That night, Gabriella had Troy over so she could help him with his algebra homework. "Ok, now factor it out...then move that over and solve for X and you have..."

Troy quickly did what she said then furrowed his brow at the paper. "X equals -4..." He half stated half asked hopefully.

Gabriella smiled at him. "You've got it."

Troy sighed in relief and closed his book. "Thank God!"

They were sitting on the floor of Gabriella's room and Troy flopped over onto his back and put his hands behind his head. Closing his eyes he hummed happily. "You're in a good mood tonight." Gabriella observed.

Still with his eyes closed, he smiled at her. "Yeah, well let's think:I finally get my math homework, I'm here with you, and I was hoping that you would go to the movies or something with me this weekend." He replied, blushing slightly. Gabriella inwardly groaned, she had hoped to hang at home all weekend and try not to think about Ryan.

Girl, you don't love Ryan! You love Troy! Troy, Troy, Troy, Ryan! No Troy! Her mind screamed at her.

"Oh, um, sure..." She said hesitantly, wishing that she didn't have to lie to her boyfriend. Troy sat up and hugged her quickly. "Awesome! So I guess we could go on Friday night, after practices, and catch like a 7:30-8-ish flick. Or we could have dinner beforehand so we could..."

Troy continued blabbering in the background, but Gabriella stopped listening. She was feeling up with dread about this weekend, which she normally didn't do, and she was trying to figure out what her feelings were when suddenly she noticed Troy wasn't talking.

"Is that OK with you?" Troy asked for what seemed to be the second time.

"What? Oh yeah! Sure." Gabriella responded quickly, hoping to make up for not listening to him.

He smiled lightly at her then kissed her softly on the cheek. "I guess I should head home, see you tomorrow though!"

"Bye Troy..." Gabriella called after him absently.

What on earth am I thinking? Do I like Ryan? No, don't be ridiculous, I like Troy. But, why am I so off around Ryan...I am so confused! Gabriella's head was spinning around and around with a million thoughts like that and she had no idea what to do.

She collapsed back onto her bed and tried to relax her brain. Yeah, like I can relax right now... She thought wearily then closed her eyes and started to count textbooks.

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After school and a few hours of voice and dance lessons, Ryan finally walked into his house, with Sharpay in the lead. She sighed dramatically then hunkered down onto the couch with her laptop.

Ryan bounded up the steps and headed into the bathroom to take a quick shower before his mother got home. While in the shower, he couldn't help but think about the odd behavior of Gabriella that day. She's never acted like that before...I wonder what's up. Oh well, probably some girly thing that I wouldn't understand...

He jumped out and grabbed a towel then made his way down to his room. Ryan pulled on a pair of old jeans and a long-sleeve shirt then turned on his computer.

After finishing his homework, he moved over to the file that he labeled 'Term Papers.' It really was his journal sort of thing, that he had to keep hidden from Sharpay. He admits that he does have a slight crush on Gabriella, but almost all the guys in the school do, and it's not like she liked him back or anything.

Why would she! Gabriella has Troy! She doesn't need someone like him in her life... He quickly typed in all of his thoughts on what had happened that day then rushed downstairs, he had forgotten to feed his dog...again...

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The next day, Gabriella was on time and she meadered through the crowds of students to her locker. Suddenly, Kelsi appeared at her side, and Gabriella jumped and gave out a short shriek of surprise.

"Oh my gosh! Yesterday I was paired of with Chad and he asked if I would want to like hangout sometime! Isn't that great!" Kelsi asked dreamily/excitedly and leaned back against the locked next to Gabriella's. "Yeah, that's awesome! Taylor won't be very happy though, now will she?"

Kelsi's smile faltered a little but she shrugged. "They were like the worst couple anyway, and she left him! So I don't really care what she thinks about it!" She replied indignantly, then sighed.

"Ok that was mean, but she really did leave him you know." Gabriella nodded absently then she and Kelsi walked to homeroom together. Well, not really, because Kelsi and Gabriella were in different rooms. So they bade goodbye to each other at Ms. Darbus' door then Gabriella walked in, keeping her head down so she wouldn't have to catch anyone's eyes.

While Ms. Darbus was ranting about some theatre conspiracy or another, Gabriella couldn't keep her eyes off of Ryan. Now, he wasn't really doing anything, he was just sitting, doodling on his notebook. But she couln't help but admire the slight muscles and veins that were in his forearms, and was mesmerized by the way his skin moved so perfectly with him.

The bell rang and startled her out of her enchantment, so she briskly walked to the door, only to be stopped by Troy. "Hey I was trying to catch your eye this morning, what were you staring at?"

"Oh, I was just zoning out, I'm a little tired."

"Oh...ok.." But before Troy could say anything else, she gave a small wave and rushed off to her math class.

One of the classes that she and Kelsi shared, and also one of the ones that she shared with Ryan...