabriella.

"That bastard…" Troy hissed, seeing him trough narrowed eyes.

"Let me at him man, how could he do this to her—Troy?" Chad looked up in time to see Troy shooting out of his seat, making a direct bee line towards the man. Chad shot up after him, now more afraid of Alex's safety instead.

When the blonde had gasped in surprised, Alex turned from the cashier to his left, seconds before a fist connected to his face. His date screamed in shock as did several of the café's customers. The first pulled back, and Alex saw a brief flash of blue eyes and shaggy brown hair through watering eyes when the fist met his stomach, this time causing him to double over, and knocking the air out of his lungs. Somewhere behind Troy, someone shouted to call the police, and was followed by Chad trying to pull him off of Alex, who was now on the floor clutching his stomach,

"Dude calm down, you're causing a scene!" Chad hissed, but Troy heard none of it, blood pounding angrily in his ears, he struggled against his best friend, wanting nothing more than to pummel the man in front of him into a bloody pulp,

"How could you!" Troy shouted, "You lying, two timing bastard! How dare you cheat on Gabby?"

"Me cheat on her?" Alex chocked through his pain, he stumbled to get up, and the blonde he came in with helped him up and supported him from his shoulder, "You're one to talk!"

"Why you—" Troy lunged at him and Chad grunted to hold him in place, but Troy smirked to see the older man grimace at the idea of being hit again, "What the hell are you talking about?"

"I am not cheating on Gabriella. I have more dignity than certain other people who would punch someone without getting the story straight," and Alex winced, knowing a not so becoming black eye would soon form.

"Then what do you call coming here on a date with someone who isn't Gabriella," Troy growled dangerously,

"Gabriella and I broke up," Alex winced, "No thanks to you,"

"What are you talking about?"

"She called me and told me we had to talk, then she just broke up with me, I'll give you three chances to guess why," Alex said dryly. Troy calmed down slightly, and Chad deemed it ready to let him go though the bushy haired athlete made to stand between his best friend and (apparently) ex-boyfriend of Gabriella.

"When did you guys break up?" Chad asked in a straight forward manner. Not liking to admit to the fact that he got dumped, but preferring that over getting punched again, Alex sighed,

"She called about five days ago,"

Troy started slightly. Five days ago, Troy had driven Gabriella back to her house after meeting the gang. Five days ago, Troy had, quite literally, confessed to the fact that he liked her, maybe even loved her. Five days ago, they had shared their second kiss…

It had been five days ago since the two of them had talked.

A/N: Sorry for the late update. I've been doing some changes on the story line and the ending as well, I've also been quite busy lately with work and such. Anyway, I hope you liked this chapter, there were certain things left off without explanation, but there will be one in the next chapter. Review!