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Troy picked Gabriella up from her house the next morning and spun her around on her porch before he kissed her senseless. "Good morning to you too," greeted Gabriella with a smile. "I still am flying high from last night slash early this morning."
"So am I," confessed Troy with a grin. "But then again, you have that effect on me, Montez, all the time."
Troy grabbed her hand and escorted her to his truck for a ride back to his house. The gang had decided earlier on in the week that they wanted to spend the first day of the new year together so Troy checked with his parents, who agreed to have the gang over.
"Hi Mrs. Bolton, hi Coach Bolton," greeted Gabriella as she walked through the door with Troy and saw his parents having a late brunch.
"Good morning, Gabriella," returned Mrs. Bolton with a smile. She spotted the bracelet Troy had spent so much time deciding on and felt herself smile even more as she saw the obvious happy looks on her son and his now girlfriend.
"Hello Gabriella," answered Coach Bolton. "Happy New Year! I hope yours has started off on the right foot."
"Oh, it has, better than just the right foot. For the first time in a long time, I feel like this year could be the best year yet," responded Gabriella with a smile.
Jack gave Troy a knowing look and smirked as he saw his son blush. Both of Troy's parents knew what Troy had put together last night and were just so happy that things were starting to look up for him. 'I haven't seen Troy so genuinely happy in a long time,' thought Mrs. Bolton as she watched the young couple grin at each other for no apparent reason. 'Let's just hope this time it lasts.'
"So Gabriella, I've seen you at practices but haven't had a chance to talk to you. How are you and Taylor doing with the scholastic decathlon?" asked Coach Bolton. "I'm sure you are on your way to at least regional."
Gabriella nodded her head as she turned her attention from the younger to older Bolton man in the house. "We have our regional competition at the end of this month and have geared up for it rather well. Taylor and I are pushing to make it to nationals so we have been working with the rest of the team to make sure we are on top of our skills. Hopefully after regional, we'll make state at the end of February and then nationals, which is at the end of April."
"I'm impressed, you seem like you have everything together. I'm sure the scholastic decathlon team will miss both you and Taylor next year," commented Mrs. Bolton.
"I don't think so. We have some younger talent who are looking to get some leadership under them soon. They'll just miss our slave driving tendencies," joked Gabriella.
Troy laughed. "Hey, you can't be any worse than my dad and the basketball teams."
Mrs. Bolton coughed to try to cover up her laughter while Jack did not look too pleased with this comment. "Are you saying I drive you too hard, Troy? Is that why I see you and Chad running the varsity team so hard on your own while I work with the JV team? No way, son. If you are looking for a slave driver, you need to look at yourself and your best friend first. You two have stepped it up this year way more than I have."
"Relax Dad, it was a joke!" replied Troy. "Man, I can't mess around with you sometimes."
"Troy, try to remember, basketball is the most sacred of subjects for your father. Anything else, he would have found funny, but not that," explained Mrs. Bolton. "Anyway, shouldn't you two be setting up for the gathering?"
"Oh yeah," said Gabriella. "Come on, Troy. We have to get that all together before the gang gets here."
"But what stuff? Zeke is bringing all the food," answered Troy.
Gabriella shook her head at her boyfriend. "Remember all those games that we put together? Or rather, I put together? I have to get that all organized!"
"Oh," replied Troy. He watched Gabriella as she scooted out of the room and into the living room but turned his attention to his parents who had started to chuckle at him. "What?"
"Just, well Troy, I can so see your father in you right now, that total cluelessness as to what your more efficient half is doing right now," explained his mom.
"Yup son, I hate to tell you, but that is the exact look I have on my face when your mom is in charge and does things I don't even know about," added his dad. "Don't worry, you'll get used to it."
Troy rolled his eyes and followed Gabriella into the living room where she was currently organizing papers while he heard his parents continue to laugh back in the dining room. "Can I help?"
Gabriella looked over at him and smiled as she gave him construction paper, a calligraphy pen, glitter, glue, and two small cardboard boxes. "Here, you can do the positives."
"The positives?" asked Troy as he looked at what was now laid out for him on the floor. He took a seat and examined everything. "Remind me what that is?"
Gabriella let out a sigh. "It's where we pass these papers around with one person's name on the top and each person writes something great about them anonymously. You can write the name of each person at the top with the pen then glue some glitter along the edge to give it a nicer look."
"Glitter? Gabriella, I hate to tell you but I don't do glitter," stated Troy. "Kind of reminds me of Sharpay actually."
"All right," said Gabriella as she reached for the glitter and glue back. "I'll just have Ryan do it when he comes over. He's not afraid to have sparkly glitter on him."
Gabriella suppressed a giggle as Troy pulled the materials back to him, which was her intention, and started to work on the papers. 'Deep down, I know he still has the image of me and Ryan together, just like I do of him and Sharpay. I don't think that will ever change, but in some ways, it is a reminder of what we have gone through to be where we are today,' she thought before she got to work on her own project.
Troy watched as Gabriella worked diligently on stapling the papers she had in front of her and organizing some other things. He smiled as she bit the corner of her lip, a habit Gabriella had had for a long time whenever she was deep in thought or tried to figure something out. Unable to resist, Troy leaned over and kissed Gabriella's neck, which startled her. She looked up at him and smiled before she turned her head to kiss Troy. Gabriella wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him closer to her as Troy gently pushed Gabriella backwards so that she was laying on the carpet while they continued to kiss. She let out a contented sigh as he started to kiss her neck again and she was able to run her fingers through his growing brown hair. Troy came back and started kissing her on the lips again when the doorbell rang.
Groaning, Troy moved off of Gabriella and gave her a hand up before she started to laugh. "What?" he asked, panicked by her reaction after a more heavy make out session.
"Glitter," got out Gabriella as she pointed to his shirt and his face. "Go wash up and come back down. I'll get the door."
Troy nodded before he sprinted up the stairs while Gabriella quickly cleaned up the glitter on the floor. She answered the door and smiled as she saw Ryan and Audrina with Zeke and Charles behind them. "Hey guys, come in," greeted Gabriella as she stepped aside to let them in.
Zeke and Charles brought in the first batch of food and then went back out with Ryan to continue bringing in the food Zeke had whipped up for the gathering. Audrina followed Gabriella into the living room and smiled as she saw how happy Gabriella was. Her "big sister" didn't have to say anything; Audrina could just feel it from Gabriella's mood or something.
Gabriella finished cleaning up everything and sat down on the couch as Audrina did the same but continued to stare at her. "Do I have glitter on me?" questioned Gabriella when Audrina just stared without a word.
"No," answered Audrina. "I just can't get over this change in your whole demeanor. You weren't depressed or anything before but now, now you seem so much lighter and happier. Did something happen last night that you need to tell me?"
Gabriella just grinned at her and was about to say something when Taylor, Martha, and Kelsi ran into the room. "Gabriella Montez, you better spill everything right now!" demanded Taylor as the girls sat close to their close friend.
Gabriella rolled her eyes and returned her attention back to Audrina. "Well, as I was about to say before these guys came in was that Troy surprised me last night and we've started the new year in a committed relationship again."
"That's all you are going to tell us?" screeched Martha. "No way, we need details!"
"I heard Troy talking to Chad about some of the finer details and it sounded like it was going to be way romantic," commented Taylor.
"It totally was. He put so much heart and thought into it. I'd have been a fool for not starting this new chapter with him in it. Troy means so much to me, even more so today than last school year," explained Gabriella.
Kelsi noticed the new bracelet on Gabriella's left arm. "Is that bracelet from Troy?"
Gabriella looked down at the silver bracelet and nodded with a smile. All four girls squealed in excitement as they each examined the bracelet and the engraved heart. "That is so sweet!" exclaimed Audrina. "If what he did for you as a set up last night was anything like this, I would have killed you for not becoming his girlfriend again!"
Troy chuckled from the entryway as he heard this. "Well I'm glad to know that I can count on you, Audrina, for help," teased Troy with a grin. "So you like it, huh?"
"WE LOVE IT!" yelled Martha. "Very well done, Troy."
"Thank you," he answered as he came over and sat on the other side of Gabriella. He wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her closer to him and kissed her forehead before he kissed her lips briefly.
"Aww," exclaimed the four girls all together as there were gagging sounds from the entryway from Charles, Jason, Chad, and Zeke while Ryan just stood there and smiled at the two.
"Seriously man, I don't know what's worse. You miserable and not focusing on basketball or this super gushy side when you are happy and in love," exclaimed Chad.
"Obviously the miserable side," responded Taylor. "And leave the lovebirds alone. I wish you would do something for me, Danforth, that was even half as romantic as Troy did for Gabriella last night!"
"Oh, here we go again, we're getting compared again guys," commented Jason. "Better watch out Ryan, Audrina may be doing this to you soon too."
Ryan chuckled as he walked over to sit next to Audrina on the couch. "I don't need to worry. Unlike you and Chad, I treat my girl just as well as Troy does Gabriella, right baby?"
Audrina blushed and nodded.
Chad rolled his eyes. "Great, two romantics in our midst. Jason, you and I are so done for," exclaimed Chad while Zeke and Charles just laughed. "And you two, don't you think you'll escape this madness when you find the one for you. It always comes down to this comparing whenever the girls get together."
"Oh relax, will you?" said Taylor as she got up and wrapped her arms around Chad as Kelsi did the same to Jason. "We're dating you because we like you, not Troy or Ryan. Heaven knows, if it was only romance we were after, Audrina and Gabriella would have had a huge cat fight over their boyfriends by now. But no, we are with you and Jason because you are who you are."
Chad stared at Taylor in amazement. "I think that's the sweetest thing you have said to me in quite a while."
Taylor leaned up and kissed Chad on the lips before she smiled. "Well don't get too used to it because I'm not that gushy myself," she stated with a wink, which caused the gang to laugh together.
"Aww, yes, everything is back to being the way it was meant to be," stated Zeke with a grin. "Four happy couples and us stragglers."
"I, for one, couldn't care about not having a boyfriend. I want to just enjoy my time with my close friends this year before graduation. That's all that matters to me," replied Martha.
"I agree with Martha. Now why is it that I wasn't ever invited into this group earlier than this year?" teased Charles.
"Cause man, you weren't cool or tall until this summer," answered Zeke with a smile. "But now that you are here, we couldn't imagine you not."
The group smiled at each other until Chad had had enough of the sentimental moments. "All right, now that we have poured our hearts out, let's get this party started! Zeke, the food!"
Everyone laughed as Chad once again addressed his favorite topic, food, before they headed into the kitchen to dig into what was laid out by their resident master chef. While he was eating, Chad studied his best friend, who had a huge grin on his face at all times and also seemed attached to Gabriella's hip this afternoon. 'Oh he's in love again all right. He just better treasure her more than he did before,' thought Chad as he smiled at the apparent love his two best friends shared again. Just then, Chad caught some sparkly things on Troy's face as he moved his head. "Troy, are you wearing glitter?"
Troy swallowed whatever food he was eating at that moment and rubbed his face with his hand. He looked at Gabriella, who tried to hide a giggle as she reached up and removed some of the glitter he had apparently missed earlier. "Glitter, what glitter?" asked Troy once Gabriella was done.
"Gabriella, I leave you with Troy for one morning and you have him wearing girly sparkly stuff?" called out Chad.
"No, he was just helping with something for us to do later on and it involved him gluing glitter on the paper. He was pretty successful but did manage to get a bunch on himself in the process. Don't give him a hard time, Chad. It takes a real guy to handle such a girly thing, in your words, to help his girlfriend out," defended Gabriella.
Troy looked down at Gabriella and smiled in gratitude for her sticking up for him. "Thanks, hun," he said before he kissed her. "Although, the glitter that was on me was a direct result of something way more intense than arts and craft."
The last part was whispered in her ear but still made Gabriella blush at the memory of making out with Troy before the gang came over.
Kelsi and Martha both grinned as they caught this little exchange while Jason and Zeke started chuckling at the bored look on Chad's face after they saw the same thing. "Seriously, you two are making me reevaluate whether I want you two together. I think you were way better when you were friends, none of this random kissing and whispering," complained Chad.
Troy turned his attention back onto his best friend and grinned wider. "You're just jealous Danforth that Gabriella has some of my attention now instead of just you and the guys."
"Oohhh," murmured Taylor. "Troy so called you right on the spot on that one, Chad!"
"Did not!" defended Chad. "Besides, he's so love struck at the moment, I could take him down easy out on the court."
More collective "ooooh"s were said around the room at this. "I think that was a challenge, Troy," said Ryan. "Need a back up?"
Troy eyed his best friend and shook his head. "No, Chad wants to take me on so be it. I'll show him being in love only helps your life and your game."
"Game on then," replied Chad as he and Troy headed out to the Bolton's backyard with the guys quickly following.
The five girls sat where they were and looked at each other in disbelief. "Did that testosterone fight just happen?" questioned Taylor. "The two lunkheads are dueling on the court over whether Troy is in love?"
"No, I think it is over Chad lacking attention from Troy now, attention Troy is rightfully giving to Gabriella," corrected Kelsi.
"I just think they needed a reason to go play basketball," stated Gabriella. "But Chad did just give Troy motivation enough for him to play hardball. We better get out there and make sure they don't kill each other."
"Although, that may be interesting in itself," said Martha with a laugh. "Actually, we better go ref. Who knows if the other guys are going to get involved too."
They scurried outside just in time to see Troy brush past Chad to complete a successful slam dunk. "Five to one, baby!" called out Troy as he checked the ball back to Chad. Neither one though was letting the other score easily. There were a lot of fake moves and just as much offense as there was defense.
"What are they playing to?" questioned Audrina.
"To fifty," replied Ryan. "And each shot only counts as a point, no matter where it is taken from."
"Hey girls, want in on the betting pool?" asked Charles.
Gabriella just stared at her friend. "Charles, are you all betting on who is going to win between those two?"
"Yup, we seem evenly split. Whoever wins will just split the money between them," responded Jason with a smile. "Come on, you guys know you want to."
Martha was the only one who looked to be considering the idea but when she saw that no one else was going to add their money in, she decided against it. "Maybe another time," she said to Charles.
After ten minutes, the score was now fifteen to twelve with Chad leading. "Oh come on, Troy. I thought you were all for this whole theory of love conquers all," egged Chad, which proved to be the wrong thing to say as Troy got this fire in his eyes no one had really seen before and stole the ball from him to score another point.
As another ten minutes rolled around, Taylor called out, "Don't you want a break? Water maybe?"
"NO!" both guys yelled as Troy blocked Chad's attempted shot, cleared it, and made it from where he stood. Chad was still leading but Troy was doing his best to at least get close to evening it out with the score being thirty-two to twenty-nine.
By the time the two were done, the gang had all sat down on the lawn around the basketball court and looked on with amused interest as Troy jumped up in victory after he finally won the game over Chad by five points. "Told ya, man. Love wins!" exclaimed Troy before he promptly dropped down onto the grass next to Gabriella.
She leaned over and smiled at him, wiping some of the sweat off his forehead before she kissed him. "Guess you showed Chad you can still play and be in love," commented Gabriella.
Troy leaned up and kissed Gabriella a second time. "You were my best cheerleader, even if you were sitting here on the grass talking to the gang. You make me want to be better and to play better."
Gabriella smiled down at him one last time before she looked over to see Chad, who had collapsed next to Taylor while he moaned about being tired. Taylor, however, looked to not be having any of that. "I have no sympathy for you, Chad. You did this to yourself," stated Taylor as Chad groaned again. "I do have to admit that you did try as hard as you could."
"I'll get him next time, mark my words," got out Chad before he dropped his head back onto the grass.
The cold was starting to seep through their jackets so the gang moved back inside the house with Jason and Charles helping Chad in. They sat around the fire that Coach Bolton had set up for them while they were outside and started just talking about things from the past. Eventually, they got to the games that Gabriella had organized but more importantly, every single one of them enjoyed this first day of the year spent together among their closest of friends and left the Bolton household with a positive reminder of what life was all about – friendship and love.