Things were picked up. The store items that got knocked over were either tossed aside for the next set of workers to deal with, or they were put back on the selves. And if you were a person who just walked into the store, the only other evidence of a fight happening would be the two sullen boys who had an ice pack to their nose, and an ice pack above an eye.

Neither one had instigated anymore small talk or conversation as it got too weird and nice for them after Troy's last words. Jason was in his previous stance as before Troy even came into the shop with his elbow resting on the counter and his head leaning on his propped up hand. While Troy opted to sit on one of the various stools the store kept behind the counter just in case the workers wanted to sit if they weren't busy. Troy had pulled it out from behind the counter so he was back on the side the customers stood at. He didn't need anyone thinking he worked there with Jason.

"What the HELL happened here!?" Gabriella's voice exclaimed as she came rushing into the store. She had been dragged away by Sharpay who needed help with a dress. She never thought that it would take long due to Sharpay already having a specific dress picked out, but then Gabriella's eye caught onto something that she really, really liked and Sharpay convinced her to just try it on. Of course if you get a dress, then you have to get matching shoes. Gabriella really didn't care about shoes, but Sharpay made her. So now Gabriella had a nice little dress wrapped up and in the trunk of Sharpay's car until she picked it up later that night.

She never expected to come back to Jason and Troy looking so horrible with ice packs to their faces. She had known of them fighting at school previous years as it was common for them to break out into something if she wasn't around with Jason. Being enemies was hard to control feelings, but then you add being siblings into the mix and they can fight even more.

But she thought that both boys would at least make an attempt into being civil towards each other, especially in such a public place with police walking around.

"What the fuck's the matter with you two?!" She demanded as she rushed over to Troy and Jason who both looked alarmed now.

"N--nothing." Troy stuttered as he was too shocked by her outburst. He sat up straighter as Gabriella barely came to his height, even if he was sitting down on a stool. With one look into her big brown eyes, he caved as he said softly, "It's not that bad Brie."

It seemed that with his calming voice, his tone had an effect on her also as she calmed down a little. "Let me see."

She slowly and carefully placed her hand over his that was holding the ice pack and removed his fingers. With her other hand waiting she took control and hesitantly removed the ice pack from over his eye. She held in her gasp as she took in the bump that was swelling, and the cut that looked like it stung.

"You did this Jase?" Gabriella accused as Jason rolled his eyes.

"And you're not concerned for me?" He asked back with the same exasperated tone.

Gabriella narrowed her eyes as she could sense the humor in his voice. "Cut the bull shit Jase."

"Relax Gabi. It was just a couple of assholes from West High. No biggie." Jason brushed off as if it was nothing and it happened all the time. He didn't need Gabriella worrying about him and Troy together as he could tell that she was already freaking out mentally.

"Oh." Her voice was meek as it dawned upon her that the only two West High Knights that she was familiar with that even dared show their faces in the shop when they were working was the Captain and his right hand man. "Are you two okay?"

"They ran off worse than us." Troy reassured her before Jason could even open his mouth to talk.

Gabriella took a calming breath as it would be a lie if she said she wasn't worried for them. She never did like fighting. Who did? And the way that movies made fighting out to be, it seemed like everyone was doing it and it was natural, but they never did show the consequences afterwards.

"That's good. Um…so besides the fighting, did everything go okay?" She asked as she stared at Jason. It was a simple question, but what she was really asking was, You two didn't get into anymore trouble with or against one another?

"No. Everything ran smoothly."

"That's good. So I guess we should start studying?" Gabriella offered as Troy rolled his eyes jokingly.

It was like Jason wasn't even in the room as Troy and Gabriella felt total comfort with each other. It didn't matter that her best friend was in the room, or his half brother who Troy didn't get along with was there. The moment that they truly let their eyes meet and stare with no words being said; it seemed like they put up a force around them. A huge blockade that kept everyone else out as that was the way they wanted it.

"Right. Because I SO want to study after getting in a fight." Troy said sarcastically; finally emitting a giggle out of Gabriella's mouth.

Gabriella leaned up and whispered into Troy's ear, "If you study now and get an A on the next test, I can promise you now that there will be a big reward in the end."

"I like the way that you think Brie."


Jason and Gabriella shut down the shop for the day as since it was a school night the store closed at seven p.m. They usually weren't the ones supposed to be closing the shop down for the day, but their boss sometimes didn't have time to do it himself so he trusted them to do it.

Troy had left an hour before the store closed saying he needed to get home to finish up some of the things that his mom needed help with; trying to fix the pipes underneath the sink was one of his very first things to do. Gabriella found it amazing at just how much she was learning about Troy as she found out that day that he was also like a handyman around the house due to growing up with his grandfather and him being exactly that. He had learned how to work on cars for the very quick fix, he knew how to fix things around the house without even trying to pretend that he was poking around with it to see if it would actually work, and he could play basketball. Gabriella was starting to believe that he was a perfect guy.

Looking up at the stars made Gabriella remember the not too long ago night where Troy and her had got into a fight and he just took off to the park out of town. Thinking about him while looking up at the stars made her realize that even the littlest things she did made her think of him. She had to question herself, was that natural? She had never been this attached and interested in a guy; besides Jason of course.

"Jase?" Gabriella whispered as she readjusted herself on the hood of his car. They would do this sometimes as if neither of them had homework then they would just drive to some empty parking lot that was meant for some business place, and park one of their two cars to lay down on.

"Hmm?" He asked as he was just bidding time until he had to go home and face his mother who would have outrageous accusations about what happened to his face.

"I've been getting letters from colleges saying they want me to visit." Gabriella whispered with a hint of fear within her voice.

She was laying on her stomach now as she had her elbow propped up with her chin resting on the closed fist. Jason's eyes went wide a little as he readjusted himself so he was looking at Gabriella who was trying to appear untouched by the words she spoke.

"While others are only just looking at colleges, you're already being singled out." Jason kept his tone quiet as he tried to keep his tone light hearted. "You always were ahead of the group Montez."

"I'm serious Jase." Gabriella pulled at a loose string on the sleeve of her sweatshirt. She avoided his eyes as she looked down. "At first it wasn't a big deal as last year I would get one or two in the mail."

"But now?" He prompted.

"But now it's becoming more real. I mean, yesterday I got an invitation from Yale!" It was hard for Jason to separate the excitement and fright in her voice. "My whole life has been about Stanford. Stanford this…Stanford that. I mean, have you seen my room? It's covered with things from Stanford."

"And now you're afraid to change your mind?" Jason asked as he knew that he took the words right out of her mouth. Gabriella sighed as she turned her body and plopped herself down on her back again.

She didn't answer Jason as they took a moment of silence. She chewed on her lower lip as she let his words sink in. All her life it was the same story. She was smart so she did good in school. She was good at dancing so she was put into dance classes. She wanted to be like her mom so she joined cheerleading. And now all the times that their teachers had talked to them about colleges and made a big deal out of it was slowly turning into reality as possibilities were becoming more real. And new opportunities were coming into the picture along with new people.

"Or maybe instead of being afraid of chancing your mind; you're just afraid of letting people down with your choice." Jason spoke as he knew Gabriella like the back of his hand. Or at least he thought he did up until he found out that his best friend could fall for his half brother.

Gabriella brushed his very true comment aside and forced a smile on her face. "What about you Mr. UCLA?" She mused as Jason dramatically rolled his eyes.

"Way to subtly change the subject Montez."

Gabriella nudged him playfully. "What's up with that? My dad doesn't tell me these things, you know that."

"That usually means that it's none of your business." Jason brushed off.

"It's YOUR business. So that means it's MY business too!" Gabriella declared. Jason looked like a perfect stone statue as he didn't make eye contact with her and instead opted for a leisurely stance looking up at the stars. Gabriella's mouth dropped open as she whacked Jason on the chest. "You told me that we'd talk about this later! You told me this morning." She whined.

Jason's pink lips formed a smile on his face as it showed just how much he was kidding. "They're coming back in the middle of the season to see if my performance is the same or better. I guess that's something, right?"

Gabriella leapt on him as she wrapped her arms tightly around him. "That's more than enough Jase! That's fucking fantastic!"


Troy had a routine in the morning. A routine that he liked to keep too. His alarm would go off at six and if he was in the mood and not too tired then he would go for a quick jog. But if he was really tired then he would hit the snooze button at least four times. He would then shower and head downstairs. His mom was rarely home and if she was then she would still be asleep from the previous night. He basically had the whole house to himself as he liked his mornings to be quiet and peaceful.

At seven-fifteen he would start driving to school. On some days he would have to leave earlier if Chad needed a ride. He would have his ipod in, but in that particular morning he was running early for some reason. Maybe it was due to the fact that his mom was actually up for a change making breakfast for the both of them.

He stopped dead in his tracks as he skipped over the last step on the stairs. "What are you doing up?" He didn't mean to sound rude, but it wasn't everyday that his mom made pancakes.

"Well since you have a big math test today, I thought I'd wish you luck by making you breakfast, but if you don't want it then I can always throw it out." Lucille mused as she turned off the burner to the stove.

"No!" Troy said frantically as he tried to redeem himself.

Lucille looked at her son as she offered him a plate with a pointed look. Troy smiled at her sheepishly as he took it silently. "That's what I thought." Lucille mused to herself.

"How'd you find out about the test?" Troy asked between mouthful of sticky pancakes and syrup.

"Your school has actually come up with a good idea this year, and now sends out weekly updates on the students' classes."

Troy got up from the table to put his empty plate in the sink.

"Done already?" She asked as Troy put his backpack over his shoulder.

"I'm a growing boy mom. I eat fast." Troy cheekily smiled at her as he reached into his back jeans pocket for his ipod, but came up short.

"Something wrong Sweetie?" Lucille asked as she was now sitting down enjoying her coffee and the paper. She took in her son's frazzled figure standing in the doorway.

Troy concluded that he just forgot to take his ipod off it's charger, and that it was upstairs. "No. Just thought of something. Bye."

He walked out of the house and an unknown force made him turn his head. At the exact same time he walked out of his house, the beauty next door did. Gabriella's head turned too and their eyes connected as he felt his hand go up and wave.

Instead of going around the house to the driveway where her car was parked, Gabriella walked across the neatly kept yards to get to Troy who walked down from his porch. "Hey." He greeted as he leaned down to press a soft kiss to her smooth cheek.

"Hey." Gabriella smiled up at him as she couldn't help but wish that his warm lips would've kissed her someplace else on the face.

Maybe him being early to leave without his ipod was a good thing. And it was a bonus that he didn't have to take Chad.

"Want a lift?" He asked motioning to his already parked truck in the street; sitting against the curb.

"If you don't mind." She stated all of a sudden shyly. She had been given various rides to school by various different people up until she got her license. But never by a person who could make her heart beat faster than what she thought possible.

"So have you thought anymore about this Saturday and what you would like to do?" Troy asked as they were stuck waiting for a train to pass through.

Gabriella looked up as she wondered if he caught her staring down at their conjoined hands. Somewhere along the short trip from their houses to the railroad tracks which were approximately five minutes apart from each other, their hands had joined as Gabriella wasn't buckled in and sitting between the middle and passenger seat of the front row of his truck. She didn't want it to seem like she was too eager to see him and sit closest to him, but yet she didn't want to be that far away from him either.

"I thought I told you that Lyle was taking me to the mall?" Gabriella asked breezily as if nothing was wrong with that statement.

"Brie!" Troy yelped as a giggle emitted from her mouth. "So not funny." He clicked his tongue in annoyance before Gabriella sweetly smiled. "I could make you get out and walk the rest of the way."

"Oh please. You would never do that. You like me too much."

"Maybe that's a bad thing?"

Gabriella's eyes flickered to his body. He was looking forward as the train had just finished, and was about to accelerate, but he looked up and they now had a red light as various other cars drove through the intersection instead.

"If it's any consolation, I might like you a lot too." She said in an all too serious tone. "Is that a bad thing?"

He turned his head and knew the tone had changed. "No. I guess it's not."

Lips had gravitated towards each other. Their words getting quieter and quieter as their eyes didn't leave each other.

"Guess, or know?" Gabriella asked as he could feel the warmth of her breath on his lips.

"Know. I know that's a good thing." He whispered as before their lips could touch, got interrupted by a car horn behind them beeping.

The light was green.


"Troy." Gabriella murmured quietly as she was sitting on a bench that was situated against the wall at the end of the hallway. Troy was standing in front of her pacing. She watched him go back and forth as he didn't seem to hear her call out his name. "Troy?" Gabriella said louder.

"Hmm?" He asked distractedly as he continued with his pacing.

Gabriella got off the bench quickly as her small hand reached out and snatched his arm. He froze mid step as he turned around to look at her.

"Stop it." She chided softly. Their eyes connected. Gabriella and Troy both found that there was something else behind the gazes they shared. Whenever their eyes connected it was like they were the only two in the room. Their eyes sent calmness throughout their bodies as they both knew that this feeling didn't come around very often. Gabriella's cold hand reached up and cupped one of Troy's warm cheeks. If her hand was too cold for him he didn't show it. "You're gonna do fine."

"How do you know?" He asked. If he was taking this test a couple of weeks ago he wouldn't have cared that much. His other classes he was getting A's in, but this math class sucked for him. But before basketball that would've been okay, but not now with Coach Montez wanting every one of his players to be doing well. He didn't know how much basketball affected him until now when the mere thought of not being able to play in another official game crossed his mind.

"Because you fail, I fail. We're in this together."

Throughout the day they had very few alone times. But even so they managed to keep in contact with each other whether it was texting each other--hiding their phones underneath the tables or desks so that the teachers wouldn't see--, holding hands throughout the hallways, or eating lunch together. Of course after eating lunch together the previous day, Chad and Taylor went looking for their two best friends who seemed to go missing. They ended up finding them at one of the back tables closer to the doors of the cafeteria; nowhere near the jock tables.

Throughout the day of barely having alone time, the built up want and need to feel the other one's lips on their own became greater. It became stronger with each touch they had in math class while after taking their test. It stayed in the back of Gabriella's mind throughout her classes she had separate from Troy.

Lips gravitated towards each other again and met in a soft embrace. Whenever Gabriella kissed Troy she couldn't help but let her mind think of their last kiss shared and compare them. She thought of the kiss in the kitchen and how that one was rougher than this one. It was like whenever they were in a public place they would share a slow kiss. It felt too good to be true.

They pulled back with smiles on their faces. "You're gonna do great Troy. I just know it." Gabriella whispered right when Mr. Olsen's door opened and the two took a step back from each other in hopes of covering up what they were just doing and avoiding getting written up for PDA.

"Mr. Bolton." The older teacher greeted with a smile on his face. He took in the two teenagers who jumped apart from each other in the last second. He wasn't that old to not be able to hear the rumors going on about Gabriella and Troy. "What brings you here? I believe school ended nearly two and a half hours ago."

Troy smiled sheepishly as he scratched the back of his neck. Gabriella saw that Troy was a little nervous seeing as Mr. Olsen didn't particularly say that they should come by to see if he graded the tests yet. In fact, it was very unlikely that Mr. Olsen did have them ready since they had just taken the tests that day.

Gabriella laid a gentle hand on the small of his back in a sign of comfort. Troy looked at her for a mere second as Gabriella nodded her head.

"…I was just wondering if you had the tests from today?" He asked after another second of silence.

Mr. Olsen's thin lips slowly turned upwards. "I have yours on the top of the list. Would you like to see it?"

Troy stepped forward with a nod. He watched Mr. Olsen dig through his book bag to retrieve the tests. He seemed to be going at a slower rate than usual. After a minute of digging through his things, Mr. Olsen pulled out a small packet of three sheets: the test. He handed it over to Troy face down, and before Troy could flip it over, Mr. Olsen spoke.

"Not many kids would try to flip their grades like you have Mr. Bolton. I think you'll soon realize that it'll all pay off in the end." Mr. Olsen nodded his head in departure to Gabriella. "Have a good weekend you two."

Troy waited for Mr. Olsen to be out of the hallway before he flipped the test over. Gabriella was curious as she studied Troy's facial expressions. They reminded her of Jason so much as he looked like a perfect stone statue. His eyes were trained on the papers in front of him, and all Gabriella wanted to do was lean over to see too, but she knew that Troy would tell her after he registered what he got.

Troy's eyes took in the grade before him as he flipped to the other pages to see what he did wrong. This test was so different than the others he took for Mr. Olsen. One of the things that were different was that there was more pencil than red pen marks.

"So?" Gabriella prompted.

He looked up and his lips curled upwards. "I got an A-" Gabriella could hear the excitement in his voice. He held his arms open to her without thinking and Gabriella bounded into his body for a hug.

"I knew that you could do it." Gabriella said enthusiastically.

Troy flashed her an earth shattering smile. "Not without your help."

Gabriella didn't believe that for a second as she only pushed Troy to do better. It was his choice and mind to actually follow through with it. "I'm so proud of you."

Troy found the words sliding off his tongue so easily. "Proud enough to give me a kiss?"

"I think that can be arranged." She murmured as neither one cared that they were in a hallway. They were the only two there and this time they didn't have to pretend as they didn't have to hold back on their feelings.

Lips crashed against each other as Troy backed Gabriella up against the wall. His teeth playfully tugged and scraped against her bottom lip. For a brief moment Gabriella had to wonder who else Troy had kissed like this, but all thoughts were pushed aside as she reciprocated his joyous expressions by placing her hands on the back of his heated neck.

Troy couldn't explain a lot of things. He couldn't explain why his biological dad chose Cassie instead of his mom. He couldn't explain why Jason and him resented each other--it just happened over time. He couldn't explain how he had Gabriella in his life after years of knowing each other. He couldn't explain why a girl like her would want a guy like him, but yet he was kissing her out of the joy of passing his test, and out of the need that had been piling up inside of him. The need that told him that he had to talk to her, get in contact with her, to kiss her. And so he did just that.

He let his hands press up against her two small sides; almost caging her in, but yet giving that small space of escape incase she didn't feel right and was being pressured. He in no means wanted her to feel like that.

The need for air was the reason why they pulled away from each other. Their foreheads rested against one another as neither one wanted to move. Troy's and Gabriella's ragged breathing filled the sounds of the halls as they just stared at one another; silently daring the other one to make the first move.

"You think we're moving too fast?" Troy asked Gabriella wanting to know what was going on inside her head.

Gabriella subconsciously licked her bottom lip while her hands slowly slid themselves down his shoulders and to his biceps that were nicely formed. Her answer evoked a feeling in him. It was a feeling that he had never felt before.

"Maybe not fast enough."

Lips crashed against each other, and this time Troy ran his tongue against her bottom lip. Gabriella didn't take time to contemplate her response as it just felt natural to give him entrance. With any other guy she would've thought more of it. She should've been scared that she was feeling so at ease with him, but she didn't as she fully trusted him. She knew in the back of her mind that he wouldn't take this to the next step. She wasn't that easy like some of the other girls they associate themselves with, but to her this was a big step. It wasn't everyday that she had some guy swap spit with her.

Gabriella's eyes fluttered closed as her fingers slightly squeezed through Troy's brown jacket. She could feel Troy's hands making little circles on her taut stomach. Again she couldn't help herself as she allowed her mind to think about how many other girls Troy had been with. She knew that she had no reason to get upset or angry at whatever the answer is, but she was curious.

But all thoughts of Troy kissing some other girl disappeared from her mind as he pulled back and their lips detached from one another.

"So it's your last chance to tell me where we're going tomorrow, and don't say anything about Lyle. We already had to deal with him today." Troy stated.

"Do you want to just hang out at the mall? Maybe catch a movie."

"Right now you could probably tell me any place and I'd agree." Troy murmured softly.

Gabriella smiled. "I'll be sure to take advantage of that."


Author's note--I should've had this chapter up a long time ago, but I just haven't had the time with school, work, and preparing for my driving test. And especially with the holidays coming up, I'm going to be busy. I want to say a thousand THANK YOUs to anyone who reviewed because I never expected to get so many for that chapter. I don't know if this one is competing material as it's not so much exciting, but busy setting up a good foundation for what is to come. Please review again and tell me what you think. I love hearing what everyone has to say. Thanks.