"Mom, there's a reason why no one does that in their routine. It's too risky." Gabriella's panting voice was barely made out as Anna turned the music off and looked at her daughter. It was Tuesday in the morning, her second day of dancing again and Gabriella over and over again had to remind herself that her mother was going through a break up, she had to put up with her attitude because god only knows how much her mother has had to put up with her bad attitudes in the past.

Gabriella looked at the wall to where she's supposed to do a wall flip. It was hard for some people, but Gabriella should've been able to do it. Which she could, except when she's coming out of a spin and jump so close to the wall that it barely gave her any running room to give herself more momentum.

"I know it's risky, but I thought we always went for the big points." Anna pointed out instead of questioned as she had her hands on her hips looking her daughter over to see how her reaction would be.

Gabriella sighed, there was a reason why kids in her age group didn't do wall flips, they were too risky. If you fell then that basically threw your whole routine off if you missed a beat, or you actually hurt yourself, but it was true. Gabriella knew it, they always went for the big points, but even Gabriella knew that this could possibly not work if she didn't have enough room to get momentum and her knee and back were still killing her.

"We do." Gabriella said skeptically as she eyed the wall up and down again. Her routine was in the hip hop category and she had almost the whole routine mapped out, now all she had to do was get it pieced together as half of the moves she's never even done in other competitions. "It's just…what if I mess up?" Gabriella asked slowly and quietly as she was almost ashamed to admit that she could make mistakes.

Anna shrugged, "Don't." She said as if it was as simple as that. Gabriella looked at her mother like she was crazy. "Scouts are gonna be there, and we're gonna show them what you're really made of."

Gabriella looked away from her mother and closed her eyes. She breathed deep, trying to stay as quiet as possible. She was doing this for her mother and maybe a little bit for her grandmother. Each one of them were great dancers and neither one of them had luck on their side as they both got injuries or in her mom's case, pregnant. She would do this one last competition and go out with a bang.

"Fine." Gabriella finally huffed out as she backed up a couple of feet from the solid wall.

Anna smiled reassuringly as she watched her daughter. "Okay, now you want to get a good running start for now until you get the hang of it. And then when you're running you want your first foot to land about chin height up on the wall as you use it to push off and then your other foot will be coming up slightly above your first one and you use that to push off along with your arms which help you swing your body around." Anna described as Gabriella nodded.

Her head was spinning, she tried to remember what her mom had said, she tried to picture what her mother did a couple of minutes ago and nodded her head again as if confirming that she could do this, when in reality she fell flat on her back.

Gabriella groaned as she rolled over on her stomach, her back was now really hurting. She swore she was seeing stars as you could almost still hear the echo of her back hitting the hard dance floor in the studio.

Gabriella shut her eyes in pain and tiredness as Anna shut off the music. "Not bad…for the first time."

Gabriella snapped her eyes open. Not bad!? That was horrible, she got her two feet on the wall, and fell before even getting her legs over her head! How is that not bad?

"We'll keep working on that tonight." Anna commented. "You did good today kid." Gabriella heard her mother compliment as she reluctantly got off the ground and groaned as she rubbed her shoulder blades. These practices were hell, and even though her mother seemed to be keeping a good spirit through it, she still had her bitchy moments, but Gabriella could tell that she was at least trying to make an effort of being nicer than before.

"Thanks mom." Gabriella said as she winced a little when her shoulder bumped into the archway of the bathroom.

He searched for the brown eyed brunette girl who seemed to be late today. He leaned against the cool locker with his arms crossed over his chest, just staring down the hall of the kids walking around in bunches. Chad and Taylor were next to him at her locker talking about what they were gonna do over the weekend.

Kids were swarming past them to get to their next class, lockers, or lunch. "I am hungry." Troy could hear his best friend in the background as his eyes scanned over the hallway once more before turning to stare at the two people holding hands waiting with him.

"What class is she coming from Tay?" Troy asked as he looked down the other hallway briefly.

He saw Taylor's shoulders go up and then down in a shrug. "I think maybe German, but I could be wrong."

Troy nodded as he turned his head and his heart nearly skipped a beat and his stomach turned. He saw the brunette walking down the hallway with Jake as she seemed to be walking a little slower than normal. She had on a smile and her eyes sparkled and Troy found that a smile took over his face by just watching her.

He saw Gabriella and Jake both lean in a give each other a half hug before the blonde hurried off to his next class and Gabriella slowly approached them while leaning up to give him a kiss on the cheek.

Troy had barely seen Gabriella that day except homeroom, but they didn't get to talk since she just made it in the classroom before the bell rang and Ms. Darbus came waltzing into the room, and even then Troy thought something seemed off about her and the way she moved. Everything just seemed to be going slower with her for some reason.

"Hey." He said softly as he could almost see Chad behind himself roll his eyes.

"Can we eat now?!" He asked impatiently as Troy raised his hand and waved it carelessly.

"You two can go, I want to talk to Gabi for a minute." Troy saw Gabriella look up at him curiously with worry as her big brown eyes bored into his blue piercing ones and he cracked another smile at how just a sentence could draw her attention in.

"What's up Wildcat?" Gabriella asked softly as she interlaced their hands together and Troy still felt sparks fly through his arm and into his body with just the slightest body contact with her.

Troy looked out of the corner of his eye to see that there was only a small amount of people in the hall. "Nothing much, just…" He trailed off as his fingers delicately played with one of her curls that came down just an inch below her shoulders. "I didn't get to see you this morning." He commented and if it was anyone else he would call them whipped, but he was just concerned. Something was off and he could feel it.

"Sorry." She apologized. "I was late leaving the studio, took a little extra energy today." Gabriella let out a forced laugh as Troy knew that his eyes were bleeding into her, showing off his concern that he would've laughed at a year ago.

Gabriella must have caught on that he was being serious as he looked her over to see if something was different. She was wearing faded blue jeans with a dark blue 'Ford Truck' shirt that fit her curves and was short sleeves showing off her little toothpick arms and that's when he saw it.

It was dark blue and black on her very top shoulder so you could only see a quarter size of it as the rest of the bruise looked to be hiding underneath her shirt more towards her back.

"Gabi," Troy cooed softly as his hand went up and touched it slightly as Gabriella jerked away with a sheepish smile on her face. "What happened?"

Gabriella turned her head away from him as she looked at herself and to Troy it seemed as if this was the first time Gabriella was seeing it as she turned back to look at him and shrugged her shoulders, "I fell this morning flipping on a wall."

Troy did a double take as this was not something you heard everyday. She was flipping on a wall? What did that mean? "What?" He asked with some amusement showing through his small smile.

Gabriella giggled. "Come on." She urged as she connected their hands again and Troy felt his legs walking with her towards the busy lunch room. "I was trying out a new dance move and fell this morning."

Troy nodded. This was just something he would have to get used to. It wasn't like her whole body was covered in bruises, but this one looked really bad on her shoulder, but if she wasn't complaining about it then he wasn't going to push it because he didn't want to upset her.

"So what do you say about going to Tyson Beach after my playoff game this Friday night?" Troy asked. "We can get some alone time and just do absolutely nothing." Troy tempted as they turned the corner and he saw Gabriella look regretfully down at the ground.

"Um…" She bit her lip nervously as Troy's face faltered a bit, but he quickly fixed it as he didn't want to make her feel guilty for turning him down once. "I actually don't even know if I can make it to your game." Gabriella said in a quick whisper.

Troy nodded as his smile was wiped off his face, but he tried to hold in his disappointment. But he wasn't idisappointed in Gabriella, it was far from disappointment in Gabriella, it was more just in general and the situation. But he would get over it, or at least that's what he told himself.

"It's okay, it's just like any other basketball game." He tried to make the situation lighter as he saw the regretful frown on Gabriella's face.

"But it's your first playoff game Wildcat, promise me you'll let me make it up to you?" Gabriella asked. Troy sighed, he didn't want her to feel like she owed him something. "Please?" She pleaded.

Troy reluctantly nodded, "Yeah. How about I just come after my game and watch your practice?"

Gabriella hesitated again, but finally nodded. "Yeah, that sounds good." They neared the wooden doors that lead to the busy cafeteria, but before Troy could open them for Gabriella he felt her tug at his hand and pulled him over to the wall.

She gripped his upper arms as she pulled his body closer towards hers and leaned up to connect their lips in a short kiss. But even in that short kiss Troy still felt butterflies in his stomach as he smiled down at her. "I love you." Her voice seemed to sing out in a quiet voice so not to disturb the other classes around them.

"I love you too." Troy smirked down at her as he no longer felt hungry for food. He just wanted alone time with his girlfriend. He leaned down and connected their lips again as Gabriella's hands wound themselves around his neck lightly and his hands stayed stationed on her lower hips. "You hungry?" He asked against her lips.

Gabriella shook her head slightly to the side making sure that her lips brushed up against his. "No."

Troy licked his lips a little as his eyes showed mischief. "Follow me." He grabbed her hand and started to direct her away from the lunch room and down the hall again.

He heard the sweet giggle come from her mouth again as he turned his head briefly and saw that they had at least a good twenty minutes and he was going to use it wisely. "Where are we going Wildcat?"

Troy smirked, "I happen to know this place that doesn't have a class going on right now." He turned down the hallway again and came face to face with two wooden doors in the back of the school.

Gabriella rolled her eyes playfully as she stood to the side of him. "Figures, this is like your home."

Troy wriggled his eye brows twice, "What's mine is yours baby." He opened the door for her as she deliberately ran her hand over the fly of his jeans while walking past him and into the empty gym.

Troy took a deep breath as he shut the door behind himself. He knew that the three gym teachers were all taking their lunch breaks right now as this was the only time they didn't have a class to teach.

"Where is everyone?" Gabriella questioned as Troy followed her further into the gym.

He eyed her up as she turned around and didn't even deny that he was checking her out as a light blush went up on her cheeks. "They're not here." He answered smartly as Gabriella gave a sarcastic laugh while he advanced her and backed her up into the wall.

"Thanks Captain Obvious, but--" Gabriella was cut off as Troy crashed his lips down on her and smirked as he heard her gasp into the kiss. His hands ran through her hair and down her back to right above her butt.

He slid his tongue in her mouth as her hands massaged the back of his head and neck and he held back a moan of pleasure. He broke their kiss and started a trail down her jaw line and down her neck as he made sure to graze his teeth over the skin, causing Gabriella to shiver with goose bumps from just his touches.

"Someone's gonna catch us…" Gabriella breathed out as she tried to control her regular breathing, but let out a little yelp of surprise as Troy sank his teeth into her skin, sucking harshly, but not hard where it hurt her greatly to leave his mark.

"No." He let out his simple answer quickly as he connected his lips to her skin once again as Gabriella let out a small moan and raked her hand through his hair.

Troy heard the ball go swish as he smiled and he jogged to get his rebound. He loved two things about the gym, one: he liked having it himself while just shooting hoops. There was just something about it that calmed him, and two: he liked being alone in the gym with Gabriella and one of their hot make out sessions.

He smiled to himself just thinking about how he spent his lunch time and even though they didn't pass the make out stage, he really didn't expect them too since they were in school and even though it was unlikely for his dad to come back early from his lunch, it would be immensely better for him to walk in on his son only making out with Gabriella than to see him getting a blow job from Gabriella.

He dribbled the ball back to the free throw line and lined up perfectly as he had been shooting free throws since he could basically walk. He heard Chad's voice enter the locker room as he shot the ball again only to have it go right in again.

Everyone else was just getting in the locker room and if not then they were headed to the locker room as Troy just stayed in his gym clothes while Chad had to change back to go give Tay a quick ride home, and then come back fast before his dad noticed which he wouldn't because practices now didn't start until 3 instead of 2:30 like before.

Troy grabbed the ball again and went to a different shooting spot behind the three point line. "I envy you." A girl's voice said as he could hear her walk into the gym.

Troy smiled just hearing her voice as he turned around and looked at Gabriella who had a content smile on her face. But he was confused, why wasn't she at dance?

"Why would you envy me?" He asked curiously as he saw her shoulders go up and then down in a shrug.

"You do things with your heart." Gabriella smiled sweetly as she rolled her eyes sarcastically and quickly stole the ball from Troy as he did a double take from where the ball used to sit in his hands to where it was now in Gabriella's.

"What are you doing here? I thought you left an hour ago?" Troy asked as Gabriella bounced the ball uninterested in it.

"I did, but my jeep wouldn't start." Gabriella stated dully. "So forgetful me left my cell phone in my locker, and I had to come back into the building, but who just happened to be walking on by?" Gabriella didn't give him time to answer as he just waited for her to finish her story which he kind of found cute and interesting. "But my grandmother, and thank God she didn't give me a detention, but instead she pulled me into her classroom and made me call my mom from there since you're not allowed to have cell phones during class time."

Gabriella looked up at him as she sighed and Troy offered her a small smile. "But you got a hold of your mom and she's okay with you not getting there on time?"

Gabriella nodded, "Yeah, we're having my jeep towed and she should be here any minute to come and pick me up."

"Maybe it's time to get rid of your jeep." Troy suggested with a smile thinking of her jeep wrangler that she cherished.

"What?!" Gabriella exclaimed feigning hurt. "I could never give up my one true love." Gabriella mocked as Troy stuck his tongue out at her playfully. "Oh, real mature Wildcat." Gabriella said.

Troy smirked at her, "I'll show you mature." Just then Troy lunged at Gabriella and wrapped his arms around her from behind as she tried to run, but got nowhere as he swung her around making her laugh and joined along as they didn't realize the two pairs of eyes on them.

"Wildcat, put me down!" Gabriella squealed as Troy gripped her tighter and swung her around one more time before putting her on her feet, but didn't let go of her as her back molded into his chest.

"I'm enjoying this too much." Troy chuckled into her ear as his fingers started moving against her stomach making her squirm in his grasp, and her laugh filling the gym.

"Please Wildcat?" She got out through her laughing.

"Say the magic words." Troy urged with amusement.

"I love you?" Gabriella more like questioned as Troy's fingers stopped moving and she turned around in his grasp, but before he could lower his lips towards her own, he came face to face with an orange basketball Gabriella shoved in between them, creating space as she laughed and he knocked it away before he pulled Gabriella towards him again and gave her a light kiss.

"Love you too." He breathed out.

Anna's eyes were wide with what she was witnessing. She felt Jack shift besides her as they watched their two kids interact, both knowing that this relationship between their kids could possible become a bigger threat towards them when it really mattered during the basketball championship or dance then what they thought.

Anna came out of her shock first as Jack was still staring wide eyed at them. Anna shuffled her feet as she watched her daughter's smile grow on her face, but Anna's face faltered as she knew that something could go wrong still. It was almost a given in their family that when they were so close to their dreams, something bad would happen.

Her mother hurt herself on Broadway, Anna herself got pregnant stopping her career, and she didn't want Gabriella to ruin her future with one stupid mistake.

"We need to talk."

Jack silently nodded as the two ripped their eyes away from the boy trying to teach the girl how to shoot a basketball properly.

Author's note- So what do you think? I think it kind of lacks in the interesting topic, and it's mostly all mushy mushy stuff between Gabriella and Troy right now, which I guess is good since pretty soon it won't all be flowers and sunshine. But I'm getting kind of excited to write the next one and the interactions between the conversation that's gonna come between Anna and Jack. Thanks for all the reviews and I hope you enjoyed this one.