Sorry this chapter took so long to add. Please don't hurt me; I kinda lost my creative juices. But I'm back. Enjoy and don't forget to read and review.

VolleyballBabe9

Disclaimer: So yeah. I don't own High School Musical or anything like that. I only own the original characters. Please don't sue, I live with my grandma and own very little.

Paul walked down the hall of the science wing, coming up from the cafeteria to head to biology. He couldn't help but smile remembering what Kate had said to him this morning. Save me a seat he thought. Maybe she's ready to tell other people about our relationship. Paul didn't know why they never told anyone about their relationship, he knew she wasn't afraid of anything in terms of their relationship. Whatever she had planned was something totally out of character for her.

Paul walked into the biology room and sat down in one of the tables at the back of the room. Each table had two chairs behind it, with thirteen tables in the room. The front of the room was full of girls, who were all trying not to make it seem like they were afraid of the snake sitting in a cage on one of the lab stations in the back of the classroom. Paul instantly remembered that Kate had a fear of snakes that could top all the fears of the girls in the classroom combined.

Before Paul could even move to a table more towards the middle of the classroom, his best friend Doug walked into the room. Paul raised his arm in the air, signaling to Doug where he was at. Doug stopped to look closely at the snake before walking over to where Paul sat.

"What's up man? How was the summer?" Doug asked adjusting the collar of his stripped polo shirt that he had paired with khaki cargo shorts.

The girls all looked over at Paul and Doug, the two most popular and hottest boys in the junior class. This was saying something in the small private school where the junior class only consisted of one hundred and fifteen students. Doug clapped hands with Paul before sitting down in the other seat at the table. So much for saving Kate a seat Paul thought wistfully before replying to Doug's question.

"It was good man. The fam and I spent a month at the cabin, just chilling on the lake. I came back down from the lake to go to camp at the University of Minnesota. What about you?" Paul found his eyes drifting around the room, taking in his surroundings. The walls were covered with anatomy posters and the cabinets in the back had lab safety signs hanging on them.

"Usual, stayed home, was bored, went to basketball open gym, was bored," Doug ticked off his fingers as he said these things. "Oh and don't forget I was bored. Dude, next time you decide to leave me marooned in Rochester, give me fair warning so that I can find an escape."

"I'm sorry I took another friend with this time and couldn't bring you with too. That would be way too many people in that cabin. My mom would have been on overload," Paul knew that lying to his best friend wasn't exactly the best way to start the new school year. But what was he supposed to say, I couldn't take you with because my secret girlfriend came with instead. That would be cause for Doug to get mad at him and then things would get bad.

Doug looked closely at Paul, seeing something different in his best friend. Paul was looking blankly at a spot on the wall by the door before his eyes drifted towards the doorway itself. Doug followed Paul's line of vision over to the door and saw Kate Stapleton standing there looking around for a seat or a familiar face. Doug looked back at Paul and saw that he had the goofiest grin on his face.

"Dude, earth to Paul. What has gotten into you this summer?" Doug questioned waving a hand in front of Paul's face. Then realization hit. "Oh my god. You like her. You, Paul Timm, have a crush on Kate Stapleton. I never saw that one coming."

Paul looked over at Doug, a surprised look on his face. What did he do, play it cool and say he didn't or tell Doug the truth? Paul decided to play it cool and deny it, hoping to avoid an awkward confrontation. He kept his straight face on for a couple more seconds looking at Doug, before starting to laugh. Doug looked at Paul as if he were crazy.

"You think I have a crush on Kate Stapleton. Yeah right, wow, whoa buddy way to throw me for a loop," Paul found himself looking at Kate again, who was now standing with a smaller group of girls, and tried not to smile watching her. "I think you're high on some new drug and I want you to keep it away from me."

Kate stood in the doorway of the biology classroom, avoiding looking at the snakes in the back of the room altogether as she searched for Jess or Paul, whomever she saw first. She spotted Paul staring at her from a seat; the only problem was that Doug was sitting with him. Kate wasn't ready to openly admit that she liked Paul and that they were dating so she continued to look around the room, slowly finding Jess in the middle of a group of girls.

Kate walked over to Jess and put her binder down on the table, sitting in the open seat. She turned around and saw that she had a perfect view of where Paul was sitting from where she was sitting. This would certainly be an interesting class, when Kate wasn't actually paying attention to what was being taught.

Jess caught sight of what Kate was looking at and weaved her way through the group huddled around her. She walked over and sat down in the seat next to Kate so that she was directly behind Kate.

"I know what you're looking at. You could easily have that not only after school, but at school. Why do you think I picked this table after he sat down?" Jess asked Kate, who turned to look at her best friend. Kate's mouth gaped open, making her look like a fish out of water.

"Jess! How…What…Oh my gosh! Get your mind out of the gutter. We don't do that. Eww, Jess, thanks a bunch," Kate's face squished up as she made the most disgusted face that she could.

"That wasn't what I meant. What I meant was that you don't have to only hang out around each other outside of school. You could just as easily hang out at school, you two just have to admit to everyone else that you like each other," Jess said, bringing back to Kate's mind the fact that she wasn't ready to tell everyone about their relationship.

She didn't want to be reminded that she should really reevaluate their relationship if she wasn't ready to go public. But then Kate thought about how safe and at ease Paul made her feel. If he was like that around her when they were alone, what would he be like when they were together? Would he just ditch her at dances and formals or would he sit with her and ask her to dance when her favorite songs came on? Maybe if Kate gave their relationship an opportunity to be known she would find the answers to her questions. She looked back to find Paul watching her with a smile on his face. Kate smiled back, before standing up and walking over to where Paul was standing.

"Hey there, I thought I asked you to save me a seat," Kate whispered into Paul's ear, glancing over to where Doug was sitting. He had a look of awe on his face, watching the encounter with a weird face. "What's wrong Doug, cat got your tongue?"

"Sorry, someone got in the way. I tried," Paul said before leaning in to whisper. "Are you feeling okay? I thought…"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Maybe it's time for a change," was all she answered with before smiling at him and walking away. Doug turned around after watching Kate walk away to find Paul smiling like a dork.

"What was that all about? It's like she just put some spell over you," Doug asked too shocked to do anything else.

"That my friend is the power my girlfriend has over me,"

"I can't believe that Kate is going out with Paul. I mean come on; I've had my eye on him since like freshman year. Isn't that right Shelby? Hello, are you like even listening to me," Emma didn't get upset about many things, but when it came to not getting something that she desperately wanted, she would get pissed and do nothing but whine. Which was what she was trying to do now, if only she could get her close friend Shelby to listen to her? "What does he see in her that he doesn't see in me?"

"I don't know, maybe he thinks you're trying too hard. You know I would think it's weird that you call all the time too if I was him. Maybe you should stop trying the stalker effect and just try telling him that you like him," Shelby replied brushing her thin lips with lip gloss, trying to plump them up. "I mean it seems to have worked for Kate, so you never know. It could work for you. But you first need to split up Kate and Paul so that you can have him, no strings attached."

"Then I have the perfect plan. Shelby, come on, no matter how much lip gloss you use, you have no life in those lips of yours. I swear, you go through more lip gloss then I do and that's saying something," Emma said, before standing up and walking out the library doors. "And this plan involves the new boy."

Kate walked into the choir room only to be greeted by the noisy chatter that was associated to the beginning of class and attending a small school. Juniors were over talking with the freshman, while the senior football players were talking with the sophomore volleyball players. Thank God Kate didn't find herself over there; it was all girls who thought themselves higher then everybody else. The sound of someone singing Bohemian Rhapsody filled Kate's ears as she wandered around looking for Emily, Rachel, or Claire.

"Hey Kate, you think that the team has another state championship in them this year?" Kate turned around trying to find the owner of the voice. When she couldn't, Kate just resolved to yell back. "I don't know, you'll have to come to one of our games and see for yourself if we can do it."

It was a well known fact around the small town that Kate had high hopes for her volleyball career. She had led her team to back to back state championships as a freshman and a sophomore, but that wasn't what fueled Kate. What fueled her was that college scholarship that was arm's length away.

Kate looked back over her shoulder towards the door and saw a tall, evenly tanned boy walking in, wearing Abercrombie and Fitch from head to toe. So that must be Troy Kate thought to herself, absentmindedly looking him up and down. The cargo shorts he was wearing looking good matched with a white button up that he had left untucked, while the Nike shocks on his feet, a light blue and ice gray combination, added just the touch of athletic that every guy needs in his outfit.

"And here I was thinking you had eyes for only me. I guess I'm going to have to introduce myself to my competition,"

"Oh please. You got me, now you're stuck with me Paul. But if you're going over there to introduce yourself you might as well take me with. I haven't met him yet and everybody knows how much I like meeting new people," Kate said with a flourish worthy of Barbara Streisand.

Kate walked over to Troy, intent on introducing herself when she saw Emma walk over and begin talking to Troy. Emma was whispering in his ear for a moment before he looked up and over at Kate. Emma continued talking while Troy just watched Kate, almost as if he were studying her. Paul came up behind Kate and followed her line of sight.

"Well, well, well. If it isn't the wolf already trying to get to the new sheep in the flock. Do you think she ever stops trying to flirt with someone?" Paul asked, placing his hands protectively on Kate's hips, as if he could protect her from Troy's gaze. When Kate didn't respond, Paul looked at her. "Kate, you okay?"

"Yeah, I just don't like the way he's looking at me."

"You must be the new guy. Once word gets to a Lourdes student, it only takes two periods to get around the school, we're that small."

Troy turned around to find himself face to face with a brunette- haired girl that looked to be about five-foot-ten and was decked out in American Eagle. She had a look on her face that Troy recognized, one almost like that of Sharpay. The look that a cat had after eating the mouse.

"Troy Bolton. It's good to know, I'll have to remember to start a new rumor and see how many different versions I get told," Troy introduced himself, adding the smart remark to see if he could get a smile out of this new beauty. Wait, where's that coming from, you have Gabriella waiting for you in New Mexico Troy thought to himself. He focused on his surroundings hoping to get away from this girl.

"Rumors are a nasty way to get what you want. Emma Lewis, the one and only. And the thing I want is something you can help me get," Emma glanced around the choir room, until her eyes found their target. "You see that girl over their, talking with that boy. She stole my boyfriend from me and she will do whatever it takes to get the new guy. Unless he gets to her first."

"What's that got to do with me?" Troy had to wonder what Emma wanted with him. The said girl that they were talking about was slightly pretty, in an athletic sort of way, and looked like a nice person. The boy she was talking with looked athletic as well and was standing close to the girl, in a caring sort of way. Troy had to wonder what they had ever done to Emma.

"I want you to help me break them up."