Disclaimer: I do not own HSM or the songs.

Author's Note: I will put up the next chapter up soon. I can only update when I'm at my aunt's house, and I don't go there much. I will do my best to update as regularly as possible. Thank you. On to Chapter 2.

Chapter Two: Something More

I didn't want the night to end

Would we be more that friends?

Yeah little did I know before

We would be something more

After school rehearsals went as well as they could. What with Sharpay glaring at Gabriella the whole time. Gabriella, of course, didn't notice that Sharpay was even staring at her. She was concentrating on Troy the whole time. It also didn't help that Gabriella still had a little bit of stage fright. Troy helped her as much as he could. She relaxed a little bit.

After rehearsals, Troy offered to drive Gabriella home since her mother usually got off later, and her bus was long gone.

"Thanks for offering to bring me home, Troy. I thought that you took the bus?"

"My dad goes home a little after school's over. My mom's letting me use her car. My mom has to go to work early and so does my dad. So they decided that my mom would carpool with my dad, so that my dad wouldn't have to wait for me after rehearsals."

"Well, thanks again. I would've had to wait for my mom for a few hours at the library."

"I thought that you loved the library." He said, remembering one of their conversations the other day.

"I do. But between the Scholastic Decathlon and rehearsals, I don't really have that much time to do my homework and prepare dinner and 'run through our lines' as Ms. Darbus puts it."

"You sure you don't need any help?" he asked.

"Yeah. It's just a bit overwhelming. I've had to balance my work load before but not like this."

Troy reached over and took her hand into his and gently squeezed it. "Don't worry. You can do this, and if you need any help, the gang can always help."

"They won't mind?" She asked nervously.

"Of course they won't mind. I can help you with memorizing your part, and either Taylor or one of the girls can help you prepare dinner if necessary."

Gabriella instantly felt better. "Thanks, Troy. I've never really had friends that would help in that way."

"You've never had friends like us?" He asked shocked. Gabriella was great to be around. She had a happy aura about her. It was hard to believe that she never really had any friends.

"No. It was hard. Eight schools in eleven-and-a-half years. It was tough making friends for a little while, and then packing up and moving almost as quickly as I'd arrived. It was just easier to keep to myself, besides doing the decathlon."

Troy gave her hand another reassuring squeeze. "Well, it's different now. You're mom promised that you wouldn't be moving until next year, so we're going to be around for a while. You can count on it."

"Thanks, Troy." She looked down and finally processed the fact that he was still holding her hand.

Ryan had been right about what would happen when Sharpay got home. He could see that she wasn't enjoying herself at rehearsals. In all honesty, he liked that for once, someone had beaten out Sharpay and him. In previous musicals, the composers wouldn't have the lead roles kiss, so he didn't have to kiss his sister. He knew he was a good actor, but there was no way that he would ever kiss his sister. This year, Kelsi had broken the status quo and done something different for the musical. They actually had to kiss. "Hopefully Gabriella and Troy won't miss a show." He thought to himself.

He was also enjoying the fact that in this show, his main priority was to choreograph. He enjoyed dancing as much as he enjoyed the applause that came after it.

He could see that Sharpay was going to blow up as soon as they got inside the house where no one but their parents, the servants, and him would suffer the trauma following the temper tantrum he knew she was going to throw in a few seconds.

After Troy dropped Gabriella off at home and discussed that he would simply drive her home everyday after rehearsals, Troy got a call from Chad.

"So how did the 'Winter Musicale' rehearsals go?" he asked in a dramatic voice that would've made Brad Pitt impressed.

"Good. Really good." Troy said.

"How's Gabs doing?" Chad asked.

Troy smiled at the nickname that Chad had given Gabriella. He gave it to her the day they had gotten together to figure out how Troy and Gabriella were going to make it to the callbacks.

Flashback

Troy, Chad, Zeke, and Jason walked into the chemistry lab and found Gabriella, Taylor, Martha, and Kelsi discussing plans.

"Hey, guys." Gabriella said.

"Hey." Troy replied.

"Hey." Chad said.

Looking at both of them, Troy realized that he had never actually introduced Gabriella to his friends.

"Gabriella, this is Chad, my best friend, and these guys are Jason and Zeke, my other best friends."

"Nice to meet you all." She said politely, and they began to work.

After deciding what the signals would be to get Troy and Gabriella to the callbacks, everyone decided to go get pizza.

They walked over to the pizza parlor across the street. Business was booming, after all, the restaurant was right across the street from a high school filled with pizza-loving-teenagers.

"What are you going to get, Troy?" Gabriella asked.

"Well, what are you going to get?"

"I asked you first."

"Well, I think I'm going to get the pepperoni-pineapple-combo."

"You are the only one that likes that combo, Hoops." Zeke said.

"I like it. It's actually what I usually get." Gabriella said. "Would you mind if I shared it with you, Troy? I usually can't finish one by myself."

"Sure."

After everyone had ordered and eaten their pizza, they were just hanging out and telling jokes.

It was Gabriella's turn to do a joke. "Okay, there was a family of tomatoes: a daddy, a mommy, and a baby tomato. One day when they were walking across the street, little tomato lingered behind and got run over by a car. And the dad said to the mom tomato, 'he should of ketched up.'"

Everyone started laughing, especially Chad, "Good one, Gabs!" He said between gasps for breath.

End Flashback

Troy was happy. Ever since, Chad, Jason, and Zeke were getting along with Gabriella really well. They were treating her like a little sister.

"Absolutely fantastic. I just dropped her off at home. She still has a bit of stage fright, but she's coping."

"When are you going to ask her out?" Chad asked.

"I really don't know. I think I'm going to ask her to the dance this Friday."

"Okay. I'm holding you to that. You'd better do it, or I'll just tell her myself." Chad threatened.

"Whatever. If you hadn't interrupted me in the gym last Friday, it would never have happened." He replied.

Chad was silent for a moment before saying, "Got me on that one, Hoops. So how is Ms. D during rehearsals?"

"She's different when you're not around. She's really laid back. I even took out my cell phone in front of her, and she didn't even notice." He joked.

"Really."

"She's different. Theater is her expertise, and she's really good at it."

"Interesting."

"I guess. Anyways, gotta go, Chad, I just got home, and I need to finish my homework."

"All right. See ya."

"See ya."

Gabriella was just finishing her homework when her phone rang, seeing who it was, she answered. "Hey, Tay."

"Hey. How did rehearsals go?" She asked.

"Fine." Gabriella answered.

"That's it?"

"It's a lot harder than I thought it would be. There's just so much that goes into it. I will never take a movie or a Broadway musical for granted again. And they have to do so much more."

"You got that right. Not to mention they get paid a whole lot more."

"That too."

"So how did the drive home with Troy go?"

"Who told you that?"

"Chad. He called and said that he drove you home."

"Still dating I see."

"We've only gone on one. But, yes, I guess we are still dating. That is until he goes and does something stupid, which I am 88.8% sure that he will fulfill in the next ten hours. We never made it official or anything. But you are getting off the subject."

Gabriella sighed. There was no way to get out of this one. "Nothing happened. He drove me home; we talked; that's it. We are just friends."

"Are you positive?"

"Yes, of course, I'm positive."

"Well, I wouldn't be surprised if he asked you the dance tomorrow."

"Whatever you say. Look, Tay. I gotta go. My mom's calling me."

"All right. I'll see you tomorrow."

Gabriella hung up and pondered what Taylor said before she answered her mom, "Yes, Mom?"

"Mrs. Bolton just invited us over for dinner tomorrow."

Gabriella was a bit shocked but managed to nod.

"Could you call Troy and work out the details driving you tomorrow? I'll be there, but I won't be there till the usual time. I already have directions."

"All right. I'll be right back."

Gabriella went into her room to get her phone, found Troy's number, and called. She waited a moment or two before he answered.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Troy."

Even though he couldn't see her, he could recognize her voice any day.

"Hey, Gabriella. I didn't expect to hear from you until tomorrow."

"I know. Your mom called my mom and invited us to dinner tomorrow night."

"Really? Cool. So what's up?" He asked.

"My mom said that instead of you driving me to my house and just waiting for her, you could just bring me over to your house after rehearsals."

"That would be fine. I gotta go. I have to finish my homework."

"You still haven't finished it yet?"

"We all can't be Einsteinette's."

She laughed at the term that Ryan said he referred her to when he first saw her.

"Well, I hope not. You're a boy which would make you an Einstein." She joked.

"You know what I mean."

"I know. Okay. I'll see you tomorrow. Make sure to get all of that homework done."

"Yes Ma'am." He said teasingly.

"Bye."

"Bye."

The next morning was beautiful. The air was crisp and the temperature was in the mid 50s.

East High was bustling with excitement as usual. Troy had been awake all night thinking of the perfect way to ask Gabriella to the dance on Friday. He decided that he would ask her today before school started. He didn't feel like carrying this burden of nervousness for the whole school day. He knew she would be up, so he called her earlier in the morning and asked her to meet him on the rooftop garden.

Troy watched the hustle-and-bustle of the student body safely from the roof as he waited for Gabriella to arrive. He was pulled out of his trance when her voice was suddenly right behind him.

"Hey, I didn't even see you." He said.

"I saw you. Maybe you were distracted. Are the skaters really that interesting to watch?" She laughed.

"They were doing this really cool trick." He said.

"Well, was there something that you needed to talk to me about?" She asked.

"Yeah. Yeah there is." He thought of backing out, but Chad's words echoed in his mind, You'd better do it, or I'll just ask her myself. He led her over to the bench where they had their previous talk almost two weeks ago. Gabriella, you're my best friend. You know and brought out a whole other side of me that I didn't even know existed. Before I met you, I was just 'lunkhead basketball man'." She laughed at his statement, and he was relieved that the tension had gone down. "I never knew that it was possible to feel the way I'm feeling now. You're my best friend, but I want to be more. I want us to be something more." He took a deep breath. This was it. "Would you be my date to the dance on Friday?"

Gabriella had been listening intently to him. No one had ever said anything like this to her before. She wanted them to be something more too.

"I'd love to be your date, Troy." She said smiling.

"Really?" Troy said.

"Really." She said. Involuntarily, she leaned in and tilted her head. Right as their lips were about to touch, the warning bell rang.

"Ugh!" Troy said. "First Chad and now the stupid bell! Will we ever get a break?"

"I hope so, Wildcat. Come on." She pulled him up from the bench, and they each grabbed their books, and Troy grabbed Gabriella's hand. As they made their way to homeroom, Gabriella kept talking. "When you said 'first Chad' were you referring to Friday, when we were about to kiss, but Mr. Bad Timing interrupted?"

"Actually, yes. I was about to ask you out right then and there, but well, you know the rest. He has the worst timing known to man."

Gabriella laughed. They reached homeroom right before the bell rang.

Ms. Darbus greeted them. "Good morning, Mr. Bolton and Miss Montez. Thank you for being on time. I would hate for the two leads of the Winter Musicale to set a bad example considering the pedestal you've been placed on."

On the other side of the room, Sharpay glared at the sight of Troy holding Gabriella's hand.

After rehearsals, Troy and Gabriella went to Troy's house. They got there just in time to help prepare dinner so that they could eat once Gabriella's mom arrived.

"Hey, Mom, this is Gabriella." Troy introduced her.

"Hello, Gabriella. It's a pleasure to finally meet you." Mrs. Bolton said.

"It's nice to meet you too, Mrs. Bolton."

"What are we having for dinner, Mom?" Troy asked.

"Barbeque, baked potato, and salad. Would you two mind setting the table?"

Gabriella and Troy grabbed the needed utensils, plates, and place mats to set the table.

"Would you like to meet my dad?" He asked.

"I already met him." Gabriella said.

"Properly."

"Sure."

Troy brought Gabriella outside to meet his dad properly. He was grilling the barbeque.

"Hey, Dad. This is Gabriella Montez."

"Hello, Coach Bolton." Gabriella said politely not extending out her hand just to be rejected once again.

"Nice to meet you properly, Miss Montez." He gulped. "I would like to apologize for my behavior the last time we met."

"It's all right. You were forgiven a long time ago."

Jack Bolton gave her a smile. And nodded to Troy as if to say, "I really like her."

Troy led Gabriella back into the house to see if his mom needed any help.

"Can I help you with anything, Mrs. Bolton?" Gabriella offered.

"No, that's all right. You're a guest. I'm almost done anyways."

"May we go into the living room and go over our lines?" Troy asked his mother.

"That would be fine."

Troy reached for Gabriella's hand and led her to the living room. They got their scripts from their backpacks and started to rehearse. The very first scene.

"Hello, my name is Arnold."

"My name is Minnie."

"Have I met you before? You seem familiar."

"No. I've just arrived from another city. I've never been here before."

"Interesting. Well, it would be my pleasure to be your escort through this fair city."

"Why thank you, good sir."

"It's no problem. Twinkle Towne is an amazing place. We're named so, because the stars shine bright every night. I will have to take you to my favorite spot to watch the stars."

"I would love that."

The front door opened and Gabriella saw Mr. Bolton open the door for her mom. They were exchanging introductions.

"Hey, Mom." She greeted.

"Hello, Mija. How was your day?"

"It was absolutely great." Gabriella shot Troy a look.

Her mom followed her gaze and promised herself to ask Gabriella about it later.

"Hello, Ms. Montez. I'm Lucille Bolton. Please call me Lucille."

"Hello. It's wonderful to meet you. Please call me Maria."

"Dinner's ready you two." Mrs. Bolton pointed to Troy and Gabriella.

Everyone got seated at the table and started eating. After everyone was done, and they went to the family room, Troy and Gabriella's parents started talking about them.

"I never knew that Troy could sing, so when these two got a callback, I was shocked." Mr. Bolton pointed out. "Come to think of it, how did you two meet?"

Troy and Gabriella looked at each other. They knew they would have to tell their parents sooner or later. Troy started, "We met on vacation."

"Our vacation in Colorado?" Jack asked.

Troy continued. "Yeah. Anyways, we really didn't meet until New Year's Eve."

Gabriella spoke up, "We met at the teen party in the freestyle club."

"How did you do that? I never took you to go up to a boy and introduce yourself, Gabi." Her mom said.

Gabriella continued. "They were singing karaoke, and they did a random choice. The spotlights just happened to hit us. We were led to the stage before I could comprehend anything."

Troy spoke, "The emcee turned to us and said, 'Hey, you know what, someday, someday, you guys might thank me for this. Or not.' It turned out to come true. Well, the first part of his statement."

"Why have you guys been bubbly today?" Jack asked.

"Well…um…there's a school dance this Friday, and I asked Gabriella to be my…uh…date." He said shyly.

"Oh, that explains everything." Maria said.

"I've heard that you two are quite the performers." Mrs. Bolton said. "Would you mind giving an impromptu performance? I didn't get the chance to hear you."

"But you're going to hear us on opening night." Troy pointed out.

"But I want a private performance."

"Come on, Troy. It'll be great practice. I need to get over this stage fright." Gabriella said. "We'll just do the 'What I've Been Looking For' part. Please." She gave him a puppy dog look. He couldn't resist. They both got up and started the scene.

"Arnold, we just met. We've only known each other for a few weeks. You can't possibly know what you seek."

Minnie, I'm not seeking for anything anymore, because I've already found it. I've found her. I've found you. You know me better than anyone. It's just taken me a little while to realize that."

Troy started singing first. "It's hard to believe that I couldn't see, you were always right beside me."

Gabriella took the next part of the verse. "Thought I was alone, with no one to hold, but you were always right beside me."

They sang in unison, their voices harmonizing, "This feelings like no other; I want you to know, that I've never had someone that knows me like you do, the way you do. And I've never had someone as good for me as you. No one like you. So lonely before I finally found what I've been looking for."

They stopped. Mrs. Bolton was clapping, and Jack and Maria gave approving nods.

Shortly after their impromptu performance, the Montez's had to leave. Gabriella said goodbye to Troy and was about to kiss him when Jack interrupted them. Troy groaned, and Gabriella laughed.

"Soon, Troy. Soon." She said before kissing him on the cheek. She waved goodbye to him as she got into her mom's car.

"Ugh! Dad!" Troy accused.

"What?" He replied.