"Dude!" Matt Sates called down the hall. Troy Bolton turned around, "Hey." Matt came to a halt, breathless. "So I heard the list is up," he said, referring to the list stating who made East High's famous basketball team. Matt noticed that Gabriella wasn't there. This relieved him – Troy was a good guy, but it was hard to be nice to him when he had his arms around the one girl every man (including Matt) would kill to have.

They neared the boy's locker room, where the list was hung on the adjacent wall. Troy looked at the list, and after scanning for his name, smiled. "You made it?" Matt asked. Troy nodded, "Yeah…look, I gotta go. Gabby's waiting for me in the library." Matt nodded, and tried not to grit his teeth at the mention of Troy's goddess of a girlfriend. Troy walked off, leaving Matt alone. He paused before looking at list, praying that he made captain. He'd wanted it so badly, spent the entire summer working out and practicing endlessly. He glanced up at the list finally, holding his breath. There was his name, printed neatly in black in white. He allowed a small smile to creep up on his face.

Oh.
Wait a minute.
He glanced at the list once more.

Just above his name, another sentence was typed.

Captain: Troy Bolton.

The smile dissolved quickly. Matt clenched his fists. Troy had everything. Everything.

Understanding parents. A great personality that made him likeable – too likeable. Money; Troy lived in an upscale part of town, driving a shiny Range Rover to school every day. Good, no, incredible looks that had girls swooning at the sight of him. Athletic skill – Troy was not only amazing at basketball, but also athletic all around. And Gabriella.

Matt clenched his fists so hard that it appeared his knuckles would rip out of his skin.

Gabriella, the angel. The stunning, beautiful, smart, athletic, sweet, funny, caring, confident, and incredibly goddess. Troy didn't notice all the guys that drooled over her when he wasn't looking. But Matt did. He was one of them.

And each one of them would do anything to have her.

Anything.

"So Chad, ever thought about a haircut?" asked Ashley Stone, a flirty smile on her face. The other girls in the library giggled lightly. It wasn't really funny. Ashley frowned for a moment, noting the fakeness in their giggles. "Cutting it would be inhumane.....I'm pretty sure that thing's alive," Gabriella told Ashley, grinning. The other girls burst out laughing – even Chad couldn't help a chuckle.

Ashley restrained a glare, forcing a laugh instead. She wished she had something like that. It was so unfair. Not only was Gabriella smart, athletic, confident, caring, and naturally beautiful, but she was also funny.

"What's so funny?" asked a voice. The voice that girls dreamed about. All of the girls immediately stopped laughing, looking up at Troy with wide eyes. But he only had eyes for one.

He made his way to Gabriella, wrapping his arms around her, pulling her to his chest. He frowned slightly when she didn't return the embrace. He let go, stepping back. "What's wrong, baby?" he asked, concern laced in his velvet voice. Whatever was wrong, he intended to make it better as soon as possible. Anything to make his girl smile that radiant smile of hers. He watched as a small pout broke out on her lips. "You're late," she stated. Relief washed over him, and he grinned again. "I'm sorry," apologized, "The list was up." No one asked which list. They knew.

The football team list was the football team list.

The soccer team list was the soccer team list.

The softball team list was the softball team list.

And so on….

But the basketball team lists and cross country team lists were the lists.

Cross country and basketball were the two legendary sports. To be part of either team was considered an honor, and though East High was famous for all of its athletic programs, cross country and basketball outshined the rest. Every year, both teams went to county, state, and even national competitions. They were legend.

So it was only fitting that Troy be on the basketball team, and Gabriella on cross country.

Gabriella allowed Troy to pull her back into her arms, looping her own arms around his neck. "But I missed you," she whined, still pouting. He chuckled, "Good." And with that, he planted a sweet kiss on her lips. The girls in the library all 'awed' as they always had – because they had to admit, it was incredibly romantic. They hid their jealous scowls well – they had, after all, been doing so for the duration of Troy and Gabriella's love fest. That was a loooooong time.

Troy felt himself becoming absorbed in the kiss, in her. He always did. When Gabriella finally pulled away, and asked, "So?" he blinked. "What?" he asked. "The list," she reminded him.

Oh yeah.
He had temporarily forgotten the past few minutes. Actually, he had temporarily forgotten his entire life prior to that sweet kiss.

She didn't ask if he had made it or not. He was Troy Bolton – it was practically a given that he'd be on the team. Not due to his fame, due to his skill. "I'm captain," he stated. The group of teens around them erupted in cheers, the whoops from the girls genuine and adoring, and the hollers from the guys admiring, yet bitter.

Troy and Gabriella didn't notice. They never did.

"Congrats, babe," Gabriella told him sincerely, love sparkling in her eyes. He pecked her lips once more, before muttering, "Thanks." Standing on her tip toes, she put her lips to his ear, "My parents are going out tonight…we can celebrate then." He felt a shudder run down his spine at the proposal from the seductive goddess. He buried his face in her soft curls, closing his eyes. He imagined that night…the kisses filled to the brim with desire and desperation……the soft feel of her bare skin against his…..the arousing sound of both of their moans mixed together as they-

"Dude? Dude?" Chad shook Troy. Blinking, Troy pulled his face out of Gabriella's hair, looking at her. She was smiling in amusement. He shot her a fake glare before turning to Chad, keeping Gabriella locked in his arms. "Did you hear what I said?" Chad asked. Troy shook his head, trying to hide his annoyance at the fact that Chad had ripped him out of his fantasies. Chad shook his head at his best friend, walking off.

Troy reluctantly let go of Gabriella, to sit down in a chair at the large table that everyone was seated at. He pulled Gabriella down onto his lap, resting his chin on her shoulder. Bending down from his lap, Gabriella bent down to pull a notebook out of her bag and placed it on the table. The rest of group continued studying and chatting quietly, Troy and Gabriella being pulled in and out of conversations. As Gabriella studied and made light conversation with her peers around the table, Troy placed small kiss around her neck, making her smile. Everyone else watched in jealousy as he continued, nibbling on her ear lobe, biting down softly on her neck causing her to giggle. "So Gabrie—Gabby," Ashley started, attempting to pull Gabriella back into the real world. Anything to stop the sickening love-fest. Gabriella looked up, and Ashley sighed in relief. Ashley started a light and completely pointless conversation with Gabriella, as to keep her distracted from Troy. Watching their romantic moments was torture for Ashley, as it was everyone else at the table. She wanted to be seated on Troy lap, have him kiss her the way he kissed Gabriella, have him murmur sweet things in her ear like he did with Gabriella. Have him love her the way he did Gabriella. She would do anything to have him.

Anything.

Last period that day found Troy sitting anxiously in his seat. Mr. Klein was handing out the unit assessments. Troy bounced his leg nervously…history had always been his worst subject. So many damn dates to remember! The groans of disappointment occurring throughout the room only increased his fear, and when Mr. Klein neared his desk he held his breath. Without looking at Troy, he placed the test face-down on his desk. Slowly, Troy lifted it up, turning it over.

60%

Troy sighed in defeat. This would bring his average down almost two letter grades. He sighed, thinking back to what he had been doing when he was supposed to be studying. Bits of memory flooded back to him, like choppy scenes from a movie.

The entire vision was of Gabriella…her beautiful face, full of pleasure…her beautiful body, bare and exposed to the world –well, to him…..her beautiful moans, enticing and arousing….

"Mr. Bolton!" Mr. Klein's sharp voice rang throughout the classroom. Several students turned to look at Troy, who nearly groaned out loud. Damn people, interrupting his fantasies… "Sorry Sir," Troy muttered. Mr. Klein nodded and continued. "As you all know, you all did not perform exceedingly well this unit. In fact, the highest score was an 86. Because I am so generous-," at this Troy tried not to roll his eyes, "I am offering a re-take of the exam." All of the students, including Troy sighed in relief. "It will be held during lunch…," Troy smiled – this was a chance to get his grade back up, "…tomorrow."

At this, a murmur and gasp rippled through the classroom. Mr. Klein seemed indifferent to their shock. "T-tomorrow?" a student asked, bewildered, like everyone else. Mr. Klein nodded, "Yes, you heard me. Tomorrow." "But sir, that only gives us tonight to study!" Troy exclaimed. Some students nodded in agreement. "Yes, Mr. Bolton, but I assume you should be fine. After all, you didn't show an interest in paying attention to today's lesson, you were staring into space. So, obviously, you already know this material?" Troy did his best not to glare. Both he and Mr. Klein knew that Troy was far from knowing all of the material. The bell rang, and students filed out of the room, murmuring about the test tomorrow. Troy grabbed his books and followed, silently damning Mr. Klein to hell.

After stopping by his locker and grabbing his backpack, Troy shoved his way through the masses of students as he made his way down the hall. After pulling himself out of the ocean of students, all excited to leave the hell hole known as school, he reached his destination; Gabriella's locker. "Hey," he said, leaning against the locker next to hers, watching her intently. She glanced up at him quickly, shutting her locker after retrieving her bag. "Hey babe," she chirped. As she tried to stuff one too many books into her bag, they all seemed to explode, and fell to the floor. Before she could move, Troy was on the floor, picking up her books quickly before anyone could step on them. Gabriella smiled at Troy's sweetness, "Thanks Troy," she murmured when he handed her the books. He looked into her deep chocolate eyes, shimmering with gratitude and affection. He can't help but remember how damn much he loves this girl. "I would do anything for you, Gabby. Anything," he murmurs sincerely. Smiling gently, Gabriella allows her bag to slide off of her shoulder, down her arm and onto the floor next to her locker. She wraps her arms around Troy's neck, and rests her forehead against his. "I would do anything for you too, Troy. Anything."

Troy walked Gabriella to her shiny black Mercedes, as he always did. When they crossed the busy parking lot and reached her car, a thought struck him. "Gabby?" he asked. "Yeah?" she asked, pressing a button on her car-remote, unlocking the luxury ride. "Why do we drive separately?"he questioned. She opened the passenger side door, placed her bag on the seat, then closed the door and turned around to faceTroy. "What you mean?" she asked, leaning back against her car. He leaned forward slightly, placing his hands on either side of her, locking her in. She looped her arms around his neck, waiting for him continue. "I mean, we live so close to each other – hell, sometimes we stay at each other's houses- why do we drive separately? Why don't we just drive together?"he asked. She smiled, "Okay!" He blinked. "Okay?" She giggles lightly, "Yeah. Okay. I mean, my dad would love that. I spend most of my gas money on the trip to school. Carpooling is also good for the environment," she reminded him. He chuckled, "True. So when do we start?"

"How about next week? You can drive for…a month, then we'll switch, and I'll drive?"

"Sounds like a plan."

"Okay…pick me up at seven?"

He nodded again, leaning forward even more so that he could feel her sweet breath on his face. She pushed her lips against his, and he smiled into the kiss. His warms lips danced with hers for a while, and he ran his tongue along her bottom lip, asking for entrance, which she allowed. His tongue dove into its favorite place – her mouth, re-exploring every inch of it. Finally, he pulled away, breathless and smiling. "I'll see you tomorrow?" he asked, though he knew he would. She nodded, and he pecked her lips once more before heading off to his own car.

As Troy waited in the long car line to get out of the school parking lot, he glanced casually in his rear view mirror. There she was, right behind him. She looked up, saw him in the mirror, smiled and blew him a kiss. He couldn't help but grin. God, he would do anything for that girl.

Anything.

Yay! I'm feeling better! Okay, so here's the deal – 10 (OR MORE) REVIEWS FOR THE NEXT CHAPTER – that means at least 18 reviews before I update! I'm sorry, I feel bad doing this, but if I don't, you don't review!