.:Chapter Three:.

"Mom, is 8:30 too early to call someone on the weekend?" Troy asked as he finished the last of his pancakes.

His mom chuckled. "I don't know why you're up so early, she is probably sleeping. Yesterday was such a big day for you… you should be exhausted."

Troy rinsed off his dishes and set them in the sink. "But how do you know it's a she?"

"Are you telling me you weren't going to call Gabriella?" her eyebrow was raised.

"Okay fine, you're right. You win." He threw his hands in the air. "I'll wait 'til ten."

His mom shook her head amusedly as Troy made his way into the den and turned on the computer. While it loaded, he grabbed the daily paper that was set on the coffee table by his dad earlier that morning. He flipped to the sports section, and right on the front was a picture of him taking the winning shot, and above in bold print was, "Wildcats take the Win!"

That was pretty cool, the publicity and all. He hadn't really stopped to think how good he had it. He was only a sophomore, and already he was team captain on the Varsity team. Who could say that? He had a bunch of friends, and all the girls thought he was the greatest thing since sliced bread. It wasn't until he was singing with Gabriella, and then the guys had taped him saying all that awful stuff and she wasn't talking to him, when he realized what he didn't have. Now, it was so good to have her back. They were close, and Troy knew for sure that whether or not they became more than friends, they'd never not be friends.

The computer was done loading, so Troy got on his desktop and got onto the Internet. He checked his email, and realized most of them said congratulations in the game. A little later he got off and wandered around the house. There wasn't anything to do, what did people do this early on the weekends? Why had he even gotten up? Maybe in the back of his mind he was hoping that Gabriella would call him, and he didn't want to miss it. No, because he said that he'd call her! It was a little after nine, he was still in his boxers and t-shirt, and so he decided to take a shower. He stayed in there for a long time, until his mom pounded on the door saying he was using up all the hot water. He got out, and got dressed. By the time he had cleaned the bathroom and put all his dirty clothes away, it was ten. He went to his bedroom and closed his door, then dialed Gabriella's number.

"Hello?" came the sweet voice on the other end. I love her voice. He thought.

"Hey Gabriella, it's me." He said.

"Oh really?" she chuckled, "and who might you be?"

Troy laughed and played along. "The sweaty dreamy basketball star, of course."

"I know quite a few of those, any other details?" she smiled to herself, absent-mindedly twirling the cord of her bedroom phone.

"Really? Dreamy ones? 'Cause I dunno…there's not many others out there as dreamy as I am."

"Oh well in that case, you must be Troy Bolton."

They laughed together. "I didn't wake you, did I?"

"No, I woke up about 20 minutes ago, I'm eating my blueberry muffin, and I'm still in my pajamas. So did you want to get together today? My mom's going to the Laundromat and to get her car worked on, so she'll be away for a while. You could come pick me up, and we could go somewhere, or she could drop me off when she leaves."

"Okay, I'll come get you. Where do you want to go?" Troy said, excited that she brought it up.

"I don't know, any ideas? I'm new here, I don't know what there is to do."

"Well, we could go to the park, the mall, skating, bowling… there's not really much for two people to do. Bowling is usually more fun with a group. How about you think about it, and I'll come get you and then we'll decide." Troy was putting his wallet and keys in his pocket, waiting for the ok.

"Alright, but I'm not a guy! It takes us girls a while to get ready. If I just walked out of the door now you'd probably never want to see me again!" She joked.

"That would never happen, Gabriella. You're gorgeous."

"Well, thanks…" she laughed. "Wait about 45 minutes, okay? I still have to take a shower."

"Okay, I'll be there a little before 11." Troy said.

"See ya then!" she hung up, and he just imagined her rushing to get ready."

See, she wouldn't be so interested in impressing me if she didn't like me. He reassured himself. Maybe the 'gorgeous' line was a little much; no, I was thinking of saying beautiful! That would've been…too much. Even though it's true. Yeah, gorgeous was right.

He waited around until it was time to leave, then let his parents know he was going. Anxiously, he started up his car and headed down the street to her house.

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