A/N Here is the next chapter...its really long, hope you like it!

Little did they know that they were actually being overheard by the school reporter. "Oh boy, this is exciting news!" the boy thought and went away.

Zac and Vanessa also went to their classes, keeping in mind the wonderful thing that had just happened. The rest of the day went on absolutely perfect. Zac and Vanessa really didn't meet each other, but they could feel each other's presence. At lunch, Vanessa and Alyson sat together at their usual table. No one joined them today.

"It's nice just the two of us," Vanessa said. Alyson nodded. Vanessa instinctively thought about the free period again and blushed. "Hey, why are you blushing?" Alyson asked.

Vanessa couldn't keep it in her any longer. Making sure nobody could hear, Vanessa whispered to Alyson, "Somebody asked me out." She could tell Alyson was really excited.

"What! Who? Wait a second….is it Zac?" she asked.

"Yes!"

"Wow! Vanessa, that's amazing! It's only your second day here, and you already got a date! And not just any date…it's the Efron!" Alyson exclaimed.

Vanessa laughed and saw a guy coming toward their table. It was Chad. "Ladies, mind if I join you?" he asked curtly.

"What happened? You and your team mates decided to part ways?" Alyson asked. Vanessa grinned at her friend.

"No," he made a face at Alyson. "I decided to spend some quality time with my girlfriends."

"Girlfriends? Chad…please!" She punched him on his arm, hard.

"Ouch! So can I join you?" he asked. Alyson nodded and made way for him to sit. He kept his tray on the table and asked, "And why are you so silent?" Chad asked Vanessa.

"Don't hassle the new girl," Alyson retorted.

"I'm not hassling anybody; I was just asking Vanessa a question." Chad smiled. Vanessa felt really good to be here. It was only her second day, and her new friends were behaving as if they knew her for a long time. She didn't want to break this connection.

"I'm just looking at the two of you fight, that's all." She replied.

"Yeah, doesn't seem like it…Looks to me your distracted by something else." Chad guessed.

"Guess who asked her out?" Alyson asked Chad.

"Wait, is it Sam?" Chad asked. Alyson rolled her eyes.

"Who?" Vanessa asked.

"Ok, guess it isn't him. So, is it Michael? Or Lucas? Or Jake?" Chad thought very hard. Alyson pretended to ignore him, and Vanessa didn't know any of those people.

"Is it…" Chad started, but Alyson cut him off. "Do you really think Vanessa knows all these people? It's only her second day!!" she said, irritated.

"Well, who is it?" Chad asked.

"Chad, come on, who else does Vanessa know other than you, me, and …" she paused, waiting for Chad to complete it, but in vain.

"Hey, I don't know…maybe she met somebody in her class or something." He spoke.

"Chad, you're hopeless…Who is your best friend?" Alyson asked.

"Zac." He replied.

"And…" Alyson and Vanessa were waiting for an answer. After sometime of thinking, "Zac asked you out?" he asked Vanessa. She nodded. "I can't believe it! That dude didn't tell me!" Chad said.

"It took you long enough," Alyson told him, chewing on her sandwich. Zac was picking up his tray now, and searched for the basketball team table. "Zac!" his friend called. He looked at them, but was surprised to see that Chad wasn't there. "Where's Chad?" he asked.

"He's sitting with Alyson." They informed. Zac nodded and searched for them. He saw Alyson, Chad and Vanessa sitting on a table. He walked toward them, suddenly remembering what had happened four periods back.

"Hey guys," he greeted. Chad and Alyson saw him, laughed, and hi-fived.

"Cut it out, guys." Vanessa told them.

"You told them?" Zac asked. He signaled Vanessa to move over so he could sit down. "Well, Alyson guessed when I gave her a hint," She said.

"Yeah, I guessed on the first try! They didn't even give me a hint." Chad lied.

"Yeah right, at that time, it sounded like you forgot you had a friend named Zac." Alyson said.

"Shut up." Chad told her. Alyson grinned.

"So, Zac, where are you planning to take her?" Alyson asked.

"Al, you wouldn't want to spoil the surprise for Vanessa, do you?" Zac replied.

Alyson took her tiny water bottle and threw it at Zac. He caught it just in time. Vanessa simply laughed. She continued to eat her food while listening to their conversation.

"So, seems like you guys know each other for a long time." She said.

"Not that long, really. We've been really good friends since, last year or something." Alyson said.

"Yeah, she's really desperate to become popular," Chad sneered.

"Uh," Alyson took Chad's bottle and threw it at him.

"Al, I'll die of thirst if I don't drink the contents of that container." Chad told her.

"Ha-ha, Very funny." she said.

"Great! So Zac and Vanessa, promise to tell us what happened in your date latest by tonight?" Alyson asked them.

They laughed. "Of course!" Vanessa said. The bell rang, and all of them returned to their respective classes. They met only after school, and the four of them made sure they had each other's number.

The minute Vanessa reached home, she received a text. It said: "Hey Van, make sure to be ready by 6.30. And I will also take you to dinner. Will come over to pick you up. Zac."

Vanessa became totally excited and told her mom the entire thing. Stella overheard her, and teased her the entire time. She got ready by 6.30 and was still in her room, giving the last touch-ups when she heard the doorbell.

Her mom opened the door and saw a very handsome Youngman standing at the doorstep. "Miss Hudgens, Is Vanessa there?" he asked.

"Oh, you must be Zac! Come on in. Vanessa will be ready in a few minutes." Her mom said.

He came inside the house for the first time, and sat down on the couch. Vanessa came down, and saw Zac. "Hi, I'm ready," she said, smiling. Zac looked at the beautiful Vanessa and after bidding goodbye to her mom and Stella, they were off.

"So where exactly are we going?" Vanessa asked him.

"You wouldn't know even if I told you." Zac told her. Vanessa grinned. They caught a cab and were on their way to something Zac called 'The View'. Sounded nice. It took quite a bit of time to reach there, but when they were there, "Why is it called the View?" she asked Zac. Zac could see that she didn't think much of this place, currently.

"Well, you have climb 500 steps in order to see the View of the entire Alberquerque. You told me you loved nature. Since I loved this place, I thought you would too." He explained.

"That's great Zac, but do we really have to climb 500 steps?" she asked.

"I'm afraid so." He laughed. Vanessa sighed.

"Hey, you're an athlete, you are supposed to able to complete them in seconds!" he told her.

"Ok, I'll do it."

Half the way up the stairs, they had a race. They shot up the stairs like a pair of cheetahs. Vanessa won. "I beat you!" she exclaimed.

"Guess you're the better stair-climber or something." Troy defended himself. The duo walked to a wall, and when Vanessa saw beyond it, she shrieked. Not of horror, but of wonder. The view was absolutely stunning. Sure enough, she could see the entire of Alberquerque.

"It is beautiful! Amazing!" she said.

"I know. I come here at least once in every month."

"Thanks for showing this place to me. It's one of the greatest gifts a girl like me could get."

Zac looked at her and smiled. They kept chatting for a long time. At one point, "It's cold out here," Vanessa said, rubbing her arms, as she had unfortunately worn a sleeveless top.

"You're on a higher altitude, you're bound to feel like that." Zac joked. Vanessa laughed, but still feeling cold. In order to help her, Zac removed his jacket (he had brought it with him) and put it around Vanessa.

Vanessa blushed, but it helped her feel better. "Thanks," she said.

"You're welcome."

Before they knew it, it was 9 'o'clock. They climbed down the staircase again, with Vanessa still having Zac's jacket. "Where are we going for dinner?" she asked.

"You wouldn't know if I told you," he repeated.

"Zac, just tell me," she said, pushing him a little.

"Ok, we're going to a place named Alphonso's." he replied. They took another cab and went there. Vanessa really liked that place. They sat at a table (which had been reserved for them, Vanessa guessed Zac did it) and ordered their meal.

"So, Zac, why did you and Ashley break up?" Vanessa asked, out of the blue.

"Well, it was actually because of her dad. He is super strict. So, when he found out that we were together, he grounded Ashley and told us not to go out again. So, we broke up." He told her.

"Does that mean you still like each other?" she asked, trying to make it not sound so obvious that she cared. Zac looked into her eyes, and understood what she actually meant. "Not any more. We're just friends now." He reassured.

Vanessa let a sigh of relief. She forgot that she was still wearing his jacket. But later, "Oh, Zac, I'm sorry, I forgot to return it." She started to take the jacket off, "Don't worry about it. You can give it later." He said.

The food arrived. They ate in silence for sometime. "You like your first date?" he asked.

Vanessa grinned, "Of course! I couldn't have imagined my first date with anyone more special."

"Thank you! You're pretty great yourself, you know."

They smiled at each other and the conversation kept going. The looked like as if they had known each other for a very long time. Once they were done, Zac paid the money and the two of them went out. Only then did Vanessa notice that the restaurant was pretty close to her house as she could see the park from there.

Vanessa removed the jacket and returned it to Zac. They started to walk. "Zac, did you ever think that you could actually sing?"

"No, I never tried; because I thought I couldn't do it. All I thought about was basketball."

"Are you sure you want to do the callbacks?" she asked, nervously.

"Why, don't you?"

"I don't know." She halted and turned to him. "Remember, the other day, I told you about a whole new person being inside of me?"

"Yeah, what about it?"

"I have this crazy feeling that she's kind of…you know, gone."

"I don't understand."

"When I sang with you the other day, it was so intense and all that, and I could feel everything leave me, and only the wonderful feeling of singing with you remained. I've never felt this way before, it was something really different."

"I know what you mean. At that time, I felt like as if singing was the only thing I ever had. But I don't know why."

Vanessa beamed at him. "So we're ready to do the callbacks then?"

"Of course!" He held out his hand, and Vanessa shook it. "Deal!"

Instinctively, they walked to the park, to linger around there for sometime. It was the place where they really got to know each other. As they walked around, inside the park, Vanessa checked her watch. It was 10.45. "Wow! Zac, it's really late, I think its time I head home."

Zac didn't reply. Instead, he walked to a nearby bush and plucked a flower and gave it to Vanessa. "Can I have this dance?" he asked. Vanessa was very excited. She took the flower and accepted his invite.

The couple danced for a long time, and was having the time of their lives. After fifteen minutes of continuous dancing, Zac twirled her around, and Vanessa unable to keep her step at the last turn, tripped and fell towards him. But he caught her. They looked into each other's eyes for a moment, and their heads were coming closer. When they touched, there was only a little distance from their lips. Vanessa closed her eyes, and asked, "Zac, are you sure?"

"Definitely," he whispered. He closed his eyes, and they shared a sweet, passionate kiss. They felt a flash of light at them, but didn't really care at that moment. When they were done, they hugged each other.

They moved apart, "Zac, thanks for the most wonderful day of my entire life."

"You're welcome," he replied. They looked at each other, and this time, they laughed. "Imagine telling Chad about our date! I wonder what his reaction would be." Vanessa said, still laughing.

"I can imagine what it might be," Zac laughed.

"Guess I got to go now, bye Zac." She bid him goodbye and he did the same.

She went home, and plopped on to her bed, picked up her phone and narrated all the events to Alyson. When she mentioned the last part, Alyson screamed in delight. She slept thinking of the most magical night.

Next day at school, she saw Alyson waving at her. She waved back, and walked to her. When she saw her face more clearly, she noticed that Alyson was a little tense. She had a newspaper in her hand.

"What happened? Why do you look worried?"

Alyson handed her the paper. There it was, the school newspaper, whose front page, had a picture of Zac and Vanessa kissing at the park the previous day. The headline: "Zac+VanessaZanessa?" was in bold and capital letters. Vanessa was horrified.

"Who would do such a horrible thing?" she asked Alyson. She shrugged. The first thing that came to her mind was,

Did Zac do this?

A/N Be sure to review!