Troy and Gabriella walked to Troy's car and got in. Within five minutes they were there.

"That was fast!" Gabriella remarked. "Well it's not that far. Just outside the campus," Troy said. "I've been here once or twice."

"Oh," Gabriella said. She knew that it was his ex-girlfriend. She didn't have to ask. "Will she be here?"

"I hope not," Troy said. That was not a posotive note for Gabriella. She decided to not get into it because she saw that Troy was not very comfortable with the subject.

He seemed to wince at the topic. They reached the door. Troy opened the door for Gabriella and did a dramatic bow. Gabriella looked up and smiled. She then did a

little curtsy. Troy then smiled broadly at her.

They entered the restaurant. Gabriella immediately spotted the table they were sitting at. Gabriella saw Melanie and Dan.

Oh, brother! Gabriella thought. This is going to be a real fiasco. Ugghhh!

Dan was a real instigator. He tried to cause trouble wherever he went. He smirked at Gabriella and Troy as they entered into the restaurant. Gabriella could bet

anything that Dan would try to start up his act here. She just knew because Troy was there. He was extremely jealous of Troy. She looked around to see who else was

there. There was Chad. Sitting next to Chad was Taylor!

Oh my God! There's Taylor! Gabriella thought. Could this day get any better?

When Taylor realized that more people had entered, she looked up. Once she realized that Gabriella was there, she immediately got up and ran to her.

"Oh my God! I can't believe your here!" Taylor said excitedly, hugging Gabriella. She then turned to look at Troy, "Troy, you never told me she was coming!"

"I decided to surprise you," Troy said slyly.

"Did you about this, Chad?" Taylor asked accusingly.

"Not until I saw her tonight. No," he admitted.

"Then why didn't you tell me?" Taylor asked.

"Troy told me to keep it a secret," Chad said ending the conversation at that.

Gabriella took a seat next to Melanie and Troy sat on the other side. They sat across from Chad and Taylor and a few other basketball players from both teams. Gabriella

looked behind her. There was a stage with a kareoke machine on it.

Was this stage reserved for our use? Gabriella wondered. She looked more carefully and saw a cd player and a microphone. Hmmm... she wondered. She

couldn't quite think of the purpose it was doing there. The waitress came in vreaking her train of thought.

"Would you like something?" Troy whispered in her ear. "To drink?"

"Um... can I have a Coke, please?" Gabriella said, looking at her menu.

"Are you ready to order?" the waitress asked writing the orders on her pad.

"I think we are still waiting for some more people to come," Troy replied looking at his watch than looking at the entrance. As if on cue a couple entered and headed

toward the table. The guy was one of the players on Troy's basketball team. He was tall and skinny with green eyes and a bald head. He wore a suit just like the

others. With him was a girl with brown hair with blonde highlights. She wore a blue cocktail dress with black high heels.

"Hi, Troy!" the girl said in her southern accent. "Who do you have with you tonight?"

"Um..." Troy babbled looking for words.

"I went to high school with him," Gabriella prompted.

"Is that true, Troy? You never told me about her," the girl said. "I'm his ex-girlfriend. We were dating for a year. Oh, I forgot to introduce myself. I'm Paige

Sampson."

"Oh," Gabriella said. She could clearly see that she was trying to embarrass Troy in front of Gabriella.

Was she jealous? Gabriella wondered, thinking about it more and more.

"So how is Stanford?" Taylor asked bringing up the subject.

"It's really nice. This is my roommate, Melanie. And her boyfriend Dan Liberty," Gabriella said. Dan gave Troy a nasty look which Troy tried to ignore.

God, please stop Dan from starting a fight. Please! Gabriella prayed silently.

The waitress came back,"Are you ready to order yet?" she asked again.

"Yeah, I think so," Troy replied looking around the room. Everyone's heads nodded in agreement.

"Okay, then I'll have a cheeseburger. Medium, please," Troy said as the woman wrote his order down on her pad.

"Now what would you like, dear?" the waitress asked Gabriella in her southern accent.

"I think I'll have the same as him," Gabriella said pointing to Troy. Troy rotated his head toward Gabriella and smiled.

After everyone else ordered, the waitress collected the menus. Once she was gone the chatter started up again.

"So how'd you think I did?" Troy asked Gabriella.

Gabriella looked startled. What... oh... um you did good," shed said.

"Just 'good'?" Troy asked sarcastically.

"No, you did awsome! You saved the game! Right, Mel?" Gabriella said.

"You did great, Troy! You really saved the day! Though, Buddy Boy, over here, was the one who really helped you," Melanie said.

"What? Who? Me?" Dan said.

"Yeah, you, doofus! You were the one who really fouled me!" Dan said starting up.

"No, you fouled him you loser!" Melanie said.

"No, for the entire game I was the one making all the shots!" Dan said making it up as he went. "Bolton stinks!"

"Right," Melanie said.

"He... he... he ... sucks!" Dan said.

Gabriella who was listening to this entire argument immediately got up. She couldn't take it anymore. Once that word, sucks, came out of his mouth Gabriella

couldn't help herself. The words He sucks! went through Gabriella's mind like a million times. She heard three chairs moving. She knew who they were. Troy.

Taylor. And Melanie. She turned around, and knew she guessed right. She saw Troy closest to her and ran faster to the ladies' room. She then saw Melanie catch

up to him and say something to him. He nodded and walked back to the table. Less than a minute later the bathroom door crashed open. In came Melanie and

Taylor.

"What happened there?" they asked in unison.

"First of all that Paige girl seemed like she was trying to get me to not like Troy. Then Dan starts his act again with he's better than so and so. I'm just trying to have

a nice night out with the guy I love! Is that so hard?" Gabriella asked crying because she was so angry.

"Gabriella he knows you love him. That's all I ever heard for these past four years. That's all I ever hear!" Taylor said. " And that, well she's jealous of you because

Troy has refused to go out with her because he missed you so much. The only reason he didn't write was because he was scared that you didn't like him anymore."

Taylor had explained every question she had without even asking the questions.

"And you know Dan," Melanie said. "He's just jealous."

Taylor and Melanie helped Gabriella clean her face up and walked out.