H-H-H...Here we go!

So they're finally here, performing for you

If you know the words, you can join in too

Put your hands together if you want to clap

As we take you through this fun-ky rap! HUH

It's the little bits of irony, or humor, which make an early start to a day bearable. Those moments make it possible for Taylor McKessie not to wake up every morning at four and think, "I really hate this." This morning, the irony that hit Taylor as she was unlocking the front door to her apartment, her warm up jacket blowing in the chilly morning air, Gabriella humming a song from the other side of the door, was that She was coming home, done for the day, as Gabriella was waking up to get ready for hers. She chuckled a little at sad, sad fact and shoved the door open.

Gabriella was already preparing breakfast for the two of them. Taylor sat down on a stool as Gabriella slid a half a bagel with cream cheese and grapes towards her. "You and Chad," Gabriella sighed as she unscrewed a gallon of orange juice and poured it into a cup, "You two let me make a prediction. You two will get married."

Taylor rolled her eyes as she stole the cup of orange juice and took a sip. She had made a silent bet with herself that it would take ten minutes before Gabriella brought up the Chad subject…turns out it would only take ten seconds.

"I have a boyfriend. And Chad and I are just friends," she thought back to them, sitting on his couch in his apartment, just talking like they had known each other forever. She reflexively touched her cheek where he had kissed her, and part of her wished that hadn't been all. The other part of her felt guilty for thinking that. She did have a boyfriend, and Chad was an amazing guy, was it really that smart to complicate something that was so easy between them?

"A boyfriend that you haven't talked to since the night of the game, and a guy who you have been texting nonstop," Gabriella pointed out, smirking, while she took the juice back and put it on the counter behind them. Taylor glared at her back, and when she turned around, she met Taylor's glare with another smirk.

"We have not been texting nonstop," Taylor argued. Her phone vibrated on the table next to them. She picked it up as Gabriella beamed a smile of triumph. She flipped it open, and couldn't help but smile when she saw it was from him. Her stomach got all fluttery as she opened it and saw Chad saying good morning.

"Ok," she said still smiling like a junior high teenager, "That was just bad timing." She looked up at Gabriella; her face still framed with that smile Gabriella had taken note, was only there when Chad was being mentioned.

"I saw that smile, Taylor, you really like him. Why can't you just admit it?" Gabriella threw her arms into the air. She didn't understand how Taylor could be so blind, or stubborn, to the fact that Chad and she were absolutely perfect for each other. She had never seen two people fit together so seamlessly. It was like all the steps that they had taken in their life had led to that moment. Of course, she was biased, but she ignored that fact.

"Because," Taylor said, searching blindly for the right words, "I- I don't know…I have a boyfriend!" Was all she could think of?

"You are in denial. Dump that jerk, we both know he is no good for you."

"I never ever said that." Taylor said, entering defensive mode.

"Well then I said it for you. It's true, he is horrible for you. He is disrespectful, pushy, mean, and must I mention he is only around here when he is drunk?"

"Nope, no need to mention." Taylor said, getting annoyed as she held her face in her hand and stared up at Gabriella

"K, well too late. And you haven't talked to him since the game night. "

"He just hasn't texted me." That was a lie. There was a total of 37 un-answered text messages from Cody in her inbox at the moment. She just couldn't bring herself to care enough to answer any of them. She figured it served him right, being such a jerk. It was about time she showed him that he couldn't treat her that way. However with Gabriella pointing out that she hadn't talked to him at all, she felt she should talk to him. Maybe they would go out tonight.

"Well, good. Maybe he will dump you. At this point I don't care, as long as he is out of here," Gabriella said glaring at the thought, "Actually you need to dump him first, you can't get canned by someone as sleazy as that." She grabbed her book bag and started to head out the door.

"Hey G, tell me how you are really feeling. I feel like you are holding back on your emotions." Taylor retorted sarcastically as she turned, facing her friend.

"I hate you." Gabriella said, sticking her tongue out as she turned the knob to their door.

"HAVE FUN IN DISSECTING A CAT TODAY!" Taylor yelled, remembering Gabriella's class. Gabriella was an all around animal lover, but she had a special place in her hearts for cats.

Gabriella turned around, her lower lip puckered like she had just remembered something that totally disgusted her "YOU WOULD, YOU WOULD FEED OFF THE FACT THAT I LOVE CATS AND I HAVE TO RIP ONE OPEN TODAY! I HATE YOU!" she slammed the door dramatically and Taylor laughed so hard she had to clutch her stomach to keep her abs from cramping up. Served Gabriella right, medling in things that weren't her business. Like her fragile relationship with Cody, and her even more fragile relationship with Chad.

Taylor mused over those two problems in her head as she began her chores. She marched around the apartment in nothing but a sports bra and spandex, cleaning the already clean kitchen, re arranging the movies, doing a few loads of laundry. She was trying to be productive. Trying to stop herself from texting Cody. That planned failed and next thing she knew, she was calling him, making up some lie about not being able to find her phone, or it being broken, she couldn't remember by the end of the conversation. All she knew was that they were actually going out tonight. Deep down, she knew she shouldn't. She was well aware that she should run in slow motion on a beach towards Chad. But a bigger part of her felt she didn't deserve that. That she just was not good enough for someone as amazing as Chad. There was no way in her mind that she could ever see someone like Chad; someone so good, and amazing, and kind, with someone like Taylor. The equations just didn't balance out. It just didn't make sense. She frowned at the thought as she folded one of Gabriella's shirts. She yawned as she did so, trying to stay positive about the night out. Maybe he would be nice like he used to be, they would actually have a good time.

She picked up a dress that she didn't recognize, although she somehow knew it was hers. It was red and tight fitting, it went down to mid thigh. Curious and confused, she slipped it on, it was definitely hers. It fit perfectly. Yet she knew she had never bought it. It clung to her curves in the perfect places. She shook her hair out of the messy pony tail it was in and could only assume the result was a major case of sex hair. There were three sharp, urgent knocks on the door and Taylor turned her head curiously towards the entrance to her apartment. She walked over, and opened. The sun was falling over the mountains creating a crimson, orange, and pink wave effect through the thin clouds. Standing in her doorway was Chad. He was in his uniform, minus the hat and pulled back hair, and he was giving her the strangest expression as he held out a pizza in his hand. She looked at him confused, "Chad, I didn't order any pizza."

She then was able to place the look he was giving to her. It was need, hunger, whatever you want to call it. It was there and it was dominant as he dropped the pizza and pressed her body against her door frame. His lips were on hers before she had time to properly react. But once the burning started, she had no choice in her reactions. She knotted her fingers in his hair, curling her fingers and tugging, pulling his face down closer to hers. He crushed his body to her curves in reaction, moaning through his lips as she hands roamed up and down her sides. Her heart was beating so hard she could feel it rattling her rib cage. She was filled with a burning desire so strong it was like fire under her nerves, under her finger tips, under her lips as they moved passionately with his. It was all moving so quickly, so unexpectedly, her head wasn't working right, so her body took over. All she could feel was him, all she could taste was him, all she wanted was him. As if he could hear her thoughts, his strong, big hands started to travel up her outer thigh, moving her dress up slowly.

She opened her eyes wide, as they focused she saw the speckle on the ceiling. She sat up slowly, realizing that she had used the pile of clean laundry as a pillow.

"Well, that was the most awkward dream ever."

She shook her hair, now knotted and half falling out of the pony tail. Standing up slowly, her joints cracked and she stretched out her sore muscles. Pre season was almost over, their first meet a few days away. She was looking forward to not having five AM practices Monday through Thursday. She walked slowly into the kitchen, pulling cheese out of the fridge. A yawn escaped as she grabbed the chips and quickly made some nachos, popping them into the microwave. She then trudged into her room, examining herself in the mirror. Her eyes were red from sleeping in her contacts, her shirt was incredibly wrinkled. She took out her hair tie, shaking her head back and forth as she heard the door open and Gabriella come home from her class. She glanced up at the mirror again. Her hair resembled more of lion's mane than anything else. She smiled at her reflections, finding it amusing that her hair was about four feet in diameter, not including her head. She growled a little, laughed and decided to leave it as she waltzed back into the kitchen. Popped open the microwave, and her nachos were gone.

"What the--"

She heard the crunch of a chip going into someone's mouth. She glanced over to see Troy, curled up on her couch, chip halfway into his mouth, staring at her with big, blue, innocent eyes.

"Hey, T," he said slowly, "You…make good nachos?" His face looked so guilty. Like that child that didn't expect his mom to come in while he was eating the cake she had made for the next day. Taylor didn't even care, she wasn't that hungry, but his face was priceless. She rolled her eyes and laughed. He took this as a sign that it was ok to keep eating, his shoulders relaxed as he started shoveling nachos into his mouth three at a time.

"Roo ook like ell by fu way," he said through his food.

"You're disgusting," Taylor replied and hopped onto the couch next to him, pulling her legs up to her chest, and taking a chip. He gave her a glare.

"They are mine," Taylor said, glaring back. "And is Gabriella not here?" She asked, glancing around for her bubbly best friend. She had thought it was her coming in earlier.

"I was kind of hoping you could answer that for me."

She shrugged, "Hmm, guess not. I guess that was you that came in just now?" she asked, pointing behind her, towards the front door.

"Yup," he said simply, shoving another four in his mouth. You could see the outline of a chip sticking out of his cheek.

"I hope you choke."

He swallowed and looked at her, "I wasn't kidding, you look horrible."

"Thanks, Troy, you really know how to make a girl look beautiful," She said shaking her head back and forth again, making her hair bigger. Strand of it whipped him in the face and he had to hold his greasy hands up to protect himself.

"Cut that out you look amazing," he yelped, shielding his face and she whipped her hair around again, "OW! I said amazing stop it!" She giggled, but stopped and played with a few strands of her hair.

"Just curious," said, leaning over and taking another chip, "Why are you hear?"

"Gabriella and I have a date tonight," he replied, smiling.

"You're going to spoil your meal if you eat all of those. I don't mind taking them off your hands," She said, smiling as she reached for the plate. Troy got it out of her reach in no time, shooting her a glare, "I'll always have room for nachos."

She crossed her arms and changed the channel away from sports center to the cw, seeing if anything good was on.

"I was watching that!" Troy complained

"You get either the nachos or the TV, not both," Taylor retorted. They were joking around, being childish, it was how they always acted around each other. Over the past couple months Taylor had come to think of Troy as a big brother, though she had plenty of those at home.

He grumbled some complaint, but seemed content with his choice of food. After a few nachos, however, he glanced around the room.

"So where is the game system?"

"The what?" Taylor asked, a look of confusion spread across her dark face.

"You know, x box, wii," he said, staring at her, when he saw no reaction he continued slower, "Playstation….Nintendo 64?"

Her face quickly registered once he said play station, and look of disgust replaced her confusion, "Ugh, you mean video games? I don't touch the things."

It felt like someone had stabbed his chest, he was insulted and deeply hurt by that comment. "Did you just say you don't touch video games?" He was in disbelief, he continued to look around, maybe she was joking. No one hated video games. He put down his plate of nachos so he could fully examine the room. He stood up, this was unbelievable.

"They are so gross, such a waste of time, and boring."

"LA LA," Troy said, covering his ears, "I am NOT hearing this!"

Taylor cackled as Troy glared at her, "You cannot be serious," he said, delivering the death stare, "No video games? Not even some DK on the N64?"

"Some what?"

"OH MY GOD!" This was hurting him inside. "You know DK, DONKEY KONG, He's the leader of the bunch, you know him well, he's finally back, to kick some tail."

Taylor stared at him blankly, "Did you just rap about a video game?"

"Oh COME ON!" Troy yelled desperately, "Everyone knows the DK rap, there is something for everyone. There is even a donkey kong character for you!"

"Oh really," Taylor said, her face amused but utterly unimpressed. Troy was now in nerd mood, she related to this, but she was on a different level, she didn't nerd out to games. He knew this, but it was too late, he was out of the Donkey Closet.

"This Kongs got style, so listen up dudes, she can shrink in size, to fit her mood!" He was dancing, moving to the beat, pointing at Taylor like she was Tiny Kong. She had started to laugh at him at he started dancing around the couch, "She's quick and nimble, when she needs to be, she can fly through the air, and climb up trees-- This is where you would do a flip or something Taylor," he said quickly before continuing, "If you choose her, you'll not choose wrong, with a skip and a hop, she's ONE TOUGH KONG!" He said, finishing and posing right in front of her coffee table. She was laughing so hard at this point, her eyes were closed shut and she was doubled over, clutching her stomach.

"I don't…" she started, breathing heavily as she tried to calm down, "Get to say this often but…You're such a nerd!"

He hmmphhed before sitting back down, grabbing his nachos in disbelief, "It's like we are on a whole different level," he said deeply, "We can no longer relate."

"Oh, God," Taylor said dramatically, "This is so upsetting."

"Shut up," Troy whined, bitter that he had just waisted a good rendition of two verses in the DK rap, Anthony would have sang along with him. They sat there, no words between them. Only the sound of Troy munching and Taylor chuckling in remembrance of the performance she had just been given. Finally she calmed down, thought it took a few minutes. He kept shooting her glares. She should not be laughing, she was a nerd too…just a different kind. He decided it was time to embarrass her.

"So how is Chad?" he asked, a little too curious.

"You would know better than me, he is your roommate," Taylor retorted, keeping her eyes purposely placed on the TV screen.

"He doesn't talk to me anymore, he is too busy texting you."

"We do not text all the time," Taylor was a horrible liar, and it showed right through her face as she clutched her phone a little tighter.

"You do too!" Troy said, getting pretty passionate about the conversation, "I've lost a friend! I could say anything and it wouldn't faze him, he's too busy talking to you." he practically yelled, throwing his hands up in the air.

"That is not true," Taylor said, rolling her eyes.

"Yesterday I walked by and said, 'Hey Chad, I have cancer' Do you know what he said!?"

She rolled her eyes again, "What did he say, Troy, tell me."

"Cool." he said slowly, "HE SAID COOL!" he screamed, almost knocking over his nachos. He gasped and grabbed at them. Petting them lightly: he didn't want them to think he didn't love them.

"Troy you don't actually have cancer." Taylor said, watching in weird curiosity the scene playing out before her.

"Yes, but does he know that? No."

"He was probably just doing it on purpose to make you angry."

"No he is probably so into you that he can't seem to focus on anything else."

Taylor's cheeks grew hot and she glared at him, stealing a fist full of nachos.

"Hey!" he protested as she ate them.

"I need to take a shower," she said, casually changing the subject.

"Why?" Troy asked smiling, "I kind of like the whole lions main thing, it suits you."

"Why because I'm queen of the jungle?"

"I was going more for large and in charge," he said smirking as she recoiled and hit him in the arm, "Own, god Taylor you hit like a man."

She stood up, "Well that's what happens when you're large and in charge, ass hole."

He laughed as she glared at him before walking back into her room to go take a shower. He wondered why she had to, I mean, it was only him, no need to impress. Although he did put a lot of pressure on the ladies. He laughed quietly at himself as she texted Gabriella, wondering where she was. Maybe traffic was bad. He sighed and changed the channel back to sports channel. Checking to see the scores of the other colleges. They were ranked 30, his goal was to be top 25 by the end of the season. He heard a knock at the door. He knew it wasn't Gabriella, considering she wouldn't have knocked. Unless her hands were full. That had Troy jogging to the door, he was already excited at the prospect of Gabriella being at the door, he hadn't seen in a few days, he missed her. He took a deep breath before he opened the door, and to his dismay it was Cody.

"Ung," she grunted in response to Troy. Troy had never met Cody, though he had listened patiently to Gabriella as she went off about him basically everyday on the phone. And he had heard what he had done to Taylor the night of the party, so he already didn't like the guy. You don't just do that to your girlfriend. He would never do that to Gabriella, if she had called him hurt he would have been speeding down the road to get to her. He noted in the back of his head that Chad would do the same for Taylor, and he had just met her. He was pretty sure Taylor deserved way better than Cody, but being Troy, he had to get to know him for himself, and he wanted to see the good in him, so he stuck out his hand, "Hey I'm Troy," he said kindly. Cody ignored his hand and moved past him with another grunt of acknowledgment.

"Where is Taylor?" He asked rudely, he then spun on his heels to face Troy, "You're not with her are you?" he asked suspiciously. Troy's face scrunched in, well, disgust. Taylor was like his sister. "No man," he said simply.

"You're not with that loudmouth cunt are you?"

Troy's palms grew hot with anger, his neck pulsed as his blood started to rush. Did he really just have the audacity to say that?

"Actually," he said trying to steady his voice, "I am. And her name is Gabriella, and she is very nice."

"Huh, that's unfortunate," he said with finality as he wondered into the kitchen. For him, the conversation was over. Troy had to hold still and breathe for a few minutes to calm himself down. If he kept talking to him, he would end up fighting. Gabriella was the sweetest, most beautiful girl (inside and out) that he had ever met, and this guy had just walked in, and with no inhibitions, insulted her. If this was Chad, a fist fight would have broken out, Chad was a lot more aggressive than Troy was, but Troy was passive. So he stuck his hands in his pockets and fumed. He decided to distract himself by sitting down and watching TV. He turned it up and kept fuming, brooding, all around hating Cody. How was Taylor with him? Cody waddled his huge body over and sat down on the same couch, taking the controller and changing it without asking. Troy had to hold his breath to keep from screaming. He hated this guy. The guy had not said more than two sentences to him and he already hated him. How did Taylor even hesitate to choose between Chad and him? This guy was the world's biggest tool! He opened his mouth to speak when the door knob rotated, and Gabriella peeked through the door, carrying her book bag over her shoulder. Her face was slightly down turned and Troy instantly forgot about Cody and got up to go to her. He walked over to her quickly, escaping the negative energy seeping from the couch. A look of concern spread over his face as he wrapped his arms around her, "Hey Brie, what's wrong?" He enveloped her in a hug and kissed her forehead.

"I just…" she said quickly, like she was trying to stop the emotion from overflowing out of her mouth, "I just had to dissect…" she stopped again, disgusted, "…A kitty!" she finished as she put her head in his chest and wrapped her arms around him tightly. He couldn't help but smile a little as he held her in his arms. She was so cute, and it was just a cat. He ran his fingers through her hair in the back, "It's ok Gabriella."

"No it's not!" she wailed, "The poor cat was staring at me the whole time!"

"Aww, honey," he said, wrapping his arms around her tighter, "I'll take you to ice cream, how does that sound?" he asked, kissing her lips lightly.

She stared down, thinking about it for a few moments before nodding pathetically, "Ok," she said. He wanted to just hold her, she sounded so cute right now. He felt her wrap her arms around his neck, and give him another hug. He held her extra tight, she was so amazing, so incredibly kind in these moments. He could only guess that she had looked over his shoulder when she saw him, "Hey, Cody," she said flatly. He had the urge to block her from him, to protect her, something about him just didn't ring as right to Troy.

Cody grunted in response as Gabriella rolled her eyes. She separated from Troy, running her hands down his forearms. He got butterflies (manly monarchs of course) in his stomach as she looked at him. "Give me two seconds," she said quietly, "I'm going to go say bye to Tay, then we can leave."

She reached up and kissed his cheek before walking towards Taylor's room. He tapped his fingers on the table, back to Cody so he didn't say anything to him. Soon Gabriella's hand was on his back, letting him know she was ready. He took her hand, wrapping his fingers around hers, giving it a squeeze and kissing the back of her hand before they walked out of the apartment.

They were not two steps out of the apartment when Troy turned to Gabriella, "Ok, I am so down for operation Chad and Taylor."

Gabriella looked up, beaming at him, "Hello my personal secret agent. What made you change your mind?"

He thought back to Taylor and him just hanging out, how fun she was, she had quickly become one of his good friends, even if she didn't like video games. He made a mental note to tell Chad that. He thought of her as a little sister. Then he thought of Cody. What a fucking douche bag he was. The things he had said about Gabriella, he can't be much nicer about Taylor. People like that didn't deserve people like Taylor or Gabriella in their lives. "I don't know," He said, "He just rubs me the wrong way." Even thinking about the fact that Cody was in the apartment with Taylor made him want to go back and protect her too. He just wasn't…right. He couldn't explain it. It was not the fact that he said rude things about Gabriella; it was something more than that. He didn't like the idea of Taylor being alone with him, but at the same time wanted to get Gabriella as far away from him, as quickly as he could. He tried to tell himself that he was just being a defensive boyfriend, possessive even, but he knew that wasn't it.

"So does this mean you'll help me get them together?" Gabriella asked, staring up at him with those deep brown eyes. She seemed to have cheered up from her cat episode. Plotting seemed to have gotten her mind off of it. He wanted to distract from it as long as possible, he hated seeing her upset.

"Yes, I'll help you."

"Good! I already have this whole thing planned out." she said excitedly before diving right into her plan. He listened closely the rest of the night as Gabriella let him in on how Chad and Taylor were going to get together.