Gabriella walked back to her seat followed by Ms. Andrews.

"Well, that was a pity," Ms. Andrews said. "Troy had told me before the game to take to the locker room to see him."

"He did? I thought he didn't remember me," Gabriella said surprised.

"How could Troy forget you when he told me to ask you to sing the National Anthem?" Ms. Montez asked.

"He asked you? That's strange. He never wrote to me once," Gabriella said confused.

"Well you can discuss that when you see each other. Come on, though, the half time show is about to start. We don't want to be caught in the middle," Ms. Andrews

said guiding Gabriella back.

Finding her seat next to Melanie, Gabriella sat back down. Melanie looked at her with a questioning face that could only mean, "So did you?"

Gabriella shook her head disappointedly.

"Why what happened?" Melanie asked in a concerned voice.

"Well, according to Ms. Andrews, Troy had asked her to escort me to his locker room because he wanted to see me..." Gabriella started, having to catch her

breath.

"Then?" Melanie asked, trying to move the story on so it would be over quicker.

"Ms. Andrews knocked on the door. There was a man inside that said that he couldn't come out at the moment. Ms. Andrews left a message to the man to tell Troy

to meet me out on the court after the game.

All of a sudden the announcer came on the loudspeaker again, "Would Gabriella Montez, Melanie Adams, and ..." they didn't hear the rest. They walked out

on stage chills going through their bodies.

What's going on? Gabriella wondered.

The man over the loudspeaker started to talk again,"These five lucky people are going to shoot three free throws. If they make all them in, they get to meet the

players after the game."

Why me? Gabriella wondered over and over again as she got in last on line. Before she knew, it was her turn. She stepped up to the line. Gabriella could hear

someone behind her. She turned around. There was no other, but Troy standing facing her.

"Hi, Gabriella," Troy whispered. "Turn around and we'll shoot this free throw together."

She turned around. Helped by Troy she made all three in. Together? We'll? she said to herself. He still liked her! He still wanted her. She turned and had a beaming

smile at him, which he returned. Now she knew why. He had planned this all out. She knew that she would say yes. He knew that she knew, too. She walked back

to her seat and watched the third quarter start. Then it was the fourth quarter. Then there was only one minute left. Gabriella looked up at the scoreboard.

Uh oh! she thought. They're down by five.

Now she started to really pay attention. She watched Troy's every move. A pass to Chad. A pass to another player. A pass right back to Troy and then-wow! Troy

did a slam dunk. Forty-seconds left. Troy looked over at Gabriella. He knew when he looked at her that he had to win this. Through his eyes he saw that Gabriella

had suffered to keep him. That she had hidden from everyone because of him. At the same moment Dan Liberty came up behind him and fouled him.

Yes! Gabriella thought. Troy was now getting two foul shots. Come on Troy! You can do it! Gabriella thought encouragingly.

She watched closely as the guy she loved made his foul shots. The first one spun around on the hoop for a second until it fell in. Come on, Troy! Gabriella

thought urgently. The bal bounced off the backboard and made it in! Gabriella took a deep breath. They needed two more points to win the game. Stanford took the

ball out with only ten seconds to go. Troy went behind Liberty and stole the ball. Five. Four. Three. Two. One. Troy shot for a three pointer. The crowd went quiet

for a minute. The ball flew to the net. Then hit the backboard. And made it in! Troy had just won the game! Gabriella let out a scream. Melanie put her hands in her

face. "Now Dan's gonna be bugging me for the rest of the year!" she complained.

Troy came up to Gabriella and said, "Would you like to go out with me tonight?"

Gabriella blushed. "I didn't come all the way here for nothing!" she joked.

"So is that a 'yes'?" Troy said hopefully.

"Of course!" Gabriella said.

Troy turned away and went to the locker room to change.