Guys, I am so terribly sorry for the delay. But I think I have a (sort of) legitimate excuse. I had this story started a few weeks ago, but I got so sidetracked with mid-term exams and tennis tournaments that I lost track of time! And now, here on the east coast we have two feet of snow and no internet connection, so even as I finish up this story and type these very words, I probably won't be able to post this until next week….which, for you, is now, since obviously, you are reading this….now, which isn't now-now, but it's now to you….oh, never mind! Basically, I am writing this on 2/8, but you are probably reading this on, oh I don't know, after. Now on to the story!

Troy sat there, holding the phone to his ear, a lazy smile still planted on his face. She had already hung up, but he kept the phone to his ear in a daze, as if, by some miracle her honey-sweet voice would float back to him.

He still couldn't believe how perfect she was.

He supposed he should have been used to it by now. They'd been together for over two years.

And yet, the experience was new every day.

Every day, when she walked through the doors of East High, he felt his knees weaken at the sight of her beauty.

Every day, it baffled him, how selfless and caring she was.

And every day, it crashed down on him, that she loved him too.

"Troy?" his mother's voice rang out from downstairs, breaking him out of his post-Gabriella stupor. He dashed out his room, leaning over the railing.

"Yeah?"

"Isn't that Gabby's car pulling up in the driveway?"

Troy ran down the stairs to gaze through the window. Sure enough, a sleek silver Mercedes was pulling in. He couldn't help the smile that crossed his lips. She was here.

He ran the down the rest of the spiral staircase, taking three steps at a time and nearly tripping over himself. He reached the huge front door just as she rang the doorbell. He wrenched the door to reveal his gorgeous girlfriend. She revealed her radiating smile as she looked up at him. It had only been a few hours since he had seen her, she was still dressed the same, and yet her beauty never failed to stun him. He grabbed her hand and pulled her to his chest, wrapping his arms around her. She looped her arms around his neck, and reached up on her tip-toes to peck his lips. They remained in the embrace for a few moments longer, until Lucille walked out into the massive foyer.

"Hi, Gabby," she smiled at Gabriella, who greeted her back from Troy's arms, "I thought you were staying at Gabby's tonight?" she addressed her son.

He shrugged, "Change of plans…is it okay?" he looked at his mother, his arms still wrapped around his girlfriend.

"Remember, you two have school tomorrow," she reminded them unnecessarily, as mothers often do.

The two nodded, and Troy reluctantly let go of Gabriella, taking her hand and pulling her up the stairs to his bedroom.

Once inside Troy's spacious room, Gabriella carelessly tossed her book bag onto Troy's bed. "So…how about we do our homework…then, I can help you study?" she asked.

He nodded, intensely gazing at her with love. She looked up at him, only to find him staring at her. "What?" she asked, blushing slightly. He smiled at this, loving that he could make her blush. He grabbed her hand and abruptly pulled her to him, gripping her hips and gazing down at her. "I love you," he told her, sincerity and adoration dripping from his voice.

She smiled gently, reaching up to cup his cheek with her hand. "I love you too."

They stood there a while, before parting to gather their books and papers. Troy pulled a chair up to the desk for Gabriella, before seating himself and turning on the desk lamp, the light shining off the glossy wooden surface.

Gabriella plopped down on the seat next to him, placing her journal and textbook on the desk next to his materials. As he was about to put his arm around her shoulders, as he usually did when they were seated next to each other, she used her legs to push off and the wheeled chair rolled backwards towards Troy's bed. She suddenly placed her feet on the ground, stopping herself as she reached the end of Troy's kind sized bed. She shoved her hand into her bag, digging around until her hang emerged with a sleek purple pen.

Troy watched as she clicked the end to make the ball-point pop out. He stared as she frowned, running the tip up and down the length of her finger, testing the ink. When her finger remained spotless, her frown only grew and Troy found himself grinning just watching her little drama. Finally, after digging through her bag, she found another pink pen. She looked up to find Troy staring at her, still grinning.

Realizing that he had witnessed her tiny pen episode, she blushed, smiling sheepishly. She used her strong legs to propel herself back to the desk, next to Troy, whose eyes never left her. Once there, she looked up at him, to find that he was still grinning at her.

"Troy!" she exclaimed, her cheeks continuing to redden.

His grin only grew at the fact that a mere smile had agitated his girlfriend so much. "Yeah, babe?"

She didn't quite know how to scold him, or what to scold him for, for that matter. "Just…do your work."

He chuckled, his grin never fading. "Whatever you say, babe."

"Whatever."

He slung his left arm around her, seeing as she was seated to his left, and pulled her close to him. He kissed the top of her head, and continued filling in his math problems with his right hand. Gabriella flipped through her French textbook, reviewing vocabulary for next week's test. They continued to work in comfortable silence for the next hour, Troy's arm remaining around Gabriella's shoulder, and Gabby's head on his shoulder.

"Gab?"

"Mmm?"

"In a radical, if I want to distribute 3 radical 7, the radical seven can only go to the other radical, right?"

"Right…you can only put like terms together."

"Right, thanks babe." He placed another kiss to the top of her dark curls.

"Mmm hmm…"

A knock at the door sounded, and the two looked up to see Lucille entering.

"Your father's home, Troy. Do you two want dinner?"

The two glanced at each other.

They would never finish if they took time off for dinner.

"Uh…Mom, we kinda need to get this done…"

"Do you want me to bring something up?"

"That'd be great. Thanks, Mom."

"Thanks Mrs. Bolton," Gabby added.

Lucille smiled at the couple before heading back downstairs.

About fifteen minutes later, Lucille returned with two plates of food, placing them on the large desk surface (if you haven't guessed, this is a very large desk. :) ) Troy and Gabriella continued to work, nibbling on dinner as they went. At 10:00, Gabriella slammed her textbook shut.

"Done," she huffed, relieved.

Troy looked up at her.

She looked tired –no, exhausted. Her deep brown eyes seemed so exasperated, begging for sleep. Her entire form was slouching, as if she would collapse any moment.

She needed rest. And he was the one depriving her of it.

He hated himself for it. She deserved to be tucked in bed, safe and sound. And yet, he had allowed her to come over here and waste her precious time.

She had offered to sacrifice her sleep for him, that was true.

But he had let her.

Noticing the pained looked in his eyes, Gabriella's eyebrows rose with concern.

"What's wrong?" she asked him caringly. She sounded so sweet, so….exhausted.

God, it hurt.

To see her so worn out after such a long day, knowing that he was doing nothing to help. That he had let this happen.

He squeezed his eyes shut. How could he do this to her? Stupid, stupid Bolton.

"Troy?...."

He opened his eyes slowly, taking her hand in his. "I'm so sorry, Gabs…"

Her delicate eyebrows knitted, displaying her confusion towards his apology.

"For keeping you up," he explained, seeing her lost expression. Her eyebrows immediately unfurrowed in understanding.

"Babe, it's ok…I told you I'd do this. You never forced me to do anything."

Troy sighed. She was so nice, so giving…it only made it hurt more. She didn't deserve this. They both knew how valuable sleep was to a teenager. School was long and tiring, and hours after school were full of homework and extra-curricular activities.

They were constantly multi-tasking, and sleep was the one period of pure relief.

And he was taking that away from her.

…….But wait………

He could fix it.
He couldn't get back the hours they'd already spent, but he could give her the time that remained….

"Let's go to sleep," he finally said.

"What about your test tomorrow?"

"Fuck it. I'll fail it, but whatever. You need rest-,"at this she opened her mouth, so he rephrased, "-we need rest."

"No," she stated simply.

"Gabs-"

"No Troy," she cut him off, "You need this grade. It's just one night Troy," she saw him frown, "one night."

Troy sighed, burying his face in his hands. "I can't do that to you, Gabs. You have a lot to deal with too, you have that French test," he lifted his face and motioned towards her French textbook, "and how can you concentrate then? You're already exhausted – you know you are."

"I know I am."

"Then -,"

"Then I might get a bad grade. So what? I have a ninety-eight in that class, Troy! A ninety-eight! I could bomb the test and still have an A in the class! Your grade depends on tomorrow's test. Mine doesn't."

He closed his eyes. She was right.

He tilted his head upwards, thanking the heavens for this goddess of a girlfriend. This angel that was all his.

"I love you," he murmured, his eyes still shut.

She smiled and leaned over to peck his cheek. "Let's get studying."

For three more hours, Gabriella relentlessly quizzed Troy. On many dates, on many people, on many revolutions incited by many events led by many leaders. When Troy looked at her, he felt his heart tremble in pain. Her eyelids were drooping so that her chocolate irises were not fully visible. Her shoulders were slouching, her entire body looking like it would collapse, like she didn't have the energy to support herself.

"Babe," he murmured quietly, running his fingers through his chestnut hair.

She looked up from his large history textbook, slowly, as if her neck was too weak to support her heavy head.

"Wanna study in bed?"

She nodded slowly, placing the book on the desk and stretching her arms. Troy looked out ahead of him, into the dark hallway. His parents had long since gone to bed, and all the lights in the house were off. Except, of course, for Troy's.

She stood slowly, as if her legs had a terrible ache, grasping the heavy textbook and stumbling towards Troy's king-sized bed. It looked so inviting…

He clumsily unplugged the desk lamp, and carried over towards his bed, placing it on his bedside table and plugging it in there. He shut then walked towards the entrance to his room, reaching for the large panel of switches and flicking them all down in one fluid motion. Immediately, the room was bathed in a deep darkness that made it even more challenging for the two of them to remain awake. The only light that remained on was the lamp on the bedside table, and Gabriella stared at it, hoping that it's bright intensity would help her avoid sleep. She turned when she felt a tug on her hand.

It was Troy. Sleepily, they both peeled off their clothes until Troy was only in boxers and Gabriella only in a camisole and boyshorts.

The two climbed into bed, it's warmth enveloping them immediately and seducing them into sleep. But no, they had to stay awake. Struggling to keep their eyes open, the two continued to study, Gabriella reading facts from the book and leaving the sentences open for Troy to finish. She knew Troy learned well this way.

Finally Troy glanced at the clock. It was almost four. They had to wake up at seven, and school started at seven forty five.

Damn.

"Gabs," he murmured, his voice thick with sleep.

She looked up at him tiredly.

"I think that's enough. Let's sleep."

Too exhausted to reply, she simply pushed the book off of the bed. It landed with a thud. Reaching over her, Troy switched the lamp off, leaving his arm draped over her frame. She snuggled into his chest, kissing the base of his neck before mumbling a "Night."

"Night baby. I love you," he whispered into her deep curls, pulling her tighter against him.

"Love…you…too…," she mumbled, slowly drifting into sleep.

Before allowing himself to join her in sleep, he found the strength to thank god once more for angel in his arms.

Yay! Again, sorry for the delay – it's not (completely) my fault! So what'd ya think? REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!