DISCLAIMER: I do not own High School Musical or any related characters.

A/N: So I was going to update C&M first and then decided I'd rather write this one. I think its because I want to prolong C&M, I was looking back through it when I was taking a break from homework and I realize that there's really not that many chapters to go whereas with DF there's still quite few. Anyway, I hope you enjoy. Also, the final chapter to 'Just One Night' is nearly done, so I should be posting that relatively soon! And there might be another Trevor/Corrie oneshot up my sleeve, but we'll see! Enjoy!

Dangerous Fascination

CHAPTER 12

NEED

She couldn't concentrate. How was she meant to concentrate when all she could think about was Troy? Gabriella's eyes drifted shut at the thought of him, she couldn't help it. There was just something about Troy that made her feel…there was just something about Troy that made her feel. She knew most people didn't particularly approve of what was happening between them, what ever it was that was happening between them, but Gabriella couldn't care less. How was she meant to care when he could make her forget everything just by looking at her? The whirlwind she experienced around him had softened, everything about what she felt around him had softened the moment he'd said the word need and she'd known what he was talking about. He needed her. Gabriella couldn't care less that he had been talking about what he'd said to her on the Friday of the Jefferson High game, the fact that she had registered was that he needed her. Gabriella knew enough about Troy to know that he never needed anything and had a feeling that the word 'need' seldom left his mouth and the fact that he'd used it in a context with her, had softened her so much. She'd never been needed. Not by someone other than her mother and Gabriella had always had a need to be needed, by someone else, someone who cared enough to tell her that they needed her. True, Troy hadn't finished the sentence but Gabriella knew that he hadn't needed too. She'd seen it in his eyes, felt it in the way he kissed her and the moment she knew she was right, everything that had an edge between her and Troy had softened. Her world was now so soft because he needed her. She didn't care what happened between them after she had given Troy what he wanted and she didn't particularly care either, what mattered was the fact that right now, she was needed.

Sighing dreamily, Gabriella's eyes drifted open and the smile that was on her lips faded slightly as she realized that Taylor was eyeing her suspiciously and that Doug, who she hadn't really spoken to since Troy had scared him off a few weeks ago, was watching her in a way that made her uncomfortable. Straightening, Gabriella glanced down at her textbook as she heard a small giggle come from one of the other girls that was sitting around the lab and knew that everyone knew what she was thinking about. Embarrassed, Gabriella focused on the Chemistry textbook in front of her and pretended not to hear the whispers of two of the girls. Glancing at Taylor, Gabriella knew she was in for it. Taylor didn't tolerate people drifting off while they were going over the material for the upcoming Scholastic Decathlon, especially when it was so noticeable everyone knew that the person had drifted off. Glancing up from her book, Gabriella offered Taylor a peace smile and knew that her friend wasn't buying it. Instead, the brunette snapped her Chem textbook closed and announced that they were taking a break.

"Thank God! How long have we been working for?" Gabriella glanced across the table at Doug, who had only just begun speaking to her after the Troy had scared him off a few weeks ago. Smiling at his question, Gabriella shrugged and glanced at the clock.

"Close to three hours." She replied and he raised his eyebrows disbelievingly at her before shaking his head.

"That's absolutely insane. The Decathlon's not for another two weeks and we're studying all of this now because?" Gabriella let out a small giggle at Doug's words and watched as he turned to Taylor with an accusing look on his face.

"Because if we don't do it now, when will we do it? I mean, the amount of material we have to get through is insane!" Taylor replied good-humouredly and Gabriella stared at her for a moment, wondering where on earth her friend's bad mood had gone.

"So? It's called the weekend Taylor. We'll get it done, after all we've got Gabi on the team now and apparently she can kick butt." Doug said, slinging an arm around her shoulders. Gabriella laughed a little and pushed his arm off her shoulders, not feeling quite comfortable with it resting around her.

"Don't believe everything you hear Doug. What happens if I choke?" Gabriella teased, placing her books in her bag as she realized that Taylor probably wasn't going to start on a new subject.

"You can't. Imagine what Taylor would do to you!" Doug exclaimed dramatically and Gabriella choked back a laugh at the look on Taylor's face. The brunette was glaring at Doug as she too put her books in her bag.

"I think I can imagine that." Gabriella said dryly and it was Doug's turn to choke back a laugh, as Gabriella stood up and straightened her shirt, before slinging her bag around her shoulders.

"Glad you know her so well," Doug said and Gabriella smiled at him, her mind beginning to wander back to Troy. "So, are you walking home?" Doug continued and Gabriella only half-heard him as she began remembering the way Troy had kissed her and the rawness of his voice.

"Uh-huh." She returned as she fought a shiver when her mind wandered to what it felt like when his hand was touching the skin of her back.

"Mind if I come with you?" Gabriella snapped back to reality when she felt Taylor nudge her in the ribs. Blinking, she looked at her friend before looking at the blonde boy who was watching her with hopeful eyes.

"Oh, uh, what were you saying Doug?" Gabriella asked blushing as she realized that she'd spaced out about Troy again. Taylor stared at her and Doug chuckled, not offended that she hadn't heard his question.

"I asked if I could walk with you." Gabriella looked at him and smiled, realizing that it might be nice to have some company on the walk back to her place.

"Sure. I'd like the company." She replied and missed the triumphant look that passed over Taylor's face. Instead, Gabriella tucked her hands in her pockets as she waited for Doug to finish gathering his things.

"Like the company, huh?" Gabriella jumped when she heard Taylor's voice in her ear and her head whipped around to look at her friend who was grinning.

"Yeah. Why are you looking at me like that?" Gabriella replied, raising an eyebrow at Taylor's rather gleeful gaze.

"It's just nice to see you want to be around someone who's-" the look on Gabriella's face stopped Taylor mid-sentence and immediately Taylor regretted starting the sentence. She should have known Gabriella would get defensive or even angry any time she tried to talk to her about how bad Troy was for her and Taylor had a feeling that if she'd finished that sentence she really would have put her foot in it.

"Are we ready to go?" Doug approached the two before Gabriella could snap at her best friend and she glanced at him before ordering herself to calm down. Taking a deep breath, she forced a smile at the tall blonde-haired boy and nodded.

"Yes actually, I am. See you Taylor." Gabriella said and left the room with Doug trailing behind her.

Why did Taylor have to bring up Troy at every opportunity? She'd made her feelings towards him clear to her when she'd warned her away from him and Gabriella knew that it annoyed Taylor that she hadn't particularly heeded that warning. What was she meant to do? Ignore Troy? At the thought, Gabriella bit her lip. How could she ignore Troy? Even at the start of term when she was more afraid of him than attracted, how could anyone ignore him when he spoke to them? And what about now? What about now that she knew he needed her in one way? What about now when her feelings for him had become something different than what she'd originally thought? What about now when she was willing to give him what he wanted and seemed to need? Clenching a hand, Gabriella wondered exactly what Taylor would say if she found out how much Gabriella had only just realized she was willing to give.

"Gabriella? Gabriella are you still with me?" Starting, Gabriella looked at Doug and smiled at him sheepishly. She felt horrible. She'd totally forgotten Doug was walking next to her.

"Sorry. Spaced out again. What were you saying?" She asked and didn't notice the look of hurt that flashed through Doug's eyes as he realized that he'd been talking to himself for the past few minutes.

"Nothing. Don't worry about it." He muttered and Gabriella bit her lip and felt even worse. Seeing the park approaching, Gabriella's face lit up and she turned to him.

"Want to walk through the park?" She asked and he looked at her suspiciously before nodding slowly. Gabriella's grin grew wider as they turned off the street and into the park.

"I love the park. It's so pretty and I like sitting and watching the world go by." She said and felt relieved when Doug's smile returned to his face.

"Oh really? Who would have thought you would like being outdoors?" Doug teased and Gabriella laughed slightly and then tensed when Doug attempted to take the hand she'd taken out of her pocket. Pulling it away, Gabriella chose to ignore the visible hurt on his face and instead stopped to look at the playground.

"Ah, the playground. Do you know I used to refuse to ride the slide? I was so sure I was going to fly out of the end of it and hurt myself really badly." Gabriella said, trying to lighten the mood and finding herself regretting the fact that she'd agreed to let Doug walk her home. It suddenly hit her that a few months ago, she would have been nervous and embarrassed to have someone like Doug walk her home. Just looking at him, Gabriella realized that she'd never actually given the rest of East High's male population a second glance. One because it always took her a while to warm up and notice the opposite sex, simply because she wasn't boy crazy and had always had a hard time dealing with crushes because she'd blush and stammer if one of them ever spoke to her and two, ever since she'd stepped foot in East High, Troy had taken up nearly all of her thought process. Frowning slightly, Gabriella wondered if Troy hadn't taken any special interest in her would she have noticed Doug before he had begun speaking to her. Looking at him, Gabriella knew she could safely say she wouldn't have. He was in too many of her classes and she probably would have seen a great friend in him, just not a boyfriend.

"Hey Gabriella," Gabriella looked up from the ground she'd been staring at and smiled at him, wondering how Taylor would react if she found out what Gabriella had just realized.

"Hmm?" She asked and Doug chuckled slightly at her as they came to a stop. Gabriella realized with a jolt, that they'd stopped where Troy had first kissed her.

"What's this thing everyone's talking about with you and Troy Bolton?" Gabriella's brown eyes snapped up to Doug's green ones and her eyes widened slightly when she saw something close to hope in his eyes. Opening her moth, Gabriella went to speak and then stopped, unsure how to respond to the question.

"It's complicated." She said hesitantly and then sighed at Doug's questioning look. "What's everyone saying?" She asked and Doug shrugged, rubbing the back of his neck slightly at her question.

"Well, it's all really vague actually. I don't think people really want to say anything unless it reaches Troy. But, basically, they're all talking about how Troy seems so interested in you and is actually bothering to show that he's got this thing for you. Everyone's just really shocked and seeing as no-one really knows what's going on…" Doug shrugged and Gabriella sighed again, wrapping her arms around herself and looking at the ground.

"At least none of them really have any idea of what's going on." She murmured with a small smile and Doug laughed a little at her words.

"No. Not really. So? Are you going to give me a heads up?" Gabriella looked back up at the Doug's hopeful voice and smiled slightly at the brightness in his green eyes.

"Like I said Doug, it's complicated. I don't really know what to say 'cause I don't know how to explain it." Gabriella said and then furrowed her brow as Doug's eyes twinkled.

"So, you guys aren't together, together?" He asked the hope in his voice obvious as Gabriella stared up at him.

"Uh…no. I don't think so." She replied and then sucked in a breath when Doug took a step closer to her. Instantly, her hands clenched and she wondered how offended he would be if she took a step away from him. The only guy who had ever been that close to her was Troy and no matter how dangerous Troy may have seemed at the time, Gabriella knew that something about him relaxed her enough to let him get that close. It was that or she was too distracted by him to actually realize how close he was standing to her.

"So, if I asked you out for dinner and a movie, on, let's say…Saturday you could say yes because you and Troy aren't exclusive?" Gabriella mouth went dry at Doug's question. She knew what he was asking her…and she didn't know how to say no. If there was one thing she really struggled at, it was her ability to deny someone something and standing with Doug a little too close for comfort, green eyes shining hopefully and a nervous smile on his lips made it that much harder. Swallowing hard, Gabriella opened her mouth, her mind going blank as she tried to think of a way of letting him down gently, and jumped.

"She could, Howard, but she won't." Gabriella's whole body relaxed at the cold words and she turned her head in the direction of the voice and found herself looking at Troy and three other guys. All were covered in sweat and Gabriella found herself wondering why they all looked so interested in what Troy was doing.

"I think she can make that decision for herself, Bolton." Doug snapped back and Gabriella bit her lip, as the one of the boys, the one with an insane amount of hair, let out a cough that suspiciously sounded like a chuckle.

"I'm sure she can and I'm pretty sure I know what she was going to say too," Troy replied coldly and Gabriella took another step away from Doug and unconsciously moved towards Troy.

"And how would you know what she was going to say?" Doug snapped back and Gabriella shivered slightly when Troy's eyes hardened. Troy didn't reply straight away, instead he casually strolled over to Doug, only sparing a glance at Gabriella as he passed her and Gabriella watched, fascinated, as he came so close to Doug that Doug took an involuntary step away from him.

"Because Gabriella's one of those girls who can't really say no," Troy spoke softly and yet Gabriella could hear every word he said. "And you've been smart enough to realize that, so smart that you boxed her in." Gabriella suddenly had a very bad feeling about Troy's tone of voice. It wasn't cold exactly and it wasn't amused, there was something different about it.

Hesitantly, as she heard Doug begin to stammer out a response to Troy's comment, Gabriella stepped forward and touched Troy's arm, forgetting that she had an audience and instead concentrating solely on Troy. She felt the muscles in his arm tense slightly and instead of taking that as a rejection, Gabriella ran her hand down and found his hand.

"Troy," she said softly, when she had a firm grip on his hand, "let him go." She barely said the words and had a feeling that not even Doug had heard them, but Troy seemed to. Squeezing his hand, Gabriella felt herself blush slightly as she realized that her hand seemed to fit perfectly into Troy's. His was big, warm and rough from basketball and Gabriella knew her's was enveloped in it and he wasn't pulling his away. The fact that he wasn't surprised her, she hadn't thought Troy was one to even hold someone's hand, especially in public.

"See you Gabriella." Hearing Doug's voice jolted her from her thoughts and Gabriella barely managed to smile at him before he had taken off in the opposite direction. Gabriella looked at Troy and then down at their joined hands when she felt Troy enlace their fingers.

"You didn't have to do that, you know." She said after a moment and prayed that he would look at her. When he did, Gabriella nearly backed up. His eyes were so dark. So incredibly dark and unreadable that she bit her lip again.

"Yes I did. You wouldn't have been able to say no to the jackass if I hadn't interrupted." Troy's voice was harsh as he spoke and Gabriella frowned slightly at it and was about to speak when they both heard a yell.

"Dude! What the hell was that?" Both Troy and Gabriella turned as the other three boys approached them. The one who had spoken was eyeing Troy suspiciously as the other too looked at her. Suddenly feeling incredibly shy, Gabriella stepped as close as she could to Troy, who neither objected or accepted her presence next to him.

"It was me telling off Howard." Troy responded dryly and the other two stifled laughs as the one with bushy hair eyed Troy, not pleased with what Troy had said.

"I could see that. But-" Gabriella watched as Troy shook his head and the bushy-haired boy stopped talking.

"Let it go Chad." Troy said and Gabriella hid a smile as Chad huffed and folded his arms, very much like a child who had been denied something. As slowly as she could, Gabriella began to slip her hand from Troy's, realizing that it would probably be a good idea to get home and felt herself blush when Troy's grip on her hand tightened.

"Uh-" She started and then fell silent when Troy's eyes flicked to hers and another six pairs turned their attention to her.

"I've got to get Gabriella home." Gabriella's arm went limp with shock at his words and she stared up at him soundlessly as Troy tugged on her arm and began pulling her down the path.

"You'd better tell me later dude!" Gabriella felt an involuntary smile find its way to her lips at the words as Troy gave no indication of hearing what his friend had said and instead pulled her down the path more quickly.

"Troy! Troy, what are you doing?" Gabriella suddenly asked, pulling on her hand to make him stop. Her breath backed up in her throat as Troy suddenly stopped and rounded on her and she recognized the look in his eyes. It was the same look he'd had in the gym when he'd said he'd needed her.

"I'm taking you home." His words were cool and calm and Gabriella nodded as she looked into his eyes and saw the need in them. Troy didn't say anything more, instead he began to walk again and Gabriella followed. Her mind numbly demanding whether or not she needed him the way he needed her and then Gabriella didn't care. She didn't care that he was taking her to her house, she didn't care that tomorrow she might regret what she was about to do. What she cared about was the fact that the same need she could see in Troy's eyes, was beginning to pulse through her and that the need pulsing through her was telling her to give.

A/N: Hmmm, what's going to happen next, I wonder? Sorry about the lack of updates, but schools been absolute hell lately and I had a mini breakdown because of it last week! Anyway, I hope you enjoyed that and no, Doug's not out of the picture just yet. This story still has quite a long way to go; this is only the beginning of what's going to happen. It's only taken twelve chapters to get to this point!