Here's the first of the date chapter. This when they go out to dinner and head to a club. More from the date to come.

CHAPTER FOUR

Dinner and Dancing

Friday Night, In the Car, 6:45 p.m.

Gabriella was the first to speak. "Sorry about my mom. She's really excited that I'm getting out of the house."

Troy, seeing nothing with her mom's actions, says, "No don't worry about it. You remember my dad. Now that was someone uptight."

Silence except for the radio playing Chemicals React in the background.

Troy decides to break the silence. "So, where do you want to go?" he asks her.

"You telling me you don't know," says Gabriella.

"I wasn't sure what you'd like. So tell me. Where do you want to go?"

"How about… Fridays."

"That sounds great. Next stop, Fridays." He takes a turn on the main road and disappear into the horizon.

At TGI Fridays, 7:00 p.m.

"I'm glad that they still have room in here. This place is packed," exclaims Gabriella.

"What would you like?" questions the waitress.

Gabriella looks through the menu. "Let's see, I'll take… the Caesar Salad with a side of mashed potatoes, please and orange soda" answers Gabriella.

"I'll take a cheeseburger and a Coke. Thanks," replies Troy.

"All right, your orders should be coming soon."

"So, Troy. How's basketball practice? I don't know if it's going to be any better than decathlon practices," Gabriella says.

"So far, we don't have too many practices yet. But watch when the game is only four weeks away. My dad is going to schedule so tightly, I'll be gasping for my breath. How's studying?"

"Loads of homework. It feels great just to get away from it all. Thanks for setting this up."

"Not a problem. We haven't seen must of each other lately. I thought maybe we needed some 'we' time."

" 'We' time?"

"You know. Just us."

"Ohh. So, ummmm, Are you ready to start practices for the musical? I know I am 'cause then we'd be spending more 'we' time together."
"I can't wait for musical practices to begin. I'd just watch out for Sharpay. You know she's out to get you."

"I know Sharpay is mean, but would she stoop so low as to do something that horrible and demeaning."

"I don't know. I just telling you what Taylor told Chad who told me. Do you have any plans for the summer?"

"No, why?" Gabriella asks as the food arrives at the table.

"I have this job at a country club and wanted to know if you come with me?"

"Really! I'd love to go with you! What job do you have?" Gabriella exclaims as she stabs the lettuce leaf.

"I'm working as a lifeguard there. Do you want to work there?"

"If I'm working with you, of course."

"I talk to the owners and see if I can grab you a job."

"Thanks, Troy. That'd be great!"

They finish up their dinner in semi-silence and Gabriella offers to pay half the bill, but Troy persist that he'll do it.

"Now, where shall we go, seeing that it's only 8:30?" says Troy.

"I heard of this cool dance club down on 4th Street. Can we go there?" answers Gabriella.

Kind of taken back with the answer he received, Troy says, "Sure."

They head into the car and drive off toward 4th Street.

They arrive at a club and the first thing they see is the sign that says "The Dance Palace". It's hard to ignore the sign because of the fact that the pink, blue, and yellow neon lights were brightly shining against the starlit sky. Outside, you could faintly hear the music, so that was a good sign that the music wasn't too loud.

"Here we are. How did you hear of this place anyway?' questions Troy.

"Just something I came across while walking home from school. I've always wanted to go inside. And now I can," hints Gabriella. To be honest, she was just afraid to head inside without someone there with her, namely Troy.

"Alright, let's go."

They head inside and see a bunch of kids from high school dancing, hanging in the lounge, or watching TV. The place didn't allow smokers or drinks, so it was very safe to be there. Anyway, there were only high school students there, it's not an adult club. Troy and Gabriella head to an empty corner of the room to survey the crowd before deciding whether they want to dance or not.

In another corner of the room, sits Sharpay and Ryan amongst a group of thespians. Sharpay spots Troy and Gabriella crossing the room and grows furious. She hates the fact that Gabriella got Troy. Troy was to be her man. That should have been her with Troy crossing the room.

Ryan looks over to his sister because she has stopped talking. If she stops talking, then something is bothering her. Seeing that his sister is glaring at someone, he looks in the direction of her gaze. He sees that Troy and Gabriella are sitting in one corner of the room, talking to each other. He thought that his sister was over the fact that they got the parts in the musical, so something else had to be bothering her. "Sharpay," he cautiously asks, "what are you looking at?"

"Oh, nothing. I'll be right back," she declares to the group. She nudges Ryan on the shoulder. "Ryan come with me."

Obediently, he follows his sister. Ryan knows that whatever is going through her mind is not good for Troy and Gabriella, especially Gabriella. Once they were pretty far from the group, Ryan questions his sister. "Sharpay, where are we going and what are we doing?"

"You are going to help me break-up Troy and Gabriella."

"Why?"

"'Cause I want Troy, you dip watt. Now here's the plan." She whispers something into his ear and Ryan, even though he was against the whole thing, finds the plan very clever.

Back with Troy and Gabriella, they see Sharpay and Ryan talking to each other.

Gabriella curiously asks, "Why does it seem like Ryan's on a leash?"

"There's the fact that they are fraternal twins. And the fact that Sharpay can be very convincing," answers Troy.

"I didn't know that they were twins. But now that I think about, they do look alike."

"With Sharpay's temperament, his hard to relate them to each other," just then Troy spots a karaoke contest going on. "You wanna show off that amazing voice you have?"

"What?"

"There's a karaoke contest goin' on over there. Looks like the prize is to be king and queen of the dance floor. I know that sounds dorky, but we should sing."

"As long as I'm singing with you, it doesn't matter how dorky the prize, as long as I'm with you."

They head up to sign up for the contest. Sharpay catches them out off the corner of her eye. "Where are they going?" she asks Ryan.

Seeing the contest post list, Ryan tells Sharpay, "There's a karaoke contest goin' on over there. Maybe they're signing up?"

"We'll give them an act to follow 'cause we're already signed up. Right, Ryan?"

Getting the hint, Ryan quickly says, "Yes, yes we are," and rushes off to sign them up. He reaches the list before Troy and Gabriella, quickly scribbles his and his sister's name down. He turns around to see both Troy and Gabriella waiting for him to finish.

"Hey, Ryan. You and your sister singing?" asks Gabriella.

"Yeah," answers Ryan.

"Well, good luck. You know me and Gabriella are goin' to win," jokes Troy.

"Good luck to ya, too," says Ryan as he tries to slip away. He knows that if his sister spots him talking to the enemy, she would kill him. Luckily, it doesn't seem that she saw.

Upon his return, Sharpay asks Ryan, "When are we on?"

"Before them."

"Good. Time to impress Troy and scare Gabriella away." She looks at Gabriella with cold eyes.