CHAPTER 3

((Yes I know I left you with a cliffy…im sorry…im gonna update this one last time tonight…troy found her yay!... I wonder what happens…well im writing it so I decide…I have a happy ending and a not so happy ending planned…I don't know which one im gonna use yet…so well see…I hope you enjoyed it so far…R&R…XOXO, Christine))

"Troy?" asked Gabby weakly. "What are you doing here?" She was looking at the ground, not wanting to reveal to him that she'd been crying. It was too late for that.

"Um," Troy couldn't think of anything. "Well, the guys an I were walking around and I just I don't know, decided to visit." He noticed she was wearing the locket. "You're wearing the locket." She grabbed it quickly. She hadnt theought of that.

"Yeah," she said weakly, "so…" It was awkward. It was an odd sight. The famous Troy Bolton was up in a Duke girl's apartment. A non-cheerleader girl with a boyfriend. People saw him and pointed.

"It's Troy Bolton…" they whispered. "Why is he with that Montez girl?"

Feeling the awkwardness, Gabriella decided to be breave and talk to him. "Wanna come in?" she asked. "You look weird standing out here." She still wouldn't look at him.

"Okay," he said. He grabbed her chin and looked her in the face. She was beautiful, but her eyes looked like they had been crying for the past three years. "What's the matter?"

She just stood there, not knowing what to say. Should she come clean, or should she keep it to herself. Troy found his voice first. "Look, Gabby, about the calling…"

"You didn't call me," she had found her voice. "You never called me!" She had begun to yell and cry at the same time. "I've waited three long years for you to call me!"

"What do you mean?" Troy asked, talking quietly. "You never called me."

"You never called me!" Gabriella repeated.

"Yes, I did," replied Troy quietly. "You never called me back. I called your cell phone. I left a message."

"I never got that message," Gabriella said. She had begun to calm down. She hiccupped. "I never got it. When did you leave it?"

"As soon as I got off the plane. I couldn't call you with my cell phone. It was dead. I called you with a pay phone and left a message."

Now Gabriella remembered. "I remember now," she said. "I got a message from a weird long distance number. I thought it was a mistake. I never listened to it. I just deleted it. I deleted every message because I was so upset none of them were from you. I remember that as if it was only yesterday."

"That must be why you never called back," whispered Troy. He looked around. "Nice place you got here," he said changing the subject.

"Yeah," said Gabriella.

"And you have a balcony, just like your home in Albuquerque," Troy laughed. "Lots of memories on that balcony."

Gabriella smiled and relaxed. "Definitely good memories. Like the first time you came up there when Taylor and Chad played that trick on us because I wouldn't talk to you. I'll remember that for the rest of my life." Troy walked onto the balcony. She followed.

"Oh yeah, and why is that?" Troy asked.

"Because it was the sweetest thing any guy has ever and probably will ever do for me," said Gabriella.

She and Troy moved closer and looked out towards the campus. "Nice view," Troy said.

"Definitely better than the one at my house," laughed Gabriella.

"I don't know," joked Troy. "Watching that old guy in the house was a very nice view too."

"Maybe for his wife," laughed Gabriella.

"He had a wife?"

"Dunno, never met him."

She looked up at Troy. He looked back. They both turned away from each other. "So?" asked Troy. "Do you like it here at Duke?"

"A lot," replied Gabriella. "I wish you went here, though, everyday." Did I just say that, Gabriella thought to herself.

"I think the same thing everyday," Troy said. They moved closer. "I never forgot about you."

"I never forgot about you." They moved closer, closer, and finally their lips touched. They kissed. They heard the sound of a dropping tray behind them. They whirled around. To Gabriella's horror, it was David.

"What the hell?" he looked incredibly hurt and angry.

"David…," Gabriella started.

"Don't, Gabriella, forget I was here. Resume what you were doing." He stormed out.

"Boyfriend?" asked Troy.

"Yeah," said Gabriella. "You aren't mad are you?"

"No," replied Troy.

"I never loved him," said Gabriella. "I was more in his arms for comfort than anything."

"The same happened with me."

Gabriella's eyes opened real wide. "Except with a girl," Troy added. "Sorry, the first part of that sounded weird."

"It's okay," Gabriella whispered. They moved incredibly close again. Nothing was going to stop them this time. They kissed, again, the kiss growing more passionate. They stopped occasionally for air and went right back at it.

Katie was walking down the hall back towards her apartment where she left her depressed roommate an hour before. When she neared her hall, she saw David in the hall drinking a beer, completely unlike David.

"David," Katie asked, "why are you drinking? I though you didn't drink."

"I don't," he said, "only when I'm upset."

"Why are you upset?"

"Go find out." He pointed towards her room. Katie walked towards her room afraid of what she would find. David had seemed really depressed. Gabriella had been depressed, really depressed. Katie jumped to a conclusion that scared her to death. She ran down the hall and reached her door. She couldn't hear anything through the door which scared her even more. Katie was about to cry. She was afraid that Gabriella had done something drastic like suicide. It would explain David's depression. She stuck her key in the lock and turned. She was completely shocked at what she saw. Gabriella was making out with another guy on her bed. Who is that? Katie wondered. She closed the door loudly catching their attention. Gabriella was with Troy Bolton. Katie was surprised.

"Oh, hi Katie," Gabriella said looking up. She was smiling. She was happy.

"Gabby, can I talk to you for just a moment?" asked Katie.

"Sure," said Gabby. She walked out with Katie.

"Did you know David saw you?" asked Katie.

"Yeah," said Gabby, guiltily. "He wasn't too happy."

"I wouldn't expect him to be," replied Katie. "Would you be happy if you saw your girlfriend rolling around on a bed with another guy?"

"I wouldn't care," replied gabby, "cause I wouldn't have a girlfriend."

"You know what I mean."

"We were on the balcony when he walked in."

"Gabby, he's drinking."

"He's what!" They knew what that meant. He was going to end up drunk. "I gotta go stop him."

"No, Gabby, you'll just make him drink more, just leave him be.'

"But.."

"Leave him be."

"Okay."

"Um, I'll get lost for about an hour or so," said Katie. "Then you two can have your privacy."

"Oh no," replied Gabriella. "You can stay."

"I'd rather not watch you two make out."

"No, I wanna introduce you to the best guy you'll ever meet." She pulled Katie into the room. David, unfortunately had gone back to Gabby's room to talk to her, and he heard the whole thing.

"Troy," said Gabby. "This is my roommate Katie."

"Hi," said Katie.

"Nice to meet you," said Troy. "Listen, Gabby, I'd better get back otherwise I'll be in a lot of trouble."

"Oh okay," said Gabriella. She walked up to him and gave him a passionate goodbye kiss. "Bye."

"Bye," replied Troy. "Wait one more thing. Do you wanna go out after my game, tonight?"

"Can I get back to you on that?" Gabby asked. "How bout I call your phone?"

"Okay," said Troy. "I got a new number." He punched it into Gabby's phone.

"Good luck tonight. I hope you win. I wish I could see it."

"Why couldn't you?"

"I don't have a ticket."

"Oh," said Troy, "that reminds me, here two tickets to the game. "For you and Katie."

"Thanks," Gabriella kissed him on the cheek. "I'll cheer for you. Bye."

"Nice meeting you, Katie," said Troy. "Bye, Gabby."

He left. Gabby fell back on her bed. "That was amazing."

Katie laughed. "He loves you so much."

"How do you know?" asked Gabriella.

"The way he looked at you."

((aaww…the romance…of course…not to good for David…but oh well…no one really likes him…next chapter covers the whole basketball thing and will Gabby go out with Troy tonight? Ull have to wait and see…Reviews please…XOXO, Christine))