AN: Yay! Thanks so much for the awesome reviews guys! Here's another chapter for you, where the best friends tell Chad and Taylor their plan. This Chapter is like only a filler chapter… nothing going on much. But still. R&R! And because of that, Chapter 4 might be coming in later today!
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"Hey," Gabriella greeted Troy the next morning when she found him leaning against her locker.
"Hi," Troy answered back but his eye was not on her, it was on Tyler who was, standing at the end of the buzzing hallway, glaring at the pair.
"Hey, what's wrong?"
Troy mumbled something obscure, making Gabriella only hear the parts 'Tyler' 'end' and 'hallway'. Gabriella followed his gaze and saw none other than her worst nightmare. She shivered as she saw Tyler smiled at her. She finally turned to Troy and nudged him.
"Just leave him alone," Gabriella sighed.
Troy just continued with his intense stare. "There's something in him that makes him so killable," Troy stated simply. Gabriella couldn't help but smile a little at his sentence. Who says 'killable' anyway? Troy started to make his way towards the guy but Gabriella reached out to stop him.
"Troy, calm down...you're not going to kill anyone," Gabriella sighed as she tugged his arm.
"Oh , yeah? Watch me..."
"We've already done the death threats man, they don't work...might as well calm down."
Troy and Gabriella both turned to the sound and found Chad, with Taylor on his arm.
"Hey man," Troy and Chad did their 'manly' handshake while Gabriella and Taylor shared a quick hug.
"Where were you two?" started Troy, staring at the pair who was obviously cuddling.
"Probably up on the roof having a quick make-out session before class," teased Gabriella.
Taylor blushed. "Hey, it was Taylor who suggested it!" Chad retaliated, pulling Taylor closer to him.
Taylor turned red even more and gasped at him. "Chad Michael Danforth, how could you?" Taylor mocked, hitting on the arm.
"Okay, we've had enough lovey-dovey stuff from you two, time to get serious," Troy started.
Gabriella nodded. "About yesterday…."
"Oh yeah… about that, what happened between you two? Troy was pretty pissed," Chad said.
"Try 'very'" Troy muttered.
"You won't believe the mess I got myself into." Gabriella sighed, looking down.
"Um...excuse me?" Troy said.
"US...mess I got US into," she corrected with a roll of her eyes.
"What happened?" Taylor asked.
"Well you guys know half of it already right? About the Tyler-in-the-library encounter?"
Chad and Taylor nodded.
"That guy really can't take a hint," Chad muttered.
"I know...believe me, I know," Gabriella said.
"I told you guys that I lied and said I was going with someone else and...that's when I pulled Troy away. "
Chad and Taylor nodded once more.
"Wait... let me guess, Wemming asked if Troy was going with you?"Chad asked. "Yeah."
"Sooo...?" Taylor asking them to continue.
"Loud mouth here tells him yes," Troy finished for her and did his famous pout.
"You what?" Taylor asked incredulously, but inside she was screaming "Oh My God! Yeah! Way to go Gabi!"
"Oh, it gets better...she then tells him we're dating."
"Are you insane?" Chad faked surprised while sharing a knowing look with Taylor. Troy and Gabriella took no notice of this.
Gabriella let out a sigh. "Yes, apparently! Jeez..."
She then slapped Troy's arm. "And why are you being a jerk again, you agreed to pretend."
"I did yes, but I can still pout!"
"Wait, pretend to what?" Chad asked curiously.
"We are going to date until the Senior Prom...just pretend though," Troy told him.
Chad snorted.
"What?" asked Gabriella.
"Well, you guys won't need to do much." Taylor said, with amusement in her eyes.
"What do you mean?"
Taylor rolled her eyes. "As you guys may have noticed, more than half of the student population thinks you're dating remember?" Including Chad and I, Taylor added as an afterthought. "But your not. Your 'just friends'." Taylor continued, air quoting the words 'just friends'.
Troy and Gabriella blushed and said "Yeah."
"Well, you guys just keep on doing what you've been doing as 'just friends', " Taylor explained, air quoting the words 'just friends' once more.
"Kick it up a notch, and BAM! Hopefully, that'll get Tyler off your back, Gabi." Chad continued.
"Buuuuut if he keeps pursuing her AFTER 'the break up', then we stick to her like glue until graduation," Troy said firmly.
Chad nodded. "Good plan." Gabriella was like a sister to him and Taylor and would do anything to keep her away from Tyler, the playboy.
Gabriella scowled. "I can take care of myself." She turned to Troy. "All I need you to do is pretend we are dating and we can break up at the Senior Prom so you can have your precious time with Cecilia, okay? Now, if you'll excuse me I'm going to class."
Troy grabbed her arm and yanked her back. "You're not going anywhere while you are pissed at me."
"I'm not pissed at you," she said unconvincingly.
"Yes you are...if we are going to do this right, going out there while we are fighting isn't a convincing way to do it, Gabi."
Troy sighed. "We'll meet you in class...I gotta cool this one down."
Gabriella replied by hitting him on his arm.
"Good luck...Well, we gotta go…somewhere…see ya around lovebiiiirds." Chad teased.
Gabriella started to pounce at him, causing Chad to flinch and stumble backwards. Troy, fortunately for Chad's sake, was holding her back.
"Get out of here before she starts baring claws." Troy joked.
"Have fun with her," Taylor laughed before finally leaving the hallway with her boyfriend, probably to have another make-out session at the rooftops.
"Gabi, calm down," he said gently as he pulled her to him. "It's okay...I know we seem like jerks, but we're just trying to protect you."
"I don't need protection," she said even though she was already relaxing in his arms.
"No doubt you are a strong woman and could probably kick anyone's ass," he said causing a chuckle to escape from Gabriella. "But we love you, Gabi...we'd do anything for you, you know."
She sighed as she leaned back against him. "I know."
Troy placed his chin on her shoulder. "Are you okay now?"
She took in a shaky breath as she tilted her head resting her temple against his. "Yeah, I'm sorry I snapped. I don't like this any more than you do."
"Listen Gabi, pretending to be your boyfriend isn't going to be bad at all, come on...you're acting like it's gonna be open heart surgery or something. We're going to have fun with this okay?"
She smiled slightly. "Okay."
"Well anyway, you look great."
She blushed slightly. "Thanks...had to look good enough to be on Troy Bolton's arm."
He let out a laugh. "Yeah right...whatever. It's ME who doesn't deserve you...every single guy in East High has some kind of plan to try and snag you."
"And how would you know this?" she asked amused.
He shrugged. "I might have overheard some guys talking about you." He sighed. "Let's just say, I was very close to going over there and beating the crap out of them all."
She winced. "That bad huh?"
"Yeah, but they ARE guys, I mean...Chad and I talk about girls like that, so I can't blame them really, ya know? I mean, they aren't attached to you the way I am."
"Aww, you're sweet," she said as she ruffled his hair.
"Hey, hey," he said as he pulled her hand away. "Don't mess up the hair, okay?"
She let out a laugh. "Whatever…besides I like it better when it's messy." She then ruffled his hair again making them both laugh.
They grabbed their books before Troy grinned and held out his hand. "Ready to go, babe?"
She smiled and slipped her hand in his warm one. Funny, whenever Troy held her hand in any way, whether it was for comfort or any other reason...she always felt safe. She gave him a friendly squeeze. "Ready as ever."
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AN: I'm sorry if it sucked. Haha. Like I said, nothing much going on…and Cecilia won't be mentioned much… anyway, R&R please!