Chapter 6

That night, the entire student body of East High gathered in the gym to watch the game. Gabriella had decided to wear something simple. She had chosen her favourite pair of black jeans and she wore a tank top with a sweater tied around her waist.

In the locker room, Troy was leaning against his locker looking totally cool in his jersey, but, inside his stomach would not calm down. It felt like hundreds of butterflies were fluttering in his stomach. Troy groaned and banged his head against the locker.

"Aargh!" he screamed.

"Everything okay, Captain?" Chad called.

"Everything's great except for my stomach," Troy called back.

Chad appeared from behind the lockers grinning. "Since when are you nervous?" he laughed.

Troy did not answer, so Zeke answered for him. "Since he fell in love with a certain brunette who isn't talking to him because of you."

"Shut up, Zeke," Troy grumbled. He clapped his hands together and raised his voice. "Come on, Wildcats! We can do this. We can win the state wide championship game."

"What team?" Chad yelled.

"Wildcats!" the rest of the team yelled back.

"What team?" Chad asked again, louder.

"Wildcats!" the team answered, louder.

"Wildcats!" Chad yelled.

"Get'cha head in the game!" the team yelled.

Satisfied by the team's excitement Troy led them out to the gym, which erupted in cheers the moment they saw him. Troy grinned a bit and hurriedly scanned the crowd. His eyes rested on the most beautiful brunette there. Gabriella caught his eye and quickly turned away. Great! She can't even look at me. God, I hate Chad! Troy thought. He cursed under his breath.

The game started. Troy was not playing well. He thought of Hakuna Matata, but even that did not work. Half time came and the Wildcats were behind by five points.

"Troy, get your head in the game!" Chad yelled.

"Sorry, guys," Troy sad, quietly. He sat on the bench and grabbed a water bottle.

Chad and Jack exchanged a glance.

"I'll be right back, Coach," Chad said.

Chad turned and ran towards Gabriella. She was the only one who could fix this. Gabriella's face darkened when she saw Chad.

"Gabriella, please listen to me," Chad said, and Gabriella looked at him. "That day at the park, Troy defended you. When I said that stuff about you, he was thinking. When you ran, he got back his senses and pushed me onto the ground for saying everything and…well, anyway, he defended you. Don't be mad at him. Be mad at me – maybe you are mad, I don't know what the girls think or how the girls think. Gabriella, please talk to Troy, now. It's the only chance of us winning the game. And, I'm sorry for what I said about you. I was wrong. Any chance we can be friends? You know, start over?"

"Okay," Gabriella said, after thinking for a minute.

"Great," Chad grinned. "Now, will you please come and talk to Troy?"

Gabriella glanced at Isabel and then at Kelsi. They both nodded. "Yeah, I'll go," Gabriella said. "Lead the way!"

'I owe you, Gabster," Chad said.

"Gabster?" Gabriella giggled.

"Um…don't you like it?" Chad asked. "I like making up nicknames. Troy's nickname is 'Captain'."

"I like Gabster," Gabriella smiled. "No one's ever called me that before."

"Oh, well, it's about time people started doing that," Chad shrugged. Then, he showed Troy to Gabriella. He was sitting on the bench sipping slowly from his water bottle. "There he is," Chad said. "Go do your thing, girlfriend."

Gabriella laughed. She was starting to like Chad more each minute. Not like-like Chad. She liked Chad just as friends. She walked over to Troy and stood behind him unsure of what to do. Troy felt someone standing behind him and turned. When he saw Gabriella, he jumped up to his feet and opened his mouth to speak, but, no words came out.

"Hi, Troy," Gabriella smiled shyly.

"Gabriella," Troy breathed, relief flooding through his body because Gabriella was not yelling at him. "You aren't going to yell at me or anything, are you?"

"No, of course not," Gabriella said hurriedly. "I just wanted to…I wanted to say good luck."

"Um…thanks," Troy replied. "I need loads of that. Luck, I mean. You saw how lousily I was playing."

"Yeah, I did," Gabriella laughed a bit. "Is something bothering you?"

"No, not now anyway," Troy grinned. "I mean, a lot of things were bothering me earlier. My new best friend – a girl that I really liked – wasn't talking to me, but, now that's settled, so…Hakuna Matata."

"Huh?" Gabriella looked confused.

"Oh, you know in The Lion King, Timon and Puma will be singing," Troy explained. "They'll be all like – Hakuna Matata…what a wonderful phrase..."

"I remember that," Gabriella said. "It's my favourite cartoon."

"No kidding," Troy said, surprised. "It's my favourite cartoon, too."

Gabriella opened her mouth to speak, but, se was interrupted by Jack. "Troy, the game's about to start again," Jack called.

"Um…I have to go," Troy said.

"Yeah, I'll be watching, alright?" Gabriella smiled.

"Yeah, okay," Troy smiled. "And, Gabriella…I'm really sorry for what happened."

"We'll talk later," Gabriella promised. "Good luck, Troy."

"Thanks," Troy smiled, again.

Gabriella grinned and gave Troy a peck on his cheek – which was out of the blue so, Troy was taken by surprise – and ran back to Kelsi and Isabel. Troy stared after her.

"Yo! Captain," Chad called.

Troy's head flew from the clouds back to Earth and he joined his friends in the group huddle.

"Lover boy's doing alright, isn't he?" Zeke asked, grinning.

"Shut up, Zeke," Troy said, but, he was grinning, too.

"That has become your usual way of talking to me," Zeke commented.

Troy laughed. "Okay, team," Troy said. "We're down by five points, but, we can win those five points along with another dozen of points, right, guys?"

"Right!" the team yelled.

"Great!" Troy grinned.

"And, what team?" Chad yelled.

"Wildcats!" the rest of the team yelled back.

"What team?" Chad asked again, louder.

"Wildcats!" the team answered, louder.

"Wildcats!" Chad yelled.

"Get'cha head in the game!" the team yelled.

The next half time was great. Troy got his head in the game and shot the ball through the net, not once or twice, but, more than that…a lot more than that. The West High Knights could not get over the change in Troy's playing even after they lost the game. Yes! The Wildcats had won. They were the state wide champions. They had won be two points. It had been a close call, but, they had done it.