Hey Everyone! Thanks again for the wonderful reviews! So most of you have been saying that you want there to be a relationship between Troy and Gabriella right now... a.s.a.p! But relationships take time, people. :) So as my best friend's crush has said before "Be Patient." Thanks guys! Enjoy!

I'll Email You

Chapter nine

Payback is Routine

The smell of baking cookies floated in the air at the Montez's house. Zeke was probably in the kitchen, inventing something new. The girls were in Gabriella's room, hanging out like usual and Sharpay was currently in Gabriella's closet, looking quit confused as she looked at Gabriella's clothes.

"Not that I have anything against the color, but why are most of your clothes now pink?" Sharpay asked as she came back out with the shirt she was looking for.

"Charlie doesn't know how to do laundry and dyed all of my clothes pink." Gabriella said with a loud sigh from her computer chair where she was finishing her email to Troy, even though he was downstairs with the rest of the team.

"I have an idea." Sharpay smirked as a mischievous grin appeared on her face.

"Okay… what is it?" Taylor smiled.

Gabriella, Taylor, and Sharpay walked into the family room where Charlie sat with his basketball team. They had decided on watching a movie and were going to search for a DVD among the many in the Montez's DVD cabinet. Gabriella had a smirk on her face as Taylor cleared her throat, sitting on the ground near the DVD case. Sharpay was intently scanning over the musicals on the top shelve and she smiled as she coxed her hip.

"Do you think I should get a belly button ring?" Sharpay asked as she read over a few of the backs on the DVDs.

"Why, do you want one?" Taylor asked as she debated between Legally Blonde 1 and 2.

"I think it would go well with my tan." Sharpay explained.

The guys who were just looking at the basketball game on the screen now had their attention on the girls' conversation.

"My mom said she'd take us all if it was okay with your parents." Sharpay said as she finally chose the movie she wanted to watch.

"Yeah! I'm totally getting my belly button pierced!" Gabriella said in excitement.

Troy furrowed his brow as Charlie sat up from the couch with an angry expression on his face. Troy glanced from Charlie to Gabriella quickly, wondering why Gabriella had suddenly wanted a belly button ring; he knew she wasn't a fan of them.

"I was thinking about getting a tattoo!" Taylor admitted as she grabbed her DVD.

Chad suddenly spit out the sprit in his mouth and started to choke.

"You're not getting any piercings!" Charlie exclaimed towards Gabriella.

"Yeah! Tattoos are disgusting, Taylor!" Chad protested.

Gabriella rolled her eyes as the girls walked towards the exit. Charlie and Chad were still standing angrily as the girls sucked in their laughter.

"Too bad, Charlie. I already got mine done." Gabriella said as she quickly lifted her shirt up past her belly button.

The guys gasped as they saw the sparkle on Gabriella's stomach and the girls bolted for Gabriella's room.

"Gabriella!" Charlie shouted as he ran after them.

The girls slammed the door shut, standing against it as Charlie pounded on the wooden door.

"When I get near you, Gabriella, I'm ripping that thing out!" Charlie yelled.

The girls sank to the ground as they started to laugh uncontrollably when Charlie left.

"That was amazing!" Taylor laughed.

"Charlie's never going to be able to sleep!" Gabriella laughed as she peeled the diamond sticker off of her stomach.

"I knew they would flip when they saw that!" Sharpay laughed.

"Why do you even have fake belly button stickers?" Taylor asked Sharpay.

"To mess with Ryan." Sharpay laughed as she wiped away the tears falling from her eyes with the intense laughter.

"Well, that's what Charlie gets for turning all of my whites pink by putting his red hoodie in the washer!" Gabriella laughed as she looked down at her pink shirt.

Charlie breathed deeply as he walked back into the family room after nearly knocking Gabriella's door down.

"Dude, your sister has amazing abs!" One of his teammates said to him.

Troy rolled his eyes and Charlie chucked a near by DVD case at the observant teammate.

"Shut up." He growled.

The girls were lying on Gabriella's bedroom floor with their sleeping bags arranged in a triangle so that they could see each other. The lamp on Gabriella's nightstand cast an orange glow on the room and the crickets could be heard from the open balcony doors. They were laughing as they heard a knock on the door and then Troy appeared with a plate of Zeke's cookies in his hand.

"Hey, Troy!" Sharpay said excitedly once she saw him.

"Hey, girls. Zeke sent these up." He smiled as he bent down to set the cookies in the center of the girl's triangle.

"What a sweetheart." Sharpay said as she grabbed a cookie and took a quick bite.

"These are amazing." Taylor mumbled through her full mouth.

"I'm pretty sure those are the Taylor cookies." Troy said with a nod.

The girls gasped together and smiled.

"Really?!" Taylor exclaimed.

"My Sharpay cookie was great!" Sharpay told her friends. "Zeke knew exactly what to put in it." She explained.

"Yeah, I think Chad was helping Zeke with these." Troy explained with a smirk.

Gabriella and Sharpay exchanged a look and giggled quietly as Taylor looked up at Troy, setting her cookie down.

"They tasted so great before you said that." Taylor told him with an eye roll.

Troy laughed quietly and headed for the door, turning to look at the group before he opened the door.

"Do you want me to lock the door behind me? I think Charlie is planning a way of getting that belly button ring out as we speak." Troy explained, watching as Gabriella stood up with a laugh.

"No belly button ring." Gabriella told him as she lifted her shirt up past her belly button to show him. "It was a sticker." She explained.

"I had a feeling." Troy smiled as he opened the door with Gabriella following him, leaning against the door frame to talk to him as he stood in the hallway.

Gabriella glanced behind her at Sharpay and Taylor and smirked as they both looked away like they were pretending not to look at them. The clock on her nightstand read eleven thirty and she looked back at Troy with a smile.

"Are you going soon?" She asked him.

"Yeah, right now, actually. I just wanted to say goodnight." He told her.

"Well, goodnight." She said in a soft voice.

"Night, Gabriella." He smiled.

"I'll email you." She told him with a smirk.

"Good." He chuckled as he headed for the stairs, smiling as he felt Gabriella watching him leave.

Gabriella stepped out of the doorway and shut the door behind her, shuffling over to the balcony and after a few minutes, Sharpay and Taylor watched her wave and step back into her room.

"So, Gabi…" Sharpay started in a sing song voice. "How are you and Troy?" She asked.

"Troy's fine, I'm fine, why?" Gabriella asked as she sat down on her sleeping bag and grabbed a cookie.

"You seem pretty cozy together." Taylor pointed out with a smirk.

"Cozy? We were just talking." Gabriella told her friends.

"I'll email you." Sharpay mocked Gabriella. "A wave from the balcony?"

"It's what's we do… it's like a routine." Gabriella explained.

"You have a routine?" Taylor said with a squeal.

"You two take things way out of proportion." Gabriella replied.

"It's what we do." Sharpay shrugged.

"So," Gabriella started, ready to change the subject. "How's everything with you guys?" She asked.

"Good." Sharpay said, not wanting to change the subject.

"Parents suck." Taylor told them. "They fight all of the time. It's annoying."

"I know the feeling." Gabriella said as she looked at her two best friends, hinting that they were annoying ninety five percent of the time now that Troy was in the picture.

"You're lucky that your parents are always gone. That way they aren't here to bug you or fight." Taylor said.

"I would trade my situation for yours any day. I miss my parents." Gabriella told her with a shrug.

"How long are your parents gone for?" Sharpay asked.

"Two weeks." Gabriella replied. "But in two weeks they'll call, saying they have to stay for two more weeks. It's typical."

"Well, at least you have Troy here to make the time go by a lot faster." Sharpay smiled.

"Are we back on the Troy subject again?" Gabriella sighed.

"Of course." Sharpay and Taylor said together.

Gabriella rolled her eyes, but let her friends asked the questions they just had to ask and she found herself smiling as she answered. Within an hour or so, the girls were sleeping peacefully and dreaming about shopping, the perfect guy, and the potential Gabriella cookies.

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Much love,

unknownbyhim22