DISCLAIMER: I do not own 'High School Musical' or any related characters.

A/N: Okay, I want to say thank you for all the brilliant reviews so far I'm glad that you all love it!

Convincing You To Fall

CHAPTER 3

WON ONE, LOST ANOTHER

"Boys are so much stronger then girls!" A ten-year old Troy shouted angrily at an eight-year old Gabriella, who glared at him furiously.

"Are not! Girls are stronger!" She yelled back and he glowered, furious that she was contradicting him and itching to throw the pillow that was just to his right at her and prove to her that boys were stronger then girls.

"Are not! Boys are bigger and so there stronger! Girls are smaller and so they aren't! I'm bigger then you, so I'm stronger then you." He yelled at her, his eyes daring her to argue with his logic. Gabriella folded her arms tightly and glowered at him from her side of the room, while Troy stood on his side and glared back at her, slowly inching toward the pillow that he'd noticed before.

"That's stupid." Gabriella said angrily, stomping her foot on the ground stubbornly. The argument, which had started because Gabriella had asked Troy why the woman in the movie they were watching always had to be saved by the man and Troy had replied that it was because boys were stronger then girls, was about to reach boiling point.

"No its not, it's logical. Boy are stronger then girls because they're bigger, I'm bigger then you therefore I'm stronger then you." Troy said crankily, angry that Gabriella hadn't accepted his logic and that she was arguing with him.

"It is not! I bet you, you couldn't beat me!" Gabriella said sounding sure of herself, she made a face that would have been comical to anyone watching when she realized that Troy was going to take her up on her bet and began wishing that she hadn't spoken at all.

"You're on!" Troy shouted and pounced, when his body came into contact with Gabriella's they both went flying.

Rachel Bolton walked into the living room of her house, feeling slightly worried when she heard Gabriella scream, and immediately burst into laughter. Gabriella was lying under Troy and making vain attempts to push the ten-year old off of her while Troy kept his hand firmly on her shoulders and glared at her. If they had been older or if she wasn't aware of their temperaments, Rachel knew she would have been worried, but knowing the two as well as she did she was well aware that they would sort it out and be best friends again very soon.

"See! I was right and you were wrong!" Troy said to Gabriella smugly, Gabriella glared up at him and made another attempt at pushing the boy off her.

"Tr-oy, get off me!" Gabriella snapped up at him, forgetting that she'd been mad at him only minutes before.

"Not until you admit I was right and you were wrong and that boys are stronger then girls!" Troy shot back, his blue eyes determined. Gabriella eyes flared and then she made another vain attempt to shove him off her, while he kept an even more resolute grip on her shoulders. Gabriella suddenly gave in, growing tired of trying to push him off.

"Okay, fine. Troy, can you please get off me?" Gabriella asked and Troy grinned, before getting off her.

"Boys beat girls every time Brie, remember that." Troy said wisely and Gabriella glared at him.

Gabriella shook her head grinning as she walked through the doors of East High, they'd been having that argument since the day she'd been dumb enough to ask the question and neither had let up. Although both had relented at times, neither had given up on their side of the argument and she knew for a fact that neither would until there was solid proof that either of their arguments was correct. Shaking her head Gabriella managed to dodge the normal amount of East High chaos and make it to her locker without any major injuries. Shaking her head at the end of year chaos, Gabriella opened her locker, glanced briefly at the picture of her and Troy asleep on her lounge that his mother had taken last year, and then concentrated on finding her books. She heard someone walk up and ignored them as she continued to search for her Chemistry book.

"Are you going to acknowledge me at all?" Gabriella glanced briefly at her friend Taylor and managed a smile, before turning her attention back to her locker.

"Hi Taylor. What's up?" She asked and frowned as she realized where her Chemistry book had disappeared to. Slamming her locker door shut Gabriella turned to Taylor and gave her a fake smile.

"Um, apart from the fact that you were meant to help me study yesterday? Nothing." Taylor replied and Gabriella shot her a confused look before she realized what Taylor was talking about.

"Sorry. I had a really bad day yesterday and then Troy completely screwed up my afternoon because he made the decision that we were going out for ice-cream and I wasn't allowed to argue." Gabriella said and missed Taylor's raised eyebrows as she opened her bag and went through it in search of her book.

"So you ditched me to have ice-cream with Troy?" She asked disbelievingly and Gabriella looked up at her, aware of Taylor's view on her friendship with Troy.

"Well, it was either go willingly or be dragged there. Troy actually carried me to the car before I agreed to go." Gabriella replied defensively and then gaped when Taylor burst into laughter.

"Oh Gabi, I'm not mad that you ditched me. I just think it's about time you went out with Troy." Taylor explained and watched as Gabriella turned red as she realized what Taylor was talking about. Taylor instantly regretted her words as she remembered how touchy Gabriella could become when Troy was brought up in a conversation.

"I did not go out with Troy. I just went with him to get ice-cream." Gabriella snapped at her and Taylor decided to let it go, aware that Gabriella wasn't going to want to talk about it anymore.

"Okay, okay, sorry." Taylor held her hands up in mock defeat and Gabriella rolled her eyes at her friend. Although one of the smartest girls in school, she could be as immature as Chad when she wanted to be, which was probably why she liked her, Gabriella suddenly thought. It was always nice to have a friend that was as immature as she was smart, although she'd never given Chad the credit for being smart.

"It okay. I'll talk to you later." Gabriella said and began to walk down the hallway, leaving Taylor standing at her locker confused.

Gabriella weaved her way through the crowd of students and ignored the glares some of the girls she passed sent her. It was something she'd grown so used to she'd think that something was wrong if it stopped happening and she knew that the only way it would stop happening was if she and Troy stopped being friends, which she was well aware was not going to happen. Rounding a corner, Gabriella saw Troy standing at his locker, his back to her and groaned. That screwed up her plan of opening his locker, finding her Chemistry book amongst the three month old lunches and assessments he'd never handed in, shutting it before Homeroom and Troy arrived. Rolling her eyes, Gabriella ran up to him and jumped wrapped her arms around his neck as he caught her legs.

"Hey Brie." Troy said, grinning at the looks of disbelief on his teammate's faces and winking at Chad, Jason and Zeke as they all shook their heads at him. He knew for a fact that, apart from Chad, Jason and Zeke, none of them had actually expected him to catch Gabriella's legs. He felt her rest her chin on his shoulder and turned his head slightly to look at her.

"Hey. Am I interrupting something?" She asked hesitantly, glancing at his teammates and noting their open-mouthed looks and Chad, Zeke and Jason's obvious amusement.

"Nope. Just talking about what we should get Dad to say thanks for being our coach. Any ideas?" Troy asked and Gabriella looked at him thoughtfully.

"Get one of your playing jerseys, have everyone sign it and have the jersey framed. He's into the sentimental stuff and he'd love it." She replied and Troy grinned at her as he watched his friends eyes grow wide.

"You think he'd like that?" He asked and Gabriella moved her shoulders carelessly.

"He'd love it. Especially if you all write personalized messages, even you Mister," Gabriella said poking Troy's chest, when she saw an uncomfortable look cross his face and knew that he wasn't comfortable with writing his Dad a message because he'd always see him. "He'd probably hang it in his office." She said and Troy turned back to his team.

"What do you think? Brie's right when she says he'd love it." Troy asked his team. Gabriella watched in interest as Troy went from best friend to Captain in an instant. This was the only side of her best friend she never messed with. Troy was almost the essence of a master when he was playing Captain; he demanded respect and attention from his team when he spoke and always returned the mutual respect when another player in his team spoke, it was the reason he was voted Captain in his sophomore year, Chad being a close second only because of his uncanny ability to have more energy and spirit then everyone else on the team, and had held the position till his Senior year.

"I like it!" Chad announced suddenly, snapping Gabriella out of her thoughts. She looked over at the bushy-haired male and rolled her eyes as he wrapped an arm around Jamie. Gabriella blinked and suddenly realized that the team meeting she'd managed to invade was over and that the player's girlfriends were all approaching and fast, after a moment of contemplation Gabriella decided to ignore the girls who shot her dirty looks and smile at the ones she knew.

"So what did you decide?" She asked Troy as she waved to Sharpay, who had appeared next to Zeke. Her twin, Ryan, slinking off into the mass of students waiting for the bell to ring.

"The jersey thing. Why'd you jump on my back half way through the meeting?" Troy asked and Gabriella rolled her eyes.

"I didn't realize it was a meeting until I saw everyone else in your team staring at me." She replied and Troy laughed.

"Trust you. Thanks for the idea though, we'd come up with buying him a huge box of chocolates." Troy said and Gabriella burst into laughter as Troy grinned sheepishly.

"Well, girls always do have better ideas." Gabriella said with a shrug and Troy gasped in mock-horror.

"They do not! Guys often come up with much better ideas then girls. Example, what I got you for your birthday last year." Troy said triumphantly and Gabriella buried her head in his shoulder.

"Okay, so you got me a kitten and it was a good surprise and you thought of it all by yourself. That doesn't mean that guys come up with better ideas then girls." Gabriella said, her voice muffled against his shoulder and Troy laughed.

"You're digging yourself deeper into this hole Brie. Don't argue." He said and Gabriella slapped his chest and then sighed as she acknowledged defeat.

"Fine. Now can I have my Chemistry book?" She asked and Troy shrugged.

"Yeah. I was wondering how long it would take you to figure out I'd taken it." He said and let go of her legs. Gabriella slid from his back and waited impatiently as he opened his locker and conducted a search for it.

"It took me about ten minutes. Why'd you take it?" She asked as she caught the jacket he threw at her. Glancing down she discovered it was his Varsity jacket and pulled it on.

"Um, because I knew Chemistry was the subject you were stressing about." Troy replied and emerged from his locker and looked at Gabriella with raised eyebrows. She took the book gratefully and then looked down at her jacket and blushed.

"Sorry. I wanted to see how big you actually were." She replied and Troy hid a grin.

"Uh-huh. You look good in it." He said without thinking and then instantly regretted it when Gabriella's eyes widened in surprise and she looked at the ground shyly, embarrassed about what he had said.

"Thanks." She said softly. Taking the jacket off, she handed it back to him. Troy took it from her and threw it back into his locker. She started to walk off when Troy stopped her.

"You know Brie; I've just realized that we should sort out this argument about boys over girls." He said and watched as Gabriella stopped short and stared at him.

"Troy, that was random." She said and he shrugged.

"So? It's true. We should sort it out this afternoon. One-on-one game of basketball, whoever wins proves they're right." Troy said, making it sound like a dare. He grinned when Gabriella's jaw dropped open and she stared at him. He could see her running the suggestion over in her mind and knew that she wouldn't turn it down.

"Okay. In the gym after school?" She asked and Troy nodded before pulling her in for a hug. Gabriella snuggled into him and he gave her another squeeze before letting her go.

"That's in case I don't get to see you to calm you down today." He said softly and Gabriella blushed again, he knew her too well sometimes.

"Thanks. I'll see you in the gym." She replied softly and Troy nodded and watched as she walked away. His head snapped to the side when he felt a hand fall on his shoulder, he relaxed when he saw it was only Zeke and then glanced once more at the disappearing figure of Gabriella before turning to his friend.

"What?" Troy asked when he saw the look on Zeke's face.

"Dude, if you don't ask that girl to Prom, tell her you love her, blah, blah, blah, by the time we graduate, we'll kill you." Zeke said matter-of-factly and Troy stared at him, his mind working to process Zeke's words.

"Whoa, wait, who said I was in love with Gabriella? And what do you mean by 'we'?" Troy asked; the fear of being discovered showing in his eyes as he looked at his friend.

"Dude, you've been into that girl since you beat that guy up because he was teasing her." Zeke said and Troy winced.

"As for the 'we' part. 'We' is the entire school. Troy, everyone at school knows you're in love with her just by the way you treat her." Sharpay spoke up and Troy ran a hand through his hair, glancing in the direction that Gabriella had gone in. Was he really that transparent?

"Guys, I have no idea what you're talking about." Troy said and ignored the look that Sharpay and Zeke exchanged.

"Yes you do. She's not going to wait forever Troy." Sharpay said and walked off as the bell rang. Troy looked at Zeke, who just shrugged and slapped him on the back.

"Dude, seriously, just ask her to Prom and go from there." Zeke said and Troy rolled his eyes.

"Come on, we've got to get to class." He said and shut his locker door and headed for his homeroom, Zeke trailing behind, shaking his head at his friend's stubbornness.

HSM-HSM-HSM-HSM-HSM

Gabriella walked through the doors of the East High gym and grinned when she saw Troy already there, in his training gear and practicing his free throws. Dropping her bag on one of the bleachers she looked up at the stands when she heard a burst of laughter and shook her head when she saw Chad, Jason, Zeke, Sharpay and Jamie sitting in the bleachers wrapped up in a conversation. Walking over to the basket, Gabriella caught the ball when it went through the hoop and grinned at Troy.

"So you decided to show up." Troy said walking over to her and Gabriella shrugged.

"I figured that I might as well. By the way, next time actually dare me to do something instead of working the dare in when you say something." She said throwing the ball at him; Troy caught it easily as he came to a stop in front of her. Holding the ball against his side, Troy studied her for a moment.

"I'm assuming that your day was alright." He said and Gabriella rolled her eyes.

"No. You know my day was alright. Now are we going to play or not? Because you're driving me home whether I win or lose." Gabriella said and Troy laughed.

"Of course Brie. Come on, we'll play half-court, first to twenty wins." Troy said leading her to the middle of the court.

"Remind me why I agreed to do this again?" Gabriella said and Troy turned to her and grinned.

"Because you never turn down a dare, whether it's been said out loud or whether it's just in the tone of voice." He replied as he bounced the ball and signaled to someone. Gabriella looked at him suspiciously as she heard some sneakers squeak on the court.

"Alright people, I'm your referee for this game. First to twenty wins, nothing stupid is allowed and no-one is to cry when they lose or fake an injury like she did when she was twelve to get out of the game she was losing." Chad announced when he reached the two on the court. Troy burst into laughter as Gabriella glared at Chad.

"Chad, if you ever say that again, there is not a person in this school who won't know the story of you super-gluing your hand to you're dog's tail when you were ten or when you buried your head in your own birthday cake because you found out you had to share it with everyone." Gabriella snapped at him and Chad had the grace to look ashamed of what he said.

"Sorry Gabs." Chad muttered and Gabriella rolled her eyes, before glaring at Troy who just grinned at her.

"Sorry Brie, but it was kind of funny." Troy said and Gabriella shook her head at him.

"No it wasn't. Lets just play and hope you never remember this game of basketball." She muttered and both Troy and Chad burst into laughter at her words.

"Trust us Gabs. Someone's going to remember this game." Chad said and tossed the ball up, Gabriella glared at Chad as she jumped for it and managed to get a hand on it before Troy had it in the net and was awarded two points.

"Okay, that wasn't fair. You have to at least let me get one point." Gabriella said as Chad handed her the ball Troy shrugged.

"I dunno Brie. I mean, this game is the deciding factor in the boys over girl's argument. Do you really think that I would allow you to get even close to my score?" Troy asked and Gabriella shrugged.

"I'm not sure. Are you feeling selfless today or selfish?" Gabriella asked and Troy just grinned as she bounced the ball and moved into the field of play.

A hot, sweaty and breathless twenty minutes later, Gabriella was laughing as she watched Troy raise his arms in victory. The score was only twenty to twelve and she felt reasonably proud that he'd let her even get past ten. The reason the game had even taken place had disappeared completely when Sharpay, Zeke and Jason had gotten into it and the only one who hadn't seemed to be enjoying themselves was Jamie.

"Alright Champion of the world, get changed you smell funny." Gabriella laughed and Troy as he pulled of his shirt. Gabriella felt her mouth go dry as her eyes dragged up his toned body, and she watched as he sniffed his shirt.

"I do not. You're just upset because I'm not covered in sweat." He said and Gabriella laughed as she walked over to him and held his shirt up to her nose. Sniffing it, she made a face and looked up at him.

"How long has this shirt been in your locker?" She asked him curiously and Troy moved his shoulders and Gabriella had to struggle to keep her eyes on his face and not the way his muscles rippled when he moved his shoulders.

"A couple of weeks. Why?" He asked and Gabriella shook her head at him and giggled slightly.

"Because it smells like your mom's Bolognese sauce." She replied and Troy sniffed it again.

"It does a bit, doesn't it?" He asked as Chad, Sharpay and Zeke joined them.

"What smells?" Chad asked and Troy handed him his shirt. Chad sniffed and then gave Troy a strange look.

"Dude, why does your shirt smell like your mom's Bolognese sauce?" He asked and Gabriella raised her eyebrows at him.

"No idea. Are you getting changed?" Troy directed the question at Gabriella, even though he didn't really want her to get changed. She looked good in her black singlet shirt and shorts.

"Yeah. Give me ten minutes and I'll meet you at your car, okay?" Gabriella said, pulling the band she had in her hair out and Troy nodded his eyes following the curls that tumbled out of the bun she'd had it in, she smiled at him and turned around and walked away. His eyes followed her as she walked over to her bag, picked it up in one fluid motion and then pushed open the gym doors to head to the girls change rooms.

"Okay, Troy, dude, if you seriously can look me in the eye and tell me you don't have feelings for Gabriella right now. I'll hit you." Chad's voice had Troy's head whipping around and he stared Chad.

"What?" He asked and Sharpay, Zeke and Jason, who had joined them, all glared at him.

"Troy, you are not going to get away with playing dumb, we all know you're in love with Gabriella." Jason said as Troy pulled his shirt back on.

"No I'm not." He said and before any of the boys could speak up Sharpay spoke.

"Troy, stop denying it. We all know you are and we're just wondering whether you do or not." She said and Troy suddenly realized that they weren't going to let it go. All four of them stared at him, waiting for a confession while Troy racked his brain for an excuse.

"Guys, how do you know that I have feelings for her, when you probably don't even know she has feelings for me. It's all a wild guess." Troy said, grinning. His grin faded when he saw how serious they all were.

"Troy, you have to be blind to not see Gabriella's in love with you. All you have to do is see the way she looks at you and you know." Sharpay said and Troy stared at them, not knowing how to respond to the statement or to Chad's question.

"Look, guys. Can you wait?" He asked feebly as they all glared at him. Before any of them could speak they heard an obnoxious cough from behind Troy and they all turned to look at Jamie, who had her arms folded and a nasty look on her face.

"Can we help you?" Sharpay asked sweetly and Troy leaned over to Chad.

"Dude, if you don't get rid of that girl in the next two days I will hurt you." He said softly and both Jason and Zeke nodded their heads in agreement. Chad looked at them and shrugged.

"Sure. I was going to anyway, not really my type." He said and they all sighed in relief.

"Chad? Are you coming? I've got to get home." Jamie said imperiously and Sharpay rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, we'd all better get going. Gabriella's probably waiting for you Troy." Zeke said glancing at his girlfriends watch.

"Nah. Give her another two minutes and then she'll be at the car." He replied and Sharpay shook her head as Jason, Chad and Zeke laughed.

"Whatever, we're going. Come on Chad." Jamie said and dragged Chad towards the doors Gabriella had walked through earlier. Chad managed to wave good-bye before the door slammed, closing him from view.

"And we're going to follow suit. Troy, just, remember that Gabriella's not going to wait forever for you and your going to hurt her, and yourself, more if you don't act now." Sharpay said and Troy shook his head at her.

"Dude, she's right. We all know you love her, we just don't want you to wait to long." Zeke said and then wrapped his arm around Sharpay's shoulders and led her out the door. Jason waited until it was only him and Troy in the gym before speaking.

"Well, on one hand you've got the fact that we all know your in love with Little Miss Sunshine and want you to act on it and have totally lost the argument as to whether or not your in love with her, whether you like it or not. On the other, we have the fact that you and Gabriella had finally put an end to the 'who's stronger? Boy's or girls?' argument, with you coming out as the victor. I'll see you later Troy." Troy watched in disbelief as Jason walked out the door.

Turning to the basket, Troy took a shot and watched as the basketball flew through the air and into the basket. Jason was right, he'd won one argument, the one they'd been playing basketball over and he'd lost another. Lost the argument with himself and with his friends about how deep his feelings for Gabriella ran, about how in love with her he actually was and how little time he had to act on his feelings. The promise he'd made to himself when he realized he had feelings for, crumbling into dust as he realized that Sharpay was right. She wouldn't wait forever and, if they were right about her feelings for him, he would hurt her more in the long run to not let her know his feelings then he would now.

"Won one and lost another." Troy muttered and wished that he'd won the argument about his feelings and lost the argument about boys over girls.

A/N: Another chapter done! I hope it's not to rushed. I'm a little bit afraid it is. Anyway, I hope you all liked it!