The next day, Gabriella opened her locker and a note fell out. She picked it up and read it quickly, than looked at a yellow door at the end of the hall. She was a little confused – and very intrigued. She opened the door and found a staircase that led to the roof. As she opened the door and stepped out into the beautiful, sunny day, she saw Troy sitting on a chair. He was surrounded by lush planets, all being grown as hydroponic experiments.

Trixie asked, "Wow. So this is your private hideout?"

Timmy answered, "Thanks to the Science Club. This means my buddies don't even know it exists."

Trixie responded, "Looks to me that everyone on campus wants to be your friend."

Timmy commented, "Unless we lose."

Trixie changed the subject and said, "I'm sure it's tricky being the coach's son."

Timmy explained, "It makes me practice a little harder, I guess. I don't know what he'll say when he hears about the singing thing."

Trixie asked, "You worried?"

She was surprised. Troy seemed so cool, so confident. Not the type to worry. Ever. But Troy nodded.

Timmy explained, "My parents' friends are always saying, "You're son's the basketball guy. You must be so...proud." Sometimes I don't want to be the basketball guy. I just want to be...a guy."

Gabriella smiled with understanding. He didn't want to be the basketball guys any more than she wanted to be the genius girl. They were both so much more than that...

Trixie asked, "I saw the way you treated Kelsi at the audition. Do your friends know THAT guy?"

Timmy stated, "To them, I'm the playmaker dude."

Trixie responded, "Then they don't know enough about you, Troy." Gabriella paused, and then decided it was time to share a confession of her own. Trixie confessed, "At my other schools, I was the freaky math girl. Its cool coming here and being...anyone I want to be. When I was singing with you, I just felt like...a girl."

Timmy teased, "You even looked like one too."

She laughed, glad to have the seriousness of the moment lighten up a bit.

Trixie stated, "Remember in kindergarten, you'd meet a kid, know nothing about them, and then ten seconds later were best friends because you didn't have to be anything but yourself?"

Timmy responded, wistful, "Yeah..."

Trixie told him, sincerely, "Singing with you felt like that."

Timmy confessed, "I never thought about singing. That's for sure. Until you."

Trixie asked, "So you really want to do the callbacks?"

He thought about it for a moment as he looked at her. Really looked at her. Then he smiled.

He answered, "Hey. Just call me freaky callback boy."

She smiled a glowing smile of pure happiness. She stated, "You're a cool guy, Troy. But not for the reasons your friends think." He looked down, a little embarrassed, and she moved on quickly. She added, "Thanks for showing me your top secret hiding place. Like kindergarten."

Then the bell rang, breaking the mood between them and making them realize they was late. Sighing in frustration, they intertwined hands as they stood up and sprinted down the stairs, not wanting to be any later for class. And that meant detention.

…

The next day, Kelsi sat alone at the piano, playing with passion and energy. No one else was in the room. Just Kelsi and her music. Exactly the way she liked it. Troy sat in the stairwell, practicing his audition song.

But your faith, it gives me strength. Strength to believe...

He kind of liked the way his voice echoed. At that moment, Ryan rounded a corner and slowed down to listen. He could have sworn he heard someone singing...

Creating space between us, till we're separate hearts...

Meanwhile, Gabriella had found her own private spot with great acoustics: the girls' bathroom. She stood in front of the mirror and sang. Sharpay was heading for class when she thought she heard the faint sound of singing. She turned her head to spot where it was coming from...there! She opened the bathroom door and went in, looking everywhere for the source of the music. She found...nothing.

She left the bathroom. Gabriella stepped out of the hiding place she had quickly found for herself and smiled.

…

Later that day, in the school's rehearsal room, Kelsi played the piano for Gabriella and helped her with her phrasing.

There's not a star in heaven...

Then it was Troy's turn.

Flying! There's not a star in heaven that we can't reach...

He worked as hard as he could, but singing was harder then he thought. Just when he was getting frustrated beyond belief, Kelsi would stop to encourage him. And then he started singing again.

The other basketball players were in the gym doing drills with Patrick constantly screaming at them to keep their head in the game. Just when the ball was heading to Jason, Patrick caught the ball for him and turned to look at him with his whistle in his mouth ready to blow.

Patrick asked, "You've seen Troy?"

Tad answered, "No, coach."

Where was Troy? He frowned. Something was going on with that boy. Something weird. Something different. And it was getting in the way of his championship dream.

Patrick didn't like it. He didn't like it at all. Patrick blew his whistle still trying to figure out where Troy was. He would have liked it even less if he had known where Troy was.

In detention. Again. The only bright side was that Gabriella was there, too. They stole glances at each other as they painted scenery. Each one was smiling a secret smile. Each one was hearing the audition song in their heads.

Finally, detention was over. Troy raced into the gym in his basketball uniform – only to find practice was over too. The players were heading towards the locker room. Hoping to recover a bit from his absence, Troy walked over towards his father.

Timmy stated, "I'm going to stay a while. Work on some free throws."

Patrick nodded coldly in agreement. Patrick told him, "Well, since you missed practice, I think your teammates deserve a little...effort from you today."

He gave Troy a hard look then headed for his office. Troy sighed. He started shooting baskets, sinking one after the other. Then Gabriella walked into the gym and started approaching him.

Trixie stated, "Wow. So this is your real stage."

Timmy responded, jokingly, "I guess you can call it that. Or just a smelly gym."

He bounced the ball over to her. She grabbed it and took a shot. It went in, and Troy turned to her, surprised.

Timmy stated, "Whoa! Don't tell me you're good at hoops too!"

Trixie responded, "I once scored 41 points in a league championship game."

Timmy asked, impressed, "No way."

Trixie answered, jokingly, "Yeah. The same day I invented the space shuttle and microwave popcorn." He laughed, stole the ball back from her, took a shot and missed. She grabbed it on the rebound. She told him, "I've been rehearsing with Kelsi."

Timmy responded, teasing, "I know. Me to. And I was late for practice. So if I get kicked off the team, it'll be on your conscience."

Trixie looked startled and started to say, "Hey, I..."

Timmy laughed and told her, "Gabriella. Chill." She gave him a stern look for the teasing. Then she took the ball from him and started traveling. Timmy stated, "That's traveling." His eyes widened as he added, "Now, that's really bad traveling."

He went after her. When he was behind her, he wrapped his arms around her waist and twirled her around. She laughed, still holding onto the basketball. Just then, Patrick walked into the gym.

He said to her, "Miss, I'm sorry. This is a closed practice."

Troy placed Gabriella back onto her feet and turned towards him.

Timmy told him, "Dad, come on. Practice is over."

Patrick stated, "Not until the last player leaves the gym. Team rules."

Trixie said, with an apologetic look on her face, "Oh, I'm sorry sir."

Timmy introduced her, "Dad, this is Gabriella Montez."

Gabriella held out her hand. The coach looked at her with disapproval.

Patrick said, angry, "Ah, your detention buddy." That's when

Gabriella knew it was time to leave. She handed the basketball back to Troy.

She told him, "I'll see you later, Troy." She added to Patrick, "Nice meeting you, Patrick."

Gabriella ran out of the gym, not wanting to get involved in the father and son moment.

Patrick said, "You as well, Miss Montez."

Timmy defended, "Dad, detention was my fault. Not hers."

Patrick responded, "You haven't missed practice in 3 years. That girl shows up…."

Troy felt anger flare up in his chest. Gabriella wasn't "that girl" to him. She was somebody he shared a special bond with. How can he say that Gabriella's just "that girl" ?

Timmy said, sharply, " "That girl" is named Gabriella, and she's very nice."

Patrick told him, "Helping you miss practice doesn't make her "very nice" . Not in my book. Or your team's."

Timmy yelled, frustrated, "She's not a problem, Dad. She's just a girl."

Troy was getting frustrated. What was his father – why was his coach – making such a big deal out of this.

Patrick stated, "But you're not just a guy, Troy! You're the team leader. So what you do affects not only this team, but the entire school. Without you completely focused, we won't win the game next week. And playoff games don't come along all the time...they're something special."

Without warming, a series of memories ran through Troy's mind: Singing with Gabriella. Laughing with Gabriella. Talking with Gabriella.

Timmy told him, "Yeah, well a lot of things are special, dad."

Patrick stated, "You're a playmaker, not a singer."

Timmy asked, clearly upset, "Do you think that maybe I can be both?"

And with that, he turned abruptly and headed for the locker room. His dad watched him go, worried. He hoped he had been able to get through to Troy, but he feared that he hadn't. Inside the hall, Chad, Jason and Zeke huddled together. They had been listening, wide-eyed, to the confrontation between Troy and his father. Now they looked at one another and shook their heads. This was not good. This was not good at all.

…

Wishmaker1028: Please read and review! And always think outside of the box!