Chapter 3

Troy walked up the stairs and to apartment 2C. He knocked and patiently waited for Gabriella to answer. A moment later, Gabriella cracked the door open and smiled at Troy.

"Hey," she said, "can you give me, like two more minutes?"

"Yeah, sure," he grinned.

She closed the door, but quickly opened it again. "You can come sit down," she said, shakily.

"Oh, umm… ok."

Troy walked inside and sat down on the couch. Gabriella disappeared into her bedroom and came back with her heels on and purse in hand.

"Ready?" she asked.

"Yeah," Troy said breathlessly as he stared at Gabriella in awe.

"Are you ok?"

"Hmm? Yeah, you just look… amazing."

Gabriella smiled brightly as Troy stood up.

"Shall we get going then?" Troy asked.

"We shall," Gabriella giggled.

--

They arrived at a magnificent two-story building. There was a plethora of people walking inside. Troy parked the car and quickly got out to open Gabriella's door.

"Thank you," Gabriella smiled.

"My pleasure," he grinned.

They walked together side by side into the party. There were tons of people standing around drinking wine and talking with each other. A scrawny blonde headed boy walked over to them.

"Hey, Troy! What's up, man?"

"Hey, Ryan, let me introduce you to Gabriella. Gabriella this is Ryan Evans."

"Hello," said Gabriella shyly as she shook Ryan's hand.

"So what's a pretty girl like yourself doing with Troy?" Ryan asked as he smiled at Troy.

Gabriella laughed as Troy feigned hurt.

"Don't listen to Ryan, he's just jealous that I didn't bring him instead," Troy said.

"Whatever, Troy sorry dude, but you are so not my type," Ryan said as he winked at Gabriella.

"Ouch man. That one hurt," Troy said as he grabbed his chest.

"Oh, are you both gay?" Gabriella said hoping that Troy wasn't.

"No, just Troy," Ryan joked.

"Yeah I like the opposite sex too much to be gay," replied Troy.

"Too bad they don't like you," Gabriella smirked.

"Oh, you have a feisty one here, Troy, don't let her go," Ryan laughed.

Troy responded by wrapping an arm around Gabriella's shoulders. Her face turned bright red. Taking notice to this, Ryan smiled at Gabriella.

"It was very nice to meet you, Gabriella, but I must mingle. Never know just how many hot gay guys are in this place," Ryan waved goodbye as he made his way across the room.

"I like him. He seems pretty cool," Gabriella said as she looked up at Troy and smiled.

"Yeah, well, he has the lead male role in Mambo!, so if you get the part, you'd get to hang out with him all the time," Troy smiled at her.

Gabriella smiled, and thought to herself 'Well, if I get the part, I hope I get to hang out with you all the time.'

After mingling with a few more people, Troy grabbed Gabriella's hand and led her to the side. "That's the casting director over there. Do you want to go meet him?" he whispered in her ear.

Gabriella took a deep breath and nodded. Troy kept his grasp on her hand and led her through the crowd to Jerry.

"Hey, Jerry. What's up?" Troy asked.

Jerry turned from the people he was talking to and smiled at Troy, "Everyone, this is Troy Bolton. He is my promotional director, and this beautiful young lady standing beside him is… well, Troy, who is your friend?"

"Oh, how rude of me. I almost forgot my manners. This is Gabriella Montez, the girl I have been telling you about," Troy smiled as he looked down at Gabriella.

"Ah, she does look perfect for the part."

"And you should hear her voice," Troy bragged, making Gabriella blush.

"Well, we are going to have some karaoke later tonight, maybe we can hear you then," Jerry smiled at Gabriella.

"Oh, I don't know," Gabriella said, biting her bottom lip.

"You don't know about what?" Ryan asked as he walked up beside Gabriella.

"Gabriella is scared to sing karaoke," Troy teased.

"No, I'm not. I just don't have anything to sing," she argued.

"Well, what if I pick something out and you sing with me?" Ryan asked.

"Umm…" Gabriella started.

"That's a great idea, man," Troy smiled as he gave Ryan a high five.

Ryan then left to go pick out a song.

"Gee, thanks a lot, Troy," Gabriella said as she looked up at him, vindictively.

"What?" Troy asked, feigning innocence.

"Don't even, bucko. You're so going to pay for this later," Gabriella sneered.

"Hmm… I like the way that sounds," he laughed.

--

A/N: Well, first of all Chelsea helped me immensely with this chapter. I think we're just going to write it together. :)

Also, Ryan being gay… I know that a lot of people get frustrated with that, but the main reason we're making him gay is for a gay friend of ours, Cory.

Plus, Ryan is going to become very close to Gabriella and be there for her when other people coughTROYcough upset her.

Please review, please:)