"Thanks for being here." Her small voice picked up throughout the busy hospital waiting room.

The blood shot eyes looked up and he scooted closer to the small girl who had her knees pulled up to her chest with her arms circling them. Her eyes are squeezed shut to keep the tears at bay, and her body was slowly rocking in the uncomfortable blue cushiony chair.

He laid his warm and slightly sweaty hand on top of her knee. "You know I wouldn't miss this for the world."

Gabriella sniffled as her brown eyes were slowly revealed. They held no emotion, no color, no life to them.

She slowly turned her head to look at her best friend.

"She's gonna be okay, right Jase?" She looked at him with hope that he had the right words to say. "It's just surgery." She seemed to be saying that quite a lot as she was trying to convince herself more than anybody else in the room.

Who has the right words to say? In a situation where you're sitting with your best friend, surrounded by other people who were waiting to get in to see their doctors, and you're stuck knowing that your second mother is in surgery for a brain tumor that the doctor's just found could possible go wrong. It broke Jason's heart as this was the woman who put ice on his first bee sting. Who taught him how to tie his shoes when his own mother was busy at work. Who taught him and Gabriella how to use the oven.

Jason nearly choked up right there and then just thinking about all the first time things he shared with Anna Montez.

He squeezed Gabriella's knee in reassurance as he looked down at the ground and away from her dull eyes. "It has to Gab. It just has too."

No matter how many people told her that it had to go well. No matter how many times Sharpay and Taylor said that phrase, or her father and grandparents, there was something more reassuring when Jason said it.

Her hand that was pulling her knees closer to her chest slipped up and laid gently on Jason's warm hand. His head snapped up and their eyes connected once more. "I'm tired Jase." In many ways what she just said had many different meanings.

One--She's just overly worn out from schoolwork, her new job, and now her mother's health.

Two--She's tired of this situation. She's tired of doctors telling her things with big words that no one understood, and nurses rushing around her as if they had other better things to do.

He wrapped his arm around her shoulders and pulled her closer; as close as the chair would let them with the two armrests in between. He gently pushed her head down on his shoulder and rested his own head on top of hers.

"Then go to sleep Gabi. I'll wake you up."

"Right when the doctor comes out?"

"Right when the doctor comes out." He promised.

"Promise?"

"I promise."


"So you're uh…looking at Stanford?" Jason asked as he looked down at Gabriella's table that Thursday afternoon and saw a Stanford magazine.

Gabriella looked up from kneeling in front of the TV as she was going through her wide DVD collection to pick out something to watch. "Uh…yeah. I've just started looking into it with more detail, but I've talked about it with my parents for a while now."

"It's a good school?" Jason asked cautiously. It had been an awkward car ride over to Gabriella's house as neither one of them spoke a word. Jason was being extra careful so he didn't let word slip that he knew what Gabriella was up to the last couple of days after school. He assumed Gabriella was just quiet because she didn't know what to say or do around him and how he was acting.

Gabriella glanced back at him briefly. "Yeah. It's a great school. I'm getting excited." As she finished putting the DVD in she went and sat down by him on the couch. "What about you? Anymore thought about going out East?" A part of her really admired Jason for being able to think about moving out East to do something other than basketball; the sport that both of them had grown up with, but the only problem Gabriella saw standing in Jason's way was his dad.

"Actually that might not happen." Jason said quietly as he stared at the TV screen, but his mind wasn't registering what was happening with the previews of movies that had already come out on DVD. He had told himself that he would hang out with Gabriella that day; she was his best friend and he was gonna try his hardest to show her that something wasn't bothering him that much, not until the time was right, but as she continued with her questions, he couldn't refuse her; no matter how disappointed he might be.

"What? Why?" She asked in alarm.

"You know how my dad is apart of the UCLA Alumni?" Jason asked, but didn't wait for her to answer. "He has always wanted me to go to a great basketball college, and UCLA might be my chance."

"But what about going East? What about you wanting to explore the different parts of our country?" Gabriella can't believe that Jason was changing his mind again, but then again whenever they talked about colleges, he always had a different answer.

"Ever since I could play basketball, my dad has believed that I hold some powerful, God-like," Jason rolled his eyes as neither of them were watching the TV now, "gift to shoot a ball through a basket. And since he was this big year round jock at his high school, it only made sense that I had to also be this big sports player." Gabriella listened as Jason spoke with such a calmness that it almost sent shivers down her spine.

"He knew that basketball was my game since first grade and I dominated in the Community Ed league. We had this plan mapped out forever now, play basketball as my first priority, then school, then during high school get picked up by a scout and play the sport that I love." Jason looked at Gabriella with a truth in his eye. "At first I honestly thought that sounded crazy. Even in high school as I was the only sophomore on the varsity team. But the more that I played, the more that my dad actually looked and sounded proud of me, it gave and still gives me the hope that maybe his plan isn't too crazy; especially now that he's talking about UCLA and how he's already talking to the scouts."

"That all sounds great Jase, but traveling? I thought you really wanted to do that too?"

Jason shrugged his shoulders. "Our country will always be here after I get my shot at basketball. It's all good. I'm just trying to concentrate on UCLA now."

Gabriella nodded her head. "Are you sure? It's not just your dad filling your head?"

"Hey, last I heard about your choices was that you wanted to go east too, not Stanford." Jason defended in a harsher tone than intended. He sighed as he saw that Gabriella sunk away from him a little bit. He shut his eyes to clear his mind as no matter if he was mad at Gabriella or waiting for her to tell him why she was hanging out with Troy by choice, she was still his best friend. Through thick and thin, they were best friends and he wasn't just going to forget about her if something's wrong.

"Hey," he said in a softer tone as he looked at her and placed a comforting hand over hers. "I'll go to UCLA and you go to Stanford, and we'll at least be in the same state. They're only like five hours away from each other."

Gabriella smiled as this was a relief to her that maybe he wasn't cross with her. Maybe he was just having an off day with his dad. "How do you know this? Doing research now?" Gabriella teased.

Jason smiled. "Even though you weren't technically considering Stanford as a school to go to, doesn't mean that I can't look into other schools that have nothing to do with basketball."

"Could you really do it though?" She asked with all seriousness in her voice.

"Do what?" He picked at the cushion beneath him as all hopes of ending a conversation were out the window as no matter if he was crossed with her or not, they were bound to have a college conversation sooner rather than later.

"Not play basketball? I know that you were considering it before, but I know that for a fact you enjoy and love the game with a passion. You wouldn't have played it for eleven years if you didn't. So back to the question: could you not play?"

He looked her square in the eye. "…No. No I couldn't."


Gabriella stood on her porch as she waved goodbye to Jason who decided to go for a jog to clear his head and then head home. After they big college talk they decided to actually do homework together; something they hadn't done in a while together, as the movie played and they barely watched it again.

She was about to turn inside when she heard a basketball bouncing in the backyard. She froze mid-step and turned herself around. She bounded down the stairs and walked in between her's and Troy's houses. She had to avoid the huge tree that separated them as the big oak lead up to both of their balconies that almost each house on the block had.

She came into contact with the wooden fence and cautiously opened it. He didn't hear, or if he did hear the old wood creaking then he showed no sign as his back was to her and he made a perfect three pointer.

She found herself almost clapping; something she did with Jason whenever she was over at Zeke's house and the two boys would play one-on-one and Sharpay, Taylor, and her would watch.

But she refrained as it was the weird feeling she got that stopped her. How can she be so different when it came to Troy? How could she just feel so naturally involved that she found herself acting as if she was around Jason at the time also? It wasn't right to treat both boys the same as Jason was her best friend, and Troy's just…Troy; the boy she tutors.

"Yes Gabriella?" Troy's voice called out as he still had his back to her, but he soon turned around and looked at her with a cocked eye brow.

Gabriella swallowed as the t-shirt he wore clung to his body; outlining his six pack. His sandy brown hair fell in front of his eyes as he swept it to the side. His striking blue eyes pierced right through her. In that moment with his skin glistening, Gabriella let her mind wander back to what the other single cheerleaders were saying to her after picking numbers.

"You're so lucking Gabs. I would've picked him, but he's so quiet. It's like he's brooding all the time."

"Well?" Troy asked as he stationed the ball near his hip and walked over to the picnic table he had at the side of the court. He picked up his black sweatshirt and put it on.

"Oh uh…" Gabriella blinked her eyes as if to clear her head of the small glimpse of skin she just saw on his stomach. She took a small step forward as it was better to show him that she wasn't effected with how he looked at the moment; although with the way that she sounded, it was pretty hard to conceal. "Did you get my text?" Her small voice asked.

He lifted the hem of his gray shirt and black sweatshirt to wipe at his forehead. "Yeah. I got it." Troy was wrong. Gabriella didn't forget as five minutes after he left the school, his phone went off with a new text from Gabriella saying that she couldn't make it for tutoring.

Gabriella shuffled her feet as she bravely walked closer to him and sat down on top of the picnic table; right near him as she could feel the heat radiating off of his body in the cool October air.

"Good. That's good." She murmured. She had never felt more awkward. Even when Jason's in a weird tense mood, she could handle herself, but now with Troy, she had no idea what to say. She should probably just walk away, but something's telling her to stay. Something in the back of her mind was screaming at her to stay; no matter what the consequences.

Troy was looking straight ahead, but he snuck a glance to his right to see Gabriella sitting just like him; legs bent as their feet rested on the bench of the table, and her eyes trained on the court before her.

"So what was it this time?" Troy asked in a tone that gave away how bad he thinks of Jason.

"Excuse me?"

"You heard me. What was it this time?" He punctuated each word. "It was kind of obvious something was bugging him all of practice today. What was it? Was it because of daddy? His car? A problem with the ladies?" Troy mocked.

Gabriella jumped down from the picnic table in fury. "You would know if you actually had a dad."

She couldn't believe that the words flew from her mouth. Her face showed it all as she looked mortified with herself. She looked at his face which drained of color, and that was more than enough to turn away from him and to quickly escape into the safe confines of her house.

He stayed seated as he saw the fear that passed through Gabriella's eyes. He knew that she knew she said something wrong. A part of him couldn't believe that she said that either, and for what? For defending Jason? Troy still couldn't figure out why everyone thought Jason was such a great guy.

But he couldn't just let her get away like that. There was no way that he was going to let her throw it back at his face that he didn't have a dad because that bastard abandoned him and his mother.

He jumped down and he swore that Gabriella picked up her pace to scurry away. "Hey!" He yelled after her.

She didn't stop as he started after her and grabbed her by the wrist. "Hey, I was talking to you!"

Gabriella struggled within his grasp as he didn't let go of her. She knew that she said something wrong. "I'm sorry okay?!" The sincerity in her tone was covered up with the little bit of anger that was left over from when Troy was mocking Jason just a couple of minutes ago. "Will you let me go now?!"

"Do you have any idea what you just said?! Do you have any concept of the words flowing from your mouth, or do you just talk and then think?" His voice demanded an answer as Gabriella still struggled with her wrist.

He couldn't even look at her as just the memories of growing up fought their way to the front of his mind. He almost considered his childhood a separate part of his life as he barely even saw his mom either; much less his dad who Troy grew up to hate.

All of a sudden he didn't want her answer. He didn't want to be talking to her as whenever he did talk to her they would almost always get into some fight, and a big cycle would be starting up again.

"Whatever." Troy shoved her wrist away as Gabriella grasped and rubbed the spot that he was holding. "I don't even care anymore. You can go back to your perfect house now, with your perfect parents." Troy glared as Gabriella should've been more afraid. Anyone who saw this side of Troy and his hardening body, menacing glare, and snarled teeth, they would all say the same thing--he almost looked like an animal ready to pounce. "Mommy's probably making dinner right now."

He couldn't go back into his house or else more memories would be surfacing to his brain, so he did the next thing he could think of.

Gabriella watched as his back faced her and he started walking away. There was no longer fear or anger in her eyes. There was only sadness. She blinked her glossed over eyes before watching the cold hearted boy walk over to his truck in his driveway.

But something ticked in Gabriella. This little argument started with her defending Jason, or at least that is what she thought, and now it's ending with him assuming once again that she thinks she's better than everyone else. It wasn't true. It couldn't be farther from the truth.

"Troy!" Gabriella called out desperately.

Gabriella was a good person at heart. She might not come across it as she did hang out with the cheerleaders--Troy was actually right because some of the cheerleaders did think they were better than most--she also hung out with kids who drink and party, but what high schoolers didn't? And then she was best friends with Jason. But deep down and most of the time she was a good person, and she's not going to let Troy think otherwise. After all, she was tutoring him; that had to count for something?

"Troy!" Gabriella called again as he was almost to his truck and she rushed after him.

He didn't even turn his head a quarter of an inch. It was like he couldn't even hear her.

She rushed after him and nearly got to him right as he was unlocking his truck.

"Come on Troy, I didn't mean it. I'm sorry." She cried. Again she got no answer. She huffed as he opened the truck door, and she saw this as her opportunity. Surely he wouldn't drive away if she was in the car with him. "Fine." She snapped.

She quickly clambered to the other side of the white truck and hopped into the passenger side.

"Ha! You can't ignore me now." Gabriella stated as he started the truck up. Her face dropped as Troy peeled out of the driveway and onto their road.

"I think I can." She heard him say before a silence took over.


They had been driving for thirty minutes before Troy finally pulled over and Gabriella was sure that they were in a different city. She looked around at the abandoned park and noticed the full basketball court just waiting for someone to play, the swing set that was gently swaying in the breeze, and the small slides that any little kid would enjoy going down.

"Where are we?" Gabriella whispered as her voice was a little huskier than normal from not talking for a while.

"Avenue park." He got out of the truck; leaving Gabriella to decide if she wanted to get out also or just sit there. She had no idea what they were doing there, and she didn't know if she even wanted to find out, but the better part of her held her curiosity.

She hopped out and walked at a quicker pace to keep up with him.

"You know, I have a family to get back to. My dad and mom are gonna be wondering where I am." Gabriella kept up with his pace as she didn't take in her surroundings until she came face to face with various trees creating a darker atmosphere; almost like a mini forest.

"You heard of cell phones, haven't you?" Troy asked shortly before entering the tight little space leading into the trees that could easily get you lost.

Gabriella looked around. She was at a place where she didn't know her way around, it was going to be getting dark soon, and she was pretty sure that her cell phone was out of battery.

She looked at where Troy entered as she quickly followed again.


"Thirty free throws and we can call it a day." Andrew told his son as he bounced passed the ball to Jason who was standing at the free throw line at the park down the street from their house.

Jason got into position and shot the ball. Both Cross' watched the ball soar into the net perfectly. Andrew grinned to himself as he retrieved the ball from under the basket and bounced it to his son again.

"This is what I want to see in the game tomorrow. You getting fouled, taking all the shots you can, and making your free throws. It'll be perfect." Andrew's gruff voice said as if Jason wasn't mistaken, he swore he could hear pride in his voice.

Jason lined up to the basket and shot the ball perfectly again. He smiled as he wiped the sweat off of his forehead.

"You know there's scouts coming to your game on next Wednesday. If you keep this up then you'll have a scholarship in no time."

Jason blinked as he caught the ball his dad sent to him rather a little too hard in his chest. "Next week?"

"Yup. You're gonna do good. That is if you can keep the ball away from people who can also make their shots." It was the little comments that his dad made that ticked Jason off. Andrew looked at his son pointedly. "Even if that means your own teammate." It wasn't plural. And there was only one other person Jason thought of when his dad said this: Troy Bolton. "Got it son?"

Jason nodded his head sullenly. Why couldn't his dad just be proud of him and just leave it at that? Although hearing the pride in his father's voice, it was worth it at the time; even if his dad always had a condescending tone to his voice.

"Good. Now twenty-eight more."


There were trees surrounding them everywhere. If it wasn't for the little light shining through the big tree tops then Gabriella wouldn't know if it was night or day out.

He was just standing there next to this big boulder that seemed to be in the exact middle of this small clearing. He hadn't said anything for the past ten minutes when Gabriella finally caught up to him. She had sent out one text and that was it for her cell phone before it shut down automatically from lack of charging, so at least her mom knew that Gabriella wasn't going to be home until after dinner.

But in other aspects Gabriella didn't mind that Troy wasn't saying anything. It gave her time to reflect on things, to clear her mind, or to just think of other things. Sometimes what a person really needs is silence, and Troy was giving her just that.

But other times, when you're given silence, you're mind just works in overload. It recaps on everything that had happened in that day, and right at this time, Gabriella's mind was stuck on Troy's hurt face when she threw it in his face that his dad abandoned him and his mother. It was eating her alive on the inside, and she had to make it right.

"You know," she started off softly as she took a tentative step towards him, "I really am sorry about your dad."

His body was stiff as his arms were crossed against his chest to keep his body heat as close as possible as it was cold out; even with wearing a sweat shirt. "Don't mention it. I don't really care."

Gabriella sighed as she laid a hand on his arm to make him turn to her. "But I care Troy. I said something that was uncalled for and I'm sorry."

"Seriously, just forget about it."

"I can't forget about it if this is the reason why we're out in the middle of some patch of woods."

"Relax Gabriella. I know where we are. I used to come here all the time with my grandpa." Troy looked at Gabriella as she studied their surroundings even more. "I used to live a couple of houses away when my mom went to school."

Gabriella was slowly putting it together as it made sense that in order for Lucille to get a degree in something Troy would have had to stay with someone.

"Do your grandparents live around here still?"

Troy sighed while running a hand through his hair. "No. They moved once mom and me left for Albuquerque."

"And you miss them." It wasn't a question; it was a fact.

"Can you blame me? You grow up with someone for seven years and you're bound to miss them once they go away. Some people don't have the mother who's always home to cook, or the dad who boasts about all of your achievements."

Gabriella narrowed her eyes suspiciously, but decided to let it go as she didn't want to fight again; especially since it would be so easy for Troy to just ride off without her. "I have a feeling that you're talking about my family again."

He looked away from her and instead ventured over to the big boulder that could fit at least four people on it, and sat down. "Maybe; maybe not. You never know." He said mysteriously as he had this underlining tone to his voice that put something in his eye. Something that made what he just said send shivers down Gabriella's spine.

"I thought we went over this? I'm not perfect, my family definitely isn't, so I don't know why you think I am." Gabriella sat down by him on the stone; their arms brushing as she got comfortable.

"We did, it's just…I don't really know. Maybe you're family isn't perfect. And maybe you're not perfect, but there's just something about you that makes you seem perfect. You know?"

"You seem to have that act down also." Gabriella snuck a glance out of the side of her eye to see Troy crack a smile.

There was a silence as Troy just took this time to reflect upon all that had happened with Gabriella. He almost found it comical that a week ago he thought Gabriella was some stuck up stereotypical cheerleader who followed Jason around like a right hand man. Some would think that she was rude to others. Others might think that she came off as a bratty spoiled teenage kid as her family did have more money than most middle class families due to her dad's early career. But he was wrong; even if he couldn't admit it out loud yet, he was wrong. She was a cheerleader, but she's also so much more than that.

Over the last couple of days that they spent their afternoons together Troy had a chance to see her real self. She was caring towards others. She was smart and wasn't afraid to show it. She was beautiful as almost every weekend she had guys asking to go out with her. And if he didn't know any better than he would say that she sounded almost just like Lilly, but that was a far stretch as they looked nothing alike. And Gabriella wasn't known for cheating.

Gabriella was also taking time to think about what she was feeling towards Troy. She didn't know what it was about him, but whatever it was, it always made her worse side show whenever Troy was involved. She never used to get so mad at someone for bringing up the simplest of things, but then again, she never did have someone point out to her that maybe her family was 'perfect'. But even that was the furthest from the truth.

But yet…she didn't mind. Getting mad and being able to yell at someone to let out your anger and frustrations felt good. And knowing that no matter what, in the end they were somehow going to understand each other, helped her yell even more. Because that's what they're seeming to do now. For a couple of days they get along, and then something like that night happens and they fight, then it repeats, and Gabriella knew that if this kept happening, she could handle it because it felt good.

She stole a small glance at Troy and saw that he looked like he was thinking about something, but then again, he always had such a serious face on; she couldn't quite yet read all of his emotions yet. She quickly looked ahead of herself again as he looked at her and caught her looking.

Her cheeks tinted a light pink as she could still feel his blue icy eyes on her still. She shivered as she was only wearing a t-shirt and jeans.

"Here." His gruff voice said as he readjusted himself on the rock and took off his sweat shirt. Before Gabriella could protest that he was going to be cold without it, he already put it in her lap. She looked down at it as he let a small chuckle through his thin lips. "Go on. It's not gonna bite you."

She sighed as she started putting it on without a fight. As she tugged it over her head and got into her original spot, she looked at Troy once again. She gave a small smile and he returned it. "Thank you."

"No problem."

Gabriella sensed the whole change in the mood again. She knew that there would be another timeframe of silence, and she didn't want that.

"Troy?"

"Hmm?"

They both stared in front of them as the calmness of the nature around them soaked in. Gabriella was guessing this is where Troy went if something was bothering him, and although it was a little farther away than some of the other parks that were actually in town, she had to admit, that having your own little patch in the woods was cool.

"You know how I said I'm not perfect?" She asked tentatively.

"I know. I know. I was wrong to assume that you were, okay?" Troy asked defensively as he turned his body to face her.

"No. It's not that." She picked at her light blue faded jeans that clung to her small legs, and had a rip in the knee as her golden skin shone through. "It's just…"

"What?" He probed in encouragement as his hand unconsciously got closer to hers. "It's just what?"

She quickly gathered all her courage and looked up into his bright blue eyes. "I don't know what all the rumors were in sophomore year, but half way through something happened. Something that I barely talk about and only a couple of people that I told actually know the whole thing."

Troy wanted to ask, Then why are you telling me?, but he didn't as if he did then he knew that she wouldn't ever think about telling him again. "…Yeah?" He asked softly as his body shifted closer to her's without even thinking about it.

Gabriella swallowed as she drew her knees up to her chest and wrapped her shaking arms around them. It was starting to get even colder as the sun was almost down. Her bottom scooted closer to Troy's body as neither one said a word about it.

"I don't know why I'm telling you this, and please don't take offense to it, but it's not something that I advertise to people. I don't like it when people feel sorry for me. I don't like the attention at all." She fluttered her eye lashes as her breath got caught in her throat at just glancing up at Troy's captivating eyes before she quickly diverted her eyes again to his chest.

"My mom had a brain tumor Troy. And it grew to the point where the doctors could barely help it." Gabriella turned straight again as she didn't dare look up to see Troy's reaction. This was the part of her life that she liked to keep secret. She had gone through so much that year as it was the worst time of her life and everyone else just made it worst as they all tried to understand what it felt like almost losing a mother. Gabriella couldn't even imagine what it would feel like actually losing her.

His reaction was like no other's. Jason almost cried when he found out. Sharpay was too shocked to say anything. And Taylor was put into a frenzy as she did all this research to try to help Gabriella cope with her mother's illness. But Troy's reaction had to be the best as his hand that was mere centimeters away from her hand closed the distance finally and grasped her freezing hand in his. If she was too cold for his liking he didn't show it as he stood up, and pulled her up with him.

"Come on. You look tired."

Gabriella allowed him to lead her out of the woods. He knew from her silence that she was telling the truth about not telling people about this. Almost everyone around school knew at the time in sophomore year that something had happened seeing as their gym teacher and Gabriella weren't in school for about half a month, but now as it was almost a year and a half ago, people had forgotten it.

But now it all made sense to him as he ushered her back into his truck. When he first was driving with her in the truck, he was feeling angry and almost jealous at the thought of her having two parents and her throwing the fact that Jason had his dad and not him, but now just going back to the one place where he grew up with his hero--his grandfather--it all seemed to calm him down, and now with Gabriella telling him this about her mom; he felt sorry for her.

He climbed into his side of the truck and started it. He quickly pulled out of the parking lot as it was now completely dark out. He noticed that instead of Gabriella sitting on the farther passenger side, she was sitting in the middle since his truck was one which had three seats in the front, and not just two. He felt her shiver.

"You cold still?" He asked as he silently glanced at her.

Gabriella wrapped her arms around her small abdomen as the sweatshirt did have a warm feeling to it.

"Nah. I'll get warmer soon."


"At the end of the day when things count; I'd happily trade my 'dad' in for your mom's health." Troy stated softly as they were parked outside of their house. Throughout the car ride home there was no conversations attempted after they made their way out of the Park's parking lot. It was a comfortable silence though as every once in a while Troy would feel Gabriella shiver and he would every so subtly a minute after turn the heater onto an even higher setting.

She turned in the car as her seat belt was already off. "Let's not talk about this. I don't know why I told you about my mom. I must have had some malfunction or something as I never, EVER speak about it." Gabriella whispered desperately as there was no need to speak loudly.

There was something about the way that she was looking at him that made him unconsciously lick his bottom lip as her glazed over eyes bored into his own. Halfway during the drive home, and an exact minute after one of her shivers, Troy's warm hand found her cold one. It chilled him right to the bone as he had never thought a human being could be that cold, but she was. It was a friendly gesture; if only they both knew what the other one was thinking when their fingers laced together.

Gabriella slowly looked down to their still attached hands and then back up at Troy. "But I'm glad I did. It felt…uh…it felt nice." She mimicked him as she unconsciously licked her bottom lip also. "I uh…better get inside. We've got school tomorrow; not to mention you have a very important game."

Their hands stayed connected.

"Yeah. You're right." They both looked at each other to see who would pull away first. In a couple of seconds it was Gabriella as her mind flashed to an image of Jason watching. Although it was a figment of her imagination, guilt still welled up in the pit of her stomach. "Uh," she motioned to the black sweatshirt that was about three sizes too big for her. "What should--"

"Keep it."

Gabriella looked up quickly.

Troy corrected himself right away. "You know. I'll just pick it up later."

Gabriella nodded her head. "Okay. Right. So I'll see you tomorrow then." She opened the passenger side door and got out of it, but right before she closed the truck door, she stopped and turned to him and hesitated. "…thanks Troy."

As the door shut, Troy closed his eyes and sighed loudly. For a moment he actually thought that they were gonna kiss. But just for a moment as the moment was right. The atmosphere around them was semi serious as the tone was perfect. He was just about to start the truck up again so he could pull into the driveway, but a tapping on the his window stopped him. He unrolled his window and saw that Gabriella was leaning against his car door again.

"Hey." He greeted her with an amused smile. "How you doing?"

Gabriella rolled her eyes. "That line only works for the show Friends. And you just don't pull off a good Joey."

Troy smiled charmingly. "Fine then Montez. Spoil all my fun."

"Ha ha, but I actually came back to ask you if you still wanted to meet up tomorrow for tutoring since there's no practice?"

He completely forgot about that as in that afternoon he started thinking about it, but then within one minute, his mind completely let him forget about him almost failing math.

"Yeah. That is if you're still up for it?"

"I have work from three to six, but things are so dead down there on Friday's due to games being that day that if you come down, I'll be able to tutor you there." Gabriella told him.

"Fine then. That sounds good."

Gabriella nodded, "Okay then. I guess this is goodnight…again." She was so close to him as between their conversation she got even closer to his truck so she could hear his voice over the soft sound of the winds around them.

He made a quick decision as his hand reached out and grabbed her two hands that were settled on top of the gape where his window goes down into. She was already leaning in as she didn't get a chance to pull away and she stared at Troy at eye level curiously.

Deep down she knew what was coming. She should've pulled away as it was wrong to be doing it; but three seconds of lips on lips were hardly counted as bad. In fact she leaned in even more as their eyes stayed locked on each others until the final split second before their mouths touched. His thumb ran gently over her goose bumped hand in a comforting way before they both pulled back simultaneously.

Gabriella's eyes were wide as she processed that she just kissed her best friend's half brother. "Goodnight Troy."

"Goodnight Gabriella."


Author's Note--So what do you think? I know that it's longer than usual, but I was having a stressful week, and I just felt the need to go into the land of Troyella where everything makes sense to me. So give me a review and tell me what you like and dislike, and I want to say thank you to everyone who has reviewed. You guys have no idea how happy they make me as reviews strangely help me write faster. If that makes sense?