AN: So sorry for the long wait! I was distracted! Haha. I found out that I was invited to an exclusive High School Musical 2 Poolside Party here in Singapore and that kept me excited for days! It's this Friday and I can't wait!

Anyway, ANOTHER CHAPTER! Thanks for the reviews guys! Again, so sorry!

--

"You ready to go?" Troy asked. "We wouldn't want Tyler and Claire to reach there first. It's almost 4.30."

They were in their secret hideout together. Again. Just spending the time, enjoying each other's company, fooling around… while waiting for the time to come before they get on with their plan. All this while, both Troy and Gabriella couldn't help but feel a bit excited, as if they couldn't wait to kiss each other again. Well, in fact, they can't!

Troy wanted nothing else right at that moment but to feel Gabriella's body pushed up against his own, feeling her warmth while his mouth devours hers… while Gabriella wanted nothing else but to run her hands all over Troy's hair and his amazing six-pack chest that was worth dying for.

But too bad. They are just pretending. They are just best friends...

"Yeah, let's go," she said and then took his outstretched and hand and together they walked down the stairs, to the same place Tyler and Claire were at hours before. Their footsteps echoed as they walked down the empty hallways until they reached the corner Tyler and Claire were at hours ago.

"Good, they're not here yet," Troy whispered as he watched Gabriella leaned herself on the wall before following in suit.

"This is it," Gabriella said, intertwining her hand with Troy's.

She glanced absent-handedly at her watch before letting out a breath she didn't know she was holding. "We have about 8 minutes until 4.30," she told him.

"Where should we stand? Right here?" she asked. "How about to that bench over there?" he suggested while pointing at a small bench opposite that little corner. "They would surely notice us."

"Sure," she said, her voice breaking as she started to get nervous. They made their way to the bench and sat down. Troy started to wring his hands on his lap as he turned to look at Gabriella.

"What's wrong?" he asked, frowning as he studied her nervous expression.

"Nothing," she said quickly. "I just...I don't know I'm nervous all of the sudden. It's...I don't know..."

"Awkward again?" he asked.

She shrugged. "Yeah, a little." Calm yourself down, Gabriella, she told herself. It's just Troy… and puh-lease, don't tell me you're not excited about this! Gabriella blushed at her own thinking.

"C'mere," Troy said softly as he tugged on her gently until she situated herself in front of him, placing both knees on either side of his hips and straddled his lap. "They could walk in any minute." He ran his fingers softly over her neck, pulling back her hair before burying his face against her skin and kissed it. "The awkwardness will go away once we start."

Her eyes fluttered closed when he kissed her skin and her fingers dove into his unruly hair, just the way she likes it. His lips traveled up her neck and over her jaw line before he finally kissed her. Softly and gently. That was all it took for every tense muscle in her body to turn to putty. She literally melted against him as he continued to coax her with his sweet kisses, before she finally opened up her mouth to him. His tongue crept slowly into her mouth, massaging it with her own in a lazy, leisurely motion. He smelled intoxicating. She moaned softly and pressed her body closer to hers, silently letting him know that she was no longer nervous.

He groaned back in response when their bodies pressed tightly together. His fingers dove into her hair as he turned the kiss from gently to fierce. Their was no more tenderness...in either of them. Only raw passion, which they were both caught up in they almost didn't hear footsteps coming.

Luckily, Troy had opened his eyes for a split second to see Tyler and Claire's stunned faces. He pulled a part breathlessly, in which Gabriella let out a whining moan. "We got an audience, Gabi," he said softly as he licked his lips...her taste lingered.

She turned around to see them. "This isn't a show you know...we were here first."

Tyler stood frozen. "But...but..."

"But what, Wemming?" Troy asked. "Look, sorry we beat you here, but you're just going to have to find another place to have your little chat or whatever it is your about to do with Claire." Troy and Gabriella slowly stood up from their position and Troy leaned against the wall.

"Now...if you two don't mind, I'd like to finish where I left off with my girlfriend." Troy said, emphasizing on the words 'my girlfriend'. He didn't wait for a response...he immediately grabbed Gabriella's wrist and turned her towards him and kissed her again. They both tried hard not to laugh when they smiled against their lips, but the laughter was soon turned into strangled groans as they got back into their kiss.

Claire scowled at the both of them. "Let's go Tyler!"

They heard their footsteps slowly fading away but Troy continued to kiss her deeply as he slowly began to shift until he was pressing her back onto the wall.

"Mmmm...Troy...they're...gone," she said between their kisses as Troy ran his hands through her long silky hair.

"Little longer," he breathed against her mouth. "Just in case they come back. Hmm, you taste good."

She didn't argue. He tasted just as good and felt just as wonderful. Troy left her lips to give them both a break and started to kiss her neck again. She gasped softly when he started to lightly suck on her skin. "Tr--Troy what are you doing?" she whispered even though she prayed he wouldn't stop.

"Giving you a hickey of course," he said with a hint of amusement in his voice. "If that won't shut people up, I don't know what will."

She smiled as she let his teeth and tongue do it's magic. Troy was the best pretend boyfriend ever. Her smile soon began to fall though as she began to realize...a part of her wished it wasn't just pretend.

--

"Hey Taylor," Gabriella started as she walked towards Taylor's the day after. Taylor was rummaging through her locker, looking for her Maths book when Gabriella let out a long sigh, catching her attention. Taylor looked up and did a double-take.

"Hey girl, what's been going on? I went to your house at around 4 yesterday to hang out but you weren't there. I didn't see you after school and figured you would be home. Where were you?" Taylor asked, her eyebrows knitted in confusion.

Gabriella looked down at her shoes and stepped closer to Taylor, pointing to her neck.

"Is it obvious?" She whispered.

"What's obvious?"

She lifted her hair gently and Taylor gasped before covering her mouth to stifle her laughter, a grin threatening to come out.

"Girl, is that…?"

Gabriella nodded quickly and pulled her hair down again. She looked sheepishly at Taylor before mumbling "Troy" under her breath.

Taylor finally lost it and bursted out laughing.

"Sssshhh!" Gabriella covered Taylor's mouth with her own hand and blushed profusely.

When Taylor finally calmed down, she asaid "Wow… and I thought you and Troy making out was amusing but I was clearly wrong," she teased.

"Ah well… is it obvious?" Gabriella asked again.

"Not really, just put your hair down like that the whole day and no one will notice I thing. You're lucky your hair's long…" Taylor said, another round of laughter about to erupt from her.

"What happened yesterday?" Taylor asked her, her eyes twinkling.

Gabriella explained everything to her from Tyler and Claire's secret discussion to meet after school until the very last part when Tyler and Claire walked out on them.

"Ha! That'll show her!" Gabriella smiled at this.

"I'm guessing Troy got caught up in the moment?" Taylor giggled. "Something like that…" Gabriella sighed dreamily just as Troy and Chad came bounding up behind them.

Troy wrapped his arms around Gabriella from behind before kissing her cheek, Chad doing the same to Taylor.

Taylor took one look at the 'couple' and bursted out laughing once again.

Chad looked confusedly at her and raised his eyebrows.

"Are you alright Taylor?" Chad asked.

"Yes, Chad I'm fine now let's get going before we're late!" Taylor said before leaving the three alone and walking towards homeroom. Gabriella followed suite while the boys looked on, confused.

They shrugged and followed them as well, not wanting to know what goes on a girl's mind on a Friday morning.

--

"Hey Troy, you're still coming over to my house later for our usual Friday-Pizza-Movie night right?" Gabriella asked him, while sitting on his desk, waiting for Ms. Darbus to come.

"I wouldn't miss it for the world… and when did I ever not go?" Troy raised his eyebrows.

"Good point." Gabriella chuckled just as Miss Darbus came into the room.

Gabriella quickly went back to her seat, but not before giving Troy a wink.

--

Later that evening…

"What do you want on your pizza Troy?" Gabriella asked him, holding a cordless phone on her hand.

"Anything's fine. By the way, where's your mom?" Troy asked her, sitting on the couch, looking through a pile of DVDs that was on the table.

"She visited my sick aunt in LA, she won't be back until Monday. She flew there yesterday," Gabriella explained, dialing the familiar number of the pizza place they love so much.

Troy nodded absently before making his way towards the DVD player, putting in 'Night at the Museum'. He paused it first though, waiting for their pizza to arrive first.

"Oh yeah… which reminds me… do you want to sleep over tonight? I don't want to be alone…" Gabriella pouted, once she confirmed their order through the phone.

Troy snorted and looked back at her. "I thought you stayed home alone loads of times before."

"Yeah that's true… but the weatherman said that there's gonna be a HUGE thunderstorm for the next two days and you know how I am…" Gabriella protested while situating herself beside Troy on the couch.

"You actually believe the weatherman? He's not even right 60 percent of the time!"

"Please… You can stay in the guest room…" Gabriella said suggestively, putting on her best puppy dog eyes she knew Troy couldn't resist.

Troy sighed. "Fine… only because I know you can't get enough of me," he teased, before leaving Gabriella alone on the couch to probably call his parents.

Gabriella did not respond to that, but just tolled her eyes and smirked at him.

"Oh hey, Gabi, what if I just stay the weekend? After all, the 'weatherman said that the thunderstorm will be for two days'" Troy said sarcastically before grabbing that same cordless phone Gabriella used just minutes ago.

Suddenly, the doorbell rang. Woah, that's one fast pizza!

"Ha. Ha. Very funny. And to answer your question, no problem. I could use some company anyway." Gabriella stood up from the couch to answer the door. She paid the delivery guy quickly and placed the two boxes of Pizza on the table in front of the couch. She sat on the couch, grabbing one of the pizzas and taking a bite, patiently waiting for Troy.

Troy finally finished calling his parents, saying it was okay for him to stay at Gabriella's for the weekend knowing that even though they disagree, Troy would throw any good excuse just for him to stay over so they simply said 'Yes' to avoid any arguments.

Troy unpaused the movie and sat beside Gabriella, grabbing her pizza from her and taking a bite from it.

"What lame excuse did you give this time?" Gabriella asked, the introduction of 'Night At The Museum' playing on the TV in front of her.

Troy chuckled. She knew him too well. "I didn't. They agreed immediately to avoid any arguments and lame excuses."

"Good." Gabriella chuckled as well, taking another pizza from the pizza box, leaving the other one with Troy. "Now, hush, I want to watch the movie," Gabriella said, her eyes glued to the television while Troy put his arms around her, making her insides churn.

He'd done it before but now it felt different. Their relationship had changed so much. For the better or for the worst, she's not really sure.

She shook off that thought and snuggled closer to him, sighing in contentment. How can she deserve such an amazing person? All because of him, Tyler didn't even glance at her direction today. She then realized that maybe; Tyler was finally starting to back off.

Sometimes, she's not even sure herself if they were only pretending. It all seems so real. Cecilia suddenly crossed her mind. Taylor was right. He hadn't mentioned her since forever. Maybe Troy has given up on her.

Sigh. She shouldn't think about this now.

Gabriella glanced at Troy, noticing how cute he looked when he was concentrated on a movie. She finally cleared her mind off of all her thoughts and focused on the movie herself.

--

It was well past midnight, when Troy had finally departed Gabrielle and was now fast asleep. It took him awhile to fall asleep, because thoughts of Gabriella kept running through his head. When they had said their good nights, the last thing he wanted to do was crawl into the bed in the guest room. He wanted to be with her.

And that had scared him.

He wasn't supposed to have these feelings with Gabriella. His best friend. The girl he had grown fond of ever since she transferred to Albuquerque. Better yet, ever since they had sang karaoke together in a ski lodge at new year's a few years ago. He had closed his eyes and tried to think of her as his friend...just his friend.

That didn't work.

Instead of thinking of her as just his friend, he thought of how soft and silky her hair felt between his fingers.

Instead of thinking of her as just his friend, he thought of how well her body had developed and how wonderful it felt pressed up against him. Her mouth...in which he once thought was only useful for silly grins and priceless smiles...but now he knew that her mouth had many more talents. That was what took Troy so long to fall asleep. He didn't know what to think about it.

Outside, dark clouds swarmed overhead and lightening streaked across the sky in a flash. Soon, sheets of water came pouring down, banging against the windows and thunder echoed overhead. It looks like the weatherman was right. Troy didn't mind thunderstorms...and didn't hear it either because he didn't even flinch when a loud boom of thunder shook the windows.

However, Gabriella who was just across the hall gasped in fear as her body flinched awake. Her heart raced and her breath quickened as she slowly sat in bed. Her room flickered when lightening flashed again and she jumped a second time when thunder stirred.

She threw the covers off of her and slowly made her way out of her room and through the dark hallway to the guest room where Troy was. She pushed the door open quietly to see him sound of sleep which wasn't surprising. He could sleep through anything. He was lying sprawled out on his stomach with the sheets bunched down at his waist as he breathed deeply. She hated to wake him, but she knew that she would never fall back asleep by herself. "Troy," she said softly as she walked over to his bed and peered over him. "Troy."

He stirred and suddenly lifted his head from the pillow. He blinked up at Gabriella trying to get her into focus from his blurry sleep. Once he could see her clearly, it only took one look into her scared eyes to realize why she was here. "Oh, Gabi," he said softly as he quickly sat up and held out his arms. "C'mere."

Gabriella went without any hesitation and crawled into his bed, clinging to him tight as he laid her down on the bed. She sniffed back her tears as she snuggled closer to his comforting warmth. The storm still raged on, but she didn't hear it anymore. Not when she was with Troy.

"You all right?" he asked pulling her closer as he ran his fingers soothing up and down her arm that was draped over his chest.

She nodded. "I am now," she whispered.

"It's silly really," she said as she shifted closer to him. "To still be afraid of storms like some little girl."

"Sshh," he soothed and kissed the top of her head. "It's not silly. Not at all. Everyone has a fear and no one expects you to get over that fear overnight. If you were terrified of being alone during storms for the rest of your life, it would still be understandable."

"I don't know what I would do without you, Troy," she said sleepily as she started to feel sleep take over her.

His heart skipped. "I...It's me who can't live without you, Gabriella," he said as he turned his head so his cheek rested on the crown of her head. "I need you so badly. I always have and always will."

Gabriella didn't answer. She had finally fallen back into a blissful sleep.

--

"Gabriella."

"Gabi," he said softly as he ran his hand gently up and down her arm. "Wake up."

"Mmm," she said sleepily as she shifted onto her back and then turned towards him, wrapping her arm around his waist as she buried her face in his chest.

He smiled softly and couldn't help but realize how much he enjoyed waking up next to her. Her scent was the first thing he noticed when he woke up...then it was her warmth and how good she felt against him. Now, he found himself wanting to kiss her awake...slowly and gently. He couldn't though. It was just pretend. And they were alone. "Come on, Gabi...rise and shine."

She yawned and stretched her body, arching up against him. She didn't see Troy look up at the ceiling trying to fight off a moan. "Troy?" She asked sleepily. "What time is it?"

"Time to get up," he said and kissed her on the forehead. "You have plans with Taylor today remember?"

She nodded as she yawned again. "Okay, just...give me a minute… Wait, if i'm going out with Taylor, then what are you going to do?"

He shrugged. "I don't know. I'll probably call Chad to play basketball or something." Gabriella nodded.

A comfortable silence soon ensued. Troy decided to break it.

"How are you feeling?" he asked as he propped himself on his elbow so he could look down at her.

"I'm fine," she assured him. "Thank you for last night."

"It wasn't a problem at all. Anything I can do to help you. And I just realized, the weatherman was right." Troy said sarcastically.

She smiled. "I told you. Did you sleep well?"

"Like a baby," he said with a grin. "You're better than a teddy bear."

She giggled. "You're pretty snugly yourself, Bolton." She then leaned up and kissed the corner of his mouth.

"See ya," he said softly as he watched her leave. As soon as she closed the door behind him he fell back on his bed with a heavy sigh. He was definitely in trouble. "I think I need to take a COLD shower this morning."

Yep...he was in trouble all right.

--

AN: Hmm… I'm not really sure about this chapter… Good? Bad? You my faithful readers are the critics! Review please! Love ya!