Gabriella spent the rest of the weekend holed up in her house. She had to catch up on sleep, then call Kelsi and Taylor, then do her homework and then she spent all of Sunday lounging about on her couch.

When Monday finally came along, Gabriella trudged her way up the school steps, dreading running into Troy or Ryan. Thankfully she made it to her locker and to homeroom with no sign of either boy, but when she walked all the way into Miss Darbus' Room, Ryan was sitting at his desk talking to Sharpay and Troy was no where to be seen.

She rushed past Ryan, but got her foot caught in his backpack strap and nearly fell, but instead Ryan lunged forward and wrapped his arms around her waist.

Gabriella couldn't stop shaking, not just because of her fall, but also from the adrenaline that pumped through out her body when Ryan touched her.

"Are you alright?" Ryan asked, looking into her eyes, after he had stood up and disentangled her from his backpack.

Gabriella gave a slight nod and a faint smile and tottered the rest of the way to her seat. Instead of staring at Ryan during homeroom, Gabriella stared at her desk so she wouldn't catch Troy's eye.

At long last, it was time for classes to begin and everyone started shuffling out of the room. Gabriella was almost out of the classroom when someone grabbed her arm and jerked her back. She looked up in surprise and saw Troy standing, gripping her arm.

"Listen, were you serious on Saturday? You really want to break up?" He whispered quickly.

Gabriella nodded, trying to ignore the hurt in his eyes as she did so.

"Alright then." He replied and pushed his way past her and down the hall. Gabriella sighed and was about to walk out again when another voice stopped her.

"Why did you do that!" The voice demanded. It belonged to Sharpay.

Gabriella gulped and turned around again. "Is it really any of your business?" Gabriella asked wearily.

"No, but I can make it my business!" She shot back. Then smiled sweetly and walked slowly towards Gabriella.

"Fine, maybe I'll just go comfort Troy. You obviously never cared about him."

"That is not true! I did care about him! I just don't care about him anymore! Well I do, but not in that sense." Sharpay was clearly enjoying Gabriella's sturggling and finally cut her off.

"Why did you break up with Troy? Did he do something wrong?"

"No, I just don't have an interest in him anymore!" Gabriella huffed out then walked out the door.

"Does this have anything to do with my dear, old brother?" Sharpay called to her.

Gabriella froze and slowly turned back towards a smug Sharpay. "How, why? What?" Gabriella stammered out.

"You better stay away from Ryan, or else I will make your career here at East High a living hell!" Sharpay growled then smiled sweetly. "See you later!" And flounced out of the room.

Gabriella groaned and leaned against the doorway, sliding down to the floor. A few minutes later, Ryan walked in and nearly tripped over Gabriella.

"Hey, I was just coming to look for you. We have health today, and Mr. Desarri says if you don't hurry up you'll be marked down for the term." He told her then pulled her up so that she was practically an inch from his face.

Gabriella could feel her heart swooning, he leaned closer to her and she leaned in as well. Just when their lips were about to touch,he pulled back suddenly, shook his head, took her hand, and finally led her out of the room.

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During Health, they were all assigned a project. And because Ryan and Gabriella were the only two left in the class who didn't have partners, they were paired together.

Gabriella felt sick with apprehension at the daunting task of working with Ryan on a health project! Thankfully, they were given the human brain and pshycology as their topic. After class, Gabriella gathered up all of her nerve and called Ryan back into the room.

"I, um, we should work on the project at some point, like after school or something." She said, trying not to stammer too much.

Ryan gave her a small smile. "Yeah, um I don't think I have track today, and I can tell Sharpay that I can't go to voice or whatever. I don't think she'll mind to much if I say it's schoolwork." He replied, hoping that everything he just said was true.

Gabriella quickly ran through her schedule. "All I have is Scholatic Decathalon stuff, and obviously I can skip it for school."

"What time does your practice end?" He asked then reached over and took the books that she was carrying, then he beckoned for her to walk with him.

"Um around 6. What about you?" She smiled and glanced over at him.

"Since I don't have track, but I still have to go running and I have a voice lesson, not until around 6:30-ish."

"Well, how about you come over after your done and we can start working on it tonight." Ryan agreed then gave her the books back and took off down the hall towards his next class.

Gabriella meandered through the hall way not paying much attention to what classroom she was going to.

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Gabriella spent the rest of the day in a delirious daze of glee. Finally, school was out, but she still had to go do her obligations for the team. She managed to focus her attention on helping with the experiments they were doing and eventually Taylor told everyone to go home and do their homework.

Gabriella rushed home and finished up the remnants of her homework (she had finished most of it during her study period), then leaped into the shower.

She then spent 10 minutes agonizing over what to wear, she didn't want to come on too strong, but she didn't want to look like a slob!

I have nothing to wear! Her mind kept echoing.

Finally she pulled out a pair of cream colored stretch pants and a light blue top and decided that it was casual, yet cute. She brushed out her long locks and put them into two braids, accidentally leaving a few strands down in the front.

She was just finished up her hair when the door bell rang and she rushed downstairs, then paused at the door, biting her lip.

After a few seconds of pure panic, she took a deep breath and opened the door.

Hey, what do you guys think of this chapter? And any ideas for the next chapter will be appreciated. Thank you for all the feedback!