A/N: I am SO sorry about the really late update! It was my mum'd birthday this week so I had no time to write, and the loooooooooong time before that, It was Christmas, New Year and School! S xx Read&&Review

Disclaimer: I own nothing except the plot! xx

Chapter Three: Staying Over

We walked up to my front door, and stopped; we could hear voices inside; there was my mom, laughing then there was- "That's my mom!" Troy whispered, "My mom's in there, what's she doing at your house?" I shrugged. We could also hear a man's voice, a low grumble, "I take that's your dad…?" he nodded in reply and we stood there, still in each others arms, eavesdropping on the parents inside.

Troy accidentally leant against the bell and it rung.

Neither of us had house keys, so we would have rung anyway, but we weren't meant to do that now; I heard shuffling from inside then my mom slowly opened the door; being cautious, as she had no idea of who it was.

She was relived to see that it wasn't a random stranger, but her own daughter and her friend…well, it didn't really look like just a friend, the way we stumbled in, but I'm sure they understood, us coming in, holding hands, they'd really get the right idea! "Troy, I think they're gonna get the wrong idea of our relationship if they see us holding hands!" I murmured into his ear; again, he nodded in reply, and, reluctantly, let go of my hand, taking a small step away from me.

"Troy, I thought you said that you were going to Chad's house? Why did you change your mind and not tell me?" Troy's dad asked, clearly confused. "Ummm…I came here to meet our new neighbours, then I offered to show Gabi around the city, which I did, and we met Chad down at the intersection, after showing her most of the city, we went to school and I just pointed out the useful places, and other stuff." I know exactly what he meant by other stuff, he meant his secret hideout, which was up on the roof. I started to back him up, with the truth, "Yeah, then we came home after looking around the school…"

My mom was looking at me thoughtfully, then she asked, "Why were you standing outside? You could've knocked and I would have opened up!"

I bit my lip, this was a though one, "We…ummm…we-" Troy interrupted me, "We just got here, then we rung the bell, yeah, we'd only just got here." I looked up at him with a 'Thank-god-you-saved-me-just­-in-time!' expression on my face.

"Oh, okay, but don't scare us like that again!" Troy's mom finalised

We both nodded in agreement and then went into the formal dining room for dinner; which had, mom's speciality, Greek Salad for starters, then we had Lasagne and, urgh, boiled vegetables for a main; then lastly for dessert, we had, my nana's (mom's mom) speciality, Toffee Pudding, which was basically cake baked with toffee and maple syrup, and then when it's out of the oven, you drown it with, another one of Nana's specialities, Maple Toffee syrup, basically, maple syrup mixed with thick melted toffee, yum! And I absolutely love it!

My mom can make it good, but not like my Nana, she makes it brilliant! Nana lives in Denver, Colorado, so we didn't get to see her much when we lived back in New York, but here, in Albuquerque, New Mexico, we're in neighbouring states, so we can see her more often, which is great!

After dinner the adults, parents, opened a bottle of wine and left to the formal lounge, while Troy and I were left to clean up dishes, like mom said, "Gab, why don't you and Troy help us out and clean up the dishes while we talk?" I'd rolled my eyes and shrugged, giving her an 'I-guess-we'll-have-to-because-it's-not-like-we-have-a-choice-is-it?' look.

She just grinned and replied, "After you're done, you can go into the living room and watch T.V or whatever…" and left to the formal lounge.

I sighed as I stacked dishes, bowls and cutlery in the dishwasher, while Troy rinsed them for me, "I guess I'll have to get used to the sink being to the right of the invisible dishwasher; and not to the left!" Troy grinned as he handed me a wet bowl, "Yeah, you will, but you'll be spending a while here, so I guess you will in the end!" I smiled, and then Troy suddenly said, "We've run out of cutlery to put into the dishwasher, not to mention the bowls and dishes!" in a mock distressful voice; I laughed and went along with him, "Oh no! Whatever will we do!?" I put my best English accent, turning American after the 'Oh no!' We both dissolved into laughter! At nothing!

I ended with a hiccup and giggle about ten minutes later, about and 5 seconds after Troy stopped laughing!

"What was that about?" he asked, seriously.

"I have no idea." I said, also seriously, I couldn't get a laugh out! "Can we go into the living room and…sit on the couch…?" I questioned Troy;

"Yeah, sure, why not? I mean, there's nothing else for us to do in the living room is there?" I rolled my eyes and dragged him down the hall, past the drunken adults, and into the living room, right at the end of the hallway.

Now; when we moved into this house, it was fully furnished, because the last owners of this house weren't gonna move, like us, but they had to, very suddenly because of job problems, like us. So they'd made it all modernised, with room extensions, yard extensions, under floor heating in the bathrooms, new and modern furniture…you name it, it was definitely there; all we had to do was to get out 'stuff' like our personal possessions, for example, we brought all our kitchen appliances with us, we brought all our clothes with us, we brought our framed pictures, towels, shampoo & conditioner, throws, pillows, duvets, everything like that, with us; our cell phones, obviously, my laptop, my USB stick which had everything, that wasn't on my laptop, on it; my iPod, my photos…yeah, I think you get it now, everything. So we were okay moving in, it's not like it was some kind of dilapidated house, it was a modernised home; we were very lucky that those people worked in the same company as mom did, and both had been promoted round the same time, so it was a sudden leave for all of us!

I don't think we knew the family that used to live here, at all, because we obviously lived in completely different states, but mom and the man or woman living here also working in her company, didn't work in the same part of the company. This company that mom worked with was some big-shot, upmarket, NASA company, where mom was some kind of scientist in, now WSTF, White Sands Test Facility, where she was in state-of-the-art laboratories, testing hazardous materials and propellants, air quality, aerospace hardware and ground support equipment, and all materials used in space flight.

That's what it said in the job description she got about six years ago, when I was only ten!

"-and that's really it!" I had been talking to Troy about me, my house, my mom and her job, New York, and…life! Now it was is turn.

"So, what about you? You've been going on about this house and your mom's job, not that I don't want to listen, but I want to know more about you!" I laughed at his approach to the subject of me.

"Well, ummm…where do I start…?"

"What about what school you used to go to…? It flows after you start talking ya know!"

I smiled; "Great idea!" then I started talking about my school, "Well, I went to Albany High School at 700 Washington Avenue, Albany, New York 12203, USA; I know, it's stupid that I can recite it by heart, even if I've been there since ninth grade!"

He laughed at replied, "That's okay, I can recite my school address by heart, even if I've been there since ninth grade, myself!"

"Okay then, what's your school address, Troy?"

He cleared his throat and replied, "800 Odelia Rd, NE Albuquerque, New Mexico 87102, USA" (Albuquerque High School)

"And the schools number?"

"Area Code: 505 843-6400"

I smiled, "Impressive!"

He grinned, "What about your's?"

I grinned back at him; of course I knew my school number! "Area Code: 518, 454-3987"

His grin became wider and he mocked, "Inspiring, Ms. Montez, inspiring, but we don't want you to learn Inspiration, here at East High, we want you to learn Education"

"Who's that a mock of, I know it can't be Ms. Falstaff from the library, or Mr. Dillon for calculus, it's definitely not Mrs. Sanchez for Trig, not Ms. R-something, who's name I can't remember for social studies; could it be… Ms. Darbus for Theatre and Arts, and, for you, homeroom?"

He nodded. I grinned, "I rock." He rolled his eyes at that and said, "So what else is there about you that I need to know?"

I grinned and carried on, "Well, my favourite color is red, I'm very outgoing, but actually very clever as well, e.g. I find calculus very easy, I can recite complicated biological word equations in my sleep, I could do chemistry practical's with my eyes closed; I can write an intricate essay in about half an hour maximum! And I could go on, but I won't!"

"Wow!" he was pretty speechless, "You really don't look like the nerdy type, I mean, A) You don't have glasses, you have big bright brown eyes; B) you don't wear nerdy clothes and have no trend, you wear designer clothes and set new trends! C) You don't wear braces; you have perfectly white straight teeth! Not to mention your flawless smile! How can you be so…perfect, yet so clever at the same time!?"

"That's what perfect is! And I understand your A & B, but C is wrong. I had braces when I was ten and got them off when I was twelve! But I didn't get teeth whitening done, just like you, I have naturally white teeth, it's not such a big deal!" he grinned, and then said, "Tell me more about you! Then I promise that you'll get all of my information, maybe more than Chad, if I'm feeling liberal!" I giggled, "Okay, I used to have a real tiny room, like half of this one-" he looked around then mentally cut the room in half, to see how small my room used to be. "That'd not small considering how big this room is, half this room is enormous! " I giggled again, "Idiot" I muttered, knowing that he'd heard me, "Let's carry on with the bigness of your room!" I smiled, "M'kay; as I was saying, I used to have a small room, but now it's massive! And the house is so much bigger than the apartment back in New York! And I have so much better, nicer, kinder neighbours than before!" He grinned because he obviously knew that I was talking about him and his family! "What about your friends back in New York?" I know he was dying, literally, finger-by-trigger, to ask the 'Boyfriend Question' but he wasn't making himself ask it; there's no way out of it for him, because when he asks, he know that he's gonna be asked for a reply! "I had great friends back in Albany, but, it's the past now, I need to move on and not think about people form there right now.

You're not helping by asking me about them, even if you want to know about them!" He risked grinning at me, apologetically. I laughed him off and said, "What about you? You're still here, so you can answer all my questions!" He shrugged but started talking about himself straightaway, "Well…As you know, I've lived here all my life and as long as I've lived, I have loved Basketball. The best thing that ever happened to me is my dad becoming East High's basketball coach. It happened before I started High School though; I was in Elementary School then. He got this new job after resigning from his old one at some phone company when they were thinking of shifting him to Massachusetts; which means that I'd have to leave the state and my friends and my life, like you did. So my dad got this new job at East High, then I started Grant Middle School, which is a few blocks away, then my mom met some huge producer dude and signed off to him and made lots of money in some company that I still don't know the name of; about one year later, she quit because, she didn't want the money to go to her head, and she invested a third of it in some big up marketing project which is still going on and now has gotten some job in CAFR."

I smiled; he's been telling me a lot about his parents, nothing about himself! I voiced my thoughts, "Troy, you've been telling me loads about your family, but not about yourself, could I have a bit of information on you?" I grinned,

"Sure, my favourite color is blue, I go to East High, I dislike Sharpay Evans, who, by the way, is one really weird snob; I am captain of the basketball team, and I haven't got a girlfriend. What about you?"

I grinned; he'd asked me about the boyfriend question without actually saying it, I'd answer back similarly, "Ummm…my favourite color is red, I will start East High this semester, I really miss all my friends back in New York, and I haven't got a boyfriend."

He smiled, somehow satisfied.

I was just about to say something when Mollie came running in, jumping up at Troy and licking his face. I just laughed. "Mollie! Mollie! Get down off Troy! Come Here!"

She obediently came by my feet and looked at me with her big brown eyes and a very innocent and cute, one of her easy-to-fall-for looks on her face. "S-sit!" I tried my best not to laugh. "Stay." She stayed there at my feet; I turned back to Troy, he was sitting there smiling, "So sorry about Mollie, she didn't mean to, I guess she got really excited! But the weird thing is that she doesn't lick someone's face, unless she really likes them…and she only licks my mom's face, or my face; no-one else. Oh well, I guess she really likes you then!" We both laughed and then I remembered, I'd forgotten to introduce them! "Troy, this is Mollie, my 5 year old Golden retriever." He nodded, I turned to Mollie, "Mollie-" she looked up, and I gestured to Troy, "-this is Troy, our neighbour." She barked, somehow saying 'Cool, I like him.' I stroked her and called mom, "Mom! Have you fed Mol yet?" she quickly replied, "Yes Gabi, I fed her that chicken and rice, her favourite." I smiled; satisfied that Mollie had had her dinner.

I turned to Troy, just in time to see him yawn, probably all the walking, including carrying me! "Awww, is our Troy tired?" he nodded, I smiled and said, "Do ya wanna sleep?" he nodded again, "Hold on, I'll be back." She nodded for the third time as I got up and went into the lounge where mom and Troy's parents were laughing at some joke Troy's dad was saying, "-and she stepped on the ball!" I rolled my eyes and just stood there, waiting for someone to notice me standing there.

The someone was Troy's mom; she looked a bit surprised, "Oh! Gabriella! What happened?" Everyone turned to me, waiting for an answer, I replied, "Ummm…Troy's pretty tired, so could he sleep in the guestroom today, he's kinda falling asleep as we speak." Troy's mom smiled knowingly and turned to my mom, "Only if it's okay with Gina…?" she smiled, "That's fine, if you could drop over some clothes, then we'll be fine." I grinned and went back to the living room where Troy and Mollie were both sleeping on the couch, I laughed and tapped troy on the shoulder, "Yeah, wait, coming…" he was clearly deeply asleep, I tried shaking him awake, it didn't work, I tried saying his name loud, it didn't work, I tried whispering in his ear, it didn't work, I tried again, "Troy! Get up, it's Gabi!" he jerked awake, nearly falling off the couch I giggled at him, "I tried everything to wake you up, even screaming in your ear! But the one thing that woke you up was my name whispered in your ear! I wonder why…?" He had the cutest 'dazed-tired-grumpy' look on his face "Gabi! I was peacefully asleep dreaming about you-" he froze in his tracks. He was dreaming about me. He wasn't meant to say it out loud. I smiled, pretending I didn't hear him, "Carry on…"

He started talking again, "-and you woke me up!" he pouted and I laughed. "The parents said it was okay for you to stay the night here, as you are so tired, you can go sleep in the guestroom. Your mom said that she'll drop some clothes off in the morning." He grinned and petted Mollie for a few minutes then said, "Well, better go say bye to mom and dad."

I smiled, he'd obviously heard his mom say 'Thanks' for the dinner Gina, it was delicious! You need to teach me how to make that Lasagne!' and then my mom say, 'No Lucy, Thank you for coming over; and about the Lasagne…It's been an old tradition, even Gabi can make it! I'll be sure to give you the recipe!' then his dad say, 'Tell Troy bye from us, will you Gina, he's probably snoring away!' they all laughed and then mom replied, 'Yes, Jack, I will.'

Troy and I walked into the hallway, followed by Mollie, "Oh! Why are you still awake Troy?" Lucy asked; "Gabi woke me up…" he glanced at me grinning, "My bad." We all laughed and then Lucy looked at her watch and said, "It is getting pretty late, we better get going. I'll drop Troy's things over tomorrow, and I'll get the recipe too! Goodnight!"

"Goodnight!" we all chorused, while Mollie just barked in the background.

After mom closed the door Troy stifled a yawn said, "Gina, I'm really tired, is it okay if Gabi shows to me the guestroom so I can get some sleep?"

Mom smiled, "Sure, but could I ask you something before you go to bed?"

"Of course." He said, his eyelids drooping;

"Why is it that you are extremely tired, and Gabi isn't?"

We both grinned and looked at each other before he answered, "Well…when Chad and I were showing the city to her, she complained that her feet hurt, so I offered to carry her. I carried her all the way from Martinez Town to East High. Long walk, but she's not heavy, so it's okay."

Mom raised her eyebrows, "Gabriella Montez. You made him carry you all the way from Martinez Town to East High School. Do you know how long a walk that is?" I nodded, "I do now." She smiled knowingly as I carried on, "It's his fault really, he did know how long the walk would be, I didn't. I didn't even know where we were going. Thanks to my two bodyguards." I grinned at Troy who just looked at me with a 'What-on-earth-was-that-for.-You-just-dumped-the-whole-thing-on-me.' Look on his face I just grinned at him.

"Troy Bolton, please take care of your feet next time." Mom said, sighing.

"What? Next time, so there's gonna be a next time that I have to carry this beauty?!" she nodded and winked at him.

"Ohhh…I get it now." He smiled and then yawned.

"Ok, you're getting really tired, let me show you up to the guestroom so you can take a relaxing shower and snore the night away; okay?" I took control of the situation and ordered him around. It was fun.

He nodded and trudged towards the stairs, I took lead quickly with Troy and Mollie following me, while mom cleaned up the lounge.

We passed my bedroom, mom's bedroom, the airing cupboard, the little stairwell to the attic and a few guestrooms; I led him to the one next to my room, "The bed's right next to the wall, so if you want anything, you can bang the wall. He smiled and nodded, I carried on, "Each bedroom had an en-suite bathroom, so you don't need to worry about me hogging the bathroom in the morning.

We walked into the spacious room and I left him saying, "Just call if you need anything, Goodnight!"

"'Night!" he called, as I closed the door behind me.

I sighed and went up the hallway to my bedroom; what I saw next was pretty shocking!

The whole room was tidy and perfect, just the way I wanted it, all my clothes were in my walk-in-wardrobes, I had two; I have too many clothes to fit in one!

My bed was made with the duvet covers and pillow cases put on; the rest of my stuff, personal possessions' and other random stuff I'd packed, were in the boxes stacked neatly to one side. My room looked scarily neat.

I shrugged; this was definitely mom's work. I walked into my wardrobe and pulled out a pair of white cotton shorts and a hot pink camisole; I took a quick shower in my spacious en-suite bathroom with under floor heating and quickly dressed for bed, checking the time on my cell phone, it read, 1:04 am, I yawned, got into my queen sized comfortable bed, and drifted off into a dreamy sleep, filled with Troy.

A/N: I hope you enjoyed that! It was longer! D

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