Troy and Gabriella stopped at a four-way hall and Troy noticed the sign up sheet for the Winter Musical. "Oh! Now that you've met Miss Darbus, I bet you just can't wait to sign up for that." He said pointing to the sheet.

Gabriella looked at the sheet then looked at him and smirked. "Lets do it."

"What?! No. No way."

"Oh, come on. Pleeeaaase? For me?" She begged giving him her puppy dog pout.

Troy just looked at her and after about two minutes, finally caved. "Oh. Fine. For you. You're lucky I love you enough to do anything for you."

Gabriella smiled and squealed happily. Then Sharpay the school's ice queen came up and signed her name really big across the musical sign up sheet. When she saw Troy and Gabby, she stopped. "I'm sorry. Were you gonna sign up too?" She asked snootily.

"Yes actually." Gabriella replied. "Troy and I are signing up for a pair's audition. Hope you don't mind a good competition."

"You can sing? Yeah right. In your dreams, New Girl."

"Hey! Leave her alone, Sharpay. And she has a better voice than even you do." Troy said defending his girlfriend.

"How would you know?" The ice queen asked rudely.

"Because I sang with her on vacation last week. She has the most AMAZING voice and she will crush you in the lead part."

Sharpay scoffed. "Yeah right. Like I believe that."

"Find out at auditions tomorrow. Then see who's right."

Sharpay just looked at Gabriella. "Be the best pair win."

"Bring it on, Bitch." Gabriella smirked.

The ice queen gasped and walked off. Troy looked at her in surprise. "I can't believe you just called the school's ice queen a bitch. NOBODY calls Sharpay Evans a bitch."

Gabriella smiled. "I just did and I'd happily do it again." She replied.

"You better be careful around her, Babe. You call her a bitch to her face and she will do ANYTHING to have her revenge. She will humiliate you into the next century. I don't want you to get hurt. I love you too much for that. So just be very careful please."

"I will. Don't worry. Besides, I have you to protect me."

Troy nodded and she signed their names for a pair's audition.

After school, Gabriella was at her locker when Sharpay walked up. Whispering in her ear dangerously, "You better watch your back, New Girl. Or I will destroy you." She walked off leaving Gabriella flabbergasted.

Troy walked up to her. "Hey, Beautiful. Ready to go home?"

She turned around and smiled relieved. "Yeah. I have to ride the bus. I don't have a car."

"Me too. Sit with me?"

"Of course." She said smiling bigger and they walked hand in hand to the bus to go home.

On the bus ride home, Troy and Gabriella talked and it was getting close to her stop. "So where do you live?" Troy asked.

"8801 Glendale Ave."

Troy looked at her in shock. "Seriously?! I live three houses down from you in 8807."

"Really?!"

"Yeah! I don't believe this. How come I didn't see you all week before school started back up today?"

Gabriella shrugged. "I don't know, but I'm glad I know now."

"Want me to get off with you?"

She nodded. "Yeah. You can come in if you want. I'll introduce you to my mom and then we'll do homework together."

Troy smiled. "Sounds like a plan, Babe."

"Gabriella Montez!" The bus driver called.

Gabriella and Troy looked to where they were and got off the bus. "Come on, Wildcat!" Gabriella called to her boyfriend.

Troy smiled and followed her inside.

Once Gabriella opened the door, she smiled at Troy. "Mama! I'm home!"

"In the kitchen, Mija!" Came the reply.

Gabriella poked Troy. "Tag!"

Troy smirked and she squealed running to the kitchen. Troy was hot on her heels and grabbed her by the waist spinning her around. She squealed again and laughed. Troy laughed with her then sat her down to kiss her passionatly. "Gabby, is someone with you?" Sarah Montez asked as she came around the corner of the kitchen. "Gabriella Marie Montez!"

The couple snapped apart from the yell and looked at her. Gabriella blushed a deep red. Sarah cleared her throat. "Hi, Mama."

"Who's this?"

Gabriella blushed even more. "This is my boyfriend. Troy Bolton. Troy, this is my mom Sarah Montez." She introduced them.

Troy looked at Sarah and put his hand out. "It's nice to finally meet you, Mrs. Montez."

"It's nice to meet you too. And call me Sarah." She told him. She looked back at Gabriella. "Did you say he was your boyfriend?"

Gabriella hid her face in her hands then nodded. "Yeah. But don't worry. I met him at the New Years Eve party last week. We were forced to sing together."

Troy looked at Sarah. "I thought I was gonna totally humiliate myself. Singing's not what I do. Just in the shower. But after I started, she started to sing and I thought if she's singing, then maybe I can too. It turned out to be the most fun I had on that whole entire vacation."

"Well, I'm glad you two had fun. Gabriella hasn't done any singing in years."

"There's a Winter Musical called Twinkletown that they're putting up and Troy and I are trying out for the pair's audition tomorrow." Gabriella cut in.

Sarah looked at her daughter surprised. "Musical?"

"Yeah." Gabriella said smiling.

"Well, Mija. That's great. I'm glad you're singing again."

"I'm only doing it because I love her enough to do anything for her and she begged me. I'm the Varsity Basketball team captain. That's what I do. If it weren't for Gabby, I would never have done it." Troy said.

"You love her?" Sarah asked shocked.

Troy nodded. "I do. And I'll do anything to keep her happy, safe, and protected."

"And I love HIM, Mama." Gabby cut in.

Sarah looked at her and realized the two truly are in love. "Then welcome to the family, Troy."

Gabriella smiled and hugged her mother. "Thank you, thank you, thank you. Oh! Troy lives in the house 8807 three houses down the street."

Sarah looked at Troy surprised. "You're our neighbor?"

Troy nodded. "I knew as soon as Gabby told me this was your house."

"Well then. I hope to meet your parents soon."

"Sure. How about dinner on Friday?"

"Sounds good. You can take Gabby over to meet them now and tell them I'd be delighted to have them over for dinner on Friday. Say 7:00?"

"Sounds good. Come on, Babe." Troy said and took Gabriella's hand leading her to his house.