I said this story will be about ten chapters, right, well, I gotta make it about 15 to 20. Sorry.

Hope you enjoy this chapter! I liked writing it!

The next day seemed like every other day for everyone else, except for Troy Bolton. He didn't quite know how to be feeling as he got changed into his sweats and a hoodie to get in the car for the game. Mr Bolton hadn't been in when Troy had gotten home, and he had a fair idea where he had been. There had been a crash and a bang as Mr Bolton returned home at about three in the morning. He crashed around downstairs for a bit and Troy had decided that it would be safer for him to just stay up in his room and try go back to sleep, instead of going down to see how he was. He was past tipsy drunk, and had gone straight to the violent stage. Troy knew that Jeanette would be in the room next to his, shivering underneath her blankets, and trying to block her ears.

His heart went out to her.

She lived with her mother most days, now, and barely had to put up with anything, except for the occasional break-down from Ms Silverstone. When she was here, she still had to put up with their father getting drunk. It felt horrible for Troy to know that Jeanette came from her new, stable home, and back into her old, unsteady life. Then again, she must be used to it by now…

Troy reported to the team that his father had woken up feeling sick that morning, so the assistant coach had taken over. Chad told him to give his 'get-well-soon' to his father before they started the game, and that made Troy feel worse. He had a feeling the only reason that he played half as good as he usually did, was because Jeanette was in the crowd, and he didn't want to let her down. He would've played better if Gabriella was in the crowd, but they hadn't quite reached the part in a relationship yet. Heck, it was barely a friendship, yet! After he got changed, he met up with his mum and his sister, who were waiting outside. He gave his mother a hug and his sister slipped an arm around his waist and proudly smiled as several girls looked at him adoringly as they walked past.

"I'm going swimming with Ella later, you wanna come over?" She asked as they walked out of the gym.

"Who's Ella?" Troy asked his twelve-year-old sister.

"She's the girl who baby-sits me. She's way nicer than the other baby-sitters," Jeanette said. "We're going to go swimming at our house while mum goes and has coffee with her mum, since they're friends." Troy thought for a moment, and then nodded. He looked at his sister as she walked off again, spotting a group of boys ahead. She tossed her hair slightly and Troy saw her respond to one of the calls that a guy she knew called to her. Sometimes he forgot that she was growing up as well. She wasn't his little sister anymore, she was almost a teenager, and she had definitely seen a lot more than a majority of adults had seen. But even with her past, she still had a child-like innocence in her eyes, which sometimes made Troy forget his sister really was growing up.

"So what's this 'Ella' like?" Troy asked as he walked alongside his mother. Ms Silverstone smiled idly.

"I haven't actually met her, to tell the truth, but her mother is lovely, and Jeanette adores her—it's the first baby-sitter she hasn't minded having," she replied. Troy slipped an arm around his mother's shoulders. Ms Silverstone gave him a tired smile and looked ahead at where Jeanette was talking with the boys. "You go drag her away, and I'll bring the car round." Troy nodded and made his way over the road to where Jeanette was. He noticed some of the guys who had been at a party that Jeanette had held, but the other guys were all people he didn't recognize.

"Jee, we gotta go," he said. Jeanette nodded and turned to walk with him. When they reached the end of the road, she turned and waggled her fingers in a wave. There were chorus's of 'See ya' and 'Bye' coming from the boys. Troy bit back his grin and rolled his eyes as Jeanette blushed slightly. "Mum's gonna bring the car around, and I'll come swimming with you after I pick something to swim in.

"Cool," Jeanette replied and skipped off as Ms Silverstone came around the corner with her Skyline. Troy hopped in the backseat and remained quiet on the way over his house. Silence fell as Ms Silverstone parked the car and Jeanette and Troy got out and walked up to the house. Sandra answered the door and let them in cheerfully.

"Something wrong with Mr Bolton," she said in her faulting English. "Sore head, no noise." She said, before turning and walking off. Troy shook his head and jogged upstairs. Jeanette had all of her things packed and by the front door, so she waited downstairs for Troy. Troy got another change of clothes and his swimming togs and then went and checked on his dad. Mr Bolton was fast asleep, Panadol and a glass of water on the bedside table. Troy shook his head disapprovingly and quickly tipped the water out and refilled it with more, making sure the water was clean and not filled with anything it shouldn't been. Even with a hangover, his father couldn't be trusted not to take alcohol, Troy knew that from experience. When he came back downstairs, said good-bye to Sandra, and walked outside with his sister, she looked up at him and asked,

"Is he okay?" Troy rolled his eyes and replied,

"Is he ever okay?" Jeanette sighed as they got back in the car. Ms Silverstone drove, knowing that the subdued silence from her children. She knew from her sixteen years of marriage with Mr Bolton, that he had an alcohol problem. It had started a few years after Troy had been born, so he still had memories of his father before the alcohol had taken affect on his life. But Jeanette didn't have that privilege. Ever since she was a baby, she only knew her father as the abusive, alcoholic man he was now.

Jeanette changed into her togs as soon as she got back to her house. Troy roamed around the house upstairs for a bit, looking at his mothers' new house, as he'd only been there a few times, and usually it was to pick Jeanette up and then leave straight away. He explored the upstairs rooms, and didn't hear the baby-sitter 'Ella' arrive. She was already in her bikini and so Jeanette thundered upstairs to get Troy.

" Troy! Ella's here! Mum's just going out now, and she says you have to go and say 'bye'!" Jeanette panted as she sprinted back down the stairs again. Troy had changed already, and came down, a towel wrapped around his upper body. His mother kissed him quickly on cheek and then hurried out the door. "C'mon, Troy, Ella's in here." Jeanette tugged Troy outside to the swimming pool. There was a girl lying face-down on the concrete in a brown and black bikini, soaking in the sun. Something about her figure was oddly similar and as the girl looked up, Troy blinked in surprise.

"Gabriella?" He asked. She looked as equally stunned.

"Troy? Wh—what are you doing here?" She asked.

"Jeanette's my sister," Troy answered. Gabriella let out a slight laugh. Jeanette watched in confusion as the two teenagers slowly came to grips with the fact they were connected through the younger girl, before both laughing. "Well, I suppose in a way, I should've put it together when Jee was calling you 'Ella'." Gabriella thought for a moment and replied,

"Yeah. Something went off in the back of my head with Jeanette said you hadn't had a girlfriend, but lots of girls liked you, and then you told me that about yourself. And also how your mum works in an office and…yeah, I can't believe I didn't click!" Gabriella smiled again. Troy smiled back, and for a moment, Jeanette was pretty certain that they were no longer on planet earth. She cleared her throat pointedly and the teenagers both turned and gave her a blank look, as though wondering why she was standing there. "Oh, right, yeah…" As Gabriella looked at the younger girl and blushed slightly. Jeanette crossed her arms and asked,

"Do you guys go out?"

"No!" Troy cried.

"No, course not!" Gabriella protested.

"We're just friends!"

"Yeah."

"Whatever," Jeanette said, rolling her eyes. "You guys obviously have a 'thing'." Jeanette looked proud of herself. Troy stood and up and advanced on her.

"And you obviously are thinking about things you shouldn't be thinking about for a few more years!" He shouted as he picked her up and threw her in the pool. Jeanette came up, spluttering and indignant. Gabriella tried to hold back her laughter as Jeanette clambered out of the pool and sprinted at Troy. Troy started running in the opposite direction, but slipped on a towel, and fell into the pool. Jeanette stood on the edge of the pool, laughing at her brother, as Troy came up from under the water. He grabbed her ankles and pulled her into the water after him. Gabriella sat on the concrete, laughing as brother and sister tried to dunk each other.

She realized that she had been quite stupid and blind not to have realized earlier. Aside from the reasonably obvious things such as how their mothers worked together, and how Troy was busy on the days that Jeanette had to be baby-sat, they also looked amazingly alike. They both had the blonde-brownish hair and the same deep blue eyes. Although Troy was taller and had a more masculine figure, Jeanette still stood in the same way, with her head slightly tilted to one side, and she bit the left half of her lower lip when she was thinking hard, which was the same as Troy. Gabriella honestly couldn't believe that she hadn't realized all the similarities between them earlier, especially since she spent a reasonable amount of time with the both of them.

"Ella! You coming in?!" Jeanette yelled from the pool. Gabriella thought for a moment, before crawling to the pool and sitting on the edge, letting her feet dangle in the water. "C'mon, Ella, it's warm. It's been…" Jeanette thought back to the homework Gabriella had helped her on a few days earlier. "It's been solar-heated." Gabriella laughed and shook her head.

"Nah, I'll hop in later," Gabriella answered. Troy rolled his eyes and ducked under the water. Gabriella was looking off into the distance, seeming to have spaced out, and when Troy was underneath the water beneath her feet, she didn't realize. Troy grasped her feet and pulled her into the water, initiating a squeal from a surprised Gabriella as she sunk underneath the surface. As she came up, she turned and glared at Troy.

"How could you?!" She shouted at him.

"Quite easily, actually," Troy replied cheekily. He had a grin on his face and twinkle in his eye, and Gabriella couldn't stay mad at him. A grin broke out her face, even though she continued to glare at him. "You know you can't stay mad at me…" he teased. Gabriella lunged at him, and missed. He grasped her waist and dunked her under. Gabriella swung herself around so that she was sitting on his shoulders. Troy came up, holding her tanned thighs so she wouldn't fall off. "You are so light!" He teased her. Jeanette had moved over to the steps and was drying her hands. Gabriella's cell-phone lay on the concrete next to her towel, and Jeanette leaned over to get.

"Troy, put me down now!" Gabriella squealed as he spun around in the water and Gabriella's hair went everywhere. Jeanette grinned as she snapped a photo on Gabriella's phone. When it showed up, Jeanette saved it quickly and put it was the screensaver. She got out fully out of the water and sat on one of the seats by the water, knowing the other two had completely forgotten about her.

"What if I don't want to?" Troy teased her. Gabriella was holding tight to his shoulders as he spun around again.

"Please, Troy," she was begging now. "Put me down!" Troy laughed and gently leaned over so she tipped over backwards. When she resurfaced, she was glaring at him again. "You should've put me down when I first asked!" She told him, trying to sound angry and annoyed, but failing miserably as Troy took a step toward her, and she hesitantly stepped back. His eyes had darkened slightly as she finally was backed against the side of the pool and his arms came up on either side of her.

"You climbed on my shoulders first," Troy answered. Gabriella felt her stomach clench as his face came closer to hers. His arms moved in on her, and touched her wet arms. Gabriella felt amazingly exposed in only her bikini. "Why didn't you want me to put my arm around you?" Gabriella was confused.

"Huh?" She asked.

"Yesterday, at dinner," he replied. "You didn't want me to sit on the couch because I would put my arm around you." Gabriella blushed and averted her eyes. Troy looked at her intently until she finally had to meet his gaze. "Tell me."

"I…I dunno," she replied. "I just don't like it when guys put their arms around me, I guess."

"You didn't mind kissing me on the cheek," Troy told her. Gabriella's breathing seemed to stop, and Troy knew she was getting nervous.

"That was different," she whispered.

"So if I kiss you now, it'll be different," Troy whispered back, coming closer to her again. Gabriella's eyes were already partly closed, and he could hear her breathing hard.

"No, it wouldn't," she murmured.

"Yes, it would," Troy replied, even though he didn't know quite what they were talking about. But it didn't matter, because all he wanted to do right now, was kiss her. And that's what he did. His lips landed right on hers, and Gabriella leaned into him, pushing away from the wall. Troy let his arm go around her as he gently kissed her mouth. Gabriella pulled away after a moment, and told him,

"You shouldn't have done that."

"Why not?" Troy asked.

"I-I don't know..." she murmured. Her eyes were wide and frightened. Troy didn't quite understand the reason and he frowned slightly. "Just don't do it again—" Before she finished her sentence, Troy kissed her again, and she kissed back.

"Too late," Troy told her, smiling slightly. Gabriella had a slightly scared look in her eyes, but smiled back, hugging him tightly.

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