FINALLY! LOL. The document manager worked! Yes...Ok ok, so now you can read probably one of my favorite chapters. Its got a few cute flashbacks.

Chapter 6: Sing a New Song

"Oh wow, its already a quarter past ten. We've been at this for nearly three hours," Troy smiled widely, looking up at Gabriella and then around at the almost-empty restaurant. Groups of people were filing out, leaving with full stomachs and smiles on their faces. Gabriella knew she would soon be doing the same, as well as for Troy…but Karissa on the other hand.

She never did come out of the bathroom. Gabriella could just picture her, wailing to herself and to the other women in the room, despite the uncomfortable looks on all of their faces. She was probably complaining about her make-up, Troy, possibly even the food or the customers' clothes. Not even knowing her for more than a short while, Gabriella felt as if Karissa fell under the classic, showy, fake, spoiled stereotype.

"Yeah, do you want me to go get Karissa?" Gabriella stood up, reaching for her bag.

"Um, yeah. I hope its not trouble…" Troy stood as well, and with a worried but helpless look on his face grabbed for the bill at the same exact moment Gabriella did. Their hands collided, but as they touched, the electricity bouncing off of the walls in the restaurant, both looked up at one another for a split second. Their eyes locked, Troy finally spoke, "Don't worry, I got it."

Gabriella didn't want to argue, "Um, okay." She looked down at the ground, before grinning shyly at him and hurrying off toward the bathroom.

She entered the hall soundlessly, but as she reached for the ladies' handle, she found it turning. Gabriella stepped back and watched as an over-confident Karissa stepped out.

"Oh, I was just coming for you," Gabriella grinned weakly.

Surprisingly, Karissa smiled widely, "Oh, I guess I must be a mind reader!" She laughed loudly-much too loudly.

Gabriella nodded, and retreated more as Karissa exited the hall, bouncy and confident. Something had definitely changed.

"Hi Troy!" Gabriella watched as Karissa reached for Troy's arm, clutching it tightly. She then motioned for Gabriella, who followed meekly. Troy must have been taken aback as well, for he lead the two girls silently and cautiously out of the restaurant, not giving Karissa a side glance.

"Bye Gabi!" Karissa shouted, even with Gabriella standing a mere ten feet away from her.

Gabriella simply waved. "I'll talk to you later, Troy," she grinned slightly at him, and hurried off to her own car.

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"I don't know, there was just something totally weird about her…I mean…" Gabriella pressed a few buttons on the cash register and watched as the drawer shot open. Then, she turned to Shameeka, "It was like two completely different personalities: Nice Karissa, Mean Karissa." She rolled her eyes and grabbed a handful of bills and laid them on the counter to count them.

"Yeah, I'll say. From what you described, she seems like a total-," Shameeka paused as she saw a young child watching them from a few feet away. "Female dog," She said it kind of quietly, and Gabriella laughed.

"I didn't know someone could be that moody-," Gabriella started.

"Phone for Gabriella!" Molly's voice interrupted her train of thought, and Gabriella retreated to the kitchen, where she thanked Molly and answered the phone.

"Hello, this is Gabriella speaking."

"Hey Gabi, its Troy," his voice was soft and smooth from the other side of the line.

"Oh, hey," Gabriella smiled to herself as she pictured him. It seemed so unreal to her that just a few days ago he had been absent from her mind…now he was all she seemed to think about, reliving the old high school times.

Flashback.

Gabriella grinned to herself, tapping her pencil on her notebook as she stared off into space. It was a comfortable place for her…where she could picture anything and daydream about anything. She often wished she could be there for long periods of time, only thinking of him…But of course her mother would never have it, so school was out of the option. Only God knew what the teachers would think of her if they caught her daydreaming in the middle of class. It would definitely puncture her reputation of always being on task.

Not like the other girls in class.

So Gabriella had resorted to daydreaming at home, in her bedroom. Her homework scattered on her bed, Gabriella would finally allow her mind to stray from her school work and let her mind focus on things it chose to rest upon, like him.

It also often lead to doodling random notes in her notebooks.

I love Troy

She would scribble it out over and over again on the margins of her notebook pages. Luckily, her mother didn't bother to come in any more and check her daughter's homework, though she had for most of Gabriella's life. She had been taught well. But…with him…Gabriella's mind would wander many moment, and only when she began to scribble on the words she had written during class did she wake up from her daze.

So, it wasn't a surprise when Taylor popped in one day to do homework and found the doodles on the sides of her friend's pages.

"Gabriella!" she squealed. "You love him? Awwww…"

For nearly an hour it went on like that: Gabriella never ceasing to blush and Taylor squealing and 'Awing'.

"Gabi! I totally think you should tell him, I mean-."

"No," Gabriella was direct. "That's not something I do…and it would be way too awkward. I mean, we've been together for barely a year, but we're still so young…" she trailed off, her mind once again wandering to him.

That was the way they left it, thankfully for Ms. Montez, for she had announced it was time for Taylor to leave for dinner was on the table. It was much to Gabriella's relief, but of course to Taylor's stubborn dismay.

"Don't think you've gotten away with this," Taylor pointed her finger at her friend, before waving cheerfully at Ms. Montez and exiting.

The next day at school, Gabriella kept to herself. She was afraid to talk to Taylor, and more importantly, Troy. Now that someone other than herself had seen those words, she couldn't bare to look him in the eye. So she avoided her locker, hurrying off to the girls' bathroom and locking herself in a stall until she knew the bell was about to ring. Then, as fast as she possibly could, she merged from the stall, hurrying out into the hallway and down the long corridor.

Heat rushed to her face as she saw a few stragglers enter their classrooms. She was never one to be late.

But as she rushed to her locker, she saw the one thing she had been dreading: him. He was just leaning there casually, nodding at a few people as they walked past, and checking his watch every so often. Gabriella felt herself freeze.

"Gabi!" he finally saw her and waved her over. She trotted up to him meekly, and began opening her locker.

"What's up?" he spoke with a smile, but it soon turned to a frown as she didn't acknowledge him. "Are you ok? I mean, you're late, and you seen to not want to look at me…"

"I'm fine," she turned to him abruptly, her arms full of books. But she had turned too swiftly, and his body collided with hers, sending her books and notebooks flying. "Oh God. Now I'm going to be later…" she bent down and began picking up the scattered things.

"Here, let me help," he bent down too, and began picking up some more books. As she finished, Gabriella looked up to see one more notebook lying open on the ground. She also noticed him beginning to reach for it, and a sudden wave of anxiety hit her like a flurry of needles.

The pages of the notebook were heavily doodled upon, this page probably sporting the most hearts and "I love Troy"s.

Closing her eyes, she noticed the catch in his breath, and she stood up, turning away from him and formulating some sort of take-off plan in the back of her mind. However, as she worked up the energy to begin to move, she felt a hand on her arm, and she turned to him, her eyes full of tears.

"Hey, don't cry," he pulled her close to him, and the books fell once more, though neither of them cared. Her head on his chest, she cried softly, and she could feel a comforting hand on her back.

Slightly pulling away from him, she spoke, "I'm sorry-."

"No, don't be sorry, because," he lifted her chin with his finger so she looked directly into his eyes, "I love you too."

End Flashback.

"Um, I was wondering if you wanted to come over to my place tonight and catch up some more, you know, Karissa-free," he chuckled slightly.

"Oh, yeah," Gabriella smiled widely, hoping Troy couldn't hear the sense of happiness in her voice. Karissa-free…

"Ok then, um, how 'bout I pick you up when you're down with your shift? Uh, when's that?"

"Oh, it's at six thirty," she lied. She didn't really get off until eleven, but 'back in the days' her and Troy's night rendezvous were at 6:30. She wasn't about to break tradition now.

Troy seemed to remember, and he laughed a little, "Okay, I'll see you then."

"Bye," Gabriella set down the phone and sighed.

Flashback.

The winter sun was bright as Gabriella rushed up the steps of the Plaza, shopping bags in hand and a large smile on her face. The brisk wind forced a rosy ora to her cheeks, and she pulled her Pea Coat closer to her tiny frame.

"See you later guys," she waved a gloved hand to Kelsi, Taylor, and Sharpay, who waved back as she entered the large lobby. The warmth met her halfway, and it heated her icy body, sending comforting chills down her spine. It was Winter Break, and the Home and School committee had presented the senior class with an opportunity to travel to New York City, and it was accepted excitedly. With rooms at none other than the Plaza Hotel, the class sure did have it good.

After a day of shopping with her friends, Gabriella looked up at the large clock placed on the wall. It read 6:25. Perfect.

Minutes later she stood outside of a room, the white door right in front of her. She reached into her bag and fumbled for the card key, of which she found a moment later. As the door opened, she stepped into the comfortably furnished room, boys' clothes scattered around the unmade beds. She noticed a basketball in the corner of the room, a hair pick on one of the side tables, and a Playbill for 'Avenue Q' on the other.

Stepping over the assortment of belongings, she kept her eyes wide.

Suddenly the sound of singing greeted her ears. It wasn't the scratchy sound Chad had often been belting after seeing 'Avenue Q', but it was a gentle, smooth, perfect rhythm, one that was so familiar to her.

Peeking around an open door, she found the source of the wonderful sound, and she grinned as she saw Troy standing in front of the mirror, a hairbrush in hand, and no shirt on.

"You are my sunshine, my only sunshine; you make me happy when skies are grey," his voice rang out in the tiny room.

Gabriella grinned and began to step into the room, her voice mixing with his to create a harmonic melody, "You'll never know dear, how much I love you, please don't take, my sunshine away," they sang together.

As they had been singing, Troy had obviously acknowledged her presence, and he wrapped his arms around her waist, letting her hands rest on his bare chest. As they stopped, Gabriella kissed him sweetly on the lips..

End Flashback.

At exactly 6:30 on the dot, Gabriella stood outside of Clancy's, her hands in the pockets of her corduroy pea coat, and her foot tapping on the cement. It wasn't like Troy to be late, for she was usually the one to show up at 6:31, much to the sarcastic dismay of Troy. Or, he would show up on her balcony-he always insisted on climbing the tree, much to the protests of Ms. Montez who always told him the door was fine-at 6:29. But…she looked down at her open cell phone…6:31…

Honk!

Gabriella's head shot up and noticed a black SUV roll up in front of her. She smiled as Troy rolled down the window.

"You're late," she giggled.

"Yes, but I was tending to Princess Karissa…" he rolled his eyes and got out of the car, smirking as he opened the passenger seat door for her.

"Are you in the mob or something?" Gabriella looked up at him as he got back into the driver's seat.

He just looked at her with confusion.

"The black…" she scanned around the car and pointed to the entire black leather interior.

"Oh, that," he laughed, "Yeah, well Karissa thought it was manly." He rolled his eyes again and stepped on the gas. Gabriella nodded.

A few minutes later they pulled up to a very luxurious condominium building. Complete with balconies for what seemed to be every suite, and what looked as to be a pool nestled on the roof (a/n if that's possible? LOL), the place looked fit for a king.

"Whoa, this place is…" Gabriella started as she followed Troy into the spacious yet cozy lobby.

"Big, I know it," Troy grinned as he led her to a set of elevators. Pressing the Up button he spoke again, "My dad told me that if I went to this program thing-a-ma-jig here, then he'd give me a place to live here, and when I go back to California at the end of the semester."

Gabriella nodded, "So, that's why you're here?"

Troy grinned, "Yep. And it just so happened that Karissa had to follow me." The door to the elevator chimed open and Gabriella and Troy stepped in.

"Why?" Gabriella asked after a moment's silence.

"'Why' what?" Troy shoved his hands into his pockets and tilted his head at her. Gabriella could feel her heart skip a beat as she looked at him, his head to the side in almost a puppy dog manner.

"Well, um," Gabriella gulped, "Why did she follow you?"

Troy nodded his head in thought and the door to the elevator opened once more, "Well," he said, leading her out and down the hall, "She decided to do the program as well, and she said she loved me." He stopped in front of a mahogany door and stuffed a key into the lock. "But I often wish she hadn't come here…I guess you could say I'm kind of getting sick of her."

He opened the door to reveal a well-furnished living room, complete with an open kitchen and breakfast bar. The room was cozy, with a fire place at the far wall and an opening to a hallway on the opposite side of the room as the kitchen. The style was classic and charming, and Gabriella grinned. "Your mom furnished it, I'm guessing…"

Troy blushed, "How'd you know?"

Gabriella shrugged, "Lucky guess."