I have no excuse for the long wait! I apologize. There's not much to say so yeah. Thanks to all the people who have been reviewing my stories. I highly appreciate the support. Enjoy!!

So Much For Privacy!

"No way?! What did he do?" Troy laughed.

"He fired me." Gabriella looked back down at the somewhat empty scrabble board and sighed.

Troy's face fell and he pretended to slap himself. He had asked her what happened at Lava springs after graduation and she started to mention how Mr. Fulton had become a real piece of work. She had said that one day she just couldn't take his crap anymore and she yelled at him about how he's an insecure little girl just banging on the closet door begging to be let out. (A/N: Thanks '17 again'!!)

"Oh, um, I'm sorry." Troy felt like a complete idiot. Why? He hasn't quite figured that out.

She looked back into his eyes and forced a smile, something she had thought she had perfected the last couple of years. "Hey, no, it's not your fault. I'm the one that said it!"

He chuckled. "Yeah, but, we were all thinking it!"

They both laughed and Troy found his breath hitching in his throat at the very sound of her laughter. He remembered those times back in high school and middle school before Sharpay had come around. They had been close, really close, but something told Troy to stay away from her and he did. Sharpay had come along and jumped on the opportunity to have her. For the first time in a long time, Troy was starting to realize that he never really loved Sharpay, she was just his way out. She was his first kiss his first time and so after a while he had just figured he loved her too. He missed those times when him and Gabriella were best friends. Those times held his most treasured memories.

"Hey, do you remember back in the 7th grade when I had convinced you to climb that tree over there?" He pointed out the window to one of the trees in the front yard. "You begged and begged me to stop asking you but I through a double dare at you."

She laughed remembering the exact day. "Yeah, it was my 12th birthday and I fell off the tree and broke my arm." She turned to him and smiled. "You know, I still haven't forgivin you for that."

He chuckled again and looked her right in the eyes. "I'm sorry."

They held the gaze for what felt like eternity. Troy felt like there was some force holding his eyes on hers. He wasn't sure why he couldn't leave the gaze but he'd be dammed if he was going to move first. He felt secure, together, in her eyes. He felt as if nothing was ever wrong and life was just perfect. He wasn't paralyzed and hopeless. He was just Troy.

Gabriella could feel her heart start to pound in her chest. Why did he have this effect on her? The feelings that were surging through her right now were nothing close to the feelings she had had for Chad. No, these feelings were ten times more intense, so intense that she could barely hold herself together. Her own sanity was the only thing keeping her from throwing herself at him and finally finding out what it felt like to kiss Troy Bolton. She had always wondered, but no one else knew about it.

Why did she want to kiss him in the first place? He's Chad's best friend, well, was his best friend. But, he's just so sweet and he's been through much. He looks so hot in his shirt and messy hair. The muscles he had could just be seen through his shirt. She could feel herself melting in his eyes. Neither one have taken their eyes off each other and it was starting to become a game. The first one to move their eyes has to speak first. But what could be said?

The feelings that were surging through Gabriella were about to unleash themselves when her cell went off. The sound scared the both of them as they both let out the breath they hadn't known they'd been holding and Gabriella reached into her pocket and grabbed the phone.

Are you kidding me? A text! A stupid text kept me from kissing Troy!! AHHHHH!!!!

She flipped open her phone and read the text from Taylor.

Hey girly. Just making sure you're o.k. Did you find a job yet? Txt me TayTay

She didn't feel like talking to Taylor right now so she decided to just turn it off. Can't chance having that happen again. Than again, did she really want to kiss Troy? What if he didn't want to kiss her? What if her throwing herself at him was the worst mistake she could make? All these thoughts were too much for Gabriella.

She took a deep breath. "Um, I think I'm gonna go now." She started to stand when she felt Troys hand grab her arm.

"No, please, stay." She looked into eyes and saw sadness there. Was he sorry about what had just happen between them? It didn't matter. The tone in his voice was enough to make her stay.

"Oh, o.k." She slowly sat back down. She didn't have any interest in playing more scrabble and she definitely didn't want to play the staring game again. "You want to go for a walk?" He smiled big and looked down chuckling. "Oh my god, I'm so sorry!" How could she be so stupid? Of course he didn't want to go for a walk, he couldn't!

"No, no, it's o.k., and I really wasn't thinking about that."

"Oh, well, why were you laughing then?"

"Well, if you look outside, you'll see a guy there, hiding behind that tree and two more across the way in that guy's driveway. Also, there's three in that tree and another in the tree that you had fallen out of." He chuckled again. "Welcome to the world of Troy Bolton."

She shook her head in disgust. "You would think that after what had just happened they would leave you alone."

He sighed. "You would think, but these people are just plain crazy. One time I showed up to basketball practice and somehow one had sneaked into the shower area and started snapping pictures as I tried to get dressed." He shook his head in anger. "They piss me off Why can't they just go bug someone else?!"

She saw the distress on his face and walked over to him, rubbing his upper arm. "I'm sorry Troy."

He sighed and looked up at her. "Don't be. It's not your fault." She just nodded her head. "O.k., so we can't go for a walk, but we can go to my backyard."

"Won't they be back there too?"

"Probably, but at least we're safe in the backyard."

"True." With that, the two of them headed to the back yard and sure enough, there were about 5 paparazzi in the trees that surrounded the backyard. "So much for privacy."

"Jesus Christ, what does a man have to do to get some fucking privacy!!?"

"Hey, it's o.k." She tried to calm him down.

"No, it's not o.k.!! These fuckers put both you and my mother in danger and that's not o.k.!" She could see he was really struggling with the whole situation. Being in a wheelchair was really taking its toll on his sanity. Gabriella could remember him back in high school and nothing ever made him react like he was right now. He seemed to be on the verge of insanity!

"Troy, come on, let's go back inside."

He looked up into her eye and immediately calmed down. He didn't know how she did it, but she did, just like in high school. Since she had been dating his best friend, they always saw each other. Chad could never see when he was sad or depressed, but Gabriella, she always knew. She knew his emotions better than she knew Chad's. Troy had never really thought about before till now, but Gabriella had comforted him throughout high school more than she did Chad. There's no denying she loved Chad, everyone saw it, but still. Than again, if he hadn't screwed up in middle school…

Troy shook off his thoughts and followed Gabriella back into the house. He'll try and figure things out later.

"Do you have a room that doesn't have windows?" She asked giggling. The paparazzi made a new attempt to get their desired picture by running up to the windows and snapping pictures like crazy. That was it, he lost it.

He turned his chair to face the cameras and screamed. "Get the fuck off my property! NOW!!" Of course they didn't listen, they never do. He turned his attention from the window to the house phone. He noticed a second cordless phone on the coffee table and rolled over to it. He picked it up and quickly dialed the police.

"Hello?"

"Yes, my name is Troy Bolton and I have a problem. The paparazzi have surrounded my house and are on my property. If the house were to burn up into flames we wouldn't be able to get out!" He felt a little bad for having yelled at the poor phone operator, but at least he got the point across.

"We'll send people over."

"Thank you." With that, he slammed the phone back down on the table and rolled back over to the window. "I called the police, you have 3 minutes to get off of my property!"

Gabriella groaned as she heard on the guys comment back at Troy. "This isn't your property!" He then continued to snap pictures in his face. If Troy hadn't been in a wheel chair, who knew what he would have done. She watched him as he attempted to lift himself up but soon fell back down in the chair in pain.

"Troy!!" She yelled over the noise and ran over to him. "You can't be doing that!"

"I know I can't fucking do that, I just forgot for a second!" He looked up at her and sighed. "I'm sorry, just, gah!!"

Gabriella took one last look out the window and decided to take matters into her own hands and wheeled him away. "Do you have a room with no windows?!" She asked one more time.

"Uh yeah, my bathroom." He growled, still flustered from the whole situation.

Gabriella quickly wheeled him to the nearest bathroom and shut the door behind her. When she turned back to Troy, he had turned himself so he was staring at the wall. She felt a pang of hurt as she watched him, just sitting there staring at the wall. She made her way over to him and sat on the edge of the bathtub that was next to him.

"Troy?" She whispered. "Are you o.k.?"

He took a deep breath and sighed. "I'm sorry?"

She started to get confused. "For what?"

"Do you think things would have been different if…" He sighed and looked to his left, away from Gabriella. They hadn't spoken about their past since it happened. To Troy, this seemed like the perfect time to bring it up. "If I hadn't…If I had just said yes."

Gabriella sat up straight, clearly understanding what he was talking about. She sighed and knealed down in front of him, grabbing his hands in hers. "Troy, you don't still think about that do you?" She could feel a feeling come back that she hadn't felt since middle school. A feeling that he had shut down.

He turned and made direct eye contact with her, brown meeting blue so intensely they both had to blink before returning the gaze. "I've thought about it every day since I said it."

"Troy…" She gripped his hands tighter. "If you had said yes, than, we wouldn't have had the friendship we have. Having been in high school, you were the best friend I could ask for. SO, to answer your question, yes, things would be different, but I like things the way they are."

Troy took a shaky breath and sighed. "I've always asked myself why I told you no. I know that at the time, I really had wanted to date you. You were, and still are, so beautiful, and I feel like an idiot for having turned you down. It just terrified me that you had asked me before I had even worked up enough guts to admit to myself that I liked you."

Gabriella smiled at his words. "You liked me?"

He looked deep in her eyes and smiled. "I always have Gabriella, I just forgot."

This conversation was starting to turn weird for Gabriella. "What about Sharpay?"

She noticed his eyes glaze over with sadness. "She…" He took another deep breath. "She was my way out. I…when you and Chad started to get closer and closer, I needed someone to get me through the days. When I found Sharpay, and she even took a liking to me, I found some courage to ask her out. After a while I had just figured that I loved her and left you and Chad alone." He sighed and looked away.

"Troy…" She wanted to comfort him. To prove to herself that she wasn't useless. A pounding on the front door stopped her. She turned to look at the bathroom door. "That must be the police."

He nodded and grabbed the wheels, following her out of the bathroom. Things were just falling apart around him, at least that's how he felt, except when it came to Gabriella. She has been able to show him the light when darkness surrounded him. With the surprise of Sharpay cheating on him, the realization of how much he had hurt both his mother and Gabriella, and now, being in a wheel chair, life seemed to have come to a stop.

Gabriella walked up to the door and answered It for him. There were two officers standing there. "Yes?"

"Hello Mrs. We got a call about a disturbance?" A very tall and muscular officer asked.

Troy wheeled up to the door and smiled. "Yes, I did. Thank you soo much."

Both officers smiled big seeing who it was that had called. "We have cleared the area for you."

Troy let out a breath and smiled again. "You have no idea how much this means to me. I couldn't believe how they just stormed the house and attacked up was cameras!"

The second officer chuckled. "Well, there will be a security officer just outside your property at all times, surveying the premises. You shouldn't have any more giant disturbances."

"Wow, that's extremely generous." Gabriella said, a little shocked that they would do that.

They both gave a sincere smile. 'Well, it's the least we can do for Mr. Bolton."

Troy held out his hand for the officers to shake. "Thanks so much again guys. I really appreciate it."

"No problem sir." They nodded both at Gabriella and Troy. "Have a great day."

"You as well." Troy said before shutting the door. He looked up at Gabriella and smiled. "Well, now that that's taken care of, what would you like to do?" Gabriella gave a small smile back and started to head into the living room. Troy could tell something was bothering her. "Hey, are you o.k.?" He asked softly.

She shook her head. "Troy, what's going on?"

He gave her a confused look. "What do you mean?"

She sighed. "Look, I know you're a basketball star and all, but, you have a quick temper and you're completely different around people now. The old Troy was quiet and never really said allot to people he didn't know. The old Troy also held in his anger."

He just shrugged. "I don't know. I guess I just changed al lot with being followed all the time and meeting new people all the time. I guess it comes with the job." She just nodded, slightly understanding, and sat down on the couch.

He wanted to lighten the mood, so… "Soo, who is Gabriella?" He smiled up at her as he rolled up right in front of her.

"What do you mean?" She was starting to lighten up again at his new found happy mood.

"Well, I'm moody and a people person, so you are…"

"I am…um…a human being?" She gave him a look.

His eyes grew wide with excitement. "Really!? Like O.M.G! I always wanted to meet one."

She giggled. He always knew how to make her laugh. Troy's heart skipped a beat at her giggle. This was definitely a feeling he hadn't felt before. It was something he could definitely get used to.

"I don't know, I'm just Gabriella!" She giggled again.

He sat and pondered for a minute. "What's your likes and dislikes?"

She sat and thought for a moment. No one had ever asked her questions like this before so she was caught of guard. "Umm, well, I love being surprised and caught off guard. It makes me feel like people care, you know?" She looked down at Troy and saw him smiling back up at her. "I know it sounds lame but…"

He cut her off. "No, no, no, it doesn't sound stupid. It's just…" He paused and smiled again. "I didn't expect that. I figured you hated surprises."

She gave a small smile. "Well, I don't."

There was a small pause before Troy continued with his questions. "So, can I know your dislikes?"

She smiled big. "Well, lately, I dislike people who disagree with me."

He chuckled. "And who disagrees with you?"

"My landlord." Her smiled soon turned to a frown. "It's not a big deal though."

Troy sensed something was wrong. "You o.k.?"

She looked up at him and faked a smile. "Oh, yeah. So, what about you Mr. Bolton. "She mimicked the officers. "Your likes and dislikes?"

He could tell she was hiding something from him but decided to let it go. She would tell him if she thought it was important. "Well, which one would you like to know first?"

She thought for a second. "Dislikes."

"Alright. PAPARAZZI!!" He shouted. "They drive me insane!!"

She giggled. "And likes?"

Troy settled down and looked Gabriella right in the eyes. He wanted to tell her, he should tell her. Everything in him was screaming for him to just tell her how he felt.

What the hell! I got nothing to lose!

He reached over and took her hand in his. He waited till her eyes were fully locked on his before he continued. "I like you."

Something happened in Gabriella's head that made her snap. Before she realized what she was doing, she was leaning over and meeting his lips with hers. A chill when through her body as she felt Troy respond to her kiss. So this was what it felt like to kiss Troy Bolton; amazing, safe, reassuring, and just amazing. She slowly started to stand up, not leaving his lips, and leaned over more so they could reach each other easier. She could feel him deepen the kiss as she felt his hand slide across her cheek and behind her ear.

The feelings surging through Troy at that very moment were nothing he had ever felt before. Sharpay's kisses had been sweet, but there was never any spark. The spark that was still surging through him was the best feeling in the world. He was finally kissing Gabriella Montez, the girl he has been in love with since forever.

Gabriella could have stayed there, in his embrace, forever, but, she suddenly realized what she was doing. She shouldn't be doing this. The last time she checked, Troy had a girlfriend and they were still very happy. She couldn't be the girl that caused a horrific breakup on television.

Instantly, she pulled away and stumbled back. "I-I, I-'m sorry. I don't know what came over me."

He shook his head. "Hey, it's o.k."

"No, no, I shouldn't have done that." She tried to sit up off the couch, but Troy grabbed her hand.

"I didn't stop you."

"But I…"

She was stopped as he pulled her down and met her lips again. He pulled away after a second and smiled when her eyes were still closed. "You see. It's o.k."

Slowly, she opened her eyes and smiled. That had to have been the best moment in her life. "SO that's what I've been missing all these years?"

He chuckled. "And that's what I've been missing?"

They both laughed and stared into each other's. Somehow, some way, they knew they were going to be just fine. If they weren't, they had one another to fall back on for support. Little did they know that things were only going to get better and better, or were they?

Soooooo, what you think???!!! I apologize again for the EXTREMELY long wait, but this chapter was just hard to write for me. I knew what I wanted to happen ,I just couldn't find the right words. Anyways, the waits shouldn't be that long anymore, I pretty much have the rest of the story already written, I just need to type it and stick on here so yeah. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE review!! Thanks!! SuzzieD