Disclaimer I do not own High School Musical or any of its characters.

A/N: I hope everyone had a very happy holiday and got everything they wished for! I know I did :D Enjoy…

Las Time…

"So…what do we think of Gabriella?" Lucille asked.

"I love her." Nora exclaimed quickly. "She is so sweet!"

"And she's so polite and intelligent" Lisa pointed out.

"Definitely, and Lucas and Lily were as well" Jack said.

"Lucas and Lily were so fun to play with!" Grace exclaimed.

"Oh my god and can I just say that she is so pretty. And not like the superficial, look at how much makeup I can wear pretty, like natural beauty" Nora said.

"Troy definitely picked a great girl" Alex concluded.

"What about you mom? What do you think?" Nora asked.

"I think that Gabriella is amazing. She's funny, sweet, intelligent and just a caring person. Besides that, I can tell Troy really likes her, so she definitely gets my stamp of approval"

Chapter Fourteen – Sweet and Sour

Troy hummed quietly to himself as he made his way to the kitchen. He was greeted with a warm good morning from his mother when he entered. He pulled a bowl and cup from a cupboard and grabbed a spoon from one of the drawers. Taking his seat at the table he saw his sister sitting across from him, already eating. Grabbing the box of cereal from in front of him Troy asked,

"What are doing up so early?" His sister wasn't as late a sleeper as Troy was, but she still had the sleeping habits of a teenager.

"I'm leaving today. Remember?" Nora explained. Troy's mouth formed an o shape as he recalled his mother telling him that last night.

"Right. My brain isn't exactly in top shape at 7:15 in the morning. What time does your flight leave?" he asked as he poured the milk over his cereal.

"In 2 ½ hours" Nora said. Troy nodded, stirring his cereal to make sure all the flakes were covered in milk before he took a bite.

Just then Troy's father entered the kitchen,

"Good morning everyone" he greeted, taking his seat at the head of the table.

"Mornin' Dad" Troy responded before he took a gulp of his orange juice. Lucille came over with a bowl of oatmeal for her husband.

"Careful, it's hot" she warned as she placed it in front of him.

"Thanks" Jack said softly, placing a kiss on his wife's cheek.

Three of the Bolton's ate together, while Lucille waited for her own oatmeal to finish cooking in the microwave. Once the microwave beeped, signaling the food was done, Lucille grabbed the coffee pot and sat down at the table.

"You didn't forget about the game tonight? Did you?" Jack asked, slightly concerned as he poured some coffee for himself.

Troy shook his head, chewing his food faster so that he could answer his father. He soon swallowed and started to protest,

"Of course not. How could I possibly forget, it's against West High"

"You're not wearing your practice jersey." Jack pointed out, taking a gulp of his coffee.

"I know" Troy answered calmly. Jack raised his eyebrow and glanced at his wife to see if she knew anything about what was going on.

"Where is it? The team always wears it on game day" he reminded Troy.

"I gave it to Gabriella to wear" Troy answered matter-of-factly before he placed another spoonful of cereal in his mouth.

"You did?" his father almost sounded shocked.

Troy nodded, "Mmmhmm, it will look better on her than it does on me"

"Awww! That's so sweet!" Nora exclaimed.

"What's so sweet?" Alex asked as he entered the kitchen.

"Troy gave Gabriella his practice jersey to wear" Nora explained happily. Alex smirked,

"Awww...how cute" Alex mocked Nora's excitement.

"Oh shut up Alex. You did the same thing" Nora shot back. "And I bet Gabriella thought it was sweet as well"

Troy smiled as he recalled Gabriella's elated face when he'd asked her if she'd wear his jersey and the soft kiss she'd planted on his lips as her acceptance. He had been nervous about asking her – mostly fearing that she would think that the tradition was stupid. But Gabriella had held his jersey close to her chest as she had watched Troy walk down the apartment hall.

"Speaking of Gabriella how is she?" Lucille asked.

"She's good. A little tired from the week, but good." Troy answered.

"Is her father home yet?" Troy froze, why did his mother have to be so nosey?

"Not yet. But he should be home soon" Troy answered. "They really enjoyed their thanksgiving dinner though." He continued swiftly changing the subject.

"That's good." Lucille smiled.

"Did they like us?" Nora asked curiously. "I mean we all had our opinions about them. What did they think of us?"

"Well, Brie was very appreciative of thanksgiving. She and the twins also had a great time on Saturday. She said that Lucas won't stop talking about playing basketball with all the guys. And that Lily is already taking Aunt Lisa's tips." Troy explained. He turned to his brother and sister, "And she said you two are hilarious and really nice. Nora you had her the moment you said you were a med student."

Nora grinned proudly, "I'm glad she liked us. We really liked her too"

"Good to know. So when are you guys heading out?"

"Soon, if Mr. Late here would just finish his breakfast" Nora grumbled motioning to Alex.

"Hey! I could have been down here earlier if Miss Bathroom Hog didn't spend 45 minutes getting ready" Alex reminded his sister.

"Well next time get up earlier"

"Oh because that makes so much sense." Alex muttered sarcastically. "I get up early to spend my 15 minutes showering and then have to waste 45 minutes while you do whatever you do in the bathroom when I could have been sleeping"

"I don't know how we dealt with this bickering everyday" Lucille murmured as she watched her two eldest bicker.

"Whose idea was it again for them to drive to the airport together?" Troy asked.

"Theirs. They booked flights leaving at around the same time so they'd only have to get one rental car" Lucille explained.

"But they arrived on different days" Troy reminded his mother.

"Nora had to stay an extra day at school, so Alex just rented the car and picked her up from the airport" Jack clarified.

Troy nodded. As he finished the last of his orange juice he stood up,

"I'm gonna head out. You guys try not to kill each other on the road" he warned his brother and sister. Nora stood up to hug her brother tightly.

"Don't do anything stupid and if you need any girl advice I'm only a phone call away" Nora reminded him.

"Thanks Nora. Enjoy your medical stuff"

Alex gave Troy a brotherly hug, "Good luck tonight"

"Thanks, you too – you're the one that has to spend 45 minutes listening to Nora rambling" Troy smirked. Alex laughed.

"Excuse me?" Nora demanded.

"Nothing. I gotta go" Troy said quickly. "Bye mom, dad"

Grabbing his backpack and keys Troy made his way outside and hoped in his car to drive to school.

--

Gabriella was thankful when the bell rang in her Chemistry class. Her teacher, Mr. Whitman had gone on far too long about ionic and covalent bonding. After she and Taylor finished packing up they made their way to the door, where Mr. Whitman handed them a sheet that was to be memorized. Taylor groaned,

"Can you believe we have to memorize all these polyatomic ions?"

"I know. I'm never going to be able to remember all these. How long do we have to get them memorized?"

"All he said was soon. What's that supposed to mean?"

Gabriella snorted slightly, "Knowing Whitman, it means by next class"

"Great" Taylor muttered sarcastically, sliding the paper into her bag. Gabriella glanced down at her own sheet, sighing again before she too slipped the paper into her bag.

"So how are things going with Troy?" Taylor asked Gabriella curiously. "I noticed he gave you his jersey to wear."

Gabriella smiled glancing down at the red jersey she wore with a white wildcat on the front and 'BOLTON' written in white, bold letters across the back along with his number. Because of her petite frame, the jersey was quite large on her. It reached down to just below her butt. She wore a simple white tank-top underneath to keep from exposing too much as well as jeans. She hated the thought of having to return the jersey to him later on. She loved wearing it, she loved being marked as his and she loved inhaling his scent every time she took a breath.

"Perfect" Gabriella admitted. The truth was that she'd never been happier. Troy made her feel as though she was the most important person to him. Like nothing else mattered in the moments she was with him. Usually when they were together the rest of the world just seemed to disappear. "I was so happy when he asked me to wear his jersey"

Taylor smiled, "I remember the first time Chad asked me to wear his. It wasn't done romantically – it's Chad after all – but it was sweet in his own way"

"Troy was so nervous" Gabriella chuckled softly recalling the sweet memory. "It's not like I was going to say no"

"Well he looked happy this morning when he saw you wearing it" Taylor pointed out. Gabriella smiled brightly.

"I'm glad"

The two girls chatted happily until they arrived in front of their usual lunch table. Gabriella immediately made her way around the table so she was sitting next to Troy. She placed a soft kiss on his lips as a greeting.

"Hi" she whispered.

"How has your day been so far?" he asked. Gabriella sighed,

"Suckish. The work is beginning to pile up again. I realized that I need to start reading my book for English, I have a lot of math to do over the weekend and my chem teacher just gave a list of polyatomic ions to memorize. God knows what excitement my French teacher will assign; I've heard rumors that we're going to start reading a novel – that's all in French!" Gabriella threw her arms up in defeat.

"Anything I can help with?" Troy asked hopefully.

"Unless you can create a robot to do all this for me all you have to do let me relax this period."

"The robot might be a stretch, but I can definitely handle the other task."

Troy let Gabriella lean against his chest as he traced ovals up and down her upper arms.

"Have I told you how good you look in my jersey?" he whispered.

Gabriella smiled, "You've said it several times"

She could feel Troy's grin grow, "Well I'm saying it again. You look gorgeous in it. You're going to have to wear it every time we have a game"

"I have to, do I?"

Troy nodded, "Mmmhmmm"

"Are you nervous for tonight?" she asked.

"I don't get nervous" Troy stated. Gabriella raised her eyebrow,

"You don't get nervous for a game against your rival team, but you get nervous about asking me to wear your jersey"

"There will always be another basketball game. If I screw up one game, it's not the end of the world. But there is only one you. I screw up with you and it is most definitely the end of the world"

"Well I'll have you know that you'll have to do something pretty stupid to make me go away forever. I plan on staying with you for a long time" Gabriella whispered.

"Good. I plan on being with you for a long time as well"

--

"And that's the game folks. East High 58, West High 48. That puts East High at the top of its group, with West High in second place. Remember, the top two teams in each region qualify for state playoffs." The announcer spoke enthusiastically.

Gabriella stood on her feet cheering along with her siblings, Taylor, Sharpay and Kelsi. She grinned brightly as Troy's eyes locked on hers. He winked just before he ran into the locker room with the rest of his team.

As the crowd began to shrink and the excitement lowered, Gabriella let out a content sigh. Lily tapped Gabriella on the shoulder,

"Can I go to the bathroom now?" she asked.

"Yeah." Gabriella nodded. "Come on, I'll show you where it is. Luc do you need to go?"

Lucas shook his head.

"Ok, we'll be back in a bit then" Gabriella said. She stood up and motioned for her younger sister to follow her.

The bathroom nearest to the gym could only hold one person at a time. So Gabriella waited near the door while Lily did her business. She hummed quietly to herself as she idly watched the cars in the parking lot.

Lily used the bathroom quickly and before long the two were back on their way to the gym.

"So did you enjoy the game tonight?" Gabriella asked her sister. Lily nodded enthusiastically,

"Yes! I like that it's so fast paced, it keeps me interested."

"Me too" Gabriella agreed. Lily scoffed quietly.

"What?" Gabriella demanded.

"I think that you only like it because your boyfriend happens to be playing in it" Lily said giggling. Gabriella's mouth dropped open in mock anger.

"You have to admit it's true. You wouldn't have even considering coming to a game if Troy wasn't on the team" Lily reminded her. Gabriella rolled her eyes, knowing that Lily was absolutely right.

"Fine, fine. He is the reason I started coming, but I do actually enjoy the game now." Gabriella admitted.

"Whatever you say Gabi" Lily almost laughed as she skipped through the doors of the gym. Gabriella couldn't help but laugh at Lily's playfulness and failed to notice the dark haired boy that Lily crashed into. The impact caused Lily to fall to the ground and Gabriella quickly rushed over to help her up.

"I'm terribly sorry. Are you alright?" the teenager asked.

"I'm fine. Sorry for crashing into you" Lily apologized.

"It's alright. No harm done right?" the boy laughed lightly. "Although, I must say you're a bit late" he added.

"Late for what?" Gabriella asked.

"Late for the game. It finished about 15 minutes ago." He explained.

"Oh don't worry, we know" Gabriella said before she started to walk towards the bleachers.

"Then what are you doing here?" he asked causing Gabriella to turn around.

"Meeting up with some friends" she said shortly.

"Why'd you leave then?" he pressed. Gabriella was becoming slightly annoyed, what was with all the questions?

"Um…My sister had to go to the bathroom." Gabriella said quickly.

"Ahh I see. Didn't want to miss any of the game"

"Yeah" Gabriella nodded.

"So you enjoyed the game?" he asked calmly.

"Yeah" Again Gabriella nodded. She was beginning to wonder why this boy was talking with her so much.

"Care to elaborate"

"I was glad that East High won" Gabriella added. "But we should get going. Our friends are waiting for us" Once again Gabriella turned to leave the awkward conversation, but this time the boy stopped her by grabbing her hand.

"Wait, you didn't ask me what I thought of the game"

Gabriella tensed under his strong grip. She didn't like this, this feeling he was evoking in her.

"What did you think of the game?" she asked slowly. His lips curved into a sly smile as Gabriella asked him the question.

"Eh, it's was ok. The ref was a bit unfair though"

Gabriella sensed some distaste in his tone, but she didn't want this conversation to go on any longer, so she wasn't about to ask him why. She tried to get him to release her hand from his grip, but he only held on tighter. He glanced over Gabriella's shoulder and another sly smile seemed to creep onto his face. A fear washed over her as she began to feel a chill vibrate down her spine – and definitely not the good kind.

"Can you please let go of my hand?" Her voice trembled.

"I suggest you do as she asks Scott" Troy's stern voice came from behind her. Gabriella couldn't help breathe a sigh of relief knowing Troy was behind her.

"But of course" James Scott answered calmly releasing Gabriella's hand. Gabriella let herself almost stumble backwards to where she felt safe – just behind Troy.

"And I trust you were just about to leave" Troy continued, his tone staying completely even and never breaking contact with the West High's captain's eyes.

"Of course I was. I just bumped into your girlfriend and her sister" James replied, his tone sickeningly sweet. "And what can I say, we just got talking" he added, the same sly smile creeping back onto his face.

"Well I suggest that you stay away from her from now on" Troy's tone hardened.

"As you wish" James said turning to leave, but just as he was about to walk away his head turned back, "It was nice talking to you, Gabriella Montez"

The last two words shook Gabriella the most. She hadn't said her name to him, neither had Troy. How had he known her name?

Troy clenched his teeth as he watched James walk so nonchalantly out of the gym. He waited until James was out of sight until he turned back to Gabriella. His hardened expression immediately softened as he saw Gabriella's fearful face.

"I…I didn't know it was him, James Scott. He just stopped me and started talking and I tried to get away but his hand and and…" Gabriella babbled nervously, fear obvious in her voice.

Troy placed his hands gently on Gabriella's upper arm, "It's ok. All that matters is that you're alright." Troy's voice was gently and kind.

Gabriella nodded, "How did he know my name?" Gabriella's voice trembled slightly. Troy knew that James had gotten some of his team mates to find out who Gabriella was. He must have seen her at the first game she attended. Troy recalled he had in fact seen James and some of his team mates at the game. But he knew telling her would worry her.

"The news that either of the basketball captains has a girlfriend travels fast in this town." Troy explained. He wouldn't call what he had just said lying; it was true that the news that Gabriella was his girlfriend traveled fast – but only in East High. Albuquerque was quite large - it was more like a small city than a town and West High was on the other side of the city, so the two schools stayed pretty distant. "Don't worry about it. OK?" Troy added. He did make a note to keep an extra eye out for any West High players from now on though. He refused to let anything happen to Gabriella.

Troy's words seemed to calm Gabriella down. Troy slung his arm casually around her shoulders,

"So what did you think of the game?" he grinned.

"Well, there was this one player I couldn't keep my eyes off of" she smiled.

"Really? Should I worry about this?" Troy asked raising his eyebrow.

"It depends if you like being stared at" she answered.

"Only if certain pair of brown eyes are doing the starring" Troy responded.

"I think that can be arranged" Gabriella smiled up at him. Troy dropped a sweet kiss on Gabriella's lips before pulled her even closer.

--

James Scott scowled as he walked to the exit of the East High gym. His encounter with Gabriella hadn't gone quiet as he had hoped. Although he knew he had shaken Gabriella, he hadn't gotten Troy as angry as he had hoped. He was happy though that Troy seemed protective over Gabriella, that meant that all he had to do was toy with Gabriella enough to make Troy do something that would get him suspended.

He pulled out his phone and quickly called his best friend's number. James waited impatiently for Max to pick up. Finally he picked up,

"How'd it go?"

"Ok. I need more though. Her name isn't enough. I want you to find out everything there is to know about Gabriella Montez"

A/N: And that's where I'll end it. So…how'd I do? Let me know. Thanks for reading!!