A/N: Hey, howdy, hey. How's it going? Well, I'm back from vacation and I have my three extra guinea pigs. If someone could find a job and tie it up in a bow for me, that'd be great :)

Chapter Five

When Greg Montez answered the door, he didn't expect to see four high school girls dressed for a dance. "¿Qué?"

The blonde rolled her eyes. "Are you pulling the fake Spanish crap to get us to leave? Gabi did the same thing on her first day."

"She prefers Gabriella," Greg mumbled. "Didn't she tell you? She decided not to go."

Taylor frowned. "Why not?"

Greg shrugged. "She wouldn't tell me. And there are things that a father doesn't want to know about his daughter."

"Where is she?" Sharpay asked impatiently.

"Mi hija," Greg called up the stairs.

Gabriella marched down the stairs, dressed in an oversized U of A sweatshirt and some sweatpants, and halted halfway down. She looked at the four girls who had become her friends and rolled her eyes. She turned around to go back to her bedroom but came face to face with a satin dress.

"Just try it on," the girl holding the dress exclaimed.

Gabriella descended the last few stairs and stood with her arms folded, avoiding everyone's eyes. "I'm not going," she repeated for the hundredth time.

"I'm just assuming that this isn't some kind drug cult so I'll be in my office," Greg mumbled as he went down the hall.

"Is your dad okay?" Kelsi asked.

"Girl stuff makes him uncomfortable," Gabriella explained.

"Just try it on," the girl holding the dress repeated.

"Who are you?" Sharpay asked.

"Oh, I'm Shauna, Ricky's girlfriend," she explained.

"And Ricky is..." Martha trailed off.

Shauna flipped her red hair over her shoulder. "I'm not sure this is the matter at hand but Ricky is her older brother. And the longer we keep talking about my relationship, the longer she's not at the dance."

"I'm really not going," Gabriella protested as she pushed through her friends and went to the kitchen, pouring herself a coffee.

"Just tell us why," Kelsi said quietly.

Gabriella slammed her cup down and turned to them. "You want to know why? Troy Bolton is a complete and utter pendejo." She descended into a complicated string of Spanish that even Taylor couldn't follow.

Shauna rolled her eyes and reached over to a pot full of spatulas, ladles, and tongs. She grabbed a handful and dropped them onto the floor.

Everyone jumped and Gabriella stopped her tirade. "What the hell?"

Shauna sighed. "You and your brother are too alike for your own good. You need to speak English. What did this Troy do?"

"Have you not been listening to me the whole week?"

Shauna shrugged. "Not really."

"First day: he throws a strop because I use his parking space. Then he throws a strop because we have to kiss in our drama project. Then he won't let me explain why I was late for said project. Then he blames me because he broke up with his girlfriend. Then he kisses me in the locker room and just leaves me there," Gabriella explained, her hands waving manically in the air.

"You kissed?" everyone exclaimed.

"Question," Shauna said, raising her hand. She turned to Sharpay, Taylor, Kelsi, and Martha. "Does she know that she likes him?"

The girls shook their heads.

Gabriella laughed. "I don't like him."

"Would you stand up in court, put your hand on a Bible, and repeat that?" Taylor asked.

Gabriella shifted and sighed. "Maybe a little. When he kisses me. But he doesn't want anything to do with me. He won't let me explain why I was late and then he just left after he kissed me."

"Just...soften your image," Martha explained.

Sharpay nodded. "Lose the boots and the leather. And just talk."

Gabriella looked at the floor. "I'm not too great at the 'soft' look."

"You can start with this," Shauna said, holding out the dress.

Outside of the gym which was pulsing the bass of pop music, Gabriella slipped into the silver heels Shauna had let her borrow which, according to Sharpay, perfectly matched the blue dress Shauna had also leant to her. She fiddled with the hemline which fell just above her knees. Honestly, she felt kind of exposed. She'd worn shorts that were shorter than this dress and Troy had seen her without a shirt and she still felt naked.

She peeked through the open doors and spotted Troy sitting on the bleachers. She felt nauseas at the sight of Katherine sat next to him and turned away to take a breath. She could act like a girl and soften her image. She could do that.

She touched the messy bun that Shauna had fixed on top of her head, smiling at Sharpay as the girls approached.

"You'll be fine," Kelsi promised.

"We have to go and meet up with the boys. They'll be trying to play basketball around all of the decorations, I just know it," Taylor mumbled.

Gabriella watched the girls disappear into the crowd of dancing students and her gaze landed on the spot that Troy had occupied just a minute earlier. Now, Katherine was surrounded by what seemed to be the entire cheerleading squad and was crying into a napkin. Gabriella looked around the gym, trying to spot Troy but he wasn't there.

She almost considered phoning Ricky to pick her up. The girls wouldn't know until it was too late to force her to stay. But she was wearing heels, in a gorgeous dress and the girls had made such an effort on her.

She hobbled over to Chad and Taylor by the refreshments table.

"Whoa, I thought you cleaned up nice for the project. Look at this. Let me guess: Shar?" Chad asked.

Gabriella gave him a small smile. "A combination of everyone. Do you know where Troy is?"

Chad and Taylor glanced around the gym. "I haven't seen him recently. The last I saw, Katherine was practically forcing him to strip. You could check the garden."

"What garden?"

She followed Taylor's directions through the cafeteria and pulled open the yellow door in front of her. Staring up at the flight of stairs which opened right onto the roof, according to Chad, she felt like she was going to throw up. She slipped her shoes back off, knowing she'd break her neck if she tried to climb them in heels.

When she emerged onto the roof, she was greeted by the scents of the colourful flowers that surrounded her. Not being raised in a family of green fingers, she had no idea what she was looking at. What she did know, however, was that Troy was leaning against the railing, looking out at the Albuquerque landscape, only lit by streetlamps and the moon.

"Hey," Gabriella mumbled.

He twisted his head to glance at her but then turned back to the scene in front of him. "Hi."

She paused only for a moment before she stepped up beside him. "It's beautiful."

"Yeah."

He didn't even glance at her, just kept looking straight ahead.

She discreetly looked him up and down. In some jeans, sneakers, shirt and blazer, he hadn't exactly made an effort. But she wasn't surprised. The moment she saw Troy Bolton in a tux would be the moment she learned how to straighten her hair and curl her eyelashes. Still, he didn't have to try to look good.

She swallowed the lump in her throat and rubbed her arms as a breeze rustled the flower petals. "It's kind of chilly tonight."

"Yeah," he repeated.

Taking the hint, Gabriella turned and quietly walked down the stairs, heading back to the gym. He clearly didn't want to talk and that was fine by her. His friends would obviously choose him because...why wouldn't they? They'd known him their whole lives and she was just the new girl.

Still, she couldn't help feeling something she couldn't put a name to. Not exactly being feminine, her relationship history wasn't exactly a bestseller in the romance section. She'd owned socks longer than her relationships had lasted. So the feeling of undeniable disappointment that he clearly didn't want to even acknowledge her existence was alien to her and she literally had no idea how to deal with it.

She made her way back to the gym barefoot and spotted Chad and Zeke sat on the bleachers. "Where are the girls?" she asked, avoiding their eyes.

Zeke pointed over to the dance floor. "Chad joked that there is more glitter on Shar's dress than there is in a nursery classroom. Tay banished him from the dance floor. Shar demanded that I follow and teach Chad a lesson."

"Banished?"

"She actually used that word," Chad mumbled. "Are you okay?"

Gabriella forced herself to swallow the lump in her throat. "I will be. Can you tell the girls that they were wrong? Troy's not interested. He wouldn't even look me in the eyes. I'm going to go. I hope you have a great night."

Chad stood up. "Do you want me to give you a ride home?"

She shook her head. "I'm going to call my brother. I'll see you later."

Zeke Baylor was a healthy guy. At seventeen years old, he had spent the majority of his life playing sports. Basketball, baseball, he'd even taken dance lessons as a child. So he had a pretty good stamina and was one of the fastest runners in the school. Still, as he sprinted down the hall in pursuit of his girlfriend, he still struggled to catch up with Sharpay. She was wearing five inch stiletto heels and a skin tight dress and she was moving faster than him in an attempt to get to Troy.

After Chad and Zeke and bravely ventured back onto the dance floor and Chad had begged for Shapay's and Taylor's forgiveness, they explained what Gabriella had said and Sharpay had moved so fast, that it had taken them a few moments to notice that she'd gone.

As Sharpay marched up the stairs to the rooftop garden, Zeke was hot on her heels and grabbed her hand as she emerged onto roof.

"What the hell, Bolton?" Sharpay yelled. "What is your problem? Why won't you listen to Gabriella?"

Zeke stepped in front of her and held her face between his hands. "Remember what we talked about," he whispered.

She closed her eyes and nodded. "Prada, Gucci, Chanel, Nina Ricci, Dior, Dolce and Gabbanna."

"Okay?" Zeke asked.

She opened her eyes and released a deep breath as Zeke stepped away. "Okay."

Troy glanced towards them and rolled his eyes. "Give it a rest. I've known you since we were three. You don't scare me anymore."

Sharpay yanked on his arm so he could face her. "Talk to me. Why won't you listen to Gabriella?"

"She was late to the project," Troy mumbled, but both Zeke and Shar could tell that it wasn't the whole reason.

"She apologised. And do you know why she was late? Did you listen to her long enough to find out why she slept in so late?" Sharpay demanded.

"It's not the point," he protested.

"She was helping me make decorations for this dance. Did she tell you that? She agreed to help a group of people on her first day. Because that's who she is. Now I know you. What else is there?"

Zeke grinned at Troy. "Please tell me you're going to tell her on the first go. I don't want to be up here all night while she interrogates you."

Troy rolled his eyes. "Fine. I don't know what to do about her. I can't control myself. Not since we kissed. She makes me so angry and at the same time, I really want to make out with her. I broke up with Katherine and, yeah, I'm relieved I finally had a reason but I kind of want to process it. It all happened so fast, you know."

"So you want her in your life? You're not going to act like she's merely a composition of molecules?" Sharpay asked.

"Fine," he mumbled. "I'll talk to her on Monday."

"Like hell you will. If you want her to take you and your friendship, possibly a relationship, seriously, you need to talk to her now. She's outside waiting for her brother and probably hoping you'll show up, too," she explained. "And take some pie."

After stopping by the gym to pick up a slice of pumpkin pie, he made his way out of the main entrance to the school. He looked around, trying to find Gabriella. Concluding that her brother had picked her up, he turned around to head back inside, only to hear the familiar rhythmic sound of a bouncing basketball.

He jogged down the steps, trying to figure out where it was coming from. It had to be her. She used to play. He'd never seen her play but from what Principal Matsui said, she was pretty good. Glancing back at East High's main entrance, he made his way to the outside basketball court. Next to the student parking lot and surrounded by a mesh fence, it was out of the way of the main building. In the spring and summer, gym class and basketball practice were both held out here. Ultimately, it was his territory. He was comfortable and at ease here. He knew everything he needed to know: what his teammates were about to do and what his opponents were about to do.

Yet, as he approached and saw Gabriella shooting baskets, he had never felt more nervous or more clueless about what was going to happen on that basketball court.

He slipped through the doorway in the fence and watched Gabriella quietly for a moment. She was barefoot, her hair had been released from her bun, and there was a bright pink graze on her left knee from where she must've tripped over since leaving the dance.

Her movements were slow and deliberate. She wasn't playing basketball as such. She wasn't running, wasn't even jogging. But at the other end of the court, she would walk in a wide arc while dribbling the ball, shoot a perfect basket, catch it, and start the whole thing all over again.

He tried to analyse her aim. Her shooting was flawless. Although she didn't have the height of a stereotypical basketball player, he had never seen such precision. She didn't even use the backboard. Even he wasn't that accurate.

"Oh," she gasped as she turned around and saw him.

Troy cleared his throat and approached, holding the piece of pie out. "I brought you some pie."

She took it from him and held his gaze, trying to suss whether there was a punch line. "Why?"

He shrugged. "A reliable source told me that you are a fan of pumpkin pie."

She smiled as she took a bite. "I am and this is the best pumpkin pie I've ever had."

"It's one of Zeke's creations."

"So what do you want to talk about?" she asked, speaking with her mouth full.

"How did you-"

"You've barely acknowledged me since...well, the locker room," she mumbled, avoiding his eyes.

He sighed. "I want to apologise. I've acted like a bit of a dickhead this past week. And the truth is you confuse me. But I like it because you're the one person in my life who isn't afraid to call me a dickhead. Or whatever curses you said in Spanish."

She cracked a smile.

"I know I said otherwise earlier, but I really do want you in my life."

She took a moment to finish the piece of pie and handed the used plate and fork back to him. "I don't know. I don't really have time in my life for games like these."

"It's not a game. And if you give me a chance, I'll prove it to you. I want to be your friend. How about you come over for dinner on Sunday? You get to see me without cheerleaders and basketball."

She quirked an eyebrow.

"Please."

"Fine. And about the project-"

"You were helping my friends. Sharpay told me. Why would you help them? On your first day after dealing with me?"

She laughed. "I was raised to help people. You know, give someone a meal even if there's none left for you. I don't know any different."

"I don't hear about that kind of thing much. Certainly not around here. And it's very cool that you did that." He paused. "I thought you don't play sports anymore."

She quirked an eyebrow. "You're basketball captain. I was hardly playing basketball."

"But your accuracy-"

"Is basic math and science," she explained. "A 4.0 GPA comes in handy."

"So drama won't help me shoot hoops?" he joked.

She nudged his shoulder. "That's a lame joke."

"I got my dad's sense of humour!" he protested, holding his hands up.

A car horn honked and they turned to the parking lot where a Kia Soul flashed its headlights at them.

"I have to go," she mumbled as she jogged over to the sidelines to pick up her shoes and bag. "It's my brother."

"Do you want to stay? I could give you a ride home," Troy offered.

She smiled. "That's sweet but I'm not exactly having the time of my life in that gym. I'll see you Sunday, okay?"

"Sunday," he agreed. He couldn't help smiling as he watched her head towards her brother's car, still in bare feet.